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At least 289 records · Page 16

Two-beam Bragg diffraction, filtering, and delays

We summarize transmission and reflection amplitudes of Bragg-crystals based on two-beam Bragg diffraction theory. Then, we consider a specific case of infinitely thick and symmetrical Bragg-crystal and its reflective properties in spectral and angular domain. We obtain analytical expressions for filtering width and respective delay amplitudes, temporal delay from spectral phase shift and spatial displacement from angular phase shift.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Applications of radio interferometry to navigation

Radio astronomy experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of making precise position measurements using interferometry techniques. The application of this method to navigation and marine geodesy is discussed, and comparisons are made with existing navigation systems. The very long baseline technique, with a master station, can use either an artificial satellite or natural sources as position references; a high-speed data link is required. A completely ship-borne system is shown to be feasible, at the cost of poorer sensitivity for natural sources. A comparison of Doppler, delay and phase-track modes of operating a very long baseline configuration is made, as that between instantaneous measurements and those where a source can be tracked from horizon to transit. Geometric limitations in latitude and longitude coverage are discussed. The characteristics of natural radio sources, their flux, distribution on the sky, and apparent size are shown to provide a limit on position measurements precision. The atmosphere and frequency standard used both contribute to position measurement uncertainty by affecting interferometric phase.

Knowles, S. H.↗

GPS-based geodesy in California, Mexico and the Caribbean

The NASA GPS-based geophysical geodetics system will be capable of 1-3 cm relative position accuracies on regional baselines and GPS ephemerides with submeter accuracies. Simultaneity and mutual visibility allow high differential carrier phase and group delay measurements to be obtained without clock errors. Both mobile GPS terminal sites and fiducial sites whose locations are accurately maintained by independent VLBI and SLR systems are to be used. A system validation and multiyear measurement program is under way.

Melbourne, W. G.↗

Interferometry theory for the block 2 processor

Presented is the interferometry theory for the Block 2 processor, including a high-level functional description and a discussion of data structure. The analysis covers the major processing steps: cross-correlation, fringe counter-rotation, transformation to the frequency domain, phase calibration, bandwidth synthesis, and extraction of the observables of amplitude, phase, phase rate, and delay. Also included are analyses for fractional bitshift correction, station clock error, ionosphere correction, and effective frequencies for the observables.

Thomas, J. B.↗

Stability margins for multilinear interval systems by way of phase conditions: A unified approach

A simple way of checking the stability with respect to an arbitrary stability region of a family of polynomials containing a vector of parameters varying within prescribed intervals is discussed. It is assumed that the parameters appear affine multilinearly in the characteristic polynomial coefficients. The condition proposed is simply to check the phase difference of the vertex polynomials. This test based on the mapping theorem significantly reduces computational complexity. Mathematical proofs are omitted. The results can be used to determine various stability margins of control systems containing interconnected interval subsystems. These include the gain, phase, time-delay, H(sup infinity), and nonlinear sector bounded stability margins of multilinear interval systems.

Keel, L. H.↗

On the location of the oscillations in AE Aquarii

There is much recent interest on the nature of the oscillations in the cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii. Detected in the optical, UV, X-ray, and possibly gamma-ray bands, the origin of these 33-sec oscillations remains poorly understood; the oscillation time-delay curve is phase shifted by about 60 deg with respect to the emission-line radial velocity curve, although both should track the orbital motion of the white dwarf. We present simultaneous absorption and emission-line radial velocities, and from the absorption lines we derive an improved ephemeris. Our emission-line velocities are phase shifted by about 75 deg, and hence are unreliable tracers of the orbital motion of the white dwarf. However, the oscillation orbit is shifted by only 5 deg +/- 3 deg percent confirming that the oscillations arise from a region concentric with the white dwarf. Thus the arrival times of the oscillations yield a measure of the white dwarfs apparent orbital velocity, independent of emission-line radial velocity measurements.

Welsh, William F.↗

Highlights of Part I: Propagation Through Mars Environment: Propagation through Mars Environment - Part 1

We recommend using the dayside Martian ionosphere as a reflector for global communication, because it has a stable density peak and usable critical frequency. This is very crucial for the future Mars ground to ground communication. The dayside ionosphere has been well modeled as a Chapman layer. We suggest performing the Martian nightside ionosphere modeling study. Because the nightside ionosphere has very little measurements available, we propose to drop a digital ionosound instrument into the Mars surface for data collection. Even though the Martian tropospheric radio refractivity had a small value, it still can cause ray bending and multipath effects. We recommend performing an accurate calculation on excess phase and group delays (range and time delays). Other effects, such as range rate errors, appearance angle deviation, defocusing loss on Mars, etc. should be estimated. Ice depolarization effects due to Martian clouds on radio waves are unknown yet, but they are expected to be small, because of lower optical depth and the thinner layer of cloud. Total Martian atmospheric gaseous attenuation is expected to be less than 1 dB on microwaves and, because the Martian atmosphere had very low concentration in uncondensed H2O and O2. An accurate calculation for zenith opacity requires the information about scale heights of H2O and O2 distribution. An accurate water vapor altitude profile at Mars is not available et. Under the normal condition, CO2 and N2 gases ddo not have electric or magnetic dipoles and do not absorb electromagnetic energy from the waves. However, they may generate the dipoles through a collision and interact with waves under a high density condition and absorb electromagnetic waves in the infrared and visible band. Dust storm is the most dominant factor on the radio wave attenuation. Large Martian dust storms can cause at least 3 dB or higher loss to Ka band wave. For a normal dust storm, the attenuation is about 1 dB. The attenuation much depends on dust mass loading, dust size distribution, etc. Most large dust storms occur in the southern hemisphere during later spring and early summer when the southern hemisphere becomes suddenly hot.

Ho, Christian↗

The Effects of Gravity on the Circadian Timing System

All vertebrates have a physiological control system that regulates the timing of the rhythms of their daily life. Dysfunction of this system, the circadian timing system (CTS), adversely affects an organism's ability to respond to environmental challenges and has been linked to physiological and psychological disorders. Exposure to altered gravitational environments (the microgravity of space and hyperdynamic environments produced via centrifugation) produces changes in both the functioning of the CTS and the rhythmic variables it controls. The earliest record of primate rhythms in a spaceflight environment come from Biosatellite III. The subject, a pig-tailed macaque, showed a loss of synchronization of the body temperature rhythm and a fragmented sleep-wake cycle. Alterations in the rhythm of body temperature were also seen in rhesus macaques flown on COSMOS 1514. Squirrel monkeys exposed to chronic centrifugation showed an initial decrease in the amplitude and mean of their body temperature and activity rhythms. In a microgravity environment, Squirrel monkeys on Spacelab-3 showed a reduction in the mean and amplitude of their feeding rhythms. Since 1992 we have had the opportunity to participate on three US/Russian sponsored biosatellite missions on which a total of six juvenile male rhesus macaques were flown. These animals uniformly exhibited delays in the phasing of their temperature rhythms, but not their heart rate or activity rhythms during spaceflight. There was also a tendency for changes in waveform mean and amplitude. These data suggest that the spaceflight environment may have a differential effect on the different oscillators controlling different rhythmic variables. Ongoing studies are examining the effects of +G on the CTS. The long-term presence of humans in space highlights the need for effective countermeasures to gravitational effects on the CTS.

Fuller, Charles A.↗

Radio Wave Propagation for Communication on and around Mars: Highlights: Propagation Through Mars Environment - Part 1

We recommend to use the dayside Martian ionosphere as a reflector for global communication, because the dayside ionosphere has stable density peak and usable critic frequency. This is very crucial for the future Mars ground to around communication. The dayside ionosphere has been well modeled as a Chapman layer. We suggest to perform the Martian nightside ionospheric modeling study. Because the nightside ionosphere has very little measurements available, we propose to drop a digital ionosond instrument into the Mars surface for data collection. Even though the Martian tropospheric radio refractivity has small value, it still can cause the ray bending and multipath effects. We recommend to perform an accurate calculation on excess phase and group delays (range and time delays). Other effects, such as range rate errors, appearance angle deviation, defocusing loss on Mars, etc. are also needed to be estimated. Ice depolarization effects due to Martian clouds on radio waves is unknown yet, which is expected to be small, because lower optical depth and thinner layer of cloud: Total Martian atmospheric gaseous attenuation is expected to be less than 1 dB on microwaves band, because the Martian atmosphere has very low concentration in uncondensed H2O and O2. An accurate calculation for zenith opacity requires the information about scale heights of H2O and O2 distribution. An accurate water vapor altitude profile at Mars is not available yet. Under the normal condition, CO2 and N2 gases do not have electric or magnetic dipoles and do not absorb electromagnetic energy from the waves. However, they may generate the dipoles through a collision and interact with waves under a high density condition and absorb electromagnetic waves in the infrared and visible band. Dust storm is most dominant factor to the radio wave attenuation. Large Martian dust storm can cause at least 3 dB or higher loss to Ka band wave. For a normal dust storm, the attenuation is about 1 dB. The attenuation much depends on dust mass loading, dust size distribution, etc. Most large dust storm occur in the southern hemisphere during later spring and early summer when the southern hemisphere become suddenly hot.

Ho, Christian↗

Method for Locating a Concealed Object

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for detecting anomalies in microwave penetrable material that may be used for locating plastic mines or pipes underneath the ground. A transmitter is positioned at a plurality of different positions above the ground. A microwave signal is transmitted that is stepped over a plurality of frequencies. At each position, a plurality of reflections are received corresponding to each of the plurality of frequencies that were transmitted. A complex target vector may be produced at each position that contains complex values corresponding to magnitude, phase, and time delay for each of the plurality of reflections received at that location. A complex reference data vector may be produced, either based on predetermined values or based on data from the received plurality of reflections. A comparison is made between the complex target vector and the complex reference data vector to produce a channel vector. In one embodiment, an operator may be applied to the channel vector such as a complex filter matrix or to add a complex conjugate. A response signal is produced and anomalies are detected by variations in the response signal with respect to the plurality of positions.

G Dickey Arndt↗

Infrared Avionics Signal Distribution Using WDM

Supporting analog RF signal transmission over optical fibers, this project demonstrates a successful application of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to the avionics environment. We characterize the simultaneous transmission of four RF signals (channels) over a single optical fiber. At different points along a fiber optic backbone, these four analog channels are sequentially multiplexed and demultiplexed to more closely emulate the conditions in existing onboard aircraft. We present data from measurements of optical power, transmission response (loss and gain), reflection response, group delay that defines phase distortion, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and dynamic range that defines nonlinear distortion. The data indicate that WDM is very suitable for avionics applications.

Atiquzzaman, Mohammed↗

The Application of Fiber Optic Wavelength Division Multiplexing in RF Avionics

This paper demonstrates a successful application of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to the avionics environment to support analog RF signal transmission. We investigate the simultaneous transmission of four RF signals (channels) over a single optical fiber. These four analog channels are sequentially multiplexed and demultiplexed at different points along a fiber optic backbone to more closely emulate the conditions found onboard aircraft. We present data from measurements of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), transmission response (loss and gain), group delay that defines phase distortion, and dynamic range that defines nonlinear distortion. The data indicate that WDM is well-suited for avionics applications.

Ngo, Duc↗

Operational Concept for Flight Crews to Participate in Merging and Spacing of Aircraft

The predicted tripling of air traffic within the next 15 years is expected to cause significant aircraft delays and create a major financial burden for the airline industry unless the capacity of the National Airspace System can be increased. One approach to improve throughput and reduce delay is to develop new ground tools, airborne tools, and procedures to reduce the variance of aircraft delivery to the airport, thereby providing an increase in runway throughput capacity and a reduction in arrival aircraft delay. The first phase of the Merging and Spacing Concept employs a ground based tool used by Air Traffic Control that creates an arrival time to the runway threshold based on the aircraft s current position and speed, then makes minor adjustments to that schedule to accommodate runway throughput constraints such as weather and wake vortex separation criteria. The Merging and Spacing Concept also employs arrival routing that begins at an en route metering fix at altitude and continues to the runway threshold with defined lateral, vertical, and velocity criteria. This allows the desired spacing interval between aircraft at the runway to be translated back in time and space to the metering fix. The tool then calculates a specific speed for each aircraft to fly while enroute to the metering fix based on the adjusted land timing for that aircraft. This speed is data-linked to the crew who fly this speed, causing the aircraft to arrive at the metering fix with the assigned spacing interval behind the previous aircraft in the landing sequence. The second phase of the Merging and Spacing Concept increases the timing precision of the aircraft delivery to the runway threshold by having flight crews using an airborne system make minor speed changes during enroute, descent, and arrival phases of flight. These speed changes are based on broadcast aircraft state data to determine the difference between the actual and assigned time interval between the aircraft pair. The airborne software then calculates a speed adjustment to null that difference over the remaining flight trajectory. Follow-on phases still under development will expand the concept to all types of aircraft, arriving from any direction, merging at different fixes and altitudes, and to any airport. This paper describes the implementation phases of the Merging and Spacing Concept, and provides high-level results of research conducted to date.

Baxley, Brian T.↗

Asymptotic Linearity of Optimal Control Modification Adaptive Law with Analytical Stability Margins

Optimal control modification has been developed to improve robustness to model-reference adaptive control. For systems with linear matched uncertainty, optimal control modification adaptive law can be shown by a singular perturbation argument to possess an outer solution that exhibits a linear asymptotic property. Analytical expressions of phase and time delay margins for the outer solution can be obtained. Using the gradient projection operator, a free design parameter of the adaptive law can be selected to satisfy stability margins.

Nguyen, Nhan T.↗

Calibration Software for Use with Jurassicprok

The Jurassicprok Interferometric Calibration Software (also called "Calibration Processor" or simply "CP") estimates the calibration parameters of an airborne synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) system, the raw measurement data of which are processed by the Jurassicprok software described in the preceding article. Calibration parameters estimated by CP include time delays, baseline offsets, phase screens, and radiometric offsets. CP examines raw radar-pulse data, single-look complex image data, and digital elevation map data. For each type of data, CP compares the actual values with values expected on the basis of ground-truth data. CP then converts the differences between the actual and expected values into updates for the calibration parameters in an interferometric calibration file (ICF) and a radiometric calibration file (RCF) for the particular SAR system. The updated ICF and RCF are used as inputs to both Jurassicprok and to the companion Motion Measurement Processor software (described in the following article) for use in generating calibrated digital elevation maps.

Chapin, Elaine↗

Ka-Band GaN-on-SiC MMIC Balanced High Power Amplifier for NASA's Lunar Missions

The feasibility of Ka-band GaN-on-SiC MMIC based balanced high power amplifier (HPA) for science data downlinks from NASA’s Lunar mission assets in space is investigated. The HPA combines the RF output power from two PAs using a rectangular waveguide based 3-dB hybrid coupler. The investigation includes characterizing the HPA for the overall RF output power, Gain, PAE, RMS EVM for offset-QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, and 32APSK waveforms, Spectrum, 3rd order IMD products, noise figure, phase noise, & group delay. The HPA has high Pout and good linearity and can support high data rate downlinks from the surface and vicinity of the Moon to Earth.

Rainee.N. Simons↗