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At least 559 records · Page 31

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NASA NTRS1985

Two locations, two times, and the element set

A robust analytical formulation is developed to apply classical initial orbital determination to artificial satellites whose locations are uncertain to about 1 cu km and separated in time by no more than 30 min. An analytical simplification reduces Gauss's method, iteration on the semilatus rectum, iteration on the true anomaly, and the Lambert-Euler technique, to the solution of a single equation in one unknown, instead of the usual coupled triplet of three equations in three unknowns. The method is demonstrated for all common artificial satellite orbits over a variety of time intervals between the two location vectors, and for a varied set of position and distance errors.

Taff, L. G.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A spline-based parameter estimation technique for static models of elastic structures

The problem of identifying the spatially varying coefficient of elasticity using an observed solution to the forward problem is considered. Under appropriate conditions this problem can be treated as a first order hyperbolic equation in the unknown coefficient. Some continuous dependence results are developed for this problem and a spline-based technique is proposed for approximating the unknown coefficient, based on these results. The convergence of the numerical scheme is established and error estimates obtained.

Dutt, P.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Four-terminal electrical testing device

The invention relates to a four-terminal electrical connector device for testing and measuring unknown resistances of initiators used for starting pyrotechnic events aboard the space shuttle. The testing device minimizes contact resistance degradation effects and so improves the reliability of resistance measurements taken with the device. Separate and independent voltage sensing and current supply circuits each include a pair of socket contacts for mating engagement with the pins of the initiator. The unknown resistance that is measured by the device is the resistance of the bridgewire of the initiator which is required to be between 0.95 and 1.15 ohms.

Robinson, Robert L.↗

NASA NTRS1985

On-orbit systems identification of flexible spacecraft

The process of on-orbit systems identification of flexible spacecraft is examined in terms of the difficulties that are expected because of the potentially unmanageable number of unknown model parameters due to the very high order system models involved. A Jordon block canonical form and global model parameters are used to reduce the number of unknown parameters to manageable numbers. A Bayesian approach is discussed which enables the merging of theoretical models with ground or on-orbit test results by using Unconditional Maximum Likelihood Parameter Estimation. A Modified Newton-Raphson technique is proposed for determining the model parameter estimates and an expected fit error criterion is recommended for the determination of the model structure and order reduction.

Taylor, L. W., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Nonlinear attitude control of flexible spacecraft under disturbance torque

A control law for large-angle single-axis rotational maneuvers of a spacecraft-beam-tip body (an antenna or a reflector) configuration is presented. It is assumed that an unknown but bounded disturbance torque is acting on the spacecraft. A model reference adaptive torque control law is derived for the slewing of the space vehicle. This controller includes a dynamic system in the feedback path and requires only attitude angle and rate of the space vehicle for feedback. For damping out the elastic motion excited by the slewing maneuver, a stabilizer is designed assuming that a torquer and a force actuator are available at the tip body. The stabilizer uses only the flexible modes for the synthesis of the control law. Simulation results are presented to show that fast, large-angle rotational maneuvers can be performed using the adaptive controller and the stabilizer in spite of the presence of continuously acting unknown torque on the spacecraft.

Singh, Sahjendra N.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Estimation of discontinuous coefficients in parabolic systems - Applications to reservoir simulation

Spline-based techniques for estimating spatially varying parameters that appear in parabolic distributed systems (typical of those found in reservoir simulation problems) are presented. In particular, the problem of determining discontinuous coefficients is discussed, estimating both the functional shape and points of discontinuity for such parameters. In addition, the ideas may also be applied to problems with unknown initial conditions and unknown parameters appearing in terms representing external forces. Convergence results and a summary of numerical performance of the resulting algorithms are given.

Lamm, Patricia K.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Dynamic optimization problems with bounded terminal conditions

Bounded terminal conditions of nonlinear optimization problems are converted to equality terminal conditions via Valentine's device. In so doing, additional unknown parameters are introduced into the problem. The transformed problems can still be easily solved using the sequential gradient-restoration algorithm (SGRA) via a simple augmentation of the unknown parameter vector pi. Three example problems with bounded terminal conditions are solved to verify this technique.

Lee, A. Y.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Bow-tie antennas on a dielectric half-space - Theory and experiment

A new formulation is discussed for the rigous calculation of the radiation pattern of a bow-tie antenna of finite length and infinitesimal thickness, placed on a lossless dielectric substrate. The analysis is based on a representation of the current density on the metal surface of the antenna as a sum of an imposed (quasistatic) term and a set of current modes with unknown amplitudes. Free-space fields that are expressed in terms of continuous spectra of symmetrized plane waves are matched to the current modes using the method of moments. The resulting set of equations are solved for the unknown current amplitudes. The calculations show that for increasing bow length the antenna impedance spirals rapidly to a value predicted by transmission line theory. The theory also shows that the E-plane pattern of a two-wavelength, 60-deg bow-tie antenna is dominated by low-loss current modes propagating at the dielectric wavenumber. As the bow tie narrows, the loss of the modes increases, and the dominant wavenumber tends to the quasi-static value. Pattern measurements made at 94 GHz are shown to agree well with theoretical predictions. Measurements for a long-wire antenna, a linear array of bow-tie elements, and a log-periodic antenna are also presented.

Compton, Richard C.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Nonlinear adaptive attitude control of spacecraft

A model reference adaptive control law is presented for large angle rotational maneuvers of spacecraft using reaction jets. It is assumed that the various parameters of the spacecraft are completely unknown, and unknown but bounded disturbance torques are acting on the spacecraft. The controller includes a dynamic system in the feedback path. Simulation results are presented to show that fast, large angle rotational maneuvers can be performed using the adaptive controller in spite of uncertainty in the system.

Singh, Sahjendra N.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Estimation of time- and state-dependent delays and other parameters in functional differential equations

A parameter estimation algorithm is developed which can be used to estimate unknown time- or state-dependent delays and other parameters (e.g., initial condition) appearing within a nonlinear nonautonomous functional differential equation. The original infinite dimensional differential equation is approximated using linear splines, which are allowed to move with the variable delay. The variable delays are approximated using linear splines as well. The approximation scheme produces a system of ordinary differential equations with nice computational properties. The unknown parameters are estimated within the approximating systems by minimizing a least-squares fit-to-data criterion. Convergence theorems are proved for time-dependent delays and state-dependent delays within two classes, which say essentially that fitting the data by using approximations will, in the limit, provide a fit to the data using the original system. Numerical test examples are presented which illustrate the method for all types of delay.

Murphy, K. A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Two puzzling aspects of protein crystal growth

A study is presented of several mechanisms which may reduce crystal growth rates and or terminate crystal growth. It is found that salt gradients which change the local chemical potential of the protein are insufficient to account for the slow crystal growth rates which have been reported. Contaminants which adsorb protein from solution may reduce the effective protein concentration, but the impurity's concentration and its affinity for protein are unknown. Association of protein molecules in bulk solution can reduce the monomer concentration significantly, but extant theory and experiment are not sensitive enough to determine the actual concentration of aggregates in solution. For systems of interest, shear-induced effects were found to be too weak to interfere with normal binding of incoming protein molecules. Although we found that most crystal growth occurs in a regime where both interfacial kinetics and diffusion influence crystal growth, the role of mass transfer rates on the terminal size of crystals is unknown, primarily because no data exist which cover the size range of interest (0.1 mm to 1 mm in length).

Grant, M. L.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Use of the generalized transmission error in the equations of motion of gear systems

The vibratory excitation arising from a gear pair is widely recognized to be a consequence of the nonuniform transmission of motion by the gear pair. In the preceding paper in this issue, it is shown that a three-component transmission error is required to describe the nonuniform transmission of motion by bevel gears for vibration excitation characterization purposes. The expression for the three-component transmission error derived in that paper is combined in the present paper with an analysis of the mesh forces and mesh elasticity to yield an equation of constraint involving the six degree-of-freedom unknown vibratory displacements of the gear shaft centerliners, the three unknown components of the generalized force transmitted by the mesh, and the geometric deviations of the tooth running surfaces from perfect involute surfaces which are assumed known. This matrix equation can be combined with the equations of motion of a gear system to predict the vibratory response of the system to the generalized transmission error excitation arising from meshing gear pairs within the system.

Mark, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Simple robust control laws for robot manipulators. Part 2: Adaptive case

A new class of asymptotically stable adaptive control laws is introduced for application to the robotic manipulator. Unlike most applications of adaptive control theory to robotic manipulators, this analysis addresses the nonlinear dynamics directly without approximation, linearization, or ad hoc assumptions, and utilizes a parameterization based on physical (time-invariant) quantities. This approach is made possible by using energy-like Lyapunov functions which retain the nonlinear character and structure of the dynamics, rather than simple quadratic forms which are ubiquitous to the adaptive control literature, and which have bound the theory tightly to linear systems with unknown parameters. It is a unique feature of these results that the adaptive forms arise by straightforward certainty equivalence adaptation of their nonadaptive counterparts found in the companion to this paper (i.e., by replacing unknown quantities by their estimates) and that this simple approach leads to asymptotically stable closed-loop adaptive systems. Furthermore, it is emphasized that this approach does not require convergence of the parameter estimates (i.e., via persistent excitation), invertibility of the mass matrix estimate, or measurement of the joint accelerations.

Bayard, D. S.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Characteristics of satellite breakups from radar cross section and plane change angle

A problem of considerable interest in orbital debris research is the determination of the cause of the fragmentation of a satellite from the observed radar cross section and orbital element data. In this paper, analytic representations of the observed distribution functions of the radar cross section and the orbital plane change angle are derived. This then allows for the extraction of a small number of features that describe the observed data. Based on the known cause of fragmentation of a subset of satellites, a linear classifier is trained on these derived features. The discriminant function derived from this training is used to determine the previously unknown cause of the satellite breakup. the technique developed is objective and has been applied to the study of the cause of a number of unknown satellite breakup events.

Badhwar, Gautam D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A spline-based parameter estimation technique for static models of elastic structures

Dutt, P.↗

NASA NTRS1989

On controller tuning for a flexible-link manipulator with varying payload

In this article experimental results are presented for system identification and control of a single-link flexible manipulator carrying an unknown, varying payload. The control objective is to maintain endpoint position accuracy in the presence of flexure effects after rapid movement due to a rigid body slew-angle commanded position. Various time-domain parameter estimation techniques are used to identify ARMA model representations to be employed in controller tuning schemes for vibration compensation. Only endpoint acceleration measurements and motor shaft angle measurements are utilized in relatively simple PID control schemes, which are tuned as dictated by a varying, unknown payload.

Yurkovich, Stephen↗

NASA NTRS1989

A two axis skin friction balance nulling circuit using an optimal observer

An investigation is conducted of application of optimal observer-based control laws derived using both pole-placement techniques and optimal linear regulator theory. Although a pole-placement-derived control law with optimal observer provides fast response and excellent noise rejection, its observer requires an electrical input proportional to the unknown skin friction force, which is unavailable. To overcome this limitation, an optimal linear regulator design is proposed which estimates the unknown force input and provides excellent noise rejection, at the expense, however, of significantly slower transient response.

Tripp, John S.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Extension-torsion coupling behavior of advanced composite tilt-rotor blades

An analytic model was developed to study the extension-bend-twist coupling behavior of an advanced composite helicopter or tilt-rotor blade. The outer surface of the blade is defined by rotating an arbitrary cross section about an initial twist axis. The cross section can be nonhomogeneous and composed of generally anisotropic materials. The model is developed based upon a three dimensional elasticity approach that is recast as a coupled two-dimensional boundary value problem defined in a curvilinear coordinate system. Displacement solutions are written in terms of known functions that represent extension, bending, and twisting and unknown functions for local cross section deformations. The unknown local deformation functions are determined by applying the principle of minimum potential energy to the discretized two-dimensional cross section. This is an application of the Ritz method, where the trial function family is the displacement field associated with a finite element (8-node isoparametric quadrilaterals) representation of the section. A computer program was written where the cross section is discretized into 8-node quadrilateral subregions. Initially the program was verified using previously published results (both three-dimensional elasticity and technical beam theory) for pretwisted isotropic bars with an elliptical cross section. In addition, solid and thin-wall multi-cell NACA-0012 airfoil sections were analyzed to illustrate the pronounced effects that pretwist, initial twist axis location, and spar location has on coupled behavior. Currently, a series of advanced composite airfoils are being modeled in order to assess how the use of laminated composite materials interacts with pretwist to alter the coupling behavior of the blade. These studies will investigate the use of different ply angle orientations and the use of symmetric versus unsymmetric laminates.

Kosmatka, J. B.↗