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At least 181 records · Page 10

Uncertainty Analysis of Sonic Boom Levels Measured in a Simulator at NASA Langley

A sonic boom simulator has been constructed at NASA Langley Research Center for testing the human response to sonic booms heard indoors. Like all measured quantities, sonic boom levels in the simulator are subject to systematic and random errors. To quantify these errors, and their net influence on the measurement result, a formal uncertainty analysis is conducted. Knowledge of the measurement uncertainty, or range of values attributable to the quantity being measured, enables reliable comparisons among measurements at different locations in the simulator as well as comparisons with field data or laboratory data from other simulators. The analysis reported here accounts for acoustic excitation from two sets of loudspeakers: one loudspeaker set at the facility exterior that reproduces the exterior sonic boom waveform and a second set of interior loudspeakers for reproducing indoor rattle sounds. The analysis also addresses the effect of pressure fluctuations generated when exterior doors of the building housing the simulator are opened. An uncertainty budget is assembled to document each uncertainty component, its sensitivity coefficient, and the combined standard uncertainty. The latter quantity will be reported alongside measurement results in future research reports to indicate data reliability.

Rathsam, Jonathan↗

In Situ Investigation of Upper Airway Occlusion in Sleep Disordered Breathing Using Ultrasonic Transducer Arrays

This work presents a novel application of ultrasound for the real-time, non-invasive investigation of occlusion of the upper airway during events of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. It is hypothesized that ultrasonic pulses applied to the neck during apneic events produce spectral and temporal features that can detect apnea occurrence. Theoretical models of ultrasound propagation and an in vitro test were conducted to test this hypothesis in both transmission and reflection modes. Complete specifications and technical details of the system design and fabrication, which is mounted on each subject’s neck, are presented, including the methodology. Nine patients (seven male and two female, mean age of 42 years, with a range of 25 to 56 years, and body mass index 37.6 ± 6.6 kg/m2) were recruited for a full night study, which included simultaneous nocturnal polysomnography for the validation of the results. Nine temporal features and four spectral features were extracted from the envelope of the received pulse waveform. These were used to compute 26 metrics to quantify the changes in the ultrasonic waveforms between normal breathing and apneic events. The statistical analysis of the collected ultrasonic data showed that at least two or more of the proposed features could detect apneic events in all subjects. The findings establish the feasibility of the proposed method as a cost-effective and non-invasive OSAHS screening tool.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Transmission line design for the lunar environment

How the mass, operating temperature, and efficiency of a transmission line operating on the moon are affected by its operating parameters, the lunar environment, and the choice of materials is examined. The key transmission line parameters which have an effect on mass, operating temperature, and efficiency are voltage, power loss, and waveform. The choice of waveform for transmission will be influenced by the waveform of the source and load, and therefore an analysis of both DC and AC transmission is necessary for a complete understanding of lunar power transmission. The data presented are for the DC case only; however, the discussion of the environmental effects and of material selection is pertinent to both AC and DC transmission. The operating voltage is shown to be a key parameter in transmission line design. The role efficiency plays in transmission line design is also examined. The analyses include above- and below-the-surface operation for both a vacuum-insulated, two-wire, transmission line, and a solid-dielectric-insulated, coaxial, transmission line.

Gaustad, Krista L.↗

High-Speed Research: 1994 Sonic Boom Workshop: Atmospheric Propagation and Acceptability Studies

The workshop proceedings include papers on atmospheric propagation and acceptability studies. Papers discussing atmospheric effects on the sonic boom waveform addressed several issues. It has long been assumed that the effects of molecular relaxation are adequately accounted for by assuming that a steady state balance between absorption and nonlinear wave steepening exists. It was shown that the unsteadiness induced by the nonuniform atmosphere precludes attaining this steady state. Further, it was shown that the random atmosphere acts as a filter, effectively filtering out high frequency components of the distorted waveform. Several different propagation models were compared, and an analysis of the sonic boom at the edge of the primary carpet established that the levels there are bounded. Finally, a discussion of the levels of the sonic boom below the sea surface was presented.

Mccurdy, David A.↗

Polarimetric, Two-Color, Photon-Counting Laser Altimeter Measurements of Forest Canopy Structure

Laser altimeter measurements of forest stands with distinct structures and compositions have been acquired at 532 nm (green) and 1064 nm (near-infrared) wavelengths and parallel and perpendicular polarization states using the Slope Imaging Multi-polarization Photon Counting Lidar (SIMPL). The micropulse, single photon ranging measurement approach employed by SIMPL provides canopy structure measurements with high vertical and spatial resolution. Using a height distribution analysis method adapted from conventional, 1064 nm, full-waveform lidar remote sensing, the sensitivity of two parameters commonly used for above-ground biomass estimation are compared as a function of wavelength. The results for the height of median energy (HOME) and canopy cover are for the most part very similar, indicating biomass estimations using lidars operating at green and near-infrared wavelengths will yield comparable estimates. The expected detection of increasing depolarization with depth into the canopies due to volume multiple-scattering was not observed, possibly due to the small laser footprint and the small detector field of view used in the SIMPL instrument. The results of this work provide pathfinder information for NASA's ICESat-2 mission that will employ a 532 nm, micropulse, photon counting laser altimeter.

Harding, David J.↗

Regional Source-Type Discrimination Using Nonlinear Alignment Algorithms

The discrimination problem in seismology aims to accurately classify different underground source types based on local, regional, and/or teleseismic observations of ground motion. Typical discriminant approaches are rooted in fundamental, physics-based differences in radiation pattern or wave excitation, which can be frequency-dependent and may not make use of the full waveform. In this article, we explore whether phase and amplitude distances derived from dynamic time warping (DTW) and elastic shape analysis (ESA) can inform event discrimination. We demonstrate the ability to distinguish underground point sources using synthetic waveforms calculated for a 1D Earth model and various source mechanisms. We then apply the method to recorded data from events in the Korean Peninsula, which includes declared nuclear explosions, a collapse event, and naturally occurring earthquakes. Phase and amplitude distances derived from DTW and ESA are then used to classify the event types via dendrogram and k-nearest-neighbor clustering analyses. Using information from the full waveform, we show how different underground sources can be distinguished at regional distances. We highlight the potential of these nonlinear alignment algorithms for discrimination and comment on ways we can extend the framework presented here.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Analysis of the Radiated Field in an Electromagnetic Reverberation Chamber as an Upset-Inducing Stimulus for Digital Systems

Preliminary data analysis for a physical fault injection experiment of a digital system exposed to High Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) in an electromagnetic reverberation chamber suggests a direct causal relation between the time profile of the field strength amplitude in the chamber and the severity of observed effects at the outputs of the radiated system. This report presents an analysis of the field strength modulation induced by the movement of the field stirrers in the reverberation chamber. The analysis is framed as a characterization of the discrete features of the field strength waveform responsible for the faults experienced by a radiated digital system. The results presented here will serve as a basis to refine the approach for a detailed analysis of HIRF-induced upsets observed during the radiation experiment. This work offers a novel perspective into the use of an electromagnetic reverberation chamber to generate upset-inducing stimuli for the study of fault effects in digital systems.

Torres-Pomales, Wilfredo↗

Integration of Off-Track Sonic Boom Analysis in Conceptual Design of Supersonic Aircraft

A highly desired capability for the conceptual design of aircraft is the ability to rapidly and accurately evaluate new concepts to avoid adverse trade decisions that may hinder the development process in the later stages of design. Evaluating the robustness of new low-boom concepts is important for the conceptual design of supersonic aircraft. Here, robustness means that the aircraft configuration has a low-boom ground signature at both under- and off-track locations. An integrated process for off-track boom analysis is developed to facilitate the design of robust low-boom supersonic aircraft. The integrated off-track analysis can also be used to study the sonic boom impact and to plan future flight trajectories where flight conditions and ground elevation might have a significant effect on ground signatures. The key enabler for off-track sonic boom analysis is accurate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions for off-body pressure distributions. To ensure the numerical accuracy of the off-body pressure distributions, a mesh study is performed with Cart3D to determine the mesh requirements for off- body CFD analysis and comparisons are made between the Cart3D and USM3D results. The variations in ground signatures that result from changes in the initial location of the near-field waveform are also examined. Finally, a complete under- and off-track sonic boom analysis is presented for two distinct supersonic concepts to demonstrate the capability of the integrated analysis process.

Ordaz, Irian↗

Phase Picking Beyond Local Distances: Where Waveform Filtering Still Matters for Deep Learning Models

Waveform filtering is a standard step in traditional seismic phase picking but often receives little attention in deep learning workflows, where models are typically trained on raw or minimally processed waveforms. Although this strategy performs well for local events, we show that performance can degrade substantially at regional distances. To address this limitation, we introduce two ways to incorporate multiband-filtered waveforms into deep learning phase pickers. The stacking approach concatenates filtered inputs along the channel dimension, while the branching approach processes each frequency band through a dedicated network branch before feature fusion. Both approaches can substantially improve performance across epicentral distances of 0° to 20°, but their effectiveness depends strongly on the selected frequency bands. Tests with multiple filter banks show that filter-bank design should be treated as part of model optimization rather than as a fixed preprocessing choice. Grad-CAM analysis of the branching model indicates that band importance varies among waveform samples and across training realizations, with only a weak overall preference for the 0.25 to 0.5 Hz band. These results show that no single filter band is consistently optimal and demonstrate that explicit feature engineering remains valuable for robust deep learning-based seismic phase picking.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Power System Event Detection Using the Energy Detector: A Performance Analysis

As the grid becomes smarter, the need to accurately detect, predict, and classify waveform phenomena is growing. When it comes to detecting high-frequency behaviors, i.e. transients, it is especially important to employ an event detection system that is able to accurately uncover these types of disturbances that would otherwise be lost with traditional hardware. In this paper, we first present the energy detector; a waveform event detection system that adaptively monitors a signal's energy and picks out high-frequency events that deviate from the nominal state. Secondly, we evaluate the performance of this detector against waveform data that have been corrupted by sensor irregularities. Using Oak Ridge National Laboratory's sensor testbed, we are able to show the results of the detector's performance against events that have been corrupted by three distinct sensor types, and examine how these results change with multiple trials. The results show excellent performance when detecting the beginning of an anomalous event with an average of less than 1% error.

Ekti, Ali Riza↗

Directional spectra of ocean waves from microwave backscatter

The paper presents an analysis of two proposed microwave radar techniques for measuring ocean wave directional spectra. Tomiyasu's (1971) short pulse idea and Barrick's (1972) two-frequency correlation idea are regarded - independent of transmitted waveform - as essentially two alternative detection systems for modulated noise. Together, the two systems constitute a general detection system for modulated noise described some years ago by Parzen and Shiren (1956). A frequency domain analysis for backscatter on arbitrary incident waveform is given, and an interesting physical optics solution for the generalized fourth-order moments of the scattering matrix is obtained. It is shown that the present narrowband version of Barrick's two-frequency idea is impractical, and that the proper application of Barrick's idea is to wide band signals.

Jackson, F. C.↗

Deep Learning Based Superconducting Radio-Frequency Cavity Fault Classification at Jefferson Laboratory

This work investigates the efficacy of deep learning (DL) for classifying C100 superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity faults in the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab. CEBAF is a large, high-power continuous wave recirculating linac that utilizes 418 SRF cavities to accelerate electrons up to 12 GeV. Recent upgrades to CEBAF include installation of 11 new cryomodules (88 cavities) equipped with a low-level RF system that records RF time-series data from each cavity at the onset of an RF failure. Typically, subject matter experts (SME) analyze this data to determine the fault type and identify the cavity of origin. This information is subsequently utilized to identify failure trends and to implement corrective measures on the offending cavity. Manual inspection of large-scale, time-series data, generated by frequent system failures is tedious and time consuming, and thereby motivates the use of machine learning (ML) to automate the task. This study extends work on a previously developed system based on traditional ML methods (Tennant and Carpenter and Powers and Shabalina Solopova and Vidyaratne and Iftekharuddin, Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams, 2020, 23, 114601), and investigates the effectiveness of deep learning approaches. The transition to a DL model is driven by the goal of developing a system with sufficiently fast inference that it could be used to predict a fault event and take actionable information before the onset (on the order of a few hundred milliseconds). Because features are learned, rather than explicitly computed, DL offers a potential advantage over traditional ML. Specifically, two seminal DL architecture types are explored: deep recurrent neural networks (RNN) and deep convolutional neural networks (CNN). We provide a detailed analysis on the performance of individual models using an RF waveform dataset built from past operational runs of CEBAF. In particular, the performance of RNN models incorporating long short-term memory (LSTM) are analyzed along with the CNN performance. Furthermore, comparing these DL models with a state-of-the-art fault ML model shows that DL architectures obtain similar performance for cavity identification, do not perform quite as well for fault classification, but provide an advantage in inference speed.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Radar Cross Section Studies/Compact Range Research

A summary is given of the achievements of NASA Grant NsG-1613 by Ohio State University from May 1, 1987 to April 30, 1988. The major topics covered are as follows: (1) electromagnetic scattering analysis; (2) indoor scattering measurement systems; (3) RCS control; (4) waveform processing techniques; (5) material scattering and design studies; (6) design and evaluation of design studies; and (7) antenna studies. Major progress has been made in each of these areas as verified by the numerous publications produced.

Burnside, W. D.↗

Acoustic emission from a growing crack

An analytical method is being developed to determine the signature of an acoustic emission waveform from a growing crack and the results of this analysis are compared to experimentally obtained values. Within the assumptions of linear elastic fracture mechanics, a two dimensional model is developed to examine a semi-infinite crack that, after propagating with a constant velocity, suddenly stops. The analytical model employs an integral equation method for the analysis of problems of dynamic fracture mechanics. The experimental procedure uses an interferometric apparatus that makes very localized absolute measurements with very high fidelity and without acoustically loading the specimen.

Jacobs, Laurence J.↗

Radar cross section studies/compact range research

Achievements in advancing the state-of-the-art in the measurement, control, and analysis of electromagnetic scattering from general aerodynamic targets are summarized. The major topics associated with this study include: (1) electromagnetic scattering analysis; (2) indoor scattering measurement systems; (3) RCS control; (4) waveform processing techniques; (5) material scattering and design studies; (6) design and evaluation of standard targets; and (7) antenna studies. Progress in each of these areas is reported and related publications are listed.

Burnside, W. D.↗

A 2.5 kW cascaded Schwarz converter for 20 kHz power distribution

Because it avoids the high currents in a parallel loaded capacitor, the cascaded Schwarz converter should offer better component utilization than converters with sinusoidal output voltages. The circuit is relatively easy to protect, and it provides a predictable trapezoidal voltage waveform that should be satisfactory for 20-kHz distribution systems. Analysis of the system is enhanced by plotting curves of normalized variables vs. gamma(1), where gamma(1) is proportional to the variable frequency of the first stage. Light-load operation is greatly improved by the addition of a power recycling rectifier bridge that is back biased at medium to heavy loads. Operation has been verified on a 2.5-kW circuit that uses input and output voltages in the same range as those anticipated for certain future spacecraft power systems.

Shetler, Russell E.↗

Sonic Boom Propagation Codes Validated by Flight Test

The sonic boom propagation codes reviewed in this study, SHOCKN and ZEPHYRUS, implement current theory on air absorption using different computational concepts. Review of the codes with a realistic atmosphere model confirm the agreement of propagation results reported by others for idealized propagation conditions. ZEPHYRUS offers greater flexibility in propagation conditions and is thus preferred for practical aircraft analysis. The ZEPHYRUS code was used to propagate sonic boom waveforms measured approximately 1000 feet away from an SR-71 aircraft flying at Mach 1.25 to 5000 feet away. These extrapolated signatures were compared to measurements at 5000 feet. Pressure values of the significant shocks (bow, canopy, inlet and tail) in the waveforms are consistent between extrapolation and measurement. Of particular interest is that four (independent) measurements taken under the aircraft centerline converge to the same extrapolated result despite differences in measurement conditions. Agreement between extrapolated and measured signature duration is prevented by measured duration of the 5000 foot signatures either much longer or shorter than would be expected. The duration anomalies may be due to signature probing not sufficiently parallel to the aircraft flight direction.

Poling, Hugh W.↗

Improving Free-Piston Stirling Engine Specific Power

This work uses analytical methods to demonstrate the potential benefits of optimizing piston and/or displacer motion in a Stirling Engine. Isothermal analysis was used to show the potential benefits of ideal motion in ideal Stirling engines. Nodal analysis is used to show that ideal piston and displacer waveforms are not optimal in real Stirling engines. Constrained optimization was used to identify piston and displacer waveforms that increase Stirling engine specific power.

Stirling Engine↗