Signal path series step biased multidevice high efficiency amplifier Patent
High efficiency transformerless amplitude modulator coupled to RF power amplifier
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High efficiency transformerless amplitude modulator coupled to RF power amplifier
A modular approach for aerospace electrical systems has been developed, using lightweight high efficiency pulse width modulation techniques. With the modular approach, a required system is obtained by paralleling modules. The modular system includes the inverters and converters, a paralleling system, and an automatic control and fault-sensing protection system with a visual annunciator. The output is 150 V dc, or a low distortion three phase sine wave at 120 V, 400 Hz. Input power is unregulated 56 V dc. Each module is rated 2.5 kW or 3.6 kVA at 0.7 power factor.
Description of a coherent wide-angle multiplexing approach which is 4 to 8 dB more efficient in the utilization of satellite power as compared to a multicarrier transmission accessing a single TWT amplifier transponder. The wide-angle multiplexing approach achieves this performance by efficiently trading the modulation power improvement against backoff at the satellite earth terminal phase modulator. A simple addition of an amplitude clipper at the modulator input is critical to the proper operation of the system.
The heat transfer characteristics, design, fabrication, and current and anticipated applications of a new liquid transport garment (LTG) are discussed. The new LTG is being constructed from highly efficient liquid transport modules which have been developed to replace the current tygon tubing networks for applications in Apollo and other liquid cooling garment designs.
The design and testing of high temperature thermal storage modules (TSM) are reported. The test goals were to demonstrate the thermocline propagation in the TSM, to measure the steepness of the thermocline, and to measure the effectiveness of the TSM when used in a Brayton system. In addition, a high temperature valve suitable for switching the TSM at temperatures to 1700 F is described and tested. Test results confirm the existence of a sharp thermocline under design conditions. The thermal profile was steeper than expected and was insensitive to air density over the range of the test conditions. Experiments were performed which simulated the airflow of a small Brayton engine, 20 KWe, having a pair of thermal storage modules acting as efficient recuperators. Low pressure losses, averaging 12 inches of water, and high effectiveness, 93% for a 15 minute switching cycle, were measured. The insulation surrounding the ceramic core limited thermal losses to approximately 1 KWt. The hot valve was operated over 100 cycles and performed well at temperatures up to 1700 F.
Solar cell fabrication processes, in particular junction formation and metallization, are evaluated in terms of cell efficiencies, process yields, module packing factors, and energy cost effectiveness. It is shown that for junction formation, the diffusion processes provide a relatively low-cost approach. The costs per unit cell area can be further reduced by increased wafer area and mechanized wafer handling. The costs for a large number of metallization processes, excluding the costs of the metal, are roughly comparable. However, their varying influence on cell performance leads to a significant spread in the allowable process costs.
An investigation is carried out of convolutional-coding coupled with 16-PSK modulation for bandwidth efficient transmission. Small memory codes (rate three-fourths) are found that are optimum in the free-distance sense on the Gaussian channel. These codes furnish up to 4.8 dB of coding gain with 32 states over uncoded 8-PSK, a scheme having the same spectral efficiency as the codes described. The performance is compared with the earlier findings of Ungerboeck (1976, 1982) and certain recent results on R = 2/3 coded 8-PSK. It is shown that with 4 decoder states the coding gain is 3.5 dB and with 32 states it is 4.8 dB. What is more, the codes compare favorably with coded 16-QASK when envelope variations and peak energy constraints are considered.
A study was conducted to determine the suitability of the San Fernando Observatory's 61 cm (24 inch) aperture vacuum solar telescope and 3 m (118 inch) focal length vacuum spectroheliograph for Stokes Polarimetry measurements. The polarization characteristics of these two instruments was measured by determining their Mueller matrices as a function of telescope orientation, field angle, wavelength, grating type, and position of the measuring beam in the telescope entrance window. In general, the polarizing and depolarizing properties are small so that inversion of the system Mueller matrix will permit the accurate measurement of Stokes profiles for vector magnetic field determination. A proposed polarimeter design based on the use of a TV camera system to simultaneously scan six different polarization components of a given line profile is described. This design, which uses no rotating optics or electronic modulators and makes efficient use of the available irradiance, promises to yield high quality vector magnetograms.
This paper describes the Mobile Satellite Communications Program of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The program's objectives are to facilitate the deployment of the first generation commercial mobile satellite by the private sector, and to technologically enable future generations by developing advanced and high risk ground and space segment technologies. These technologies are aimed at mitigating severe shortages of spectrum, orbital slot, and spacecraft EIRP which are expected to plague the high capacity mobile satellite systems of the future. After a brief introduction of the concept of mobile satellite systems and their expected evolution, this paper outlines the critical ground and space segment technologies. Next, the Mobile Satellite Experiment (MSAT-X) is described. MSAT-X is the framework through which NASA will develop advanced ground segment technologies. An approach is outlined for the development of conformal vehicle antennas, spectrum and power-efficient speech codecs, and modulation techniques for use in the non-linear faded channels and efficient multiple access schemes. Finally, the paper concludes with a description of the current and planned NASA activities aimed at developing complex large multibeam spacecraft antennas needed for future generation mobile satellite systems.
The sensitivity of the National Photovoltaic Research Program goals to changes in individual photovoltaic system parameters is explored. Using the relationship between lifetime cost and system performance parameters, tests were made to see how overall photovoltaic system energy costs are affected by changes in the goals set for module cost and efficiency, system component costs and efficiencies, operation and maintenance costs, and indirect costs. The results are presented in tables and figures for easy reference.
This paper presents results of development tests of various solar thermal parabolic dish modules and assemblies that used dish-mounted Brayton or Stirling cycle engines for production of electric power. These tests indicate that early modules achieve net efficiencies up to 29 percent in converting sunlight to electricity, as delivered to the grid. Various equipment deficiencies were observed and a number of malfunctions occurred. The performance measurements, as well as the malfunctions and other test experience, provided information that should be of value in developing systems with improved performance and reduced maintenance.
Phase 1 of the Rocket Engine Transient Simulation (ROCETS) program consists of seven technical tasks: architecture; system requirements; component and submodel requirements; submodel implementation; component implementation; submodel testing and verification; and subsystem testing and verification. These tasks were completed. Phase 2 of ROCETS consists of two technical tasks: Technology Test Bed Engine (TTBE) model data generation; and system testing verification. During this period specific coding of the system processors was begun and the engineering representations of Phase 1 were expanded to produce a simple model of the TTBE. As the code was completed, some minor modifications to the system architecture centering on the global variable common, GLOBVAR, were necessary to increase processor efficiency. The engineering modules completed during Phase 2 are listed: INJTOO - main injector; MCHBOO - main chamber; NOZLOO - nozzle thrust calculations; PBRNOO - preburner; PIPE02 - compressible flow without inertia; PUMPOO - polytropic pump; ROTROO - rotor torque balance/speed derivative; and TURBOO - turbine. Detailed documentation of these modules is in the Appendix. In addition to the engineering modules, several submodules were also completed. These submodules include combustion properties, component performance characteristics (maps), and specific utilities. Specific coding was begun on the system configuration processor. All functions necessary for multiple module operation were completed but the SOLVER implementation is still under development. This system, the Verification Checkout Facility (VCF) allows interactive comparison of module results to store data as well as provides an intermediate checkout of the processor code. After validation using the VCF, the engineering modules and submodules were used to build a simple TTBE.
Recent work on the problem of mapping pipelined or parallel computations onto linear array, shared memory, and host-satellite systems is extended. It is shown how these problems can be solved even more efficiently when computation module execution times are bounded from below, intermodule communication times are bounded from above, and the processors satisfy certain homogeneity constraints. The improved algorithms have significantly lower time and space complexities than the more general algorithms: in one case, an O(nm3) time algorithm for mapping m modules onto n processors is replaced with an O(nm log m) time algorithm, and the space requirements are reduced from O(nm2) to O(m). Run-time complexity is reduced further with parallel mapping algorithms based on these improvements, which run on the architectures for which they create mappings.
The paper describes a 50-cm-diam prototype of a novel Compton-scattering-type polarimeter for hard X-rays in the energy range 30-100 keV. The characteristics of the prototype polarimeter were investigated for various conditions. It was found that, with polarized X-rays from a simple polarizer, the detection efficiency and the modulation factor of the polarimeter with a 40-mm thick scatterer were 3.2 percent and 0.57 percent, respectively, at about 60 keV.
Based on an efficient broadband electrooptic modulator producing RF optical sidebands locked to a stable cavity, a tunable dye laser can be scanned under computer control with frequency-synthesizer precision. Cavity drift is suppressed in software by using a strong feature in the spectrum for stabilization. Mercury isotope shifts are measured with a reproducibility of about 50 kHz. This accuracy of about 1/300 of the linewidth illustrates the power of the technique. Derived hyperfine-structure constants are compared with previous atomic-beam data.
NASA/FLAGRO 2.0 developed as analytical aid in predicting growth and stability of preexisting flaws and cracks in structural components of aerospace systems. Used for fracture-control analysis of space hardware. Organized into three modules to maximize efficiency in operation. Useful in: (1) crack-instability/crack-growth analysis, (2) processing raw crack-growth data from laboratory tests, and (3) boundary-element analysis to determine stresses and stress-intensity factors. Written in FORTRAN 77 and ANSI C.
This paper presents viewgraphs of S.A.F.E. (Simulated Atomic Fission Engine). The topics include: 1) Why Space Fission Propulsion? 2) History of Fission System Development; 3) New Approach to Space Fission Propulsion System Development; 4) Propulsion Flight Demonstrator Schematic Flight Configuration; 5) Ongoing Propellant Energy Source Tests; 6) First Generation Propulsion System Status; 7) Tungsten Fuel Pin Simulator Tests; 8) Full Module Test (High Efficiency Mode); and 9) First Generation Propulsion Flight Demonstrator Status.
This paper presents a new concept for required bandwidth along with a method for computing this bandwidth and associated unwanted emission for the classes of PCM/PSK/PM,PCM/PM and BPSK signals. The PCM/PSK/PM signals considered here employ either a squarewave or sinwave subcarriers with NRZ date format. Furthermore, the optimum required bandwidth in the presence of noise and the data power efficiency among these modulation schemes will also be investiaged.