Microprocessor smart cards with fingerprint user authentication

Due to the great increase in Information Technology (IT) systems where user authentication is needed, security in those systems relies on using PINs or passwords. During recent years, the scientific community has been trying to improve biometric techniques to be accepted as an alternative to other user authentication schemes. One of the sectors where user identity must be verified, is the identification cards sector. In fact, if great security wants to be achieved, smart cards should be used. But cardholder verification is performed using Card Holder Verification Keys (CHV-Keys), which are PIN-based. The authors are trying to integrate fingerprint verification inside a smart card, following their works in the past. The fingerprint scheme used is shown, and the work to achieve the integration inside a commercial smart card is detailed.     

AI techniques in uninhabited aerial vehicle flight

This describes the development of an application of artificial intelligence (AI) for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control. The project was part of the requirements for a class in AI at NOVA Southeastern University and a beginning project at NASA Wallops Flight Facility for a resilient, robust, and intelligent UAV flight control system. A method is outlined which allows a base level application for applying an artificial intelligence method, fuzzy logic, to aspects of control logic for UAV flight. One element of UAV flight, automated altitude hold, has been implemented and preliminary results displayed.     

International coordination in the era of faster, better, cheaper

Space agencies around the world are seeking innovative approaches to reduce the time and expense of space-based activities, including observation of the Earth and acquisition of environmental data for Earth science research. As government budgets are squeezed, agencies search for innovative approaches to streamline program management, introduce new technology, and share costs with external partners. International cooperation has been a mainstay of Earth observation activity from the beginning of space exploration. It continues to be true that global problems require global solutions, and governments recognize the need to share the investment in understanding and monitoring the planet. Agencies need to carefully consider how changes in their program development and management practices might impact cooperative ventures. Improved communication, enhanced strategic planning, and coordinated rather than comprehensive missions are all tools agencies can use to maintain or improve partnerships.     

Drop motion in a rotating immiscible liquid body

The interaction of liquids is an important part of many processes and is often used for such purposes as causing a separation of solution components by mass transfer between phases, allowing a chemical reaction between liquids or their components, providing direct contact heating or cooling, or creating emulsions. Containerless space processing may well involve the interaction of liquids in the form of drops. For example it may be desirable to form an alloy in space by merger of two or more drops. Encapsulation of a volatile liquid by a second less volatile and immiscible liquid might be a means for avoiding volatilization. Rotation of such systems would enhance mixing where desirable and/or provide means for drop management. In this study, single drop behavior in rotating liquid bodies is studied experimentally.     

A global HF telecommand system for long duration balloon flights

An HF telecommand system for the control of long duration balloon flights at any point on the globe is described. The system proposed consists of a network of low-power transmitters operating at the same carrier frequency. The choice of transmitter frequency, power and location are presented. Control of the transmitters may be performed remotely by means of the public switched telephone network; an assessment of the error-rate in the system as a whole is given.     

Evaluation of light emitting diode characteristics for a space-based plant irradiation source.

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are a promising irradiation source for plant growth in space. Improved semiconductor technology has yielded LED devices fabricated with gallium aluminum arsenide (GaAlAs) chips which have a high efficiency for converting electrical energy to photosynthetically active radiation. Specific GaAlAs LEDs are available that emit radiation with a peak wavelength near the spectral peak of maximum quantum action for photosynthesis. The electrical conversion efficiency of installed systems (micromole s-1 of photosynthetic photons per watt) of high output LEDs can be within 10% of that for high pressure sodium lamps. Output of individual LEDs were found to vary by as much as 55% from the average of the lot. LED ratings, in mcd (luminous intensity per solid angle), were found to be proportional to total photon output only for devices with the same dispersion angle and spectral peak. Increasing current through the LED increased output but also increased temperature with a consequent decrease in electrical conversion efficiency. A photosynthetic photon flux as high as 900 micromoles m-2 s-1 has been produced on surfaces using arrays with LEDs mounted 7.6 mm apart, operating as a current of 50 mA device-1 and at an installed density of approximately 17,200 lamps m-2 of irradiated area. Advantages of LEDs over other electric light sources for use in space systems include long life, minimal mass and volume and being a solid state device.     

Synoptic observations of coronal transients and their interplanetary consequences

A small coronagraph has been placed in orbit to monitor the sun's outer corona from 2.5 to 10.0 solar radii, and five years of nearly continuous synoptic observations have now been completed. Rapid and sensitive image processing techniques have been developed to screen the data for transient phenomena, particularly coronal mass ejections (CMEs). About 50,000 coronal images have been examined, out of a five-year total of 68,000, and a standardized listing of more than 1,200 coronal transients for the period 1979–1982 has been prepared. These data have been analysed in the light of other available information, particularly on conditions in the interplanetary plasma. The dynamical characteristics of the active corona, as they are beginning to emerge from the data, are presented. We find that coronal mass ejections exercise significant influence on the interplanetary solar wind. They are the source of disturbances that are frequent and energetic, that tend to be somewhat focussed, that often reach shock intensity, and that propagate to large heliocentric distances, sometimes causing major geomagnetic storms.     

International trends in Stirling engine technology development:ISEC 1982-8

A brief survey is presented of trends in work reported at four International Stirling Engine Conferences held during the 1980s. The discussion covers international participation, publication sources and types, engine types, specialized engines, sponsoring institutions and observed trends     

Interplanetary acceleration of low-energy protons as observed during the 25 september 1978 shock event

ISEE-3 observations of a long-lasting low-energy proton intensity increase during the 25 September 1978 shock event are presented as an example for interplanetary particle acceleration in association with shock waves. The observations are discussed in the light of current models for particle acceleration. The particular shape of the time intensity behaviour of the particle intensity increase, the existence of a shock spike and the observed particle distributions indicate that the particles are accelerated at the shock by the induced electric field $\text{E}\text{= ?}\text{1}\text{c}\text{V}\text{×}\text{B}$.