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At least 829 records · Page 46

Automated detection of severe thunderstorms using geosynchronous infrared data

A procedure to identify thunderstorms from short-interval (5 min) GOES infrared (IR) data and to estimate their intensity (updraft strength) in an automated fashion is described. Thunderstorms are identified in the IR field by a simple pattern-recognition approach. For mature thunderstorms, two key parameters are used to estimate intensity: the amount of penetration above the neutral point and the occurrence (or not) of a cold-warm couplet in the IR TB field. Based on cloud model results, the amount of penetration is related to the maximum updraft speed, which is converted to an index. Application of the algorithm to a case study is presented.

Adler, Robert F.↗

Embedded expert system for space shuttle main engine maintenance

The SPARTA Embedded Expert System (SEES) is an intelligent health monitoring system that directs analysis by placing confidence factors on possible engine status and then recommends a course of action to an engineer or engine controller. The technique can prevent catastropic failures or costly rocket engine down time because of false alarms. Further, the SEES has potential as an on-board flight monitor for reusable rocket engine systems. The SEES methodology synergistically integrates vibration analysis, pattern recognition and communications theory techniques with an artificial intelligence technique - the Embedded Expert System (EES).

Pooley, J.↗

Objective method for analysis and tracking of convective cells as seen by radar

A special method has been developed for the study of cells that are embedded in convective rain systems. This method consists of a package of computer programs that use pattern recognition techniques on three-dimensional digital radar data to identify the rain cells, track them with time, and calculate their properties. The product of the computations is a comprehensive database of physically meaningful properties of rain cells, which can be used to infer the internal structure and the dynamics of convective rain systems. The cell-tracking method has been applied to the summer convective clouds of south Florida for the following purposes: (1) derivation of the relationship between the echo top height and the precipitation characteristics (e.g., area, water yield, rain intensity and duration of the rain cells); (2) study of the microphysical behaviorof cumulus clouds in relation to their cell properties; (3) evaluation of the effect of seeding on cumulus clouds on the cell scale; and (4) examination of cloud-to-ground lightning discharges in relation to convective cell intensity. The cell-tracking method is also currently being used in rain enhancement projects in Texas, Israel, and South Africa. The cell-tracking method, its products and their use in meteorological research are described in this paper.

Rosenfeld, Daniel↗

Periodicities in gamma-ray burst light curves

Only one case is known where a gamma-ray burst (GRB) light curve indisputably exhibits a periodic behavior. However, a number of GRB light curves have claims for periodicity of varying degrees of plausibility. A vital part of each claim is some mathematical calculation of the significance of the period when compared to some appropriate hypothesis where no modulation is present. For the period search techniques of Fourier transforms, periodograms, and model fitting, well known statistical procedures allow the significance to be evaluated. However, a fourth period search technique, so called 'pattern recognition', does not have any published means of estimating confidence levels. Here, a series of Monte Carlo calculations is presented which will allow evaluation of a period's significance. These results are then applied to periods proposed for 16 bursts.

Schaefer, B. E.↗

Coherent optical correlator using a deformable mirror device spatial light modulator in the Fourier plane

Attention is given to experimental results for a binary phase-only filter implementation's correlation operations, using the deformable mirror device (DMD) spatial light modulator as the Fourier plane filter. These results demonstrate the basic capabilities of the DMD in an image correlator system which, in combination with the potential 8-kHz frame rate for 128 x 128 DMDs, can constitute a very high speed pattern recognition system. The DMD has the further capability of operating in the analog mode.

Florence, James M.↗

Correlation Functions Aid Analyses Of Spectra

New uses found for correlation functions in analyses of spectra. In approach combining elements of both pattern-recognition and traditional spectral-analysis techniques, spectral lines identified in data appear useless at first glance because they are dominated by noise. New approach particularly useful in measurement of concentrations of rare species of molecules in atmosphere.

Beer, Reinhard↗

Mars Rover Sample Return: A sample collection and analysis strategy for exobiology

For reasons defined elsewhere it is reasonable to search for biological signatures, both chemical and morphological, of extinct life on Mars. Life on Earth requries the presence of liquid water, therefore, it is important to explore sites on Mars where standing bodies of water may have once existed. Outcrops of layered deposits within the Valles Marineris appear to be ancient lake beds. Because the outcrops are well exposed, relatively shallow core samples would be very informative. The most important biological signature to detect would be organics, microfossils, or larger stromato-like structures, although the presence of cherts, carbonates, clays, and shales would be significant. In spite of the limitations of current robotics and pattern recognition, and the limitations of rover power, computation, Earth communication bandwidth, and time delays, a partial scenario was developed to implement such a scientific investigation. The rover instrumentation and the procedures and decisions and IR spectrometer are described in detail. Preliminary results from a collaborative effort are described, which indicate the rover will be able to autonomously detect stratification, and hence will ease the interpretation burden and lead to greater scientific productivity during the rover's lifetime.

Sims, M. H.↗

A survey of visual preprocessing and shape representation techniques

Many recent theories and methods proposed for visual preprocessing and shape representation are summarized. The survey brings together research from the fields of biology, psychology, computer science, electrical engineering, and most recently, neural networks. It was motivated by the need to preprocess images for a sparse distributed memory (SDM), but the techniques presented may also prove useful for applying other associative memories to visual pattern recognition. The material of this survey is divided into three sections: an overview of biological visual processing; methods of preprocessing (extracting parts of shape, texture, motion, and depth); and shape representation and recognition (form invariance, primitives and structural descriptions, and theories of attention).

Olshausen, Bruno A.↗

Data processing assessment for the Lunar Geoscience Observer imaging spectrometer

On the Lunar Geoscience Observer project, a Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer instrument has been proposed. This instrument will have science data input rates in the hundreds of kilobits per second (kbps) and an average telemetry output data rate of 4 kbps. Techniques that can be used to reduce the throughput of the instrument are editing, summing and averaging, data compression, data preprocessing, pattern recognition and snapshot data taking. Due to instrument limitations in the buffer memory size and processing speeds, a careful selection of the available techniques must be made.

Irigoyen, R. E.↗

Applicability of mathematical modeling to problems of environmental physiology

The paper traces the evolution of mathematical modeling and systems analysis from terrestrial research to research related to space biomedicine and back again to terrestrial research. Topics covered include: power spectral analysis of physiological signals; pattern recognition models for detection of disease processes; and, computer-aided diagnosis programs used in conjunction with a special on-line biomedical computer library.

White, Ronald J.↗

Terrestrial implications of mathematical modeling developed for space biomedical research

This paper summarizes several related research projects supported by NASA which seek to apply computer models to space medicine and physiology. These efforts span a wide range of activities, including mathematical models used for computer simulations of physiological control systems; power spectral analysis of physiological signals; pattern recognition models for detection of disease processes; and computer-aided diagnosis programs.

Lujan, Barbara F.↗

Autonomous star identification for spacecraft attitude control

Research is being conducted to enhance the Advanced Star and Target Reference Optical Scanner (ASTROS I) so that it will be able to automatically track a star and recognize the star's pointing position. Previously developed field identification algorithms, coded on a flight-scale computer, are linked to a breadboard ASTROS star tracker to calculate pointing vectors in real time. A simple graph-searching algorithm was used in an initial study to find stellar positions based on pattern recognition. Results from this study and plans for further development are presented.

Rappaport, Barry↗

Neural computing for numeric-to-symbolic conversion in control systems

A type of neural network, the multilayer perceptron, is used to classify numeric data and assign appropriate symbols to various classes. This numeric-to-symbolic conversion results in a type of information extraction, which is similar to what is called data reduction in pattern recognition. The use of the neural network as a numeric-to-symbolic converter is introduced, its application in autonomous control is discussed, and several applications are studied. The perceptron is used as a numeric-to-symbolic converter for a discrete-event system controller supervising a continuous variable dynamic system. It is also shown how the perceptron can implement fault trees, which provide useful information (alarms) in a biological system and information for failure diagnosis and control purposes in an aircraft example.

Passino, Kevin M.↗

Function minimization with partially correct data via simulated annealing

The simulated annealing technique has been applied successfully to the problem of estimating the coefficients of a function in cases where only a portion of the data being fitted to the function is truly representative of the function, the rest being erroneous. Two examples are given, one in photometric function fitting and the other in pattern recognition. A schematic of the algorithm is provided.

Lorre, Jean J.↗

Optical linear discriminant functions

The use of computer generated holograms to implement feature extraction operations has been achieved. The optical realization and use of multiple linear discriminant functions on a high-dimensionality feature space for large class pattern recognition is described and initial experimental results are provided.

Casasent, David↗

Satellite bioclimatology

Satellite-acquired, remotely sensed observations of the earth's land areas are substantially advancing knowledge of global vegetation patterns. Recognition that combined visible/near infrared spectral reflectance observations are a general indicator of the presence, condition and magnitude of vegetation foliage provides a basis for explanation. This information is of considerable value in climatic research because of the links between climate variables and vegetation foliage. Presence of vegetation foliage is predominantly determinated by a combination of local heat and moisture conditions. In turn, foliar presence determines local rates of photosynthesis, affects surface albedo, and influences local rates of evapotranspiration as well as other elements of surface energy/mass balance. Availability of these remotely sensed data provides, for the first time, a consistent, global means to directly study interactions between climate and vegetation. This understanding is now being incorporated in climatological research and should improve understanding of macroscale bioclimatology. Remote sensing technology and understanding of this technology are continuing to develop rapidly and further major advances in this new field of'satellite bioclimatology' can be expected in the near future.

Goward, Samuel N.↗

Image-based terrain modeling with thematic mapper applied to resolving the limit of Holocene Lake expansion in the Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah, part 1

The LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) scanner records reflected solar energy from the earth's surface in six wavelength regions, or bands, and one band that records emitted energy in the thermal region, giving a total of seven bands. Useful research was extracted about terrain morphometry from remote sensing measurements and this information is used in an image-based terrain model for selected coastal geomorphic features in the Great Salt Lake Desert (GSLD). Technical developments include the incorporation of Aerial Profiling of Terrain System (APTS) data in satellite image analysis, and the production and use of 3-D surface plots of TM reflectance data. Also included in the technical developments is the analysis of the ground control point spatial distribution and its affects on geometric correction, and the terrain mapping procedure; using satellite data in a way that eliminates the need to degrade the data by resampling. The most common approach for terrain mapping with multispectral scanner data includes the techniques of pattern recognition and image classification, as opposed to direct measurement of radiance for identification of terrain features. The research approach in this investigation was based on an understanding of the characteristics of reflected light resulting from the variations in moisture and geometry related to terrain as described by the physical laws of radiative transfer. The image-based terrain model provides quantitative information about the terrain morphometry based on the physical relationship between TM data, the physical character of the GSLD, and the APTS measurements.

Merola, John A.↗

Software development for avionics SSME control and diagnostics

A study was made of software to integrate data from about 500 sensors that monitor the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) and to make decisions for real-time control. Such software is expected to be applicable to other distributed systems as well. This study investigated the use of pattern recognition and other techniques to detect trends that could lead to major damage to the SSME and which would allow an orderly shutdown of the SSME before such damage could occur.

Choudry, A.↗