Automated air defense system using knowledge-based system

The proposed KAAD (knowledge-based automated air defense) system demonstrates a man-machine environment for airspace defense systems. When the unknown aircraft is hostile, a threat rating and response methods are generated by the system. It serves as a double-check decision-making system for a war control center. In addition to this application, the KAAD system can also be a useful tool as a training program for the war controller. The capabilities of the system are limited due to the shortage of knowledge resources. It requires communications among war controllers and air fighter pilots to organize a practical knowledge base. It is shown that the KAAD system can be combined with an automated ATC (air traffic control) system to become a practical system for air defense applications     

Applications of aluminum-air batteries

Advances in aluminum-air batteries are described. These include alloys that show higher efficiencies and therefore lower hydrogen evolution, low-cost air cathodes that can be fabricated in production quantities, and methods for handling the aluminum hydroxide reaction product. Emphasis is placed on the advances in air cathodes. The application of this technology to new products and the implications for electric vehicles are discussed     

Energy and charge localization in irradiated DNA.

The relation between the site of energy deposition and the site of its biological action is an important question in radiobiology. Even at 77 degrees K, evidence is clear that these two sites must be separated since energy deposition is random but specific products are formed. Several processes that may contribute to this separation are: 1) hole migration and stabilization through deprotonation to give neutral oxidation product radicals; 2) electron trapping and transfer to form specific radical anions, possibly followed by protonation to give neutral reduction product radicals; and 3) recombination of spatially separated charges or radicals. These microscopic processes will be reviewed critically in an analysis using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) evidence for and against long-range transfer of energy and/or charge in frozen, hydrated DNA.     

A new system identification technique for harmonic decomposition

An extended and unifying system identification technique is presented for a class of systems that include all main signal models that arise in the harmonic decomposition problem. This technique unifies and extends the previously developed system identification techniques which are improvements on the Pisarenko harmonic decomposition (or, its spatial dual, MUSIC) as they arise in arrays of sensors. The advantages of the technique and some of its specializations include having no assumptions of stationarity on the stochastic processes involved. Another contribution of this technique is that it can also be used without any resort to probability theoretic concepts, thus bypassing the approximation of autocorrelations via time averages, yielding the system parameters exactly. This technique can be utilized to determine the dominant modes of vibrations of flexible structures as well. An analogy is established between arrays of sensors for target signal returns and those that can be used for vibrations in flexible structures. This enables the results developed for each one of these problems to be applied to the other     

Advanced concepts for launch vehicle control

The objective of the advanced launch system (ALS) program is to develop a family of launch vehicles which provides a substantial improvement in reliability, operability, and economy over existing systems. This requires that autopilot design and verification procedures be of minimum sensitivity to recurring costs while providing adequate, but not necessarily optimal, vehicle performance. One approach to accomplishing this task, namely, the utilization of advanced control design and analysis techniques, is considered. It is shown that the techniques, which represent a cross-section of developments in control theory, attempt to solve the ALS control problem in one of two ways: given increased knowledge of the launch vehicle and its environment, through greater model fidelity and additional sensor data; and autopilot design in the presence of quantified model/disturbance uncertainties and less stringent sensing requirements. It is concluded that the methods are promising and cost effective     

Global communication using a constellation of low Earth meridianorbits

The concept of meridian orbits is briefly reviewed. It is shown that, if a satellite in the meridian orbit makes an odd number (>1) of revolutions per day, then the satellite passes over the same set of meridians twice a day. Satellites in such orbits pass over the same portion of the sky twice a day and every day. This enables a user to adopt a programmed mode of tracking, thereby avoiding a computational facility for orbit prediction, look angle generation, and auto tracking. A constellation of 38 or more satellites placed in a 1200-km altitude circular orbit is favorable for global communications due to various factors. It is shown that appropriate phasing in right ascension of the ascending node and mean anomaly results in a constellation wherein each satellite appears over the user's horizon one satellite after another. Visibility and coverage plots are provided to verify the continuous coverage     

US Army Research Laboratory power sources R&D programs

The current status and thrust of the US Army Research Laboratory's battery and fuel cell R&D programs that support emerging electronic battlefield equipment applications are reviewed. Major technical barriers are identified along with the approaches proposed to solve these anticipated problems     

An alternate algorithm for discrete-time filtering

The discrete-time Kalman filter is an optimal estimator for the states of a linear, stochastic system. It assumes that measurements are linear combinations of the states, and all disturbances are Gaussian. The influence diagram, a decision analysis tool that provides an algorithm for discrete-time filtering equivalent to the Kalman filter when the influence diagram represents Gaussian random variables, is discussed. The influence diagram algorithm is a factored form of the Kalman filter, similar to other factored forms such as the U-D filter. Compared with the Kalman filter, it offers improved numerical properties. Compared with other factored forms, it offers a reduced computational load     

Direct integration methods in dynamic problems of structural mechanics

A method of direct integration with respect to time is proposed to solve dynamic problems of structural mechanics and comparison with the well-known methods is presented.     

Residual stresses and endurance strength under tension-compression in the conditions of stress concentration

Residual stresses and endurance strength of specimens with stress concentrators are considered. The results obtained make it possible to predict the fatigue limit of strengthened parts with concentrators in the case of tension-compression.