Analysis and Design of Series Resonant Converter by State-Plane Diagram

Analysis based on the state-plane diagram is given for series resonant converters operating in the frequency range 0.5 ? fs/fo ? 1.0. When the voltages and currents in the converter are normalized, design parameters take on special geometric meanings in the normalized state diagram. Examples of converter design using graphical methods are given for the cases of ? and ? control. Control characteristics of the converter operating in the continuous conduction mode are derived. The concept of the energy reflection coefficient is introduced as a measure of power transfer efficiency in the converter design.     

Composition Variations in the Solar Corona and Solar Wind

Order of magnitude variations in relative elemental abundances are observed in the solar corona and solar wind. The instruments aboard SOHO make it possible to explore these variations in detail to determine whether they arise near the solar surface or higher in the corona. A substantial enhancement of low First Ionization Potential (FIP) elements relative to high FIP elements is often seen in both the corona and the solar wind, and that must arise in the chromosphere. Several theoretical models have been put forward to account for the FIP effect, but as yet even the basic physical mechanism responsible remains an open question. Evidence for gravitational settling is also found at larger heights in quiescent streamers. The question is why the heavier elements don't settle out completely. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Soho Observations of Density Fluctuations in Coronal Holes

In recent UVCS/SOHO White Light Channel (WLC) observations we found quasi-periodic variations in the polarized brightness (pB) in the polar coronal holes at heliocentric distances of 1.9 to 2.45 solar radii. The motivation for the observation is the 2.5D MHD model of solar wind acceleration by nonlinear waves, that predicts compressive fluctuations in coronal holes. In February 1998 we performed new observations using the UVCS/WLC in the coronal hole and obtained additional data. The new data corroborate our earlier findings with higher statistical significance. The new longer observations show that the power spectrum peaks in the 10–12 minute range. These timescales agree with EIT observations of brightness fluctuations in polar plumes. We performed preliminary LASCO/C2 observations in an effort to further establish the coronal origin of the fluctuations. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Radarsat Antarctic Mapping Mission

The Radarsat Earth-observation satellite was launched on November 4, 1995 aboard a Delta 2 rocket. Equipped with a sophisticated synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Radarsat can produce images of extraordinary clarity even through clouds, smog, haze, smoke, and darkness. The SAR has a variety of operating modes. It can be adjusted to produce swathes between 35 and 500 km in width, with ground resolutions from 100 m to as low as eight. In addition, the beam can be steered at angles up to 49° from the satellite's nadir vector, giving it the unique ability to image areas it is not directly overflying. In exchange for the launch, CSA agreed to provide NASA with access to the SAR data, and to execute a 180° yaw-around of Radarsat twice during its lifetime to map the Antarctic continent. Preliminary results from the first of these Antarctic Mapping Missions, dubbed AMM-1, are presented     

Optical guidance for autonomous landing of spacecraft

An autonomous rendezvous guidance scheme for spacecraft to descend to small celestial bodies by using optical information is presented. First, a new guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) method based on fixation-point (FP) inheritance is proposed. A spacecraft can safely descend toward the target point on the celestial body by tracking and autonomously renewing the FPs on the surface. Next, we deal with the method of extracting the FPs. A spatial band-pass filter (BPF) is applied to pictures taken to enhance features having comparable size with the tracking window. Local variance of the filtered image is used as a criterion of the extraction. Then, the relative information between the spacecraft and the celestial body (position, velocity, attitude, etc.) is calculated from the image coordinates and the range measurements of the FPs from the spacecraft. To suppress observation noise and improve navigation accuracy, an application of the extended Kalman filter is also presented. Finally, simulations are conducted to verify the guidance precision and the fuel consumption of the proposed guidance scheme     

Small satellite access of the Space Network

Small satellites have been perceived as having limited access to NASA's Space Network (SN). The potential for satellite access of the Space Network when the design utilizes a fixed antenna configuration and low-power, coded transmission is analyzed. From the analysis, satellites using this configuration in high-inclination orbits are shown to have a daily data throughput in the 100 to 1000 Mbit range using the multiple access communications service     

A study of some interplanetary shock wave tendencies

The configuration, and the structure of shock waves from isolated solar flares and from a series of flares are discussed and classified.An invited paper presented at STIP Workshop on Shock Waves in the Solar Corona and Interplanetary Space, 15–19 June, 1980, Smolenice, Czechoslovakia.     

Calculating Detection Probabilities for Systems Employing Noncoherent Integration

Cumulative probability distributions that occur in radar and sonar detection problems are calculated directly from the characteristic function by using a Fourier series. The error in the result is controlled by two parameters which can be adjusted to suit the application. The technique is applied to the problem of determining the detection performance of consecutive discrete Fourier transforms (DFTs) for a narrowband Gaussian signal with a rectangular spectrum. Since the characteristic function is used directly in its product form this technique does not suffer from the numerical problems associated with the partial fraction approach. The technique can handle many different problems in a single computational structure making it a valuable tool in system performance studies.