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At least 181 records · Page 10

Acquisition times of carrier tracking sampled data phase-locked loops

Phase acquisition times of type II and III loops typical of the Advanced Receiver are studied by computer simulations when the loops are disturbed by gaussian noise. Reliable estimates are obtained by running 5000 trials for each combination of loop signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and frequency offset. The probabilities of acquisition are shown versus time from start of acquisition for various loop SNRs and frequency offsets. For frequency offsets smaller than one-fourth of the loop bandwidth and for loop SNRs of 10 dB and higher, the loops acquire with probability 0.99 within 2.5 B sub L for type II loops and within 7/B sub L for type III loops.

Aguirre, S.↗

Radar investigation of asteroids

For 80 Sappho, 356 Liguria, 694 Ekard, and 2340 Hathor, data were taken simultaneously in the same sense of circular polarization as transmitted (SC) as well as in the opposite (OC) sense. Graphs show the average OC and SC radar echo power spectra soothed to a resolution of EFB Hz and plotted against Doppler frequency. Radar observations of the peculiar object 2201 Oljato reveal an unusual set of echo power spectra. The albedo and polarization ratio remain fairly constant but the bandwidths range from approximately 0.8 Hz to 1.4 Hz and the spectral shapes vary dramatically. Echo characteristics within any one date's approximately 2.5-hr observation period do not fluctuate very much. Laboratory measurements of the radar frequency electrical properties of particulate metal-plus-silicate mixtures can be combined with radar albedo estimates to constrain the bulk density and metal weight, fraction in a hypothetical asteroid regolith having the same particle size distribution as lab samples.

Ostro, S. J.↗

Radar observations of Comet Halley

Five nights of Arecibo radar observations of Comet Halley are reported which reveal a feature in the overall average spectrum which, though weak, seems consistent with being an echo from the comet. The large radar cross section and large bandwidth of the feature suggest that the echo is predominantly from large grains which have been ejected from the nucleus. Extrapolation of the dust particle size distribution to large grain sizes gives a sufficient number of grains to account for the echo. The lack of a detectable echo from the nucleus, combined with estimates of its size and rotation rate from spacecraft encounters and other data, indicate that the nucleus has a surface of relatively high porosity.

Campbell, D. B.↗

An evaluation of methods for scaling aircraft noise perception

One hundred and twenty recorded sounds, including jets, turboprops, piston engined aircraft and helicopters were rated by a panel of subjects in a paired comparison test. The results were analyzed to evaluate a number of noise rating procedures in terms of their ability to accurately estimate both relative and absolute perceived noise levels. It was found that the complex procedures developed by Stevens, Zwicker and Kryter are superior to other scales. The main advantage of these methods over the more convenient weighted sound pressure level scales lies in their ability to cope with signals over a wide range of bandwidth. However, Stevens' loudness level scale and the perceived noise level scale both overestimate the growth of perceived level with intensity because of an apparent deficiency in the band level summation rule. A simple correction is proposed which will enable these scales to properly account for the experimental observations.

Ollerhead, J. B.↗

Dynamics and control simulation of the Spacelab Experiment Pointing Mount

Computer simulations were developed to evaluate the performance of four Experiment Pointing Mounts (EPM) being considered for Spacelab experiments in the 1980-1990 time frame. The system modeled compromises a multibody system consisting of the shuttle, a mechanical isolation device, the EPM, celestial and inertial sensors, bearings, gimbal torque motors and associated nonlinearities, the experiment payload, and control and estimator algorithms. Each mount was subjected to a common disturbance (shuttle vernier thruster firing and man push off) and command (stellar pointing or solar raster scan) input. The fundamental limitation common to all mounts was found to be sensor noise. System dynamics and hardware nonlinearities have secondary effects on pointing performance for sufficiently high bandwidth.

Marsh, E. L.↗

Accuracy of High-Rate GPS for Seismology

We built a device for translating a GPS antenna on a positioning table to simulate the ground motions caused by an earthquake. The earthquake simulator is accurate to better than 0.1 mm in position, and provides the "ground truth" displacements for assessing the technique of high-rate GPS. We found that the root-mean-square error of the 1-Hz GPS position estimates over the 15-min duration of the simulated seismic event was 2.5 mm, with approximately 96% of the observations in error by less than 5 mm, and is independent of GPS antenna motion. The error spectrum of the GPS estimates is approximately flicker noise, with a 50% decorrelation time for the position error of approx.1.6 s. We that, for the particular event simulated, the spectrum of dependent error in the GPS measurements. surface deformations exceeds the GPS error spectrum within a finite band. More studies are required to determine whether a generally optimal bandwidth exists for a target group of seismic events.

Elosegui, P.↗

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) Science Data Segment (SDS) Data Depository and Distribution Element (SD3E) System Architecture

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the U.S. Government's future low-Earth orbiting satellite system, will monitor global weather and environmental conditions. Serving as a risk reduction for NPOESS, the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) will provide remotely sensed atmospheric, land, ocean, ozone, and sounder data that will serve the meteorological and global climate change scientific communities. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) NPP Science Data Segment's (SDS) primary role is to independently assess the quality of the NPP science and environmental data records for their ability to support climate research. The SDS is composed of nine elements; an input element that receives data from the operational agencies and acts as a buffer, a calibration analysis element, five elements devoted to measurement based quality assessment, an element used to test algorithmic improvements, and an element that provides overall science direction. Each element requires a set of sensor specific science data products for their evaluation. There are four NPP sensors that will be flown on the NPP observatory. They are the Visible Infrared Imagining Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), and the Ozone Mapper/Profiler Suite (OMPS). It is estimated that these four sensors combined will make daily data requests for approximately six terabytes of NPP science products from the operational data providers. As a result, issues associated with duplicate data requests, data transfers of large volumes of diverse products, and data transfer failures raised concerns with respect to the network traffic and bandwidth consumption. Therefore, a central data broker system for receiving and buffering data requests and data products for the SDS was developed. The data element for this system is called the SDS Data Depository and Distribution Element (SD3E). It supports science mission data assessment by assuring the timely and validated acquisition and subsequent transfer of the NPP Science Mission data to the SDS Elements and NPP Science Team. The six science elements that interface with the SD3E span across the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the University of Wisconsin. As the primary communication vehicle for the science elements and science team, the SD3E has an interface to the operational data providers: National Environment Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Interface Data Processing System (IDPS) and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship system (CLASS) Archive Data System (ADS), that are responsible for product generation and archive and distribution respectively. The SD3E is designed to be a semi-customizable and semi-automated system. This system is designed to provide flexibility and ease of use for the science users in accessing the latest data products by creating a rolling data cache that temporarily stores the products locally before transferring the data to the SDS Measurement based elements for the land, ocean, atmosphere, sounder, and ozone. This paper describes the design and architecture of one of the nine SDS elements, the SD3E, and how this system has provided a mechanism for efficient data exchange, how it has helped in alleviating some of the network traffic and usage, and how it has contributed to reducing operational costs.

Ho, Evelyn L.↗

Noise power spectral density of the Sundstrand QA-2000 accelerometer

There are no good data on low frequency (less than 0.1 Hz) power spectral density (PSD) for the Q-Flex accelerometer. However, some preliminary stability measurements were made over periods of 12 to 24 hours and demonstrated stability less than 0.5 micro-g over greater than 12 hours. The test data appear to contain significant contributions from temperature variations at that level, so the true sensor contribution may be less than that. If what was seen could be construed as a true random process, it would correspond to about 0.1 micro-g rms over a bandwidth from 10(exp -5) Hz to about 1 Hz. Other studies of low frequency PSD in flexure accelerometers have indicated that material aging effects tend to approximate a first order Markhov process. If we combine such a model with the spectrum obtained at higher frequencies, it suggests the spectrum shown here as a conservative estimate of Q-Flex noise performance.

Peters, Rex↗

A novel algorithm for sea surface height estimation using complex SAR data

A method of extracting sea height information from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) complex data was studied. A fundamental SAR ocean imaging model for gravity waves showed that information about the long wave is present in the SAR complex data, especially its phase. Phase demodulation algorithm followed by linear regression and filtering was employed. Only the latter two steps incorporated a priori information that might be available. A relatively simplified simulation indicated that the finite bandwidth of the SAR system imposed the apparently most serious limitation. A preliminary application to SEASAT-SAR complex imagery was encouraging. Information about the long wave, if incorporated into a more sophisticated phase demodulation structure, i.e., at an earlier point in the algorithm, could conceivably mitigate this bandwidth limitation.

Harger, R. O.↗

OH detection by Ford Motor Company

Two different methods for detection of OH are presented: a low pressure flow cell system and a frequency modulation absorption measurement. Using conventional absorption spectroscopy, detection limits were quoted of 1,000,000 OH molecules per cu cm using a 30-minute averaging time on the ground, and a 3-hour averaging time in the air for present apparatus in use. With the addition of FM spectroscopy at 1 GHz, a double-beam machine should permit detectable absorption of and an OH limit of 100,000 per cu cm in a 30-minute averaging time. In the low pressure system on which experiments are ongoing nonexponential time behavior was observed after the decay had progressed to about 0.3 of its original level; this was attributed to ion emission in the photomultiplier. A flame source with OH present at high concentration levels was used as a calibration. It was estimated that within the sampling chamber, 400,000 OH could be measured. With a factor-of-2 loss at the sampling orifice, this means detectability of 5 to 8 x 100,000 cu cm at the present time. This could be reduced by a factor of 2 in one hour averaging time; improvements in laser bandwidth and energy should provide another factor of 2 in sensitivity.

Wang, Charles C.↗

System for locating the sources of wideband dE/dt from lightning

A system has been developed to measure wideband electic field derivatives (dE/dt) at five ground stations in a 15 km x 15 km network at Kennedy Space Center. Individual station responses are normalized using digital filters. Pulse-timing resolution is improved to much less than 50-ns sample interval by interpolation using packing in the frequency domain. A time tag for each pulse is defined as the mean of the times of the rising-edge half peak, peak, and falling-edge half peak. The standard deviation in these times defines the timing error and is shown to be a function of noise and bandwidth rather than digitization rate. Each of the four unknowns for a pulse source location (x,y,z) and time of occurrence (t) is found from the five time-tag measurements using different weightings for all five combinations of the four-station hyperbolic equations. Weighting factors and errors in x,y,z and t are estimated using error propagation techniques.

Thomson, E. M.↗

Radar backscattering from a rough rotating triaxial ellipsoid with applications to the geodesy of small asteroids

Radar geodesy of the asteroid 433 Eros was reported by Jurgens and Goldstein (1976). Their measurements were based on the spectral properties of a rough rotating triaxial ellipsoid. This paper presents the theory by which theoretical spectra based on a backscattering model of the form of the nth power of the cosine of theta, or any reasonable backscattering model, can be computed. Some general properties of these spectra are demonstrated, and simple measurements of the apparent radar cross section, center frequency, and effective bandwidth as a function of time are shown to be useful in determining the sizes of the semi-major axes, the exponent n in the scattering model, the backscatter efficiency of the surface material, the rotation period, and the declination of the observer above or below the rotation equator. Some of these parameters are correlated, and multiple estimation may be difficult unless the observations span a period sufficiently long so as to present a wide range of declinations of the observer. However, the departure from a spherical shape aids in separating the scattering properties from the target dimensions and facilitates the simultaneous estimation of all free parameters.

Jurgens, R. F.↗

A comparison of methods for DPLL loop filter design

Four design methodologies for loop filters for a class of digital phase-locked loops (DPLLs) are presented. The first design maps an optimum analog filter into the digital domain; the second approach designs a filter that minimizes in discrete time weighted combination of the variance of the phase error due to noise and the sum square of the deterministic phase error component; the third method uses Kalman filter estimation theory to design a filter composed of a least squares fading memory estimator and a predictor. The last design relies on classical theory, including rules for the design of compensators. Linear analysis is used throughout the article to compare different designs, and includes stability, steady state performance and transient behavior of the loops. Design methodology is not critical when the loop update rate can be made high relative to loop bandwidth, as the performance approaches that of continuous time. For low update rates, however, the miminization method is significantly superior to the other methods.

Aguirre, S.↗

SIM-Lite Mission Spectral Calibration Sensitivities and Refinements

SIM-Lite missions will perform astrometry at microarcsecond accuracy using star light interferometry. For typical baselines that are shorter than 10 meters, this requires to measure optical path difference (OPD) accurate to tens of picometers calling for highly accurate calibration. A major challenge is to calibrate the star spectral dependency in fringe measurements -- the spectral calibration. Previously, we have developed a spectral calibration and estimation scheme achieving picometer level accuracy. In this paper, we present the improvements regarding the application of this scheme from sensitivity studies. Data from the SIM Spectral Calibration Development Unit (SCDU) test facility shows that the fringe OPD is very sensitive to pointings of both beams from the two arms of the interferometer. This sensitivity coupled with a systematic pointing error provides a mechanism to explain the bias changes in 2007. Improving system alignment can effectively reduce this sensitivity and thus errors due to pointing errors. Modeling this sensitivity can lead to further improvement in data processing. We then investigate the sensitivity to a model parameter, the bandwidth used in the fringe model, which presents an interesting trade between systematic and random errors. Finally we show the mitigation of calibration errors due to system drifts by interpolating instrument calibrations. These improvements enable us to use SCDU data to demonstrate that SIM-Lite missions can meet the 1pm noise floor requirement for detecting earth-like exoplanets.

wave front aberration↗

High resolution absorption cross sections for the A2Pi-X2Pi system of ClO

High-resolution ultraviolet absorption cross-sections for the ClO molecule are obtained, with the aim of facilitating studies of ozone depletion resulting from the injection of chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere. The spectroscopic analysis, which involves a frequency-doubled tunable dye laser with a bandwidth of 0.015 A, is described. Studies of the rotational lines of the ClO A 2Pi 3/2-X2Pi 3/2 9-10 band were conducted. Peak cross-sections for the P and R lines of the 9-0 band are found to be 10.0, 9.6, 8.6, 10.6, 10.3, and 9.2 times ten to the negative seventeenth power cm squared, with estimated accuracy of plus or minus 25%. Problems in distinguishing between Cl-35 and Cl-37 absorption are also considered.

Wine, P. H.↗

A bandwidth compressive modulation system using multi-amplitude minimum shift keying /MAMSK/

A bandwidth compressive modem making use of multi-amplitude minimum shift keying (MAMSK) has been designed and implemented in a laboratory environment at microwave frequencies. This system achieves a substantial bandwidth reduction over binary PSK and operates within 0.5 dB of theoretical performance. A number of easily implemented microwave transmitters have been designed to generate the required set of 16 signals. The receiver has been designed to work at 1 Mbit/s and contains the necessary phase tracking, AGC, and symbol synchronization loops as well as a lock detector, SNR estimator and provisions for differential decoding. This paper describes this entire system and presents the experimental results.

Weber, W. J., III↗

Adaptive-Sweep Algorithm for Spacecraft Carrier Acquisition and Tracking: System Analysis and Implementation

This paper presents an adaptive-sweep algorithm that can be used in conjunction with a Phased-Lock Loop to acquire and track the carrier of a Binary Phase-shift Keying signal with residual carrier. This algorithm is useful in proximity links where no Doppler pre-compensation is available at the transmitter, and allows the receiver to acquire the incoming carrier even if the experienced Doppler shift is several orders of magnitude larger than the PLL bandwidth. Other applications for this algorithm include Multiple Uplink per Antenna at the Deep Space Network, and generation of observables (Doppler shift, Doppler rate, range rate) for in-situ navigation purposes. This paper enhances a previously presented adaptive-sweep algorithm and its performance analysis in two fronts. First, the algorithm now uses the direction function to automatically estimate the required frequency jump to achieve PLL lock. This enables a fully adaptive-sweep scheme in which system implementer does not need to manually select thresholds. On the other hand, we study the system performance in the presence of Additive White Gaussian Noise and derive necessary conditions for the system to operate at low signal-to-noise conditions. This allows us to create design rules that specify all parameters of the algorithm given a set of system-level requirements. To test the performance of the proposed algorithm, we implement it in GNU Radio, an open-source Software-Defined Radio that interfaces with several commercial radio peripherals. We use this implementation to demonstrate carrier lock and quantify system performance under different noise conditions. We also test the algorithm using open-loop recordings of two downlinks between the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Deep Space Network. We show that even after large frequency jumps (tens of kHz), the proposed system is able to rapidly reacquire the carrier and continue operation.

Divsalar, Dariush↗

Radio-source positions from VLBI

Positions of 85 compact extragalactic radio sources and the Galactic object Beta Persei (Algol) have been determined in the J2000.0 coordinate system for analysis of VLBI observations made with the bandwidth-synthesis technique. Twenty-four of these sources were observed with the Mark I VLBI system in 37 sessions distributed between April 1972 and May 1978, and 82 of the sources were observed with the Mark III system in 85 sessions distributed between August 1979 and December 1982. Each session spanned at least 24 hr. Standard errors for the estimated positions on the sky of the about 10 sources frequently observed with the Mark I system are about 1 mas, except for the declinations of nearly equatorial sources, where these errors approach 5 mas. Corresponding uncertainties for the about 20 sources frequently observed with the Mark III system are 0.3 and 2 mas, respectively.

Ma, C.↗