Southwest Research Institute

E-spectrum Technologies, Incorporated

Daniel P Burris

Thomas David Hosbach

Hugh F Spence

Christopher R Tripp

Mark O Oerkfitz

John P Weiblen

Robert A Houston

A portable wireless through-the-earth bi-directional communication system for sending and receiving text data using ultra-low-frequency electric current and the earth as the conductive media. A surface controller which executes application software which controls the communication functions of the system. A surface receiver and surface transmitter are connected to sets of electrodes which provide the electric current, and are in communication with the surface controller. Text data are encoded into data packets, modulated onto ultra-low-frequency electric carrier waves, and transmitted through the earth by the surface electrodes to a subsurface transceiver. The subsurface transceiver demodulates, converts and displays incoming signals into text messages. The subsurface transceiver has a user interface to allow subsurface users to submit text data to the surface receiver. The transceiver converts the text data into analog data packets, modulates the packets onto ultra-low-frequency carrier waves, and transmits the signal to the surface receiver.

Portable wireless through-the-earth communication system

A method for detecting an diagnosing faults in printed circuit boards. Emissivity data and thermal image data of the various components of the board are obtained. The emissivity data is used to correct the thermal image data. The corrected data is converted to device space data, which is then input to a previously trained neural network. The output of the neural network indicates the location of the fault. The method includes an improved method for obtaining an emissivity map and a method for providing suitable neural network input.

Fault detection and diagnosis for printed circuit boards

Growing community of inventors

San Antonio, TX, United States of America

Daniel P Burris