The Crab pulsar seen with AquEYE at Asiago Cima Ekar observatory

We are developing fast photon-counter instruments to study the rapid variability of astrophysical sources by time tagging photon arrival times with unprecedented accuracy, making use of a Rubidium clock and GPS receiver. The first realization of such optical photon-counters, dubbed AquEYE (the Asiago Quantum Eye), was mounted in 2008 at the 182 cm Copernicus Observatory in Asiago. AquEYE observed the Crab pulsar several times and collected data of extraordinary quality that allowed us to perform accurate optical timing of the Crab pulsar and to study the pulse shape stability on a timescale from days to years with an excellent definition. Our results reinforce the evidence for decadal stability of the inclination angle between the spin and magnetic axis of the Crab pulsar. Future realizations of our instrument will make use of the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) time signal.     

Contamination of short GRBs by giant magnetar flares: Significance of downward revision in distance to SGR 1806–20

We highlight how the downward revision in the distance to the star cluster associated with SGR 1806–20 by Bibby et al. (2008) reconciles the apparent low contamination of BATSE short GRBs by intense flares from extragalactic magnetars without recourse to modifying the frequency of one such flare per 30 years per Milky Way galaxy. We also discuss the variety in progenitor initial masses of magnetars based upon cluster ages, ranging from ∼50 M_⊙ for SGR 1806–20 and AXP CXOU J164710.2–455216 in Westerlund 1 to ∼17 M_⊙ for SGR 1900+14 according to Davies et al. (2009) and presumably also 1E 1841–045 if it originated from one of the massive RSG clusters #2 or #3.     

Automatic differentiation based discrete adjoint method for aerodynamic design optimization on unstructured meshes

A systematic methodology for formulating, implementing, solving and verifying discrete adjoint of the compressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for aerodynamic design optimization on unstructured meshes is proposed. First, a general adjoint formulation is con-structed for the entire optimization problem, including parameterization, mesh deformation, flow solution and computation of the objective function, which is followed by detailed formulations of matrix-vector products arising in the adjoint model. According to this formulation, procedural components of implementing the required matrix-vector products are generated by means of auto-matic differentiation (AD) in a structured and modular manner. Furthermore, a duality-preserving iterative algorithm is employed to solve flow adjoint equations arising in the adjoint model, ensur-ing identical convergence rates for the tangent and the adjoint models. A three-step strategy is adopted to verify the adjoint computation. The proposed method has several remarkable features:the use of AD techniques avoids tedious and error-prone manual derivation and programming;duality is strictly preserved so that consistent and highly accurate discrete sensitivities can be obtained; and comparable efficiency to hand-coded implementation can be achieved. Upon the cur-rent discrete adjoint method, a gradient-based optimization framework has been developed and applied to a drag reduction problem.     

小型无人机气动参数辨识的新型HGAPSO算法

针对小型无人机(UAVs)研制中操稳特性和飞行控制律设计评估对气动参数辨识的需求,提出了一种混合遗传粒子群优化算法(HGAPSO)。该算法以粒子群优化算法(PSO)为主体,在粒子优化路径中,引入遗传算法(GA)的交叉变异操作,增强粒子群跳出局部最优的能力;同时采用Kent映射改进粒子种群的初始化,使初始种群在可行解空间内分布更加均匀,增强全局优化能力。基于仿真结果,依据辨识准度及辨识成功率,对比了HGAPSO、常规PSO和GA优化算法气动参数辨识的结果,然后用蒙特卡洛仿真测试随机观测噪声的影响,结果表明该算法兼备PSO算法高的搜索效率和GA算法的全局优化能力,对随机观测噪声不敏感。最后,通过设计小型UAV试飞示例进行综合应用评价,结果表明:HGAPSO算法基于真实试飞数据进行气动参数辨识取得了满意结果,具有良好的实用性。     

长杆弹侵彻新型复合装甲数值仿真及研究

应用有限元计算程序AUTODYN模拟了由爆炸反应装甲和陶瓷复合装甲组成的新型复合装甲在长杆弹斜侵彻作用下的侵彻过程。根据长杆弹与爆炸反应装甲和陶瓷复合装甲的作用现象,研究了长杆弹对新型复合装甲的侵彻机理以及两者在各时刻的作用规律。所得结论对进行其他复合装甲抗长杆弹侵彻的研究具有一定的参考价值。     

A fast pulse phase estimation method for X-ray pulsar signals based on epoch folding

X-ray pulsar-based navigation (XPNAV) is an attractive method for autonomous deep-space navigation in the future. The pulse phase estimation is a key task in XPNAV and its accuracy directly determines the navigation accuracy. State-of-the-art pulse phase estimation techniques either suffer from poor estimation accuracy, or involve the maximization of generally non-convex object function, thus resulting in a large computational cost. In this paper, a fast pulse phase estimation method based on epoch folding is presented. The statistical properties of the observed profile obtained through epoch folding are developed. Based on this, we recognize the joint prob-ability distribution of the observed profile as the likelihood function and utilize a fast Fourier transform-based procedure to estimate the pulse phase. Computational complexity of the proposed estimator is analyzed as well. Experimental results show that the proposed estimator significantly outperforms the currently used cross-correlation (CC) and nonlinear least squares (NLS) estima-tors, while significantly reduces the computational complexity compared with NLS and maximum likelihood (ML) estimators.     

非恒定增压式微尺度拉瓦尔喷管流动特性

针对微尺度喷流在航天器运动状态切换时出现的非恒定增压变化,采用直接模拟蒙特卡洛(DSMC)方法对阶跃式增压和线性式增压两种模式下的微尺度拉瓦尔喷管流场进行了模拟,并对其变化过程中的流动特性进行了对比分析。结果显示：阶跃式增压会导致流动特性出现较大幅值的峰谷式波动,而线性式增压下的流动特性则呈现出线性变化的特点;黏性力对微尺度喷流的非恒定增压变化产生了重要的黏滞作用,在喉部扩张段至出口的流场中尤为明显;在设定的条件下,阶跃式增压过程中喷流产生的总冲量较线性式增压高59.5%,质量流量高74.7%,单位工质提供的冲量低约8.6%,波动性也高于线性式模型,阶跃式增压适用于系统需要较大推力改变运动状态且推进剂充足的情况,而线性式增压在系统精确微调或需要推进剂产生更高效能时具有明显的优势。     

Evaluation and improvement of coastal GNSS reflectometry sea level variations from existing GNSS stations in Taiwan

Global sea level rise due to an increasingly warmer climate has begun to induce hazards, adversely affecting the lives and properties of people residing in low-lying coastal regions and islands. Therefore, it is important to monitor and understand variations in coastal sea level covering offshore regions. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) have been successfully used to robustly derive sea level heights (SLHs). In Taiwan, there are a number of continuously operating GNSS stations, not originally installed for sea level monitoring. They were established in harbors or near coastal regions for monitoring land motion. This study utilizes existing SNR data from three GNSS stations (Kaohsiung, Suao, and TaiCOAST) in Taiwan to compute SLHs with two methods, namely, Lomb–Scargle Periodogram (LSP)-only, and LSP aided with tidal harmonic analysis developed in this study. The results of both methods are compared with co-located or nearby tide gauge records. Due to the poor quality of SNR data, the worst accuracy of SLHs derived from traditional LSP-only method exceeds 1?m at the TaiCOAST station. With our procedure, the standard deviations (STDs) of difference between GNSS-derived SLHs and tide gauge records in Kaohsiung and Suao stations decreased to 10?cm and the results show excellent agreement with tide gauge derived relative sea level records, with STD of differences of 7?cm and correlation coefficient of 0.96. In addition, the absolute GNSS-R sea level trend in Kaohsiung during 2006–2011 agrees well with that derived from satellite altimetry. We conclude that the coastal GNSS stations in Taiwan have the potential of monitoring absolute coastal sea level change accurately when our proposed methodology is used.     

强不确定系统“全系数之和等于1”的实现方法

摘要： 研究强不确定系统“全系数之和等于1”的实现方法，强不确定系统指的是系统的静态增益及其界不完全确知且范围较大.“全系数之和等于1”是吴宏鑫院士20世纪80年代发现的，该原理表明，对于未知连续系统，其离散化系统的系数的和在一定条件下是1.该原理的发现对于解决闭环辨识和自适应控制的瓶颈问题具有关键作用.“全系数之和等于1”是在一定条件下成立的.为了实现系统的“全系数之和等于1”，需要对系统进行一定的变换，以满足所需条件.其中，采用静态增益的标称值的倒数进行输入变换的方法在实际中得到了广泛应用.但是，当系统的不确定性较大时，该变换将带来较大偏差.针对该问题开展了深入研究，明确给出了系统静态增益的不确定性与标称值的比值的关系对于实现“全系数之和等于1”的影响.当不确定性与标称值的比值较小时，可以近似实现“全系数之和等于1”；当比值较大时，进一步给出了通过选取合适的采样周期，近似实现“全系数之和等于1”的方法.本文的研究对于特征模型理论在实际中的应用提供了一定的基础.     

Prediction of shock-layer ultraviolet radiation for hypersonic vehicles in near space

A systemic and validated model was developed to predict ultraviolet spectra features from the shock layer of near-space hypersonic vehicles in the ‘‘solar blind" band region. Computational procedures were performed with 7-species thermal non-equilibrium fluid mechanics, finite rate chemistry, and radiation calculations. The thermal non-equilibrium flow field was calculated with a two-temperature model by the finite volume technique and verified against the bow-shock ultra-violet(BSUV) flight experiments. The absorption coefficient of the mixture gases was evaluated with a line-by-line method and validated through laboratory shock tube measurements. Using the line of sight(LOS) method, radiation was calculated from three BSUV flights at altitudes of 38,53.5 and 71 km. The investigation focused on the level and structure of ultraviolet spectra radiated from a NO band system in wavelengths of 200–400 nm. Results predicted by the current model show qualitative spatial agreement with the measured data. At a velocity of 3.5 km/s(about Mach11), the peak absolute intensity at an altitude of 38 km is two orders of magnitude higher than that at 53.5 km. Under the same flight conditions, the spectra structures have quite a similar distribution at different viewing angles. The present computational model performs well in the prediction of the ultraviolet spectra emitted from the shock layer and will contribute to the investigation and analysis of radiative features of hypersonic vehicles in near space.