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At least 55 records · Page 3

The effect of wind tunnel wall interference on the performance of a fan-in-wing VTOL model

A fan-in-wing model with a 1.07-meter span was tested in seven different test sections with cross-sectional areas ranging from 2.2 sq meters to 265 sq meters. The data from the different test sections are compared both with and without correction for wall interference. The results demonstrate that extreme care must be used in interpreting uncorrected VTOL data since the wall interference may be so large as to invalidate even trends in the data. The wall interference is particularly large at the tail, a result which is in agreement with recently published comparisons of flight and large scale wind tunnel data for a propeller-driven deflected-slipstream configuration. The data verify the wall-interference theory even under conditions of extreme interference. A method yields reasonable estimates for the onset of Rae's minimum-speed limit. The rules for choosing model sizes to produce negligible wall effects are considerably in error and permit the use of excessively large models.

Heyson, H. H.

Experimental evaluation of nacelle-airframe interference forces and pressures at Mach numbers of 0.9 to 1.4

Detailed interference force-and-pressure data were obtained on a representative supersonic transport wing-body-nacelle combination at Mach numbers of 0.9 to 1.4. The basic model consisted of a delta wing-body aerodynamic model with a length of 158.0 cm (62.2 in.) and a wingspan of 103.6 cm (40.8 in.) and four independently supported nacelles positioned beneath the model. The experimental program was conducted in the Ames 11- by 11-Foot Wind Tunnel at a constant unit Reynolds number. The primary variables examined included Mach number, angle of attack, nacelle position, and nacelle mass-flow ratio. Under the most favorable conditions, the net interference drag was equal to 50 percent the drag of four isolated nacelles at M = 1.4, 75 percent at M = 1.15, and 144 percent at M = 0.90. The overall interference effects were found to be rather constant over the operating angle-of-attack range of the configuration. The effects of mass-flow ratio on the interference pressure distributions were limited to the lip region of the nacelle and the local wing surface in the immediate vicinity of the nacelle lip. The net change in the measured interference forces resulting from variations in the nacelle mass-flow ratio were found to be quite small.

Bencze, D. P.

Transonic wind-tunnel wall interference

A method for analyzing wall interference is described which avoids the assumption of linear superposition of perturbations in extracting the wall induced velocity field. Measurements of pressure distribution on or near the tunnel walls during the actual wind tunnel test, are imposed as boundary values to be matched. Instead of applying wall interference corrections to the wind tunnel data, some property of the wall is adjusted until a calculated interference free criterion is satisfied for each tunnel data point. The mode of operation for the National Transonic Facility, envisioned as a correctable interference transonic tunnel, combines the capability for accurate assessment of wall interference with a limited capability for wall control.

Kemp, W. B., Jr.

Prediction of nacelle aerodynamic interference effects at low supersonic Mach numbers

The accuracy of analytical predictions of nacelle aerodynamic interference effects at low supersonic speeds are studied by means of test versus theory comparisons. Comparisons shown include: (1) isolated wing body lift, drag, and pitching moments; (2) isolated nacelle drag and pressure distributions; (3) nacelle interference shock wave patterns and pressure distributions on the wing lower surface; (4) nacelle interference effects on wing body lift, drag, and pitching moments; and (5) total installed nacelle interference effects on lift, drag, and pitching moment. The comparisons also illustrate effects of nacelle location, nacelle spillage, angle of attack, and Mach numbers on the aerodynamic interference. The initial results seem to indicate that the methods can satisfactorily predict lift, drag, pitching moment, and pressure distributions of installed engine nacelles at low supersonic Mach numbers with mass flow ratios from 0.7 to 1.0 for configurations typical of efficient supersonic cruise airplanes.

Kulfan, R. M.

Analysis of interference to remote passive microwave sensors

The final acts of the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) were analyzed to determine potential interference to remote passive microwave sensors. Using interferer populations determined from the U.S. Government and FCC Master File Lists and assuming uniform geographical distribution of interferers, the level of interference from shared services and active services in adjacent and subharmonic bands was calculated for each of the 22 passive sensing bands. In addition, due to the theoretically large antennas required for passive sensing, an analysis was performed to determine if smaller antennas, i.e., relaxed resolution requirements, would have an effect on interference and to what extent.

Boyd, Douglas

A wall interference assessment/correction interface measurement system for the NASA/ARC 12-ft PWT

Development of complex air vehicle configurations is placing increasing demands on wind tunnel testing capabilities. A major area of concern is wall induced interference. Recent developments in wall interference technology provide a means for assessing and correcting for the wall induced interference using information contained in the distribution of flow variables measured at, or near, the wall. The restoration of the NASA-ARC 12-ft pressure wind tunnel (PWT) provides an opportunity to incorporate a measurement system with which wall interference assessment/correction (WIAC) technology can be applied. In this first phase of the development of a WIAC system for the PWT, the design criteria for the placement and the geometry of wall static pressure orifices were determined with a three step approach. First, the operational environment of the PWT was analyzed as to the requirements for the WIAC system. Second, appropriate wall interference theories were evaluated against the requirements determined from the operational environment. Third, the flow about representative models in the PWT was calculated and, specifically, the pressure signatures at the location of the test section wall were obtained. The number of discrete pressure measurements and their locations were determined by curve fitting the pressure distribution through the discrete measurements and evaluating the resulting error.

Source record

Adaptive narrow-band interference rejection in a DS spread-spectrum intercept receiver using transform domain signal processing techniques

An intercept receiver which uses a transform-domain-processing filter is described. This receiver detects direct-sequence BPSK spread-spectrum signals in the presence of narrowband interference by employing adaptive narrowband interference rejection techniques. The improvement in the system performance over that of conventional detection techniques is shown by presenting the results of experimental measurements of probability of detection versus false alarm for an enhanced total power detector. Also presented are certain results corresponding to detection of the spectral lines generated at twice the carrier frequency, wherein the goal is often not just signal detection, but also carrier frequency estimation. The receiver uses one of two transform-domain-processing techniques for adaptive narrowband interference rejection. In the first technique, the narrowband interference is detected and excised in the transform domain by using an adaptive notch filter. In the second technique, the interference is suppressed using soft-limiting in the transform domain.

Gevargiz, John

Description and evaluation of an interference assessment for a slotted-wall wind tunnel

A wind-tunnel interference assessment method applicable to test sections with discrete finite-length wall slots is described. The method is based on high order panel method technology and uses mixed boundary conditions to satisfy both the tunnel geometry and wall pressure distributions measured in the slotted-wall region. Both the test model and its sting support system are represented by distributed singularities. The method yields interference corrections to the model test data as well as surveys through the interference field at arbitrary locations. These results include the equivalent of tunnel Mach calibration, longitudinal pressure gradient, tunnel flow angularity, wall interference, and an inviscid form of sting interference. Alternative results which omit the direct contribution of the sting are also produced. The method was applied to the National Transonic Facility at NASA Langley Research Center for both tunnel calibration tests and tests of two models of subsonic transport configurations.

Kemp, William B., Jr.

S-band multiple-access interference study for advanced tracking and data relay satellite systems

The results of a study on the effect of mutual interference among S-band multiple access (SMA) system users of advanced tracking and data relay satellite system (ATDRSS) are presented. In the ATDRSS era, the SMA system is required to support data rates ranging from 10 kb/s to 3 Mb/s. The system will consist of four advanced tracking and data relay satellites (ATDRS) each supporting up to five telemetry links. All users have 10 MHz bandwidth with their carrier frequency equal to 2.2875 GHz. A hybrid SDMA/CDMA scheme is used to mitigate the effect of the interference among system users. SMA system interference probability is evaluated with CLASS software. User link margin degradation due to mutual interference between two users is evaluated. System interference probability is evaluated for the projected 1996 mission model, a reference mission model, and a modified reference mission model.

Peng, Wei-Chung

A comparison of three SAR interference filters

Three interference filters are discussed and their ability to remove the interference while leaving target signal data is quantified. The filters are adaptive frequency-domain spike filtering; adaptive frequency-domain interference determination and masking; and interference-target correlation masking. Using Jet Propulsion Laboratory Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (JPL AIRSAR) data, the algorithms are applied to three data sets. The resultant compressed Stokes matrix data are compared with the normally processed interference-free image in a quantitative sense. The algorithms are evaluated by measuring the polarization signature, SNR, equivalent number of looks, and impulse response of the processed images.

Chapman, B.

A wall interference assessment/correction system

A Wall Signature method originally developed by Hackett was selected to be adapted for the Ames 12-ft Wind Tunnel Wall Interference Assessment/Correction (WIAC) System in the project. This method uses limited measurements of the static pressure at the wall, in conjunction with the solid wall boundary condition, to determine the strength and distribution of singularities representing the test article. The singularities are used in turn for estimating wall interference at the model location. The lifting interference will be treated separately by representing in a horseshoe vortex system for the model's lifting effects. The development and implementation of a working prototype will be completed, delivered, and documented with a software manual. The WIAC code will be validated by conducting numerically simulated experiments rather than actual wind tunnel experiments. The simulations will be used to generate both free-air and confined wind-tunnel flow fields for each of the test articles over a range of test configurations. Specifically, the pressure signature at the test section wall will be computed for the tunnel case to provide the simulated 'measured' data. These data will serve as the input for the WIAC method - Wall Signature method. The performance of the WIAC method then may be evaluated by comparing the corrected parameters with those for the free-air simulation. The following two additional tasks are included in the supplement No. 1 to the basic Grant. On-line wall interference calculation: The developed wall signature method (modified Hackett's method) for Ames 12-ft Tunnel will be the pre-computed coefficients which facilitate the on-line calculation of wall interference; and support system effects estimation: The effects on the wall pressure measurements due to the presence of the model support systems will be evaluated.

Lo, Ching F.

Improved CDMA Performance Using Parallel Interference Cancellation

This report considers a general parallel interference cancellation scheme that significantly reduces the degradation effect of user interference but with a lesser implementation complexity than the maximum-likelihood technique. The scheme operates on the fact that parallel processing simultaneously removes from each user the interference produced by the remaining users accessing the channel in an amount proportional to their reliability. The parallel processing can be done in multiple stages. The proposed scheme uses tentative decision devices with different optimum thresholds at the multiple stages to produce the most reliably received data for generation and cancellation of user interference. The 1-stage interference cancellation is analyzed for three types of tentative decision devices, namely, hard, null zone, and soft decision, and two types of user power distribution, namely, equal and unequal powers. Simulation results are given for a multitude of different situations, in particular, those cases for which the analysis is too complex.

Simon, Marvin

Electromagnetic Interference Assessment of CDMA and GSM Wireless Phones to Aircraft Navigation Radios

To address the concern for cellular phone electromagnetic interference (EMI) to aircraft radios, a radiated emission measurement process for CDMA (IS-95) and GSM (ETSI GSM 11.22) wireless handsets was developed. Spurious radiated emissions were efficiently characterized from devices tested in either a semi-anechoic or reverberation chamber, in terms of effective isotropic radiated power. Eight representative handsets (4 GSM, 4 CDMA) were commanded to operate while varying their radio transmitter parameters (power, modulation, etc.). This report provides a detailed description of the measurement process and resulting data, which may subsequently be used by others as a basis of consistent evaluation for cellular/PCS phones, Bluetooth, IEEE802.11b, IEEE802.11a, FRS/GMRS radios, and other portable transmitters. Aircraft interference path loss (IPL) and navigation radio interference threshold data from numerous reference documents, standards, and NASA partnerships were compiled. Using this data, a preliminary risk assessment is provided for CDMA and GSM wireless phone interference to aircraft localizer, Glideslope, VOR, and GPS radio receivers on typical transport airplanes. The report identifies where existing data for device emissions, IPL, and navigation radio interference thresholds needs to be extended for an accurate risk assessment for wireless transmitters in aircraft.

Ely, Jay J.

Vanishing dual-task interference after practice: has the bottleneck been eliminated or is it merely latent?

Practice can, in some cases, largely eliminate measured dual-task interference. Does this absence of interference indicate the absence of a processing bottleneck (defined as an inability to carry out certain stages in parallel)? The authors show that a bottleneck need not produce any observable interference, provided that there is no temporal overlap in the demand for bottleneck stages on the 2 tasks. Such a "latent" bottleneck is especially likely after practice, when central stages are short. The authors provide new evidence that a latent bottleneck occurred for a participant who produced no interference in M. Van Selst, E. Ruthruff, and J. C. Johnston (1999). These findings demonstrate that the absence of dual-task interference does not necessarily indicate the absence of a processing bottleneck.

Clinical Trial

Silicon Carbide Mixers Demonstrated to Improve the Interference Immunity of Radio-Based Aircraft Avionics

Concern over the interference of stray radiofrequency (RF) emissions with key aircraft avionics is evident during takeoff and landing of every commercial flight when the flight attendant requests that all portable electronics be switched off. The operation of key radio-based avionics (such as glide-slope and localizer approach instruments) depends on the ability of front-end RF receivers to detect and amplify desired information signals while rejecting interference from undesired RF sources both inside and outside the aircraft. Incidents where key navigation and approach avionics malfunction because of RF interference clearly represent an increasing threat to flight safety as the radio spectrum becomes more crowded. In an initial feasibility experiment, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the NASA Lewis Research Center recently demonstrated the strategic use of silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor components to significantly reduce the susceptibility of an RF receiver circuit to undesired RF interference. A pair of silicon carbide mixer diodes successfully reduced RF interference (intermodulation distortion) in a prototype receiver circuit by a factor of 10 (20 dB) in comparison to a pair of commercial silicon-based mixer diodes.

Neudeck, Philip G.

Assessing the Effects of Momentary Priming on Memory Retention During an Interference Task

A memory aid, that used brief (33ms) presentations of previously learned information (target words), was assessed on its ability to reinforce memory for target words while the subject was performing an interference task. The interference task required subjects to learn new words and thus interfered with their memory of the target words. The brief presentation (momentary memory priming) was hypothesized to refresh the subjects memory of the target words. 143 subjects, in a within subject design, were given a 33ms presentation of the target memory words during the interference task in a treatment condition and a blank 33ms presentation in the control condition. The primary dependent measure, memory loss over the interference trial, was not significantly different between the two conditions. The memory prime did not appear to hinder the subjects performance on the interference task. This paper describes the experiment and the results along with suggestions for future research.

Schutte, Paul C.

Interference-Fit Life Factors for Ball Bearings

The effect of hoop stresses on the rolling-element fatigue life of angular-contact and deep-groove ball bearings was determined for common inner-ring interference fits at the ABEC-5 tolerance level. The analysis was applied to over 1150 bearing configurations and load cases. Hoop stresses were superimposed on the Hertzian principal stresses created by the applied bearing load to calculate the inner-race maximum shearing stress. The resulting fatigue life of the bearing was recalculated through a series of equations. The reduction in the fatigue life is presented as life factors that are applied to the unfactored bearing life. The life factors found in this study ranged from 1.00 (no life reduction)--where there was no net interface pressure--to a worst case of 0.38 (a 62-percent life reduction). For a given interference fit, the reduction in life is different for angular-contact and deep-groove ball bearings. Interference fits also affect the maximum Hertz stress-life relation. Experimental data of Czyzewski, showing the effect of interference fit on rolling-element fatigue life, were reanalyzed to determine the shear stress-life exponent. The Czyzewski data shear stress-life exponent c equals 8.77, compared with the assumed value of 9. Results are presented as tables and charts of life factors for angular-contact and deep-groove ball bearings with light, normal, and heavy loads and interference fits ranging from extremely light to extremely heavy.

Oswald, Fred B.

Surveillance Range and Interference Impacts on Self-Separation Performance

Self-separation is a concept of flight operations that aims to provide user benefits and increase airspace capacity by transferring traffic separation responsibility from ground-based controllers to the flight crew. Self-separation is enabled by cooperative airborne surveillance, such as that provided by the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADSB) system and airborne separation assistance technologies. This paper describes an assessment of the impact of ADS-B system performance on the performance of self-separation as a step towards establishing far-term ADS-B performance requirements. Specifically, the impacts of ADS-B surveillance range and interference limitations were analyzed under different traffic density levels. The analysis was performed using a batch simulation of aircraft performing self-separation assisted by NASA s Autonomous Operations Planner prototype flight-deck tool, in two-dimensional airspace. An aircraft detected conflicts within a look-ahead time of ten minutes and resolved them using strategic closed trajectories or tactical open maneuvers if the time to loss of separation was below a threshold. While a complex interaction was observed between the impacts of surveillance range and interference, as both factors are physically coupled, self-separation performance followed expected trends. An increase in surveillance range resulted in a decrease in the number of conflict detections, an increase in the average conflict detection lead time, and an increase in the percentage of conflict resolutions that were strategic. The majority of the benefit was observed when surveillance range was increased to a value corresponding to the conflict detection look-ahead time. The benefits were attenuated at higher interference levels. Increase in traffic density resulted in a significant increase in the number of conflict detections, as expected, but had no effect on the conflict detection lead time and the percentage of conflict resolutions that were strategic. With surveillance range corresponding to ADS-B minimum operational performance standards for Class A3 equipment and without background interference, a significant portion of conflict resolutions, 97 percent, were achieved in the preferred strategic mode. The majority of conflict resolutions, 71 percent, were strategic even with very high interference (over three times that expected in 2035).

Idris, Husni