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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 271 records · Page 15

Phasing the antennas of the Very Large Array (VLA) for reception of telemetry from Voyager 2 at Neptune encounter

The Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope is being instrumented at 8.4 GHz to receive telemetry from Voyager 2 during its encounter with Neptune in 1989. The procedure in which the 27 antennas have their phases adjusted in near real time so that the signals from the individual elements of the array can be added coherently is examined. Calculations of the expected signal to noise ratio, tests of the autophasing process at the VLA, and off-line simulations of that process are all presented. Various possible procedures for adjusting the phases are considered. It is shown that the signal to noise ratio at the VLA is adequate for summing the signals from the individual antennas with less than 0.1 dB of loss caused by imperfect coherence among the antennas. Tropospheric variations during the summer of 1989 could cause enough loss of coherence to make the losses higher than 0.1 dB. Experiments show that the losses caused by the troposphere can probably be kept below 0.2 dB if the time delay inherent in the phase adjustment process is no longer than approx. 5 secs. This relatively small combining loss meets the goal estabished to minimize the bit error rate in the Voyager telemetry and implies adequate autophasing of the VLA.

Ulvestad, J. S.↗

A Control Allocation System for Automatic Detection and Compensation of Phase Shift Due to Actuator Rate Limiting

This paper proposes a control allocation system that can detect and compensate the phase shift between the desired and the actual total control effort due to rate limiting of the actuators. Phase shifting is an important problem in control system applications since it effectively introduces a time delay which may destabilize the closed loop dynamics. A relevant example comes from flight control where aggressive pilot commands, high gain of the flight control system or some anomaly in the system may cause actuator rate limiting and effective time delay introduction. This time delay can instigate Pilot Induced Oscillations (PIO), which is an abnormal coupling between the pilot and the aircraft resulting in unintentional and undesired oscillations. The proposed control allocation system reduces the effective time delay by first detecting the phase shift and then minimizing it using constrained optimization techniques. Flight control simulation results for an unstable aircraft with inertial cross coupling are reported, which demonstrate phase shift minimization and recovery from a PIO event.

Yildiz, Yidiray↗

Accuracy of wet troposphere radio path delay estimated from infrared emission

Several radio science applications require determination of the excess radio-propagation path delay caused by the Earth's atmosphere. These include very long baseline interferometry, spacecraft tracking, and potentially, detection of gravitational waves utilizing a link to a distant interplanetary spacecraft. At Ka band, the major source of variability of path delay is the fluctuations in the moisture content of the troposphere. The path delay characterization requirements for a planned gravitational wave experiment are novel and challenging. the error contribution to the phase observations due to path delay variation must be reduced by nearly two orders of magnitude over that occurring naturally on time scales of 100 to 10,000 seconds. Current approaches relying on microwave water vapor radiometry with ancillary data can deliver one order of magnitude calibration of these fluctuations, and more advanced systems are under development within the 2001-2002 time frame of the Cassini Mission to Saturn. The current work evaluates the potential for an alternative observational approach, using a ground-based Fourier transform spectrometer.

Parker, J. W.↗

Time delay and integration array (TDI) using charge transfer device technology. Phase 2, volume 1: Technical

The 20x9 TDI array was developed to meet the LANDSAT Thematic Mapper Requirements. This array is based upon a self-aligned, transparent gate, buried channel process. The process features: (1) buried channel, four phase, overlapping gate CCD's for high transfer efficiency without fat zero; (2) self-aligned transistors to minimize clock feedthrough and parasitic capacitance; and (3) transparent tin oxide electrode for high quantum efficiency with front surface irradiation. The requirements placed on the array and the performance achieved are summarized. This data is the result of flat field measurements only, no imaging or dynamic target measurements were made during this program. Measurements were performed with two different test stands. The bench test equipment fabricated for this program operated at the 8 micro sec line time and employed simple sampling of the gated MOSFET output video signal. The second stand employed Correlated Doubled Sampling (CDS) and operated at 79.2 micro sec line time.

Source record↗

Long-term amplitude and phase stability of the 400-kW 2.115-GHz transmitter

Results of recent measurements of the long-term phase, amplitude and group delay stability of the 400-kW S-band (2.115-GHz) transmitter are reported. Various control parameters which are responsible for many of the observed instabilities are identified. Further tests to identify the parameters responsible for the remaining instabilities are suggested.

Hoppe, D. J.↗

Precise measurement method for ionospheric total electron content using signals from GPS satellites

A GPS codeless receiver called GTR-2 was for measuring total electron content (TEC) along the line of sight to the GPS satellite by using the cross correlation amplitude of the received P-code signals carried by L1(1575.42 MHz) and L2(1227.6 MHz). This equipment has the performance of uncertainty in the measurement of TEC of about 2 X 10(exp 16) electrons/sq m when a 10 dBi gain antenna was used. To increase the measurement performance, an upper version of GTR-2 called GTR-3 is planned which uses the phase information of the continuous signals obtained by making a cross correlation or multiplication of the received L1 and L2 P-code signals. By using the difference of these measured phases values, the ionospheric delay with the ambiguities of the periods of L1+L2 and L1-L2 signals can be estimated.

Imae, Michito↗

Tracking Comb Filter Suppresses Welder Harmonics

Tracking comb filter includes charge-coupled-device delay line and phase-locked loop. Filter removes harmonics of frequency of repetition of welding-current pulses from acoustic-emission signal. Spurious signals reduced almost to fundamental limit.

Delcher, Ray C.↗

Superconducting Field-Effect Transistors

Devices offer switching speeds greater than semiconducting counterparts. High-Tc superconducting field-effect transistors (SUPEFETs) investigated for use as electronic switches in delay-line-type microwave phase shifters. Resemble semiconductor field-effect transistors in some respects, but their operation based on different principle; namely, electric-field control of transition between superconductivity and normal conductivity.

Bhasin, Kul↗

Containerless Measurements of Density and Viscosity of Fe-Co Alloys

During the past years, extensive collaborative research has been done to understand phase selection in undercooled metals using novel containerless processing techniques such as electrostatic and electromagnetic levitation. Of major interest is controlling a two-step solidification process, double recalescence, in which the metastable phase forms first and then transforms to the stable phase after a certain delay time. The previous research has shown that the delay time is greatly influenced by the internal convection velocity. In the prediction of internal flow, the fidelity of the results depends on the accuracy of the material properties. This research focuses on the measurements of density and viscosity of Fe-Co alloys which will be used for the fluid simulations whose results will support upcoming International Space Station flight experiments.

Lee, Jonghyun↗

Benefits of Ka-band GaN MMIC High Power Amplifiers With Wide Bandwidth and High Spectral/Power Added Efficiencies for Cognitive Radio Platforms

A cognitive radio on a future NASA near-Earth spacecraft will be capable of sensing its environment and dynamically adapting its operating parameters to provide the desired SATCOM service to the mission. A key component that can enable this type of operation is a high-power amplifier (HPA) that resides on the radio platform. In this report, we present the RF performance characteristics of a Ka-band gallium nitride (GaN) monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) based HPA for cognitive radio platforms. These characteristics include the output power, gain, power added efficiency (PAE), RMS error vector magnitude (EVM), spectral efficiency, 3rdorder intermodulation distortion (IMD) products, spectrum, spectral regrowth, noise figure (NF), phase noise, and group delay. The data presented indicates that the HPA meets NTIA, military, and commercial spectral mask requirements. In addition, we discuss the benefits offered by the above performance characteristics toward the design and implementation of a cognitive radio platform. Furthermore, as examples, we discuss three potential use cases that apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques and exploit the performance characteristics discussed above to provide a knowledge-based cognitive radio platform design for SATCOM. Thus, cognitive radios with performance flexibility can enable roaming and provide seamless interoperability autonomously in the future between NASA, commercial, and other space networks owned by U.S. government agencies.

Gallium nitride↗

The Exploration Crew Health and Performance System of the Future - A Shared Mental Model

The challenges involved in vehicle/habitat design and operation for long-duration deep space missions are complex, and the needs of a human crew must be considered in the context of all the system trades required to enable such missions. An exploration Crew Health and Performance (CHP) system complements all the other vehicle/habitat systems to achieve one specific and critical endpoint – ensuring that the astronauts can perform the job that they were sent into space to do. This includes accounting for all aspects of the physiological, psychological, medical, and environmental realities that the human crew must face in deep space. Along with this system complexity comes the additional need for increased autonomy of the crew due to the immense distance from Earth. The design of future systems must respect the real human capabilities and limitations within the context of a mission to the Moon or Mars. The NASA Moon to Mars Objectives document outlines the need for advanced CHP system designs: • Develop systems that monitor and maintain crew health and performance throughout all mission phases, including during communication delays to Earth, and in an environment that does not allow emergency evacuation or terrestrial medical assistance. • Evaluate and validate progressively Earth-independent crew health & performance systems and operations with mission durations representative of Mars-class missions. • Validate readiness of systems and operations to support crew health and performance for the initial human Mars exploration campaign. This presentation will outline the initial work that Exploration Medical Capability is leading on the development of a prototype design for an exploration Crew Health and Performance (CHP) system for future NASA human deep space long-duration missions. This effort will require commitment from all stakeholders to a shared mental model of what a future exploration CHP system should look like, one that will address the needs, goals, and objectives of the Agency and help to ensure mission success in deep space.

K R Lehnhardt↗

Method and system of doppler correction for mobile communications systems

Doppler correction system and method comprising receiving a Doppler effected signal comprising a preamble signal (32). A delayed preamble signal (48) may be generated based on the preamble signal (32). The preamble signal (32) may be multiplied by the delayed preamble signal (48) to generate an in-phase preamble signal (60). The in-phase preamble signal (60) may be filtered to generate a substantially constant in-phase preamble signal (62). A plurality of samples of the substantially constant in-phase preamble signal (62) may be accumulated. A phase-shifted signal (76) may also be generated based on the preamble signal (32). The phase-shifted signal (76) may be multiplied by the delayed preamble signal (48) to generate an out-of-phase preamble signal (80). The out-of-phase preamble signal (80) may be filtered to generate a substantially constant out-of-phase preamble signal (82). A plurality of samples of the substantially constant out-of-phase signal (82) may be accumulated. A sum of the in-phase preamble samples and a sum of the out-of-phase preamble samples may be normalized relative to each other to generate an in-phase Doppler estimator (92) and an out-of-phase Doppler estimator (94).

Georghiades, Costas N.↗

Compensating For Computational Delay In Flight Simulation

Computer-generated imagery processed with corrective phase shifts at lower frequencies. Algorithm developed from transfer functions predicting lower-frequency components of response of aircraft short time into future. Effects of delay at lower frequencies counteracted by introducing compensatory phase shifts, opposite those caused by delay, into signals driving computer-generated imagery.

Mcfarland, Richard E.↗

Implementation of CAPIO for Composite Adaptive Control of Cross-Coupled Unstable Aircraft

This paper presents an implementation of a recently developed control allocation algorithm CAPIO (a Control Allocation technique to recover from Pilot Induced Oscillations) for composite adaptive control of an inertially cross coupled unstable aircraft. When actuators are rate-saturated due to either an aggressive pilot command, high gain of the flight control system or some anomaly in the system, the effective delay in the control loop may increase due to the phase shifting between the desired and the achieved system states. This effective time delay may deteriorate the performance or even destabilize the system in some cases, depending on the severity of rate saturation. CAPIO reduces the effective time delay by minimizing the phase shift between the commanded and the actual attitude accelerations. We present simulation results for an unstable aircraft with cross-coupling controlled with a composite adaptive controller in the presence of rate saturation. The simulations demonstrate the potential of CAPIO serving as an effective rate saturation compensator in adverse conditions.

Yildiz, Yildiray↗

Design for steering accuracy in antenna arrays using shared optical phase shifters

Uniform linear phased arrays where many radiating elements share a relatively small number of phase shifters are investigated. Such architectures arise in arrays which derive the time delays in the signal paths from a small group of independent phase shifters. In particular, a true time-delay device which has been suggested recently for optically controlled arrays is used as the basic phase shifter. Different architectures, viz. alternative procedures of deriving the necessary time delay for each antenna in the face of phase-shifter inaccuracies, are examined. The variance of the steered beam's direction is used as the performance criterion. The direction-optimal architecture is obtained by means of quadratic programming, and is shown not to be unique. The nonuniqueness of the optimal architecture is exploited to improve other characteristics of the array's beam shape, and the optimal solution is shown to compare favorably with a suboptimal interleaved solution which is easier to implement.

Kam, Moshe↗

A wide-band fiber optic frequency distribution system employing thermally controlled phase compensation

An active wide-band fiber optic frequency distribution system employing a thermally controlled phase compensator to stabilize phase variations induced by environmental temperature changes is described. The distribution system utilizes bidirectional dual wavelength transmission to provide optical feedback of induced phase variations of 100 MHz signals propagating along the distribution cable. The phase compensation considered differs from earlier narrow-band phase compensation designs in that it uses a thermally controlled fiber delay coil rather than a VCO or phase modulation to compensate for induced phase variations. Two advantages of the wide-band system over earlier designs are (1) that it provides phase compensation for all transmitted frequencies, and (2) the compensation is applied after the optical interface rather than electronically ahead of it as in earlier schemes. Experimental results on the first prototype shows that the thermal stabilizer reduces phase variations and Allan deviation by a factor of forty over an equivalent uncompensated fiber optic distribution system.

Johnson, Dean↗