2001 Mars Odyssey Mission Summary

The 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, now in orbit at Mars, will observe the Martian surface at infrared and visible wavelengths to determine surface mineralogy and morphology, acquire global gamma ray and neutron observations for a full Martian year, and study the Mars radiation environment from orbit. The science objectives of this mission are to: (1) globally map the elemental composition of the surface, (2) determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface, (3) acquire high spatial and spectral resolution images of the surface mineralogy, (4) provide information on the morphology of the surface, and (5) characterize the Martian near-space radiation environment as related to radiation-induced risk to human explorers. To accomplish these objectives, the 2001 Mars Odyssey science payload includes a Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), a multi-spectral Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), and a radiation detector, the Martian Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS and MARIE are mounted on the spacecraft with THEMIS pointed at nadir. GRS is a suite of three instruments: a Gamma Subsystem (GSS), a Neutron Spectrometer (NS) and a High-Energy Neutron Detector (HEND). The HEND and NS instruments are mounted on the spacecraft body while the GSS is on a 6-m boom. Some science data were collected during the cruise and aerobraking phases of the mission before the prime mission started. THEMIS acquired infrared and visible images of the Earth-Moon system and of the southern hemisphere of Mars. MARIE monitored the radiation environment during cruise. The GRS collected calibration data during cruise and aerobraking. Early GRS observations in Mars orbit indicated a hydrogen-rich layer in the upper meter of the subsurface in the Southern Hemisphere. Also, atmospheric densities, scale heights, temperatures, and pressures were observed by spacecraft accelerometers during aerobraking as the spacecraft skimmed the upper portions of the Martian atmosphere. This provided the first in-situ evidence of winter polar warming in the Mars upper atmosphere. The prime mission for 2001 Mars Odyssey began in February 2002 and will continue until August 2004. During this prime mission, the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft will also provide radio relays for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European landers in early 2004. Science data from 2001 Mars Odyssey instruments will be provided to the science community via NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS). The first PDS release of Odyssey data was in October 2002; subsequent releases occur every 3 months.     

Development of airborne moving target radar for long range surveillance

The following topics are discussed in the context of the development of an airborne moving target radar for long range surveillance: US Navy long range shipborne radar; Cadillac I airborne early warning (AEW) radar; Cadillac II airborne early warning (AEW) radar; airborne moving target indicating (AMTI) radar; related post-war radar activities; and the invention of the displaced center antenna. Among the topics studied is the use of a monopulse antenna in an MTI radar to remove the degradation of the MTI caused by rapid scanning of the antenna. A method of using a monopulse antenna for motion compensation in airborne MTI is discussed.<>     

Radar Handbook, 3rd Edition (M.I. Skolnik, Ed; 2008) [Book Review]

Thirty eight radar experts contribute to this edition, which includes six completely new chapters on the following topics: ground penetrating radar; remote sensing with radar on satellites; multifunctional radar systems for fighter aircraft (MFAR); digital signal processing for radar; civil marine radar; and propagation. Each chapter contains references, ranging from 10 to 197, with a median of 71. The index runs 18 pages printed in double columns, but is not necessarily complete. Some topics, such as MIMO radar and long range radars to track satellites and ballistic missiles, will have to wait for a 4th edition. This text is the most authoritative, broadest, and deepest single volume on radar. The emphasis is on real world performance and real hardware that has been tested and works successfully in the real world, and the physics relevant to radar systems, as well as radar system engineering cost tradeoffs.     

FOPEN SAR imaging using UWB step-frequency and random noisewaveforms

The detection and identification of targets obscured by foliage have been topics of great interest. Several synthetic aperture radar (SAR) experiments have demonstrated promising images of terrain and man-made objects obscured by dense foliage, by using either linear frequency modulation (LFM) or step-frequency waveforms. We present here the methodology and results of a comparative study on foliage penetration (FOPEN) SAR imaging using ultrawideband (UWB) step-frequency and random noise waveforms. A statistical-physical foliage transmission model is developed for simulation applications. The foliage obscuring pattern is analyzed by means of the technique of paired echoes. The results of the comparative study demonstrates the ability of a UHF band UWB random noise radar to be used as a FOPEN SAR. Advantages of the random noise radar system include covert detection and immunity to radio frequency interference (RFI)     

Cryogenic rocket engine research within the National Technology Program TEKAN at the German Aerospace Center

The paper presents the highlights and a summary report of the research activities on cryogenic propulsion at the German Aerospace Center in Lampoldshausen within the National Technology Program. The research is conducted in cooperation with European industries and research establishments. The German National Technology Programme on Cryogenic Rocket Engines TEKAN, which is presented here, is a joint DLR/Astrium GmbH project with the aim to provide key technologies for future cryogenic rocket engines. The research work at the German Aerospace Center is focused on the injector, combustor, and nozzle technology and related topics.     

机载预警雷达技术发展探析

分析了世界各国预警雷达发展概况,分别对一至四代预警雷达的功能等进行了研究;论述了新一代预警雷达的工作原理、雷达组成、功能、工作过程和技术特点;指出了机载预警雷达未来发展的关键技术,包括有源相控阵雷达技术、数字阵列雷达技术、共形相控阵技术,双/多频段雷达技术及先进的信号处理技术等。     

可靠性全局灵敏度求解的Meta-IS-AK算法

可靠性全局灵敏度（GRS）可以衡量输入变量对结构系统失效概率的平均影响,但目前仍然缺乏具有广泛适应性的高效算法。针对此问题,本文将在元重要抽样和可靠性全局灵敏度的贝叶斯算法基础上建立一种新的高效算法。所提算法首先利用已有的贝叶斯算法,将可靠性全局灵敏度转换成由无条件失效概率及输入变量失效域条件下的概率密度函数（PDF）表达的形式,然后分3步来完成算法的组织。第1步是利用元重要抽样的迭代策略抽取失效域的重要抽样样本;第2步是在已有的元重要抽样法中嵌入自适应Kriging模型,高效计算出无条件失效概率;第3步是利用Metropolis-Hastings准则,将失效域的重要抽样样本转化成为原始密度函数在失效域的样本点,进而同时求得各个输入变量在失效域中的条件概率密度函数,并最终求得可靠性全局灵敏度。由于所提算法充分利用了已有的可靠性全局灵敏度贝叶斯算法的维度独立性、元重要抽样法对隐式多失效域的适应性以及元重要抽样法中嵌入式Kriging模型的高效性,因此所提算法具有广泛的适用范围和较高的效率,该结论得到了算例结果的充分验证。     

Incoherent Scatter Plasma Lines: Observations and Applications

Space plasmas are host to the electrostatic Langmuir waves and a rich range of processes associated with them. Many of such processes that are of interest in micro-scale plasma physics and magnetosphere-ionosphere physics are open to investigation via incoherent scatter plasma lines—i.e., a pair of resonant peaks in the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) spectrum, symmetrically displaced from the radar transmitting frequency by about the plasma frequency, as the signature of Langmuir waves in the ISR spectrum. There now exists a large body of literature devoted to the investigation of a number of topics in ionospheric physics via plasma line theory and observation. It is the goal of this work to provide a comprehensive review of this literature, from the early theoretical works on oscillations in magnetized plasma to the recent advances in plasma line measurements and applications. This review includes detailed theoretical discussions on the intensity and frequency displacement of plasma lines. It reviews the experimental observations of plasma lines enhanced by various sources of energy and discusses the implications of the observations in the context of ionospheric physics. The review also covers the practical aspects of plasma line measurements, from measurement techniques to the applications of plasma lines in estimating the bulk parameters of the ionosphere.     

Radar technology in the Czech Republic

A contemporary status of radar technology in the Czech Republic is reviewed in this paper. We may find activity in many different directions in this field now. Those are: new primary radar development both for military and civil application, primary and secondary radar upgrades, new passive radar development for civil application, ELINT and ESM equipment, intruding alarm radar sensors for commercial application/high mass production, radar warning and seeking receivers and military targets RCS minimization.     

Angle/Doppler estimation in heavy-tailed clutter backgrounds

This work describes new methods on the modeling of the amplitude statistics of airborne radar clutter by means of alpha-stable distributions. We develop joint target angle and Doppler, maximum likelihood-based estimation techniques from radar measurements retrieved in the presence of impulsive uncorrelated noise modeled as an alpha-stable random process. We derive the Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs) for the additive Cauchy interference scenario to assess the best case estimation accuracy which can be achieved. In addition, we introduce a new joint spatial- and Doppler-frequency high-resolution estimation technique based on the fractional lower order statistics of the measurements of a radar array. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods can be of interest in the study of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne pulse Doppler radar arrays operating in impulsive interference environments     

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO): Observations for Lunar Exploration and Science

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was implemented to facilitate scientific and engineering-driven mapping of the lunar surface at new spatial scales and with new remote sensing methods, identify safe landing sites, search for in situ resources, and measure the space radiation environment. After its successful launch on June 18, 2009, the LRO spacecraft and instruments were activated and calibrated in an eccentric polar lunar orbit until September 15, when LRO was moved to a circular polar orbit with a mean altitude of 50 km. LRO will operate for at least one year to support the goals of NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD), and for at least two years of extended operations for additional lunar science measurements supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD). LRO carries six instruments with associated science and exploration investigations, and a telecommunications/radar technology demonstration. The LRO instruments are: Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER), Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment (DLRE), Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP), Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND), Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA), and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). The technology demonstration is a compact, dual-frequency, hybrid polarity synthetic aperture radar instrument (Mini-RF). LRO observations also support the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), the lunar impact mission that was co-manifested with LRO on the Atlas V (401) launch vehicle. This paper describes the LRO objectives and measurements that support exploration of the Moon and that address the science objectives outlined by the National Academy of Science’s report on the Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon (SCEM). We also describe data accessibility by the science and exploration community.     

Making technology work in World War II

The role played during World War II by small band of airman, hidden from public knowledge in a remote part of China, in bringing about victory over Japan is examined. Their actions represented the first major uses of airborne radar by the United States. The ways in which the group dealt with the challenge of turning the new technology of radar, which had just emerged from the laboratory, into an unusually effective weapon, is described by an officer who was responsible for preparing for the first maintenance of the equipment, implementing the maintenance, and contributing the technical expertise to the planning and evaluation of the operation. The low-altitude radar bombsight, AN/APQ-5 (LAB), designed to provide an electronic analog to the Norden high-altitude optical bombsight, is also described     

The design of digital radar receivers

With the development of digital processing technology, there are emerging trends toward digitization in radar receivers design. By applying direct intermediate frequency-to-digital conversion (IF sampling) and direct digital synthesis (DDS), digital radar receivers can be designed. The digital radar receivers can obtain much higher precision and stability than analog ones; moreover, it can retain the extreme flexibility of digital techniques. This paper presents the principle, constitution and design method of digital radar receivers     

Improved target classification using optimum polarimetric SARsignatures

We present a new method for automatic target/object classification by using the optimum polarimetric radar signatures of the targets/objects of interest. The state-of-the-art in radar target recognition is based mostly either on the use of single polarimetric pairs or on the four preset pairs of orthogonal polarimetric signatures. Due to these limitations, polarimetric radar processing has been fruitful only in the area of noise suppression and target detection. The use of target separability criteria for the optimal selection of radar signal state of polarizations is addressed here. The polarization scattering matrix is used for the derivation of target signatures at arbitrary transmit and receive polarization states (arbitrary polarization inclination angles and ellipticity angles). Then, an optimization criterion that minimizes the within-class distance and maximizes the between-class metrics is used for the derivation of optimum sets of polarimetric states. The results of the application of this approach on real synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data of military vehicles are obtained. The results show that noticeable improvements in target separability and consequently target classification can be achieved by the use of the optimum over nonoptimum signatures     

Hardware-in-the-loop simulation technology of wide-band radar targets based on scattering center model

Hardware-in-the-loop(HWIL) simulation technology can verify and evaluate the radar by simulating the radio frequency environment in an anechoic chamber. The HWIL simulation technology of wide-band radar targets can accurately generate wide-band radar target echo which stands for the radar target scattering characteristics and pulse modulation of radar transmitting signal. This paper analyzes the wide-band radar target scattering properties first. Since the responses of target are composed of many separate scattering centers, the target scattering characteristic is restructured by scattering centers model. Based on the scattering centers model of wide-band radar target, the wide-band radar target echo modeling and the simulation method are discussed. The wide-band radar target echo is reconstructed in real-time by convoluting the transmitting signal to the target scattering parameters. Using the digital radio frequency memory(DRFM) system,the HWIL simulation of wide-band radar target echo with high accuracy can be actualized. A typical wide-band radar target simulation is taken to demonstrate the preferable simulation effect of the reconstruction method of wide-band radar target echo. Finally, the radar target time-domain echo and high-resolution range profile(HRRP) are given. The results show that the HWIL simulation gives a high-resolution range distribution of wide-band radar target scattering centers.     

Advances in non-linear apodization

Selected new methods and applications of non-linear apodization for irregularly-shaped and parse coherent apertures and arrays are presented. The benefits include unproved impulse response performance, i.e., reduced peak sidelobes and integrated sidelobe power, along with improved mainlobe resolution, compared to classic windowing techniques. Nonlinear apodization (NLA) techniques can also serve as powerful engines for effective superresolution and bandwidth extrapolation of coherent data for filling sparse apertures. The sparse aperture filling property of superresolution algorithms for radar data forms the basis for a new concept which is introduced here: synthetic multiple aperture radar technology (SMART). Increased swath and/or reduced antenna size are some of the benefits postulated for SMART applied to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems. The benefits of these new methods and applications for nonlinear apodization are then demonstrated for two specific applications: 1) sidelobe control for Y-type synthetic aperture radiometers, such as the European Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) system (Kerr et al.) and JPL's proposed GeoSTAR (Lambrigsten) concept; and, 2) filling of sparse synthetic aperture radar data by exploiting the bandwidth extrapolation properties of nonlinear apodization based superresolution techniques. The methods that have been developed and demonstrated herein have potential application to a wide range of passive and active microwave remote sensing and radar systems.     

某型多卜勒雷达频率调制转换基准插件的FPGA实现

某型多卜勒导航雷达广泛应用于军事和民用领域,调制转换基准插件是其核心部件之一。本文介绍一种采用数字控制振荡器的设计技术,利用FPGA实现调制转换基准插件功能,从而代替了原来的模拟部件,解决了设备的维护问题。     

The German civil aeronautics programme

The German Federal Government decided in 1999 to continue to support the BMWi-aeronautics research and technology programme for another 4 year period until 2002. The Federal States (Bundesländer) participate in this programme with specific projects of their regional industry and science. Industry is project partner on a cost share basis. Complementarily, the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) is responsible for the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) and its institutional support.     

Review of Airport Surface Movement Radar Technology

Runway incursion is defined by the FAA as "any occurrence at an airport involving an aircraft, vehicle, person or object on the ground that creates collision hazard or results in a loss of separation with an aircraft taking off, intending to take off, landing or intending to land." A summary of how severe this problem is can be found in a 2001 hearing before the Subcommittee on Aviation. Surface movement radar (SMR) technology has evolved over the years as part of an effort to mitigate runway incursion risks and enhance airport capacity. Surface movement surveillance systems of various types have been installed in major airports as early as the 1960s, and have kept evolving. The most recent system currently being deployed in the US by the FAA is the airport surface movement detection equipment model X (ASDE-X) system. In this system, unlike previous systems, the surface movement radar is just one of several sensors that are used in addition to transponder multilateration and GPS-based position reports, referred to as automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast or ADS-B; however, the SMR is a key subsystem. This paper contains an overview of the state-of-the-art SMR technology and provides an introduction on the use of radar technology for this commercial application. It focuses on the architecture, characteristics and technology of the radar sensor, the characteristics of the clutter and how it affects the performance, effects of multipath, automatic detection and comparison of several sensor architectures. Sensis Corporation has recently completed the testing of a new, improved SMR, which is now part of ASDE-X system. This paper summarizes the main features of this radar     

雷达网中采用的关键技术研究

分析了军用雷达面临的四大威胁,指出了雷达网的优势及组成,对雷达网中的新技术进行了研究。