Technology Opportunity Showcase highlights some unique technologies that NASA has developed and which we believe have strong potential for commercial application. While the descriptions provided here are brief, they should provide enough information to communicate the potential applications of the technology. For more detailed information, contact the person listed. Please mention that you read about it in Innovation.

Technology Opportunity Showcase

Hot NASA Technologies

Fixture for Stripping Coatings From Optical Fibers

Goddard Space Flight Center seeks licensing of its patented fixture for chemically stripping coatings from optical fibers in component assembly procedures. Unlike mechanical stripping, chemical stripping does not rely on using blades that may nick or scratch glass fiber, thus resulting in fiber breakage or a latent component defect. Goddard's fixture helps minimize the exposure of fiber components to chemical solution fumes, in contrast to simple immersion techniques. The fixture is nonreactive with most hot and cold chemical stripping solutions. Designed and used for NASA-qualified optical cable and buffered fiber, the device consists of a fixture body and handle (optional). A cable or buffered fiber is inserted through the device handle and fixture body, after outermost components are cut to the proper length. The cable or fiber is then firmly seated in the fixture body and the handle attached. Once properly seated, the coated fiber protrudes by the correct amount and is ready for chemical stripping. The fixture body and protruding coated fiber are immersed in a stripping solution up to a notch on the fixture tip. After about 90 seconds, common coatings (acrylate) soften and swell. The fixture and fiber are then withdrawn from the solution and the handle removed. A softened and swelled coating can be removed by sliding the fixture body off the fiber, or the coating can be wiped off with a cloth. The device can be used for most applications in which repeatability, dependability, or reliability is important or critical, including optical fiber connectorization, termination, splicing, or active device assembly (such as pigtailed lasers).

For more information, contact Joe Famiglietti at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Call: 301/286-2642, Fax: 301/286-0301, E-mail: Joe.Famiglietti@gsfc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it inInnovation.

Myrinet Fiber-Optic Extender

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) seeks to transfer the Myrinet fiber-optic extender methodology to commercial users. Currently, it is used in such NASA applications as special effects rendering, computer-aided engineering, graphic design, architecture, medicine, geology and space science. The extender, aided by JPL's optical hardware base, provides a high-performance, scalable optical interconnection network (optical channel interface, or OCI) for massively parallel supercomputers, high-performance workstations and multimedia peripherals. With the optical support, this technology seamlessly transports data flow and stream traffic with little global network management overhead. This is accomplished by integrating into one network the best of two technologies—the ultralow latency of distributed Myrinet asynchronous electronic crossbar switches and the rich transport topology provided by wavelength division multiplexed fiber optics and OCI. The extender is 10 times faster than a 100-millibit/second ethernet, enables distributed memory (random access memory,
or RAM) applications for workstation groups and allows for diskless workstations with significantly less RAM. The optical channel interface hardware is specifically tailored to work with the Myrinet hardware developed by Myricom, located in Arcadia, California. Potential commercial users will need to work with JPL to significantly reduce the board size by developing custom integrated circuits to implement the optical channel interface hardware.

For more information on commercialization opportunities, contact Alice S. Wessen at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Call: 818/354-4930, Fax: 818/393-4093, E-mail: alice.s.wessen@jpl.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

Signal Analysis System

Stennis Space Center is seeking qualified companies for the further development and commercialization of a signal analysis process as a method to increase the response speed of existing sensor technologies. The current NASA use for the signal analysis process is in a smart hydrogen detection system. The system predicts the steady-state response of a signal and thus can increase the speed of any sensor that responds to a step input. This means that a faster response can be attained without developing a faster sensor, making the system a potential cost-effective alternative for existing sensors that are limited by slow response times. The system employs a signal-processing algorithm to determine, in near real time, the steady-state response of a normally slow sensor. A small microprocessor samples the hydrogen sensor's output at small, regular time intervals and dynamically predicts the sensor's response to a step change in temperature. The algorithm has been implemented using both C and BASIC programming languages and resides as firmware in Erasable Programming Read Only Memory (EPROM). Potential commercialization opportunities are in hydrogen detection systems and industrial applications, including personal safety medical-type electronic thermometers.

For more information, contact Staci C. Kramer at Stennis Space Center.
Call: 228/688-2751, Fax: 228/688-3935, E-mail: staci.kramer@ssc.nasa.gov
Please mention you read about it in Innovation.