Experiments on aeronautical satellite communications using ETS-Vsatellite

The world's first aeronautical satellite communication experiments, conducted at L-band frequencies using a commercial aircraft, are described. An airborne antenna with electronically steerable beam and communication equipment was installed in a B-747F freighter flying over transoceanic flight routes. The satellite used in these experiments is the Engineering Test Satellite-Five (ETS-V). During the test period, various experiments, such as antenna pattern measurements, transmission performances, and voice quality evaluation were conducted. As the airborne antenna is the key component for the aeronautical satellite communication system, emphasis has been placed on antenna characteristics. Its performance is found to be closely related to the fading characteristics in low-elevation areas and to transmission error performance     

A New FET-Bipolar Combinational Power Semiconductor Switch

A novel FET-BJT combinational transistor configuration is proposed and demonstrated using discrete devices. This new transistor features fast switching, very simple drive requirement, elimination of reverse bias second breakdown, and good utilization of semiconductor chip area. Initial results indicate that power hybrid construction of the device is essential to enhance the current rating of the device.     

Navigation Computation in Terrestrial Strapdown Inertial Navigation Systems

The problem of computing the translational velocity and position relative to earth, which has to be solved by the processor of a strapdown inertial navigation system is discussed. Several approaches are briefly examined with consideration given to the form in which the sensor data are generated and to the computational burden involved in each approach. A computational scheme is finally selected in which the computation is divided into three rate levels. The differential equations of this scheme are developed and the assumptions on which the development is founded are stated. Three variants of the basic scheme are presented, each based on a different level of simplifying assumptions. The main purpose of this work is to develop the differential equations to be solved at each stage of the computation, rather than the numerical implementation of the solution. This work supplies the theoretical background for some of the numerical methods which are now being used.     

Suboptimal filter design with pseudomeasurements for targettracking

A suboptimal Kalman filter design method is presented for the problem of tracking a maneuvering target. The design method is essentially based on linear target dynamics and linear-like structured measurements called pseudomeasurements. The pseudomeasurements are obtained by manipulating the original nonlinear measurements algebraically. The resulting filter has computational advantages over other filters with similar performance. Also, a variant of the Berg model is proposed as a target acceleration model under the assumption of a coordinated turn maneuver. The proposed model is consistent with the underlying assumption. Monte Carlo computer simulation results are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed suboptimal filter associated with the target acceleration model     

An LMS Adaptive Array for Multipath Fading Reduction

Multipath fading often poses a serious hindrance in radiocommunication. The application of a least-mean-square (LMS)adaptive array to the problem of multipath fading reduction is discussed. However, it is known that multipath components are in general correlated with one another. We examine the effect of the correlation on the performance of the LMS adaptive array. When the correlation coefficient does not equal or approximate 1, the LMS adaptive array suppresses the multipath signals significantly by nulling. On the other hand, when the correlation coefficient nearly equals 1, the LMS adaptive array prevents the output signalpower from decreasing. Therefore, the LMS adaptive array mayreduce the multipath fading effectively for any correlation coefficient value. A reference signal in the LMS adaptive array is also discussed. It is shown that synchronization in the referencesignal generation must be extremely accurate. Moreover, aprocessor configuration is proposed which may generate thereference signal with the required accuracy.     

Interference in Frequency-Locked Doppler Tracking Loops

The effects of interference on frequency-locked Doppler tracking loops are investigated. Conditions for jump from locking on the desired signal to locking on the interfering signal are established. Parasitic frequency modulation of the desired signal results when the other signal interferes with it. The index of this parasitic modulation as a function of the interference-to-desired signal amplitude ratio is computed. Both critical amplitude ratio and critical parasitic modulation index at the occurrence of jump are derived. Comparing frequency-locked loops with phase-locked loops with phase-locked loops in the presence of interference shows the former performs better for most cases of practical importance in Doppler tracking systems.     

The Psi-Angle Error Equation in Strapdown Inertial Navigation Systems

A detailed development is presented of the psi-angle vector differential equation as applied to the error analysis of strapdown inertial navigation systems. The coordinate systems involved and the psi misalignment vector are clearly defined. It is proven that apart from a sign change the psi-angle differential equation in the error analysis of strapdown inertial navigation systems is identical to the one used in conventional gimbaled inertial navigation systems.     

Virtis: An Imaging Spectrometer for the Rosetta Mission

The VIRTIS (Visual IR Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) experiment has been one of the most successful experiments built in Europe for Planetary Exploration. VIRTIS, developed in cooperation among Italy, France and Germany, has been already selected as a key experiment for 3 planetary missions: the ESA-Rosetta and Venus Express and NASA-Dawn. VIRTIS on board Rosetta and Venus Express are already producing high quality data: as far as Rosetta is concerned, the Earth-Moon system has been successfully observed during the Earth Swing-By manouver (March 2005) and furthermore, VIRTIS will collect data when Rosetta flies by Mars in February 2007 at a distance of about 200 kilometres from the planet. Data from the Rosetta mission will result in a comparison – using the same combination of sophisticated experiments – of targets that are poorly differentiated and are representative of the composition of different environment of the primordial solar system. Comets and asteroids, in fact, are in close relationship with the planetesimals, which formed from the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago. The Rosetta mission payload is designed to obtain this information combining in situ analysis of comet material, obtained by the small lander Philae, and by a long lasting and detailed remote sensing of the comet, obtained by instrument on board the orbiting Spacecraft. The combination of remote sensing and in situ measurements will increase the scientific return of the mission. In fact, the “in situ” measurements will provide “ground-truth” for the remote sensing information, and, in turn, the locally collected data will be interpreted in the appropriate context provided by the remote sensing investigation. VIRTIS is part of the scientific payload of the Rosetta Orbiter and will detect and characterise the evolution of specific signatures – such as the typical spectral bands of minerals and molecules – arising from surface components and from materials dispersed in the coma. The identification of spectral features is a primary goal of the Rosetta mission as it will allow identification of the nature of the main constituent of the comets. Moreover, the surface thermal evolution during comet approach to sun will be also studied.     

IMM estimator with out-of-sequence measurements

In multisensor tracking systems that operate in a centralized information processing architecture, measurements from the same target obtained by different sensors can arrive at the processing center out of sequence. In order to avoid either a delay in the output or the need for reordering and reprocessing an entire sequence of measurements, such measurements have to be processed as out-of-sequence measurements (OOSMs). Recent work developed procedures for incorporating OOSMs into a Kalman filter (KF). Since the state of the art tracker for real (maneuvering) targets is the interacting multiple model (IMM) estimator, the algorithm for incorporating OOSMs into an IMM estimator is presented here. Both data association and estimation are considered. Simulation results are presented for two realistic problems using measurements from two airborne GMTI sensors. It is shown that the proposed algorithm for incorporating OOSMs into an IMM estimator yields practically the same performance as the reordering and in-sequence reprocessing of the measurements. Also, it is shown how the range rate from a GMTI sensor can be used as a linear velocity measurement in the tracking filter.     

Update with out-of-sequence measurements in tracking: exact solution

In target tracking systems measurements are typically collected in "scans" or "frames" and then they are transmitted to a processing center. In multisensor tracking systems that operate in a centralized manner, there are usually different time delays in transmitting the scans or frames from the various sensors to the center. This can lead to situations where measurements from the same target arrive out of sequence. Such "out-of-sequence" measurement (OOSM) arrivals can occur even in the absence of scan/frame communication time delays. The resulting "negative-time measurement update" problem, which is quite common in real multisensor systems, was solved previously only approximately in the literature. The exact state update equation for such a problem is presented. The optimal and two suboptimal algorithms are compared on a number of realistic examples, including a GMTI (ground moving target indicator) radar case.