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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 145 records · Page 8

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NASA NTRS1979

Phase conjugation method and apparatus for an active retrodirective antenna array

An active retrodirective antenna array wherein a reference array element is used to generate a phase reference which is replicated at succeeding elements of the array. Each element of the array is associated with a phase regeneration circuit and the phase conjugation circuitry of an adjacent element. In one implementation, the phase reference circuit operates on the input signal at the reference element, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) output signal and the input pilot signal at the next array element received from a transmission line. By proper filtering and mixing, a phase component may be produced to which the VCO may be locked to produce the phase conjugate of the pilot signal at the next array element plus a transmission line delay. In another implementation, particularly suited for large arrays in space, two different input pilot frequencies are employed.

Tausworthe, R. C.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Pattern classification using charge transfer devices

The feasibility of using charge transfer devices in the classification of multispectral imagery was investigated by evaluating particular devices to determine their suitability in matrix multiplication subsystem of a pattern classifier and by designing a protype of such a system. Particular attention was given to analog-analog correlator devices which consist of two tapped delay lines, chip multipliers, and a summed output. The design for the classifier and a printed circuit layout for the analog boards were completed and the boards were fabricated. A test j:g for the board was built and checkout was begun.

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NASA NTRS1980

The Tidbinbilla interferometer

A proposal to operate a two element interferometer using the 64 m and 26 m antennas of the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Station is discussed. The instrument is to be operated as a correlation interferometer, the sine and cosine products being sampled once per second and recorded for later analysis. The receiver systems are currently under development. Preliminary measurements of the delay line and local oscillator systems and the site cables suggest that a phase stability to within about 1 deg should be achievable with temperature control of the receiver packages.

Batty, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The 2.2 GHz Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) oscillator development Ku-band frequency source development

Two 2.2 GHz SAW oscillators using aluminum nitride on sapphire (AlN/Al2O3) delay lines were fabricated. The oscillators were electronically temperature compensated and characterized. One of the oscillators was used as the frequency reference for the Ku band source; the second oscillator is available for continued evaluation. A 15 GHz frequency source was designed and fabricated. The 15 GHz source consists of a Ku band FET oscillator which is phase locked to the frequency multiplied (X7) output of the 2.2 GHz SAW reference source. The Ku band source was built using microstrip circuit designs, which are hybrid compatible. Two wafer runs of 2.2 GHz TED devices were fabricated and evaluated. The devices were mounted on microstrip test substrates and evaluated as 15 GHz divide by 7 circuits. The device evaluation indicated that in their present form the TED is not a practical circuit element.

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NASA NTRS1981

S-Band Shallow Bulk Acoustic Wave (SBAW) microwave source

Techniques necessary to fabricate a high performance S-band microwave single source using state-of-the-art shallow bulk acoustic wave (SBAW) were explored. The bulk wave structures of the AlN/Al 2O3 were investigated for both the R plane and basal plane of sapphire. A 1.072 GHz SBAW delay line and oscillators were developed. A method of selecting and setting oscillator output frequency by selecting substrate orientation angle was also established.

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NASA NTRS1981

AgRISTARS. Supporting research: MARS x-band scatterometer

The design, construction, and data collection procedures of the mobile agricultural radar sensor (MARS) x band scatterometer are described. This system is an inexpensive, highly mobile, truck mounted FM-CW radar operating at a center frequency of 10.2 GHz. The antennas, which allow for VV and VH polarizations, are configured in a side looking mode that allows for drive by data collection. This configuration shortens fieldwork time considerably while increasing statistical confidence in the data. Both internal calibration, via a delay line, and external calibration with a Luneberg lens are used to calibrate the instrument in terms of sigma(o). The radar scattering cross section per unit area, sigma(o), is found using the radar equation.

Ulaby, F. T.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Analysis of aging data on SAW oscillators

Test oscillators including delay lines and resonators in the 300-400 MHz range have been investigated with reference to the long-term stability (aging) characteristics. All devices were fabricated on rotated Y-cut quartz plates (40 deg), and either gold or platinum metallization was used; all packages were high-quality hermetic enclosures, and the mounting was strictly mechanical, with no organics or silicone rubbers used. It is shown that drift of less than 2 ppm in the first year can be obtained on a significant fraction of the devices when reasonably clean packages are used. The data also suggest that the transducer metallization (at least for aluminum) is very likely the source of the relaxation mechanism that causes the frequency drift.

Parker, T. E.↗

NASA NTRS1982

VLF wave growth and discrete emission triggering in the magnetosphere - A feedback model

A simple nonlinear feedback model is presented to explain VLF wave growth and emission triggering observed in VLF transmission experiments. The model is formulated in terms of the interaction of electrons with a slowly varying wave in an inhomogeneous medium as in an unstable feedback amplifier with a delay line; constant frequency oscillations are generated on the magnetic equator, while risers and fallers are generated on the downstream and upstream sides of the equator, respectively. Quantitative expressions are obtained for the stimulated radiation produced by energy exchanged between energetic electrons and waves by Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance, and feedback between the stimulated radiation and the phase bunched currents is incorporated in terms of a two-port discrete time model. The resulting model is capable of explaining the observed temporal growth and saturation effects, phase advance, retardation or frequency shift during growth in the context of a single parameter depending on the energetic particle distribution function, as well as pretermination triggering.

Helliwell, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Laser Rangefinder and Remote Profilometer

Proposed laser rangefinder and profilometer operates with precision of about 1mm at ranges of up to 100m. With scanning optics, device could track objects or accurately measure shapes of objects in field of view. New microprocessor-controlled design uses variable-length fiber-optic delay line as distance reference. New rangefinding method used in vision systems for industrial robots.

Mclauchlan, J. M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

A FMCW Radar Ranging Device for the Teleoperator Maneuvering System

A frequency-modulated continuous wave radar system is under development in the Communications Systems Branch of the Information and Electronic Systems Laboratory at Marshall Space Flight Center. The radar unit is being designed for use on the teleoperator maneuvering system. Its function is to provide millimeter-level accuracy in range and range rate measurements out to a range of thirty meters. This will facilitate soft docking with accuracy. This report is an updating of previous developments reported on this system. An innovation in the system is the utilization of a standard reference signal generated by shunting a portion of the radar energy into a shorted coaxial delay line. The regular radar target return signal is constantly compared with the reference signal to provide internal error compensation. Within a five meter range, a limit imposed by present laboratory dimensions, the radar system exhibits reliable accuracy with range error less than 0.2%.

Mcdonald, M. W.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Large array VLSI filter

A 35 by 35 element pipelined convolutional kernel is being fabricated using VLSI chips, each containing a 5 by 1 segment of the kernel. Three levels of printed circuitry are used: the first level is used for the VLSI chips, the second level connects seven chips together on one platform, and the third level connects seven platforms with associated delay lines, all fitting on one board. Therefore, on each board there are seven rows of the kernel containing 245 multipliers and adders, and five such boards complete the kernel array. Each multiplier accepts an 8 bit picture element which is multiplied by a 16 bit weight. A truncated 22 bit product is added to a previously stored product sum and the results are shifted to the following multiplier as the next picture element is read in. The multiplier uses a modified Booth algorithm to reduce the number of shift add operations nearly in half. The filter box is presently configured as an ancillary box to a VAX 11/780, but can be connected to essentially any CPU. The I/O bandwidth is easily compatible with most CPU devices.

Nathan, R.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Cross-Array Antenna With Switched Steering

Selected phase shifting of feeds to antenna elements aims antenna beam. Antenna for Space Shuttle controlled in two dimensions by double-pole, double-throw switches antenna feeds. Switches control phasing of antenna elements by transposing transmission-line delay elements between feeds to pairs of elements located on opposite sides of antenna. Same principles can be applied to antennas with additional elements along each axis.

Iwasaki, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Switched-Multibeam Antenna System

Various time delays introduced at intermediate frequency aim antenna in different directions. System includes spherical reflector with feed horn containing two five-element cross arrays. Each element in cross array connected to different set of switched delay lines. Antenna has low and moderate gains and wide coverage.

Iwasaki, R. S.↗

NASA NTRS1986

A survey of the state of the art and focused research in range systems, task 2

Many communication, control, and information processing subsystems are modeled by linear systems incorporating tapped delay lines (TDL). Such optimized subsystems result in full precision multiplications in the TDL. In order to reduce complexity and cost in a microprocessor implementation, these multiplications can be replaced by single-shift instructions which are equivalent to powers of two multiplications. Since, in general, the obvious operation of rounding the infinite precision TDL coefficients to the nearest powers of two usually yield quite poor system performance, the optimum powers of two coefficient solution was considered. Detailed explanations on the use of branch-and-bound algorithms for finding the optimum powers of two solutions are given. Specific demonstration of this methodology to the design of a linear data equalizer and its implementation in assembly language on a 8080 microprocessor with a 12 bit A/D converter are reported. This simple microprocessor implementation with optimized TDL coefficients achieves a system performance comparable to the optimum linear equalization with full precision multiplications for an input data rate of 300 baud. The philosophy demonstrated in this implementation is dully applicable to many other microprocessor controlled information processing systems.

Yao, K.↗

NASA NTRS1988

A methodology based on reduced complexity algorithm for system applications using microprocessors

The paper considers a methodology on the analysis and design of a minimum mean-square error criterion linear system incorporating a tapped delay line (TDL) where all the full-precision multiplications in the TDL are constrained to be powers of two. A linear equalizer based on the dispersive and additive noise channel is presented. This microprocessor implementation with optimized power of two TDL coefficients achieves a system performance comparable to the optimum linear equalization with full-precision multiplications for an input data rate of 300 baud.

Yan, T. Y.↗

NASA NTRS1989

White cell design considerations

The White cell is a unit-magnification image relay system consisting of three noncoaxial spherical mirrors of equal curvature. The cell is used to provide a long optical path in a relatively small physical space. Multiple reflections are used, in a manner similar to a unstable laser resonator. A particular application is an optical delay line on the input of a streak camera to allow for the finite triggering time of the sweep start. This paper addresses the first- and third-order properties of the White cell. A displacement sensitivity analysis is included.

Hannan, Paul↗

NASA NTRS1991

Comparative study of bolometric and non-bolometric switching elements for microwave phase shifters

The performance of semiconductor and high critical temperature superconductor switches is compared as they are used in delay-line-type microwave and millimeter-wave phase shifters. Such factors as their ratios of the off-to-on resistances, parasitic reactances, power consumption, speed, input-to-output isolation, ease of fabrication, and physical dimensions are compared. Owing to their almost infinite off-to-on resistance ratio and excellent input-to-output isolation, bolometric superconducting switches appear to be quite suitable for use in microwave phase shifters; their only drawbacks are their speed and size. The SUPERFET, a novel device whose operation is based on the electric field effect in high critical temperature ceramic superconductors is also discussed. Preliminary results indicate that the SUPERFET is fast and that it can be scaled; therefore, it can be fabricated with dimensions comparable to semiconductor field-effect transistors.

Tabib-Azar, Massood↗

NASA NTRS1990

High rate science data handling on Space Station Freedom

A study by NASA's User Information System Working Group for Space Station Freedom (SSF) has determined that the proposed onboard Data Management System, as initially configured, will be incapable of handling the data-generation rates typical of numerous scientific sensor payloads; many of these generate data at rates in excess of 10 Mbps, and there are at least four cases of rates in excess of 300 Mbps. The SSF Working Group has accordingly suggested an alternative conceptual architecture based on technology expected to achieve space-qualified status by 1995. The architecture encompasses recorders with rapid data-ingest capabilities and massive storage capabilities, optical delay lines allowing the recording of only the phenomena of interest, and data flow-compressing image processors.

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.↗