Broadband light source for fiber-optic measurement system in spaceborne applications

Measuring temperatures, mechanical loads and derived quantities precisely and reliably play an important role in spaceflight. With spacecraft becoming increasingly complex, upscaling of present telemetry techniques can become cumbersome. Additionally, there are entirely new sensory requirements, resulting from emerging technologies such as smart structures, active vibration damping and composite material health monitoring. It has been demonstrated in preceding studies that these measurements can be advantageously and efficiently carried out by means of fiber-optic systems. The most prominent fiber-optic strain and temperature sensor is the fiber Bragg grating. Typically, multiple fiber Bragg gratings are used to translate entire temperature and strain fields into an optical wavelength information. For the interrogation of these sensors, a broadband or scanning light source is required. Additional requirements with respect to the light source are high intensity and unpolarized illumination of the gratings. These constraints can be met by a light source that is based on amplified spontaneous emission in a rare-earth-doped fiber. In the presented work, a compact light source, adapted for measurement applications and targeted towards space applications, has been developed. The design of this light source is presented, as well as its implementation. The light source has been designed and tested for selected core aspects of space robustness and the results of these tests are summarized.     

Advanced materials for next generation NiMH portable, HEV and EVbatteries

While Ovonic NiMH batteries are already in high volume commercial production for portable applications, advances in materials technology have enabled performance improvements in specific energy (100 Wh/kg), specific power (600-1000 W/kg), high temperature operation, charge retention, and voltage stability. Concurrent with technology advances, Ovonic NiMH batteries have established performance and commercial milestones in electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, as well as scooter, motorcycle and bicycle applications. As important as these advances, significant manufacturing cost reductions have also occurred which allow continued growth of NiMH technology. In this paper, advances in performance, applications and cost reduction are discussed with particular emphasis on the improved proprietary metal hydride and nickel hydroxide materials that make such advances possible     

Multiple hypothesis track maintenance with possibly unresolved measurements

In surveillance problems dense clutter/dense target situations call for refined data association and tracking techniques. In addition, closely spaced targets may exist which are not resolved. This phenomenon has to be considered explicitly in the tracking algorithm. We concentrate on two targets which temporarily move in close formation and derive a generalization of MHT methods on the basis of a simple resolution model.     

Fixed-interval retrodiction approach to Bayesian IMM-MHT formaneuvering multiple targets

In a Bayesian framework, we propose a hierarchy of suboptimal retrodiction algorithms that generalize Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) fixed-interval smoothing to multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT) applications employing interacting multiple model (IMM) methods (IMM-MHT). As a limiting case we obtain new simple formulae for suboptimal fixed-interval smoothing applied to Markovian switching systems. Retrodiction techniques provide uniquely interpretable and accurate trajectories from ambiguous MHT output if a certain (small) time delay is tolerated. By a simulated example with two maneuvering targets that operate closely spaced under relatively hard conditions we demonstrate the potential gain by fixed-interval retrodiction and provide a quantitative idea of the achievable track accuracy and mean time delay involved     

Biological effects of heavy ions in Arabidopsis seeds.

Irradiation of dry seeds of Arabidopsis with heavy ions (HZE-particles) produced by UNILAC-accelerator (GSI, Darmstadt) yielded aberrations in varied developmental endpoints such as survival rate and embryo vitality. The damage increased with particle density and charge. Cross sections in the range of 0.2-1.0 micrometer2 for Ne and Ar and 2.0-10.0 micrometers2 for Xe were estimated. Soaked seeds were more sensitive than dry seeds (cross-section 2.0-10.0 micrometers2 for Ar). The induced total damage in the irradiated seeds was estimated adding the different damages weighted by certain factors. These results will be used as base data for the interpretation and evaluation of spaceflight experiments on the biological effects of cosmic radiation.     

New approach to a multistatic passive radar sensor for air/spacedefense

A method to apply the latest technology in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), in particular the U.S. NAVSTAR GPS (NAVigation System for Timing And Ranging Global Positioning System) and the Russian GLONASS (GLObal'naya Nqvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema), as a silent multistatic or parasitic radar for air defense is described. These satellite systems serving as navigational aids are well suited for low power radar applications due to the similarity and compatibility of the transmitted satellite signals with modern radar signals, such as spread spectrum modulation and Pseudo Random Noise (PRN) codes. Preliminary flight tests with airships, jet and propeller aircraft, helicopter, anti tank missiles and spaceborne targets (MIR) to study effects have been conducted     

The Swift Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope

The Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) is one of three instruments flying aboard the Swift Gamma-ray Observatory. It is designed to capture the early (∼1 min) UV and optical photons from the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts in the 170–600 nm band as well as long term observations of these afterglows. This is accomplished through the use of UV and optical broadband filters and grisms. The UVOT has a modified Ritchey–Chrétien design with micro-channel plate intensified charged-coupled device detectors that record the arrival time of individual photons and provide sub-arcsecond positioning of sources. We discuss some of the science to be pursued by the UVOT and the overall design of the instrument.     

Adaptive Phased-Array Tracking in ECM using Negative Information

Target tracking with adaptive phased-array radars in the presence of standoff jamming presents both challenges and opportunities to the track filter designer. A measurement likelihood function is derived for this situation which accounts for the effect of both positive and negative contact information. This likelihood function is approximated a? a weighted sum of Gaussian terms consisting of both positive and negative weights, accounting for the positive and negative contact information. Additionally, recent theoretical results have been reported which have derived an accurate measurement error covariance in the vicinity of the jammer when adaptive beamforming is used by the radar to null the effects of the jammer. We compare the impact of using a likelihood function that accounts for negative contact information and the corrected measurement error covariance by comparing five Kalman filter-based trackers in five different scenarios. We show that only those track filters which use both the negative contact information and the corrected measurement error covariance are effective in maintaining track on a maneuvering target as it passes through the jamming region. This approach can also be generalized to any target tracking problem where the sensor response is anisotropic.     

Spherical crystal cosmic X-ray spectrometer

For spectral studies at energies 3keV, higher than those usually neglected by grazing incidence telescopes with high efficiency, freestanding, self-focussing, crystal arrays offer the most practical way to achieve adequate sensitivity through concentration. Such spectrometers can be designed for the entire range of energies that can be diffracted by crystals, 5oo eV to 10⁴ eV, and, for energies below 3keV, can have sensitivities greater than or comparable with that of instruments at the focal plane of a large telescope.