Output voltage bounds of a three-phase boost rectifier

A general closed-form duty cycle control law is derived based on the linear combination of two sets of continuous duty cycle control laws. From this general solution one can generate infinitely many pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control strategies to achieve the same ideal performance. Then, from the resulting closed-form solution, a general explicit lower bound and a general explicit upper bound of the output dc voltage are derived. Besides the academic interests, these bounds are very useful practically as a convenient guideline for helping quickly design the three-phase boost rectifier. Finally, some illustrative examples are given and some experimental results provided for verifying the derived bounds     

Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass for the International Space Station (ISS-CREAM)

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) instrument is configured with a suite of particle detectors to measure TeV cosmic-ray elemental spectra from protons to iron nuclei over a wide energy range. The goal is to extend direct measurements of cosmic-ray composition to the highest energies practical, and thereby have enough overlap with ground based indirect measurements to answer questions on cosmic-ray origin, acceleration and propagation. The balloon-borne CREAM was flown successfully for about 161 days in six flights over Antarctica to measure elemental spectra of Z = 1–26 nuclei over the energy range 10¹⁰ to >10¹⁴ eV. Transforming the balloon instrument into ISS-CREAM involves identification and replacement of components that would be at risk in the International Space Station (ISS) environment, in addition to assessing safety and mission assurance concerns. The transformation process includes rigorous testing of components to reduce risks and increase survivability on the launch vehicle and operations on the ISS without negatively impacting the heritage of the successful CREAM design. The project status, including results from the ongoing analysis of existing data and, particularly, plans to increase the exposure factor by another order of magnitude utilizing the International Space Station are presented.     

East–West Station-Keeping maneuver strategy for COMS satellite using iterative process

The first Korean multi-mission geostationary satellite, Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) will be launched in 2010. The missions of this satellite will be Ka-band communications, ocean color monitoring, and meteorological imaging. The satellite was designed with only one solar array on the south panel. This novel configuration will keep imaging instruments on the north side from heating up. Asymmetry of the spacecraft configuration requires twice-a-day thruster-based Wheel Off-Loading (WOL) operations to keep the satellite attitude for imaging and communication. Thruster firings during the WOL operations cause the satellite orbit to change two times a day. Weekly East–West Station-Keeping (EWSK) and North–South Station-Keeping (NSSK) maneuver operations are planned for the COMS satellite in order to maintain the satellite in ±0.05° box at 128.2°E longitude.     

A physical interpretation of the jet-like X-ray emission from supernova remnant W49B

In the framework of the study of supernova remnants and their complex interaction with the interstellar medium and the circumstellar material, we focus on the galactic supernova remnant W49B. Its morphology exhibits an X-ray bright elongated nebula, terminated on its eastern end by a sharp perpendicular structure aligned with the radio shell. The X-ray spectrum of W49B is characterized by strong K emission lines from Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe. There is a variation of the temperature in the remnant with the highest temperature found in the eastern side and the lowest one in the western side. The analysis of the recent observations of W49B indicates that the remnant may be the result of an asymmetric bipolar explosion where the ejecta are collimated along a jet-like structure and the eastern jet is hotter and more Fe-rich than the western one. Another possible scenario associates the X-ray emission with a spherical explosion where parts of the ejecta are interacting with a dense belt of ambient material. To overcome this ambiguity we present new results of the analysis of an XMM-Newton observation and we perform estimates of the mass and energy of the remnant. We conclude that the scenario of an anisotropic jet-like explosion explains quite naturally our observation results, but the association of W49B with a hypernova and a γ-ray burst, although still possible, is not directly supported by any evidence.     

Multicomponent receiver architectures for GPS interference suppression

The global positioning system (GPS) is a one-way satellite-based navigation system employing spread-spectrum techniques that is widely used for commercial and military applications. Although the very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is handled by the large spreading gain, GPS is susceptible to high-power interference signals and various types of jammers. We propose multicomponent receiver architectures for GPS interference suppression. A conventional antenna system is first considered which utilizes a minimum-variance distortionless-response (MVDR) beam former and assumes that the GPS signal angle of arrival (AOA) and the antenna model are known at the receiver. However, this receiver is sensitive to AOA estimation errors and can have a high computational complexity. This sensitivity problem is eliminated by a multicomponent system based on a multistage matched filter (MF). Since this MF receiver also has a high computational complexity because the jammer AOAs must be estimated, we introduce a blind interference canceler based on the constant modulus (CM) array that is insensitive to AOA estimation errors and has a low computational complexity. Computer simulations are provided to illustrate the performance of the various systems for interference suppression in example signal scenarios.     

Review of research into the concept of the microblowing technique for turbulent skin friction reduction

A new technology for reducing turbulent skin friction, called the Microblowing Technique (MBT), is presented. Results from proof-of-concept experiments show that this technology could potentially reduce turbulent skin friction by more than 50% of the skin friction of a solid flat plate for subsonic and supersonic flow conditions. The primary purpose of this review paper is to provide readers with information on the turbulent skin friction reduction obtained from many experiments using the MBT. Although the MBT has a penalty for obtaining the microblowing air associated with it, some combinations of the MBT with suction boundary layer control methods are an attractive alternative for a real application. Several computational simulations to understand the flow physics of the MBT are also included. More experiments and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) computations are needed for the understanding of the unsteady flow nature of the MBT and the optimization of this new technology.     

Blind GPS receiver with a modified despreader for interference suppression

The global positioning system (GPS) was designed to provide location estimates for various civilian and military applications using at least four satellites. Since GPS signals have a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), they also have a low signal-to-jammer ratio so that the accuracy of location estimates is influenced by cochannel interference and intentional jammers. We propose a low-complexity blind adaptive receiver that is based on a novel modified despreader and the constant modulus (CM) array. This system is capable of ing directional interference and capturing the GPS signal of interest without requiring explicit angle-of-arrival (AOA) information. We also consider the multiple satellite problem and extend the proposed receiver to capture several GPS signals of interest. Representative computer simulation examples are presented to illustrate the performance of the multicomponent system for the suppression of different jammer types.     

Orbit determination performances using single- and double-differenced methods: SAC-C and KOMPSAT-2

In this paper, Global Positioning System-based (GPS) Orbit Determination (OD) for the KOrea-Multi-Purpose-SATellite (KOMPSAT)-2 using single- and double-differenced methods is studied. The requirement of KOMPSAT-2 orbit accuracy is to allow 1 m positioning error to generate 1-m panchromatic images. KOMPSAT-2 OD is computed using real on-board GPS data. However, the local time of the KOMPSAT-2 GPS receiver is not synchronized with the zero fractional seconds of the GPS time internally, and it continuously drifts according to the pseudorange epochs. In order to resolve this problem, an OD based on single-differenced GPS data from the KOMPSAT-2 uses the tagged time of the GPS receiver, and the accuracy of the OD result is assessed using the overlapping orbit solution between two adjacent days. The clock error of the GPS satellites in the KOMPSAT-2 single-differenced method is corrected using International GNSS Service (IGS) clock information at 5-min intervals. KOMPSAT-2 OD using both double- and single-differenced methods satisfies the requirement of 1-m accuracy in overlapping three dimensional orbit solutions. The results of the SAC-C OD compared with JPL’s POE (Precise Orbit Ephemeris) are also illustrated to demonstrate the implementation of the single- and double-differenced methods using a satellite that has independent orbit information available for validation.