Optimisation of X-ray proportional counters for Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) on ASTROSAT

The Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) on ASTROSAT is a position-sensitive gas-filled proportional counter with a wide field of view. The scientific objective of SSM is to scan the sky within few hours to detect and locate transient X-ray sources in the outburst phase. Once detected, this information will be provided for studies in all energy bands. The energy range of operation of SSM is 2–10 keV. The optimisation of the parameters of the proportional counter such as the cell size, the gas mixture and the gas pressure for the SSM are discussed here.     

Performance evaluation of GPS augmentation using Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

The current global positioning system (GPS) provides limited availability and capability for a country like Japan where mountainous terrain and urban canyons do not allow a clear skyline to the horizon. At present, the Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) is under investigation through a cooperative effort between the government and the private sector. QZSS is considered a multi-function satellite system, as it is able to provide communication, broadcasting, and positioning services for mobile users in a specified region with a high elevation angle. The additional GPS compatible signals from QZSS can remarkably improve the availability, accuracy, and capability of GPS positioning. This work focuses on the performance of GPS augmentation using the proposed QZSS. The QZSS satellite constellation and signal structure are briefly reviewed. Positioning with pseudo-range and carrier phase are discussed. The performance of GPS augmentation using QZSS in the Asian-Pacific and Australian area is studied using software simulations. The results are presented using the number of visible satellites as a measure of availability, GDOP as a measure of accuracy, and ambiguity success rate as a measure of capability of carrier-phase-based positioning with spatial and temporal variations. The results show that the QZSS will improve not only the availability and accuracy of GPS positioning, but will also enhance the capability of the GPS carrier-phase-based positioning in Japan and neighboring regions.     

Anti-aircraft artillery simulator

Air defense systems protect land and maritime resources from air attack. Depending on the regional characteristics and type of conflicting forces, air defense threats vary considerably. In regional conflicts, where forces with similar capabilities are involved and no air-superiority can be achieved, the role of air defense systems becomes critical. In combat terrains containing mountains (in mainland or in small islands), the man-operated or computer-controlled (using passive sensors) anti-aircraft artillery can be highly effective. The simulator presented in this work aims to exploit the capabilities provided by current commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) communication and multimedia technologies for providing a training environment that improves the personnel capability for effective use of man-controlled anti-aircraft weapons.     

Cassini Radio Science

Cassini radio science investigations will be conducted both during the cruise (gravitational wave and conjunction experiments) and the Saturnian tour of the mission (atmospheric and ionospheric occultations, ring occultations, determinations of masses and gravity fields). New technologies in the construction of the instrument, which consists of a portion on-board the spacecraft and another portion on the ground, including the use of the Ka-band signal in addition to that of the S- and X-bands, open opportunities for important discoveries in each of the above scientific areas, due to increased accuracy, resolution, sensitivity, and dynamic range.This revised version was published online in July 2005 with a corrected cover date.     

X-rays from the first massive black holes

X-ray studies of high-redshift (z > 4) active galaxies have advanced substantially over the past few years, largely due to results from the new generation of X-ray observatories. As of this writing X-ray emission has been detected from nearly 60 high-redshift active galaxies. This paper reviews the observational results and their implications for models of the first massive black holes, and it discusses future prospects for the field.     

Theoretical Bounds on Random Errors in Satellite Doppler Navigation

Analytic expressions of the random errors in a satellite Doppler navigation system are developed. The errors in the along-track and across-track coordinates are expressed as functions of the geometry (range and angle), pass-length, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Such an analytic result becomes possible due to an explicit solution to a simplified rectilinear model of the satellite pass over a flat Earth. It is shown that the explicit solution performance in the presence of noise is identical to that of the iterative solution, used in the real navigation problem.     

Field-aligned (Birkeland) currents

Following earlier suggestions of Edmond Halley and Anders Celsius for the magnetic behavior of auroral phenomena, Kristian Birkeland discovered in his polar expeditions of 1902–03 that large-scale electric currents were associated with the aurora. He was also the first to suggest that these currents originated far from earth and that they flowed into the upper polar atmosphere and out of it along magnetic field lines; the existence of such field-aligned currents was widely disputed until satellite and rocket-borne instruments confirmed their permanent existence. The importance of these Birkeland currents to the coupling between the magnetosphere and the polar ionosphere is emphasized by their intensity, which ranges between 10⁶ and 10⁷ amperes, and by the energy which they dissipate in the upper atmosphere, which can exceed by a considerable factor the energy dissipated there by auroral particles. The large- and small-scale average properties of field-aligned currents, determined from spacecraft observations, are reviewed here.