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NASA NTRS1995

The effect of lossy image compression on image classification

We have classified four different images, under various levels of JPEG compression, using the following classification algorithms: minimum-distance, maximum-likelihood, and neural network. The training site accuracy and percent difference from the original classification were tabulated for each image compression level, with maximum-likelihood showing the poorest results. In general, as compression ratio increased, the classification retained its overall appearance, but much of the pixel-to-pixel detail was eliminated. We also examined the effect of compression on spatial pattern detection using a neural network.

Paola, Justin D.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Optimum detection of tones transmitted by a spacecraft

The performance of a scheme proposed for automated routine monitoring of deep-space missions is presented. The scheme uses four different tones (sinusoids) transmitted from the spacecraft (S/C) to a ground station with the positive identification of each of them used to indicate different states of the S/C. Performance is measured in terms of detection probability versus false alarm probability with detection signal-to-noise ratio as a parameter. The cases where the phase of the received tone is unknown and where both the phase and frequency of the received tone are unknown are treated separately. The decision rules proposed for detecting the tones are formulated from average-likelihood ratio and maximum-likelihood ratio tests, the former resulting in optimum receiver structures.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Catastrophic Failure Modes Assessment of the International Space Station Alpha

This report summarizes a series of analyses to quantify the hazardous effects of meteoroid/debris penetration of Space Station Alpha manned module protective structures. These analyses concentrate on determining (a) the critical crack length associated with six manned module pressure wall designs that, if exceeded, would lead to unstopped crack propagation and rupture of manned modules, and (b) the likelihood of crew or station loss following penetration of unsymmetrical di-methyl hydrazine tanks aboard the proposed Russian FGB ('Tug') propulsion module and critical elements aboard the control moment gyro module (SPP-1). Results from these quantified safety analyses are useful in improving specific design areas, thereby reducing the overall likelihood of crew or station loss following orbital debris penetration.

Lutz, B. E. P.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Non-Linear Cosmological Power Spectra in Real and Redshift Space

We present an expression for the non-linear evolution of the cosmological power spectrum based on Lagrangian trajectories. This is simplified using the Zel'dovich approximation to trace particle displacements, assuming Gaussian initial conditions. The model is found to exhibit the transfer of power from large to small scales expected in self-gravitating fields. Some exact solutions are found for power-law initial spectra. We have extended this analysis into red-shift space and found a solution for the non-linear, anisotropic redshift-space power spectrum in the limit of plane-parallel redshift distortions. The quadrupole-to-monopole ratio is calculated for the case of power-law initial spectra. We find that the shape of this ratio depends on the shape of the initial spectrum, but when scaled to linear theory depends only weakly on the redshift-space distortion parameter, beta. The point of zero-crossing of the quadrupole, kappa(sub o), is found to obey a simple scaling relation and we calculate this scale in the Zel'dovich approximation. This model is found to be in good agreement with a series of N-body simulations on scales down to the zero-crossing of the quadrupole, although the wavenumber at zero-crossing is underestimated. These results are applied to the quadrupole-to-monopole ratio found in the merged QDOT plus 1.2-Jy-IRAS redshift survey. Using a likelihood technique we have estimated that the distortion parameter is constrained to be beta greater than 0.5 at the 95 percent level. Our results are fairly insensitive to the local primordial spectral slope, but the likelihood analysis suggests n = -2 un the translinear regime. The zero-crossing scale of the quadrupole is k(sub 0) = 0.5 +/- 0.1 h Mpc(exp -1) and from this we infer that the amplitude of clustering is sigma(sub 8) = 0.7 +/- 0.05. We suggest that the success of this model is due to non-linear redshift-space effects arising from infall on to caustic and is not dominated by virialized cluster cores. The latter should start to dominate on scales below the zero-crossing of the quadrupole, where our model breaks down.

Taylor, A. N.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Trellises and Trellis-Based Decoding Algorithms for Linear Block Codes

A code trellis is a graphical representation of a code, block or convolutional, in which every path represents a codeword (or a code sequence for a convolutional code). This representation makes it possible to implement Maximum Likelihood Decoding (MLD) of a code with reduced decoding complexity. The most well known trellis-based MLD algorithm is the Viterbi algorithm. The trellis representation was first introduced and used for convolutional codes [23]. This representation, together with the Viterbi decoding algorithm, has resulted in a wide range of applications of convolutional codes for error control in digital communications over the last two decades. There are two major reasons for this inactive period of research in this area. First, most coding theorists at that time believed that block codes did not have simple trellis structure like convolutional codes and maximum likelihood decoding of linear block codes using the Viterbi algorithm was practically impossible, except for very short block codes. Second, since almost all of the linear block codes are constructed algebraically or based on finite geometries, it was the belief of many coding theorists that algebraic decoding was the only way to decode these codes. These two reasons seriously hindered the development of efficient soft-decision decoding methods for linear block codes and their applications to error control in digital communications. This led to a general belief that block codes are inferior to convolutional codes and hence, that they were not useful. Chapter 2 gives a brief review of linear block codes. The goal is to provide the essential background material for the development of trellis structure and trellis-based decoding algorithms for linear block codes in the later chapters. Chapters 3 through 6 present the fundamental concepts, finite-state machine model, state space formulation, basic structural properties, state labeling, construction procedures, complexity, minimality, and sectionalization of trellises. Chapter 7 discusses trellis decomposition and subtrellises for low-weight codewords. Chapter 8 first presents well known methods for constructing long powerful codes from short component codes or component codes of smaller dimensions, and then provides methods for constructing their trellises which include Shannon and Cartesian product techniques. Chapter 9 deals with convolutional codes, puncturing, zero-tail termination and tail-biting.Chapters 10 through 13 present various trellis-based decoding algorithms, old and new. Chapter 10 first discusses the application of the well known Viterbi decoding algorithm to linear block codes, optimum sectionalization of a code trellis to minimize computation complexity, and design issues for IC (integrated circuit) implementation of a Viterbi decoder. Then it presents a new decoding algorithm for convolutional codes, named Differential Trellis Decoding (DTD) algorithm. Chapter 12 presents a suboptimum reliability-based iterative decoding algorithm with a low-weight trellis search for the most likely codeword. This decoding algorithm provides a good trade-off between error performance and decoding complexity. All the decoding algorithms presented in Chapters 10 through 12 are devised to minimize word error probability. Chapter 13 presents decoding algorithms that minimize bit error probability and provide the corresponding soft (reliability) information at the output of the decoder. Decoding algorithms presented are the MAP (maximum a posteriori probability) decoding algorithm and the Soft-Output Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) algorithm. Finally, the minimization of bit error probability in trellis-based MLD is discussed.

Lin, Shu↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Comparative Study of Co-Channel Interference Suppression Techniques

We describe three methods of combatting co-channel interference (CCI): a cross-coupled phase-locked loop (CCPLL); a phase-tracking circuit (PTC), and joint Viterbi estimation based on the maximum likelihood principle. In the case of co-channel FM-modulated voice signals, the CCPLL and PTC methods typically outperform the maximum likelihood estimators when the modulation parameters are dissimilar. However, as the modulation parameters become identical, joint Viterbi estimation provides for a more robust estimate of the co-channel signals and does not suffer as much from "signal switching" which especially plagues the CCPLL approach. Good performance for the PTC requires both dissimilar modulation parameters and a priori knowledge of the co-channel signal amplitudes. The CCPLL and joint Viterbi estimators, on the other hand, incorporate accurate amplitude estimates. In addition, application of the joint Viterbi algorithm to demodulating co-channel digital (BPSK) signals in a multipath environment is also discussed. It is shown in this case that if the interference is sufficiently small, a single trellis model is most effective in demodulating the co-channel signals.

Hamkins, Jon↗
NASA NTRS1998

Guest Investigator Studies with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory

The cumulative all-sky survey by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), composed of data acquired during the first three years of the mission, included a number of regions of very limited exposure. The most glaring deficiency in coverage was toward the region of the South Galactic Pole (SGP), which received significantly less exposure than other directions- by a factor of at least 2 to 3. Furthermore, nearly all of the SGP exposure was accumulated during the first year of the mission. Since blazars are known to be time-variable, and of unknown duty cycle, a pointing of the CCRO in that direction was considered highly desirable, and long overdue. In addition, data gathered from a pointing toward the SGP and its comparison with comprehensive data available for the North Galactic Pole would be extremely valuable to investigators studying the extragalactic diffuse emission. The reasons outlined above prompted our initiation of a Cycle 4 campaign to systematically search with EGRET and COMPTEL for gamma-ray emission from sources near the South Galactic Pole. The Cycle 4 SGP campaign consisted of tnvo 14-day observations separated in in time by approximately 10 months. The temporal separation of the observations was requested to allow a test for possible variations in the detected sources. Our primary targets were 38 FSRQs which lie within 30 degrees of the SGP, and which satisfy the basic criteria for candidate gamma-ray AGNs,flat-spectrum radio sources, many of which exhibit blazar-type properties). These targets were selected from the standard references, and from the available on-line databases (e.g., the NASA Extragalactic Database, NED), as the most promising AGN targets in the vicinity of the SGP. A 30 radius from the SGP was chosen as the boundary of our survey, since the selected targets would then fall within the most sensitive portion of the fields of view of EGRET and COMPTEL (i.e., within a 30 zenith angle), for a CGRO pointing directed exactly at the SGP. Our South Galactic Pole Survey yielded a number of exciting results. The EGRET data were analyzed using the maximum likelihood techniques to estimate the intensity, spectrum, and position of gamma-ray sources in the field of view. Our analysis revealed four sources at energies greater than 100 MeV with likelihood ratios corresponding to greater than 30 detections (Vestrand et al. 1996). One of the sources is associated with the well known gamma-ray blazar PKS 0208-512, but the other three were previously unknown. Among the new detections was PKS 2155-304 which is often considered a prototype of the x-ray selected BL Lacs. PKS 2155-304, which was also detected at hard x-ray energies by CGRO/OSSE, is one of the brightest BL Lac objects in the sky at optical through x-ray energies and has a history of rapid, strong multiwavelength variability. As such, it has been the subject of intensive, contemporaneous, multiwavelength monitoring covering radio frequencies to x-ray energies.

Vestrand, W. T.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Spacecraft Charging and the Microwave Anisotropy Probe Spacecraft

The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP), a MIDEX mission built in partnership between Princeton University and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), will study the cosmic microwave background. It will be inserted into a highly elliptical earth orbit for several weeks and then use a lunar gravity assist to orbit around the second Lagrangian point (L2), 1.5 million kilometers, anti-sunward from the earth. The charging environment for the phasing loops and at L2 was evaluated. There is a limited set of data for L2; the GEOTAIL spacecraft measured relatively low spacecraft potentials (approx. 50 V maximum) near L2. The main area of concern for charging on the MAP spacecraft is the well-established threat posed by the "geosynchronous region" between 6-10 Re. The launch in the autumn of 2000 will coincide with the falling of the solar maximum, a period when the likelihood of a substorm is higher than usual. The likelihood of a substorm at that time has been roughly estimated to be on the order of 20% for a typical MAP mission profile. Because of the possibility of spacecraft charging, a requirement for conductive spacecraft surfaces was established early in the program. Subsequent NASCAP/GEO analyses for the MAP spacecraft demonstrated that a significant portion of the sunlit surface (solar cell cover glass and sunshade) could have nonconductive surfaces without significantly raising differential charging. The need for conductive materials on surfaces continually in eclipse has also been reinforced by NASCAP analyses.

Timothy, VanSant J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Early Energetic Particle Irradiation of the HED Parent Body Regolith

Previous studies have shown that many individual grains within the dark phase of the Kapoeta howardite were irradiated with energetic particles while residing on the surface of the early HED regolith. Particle tracks in these grains vary in density by more than an order of magnitude and undoubtedly were formed by energetic heavy (Fe) ions associated with early solar flares. Early Irradiation of HED Regolith: Concentrations of excess Ne alone are not sufficient to decide between competing galactic and solar irradiation models. However, from recent studies of depth samples of oriented lunar rocks, we have shown that the cosmogenic 21-Ne/22-Ne ratio produced in feldspar differs substantially between Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and solar protons, and that this difference is exactly that predicted from cross-section data. Using Ne literature data and new isotopic data we obtained on acid-etched, separated feldspar from both the light and dark phases of Kapoeta, we derive 21-Ne/22-Ne = 0.80 for the recent GCR irradiation and 21-Ne/22-Ne = 0.68 for the early regolith irradiation. This derived ratio indicates that the early Ne production in the regolith occurred by both galactic and solar protons. If we adopt a likely one-component regolith model in which all grains were exposed to galactic protons but individual grains had variable exposure to solar protons, we estimate that this early GCR irradiation lasted for about 3-6 m.y. More complex two-component regolith models involving separate solar and galactic irradiation would permit this GCR age to be longer. Higher-energy solar protons would permit the GCR to be longer. Higher-energy solar protons would permit the GCR age to be shorter. Further, cosmogenic 126(Xe) in Kapoeta dark is no more than a factor of about 2 higher than that observed in Kapoeta light. Because 126(Xe) can only be formed by galactic protons and not solar protons, these data support a short GCR irradiation for the HED regolith. This would also be the maximum time peRiod for the solar irradiation. Various asteroidal regolith models, based on Monte Carlo modeling of impact rates as a function of size and on irradiation features of meteorites, predict surface exposure times of about 0.1 to 10 m.y., and depend on such factors as gravity, rock mechanical properties, and micrometeoroid flux. Because the depth at which solar Fe tracks are produced (is much less than 1 micrometer) is much less than the depth at which Solar Cosmic Rays (SCR) Ne is produced (about 1 cm), for a reasonably well-stirred HED regolith the "surface exposure time" for SCR 21-Ne production should be significantly longer than that for solar tracks and some other surface irradiation features. Enhanced Solar Proton Irradiation: For bulk samples of Kapoeta dark feldspar and a one-component regolith model, the derived ratio of 21-Ne/22-Ne = 0.68 implies that the early production ratio of SCR 21-Ne to GCR 21-Ne was about 0.5-1.5. This ratio is independent of any assumptions about the fraction of dark grains that are irradiated or of the variability in the degree of solar irradiation among grains. The 21-Ne SCR/GCR ratio indirectly derived from bulk Kapoeta pyroxene is somewhat larger, as is the ratio derived for simple two-component regolith models. Individual feldspar grains that were extensively solar irradiated would require even larger 21-Ne SCR/GCR production ratios. In contrast, the theoretical SCR/GCR production ratio for lunar feldspar with 0 g/CM2 shield ing is is less than or equal to 2, and the lowest ratio observed in near-surface samples of lunar anorthosites is less than or equal to 1. Considering the greater solar distance of Vesta (compared to the Moon), the likelihood that SCR 21-Ne was acquired under some shielding where production rates are lower, and the likelihood that the exposure time to galactic protons exceeded the exposure time to solar protons because of their very different penetration depths, the 21-Ne SCR/GCR production ratio on the HED parent body was probably < 0.1. The relatively large difference between the derived 21-Ne SCR/GCR ratio in Kapoeta dark feldspar and the estimated production ratio strongly indicates that the early solar irradiation involved a flux -20-50x the recent solar flux. This enhanced proton flux was probably associated with an overall greater solar activity in the first approximately 10(exp 7) to 10(exp 8) years of solar history.

Bogard, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1997

AIAA Survivability Technical Committee Draft

A relatively new area of interest in aerospace systems survivability is the growing threat of spacecraft penetration by orbital debris. Orbital debris, or "space junk", is composed of the man-made remnants of non-functioning spacecraft still orbiting the Earth. NASA estimates that there are currently over 100,000 orbital debris particles 1 centimeter in diameter or larger that cannot be tracked by existing radar, with the population growing at approximately 4% per year in low earth orbits. With an average velocity of over 8.7 km/sec, these projectiles can penetrate and disable many vulnerable spacecraft systems. Since the likelihood of spacecraft penetration increases with spacecraft surface area, large spacecraft (such as the International Space Station) and communication satellite fleets (such as Iridium) have begun to adopt survivability enhancement strategies similar to those employed by combat aircraft. Collision avoidance maneuvers are commonly practiced by the Space Shuttle and are planned by the International Space Station to decrease their susceptibility to impact by trackable orbital debris; likewise, improved shielding, internal equipment placement, and improved crew operations following penetration can reduce the vulnerability of spacecraft to loss following orbital debris impact. Computer simulations such as the Manned Spacecraft and Crew Survivability (MSCSurv) program at the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center have recently been developed to quantify and reduce the likelihood of crew or spacecraft loss following orbital debris penetration. The AIAA Survivability Technical Committee is working to enable the transfer of military-developed survivability technologies to help the aerospace industry cope with this growing threat.

Shipman, Jim↗
NASA NTRS2001

Association of American Geographers, Remote Sensing Specialty Group Special Issue of Geocarto International

This special issue continues the precedence of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Remote Sensing Specialty Group (RSSG) for publishing selected articles in Geocarto International as a by-product from the AAG annual meeting. As editors, we issued earlier this year, a solicitation for papers to be published in a special issue of Geocarto International that were presented in RSSG-sponsored sessions at the 2001 AAG annual meeting held in New York City on February 27-March 3. Although not an absolute requisite for publication, the vast majority of the papers in this special issue were presented at this year's AAG meeting in New York. Other articles in this issue that were not part of a paper or poster session at the 2001 AAG meeting are authored by RSSG members. Under the auspices of the RSSG, this special Geocarto International issue provides even more compelling evidence of the inextricable linkage between remote sensing and geography. The papers in this special issue fall into four general themes: 1) Urban Analysis and Techniques for Urban Analysis; 2) Land Use/Land Cover Analysis; 3) Fire Modeling Assessment; and 4) Techniques. The first four papers herein are concerned with the use of remote sensing for analysis of urban areas, and with use or development of techniques to better characterize urban areas using remote sensing data. As the lead paper in this grouping, Rashed et al., examine the usage of spectral mixture analysis (SMA) for analyzing satellite imagery of urban areas as opposed to more 'standard' methods of classification. Here SMA has been applied to IRS-1C satellite multispectral imagery to extract measures that better describe the 'anatomy' of the greater Cairo, Egypt region. Following this paper, Weng and Lo describe how Landsat TM data have been used to monitor land cover types and to estimate biomass parameters within an urban environment. The research reported in this paper applies an integrated GIS (Geographic Information System) approach for detecting urban growth and assessing its impact on biomass in the Zhujiang Delta, China. The remaining two papers in this first grouping deal with improved techniques for characterizing and analyzing urban areas using remote sensing data. Myint examines the use of texture analysis to better classify urban features. Here wavelet analysis has been employed to assist in deriving a more robust classification of the urban environment from high spatial resolution, multispectral aircraft data. Mesev provides insight on how through the modification of the standard maximum likelihood image analysis technique, population census data can be used enhance the overall robustness of urban image classification through the modification of the standard maximum likelihood image analysis technique.

Allen, Thomas R.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Operations Analysis of Space Shuttle System

The space science program at NASA since 1950's has gone through stages of development and implementation in rocketry and scientific advancement. It has become the nation's largest scientific institution of research and innovation for space exploration and military research, and overall a pride of the nation at an exorbitant cost. After placing man on moon, space shuttle program at NASA is an on-going project with a high success rate at an average cost of about $450m per flight. A future endeavor from both government and private sectors needs to be undertaken for commercialization of this expensive mission. In order to attract private enterprises, it needs to boost up its operations with better technology at lower cost to cope with rapid changes in scientific advancement and economic competition. Thus, a second-generation reusable launch vehicle (2GRLV) will play a major role in future operation of NASA centers. Envisioning this potential way of saving the program by reducing the cost, NASA is currently managing an innovative program called the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) to develop key technologies that will support the development of second-generation reusable launch vehicles (RLV) which will be more economical and safer and reliable than the existing space shuttle system. The selection of which technologies to fund for further development is being based on their likelihood to contribute to providing cost reduction or safety improvements. It is envisioned that in the 2006 timeframe, NASA will make a decision as to whether or not to commit to the replacement of the current space shuttle system with a new RLV. The decision to proceed with a new RLV will be partly based on the likelihood that the new system will be better than the existing space shuttle. Government and private entrepreneurs are currently considering four different types of RLV projects: commercial programs, government programs, international concepts, and X Prize competitors. NASA has already commissioned a series of X-programs to study the future RLV program. Today, NASA decision makers need analytical tools to help determine which technologies to fund the development of this technology. In the 2006 timeframe, these same decision makers will need analytical tools to evaluate and compare various RLV architectures, including the existing space shuttle so as to make the best decision for whether or not to proceed with the development of a new RLV, and if so, then which one. A study is conducted here to establish ground level knowledge from the historical data and expertise experiences of the field personnel. Such information is compiled in the form of mission statement, goals, space shuttle operations, payloads and cargo constraints, resource constraints, and bottlenecks to the enhancement vector.

Bhaba R. Sarker↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Velocity Distribution of Isolated Radio Pulsars

We infer the velocity distribution of radio pulsars based on large-scale 0.4 GHz pulsar surveys. We do so by modelling evolution of the locations, velocities, spins, and radio luminosities of pulsars; calculating pulsed flux according to a beaming model and random orientation angles of spin and beam; applying selection effects of pulsar surveys; and comparing model distributions of measurable pulsar properties with survey data using a likelihood function. The surveys analyzed have well-defined characteristics and cover approx. 95% of the sky. We maximize the likelihood in a 6-dimensional space of observables P, dot-P, DM, absolute value of b, mu, F (period, period derivative, dispersion measure, Galactic latitude, proper motion, and flux density). The models we test are described by 12 parameters that characterize a population's birth rate, luminosity, shutoff of radio emission, birth locations, and birth velocities. We infer that the radio beam luminosity (i) is comparable to the energy flux of relativistic particles in models for spin-driven magnetospheres, signifying that radio emission losses reach nearly 100% for the oldest pulsars; and (ii) scales approximately as E(exp 1/2) which, in magnetosphere models, is proportional to the voltage drop available for acceleration of particles. We find that a two-component velocity distribution with characteristic velocities of 90 km/ s and 500 km/ s is greatly preferred to any one-component distribution; this preference is largely immune to variations in other population parameters, such as the luminosity or distance scale, or the assumed spin-down law. We explore some consequences of the preferred birth velocity distribution: (1) roughly 50% of pulsars in the solar neighborhood will escape the Galaxy, while approx. 15% have velocities greater than 1000 km/ s (2) observational bias against high velocity pulsars is relatively unimportant for surveys that reach high Galactic absolute value of z distances, but is severe for spatially bounded surveys; (3) an important low-velocity population exists that increases the fraction of neutron stars retained by globular clusters and is consistent with the number of old objects that accrete from the interstellar medium; (4) under standard assumptions for supernova remnant expansion and pulsar spin-down, approx. 10% of pulsars younger than 20 kyr will appear to lie outside of their host remnants. Finally, we comment on the ramifications of our birth velocity distribution for binary survival and the population of inspiraling binary neutron stars relevant to some GRB models and potential sources for LIGO.

Arzoumanian, Z.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Classifying Urban Land Covers Using Local Indices of Spatial Complexity

The skewed statistical distributions of land cover types in complex, heterogeneous urban areas limits the effectiveness of traditional spectrally based maximum-likelihood classifiers. This work examines the utility of fractal dimension and Moran's I index of spatial autocorrelation in segmenting high-resolution panchromatic and lower-resolution multispectral imagery. Tools available in the Image Characterization and Modeling System (ICAMS) were used to analyze multi-temporal and multi-platform imagery of Atlanta, Georgia. In this example, land cover change trajectories from forest or grassland to built up land covers lead to decreased spatial autocorrelation. In lower resolution imagery such as Landsat MSS, the complex details of forested land covers and urbanized areas are smoothed, and texture-based change detection is less effective. Although segmentation of panchromatic images is possible using fractal dimension or Moran's I, widely differing land covers often yield similar values of these indices. Better results are obtained when a surface of local fractal dimension or spatial autocorrelation is combined as an additional layer in a supervised maximum-likelihood multispectral classification.

Arumugam, Mahesh↗
NASA NTRS2003

Analysis of Burst Observations by GLAST's LAT Detector

Analyzing data from GLAST's Large Area Telescope (LAT) will require sophisticated techniques. The PSF and effective area are functions of both photon energy and the position in the field-of-view. During most of the mission the observatory will survey the sky continuously and thus the LAT will detect each count from a source at a different detector orientation; each count requires its own response function! The likelihood as a function of celestial position and photon energy will be the foundation of the standard analysis techniques. However the 20 MeV-300 GeV emission at the time of the approx.100 keV burst emission (timescale of approx.10 s) can be isolated and analyzed because essentially no non-burst counts are expected within a PSF radius of the burst location during the burst. Both binned and unbinned (in energy) spectral fitting will be possible. Longer timescale afterglow emission will require the likelihood analysis that will be used for persistent sources.

Band, David L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

A Comparison of Local Variance, Fractal Dimension, and Moran's I as Aids to Multispectral Image Classification

The accuracy of traditional multispectral maximum-likelihood image classification is limited by the skewed statistical distributions of reflectances from the complex heterogenous mixture of land cover types in urban areas. This work examines the utility of local variance, fractal dimension and Moran's I index of spatial autocorrelation in segmenting multispectral satellite imagery. Tools available in the Image Characterization and Modeling System (ICAMS) were used to analyze Landsat 7 imagery of Atlanta, Georgia. Although segmentation of panchromatic images is possible using indicators of spatial complexity, different land covers often yield similar values of these indices. Better results are obtained when a surface of local fractal dimension or spatial autocorrelation is combined as an additional layer in a supervised maximum-likelihood multispectral classification. The addition of fractal dimension measures is particularly effective at resolving land cover classes within urbanized areas, as compared to per-pixel spectral classification techniques.

Emerson, Charles W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Factors That Affect Software Testability

Software faults that infrequently affect software's output are dangerous. When a software fault causes frequent software failures, testing is likely to reveal the fault before the software is releases; when the fault remains undetected during testing, it can cause disaster after the software is installed. A technique for predicting whether a particular piece of software is likely to reveal faults within itself during testing is found in [Voas91b]. A piece of software that is likely to reveal faults within itself during testing is said to have high testability. A piece of software that is not likely to reveal faults within itself during testing is said to have low testability. It is preferable to design software with higher testabilities from the outset, i.e., create software with as high of a degree of testability as possible to avoid the problems of having undetected faults that are associated with low testability. Information loss is a phenomenon that occurs during program execution that increases the likelihood that a fault will remain undetected. In this paper, I identify two brad classes of information loss, define them, and suggest ways of predicting the potential for information loss to occur. We do this in order to decrease the likelihood that faults will remain undetected during testing.

Voas, Jeffrey M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Consumer Expectations of Capacity Constrains and Their Effect on the Demand for Multi-Class Air Travel

This paper argues that a consumer's decision on ticket class takes into account the expected likelihood of obtaining a seat in a particular class which, in turn, partially depends on an optimum "transaction cost". Taking into account the preferences of the consumer and the information that the consumer is endowed with, the consumer will select a ticket that includes its own optimal transaction cost. This motivates the inclusion of the capacity constraint as a proxy independent variable for these consumer expectations This then forms the basis of a model of air-travel demand with specific reference to Australia. A censored likelihood function allowing for correlation in the disturbance term across k classes is introduced. The correlation in the disturbances arises as a result of the interdependence of the capacity constraints in k different ticket classes on each flight.

Battersby, Bryn D.↗