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Wheat fields recognition, mapping and acreage measurement by multispectral scanning with real time analog data processing, considering seasonal and observation altitude effects
An all optical remote sensing system utilizing long distance, ultralow loss optical fiber networks is studied and discussed for near infrared absorption measurements of combustible and/or explosive gases such as CH4 and C3H8 in our environment, including experimental results achieved in a diameter more than 20 km. The use of a near infrared wavelength range is emphasized.
Wind sensing using a Doppler lidar is achieved by sensing the Doppler content of narrow frequency laser light backscattered by the ambient atmospheric aerosols. The derived radial wind components along several directions are used to generate wind vectors, typically using the Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) method described below. Range resolved information is obtained by range gating the continuous scattered return. For a CO2 laser (10.6 mu) the Doppler velocity scaling factor is 188 kHz/ms(exp -1). In the VAD scan method the zenith angle of the pointing direction is fixed and its azimuth is continuously varied through 2 pi. A spatially uniform wind field at a particular altitude yields a sinusoidal variation of the radial component vs. azimuth. The amplitude, phase and dc component of this sinusoid yield the horizontal wind speed, direction and vertical component of the wind respectively. In a nonuniform wind field the Fourier components of the variation yields the required information.
Wildfire response depends on how fast an ignition can be confirmed and located, especially in remote regions where ground-based communication and monitoring may be limited. Geostationary sensors provide frequent observations but at kilometer-scale resolution, which is too coarse to resolve small fires in remote terrain. Ground camera networks require sightlines and infrastructure that back-country areas lack. To address these limitations, this work proposes a Multi-Tier Autonomous Wildfire Intelligence System that combines wide-area monitoring with targeted, high-resolution sensing. A solar-powered high-altitude long endurance (HALE) platform operating at approximately 60,000 ft provides persistent wide-area thermal and optical surveillance, running onboard edge inference to screen candidate ignitions and reduce false positives and downlink bandwidth. When a candidate ignition is detected, low-altitude uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) can be deployed to conduct localized observations, including high-resolution imaging and atmospheric measurements such as wind and plume observation. By combining persistent detection with local sensing, the proposed architecture is designed to provide first responders with timely, high-resolution information about fire location and behavior to aid in emergency decision making.
Results of calculations concerning the emission of bremsstrahlung by electrons in the upper atmosphere and the penetration of this radiation to atmospheric depths of 3 to 10 g/sq cm, where it can be measured by balloon-borne detectors. The calculations take into account the multiple scattering and slowing down of electrons, and the multiple Compton scattering and photoelectric absorption of bremsstrahlung photons. Numerical data have been generated for electron beams incident onto the atmosphere with energies between 20 keV and 2 MeV, assuming wide-area precipitation and an incident angular distribution isotropic over the downward hemisphere. The results relate the number and energy spectrum of the incident electrons to the bremsstrahlung flux spectrum at balloon heights. The interpretation of some observed bremsstrahlung flux spectra is attempted.
Dye laser, emitting four wavelengths sequentially in time, has been incorporated into helicopter-borne lidar flight package, for performing studies of laser-induced fluorescence of chlorophyll A in algae. Data obtained by multicolor lidar technique can provide water-resource management with rapid-access wide-area coverage of the impact of various environmental factors for any body of water.
Discussion of some examples demonstrating that water vapor channel imagery from meteorological satellites, particularly Nimbus 4, can be quite helpful in improving moisture and wind analyses. Satellite imagery is shown to make possible the extrapolation of conventional measurements into data-sparse regions and the introduction of considerably greater detail into analyses of meterological parameters. In addition, the wide-area synoptic coverage of satellites can shed light on the interconnections of tropical and midlatitude systems discernible in the upper troposphere.
Transport calculations have been made to determine the emission of bremsstrahlung by electrons in the atmosphere and the penetration of this radiation to high altitudes where it can be detected by satellite-borne instruments. The calculations were done assuming uniform wide-area precipitation into the atmosphere of an electron flux isotropic over the downward hemisphere. The intensity and energy spectrum of the bremsstrahlung have been obtained for the case of incident monoenergetic electron beams at energies between 20 keV and 2 MeV, for incident electron beams with exponential spectra with e-folding energies between 5 and 200 keV.
The author has identified the following significant results. Evaluation of ERTS-1 imagery for the Sand Hills region of Nebraska has shown that the data can be used to effectively measure several parameters of inventory needs. (1) Vegetative biomass can be estimated with a high degree of confidence using computer compatable tape data. (2) Soils can be mapped to the subgroup level with high altitude aircraft color infrared photography and to the association level with multitemporal ERTS-1 imagery. (3) Water quality in Sand Hills lakes can be estimated utilizing computer compatable tape data. (4) Center pivot irrigation can be inventoried from satellite data and can be monitored regarding site selection and relative success of establishment from high altitude aircraft color infrared photography. (5) ERTS-1 data is of exceptional value in wide-area inventory of natural resource data in the Sand Hills region of Nebraska.
Essential characteristics of the U.S. microwave landing system (MLS) and the TCV B-737 aircraft used in flight demonstrations are described, with special emphasis on the analysis of the approach paths. MLS is used to provide the aircraft with guidance for automatic control on complex, curved descending paths with precision turns into short final approaches terminating in landing and rollout, even when subjected to strong and gusty tail- and cross-wind components and severe wind shear. The tracking performance achieved on these paths under MLS guidance is examined in detail, and the wind environment where the flights are conducted are quantified. The flights demonstrate the utility of the wide-area coverage of MLS for curved, descending paths commencing with a standard RNAV approach into a terminal area and continuation of this approach throughout the MLS coverage and onto the runway.
Movement functions in the population dynamics of insects are discussed. Modes of movement, movement from a population view, and population patterns are described and predicted. A wide-area of spatial and temporal patterns are presented.
A Mobile Satellite Experiment (MSAT-X) is described, based on a planned cooperative U.S./Canadian program. The experiment would establish network architecture, develop system and ground-segment technology, and define the technical characteristics needed to help structure the regulatory/institutional framework needed to enable a first-generation commercial satellite service. A satellite of this type would augment terrestrial systems, both cellular and noncellular, in the thin-route/rural areas of the country where service is either unavailable or inadequate. Applications range from wide-area radio/dispatch (e.g., oil exploration and interstate trucking) to extension of the public mobile telephone service. Market estimates are provided and experiment objectives and requirements are delineated. The requirements are being developed in close coordination with the Department of Communications (DOC) of Canada and with industry and potential-user organizations. The paper closes with a development plan and milestone chart.
A large geostationary communications platform can offer many attractive possibilities for providing lower cost communications. The platform payload concept described in this paper attempts to exploit these possibilities. The use of a combination of spot and wide-area coverage beams accommodates users in both high- and low-density population areas, and provides a good degree of frequency reuse. A standard channel bandwidth, used for most traffic, facilitates interconnectivity among C-, Ku-, and Ka-band users who may all access the platform. Adoption of a 36-MHz channel bandwidth leads to transmission rates that would be easily handled by low-cost terminals providing direct customer premises service. This also lends itself well to a solution using a large number of solid-state power amplifiers operating in all three frequency bands and sharing a common, redundant, conditioned power supply.
This paper examines the technology and constraints of very small aperture terminals (VSAT) networks, a special type of wide-area thin-route satellite network that represents a recent innovation in the field of satellite communications. VSAT network architectures suitable for both data and voice communications are studied in this paper. Several issues concerning the frequency of operations, that is, C-band versus Ku-band are examined, and trade-offs between nonspread spectrum and spread spectrum techniques, as well as modulation and multiple access schemes, are considered in detail. Link design examples are given to illustrate the performance of various types of VSAT networks.
The design and correctness of a communication facility for a distributed computer system are reported on. The facility provides support for fault-tolerant process groups in the form of a family of reliable multicast protocols that can be used in both local- and wide-area networks. These protocols attain high levels of concurrency, while respecting application-specific delivery ordering constraints, and have varying cost and performance that depend on the degree of ordering desired. In particular, a protocol that enforces causal delivery orderings is introduced and shown to be a valuable alternative to conventional asynchronous communication protocols. The facility also ensures that the processes belonging to a fault-tolerant process group will observe consistant orderings of events affecting the group as a whole, including process failures, recoveries, migration, and dynamic changes to group properties like member rankings. A review of several uses for the protocols is the ISIS system, which supports fault-tolerant resilient objects and bulletin boards, illustrates the significant simplification of higher level algorithms made possible by our approach.
Aircraft and satellite systems yield wide-area views, providing total coverage of affected areas. System developed for use aboard aircraft includes digital scanner that records data in 12 channels. Transmits data to ground station for immediate use in fighting fires. Enables researchers to estimate gaseous and particulate emissions from fires. Provides information on temperatures of flame fronts and soils, intensities and rate of spread of fires, characteristics of fuels and smoke plumes, energy-release rates, and concentrations and movements of trace gases. Data relates to heating and cooling of soils, loss of nutrients, and effects on atmospheric, terrestrial, and aquatic systems.
A network architecture called Highball and a preliminary design for a prototype, wide-area data network designed to operate at speeds of 1 Gbps and beyond are described. It is intended for applications requiring high speed burst transmissions where some latency between requesting a transmission and granting the request can be anticipated and tolerated. Examples include real-time video and disk-disk transfers, national filestore access, remote sensing, and similar applications. The network nodes include an intelligent crossbar switch, but have no buffering capabilities; thus, data must be queued at the end nodes. There are no restrictions on the network topology, link speeds, or end-end protocols. The end system, nodes, and links can operate at any speed up to the limits imposed by the physical facilities. An overview of an initial design approach is presented and is intended as a benchmark upon which a detailed design can be developed. It describes the network architecture and proposed access protocols, as well as functional descriptions of the hardware and software components that could be used in a prototype implementation. It concludes with a discussion of additional issues to be resolved in continuing stages of this project.
Researchers completed the first tests of a method to synchronize the clocks of networked computers to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) time scale. The method uses a server computer to disseminate the time to other clients on the same local-area network. The server is synchronized to NIST using the ACTS protocol over a dial-up telephone line. The software in both the server and the parameters of this model are used to adjust the time of the local clock and the interval between calibration requests in a statistically optimum way. The algorithm maximizes the time between calibrations while at the same time keeping the time of the local clock correct within a specific tolerance. The method can be extended to synchronize computers linked over wide-area networks, and an experiment to test the performance of the algorithms over such networks is being planned.