Low-latitude storm time ionospheric predictions using support vector machines

The electromagnetic drift plays an important role in low-latitude storm time ionospheric dynamics. In this study we attempt to utilize the electric field data into ionospheric predictions by using support vector machine (SVM), a promising algorithm for small-sample nonlinear regressions. Taking the disturbance electric field data as input, different SVMs have been trained for three seasonal bins at two stations near the north crest of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA). Eighteen storm events are used to check out their predicting abilities. The results show fairly good agreement between the predictions and observations. Compared with STORM, a widely used empirical correlation model, the SVM method brings a relative improvement of 23% for these testing events. Based on this study we argue that the SVM method can improve the storm time ionospheric predictions.     

Evaluation and improvement of coastal GNSS reflectometry sea level variations from existing GNSS stations in Taiwan

Global sea level rise due to an increasingly warmer climate has begun to induce hazards, adversely affecting the lives and properties of people residing in low-lying coastal regions and islands. Therefore, it is important to monitor and understand variations in coastal sea level covering offshore regions. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) data of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) have been successfully used to robustly derive sea level heights (SLHs). In Taiwan, there are a number of continuously operating GNSS stations, not originally installed for sea level monitoring. They were established in harbors or near coastal regions for monitoring land motion. This study utilizes existing SNR data from three GNSS stations (Kaohsiung, Suao, and TaiCOAST) in Taiwan to compute SLHs with two methods, namely, Lomb–Scargle Periodogram (LSP)-only, and LSP aided with tidal harmonic analysis developed in this study. The results of both methods are compared with co-located or nearby tide gauge records. Due to the poor quality of SNR data, the worst accuracy of SLHs derived from traditional LSP-only method exceeds 1?m at the TaiCOAST station. With our procedure, the standard deviations (STDs) of difference between GNSS-derived SLHs and tide gauge records in Kaohsiung and Suao stations decreased to 10?cm and the results show excellent agreement with tide gauge derived relative sea level records, with STD of differences of 7?cm and correlation coefficient of 0.96. In addition, the absolute GNSS-R sea level trend in Kaohsiung during 2006–2011 agrees well with that derived from satellite altimetry. We conclude that the coastal GNSS stations in Taiwan have the potential of monitoring absolute coastal sea level change accurately when our proposed methodology is used.     

Global ionospheric scintillations revealed by GPS radio occultation data with FY3C satellite before midnight during the March 2015 storm

Global observations of S4 amplitude scintillation index by the GPS Occultation Sounder (GNOS) on FengYun-3 C (FY3C) satellite reveal global dynamic patterns of a strong pre-midnight scintillations in F-region of the ionosphere during the St. Patrick’s Day geomagnetic super storm of 17–19 March 2015. The observed strong scintillations mainly occurred in the low latitudes, caused by equatorial plasma bubbles. During the main storm phase (March 17), the scintillations were first triggered in the New Zealand sector near 160°E longitudes, extending beyond 40°S dip latitude. They were also enhanced in the Indian sector, but significantly suppressed in East Asia near 120°E longitude and in Africa around 30°E longitude. During the initial recovery phase (March 18–19), the global scintillations were seldom observed in GNOS data. During the later recovery phase (after March 19), the scintillations recovered to the pre-storm level in Indian, African, and American sectors, but not in East Asian and any of Pacific sectors. These results closely correlate with observations of the density depletion structures by the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite, and ground-based instruments. Such consistency indicates reliability of our scintillation sensing approach even in a case-by-case comparison study. The prompt penetration electric field and disturbance dynamo electric field are suggested as the main factors that control the enhancement and inhibition of the scintillations during the storm, respectively.     

Ionospheric F2-Layer critical frequency retrieved from COSMIC radio occultation: A statistical comparison with measurements from a meridional ionosonde chain over Southeast Asia

In this paper, we compared the F2-Layer critical frequency (foF2) derived from FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC radio occultation (RO) and ionosondes at Chiang Mai, Chumphon and Kototabang during the years 2008–2015 to evaluate the performance of COSMIC RO over Southeast Asia region. The results show that the time development of foF2 values derived from COSMIC RO generally agrees well with those from ionosonde measurements. However, the differences between the foF2 derived from COSMIC RO and that derived from ionosonde observations display latitudinal dependence. COSMIC RO tends to underestimate foF2 at Chiang Mai and Kototabang, which is near to the north EIA crest and the south one, respectively, while a little overestimate foF2 at Chumphon, which is close to the geomagnetic equator. COSMIC RO agrees best with ionosonde at Chumphon and worst at Chiang Mai. At each ionosonde station, the quality of COSMIC RO data degrades with the increase of solar activity. In addition, at the station Chiang Mai and Kototabang, COSMIC RO performs better in summer than in equinox and winter. Furthermore, the differences in foF2 derived from COSMIC RO and that from ionosonde measurements vary with local time, i.e., the differences in foF2 are generally smaller at night and larger in noontime when equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) is well developed.     

MSG-3在民用航空器维修大纲制定中的应用

国内民用航空器的研发起步较晚,目前投入运行的国产航空器型号种类和数量都不多,航空器制造厂家在制定维修大纲方面的经验较少.本文对国际上通行的MSG-3维修任务分析方法进行研究,首先介绍MSG-3维修任务分析方法产生和发展的历史背景,以及其在国内民机型号中的应用;然后详细叙述MSG-3维修任务分析方法(包括航空器系统、动力装置维修任务的分析方法,结构检查和区域检查任务的分析方法,以及形成维修大纲的流程和维修任务的后期优化);最后通过对航空器型号的审查经验,总结我国民用航空器制造厂家在制定航空器维修大纲时存在的问题和改进方向.     

新构型倾转旋翼无人机飞行力学建模

倾转旋翼无人机飞行力学模型是设计飞行控制律和分析飞行特性的基础。从一款在研的新构型倾转旋翼无人机工程实际出发,建立该无人机非线性飞行力学模型;分析新构型倾转旋翼机相比常规倾转旋翼机的特点和优势,建立直升机模式、倾转过渡模式和固定翼模式下各部件飞行力学模型;并针对直升机模式,对不同飞行速度进行配平及稳定性分析。结果表明:该构型倾转旋翼无人机直升机模式横航向模态具有很好的稳定性,直升机模式悬停状态横纵向模态基本没有耦合。     

基于时频二维估计的卫星导航失锁快速重定位技术

卫星导航接收机在天线受到遮挡或者弱信号环境中易出现信号失锁现象,信号恢复后的重定位时间成为接收机的一项重要性能指标。提出一种基于时频二维估计、适用于中低动态应用场景的失锁快速重定位技术,利用信号失锁前测量的载波多普勒频率和码相位等信息对失锁后的多普勒频率及码相位进行估计,信号恢复后直接启用信号跟踪,无需进行位同步和帧同步,即可实现快速重定位。对该技术进行工程实现及试验验证,结果表明信号输入功率高于–145dBm(积分时间为10ms)、失锁时间小于60s时,接收机重定位时间在1s以内。     

军用飞机环境适应性评价模型

阐述了作战飞机面临的环境,分析了各种环境因素对军用飞机作战性能的影响,建立了军用飞机环境适应性评价指标体系。确定了机场环境剖面和衡量各个评价因素样本数据的方法,并提出了军用飞机环境适应性评价模型,通过实例验证了模型的合理性和方法的可行性。算例和分析结论表明,该模型反映了军用飞机在环境适应性方面的技术要求,同时也为军用飞机在环境适应能力上的改进提供了参考。