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Laser velocimeter developed to measure flow of air in vicinity of one of blades of helicopter rotor. Image-rotating optic transforms laser beams to rotating reference frame. Transformed beams stationary with respect to rotor blade; enabling continuous monitoring of velocity of flow at some point in reference frame attached to blade, provided that blade did not vibrate.
An instrument is described which provides a continuous measurement of airborne particle concentrations in the size range down to 0.00 1 microns. The concentration range of the instrument is from 10 to 10 (sup 7) particles per cubic centimeter with a response time in the order of 1 to 2 seconds. The Instrument is designed for continuous unattended operation and employs a unique dual beam, single phototube optical system in which the reference beam passes through the same optical elements as the measuring beam.
In 1972, when engineers at Hughes Aircraft Corporation discovered that errors in their satellite avionics were being caused by cosmic rays (so-called single-event effects, or SEE), Moore's Law was only 7 years old. Now, more than 45 years on, the scaling that drove Moore's Law for its first 35 years has reached its limits. However, electronics technology continues to evolve exponentially and SEE remain a formidable issue for use of electronics in space. SEE occur when a single ionizing particle passes through a sensitive volume in an active semiconductor device and generates sufficient charge to cause anomalous behavior or failure in the device. Because SEE can occur at any time during the mission, the emphasis of SEE risk management methodologies is ensuring that all SEE modes in a device under test are detected by the test. Because a particle's probability of causing an SEE generally increases as the particle becomes more ionizing, heavy-ion beams have been and remain the preferred tools for elucidating SEE vulnerabilities. In this talk we briefly discuss space radiation environments and SEE mechanisms, describe SEE test methodologies and discuss current and future challenges for use of heavy-ion beams for SEE testing in an era when the continued validity of Moore's law depends on innovation rather than CMOS scaling.
Hydrogen maser based frequency and time standards have been in continuous use at NASA tracking stations since February 1970, while laboratory work at Goddard has continued in the further development and improvement of hydrogen masers. Concurrently, experimental work has been in progress with a new frequency standard based upon the hydrogen atom using the molecular beam magnetic resonance method. Much of the hydrogen maser technology is directly applicable to the new hydrogen beam standard, and calculations based upon realistic data indicate that the accuracy potential of the hydrogen atomic beam exceeds that of either the cesium beam tube or the hydrogen maser, possibly by several orders of magnitude. In addition, with successful development, the hydrogen beam standard will have several other performance advantages over other devices, particularly exceptional stability and long continuous operating life. Experimental work with a new laboratory hydrogen beam device has recently resulted in the first resonance transition curves, measurements of relative state populations, beam intensities, etc. The most important aspects of both the hydrogen maser and the hydrogen beam work are covered.
Because of the continuing commitment to activity in low-Earth orbit (LEO), a facility is under development to produce energetic atmospheric species, particularly atomic oxygen, with energies ranging from 5 to 80 eV. This relatively high flux facility incorporates an ion engine to produce the corresponding specie ion which is charge exchanged to produce a neutral atomic beam. Ion fluxes of around 10(exp 15) sec(exp -1) with energies of 20-70 eV have been achieved. A geometrically augmented inertially tethered charge exchanger (GAITCE) was designed to provide a large column depth of charge exchange gas while reducing the gas load to the low pressure portion of the atomic beam facility. This is accomplished using opposed containment jets which act as collisional barriers to the escape of the dense gas region formed between the jets. Leak rate gains to the pumping system on the order of 10 were achieved for moderate jet mass flows. This system provides an attractive means for the charge exchange of atomic ions with a variety of gases to produce energetic atomic beams.
The solution data computed from large scale simulations are sometimes too big for main memory, for local disks, and possibly even for a remote storage disk, creating tremendous processing time as well as technical difficulties in analyzing the data. The excessive storage demands a corresponding huge penalty in I/O time, rendering time and transmission time between different computer systems. In this paper, a multiresolution scheme is proposed to compress field simulation or experimental data without much loss of important information in the representation. Originally, the wavelet based multiresolution scheme was introduced in image processing, for the purposes of data compression and feature extraction. Unlike photographic image data which has rather simple settings, computational field simulation data needs more careful treatment in applying the multiresolution technique. While the image data sits on a regular spaced grid, the simulation data usually resides on a structured curvilinear grid or unstructured grid. In addition to the irregularity in grid spacing, the other difficulty is that the solutions consist of vectors instead of scalar values. The data characteristics demand more restrictive conditions. In general, the photographic images have very little inherent smoothness with discontinuities almost everywhere. On the other hand, the numerical solutions have smoothness almost everywhere and discontinuities in local areas (shock, vortices, and shear layers). The wavelet bases should be amenable to the solution of the problem at hand and applicable to constraints such as numerical accuracy and boundary conditions. In choosing a suitable wavelet basis for simulation data among a variety of wavelet families, the supercompact wavelets designed by Beam and Warming provide one of the most effective multiresolution schemes. Supercompact multi-wavelets retain the compactness of Haar wavelets, are piecewise polynomial and orthogonal, and can have arbitrary order of approximation. The advantages of the multiresolution algorithm are that no special treatment is required at the boundaries of the interval, and that the application to functions which are only piecewise continuous (internal boundaries) can be efficiently implemented. In this presentation, Beam's supercompact wavelets are generalized to higher dimensions using multidimensional scaling and wavelet functions rather than alternating the directions as in the 1D version. As a demonstration of actual 3D data compression, supercompact wavelet transforms are applied to a 3D data set for wing tip vortex flow solutions (2.5 million grid points). It is shown that high data compression ratio can be achieved (around 50:1 ratio) in both vector and scalar data set.
An improved method of selective plating of metals and possibly other materials involves the use of directed high-intensity acoustic beams. The beams, typically in the ultrasonic frequency range, can be generated by fixed-focus transducers (see figure) or by phased arrays of transducers excited, variously, by continuous waves, tone bursts, or single pulses. The nonlinear effects produced by these beams are used to alter plating processes in ways that are advantageous.
Progress in the Antenna Technology Study being performed by NASA to characterize an antenna system with a scaning beam with a half-power beam diameter of around 0.3 deg and a minimum width over which the sidelobes stay below the -30 dB level is reported. Continuous U.S. (CONUS) coverage is desired by the satellite antenna system, with 10-20 fixed beams for trunk coverage and a rapidly scanned narrow beam for customer premises. The design specifies 24 beamwidths from east to west and 10 beamwidths from south to north. Reflector parameters have been identified to optimally focus all beams from a planar feed array. An example of coverage expected with the design demonstrates optimized beams for Seattle, Oklahoma City, and Miami, with -3 dB contours in circles 0,25 deg in diameter and a peak directivity of 55 dB. Experimental work was scheduled for 1983.
Martinez-Sanchez and Sanmartin [1997] showed that a bare conducting tether can be used as a source of an energetic electron beam. Interacting with the E region atmosphere, the beam should produce airglow thus making possible to deduce the neutral density on a continuous basis. Fujii et al. [2005] suggested that this idea be tested in a specially-designed sounding rocket experiment. We show that collisionless beam-plasma interactions (BPI) complement direct impact, leading to appreciable green-line (557.7 nm) emissions in the F region. In the E region, BPI develops near the entry in the valley, resulting in a narrow layer of strongly-elevated and airglow. Besides, neutralizing electric currents carried by ionospheric electrons in the valley can become unstable or even insufficient to compensate the beam current. Developing plasma waves inhibit neutralizing currents. In the extreme case, the beam might be locked in the valley (the 'virtual cathode'). In addition to optical observations, these effects can also be observed by radiophysical means.
Formation of thin continuous films from isolated nuclei and effect of electron beam, residual gases, and surface conditions on film growth
A computer program for a PDP-15 is presented which calculates, to first order, the characteristics of charged-particle beam as it is transported through a sequence of focusing and bending magnets. The maximum dimensions of the beam envelope normal to the transport system axis are continuously plotted on an oscilloscope as a function of distance along the axis. Provision is made to iterate the calculation by changing the types of magnets, their positions, and their field strengths. The program is especially useful for transport system design studies because of the ease and rapidity of altering parameters from panel switches. A typical calculation for a system with eight elements is completed in less than 10 seconds. An IBM 7094 version containing more-detailed printed output but no oscilloscope display is also presented.
A technique for the synthesis of planar aperture antennas has been developed. It applies equally well to continuous or array type apertures. Patterns with shaped main beams and complex sidelobe structures can be synthesized. The method involves applying corrections iteratively and converging toward the desired pattern. The iteration process terminates when the synthesized pattern approximates the desired pattern to within a specified tolerance. A computer program has been written to perform all calculations. The source distribution which is required to produce the synthesized pattern is provided as output. The method is such that patterns requiring complex source distributions will not be synthesized (such as superdirective patterns).
To study cavitation inception in polymer solutions, a blow-down water tunnel with short running times was used. Tests were made using 1/4 and 1/2 inch diameter models of hemispherical-nose cylinders. To accurately detect the inception of cavitation, a reliable technique was developed using a continuously operating He-Ne gas laser. The laser beam was adjusted to grazing incidence with the model at the minimum pressure point where cavitation inception was to be expected. A sensitive photocell was placed at ninety degrees to detect the beam. As incipient cavitation occurred, the bubbles caused scattering of the laser beam which was picked up by the photocell. Static pressure near the model in the working section of the tunnel was measured using a solid-state pressure pick-up. The signals from the photocell and the pressure pick-up were recorded on an oscillograph. Velocity field visualization was achieved using one microsecond duration light pulses scattered by small polystryrene latex spheres in the flow.
The transmission of laser power over long distances for applications such as direct conversion to propulsive thrust or electrical power is considered. Factors discussed include: problems inherent in transmitting, propagating, and receiving the laser beam over long ranges; high efficiency, closed-cycle, continuous wave operation; advancement of CO2 laser technology; and compatibility with photovoltaic power conversion devices.
The general applicability of dynamic theory to the description of the recording and readout characteristics of volume (thick) hologram gratings is indicated. In dynamic theory (as opposed to static theory), the volume nature of the thick holographic grating allows the interference of an incident light beam with its own diffracted beam inside the recording medium. This effect causes the continuous recording of another grating that alters the initial one, producing a resultant grating that is not uniform through the thickness of the recording material and a grating whose writing and reading characteristics may vary dramatically, depending on the recording material and the experimental conditions. A large number of diverse types of writing, reading, and angular-selectivity behavior have been reported. The dynamic theory of thick-hologram writing and reading is shown to predict qualitatively all of these various types of experimental behavior.
Ion-beam sputtering, fabrication of oxide-semiconductor-on-silicon (OSOS) solar cells, results in cells of 12% efficiency. Ion-beam sputtering technique is compatible with low-cost continuous fabrication and requires no high-temperature processing.
Oxide semiconductor on silicon (OSOS) solar cells have been fabricated from various indium tin oxide (In2O3)x(SnO2)1-x compositions sputtered onto p-type single crystal silicon substrates with a neutralized argon ion beam. High temperature processing or annealing was not required. The highest efficiency was achieved with x = 0.91 and was 12 percent. The cells are environmentally rugged, chemically stable, and show promise for still higher efficiencies. Moreover, the ion beam sputtering fabrication technique is amenable to low cost, continuous processing.
The ESSA is a microprocessor-controlled antenna for low orbiting spacecraft for telemetry and command relay through the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). The array is a hemispherical shape covered with disk radiating elements. A group of radiating elements are continuously selected by the microprocessor controller to form a beam in the direction of a TDRS. A radial switching power divider uses PIN diodes to select the desired radiating elements. The antenna gain is a function of the size of the hemispherical dome. A 30-inch diameter dome is presently being built for the Earth Radiation Budget Spacecraft (ERBS). Gain of this antenna over a hemisphere is 14 dBi and polarization is lefthand circular. There are 145 radiating elements with 12 being used at one time to form a beam. The ESSA subsystem weights 74 pounds and power consumption is 20 watts. RF power handling capability is 30 watts. The S-Band radiating elements have a 10 percent bandwidth that allows simultaneous transmission and reception.