Response of low latitude D-region ionosphere to the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 deduced from ELF/VLF analysis

Response of the D-region of the ionosphere to the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 at low latitude, Varanasi (Geog. lat., 25.27° N; Geog. long., 82.98° E; Geomag. lat. = 14° 55’ N) was investigated using ELF/VLF radio signal. Tweeks, a naturally occurring VLF signal and radio signals from various VLF navigational transmitters are first time used simultaneously to study the effect of total solar eclipse (TSE). Tweeks occurrence is a nighttime phenomena but the obscuration of solar disc during TSE in early morning leads to tweek occurrence. The changes in D-region ionospheric VLF reflection heights (h) and electron density (n_e: 22.6–24.6 cm⁻³) during eclipse have been estimated from tweek analysis. The reflection height increased from ∼89 km from the first occurrence of tweek to about ∼93 km at the totality and then decreased to ∼88 km at the end of the eclipse, suggesting significant increase in tweek reflection height of about 5.5 km during the eclipse. The reflection heights at the time of totality during TSE are found to be less by 2–3 km as compared to the usual nighttime tweek reflection heights. This is due to partial nighttime condition created by TSE. A significant increase of 3 dB in the strength of the amplitude of VLF signal of 22.2 kHz transmitted from JJI-Japan is observed around the time of the total solar eclipse (TSE) as compared to a normal day. The modeled electron density height profile of the lower ionosphere depicts linear variation in the electron density with respect to solar radiation as observed by tweek analysis also. These low latitude ionospheric perturbations on the eclipse day are discussed and compared with other normal days.     

A study on TEC reduction during the tail phase of the 21st June 2020 annular solar eclipse

Ionospheric response during the annular solar eclipse of June 21, 2020, has been examined in terms of the Total Electron Content (TEC) obtained from six Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers positioned in the Chinese-Taiwanese region. We have shown TEC variation from satellites designated by PRNs (Pseudo-Random Noise code) 2, 6, and 19. PRN wise TEC trend was observed to depend upon satellite-pass trajectory to the receiver's location during the eclipse period. A time lag of ~15–30 min is also observed in maximum TEC decrement after the phase of maximum eclipse. Instead of the percentage of eclipse magnitude, a reduction in TEC is seen more for the station for which the orbital track of respective satellites was in closer view relative to receivers for more hours of eclipse window. Additionally, the eclipse day diurnal variations are compared with the pre-eclipse day TEC trend, and observed results show a clear decrease in TEC values at all chosen stations after the eclipse onset then reached the lowest value a few minutes afterward the maximum eclipse phase.     

Efficient particle filtering for road-constrained target tracking

The variable-structure multiple-model particle filtering approach for state estimation of road-constrained targets is addressed. The multiple models are designed to account for target maneuvers including "move-stop-move" and motion ambiguity at an intersection; the time-varying active model sets are adaptively selected based on target state and local terrain condition. The hybrid state space is partitioned into the mode subspace and the target subspace. The mode state is estimated based on random sampling; the target state as well as the relevant likelihood function associated with a mode sample sequence is approximated as Gaussian distribution, of which the conditional mean and covariance are deterministically computed using a nonlinear Kalman filter which accounts for road constraints in its update. The importance function for the sampling of the mode state approximates the optimal importance function under the same Gaussian assumption of the target state.     

Gyro Motion Boundedness under Uncertain Vehicle Spin and Acceleration

An analysis is presented of the motion of a single axis rate gyroscope mounted in a space vehicle, which is simultaneously accelerating and spinning about the output and spin axis, respectively, of the gyro. The time-varying acceleration and deceleration ?x(t) and the spin rate ?z(t) of the vehicle are unknown but bounded functions of time t. It is shown that the motion of the gyro remains bounded if the bound ?*2 on the uncertainty in ?z(t) does not exceed some threshold ?*2 and that this threshold depends on the various parameters of the gyro. Furthermore, by a proper selection of the gyro parameters, its motion can be forced to remain in a small neighborhood (called region of ultimate boundedness) of the origin in ?-? plane after a certain finite interval of time for any bounded uncertain ?x(t) and ?z(t). Analytical relations are derived for the selection of gyro parameters to keep the error caused in the measurement of the input rate due to ?x and ?z within any given limit.