The turbo PMHT

The PMHT (probabilistic multihypothesis tracker) uses "soft" a posteriori probability associations between measurements and targets. Its implementation is a straightforward iterative application of a Kalman smoother operating on "synthetic" (i.e., modified) measurements, and of recalculation of these synthetic measurements based on the current track estimate. In this correspondence, we first discuss the basic PMHT and some of the older PMHT variants that have been used to enhance convergence. We then introduce the new turbo PMHT, which is informed by the recent success of turbo decoding in the digital communication context. This new PMHT has performance substantially improved versus any of the previous versions.     

Explicit solutions for some simple decentralized detection problems

A decentralized detection problem is considered in which a number of identical sensors transmit a finite-valued function of their observations to a fusion center which makes a final decision on one of M alternative hypotheses. The authors consider the case in which the number of sensors is large, and they derive (asymptotically) optimal rules for determining the messages of the sensors when the observations are generated from a simple and symmetrical set of discrete distributions. They also consider the tradeoff between the number of sensors and the communication rate of each sensor when there is a constraint on the total communication rate from the sensors to the fusion center. The results suggest that it is preferable to have several independent sensors transmitting low-rate (coarse) information instead of a few sensors transmitting high-rate (very detailed) information. They also suggest that an M-ary hypothesis testing problem can be viewed as a collection of M(M-1)/2 binary hypothesis testing problems. From this point of view the most useful messages (decision rules) are those that provide information to the fusion center that is relevant to the largest possible numbers of these binary hypothesis testing problems     

Integrated track maintenance for the PMHT via the hysteresis model

Unlike other tracking algorithms the probabilistic multi-hypothesis tracker (PMHT) assumes that the true source of each measurement is an independent realisation of a random process. Given knowledge of the prior probability of this assignment variable, data association is performed independently for each measurement. When the assignment prior is unknown, it can be estimated provided that it is either time independent, or fixed over the batch. This paper presents a new extension of the PMHT, which incorporates a randomly evolving Bayesian hyperparameter for the assignment process. This extension is referred to as the PMHT with hysteresis. The state of the hyperparameter reflects each model's contribution to the mixture, and thus can be used to quantify the significance of mixture components. The paper demonstrates how this can be used as a method for automated track maintenance in clutter. The performance benefit gained over the standard PMHT is demonstrated using simulations and real sensor data     

四阶微分方程两点边值问题解的存在唯一性

讨论了非线性四阶常微分方程y（4）=f（x,y,y’,y”,y”’）在混合两点边值条件y’（a）=0,y”（a）＋y”（6）=0,y（b）=0,y”’（b）=0或y’（a）=0,y”＇（a）＋y＇”（b）=0,y（b）=0,y”（6）=0下,解的存在唯一性。其中f在[a,b]×R4上连续且满足Lipschitz条件。并在推广后的Lipschitz条件与Banach压缩映射原理基础上,得到一些新的存在唯一性结果。     

Telerobotics: problems and research needs

With major emphasis on simulation, a university laboratory telerobotics facility permits problems to be approached by groups of graduate students. Helmet-mounded displays provide realism; the slaving of the display to the human operator's viewpoint gives a sense of `telepresence' that may be useful for prolonged tasks. Using top-down 3-D model control of distant images allows distant images to be reduced to a few parameters to update the model used for display to the human operator in a preview model to circumvent, in part, the communication delay. Also, the model can be used as a format for supervisory control and permit short-term local autonomous operations. Image processing algorithms can be made simpler and faster without trying to construct sensible images from the bottom. Control studies of telerobots lead to preferential manual control modes and, in this university environment, to basic paradigms for human motion and thence, perhaps, to redesign of robotic control, trajectory path planning, and rehabilitation prosthetics. Speculation as to future industrial drives for this telerobotic field suggests efficient roles for government agencies such as NASA     

Aging avionics: the problems and the challenges

Aging avionics have become a problem because aircraft are being kept in service far longer than the original plan. This paper discusses the four key problems of aging avionics: (1) determining the systems that are the high cost drivers in order to select those that should receive priority; (2) determining the requirements for the replacement; (3) identifying alternative technologies that will satisfy the requirements and are affordable; and (4) determining the funding required and acquiring the funding needed to replace the aging avionics. Challenges encountered in solving these problems include management and technical. The problem of aging avionics is not limited to a single aircraft, but occurs across all aircraft. Cost-effective modernization requires cutting horizontally across all aging aircraft, and coordination with the end users and the existing management structure. A key technical challenge is to select an architecture that is upgradeable since the funding limitations may ensure parts will become obsolete prior to the completion of a drawn-out production.     

Distributed computation in linear networks: closed-form solutions

A linear network of communicating processors is analyzed. The processors in the network may or may not be equipped with front-end processors. The processing load originates either at the boundary or at the interior of the network. Closed-form solutions and computational techniques are presented for the above situations, to obtain time optimal distribution of processing loads on the processors. Some important results are proved analytically using the closed-form expressions     

Analysis of some modified ordered statistic CFAR: OSGO and OSSOCFAR

It is necessary for automatic detection radars to be adaptive to variations in background clutter in order to maintain a constant false alarm rate (CFAR). A CFAR based on an ordered statistic technique (OS CFAR) has some advantages over the cell-averaging technique (CA CFAR), especially in clutter edges or multiple target environments; unfortunately the large processing time required by this technique limits its use. The authors present two new OS CFARs that require only ahlf the processing time. One is an ordered statistic greatest of CFAR (OSGO), while the other is an ordered statistic smallest of CFAR (OSSO). The OSGO CFAR has the advantages of the OS CFAR with only a negligible increment to the CFAR loss     

Voice recognition: software solutions in real-time ATC workstations

Speech recognition features desired by air traffic controllers, such as the ability to use complex messages and address hundreds of individual aircraft could not be implemented a decade ago, but these tasks became possible with improved speech recognition engines and an increase in processing power and memory. Speech recognition was a key element in the air traffic controller (ATC) workstation used to support a Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) system. Our work, under the direction of the Avionics Engineering Center at Ohio University, was in support of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Runway Incursion Prevention System (RIPS) conducted at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). This paper examines the challenges and opportunities of developing voice recognition software solutions in ATC workstations using multiple dialects and accents, complex and varied grammars and terminology, accuracy, hardware restrictions, and user-training procedures.     

Rocket berthing to an asteroid: Design problems

The results of research in a process of a probe rocket berthing to an asteroid are presented. Control laws were obtained as solutions of three problems, namely berthing considering transient processes in a rocket engine, fastest berthing with regard to fuel consumption and berthing in a scheduled time considering fuel consumption. A program trajectory obtained at solving of the first problem is suitable for mathematical modeling of berthing with the feedback control law and stabilization of angular motion. The solutions of the problems are reduced to simple formulas for controlling parameters calculation in the corresponding structures of control laws. The results can be applied in designing promising space vehicles intended for berthing to other space objects.     

Existence and uniqueness of GPS solutions

The existence and uniqueness of positions computed from global positioning system (GPS) pseudorange measurements is studied. Contrary to the claims of S. Bancroft (1985) and L.O. Krause (1987), in the case of n=4 satellites a fix may not exist, and, if a fix exists, it is not guaranteed to be unique. In the case of n>or=5 satellites, a unique fix is assured, except in certain degenerate cases such as coplanar satellites. An alternate formulation of the direct n=4 pseudorange to three-space position solutions of Bancroft and Krause is presented, and simple tests for existence and uniqueness are derived.<>     

On solving multi-commodity flow problems: An experimental evaluation

Multi-commodity flow problems (MCFs) can be found in many areas,such as transportation,communication,and logistics.Therefore,such problems have been studied by a multitude of researchers,and a variety of methods have been proposed for solving it.However,most researchers only discuss the properties of different models and algorithms without taking into account the impacts of actual implementation.In fact,the true performance of a method may differ greatly across various implementations.In this paper,several popular optimization solvers for implementations of column generation and Lagrangian relaxation are discussed.In order to test scalability and optimality,three groups of networks with different structures are used as case studies.Results show that column generation outperforms Lagrangian relaxation in most instances,but the latter is better suited to networks with a large number of commodities.     

Electronic combat in the Gulf War: some early observations

The author discusses some aspects of the role of electronic combat (EC) in the success of the Gulf War. He suggests several areas for possible action by the EC community. One is to think through how the fieldable brassboard/prototype approach applies to electronic warfare. Another is to determine the impact on the EC world if an opponent acquired some or all of US capabilities     

Global Positioning System, opportunities and problems

The Global Positioning Satellite System (GPSS) which consists of satellites plus control and monitoring stations, is opening navigation and positioning uses that were never dreamed of by the US Air Force developers of the GPSS. Older flight-control and navigation systems are destined for the surplus market, but new GPSS problems keep appearing. These problems and their solutions were addressed by the nation's top authorities in the Plenary Session of the Institute of Navigation, National Technical Meeting, Anaheim, California (January 1995). From the audience of nearly 500 came written questions which challenged the panel of experts     

Effects of telecommunication media upon information sharing andteam performance: some theoretical and empirical observations

Theoretical concepts related to decision-making, group dynamics, and communication processes are reviewed. A psychological distancing model of electronic media is described. Issues related to the role of electronic media in networking decision-makers are highlighted. Several laboratory studies that show some of the effects video, audio, and computer teleconferencing can have upon group interaction patterns and productivity are described. It is found that increasing communication richness does not guarantee improved group performance. Task demands as well as individual difference factors can affect the way groups use available media. It is concluded that existing theory is not yet sophisticated enough to account for all of the results observed. A more comprehensive theory of communication processes is needed that specifically addresses group-to-group interaction processes     

Some problems of gamma-astronomy

The modern state of gamma-ray astronomy is reviewed, the paper being mainly devoted to the theoretical models that describe generation of gamma-ray emission under astrophysical conditions. Basic information on the processes of generation and absorption of gamma-rays, as well as the results of observations for various gamma-ray photon energies are reported.In the region of soft gamma-ray emission (i.e., for energies less than tens of MeV), where emission in gamma-ray lines dominates, we also discuss the nature of gamma-ray bursts, the origin of gamma-ray emission from the galactic centre, etc.Discrete sources and, in particular, the mysterious source Cyg X-3 are discussed in the region of very high (E > 10¹² eV) and ultra-high (E > 10¹⁵ eV) energy gamma-ray emission.A larger portion of the review is devoted to the analysis of cosmic-ray origin on the basis of the available gamma-ray data in the region from several tens of MeV to several GeV. The peculiarity of this energy range is, in particular, in the fact that the diffuse galactic emission was observed mainly there. We also discuss the problem of determination of the cosmic-ray density gradient from the gamma-ray data.The origin of high-latitude gamma-ray emission, the problem of galactic gamma-ray halo, etc., are discussed.The theoretical models explaining the nature of unidentified gamma-ray sources, as well as the results of measurements and theoretical estimations of a gamma-ray flux from SN1987A are analysed.List of Notations m electron mass, m = 9.108 × 10^–28 g, - M proton mass, M = 1.672 × 10^–24 g, - e electron charge, e = 4.803 × 10^–10 CGS - c velocity of light, c = 2.9979 × 10¹⁰ cm s^–1, - k Boltzmann constant, k = 1.380 × 10^–16 erg grad^–1, - e electron - p proton - gamma-ray photon - p antiproton - ^{0 0}-meson - -lepton - e ⁺ positron - r, , x radio-frequency, gamma-ray, and X-ray emission bands - E total energy of a particle - E _k kinetic energy - p particle momentum - spectral index for particles - spectral index for emission - n particle density (concentration) - H magnetic field strength - T temperature - _ph energy of low-energy photons - emission frequency - r _H Larmor radius of relativistic particles - k wave number - , z cylindric coordinates, in this case the coordinate (radius) along the galactic disk, z perpendicular to the galactic disk - M solar mass, M = 1.99 × 10³³ g.