Vapor hydrogen peroxide as alternative to dry heat microbial reduction

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in conjunction with the NASA Planetary Protection Officer, has selected vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VHP) sterilization process for continued development as a NASA approved sterilization technique for spacecraft subsystems and systems. The goal was to include this technique, with an appropriate specification, in NASA Procedural Requirements 8020.12 as a low-temperature complementary technique to the dry heat sterilization process.     

Correspondence

Extraction of elevation information with phased array search radar in the presence of specular reflection from sea surface is presented. Specular reflection from sea causes large peak errors in the measurement of low elevation angle. An algorithm based on complex indicated angle is derived to reduce specular reflection component. From the complex indicated angle and the exactly known or approximately known data, the authors can generate a specular reflection error finding function (SREFF). SREFF clearly indicates where the measurements are much affected by the specular reflection in the complex indicated angle data     

Basic Concepts in the Processing of SARSAT Signals

Search and rescue satellite-aided tracking (SARSAT) involves the use of satellites in low-polar orbits which relay the emergency signals of distressed vehicles to an earth station for signal analysis. In this paper, we present some basic concepts and a theoretical analysis of the spectra produced by coherent and noncoherent emergency locator transmitter signals. It is shown that coherent signals can be easily processed using linear spectral analysis. Noncoherent signals, however, require more advanced methods.     

Extended solution to multiple maneuvering target tracking

An improved algorithm for tracking multiple maneuvering targets is presented. This approach is implemented with an approximate adaptive filter consisting of the one-step conditional maximum-likelihood technique together with the extended Kalman filter and an adaptive maneuvering compensator. In order to avoid the extra computational burden of considering events with negligible probability, a validation matrix is defined in the tracking structure. With this approach, data-association and target maneuvering problems can be solved simultaneously. Detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the algorithm for many tracking situations are described. Computer simulation results indicate that this approach successfully tracks multiple maneuvering targets over a wide range of conditions     

Impulse radar evaluation of asphalt-covered bridge decks

The use of impulse radar to distinguish between areas of good bridge deck and areas which suffer from one or more different forms of deterioration, including delamination, scaling, and debonding, is reported. The radar signal is also used to measure the thickness of asphalt and concrete cover over reinforcement. These quantities are important in determining the amount of material to be removed when resurfacing a bridge deck. The calibration procedure and interpretation of radar waveforms are discussed in detail     

Linear time-varying eigenstructure assignment with flight control application

This work is concerned with the assignment of a desired PD-eigenstructure for linear time-varying systems. Despite its well-known limitations, gain scheduling control appeared to be a focus of the research efforts. Scheduling of frozen-time, frozen-state controllers for fast time-varying dynamics is known to be mathematically fallacious, and practically hazardous. Therefore, recent research efforts are being directed towards applying time-varying controllers. In this paper we: 1) introduce a differential algebraic eigenvalue theory for linear time-varying systems; and 2) propose a PD-eigenstructure assignment scheme via a differential Sylvester equation and a command generator tracker (CGT) for linear time-varying systems. The PD-eigenstructure assignment is utilized as a regulator. A feedforward gain for tracking control is computed by using the command generator tracker. The whole design procedures of the proposed PD-eigenstructure assignment scheme are systematic in nature. The scheme could be used to determine the stability of linear time-varying systems easily as well as to provide a new horizon of designing controllers for the linear time-varying systems. A missile flight control application is presented to validate the proposed schemes.     

Aerodynamic design optimization of helicopter rotor blades including airfoil shape for hover performance

This study proposes a process to obtain an optimal helicopter rotor blade shape for aerodynamic performance in hover flight. A new geometry representation algorithm which uses the class function/shape function transformation (CST) is employed to generate airfoil coordinates. With this approach, airfoil shape is considered in terms of design variables. The optimization process is constructed by integrating several programs developed by author. The design variables include twist, taper ratio, point of taper initiation, blade root chord, and coefficients of the airfoil distribution function. Aerodynamic constraints consist of limits on power available in hover and forward flight. The trim condition must be attainable. This paper considers rotor blade configuration for the hover flight condition only, so that the required power in hover is chosen as the objective function of the optimization problem. Sensitivity analysis of each design variable shows that airfoil shape has an important role in rotor performance. The optimum rotor blade reduces the required hover power by 7.4% and increases the figure of merit by 6.5%, which is a good improvement for rotor blade design.     

Generation of satellite tracking profile: Problems and validation algorithms

Recently, as a satellite mission becomes complicated, it has been required to generate the schedule of satellite antenna movements automatically without relying upon operator’s ad hoc knowledge. To generate the satellite antenna schedule autonomously, this paper first addresses geometrical problems associated with the antenna scheduling and mission planning problems that can be formulated from satellite navigation and antenna orientation information. Then, based on the solutions of the geometrical problems, a set of antenna azimuth and elevation angles that enables the antenna to point towards the desired ground station is obtained systematically. Using the computed azimuth and elevation angles, the satellite tracking profile (TP) is generated, and to validate it, TP validation algorithms are developed.     

Monitoring atomic clocks on board GNSS satellites

A method for monitoring atomic clocks on board Global Navigation Satellites System (GNSS) satellites is described to address the issue of clock related signal integrity in safety–critical applications of GNSS. The carrier-phase time transfer is employed in the clock monitoring method which enables tight tracking of the satellite onboard clocks and thus improves detectability of clock anomalies. Detecting onboard clock anomalies requires the ability to monitor clocks in real time, and a Kalman filter can then be utilized to estimate the phase offsets between the satellite clocks and ground clocks. This study, using the difference between the measured and predicted phase offset as a test statistic, sets a threshold for clock anomalies based on the prediction interval approach. Finally the validity of the monitoring method is examined by processing a set of real GNSS data that includes two recent incidents of clock anomalies in GNSS satellites.     

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.