Human operator response speed, frequency, and flexibility - A review and analysis.
Human operator manual control speed, frequency and flexibility innate limitations, suggesting techniques to overcome them
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Human operator manual control speed, frequency and flexibility innate limitations, suggesting techniques to overcome them
A theoretical study of the use of heat pipe structures for cooling the leading edges of hypersonic cruise aircraft was carried out over a Mach number range of 6 to 12. Preliminary design studies showed that a heat pipe cooling structure with a 33-in. chordwise length could maintain the maximum temperature of a 65 deg sweepback wing with a 0.5-in. leading edge radius below 1600 F during cruise at Mach 8. A few relatively minor changes in the steady-state design of the structure were found necessary to insure satisfactory cooling during the climb to cruise speed and altitude. It was concluded that heat pipe cooling is an attractive, feasible technique for limiting leading edge temperatures of hypersonic cruise aircraft.
An analytical technique for the evaluation of combustion stability in rocket motors with partial length acoustic absorbers is presented. The combustors considered have concentrated combustion zones at the injector, finite mean flows, cylindrical cross sections, and acoustic liners of arbitrary length and impedance. Linear three dimensional oscillations in such combustion chambers are analyzed using an integral equation-iteration technique. Stability limits in terms of a combustion response factor are calculated for several values of Mach number, length to radius ratio, liner impedance, liner length, liner location, and nozzle admittance. Results indicate that increasing liner length increases combustor stability substantially at low Mach numbers but has a substantially smaller effect for larger Mach numbers. Increasing Mach numbers or length to radius ratio have destabilizing effects while liner location has only a minor effect on stability.
The NASA Earth Resources Survey (ERS) Program is discussed as an effort to augment the presently used ground techniques and limited aerial photography for obtaining larger survey data. The topics include the scientific and technological aspects of remote earth resources sensing, the past and present activities in this field, the immediate plans for the implementation of the program, and a summary of current and future international participation in it. The effective target areas of space observations under the program are listed as synoptic surveys, agriculture and forestry, geography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, and marine resources. Acquisition of near real-time information, reduced data acquisition time, repeated coverage, measurement uniformity, global surveys without large on-site support requirements are indicated as the advantages of space observations.
An analytical technique for the evaluation of combustion stability in rocket motors with partial length acoustic liners is presented. The combustors considered in this work have concentrated combustion zones at the injector, finite mean flows, cylindrical cross sections, and acoustic liners of arbitrary length and impedance. Linear three dimensional oscillations in such combustion chambers are analyzed using an integral equation-iteration technique. Stability limits in terms of the sensitive time lag model are calculated for several values of Mach number, length to radius ratio, liner impedance, liner length, liner location, and nozzle admittance. Results indicate that increasing liner length increases combustor stability substantially at low Mach numbers but has a considerably smaller effect for larger Mach numbers. Increasing Mach number or length to radius ratio has a destabilizing effect while liner location has only a minor effect on stability.
Discussion of NDT techniques and instrumentation developed to demonstrate the quality and normal behavior of 1-W/1-A no-fire electroexplosive devices (EEDs) without firing or degrading the units. Application of these techniques is limited to the bridgewire/explosive/header interface which is considered to be the most critical link in the electroexplosive chain. A certain amount of destructive testing required to determine the sensitivity and output of the EEDs can be accomplished by additional instrumentation that initiates and delivers energy in an impulsive manner with control of pulse width and amplitude.
A simple tapped-delay-line filter in tandem with the receiver that optimally detects a single pulse over a band-limited channel in the presence of Gaussian noise is proposed for reducing the effect of the intersymbol interference in an ideal band-limited PCM/NRZ system. The improvement is described in terms of the gain in signal-to-noise ratio for a specific bit-error probability.
A search for solar neutrons is reported from a balloon flight launched from Palestine, Texas on Sept. 26, 1971. The sun was observed from 8:30 to 19:30 CST. The neutrons were detected with a telescope consisting of two 0.5 sq m scintillation detectors spaced 1 meter apart using a double-scattering/time-of-flight technique. Upper limits for solar neutrons in the energy intervals 10 to 30, 30 to 50, and 50 to 100 MeV are .00011, .00026 and .00059 neutron/sq cm-sec, respectively. These are combined into an overall upper limit of .00051 neutron/sq cm-sec.
The importance of wave-induced currents in different weather conditions and water depths (18.3 m and 36.6 m) is assessed in a mid-Atlantic continental-shelf region. A review of general circulation conditions is conducted. Factors which perturb the general circulation are examined using analytic techniques and limited experimental data. Actual wind and wave statistics for the region are examined. Relative magnitudes of the various currents are compared on a frequency of annual occurrence basis. Results indicated that wave-induced currents are often the same order of magnitude as other currents in the region and become more important at higher wind and wave conditions. Wind-wave and ocean-swell characteristics are among those parameters which must be monitored for the analytical computation of continental-shelf circulation.
Various aspects of space shuttle communication systems were studied. The following major areas were investigated: burst error correction for shuttle command channels; performance optimization and design considerations for Costas receivers with and without bandpass limiting; experimental techniques for measuring low level spectral components of microwave signals; and potential modulation and coding techniques for the Ku-band return link. Results are presented.
The preparation of composites in space depends on the immersion of reinforcements in a liquid-metal matrix and their uniform, stable dispersion in the bulk products until solidification occurs. The chief problem in achieving the composite is associated with the 'wetting' of the reinforcements. A study of the theory of wetting revealed that wetting is prevented by the presence of gaseous and oxide contaminants at the interface between the pure liquid and pure solid. Experiment then confirmed that the use of a vacuum environment, cleaning of all surfaces, elevated temperature, ion bombardment, and vigorous mechanical agitation enabled the immersion and dispersion of candidate reinforcements. The technique is limited by the increased tendency for reaction if the time at elevated temperature is extended.
The present work describes a measuring technique employing the scanning electron microscope in which values of the true bulk diffusion length are obtained. It is shown that surface recombination effects can be eliminated through application of highly doped surface field layers. The effects of high injection level and low-high junction current generation are investigated. Results obtained with this technique are compared to those obtained by a penetrating radiation (X-ray) method, and a close agreement is found. The SEM technique is limited to cells that contain a back surface field layer.
Subsystem performance analysis required in flight design to assess the capability of the environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) to support the flight requirements and define operational procedures under contingency flight conditions is described. Current ECLSS modeling techniques are limited in the variety of configurations and they employ batch mode computer programs execution methods. Improvements in the variety of configurations that are modeled and a reduction in effort required for modeling and analysis is accomplished by developing a modular computer program which operates interactively.
Short-interval SMS-2 visible digital image data are used to derive wind vectors from cloud tracking on time-lapsed sequences of geosynchronous satellite images. The cloud tracking areas are located in the Central Plains, where on May 6, 1975 hail-producing thunderstorms occurred ahead of a well defined dry line. Cloud tracking is performed on the Goddard Space Flight Center Atmospheric and Oceanographic Information Processing System. Lower tropospheric cumulus tracers are selected with the assistance of a cloud-top height algorithm. Divergence is derived from the cloud motions using a modified Cressman (1959) objective analysis technique which is designed to organize irregularly spaced wind vectors into uniformly gridded wind fields. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using satellite-derived wind vectors and their associated divergence fields in describing the conditions preceding severe local storm development. For this case, an area of convergence appeared ahead of the dry line and coincided with the developing area of severe weather. The magnitude of the maximum convergence varied between -10 to the -5th and -10 to the -14th per sec. The number of satellite-derived wind vectors which were required to describe conditions of the low-level atmosphere was adequate before numerous cumulonimbus cells formed. This technique is limited in areas of advanced convection.
Data retrievals are simulated for a Nd:YAG lidar suitable for early flight on the space shuttle. Maximum assumed vertical and horizontal resolutions are 0.1 and 100 km, respectively, in the boundary layer, increasing to 2 and 2000 km in the mesosphere. Aerosol and cloud retrievals are simulated using 1.06 and 0.53 microns wavelengths independently. Error sources include signal measurement, conventional density information, atmospheric transmission, and lidar calibration. By day, tenuous clouds and Saharan and boundary layer aerosols are retrieved at both wavelengths. By night, these constituents are retrieved, plus upper tropospheric, stratospheric, and mesospheric aerosols and noctilucent clouds. Density, temperature, and improved aerosol and cloud retrievals are simulated by combining signals at 0.35, 1.06, and 0.53 microns. Particlate contamination limits the technique to the cloud free upper troposphere and above. Error bars automatically show effect of this contamination, as well as errors in absolute density nonmalization, reference temperature or pressure, and the sources listed above. For nonvolcanic conditions, relative density profiles have rms errors of 0.54 to 2% in the upper troposphere and stratosphere. Temperature profiles have rms errors of 1.2 to 2.5 K and can define the tropopause to 0.5 km and higher wave structures to 1 or 2 km.
By expressing partial differential equations of motion in matrix notation, utilizing the integrating matrix as a spatial operator, and applying the boundary conditions, the resulting ordinary differential equations can be cast into standard eigenvalue form upon assumption of the usual time dependence. As originally developed, the technique was limited to beams having continuous mass and stiffness properties along their lengths. Integrating matrix methods are extended to treat the differential equations governing the flap, lag, or axial vibrations of rotating beams having concentrated masses. Inclusion of concentrated masses is shown to lead to the same kind of standard eigenvalue problem as before, but with slightly modified matrices.
Although the number of ways to combine Slater determinants to form spin eigenfunctions increases rapidly with the number of open shells, most of these spin couplings will make only a small contribution to a given state, provided the spin coupling is chosen judiciously. The technique of limiting calculations to the interacting subspace pioneered by Bunge (1970) was employed by Munch and Davidson (1975) to the vanadium atom. The use of an interacting space looses its advantage in more complex cases. However, the problem can always be reduced to only one interacting spin coupling by making the coefficients integral dependent. The present investigation is concerned with the performance of integral dependent interacting couplings, taking into account the results of three test calculations.
Simple technique uses ordinary X-ray equipment. Weld line between hemispheres of hidden spherical pressure vessel examined for misalinement between hemispheres. Central X-ray tangent to pressure vessel at weld line. Technique not limited to spheres. Also used to check alinement between insulated sections of pipelines or chemical-reaction vessels without removing insulation or interrupting flow or process.