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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.

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At least 199 records · Page 11

Goldstone R/D High Speed Data Acquisition System

A digital data acquisition system that meets the requirements of several users (initially the planetary radar program) is planned for general use at Deep Space Station 14 (DSS 14). The system, now partially complete, is controlled by VAX 11/780 computer that is programmed in high level languages. A DEC Data Controller is included for moderate-speed data acquisition, low speed data display, and for a digital interface to special user-provided devices. The high-speed data acquisition is performed in devices that are being designed and built at JPL. Analog IF signals are converted to a digitized 50 MHz real signal. This signal is filtered and mixed digitally to baseband after which its phase code (a PN sequence in the case of planetary radar) is removed. It may then be accumulated (or averaged) and fed into the VAX through an FPS 5210 array processor. Further data processing before entering the VAX is thus possible (computation and accumulation of the power spectra, for example). The system is to be located in the research and development pedestal at DSS 14 for easy access by researchers in radio astronomy as well as telemetry processing and antenna arraying.

Deutsch, L. J.↗

High-Speed, High-Resolution Time-to-Digital Conversion

This innovation is a series of time-tag pulses from a photomultiplier tube, featuring short time interval between pulses (e.g., 2.5 ns). Using the previous art, dead time between pulses is too long, or too much hardware is required, including a very-high-speed demultiplexer. A faster method is needed. The goal of this work is to provide circuits to time-tag pulses that arrive at a high rate using the hardwired logic in an FPGA - specifically the carry chain - to create what is (in effect) an analog delay line. High-speed pulses travel down the chain in a "wave." For instance, a pulse train has been demonstrated from a 1- GHz source reliably traveling down the carry chain. The size of the carry chain is over 10 ns in the time domain. Thus, multiple pulses will travel down the carry chain in a wave simultaneously. A register clocked by a low-skew clock takes a "snapshot" of the wave. Relatively simple logic can extract the pulses from the snapshot picture by detecting the transitions between logic states. The propagation delay of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) logic circuits will differ and/or change as a result of temperature, voltage, age, radiation, and manufacturing variances. The time-to-digital conversion circuits can be calibrated with test signals, or the changes can be nulled by a separate on-die calibration channel, in a closed loop circuit.

Katz, Richard↗

Design, Construction, and Qualification of a Microscale Heater Array for Use in Boiling Heat Transfer

Boiling heat transfer is an efficient means of heat transfer because a large amount of heat can be removed from a surface using a relatively small temperature difference between the surface and the bulk liquid. However, the mechanisms that govern boiling heat transfer are not well understood. Measurements of wall temperature and heat flux near the wall would add to the database of knowledge which is necessary to understand the mechanisms of nucleate boiling. A heater array has been developed which contains 96 heater elements within a 2.5 mm square area. The temperature of each heater element is held constant by an electronic control system similar to a hot-wire anemometer. The voltage that is being applied to each heater element can be measured and digitized using a high-speed A/D converter, and this digital information can be compiled into a series of heat-flux maps. Information for up to 10,000 heat flux maps can be obtained each second. The heater control system, the A/D system and the heater array construction are described in detail. Results are presented which show that this is an effective method of measuring the local heat flux during nucleate and transition boiling. Heat flux maps are obtained for pool boiling in FC-72 on a horizontal surface. Local heat flux variations are shown to be three to six times larger than variations in the spatially averaged heat flux.

Rule, T. D.↗

NASA. Lewis Research Center Advanced Modulation and Coding Project: Introduction and overview

The Advanced Modulation and Coding Project at LeRC is sponsored by the Office of Space Science and Applications, Communications Division, Code EC, at NASA Headquarters and conducted by the Digital Systems Technology Branch of the Space Electronics Division. Advanced Modulation and Coding is one of three focused technology development projects within the branch's overall Processing and Switching Program. The program consists of industry contracts for developing proof-of-concept (POC) and demonstration model hardware, university grants for analyzing advanced techniques, and in-house integration and testing of performance verification and systems evaluation. The Advanced Modulation and Coding Project is broken into five elements: (1) bandwidth- and power-efficient modems; (2) high-speed codecs; (3) digital modems; (4) multichannel demodulators; and (5) very high-data-rate modems. At least one contract and one grant were awarded for each element.

Budinger, James M.↗

A Buffet Investigation at High Subsonic Speeds of Wing-Fuselage-Tail Combinations having Sweptback Wings with NACA Four-Digit Thickness Distributions, Fences, and Body Contouring

An investigation has been made to determine the effect of wing fences, fuselage contouring, varying wing sweepback angle from 40 deg. to 45 deg., mounting the horizontal tail on an outboard boom) and wing thickness distribution upon the buffeting response of typical airplane configurations employing sweptback wings of high aspect ratio. The tests were conducted through an angle-of-attack range at Mach numbers varying from 0.60 to 0.92 at a Reynolds number of 2 million. For the combinations with 40 deg. of sweepback, the addition of multiple wing fences usually decreased the buffeting at moderate and high lift coefficients and reduced the erratic variation of buffet intensities with increasing lift coefficient and Mach number. Fuselage contouring also reduced buffeting but was not as effective as the wing fences. At most Mach numbers, buffeting occurred at higher lift coefficients for the combination with the NACA 64A thickness distributions than for the combination with the NACA four-digit thickness distributions. At high subsonic speeds, heavy buffeting was usually indicated at lift coefficients which were lower than the lift coefficients for static-longitudinal instability. The addition of wing fences improved the pitching-moment characteristics but had little effect on the onset of buffeting. For most test conditions and model configurations, the root-mean- square and the maximum values measured for relative buffeting indicated similar effects and trends; however, the maximum buffeting loads were usually two to three times the root-mean-square intensities.

Sutton, Fred B.↗

Digital PIV Measurements in the Diffuser of a High Speed Centrifugal Compressor

Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) is a powerful measurement technique which can be used as an alternative or complementary approach to Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) in a wide range of research applications. PIV data are measured simultaneously at multiple points in space, which enables the investigation of the non-stationary spatial structures typically encountered in turbomachinery. Obtaining ample optical access, sufficiently high seed particle concentrations and accurate synchronization of image acquisition relative to impeller position are the most formidable tasks in the successful implementation of PIV in turbomachinery. Preliminary results from the successful application of the standard 2-D digital PIV technique in the diffuser of a high speed centrifugal compressor are presented. Instantaneous flow. measurements were also obtained during compressor surge.

Wernet, Mark P.↗

Digital Image Correlation for Performance Monitoring

Evaluating the health of a mechanism requires more than just a binary evaluation of whether an operation was completed. It requires analyzing more comprehensive, full-field data. Health monitoring is a process of non-destructively identifying characteristics that indicate the fitness of an engineered component. In order to monitor unit health in a production setting, an automated test system must be created to capture the motion of mechanism parts in a real-time and non-intrusive manner. One way to accomplish this is by using high-speed video and Digital Image Correlation (DIC). In this approach, individual frames of the video are analyzed to track the motion of mechanism components. The derived performance metrics allow for state-of-health monitoring and improved fidelity of mechanism modeling. The results are in-situ state-of-health identification and performance prediction. This paper introduces basic concepts of this test method, and discusses two main themes: the use of laser marking to add fiducial patterns to mechanism components, and new software developed to track objects with complex shapes, even as they move behind obstructions. Finally, the implementation of these tests into an automated tester is discussed.

Palaviccini, Miguel↗

Frequency domain laser velocimeter signal processor

The features and performance parameters of the frequency domain laser velocimeter signal processor (FDSP) for examining flow phenomena are described. A candidate for replacing the standard signal processor, the FDSP can function receiving bursts of as few as 150 photons in an instantaneous mode or down to a photon resolved regime for an averaging mode. the FDSP has a nonlinear A/D converter and data storage shift registers (high speed recorder group), an elliptic digital filter bank, a controlling microprocessor and frequency and signal gain control circuits (low speed data processing group). The high speed group amplifies, digitizes, identifies and stores burst waveforms and the low speed group identifies the signal frequency within the burst after the signal passes through digital filters. The FDSP can operate in a near-autonomous mode using photon correlation techniques and requires no human intervention for calibration.

Meyers, J. F.↗

Fault tolerant data management system

Described in detail are: (1) results obtained in modifying the onboard data management system software to a multiprocessor fault tolerant system; (2) a functional description of the prototype buffer I/O units; (3) description of modification to the ACADC and stimuli generating unit of the DTS; and (4) summaries and conclusions on techniques implemented in the rack and prototype buffers. Also documented is the work done in investigating techniques of high speed (5 Mbps) digital data transmission in the data bus environment. The application considered is a multiport data bus operating with the following constraints: no preferred stations; random bus access by all stations; all stations equally likely to source or sink data; no limit to the number of stations along the bus; no branching of the bus; and no restriction on station placement along the bus.

Gustin, W. M.↗

Flexible high-speed instrumentation system

Remote multiplexer/demultiplexer digital instrumentation system, which is suitable to both airborne and ground-based data acquisition/process control applications, can be employed in a variety of research and flight test applications where great flexibility to accommodate changes in number of parameters, data sampling rates, and signal conditioning is required.

Bartoli, F.↗

Massively parallel information processing systems for space applications

NASA is developing massively parallel systems for ultra high speed processing of digital image data collected by satellite borne instrumentation. Such systems contain thousands of processing elements. Work is underway on the design and fabrication of the 'Massively Parallel Processor', a ground computer containing 16,384 processing elements arranged in a 128 x 128 array. This computer uses existing technology. Advanced work includes the development of semiconductor chips containing thousands of feedthrough paths. Massively parallel image analog to digital conversion technology is also being developed. The goal is to provide compact computers suitable for real-time onboard processing of images.

Schaefer, D. H.↗

Quantitative analysis of defects in silicon. Silicon sheet growth development for the large are silicon sheet task of the low-cost solar array project

One hundred and seventy four silicon sheet samples were analyzed for twin boundary density, dislocation pit density, and grain boundary length. Procedures were developed for the quantitative analysis of the twin boundary and dislocation pit densities using a QTM-720 Quantitative Image Analyzing system. The QTM-720 system was upgraded with the addition of a PDP 11/03 mini-computer with dual floppy disc drive, a digital equipment writer high speed printer, and a field-image feature interface module. Three versions of a computer program that controls the data acquisition and analysis on the QTM-720 were written. Procedures for the chemical polishing and etching were also developed.

Natesh, R.↗