Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “imaging radar instrument”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

463 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Vehicle Localization in 3D World Coordinates Using Single Camera at Traffic Intersection

Optimizing traffic control systems at traffic intersections can reduce the network-wide fuel consumption, as well as emissions of conventional fuel-powered vehicles. While traffic signals have been controlled based on predetermined schedules, various adaptive signal control systems have recently been developed using advanced sensors such as cameras, radars, and LiDARs. Among these sensors, cameras can provide a cost-effective way to determine the number, location, type, and speed of the vehicles for better-informed decision-making at traffic intersections. In this research, a new approach for accurately determining vehicle locations near traffic intersections using a single camera is presented. For that purpose, a well-known object detection algorithm called YOLO is used to determine vehicle locations in video images captured by a traffic camera. YOLO draws a bounding box around each detected vehicle, and the vehicle location in the image coordinates is converted to the world coordinates using camera calibration data. During this process, a significant error between the center of a vehicle’s bounding box and the real center of the vehicle in the world coordinates is generated due to the angled view of the vehicles by a camera installed on a traffic light pole. As a means of mitigating this vehicle localization error, two different types of regression models are trained and applied to the centers of the bounding boxes of the camera-detected vehicles. The accuracy of the proposed approach is validated using both static camera images and live-streamed traffic video. Based on the improved vehicle localization, it is expected that more accurate traffic signal control can be made to improve the overall network-wide energy efficiency and traffic flow at traffic intersections.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2015

Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) White-Painted Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Radome Survivability Test

NASA's SMAP Mission launched in January 2015 into a 685 km near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. The SMAP instrument architecture incorporates an L-band radar and radiometer which share a common feedhorn and mesh reflector. The instrument rotates about the nadir axis at approximately 15 rpm, thereby providing a conically scanning wide swath antenna beam that is capable of achieving global coverage within three days. The radiometer and its associated electronics have tight thermal stability requirements in order to meet the required surface emittance measurement precision from space. Maintaining the thermal stabilities is quite challenging because the radiometer is located on a spinning platform that can either be in full sunlight or eclipse, and thus exposed to a highly transient environment. Stability requirements were met by integrating a light-weight Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) radome into the design to prevent solar illumination of the feed horn interior. The radome was painted white since the thermo-optical properties of bare sunlit EPS degrade rapidly over the three-year mission. Milling of the EPS and solvent within the white paint created cavities on the EPS surface which may introduce localized hot spots possibly violating the EPS glass transition temperature of 96degC and leading to structural integrity concerns. A three-day thermal test was conducted in a vacuum chamber to verify survivability of the radome during a simulated non-spin fault condition at end of mission. A portable solar simulator illuminated the test article and the beam irradiance was kept nearly constant during the entire 50 hour test, except during the first hour which simulated the expected 79degC on-orbit surface temperature of the radome. The test article survived based on the established pass criteria for three separate metrics: dimensional, optical property, and color. If any hot spots exist locally, they did not cause any observable permanent deformation when compared to pre- and post-test images. The test results increase confidence that there is a high probability that the radome will survive the worst-case scenario of a no-spin fault condition at the end of mission.

Mikhaylov, Rebecca↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ice Cryo-Encapsulation Balloon (Project ICEBall) Field Campaign Report

The Ice Cryo-Encapsulation Balloon (ICEBall) field campaign was designed to sample the ice crystals that compose high-altitude cirrus with a passive device. The campaign made use of a new instrument, ICEBall, which is a balloon-borne ice crystal sampling system. The ice crystal sounding system is capable of measuring ice crystal concentration, temperature, atmospheric pressure, ice crystal habit, aerosol particle morphology, and residual composition. The 3-kg instrument is carried upwards at 5 m s-1 by a high-altitude balloon. The instrument can be cut down from the balloon at any altitude up to 20 km, and the apparatus returns to the surface by parachute. Basic measurements such as temperature and pressure are recorded onboard, and high-frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) records altitude and latitude/longitude. Ice crystal concentrations are measured through the use of a high-resolution video camera mounted on the device. Ice crystals are collected through an open aperture leading to insulated collection chambers cooled with dry ice. Upon exiting the top of the cloud system, the chamber aperture is closed, and the ~1 mm3 sample cell is magnetically sealed and isolated at -78 °C, ensuring that ice particles do not sublimate or grow after collection. Once the crystals are returned to the surface, they are double-sealed and immersed at liquid nitrogen temperature in “dry-cryo shippers” before being transported back to the laboratory. Dr. Magee’s laboratory at The College of New Jersey contains a cryo-stage scanning electron microscope (SEM), which was used to interrogate the crystals and aerosol particles. The main purpose of this pilot field campaign was to provide an unprecedented level of detail on the crystal habits and ice surface complexity in mid-latitude cirrus, which may help resolve issues associated with habit identification and classification in cirrus. The ICEBall campaign was originally scheduled to run from March 28 to April 18 of 2021 at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains observatory. The COVID-19 pandemic intervened and caused us to shift the dates of the experiment to October 16-November 6 of 2021. This period is also climatologically favorable for cirrus. The approximately six-month gap between our original field campaign dates and the actual dates afforded us the opportunity to build two new ICEBall payload instruments. These instruments were tested during an August 2021 trip to The College of New Jersey. During this field testing phase, we decided to launch the ICEBall payload upstream from the ARM SGP site with the goal of landing in the vicinity of the site. Our goal was to sample the ice crystals before the cirrus were advected over the remote-sensing instruments at the SGP site. The team assembled for the field campaign consisted of the Principle Investigator (PI) and Co-Principle Investigator (Co-PI) (Drs. Harrington and Magee), The Pennsylvania State University research scientist Dr. Alfred Moyle, and two graduate students (Ms. Marley Majetic and Gwenore Pokrifka). The team operated out of a house rented in Enid, Oklahoma. We successfully sampled seven cirrus cloud systems during the three-week field campaign (October 21, 23-26, 31, and November 1). This was a much higher success rate than either of the PIs anticipated (our goal was closer to sampling three or four cases). The balloon was typically launched from oil pads or farm fields northwest of Enid and the payload was typically retrieved somewhat north of the SGP site. We never landed directly at the SGP site, and so did not need regular access to the SGP facilities. Our greatest concern going into the field campaign was the longer-term storage of crystals in the -196°C cryo dry-shipper dewars and the subsequent transport across the country. We had tested storage and transport prior to the field campaign, but we had never stored crystals for a few weeks nor had we transported the dewars over long distances. To our great relief, the storage and transport worked flawlessly and we were able to image a large number of crystals from six of the seven cases. Working with the staff at the ARM SGP office was excellent. They not only helped us find the sources we needed for helium, liquid nitrogen, and other materials, but also helped with contacts within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Vance Air Force Base. One goal of our field project was to tie the in situ measurements of ice crystal habits to the radar signatures derived from the Ka-band ARM Zenith-pointing Radar (KAZR). Unfortunately KAZR was down for the duration of our experiment. However, the Ka-band Scanning ARM Cloud Radar (KASACR) was put into vertically pointing mode during the ICEBall campaign and those data, along with Doppler lidar measurements, have proved very useful.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2012

GPM Mission Overview and U.S. Science Status

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is an international satellite mission to unify and advance precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational sensors to provide "next-generation" precipitation products [1-2]. Water is fundamental to life on Earth. Knowing where and how much rain and snow falls globally is vital to understanding how weather and climate impact both our environment and Earth's water and energy cycles, including effects on agriculture, fresh water availability, and responses to natural disasters. Since rainfall and snowfall vary greatly from place to place and over time, satellites can provide more uniform observations of rain and snow around the globe than ground instruments, especially in areas where surface measurements are difficult. Relative to current global rainfall products, GPM data products will be characterized by: (l) more accurate instantaneous precipitation measurements (especially for light rain and cold-season solid precipitation), (2) more frequent sampling by an expanded constellation of domestic and international microwave radiometers including operational humidity sounders, (3) intercalibrated microwave brightness temperatures from constellation radiometers within a unified framework, and (4) physical-based precipitation retrievals from constellation radiometers using a common a priori cloud/hydrometeor database derived from GPM Core sensor measurements. The cornerstone of the GPM mission is the deployment of a Core Observatory in a unique 65 non-Sun-synchronous orbit to serve as a physics observatory and a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements by a constellation of dedicated and operational passive microwave sensors. The design of the GPM Core Observatory is an advancement of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)'s highly successful rain-sensing package. The Core Observatory will carry a Ku/Ka-band Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and a multichannel (l0-183 GHz) GPM Microwave Radiometer (GMI). Since light rain and falling snow account for a significant fraction of precipitation occurrence in middle and high latitudes, the GPM instruments extend the capabilities of the TRMM sensors to detect falling snow, measure light rain, and provide, for the first time, quantitative estimates of microphysical properties of precipitation particles. The combined use of DPR and GMI measurements will place greater constraints on possible solutions to radiometer retrievals to improve the accuracy and consistency of precipitation retrievals from all constellation radiometers. The GMI uses 13 different microwave channels to observe energy from the different types of precipitation through clouds for estimating everything from heavy to light rain and for detecting falling snow. As the satellite passes over Earth, the GMI constantly scans a region 885 kilometers across. The Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation built the GMI under contract with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The DPR provides three-dimensional information about precipitation particles derived from reflected energy by these particles at different heights within the cloud system. The two frequencies of the DPR also allow the radar to infer the sizes of precipitation particles and offer insights into a storm's physical characteristics. The Ka-band frequen~y scans across a region of 125 kilometers and is nested within the wider scan of the Ku-band frequency of 245 kilometers. The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) built the DPR. The Core Observatory satellite will fly at an altitude of 253 miles (407 kilometers) in a non-Sun-synchronous orbit that covers the Earth from 65 S to 65 N - from about the Antarctic Circle to the Arctic Circle. The GPM Core Observatory is being developed and tested at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Once complete, a Japanese H-lIA rocket will carry thPM Core Observatory into orbit from Tanegashima Island, Japan in 2014. The GPM constellation is envisioned to comprise 8 or more microwave sensors provided by partners, including both conical imagers and cross-track sounders. GPM is currently a partnership between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Additional partnerships are under development to include microwave radiometers on the French-Indian Megha-Tropiques satellite and U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, as well as humidity sounders or precipitation sensors on operational satellites such as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellites, European MetOp satellites, and DMSP follow-on sensors. In addition, data from Chinese and Russian microwave radiometers may be available through international cooperation under the auspices of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) and Group on Earth Observations (GEO). GPM's next-generation global precipitation data will lead to scientific advances and societal benefits in the following areas: (1) Improved knowledge of the Earth's water cycle and its link to climate change (2) New insights into precipitation microphysics, storm structures and large-scale atmospheric processes (3) Better understanding of climate sensitivity and feedback processes (4) Extended capabilities in monitoring and predicting hurricanes and other extreme weather events (5) Improved forecasting capabilities for natural hazards, including floods, droughts and landslides. (6) Enhanced numerical prediction skills for weather and climate (7) Better agricultural crop forecasting and monitoring of freshwater resources. An overview of the GPM mission concept and science activities in the United States, together with an update on international collaborations in radiometer intercalibration and ground validation, will be presented.

Hou, Arthur Y.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Validation of ICESat-2 ATLAS Bathymetry and Analysis of ATLAS’s Bathymetric Mapping Performance

NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) was launched in September, 2018. The satellite carries a single instrument, ATLAS (Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System), a green wavelength, photon-counting lidar, enabling global measurement and monitoring of elevation with a primary focus on the cryosphere. Although bathymetric mapping was not one of the design goals for ATLAS, pre-launch work by our research team showed the potential to map bathymetry with ICESat-2, using data from MABEL (Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental Lidar), NASA’s high-altitude airborne ATLAS emulator, and adapting the laser-radar equation for ATLAS specific parameters. However, many of the sensor variables were only approximations, which limited a full assessment of the bathymetric mapping capabilities of ICESat-2 during pre-launch studies. Following the successful launch, preliminary analyses of the geolocated photon returns have been conducted for a number of coastal sites, revealing several salient examples of seafloor detection in water depths of up to ~40 m. The geolocated seafloor photon returns cannot be taken as bathymetric measurements, however, since the algorithm used to generate them is not designed to account for the refraction that occurs at the air–water interface or the corresponding change in the speed of light in the water column. This paper presents the first early on-orbit validation of ICESat-2 bathymetry and quantification of the bathymetric mapping performance of ATLAS using data acquired over St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. A refraction correction, developed and tested in this work, is applied, after which the ICESat-2 bathymetry is compared against high-accuracy airborne topo-bathymetric lidar reference data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The results show agreement to within 0.43—0.60 m root mean square error (RMSE) over 1 m grid resolution for these early on-orbit data. Refraction-corrected bottom return photons are then inspected for four coastal locations around the globe in relation to Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) K(d)(490) data to empirically determine the maximum depth mapping capability of ATLAS as a function of water clarity. It is demonstrated that ATLAS has a maximum depth mapping capability of nearly 1 Secchi in depth for water depths up to 38 m and K(d)(490) in the range of 0.05–0.12 per m. Collectively, these results indicate the great potential for bathymetric mapping with ICESat-2, offering a promising new tool to assist in filling the global void in nearshore bathymetry.

ICESat-2↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Global Water Monitor: Wetland surface height dynamics for Ecology, Conservation, and Resource Management

The Global Water Monitor (GWM) offers surface water-related products for lakes, river reaches and wetland zones. The surface elevation change products are derived from satellite radar altimeters, such as the Jason/Sentinel series, and can span multiple decades. While the current instruments are profiling, they offer surface water height at specific locations, thus contributing to parallel observation of wetland surface water extent. GWM wetland products are “operational” with routine updates within 1-2days of satellite overpass. There is also assurance of product continuity to at least the end of 2030. Currently, the GWM holds products for a small selection (~40) of diverse wetlands for objectives that focus on conservation and water/fisheries resource monitoring. These sites have been requested by various organizations also looking to the effects of climate change and anthropogenic influences. Many of the current GWM wetland regions are in National Parks such as the Everglades (USA), the Wasur (Rep. Indonesia), and the Kakadu marshes (Australia). They also include coastal river deltas of the Danube, Mekong, Amazon, Orinoco and Ganges Rivers, and the internal Okavango Delta in Botswana. The preliminary set also ensures a diverse range of wetlands e.g., the shallow pot-hole lake region of the Sand Hills and the coastal Black Swamp of the USA, the peat fields of Malaysia and rice growing fields of Yilinzhen in China. Extensive wetlands in Brazil (the Pantanal), South Sudan (the Sudd Marshes) and Belarus (the Pinsk) are also featured, as are the mangrove regions of the Sundarbans (India) and the Laguna Terminos (Mexico). The Usangu wetland (Tanzania) is also included, a focus region where wetland ecology strongly competes with demands from irrigation, livestock, and the needs of downstream hydro-electric power. The nadir-pointing altimeter instruments record height variations regardless of vegetation or canopy cover, and height dynamics at 10-day or monthly resolution reveal seasonal and inter-annual variations as well as longer-term declining or re-charging trends. These products provide a unique, multi-decadal data set that can stand-alone or serve with cross-validation or image-fusion efforts.

Charon Birkett↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Tech Briefs, May 2012

Topics covered include: An "Inefficient Fin" Non-Dimensional Parameter to Measure Gas Temperatures Efficiently; On-Wafer Measurement of a Multi-Stage MMIC Amplifier with 10 dB of Gain at 475 GHz; Software to Control and Monitor Gas Streams; Miniaturized Laser Heterodyne Radiometer (LHR) for Measurements of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmospheric Column; Anomaly Detection in Test Equipment via Sliding Mode Observers; Absolute Position of Targets Measured Through a Chamber Window Using Lidar Metrology Systems; Goldstone Solar System Radar Waveform Generator; Fast and Adaptive Lossless Onboard Hyperspectral Data Compression System; Iridium Interfacial Stack - IrIS; Downsampling Photodetector Array with Windowing; Optical Phase Recovery and Locking in a PPM Laser Communication Link; High-Speed Edge-Detecting Line Scan Smart Camera; Optical Communications Channel Combiner; Development of Thermal Infrared Sensor to Supplement Operational Land Imager; Amplitude-Stabilized Oscillator for a Capacitance-Probe Electrometer; Automated Performance Characterization of DSN System Frequency Stability Using Spacecraft Tracking Data; Histogrammatic Method for Determining Relative Abundance of Input Gas Pulse; Predictive Sea State Estimation for Automated Ride Control and Handling - PSSEARCH; LEGION: Lightweight Expandable Group of Independently Operating Nodes; Real-Time Projection to Verify Plan Success During Execution; Automated Performance Characterization of DSN System Frequency Stability Using Spacecraft Tracking Data; Web-Based Customizable Viewer for Mars Network Overflight Opportunities; Fabrication of a Cryogenic Terahertz Emitter for Bolometer Focal Plane Calibrations; Fabrication of an Absorber-Coupled MKID Detector; Graphene Transparent Conductive Electrodes for Next- Generation Microshutter Arrays; Method of Bonding Optical Elements with Near-Zero Displacement; Free-Mass and Interface Configurations of Hammering Mechanisms; Wavefront Compensation Segmented Mirror Sensing and Control; Long-Life, Lightweight, Multi-Roller Traction Drives for Planetary Vehicle Surface Exploration; Reliable Optical Pump Architecture for Highly Coherent Lasers Used in Space Metrology Applications; Electrochemical Ultracapacitors Using Graphitic Nanostacks; Improved Whole-Blood-Staining Device; Monitoring Location and Angular Orientation of a Pill; Molecular Technique to Reduce PCR Bias for Deeper Understanding of Microbial Diversity; Laser Ablation Electrodynamic Ion Funnel for In Situ Mass Spectrometry on Mars; High-Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer for the Global Hawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; PRTs and Their Bonding for Long-Duration, Extreme-Temperature Environments; Mid- and Long-IR Broadband Quantum Well Photodetector; 3D Display Using Conjugated Multiband Bandpass Filters; Real-Time, Non-Intrusive Detection of Liquid Nitrogen in Liquid Oxygen at High Pressure and High Flow; Method to Enhance the Operation of an Optical Inspection Instrument Using Spatial Light Modulators; Dual-Compartment Inflatable Suitlock; Large-Strain Transparent Magnetoactive Polymer Nanocomposites; Thermodynamic Vent System for an On-Orbit Cryogenic Reaction Control Engine; Time Distribution Using SpaceWire in the SCaN Testbed on ISS; and Techniques for Solution- Assisted Optical Contacting.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2010

NASA Tech Briefs, May 2010

Topics covered include: Instrument for Analysis of Greenland's Glacier Mills Cryogenic Moisture Apparatus; A Transportable Gravity Gradiometer Based on Atom Interferometry; Three Methods of Detection of Hydrazines; Crossed, Small-Deflection Energy Analyzer for Wind/Temperature Spectrometer; Wavefront Correction for Large, Flexible Antenna Reflector; Novel Micro Strip-to-Waveguide Feed Employing a Double-Y Junction; Thin-Film Ferro Electric-Coupled Microstripline Phase Shifters With Reduced Device Hysteresis; Two-Stage, 90-GHz, Low-Noise Amplifier; A 311-GHz Fundamental Oscillator Using InP HBT Technology; FPGA Coprocessor Design for an Onboard Multi-Angle Spectro-Polarimetric Imager; Serrating Nozzle Surfaces for Complete Transfer of Droplets; Turbomolecular Pumps for Holding Gases in Open Containers; Triaxial Swirl Injector Element for Liquid-Fueled Engines; Integrated Budget Office Toolbox; PLOT3D Export Tool for Tecplot; Math Description Engine Software Development Kit; Astronaut Office Scheduling System Software; ISS Solar Array Management; Probabilistic Structural Analysis Program; SPOT Program; Integrated Hybrid System Architecture for Risk Analysis; System for Packaging Planetary Samples for Return to Earth; Offset Compound Gear Drive; Low-Dead-Volume Inlet for Vacuum Chamber; Simple Check Valves for Microfluidic Devices; A Capillary-Based Static Phase Separator for Highly Variable Wetting Conditions; Gimballing Spacecraft Thruster; Finned Carbon-Carbon Heat Pipe with Potassium Working Fluid; Lightweight Heat Pipes Made from Magnesium; Ceramic Rail-Race Ball Bearings; Improved OTEC System for a Submarine Robot; Reflector Surface Error Compensation in Dual-Reflector Antennas; Enriched Storable Oxidizers for Rocket Engines; Planar Submillimeter-Wave Mixer Technology with Integrated Antenna; Widely Tunable Mode-Hop-Free External-Cavity Quantum Cascade Laser; Non-Geiger-Mode Single-Photon Avalanche Detector with Low Excess Noise; Using Whispering-Gallery-Mode Resonators for Refractometry; RF Device for Acquiring Images of the Human Body; Reactive Collision Avoidance Algorithm; Fast Solution in Sparse LDA for Binary Classification; Modeling Common-Sense Decisions in Artificial Intelligence; Graph-Based Path-Planning for Titan Balloons; Nanolaminate Membranes as Cylindrical Telescope Reflectors; Air-Sea Spray Airborne Radar Profiler Characterizes Energy Fluxes in Hurricanes; Large Telescope Segmented Primary Mirror Alignment; and Simplified Night Sky Display System.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1996

Second International Airborne Remote Sensing Conference and Exhibition

The conference provided four days of displays and scientific presentations on applications, technology, a science of sub-orbital data gathering and analysis. The twelve displayed aircraft equipped with sophisticated instrumentation represented a wide range of environmental and reconnaissance missions,including marine pollution control, fire detection, Open Skies Treaty verification, thermal mapping, hydrographical measurements, military research, ecological and agricultural observations, geophysical research, atmospheric and meterological observations, and aerial photography. The U.S. Air Force and the On-Site Inspection Agency displayed the new Open Skies Treaty verification Boeing OC 135B that promotes international monitoring of military forces and activities. SRl's Jetstream uses foliage and ground penetrating SAR for forest inventories, toxic waste delineation, and concealed target and buried unexploded ordnance detection. Earth Search Sciences's Gulfstream 1 with prototype miniaturized airborne hyperspectral imaging equipment specializes in accurate mineral differentiation, low-cost hydrocarbon exploration, and nonproliferation applications. John E. Chance and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers displayed the Bell 2 helicopter with SHOALS that performs hydrographic surveying of navigation projects, coastal environment assessment, and nautical charting surveys. Bechtel Nevada and U.S. DOE displayed both the Beech King AIR B-200 platform equipped to provide first response to nuclear accidents and routine environmental surveillance, and the MBB BO-105 helicopter used in spectral analysis for environmental assessment and military appraisal. NASA Ames Research Center's high-altitude Lockheed ER-2 assists in earth resources monitoring research in atmospheric chemistry, oceanography, and electronic sensors; ozone and greenhouse studies and satellite calibration and data validation. Ames also showcased the Learjet 24 Airborne Observatory that completed missions in Venus cloud cover analysis, Quadantid meteor shower studies, extra-solar far infrared ionic structure lines measurement, Cape Kennedy launch support, and studies in air pollution, The Products and Services Exhibit showcased new sensor and image processing technologies, aircraft data collection services, unmanned vehicle technology, platform equipment, turn-key services, software a workstations, GPS services, publications, and processing and integration systems by 58 exhibitors. The participation of aircraft users and crews provided unique dialogue between those who plan data collection a operate the remote sensing technology, and those who supply the data processing and integration equipment. Research results using hyperspectral imagery, radar and optical sensors, lidar, digital aerial photography, a integrated systems were presented. Major research and development programs and campaigns we reviewed, including CNR's LARA Project and European Space Agency's 1991-1995 Airborne Campaign. The pre-conference short courses addressed airborne video, photogrammetry, hyperspectral data analysis, digital orthophotography, imagery and GIS integration, IFSAR, GPS, and spectrometer calibration.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2020

Operations Concept for Responding to Urgent Requests for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission is an Earth-mapping radar observatory to be launched from Sriharikota (India) in 2022. This mission is a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). This spacecraft will carry two instruments that will operate at radar wavelengths (L and Sband) and will provide data for understanding changes in the Earth’s land surface. The scientific data from this mission will revolutionize our understanding of the causes and consequences of land surface changes on Earth, ranging from Solid Earth Deformation in the form of natural hazards like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and landslides, to ecosystem disturbances, to changes in the cryosphere (measurements of polar ice caps, ice sheets and sea ice). A nominal Reference Observation Plan, that repeats roughly every 12-24 days, developed prior to launch by the NISAR Mission Planning team, in consultation with the Science Team, will form the basis of science data collection by the payload instruments onboard the NISAR observatory after launch. Scheduling of science observations for the mission requires accounting for limited spacecraft resources like onboard data storage, downlink capacity, energy/power, thermal limits and instrument duty cycles. In addition to nominal science data collection, the project has a Level 1 requirement to respond to requests for urgent data acquisition over disaster sites (natural or anthropogenic) by scheduling new acquisitions within 24 hrs of notification and delivering science data within 5 hours of data acquisition. This capability is to be exercised on a ‘best-efforts basis’. While the definition of what constitutes an ‘urgent request’, and how such requests would be submitted to the project, is within the domain of the Science Team, the Mission System team is responsible for developing the baseline operations concept and implementation approach for responding to such requests. Given the ‘best-efforts’ nature of this requirement, a few highlevel guidelines have been developed to help guide the formulation of the operations concept, and are presented in this paper. Requests for urgent response data will be accommodated following the guiding principle of minimal to no impact on nominal science and planned engineering activities. No change in satellite orbit or attitude will be made for urgent response. Restricting response approaches to only changing the downlink and/or ground processing priority for existing observations, and adding new observations only in areas where NISAR will not be nominally imaging, allows for minimal impact on the Reference science Observation Plan. No instrument mode changes will be allowed for urgent response (except for high-priority requests), and no new observations that impact either planned science or engineering activities will be scheduled. Additionally, data requests must fit within the available project resource margins (both spacecraft and ground resources are to be evaluated). Both JPL and ISRO will be involved at various steps of the implementation, irrespective of whether the urgent request is for L-SAR (NASA instrument) or S-SAR (ISRO instrument) or a joint dataset.

Sharma, Priyanka↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Missions and Instruments: Hopes and Hope Fulfilled

The titles in this section include: 1) Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera in the Extended Mission: The MOC Toolkit; 2) Mars Odyssey THEMIS-VIS Calibration; 3) Early Science Operations and Results from the ESA Mars Express Mission: Focus on Imaging and Spectral Mapping; 4) The Mars Express/NASA Project at JPL; 5) Beagle 2: Mission to Mars - Current Status; 6) The Beagle 2 Microscope; 7) Mars Environmental Chamber for Dynamic Dust Deposition and Statics Analysis; 8) Locating Targets for CRISM Based on Surface Morphology and Interpretation of THEMIS Data; 9) The Phoenix Mission to Mars; 10) First Studies of Possible Landing Sites for the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission Using the BMST; 11) The 2009 Mars Telecommunications Orbiter; 12) The Aurora Exploration Program - The ExoMars Mission; 13) Electron-induced Luminescence and X-Ray Spectrometer (ELXS) System Development; 14) Remote-Raman and Micro-Raman Studies of Solid CO2, CH4, Gas Hydrates and Ice; 15) The Compact Microimaging Spectrometer (CMIS): A New Tool for In-Situ Planetary Science; 16) Preliminary Results of a New Type of Surface Property Measurement Ideal for a Future Mars Rover Mission; 17) Electrodynamic Dust Shield for Solar Panels on Mars; 18) Sensor Web for Spatio-Temporal Monitoring of a Hydrological Environment; 19) Field Testing of an In-Situ Neutron Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration: First Results; 20) A Miniature Solid-State Spectrometer for Space Applications - Field Tests; 21) Application of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) to Mars Polar Exploration: LIBS Analysis of Water Ice and Water Ice/Soil Mixtures; 22) LIBS Analysis of Geological Samples at Low Pressures: Application to Mars, the Moon, and Asteroids; 23) In-Situ 1-D and 2-D Mapping of Soil Core and Rock Samples Using the LIBS Long Spark; 24) Rocks Analysis at Stand Off Distance by LIBS in Martian Conditions; 25) Evaluation of a Compact Spectrograph/Detection System for a LIBS Instrument for In-Situ and Stand-Off Detection; 26) Analysis of Organic Compounds in Mars Analog Samples; 27) Report of the Organic Contamination Science Steering Group; 28) The Water-Wheel IR (WIR) - A Contact Survey Experiment for Water and Carbonates on Mars; 29) Mid-IR Fiber Optic Probe for In Situ Water Detection and Characterization; 30) Effects of Subsurface Sampling & Processing on Martian Simulant Containing Varying Quantities of Water; 31) The Subsurface Ice Probe (SIPR): A Low-Power Thermal Probe for the Martian Polar Layered Deposits; 32) Deploying Ground Penetrating Radar in Planetary Analog Sites to Evaluate Potential Instrument Capabilities on Future Mars Missions; 33) Evaluation of Rock Powdering Methods to Obtain Fine-grained Samples for CHEMIN, a Combined XRD/XRF Instrument; 34) Novel Sample-handling Approach for XRD Analysis with Minimal Sample Preparation; 35) A New Celestial Navigation Method for Mars Landers; 36) Mars Mineral Spectroscopy Web Site: A Resource for Remote Planetary Spectroscopy.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2017

Biomass Retrieval from L-Band Polarimetric UAVSAR Backscatter and PRISM Stereo Imagery

The forest above-ground biomass (AGB) and spatial distribution of vegetation elements have profound effects on the productivity and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. In this paper, we evaluated biomass estimation from L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data acquired by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) and the improvement of accuracy by adding canopy height information derived from stereo imagery acquired by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Panchromatic Remote Sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping (PRISM) on-board the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). Various models for prediction of forest biomass from UAVSAR data were investigated at pixel sizes of 1/4 ha (50 m x 50 m) and 1 ha. The variance inflation factor (VIF) was calculated for each of the explanatory variables in multivariable regression models to assess the multi-collinearity between explanatory variables. In addition, the t-and p-values were used to interpret the significance of the coefficients of each explanatory variables. The R(exp. 2), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), bias and Akaike information criterion (AIC), and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and bootstrapping were used to validate models. At 1/4-ha scale, the R(exp. 2) and RMSE of biomass estimation from a model using a single track of polarimetric UAVSAR data were 0.59 and 52.08 Mg/ha. With canopy height from PRISM as additional independent variable, R(exp. 2) increased to 0.76 and RMSE decreased to 39.74 Mg/ha (28.24%). At 1-ha scale, the RMSE of biomass estimation based on UAVSAR data of a single track was 39.42 Mg/ha with a R(exp. 2) of 0.77. With the canopy height from PRISM, R(exp. 2) increased to 0.86 and RMSE decreased to 29.47 Mg/ha (20.18%). The models using UAVSAR data alone underestimated biomass at levels above approximately 150 Mg/ha showing the saturation phenomenon. Adding canopy height from PRISM stereo imagery significantly improved the biomass estimation and elevated the saturation level in estimating biomass. Combined use of UAVSAR data acquired from opposite directions (odd and even tracks) slightly improved the biomass estimation.Combined use of UAVSAR data acquired from opposite directions (odd and even tracks) slightly improved the biomass estimation at 1/4-ha scale, R(exp. 2) increased from 0.59 to 0.66 and RMSE reduced from 52.08 to 48.57 Mg/ha. Averaging multiple acquisitions of UAVSAR data from the same look azimuth direction did not improve biomass estimation. A biomass map derived from NASA's LVIS (Laser Vegetation Imaging System) wave-form data was used as a reference for evaluation of the biomass maps from these models. The study has also shown that the errors decreased when deciduous, evergreen, and mixed forests were modeled separately but the improvement was not significant

Zhang, Zhiyu↗
DOE OSTI2020

Savannah River Site H-Canyon Advancing Technologies for Remote Inspections - 20345

In 2017, the DOE Environmental Management Office of Technology Development (DOE-EM TD) sponsored the H-Canyon Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) to demonstrate to DOE facilities the value of using new commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and near-ready technologies to solve difficult problems and enhance worker safety. The DOE Savannah River Site (SRS) H-Canyon Air Exhaust Tunnel (HCAEX) inspection task was identified as representative of the hazardous, human denied environments which could benefit from advanced technologies. The HCAEX underground concrete tunnel is visually inspected biannually using a camera mounted on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed and built by SRNL. While tunnel images have provided valuable visual information, it is desirable to have a higher order of understanding of the environment to support a more thorough structural integrity (SI) analysis and for long term planning purposes. As part of the ATD, the Concrete Integrated Product Team (CIPT) was formed to identify and evaluate available sensors and methods mature enough to remotely obtain tunnel concrete characterization data of high value and with a high probability of success. The team included SMEs and H-Canyon stakeholders in the field of concrete, nondestructive examination (NDE), structural integrity, sensors and remote systems from SRNL, SRNS, LANL, DOE-SR and the Army Corps of Engineering. The CIPT completed an in-depth identification of customer concrete inspection needs and potential technology solutions. Sensors and methods were evaluated on performance, data usefulness, cost and the feasibility of a successful deployment given the unique tunnel access challenges and environment. Two technologies were identified as promising by the CIPT for near term demonstration and evaluation: Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) 3-dimensional (3D) mapping and remote robotic deployment of NDE instrumentation. Laser spectroscopy to characterize tunnel surface chemical changes was also of interest, but presently cost prohibitive. This paper will include a discussion of the two efforts underway to evaluate and implement the CIPT recommendations. First, the status of the November 2019 deployment of Lidar at a single location into the tunnel is presented. This initial deployment provided the team a learning curve and lessons learned on the challenges of tunnel deployment to include remote operation and data collection, stabilization of the sensor in high air flow (∼30 mph), ability to achieve a tolerance accuracy of 0.25-inches, and the probability to identify change in tunnel dimensions over time. Secondly, a discussion on the development of the Robotic Arm Concrete Inspection Test Bed capable of deploying NDE instruments to examine custom concrete forms will be presented. Concrete forms simulating the rough concrete surfaces, strength, composition and potential structural defects that can be found at our DOE EM facilities have been designed and built for the test bed. Two state-of-the art concrete NDE instruments have been identified as having potential to work on rough concrete walls, they are being tested and characterized as to their ability to provide desired structural integrity data to include wall thickness and defect identification on the developed test beams. Lastly, lessons learned, and the path forward will be presented. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗