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• Enables advancement toward ISO 9000 certifications: By creating repeatable standards and reproducible measurements for film thickness, this technology can help companies advance towards achievement of ISO 9000 certification.
  
  
• Multifunctional: Provides fast material composition identification as well as proximity measurement
  
  
• Stable: Eliminates thermal drift issues
  
  
• Rugged: Performs flawlessly in harsh environments
  
  
• Precise proximity data: Dramatically increases detection range and sensitivity over existing technologies
  
  
• Efficient: Requires only milliwatt levels of power
  
  
• Versatile: Allows multiple configurations and combinations
  
  
• Low cost: Uses standard, commercially available hardware
  

• Soil information detector
  
  
• Aircraft safety (e.g., determining the type of snow and ice accumulation on wings)
  
  
• Security systems (e.g., weapon or explosive detection, motion detection)
  
  
• Safety systems (e.g., human detection in automotive and heavy machinery applications)
  
  
• Air bag deployment sensors and systems
  
  
• Land mine detection systems
  
  
• Industrial robotics applications (e.g., obstacle detection, guidance systems)
  
  
• Industrial process control
  

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed the multifrequency-scanning capaciflector as a replacement for the gamma-ray spectrometers typically used to identify material composition in extra planetary rover applications. Compared to gamma-ray spectrometers, which typically take 10 minutes to identify material, Goddard’s multifrequency-scanning capaciflector provides faster material identification and precise proximity data in a rugged and stable package.

The multifrequency-scanning capaciflector differentiates the effect of a material’s permittivity from the geometry of the object by using the shape of the capacitance curve as a function of frequency. A capaciflector sensor, coupled to current-measuring voltage follower circuitry, is driven by an oscillator that is swept in frequency and generates an output corresponding to capacitance as a function of the input frequency. This swept frequency information is fed into an apparatus for comparing the shape of the capacitance-versus-frequency curve against characteristic capacitance-versus-frequency curves for a variety of materials. Using pattern-matching techniques, the multifrequency-scanning capaciflector can identify the object’s material and its distance.

NASA Goddard’s patented concept can be adapted and utilized in a broad range of applications—from determining the type of snow and ice accumulation on aircraft wings to weapons and explosives detection to industrial process controls including mass detection, moisture detection, material identification, fluid monitoring, capacity monitoring, and counting.

NASA’s multifrequency-scanning capaciflector has been patented (US 5,521,515) (Link opens new browser window.).

For information and forms related to the technology licensing and partnering process, please visit the Licensing and Partnering page. (Link opens new browser window.)

If you are interested in more information or want to pursue transfer of this technology, please contact:

Innovative Partnerships Program Office
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Phone: (301) 286-2642
E-mail: techtransfer@gsfc.nasa.gov