AEDC's facility computer enhancement project

The Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) constitutes the largest collection of test cells, wind tunnels, altitude chambers, and ballistic ranges in the free world. AEDC is presently in the midst of an aggressive investment program to decrease the cost of aerospace testing by improving test efficiency and preparing for test requirements projected through 1993. To achieve the desired gains in testing, a multimillion dollar program has been initiated to upgrade data-processing capabilities. This effort, the Facility Computer Enhancement Program (FCEP), replaces the existing facility with new and more powerful computers and state-of-the-art communications networks that link all test processors at AEDC. Tradeoffs and technical considerations during the first year of the program and the design of the new system are discussed. Capabilities that support test objectives at the completion of the project are presented     

Simulations of the microwave sky and of its “observations”

Here follows a preliminary report on the construction of fake millimeter and sub-millimeter skies, as observed by virtual instruments,e.g. the COBRA/SAMBA mission, using theoretical modeling and data extrapolations. Our goal is to create maps as realistic as possible of the relavant physical contributions which may contribute to the detected signals. This astrophysical modeling is followed by simulations of the measurement process itself by a given instrumental configuration. This will enable a precise determination of what can and cannot be achieved with a particular experimental configuration, and provide a feedback on how to improve the overall design. It is a key step on the way to define procedures for the separation of the different physical processes in the future observed maps. Note that this tool will also prove useful in preparing and analyzing current (e.g. balloon borne) Microwave Background experiments.