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At least 55 records · Page 3

Demonstration of Frequency-Scanning Burst-mode Filtered Rayleigh Scattering for Multi-Parameter Gas-Phase Measurements

Filtered Rayleigh scattering (FRS) is a diagnostic technique used for measurements of macroscopic properties of a gas. The FRS signal is passed through a narrow bandwidth molecular filter, commonly gaseous iodine, to measure the broadening and Doppler-shift of the scattering light from the molecules of the gas flow. However, in single-frequency, intensity-based approaches, the effects of pressure, temperature, and velocity can be difficult to deconvolve. To overcome this challenge, frequency-scanning FRS has been used to quasi-spectrally resolve the signal. In this work, a frequency-scanned, burst-mode laser was used to perform scanning FRS in an underexpanded jet to measure temperature, pressure, and radial velocity at measurement rates up to 1 kHz which is ~100,000 times faster than prior implementations of scanning FRS.

filtered Rayleigh scattering↗

Subcentimeter-size particle distribution functions in planetary rings from Voyager radio and photopolarimeter occultation data

Analysis of measurements of the scattered and direct components of Voyager 1 radio occultation signals at 3.5 and 13 cm wavelengths yield estimates of the distribution functions of supracentimeter-size particles and thickness of relatively broad regions in Saturn's rings. If mearurements of signal amplitude at a shorter wavelength are combined with the previously analyzed data, the shape of the distribution functions characterizing the smaller particles can be constrained. If size distributions of arbitrary form were considered, many solutions are found that are consistent with the three available observations of signal amplitude. The best-fit power law was calculated to the three observations at three wavelengths for several of the embedded Saturn ringlets. Mie scattering theory predicts that the measured phase of the radio occultation signal is highly sensitive to particles ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 wavelengths in size, thus additional constraints on the subcentimeter-size distribution functions for both the Saturn and Uranus rings can in principle be derived from radio phase measurements.

Zebker, Howard A.↗

A simple technique for high resolution time domain phase noise measurement

A new time domain phase comparator is described. The device uses a novel technique to allow time domain phase measurements to be made with period and time interval counters without the use of offset reference oscillators. The device uses a single reference oscillator and allows measurements with a phase resolution greater than the noise floor of the reference. Data is presented showing a phase resolution of 0.02ps at 5 MHz with a crystal reference. The device has application in measuring the phase stability of systems where approximate phase quadrature can be maintained.

Reinhardt, V. S.↗

Estimating Antenna Shape From Far-Field Measurements

Amplitude and phase measurements help characterize nearly paraboloidal reflectors. Deviation of microwave reflector from ideal paraboloidal shape deduced from far-field amplitude and phase measurements with help of theoretical technique referred to as microwave holographic metrology. Technique enables estimation of antenna-surface figure from measurements taken at prescribed number of field points. After determining amount of surface deviation, performance of antenna then improved by properly adjusting surface panels.

Rahmat-Samii, Y.↗

Olympus receiver evaluation and phase noise measurements

A set of measurements performed by the Michigan Tech Sensing and Signal Processing Group on the analog receiver built by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for propagation measurements using the Olympus Satellite is described. Measurements of local oscillator (LO) phase noise were performed for all of the LOs supplied by JPL. In order to obtain the most useful set of measurements, LO phase noise measurements were made using the complete VPI receiver front end. This set of measurements demonstrates the performance of the receiver from the Radio Frequency (RF) input through the high Intermediate Frequency (IF) output. Three different measurements were made: LO phase noise with DC on the voltage controlled crystal oscillator (VCXO) port; LO phase noise with the 11.381 GHz LO locked to the reference signal generator; and a reference measurement with the JPL LOs out of the system.

Campbell, Richard L.↗

Measuring Cyclic Error in Laser Heterodyne Interferometers

An improved method and apparatus have been devised for measuring cyclic errors in the readouts of laser heterodyne interferometers that are configured and operated as displacement gauges. The cyclic errors arise as a consequence of mixing of spurious optical and electrical signals in beam launchers that are subsystems of such interferometers. The conventional approach to measurement of cyclic error involves phase measurements and yields values precise to within about 10 pm over air optical paths at laser wavelengths in the visible and near infrared. The present approach, which involves amplitude measurements instead of phase measurements, yields values precise to about .0.1 microns . about 100 times the precision of the conventional approach. In a displacement gauge of the type of interest here, the laser heterodyne interferometer is used to measure any change in distance along an optical axis between two corner-cube retroreflectors. One of the corner-cube retroreflectors is mounted on a piezoelectric transducer (see figure), which is used to introduce a low-frequency periodic displacement that can be measured by the gauges. The transducer is excited at a frequency of 9 Hz by a triangular waveform to generate a 9-Hz triangular-wave displacement having an amplitude of 25 microns. The displacement gives rise to both amplitude and phase modulation of the heterodyne signals in the gauges. The modulation includes cyclic error components, and the magnitude of the cyclic-error component of the phase modulation is what one needs to measure in order to determine the magnitude of the cyclic displacement error. The precision attainable in the conventional (phase measurement) approach to measuring cyclic error is limited because the phase measurements are af-

Ryan, Daniel↗

Full field gas phase velocity measurements in microgravity

Measurement of full-field velocities via Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) is common in research efforts involving fluid motion. While such measurements have been successfully performed in the liquid phase in a microgravity environment, gas-phase measurements have been beset by difficulties with seeding and laser strength. A synthesis of techniques developed at NASA LeRC exhibits promise in overcoming these difficulties. Typical implementation of PIV involves forming the light from a pulsed laser into a sheet that is some fraction of a millimeter thick and 50 or more millimeters wide. When a particle enters this sheet during a pulse, light scattered from the particle is recorded by a detector, which may be a film plane or a CCD array. Assuming that the particle remains within the boundaries of the sheet for the second pulse and can be distinguished from neighboring particles, comparison of the two images produces an average velocity vector for the time between the pulses. If the concentration of particles in the sampling volume is sufficiently large but the particles remain discrete, a full field map may be generated.

Griffin, Devon W.↗

Experimental clean combustor program; noise measurement addendum, Phase 2

Combustor noise measurements were performed using wave guide probes. Test results from two full scale annular combustor configurations in a combustor test rig are presented. A CF6-50 combustor represented a current design, and a double annular combustor represented the advanced clean combustor configuration. The overall acoustic power levels were found to correlate with the steady state heat release rate and inlet temperature. A theoretical analysis for the attenuation of combustor noise propagating through a turbine was extended from a subsonic relative flow condition to include the case of supersonic flow at the discharge side. The predicted attenuation from this analysis was compared to both engine data and extrapolated component combustor data. The attenuation of combustor noise through the CF6-50 turbine was found to be greater than 14 dB by both the analysis and the data.

Emmerling, J. J.↗

Particle phase function measurements by a new Fiber Array Nephelometer: FAN 1

A fiber array polar nephelometer of advanced design, the FAN I is capable of in-situ phase function measurements of scattered light from man-made or natural atmospheric particles. The scattered light is measured at 100 different angles throughout 360 degrees, thus providing a potential measurement of the asymmetry of irregularly shaped particles. Phase functions can be measured at 10 to 100 Hz rates and the range of measurable single particle sizes is from 5 micron m to as large as 8mm. For particles smaller than 5 micro m the ensemble average can be measured. The FAN I is microprocessor controlled and the data may be stored on floppy disk or printed out in tabular and/or graphical form. The optical head may be separated from the computer system for operation in field or adverse conditions. Examples of laboratory measured scattering phase functions obtained with the FAN I for spherical particles is given to illustrate its measurement capabilities.

Farmer, W. M.↗

A quantitative measure of phase correlations in density fields

A quantitative measure of the phase correlations in a density field is presented based on the location of the maxima of the Fourier components of that field. It is found that this measue can easily detect non-Gaussian behavior either in artificially constructed density fields or those that become non-Gaussian from gravitational clustering of Gaussian initial conditions. It is found that different initial power spectra produce somewhat distinguishable signals, and the signals are robust against sparse sampling.

Scherrer, Robert J.↗

Gain and Phase-margin measurements

Simple battery-powered test circuit will contribute negligible error when taking open-loop measurements of gain and phase parameters. This is especially helpful when measuring high-grain circuits containing integrators.

Pierce, B. D.↗

The MRIS feasibility study

The Microwave Reflectometer Ionization Sensor (MRIS) is an instrument being developed for use in detecting and ranging of electron density layers in the reentry plasma of a space transfer vehicle. The rationale for the selection of the Double Sideband Suppressed Carrier (DSBSC) system used in the feasibility study for the MRIS is presented. A 25 GHz single-oscillator system and a 220 GHz double-oscillator system are described. The 25 GHz system was constructed and tested in the laboratory and test results are presented. As developed, the system employs a sideband spacing of 160 MHz. Based on an estimated electromagnetic wave velocity in the plasma, a round-trip phase shift measurement accuracy of +/- 7.6 degrees was required for the desired +/- 1/2 cm distance measurement accuracy. The interaction of parallel ground and reflecting planes produces interference that prevents the basic DSBSC system from meeting the accuracy goal so a frequency modulation was added to the system to allow averaging of the measured phase deviation. With an FM deviation of +/- 1 GHz, laboratory measurements were made for distances from 5 to 61 cm tip free space. Accounting for the plasma velocity factor, 82 percent of the data were equal to or better than the desired accuracy. Based on this measured result a sideband spacing to 250 MHz could be expected to yield data approximately 96 percent within the accuracy goal.

Neece, Robert T.↗