Geometric reasoning under uncertainty for map-based localization

Map-based navigation in outdoor terrain lacking man-made structures or other highly distinctive landmarks can produce severe localization problems. This paper presents an approach to navigation which implements high level geometric reasoning and matching strategies based on those used by skilled human navigators. This approach, which is demonstrated on a real example involving imagery of mountainous terrain obtained with a video camera and USGS map data, is designed to avoid many of the pitfalls occurring when an attempt is made to navigate by modeling the environment mathematically. It exploits feature attributes which cannot be easily expressed quantitatively but are central to the successful human navigation process.     

Earth–Moon libration point orbit stationkeeping: Theory,modeling, and operations

Collinear Earth–Moon libration points have emerged as locations with immediate applications. These libration point orbits are inherently unstable and must be maintained regularly which constrains operations and maneuver locations. Stationkeeping is challenging due to relatively short time scales for divergence, effects of large orbital eccentricity of the secondary body, and third-body perturbations. Using the Acceleration Reconnection and Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) mission orbit as a platform, the fundamental behavior of the trajectories is explored using Poincaré maps in the circular restricted three-body problem. Operational stationkeeping results obtained using the Optimal Continuation Strategy are presented and compared to orbit stability information generated from mode analysis based in dynamical systems theory.     

Eliminating negative VTEC in global ionosphere maps using inequality-constrained least squares

Currently, ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations of the International GNSS Service (IGS) are distributed unevenly around the world. Most of them are located on the mainland, while only a small part of them are scattered on some islands in the oceans. As a consequence, many unreasonable zero values (in fact negative values) appear in Vertical Total Electron Content (VTEC) of European Space Agency (ESA) and Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) IONEX products, especially in 2008 and 2009 when the solar activities were rather quiet. To improve this situation, we directly implement non-negative physical constraints of ionosphere for global ionosphere maps (GIM) with spherical harmonic functions. Mathematically, we propose an inequality-constrained least squares method by imposing non-negative inequality constraints in the areas where negative VTEC values may occur to reconstruct GIM models. We then apply the new method to process the IGS data in 2008. The results have shown that the new algorithm efficiently eliminates the unwanted behavior of negative VTEC values, which could otherwise often be seen in the current CODE and ESA GIM products in both middle and high latitude areas of the Southern Hemisphere (45°S∼90°S) and the Northern Hemisphere (50°N∼90°N). About 64% of GPS receivers’ DCBs have been significantly improved. Finally, we compare the GIM results between with and without the inequality constraints, which has clearly shown that the GIM result with inequality constraints is significantly better than that without the inequality constraints. The inequality-constrained GIM result is also highly consistent with the final IGS products in terms of root mean squared (RMS) and mean VTEC.     

Options for mapping foF2

Available long-term and near-real time global and regional maps of foF2 are examined in relation to telecommunication and aeronomy requirements and recommendations are made for the best present-day maps to adopt. In particular, it is shown that current CCIR maps do not meet all requirements and should not necessarily be regarded as standards against which other mappings should be compared.     

Ionospheric TEC disturbances over China during the strong geomagnetic storm in September 2017

From September 7 to 8, 2017, a G4-level strong geomagnetic storm occurred, which seriously impacted on the Earth’s ionosphere. In this work, the global ionospheric maps released by Chinese Academy of Sciences are used to investigate the ionospheric responses over China and its adjacent regions during the strong storm. The prominent TEC enhancements, which mainly associated with the neutral wind and eastward prompt penetration electric field, are observed at equatorial ionization anomaly crests during the main phase of the storm on 8 September 2017. Compared with those on 8 September, the TEC enhancements move to lower-latitude regions during the recovery phase on 9 September. A moderate storm occurred well before the start of the strong storm causes similar middle-latitude TEC enhancements on 7 September. However, the weak TEC depletion is observed at middle and low latitude on 9–10 September, which could be associated with the prevailing westward disturbance electric field or storm-time neural composition changes. In addition, the storm-time RMS and STD values of the ionospheric TEC grids over China increase significantly due to the major geomagnetic storm. The maximum of the RMS reaches 12.0 TECU, while the maximum of the STD reaches 8.3 TECU at ~04UT on 8 September.     

基于改进深度学习模型的焊缝缺陷检测算法

针对传统深度学习模型在进行焊缝缺陷检测时对小缺陷目标检测效果不理想问题，提出基于改进深度学习Faster RCNN模型的焊缝缺陷检测算法，算法通过多层特征网络提取多尺度特征图并共同作用于模型后续环节，以充分利用模型中的低层特征，增加细节信息；改进模型的区域生成网络，加入多种滑动窗口，从而优化了模型锚点的长宽比设置，提高检测能力。实验表明，改进Faster RCNN模型取得最优的缺陷检测结果，对于小缺陷目标仍取得较好的检测精度，从而验证了算法的有效性。     

Assessment of between-floor structural and topological properties on cognitive map development in multilevel built environments

The present study investigated cognitive map development in multilevel built environments. Three experiments were conducted in complex virtual buildings to examine the effects of five between-floor structural factors that may impede the accuracy of humans’ ability to build multilevel cognitive maps. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 (of three experiments) revealed that difficulties in developing multilevel cognitive maps are not solely caused by the z-axis offset, as is suggested in the literature, but are due to the factorial combination of a between-floor overlap and a z-axis offset. Results from Experiment 2 showed that this process becomes substantially more difficult when the reference directions between different floors have an angular offset from each other. Finally, results from Experiment 3 demonstrated that confusing between-floor heading shifts in aligned buildings did not make it reliably harder to build multilevel cognitive maps. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of theories of mental representations in multilayered three-dimensional spaces, as well as for architectural design.     

The South Pole-Aitken basin region,Moon: GIS-based geologic investigation using Kaguya elemental information

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we performed comparative analysis among stratigraphic information and the Kaguya (SELENE) GRS data of the ∼2500-km-diameter South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin and its surroundings. Results indicate that the surface rock materials (including ancient crater materials, mare basalts, and possible SPA impact melt) are average to slightly elevated in K and Th with respect to the rest of the Moon. Also, this study demonstrates that K and Th have not significantly changed since the formation of SPA. The elemental signatures of the impact basin of Fe, Ti, Si, O through time include evidence for resurfacing by ejecta materials and late-stage volcanism. The oldest surfaces of SPA are found to be oxygen-depleted during the heavy bombardment period relative to later stages of geologic development, followed by both an increase in silicon and oxygen, possibly due to ejecta sourced from outside of SPA, and subsequent modification due to mare basaltic volcanism, which increased iron and titanium within SPA. The influence of the distinct geologic history of SPA and surroundings on the mineralogic and elemental abundances is evident as shown in our investigation.