Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Filtering techniques”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11

Alternative approach to multisensor navigation

An alternative to the Kalman filtering technique, based on logical rather than numerical techniques, is presented. It can be implemented on one or more microprocessors (with a fixed communications protocol between the individual microprocessors); requires only limited preprocessing of the input data; can have its constituent subsystem changed without major revision to the combiner as new or better navigation techniques, such as the global positioning system (GPS) or Loran-C, become available; and tolerates a wide variety of sensor, hardware, and software errors. The basic structure of the method and results of simulations of its performance in the presence of errors common to low-cost sensors (such as VOR or basic Omega) are presented, along with a discussion of possible extensions.

Cannon, M. J.↗

Crustal structures under the active volcanic areas of central and eastern Mediterranean (M-44)

Programs are being adapted to the UNIVAC 1000 computer and others are being developed for immediate utilization in processing MAGSAT data. stability intermediate for lower continental crust and to upper manele conditions. Attempts to residuate crustal anomalies from one selected profile passing through western mediterranean using procedures commonly used at NASA yielded dubious results because of uncertainties in the adoption of coefficients in the expression accounting for the effect of equatorial ring currents and the empirical approach used for other corrections. Instead, filtering techniques are to be applied to each profile once investigator B tapes relative to the whole planet are received.

Gasparini, P.↗

Shock-fitted Euler solutions to shock vortex interactions

The interaction of a planar shock wave with one or more vortexes is computed using a pseudospectral method and a finite difference method. The development of the spectral method is emphasized. In both methods the shock wave is fitted as a boundary of the computational domain. The results show good agreement between both computational methods. The spectral method is, however, restricted to smaller time steps and requires use of filtering techniques.

Salas, M. D.↗

Real time estimation of the heaving and pitching motions of a ship, using a Kalman filter

In the present study the estimation of the heave and pitch motion of a ship is considered, using Kalman filtering techniques. A significant part of the study is devoted to constructing appropriate models for the sea and the ship. The governing equations are obtained from hydrodynamic considerations in the form of linear differential equations with frequency dependent coefficients. In addition, nonminimum phase characteristics are obtained due to the spatial integration of the water wave forces. The resulting transfer matrix function is irrational and nonminimum phase. The conditions for a finite-dimensional approximation are considered and the impact of the various parameters is assessed. A numerical application is considered for a DD-963 destroyer.

Triantafyllou, M.↗

Infrared observations of the dark side of Iapetus

J, H, K, L and L-prime broadband and 2.8-3.8 micron narrowband photometric observations have been made of the dark side of Iapetus with circularly variable filter techniques. A 3-micron absorption feature is found which is too deep to be a residual water frost feature from the bright material around the poles. In light of laboratory simulations showing that the dark material must have a strong 3-cm absorption, it is suggested that the material may be a hydrated silicate mixed with a small amount of water frost.

Lebofsky, L. A.↗

Planar ion trap (retarding potential analyzer) experiment for atmosphere explorer

The retarding potential analyzer and drift meter were carried aboard all three Atmosphere Explorer spacecraft. These instruments measure the total thermal ion concentration and temperature, the bulk thermal ion velocity vector and some limited properties of the relative abundance of H(+), He(+), O(+) and molecular ions. These instruments functioned with no internal failures on all the spacecraft. On AE-E there existed some evidence for external surface contamination that damaged the integrity of the RPA sweep grids. This led to some difficulties in data reduction and interpretation that did not prove to be a disastrous problem. The AE-D spacecraft functioned for only a few months before it re-entered. During this time the satellite suffered from a nutation about the spin axis of about + or - 2 deg. This 2 deg modulation was superimposed upon the ion drift meter horizontal ion arrival angle output requiring the employment of filtering techniques to retrieve the real data.

Hanson, W. B.↗

High-resolution lidar system for measuring the spatial and temporal structure of the mesospheric sodium layer

The design of a high-resolution tunable-dye laser-based lidar system for the study of the mesospheric sodium layer is presented and results of sodium measurements are indicated. The lidar system comprises a tunable flashlamp-pumped dye laser operating at the sodium D2 resonance line at 589.0 nm with a pulse width of 2 microsec FWHM and pulse frequency of 10 Hz and a telescope with a 1.22=m diameter Fresnel lens. Sodium profiles are obtained from the integration of 100 to 250 laser shots, with spatial and temporal resolution enhanced by two-dimensional filtering techniques. Measurements obtained over a 9-hour nighttime period illustrate the highly dynamic nature of the sodium layer, which was observed with a spatial resolution of 2 km and temporal resolution of 30 min. Observations made with a steerable apparatus have confirmed a presunrise enhancement of over 100 percent in sodium column abundance.

Gardner, C. S.↗

Automatic evaluation of interferograms

A system for the evaluation of interference patterns was developed. For digitizing and processing of the interferograms from classical and holographic interferometers a picture analysis system based upon a computer with a television digitizer was installed. Depending on the quality of the interferograms, four different picture enhancement operations may be used: Signal averaging; spatial smoothing, subtraction of the overlayed intensity function and the removal of distortion-patterns using a spatial filtering technique in the frequency spectrum of the interferograms. The extraction of fringe loci from the digitized interferograms is performed by a foating-threshold method. The fringes are numbered using a special scheme after the removal of any fringe disconnections which appeared if there was insufficient contrast in the holograms. The reconstruction of the object function from the fringe field uses least squares approximation with spline fit. Applications are given.

Becker, F.↗

Shock-fitted Euler solutions to shock-vortex interactions

The interaction of a planar shock wave with one or more vortexes is computed using a pseudospectral method and a finite difference method. The development of the spectral method is emphasized. In both methods the shock wave is fitted as a boundary of the computational domain. The results show good agreement between both computational methods. The spectral method is, however, restricted to smaller time steps and requires use of filtering techniques. Previously announced in STAR as N82-28061

Salas, M. D.↗

LANDSAT 4 investigations of Thematic Mapper and Multispectral Scanner applications

Structural and stratigraphic characteristics of the Drum Mountains in Utah were obtained using LANDSAT 5 TM data that were digitally enhanced using band ratioing, principal components analysis, and spatial filtering techniques. Color ratioing composite images proved most useful for distinguishing between and identifying exposure of hyroxly bearing hydrothermally altered inclusive rocks and bleached contact metamorphic rocks dominated by calc-silicate mineral assemblages. The amount and detail of geologic information interpreted from TM images is more significant than that from MSS and in geologic maps. Enhanced LANDSAT 5 TM data also identified and mapped hydrothermal alteration and distinguished between altered and unaltered limonitic assemblages in the Tonopath, Nevada quadrangle.

Lauer, D. T.↗

Always-Convergent Iterative Noise Removal and Deconvolution for Image Data

Linear filtering techniques currently used for the restoration of noisy, blurred or otherwise degraded image data are discussed and new techniques related to the iterative techniques of Morrison and van Cittert are developed and implemented. Programs written for the implementation are discussed in the appendices. It is shown that the new techniques are convergent for any system response function, and they are applied to the task of restoring a severely blurred image.

Ioup, G. E.↗

Results from 1984 airborne Doppler lidar wind measurement program. Flight 6: Analysis of line-of-sight elevation angle errors and apparent Doppler velocities

During the summer of 1984 the Marshall Space Flight Center's Airborne Doppler Lidar System (ADLS) made a series of wind measurements in the California Central Valley. This study quantifies the lidar beam angle errors and velocity errors through analysis of ground return signals. Line-of-sight elevation (LOSE) angle errors are under 1 deg. Apparent Doppler ground velocities, as large as 2m/s, are considerably less than in a previous flight experiment in 1981. No evidence was found of a Schuler resonance phenomenon common to inertial navigation systems (INS), however the aperiodic nature of the apparent velocities implies an error in the INS-derived ground speeds. Certain features and subtleties in the ground returns are explained in terms of atmospheric structure and characteristics of the ADLS hardware and software. Finally, least squares and low-pass filtering techniques are suggested for eliminating errors during post-processing.

Rothermel, Jeffry↗

Algorithms and programming tools for image processing on the MPP, part 2

A number of algorithms were developed for image warping and pyramid image filtering. Techniques were investigated for the parallel processing of a large number of independent irregular shaped regions on the MPP. In addition some utilities for dealing with very long vectors and for sorting were developed. Documentation pages for the algorithms which are available for distribution are given. The performance of the MPP for a number of basic data manipulations was determined. From these results it is possible to predict the efficiency of the MPP for a number of algorithms and applications. The Parallel Pascal development system, which is a portable programming environment for the MPP, was improved and better documentation including a tutorial was written. This environment allows programs for the MPP to be developed on any conventional computer system; it consists of a set of system programs and a library of general purpose Parallel Pascal functions. The algorithms were tested on the MPP and a presentation on the development system was made to the MPP users group. The UNIX version of the Parallel Pascal System was distributed to a number of new sites.

Reeves, Anthony P.↗

Dynamic sensing of 6-axis external force and moment applied to a robot end

A dynamic force sensing method is proposed for a robot manipulator. A 6-axis wrist force sensor which is commonly used for robot force sensing does not take the direct measurement of the force and moment applied to an end effector externally from the environment of the manipulator, but takes the resultant of the gravity, the inertial force and moment on the end effector, and the external force and moment. The separation of gravitational and inertial force and moment from the measurement of the force sensor is crucial to achieving dynamically accurate force sensing and fast manipulator motion under force feedback control. A mathematical model is derived for the force sensing process and the separation of the force and moment as a nonlinear optimal state estimation problem formulated. Then an approximate solution is given using extended Kalman filtering techniques.

Yokota, Masaru Uchiyama↗

A densely spaced array of sea level monitors for the detection of vertical crustal deformation in the Shumagin seismic gap, Alaska

A network of sea level gauges has been installed with about 40 km spacing in the Shumagin Islands in order to detect relative vertical motion, in particular, possible crustal motion precursory to an expected major earthquake. This required the development and deployment of a pressure sensor sea level gauge suitable for installation on remote and harsh coastlines. Data are collected in near-real-time via satellite, both in order to exploit fully any precursors that may be observed and to provide continuous information on the status of the instruments. Using Wiener filtering techniques, it has been determined conservatively that no relative vertical crustal motion greater than 0.1 m between stations has occurred during 1981-1985. This is consistent with independent geodetic leveling and trilateration data, though evidence exists for more rapid deformation during 1978-1980. The sea level data collected so far have an rms noise level of about 0.04 m after processing; this is limited in part by the pressure sensor and associated electronics. Improved prressure gauges with better long-term stability have recently been installed. A short-baseline tiltmeter operating in a tunnel has demonstrated that suitably designed and located land-based tiltmeters have a lower noise level, and hence better precursor detection characteristics than the sea level gauges, at monthly and shorter periods.

Beavan, John↗

EUV astronomical spectroscopy with CCD detectors

The applicability of CCD detectors to astronomical extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscopy (100-1250 A) is discussed. The advantages of CCDs in this spectral region include internal electron yield, the potential for very high quantum efficiency (about 50-90 percent), and broad wavelength response. Visible light suppression is achieved by a combination of low grating scattering, greater than unity electron yield in the EUV, and various filter techniques. For the current generation of CCDs, detection of only a few EUV photons will rapidly overwhelm the read noise; thus, for all practical S/N ratios used in astronomical spectroscopy, read noise will be negligible compared to the poisson statistics of the detected photons. A model based on experimental data for the quantum efficiency and electron yield of CCDs in the EUV is discussed.

Stern, R. A.↗

Pulse-timing study of Vela X-1 based on Hakucho and Tenma data - 1980-1984

The extensive observations of Vela X-1 acquired from 1980 to 1984 with the Hakucho and Tenma satellites, using a pulse-filtering technique that provides a significant improvement in pulse-timing precision, are reexamined. The details of the preparation of this data base, including the determination of updated orbital parameters based on these and previously published observations covering a 10-yr interval, are reported. Preparatory to estimation of angular-acceleration flux-correlation pairs, substantially improved estimates of the power density of fluctuations in the derivative of the pulse frequency on analysis periods between 0.5 and 80 days are presented. These results support the phenomenological hypothesis that unresolved fluctuations in the angular acceleration of the neutron star, describable as random noise, are responsible for the entire history of the observed variation in pulse frequency of Vela X-1 on all time scales longer than a few days.

Deeter, J. E.↗

Improving Estimates Of Phase Parameters When Amplitude Fluctuates

Adaptive inverse filter applied to incoming signal and noise. Time-varying inverse-filtering technique developed to improve digital estimate of phase of received carrier signal. Intended for use where received signal fluctuates in amplitude as well as in phase and signal tracked by digital phase-locked loop that keeps its phase error much smaller than 1 radian. Useful in navigation systems, reception of time- and frequency-standard signals, and possibly spread-spectrum communication systems.

Vilnrotter, V. A.↗