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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.

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At least 91 records · Page 5

Reusable Launch Vehicle Attitude Control Using a Time-Varying Sliding Mode Control Technique

In this paper we present a time-varying sliding mode control (TVSMC) technique for reusable launch vehicle (RLV) attitude control in ascent and entry flight phases. In ascent flight the guidance commands Euler roll, pitch and yaw angles, and in entry flight it commands the aerodynamic angles of bank, attack and sideslip. The controller employs a body rate inner loop and the attitude outer loop, which are separated in time-scale by the singular perturbation principle. The novelty of the TVSMC is that both the sliding surface and the boundary layer dynamics can be varied in real time using the PD-eigenvalue assignment technique. This salient feature is used to cope with control command saturation and integrator windup in the presence of severe disturbance or control effector failure, which enhances the robustness and fault tolerance of the controller. The TV-SMC ascent and descent designs are currently being tested with high fidelity, 6-DOF dispersion simulations. The test results will be presented in the final version of this paper.

Shtessel, Yuri B.↗

Quantifying Bulk and Surface Recombination in CdTe Solar Cells Using Time-Resolved Terahertz Spectroscopy

Understanding the nature of recombination mechanisms is essential for higher power conversion efficiency in photovoltaic (PV) devices. Here we use a combination of time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy and numerical modeling to determine the bulk Shockley-Read-Hall lifetime and interface and back surface recombination velocities in CdTe thin film stacks. Furthermore, the measurement was facilitated by fabricating wire-grid device structures using conventional laser scribing. Evaluation of a glass/FTO/SnO2/CdS/CdTe stack treated with CdCl2 allowed separation of the CdTe absorber bulk lifetime, 1.6 ns, from the back surface recombination velocity, ~6x10 4 cm/s, and indicated that CdTe/CdS interface recombination velocity had no significant impact on carrier dynamics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Direct observations of shock-induced melting in a porous solid using time-resolved x-ray diffraction

Here in this work we provide direct evidence of shock-induced melting and associated kinetics in a porous solid (aluminum powder) using time-resolved x-ray diffraction. Unambiguous evidence of melting in 50% porous aluminum (Al) powder samples, shocked to peak pressures between ~13 - 19 GPa, was provided by the broadening of the Debye-Scherrer ring corresponding to the (111) peak. Shocked Al powder did not melt completely in any of our experiments within the durations of measurement. Incomplete (partial) melting of the powder, even after several hundreds of nanoseconds of shock loading, provides insights into thermal transport with Al powder particles under high-pressure dynamic loading. Such insights are quite valuable for developing well-constrained melting models and thermodynamic equations of state for porous Al and other porous solids relevant to planetary and materials science.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Precipitation Analysis at Fine Time Scales Using Multiple Satellites: Real-time and Research Products and Applications

Quasi-global precipitation analyses at fine time scales (3-hr) are described. TRMM observations (radar and passive microwave) are used to calibrate polar-orbit microwave observations from SSM/I (and other satellites instruments, including AMSR and AMSU) and geosynchronous IR observations. The individual data sets are then merged using a priority order based on quality to form the Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA). Raingauge information is used to help constrain the satellite-based estimates over land. The TRMM standard research product (Version 6 3B-42 of the TRMM products) will be available for the entire TRMM period (January 1998-present) in 2004. The real-time version of this merged product has been produced over the past two years and is available on the U.S. TRMM web site (trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov) at 0.25" latitude-longitude resolution over the latitude range from 5O"N-5O0S. Validation of daily totals indicates good results, with limitations noted in mid-latitude winter over land and regions of shallow, orographic precipitation. Various applications of these estimates are described, including: 1) detecting potential floods in near real-time; 2) analyzing Indian Ocean precipitation variations related to the initiation of El Nino; 3) determining characteristics of the African monsoon; and 4) analysis of diurnal variations.

Adler, Robert↗

Monitoring Springs in the Mojave Desert Using Landsat Time Series Analysis

The purpose of this study, based on Landsat satellite data was to characterize variations and trends over 30 consecutive years (1985-2016) in perennial vegetation green cover at over 400 confirmed Mojave Desert spring locations. These springs were surveyed between in 2015 and 2016 on lands managed in California by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and on several land trusts within the Barstow, Needles, and Ridgecrest BLM Field Offices. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from July Landsat images was computed at each spring location and a trend model was first fit to the multi-year NDVI time series using least squares linear regression.Â

Time Series↗

An aeronautical beacon system using precise time

An experimental system using precise time techniques is under construction and will be tested in 1974. It will provide accurate surveillance data to the ground based ATC sensors, high capacity data link ground-to-air and air-to-ground, navigation services and air-to-air collision avoidance and proximity warning service. The design takes into account the large disparity in electronic equipment among the various classes of users. The user of the airspace installs only that equipment required for the services he needs.

Amlie, T. S.↗

On time scales and time synchronization using LORAN-C as a time reference signal

The long term performance of the eight LORAN-C chains is presented in terms of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO); and the use of the LORAN-C navigation system for maintaining the user's clock to a UTC scale is described. The atomic time scale and the UTC of several national laboratories and observatories relative to the international atomic time are reported. Typical performance of several NASA tracking station clocks, relative to the USNO master clock, is also presented.

Chi, A. R.↗

International time transfer and portable clock evaluation using GPS timing receivers: Preliminary results

The overall experiment was designed to test the positioning and navigation capabilities of the GPS timing receivers developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for the NASA Goddard Laser Tracking Network (GITN). To perform this experiment, a reliable and redundant time scale was set up onboard the ship, and a back-up on shore. This situation provided the opportunity to perform simultaneously a timing experiment ideally divided into two parts, the main objectives of the experimentation being: (1) To test GPS timing receiver synchronization capabilities on a moving platform, and to perform an intercontinental synchronization via GPS between participating international timing laboratories in Europe and in the United States. (2) To evaluate the performance of cesium portable clocks in the field.

Wardrip, S. C.↗

Time-Shifted Boundary Conditions Used for Navier-Stokes Aeroelastic Solver

Under the Advanced Subsonic Technology (AST) Program, an aeroelastic analysis code (TURBO-AE) based on Navier-Stokes equations is currently under development at NASA Lewis Research Center s Machine Dynamics Branch. For a blade row, aeroelastic instability can occur in any of the possible interblade phase angles (IBPA s). Analyzing small IBPA s is very computationally expensive because a large number of blade passages must be simulated. To reduce the computational cost of these analyses, we used time shifted, or phase-lagged, boundary conditions in the TURBO-AE code. These conditions can be used to reduce the computational domain to a single blade passage by requiring the boundary conditions across the passage to be lagged depending on the IBPA being analyzed. The time-shifted boundary conditions currently implemented are based on the direct-store method. This method requires large amounts of data to be stored over a period of the oscillation cycle. On CRAY computers this is not a major problem because solid-state devices can be used for fast input and output to read and write the data onto a disk instead of storing it in core memory.

Srivastava, Rakesh↗

TDCOSMO. XII. Improved Hubble constant measurement from lensing time delays using spatially resolved stellar kinematics of the lens galaxy

Strong-lensing time delays enable measurement of the Hubble constant ($H_{0}$) independently of other traditional methods. The main limitation to the precision of time-delay cosmography is mass-sheet degeneracy (MSD). Some of the previous TDCOSMO analyses broke the MSD by making standard assumptions about the mass density profile of the lens galaxy, reaching 2% precision from seven lenses. However, this approach could potentially bias the $H_0$ measurement or underestimate the errors. For this work, we broke the MSD for the first time using spatially resolved kinematics of the lens galaxy in RXJ1131$-$1231 obtained from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager spectroscopy, in combination with previously published time delay and lens models derived from Hubble Space Telescope imaging. This approach allowed us to robustly estimate $H_0$, effectively implementing a maximally flexible mass model. Following a blind analysis, we estimated the angular diameter distance to the lens galaxy $D_{\rm d} = 865_{-81}^{+85}$ Mpc and the time-delay distance $D_{\Delta t} = 2180_{-271}^{+472}$ Mpc, giving $H_0 = 77.1_{-7.1}^{+7.3}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ - for a flat $\Lambda$ cold dark matter cosmology. The error budget accounts for all uncertainties, including the MSD inherent to the lens mass profile and the line-of-sight effects, and those related to the mass-anisotropy degeneracy and projection effects. Our new measurement is in excellent agreement with those obtained in the past using standard simply parametrized mass profiles for this single system ($H_0 = 78.3^{+3.4}_{-3.3}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$) and for seven lenses ($H_0 = 74.2_{-1.6}^{+1.6}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$), or for seven lenses using single-aperture kinematics and the same maximally flexible models used by us ($H_0 = 73.3^{+5.8}_{-5.8}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$). This agreement corroborates the methodology of time-delay cosmography.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Precipitation Analysis at Fine Time Scales using TRMM and Other Satellites: Real-time and Research Products and Applications

Quasi-global precipitation analyses at fine time scales (3-hr) are described. TRMM observations (radar and passive microwave) are used to calibrate polar-orbit microwave observations from SSM/I (and other satellites instruments, including AMSR and AMSU) and geosynchronous IR observations. The individual data sets are then merged using a priority order based on quality to form the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA). Raingauge information is used to help constrain the satellite-based estimates over land. The TRMM standard research product (Version 6 3B-42 of the TRMM products) will be available for the entire TRMM period (January 1998-present) by the end of 2004. The real-time version of this merged product has been produced over the past two years and is available on the U.S. TRMM web site (trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov) at 0.25" latitude-longitude resolution over the latitude range from 5O0N-50"S. Validation of daily totals indicates good results, with limitations noted in mid-latitude winter over land and regions of shallow, orographic precipitation. Various applications of these estimates are described, includmg: 1) detecting potential floods in near real-time; 2) analyzing Indian Ocean precipitation variations related to the initiation of El Nino; 3) determining characteristics of the African monsoon; and 4) analysis of diurnal variations.

Adler, Robert↗

Time transfer using geostationary satellites: Implementation of a Kalman filter

Since 1988, various experiments have shown that the TV signals transmitted by direct TV satellites may easily be used to perform time transfers at the level of a few tens of nanoseconds, the main source of error being the uncertainty on the satellite position. We first present the two methods used in our experiment to reduce the effects of the satellite residual motion: the first one consists in estimating the longitude variations of the satellite and then using this information to improve other measurements. This allows reducing the uncertainty to values between 9 and 50 nanoseconds according to the position of the involved stations. In the second method we determine the satellite position by using the data collected by three calibrated stations. Time transfer between each of these stations and a fourth one has been shown to be achievable at the precision level of ten nanoseconds. A new approach based on the use of a Kalman filter is proposed in order to take into account the dynamics of the geostationary satellite. The precisions on orbital elements and clock differences and rates determination given by the first simulated applications of the Kalman filter are presented and compared to those obtained by the other methods.

Meyer, F.↗

Using onset times from frequent geophysical surveys to understand reservoir fluid flow and to estimate flow properties

Seismic characterization of flow properties is a difficult prospect, due to the indirect relationship between permeability and seismic velocity and attenuation. At best, seismic time-lapse changes can detect the effects of saturation and pressure changes in a reservoir due to fluid flow. Even in this case, the interpretation of the seismic observation in terms of the state of the reservoir depends intimately on the properties of the rock physics model, which are usually poorly known. The onset time, the calendar time of geophysical changes, provides an alternative datum for characterizing properties such as reservoir permeability. The main advantage of an onset time is that it is sensitive to the flow properties of the reservoir yet insensitive to the details of the rock physics model. Two examples of the utility of onset times are discussed: The use of travel time shifts induced by the injection of carbon dioxide between two wells, and the time-lapse time shifts for elastic waves propagating through a reservoir undergoing enhanced oil recovery. In both examples, the onset times are mapped into permeability estimates using a trajectory-based approach akin to seismic tomography.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Constitutive modeling of cyclic plasticity and creep, using an internal time concept

Using the concept of an internal time as related to plastic strains, a differential stress-strain relation for elastoplasticity is rederived, such that (1) the concept of a yield-surface is retained; (2) the definitions of elastic and plastic processes are analogous to those in classical plasticity theory; and (3) its computational implementation, via a 'tangent-stiffness' finite element method and a 'generalized-midpoint-radial-return' stress-integration algorithm, is simple and efficient. Also, using the concept of an internal time, as related to both the inelastic strains as well as the Newtonian time, a constitutive model for creep-plasticity interaction, is discussed. The problem of modeling experimental data for plasticity and creep, by the present analytical relations, as accurately as desired, is discussed. Numerical examples which illustrate the validity of the present relations are presented for the cases of cyclic plasticity and creep.

Watanabe, O.↗

Time transfer using NAVSTAR GPS

A time transfer unit (TTU) developed for the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) has consistently demonstrated the transfer of time with accuracies much better than 100 nanoseconds. A new time transfer system (TTS), the TTS 502 was developed. The TTS 502 is a relatively compact microprocessor-based system with a variety of options that meet each individual's requirements, and has the same performance as the USNO system. The time transfer performance of that USNO system and the details of the new system are presented.

Vandierendock, A. J.↗