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It is shown that an adaptive system whose regressor is formed by tap delay-line (TDL) filtering of a multitone sinusoidal signal is representable as a parallel connection of a linear time-invariant (LTI) block and a linear time-varying (LTV) block.
Time-delay control for systems with unknown dynamics involves estimations. In its present form, these estimations include not only the interpolation of a time-varying function but also its derivative between data points. Presently, the control law is reformulated, taking into account the computation delay. A window-shifting scheme is then devised to view n data points as they are sampled in order to perform the function estimation. At each new sampling time, the window shifts to include the new data point as well as the last n-1 points. Several interpolation methods are considered. These methods use data points from a sampled function to construct a polynomial estimate of the function. The control system performance was experimentally tested using a servosystem. The results show that a Newtonian interpolation provided best results when the computation time was 0.4 times the sampling period.
The most significant improvement in the model is the explicit formulation of separate elements representing erythropoietin production and red cell production. Other modifications include bone marrow time-delays, capability to shift oxyhemoglobin affinity and an algorithm for entering experimental data as time-varying driving functions. An area of model development is suggested by applying the model to simulating onset, diagnosis and treatment of a hematologic disorder. Recommendations for further improvements in the model and suggestions for experimental application are also discussed. A detailed analysis of the hematologic response to bed rest including simulation of the recent Baylor Medical College bed rest studies is also presented.
A direct adaptive scheme based on the use of linear time-varying periodic controllers is proposed which estimates online the periodic coefficients of the controller. It is shown that adaptive stabilization is attained for all possibly nonstably invertible plants of known order but unknown delay. Although no appeal is made to persistency of excitation arguments, a provision is needed to avoid the singularity of an estimated matrix, this property being required only for the analysis and not the control calculations.
Visualization of time-varying volumetric data sets, which may be obtained from numerical simulations or sensing instruments, provides scientists insights into the detailed dynamics of the phenomenon under study. This paper describes a coherent solution based on quantization, coupled with octree and difference encoding for visualizing time-varying volumetric data. Quantization is used to attain voxel-level compression and may have a significant influence on the performance of the subsequent encoding and visualization steps. Octree encoding is used for spatial domain compression, and difference encoding for temporal domain compression. In essence, neighboring voxels may be fused into macro voxels if they have similar values, and subtrees at consecutive time steps may be merged if they are identical. The software rendering process is tailored according to the tree structures and the volume visualization process. With the tree representation, selective rendering may be performed very efficiently. Additionally, the I/O costs are reduced. With these combined savings, a higher level of user interactivity is achieved. We have studied a variety of time-varying volume datasets, performed encoding based on data statistics, and optimized the rendering calculations wherever possible. Preliminary tests on workstations have shown in many cases tremendous reduction by as high as 90% in both storage space and inter-frame delay.
This paper presents a measurement acquisition method that alleviates many shortcomings of traditional measurement systems. The shortcomings are a finite number of measurement channels, weight penalty associated with measurements, electrical arcing, wire degradations due to wear or chemical decay and the logistics needed to add new sensors. Wire degradation has resulted in aircraft fatalities and critical space launches being delayed. The key to this method is the use of sensors designed as passive inductor-capacitor circuits that produce magnetic field responses. The response attributes correspond to states of physical properties for which the sensors measure. Power is wirelessly provided to the sensing element by using Faraday induction. A radio frequency antenna produces a time-varying magnetic field used to power the sensor and receive the magnetic field response of the sensor. An interrogation system for discerning changes in the sensor response frequency, resistance and amplitude has been developed and is presented herein. Multiple sensors can be interrogated using this method. The method eliminates the need for a data acquisition channel dedicated to each sensor. The method does not require the sensors to be near the acquisition hardware. Methods of developing magnetic field response sensors and the influence of key parameters on measurement acquisition are discussed. Examples of magnetic field response sensors and the respective measurement characterizations are presented. Implementation of this method on an aerospace system is discussed.
A real-time, computer-based, phase vector display system has been developed which will output a vector whose phase is equal to the delay between a trigger and the peak of a function which is quasi-coherent with respect to the trigger. The system also contains a sliding averager which enables the operator to average successive trials before calculating the phase vector. Data collection, averaging and display generation are performed on a LINC-8 computer. Output displays appear on several X-Y CRT display units and on a kymograph camera/oscilloscope unit which is used to generate photographs of time-varying phase vectors or contourograms of time-varying averages of input functions.
Laboratory experiments on important plasma physics issues of electrodynamic tethers were performed. These included current propagation, formation of wave wings, limits of current collection, nonlinear effects and instabilities, charging phenomena, and characteristics of transmission lines in plasmas. The experiments were conducted in a large afterglow plasma. The current system was established with a small electron-emitting hot cathode tethered to an electron-collecting anode, both movable across the magnetic field and energized by potential difference up to V approx.=100 T(sub e). The total current density in space and time was obtained from complete measurements of the perturbed magnetic field. The fast spacecraft motion was reproduced in the laboratory by moving the tethered electrodes in small increments, applying delayed current pulses, and reconstructing the net field by a linear superposition of locally emitted wavelets. With this technique, the small-amplitude dc current pattern is shown to form whistler wings at each electrode instead of the generally accepted Alfven wings. For the beam electrode, the whistler wing separates from the field-aligned beam which carries no net current. Large amplitude return currents to a stationary anode generate current-driven microinstabilities, parallel electric fields, ion depletions, current disruptions and time-varying electrode charging. At appropriately high potentials and neutral densities, excess neutrals are ionized near the anode. The anode sheath emits high-frequency electron transit-time oscillations at the sheath-plasma resonance. The beam generates Langmuir turbulence, ion sound turbulence, electron heating, space charge fields, and Hall currents. An insulated, perfectly conducting transmission line embedded in the plasma becomes lossy due to excitation of whistler waves and magnetic field diffusion effects. The implications of the laboratory observations on electrodynamic tethers in space are discussed.
Instantaneous distortion analyses compare a time-varying value of an index (or 'surge margin used up') with a critical level (or 'available surge margin' of the compressor) to determine inlet-engine compatibility. Unless freestream conditions or propulsion system controls are changing, it is generally assumed that the available surge margin of the compressor is accurately determined from the steady-state operating point. Results are presented which show that variations of average compressor inlet pressure may occur without changes in freestream conditions or propulsion system controls. The volume dynamics of the compressor will cause these pressure variations to be attenuated and delayed by the time they reach the exit. This will cause the compressor pressure ratio (and available surge margin) to vary with time. A method is presented to calculate the available surge margin as a function of time and incorporate it into an instantaneous distortion analysis. Results show that inlet pressure variations which cause only a small change at the compressor exit can cause a significant variation in the available surge margin.
We consider various possible consequences of time-varying dark energy due to a quintessence scalar field whose energy density is partially converted to particles as the field evolves down its potential. This particle production acts as a source of thermal friction on the field that can make it difficult to distinguish whether dark energy is due to a radiating field rolling down a steep potential, a purely self-interacting field moving down a flatter potential, or a cosmological constant. By reducing the acceleration of the scalar field, thermal friction increases the amount of accelerated expansion and can cause a sizable bump in the quintessence equation of state. We take special interest in the case where a steep potential rapidly changes from positive to negative as the field evolves, resulting in the end of cosmic expansion and the beginning of contraction. Even in this case, we find that thermal friction lengthens the period of accelerated expansion and consequently delays the end of cosmic expansion, making it challenging to detect the impending transition to contraction using conventional cosmological tests. However, particle production can also provide alternative avenues for detection by generating a background of thermal dark radiation, partly comprised of neutrinos or other particles, whose energy density exceeds the remnant photon energy density.
We consider various possible consequences of time-varying dark energy due to a quintessence scalar field whose energy density is partially converted to particles as the field evolves down its potential. This particle production acts as a source of thermal friction on the field that can make it difficult to distinguish whether dark energy is due to a radiating field rolling down a steep potential, a purely self-interacting field moving down a flatter potential, or a cosmological constant. By reducing the acceleration of the scalar field, thermal friction increases the amount of accelerated expansion and can cause a sizable bump in the quintessence equation of state. We take special interest in the case where a steep potential rapidly changes from positive to negative as the field evolves, resulting in the end of cosmic expansion and the beginning of contraction. Even in this case, we find that thermal friction lengthens the period of accelerated expansion and consequently delays the end of cosmic expansion, making it challenging to detect the impending transition to contraction using conventional cosmological tests. However, particle production can also provide alternative avenues for detection by generating a background of thermal dark radiation, partly comprised of neutrinos or other particles, whose energy density exceeds the remnant photon energy density.
A class of multivariable, nonlinear time-varying feedback systems with an unstable convolution subsystem as feedforward and a time-varying nonlinear gain as feedback was considered. The impulse response of the convolution subsystem is the sum of a finite number of increasing exponentials multiplied by nonnegative powers of the time t, a term that is absolutely integrable and an infinite series of delayed impulses. The main result is a theorem. It essentially states that if the unstable convolution subsystem can be stabilized by a constant feedback gain F and if incremental gain of the difference between the nonlinear gain function and F is sufficiently small, then the nonlinear system is L(p)-stable for any p between one and infinity. Furthermore, the solutions of the nonlinear system depend continuously on the inputs in any L(p)-norm. The fixed point theorem is crucial in deriving the above theorem.
The effects of wind-shears on the approach performance of a STOL aircraft are analyzed using the optimal-control model of the human operator. This analysis involves a time-varying situation that is more complex than is traditionally treated by human operator modelling techniques. The extensions to the time-varying case are discussed and results are presented that illustrate the effects of wind shears on category II window-performance and the effects on performance of pilot time-delay and of variations in pilot gain during approach.
The presentation centers on four classes of systems that can be treated as linear systems over a ring. These are: (1) discrete-time systems over a ring of scalars such as the integers; (2) continuous-time systems containing time delays; (3) large-scale discrete-time systems; and (4) time-varying discrete-time systems.
We use a maximum-entropy method to show that the transfer function (TF) of the broad-line region (BLR) in the Seyfert-1 galaxy NGC 3516 is time-varying. The TF decreased by nearly a factor of two over a time scale less than half a year during a monitoring campaign in 1990. We conclude that the observed time dependency is likely to be either due to variations of the spectral index of the ionizing continuum spectrum; due to a change in the number or covering fraction of broad-line clouds; due to nonlinear line response; or due to nonstationary anisotropy of the continuum source on time scales of several weeks to months. An extended continuum source could also explain the observed time-dependency. The symmetry of the time lag for variations in the red and blue wings of H-alpha indicates that the BLR kinematics is not dominated by organized radial inflow or outflow. If we assume circular orbits, the observed time lag 14 days at velocity v = 4000 km/s suggests a mass of the central object of approximately 2 x 10(exp 7) solar mass. The H-alpha TF peaks away from zero delay, indicating that the H-alpa BLR is either non-spherical or inwardly emitting.
A wideband channel model for Land Mobile Satellite (LMS) services is presented which characterizes the time-varying transmission channel between a satellite and a mobile user terminal. The channel model statistic parameters are the results of fitting procedures to measured data. The data used for fitting have a time resolution of 33 ns corresponding to a bandwidth of 30 MHz. Thus, the model is capable to characterize the channel behaviour for a wide range of services e.g., voice transmission, digital audio broadcasting (DAB), and spread spectrum modulation schemes. The model is presented for different environments and scenarios. The model is derived for a quasi-mobile user with hand-held terminal being in two different environments: rural and urban. The parameters needed for the description are (a) the number of echoes, (b) the distribution of the echo power, and (c) the distribution of the echo delay. It is shown that the direct path follows a Rician distribution whereas the reflected paths are Rayleigh/lognormal distributed. The parameters are given for an elevation angle of 25 deg.
In this paper we describe the design and architecture of the Mars Network planning and analysis framework that supports generation and validation of efficient planning and scheduling strategy. The goals are to minimize the transmitting time, minimize the delaying time, and/or maximize the network throughputs. The proposed framework would require (1) a client-server architecture to support interactive, batch, WEB, and distributed analysis and planning applications for the relay network analysis scheme, (2) a high-fidelity modeling and simulation environment that expresses link capabilities between spacecraft to spacecraft and spacecraft to Earth stations as time-varying resources, and spacecraft activities, link priority, Solar System dynamic events, the laws of orbital mechanics, and other limiting factors as spacecraft power and thermal constraints, (3) an optimization methodology that casts the resource and constraint models into a standard linear and nonlinear constrained optimization problem that lends itself to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)planning and scheduling algorithms.
Space-borne interferometric gravitational wave detectors, sensitive in the low-frequency (millihertz) band, will fly in the next decade. In these detectors the spacecraft-to-spacecraft light-traveltimes will necessarily be unequal, time-varying, and (due to aberration) have different time delays on up- and down-links. By using knowledge of the inter-spacecraft light-travel-times and their time evolution it is possible to cancel in post-processing the otherwise dominant laser phase noise and obtain a variety of interferometric data combinations sensitive to gravitational radiation. This technique, which has been named Time-Delay Interferometry (TDI), can be implemented with constellations of three or more formation-flying spacecraft that coherently track each other. As an example application we consider the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission and show that TDI combinations can be synthesized by properly time-shifting and linearly combining the phase measurements performed on board the three spacecraft. Since TDI exactly suppresses the laser noises when the delays coincide with the light-travel-times, we then show that TDI can also be used for estimating the time-delays needed for its implementation. This is done by performing a post-processing non-linear minimization procedure, which provides an effective, powerful, and simple way for making measurements of the inter-spacecraft light-travel-times. This processing technique, named Time-Delay Interferometric Ranging (TDIR), is highly accurate in estimating the time-delays and allows TDI to be successfully implemented without the need of a dedicated ranging subsystem.