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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1981

Image motion compensation on the Spacelab 2 Solar Optical Universal Polarimeter /SL2 SOUP/

The SOUP experiment on Spacelab 2 includes a 30 cm visible light telescope and focal plane package mounted on the Instrument Pointing System (IPS). Scientific goals of the experiment dictate pointing stability requirements of less than 0.05 arcsecond jitter over periods of 5-20 seconds. Quantitative derivations of these requirements from two different aspects are presented: (1) avoidance of motion blurring of diffraction-limited images; (2) precise coalignment of consecutive frames to allow measurement of small image differences. To achieve this stability, a fine guider system capable of removing residual jitter of the IPS and image motions generated on the IPS cruciform instrument support structure has been constructed. This system uses solar limb detectors in the prime focal plane to derive an error signal. Image motion due to pointing errors is compensated by the agile secondary mirror mounted on piezoelectric transducers, controlled by a closed-loop servo system.

Tarbell, T. D.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Two-channel Costas loop tracking performance for UQPSK signals with arbitrary data formats

Previous results on the tracking performance of two-channel Costas-type carrier synchronization loops are generalized and corrected, in order that they may be applied to several mixed-format cases. In particular, the mean-square phase jitter performance of these loops with active arm filters, synchronous or asynchronous symbol clocks, and arbitrary data formats on the two channels is examined. It is demonstrated that for each case, selection of the channel gain ratio, as motivated by the MAP estimation theory, does not guarantee optimum loop tracking performance: in some instances, a conventional single-channel Costas loop would outperform the two-channel version with the MAP choice of gain ratio. It is suggested that the gain ratio be chosen to directly minimize the mean-square phase tracking jitter which is equivalent to minimizing the loop's 'squaring loss'. This can, in some cases, improve the performance measure, although in all cases, the two-channel loop will still outperform the single-channel version.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Virtual center arraying

Methods to increase the amount of data that can be received from outer planet missions are described with emphasis on antenna arraying systems designed to increase the total effective aperture of the receiving system. One such method is virtual center arraying (VCA). In VCA, a combined carrier reference is derived at a point that is, conceptually, the geometric center of the array. This point need not coincide with any of the actual antennas of the array. A noise analysis of the VCA system is given along with formulas for the phase jitter as a function of loop bandwidths and the amount of loop damping. If the ratio of the loop bandwidths of the center loop to the vertex loops is greater than 100, then the jitter is very nearly equal to that expected for ideal combined carrier referencing.

Deutsch, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Low-gravity fluid flows

The behavior of fluids in micro-gravity conditions is examined, with particular regard to applications in the growth of single crystals. The effects of gravity on fluid behavior are reviewed, and the advent of Shuttle flights are noted to offer extended time for experimentation and processing in a null-gravity environment, with accelerations resulting solely from maneuvering rockets. Buoyancy driven flows are considered for the cases stable-, unstable-, and mixed-mode convection. Further discussion is presented on g-jitter, surface-tension gradient, thermoacoustic, and phase-change convection. All the flows are present in both gravity and null gravity conditions, although the effects of buoyancy and g-jitter convection usually overshadow the other effects while in a gravity field. Further work is recommended on critical-state and sedimentation processes in microgravity conditions.

Ostrach, S.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Behavior of the lean methane-air flame at zero-gravity

A special rig was designed and constructed to be compatible with the NASA Lewis Research Center Airborne Research Laboratory to allow the study of the effect of gravity on the behavior of lean limit in a standard 50.4 mm (2 in.) internal diameter tube when the mixtures are ignited at the open end and propagate towards the closed end of the tube. The lean limit at zero gravity was found to be 5.10% methane and the flame was found to extenguish in a manner previously observed for downward propagating flames at one g. It was observed that g-jitter could be maintained at less than + or 0.04 g on most zero g trajectories. All of propagating lean limit flames were found to be sporadically cellularly unstable at zero g. There was no observable correlation between the occurrence of g-jitter and the lean limit, average propagation speed of the flame through the tube or the occurrence of cellular instability.

Noe, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1985

TM Geometric Performance: Line to Line Displacement Analysis (LLDA)

An early acquired TM data frame (track 23, frame 35 of 22 August 1982) was used to assess the geometric performance of the LANDSAT-4 thematic mapper instrument. The developed method consists in determining the displacements of adjacent lines by locating the maximum of the correlation profile between the two lines. Then the line to line displacement is used to characterize the TM instrument in respect to: scan to scan jitter and image skew, scan profile non-linearity, along scan jitter, detector to detector displacement, and band to band displacement. To verify the quality of the reported performance parameters, some extracted geometric parameters were used to correct the original raw data. Comparison between P-tape data and results of reprocessed data shows no significant differences in an area of 1024 x 1024 pixels.

Fusco, L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Performance analysis of the DSN baseband assembly (Bba) Real-Time Combiner (RTC)

The operation of the BBA Real Time Combiner (RTC) is discussed and its performance investigated in detail. It is shown that each channel of the RTC can be modelled by a simple block diagram in the z-transform domain from which all pertinent transient and steady state behavioral characteristics can be determined. In particular, the characteristic equation of the tracking loop and its equivalent noise bandwidth are found and used to evaluate the closed loop transient response and steady-state mean squared timing jitter. The impact of the totality of these loop jitter contributions on the combiner output SNR is evaluated and illustrated numerically. These results show that for parameters of interest to various space missions, the RTC is capable of providing significant SNR improvement relative to a single receiving antenna.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Performance analysis of the DSN baseband assembly (Bba) Real-Time Combiner (RTC)

The operation of the BBA Real Time Combiner (RTC) is discussed and its performance investigated in detail. It is shown that each channel of the RTC can be modelled by a simple block diagram in the z-transform domain from which all pertinent transient and steady state behavioral characteristics can be determined. In particular, the characteristic equation of the tracking loop and its equivalent noise bandwidth are found and used to evaluate the closed loop transient response and steady state mean squared timing jitter. The impact of the totality of these loop jitter contributions on the combiner output SNR is evaluated and illustrated numerically. These results show that for parameters of interest to various space missions, the RTC is capable of providing significant SNR improvement relative to a single receiving antenna.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Fast scintillation counter preamplifier for the observation of Linsley effect

A fast preamplifier circuit has been designed and thoroughly tested for the purpose of observing the air shower arrival directions including the Linsley effect. The circuit intends to eliminate the time jitter due to variation of scintillation counter signal amplitudes. It assumes that the output signals from one counter system have the same rise time. On this basis, error arising from time jitter is removed by voltage discrimination at about half signal amplitudes. Detailed description of the circuit is reported.

Ng, L. K.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Real-time combiner loss

Telemetry signals from several channels are aligned in time and combined by the Real-Time Combiner (RTC) in order to increase the strength of the total signal. In this article, the impact of the timing jitter in the RTC on the bit/symbol error rate is investigated. Equations are derived for the timing jitter loss associated with the coded and uncoded channels. Included are curves that depict the bit-symbol error rate vs. E sub b/N sub 0 and E sub s/N sub 0 for some typical telemetry conditions. The losses are typically below 0.1 dB.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Passive isolation/damping system for the Hubble space telescope reaction wheels

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope contain large, diffraction limited optics with extraordinary resolution and performance for surpassing existing observatories. The need to reduce structural borne vibration and resultant optical jitter from critical Pointing Control System components, Reaction Wheels, prompted the feasibility investigation and eventual development of a passive isolation system. Alternative design concepts considered were required to meet a host of stringent specifications and pass rigid tests to be successfully verified and integrated into the already built flight vehicle. The final design employs multiple arrays of fluid damped springs that attenuate over a wide spectrum, while confining newly introduced resonances to benign regions of vehicle dynamic response. Overall jitter improvement of roughly a factor of 2 to 3 is attained with this system. The basis, evolution, and performance of the isolation system, specifically discussing design concepts considered, optimization studies, development lessons learned, innovative features, and analytical and ground test verified results are presented.

Hasha, Martin D.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Line-of-sight performance improvement with reaction-wheel isolation

Design techniques used to isolate and damp vibrations from the reaction control wheels assembly (RCA) from the structural dynamics of the Hubble Space Telescope are described. The four RCAs can generate sufficient torque for large maneuvers and precision control during fine pointing. The RCAs are to operate continuously during observations and thereby pose the potential of inducing jitter. The image stability must be constrained to less than 0.007 arcsec rms per 24 hr and pointing accuracy must be 0.01 arcsec for 100 hr. Vibration-producing characteristics of the RCAs are identified, and test results are provided from measurements of the magnitudes of the associated disturbances. Design features and test results for the vibration isolators employed with the RCAs to effect viscous damping of RCA axial perturbations are presented. The dampers are expected to reduce jitter effects of RCA operation by a half.

Rodden, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Acquisition, tracking, and pointing; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 3, 4, 1986

The present conference discusses the effect of target signatures on active tracking, the high resolution obtainable with a two-degrees-of-freedom angle sensor having a high update rate, solar object tracking for the Hubble Space Telescope, scaled experiments for the assessment of precise active tracking, and large aperture high-accuracy satellite laser tracking. Also discussed are laboratory test results for the Spaceborne Geodynamic Ranging System's high speed optical tracking system, jitter stabilization for precise optical pointing, scan stabilization and jitter control for an airborne telescope, a simulation of the Solar Optical Telescope's pointing performance, a microprocessor-based dual-speed angle converter, and image localization for alignment by means of adaptive preprocessing.

Auelmann, Richard R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Space Telescope Antenna Pointing System analysis and test

The Space Telescope (ST), carrying five astronomy instruments, is a long-life spacecraft designed to achieve and maintain ultrafine stabilization jitter performance. The rms jitter specification for pointing performance is 7 marcsec (1sigma) during periods of scientific observation. Spacecraft attitude control is achieved by onboard computer processing of attitude and rate sensor data to generate reaction-wheel torque commands. The ST Antenna Pointing System is used to position a high-gain antenna for relaying science and engineering data from the spacecraft to the ground station.

Dodder, R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Doppler-corrected differential detection of MPSK

An open-loop technique is presented for estimating and correcting Doppler frequency shift in an M-ary differential phase-shift-keyed (MDPSK) receiver. The novelty of the scheme is based on the observation that whereas the change in phase of the received signal over a full symbol contains the sum of the data (phase) and the Doppler-induced phase shift, the same change in phase over half a symbol (within a given symbol interval) contains only the Doppler-induced phase shift. Thus, by proper processing, the latter can be estimated and removed from the former. Analytical and simulation results are given for the variance of the above estimator, and the error probability performance of the MDPSK receiver is evaluated in the presence of the Doppler correction. Next, the practical considerations associated with the application of this technique on bandlimited Nyquist channels are discussed and incorporated into the final design. It is shown that the receiver can, in the absence of timing jitter, be designed to allow combined Doppler correction and data detection with no penalty due to intersymbol interference (ISI). The effects of ISI due to timing jitter are assessed by computer simulation.

Simon, Marvin K.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Frequency Synthesizer For Tracking Filter

Digital frequency-synthesizing subsystem generates trains of pulses, free of jitter, for use as frequency-control signals in tracking filters. Part of assembly of electronic equipment used to measure vibrations in bearings in rotating machinery. Designed to meet requirements for tracking narrow-band cage-rotation and ball-pass components of vibrations, as discussed in "Frequency-Tracking Error Detector" (MFS-29538) and "Ball-Pass Cage-Modulation Detector" (MFS-29539). Synthesizer includes preset counter, output of which controls signal for ball-pass filter. Input to this preset counter updated every 2 microseconds: responds almost immediately, effectively eliminating relatively long response time (lock-in time) and phase jitter.

Randall, Richard L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The pulse-pair algorithm as a robust estimator of turbulent weather spectral parameters using airborne pulse Doppler radar

The pulse pair method for spectrum parameter estimation is commonly used in pulse Doppler weather radar signal processing since it is economical to implement and can be shown to be a maximum likelihood estimator. With the use of airborne weather radar for windshear detection, the turbulent weather and strong ground clutter return spectrum differs from that assumed in its derivation, so the performance robustness of the pulse pair technique must be understood. Here, the effect of radar system pulse to pulse phase jitter and signal spectrum skew on the pulse pair algorithm performance is discussed. Phase jitter effect may be significant when the weather return signal to clutter ratio is very low and clutter rejection filtering is attempted. The analysis can be used to develop design specifications for airborne radar system phase stability. It is also shown that the weather return spectrum skew can cause a significant bias in the pulse pair mean windspeed estimates, and that the poly pulse pair algorithm can reduce this bias. It is suggested that use of a spectrum mode estimator may be more appropriate in characterizing the windspeed within a radar range resolution cell for detection of hazardous windspeed gradients.

Baxa, Ernest G., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Interfacial dynamics of two liquids under an oscillating gravitational field

The evolution of two miscible liquids meeting at an initially sharp interface inside a cavity under microgravity g-jitter conditions is studied numerically. The response of the interface and kinematics of the flowfield to various g-jitter accelerations and aspect ratio variations is shown. The interface region acts like a vortex source sheet, and it can be unstable to Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. The vortices produced along the interface can serve as a stirring mechanism to promote local mixing. Below the critical Stokes-Reynolds number, the destabilization of the interface results in deformation into wavy structures. In some parameter regions, these structures oscillate in time; in others, they are quasi-steady. Above the critical Stokes-Reynolds number, 'chaotic' instability results, and the interface breaks into concentration pockets. The morphology of the initial breakup is similar to observed Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Subsequent mixing of the two fluids after the breakup of the interface is then very rapid.

Duval, Walter M. B.↗