NASA News Briefs
NASA, Technology Transfer and Industry-Related News
Goddard’s Norden Huang a Finalist for Service to America Medals
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| Dr. Norden Huang, a finalist for Service to America Medals, explains Hilbert–Huang Transform (HHT) technology, a revolutionary, adaptive set of signal-analysis algorithms. |
That is why the Partnership for Public Service has selected Huang as a finalist for its Service to America Medals. The awards pay tribute to America’s dedicated federal workforce, highlighting those who have made significant contributions to our country. Honorees are chosen based on their commitment and innovation as well as the impact of their work on addressing the needs of the nation.
Huang’s pioneering research led to the development of the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) technology, a revolutionary, adaptive set of signal-analysis algorithms. Unlike precursor technologies, HHT provides an effective method for analyzing nonlinear and nonstationary signals (such as those occurring in natural phenomena) while improving the accuracy of linear and stationary signal analysis. In winning the 2003 NASA Government Invention ofthe Year award, HHT was cited as “one of the most important discoveries in the field of applied mathematics in NASA history.”
The importance of Huang’s research on HHT is well demonstrated by the benefits and versatility the technology offers to a wide variety of fields.
Within NASA, Huang’s work with HHT is benefiting analysis of wing-flutter tests and the next generation of aircraft design. His research has also contributed to shuttle mission safety by using HHT to test the tiles that insulate the shuttle in space for the Shuttle Return to Flight Project. HHT also helps NASA look for planets and black holes.
HHT also might become a useful weapon in the war on terror. Federal investigative organizations are working to incorporate HHT into systems to analyze speech patterns and identify individuals in recordings in forensic examinations.
And the applications go on. The Navy is using HHT in its research to improve submarine design and to more easily identify and locate different types of submarines. The Federal Highway Administration is using HHT in a variety of research areas, including monitoring the vibration of bridges to determine how safe they are and highway design and engineering studies. According to FHWA, HHT has been a critical element for accurate data analysis.
For the medical field, HHT is helping researchers understand biomedical and physiological phenomena, which enables them to improve diagnoses and treatments, including drug design, sensors, devices, imaging and tissue engineering. Specifically, Huang is involved in research at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, using HHT to better understand how a wide variety of diseaseincluding avian flu and Dengue Fever, are propagated. HHT also is being used at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to help sharpen the diagnosis of sleep apnea and to detect patients with impaireblood flow regulation in the brain, a condition that may increase the risk for stroke.
Looking at this list of ways that Huang’s work has the potential to improve the quality of life for all Americans and to meet critical national needs, there is one other thing that is easy for anyone to understand, Dr. Norden Huang is an extraordinary public servant.
“It is an honor to be selected as a finalist for this award,” says Huang. “It’s been an pleasure and a privilege to work with so many great people—both inside and outside NASA—over the years. I am lucky to have found the HHT method so simple and yet versatile, and I am really pleased to have that work recognized.”
Huang was announced as a finalist in June; the final Service to America Medals will be awarded in September.
For more information, contact Goddard’s Office of Technology Transfer at techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov
Please mention that you read about it in Technology Innovation.
Space Foundation Announces 2006 Space Technology Hall of Fame Inductees
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| President & Chief Executive Officer of the Space Foundation Elliot G. Pulham (far left) with the 2006 Space Technology Hall of Fame inductees (left to right) Herb Satterlee and Gaylord Green representing the Novariant AutoFarm RTK AutoSteer; Helen Greiner, Richard McCormick and Lt. Gen Eugene Tattini representing the iRobot PackBot Tactical Mobile Robot; and Robert S. Walker, the Space Foundation's chairman of the board. |
The individuals and organizations who adapted these technologies were recognized in April at a private induction ceremony and at the Space Technology Hall of Fame dinner.
Since 1988, the Space Technology Hall of Fame has honored 52 technologies and the innovators who transformed them into commercial products that improve life here on Earth. The Space Foundation, in cooperation with NASA, established the Space Technology Hall of Fame to increase public awareness of the benefits that result from space exploration programs and to encourage further innovation.
The iRobot PackBot is a tactical mobile robot used in urban terrain operations. Technology originally developed for Martian rovers was incorporated into the PackBot, including lightweight, high-torque actuators used for control, a strong but lightweight frame structure and a riveted sheet-metal chassis. Currently, more than 300 PackBots are in use in Afghanistan and Iraq to clear caves and bunkers, search buildings, safely disrupt Improvised Explosive Devices and landmines, and even relay video, audio and sensor readings. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), iRobot Corporation and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory were recognized as the innovating organizations of the PackBot technology.
AutoFarm’s AutoSteer uses the improved Real Time Kinematic (RTK) Global Satellite Positioning (GPS) system to steer farm tractors automatically and ensure straight, repeatable rows. The technology originally was developed to track the orientation of NASA’s Gravity Probe B project, which is testing two unverified predictions of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. AutoSteer can dramatically increase crop yields by maximizing agricultural outputs. The Gravity Probe B Lab and Novariant Corporation were recognized as the innovating organizations of the AutoSteer technology.
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., the Space Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that vigorously advances civil, commercial and national security space endeavors and educational excellence. The Space Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C., and Cape Canaveral, Fla.
For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org.
Please mention that you read about it in Technology Innovation.
Ohio Companies Receive Partnership Awards from NASA Glenn and Alliance Partners
The Glenn Alliance for Technology Exchange (GATE) presented four Ohio-based companies with the GATE Partnership Award.
GATE, a collaboration of NASA’s Glenn Research Center, the Ohio Aerospace Institute and Battelle’s Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center, all of Cleveland, established the Partnership Award Program to aid small Ohio companies interested in enhancing their products and processes with NASA technologies.
Twenty-six proposals were submitted from all over Ohio and four were selected in this second round of GATE Partnership Awards. The award consists of $50,000 in cash plus $50,000 in NASA assistance in developing the new product or process.
“NASA Glenn is proud to transfer its technology and expertise to the products and processes of small companies in Ohio,” says Glenn Director, Dr. Julian Earls. “GATE has provided us with a vehicle to reach out and impact these small firms, and, by so doing, impact the economy of the state of Ohio.”
The winners of the GATE Partnership Award Program are as
follows:
ITEN Industries, Ashtabula, Ohio, will work with researchers from the Polymers Branch at NASA Glenn to create a manufacturing process for a strengthened aerogel, an open-structured silica foam in which 99.8 percent of the volume is empty space. Although it has hundreds of possible uses as a heat, sound and shock insulator, aerogel is extremely fragile. NASA researchers have created a process to strengthen aerogel but it only has been produced in a tightly controlled laboratory environment. A viable manufacturing process should lead to a material that is affordable, strong and easy to create.
Theken Disk, LLC, Akron, Ohio, will partner with NASA Glenn’s Antenna, Microwave and Optical Systems Branch and the Electron and Optical Devices Branch. Together, they will pursue development of an artificial spinal disc with the capability of communicating data to an external receiver for post-operative monitoring. Theken’s spinal implant, the eDISC, employs a unique design that mimics the movement and load response of a natural spinal disc. The team’s addition of a MicroElectroMechanical System sensor and a radio-frequency antenna to the eDISC should allow surgeons to monitor patients for up to one year after surgery.
H Cubed Inc., Olmsted Falls, Ohio, will leverage its existing work with NASA Glenn’s Life Prediction Branch and the BioMEMS group at the Cleveland Clinic to further the development of high resolution ultrasonic transducers for use in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) devices. IVUS imaging is used to detect coronary artery blockages. The transducers developed under this project should vastly improve resolution and image quality of IVUS devices, making them more useful tools for cardiologists.
Innovative Engineering & Consulting, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, will work with the Diagnostics and Data Systems Branch at Glenn to develop an innovative Infrared (IR) imaging system. Current commercial IR devices, used for such essential tasks as locating survivors in a burning building, can have limited effectiveness when intense heat sources are present. The proposed Enhanced Dynamic Range Thermal Imager would allow a firefighter to differentiate an intense heat source, such as a fire, from a person. This product also has applications in defense and security fields.
“We are creating research and technology partnerships of direct benefit to Ohio-based companies and to NASA Glenn. Tapping into cutting-edge R&D at Glenn to help businesses in Ohio is critical to technology-based economic development,” says William Seelbach, president and CEO of the Ohio Aerospace Institute and GATE Project Manager.
“These awards can make a critical difference to small technology-based companies by providing an infusion of federally-funded technology expertise. This alliance, in partnership with NorTech and our Ohio legislators, is growing technology companies in our own backyard,” says Priscilla Diem, executive director, Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center.
The Glenn Alliance for Technology Exchange was established in October 2004. GATE offers several mechanisms designed to foster technology transfer initiatives between NASA Glenn and Ohio companies.
For more information, contact
Laurel Stauber, Glenn Research Center, (216) 433-2820,
Laurel.J.Stauber@nasa.gov.
Please mention that you read about it in Technology Innovation.
NASA Ames Research Center Technology Featured in New Anti-Icing Windshield Spray
A new product using a NASA-based technology might make winter just a little easier to endure for those living in parts of the United States where snow and ice are common.
Ice Free is a simple and safe spray treatment that prevents ice, snow and other winter cold effects from bonding to a glass surface. Applied to a vehicle’s windshield and windows before inclement weather hits, Ice Free provides protection in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. WorldSource Inc., a developer and distributor of products for the consumer marketplace, produces Ice Free.
“As we continue to explore the universe, we are proud that NASA’s
pioneering efforts keep fueling American creativity, innovation and technology development,” says David Morse, acting chief of the Technology Partnerships Division at NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “This new product is yet another example of the additional dividends Americans reap from their investment in space exploration.”
The technology, based on an anti-icing fluid developed by a three-engineer team at Ames, led to the creation of Ice Free. The team designed a nontoxic fluid to prevent ice from building up on airplanes. At the time, the anti-icing fluid was hailed for making flying safer without introducing dangerous chemicals into the environment. In fact, the fluid was biodegradable and so environmentally safe that it was referred to as “food grade,” because its ingredients were approved for use in food by the Food and Drug Administration.
When co-inventors Leonard Haslim, John Zuk and Robert Lockyer of Ames announced their invention in 1997, the fluid was said to be able to prevent ice buildup on airplane wings and on other surfaces such as automobile windshields, a feature retained in the new product.
“A commuter is much more likely to start his drive without having to spend the time scraping ice and snow off the car windows. We feel it is a great product, and we thank NASA for the opportunity to market Ice Free,” says Brian Jue, WorldSource chief executive officer.
“I often heard how advancements due to NASA research and development help mankind enormously, and, if you live in an icy part of the U.S., this is further proof of the accuracy of that statement,” says Bob Harrick, president of WorldSource. “NASA technology played a key role in the development of this very useful product.”
Ice Free is marketed on the Internet and TV.
For more information, contact
Phil Herlth, Ames Research Center, (650) 604-0625,
pherlth@mail.arc.nasa.gov.
Please mention that you read about it in Technology Innovation.
NASA Receives FLC Awards
Several NASA field centers recently received 2006 FLC Awards for outstanding achievements in the field of technology transfer.
Marshall Space Flight Center was the recipient of Project of the Year honors for its High-Strength, Wear-Resistant Aluminum Alloy, while Kennedy Space Center took home an Excellence in Technology Transfer award for its Zero-Valent Metal Emulsion for Reductive Dehalogenation of DNAPLs.
Honorable mention award recipients include:
- Glenn Research Center for Multi-Parameter, Microsensor-Based Low False Alarm Fire Detection System (MMFDS) for Aircraft
- Goddard Space Flight Center for GPS-Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS/GEODE); Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) and the MPL Network (MPLNET); and Recursive Hierarchical Segmentation (RHSEG) Pre-processing Software: For Analyzing Imagery Data
- Marshall Space Flight Center for The TRACeR III-V (NASA-enhanced X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Scanner)
For more information, visit http://www.federallabs.org
Please mention that you read about it in Technology Innovation.
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