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Lumb, D. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Lumb, D. R..

Data reduction by computer processing

The automated analysis of remote sensing data, specifically digital processing of LANDSAT or other image data in numerical form was considered in a technical workshop which covered the teaching of digital image processing, including both theoretical and applied subjects and laboratory experience, and also reviewed NASA developed image processing software, and hardware/software systems employed at NASA-Ames Research Center in support of the Western Regional Applications Program (WRAP). A course titled Image Processing Lab, one of two courses required for a graduate minor in remote sensing at Arizona is examined as well as the rationale, content, and hardware/software support for this course.

Lumb, D. R.

University resources sharing using the CTS

NASA-Ames Research Center and Stanford University in California, and Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, are designing a curriculum-sharing experiment which will use compressed digital television. The experiment will permit evaluation of the potential of curriculum sharing by two universities which are geographically distant, but capable of transmitting and receiving television signals. The evaluation of the curriculum sharing per se will include inputs from faculty, staff and students at both institutions. Accessibility to and acceptability of each other's curriculum will be studied and recorded. Adjustments to differences in academic terms, class meeting times, teaching styles and similar issues will be closely monitored. It is hoped that this experiment will provide long-range planners the kind of information which they will need when designing large-scale educational telecommunications systems for the future.

Down, K. S.

College curriculum-sharing via CTS

Domestic communication satellites and video compression techniques will increase communication channel capacity and reduce cost of video transmission. NASA Ames Research Center, Stanford University and Carleton University are participants in an experiment to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate college course sharing techniques via satellite using video compression. The universities will exchange televised seminar and lecture courses via CTS. The experiment features real-time video compression with channel coding and quadra-phase modulation for reducing transmission bandwidth and power requirements. Evaluation plans and preliminary results of Carleton surveys on student attitudes to televised teaching are presented. Policy implications for the U.S. and Canada are outlined.

Hudson, H. E.

CTS digital video college curriculum-sharing experiment

NASA-Ames Research Center, Stanford University, and Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, are participating in a joint experiment to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of college curriculum sharing using compressed digital television and the Communications Technology Satellite (CTS). Each university will offer televised courses to the other during the 1976-1977 academic year via CTS, a joint program by NASA and the Canadian Department of Communications. The video compression techniques to be demonstrated will enable economical interconnection of educational institutions using existing and planned domestic satellites.

Lumb, D. R.

A very high speed hard decision sequential decoder.

Description of a 40-megabit-per-second hard decision sequential decoder which employs the fastest commercially available digital integrated circuits - MECL III. With this decoder an internal computational rate of 70,000,000 computations per second has been achieved. The computational efficiency of the decoding algorithm has been improved by incorporating two modifications to the Fano algorithm - namely, 'double quick threshold loosening' and 'diagonal steps.' On the basis of preliminary results, an output error rate of 0.00001 can be achieved with E sub b/N sub zero less than 5.4 dB at data rates up to 40 megabits per second. The very high internal operating speed of the decoder represents a factor of five increase in speed over any previous sequential decoder.

Gilhousen, K. S.

A very high speed hard decision sequential decoder.

Description of a 40-Mbps hard-decision sequential decoder for high-data-rate coding systems for earth-orbiting space missions with power-limited links. A prototype decoder has been designed and fabricated using the fastest commercially available digital integrated circuits, MECL III. Thus far, an internal computational rate of 70 million computations per second has been achieved. Computational efficiency of the decoding algorithm was greatly improved by incorporating two modifications to the Fano algorithm - 'double quick threshold loosening' and 'diagonal steps.' Preliminary results indicate that an output error rate of 0.00001 can be achieved with E sub b/N sub zero less than 5.4 dB at data rates up to 40 Mbps. At lower data rates, even less signal energy is required. This decoder is believed to be at least five times faster than any previous sequential decoder.

Gilhousen, K. S.

An improved telemetry system

Transmission of parity bits together with data bits by a rate one half convolutional code of 25-bit constraint length, with sequential decoding of received signal increases quantity and accuracy of data transmitted by pulse code modulated system operating at given power level.

Lumb, D. R.

High data rate coding for the space station telemetry links.

Coding systems for high data rates were examined from the standpoint of potential application in space-station telemetry links. Approaches considered included convolutional codes with sequential, Viterbi, and cascaded-Viterbi decoding. It was concluded that a high-speed (40 Mbps) sequential decoding system best satisfies the requirements for the assumed growth potential and specified constraints. Trade-off studies leading to this conclusion are viewed, and some sequential (Fano) algorithm improvements are discussed, together with real-time simulation results.

Lumb, D. R.