Magnetic field experiment for Voyagers 1 and 2

The magnetic field experiment to be carried on the Voyager 1 and 2 missions consists of dual low field (LFM) and high field magnetometer (HFM) systems. The dual systems provide greater reliability and, in the case of the LFM's, permit the separation of spacecraft magnetic fields from the ambient fields. Additional reliability is achieved through electronics redundancy. The wide dynamic ranges of ± 0.5 G for the LFM's and ± 20 G for the HFM's, low quantization uncertainty of ± 0.002 ( = 10^–5 G) in the most sensitive (± 8 ) LFM range, low sensor RMS noise level of 0.006 , and use of data compaction schemes to optimize the experiment information rate all combine to permit the study of a broad spectrum of phenomena during the mission. Objectives include the study of planetary fields at Jupiter, Saturn, and possibly Uranus; satellites of these planets; solar wind and satellite interactions with the planetary fields; and the large-scale structure and microscale characteristics of the interplanetary magnetic, field. The interstellar field may also be measured.     

Detection of Narrowband Signals Using Time-Domain Adaptive Filters

The detection performance of a conventional narrowband analyzer is compared with two adaptive processor mechanizations based on the Widrow least mean squares algorithm. Comparisons are based on both analysis and extensive digital simulation. With a narrowband signal in stationary, white background noise, the performance of the three systems is shown to be essentially the same. With nonstationary background noise, the performance of the conventional system degrades by an amount proportional to the processing time-bandwidth product. The adaptive systems appear to be less sensitive to the nonstationary background, resulting in a potential performance advantage relative to the conventional system.     

Neutron measurements in space

The experimental measurements of the neutron flux and energy spectrum in space since 1964 are reviewed and related to the theoretical predictions. A discussion of the neutron sources is presented. The difficulties associated with neutron measurements of both the atmospheric neutron leakage flux and solar neutrons are included. Particular emphasis is placed upon the neutron leakage flux and energy measurements at energies greater than about 1 MeV. The possibilities of CRAND as a source for the energetic trapped protons are discussed in light of recent measurements of the 10–100 MeV neutron flux. The current status of the solar neutron flux observations is also presented.The primary purposes of neutron measurements in space have been to determine the neutron leakage flux from the atmosphere of the Earth and the solar neutron flux. As a consequence of the inefficient methods for neutron detection and the difficulties of conducting the measurements in the presence of the galactic and solar cosmic-ray backgrounds, the experimental results are very conflicting. It is the purpose of this review to interpret and discuss recent neutron measurements. In order to understand these results the theoretical predictions of the neutron fluxes and energy spectra from possible neutron sources will be briefly presented. Since comparisons of the different neutron measurements depend critically upon the experimental techniques, we will briefly discuss neutron detection methods applicable to space measurements. The emphasis will be upon measurements since 1964 made outside the Earth's atmosphere, but considerable reference will be made to high energy neutron experiments conducted within the Earth's atmosphere at < 10g cm^-2 altitude. A review of earlier neutron measurements of terrestrial and solar neutrons has been made by Haymes (1965).     

A Note on CEPs

Simple analytical approximations are presented for normalized CEPs resulting from biased errors, and from unequal orthogonal variances, which are otherwise given only in the form of curves.     

Wave-particle interactions and their relevance to substorms

Wave-particle effects are implicit in most models of radial diffusion and energization of Van Allen belt particles; they were explicitly used in the wave turbulence model for trapped particle precipitation and trapped flux limitations by Kennel and Petschek, Cornwall and by many others. Liemohn used wave-particle interactions to work out a theory of path-integrated whistler amplification process to explain the lack of large per-hop attenuation of multiple-hop LF whistlers.Others have now used wave-particle interactions to construct theories of ELF and VLF chorus. In the present paper we shall review the observations and some of the pertinent theoretical interpretations of wave-particle effects as they relate to substorm and storm-time phenomena. If substorms develop as a result of magnetic merging, then it seems clear that wave-particle interactions in the dissipative or so-called diffusion region of the reconnection zone may be of great importance. The plasma sheet thinning and flow towards the Earth lead inevitably to the development of particle distribution functions that contain free energy in a pitch-angle anisotropy. Such free energy can be released via plasma wave instabilities. The subsequent wave-particle interactions can result in both strong and weak diffusion of particles into loss cones with consequent precipitation fluxes into the auroral zone. Ring current proton spectra also should be unstable against various plasma instabilities with consequent ring current decay and precipitations. Wave-particle interactions must play some important roles in auroral arcs, electrojets and other phenomena related to substorms. These aspects of wave-Paticle interaction will be covered     

Range Sidelobe Suppression for Barker Codes

The utility of Barker-type phase-reversal codes is extended by the use of sidelobe suppression techniques that can be easily implemented in digital form. It is shown that sidelobe suppression techniques can be found where the tapped delay line used to reduce the sidelobes has only a few distinct tap weights, in which case the complexity of the digital processor is greatly reduced. An example is given where the technique is applied to Barker codes with positive sidelobes, specifically, the 13-element Barker code. If higher pulse compression factors are desired than are obtainable with Barker codes, multistage Barker codes may be used. The sidelobes then may be suppressed for any one or all of the different coding stages.     

The White Sands Range and Range-Rate System

This paper discusses the concept, design, and design verification of the White Sands Range and Range-Rate System. Development of the system has been completed only through the design phase. The system is designed to meet requirements for high-accuracy midcourse tracking under severe target dynamics at the White Sands Missile Range. It is a multistatic Doppler and range tracker which operates at X band and incorporates transmitter, transponder, receiver, and baseline subsystems. The transmitter includes specially designed digital circuitry to synthesize test signals for target simulation during checkout of the system. The transponder signal is processed by a receiver which has been established theoretically to be the optimum realizable processor of continuous tracking data. The receiver incorporates specially designed carrier acquisition circuitry and digital VCO, and directly provides digital Doppler and tone phase data to facilitate real-time processing. The system utilizes data from other tracking systems at the Range for spatial acquisition, for aiding carrier acquisition in the receiver, and for resolving range ambiguities.     

Computed Performance of Glide Slope Arrays on Sites with Limited Ground Plane

The computed performance of four different types of glide slope transmitting arrays sited over idealized ground planes consisting of one-dimensional perfectly conducting strips of various lengths in free space is presented. The idealized ground plane approximates the practical case of a site consisting of an expanse of relatively flat ground plane ending in a precipitous dropoff or in rough diffusely reflecting terrain. The computed results show several phenomena which have repeatedly been observed.     

Physical studies of the planetary rings

In this review paper, the physical properties of the Saturnian and Uranian rings as derived from ground-based observations are first discussed. Focus is then shifted to the study of the orbital dynamics of the ring particles. Numerical simulations of the evolutionary history of a system of colliding particles in differential rotation together with theoretical modelling of the inelastic collision processes are surveyed. In anticipation of the information returned from in situ measurements by space probes, interactions of the planetary rings with the interplanetary meteoroids and planetary magnetospheres are briefly considered. Finally, models of planetary ring origin are examined. In this connection, some recent work on the satellite resonant perturbation effects on the ring structure are also touched upon.