NASA’s annual Spinoff publication was released Tuesday and features 49 of some of the most recent technologies the agency helped create that are used in almost every facet of society, from your phone and furniture to aviation and healthcare.
From its inception on July 29, 1958, NASA has worked to develop and mature technical solutions for the Agency’s broad array of future missions, yet, these inevitably can also be applied to challenges facing U.S. businesses, institutions, and citizens. This is done by forging industry partnerships to overcome technical challenges.
NASA also issues patent licenses; In 2016, for example, the Agency issued close to 100 patent licenses and more than 2,600 software usage agreements, setting two new records. This year’s NASA spinoffs include 49 different technologies, from their inception at NASA to their successful commercialization, and the impact they have made on society.
In looking at all the different technologies that have been commercialized, from artificial intelligence that helps drones avoid collisions to Ultra-sensitive radar technology repurposed to identify the vital signs of disaster survivors trapped under rubble, the list is amazing and interesting. Let’s look at a few of Digital Journal’s favorites.
Sterilizing fogger for ambulances
A ride in an ambulance to the hospital can be a scary experience, and most people needing this service don’t think about the sterility of the transport vehicle. But in 2014, the Ebola epidemic was at its height. Medical personnel and first responders were among the most vulnerable to infection, bringing the question of infectious disease exposure to the forefront.
Kent, Ohio-based Emergency Products + Research (EP+R), knew there were systems already were on the market for sterilizing hospital operating rooms, but they could cost upwards of $50,000 and the sterilization process can take hours. They needed to develop something that could sterilize an ambulance in a shorter period of time.
EP+R wanted something that was inexpensive and fast and left no residue—since wiping takes extra time and, if an unsterile cloth is used, could risk recontaminating the entire surface. By 2015, they had decided on a machine that sprayed out the sterilizing chemical in a mist or fog but the big question was which chemical agent would be the safest and not affect any electronic equipment?
NASA stepped in through their Regional Economic Development Program that offers limited consultations with a NASA subject matter expert. NASA’s technology originally intended for protecting solar array panels from atomic oxygen found that here on Earth, atomic oxygen is an extremely effective sterilizing agent, which is just how it is used to disinfect ambulances.
Developing smarter drones with NASA’s help
As more and more of the public turn to drones for recreational activity, the skies are ending up crowded in some places. This is why Boston-based Neurala created a robotic brain software that uses real-time machine learning to recognize people and familiar objects.
Neurala was founded in 2006. The company’s innovations consist in emulating brain function in software. This takes the form of neural (or deep) networks designed to capture basic navigation and perception competences exhibited by humans. Out of their work with NASA in artificial intelligence and machine learning for robotics came the “Brains for Bots” project.
Neurala’s “Brains For Bots” software is so efficient that learning and recognition can take place locally on the device. The Neurala brain can work even with low-cost hardware, and can even be used on many toys. But basically, it keeps drones from running into collisions with cars and other stationary objects, like a lamp or the television.
Satellite technology used to find the living
NASA satellites have long analyzed weak radio signals to identify slight physical movements, such as seismic activity seen from low-Earth orbit or minor alterations in a satellite’s path around another planet.
In the early 2000s, the Department of Defense approached JPL wondering about the possibility of using remote sensing to determine whether there were troops alive on a battlefield and to take remote biomedical readings. And while some work was done, it was dropped for lack of funding.
However, FEMA wanted such a device for locating trapped survivors in natural disasters here on Earth. This led to the agency working with Maryland tech company R4 on FINDER (Finding Individuals for Disaster Emergency Response). R 4 was founded in 2006 by a group of veterans and is a high-tech sensor company.
One of the first things engineers had to do was figure out how to design and package small, low-energy, rugged hardware, which the units required, and have it be able to identify working hearts and lungs by reflected microwave radar. Once they were able to identify a heartbeat, they had to further refine signal-processing algorithms to distinguish a human heartbeat from an animal.
And the device had to be able to pick out multiple victims and be able to recognize the rhythms of distinct pairs of heart and breathing rates. As it turns out, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS-S&T) all collaborated to adapt this tech into FINDER.
The sensor detects human beings, hidden from view by enclosed walls or trapped in the rubble, by their heartbeats and breathing patterns. Low-powered microwaves, about 1/1000th of the power generated in a cell phone, are directed towards an intended search area.
Basically, the data received is generated from vibrations. Then the data is analyzed by software algorithms to reveal if a human is alive. The unique thing about a human heartbeat is that the rhythmic beat changes with each breath and this is exactly what is picked up.
The technological innovations and developments that have come out of our space program number in the thousands, and touch on every one of our lives, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear and the vehicles we drive. NASA R&D has transformed medical care, industry, and manufacturing. If you, the reader have time, be sure to look through Spinoff 2018. You will be astounded.
