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The author has identified the following significant results. Approximately 70 percent of the DCP's being installed by Department of the Interior investigators have been successfully operated. These include DCP's operating in Iceland, Central America, Hawaii, and the Continental United States. The Data Collection System specifications are being met for frequency of data collection.
Airlines operating in the United States are required to operate under instrument flight rules (EFR). Typically, a clearance is issued via voice transmission from clearance delivery at the departing airport. In 1990, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began deployment of the Pre-Departure Clearance (PDC) system at 30 U.S. airports. The PDC system utilizes aeronautical datalink and Aircraft Communication and Reporting System (ACARS) to transmit departure clearances directly to the pilot. An objective of the PDC system is to provide an immediate reduction in voice congestion over the clearance delivery frequency. Participating airports report that this objective has been met. However, preliminary analysis of 42 Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports has revealed problems in PDC procedures and formatting which have caused errors in the proper execution of the clearance. It must be acknowledged that this technology, along with other advancements on the flightdeck, is adding more responsibility to the crew and increasing the opportunity for error. The present study uses these findings as a basis for further coding and analysis of an additional 82 reports obtained from an ASRS database search. These reports indicate that clearances are often amended or exceptions are added in order to accommodate local ATC facilities. However, the onboard ACARS is limited in its ability to emphasize or highlight these changes which has resulted in altitude and heading deviations along with increases in ATC workload. Furthermore, few participating airports require any type of PDC receipt confirmation. In fact, 35% of all ASRS reports dealing with PDC's include failure to acquire the PDC at all. Consequently, this study examines pilots' suggestions contained in ASRS reports in order to develop recommendations to airlines and ATC facilities to help reduce the amount of incidents that occur.
The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 prints have been used extensively in a geology of Alaska class to give a basic framework of the geology of the state. In addition, they have been intermittantly used in such diverse classes as: (1) Economic Geology (e.g. the Sn-bearing granites of the Seward Peninsula are particularly noticeable due to their wide contact metamorphic aureoles.) (2) A canned geology of Alaska lecture which has been given to two different introductory geology courses. (3) Structural Geology (e.g. the Fairweather and Denali faults are striking obvious). It was found most convenient for larger classes to prepare 35mm slides of the ERTS-1 prints that are used in conjunction with slides of the topographic and geologic maps at about the same scale. Thus the emphasis has been in integration of the ERTS-1 material into existing courses. As such, the ERTS-1 data has provided a unique and striking viewpoint that never fails to initiate favorable comment. In addition, prints have been examined by numerous researchers to develop a regional, integrated overview of such varied topics as regional geology to a background for local geologic mapping to studies of ore deposits and to the definition of a formation to be studied in detail at its type locality.
In his third State of the Union address, President Reagan told NASA to develop a permanent manned space station in 10 years. The President also ordered the Department of Transportation to help private firms launch rockets, thus introducing the commercialization of space. There were five space shuttle and six expendable vehicle launches in 1984. Materials were selected from a number of published sources. The document records KSC events of interest to historians and other researchers. Arrangement is by month; items are by date of the published sources. Actual date of the event may be indicated in parenthesis, when the article itself does not make that information explicit.
The Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Central Florida, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and General Electric (SCSD) have been funded by the State of Florida to build an Intelligent Simulation Training System. The objective was and is to make the system generic except for the domain expertise. Researchers accomplished this objective in their prototype. The system is modularized and therefore it is easy to make any corrections, expansions or adaptations. The funding by the state of Florida has exceeded $3 million over the past three years and through the 1990 fiscal year. UCF has expended in excess of 15 work years on the project. The project effort has been broken into three major tasks. General Electric provides the simulation. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University provides the domain expertise. The University of Central Florida has constructed the generic part of the system which is comprised of several modules that perform the tutoring, evaluation, communication, status, etc. The generic parts of the Intelligent Simulation Training Systems (ISTS) are described.
This document contains presentations from the joint UVA/NASA Workshop on Computational Intelligence held at the Virginia Consortium of Engineering and Science Universities, Hampton, Virginia, June 27-28, 1995. The presentations addressed activities in the areas of fuzzy logic, neural networks, and evolutionary computations. Workshop attendees represented NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, industry, and academia. The workshop objectives were to assess the state of technology in the Computational intelligence area and to provide guidelines for future research.
The initial focus of this project was to eliminate both of these problems in the Liquid Crystal Point-Diffraction Interferometer (LCPDI). Progress toward that goal will be described, along with the demonstration of a phase shifting Liquid Crystal Shearing Interferometer (LCSI) that was developed as part of this work. The latest LCPDI, other than a lens to focus the light from a test section onto a diffracting microsphere within the interferometer and a collimated laser for illumination, the pink region contained within the glass plates on the rod-mounted platform is the complete interferometer. The total width is approximately 1.5 inches with 0.25 inches on each side for bonding the electrical leads. It is 1 inch high and there are only four diffracting microspheres within the interferometer. As a result, it is very easy to align, achieving the first goal. The liquid crystal electro-optical response time is a function of layer thickness, with thinner devices switching faster due to a reduction in long-range viscoelastic forces between the LC molecules. The LCPDI has a liquid crystal layer thickness of 10 microns, which is controlled by plastic or glass microspheres embedded in epoxy 'pads' at the corners of the device. The diffracting spheres are composed of polystyrene/divinyl benzene polymer with an initial diameter of 15 microns. The spheres deform slightly when the interferometer is assembled to conform to the spacing produced by the microsphere-filled epoxy spacer pads. While the speed of this interferometer has not yet been tested, previous LCPDIs fabricated at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics switched at a rate of approximately 3.3 Hz, a factor of 10 slower than desired. We anticipate better performance when the speed of these interferometers is tested since they are approximately three times thinner. Phase shifting in these devices is a function of the AC voltage level applied to the liquid crystal. As the voltage increases, the dye in the liquid crystal tends to become more transparent, thus introducing a rather large amount of error into the phase-shifting measurement. While that error can be greatly reduced by normalization, we prefer eliminating the source of the error. To that end, we have pursued development of a 'blend' of custom dyes that will not exhibit these properties. That goal has not yet been fully achieved. Guardalben, et al, presented a similar set of interferograms in a paper partially funded by this grant. Shearing interferometers are a second class of common path interferometers. Typically they consist of a thick glass plate optimized for equal reflection from the front and back surface. While not part of the original thrust of the project, through the course of laboratory work, we demonstrated a prototype of a shearing interferometer capable of phase shifting using a commercial liquid crystal retardation plate. A schematic of this liquid crystal shearing interferometer (LCSI) and a sample set of interferograms are in the reference. This work was also supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion under Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC03-92SF19460, the University of Rochester, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The support of DOE does not constitute an endorsement by DOE of the views expressed in this article. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.
The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is a 250K lbf (1.1 MN) thrust cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen engine technology demonstrator that utilizes a full flow staged combustion engine cycle. The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is part of NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program, which seeks to provide safe, dependable, cost-cutting technologies for future space launch systems. The project also is part of the Department of Defense's Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program, which seeks to increase the performance and capability of today s state-of-the-art rocket propulsion systems while decreasing costs associated with military and commercial access to space. The primary industry participants include Boeing-Rocketdyne and GenCorp Aerojet. The intended full flow engine cycle is a key component in achieving all of the aforementioned goals. The IPD Program recently achieved a major milestone with the successful completion of the IPD Oxidizer Turbopump (OTP) hot-fire test project at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) E-1 test facility in June 2003. A total of nine IPD Workhorse Preburner tests were completed, and subsequently 12 IPD OTP hot-fire tests were completed. The next phase of development involves IPD integrated engine system testing also at the NASA SSC E-1 test facility scheduled to begin in late 2004. Following an overview of the NASA SSC E-1 test facility, this paper addresses the facility aspects pertaining to the activation and testing of the IPD Workhorse Preburner and the IPD Oxidizer Turbopump. In addition, some of the facility challenges encountered during the test project shall be addressed.
The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is a 250K lbf (1.1 MN) thrust cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen engine technology demonstrator that utilizes a full flow staged combustion engine cycle. The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is part of NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program, which seeks to provide safe, dependable, cost-cutting technologies for future space launch systems. The project also is part of the Department of Defense's Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program, which seeks to increase the performance and capability of today s state-of-the-art rocket propulsion systems while decreasing costs associated with military and commercial access to space. The primary industry participants include Boeing-Rocketdyne and GenCorp Aerojet. The intended full flow engine cycle is a key component in achieving all of the aforementioned goals. The IPD Program achieved a major milestone with the successful completion of the IPD Oxidizer Turbopump (OTP) cold-flow test project at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) E-1 test facility in November 2001. A total of 11 IPD OTP cold-flow tests were completed. Following an overview of the NASA SSC E-1 test facility, this paper addresses the facility aspects pertaining to the activation and the cold-flow testing of the IPD OTP. In addition, some of the facility challenges encountered during the test project are addressed.
The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is a 250K lbf (1.1 MN) thrust cryogenic hydrogen/oxygen engine technology demonstrator that utilizes a full flow staged combustion engine cycle. The Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) is, in part, supported by NASA. IPD is also supported through the Department of Defense's Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program, which seeks to increase the performance and capability of today's state-of-the-art rocket propulsion systems while decreasing costs associated with military and commercial access to space. The primary industry participants include Boeing-Rocketdyne and GenCorp Aerojet. The IPD Program recently achieved two major milestones. The first was the successful completion of the IPD Oxidizer Turbopump (OTP) hot-fire test project at the NASA John C. Stennis Space Center (SSC) E-1 test facility in June 2003. A total of nine IPD Workhorse Preburner tests were completed, and subsequently 12 IPD OTP hot-fire tests were completed. The second major milestone was the successful completion of the IPD Fuel Turbopump (FTP) cold-flow test project at the NASA SSC E-1 test facility in November 2003. A total of six IPD FTP cold-flow tests were completed. The next phase of development involves IPD integrated engine system testing also at the NASA SSC E-1 test facility scheduled to begin in early 2005. Following and overview of the NASA SSC E-1 test facility, this paper addresses the facility aspects pertaining to the activation and testing of the IPD oxidizer and fuel turbopumps. In addition, some of the facility challenges encountered and the lessons learned during the test projects shall be detailed.
In section 5, item 1 of this article it is stated that: A recent shift in decision-making authority from the politically appointed Board of Game to the Subsistence Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game should make these decisions about hunting regulations more responsive to local observations and needs. We now recognize that this shift in regulatory authority to ADF&G never occurred. We hereby correct this error so that wildlife users in Alaska do not come to ADF&G with expectations that this agency has authority to adjust hunting regulations to accommodate climate change.
The Earth's magnetic field, through its variability over a spectrum of spatial and temporal scales, contains fundamental information on the solid Earth and geospace environment (the latter comprising the atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere). Integrated studies of the geomagnetic field have the potential to address a wide range of important processes in the deep mantle and core, asthenosphere, lithosphere, oceans, and the solar-terrestrial environment. These studies have direct applications to important societal problems, including resource assessment and exploration, natural hazard mitigation, safe navigation, and the maintenance and survivability of communications and power systems on the ground and in space. Studies of the Earth's magnetic field are supported by a variety of federal and state agencies as well as by private industry. Both basic and applied research is presently supported by several federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) (through the Navy, Air Force, and Defense Mapping Agency). Although each agency has a unique, well-defined mission in geomagnetic studies, many areas of interest overlap. For example, NASA, the Navy, and USGS collaborate closely in the development of main field reference models. NASA, NSF, and the Air Force collaborate in space physics. These interagency linkages need to be strengthened. Over the past decade, new opportunities for fundamental advances in geomagnetic research have emerged as a result of three factors: well-posed, first-order scientific questions; increased interrelation of research activities dealing with geomagnetic phenomena; and recent developments in technology. These new opportunities can be exploited through a national geomagnetic initiative to define objectives and encourage coordination of efforts among federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and industry to systematically characterize the spatial and temporal behavior of the Earth's magnetic field on local, regional, and global scales in order to understand the physical processes in the solid earth and geospace environment, and to apply this understanding to a variety of scientific problems and to technical and societal needs.
Gas dynamic quantities within an underexpanded free jet were measured nonintrusively using a rapid-tuning, CW ring dye laser. A nitrogen jet was seeded with 0.5 percent NO in N2, and the conditions were controlled such that a barrel shock formed. The frequency-doubled output of the dye laser was used to spectrally resolve rotational lines in the NO gamma band near 225 nm. With the rapid-tuning capability, these rotational spectra were acquired at a repetition rate of 4 kHz. Spatial resolution was afforded by monitoring the induced fluorescence via a lens and photomultiplier tube. Modeling the spectrally-resolved features with Voigt profiles permitted simultaneous measurements of NO velocity, rotational temperature, and pressure. Expansion of the jet was assumed to be isentropic, and agreement between measured and expected values was typically better than 10 percent over most of the Mach-number range encountered. At high Mach numbers, the measured rotational temperatures systematically departed from the isentropic temperature distribution. Such a measured departure could be ascribed to the onset of a non-Boltzmann distribution of NO rotational states.
This paper describes the sensor technology and associated electronics of a monitor designed to detect the onset of a seizure disorder called status epilepticus. It is a condition that affects approximately 3-5 percent of those individuals suffering from epilepsy. This form of epilepsy does not follow the typical cycle of start-peak-end. The convulsions continue until medically interrupted and are life threatening. The mortality rate is high without prompt medical treatment at a suitable facility. The paper describes the details of a monitor design that provides an inexpensive solution to the needs of those responsible for the care of individuals afflicted with this disorder. The monitor has been designed as a cooperative research and development effort involving the United States Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center's Benet Laboratories (Benet) and the Cerebral Palsy Center for the Disabled (Center), in association with the Department of Neurology at Albany Medical College (AMC). Benet has delivered a working prototype of the device for field testing, in collaboration with Albany Medical College. The Center has identified several children in need of special monitoring and has agreed to pursue commercialization of the device.
In 1996, the NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy challenged researchers in the Department of Geological Sciences at Brown University to developed a series of projects to apply remotely sensed data to problems of immediate concern to the State of Rhode Island. The result of that challenge was the project Narragansett Bay from Space: A Perspective for the 21st Century. The goals of the effort were to a) identify problems in coordination with state and local agencies, b) apply NASA technology to the problems and c) to involve small business that would benefit from incorporating remotely sensed data into their business operations. The overall effort was to serve two functions: help provide high quality science results based on remotely sensed data and increase the capacity of environmental managers and companies to use remotely sensed data. The effort has succeeded on both these fronts by providing new, quantitative information on the extent of environmental problems and developing a greater awareness and acceptance of remotely sensed data as a tool for monitoring and research.
NASA Research and Education Network (NREN) ground truthing is a method of verifying the scientific validity of satellite images and clarifying irregularities in the imagery. Ground-truthed imagery can be used to locate geological compositions of interest for a given area. On Mars, astronaut scientists could ground truth satellite imagery from the planet surface and then pinpoint optimum areas to explore. These astronauts would be able to ground truth imagery, get results back, and use the results during extravehicular activity without returning to Earth to process the data from the mission. NASA's first ground-truthing experiment, performed on June 25 in the Utah desert, demonstrated the ability to extend powerful computing resources to remote locations. Designed by Dr. Richard Beck of the Department of Geography at the University of Cincinnati, who is serving as the lead field scientist, and assisted by Dr. Robert Vincent of Bowling Green State University, the demonstration also involved researchers from the NASA Glenn Research Center and the NASA Ames Research Center, who worked with the university field scientists to design, perform, and analyze results of the experiment. As shown real-time Hyperion satellite imagery (data) is sent to a mass storage facility, while scientists at a remote (Utah) site upload ground spectra (data) to a second mass storage facility. The grid pulls data from both mass storage facilities and performs up to 64 simultaneous band ratio conversions on the data. Moments later, the results from the grid are accessed by local scientists and sent directly to the remote science team. The results are used by the remote science team to locate and explore new critical compositions of interest. The process can be repeated as required to continue to validate the data set or to converge on alternate geophysical areas of interest.
The NASA Earth Science Division has made a commitment to “discover and demonstrate applications that inform resource management, policy development and decision making” (NASA Earth Science Division Applied Sciences Program, Program Strategy, 2010–2015). The NASA mission teams have the opportunity to take a lead role in meeting this challenge. A primary goal of the SMAP mission is to engage SMAP end users and build broad support for SMAP applications through a transparent and inclusive process. Toward this goal, the SMAP mission formed an open-community SMAP Applications Working Group (ApplWG) with over 150 members. The ApplWG held the first SMAP Applications Workshop on September 9–10, 2009, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Silver Spring, Maryland. Workshop attendees represented state and federal agencies, operational centers focused on natural hazards and disasters, international organizations, and academia. Introductory speakers from NOAA, US Geological Survey (USGS), US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environment Canada, and US Department of Defense (DoD) addressed applications that included floods and droughts, early famine warning, crop assessments, human health, and defense.
The purpose of this project was to establish a new hyperspectral remote sensing laboratory at the Mid-America Remote sensing Center (MARC), dedicated to in situ and laboratory measurements of environmental samples and to the manipulation, analysis, and storage of remotely sensed data for environmental monitoring and research in ecological modeling using hyperspectral remote sensing at MARC, one of three research facilities of the Center of Reservoir Research at Murray State University (MSU), a Kentucky Commonwealth Center of Excellence. The equipment purchased, a FieldSpec FR portable spectroradiometer and peripherals, and ENVI hyperspectral data processing software, allowed MARC to provide hands-on experience, education, and training for the students of the Department of Geosciences in quantitative remote sensing using hyperspectral data, Geographic Information System (GIS), digital image processing (DIP), computer, geological and geophysical mapping; to provide field support to the researchers and students collecting in situ and laboratory measurements of environmental data; to create a spectral library of the cover types and to establish a World Wide Web server to provide the spectral library to other academic, state and Federal institutions. Much of the research will soon be published in scientific journals. A World Wide Web page has been created at the web site of MARC. Results of this project are grouped in two categories, education and research accomplishments. The Principal Investigator (PI) modified remote sensing and DIP courses to introduce students to ii situ field spectra and laboratory remote sensing studies for environmental monitoring in the region by using the new equipment in the courses. The PI collected in situ measurements using the spectroradiometer for the ER-2 mission to Puerto Rico project for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS). Currently MARC is mapping water quality in Kentucky Lake and vegetation in the Land-Between-the Lakes (LBL) using Landsat-TM data. A Landsat-TM scene of the same day was obtained to relate ground measurements to the satellite data. A spectral library has been created for overstory species in LBL. Some of the methods, such as NPDF and IDFD techniques for spectral unmixing and reduction of effects of shadows in classifications- comparison of hyperspectral classification techniques, and spectral nonlinear and linear unmixing techniques, are being tested using the laboratory.