Cancellation of Unwanted Spectral Components in an FM Multivibrator System

The performance of FM multivibrator systems for high quality communications applications is limited by the presence of unwanted spectral components. A theory is presented for an improved system in which unwanted spectral components are cancelled, achieved by generating a cancelling component in a square-law device. The cancelling component tracks the unwanted component in both frequency and amplitude over a wide bandwidth of signal frequencies. Reductions in magnitude of the unwanted components by at least 16 dB are predicted; reductions of better than 14 dB have been achieved in practice.     

A two-phase mixture drift flow in the vertical cylindrical channel

The mathematical models of the solid-liquid flow regimes in the vertical cylindrical channel are described. A two-speed flow based on the solid-liquid phase interaction is considered. The problem was numerically solved and the calculation results were compared with experimental data.     

The Effects of Notch Filters on the Correlation Properties of a PN Signal

With wideband pseudo-noise (PN) communications systems, it is sometimes desirable to supplement the inherent interference rejection capabilities by adding notch filters to attenuate relatively narrowband interference. This correspondence presents an investigation of the effects of notch filters on the performance of PN correlation receivers. A theoretical analysis of the correlation drop due to filter distortion has been conducted and confirmed by experimentation. Additional measurements and analysis have established the trade-off between correlation drop and interference suppression as a function of interference bandwidth. A typical result is that by incurring a penalty of a 1-dB drop in correlation peak, interfering signals having bandwidths of 2 to 3 percent of the PN chip rate can be attenuated by 25 dB.     

Automatic Light Control Electro-Optical CCDTV Systems

For electro-optical TV systems, a simplified method of analysis has been developed for an automatic light control (ALC) loop preliminary ary design and performance trade-offs. With iris and shutter control mechanization incorporated, not only does the input light range increase, but the video response overshoot and settling time are reduced as well. This study shows that the appealing notion of heavily damped response is not often true, particularly in the realtime ime airto-ground surveillance of targets with varying backgrounds. In addition, with exponential and geometric feedback functions introduced, the resultant ALC dynamics are independent of the input light level. To verify the assumptions made and to demonstrate the feasibility of a working model, a complete system simulation is performed.     

Loss from Approximations to Square-Law Detectors in Quadrature Systems with Postdetection Integration

The trend toward digital processing of radar and sonar signals has ledto the use of ?baseband? or bipolar video signals. The processingof both the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) channels generally allows an exact representation of the signals, and no loss of sensitivity need occur. However, for reasons of economy or weight only one channel is often implemented. This correspondence shows that the sensitivity loss for this case often deviates considerably from the 3-dB rule of thumb.     

A Microwave Hologram Radar System

An airborne microwave hologram radar system has been developed which is a two-dimensional analog to optical holography. The field of view of the radar is directly below and to either side of the aircraft. Resolution is realized in the along-track direction by utilizing the synthetic aperture technique, and in the cross-track direction by means of a phased receiving array. The theory of operation is summarized, the demonstration system is described, and results for both the normal and contouring modes of operation are presented.     

Planning, implementation and optimization of future space missions using an immersive visualization environment (IVE) machine

Beginning in 1995, a team of 3-D engineering visualization experts assembled at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company and began to develop innovative virtual prototyping simulation tools for performing ground processing and real-time visualization of design and planning of aerospace missions. At the University of Colorado, a team of 3-D visualization experts also began developing the science of 3-D visualization and immersive visualization at the newly founded British Petroleum (BP) Center for visualization, which began operations in October, 2001. BP acquired ARCO in the year 2000 and awarded the 3-D flexible IVE developed by ARCO (beginning in 1990) to the University of Colorado, CU, the winner in a competition among 6 Universities. CU then hired Dr. G. Dorn, the leader of the ARCO team as Center Director, and the other experts to apply 3-D immersive visualization to aerospace and to other University Research fields, while continuing research on surface interpretation of seismic data and 3-D volumes. This paper recounts further progress and outlines plans in Aerospace applications at Lockheed Martin and CU.     

Haze aerosols in the atmosphere of early Earth: manna from heaven

An organic haze layer in the upper atmosphere of Titan plays a crucial role in the atmospheric composition and climate of that moon. Such a haze layer may also have existed on the early Earth, providing an ultraviolet shield for greenhouse gases needed to warm the planet enough for life to arise and evolve. Despite the implications of such a haze layer, little is known about the organic material produced under early Earth conditions when both CO(2) and CH(4) may have been abundant in the atmosphere. For the first time, we experimentally demonstrate that organic haze can be generated in different CH(4)/CO(2) ratios. Here, we show that haze aerosols are able to form at CH(4) mixing ratios of 1,000 ppmv, a level likely to be present on early Earth. In addition, we find that organic hazes will form at C/O ratios as low as 0.6, which is lower than the predicted value of unity. We also show that as the C/O ratio decreases, the organic particles produced are more oxidized and contain biologically labile compounds. After life arose, the haze may thus have provided food for biota.