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During the past ten years Vector Quantization (VQ) has developed from a theoretical possibility promised by Shannon's source coding theorems into a powerful and competitive technique for speech and image coding and compression at medium to low bit rates. In this survey, the basic ideas behind the design of vector quantizers are sketched and some comments made on the state-of-the-art and current research efforts.
Many traditional algorithms for computing the fast Fourier transform (FFT) on conventional computers are unacceptable for advanced vector and parallel computers because they involve nonunit, power-of-two memory strides. A practical technique for computing the FFT that avoids all such strides and appears to be near-optimal for a variety of current vector and parallel computers is presented. Performance results of a program based on this technique are given. Notable among these results is that a FORTRAN implementation of this algorithm on the CRAY-2 runs up to 77-percent faster than Cray's assembly-coded library routine.
Vector excitation coding (VXC) has shown promise for digital transmission of fairly high communications quality speech at low bit rates, but current version of the algorithm still suffer from audible degradations, particularly at 4.8 kb/s. The authors examine the technique of dynamic bit allocation (DBA) to improve the performance of VXC for a given bit rate. The approach is based on the observation that the minimum bit rate needed to code adequately both the long-term and short-term predictors in VXC varies dynamically with time. Therefore, in frames where fewer bits suffice for the predictors, the unneeded bits can be reallocated to other coder parameter sets such as excitation vectors. By dynamically distributing available bits among the different coder parameter sets while keeping the total number of bits in each frame fixed, it is possible to improve overall coder performance without increasing bit rate.
Multiaxis thrust-vectoring nozzles can furnish substantial combat performance gains for military aircraft; in pursuit of these gains, NASA-Langley has conducted an extensive experimental research program encompassing both static and freestream performance evaluations for numerous multiaxis thrust-vectoring nozzle concepts using air-powered simulation models. An evaluation is presently made of a selection of these experimental results. Two-dimensional and axisymmetric convergent-divergent configurations and hybrid configurations, with and without postexit vanes, have been studied.
A design concept developed for a polarimeter on the vector magnetograph of the SAMEX satellite that would be very sensitive to solar vector magnetic fields is described. A description of the Poincare sphere is presented, along with the instrument scientific requirements, to provide an understanding of how the polarimeter design has been selected. It is shown that the design goal of a polarimetric sensitivity of 0.0001 can be achieved in the linear measurements using a hybrid analyzer. It is also noted that the systematic errors that produce linear crosstalk into the circular measurement will require the use of the redundant polarization measurements for in-flight calibrations and corrections of the data.
The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. The independent analysis results for the Ascent Thrust Vector Control (ATVC) Actuator hardware are documented. The function of the Ascent Thrust Vector Control Actuators (ATVC) is to gimbal the main engines to provide for attitude and flight path control during ascent. During first stage flight, the SRB nozzles provide nearly all the steering. After SRB separation, the Orbiter is steered by gimbaling of its main engines. There are six electrohydraulic servoactuators, one pitch and one yaw for each of the three main engines. Each servoactuator is composed of four electrohydraulic servovalve assemblies, one second stage power spool valve assembly, one primary piston assembly and a switching valve. Each level of hardware was evaluated and analyzed for possible failure modes and effects. Criticality was assigned based upon the severity of the effect for each failure mode. Critical failures resulting in loss of ATVC were mainly due to loss of hydraulic fluid, fluid contamination and mechanical failures.
Researchers describe the conceptual design of a new imaging vector magnetograph currently being constructed at the University of Hawaii. The instrument combines a modest solar telescope with a rotating quarter-wave plate, an acousto-optical tunable prefilter as a blocker for a servo-controlled Fabry-Perot etalon, CCD cameras, and on-line digital image processing. Its high spatial resolution (1/2 arcsec pixel size) over a large field of view (5 by 5 arcmin) will be sufficient to significantly measure, for the first time, the magnetic energy dissipated in major solar flares. Its millisecond tunability and wide spectral range (5000 to 7000 A) enable nearly simultaneous vector magnetic field measurements in the gas-pressure-dominated photosphere and magnetically-dominated chromosphere, as well as effective co-alignment with Solar-A's X ray images. Researchers expect to have the instrument in operation at Mees Solar Observatory (Haleakala) in early 1991. They have chosen to use tunable filters as wavelength-selection elements in order to emphasize the spatial relationships between magnetic field elements, and to permit construction of a compact, efficient instrument. This means that spectral information must be obtained from sequences of images, which can cause line profile distortions due to effects of atmospheric seeing.
At present, actuation systems for the Thrust Vector Control (TVC) for launch vehicles are hydraulic systems. The Advanced Launch System (ALS), a joint initiative between NASA and the Air Force, is a launch vehicle that is designed to be cost effective, highly reliable and operationally efficient with a goal of reducing the cost per pound to orbit. As part of this initiative, an electromechanical actuation system is being developed as an attractive alternative to the hydraulic systems used today. NASA-Lewis is developing and demonstrating an Induction Motor Controller Actuation System with a 40 hp peak rating. The controller will integrate 20 kHz resonant link Power Management and Distribution (PMAD) technology and Pulse Population Modulation (PPM) techniques to implement Field Oriented Vector Control (FOVC) of a new advanced induction motor. Through PPM, multiphase variable frequency, variable voltage waveforms can be synthesized from the 20 kHz source. FOVC shows that varying both the voltage and frequency and their ratio (V/F), permits independent control of both torque and speed while operating at maximum efficiency at any point on the torque-speed curve. The driver and the FOVC will be microprocessor controlled. For increased system reliability, a Built-in Test (BITE) capability will be included. This involves introducing testability into the design of a system such that testing is calibrated and exercised during the design, manufacturing, maintenance and prelaunch activities. An actuator will be integrated with the motor controller for performance testing of the EMA TVC system. The design and fabrication of the motor controller is being done by General Dynamics Space Systems Division. The University of Wisconsin-Madison will assist in the design of the advanced induction motor and in the implementation of the FOVC theory. A 75 hp electronically controlled dynamometer will be used to test the motor controller in all four quadrants of operation using flight type control algorithms. Integrated testing of the controller and actuator will be conducted at a facility yet to be named. The EMA system described above is discussed in detail.
This paper compares the results of cloud-field classification derived from two simplified vector approaches, the Sum and Difference Histogram (SADH) and the Gray Level Difference Vector (GLDV), with the results produced by the Gray Level Cooccurrence Matrix (GLCM) approach described by Welch et al. (1988). It is shown that the SADH method produces accuracies equivalent to those obtained using the GLCM method, while the GLDV method fails to resolve error clusters. Compared to the GLCM method, the SADH method leads to a 31 percent saving in run time and a 50 percent saving in storage requirements, while the GLVD approach leads to a 40 percent saving in run time and an 87 percent saving in storage requirements.
Some recent developments in acceleration of convergence methods for vector sequences are reviewed. The methods considered are the minimal polynomial extrapolation, the reduced rank extrapolation, and the modified minimal polynomial extrapolation. The vector sequences to be accelerated are those that are obtained from the iterative solution of linear or nonlinear systems of equations. The convergence and stability properties of these methods as well as different ways of numerical implementation are discussed in detail. Based on the convergence and stability results, strategies that are useful in practical applications are suggested. Two applications to computational fluid mechanics involving the three dimensional Euler equations for ducted and external flows are considered. The numerical results demonstrate the usefulness of the methods in accelerating the convergence of the time marching techniques in the solution of steady state problems.
A study was undertaken to determine if movable probes or struts positioned in the nozzle can be used to provide Thrust Vector Control of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. The study employed CFD to determine estimates of the shock standoff distance from the probe. An empirical correlation was used to construct the shock shape and the pressure distribution generated by the probe. The TVC performance for a single and multiple number of probes was then used to determine requirements for a maximum thrust angle offset of 7.5 degrees. Consideration was given to what materials would be suitable for the probe and if active cooling is required. Based on the performance analysis and thermal requirements, a Probe Thrust Vector Control (PTVC) system was sized. Indications are that a PTVC system weight is in the 1500 1bm weight range, compared to the existing weight of 7500 1bm for the SRB nozzle gimble system.
The error sources in a high accuracy optical matrix-vector processor are analyzed by numerical simulation in terms of their effects on the parallelism and speed of the processor. These effects are detailed for radices -2, -4 and -8. Radix -4 is shown to provide maximum parallel processing capabilities under the effects of the system's error sources. Processing speed is shown to be a function of matrix partitioning and the number of parallel processing channels. Consequently, radix -4 operation provides a higher processing speed than radix -2 and -8 for most matrix-vector multiplications when error source effects are considered.
The relative accuracy of a georeferenced raster data set captured by the Megavision 1024XM system using the Videk Megaplus CCD cameras is compared to a georeferenced raster data set generated from vector lines manually digitized through the ELAS software package on a Summagraphics X-Y digitizer table. The study also investigates the amount of time necessary to fully complete the rasterization of the two data sets, evaluating individual areas such as time necessary to generate raw data, time necessary to edit raw data, time necessary to georeference raw data, and accuracy of georeferencing against a norm. Preliminary results exhibit a high level of agreement between areas of the vector-parented data and areas of the captured file data where sufficient control points were chosen. Maps of 1:20,000 scale were digitized into raster files of 5 meter resolution per pixel and overall error in RMS was estimated at less than eight meters. Such approaches offer time and labor-saving advantages as well as increasing the efficiency of project scheduling and enabling the digitization of new types of data.
Generalizations of the two flux-vector splittings and the Roe average to an arbitrary equilibrium gas are presently shown to introduce one degree of freedom in each case. The forms developed are those believed to be the simplest capable of satisfying basic physical principles while being valid for the most general flow conditions and gas laws, entailing only minor modifications of the perfect gas formulas. The flux-vector splittings represent a simpler problem, since they involve a single thermodynamic state for each split-flux term; only the pressure and the sound speed need to be evaluated, in place of the individual pressure derivatives.
A vector semi-Lagrangian semi-implicit two-time-level finite-difference integration scheme for the shallow water equations on the sphere is presented. A C-grid is used for the spatial differencing. The trajectory-centered discretization of the momentum equation in vector form eliminates pole problems and, at comparable cost, gives greater accuracy than a previous semi-Lagrangian finite-difference scheme which used a rotated spherical coordinate system. In terms of the insensitivity of the results to increasing timestep, the new scheme is as successful as recent spectral semi-Lagrangian schemes. In addition, the use of a multigrid method for solving the elliptic equation for the geopotential allows efficient integration with an operation count which, at high resolution, is of lower order than in the case of the spectral models. The properties of the new scheme should allow finite-difference models to compete with spectral models more effectively than has previously been possible.
An adaptive vector linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) filter for multichannel images with multiplicative noise is presented. It is shown theoretically that the mean-squared error in the filter output is reduced by making use of the correlation between image bands. The vector and conventional scalar LMMSE filters are applied to a three-band SIR-B SAR, and their performance is compared. Based on a mutliplicative noise model, the per-pel maximum likelihood classifier was derived. The authors extend this to the design of sequential and robust classifiers. These classifiers are also applied to the three-band SIR-B SAR image.
Computational aspects of Control-Structure Interaction (CSI) DESIGN code is reviewed. Numerical intensive computation portions of CSI-DESIGN code were identified. Improvements in computational speed for the CSI-DESIGN code can be achieved by exploiting parallel and vector capabilities offered by modern computers, such as the Alliant, Convex, Cray-2, and Cray-YMP. Four options to generate the coefficient stiffness matrix and to solve the system of linear, simultaneous equations are currently available in the CSI-DESIGN code. A preprocessor to use RCM (Reverse Cuthill-Mackee) algorithm for bandwidth minimization was also developed for the CSI-DESIGN code. Preliminary results obtained by solving a small-scale, 97 node CSI finite element model (for eigensolution) have indicated that this new CSI-DESIGN code is 5 to 6 times faster (using 1 Alliant processor) than the old version of CSI-DESIGN code. This speed-up was achieved due to the RCM algorithm and the use of a new skyline solver. Efforts are underway to further improve the vector speed for CSI-DESIGN code, to evaluate its performance on a larger scale CSI model (such as phase zero CSI model) to make the code run efficiently on multiprocessor, parallel computer environment, and to make the code portable among different parallel computers available at NASA LaRC, such as Alliant, Convex, and Cray computers.
An investigation was conducted in the static test facility of the Langley 16 Foot Transonic Tunnel in order to determine the internal performance characteristics of a multiaxis thrust vectoring axisymmetric nozzle. Thrust vectoring for this nozzle was achieved by deflection of only the divergent section of this nozzle. The effects of nozzle power setting and divergent flap length were studied at nozzle deflection angles of 0 to 30 at nozzle pressure ratios up to 8.0.