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At least 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Internal upconversion and doubling of an optical parametric oscillator to extend the tuning range.

Efficient extension of the tuning range of a 1.09-1.95-micron parametric oscillator to 0.435-0.975 microns by upconversion and doubling internally to the oscillator cavity is reported. Unlike previously studied external mixing, internal upconversion and doubling yielded uniform powers of 30 and 60 kW, respectively, over the entire extended tuning range with an unfocused 2-mm ruby laser pump beam of 750 kW.-

Campillo, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Investigation of application of two-degree-of-freedom dry tuned-gimbal gyroscopes to strapdown navigation systems

The work is described which was accomplished during the investigation of the application of dry-tuned gimbal gyroscopes to strapdown navigation systems. A conventional strapdown configuration, employing analog electronics in conjunction with digital attitude and navigation computation, was examined using various levels of redundancy and both orthogonal and nonorthogonal sensor orientations. It is concluded that the cost and reliability performance constraints which had been established could not be met simultaneously with such a system. This conclusion led to the examination of an alternative system configuration which utilizes an essentially new strapdown system concept. This system employs all-digital signal processing in conjunction with the newly-developed large scale integration (LSI) electronic packaging techniques and a new two-degree-of-freedom dry tuned-gimbal instrument which is capable of providing both angular rate and acceleration information. Such a system is capable of exceeding the established performance goals.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1974

A 1.4-4-micron high-energy angle-tuned LiNbO3 parametric oscillator

The performance characteristics of a widely tunable infrared source that can be rapidly and conveniently angle tuned over the entire 1.4-4.4 micron range are reported. It is significant that the source requires only one set of optics and a single LiNbO3 crystal to tune the entire range. Conversion efficiencies of 15% and an operating amplitude stability of better than 3% have been demonstrated. The availability of large 15-mm-diam by 5-cm-long 47-deg cut LiNbO3 crystals makes possible oscillator operation at up to 2 J of 1.06-micron input pulse energy.

Herbst, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Nonlinear analysis of a family of LC tuned inverters

A family of four dc-to-square-wave LC tuned inverters are analyzed using singular point. Limit cycles and waveshape characteristics are given for three modes of oscillation: quasi-harmonic, relaxation, and discontinuous. An inverter in which the avalanche breakdown of the transistor emitter-to-base junction occurs is discussed and the starting characteristics of this family of inverters are presented. The LC tuned inverters are shown to belong to a family of inverters with a common equivalent circuit consisting of only three 'series' elements: a five-segment piecewise-linear current-controlled resistor, linear inductor, and linear capacitor.

Lee, F. C. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Self-tuning regulators

The results of a research project are discussed for self-tuning regulators for active control. An algorithm for the self-tuning regulator is described as being stochastic, nonlinear, time variable, and not trivial.

Astrom, K. J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Alterations of the climate of a primitive equation model produced by filtering approximations and subsequent tuning and stochastic forcing

A comparison is made of the simulated climates of nonlinear models based on the primitive equations (PE), balance equations (BE), and quasi-geostrophic (QG) equations. The models and numerical procedures are identical in all possible respects. The models are highly truncated spectral forms of Lorenz's (1960) energy preserving two-layer model. Two means of making use of the information contained in the (presumed known) short-term prediction error statistics are investigated. An unrealistically high level of thermal forcing is used so that the model climates are sufficiently different to allow any improvements due to the empirical methods to be observed. The general tuning problem is outlined and the QG model is tuned, using data obtained from a PE model run, to minimize the mean squared short term prediction error.

Hoffman, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1982

In-plane inertial coupling in tuned and severely mistuned bladed disks

A model has been developed and verified for blade-disk-shaft coupling in rotors due to the in-plane rigid body modes of the disk. An analytic model has been developed which couples the in-plane rigid body modes of the disk on an elastic shaft with the blade bending modes. Bench resonance test were carried out on the M.I.T. Compressor Rotor, typical of research rotors with flexible blades and a thick rigid disk. When the rotor was carefully tuned, the structural coupling of the blades by the disks was confined to zero and one nodal diameter modes, whose modal frequencies were greater than the blade cantilever frequency. In the case of the tuned rotor, and in two cases where severe mistuning was intentionally introduced, agreement between the predicted and observed natural frequencies is excellent. The analytic model was then extended to include the effects of constant angular rotation of the disk.

Crawley, E. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Self-tuning regulator design for adaptive control of aircraft wing/store flutter

The application of the self-tuning regulator concept to adaptively control aircraft wing/store flutter instability is described. A simple design based on a reduced-order aircraft model has been successfully tested on a high-order simulation of an advanced aircraft, and performance was found to be comparable to another design using on-line maximum likelihood identification of plant parameters. The main advantage of the self-tuning regulator is its simplicity, while the main disadvantage is the inadequacy of prior performance guarantees.

Johnson, T. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Simplified Laser Tuning

Tuning arrangement employs single grating and two planar mirrors. Arrangement of front-surface mirrors and single holographic grating significantly reduces spectral bandwidth and simplified tuning of laser output. Laser used to induce fluorescence in measuring concentrations of trace species, such as OH radical, in atmosphere.

Mcdermid, I. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

A new algorithm for tuning of computed radiances for HIRS2/MSU

Small biases of the order of 1 C exist in brightness temperatures computed for a number of atmospheric sounding channels using radiosonde reports of atmospheric temperature humidity profile compared to those of collocated HIRS2/MSU observations on TIROS N. These biases are attributed to errors in the computed atmospheric transmittances functions. Channel dependent empirical tuning coefficients were found such that the biases in the channel brightness temperatures are removed if the transmittances used to calculate these brightness temperatures are modified. Possible shortcomings of this method are that some of the bias errors may be due to instrumental calibration problems and that the part that is computational may not be of the form assumed in the equation used. Form of tuning was implemented in the calculation which has the potential of distinguishing between calibration and calculation errors and is also computationally faster and more easily vectorizable.

Susskind, J.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The effects of strong shock loading on coupled bending-torsion flutter of tuned and mistuned cascades

This paper presents an investigation of the effects of strong in-passage shock waves on coupled bending-torsion flutter of both tuned and mistuned cascades. The aerodynamic and inertial coupling between the bending and torsional motions of each blade are included in the analytical model. Analysis revealed (1) that the shock loading has a beneficial effect on torsional flutters of both tuned and mistuned cascades and (2) that alternating bending mistuning has a beneficial effect on shock load induced bending flutter. The latter finding becomes important when shock induced bending flutter is a problem.

Busbey, B. C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Application of a system modification technique to dynamic tuning of a spinning rotor blade

An important consideration in the development of modern helicopters is the vibratory response of the main rotor blade. One way to minimize vibration levels is to ensure that natural frequencies of the spinning main rotor blade are well removed from integer multiples of the rotor speed. A technique for dynamically tuning a finite-element model of a rotor blade to accomplish that end is demonstrated. A brief overview is given of the general purpose finite element system known as Engineering Analysis Language (EAL) which was used in this work. A description of the EAL System Modification (SM) processor is then given along with an explanation of special algorithms developed to be used in conjunction with SM. Finally, this technique is demonstrated by dynamically tuning a model of an advanced composite rotor blade.

Spain, C. V.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Controller design for the improvement of feedback properties: A method for tuning the weight in the evaluation function of the LQG theory

In the controller design of a linear time-invariant system, it is important to improve the feedback properties such as robust stability and sensitivity. In the multi-input multi-output case, these properties can be estimated by using the singular values of return difference matrix. The design method to obtain better singular-value-points is desired. How to tune the weight matrix of performance index and/or covariance matrix of noise in the Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQC) theory to get a desired singular-value-plot was studied. First, the property of singular-value plots of return difference matrix of a system designed by LQG theory is examined from the viewpoint of tuning weight. Second, a distance between real singular-value-plots and a desired plot is defined, and the weight of performance index is numerically determined by quasi-Newton method so that the distance is minimized.

Saeki, Masami↗
NASA NTRS1987

Interior noise reduction by alternate resonance tuning

Existing interior noise reduction techniques for aircraft fuselages perform reasonably well at higher frequencies, but are inadequate at low frequencies, particularly with respect to the low blade passage harmonics with high forcing levels found in propeller aircraft. A method is studied which considers aircraft fuselages lined with panels alternately tuned to frequencies above and below the frequency that must be attenuated. Adjacent panel would oscillate at equal amplitude, to give equal acoustic source strength, but with opposite phase. Provided these adjacent panels are acoustically compact, the resulting cancellation causes the interior acoustic modes to be cut off, and therefore be nonpropagating and evanescent. This interior noise reduction method, called Alternate Resonance Tuning (ART), is being investigated theoretically and experimentally. Progress to date is discussed.

Bliss, Donald B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Optimal placement of tuning masses for vibration reduction in helicopter rotor blades

Described are methods for reducing vibration in helicopter rotor blades by determining optimum sizes and locations of tuning masses through formal mathematical optimization techniques. An optimization procedure is developed which employs the tuning masses and corresponding locations as design variables which are systematically changed to achieve low values of shear without a large mass penalty. The finite-element structural analysis of the blade and the optimization formulation require development of discretized expressions for two performance parameters: modal shaping parameter and modal shear amplitude. Matrix expressions for both quantities and their sensitivity derivatives are developed. Three optimization strategies are developed and tested. The first is based on minimizing the modal shaping parameter which indirectly reduces the modal shear amplitudes corresponding to each harmonic of airload. The second strategy reduces these amplitudes directly, and the third strategy reduces the shear as a function of time during a revolution of the blade. The first strategy works well for reducing the shear for one mode responding to a single harmonic of the airload, but has been found in some cases to be ineffective for more than one mode. The second and third strategies give similar results and show excellent reduction of the shear with a low mass penalty.

Pritchard, Jocelyn I.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A tuning scheme for proportional-and-derivative controllers

A simple way of tuning usual proportional-and-derivative (PD) controllers is presented. The tuning is devised so that the closed-loop system has a speed of response near that of time-optimal bang-bang control during a large portion of the transient period. When the system is near the desired equilibrium it behaves linearly, and thus avoids the problem of being overly sensitive to the disturbances and noise. The idea is rather intuitive. Unlike dual-mode control, the plant is controlled throughout by a PD controller. Numerical results are included.

Su, Renjeng↗
NASA NTRS1988

Robot trajectory tracking with self-tuning predicted control

A controller that combines self-tuning prediction and control is proposed for robot trajectory tracking. The controller has two feedback loops: one is used to minimize the prediction error, and the other is designed to make the system output track the set point input. Because the velocity and position along the desired trajectory are given and the future output of the system is predictable, a feedforward loop can be designed for robot trajectory tracking with self-tuning predicted control (STPC). Parameters are estimated online to account for the model uncertainty and the time-varying property of the system. The authors describe the principle of STPC, analyze the system performance, and discuss the simplification of the robot dynamic equations. To demonstrate its utility and power, the controller is simulated for a Stanford arm.

Cui, Xianzhong↗
NASA NTRS1989

Aircraft interior noise reduction by alternate resonance tuning

Existing interior noise reduction techniques for aircraft fuselages perform reasonably well at higher frequencies, but are inadequate at lower, particularly with respect to the low blade passage harmonics with high forcing levels found in propeller aircraft. A method is being studied which considers aircraft fuselages lines with panels alternately tuned to frequencies above and below the frequency to be attenuated. Adjacent panels would oscillate at equal amplitude, to give equal source strength, but with opposite phase. Provided these adjacent panels are acoustically compact, the resulting cancellation causes the interior acoustic modes to become cut off and therefore be non-propagating and evanescent. This interior noise reduction method, called Alternate Resonance Tuning (ART), is currently being investigated both theoretically and experimentally. This new concept has potential application to reducing interior noise due to the propellers in advanced turboprop aircraft as well as for existing aircraft configurations. This program summarizes the work carried out at Duke University during the third semester of a contract supported by the Structural Acoustics Branch at NASA Langley Research Center.

Bliss, Donald B.↗