In-flight entertainment-getting from wishlist to reality

Much of what we see in the consumer electronics stores will eventually find its way into airplanes in the form of In-Flight Entertainment (IFE). This consumer electronic equipment is often referred to as “the leading edge of technology”. Unfortunately, that same equipment that is the “leading edge” of consumer electronics, often stalls to feel like the “bleeding edge” when you try to integrate it into IFE systems for today's modern aircraft. Unlike Avionics Systems, the technologies behind IFE equipment are not usually mature before they are integrated into the aircraft. What may work well in a home environment, may not work well at all in the aircraft environment. Often this problem results in last minute redesign in an effort to make the equipment function as intended on the aircraft. Both the FAA and the aircraft manufacturer impose many requirements on the suppliers and products of IFE. Systems need to be designed for the aircraft environment. Many variations on IFE Systems have forced the creation of new standards for integration into commercial aircraft. Power, cooling, and EMC issues are becoming more of a concern as we move to fill aircraft implementations. Beyond the technical evaluations and lab/aircraft testing, one key component is customer satisfaction. This paper will cover some of the methods and tools we use to get IFE from wishlist to reality     

Radiation measured during ISS-Expedition 13 with different dosimeters

Radiation in low Earth orbit (LEO) is mainly composed of galactic cosmic rays (GCR), solar energetic particles and particles in SAA (South Atlantic Anomaly). The biological impact of space radiation to astronauts depends strongly on the particles’ linear energy transfer (LET) and is dominated by high LET radiation. It is important to measure the LET spectrum for the space radiation field and to investigate the influence of radiation on astronauts. At present, the preferred active dosimeters sensitive to all LET are the tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) and the silicon detectors in various configurations; the preferred passive dosimeters are CR-39 plastic nuclear track detectors (PNTDs) sensitive to high LET and thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) as well as optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs) sensitive to low LET. The TEPC, CR-39 PNTDs, TLDs and OSLDs were used to investigate the radiation field for the ISS mission Expedition 13 (ISS-12S) in LEO. LET spectra and radiation quantities (fluence, absorbed dose, dose equivalent and quality factor) were measured for the space mission with different dosimeters. This paper introduces the role of high LET radiation in radiobiology, the operational principles for the different dosimeters, the LET spectrum method using CR-39 detectors, the method to combine the results measured with TLDs/OSLDs and CR-39 PNTDs, and presents the LET spectra and the radiation quantities measured and combined.     

Sensitivity analyses of satellite propulsion components with their thermal modelling

Performing the sensitivity analyses of the contact conduction and the position of thermostat on the basis of the thermal model established, the study of thermal design is accomplished for the preparation of possible mechanical interface change of the satellite propulsion system depending on the satellite system design. A relatively simple thermal model is taken into consideration for the convenience of the analysis. A variety of the spacecraft bus voltages and the contact resistances are examined as well as the position of thermostat on propulsion components. As a consequence, even though the mechanical interface condition is changed on the same module, the successful thermal design could be achieved if we design the heater to have sufficiently large power with reference to the heritage value of contact resistance. Besides the reasonable performance on the thermal control is assured with the thermostat location errors, if the uncertainty in the position of thermostat is not quite large when assembling tank module.     

A review of global satellite-derived snow products

Snow cover over the Northern Hemisphere plays a crucial role in the Earth’s hydrology and surface energy balance, and modulates feedbacks that control variations of global climate. While many of these variations are associated with exchanges of energy and mass between the land surface and the atmosphere, other expected changes are likely to propagate downstream and affect oceanic processes in coastal zones. For example, a large component of the freshwater flux into the Arctic Ocean comes from snow melt. The timing and magnitude of this flux affects biological and thermodynamic processes in the Arctic Ocean, and potentially across the globe through their impact on North Atlantic Deep Water formation.     

微吹减阻技术影响因素的数值模拟

以NASA格伦中心的PN3和PN23型微孔壁板为原形建立"1排微孔"、"4排微孔"、"8排微孔"和"16排微孔"4种计算模型,针对不同的几何、物理参数进行了微吹技术MBT(Micro-Blowing Technique)降低平板摩擦阻力的数值模拟参数研究.结果显示:微量吹气使主流边界层近壁面流动减速,从而改变了壁面局部摩擦力的分布;不同几何、物理参数对MBT技术减阻能力的影响满足一定的规律.参数研究的结果可为该技术的减阻应用提供一定的指导.     

超声速磁流体管道流动的数值模拟

应用可同时适用于描述磁流体MHD (MagnetoHydroDynamic)强化超燃冲压发动机磁流体发电器与磁流体加速器的,包含磁流体N-S(Navier-Stokes)方程与磁感应方程的可压缩磁流体方程组对超声速磁流体管道流动进行了数值模拟研究,以验证本项工作所提出的对2组方程进行交替迭代的分裂式算法.给出了算例的计算结果,并与无磁场及恒磁场下相同管道的流动计算结果进行了对比分析.     

Coherent spatial filtering for SAR detection of stationary targets

Analysis of UHF synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images has revealed a spatially correlated phase structure over a resolved target such as a long wire or a large truck. This phase variation, approximated by a simple, range-dependent factor 4πr/λ, results in a line-shaped image spatial spectrum. Such image phase and spectral features can be exploited by coherent spatial filtering to improve target-to-clutter ratios of large targets and stationary target detectability in a strong clutter environment     

An annual variation analysis of the ionospheric spatial gradient over a regional area for GNSS applications

An ionospheric spatial gradient represents the ionosphere delay difference between different locations, and its variation over a specific area is important for implementing differential GNSS systems. An estimation method for the ionospheric spatial gradient over a small regional area is proposed. A plate map model is implemented for the direct estimation of the gradients. Nine years of GPS data were processed to figure out the annual variation of the mean gradient at the mid-geomagnetic latitude of 30° N. Gradients along the north–south direction have a mean of 0.65 mm/km and follow solar-cycle variations.