Assessing exposure to cosmic radiation on board aircraft.

The assessment of exposure to cosmic radiation on board aircraft is one of the preoccupations of organizations responsible for radiation protection. The cosmic radiation particle flux increases with altitude and latitude and depends on the solar activity. The radiation exposure has been estimated on several airlines using transatlantic, Siberian and transequatorial routes on board subsonic and supersonic aircraft, to illustrate the effect of these parameters. Measurements have been obtained with a tissue equivalent proportional counter using the microdosimetric technique. Data have been collected at maximum solar activity in 1991-92 and at minimum in 1996-98. The lowest mean dose rate measured was 3 microSv/h during a Paris-Buenos Aires flight in 1991; the highest was 6.6 microSv/h during a Paris-Tokyo flight using a Siberian route and 9.7 microSv/h on Concorde in 1996-97. The mean quality factor is around 1.8. The corresponding annual effective dose, based on 700 hours of flight for subsonic aircraft and 300 hours for Concorde, can be estimated between 2 mSv for least-exposed routes and 5 mSv for more exposed routes.     

Performance and reliability of the NASA Biomass Production Chamber.

The Biomass Production Chamber (BPC) at the Kennedy Space Center is part of the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Breadboard Project. Plants are grown in a closed environment in an effort to quantify their contributions to the requirements for life support. Performance of this system is described. Also, in building this system, data from component and subsystem failures are being recorded. These data are used to identify problem areas in the design and implementation. The techniques used to measure the reliability will be useful in the design and construction of future CELSS. Possible methods for determining the reliability of a green plant, the primary component of a CELSS, are discussed.     

Battery charger design for the Columbus MTFF power system

A novel pulsewidth-modulated (PWM) dc-dc converter topology is proposed for the battery charge regulator (BCR) of the Columbus Man-Tended Free-Flyer (MTFF) power system. The system is a regulated bus system. Bus voltage control is implemented at the input of the BCR. The use of a conventional buck topology with PWM conductance control at the input results in a second-order behavior. A study of new PWM dc-dc converter topologies has been made to attain a suitable topology. The proposed converter topology is designed and a breadboard including the control loop has been built and tested. The experimental results show that the converter operates according to the design constraints.     

Oscillations of axial plant organs.

The tips of roots and shoots commonly show lateral movements as they grow forwards. These occur as both circumnutations (with long periods and large amplitudes) and micronutations (with short periods and small amplitudes). Their properties are reviewed, with emphasis on roots, and possible ways in which they could be regulated are discussed. The mechanisms could include long-range controls (for circumnutations) that depend on transmissible signals using steps common to gravitropism, and short-range controls (for micronutations) that operate within the elongation zone. The former are a property of the apex as a whole, while the latter may be confined to localized groups of cells. Simulation of nutations is presented with a view to isolating key physiological processes. However, this approach is limited by the current inadequate understanding of the growth mechanisms involved.     

A program to measure new energetic particle nuclear interaction cross sections.

The Transport Collaboration, consisting of researchers from institutions in France, Germany, Italy and the USA, has established a program to make new measurements of nuclear interaction cross sections for heavy projectiles (Z > or = 2) in targets of liquid H2, He and heavier materials. Such cross sections directly affect calculations of galactic and solar cosmic ray transport through matter and are needed for accurate radiation hazard assessment. To date, the collaboration has obtained data using the LBL Bevalac HISS facility with 20 projectiles from 4He to 58Ni in the energy range 393-910 MeV/nucleon. Preliminary results from the analysis of these data are presented here and compared to other measurements and to cross section prediction formulae.     

Target motion analysis with multiple arrays: performance analysis

The performance analysis of source trajectory estimation using measurements provided by multiple platforms (or arrays) is studied. In numerous practical situations, the maneuvering ability of the receiver (e.g., a ship towing linear arrays) is limited, leading to the assumption that the observer motion is rectilinear and uniform. Even if this hypothesis appears quite restrictive, practical and tactical considerations fully justify its interest. This leads to consider multiple (platform) target motion analysis (denoted MTMA) and to analyze the performance of such trajectory estimation methods     

A baseband Doppler simulator for radar system development

Elementary electronics building blocks can be configured as a low-cost baseband Doppler simulator for developing the post-detector processing parts such as MTIs and MTDS of millimeter wave pulsed radars employing amplitude and phase channels. The challenge of narrow pulses in conjunction to low Doppler frequencies is handled here by CMOS switches and normal function generator ICs. Test noise is generated with an off-the-shelf radio RF/IF circuit. Wideband video amplifiers are not required. Typical performance figures include pulse widths from 50 ns, target ranges from 0 to ambiguity maximum, target velocities from 0.5 m/s to 500 m/s and PRFs up to 100 kflz. Virtual target RCS can be adjusted as needed in a straightforward way.     

Image texture synthesis-by-analysis using moving-average models

A synthesis-by-analysis model for texture replication or simulation is presented. This model can closely replicate a given textured image or produce another image that although distinct from the original, has the same general visual characteristics and the same first and second-order gray-level statistics as the original image. The texture synthesis algorithm, proposed contains three distinct components: a moving-average (MA) filter, a filter excitation function, and a gray-level histogram. The analysis portion of the texture synthesis algorithm derives the three from a given image. The synthesis portion convolves the MA filter kernel with the excitation function, adds noise, and modifies the histogram of the result. The advantages of this texture model over others include conceptually and computationally simple and robust parameter estimation, inherent stability, parsimony in the number of parameters, and synthesis through convolution. The authors describe a procedure for deriving the correct MA kernel using a signal enhancement algorithm, demonstrate the effectiveness of the model by using it to mimic several diverse textured images, discuss its applicability to the problem of infrared background simulation, and include detailed algorithms for the implementation of the model     

A two-dimensional position-sensitive spectroscopic proportional counter for balloon-borne hard X-ray astronomy

A new design of position sensitive spectroscopic proportional counter is described, for use in a balloon borne hard x-ray telescope. Initial position and spectral resolution data from a one-dimensional laboratory prototype are reported. With this device, the final telescope will have an angular resolution of better than 10 minutes of arc.     

Design study for a three-meter balloon-borne telescope for far infrared and submillimeter astronomy

A NASA supported design study is being carried out for a three-meter balloon-borne far infrared and submillimeter telescope. The goal of this project is to provide a facility for frequent flights for photometry, spectroscopy, and imaging in the spectral region 30 micrometers to 1 millimeter. It is intended to provide a scientific and technical step on the way to a large submillimeter telescope in space in the future. The study is concentrating on areas where technical advances are required: materials and fabrication techniques for lightweight primary mirrors, telescope and gondola structure, and pointing and stabilization. We are carrying out a design optimization and environmental test program of state-of-the-art carbon fiber reinforced plastic sandwich panels in collaboration with Dornier Systems. Similar efforts are being pursued for very lightweight molded glass mirrors. Innovative approaches to the telescope support and stabilization are being explored for achieving the required 1 arcsecond pointing stability.