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United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

The Institute for Technology Development

Robert E Ryan

Mark Allen Lanoue

George A May

Matthew Bethel

In a system for optimizing crop growth, vegetation is cultivated in a contained environment, such as a greenhouse, an underground cavern or other enclosed space. Imaging equipment is positioned within or about the contained environment, to acquire spatially distributed crop growth information, and environmental sensors are provided to acquire data regarding multiple environmental conditions that can affect crop development. Illumination within the contained environment, and the addition of essential nutrients and chemicals are in turn controlled in response to data acquired by the imaging apparatus and environmental sensors, by an 'expert system' which is trained to analyze and evaluate crop conditions. The expert system controls the spatial and temporal lighting pattern within the contained area, and the timing and allocation of nutrients and chemicals to achieve optimized crop development. A user can access the 'expert system' remotely, to assess activity within the growth chamber, and can override the &#x201c;expert system&#x201d;.

Expert system for controlling plant growth in a contained environment

A self-calibrating nulling radiometer for non-contact temperature measurement of an object, such as a body of water, employs a black body source as a temperature reference, an optomechanical mechanism, e.g., a chopper, to switch back and forth between measuring the temperature of the black body source and that of a test source, and an infrared detection technique. The radiometer functions by measuring radiance of both the test and the reference black body sources; adjusting the temperature of the reference black body so that its radiance is equivalent to the test source; and, measuring the temperature of the reference black body at this point using a precision contact-type temperature sensor, to determine the radiative temperature of the test source. The radiation from both sources is detected by an infrared detector that converts the detected radiation to an electrical signal that is fed with a chopper reference signal to an error signal generator, such as a synchronous detector, that creates a precision rectified signal that is approximately proportional to the difference between the temperature of the reference black body and that of the test infrared source. This error signal is then used in a feedback loop to adjust the reference black body temperature until it equals that of the test source, at which point the error signal is nulled to zero. The chopper mechanism operates at one or more Hertz allowing minimization of 1/f noise. It also provides pure chopping between the black body and the test source and allows continuous measurements.

Radiant temperature nulling radiometer

The present method for display of wall paneling includes the steps of securing two back-to-back panel samples within a perimeter and then in turn securing several of such perimeters within variously configured pre-formed angle channels in order to obtain a desired floor display pattern.

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Diamondhead, MS, United States of America

Robert E Ryan