Sensitivity Reduction in Aircraft Control Systems

A method for reducing trajectory sensitivity to parameter perturbations for linear feedback systems is described. Application of the method to the design of aircraft control systems, with special reference to a helicopter forward flight control system, is illustrated. The response of the system based on this method is found to be better than that obtained with fixed-feedback gain controllers, although the response may not be as good as that of an adaptive control scheme. The main advantage of the method is the simplicity of its implementation relative to that of the adaptive control scheme which requires an on-board computer.     

A Simplified Instrument Failure Detection Scheme

A simplified version of the dedicated observer scheme for detecting incipient instrument failures in automatic systems is presented. This scheme requires only a single observer, driven by a single instrument. Simple logical combinations of estimated instrument outputs from the observer with the actual instrument outputs allow small faults in all the instruments to be detected. Tests on a simulation of a practical system indicate the scheme is robust with respect to a small uncertainty in a dynamic parameter of the controlled plant.     

Understanding Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection Signatures

While interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are understood to be the heliospheric counterparts of CMEs, with signatures undeniably linked to the CME process, the variability of these signatures and questions about mapping to observed CME features raise issues that remain on the cutting edge of ICME research. These issues are discussed in the context of traditional understanding, and recent results using innovative analysis techniques are reviewed.     

Observations of the Sun at Vacuum- Ultraviolet Wavelengths from Space. Part I: Concepts and Instrumentation

Space Science Reviews - Studies of the high-temperature solar atmosphere are to a large extent based on spectroscopic observations of emission lines and continuum radiation in the...     

新型封严涂层高温高速磨耗试验机的研制

为模拟航空涡轮发动机气路封严配副在工作状态下的磨损磨耗现象,研究封严涂层的可磨耗性能,研制了1套新型的可磨耗性能评价试验器。该试验器采用叶片-涂层刮削式磨耗副,使用模拟轮盘带动叶片高速旋转实现叶尖的切线速度;采用封严涂层试样径向进给以模拟叶片刮削切入;使用压电石英晶体3向测力仪定量测量瞬态刮削力;采用高速高温火焰加热试样。考核结果表明:试验器能够完成叶尖切线速度为0~300 m/s、进给速率为1.5~2025μm/s、加热温度为20~800℃条件下的磨耗试验,试验效果良好,数据稳定可靠。     

光纤陀螺标度因数及零偏温度误差补偿研究

首先分析了光纤陀螺产生温度误差的机理,在此基础上分别指出标度因数与零偏的误差补偿模型,提出了一种利用一组数据同时补偿标度因数及零偏的方法,直接表示输入与标度因数零偏补偿后的关系。最后通过实验验证了该方法不仅能够有效地补偿陀螺的温度误差,且其补偿精度优于原单独补偿的方法,同时该方法仅需一次温度实验,节省实验成本,具有较大的现实意义。     

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.     

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) Instrument Aboard New Horizons

The Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on New Horizons will measure the interaction between the solar wind and ions created by atmospheric loss from Pluto. These measurements provide a characterization of the total loss rate and allow us to examine the complex plasma interactions at Pluto for the first time. Constrained to fit within minimal resources, SWAP is optimized to make plasma-ion measurements at all rotation angles as the New Horizons spacecraft scans to image Pluto and Charon during the flyby. To meet these unique requirements, we combined a cylindrically symmetric retarding potential analyzer with small deflectors, a top-hat analyzer, and a redundant/coincidence detection scheme. This configuration allows for highly sensitive measurements and a controllable energy passband at all scan angles of the spacecraft.     

The WIND magnetic field investigation

The magnetic field experiment on WIND will provide data for studies of a broad range of scales of structures and fluctuation characteristics of the interplanetary magnetic field throughout the mission, and, where appropriate, relate them to the statics and dynamics of the magnetosphere. The basic instrument of the Magnetic Field Investigation (MFI) is a boom-mounted dual triaxial fluxgate magnetometer and associated electronics. The dual configuration provides redundancy and also permits accurate removal of the dipolar portion of the spacecraft magnetic field. The instrument provides (1) near real-time data at nominally one vector per 92 s as key parameter data for broad dissemination, (2) rapid data at 10.9 vectors s^–1 for standard analysis, and (3) occasionally, snapshot (SS) memory data and Fast Fourier Transform data (FFT), both based on 44 vectors s^–1. These measurements will be precise (0.025%), accurate, ultra-sensitive (0.008 nT/step quantization), and where the sensor noise level is <0.006 nT r.m.s. for 0–10 Hz. The digital processing unit utilizes a 12-bit microprocessor controlled analogue-to-digital converter. The instrument features a very wide dynamic range of measurement capability, from ±4 nT up to ±65 536 nT per axis in eight discrete ranges. (The upper range permits complete testing in the Earth's field.) In the FTT mode power spectral density elements are transmitted to the ground as fast as once every 23 s (high rate), and 2.7 min of SS memory time series data, triggered automatically by pre-set command, requires typically about 5.1 hours for transmission. Standard data products are expected to be the following vector field averages: 0.0227-s (detail data from SS), 0.092 s (detail in standard mode), 3 s, 1 min, and 1 hour, in both GSE and GSM coordinates, as well as the FFT spectral elements. As has been our team's tradition, high instrument reliability is obtained by the use of fully redundant systems and extremely conservative designs. We plan studies of the solar wind: (1) as a collisionless plasma laboratory, at all time scales, macro, meso and micro, but concentrating on the kinetic scale, the highest time resolution of the instrument (=0.022 s), (2) as a consequence of solar energy and mass output, (3) as an external source of plasma that can couple mass, momentum, and energy to the Earth's magnetosphere, and (4) as it is modified as a consequence of its imbedded field interacting with the moon. Since the GEOTAIL Inboard Magnetometer (GIM), which is similar to the MFI instrument, was developed by members of our team, we provide a brief discussion of GIM related science objectives, along with MFI related science goals.     

The elemental composition in energetic particle events at high heliospheric latitudes

The relative abundances of low energy ions (0.6–2.0 MeV/n) in solar energetic particle (SEP) and corotating interaction region (CIR) events have been measured by the EPAC experiment aboard Ulysses since launch in October 1990 until the present time. We give an overview of the abundances of heavy ions (He, C, Ne, Fe) relative to oxygen during energetic particle events lasting longer than 5 days during the in- and out-of-ecliptic phase of the mission. While the period Oct. 1990 to Aug. 1992 was dominated by high solar activity the Ulysses out of ecliptic passage at solar latitudes up to 45° went parallel to the declining phase of solar activity. Thus a very clear structure of corotating interaction regions was observed. While the in-ecliptic composition is in general agreement with measurements made near the Earth, the development of the CIR-composition shows two phases: From Aug. 1992 to May 1993 the C/O-ratio is 0.55–0.70, afterwards it increases to 0.8–0.9. This increase is correlated to the disappearance of the current sheet at 30° solar latitude reported by Smithet al. (1993).