Design data collection with Skylab/EREP microwave instrument S-193
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
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The author has identified the following significant results. The Skylab S-193 radiometer/scatterometer collected thousands of measurements of scattering coefficient and brightness temperature over various parts of the United States during the summer of 1973 at angles of incidence between vertical and about 45 deg. These measurements have been combined to produce histograms of the response at each of several angles within this range, and to establish average scattering coefficient vs angle curves with 10% and 90% exceedance levels as well. The variation of the radiometeric measurements is primarily in the region from 255 K to 285 K, with very few measurements giving values down to and even below 200 K. The scattering coefficient varies, for the mean, from about 0 db at 1 deg off vertical to a low in the neighborhood of -10 db at 45 deg. The variability of the scattering coefficient measurements with this coarse resolution sensor is surprisingly small. The number of distinguishable levels is slightly more for the scatterometer than for the radiometer, but the amount of variation in brightness temperature caused by the physical temperature of the ground is enough so that the scatterometer can be used to distinguish significantly more meaningful levels than the radiometer.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
The author has identified the following significant results. Observations with S-193 have provided radar design information for systems to be flown on spacecraft, but only at 13.9 GHz and for land areas over the United States and Brazil plus a few other areas of the world for which this kind of analysis was not made. Observations only extended out to about 50 deg angle of incidence. The value of a sensor with such a gross resolution for most overland resource and status monitoring systems seems marginal, with the possible exception of monitoring soil moisture and major vegetation variations. The complementary nature of the scatterometer and radiometer systems was demonstrated by the correlation analysis. Although radiometers must have spatial resolutions dictated by antenna size, radars can use synthetic aperture techniques to achieve much finer resolutions. Multiplicity of modes in the S-193 sensors complicated both the system development and its employment. An attempt was made in the design of the S-193 to arrange optimum integration times for each angle and type of measurement. This unnecessarily complicated the design of the instrument, since the gains in precision achieved in this way were marginal. Either a software-controllable integration time or a set of only two or three integration times would have been better.
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The system developed for the SMS/GOES satellite while learning the limitations possessed by this system with regard to the LANDSAT 1 and 2 satellites with respect to the transmission distance and horizon angle is investigated. The advantages possessed by this system in comparison with conventional methods are evaluated so as to permit studying the feasibility of introducing it into this country in the near future.
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Payload requirements were compared to launch site accommodations and flight accommodations for a number of Spacelab payloads. Experiment computer operating system accommodations were also considered. A summary of accommodations in terms of resources available for payload discretionary use and recommendations for Spacelab/STS accommodation improvements are presented.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
There are no author-identified significant results in this report.
This particular application was to vertical geodesy by tide gauge and tiltmeter on a small desert island in the British Virgin Islands. The performance of the LANDSAT system under potentially marginal circumstances was found to be excellent.
A system for performing SETI observations continuously as part of non-SETI observations at a radio observatory is presented, and the analysis of results obtained by the parasitic system is discussed. The system, designated SERENDIP, is a real-time microprocessor-controlled spectrum analyzer with algorithms for performing statistical operations and recording those spectra with characteristics presumed to be typical of intelligent rather than astrophysical origin. Programs also exist for the post-acquisition analysis of signal autocorrelation, power spectra, time behavior and positional coordinates, and for a generalized cluster analysis to detect clusters of signal detections. In a recent run of 35 days, the SERENDIP system detected 4000 narrowband spectra exceeding a preset threshold, of which 98% were determined to be of instrumental origin. The remaining class of detections is also believed to be instrumental, although not as well organized as the first signals, and means are currently being sought for eliminating them.
Ground surveys and aerial observations were used to monitor rapidly changing moisture conditions in the Salt-Verde watershed. Repetitive satellite snow cover observations greatly reduce the necessity for routine aerial snow reconnaissance flights over the mountains. High resolution, multispectral imagery provided by LANDSAT satellite series enabled rapid and accurate mapping of snow-cover distributions for small- to medium-sized subwatersheds; however, the imagery provided only one observation every 9 days of about a third of the watershed. Low resolution imagery acquired by the ITOSa dn SMS/GOES meteorological satellite series provides the daily synoptic observation necessary to monitor the rapid changes in snow-covered area in the entire watershed. Short term runoff volumes can be predicted from daily sequential snow cover observations.
A series of computer programs written for use with a Philips X-ray diffractometer and a Hewlett Packard 9825A desk top computer is described. These programs permit the collection and storage on disk of the number of x-ray counts and the associated 2-thera angles across line profiles. Automatic background subtraction, integrated intensity, correction for the angular dependance of the Lorentz, polarization, and atomic scattering factors, peak location, K-alpha 2 removal, and calculation of Fourier coefficients are performed. The programs are written for a computer configured with a disk drive, but they can be easily modified to run from the cassette tape drive that is integral to the 9825A computer.
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Software errors detected during development of an interactive special purpose editor system were studied. This product was followed during nine months of coding, unit testing, function testing, and system testing. A new error categorization scheme was developed.