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At least 1,225 records · Page 68

Wavenumber-frequency deconvolution of aeroacoustic microphone phased array data of arbitrary coherence

Deconvolution of aeroacoustic data acquired with microphone phased arrays is a computationally-challenging task for distributed sources with arbitrary coherence. A new technique for performing such deconvolution is proposed. This technique relies on analysis of the array data in the wavenumber-frequency domain, allowing for fast convolution and reduced storage requirements when compared to traditional coherent deconvolution. A positive semidefinite constraint for the iterative deconvolution procedure is implemented and shows improved behavior in terms of quantifiable convergence metrics when compared to a standalone covariance inequality constraint. A series of simulations validates the method's ability to resolve coherence and phase angle relationships between partially-coherent sources, as well as determines convergence criteria for deconvolution analysis. Simulations for point sources near the microphone phased array show potential for handling such data in the wavenumber-frequency domain. In particular, a physics-based integration boundary calculation is described, and can successfully isolate sources and track the appropriate integration bounds with and without the presence of flow. Magnitude and phase relationships between multiple sources are successfully extracted. Limitations of the deconvolution technique are determined from the simulations, particularly in the context of a simulated acoustic field in a closed test section wind tunnel with strong boundary layer contamination. A final application to a trailing edge noise experiment conducted in an open-jet wind tunnel matches best estimates of acoustic levels from traditional calculation methods and qualitatively assesses the coherence characteristics of the trailing edge noise source.

phased array↗

ACO Dust Mitigation for Flexible Solar Arrays (DMFlex)

• Announcement of Collaborative Opportunity (ACO) with SSLMaxar • Purpose: • Evaluate blanket solar arrays with mechanical actuation for dust removal • Evaluate vibratory shaking and electrostatic methods for efficacy in simulated lunar environment • Goal is to develop dust mitigation for solar arrays • To maintain solar array operational capability over time • Avoid replacement costs • Extend mission durations

solar arrays↗

Accounting for the Influence of Decorrelation in Microphone Phased Array Deconvolution Methods

Microphone phased arrays are a common tool for use in aeroacoustic wind tunnel testing. The analysis of acquired array data is known to suffer from decorrelation effects, where the coherence of an acoustic wave measured by a pair of microphones is degraded as the wave passes through a turbulent free shear layer or boundary layer. This paper describes, in detail, how to mitigate the influence of decorrelation effects when processing array data with deconvolution methods. This is done using the DAMAS algorithm as an example, applied to recent airframe noise test data acquired in the NASA Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. Two ways of handling the turbulent propagation modeling, both assuming plane wave propagation, are described. Results show that while turbulence model fit parameters may differ, both methods output extremely similar deconvolution results. Further improvements likely require more accurate mean shear layer data prior to developing more involved turbulence models.

microphone array↗

Flat-Panel Wideband Dual-Circularly Polarized 8X8 Phased Array Antenna for SATCOM Applications

A wideband, dual-circularly polarized (CP) 8×8 phased array is designed for operation at K-/Ka-band, which exhibits wide impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidths that encompass both of the desired satellite communication (SATCOM) bands of 22.55–23.55 GHz and 25.5–27.5 GHz. The array has a scan range of ±50° and ±36° at 23.05 GHz and 26.5 GHz, which are the center frequencies of the two aforementioned bands. The array has been integrated with a beamforming network utilizing 5G silicon RFICs, and the measurement results will be presented during the conference.

phased array antenna↗

A Prototype Quasi-Optical SIS Array Receiver

We report measurements on a prototype SIS array receiver consisting of a ten-element dipole antenna array with half square micron niobium SIS junctions.

SIS array antenna array mixer array SIS receiver w↗

Synergy of Ion Doping and Spiral Array Architecture on Ti 2 Nb 10 O 29 : A New Way to Achieve High-Power Electrodes

Ameliorating electronic/ionic transport and structural stability of electrode materials is important to the development of power-intensive lithium ion batteries. Despite its great potential as a high-power anode, titanium niobium oxide (Ti 2 Nb 10 O 29 , TNO) still underperforms due to its unsatisfactory electronic/ionic conductivity. In this work, a powerful synergistic strategy by combining ion doping and spiral array architecture to boost high-rate performance of TNO is reported. Cr 3+ doped TNO nanoparticles (Cr-TNO) of 5-10 nm intimately grow on a conductive vertical graphene@TiC-C (VGTC) skeleton, forming novel Cr-TNO@VGTC spiral arrays. The unique spiral growth of TNO is achieved due to the confinement effect of VGTC skeleton. Meanwhile, a more open TNO crystal structure with faster ion transfer paths and enhanced structural stability is realized by Cr 3+ doping, demonstrated via density functional theory calculation and in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction technique. Benefiting from the superior conductive network, enhanced intrinsic electronic/ionic conductivity of Cr-TNO and reinforced structural stability, the Cr-TNO@VTC arrays show prominent high-power performance with a large capacity of 220 mAh g -1 at 40 C (power density of ≈11 kW kg -1 ) and superior durability (91% retention after 500 cycles). This work provides a new path for the construction of widespread high-power electrodes for fast energy storage.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Geometry-Dependent Nonequilibrium Steady-State Diffusion and Adsorption of Lipid Vesicles in Micropillar Arrays

Micro-and nanofabricated sample environments are useful tools for characterizing diffusion in confined aqueous environments. The steady-state diffusion and adsorption of unilamellar lipid vesicles in arrays of hydrophilic micropillars is investigated. Gradients in the coverage of fluorescently labeled, pillar-supported lipid films, formed from vesicle fusion, are determined from 3D z-stack images using confocal microscopy. The gradients are the result of preferential adsorption of vesicles near the tops of the pillars, which progressively deplete them from solution as they diffuse toward the base of the array. However, the increased propensity for vesicle adsorption near the pillar tops compared to the confined spaces between pillars results in the formation of confluent supported lipid bilayers at the pillar tops that resist the adsorption of additional vesicles while leaving the pillar surfaces below available for binding. This results in a reduction in the numbers of depleted vesicles compared to what one would anticipate based on diffusive fluxes. The resulting inhomogeneous spatial profiles of lipid structures on the pillars are the result of the system being maintained in a dissipative, nonequilibrium steady state during incubation of the pillar arrays in the vesicle solution, which is ultimately quenched by rinsing away the unbound, freely diffusing vesicles.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fully‐Printed Ion Sensor Arrays for Measuring Agricultural Nitrogen and Potassium Concentrations Using Nernstian and AI Models

Abstract The chemical composition of growing media is a key factor for plant growth, impacting agricultural yield and sustainability. However, there is a lack of affordable chemical sensors for ubiquitous nutrient ion monitoring in agricultural applications. This work investigates using fully printed ion‐sensor arrays to measure the concentrations of nitrate, ammonium, and potassium in mixed‐electrolyte media. Ion sensor arrays composed of nitrate, ammonium, and potassium ion‐selective electrodes and a printed silver‐silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) reference electrode are fabricated and characterized in aqueous solutions in a range of concentrations that encompass what is typical for agricultural growing media (0.01 m m –1 m ). The sensors are also tested in mixed‐electrolyte solutions of NaNO 3 , NH 4 Cl, and KCl of varying concentrations, and the recorded potentials are input into Nernstian and artificial neural network models to compare the prediction accuracy of the models against ground truth. The artificial neural network models demonstrated higher accuracy over the Nernstian model, and the model using only ion‐sensor inputs is 7.5% more accurate than the Nernstian model under the same conditions. By enabling more precise and efficient fertilizer application, these sensor arrays coupled to computational models can help increase crop yields, optimize resource use, and reduce environmental impact.

Goodrich, Payton [University of California Berkele↗

Exploration of Wire Array Metamaterials for the Plasma Axion Haloscope

A plasma haloscope has recently been proposed as a feasible approach to extend the search for dark matter axions above 10 GHz (≈40 μeV), whereby the microwave cavity in a conventional axion haloscope is supplanted by a wire array metamaterial. Since the plasma frequency of a metamaterial is determined by its unit cell, and is thus a bulk property, a metamaterial resonator of any frequency can be made arbitrarily large, in contrast to a microwave cavity which incurs a steep penalty in volume with increasing frequency. To assess the actual potential of this concept as a practical dark matter haloscope, the basic properties of wire array metamaterials have been investigated through an extensive series of S 21 measurements in the 10 GHz range. This report presents some new systematics of wire array metamaterials themselves including the approach to full plasmonic behavior, the applicability of the semianalytic theory of Belov, and estimates of the loss term which bode favorably for the plasmonic haloscope application. This present work constitutes the first precision test of the semianalytic theory of Belov et al., for which the predicted plasma frequency agrees with the experimental value at the 0.1% level.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Cosmic Axion Background detection using resonant cavity arrays

The axion is a well-motivated and generic extension of the Standard Model. If produced in the early universe, axions may still be relativistic today, forming a Cosmic Axion Background (CaB) potentially detectable in direct detection experiments. Although CaB is expected to be broadband, which makes it challenging to be detected, a high-quality-factor microwave cavity acts as a narrowband filter with response peaked at its resonant frequency. We propose a new strategy using multi-cavity arrays to distinguish signal from background noise by exploiting spatial correlations of the axion-induced electric field which are set by the cavity quality factor. We compute the two-point correlation function for electric fields in spatially separated cavities sourced by an isotropic CaB. Analyzing various cavity geometries, we find that stacked, wide-base cavity arrays offer coherent enhancement of the axion signal. We apply our formalism to prospective upgrades of the ADMX experiment, including configurations with four and eighteen coupled cavities. Although these arrays do not achieve a coherent enhancement, optimizing the geometry could potentially yield an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ improvement in the sensitivity to the CaB.

Axions and ALPs↗

Hierarchical Phased-Array Antennas Coupled to Al KIDs: A Scalable Architecture for Multi-band Millimeter/Submillimeter Focal Planes

We present the optical characterization of two-scale hierarchical phased-array antenna kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) for millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths. Our KIDs have a lumped-element architecture with parallel plate capacitors and aluminum inductors. The incoming light is received with a hierarchical phased array of slot dipole antennas, split into 4 frequency bands (between 125 GHz and 365 GHz) with on-chip lumped-element band-pass filters, and routed to different KIDs using microstriplines. Individual pixels detect light for the 3 higher-frequency bands (190–365 GHz), and the signals from four individual pixels are coherently summed to create a larger pixel detecting light for the lowest frequency band (125–175 GHz). The spectral response of the band-pass filters was measured using Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS), the far-field beam pattern of the phased-array antennas was obtained using an infrared source mounted on a 2-axis translating stage, and the optical efficiency of the KIDs was characterized by observing loads at 294 K and 77 K. We report on the results of these three measurements.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Structured illumination of a sub-wavelength hollow-waveguide array

A hollow-waveguide array with sub-wavelength dimensions was suggested earlier as a space-variant polarization converter. For optimum light transmission through the array, periodic structured illumination is generated by using a dielectric grating with the same period. In this paper various numerical simulations are performed. The transmission depends on numerous parameters. Particularly, it is shown how the grating can be optimized and how longitudinal and lateral displacements influence the results. For the considered configuration it is found that the transmission can be increased by factors up to 1.46 (TE) and 1.35 (TM) compared to a uniform illumination of the hollow waveguide array.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Unsupervised Azimuth Estimation of Solar Arrays in Low-Resolution Satellite Imagery through Semantic Segmentation and Hough Transform

This paper explains the use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to segment solar panels in a satellite image containing solar arrays, and extract associated metadata from the arrays. A novel unsupervised technique is introduced to estimate the azimuth of each individual solar panel from the predicted mask of the convolutional neural network. This pipeline was developed with the aim of extracting necessary metadata for a solar installation, using only a set of latitude–longitude coordinates. Azimuth prediction results for 669 individual solar installations associated with 387 sites located across the United States are provided. A mean average error and median average error of 21.65 degrees and 1.0 degrees were obtained, respectively, when predicting the azimuth of the solar fleet data set, with about 80% of the results within an error of zero degrees of the ground truth azimuth value and about 85% within an error of 25 degrees. The predicted azimuth was then used to estimate the energy conversion of the solar arrays. Results show a 90.9 and 90.6 R-squared value for estimating alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) energy, respectively, and a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 1.70% in estimating the alternating current (AC) energy using the fully automated algorithm.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

What you get is not always what you see—pitfalls in solar array assessment using overhead imagery

Effective integration planning for small, distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays into electric power grids requires access to high quality data: the location and power capacity of individual solar PV arrays. Unfortunately, national databases of small-scale solar PV do not exist; those that do are limited in their spatial resolution, typically aggregated up to state or national levels. While several promising approaches for solar PV detection have been published, strategies for evaluating the performance of these models are often highly heterogeneous from study to study. The resulting comparison of these methods for practical applications for energy assessments becomes challenging and may imply that the reported performance evaluations overly optimistic. The heterogeneity comes in many forms, each of which we explore in this work: the degree of diversity of the locations and sensors (e.g. different satellites, aerial photography) from which the training and validation data originate, the validation of ground truth (manual annotation of imagery vs known solar PV locations), the level of spatial aggregation (e.g. array-level vs regional estimates), and inconsistencies in the training and validation datasets (e.g. different datasets are used for each study and those data are not always made accessible). For each, we discuss emerging practices from the literature to address them or suggest directions of future research. As part of our investigation, we evaluate solar PV identification performance in two large regions: the entire state of Connecticut and the city of San Diego, CA. In Connecticut, we also use 33,114 known parcel-level solar PV installations from Berkeley Lab’s Tracking the Sun dataset to evaluate parcel-level performance and evaluate capacity estimates using 169 municipalities. We also make our code (which we call SolarMapper), pre-trained models, training data, and predictions publicly available and provide a web portal for interactively inspecting each prediction that was made. Here our findings suggest that traditional performance evaluation of the automated identification of solar PV from satellite imagery may be optimistic due to common limitations in the validation process. The takeaways from this work are intended to inform and catalyze the large-scale practical application of automated solar PV assessment techniques by energy researchers and professionals.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Monte Carlo studies for the optimisation of the Cherenkov Telescope Array layout

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the major next-generation observatory for ground-based very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. It will improve the sensitivity of current ground-based instruments by a factor of five to twenty, depending on the energy, greatly improving both their angular and energy resolutions over four decades in energy (from 20 GeV to 300 TeV). This achievement will be possible by using tens of imaging Cherenkov telescopes of three successive sizes. They will be arranged into two arrays, one per hemisphere, located on the La Palma island (Spain) and in Paranal (Chile). Here, we present here the optimised and final telescope arrays for both CTA sites, as well as their foreseen performance, resulting from the analysis of three different large-scale Monte Carlo productions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Controllable synthesis of ultra-long YCexOy:Eu3+ nanowire arrays and fluorescence activation of Ce3+

Highlights: • Ultra-long YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} nanowire arrays is realized by controllable synthesis. • Ce{sup 3+} ion dominates the fluorescence activation in YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} nanowire arrays. • Fluorescence emission in red light area is useful in medical image or cell labeling. - Abstract: Ultra-long YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} nanowire arrays(NWAs) have been synthesized in anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates by chemical co-deposition at negative pressure suction, which are amorphous, and possess precise dimension and homogeneous morphologies. The SEM, TEM, XRD and EDS were employed to investigate the morphology, structure and elemental composition of YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} NWAs. The fluorescence properties of the YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} NWAs were measured by fluorescence spectrometer (PerkinElmer LS-55) using Xenon discharge lamp as the excitation light source. There are two emission peaks at 615 nm and 702 nm with excitation wavelength of 394 nm, which corresponds to the {sup 5}D{sub 0}-{sup 2}F{sub 2} and {sup 5}D{sub 0}-{sup 7}F{sub 4} energy level transition of Eu{sup 3+}, respectively. The fluorescence intensity of YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} NWAs is related to the doping concentration of Eu{sup 3+} ion, which reaches a maximum with doping concentration of Eu{sup 3+} at 8%, and remarkably decreases at higher concentrations. Ce{sup 3+} ion dominates the fluorescence activation in YCe{sub x}O{sub y}:Eu{sup 3+} NWAs.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Fabrication of CdSe nanoparticles sensitized TiO2 nanotube arrays via pulse electrodeposition for photoelectrochemical application

Highlights: • Anodization method approach for the synthesis of TiO{sub 2} nanotubes. • CdSe nanoparticle/TiO{sub 2} nanotube arrays were assembled via pulse electrochemical deposition technique. • Duty cycles were applied in order to enhance the properties of CdSe/TiO{sub 2} nanostructure. • PEC analysis verified that CdSe/TiO{sub 2} structure prepared at 50% duty cycle gave best photocurrent response. • Photoconversion efficiency of CdSe/TiO{sub 2} nanostructure was approximately 59 times greater than TiO{sub 2} nanotubes. - Abstract: Solar energy is an alternative sustainable energy resource that can be harvested using photoelectrochemical cell comprised of inorganic sensitized nanostructured oxide semiconductor electrode. In this work, pulse electrodeposition was used to deposit CdSe onto titanium dioxide nanotube arrays (TiO{sub 2} NTAs). TiO{sub 2} NTAs are commonly used in the nanostructured photoelectrochemical cells due to their high surface area, fewer interfacial grain boundaries and excellent charge transfer between interfaces. Duty cycle of pulse electrodeposition played an important role in the formation of CdSe nanoparticles. A significant enhancement in the photoelectrochemical performance was observed for the heterostructure of CdSe/TiO{sub 2} NTAs. CdSe/TiO{sub 2} NTAs prepared at 50% duty cycle exhibited maximum photocurrent of 1.94 mA cm{sup −2} and photoconversion efficiency of 1.18% which was 59 times higher than bare TiO{sub 2} NTAs. These results demonstrated that significant enhancement in the photoconversion efficiency could be obtained by incorporating CdSe as sensitizer into the TiO{sub 2} nanotube arrays via pulse electrodeposition technique.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

A prototype for SANDD: A highly-segmented pulse-shape-sensitive plastic scintillator detector incorporating silicon photomultiplier arrays

We report the first clear observation of neutron/gamma-ray pulse-shape sensitivity of a fully-instrumented 8 × 8 array of plastic scintillator segments coupled to two 5 cm × 5 cm 64-channel SiPM arrays as part of a study of the key metrics of a prototype antineutrino detector module designed for directional sensitivity. SANDD (a Segmented AntiNeutrino Directional Detector) will eventually comprise a central module of 64 elongated segments of 6 Li-doped pulse-shape-sensitive scintillator rods, each with a square cross section of 5.4 mm × 5.4 mm, surrounded by larger cross section bars of the same material. The most important metrics with the potential to impact the performance of the central module of SANDD are neutron and gammaray pulse-shape sensitivity using silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), particle identification via scintillator rod multiplicity, and energy and position resolution. As a first step, we constructed a prototype detector to investigate the performance of a central SANDD-like module using two 64-channel SiPM arrays and rods of undoped pulse-shape-sensitive plastic scintillator.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗