A Nonlinear Tracker Using Attitude Measurements

The subject of this paper involves tracking the present position of a maneuvering aircraft as well as predicting its future position. A tracking filter is developed that uses aircraft attitude angles (yaw, pitch, roll) in addition to the usual radar measurements. Computer simulation of tracker performance when tracking violently maneuvering aircraft indicates that a dramatic improvement is obtained by using attitude information. The approach taken is to develop a 12-or 15-state extended Kalman filter that models both translational and rotational degrees of freedom. By measuring and estimating attitude it is possible to approximately determine the magnitude and direction of the force system acting on the vehicle and therefore determine vehicle linear acceleration. Knowledge of acceleration is then used to improve the estimate of present and future position of the vehicle being tracked. Simulation of a T-38 aircraft performing a 5 g turn indicates that the new tracker produces maximum trajectory prediction errors that are 36 percent of the errors experienced by more conventional trackers.     

Carrier Tracking by Smoothing Filter Improves Symbol SNR

The potential benefit of using a smoothing filter to estimate a carrier phase over use of phase-locked loops (PLL) is determined. Numerical results are presented for the performance of three possible configurations of an all-digital coherent demodulation receiver. These are residual carrier PLL, sideband-aided residual carrier PLL, and finally sideband aided with Kalman smoother. The average symbol SNR after losses due to carrier phase estimation is computed for different total power SNRs, symbol rates, and symbol SNRs. It is found that smoothing is most beneficial for low symbol SNRs and low symbol rates. Smoothing gains up to 0.7 dB over sideband-aided residual carrier PLL, and the combined benefit of smoothing and sideband aiding relative to residual carrier loop is often in excess of 1 dB.     

Improved Switching Converter Model Using Discrete and Averaging Techniques

The nonlinear modeling and analysis of dc-dc converters has been done by averaging and discrete-sampling techniques. The averaging technique is simple, but inaccurate, as the modulation frequencies approach the theoretical limit of one-half the switching frequency. The discrete technique is accurate even at high frequencies, but is very complex and cumbersome. An improved model is developed by combining the aforementioned techniques. This new model is easy to implement in circuit and state variable forms and is accurate to the theoretical limit.     

Investigations of Stability & Dynamic Performances of a Current-Injected Regulator

The stability and dynamic performances of a buck/boost regulator employing a current-injected control are examined. Small-signal models for the power state, the multiloop error processor, and the duty-cycle pulse modulator are developed. The error-processor model which incorporates the current-injected loop, the dc loop, and the compensation network permits evaluation of the effects of each individual control loop and their combined efforts toward shaping the performance characteristics of the closed-loop system. Comparisons are made between this modeling approach and earlier approaches. Some important yet subtle dissimilarities are discussed. This model predicts the constant-frequency 50-percent duty-cycle instability which is inherent to the current-injected control.     

An Optimally Integrated Track Recovery System for Aerial Bathymetry

An airborne system has been developed for charting shallow coastal and inland waters. The primary components of this system are an aerial survey camera, a profiling laser radar, an analytical stereo plotter, and a multisensor track recovery system (TRS). The TRS comprises a gimbaled inertial navigation system and a number of auxiliary sensors which acquire redundant position and attitude information. The sensor data are combined postmission using a U-D factorized Kalman filter and modified Bryson-Frazier smoother to compute accurate estimates of the orientation parameters of the survey camera at the times of film exposure. These parameters are used to position each overlapping pair of photographs on the analytical plotter to form a stereo image and corresonding analytical stereomodel from which water depth measurements are made. Flight trial results demonstrate that the TRS can achieve radial position and attitude accuracies which exceed 1 m and 2 arcmin root mean square (rms), respectively, and that this level of performance is sufficient to enable water depth measurements to be made to an accuracy of better than 0.65 m (rms).     

Design of the HEAO Main Bus Shunt Regulator

The High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) main bus regulator contains a redundant error amplifier (REA) and a 12-section sequenced shunt transconductance amplifier (STA) in which not more than three and not less than one shunt section are in an active control mode regardless of a failure in any one of the twelve sections. The part of the work concerned with the shaping of the frequency response of the REA and STA minor feedback loops and of the teolator major feedback loop is described. Emphasis is on the application of a general design technique embodying a "design-analyze-measure iteration loop," in which a first-cut design and analysis is corrected ard improved after experimental observation of discrepancies and deficiencies. In particular, an incipient high-frequency oscillation was thereby reliably eliminated. It is demonstrated that analysis techniques involving a minimum of algebra can provide full quantitative information on an efficient and reliable system design.     

A Functionally Redundant Altimeter

A scheme to provide redundant sensor data in an automatic control system using the principle of functional redundancy is described. Normally there are three redundant radar altimeters used in the terminal phase of automatic landing of jet transport airplanes. This scheme replaces one of these altimeters with a data processing scheme based on a Kalman filter. The filter is driven by altitude rate and acceleration signals from the air data computer and vertical accelerometer. A special initialization technique employs the two altimeter signals. The feasibility of this scheme is indicated by tests in which data obtained from these several sensors during flight tests are used to drive the functionally redundant altimeter.     

Limiting Performance of Generalized Sign Test Detector

The limiting performance of the generalized sign test detector as the number M of target returns becomes infinite has been derived by Hansen and Olsen [1]. Simple expressions are derived herein for the limiting performance for finite M as K, the number of noise samples in the reference set, becomes infinite. Curves are presented which indicate how this limiting performance is approached as K is increased for both constant target returns and fluctuating target returns.     

Determining rotation rates from light curves: RW Mon and RW Tau

We present light curve solutions for the non-synchronously rotating Algols RW Mon and RW Tau, and we illustrate how rotation rates are determined from light curves. We find RW Mon's primary component to spin at about 5 times the synchronous rate, which confirms the indication of fast rotation from reported emission line activity. RW Tau turns out to be only a mildly rapidly rotating Algol system, and our light curve solutions do not yield any firm value for the rotation rate of the primary component. It is suggested that continued efforts should be made to do good quality line broadening studies in order to find rotation rates for systems with only modest degrees of rapid rotation, and in order to further test photometric rotation rates against those of line broadening studies.     

The crab-like supernova remnants

About twenty galactic supernova remnants contain, or are suspected to contain, internal neutron stars. These are observed as pulsing sources or through radiation from surrounding synchrotron nebulae. The Crab Nebula is the most famous example. Similar, but less luminous, nebulae have been identified through radio and X-ray morphology and spectra. This review emphasizes the X-ray observations and is based on images obtained with the Einstein Observatory. These images are illustrated for most remnants and some have not been published previously.There is a great variety of observed characteristics. A typical SNR in this class appears as a patchy shell of hot gas with a contribution from an energetic pulsar at the center. Both the luminosity of the shell and the luminosity powered by the pulsar can vary over a wide range. Remnants reviewed range from the Crab, in which the pulsar-powered component is overwhelming, to RCW 103, in which a central object is marginally observed through a bright shell.