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NASA NTRS2012

Energy-Based Tetrahedron Sensor for High-Temperature, High-Pressure Environments

An acoustic energy-based probe has been developed that incorporates multiple acoustic sensing elements in order to obtain the acoustic pressure and three-dimensional acoustic particle velocity. With these quantities, the user can obtain various energy-based quantities, including acoustic energy density, acoustic intensity, and acoustic impedance. In this specific development, the probe has been designed to operate in an environment characterized by high temperatures and high pressures as is found in the close vicinity of rocket plumes. Given these capabilities, the probe is designed to be used to investigate the acoustic conditions within the plume of a rocket engine or jet engine to facilitate greater understanding of the noise generation mechanisms in those plumes. The probe features sensors mounted inside a solid sphere. The associated electronics for the probe are contained within the sphere and the associated handle for the probe. More importantly, the design of the probe has desirable properties that reduce the bias errors associated with determining the acoustic pressure and velocity using finite sum and difference techniques. The diameter of the probe dictates the lower and upper operating frequencies for the probe, where accurate measurements can be acquired. The current probe design implements a sphere diameter of 1 in. (2.5 cm), which limits the upper operating frequency to about 4.5 kHz. The sensors are operational up to much higher frequencies, and could be used to acquire pressure data at higher frequencies, but the energy-based measurements are limited to that upper frequency. Larger or smaller spherical probes could be designed to go to lower or higher frequency range

Gee, Kent L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spectral Analysis of Integrated Pressures on Patches with Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint Measurements

This paper describes the spectral analysis of integrated pressures on patches of the scale model of the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B crew vehicle with the Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) measurements, which were collected in the ascent transient aerodynamics tests with the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel 11-by-11-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel in September 2019 at NASA Ames Research Center. Recent research has demonstrated that uPSP can be an essential tool for the assessment of the unsteady, aerodynamic phenomena. The work described in this paper is a part of NASA’s development of a new state-of-the-art uPSP capability in production wind tunnels. In this paper, 108 patches are defined with x station values and azimuth angles of the scale model. For each patch, the polygons are determined from the surface cells of the grid of the model, clipped with the edges of the patch, and each of the polygons is divided into triangles. The inputs of the pressure integration algorithm are the time series of pressure coefficients on the vertices of the grid of the model, generated by the uPSP data processing program from the videos taken with 4 Phantom high-speed cameras during the wind tunnel tests. The integrated pressure of the patch is determined as the ratio of the sum of the forces on the triangles over the sum of the areas of the triangles. For each of the test cases, the Cross Power Spectral Density (CPSD) and Magnitude-Squared Coherence (msCohere) are computed for frequencies over 1/3 octave bands from the time series of the integrated pressures on the patches. The spectral analysis outputs of different cases of the wind tunnel tests are analyzed and the coherence of patches is investigated over frequencies, x station values, azimuth angles, Mach numbers and SLS vehicle attitudes. The pressure integration and spectral analysis described in this paper were executed on the NASA Pleiades supercomputer. Funding for this research was provided by the NASA Aeroscience Evaluation and Test Capabilities (AETC) Project.

Pressure-Sensitive Paint↗
NASA NTRS1980

Frequency translating phase conjugation circuit for active retrodirective antenna array

An active retrodirective antenna array which has central phasing from a reference antenna element through a "tree" structured network of transmission lines utilizes a number of phase conjugate circuits (PCCs) at each node and a phase reference regeneration circuit (PRR) at each node except the initial node. Each node virtually coincides with an element of the array. A PCC generates the exact conjugate phase of an incident signal using a phase locked loop which combines the phases in an up converter, divides the sum by 2 and mixes the result with the phase in a down converter for phase detection. The PRR extracts the phase from the conjugate phase. Both the PCC and the PRR are not only exact but also free from mixer degeneracy.

Chernoff, R.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Aeroacoustic Analysis of Turbofan Noise Generation

This report provides an updated version of analytical documentation for the V072 Rotor Wake/Stator Interaction Code. It presents the theoretical derivation of the equations used in the code and, where necessary, it documents the enhancements and changes made to the original code since its first release. V072 is a package of FORTRAN computer programs which calculate the in-duct acoustic modes excited by a fan/stator stage operating in a subsonic mean flow. Sound is generated by the stator vanes interacting with the mean wakes of the rotor blades. In this updated version, only the tonal noise produced at the blade passing frequency and its harmonics, is described. The broadband noise component analysis, which was part of the original report, is not included here. The code provides outputs of modal pressure and power amplitudes generated by the rotor-wake/stator interaction. The rotor/stator stage is modeled as an ensemble of blades and vanes of zero camber and thickness enclosed within an infinite hard-walled annular duct. The amplitude of each propagating mode is computed and summed to obtain the harmonics of sound power flux within the duct for both upstream and downstream propagating modes.

Meyer, Harold D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Rotordynamic forces in labyrinth seals: Theory and experiment

A theoretical and experimental investigation of the aerodynamic forces generated by a single gland labyrinth seal executing a simultaneous spinning/whirling motion has been conducted. A lumped parameter model for a single gland seal with coupling to an upstream cavity with leakage is developed along with an appropriate solution technique. From this theory, it is shown that the presence of the upstream cavity can, in some cases, augment the cross-stiffness and direct damping by a factor of four. The parameters that govern the coupling are presented along with predictions on their influence. A simple uncoupled model is used to identify the mechanisms responsible for cross force generation. This reduced system is nondimensionalized and the physical significance of the reduced parameters is discussed. Closed form algebraic formulas are given for some simple limiting cases. It is also shown that the total cross-force predicted by the uncoupled model can be represented as the sum of an ideal component due to an inviscid flow with entry swirl and a viscous part due to the change in swirl created by friction inside the gland. The frequency dependent ideal part is solely responsible for the rotordynamic direct damping. The facility designed and built to measure these frequency dependent forces is described. Experimental data confirm the validity and usefulness of this ideal/viscous decomposition. A method for calculating the damping coefficients based on the force decomposition using only the static measurements is presented. Experimental results supporting the predicted cross force augmentation due to the effect of upstream coupling are presented.

Millsaps, Knox T.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX

Gas accreting ont,o black holes and neutron stars form a dynamic system generating X-rays with spectroscopic signatures and varying on time scales determined by the system. The radiation from various parts of these systems is surely polarized and compact sources have been calculated to give rise to net polarization from the unresolved sum of the radiation from the systems. Polarization has been looked to for some time as also bearing the imprint of strong gravity and providing complementary information that could resolve ambiguities between the physical models that can give rise to frequencies, time delays, and spectra. In the cases of both stellar black holes and supermassive black holes the net polarizations predicted for probable disk and corona models are less than 10 needed. This sensitivity can be achieved, even for sources as faint as 1 milliCrab, in the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS) mission that uses foil mirrors and Time Projection Chamber detectors. Similarities have been pointed out between the timing and the spectral characteristics of low mass X-ray binaries and stellar black hole sources. Polarization measurements for these sources could play a role in determining the configuration of the disk and the neutron star.

Swank, Jean↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Effect of Pulse Length and Ejector Radius on Unsteady Ejector Performance

The thrust augmentation of a set of ejectors driven by a shrouded Hartmann-Sprenger tube has been measured at four different frequencies. Each frequency corresponded to a different length to diameter ratio of the pulse of air leaving the driver shroud. Two of the frequencies had length to diameter ratios below the formation number, and two above. The formation number is the value of length to diameter ratio below which the pulse converts to a vortex ring only, and above which the pulse becomes a vortex ring plus a trailing jet. A three level, three parameter Box-Behnken statistical design of experiment scheme was performed at each frequency, measuring the thrust augmentation generated by the appropriate ejectors from the set. The three parameters were ejector length, radius, and inlet radius. The results showed that there is an optimum ejector radius and length at each frequency. Using a polynomial fit to the data, the results were interpolated to different ejector radii and pulse length to diameter ratios. This showed that a peak in thrust augmentation occurs when the pulse length to diameter ratio equals the formation number, and that the optimum ejector radius is 0.87 times the sum of the vortex ring radius and the core radius.

Wilson, Jack↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Where Lies the Quantumness Behind Detecting Electromagnetic Waves for Frequencies from Infrared and Up?

The synthesis of Newtonian concept of corpuscles during emission with Huygens’ concept of secondary-wavelets during propagation implies that all EM radiations from quantized atoms and molecules are released as discrete amount of energies. However, they propagate out as time-finite Maxwellian light pulses. Huygens also underscored that his secondary wavelets keep propagating as independent pulses in the absence of any interacting medium, or until intercepted by an interface with a medium or a detector. Then we use the Superposition Principle and the coherence theory to derive Einstein’s photoelectric equation by summing innumerable random time-finite pulses. This process driven approach should yield the characteristic statistical variations of photoelectron current pulses, as generated by photodetectors for different kinds of light sources. Lamb & Scully originally proposed this semiclassical approach without assuming that light actually consists of time finite pulses. The quantumness remains confined within the excitation and de-excitations processes in the material particles.

Electromagnetic Waves↗
NASA NTRS1973

Digital second-order phase-locked loop

A digital second-order phase-locked loop is disclosed in which a counter driven by a stable clock pulse source is used to generate a reference waveform of the same frequency as an incoming waveform, and to sample the incoming waveform at zero-crossover points. The samples are converted to digital form and accumulated over M cycles, reversing the sign of every second sample. After every M cycles, the accumulated value of samples is hard limited to a value SGN = + or - 1 and multiplied by a value delta sub 1 equal to a number of n sub 1 of fractions of a cycle. An error signal is used to advance or retard the counter according to the sign of the sum by an amount equal to the sum.

Holes, J. K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Efficient use of bit planes in the generation of motion stimuli

The production of animated motion sequences on computer-controlled display systems presents a technical problem because large images cannot be transferred from disk storage to image memory at conventional frame rates. A technique is described in which a single base image can be used to generate a broad class of motion stimuli without the need for such memory transfers. This technique was applied to the generation of drifting sine-wave gratings (and by extension, sine wave plaids). For each drifting grating, sine and cosine spatial phase components are first reduced to 1 bit/pixel using a digital halftoning technique. The resulting pairs of 1-bit images are then loaded into pairs of bit planes of the display memory. To animate the patterns, the display hardware's color lookup table is modified on a frame-by-frame basis; for each frame the lookup table is set to display a weighted sum of the spatial sine and cosine phase components. Because the contrasts and temporal frequencies of the various components are mutually independent in each frame, the sine and cosine components can be counterphase modulated in temporal quadrature, yielding a single drifting grating. Using additional bit planes, multiple drifting gratings can be combined to form sine-wave plaid patterns. A large number of resultant plaid motions can be produced from a single image file because the temporal frequencies of all the components can be varied independently. For a graphics device having 8 bits/pixel, up to four drifting gratings may be combined, each having independently variable contrast and speed.

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Vestibular and Non-vestibular Contributions to Eye Movements that Compensate for Head Rotations during Viewing of Near Targets

We studied horizontal eye movements induced by en-bloc yaw rotation, over a frequency range 0.2 - 2.8 Hz, in 10 normal human subjects as th ey monocularly viewed a target located at their near point of focus. We measured gain and phase relationships between eye-in-head velocity and head velocity when the near target was either earth-fixed or head-fixed. During viewing of the earth-fixed near target,median gain was 1.49 (range 1.24 - 1.87) at 0.2 Hz for the group of subjects, but decl ined at higher frequencies, so that at 2.8 Hz median gain was 1.08 (r ange 0.68 - 1.67). During viewing of the head-fixed near target, median gain was 0.03 (range 0.01 - 0.10) at 0.2 Hz for the group of subjec ts, but increased at higher frequencies, so that at 2.8 Hz median gai n was 0.71 (range 0.28 - 0.94). We estimated the vestibular contribution to these responses (vestibulo-ocular reflex gain, Gvor) by applyin g transient head perturbations (peak acceleration> 1,000 deg's(exp 2) ) during sinusoidal rotation under the two viewing conditions. Median Gvor, estimated < 70m after the onset of head perturbation, was 0.98 (range 0.39 - 1.42) while viewing the earth-fixed near target, and 0. 97 (range 0.37 - 1.33) while viewing the head-fixed near target. For the group of subjects, 9 out of 10 subjects showed no sigificant diff erence of Gvor between the two viewing conditions ( p > 0.053 ) at all test frequencies. Since Gvor accounted for only approximately 73% of the overall response gain during viewing of the earth-fixed target, we investigated the relative contributions of non-vestibular factors. When subjects viewed the earth-fixed target under strobe illumination , to eliminate retinal image slip information, the gain of compensato ry eye movements declined compared with viewing in ambient room light . During sum-of-sine head rotations, while viewing the earth-fixed target, to minimize contributions from predictive mechanisms, gain also declined Nonetheless, simple superposition of smooth-pursuit tracking of sinusoidal target motion could not fully account for the overall r esponse at higher frequencies, suggesting other non-vestibular contributions. During binocular viewing conditions when vergence angle was s ignificantly greater than monocular viewing (p < 0.001), this gain of compensatory eye movements did not show proportional change; indeed, gain could not be correlated with vergence angle during monocular or binocular viewing. We conclude that several separate factors contribute to generate eye rotations during sinusoidal yaw head rotations whi le viewing a near target; these include the VOR, visual-tracking eye movements that utilize retinal image motion, predictive eye movements and, possibly, other unidentified nonvestibular factors. For these experiments, vergence was not an important determinant of response gain .

Han, Yanning H.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Vestibular and Non-vestibular Contributions to Eye Movements that Compensate for Head Rotations during Viewing of Near Targets

We studied horizontal eye movements induced by en-bloc yaw rotation, over a frequency range 0.2 - 2.8 Hz, in 10 normal human subjects as they monocularly viewed a target located at their near point of focus. We measured gain and phase relationships between eye-in-head velocity and head velocity when the near target was either earth-fixed or head-fixed. During viewing of the earth-fixed near target, median gain was 1.49 (range 1.24 - 1.87) at 0.2 Hz for the group of subjects, but declined at higher frequencies, so that at 2.8 Hz median gain was 1.08 (range 0.68 - 1.67). During viewing of the head-fixed near target , median gain was 0.03 (range 0.01 - 0.10) at 0.2 Hz for the group of subjects, but increased at higher frequencies, so that at 2.8 Hz median gain was 0.71 (range 0.28 - 0.94). We estimated the vestibular contribution to these responses vestibulo-ocular reflex gain (Gvor) by applying transient head perturbations (peak acceleration> 1,000 deg/s(exp 2)) during sinusoidal rotation under the two viewing conditions. Median Gvor, estimated < 70ms after the onset of head perturbation, was 0.98 (range 0.39 - 1.42) while viewing the earth-fixed near target, and 0.97 (range 0.37 - 1.33) while viewing the head-fixed near target. For the group of subjects, 9 out of 10 subjects showed no significant difference of Gvor between the two viewing conditions ( p > 0.053 ) at all test frequencies. Since Gvor accounted for only -73% of the overall response gain during viewing of the earth-fixed target, we investigated the relative contributions of non-vestibular factors. When subjects viewed the earth-fixed target under strobe illumination, to eliminate retinal image slip information, the gain of compensatory eye movements declined compared with viewing in ambient room light. During sum-of-sine head rotations, while viewing the earth-fixed target, to Han et al./VOR during near-viewing minimize contributions from predictive mechanisms, gain also declined Nonetheless, simple superposition of smooth-pursuit tracking of sinusoidal target motion could not fully account for the overall response at higher frequencies, suggesting other nonvestibular contributions. During binocular viewing conditions when vergence angle was significantly greater than monocular viewing (p < 0.00l), the gain of compensatory eye movements did not show proportional change; indeed, gain could not be correlated with vergence angle during monocular or binocular viewing. We conclude that several separate factors contribute to generate eye rotations during sinusoidal yaw head rotations while viewing a near target; these include the VOR, visual-tracking eye movements that utilize retinal image motion, predictive eye movements and, possibly, other unidentified non-vestibular factors. For these experiments, vergence was not an important determinant of response gam.

Han, Yanning H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Design and status of the RF-digitizer integrated circuit

An integrated circuit currently under development samples a bandpass-limited signal at a radio frequency in quadrature and then performs a simple sum-and-dump operation in order to filter and lower the rate of the samples. Downconversion to baseband is carried out by the sampling step itself through the aliasing effect of an appropriately selected subharmonic sampling frequency. Two complete RF digitizer circuits with these functions will be implemented with analog and digital elements on one GaAs substrate. An input signal, with a carrier frequency as high as 8 GHz, can be sampled at a rate as high as 600 Msamples/sec for each quadrature component. The initial version of the chip will sign-sample (1-bit) the input RF signal. The chip will contain a synthesizer to generate a sample frequency that is a selectable integer multiple of an input reference frequency. In addition to the usual advantages of compactness and reliability associated with integrated circuits, the single chip will replace several steps required by standard analog downconversion. Furthermore, when a very high initial sample rate is selected, the presampling analog filters can be given very large bandwidths, thereby greatly reducing phase and delay instabilities typically introduced by such filters, as well as phase and delay variation due to Doppler changes.

Rayhrer, B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Incorporating TRMM and Other High-Quality Estimates into the One-Degree Daily (1DD) Global Precipitation Product

The One-Degree Daily (1DD) precipitation dataset was recently developed for the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP). The IDD provides a globally-complete, observation-only estimate of precipitation on a daily 1 deg x 1 deg grid for the period 1997 through late 1999 (by the time of the conference). In the latitude band 40 N - 40 S the IDD uses the Threshold-Matched Precipitation Index (TMPI), a GPI-like IR product with the T(sub b) threshold and (single) conditional rain rate determined locally for each month by the frequency of precipitation in the GPROF SSNU product and by the precipitation amount in the GPCP satellite-gauge (SG) combination. Outside 40 N - 40 S the 1DD uses a scaled TOVS precipitation estimate that has adjustments based on the TMPI and the SG. This first-generation 1DD has been in beta test preparatory to release as an official GPCP product. In this paper we discuss further development of the 1DD framework to allow the direct incorporation of TRMM and other high-quality precipitation estimates. First, these data are generally sparse (typically from low-orbit satellites), so a fair amount of work was devoted to data boundaries. Second, these data are not the same as the original 1DD estimates, so we had to give careful consideration to the best scheme for forcing the 1DD to sum to the SG for the month. Finally, the non-sun-synchronous, low-inclination orbit occupied by TRMM creates interesting variations against the sun-synchronous, high-inclination orbits occupied by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites that carry the SSM/I. Examples will be given of each of the development issues, then comparisons will be made to daily raingauge analyses.

Huffman, George J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Buoyancy Effects on Flow Structure and Instability of Low-Density Gas Jets

A low-density gas jet injected into a high-density ambient gas is known to exhibit self-excited global oscillations accompanied by large vortical structures interacting with the flow field. The primary objective of the proposed research is to study buoyancy effects on the origin and nature of the flow instability and structure in the near-field of low-density gas jets. Quantitative rainbow schlieren deflectometry, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and Linear stability analysis were the techniques employed to scale the buoyancy effects. The formation and evolution of vortices and scalar structure of the flow field are investigated in buoyant helium jets discharged from a vertical tube into quiescent air. Oscillations at identical frequency were observed throughout the flow field. The evolving flow structure is described by helium mole percentage contours during an oscillation cycle. Instantaneous, mean, and RMS concentration profiles are presented to describe interactions of the vortex with the jet flow. Oscillations in a narrow wake region near the jet exit are shown to spread through the jet core near the downstream location of the vortex formation. The effects of jet Richardson number on characteristics of vortex and flow field are investigated and discussed. The laminar, axisymmetric, unsteady jet flow of helium injected into air was simulated using CFD. Global oscillations were observed in the flow field. The computed oscillation frequency agreed qualitatively with the experimentally measured frequency. Contours of helium concentration, vorticity and velocity provided information about the evolution and propagation of vortices in the oscillating flow field. Buoyancy effects on the instability mode were evaluated by rainbow schlieren flow visualization and concentration measurements in the near-field of self-excited helium jets undergoing gravitational change in the microgravity environment of 2.2s drop tower at NASA John H. Glenn Research Center. The jet Reynolds number was varied from 200 to 1500 and jet Richardson number was varied from 0.72 to 0.002. Power spectra plots generated from Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of angular deflection data acquired at a temporal resolution of 1000Hz reveal substantial damping of the oscillation amplitude in microgravity at low Richardson numbers (~0.002). Quantitative concentration data in the form of spatial and temporal evolutions of the instability data in Earth gravity and microgravity reveal significant variations in the jet flow structure upon removal of buoyancy forces. Radial variation of the frequency spectra and time traces of helium concentration revealed the importance of gravitational effects in the jet shear layer region. Linear temporal and spatio-temporal stability analyses of a low-density round gas jet injected into a high-density ambient gas were performed by assuming hyper-tan mean velocity and density profiles. The flow was assumed to be non parallel. Viscous and diffusive effects were ignored. The mean flow parameters were represented as the sum of the mean value and a small normal-mode fluctuation. A second order differential equation governing the pressure disturbance amplitude was derived from the basic conservation equations. The effects of the inhomogeneous shear layer and the Froude number (signifying the effects of gravity) on the temporal and spatio-temporal results were delineated. A decrease in the density ratio (ratio of the density of the jet to the density of the ambient gas) resulted in an increase in the temporal amplification rate of the disturbances. The temporal growth rate of the disturbances increased as the Froude number was reduced. The spatio-temporal analysis performed to determine the absolute instability characteristics of the jet yield positive absolute temporal growth rates at all Fr and different axial locations. As buoyancy was removed (Fr . 8), the previously existing absolute instability disappeared at all locations establhing buoyancy as the primary instability mechanism in self-excited low-density jets.

Pasumarthi, Kasyap Sriramachandra↗
NASA NTRS1989

Multibody dynamics: Modeling component flexibility with fixed, free, loaded, constraint, and residual modes

The assumed-modes method in multibody dynamics allows the elastic deformation of each component in the system to be approximated by a sum of products of spatial and temporal functions commonly known as modes and modal coordinates respectively. The choice of component modes used to model articulating and non-articulating flexible multibody systems is examined. Attention is directed toward three classical Component Mode Synthesis (CMS) methods whereby component normal modes are generated by treating the component interface (I/F) as either fixed, free, or loaded with mass and stiffness contributions from the remaining components. The fixed and free I/F normal modes are augmented by static shape functions termed constraint and residual modes respectively. A mode selection procedure is outlined whereby component modes are selected from the Craig-Bampton (fixed I/F plus constraint), MacNeal-Rubin (free I/F plus residual), or Benfield-Hruda (loaded I/F) mode sets in accordance with a modal ordering scheme derived from balance realization theory. The success of the approach is judged by comparing the actuator-to-sensor frequency response of the reduced order system with that of the full order system over the frequency range of interest. A finite element model of the Galileo spacecraft serves as an example in demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed mode selection method.

Spanos, John T.↗
NASA NTRS2016

California Reservoir Inflow Projections Using a Hybrid EMD-Matalas Method

Inflow projections provide scenarios for future water availability and are integral to operational reservoir management. They can aid water practitioners in decision-making for conservation efforts, multiyear storage retention, managing flood risk, downstream water releases, and regional growth planning. However, conventional methods are often limited in terms of their ability to incorporate non-stationarity, long run persistence, and the cross-correlation of multiple series in a region. This research aims to address these issues with a hybrid approach that integrates Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) with the Matalas multisite generation method. Multiple long-run inflows were examined for the Shasta/Trinity Reservoirs and Oroville Reservoir of California. EMD is used to decompose each inflow series into a set of independent intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) that have different timescales and frequencies. These IMFs were grouped into intradecadal (less-than- 10-year average periodicity) and interdecadal (greater-than-10-year average periodicity) series for each site. The IMF projections at each site were then combined to produce replicates of the historical data. This preserves the correlation structure of the intra- and interdecadal components of the series. The hybrid EMD-Matalas method was compared to a traditional autoregressive lag-one model. Both methods were found to retain the statistical characteristics of the historical data. However, the EMD-Matalas method retained the multiyear wet and dry periods to a greater degree. This was examined by comparing the 5-year and 10-year sums from the traditional model with the hybrid EMD-Matalas model. An advantage of the EMD-Matalas method is the ability to explicitly incorporate modes of non-stationary long-run persistence often associated with large-scale climate drivers such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) or the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). This contributes to scenario planning that may be particularly important for managing multiyear low flow periods.

inflow projections↗
NASA NTRS2006

Multichannel Phase and Power Detector

An electronic signal-processing system determines the phases of input signals arriving in multiple channels, relative to the phase of a reference signal with which the input signals are known to be coherent in both phase and frequency. The system also gives an estimate of the power levels of the input signals. A prototype of the system has four input channels that handle signals at a frequency of 9.5 MHz, but the basic principles of design and operation are extensible to other signal frequencies and greater numbers of channels. The prototype system consists mostly of three parts: An analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) board, which coherently digitizes the input signals in synchronism with the reference signal and performs some simple processing; A digital signal processor (DSP) in the form of a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board, which performs most of the phase- and power-measurement computations on the digital samples generated by the ADC board; and A carrier board, which allows a personal computer to retrieve the phase and power data. The DSP contains four independent phase-only tracking loops, each of which tracks the phase of one of the preprocessed input signals relative to that of the reference signal (see figure). The phase values computed by these loops are averaged over intervals, the length of which is chosen to obtain output from the DSP at a desired rate. In addition, a simple sum of squares is computed for each channel as an estimate of the power of the signal in that channel. The relative phases and the power level estimates computed by the DSP could be used for diverse purposes in different settings. For example, if the input signals come from different elements of a phased-array antenna, the phases could be used as indications of the direction of arrival of a received signal and/or as feedback for electronic or mechanical beam steering. The power levels could be used as feedback for automatic gain control in preprocessing of incoming signals. For another example, the system could be used to measure the phases and power levels of outputs of multiple power amplifiers to enable adjustment of the amplifiers for optimal power combining.

Li, Samuel↗