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At least 55 records · Page 3

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2007

Topics covered include; Rapid Fabrication of Carbide Matrix/Carbon Fiber Composites; Coating Thermoelectric Devices To Suppress Sublimation; Ultrahigh-Temperature Ceramics; Improved C/SiC Ceramic Composites Made Using PIP; Coating Carbon Fibers With Platinum; Two-Band, Low-Loss Microwave Window; MCM Polarimetric Radiometers for Planar Arrays; Aperture-Coupled Thin-Membrane L-Band Antenna; WGM-Based Photonic Local Oscillators and Modulators; Focal-Plane Arrays of Quantum-Dot Infrared Photodetectors; Laser Range and Bearing Finder With No Moving Parts; Microrectenna: A Terahertz Antenna and Rectifier on a Chip; Miniature L-Band Radar Transceiver; Robotic Vision-Based Localization in an Urban Environment; Programs for Testing an SSME-Monitoring System; Cathodoluminescent Source of Intense White Light; Displaying and Analyzing Antenna Radiation Patterns; Payload Operations Support Team Tools; Space-Shuttle Emulator Software; Soft Real-Time PID Control on a VME Computer; Analyzing Radio-Frequency Coverage for the ISS; Nanorod-Based Fast-Response Pressure-Sensitive Paints; Capacitors Would Help Protect Against Hypervelocity Impacts; Diaphragm Pump With Resonant Piezoelectric Drive; Improved Quick-Release Pin Mechanism; Designing Rolling-Element Bearings; Reverse-Tangent Injection in a Centrifugal Compressor; Inertial Measurements for Aero-assisted Navigation (IMAN); Analysis of Complex Valve and Feed Systems; Improved Path Planning Onboard the Mars Exploration Rovers; Robust, Flexible Motion Control for the Mars Explorer Rovers; Solar Sail Spaceflight Simulation; Fluorine-Based DRIE of Fused Silica; Mechanical Alloying for Making Thermoelectric Compounds; Process for High-Rate Fabrication of Alumina Nanotemplates; Electroform/Plasma-Spray Laminates for X-Ray Optics; An Automated Flying-Insect Detection System; Calligraphic Poling of Ferroelectric Material; Blackbody Cavity for Calibrations at 200 to 273 K; KML Super Overlay to WMS Translator; High-Performance Tiled WMS and KML Web Server; Modeling of Radiative Transfer in Protostellar Disks; Composite Pulse Tube; Photometric Calibration of Consumer Video Cameras; Criterion for Identifying Vortices in High- Pressure Flows; Amplified Thermionic Cooling Using Arrays of Nanowires; Delamination-Indicating Thermal Barrier Coatings; Preventing Raman Lasing in High-Q WGM Resonators; Procedures for Tuning a Multiresonator Photonic Filter; Robust Mapping of Incoherent Fiber-Optic Bundles; Extended-Range Ultrarefractive 1D Photonic Crystal Prisms; Rapid Analysis of Mass Distribution of Radiation Shielding; Modeling Magnetic Properties in EZTB; Deep Space Network Antenna Logic Controller; Modeling Carbon and Hydrocarbon Molecular Structures in EZTB; BigView Image Viewing on Tiled Displays; and Imaging Sensor Flight and Test Equipment Software.

Source record↗

Digitally Controlled Slot Coupled Patch Array

A four-element array conformed to a singly curved conducting surface has been demonstrated to provide 2 dB axial ratio of 14 percent, while maintaining VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) of 2:1 and gain of 13 dBiC. The array is digitally controlled and can be scanned with the LMS Adaptive Algorithm using the power spectrum as the objective, as well as the Direction of Arrival (DoA) of the beam to set the amplitude of the power spectrum. The total height of the array above the conducting surface is 1.5 inches (3.8 cm). A uniquely configured microstrip-coupled aperture over a conducting surface produced supergain characteristics, achieving 12.5 dBiC across the 2-to-2.13- GHz and 2.2-to-2.3-GHz frequency bands. This design is optimized to retain VSWR and axial ratio across the band as well. The four elements are uniquely configured with respect to one another for performance enhancement, and the appropriate phase excitation to each element for scan can be found either by analytical beam synthesis using the genetic algorithm with the measured or simulated far field radiation pattern, or an adaptive algorithm implemented with the digitized signal. The commercially available tuners and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) boards utilized required precise phase coherent configuration control, and with custom code developed by Nokomis, Inc., were shown to be fully functional in a two-channel configuration controlled by FPGA boards. A four-channel tuner configuration and oscilloscope configuration were also demonstrated although algorithm post-processing was required.

D'Arista, Thomas↗

Mutual coupling between circular apertures on an infinite conducting ground plane and radiating into a finite width slab

The problem of electromagnetic coupling between two horns is of interest for the Microwave Reflectometer Ionization Sensor (MRIS) that will be used in the Aeroassist Flight Experiment (AFE). Laboratory measurements of mutual coupling between conical horns (using a flat metallic reflector to simulate a critically dense plasma outside) have shown a strong dependence on the finite dimensions of the shuttle tile over the apertures. Since both, the dielectric tile and the plasma outside the tile reflect microwaves, a study should be done to isolate the two mechanisms so that the MRIS reentry flight data can be interpreted correctly. Once the coupling due to the tile itself is determined then the location of the critial electron number density layers can be determined. As a first attempt to tackle this problem the Geometrical Theory of Diffraction was used to modify the existing solution to mutual coupling between apertures with infinite dielectric sheets. By using the equivalent current method, aperture theory to determine the radiated fields inside the dielectric tiles, and ray tracing the contributions to mutual coupling were determined. Results from two cases with different tile thicknesses have indicated that the main contribution to mutual coupling is due to diffraction from the bottom and top (back and front) wedges.

Christodoulou, Christos↗

Complex Electrical Conductivity of a Single‐Fractured Rock: Fracture‐and‐Matrix Coupling Mechanism and Aperture Size Predictions

Fractured rocks play a crucial role in myriad natural and engineered systems, including Earth's critical zone, oil/gas/geothermal reservoirs, and geological CO 2 /H 2 /waste storage systems. While complex electrical conductivity is extensively used to estimate the pore and grain sizes of conventional porous rocks and soils, it is rarely used to predict the aperture size of fractured rocks and this remains poorly understood. Here, integrating theory, simulations, and experiments, we show that under external fields, fractured rocks follow the fracture-and-matrix coupling to make the bulk complex conductivity non-linear with respect to water conductivity. We find that the relaxation time and quadrature conductivity for porous media do not apply to fractured rocks, but, instead, reasonably accurate predictions of aperture size can be made based on the true formation factor. This study unravels the fundamental mechanism governing conduction and polarization of fractured rocks and paves the way for the non-invasive investigation of global fractured rocks.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Electromagnetic pulse coupling through an aperture into a two-parallel-plate region

Analysis of electromagnetic-pulse (EMP) penetration via apertures into cavities is an important study in designing hardened systems. In this paper, an integral equation procedure is developed for determining the frequency and consequently the time behavior of the field inside a two-parallel-plate region excited through an aperture by an EMP. Some discussion of the numerical results is also included in the paper for completeness.

Rahmat-Samii, Y.↗

Synthetic-Aperture Antenna Array With Beam-Waveguide Coupling

Proposed synthetic-aperture antenna array for radio astronomy at wavelengths between 60 and 300 micrometers includes twelve 3.5-m-diameter paraboloidal-dish antennas at various positions along three 0.5-km-long arms of Y-shaped pattern. Receivers located centrally, with consequent reductions in complexity and cost. Innovative features of design also stimulates solutions to engineering problems arising in terrestrial radio systems.

Mahoney, Michael J.↗

Numerical aperture limits on efficient ball lens coupling of laser diodes to single-mode fibers with defocus to balance spherical aberration

The potential capabilities and limitations of single ball lenses for coupling laser diode radiation to single-mode optical fibers have been analyzed; parameters important to optical communications were specifically considered. These parameters included coupling efficiency, effective numerical apertures, lens radius, lens refractive index, wavelength, magnification in imaging the laser diode on the fiber, and defocus to counterbalance spherical aberration of the lens. Limiting numerical apertures in object and image space were determined under the constraint that the lens perform to the Rayleigh criterion of 0.25-wavelength (Strehl ratio = 0.80). The spherical aberration-defocus balance to provide an optical path difference of 0.25 wavelength units was shown to define a constant coupling efficiency (i.e., 0.56). The relative numerical aperture capabilities of the ball lens were determined for a set of wavelengths and associated fiber-core diameters of particular interest for single-mode fiber-optic communication. The results support general continuing efforts in the optical fiber communications industry to improve coupling links within such systems with emphasis on manufacturing simplicity, system packaging flexibility, relaxation of assembly alignment tolerances, cost reduction of opto-electronic components and long term reliability and stability.

Wilson, R. Gale↗

Computing Radiation From Multiple-Circular-Aperture Antennas

Mutual Coupling Program for Circular Waveguide-fed Aperture Array (CWG) computer program developed to calculate electromagnetic interactions among elements of antenna arrays with circular apertures with specified distributions of electromagnetic fields in apertures. Distributions assumed superpositions of electromagnetic modes existing in circular waveguide. Various external media included to provide flexibility of use; for example, flexibility to determine effects of dielectric covers upon impedances of aperture-type antennas. Written in VAX FORTRAN for DEC VAX-series computers running VMS (LAR-15236) and IBM PC-series and compatible computers running MS-DOS (LAR-15226).

Bailey, M. C.↗

CWG: A FORTRAN program for mutual coupling in a planar array of circular waveguide-fed apertures

A FORTRAN program which calculates the mutual coupling between circular apertures in a conductive plane is documented. The program is quite general in that the apertures do not have to be the same sizes, nor do they have to be polarized in the same direction. In addition, several waveguide modes (TE and/or TM) may be specified in the apertures and the mutual coupling between all combinations of apertures and modes will be calculated. The program also allows multiple layers of homogeneous dielectrics to be placed over the aperture array. Outside the layered region, one can specify either a homogeneous half-space, or a perfect reflecting surface.

Bailey, M. C.↗

Single-mode Fiber and Few-Mode Fiber Photonic Lanterns Performance Evaluated for Use in a Scalable Real-Time Photon Counting Ground Receiver

Photonic lanterns provide an efficient way of coupling light from a single large-core fiber to multiple small-core fibers. This capability is of interest for space to ground communication applications. In these applications, the optical ground receivers require high-efficiency coupling from an atmospherically distorted focus spot to multiple fiber coupled single pixel super-conducting nanowire detectors. This paper will explore the use of photonic lanterns in a real-time ground receiver that is scalable and constructed with commercial parts. The number of small-core fibers that make a photonic lantern determines the number of spatial modes that they couple. For instance, lanterns made with n number of single-mode fibers can couple n number of spatial modes. Although the laser transmitted from a spacecraft originates as a Gaussian shape, the atmosphere distorts the beam profile by scattering energy into higher-order spatial modes. Therefore, if a ground receiver is sized for a target data rate with n number of detectors, the corresponding lantern made with single-mode fibers will couple n number of spatial modes. The energy of the transmitted beam scattered into spatial modes higher than n will be lost. This paper shows this loss may be reduced by making lanterns with few-mode fibers instead of single-mode fibers, increasing the number of spatial modes that can be coupled and therefore increasing the coupling efficiency to single pixel, single photon detectors. The free space to fiber coupling efficiency of these two types of photonic lanterns are compared over a range of the free-space coupling numerical apertures and mode field diameters. Results indicate the few mode fiber lantern has higher coupling efficiency for telescopes with longer focal lengths under higher turbulent conditions. Also presented is analysis of the jitter added to the system by the lanterns, showing the few-mode fiber photonic lantern adds more jitter than the single-mode fiber lantern, but less than a multimode fiber.

photon counting↗

Mutual coupling in a finite planar array of circular apertures

Equations are presented for the calculation of the interelement mutual coupling in a finite size planar array of wave-guide-fed apertures in an infinite flat conductor. The general mutual admittance expression is evaluated for circular apertures and the mutual coupling calculations are verified experimentally for two TE11 mode excited apertures. Qualitative agreement between calculations for a 183 element array and an infinite array establishes the validity of the finite array theoretical model.

Bailey, M. C.↗

Mutual coupling in a finite planar array of circular apertures

Equations are presented for the calculation of the interelement mutual coupling in a finite-size planar array of waveguide-fed apertures in an infinite flat conductor. The general mutual admittance expression is evaluated for circular apertures, and the mutual coupling calculations are verified experimentally for two Te-(11) mode excited apertures. Qualitative agreement between calculations for a 183-element array and an infinite array establishes the validity of the finite-array theoretical model.

Bailey, M. C.↗

Design and Performance of a Multi-mode Photon-counting Receiver for the NASA O2O Mission

The NASA Orion O2O mission was designed and tested to support high-rate bi-directional optical communications between one of multiple ground sites and a crewed capsule during a 10-day mission. This paper focuses on the design and performance of the receiver that will be based at the NASA White Sands Complex, New Mexico, USA. The main receiver components consist of two 40-cm apertures, each coupled to a specialty multi-mode optical fiber; each fiber coupled to a custom array of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors; a high-speed, high-channel-count time-to-digital converter; and custom digitizing electronics to perform deserialization, demodulation, clock recovery, and forward error correction with a powerful serially-concatenated pulse-position-modulation turbo code. We show error-free data communication performance up to the maximum required data rate of 267 Mb/s.

optical↗

Mutual coupling between circular waveguide-fed apertures in a rectangular ground plane

A method is presented whereby the infinite ground plane analytical model for the self-admittance and mutual admittance of waveguide-fed apertures can be supplemented (using the geometrical theory of diffraction) to include the edge effects of a rectangular ground plane. The H-plane coupling between two TE-11 mode excited circular apertures is calculated and compared with measurements.

Bailey, M. C.↗

Analysis of finite-size phased arrays of circular waveguide elements

A derivation is presented for the calculation of the interelement mutual coupling in a finite-size planar array of waveguide-fed apertures covered by a multilayered dielectric and/or plasma. The general mutual admittance expression is evaluated for circular apertures and the mutual coupling calculations are verified experimentally for two transverse electric circular waveguide mode excited apertures. A parametric study of higher order mode aperture fields indicates that the only significant change in the circular aperture mutual coupling is due to the transverse magnetic mode, which introduces an additional phase shift. Qualitative agreement between calculations for a 183-element array of circular apertures and an infinite array establishes the validity of the finite-array theoretical model.

Bailey, M. C.↗

Quad aperture RF definition

A single STS package 118 m diameter hoop/column antenna is capable of providing service for appr. 250,000 mobile users. The selected quad aperture configuration is able to provide at least 25 db C/I without cable blockage, column scatter, coupling between quad apertures, and tolerance effects. A feed can be designed which uses single polarized radiating elements while the overall system employs dual polarization. The quad aperture concept can eliminate the use of diplexers and their associated losses. The critical technology issues in the RF area include the design of the radiating elements, BFN, monolithic power amplifiers and receiver front end, tolerance control and packaging of the feed.

Foldes, P.↗