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At least 37 records · Page 2

Tomographical transformation of Malvern spray measurements

A new method is described which directly transforms Malvern line-integral data into point measurements of the radial drop mean size distribution and liquid volume concentration distribution. The transformed results have been compared with experimental point measurements by photography and the phase/Doppler spray analyzer. The comparison reveals the relation between point measurements and line-of-sight measurements. Three kinds of nozzles were investigated. After tomographical transformation of the Malvern results the different structures of the spray are revealed. A newly derived formula simplifies the transformation procedure. This method provides a direct means to extend the applicability of the Malvern particle sizer and has the potential to be developed for use in unsymmetric sprays.

Zhu, H. M.↗

Distributed Constrained Optimization with Semicoordinate Transformations

Recent work has shown how information theory extends conventional full-rationality game theory to allow bounded rational agents. The associated mathematical framework can be used to solve constrained optimization problems. This is done by translating the problem into an iterated game, where each agent controls a different variable of the problem, so that the joint probability distribution across the agents moves gives an expected value of the objective function. The dynamics of the agents is designed to minimize a Lagrangian function of that joint distribution. Here we illustrate how the updating of the Lagrange parameters in the Lagrangian is a form of automated annealing, which focuses the joint distribution more and more tightly about the joint moves that optimize the objective function. We then investigate the use of "semicoordinate" variable transformations. These separate the joint state of the agents from the variables of the optimization problem, with the two connected by an onto mapping. We present experiments illustrating the ability of such transformations to facilitate optimization. We focus on the special kind of transformation in which the statistically independent states of the agents induces a mixture distribution over the optimization variables. Computer experiment illustrate this for &sat constraint satisfaction problems and for unconstrained minimization of NK functions.

Macready, William↗

Evaluation of a Multi-kw, High Frequency Transformer for Space Applications

Various NASA studies have shown that high power (multi-kW and higher) electrical systems for various aerospace applications favor high frequency distribution systems, due to the improved safety and weight factors associated with those systems. Other favorable characteristics include low EMI, minimal wiring and ease of system parameter sensing and control of a single phase system. In aerospace power systems, as in terrestrial AC distribution systems, transformers are needed to provide voltage changes, isolation and the resetting of ground. Under NASA contract NAS3-21948 a multi-kW high frequency transformer was designed, fabricated and tested by Thermal Technology Lab, Inc. of Buffalo, New York. 'The goals of this program included the determination of the relationships between transformer weight, efficiency and operating frequency; low internal temperatures and reduced specific weight; and the validation of these new design concepts through experimentation and the fabrication and testing of transformers and their insulation systems.' The transformer was delivered to NASA-Lewis, where an evaluation program was conducted in Lewis' High Power High Frequency Component Test Facility. The transformer was tested in both atmosphere and under vacuum conditions. This paper will discuss the design of the transformer, the evaluation program and test results, the failures experienced and conclusions.

Roth, Mary Ellen↗

The turbomachine blading design using S2-S1 approach

The boundary conditions corresponding to the design problem when the blades being simulated by the bound vorticity distribution are presented. The 3D flow is analyzed by the two steps S2 - S1 approach. In the first step, the number of blades is supposed to be infinite, the vortex distribution is transformed into an axisymmetric one, so that the flow field can be analyzed in a meridional plane. The thickness distribution of the blade producing the flow channel striction is taken into account by the modification of metric tensor in the continuity equation. Using the meridional stream function to define the flow field, the mass conservation is satisfied automatically. The governing equation is deduced from the relation between the azimuthal component of the vorticity and the meridional velocity. The value of the azimuthal component of the vorticity is provided by the hub to shroud equilibrium condition. This step leads to the determination of the axisymmetric stream sheets as well as the approximate camber surface of the blade. In the second step, the finite number of blades is taken into account, the inverse problem corresponding to the blade to blade flow confined in each stream sheet is analyzed. The momentum equation implies that the free vortex of the absolute velocity must be tangential to the stream sheet. The governing equation for the blade to blade flow stream function is deduced from this condition. At the beginning, the upper and the lower surfaces of the blades are created from the camber surface obtained from the first step with the assigned thickness distribution. The bound vorticity distribution and the penetrating flux conservation applied on the presumed blade surface constitute the boundary conditions of the inverse problem. The detection of this flux leads to the rectification of the geometry of the blades.

Luu, T. S.↗

Rapid, high-order accurate calculation of flows due to free source or vortex distributions

Fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques are applied to the problem of finding the flow due to source or vortex distributions in the field outside an airfoil or other two-dimensional body. Either the complex potential or the complex velocity may be obtained to a high order of accuracy, with computational effort similar to that required by second-order fast Poisson solvers. These techniques are applicable to general flow problems with compressibility and rotation. An example is given of their use for inviscid compressible flow.

Halsey, D.↗

Time-dependent shock acceleration of energetic electrons including synchrotron losses

The present investigation of the time-dependent particle acceleration problem in strong shocks, including synchrotron radiation losses, solves the transport equation analytically by means of Laplace transforms. The particle distribution thus obtained is then transformed numerically into real space for the cases of continuous and impulsive injections of particles at the shock. While in the continuous case the steady-state spectrum undergoes evolution, impulsive injection is noted to yield such unpredicted features as a pile-up of high-energy particles or a steep power-law with time-dependent spectral index. The time-dependent calculations reveal varying spectral shapes and more complex features for the higher energies which may be useful in the interpretation of outburst spectra.

Fritz, Klaus-Dieter↗

On the initiation of subduction

Estimates of shear resistance associated with lithospheric thrusting and convergence represent lower bounds on the force necessary to promote trench formation. Three environments proposed as preferential sites of incipient subduction are investigated: passive continental margins, transform faults/fracture zones, and extinct ridges. None of these are predicted to convert into subduction zones simply by the accumulation of local gravitational stresses. Subduction cannot initiate through the foundering of dense oceanic lithosphere immediately adjacent to passive continental margins. The attempted subduction of buoyant material at a mature trench can result in large compressional forces in both subducting and overriding plates. This is the only tectonic force sufficient to trigger the nucleation of a new subduction zone. The ubiquitous distribution of transform faults and fracture zones, combined with the common proximity of these features to mature subduction complexes, suggests that they may represent the most likely sites of trench formation if they are even marginally weaker than normal oceanic lithosphere.

Mueller, Steve↗

Apparatus and method using a holographic optical element for converting a spectral distribution to image points

A holographic optical element transforms a spectral distribution of light to image points. The element comprises areas, each of which acts as a separate lens to image the light incident in its area to an image point. Each area contains the recorded hologram of a point source object. The image points can be made to lie in a line in the same focal plane so as to align with a linear array detector. A version of the element has been developed that has concentric equal areas to match the circular fringe pattern of a Fabry-Perot interferometer. The element has high transmission efficiency, and when coupled with high quantum efficiency solid state detectors, provides an efficient photon-collecting detection system. The element may be used as part of the detection system in a direct detection Doppler lidar system or multiple field of view lidar system.

McGill, Matthew J.↗

Signal processing in a randomly time varying system.

Stochastic operators are applied to an analysis of some deterministic systems of signal transformation. The distribution of a random process at the output of a system is given through its distribution at the input and through a stochastic Green's function. A two-point correlation function is derived to obtain a solution to differential equations which contain coefficients, boundary conditions, or right-hand terms representing random processes.

Adomian, G.↗

Observations of heavy energetic ions far upstream from Comet Halley

On March 25, 1986, when the ICE spacecraft came within 28 million km of the nucleus of comet Halley, and for several days around this time, bursts of heavy ions were observed by the ICE energetic ion experiment. The bursts were observed only during periods when the solar wind velocity was considerably higher than its nominal value. The characteristics of these ions, in particular their anisotropies, were examined. Using the well known formulae for transformation of distributions from the solar wind frame of reference to the spacecraft frame, the angular distributions expected from either protons, or heavy ions from the water group, were studied, showing that the measurements are consistent with heavy ions, and not with protons. Other sources of heavy ions are considered, and the most likely source of these ions is comet Halley.

Sanderson, T. R.↗

A kinematic model of ridge-transform geometry evolution

A simple kinematic model is used to study the effects of various parameters on the evolution of zero-offset transforms and very-long-offset transforms. Consideration is given to the effects of initial configuration, degree of asymmetry, and degree of bias in asymmetry on the generation of these ridge transform geometries and on the possible steady-state nature of the transform length spectra. Of the parameters tests, only lack of 'memory' of zero-offset transforms affects transform length distribution.

Stoddard, Paul R.↗

Comparison of thermal (FLIR) and television images

The human eye is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in the 0.4 to 0.7 micron band (light). Thermal imaging (TI) systems are sensitive to heat radiation in the infrared band (3-5 or 8-14 microns) and are capable of transforming the distribution of relative temperatures in a scene into a visible TV image. The present experiment was designed to investigate the impact of the difference between TIs and regular TV images on the detection and identification of natural and man-made targets. Parallel TV and TI videotapes were recorded during helicopter flights. Fifteen subjects who viewed both the TV and the TI images (separately), were asked to detect predefined targets and to identify features pointed out to them by the experimenter. In general, performance with TVs was superior to performance with TIs in terms of response times and errors. However, subjects required significantly less time to detect man-made objects with TIs than with TVs. The correlation between the performance of the same task with the two kinds of images was very low. The results are discussed in terms of image quality and in terms of humans' internal representations of natural categories.

Brickner, Michael S.↗

Antenna pattern control using impedance surfaces

During this research period, we have effectively transferred existing computer codes from CRAY supercomputer to work station based systems. The work station based version of our code preserved the accuracy of the numerical computations while giving a much better turn-around time than the CRAY supercomputer. Such a task relieved us of the heavy dependence of the supercomputer account budget and made codes developed in this research project more feasible for applications. The analysis of pyramidal horns with impedance surfaces was our major focus during this research period. Three different modeling algorithms in analyzing lossy impedance surfaces were investigated and compared with measured data. Through this investigation, we discovered that a hybrid Fourier transform technique, which uses the eigen mode in the stepped waveguide section and the Fourier transformed field distributions across the stepped discontinuities for lossy impedances coating, gives a better accuracy in analyzing lossy coatings. After a further refinement of the present technique, we will perform an accurate radiation pattern synthesis in the coming reporting period.

Balanis, Constantine A.↗

Accelerated cometary ions observed downstream of the Comet Halley bow shock

Results are presented of fluxes of energetic ions with energies exceeding 100 keV that were detected upstream of the bow shock of Comet Halley by the Tuende instrument on board the VEGA 1 spacecraft. Downstream of the shock, ion fluxes in the energy range 100 to 180 keV were observed. The measured ion fluxes were transformed into distribution functions in the solar wind frame using a variety of assumptions concerning the energy dependence of the distribution function and the identity of the ion species. The derived distribution function upstream of the shock falls off steeply with energy between 100 and 150 keV, with an effective temperature of about 7 keV or spectral index of about -15. The distribution function increases with decreasing cometocentric distance, on average, reaching a maximum at the bow shock. The measured distribution functions are compared with those obtained by similar instruments on Giotto and ICE as well as with the predictions of several theoretical models that employ different acceleration mechanisms.

Kecskemety, K.↗

Dynamics of the atmospheres of the outer planets - Post-Voyager measurement objectives

Current knowledge about dynamics and thermal structure on the outer planets is reviewed with the aim of identifying important measurements which should be made in the post-Voyager era. The existence of jets and cloud bands is the puzzle that underlies all others. Discussion focuses on the particular case of Jupiter because documentation is most complete. Recent dynamical work has successfully reproduced much of the behavior of jets and spots with simple models that contain few parameters. It is argued that the gross dynamical parameters, such as density stratification and rotation rate, are the keys to their behaviors, rather than the particular specifics of radiative forcing, cloud distributions, thermodynamic transformations. Voyager data have shown that the jet systems decay with height in the region above the visible clouds. Therefore the highest priority must be given to establishing dynamical parameters that characterize levels within and beneath the clouds. These require determination of the deep structure of the jets, of the density stratification, and of the horizontal density contrasts. The deep regions are not easily accessible, and these measurements present challenging opportunities. Indirect inferences about the controlling processes may sometimes be possible by observing waves and other activity in the more easily accessible stratosphere, and some of these issues are also discussed.

Gierasch, Peter J.↗

EOS ground data systems: A description and interface overview

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is planned as a space-based measurement system, earth-science research program, and data and information system (EOSDIS). It will consist of several high data rate spacecraft with multiple earth sensing instruments which provide investigators with a thorough, longterm view of the earth's environment. Up to seven spacecraft may be supported at once, either in operational, checkout, or testing phases; and the average data rate from the EOS satellites in orbit at any one time is expected to be from 18 to 60 Mbps. Providing the data processing and flight operations support for EOS will be the EOSDIS Core System (ECS). The ECS will command and control the spacecraft; process and store the EOS data; provide access to the data for years; and support researchers. The data processing aspects of the ECS consist of a collection of Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC's) which perform the product generation, data archive and distribution, and information management services. Flight operations aspects will be provided by the EOS Operations Center, by instrument control centers, and by widely distributed instrument support terminals. The communications and system management aspects will be provided by the EOSDIS Science Network and the System Management Center. In addition to the EOS satellite data, other data sets from earlier earth science missions are also to be added to designated DAAC's. Other ground data systems which will provide support to EOS for acquiring, transporting, processing, and distributing the transformed spacecraft data are currently being defined or are being upgraded for the EOS era. These systems include the Space Network consisting of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), the TDRSS Ground Terminals, and the Network Control Center as well as the night Dynamics Facility, the EOS Data and Operations System, and EOS Communications. This paper briefly describes data handling by the ECS, the support data systems, their interfaces, and their roles.

Smith, Gene↗

The Cortex Transform as an image preprocessor for sparse distributed memory: An initial study

An experiment is described which was designed to evaluate the use of the Cortex Transform as an image processor for Sparse Distributed Memory (SDM). In the experiment, a set of images were injected with Gaussian noise, preprocessed with the Cortex Transform, and then encoded into bit patterns. The various spatial frequency bands of the Cortex Transform were encoded separately so that they could be evaluated based on their ability to properly cluster patterns belonging to the same class. The results of this study indicate that by simply encoding the low pass band of the Cortex Transform, a very suitable input representation for the SDM can be achieved.

Olshausen, Bruno↗