The development of a digital video motion detection test set

This paper describes the current effort to develop a standardized data set, or suite of digital video sequences, that can be used for test and evaluation of digital video motion detectors (VMDs) for exterior applications. We have drawn from an extensive video database of typical application scenarios to assemble a comprehensive data set. These data, some existing for many years on analog videotape, have been converted to a reproducible digital format and edited to generate test sequences several minutes long for many scenarios. Sequences include non-alarm video, intrusions and nuisance alarm sources, taken with a variety of imaging sensors including monochrome CCD cameras and infrared (thermal) imaging cameras, under a variety of daytime and nighttime conditions. The paper presents an analysis of the variables and estimates the complexity of a thorough data set. Some of this video data test has been digitized for CD-ROM storage and playback. We are considering developing a DVD disk for possible use in screening and testing VMDs prior to government testing and deployment. In addition, this digital video data may be used by VMD developers for further refinement or customization of their product to meet specific requirements. These application scenarios may also be used to define the testing parameters for future procurement qualification. A personal computer may be used to play back either the CD-ROM or the DVD video data. A consumer electronics-style DVD player may be used to replay the DVD disk. This paper also discusses various aspects of digital video storage including formats, resolution, CD-ROM and DVD storage capacity, formats, editing and playback     

Optimum Windows for Image Registration

Two-dimensional cross-correlation techniques are applied to the problem of image registration under the assumption of small geometric distortion. Optimum window functions are derived for two performance measures of interest: peak-to-sidelobe ratio and mean-square registration error. The latter is examined in terms of the contribution caused by noise and the contribution caused by geometric distortion. A generalized Lagrange multiplier approach is used to derive approximate solutions assuming random images. The case of Gaussian autocorrelation functions is examined in detail. Results of applying the theoretically derived window functions to real data are presented, showing significant improvement in correlator performance.     

Electrical Charging of Volcanic Plumes

Many explosive terrestrial volcanic eruptions are accompanied by lightning and other atmospheric electrical phenomena. The plumes produced generate large perturbations in the surface atmospheric electric potential gradient and high charge densities have been measured on falling volcanic ash particles. The complex nature of volcanic plumes (which contain gases, solid particles, and liquid drops) provides several possible charging mechanisms. For plumes rich in solid silicate particles, fractoemission (the ejection of ions and atomic particles during fracture events) is probably the dominant source of charge generation. In other plumes, such as those created when lava enters the sea, different mechanisms, such as boiling, may be important. Further charging mechanisms may also subsequently operate, downwind of the vent. Other solar system bodies also show evidence for volcanism, with activity ongoing on Io. Consequently, volcanic electrification under different planetary scenarios (on Venus, Mars, Io, Moon, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Triton) is also discussed.     

Reduction in clamping force due to applied longitudinal load to aerospace structural bolted plates

The main purpose of the present work is to experimentally and numerically study why and how the magnitude of the bolt clamping force reduces in the aerospace structural bolted plates when they are subjected to a longitudinal tensile load. In the experimental method, a holed plate of aluminium alloy 7075-T6 was clamped using a single bolt fastener, and then tested under an increasing static longitudinal tensile load. The bolt clamping magnitude was determined by using the measured axial compressive strains of a steel bush placed between the nut and plate. Two clamped specimens with different initial clamping forces were studied. In each specimen the actual clamping forces were determined during the longitudinal loading on the plate. In the numerical method, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model was generated in order to simulate and quantify the bolt clamping force in the plate model loaded in tension. Both experimental and numerical results showed that the clamping force reduces considerably in the aluminium bolted plates under the longitudinal tensile loading. This is because of the transverse contraction of the plate material that causes the clamped material to release from the initial compression, and as a result, the clamping force to relax.     

Design of high-efficiency series-resonant converters aboveresonance

Power losses in series-resonant converters (SRCs) operated above resonance are examined for the purpose of developing design guidelines leading to SRC designs with the highest possible operating efficiencies. Loss expressions are formulated and analyzed as functions of normalized voltage conversion ratio M and normalized output current J for the controlled transistor switches, antiparallel diodes, bridge diodes, and resonant capacitor. Overall losses range from a low of nearly 9% to a maximum of about 17%. Operating efficiencies corresponding to these losses range from a high of 92% to a low of 85%. Operation at the maximum efficiency of 92% occurs at values of M close to unity and is not highly dependent on J. However, in a practical closed-loop regulated SRC, operation with M too close to unity could provide an insufficient design margin, given component tolerances or other variations     

On mapping a tracking algorithm onto parallel processors

The problem of mapping the tasks of a multitarget tracking algorithm onto parallel computing architectures to maximize speedup is considered. An asymptotically optimal mapping algorithm is developed and applied to study the effects of task granularity and processor architectures on the speedup. From the simulation results, it is concluded that task granularity and the parallelization of clustering and global hypotheses formation stages of the tracking algorithm are major determinants of speedup     

Near Magnetic Field Investigation,Instrumentation, Spacecraft Magnetics and Data Access

The primary objective of the investigation is the search for a body-wide magnetic field of the near Earth asteroid Eros. The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) 3-axis fluxgate magnetometer includes a sensor mounted on the high-gain antenna feed structure. The NEAR Magnetic Facility Instrument (MFI) is a joint hardware effort between GSFC and APL. The design and magnetics approach achieved by the NEAR MFI effort entailed low-cost, up-front attention to engineering solutions which did not impact the schedule. The goal of the magnetometer is reliable magnetic field measurements within 5 nT, which necessitates the use of an extensive spacecraft magnetic interference model but is achievable with the full year's orbital data set. Such a goal has been shown viable with recent in-flight calibration data and comparisons to the WIND magnetometer data. The NEAR MFI effort has succeeded in providing magnetic field measurements for the first flight in NASA's Discovery line.     

The Edison infrared space observatory

For five years, theEdison program has had the goal of developing new designs for infrared space observatories which will break the cost curve by permitting more capable missions at lower cost. Most notably, this has produced a series of models for purely radiative and radiative/mechanical (hybrid) cooling which do not use cryogens and optical designs which are not constrained by the coolant tanks. Purely radiatively-cooled models achieve equilibrium temperatures as low as about 20 K at a distance of 1 AU from the sun. More advancedEdison designs include mechanical cooling systems attached to the telescope assembly which lower the optical system temperature to 5 K or less. Via these designs, near-cryogenic temperatures appear achievable without the limitations of cryogenic cooling. OneEdison model has been proposed to the European Space Agency as the next generation infrared space observatory and is presently under consideration as a candidate ESA Cornerstone mission. The basic design is also the starting point for elements of future infrared space interferometers.