Ionospheric total electron content response to annular solar eclipse on June 21, 2020

The effects of physical events on the ionosphere structure is an important field of study, especially for navigation and radio communication. The paper presents the spatio-temporal ionospheric TEC response to the recent annular solar eclipse on June 21, 2020, which spans across two continents, Africa and Asia, and 14 countries. This eclipse took place on the same day as the June Solstice. The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) based TEC data of the Global Ionosphere Maps (GIMs), 9 International GNSS Service (IGS) stations and FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) were utilized to analyze TEC response during the eclipse. The phases of the TEC time series were determined by taking the difference of the observed TEC values on eclipse day from the previous 5-day median TEC values. The results showed clear depletions in the TEC time series on June 21. These decreases were between 1 and 9 TECU (15–60%) depending on the location of IGS stations. The depletions are relatively higher at the stations close to the path of annular eclipse than those farther away. Furthermore, a reduction of about ?10 TECU in the form of an equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) was observed in GIMs at ~20° away from the equator towards northpole, between 08:00–11:00 UT where its maximum phase is located in southeast Japan. Additionally, an overall depletion of ~10% was observed in F7/C2 derived TEC at an altitude of 240 km (hmF2) in all regions affected by the solar eclipse, whereas, significant TEC fluctuations between the altitudes of 100 km ? 140 km were analyzed using the Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter. To prove TEC depletions are not caused by space weather, the variation of the sunspot number (SSN), solar wind (V_SW), disturbance storm-time (Dst), and Kp indices were investigated from 16th to 22nd June. The quiet space weather before and during the solar eclipse proved that the observed depletions in the TEC time series and profiles were caused by the annular solar eclipse.     

Rotating machinery fault diagnosis based on convolutional neural network and infrared thermal imaging

Rotating machinery is widely applied in industrial applications. Fault diagnosis of rotating machinery is vital in manufacturing system, which can prevent catastrophic failure and reduce financial losses. Recently, Deep Learning (DL)-based fault diagnosis method becomes a hot topic. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is an effective DL method to extract the features of raw data automatically. This paper develops a fault diagnosis method using CNN for InfRared Thermal (IRT) image. First, IRT technique is utilized to capture the IRT images of rotating machinery. Second, the CNN is applied to extract fault features from the IRT images. In the end, the obtained features are fed into the Softmax Regression (SR) classifier for fault pattern identification. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated using two different experimental data. Results show that the proposed method has a superior performance in identification various faults on rotor and bearings comparing with other deep learning models and traditional vibration-based method.     

Application of Wuhan Ionospheric Oblique Backscattering Sounding System (WIOBSS) for the investigation of midlatitude ionospheric irregularities

An upgrade of Wuhan Ionospheric Backscattering Sounding System (WIOBSS) was developed in 2015. Based on the Universal Serial Bus (USB), and a high performance FPGA, the newly designed WIOBSS has a completely digital structure, which makes it portable and flexible. Two identical WIOBSSs, which were situated at Mile (24.31°N, 103.39°E) and Puer (22.74°N, 101.05°E) respectively, were used to investigate the ionospheric irregularities. The comparisons of group distance, Doppler shift and width between Mile-Puer and Puer-Mile VHF ionospheric propagation paths indicate that the reciprocity of the irregularities is satisfied at midlatitude region. The WIOBSS is robust in the detection of ionospheric irregularities.     

Evaluation of SARAL/AltiKa performance using GNSS/IMU equipped buoy in Sajafi,Imam Hassan and Kangan Ports

Performance of SARAL/AltiKa mission has been evaluated within 2016 altimeter calibration/validation framework in Persian Gulf through three campaigns conducted in the offshore waters of Sajafi, Imam Hassan and Kangan Ports, while the altimeter overflew the passes 470, 111 and 25 on 13 Feb, 7 March and 17 June 2016, respectively. As the preparation, a lightweight buoy was equipped with a GNSS receiver/choke-ring antenna and a MEMS-based IMU to measure independent datasets in the field operations. To obtain accurate sea surface height (SSH) time series, the offset of the onboard antenna from the equilibrium sea level was predetermined through surveying operations as the buoy was deploying in the onshore waters of Kangan Port. Accordingly, the double-difference carrier phase observations have been processed via the Bernese GPS Software v. 5.0 so as to provide the GNSS-derived time series at the comparison points of the calibration campaigns, once the disturbing effects due to the platform tilt and heave have been eliminated. Owing to comparing of the SSH time series and the associating altimetry 1?Hz GDR-T datasets, the calibration/validation of the SARAL/AltiKa has been performed in the both cases of radiometer and ECMWF wet troposphere corrections so as to identify potential land contamination. An agreement of the present findings in comparison with those attained in other international calibrations sites confirms the promising feasibility of Persian Gulf as a new dedicated site for calibration/validation of ongoing and future altimetry missions.     

Study of the rheological properties of water and Martian soil simulant mixtures for engineering applications on the red planet

The rheological properties of mixtures of water and the Martian soil simulant JSC-Mars-1A are investigated by preparing and testing samples at various solids concentrations. The results indicate that the dispersion is viscoelastic and, at small timescales (～0.1?s), reacts to sudden strain as an elastic solid. At longer timescales the dispersion behaves like a Bingham fluid and exhibits a yield stress. Hysteresis loops show that rapid step-changes (2?s duration) of shear-rate result in thixotropic behaviour, but slower changes (>10?s duration) can result in rheopexy. These observations are explained with the breakdown and recovery of the packing structure under stress. The rheological information is used to generate practical tools, such as the system curve and the Moody chart that can be used for designing piping systems, and calculating pump sizes and pressure requirements.     

结合跳点引导的无人机随机搜索避撞决策方法

针对无人机在城市空域环境和密集交通流下的避撞决策问题，提出马尔科夫决策过程（MDP）和蒙特卡洛树搜索（MCTS）算法对该问题进行建模求解。蒙特卡洛树搜索算法在求解过程中为保证实时性而使其搜索深度受限，容易陷入局部最优，导致在含有静态障碍的场景中无法实现避撞的同时保证全局航迹最优。因此结合跳点搜索算法在全局规划上的优势，建立离散路径点引导无人机并改进奖励函数来权衡飞行路线，在进行动态避撞的同时实现对静态障碍的全局避撞。经过多个实验场景仿真，其结果表明改进后的算法均能在不同场景中获得更好的性能表现。特别是在凹形限飞区空域仿真模型中，改进后的算法相对于原始的蒙特卡洛树搜索算法，其冲突概率降低了36%并且飞行时间缩短47.8%。     

Real-time clock comparison and monitoring with multi-GNSS precise point positioning: GPS,GLONASS and Galileo

The precise point positioning (PPP) technique is widely used in time and frequency applications. Because of the real-time service (RTS) project of the International GNSS Service, we can use the PPP technique for real-time clock comparison and monitoring. As a participant in the RTS, the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) implements the PPPWIZARD (Precise Point Positioning with Integer and Zero-difference Ambiguity Resolution Demonstrator) project to validate carrier phase ambiguity resolution. Unlike the Integer-PPP (IPPP) of the CNES, fixing ambiguities in the post-processing mode, the PPPWIZARD operates in the real-time mode, which is also called real-time IPPP (RT-IPPP). This paper focuses on applying the RT-IPPP for real-time clock comparison and monitoring. We review the principle of real-time clock comparison and monitoring, and introduce the methodology of the RT-IPPP technique. The observations of GPS, GLONASS and Galileo were processed for the experiments. Five processing modes were provided in the experiment to analyze the benefits of ambiguity resolution and multi-GNSS. In the clock comparison experiment, the average reduction ratios of standard deviations with respect to the G PPP mode range from 9.7% to 35.0%. In the clock monitoring experiment, G PPP mode can detect clock jumps whose magnitudes are larger than 0.9 ns. The RT-IPPP technique with GRE PPP AR (G) mode allows for the detection of any clock jumps larger than 0.6 ns. For frequency monitoring, G PPP mode allows detection of frequency changes larger than 1.1 × 10⁻¹⁴. When the RT-IPPP technique is applied, monitoring with GRE PPP AR (G) mode can detect frequency changes larger than 6.1 × 10⁻¹⁵.     

Comparison of GPS derived TEC with the TEC predicted by IRI 2012 model in the southern Equatorial Ionization Anomaly crest within the Eastern Africa region

We have compared the TEC obtained from the IRI-2012 model with the GPS derived TEC data recorded within southern crest of the EIA in the Eastern Africa region using the monthly means of the 5 international quiet days for equinoxes and solstices months for the period of 2012 – 2013. GPS-derived TEC data have been obtained from the Africa array and IGS network of ground based dual-frequency GPS receivers from four stations (Kigali (1.95°S, 30.09°E; Geom. Lat. 11.63°S), Malindi (2.99°S, 40.19°E; Geom. Lat. 12.42°S), Mbarara (0.60°S, 30.74°E; Geom. Lat. 10.22°S) and Nairobi (1.22°S, 36.89°E; Geom. Lat. 10.69°S)) located within the EIA crest in this region. All the three options for topside Ne of IRI-2012 model and ABT-2009 for bottomside thickness have been used to compute the IRI TEC. Also URSI coefficients were considered in this study. These results are compared with the TEC estimated from GPS measurements. Correlation Coefficients between the two sets of data, the Root-Mean Square Errors (RMSE) of the IRI-TEC from the GPS-TEC, and the percentage RMSE of the IRI-TEC from the GPS-TEC have been computed. Our general results show that IRI-2012 model with all three options overestimates the GPS-TEC for all seasons and at all stations, and IRI-2001 overestimates GPS-TEC more compared with other options. IRI-Neq and IRI-01-corr are closely matching in most of the time. The observation also shows that, GPS TEC are underestimated by TEC from IRI model during noon hours, especially during equinoctial months. Further, GPS-TEC values and IRI-TEC values using all the three topside Ne options show very good correlation (above 0.8). On the other hand, the TEC using IRI-Neq and IRI-01- corr had smaller deviations from the GPS-TEC compared to the IRI-2001.     

DME询问信号捕获的设计与实现

捕获询问信号是DME地面设备的一个重要功能组成部分。现役的地面设备中大多使用的捕获单元为分离器件电路设计，其电路复杂，控制难度大，改进与维护成本高。针对这些问题，本文设计采用ADC结合FPGA作为主要功能器件，并通过软件算法完成数字滤波、脉冲峰值提取和半幅点计算，实现询问信号的识别与捕获。不仅大幅减少元器件的使用，缩小设备体积，还可提高扩展性与可靠性。结合机柜验证测试，结果符合设计要求。     

Plasma polarization electric field derived from radio sounding of solar wind acceleration region with spacecraft signals

Presented is the analytical approximation of averaged solar wind velocity radial dependence in the solar wind acceleration region at heliolatitudes below 60° under low and moderate solar activity. This empirical approximation is based on the data of radio sounding of the solar corona with radio signals from various spacecraft. Deduced is an equation connecting the solar wind velocity radial dependence and the radial dependence of solar wind plasma polarization electric field intensity. This allows constructing a semi-empirical radial dependence of plasma polarization electric field corresponding to the empirical radial dependence of solar wind velocity. Main properties of the semi-empirical dependence, which is based on radio sounding data, are described.