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NASA NTRS2009

Catastrophe Optics Method to Determine the Micro-Nano Size Profiles at TPL of Liquid Films on a Solid Surface

As discovered by recent studies, what directly affects the wetting and spreading is curvature in micro-region rather than the macroscopic contact angle. Measuring the profile of the micro-region becomes an important research topic. Recently, catastrophe optics has been applied to this kind of measurements. Optical catastrophe occurring in far field of waves of liquid-refracted laser beam implies a wealth of information about the liquid spreading not only for liquid drops but also for films. When a parallel laser beam passes through a liquid film on a slide glass at three-phase-line (TPL), very interesting optical image patterns occur on a screen far from the film. An analysis based on catastrophe optics discloses and interprets the formation of these optical image patterns. The analysis reveals that the caustic line manifested as the bright-thick line on the screen implies the lowest hierarchy of optical catastrophes, called fold caustic. This optical catastrophe is produced by the inflexion line on liquid surface at the liquid foot, which is formed not only in the spreading of drops but also in spreading of films. The generalized catastrophe optics method enables to identify the edge profiles and determine the edge foot height of liquid films. Keywords: Crossover region, Inflexion line, liquid edge foot, Catastrophe optics, Caustic and diffraction

Chao, David F.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Pre-Launch Performance Trending of Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS)

The Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) microwave radiometer instrument is utilized on-board NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) fleet of spacecraft to perform temperature and water vapor soundings of Earth’s atmosphere. Consisting of 22 channels over a frequency range from 22 to 183 GHz, ATMS provides high-impact observations for numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. A general description of the ATMS instrument is discussed in [1]. There are five ATMS flight units in the polar-orbiting JPSS program; three are currently on-orbit and two are pending launch. The first ATMS was flown on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite, launched in 2011. The second ATMS was launched on the NOAA-20 (previously JPSS-1) satellite in 2017. The third ATMS was launched on the NOAA-21 (previously JPSS-2) satellite in 2022. The SNPP and NOAA-20 ATMS units are operational. The NOAA-21 ATMS unit is completing on-orbit commissioning and checkout, having achieved provisional maturity status in December 2022 with validated maturity expected in May 2023 [2]. The fourth and fifth ATMS units are planned for the JPSS-3 (launch ~2028) and JPSS-4 (launch ~2032) satellites [3]. This paper will focus on trending performance characteristics of each JPSS ATMS build from the pre-launch activities. Pre-launch trending of some parameters have been previously published up to the JPSS-3 mission [4][5]. This paper differs from and expands the scope of the prior work as it will include all five of the JPSS ATMS builds. The entire suite of JPSS ATMS units have completed their pre-ship instrument-level I&T and verification activities. These activities include a radiometric performance characterization of each instrument. In addition to comparing the performance across builds, the performance will also be compared to requirements and specifications where applicable. The on-orbit performance of the launched units will be excluded from the scope of this paper in order to focus on evaluations that are common across all builds. The post-launch performance of SNPP ATMS is detailed in [1][6][7][8]. The post-launch performance of NOAA-20 ATMS is detailed in [6][8][9]. The pre-launch characterization of the ATMS occurs at both subassembly-level and instrument-level testing. The antenna subsystem is tested at Northrop Grumman’s Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) in Azusa, CA [9]. This testing characterizes the antenna pattern and the pointing performance of the scan drive mechanism and antenna subsystem. Trended parameters from this evaluation will include beam pointing accuracy, beamwidth, and beam efficiency. These parameters are captured in each instrument’s Calibration Data Book [10]. Instrument-level radiometric performance evaluation is primarily done during thermal vacuum (TVAC) calibration testing at Northrop Grumman’s Azusa, CA facility [9]. A general description of the calibration activities is presented in [1][9]. The testing involves inferring a scene target brightness temperature (TB) and comparing it to the actual scene TB while the instrument is at flight-like temperature and pressure environmental conditions. Trended parameters from this activity will include Noise Equivalent Delta Temperature (NEDT), nonlinearity, radiometric accuracy, gain stability, striping, and inter-channel noise correlation. The trending evaluation will allow for a direct comparison of the ATMS performance across builds. The paper will highlight observed performance improvements.

Edward J Kim↗

NASA NTRS2006

Advances in Measurement of Skin Friction in Airflow

The surface interferometric skin-friction (SISF) measurement system is an instrument for determining the distribution of surface shear stress (skin friction) on a wind-tunnel model. The SISF system utilizes the established oil-film interference method, along with advanced image-data-processing techniques and mathematical models that express the relationship between interferograms and skin friction, to determine the distribution of skin friction over an observed region of the surface of a model during a single wind-tunnel test. In the oil-film interference method, a wind-tunnel model is coated with a thin film of oil of known viscosity and is illuminated with quasi-monochromatic, collimated light, typically from a mercury lamp. The light reflected from the outer surface of the oil film interferes with the light reflected from the oil-covered surface of the model. In the present version of the oil-film interference method, a camera captures an image of the illuminated model and the image in the camera is modulated by the interference pattern. The interference pattern depends on the oil-thickness distribution on the observed surface, and this distribution can be extracted through analysis of the image acquired by the camera. The oil-film technique is augmented by a tracer technique for observing the streamline pattern. To make the streamlines visible, small dots of fluorescentchalk/oil mixture are placed on the model just before a test. During the test, the chalk particles are embedded in the oil flow and produce chalk streaks that mark the streamlines. The instantaneous rate of thinning of the oil film at a given position on the surface of the model can be expressed as a function of the instantaneous thickness, the skin-friction distribution on the surface, and the streamline pattern on the surface; the functional relationship is expressed by a mathematical model that is nonlinear in the oil-film thickness and is known simply as the thin-oil-film equation. From the image data acquired as described, the time-dependent oil-thickness distribution and streamline pattern are extracted and by inversion of the thin-oil-film equation it is then possible to determine the skin-friction distribution. In addition to a quasi-monochromatic light source, the SISF system includes a beam splitter and two video cameras equipped with filters for observing the same area on a model in different wavelength ranges, plus a frame grabber and a computer for digitizing the video images and processing the image data. One video camera acquires the interference pattern in a narrow wavelength range of the quasi-monochromatic source. The other video camera acquires the streamline image of fluorescence from the chalk in a nearby but wider wavelength range. The interference- pattern and fluorescence images are digitized, and the resulting data are processed by an algorithm that inverts the thin-oil-film equation to find the skin-friction distribution.

Brown, James L.↗

NASA NTRS1999

TRMM Precipitation Radar Reflectivity Profiles Compared to High-Resolution Airborne and Ground-Based Radar Measurements

In this paper, TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite) Precipitation Radar (PR) products are evaluated by means of simultaneous comparisons with data from the high-altitude ER-2 Doppler Radar (EDOP), as well as ground-based radars. The comparison is aimed primarily at the vertical reflectivity structure, which is of key importance in TRMM rain type classification and latent heating estimation. The radars used in this study have considerably different viewing geometries and resolutions, demanding non-trivial mapping procedures in common earth-relative coordinates. Mapped vertical cross sections and mean profiles of reflectivity from the PR, EDOP, and ground-based radars are compared for six cases. These cases cover a stratiform frontal rainband, convective cells of various sizes and stages, and a hurricane. For precipitating systems that are large relative to the PR footprint size, PR reflectivity profiles compare very well to high-resolution measurements thresholded to the PR minimum reflectivity, and derived variables such as bright band height and rain types are accurate, even at high PR incidence angles. It was found that for, the PR reflectivity of convective cells small relative to the PR footprint is weaker than in reality. Some of these differences can be explained by non-uniform beam filling. For other cases where strong reflectivity gradients occur within a PR footprint, the reflectivity distribution is spread out due to filtering by the PR antenna illumination pattern. In these cases, rain type classification may err and be biased towards the stratiform type, and the average reflectivity tends to be underestimated. The limited sensitivity of the PR implies that the upper regions of precipitation systems remain undetected and that the PR storm top height estimate is unreliable, usually underestimating the actual storm top height. This applies to all cases but the discrepancy is larger for smaller cells where limited sensitivity is compounded by incomplete beam filling. Users of level three TRMM PR products should be aware of this scale dependency.

Heymsfield, G. M.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Alternative beam configuration for a Canadian Ka-band satellite system

Satellite systems operating in the Ka-band have been proposed to offer wide band personal communications services to fixed earth terminals employing small aperture antennas as well as to mobile terminals. This requirement to service a small aperture antenna leads to a satellite system utilizing small spot beams. The traditional approach is to cover the service area with uniform spot beams which have been sized to provide a given grade of service at the worst location over the service area and to place them in a honeycomb pattern. In the lower frequency bands this approach leads to a fairly uniform grade of service over the service area due to the minimal effects of rain on the signals. At Ka-band, however, the effects of rain are quite significant. Using this approach over a large service area (e.g. Canada) where the geographic distribution of rain impairment varies significantly yields an inefficient use of satellite resources to provide a uniform grade of service. An alternative approach is to cover the service area using more than one spot beam size in effect linking the spot beam size to the severity of the rain effects in a region. This paper demonstrates how for a Canadian Ka-band satellite system, that the use of two spot beam sizes can provide a more uniform grade of service across the country as well as reduce the satellite payload complexity over a design utilizing a single spot beam size.

Hindson, Daniel J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Load-deflection tests and computer analyses of a high-precision adhesive-bonded antenna reflector panel

New adhesive-bonded panels are being investigated as a part of an effort to extend and upgrade the 64-m to a 70-m antenna network. Load-deflection tests were conducted on a sample high-precision adhesive-bonded panel for comparison with design criteria. Two computerized structural models were developed in order to predict the deformation patterns under different types of distributed and concentrated loadings. The main purpose was to obtain empirical stiffness factors for the slit beams and girders in the panel structure. With determination and use of the empirical stiffness factors, there is a good agreement between the theoretically predicted deflections and the test measurements. It was also found that the new bonded panels satisfy the stringent design specifications and surface tolerance bounds.

Chian, C. T.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Omni-directional L-band antenna for mobile communications

The principle and design of an L-band omni-directional mobile communication antenna are discussed. The antenna is a circular wave guide aperture with hybrid circuits attached to higher order mode excitation. It produces polarized and symmetric two split beams in elevation. The circular waveguide is fed by eight probes with a 90 degree phase shift between their inputs. Radiation pattern characteristics are controlled by adjusting the aperture diameter and mode excitation. This antenna satisfies gain requirements as well as withstanding the harsh environment.

Kim, C. S.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Sol-Gel Glass Holographic Light-Shaping Diffusers

Holographic glass light-shaping diffusers (GLSDs) are optical components for use in special-purpose illumination systems (see figure). When properly positioned with respect to lamps and areas to be illuminated, holographic GLSDs efficiently channel light from the lamps onto specified areas with specified distributions of illumination for example, uniform or nearly uniform irradiance can be concentrated with intensity confined to a peak a few degrees wide about normal incidence, over a circular or elliptical area. Holographic light diffusers were developed during the 1990s. The development of the present holographic GLSDs extends the prior development to incorporate sol-gel optical glass. To fabricate a holographic GLSD, one records a hologram on a sol-gel silica film formulated specially for this purpose. The hologram is a quasi-random, micro-sculpted pattern of smoothly varying changes in the index of refraction of the glass. The structures in this pattern act as an array of numerous miniature lenses that refract light passing through the GLSD, such that the transmitted light beam exhibits a precisely tailored energy distribution. In comparison with other light diffusers, holographic GLSDs function with remarkably high efficiency: they typically transmit 90 percent or more of the incident lamp light onto the designated areas. In addition, they can withstand temperatures in excess of 1,000 C. These characteristics make holographic GLSDs attractive for use in diverse lighting applications that involve high temperatures and/or requirements for high transmission efficiency for ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. Examples include projectors, automobile headlights, aircraft landing lights, high-power laser illuminators, and industrial and scientific illuminators.

Yu, Kevin↗

NASA NTRS2010

Progress on a Rayleigh Scattering Mass Flux Measurement Technique

A Rayleigh scattering diagnostic has been developed to provide mass flux measurements in wind tunnel flows. Spectroscopic molecular Rayleigh scattering is an established flow diagnostic tool that has the ability to provide simultaneous density and velocity measurements in gaseous flows. Rayleigh scattered light from a focused 10 Watt continuous-wave laser beam is collected and fiber-optically transmitted to a solid Fabry-Perot etalon for spectral analysis. The circular interference pattern that contains the spectral information that is needed to determine the flow properties is imaged onto a CCD detector. Baseline measurements of density and velocity in the test section of the 15 cm x 15 cm Supersonic Wind Tunnel at NASA Glenn Research Center are presented as well as velocity measurements within a supersonic combustion ramjet engine isolator model installed in the tunnel test section.

Mielke-Fagan, Amy F.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Faster Antenna Noise Temperature Calculations Using a Novel Approximation Technique

In order to properly tradeoff the various antenna and feed configurations for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) optical design it is necessary to evaluate the gain and noise temperature of each configuration over a wide range of frequencies. German Cortes describes the standard technique for computing antenna noise temperature. However, since the total antenna pattern needs to be calculated over the entire 4 pi steradians at a fine enough resolution to accurately include the main beam, the computer time required is enormous. Even at modest frequencies and reflector sizes (approximately 5 to 10 GHz for a 12 meter main reflector) the technique can take days on a single node of a supercomputer. Utilizing the standard technique to compute the noise temperature for all the cases required to properly characterize the SKA design is clearly not feasible. At least a 100 to 1000 speedup in the computation time is required. This paper describes an approximation technique that can accomplish this improvement with extremely small errors in noise temperature calculation of a few tenths of Kelvin.

Reflector Antennas↗

NASA NTRS1982

A generalized method for determining radiation patterns of aperture antennas and its application to reflector antennas

The reflector antenna may be thought of as an aperture antenna. The classical solution for the radiation pattern of such an antenna is found by the aperture integration (AI) method. Success with this method depends on how accurately the aperture currents are known beforehand. In the past, geometrical optics (GO) has been employed to find the aperture currents. This approximation is suitable for calculating the main beam and possibly the first few sidelobes. A better approximation is to use aperture currents calculated from the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD). Integration of the GTD currents over and extended aperture yields more accurate results for the radiation pattern. This approach is useful when conventional AI and GTD solutions have no common region of validity. This problem arises in reflector antennas. Two dimensional models of parabolic reflectors are studied; however, the techniques discussed can be applied to any aperture antenna.

Paknys, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Full scale LANDSAT-D antenna pattern measurements

The design verification of the LANDSAT-D antenna subsystem is addressed. In particular, the analysis of the antenna radiation patterns utilizing a full scale mockup of the LANDSAT-D satellite is discussed. Test antennas included two S-Band shaped beam antennas, two S-Band omni unit radiators (to operate in array), a GPS antenna, an X-Band shaped beam antenna, and one S-Band high-gain parabolic antenna.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1990

A silicon micromachined piezoresistive accelerometer for health and condition monitoring

Silicon micromachining etching techniques were utilized to batch-fabricate hundreds of general purpose microaccelerometers on a single silicon substrate. Piezoresistive sensing elements were aligned to the back-side patterns using an IR mask aligner and then diffused into the areas of maximum stress. Capping of the two-arm cantilever beam structure was achieved using a combination of electrostatic bonding and low temperature glass films. Overrange protection, critical damping, and overall protection from the outside environment are achieved by controlling the cavity depths of the top and bottom covers. Temperature compensation, amplification, and filtering are performed by a companion LSI chip that is interfaced to the accelerometer by conventional wire-bonding techniques.

Walsh, Kevin M.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Energetic Atoms Would Etch Photoresists Anisotropically

Directed beams of single oxygen atoms having kinetic energies between 1 and 5 eV used in anisotropic etching of oxygen-labile photoresist patterns on silicon wafers. Key step in manufacturing integrated circuits on semiconductor wafers. Damage to semiconductor material under photoresist layer reduced or eliminated. Method incorporated into lithographic processes for fabrication of integrated circuits.

Koontz, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2001

Stitching-error reduction in gratings by shot-shifted electron-beam lithography

Calculations of the grating spatial-frequency spectrum and the filtering properties of multiple-pass electron-beam writing demonstrate a tradeoff between stitching-error suppression and minimum pitch separation. High-resolution measurements of optical-diffraction patterns show a 25-dB reduction in stitching-error side modes.

Integrated optics semiconductor lasersgratings↗

NASA NTRS1995

Laser Opto-Electronic Correlator for Robotic Vision Automated Pattern Recognition

A compact laser opto-electronic correlator for pattern recognition has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Specifically it is a translation sensitivity adjustable compact optical correlator (TSACOC) utilizing convergent laser beams for the holographic filter. Its properties and performance, including the location of the correlation peak and the effects of lateral and longitudinal displacements for both filters and input images, are systematically analyzed based on the nonparaxial approximation for the reference beam. The theoretical analyses have been verified in experiments. In applying the TSACOC to important practical problems including fingerprint identification, we have found that the tolerance of the system to the input lateral displacement can be conveniently increased by changing a geometric factor of the system. The system can be compactly packaged using the miniature laser diode sources and can be used in space by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ground commercial applications which include robotic vision, and industrial inspection of automated quality control operations. The personnel of Standard International will work closely with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to transfer the technology to the commercial market. Prototype systems will be fabricated to test the market and perfect the product. Large production will follow after successful results are achieved.

Laser Opto-Electronic↗

NASA NTRS2013

Terrestrial Myriametric Radio Burst Observed by IMAGE and Geotail Satellites

We report the simultaneous detection of a terrestrial myriametric radio burst (TMRB) by IMAGE and Geotail on 19 August 2001. The TMRB was confined in time (0830-1006 UT) and frequency (12-50kHz). Comparisons with all known nonthermal myriametric radiation components reveal that the TMRB might be a distinct radiation with a source that is unrelated to the previously known radiation. Considerations of beaming from spin-modulation analysis and observing satellite and source locations suggest that the TMRB may have a fan beamlike radiation pattern emitted by a discrete, dayside source located along the poleward edge of magnetospheric cusp field lines. TMRB responsiveness to IMF Bz and By orientations suggests that a possible source of the TMRB could be due to dayside magnetic reconnection instigated by northward interplanetary field condition.

Fung, Shing F.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Further observations on resonance cones in non-Maxwellian plasmas

Results on the angular distribution of the electrostatic potential of a pulsating point charge in a warm magnetized plasma permeated by an electron beam are presented. The theoretical formulation for a finite magnetic field is given, and the solution of the resonance cone dispersion relation is presented. Numerical results on the angular distribution of the potential are shown, and the propagation of waves outside the resonance cones is described. It is demonstrated that with the inclusions of a finite magnetic field, the field patterns of a point charge are qualitatively similar to those obtained for a uniaxial plasma. The Cerenkov radiation occurs at angles much smaller than the cold-cone angle, even with the finite magnetic field. When the beam velocity is well above the thermal velocity of the background electrons, a characteristic wave propagation occurs between the cold-cone angles.

Thiemann, H.↗