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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

TRMM Microwave Radiometer Rain Rate Estimation Method with Convective and Stratiform Discrimination

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) radiometer brightness temperature data in the 85 GHz channel (T85) reveal distinct local minima (T85min) in a regional map containing a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). A map of surface rain rate for that region, deduced from simultaneous measurements made by the Precipitation Radar (PR) on board the TRMM satellite, reveals that these T85min, produced by scattering, correspond to local PR rain maxima. Utilizing the PR rain rate map as a guide, we have developed a TMI algorithm to retrieve convective and stratiform rain. In this algorithm, two parameters are used to classify three kinds of thunderstorms (Cbs) based on the T85 data: a) the magnitude of scattering depression deduced from local T85mi, and b) the mean horizontal gradient of T85 around such minima. Initially, the algorithm is optimized or tuned utilizing the PR and TMI data of a few MCS events. The areal distribution of light (1-10 mm/hr), moderate (10-20 mm/hr), and intense (greater than or equal to 20 mm/hr) rain rates are retrieved on the average with an accuracy of about 15%. Taking advantage of this ability of our retrieval method, one could derive the latent heat input into the atmosphere over the 760 km wide swath of the TMI radiometer in the tropics.

Prabhakara, Cuddapah↗
NASA NTRS2009

An Amplitude-Based Estimation Method for International Space Station (ISS) Leak Detection and Localization Using Acoustic Sensor Networks

The development of a robust and efficient leak detection and localization system within a space station environment presents a unique challenge. A plausible approach includes the implementation of an acoustic sensor network system that can successfully detect the presence of a leak and determine the location of the leak source. Traditional acoustic detection and localization schemes rely on the phase and amplitude information collected by the sensor array system. Furthermore, the acoustic source signals are assumed to be airborne and far-field. Likewise, there are similar applications in sonar. In solids, there are specialized methods for locating events that are used in geology and in acoustic emission testing that involve sensor arrays and depend on a discernable phase front to the received signal. These methods are ineffective if applied to a sensor detection system within the space station environment. In the case of acoustic signal location, there are significant baffling and structural impediments to the sound path and the source could be in the near-field of a sensor in this particular setting.

Tian, Jialin↗
NASA NTRS2023

Analytical Design and Performance Estimation Methods for Aircraft Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines

The design of an electric motor drivetrain is a complex multiphysics problem. Low fidelity motor drivetrain sizing can be a key tool in the design cycle of an electric motor drivetrain and for system level studies of aircraft configurations. However, low fidelity sizing can lead to misleading results if all the physics involved in a motor design are not properly accounted for. This paper provides details on modeling approaches for initial design and sizing of permanent magnet synchronous electric machines. The goal of this paper is to provide the reader an understanding of the key principles of motor design and some modeling approaches to perform initial sizing of an electric motor and its inverter.

Thomas F. Tallerico↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Machine Learning Methods for Estimating Propeller Source Noise Spheres

In this work, several neural network function approximations are compared for inter- polating, storing, and sampling acoustic source spheres with applications to propeller noise estimation. These methods are compared using an acoustic model of the three bladed GL-10 propeller at different flight conditions, with training data generated using NASA’s ANOPP-PAS module. The source spheres used to train the networks capture the tonal propeller noise due to both the blade thickness and loading. This tonal noise prediction method allows the vehicle noise to be estimated for auralization and acoustic control. Three radial basis function neural network architectures are compared in this work. The first two networks directly estimate the parameters of the source sphere at different flight conditions but differ in the number of layers used. The third network estimates the parameters of the source sphere using a weighted combination of spherical basis functions. These networks are trained on numerically generated source spheres, with operating points given in terms of the propeller rotation rate, freestream speed, and propeller angle of attack. The performance of the neural network is determined using a validation dataset of withheld data points. This performance is quantified in terms of the approximation error, training time, and sample time. The third network, which estimates the weights of the spherical basis functions, performs the best in both average and maximum approximation errors in all cases. This network’s worst case performance is 5.6 % relative dif- ference of a model parameter associated with acoustic pressure. The direct estimation network with a single layer has the worst approximation error in all cases. Additionally, the spherically defined network has the slowest sample time at 0.05 seconds per thousand points. Both direct estimation methods produce a thousand sample points in approximately 0.001 seconds.

Acoustics↗
NASA NTRS1992

Effect of spectral shape on acoustic fatigue life estimates

Methods for estimating fatigue life due to random loading are briefly reviewed. These methods include a probabilistic approach in which the expected value of the rate of damage accumulation is computed by integrating over the probability density of damaging events and a method which consists of analyzing the response time history to count damaging events. It is noted that it is necessary to employ a time domain approach to perform Rainflow counting, while simple peak counting may be accomplished using the probabilistic method. Data obtained indicate that Rainflow counting produces significantly different fatigue life predictions than other methods that are commonly used in acoustic fatigue predictions. When low-frequency oscillations are present in a signal along with high-frequency components, peak counting will produce substantially shorter fatigue lives than Rainflow counting. It is concluded that Rainflow counting is capable of providing reliable fatigue life predictions for acoustic fatigue studies.

Miles, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS1979

A method to estimate critical volumes

Methods for estimating the volume of the critical temperature used for the estimation of thermodynamic properties of substances are described. The possibility to estimate the critical temperature by using a combination of only eighteen atomic and structural contributions is shown. These contributions are listed and the critical temperature is given by a linear expression. By comparing the Vetere (1976) and Lydersen (1955) methods with the method discussed it is noted that while all three methods yield about the same average error (about 3%), the new method is superior in that it requires a smaller number of increments to fit data points.

Fedors, R. F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Effect of counting and tracking on verbal and production methods of time estimation

The effects of time estimation technique and task condition on the production and verbal estimation of time intervals ranging from 5 to 14 sec were investigated. The duration of time intervals during each task condition pretracking, tracking (subject performed a one-axis tracking), and posttracking was estimated by the subjects. The ratio of the subject's time estimate to actual interval length was computed for each trial. Productions were typically longer than verbal estimates of the same duration and produced durations were typically too long whereas verbal estimates were too short relative to the correct duration. A significant interaction was found between counting technique and tracking condition for both estimation methods. A significant effect could be attributed to the addition of a tracking task: produced durations increased in length, whereas verbal estimates decreased in length. The durations produced without counting were significantly less accurate and consistent with the addition of a tracking task. Verbal estimation mean accuracy, but not consistency, was adversely affected by the addition of a tracking task when the subjects were instructed not to count.

Bird, K. L.↗
NASA NTRS1989

An investigation of new methods for estimating parameter sensitivities

The method proposed for estimating sensitivity derivatives is based on the Recursive Quadratic Programming (RQP) method and in conjunction a differencing formula to produce estimates of the sensitivities. This method is compared to existing methods and is shown to be very competitive in terms of the number of function evaluations required. In terms of accuracy, the method is shown to be equivalent to a modified version of the Kuhn-Tucker method, where the Hessian of the Lagrangian is estimated using the BFS method employed by the RQP algorithm. Initial testing on a test set with known sensitivities demonstrates that the method can accurately calculate the parameter sensitivity.

Beltracchi, Todd J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Method to estimate drag coefficient at the air/ice interface over drifting open pack ice from remotely sensed data

A knowledge in near real time, of the surface drag coefficient for drifting pack ice is vital for predicting its motions. And since this is not routinely available from measurements it must be replaced by estimates. Hence, a method for estimating this variable, as well as the drag coefficient at the water/ice interface and the ice thickness, for drifting open pack ice was developed. These estimates were derived from three-day sequences of LANDSAT-1 MSS images and surface weather charts and from the observed minima and maxima of these variables. The method was tested with four data sets in the southeastern Beaufort sea. Acceptable results were obtained for three data sets. Routine application of the method depends on the availability of data from an all-weather air or spaceborne remote sensing system, producing images with high geometric fidelity and high resolution.

Feldman, U.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Helicopter rotor and engine sizing for preliminary performance estimation

Methods are presented for estimating some of the more fundamental design variables of single-rotor helicopters (tip speed, blade area, disk loading, and installed power) based on design requirements (speed, weight, fuselage drag, and design hover ceiling). The well-known constraints of advancing-blade compressibility and retreating-blade stall are incorporated into the estimation process, based on an empirical interpretation of rotor performance data from large-scale wind-tunnel tests. Engine performance data are presented and correlated with a simple model usable for preliminary design. When approximate results are required quickly, these methods may be more convenient to use and provide more insight than large digital computer programs.

Talbot, P. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

A method for estimating soil moisture availability

A method for estimating values of soil moisture based on measurements of infrared surface temperature is discussed. A central element in the method is a boundary layer model. Although it has been shown that soil moistures determined by this method using satellite measurements do correspond in a coarse fashion to the antecedent precipitation, the accuracy and exact physical interpretation (with respect to ground water amounts) are not well known. This area of ignorance, which currently impedes the practical application of the method to problems in hydrology, meteorology and agriculture, is largely due to the absence of corresponding surface measurements. Preliminary field measurements made over France have led to the development of a promising vegetation formulation (Taconet et al., 1985), which has been incorporated in the model. It is necessary, however, to test the vegetation component, and the entire method, over a wide variety of surface conditions and crop canopies.

Carlson, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS1948

An Analytical Method of Estimating Turbine Performance

A method is developed by which the performance of a turbine over a range of operating conditions can be analytically estimated from the blade angles and flow areas. In order to use the method, certain coefficients that determine the weight flow and friction losses must be approximated. The method is used to calculate the performance of the single-stage turbine of a commercial aircraft gas-turbine engine and the calculated performance is compared with the performance indicated by experimental data. For the turbine of the typical example, the assumed pressure losses and turning angles give a calculated performance that represents the trends of the experimental performance with reasonable accuracy. The exact agreement between analytical performance and experimental performance is contingent upon the proper selection of the blading-loss parameter. A variation of blading-loss parameter from 0.3 to 0.5 includes most of the experimental data from the turbine investigated.

Kochendorfer, Fred D↗
NASA NTRS1949

An analytical method of estimating turbine performance

A method is developed by which the performance of a turbine over a range of operating conditions can be analytically estimated from the blade angles and flow areas. In order to use the method, certain coefficients that determine the weight flow and the friction losses must be approximated. The method is used to calculate the performance of the single-stage turbine of a commercial aircraft gas-turbine engine and the calculated performance is compared with the performance indicated by experimental data. For the turbine of the typical example, the assumed pressure losses and the tuning angles give a calculated performance that represents the trends of the experimental performance with reasonable accuracy. The exact agreement between analytical performance and experimental performance is contingent upon the proper selection of a blading-loss parameter.

Kochendorfer, Fred D↗
NASA NTRS1980

Maximum likelihood method for estimating airplane stability and control parameters from flight data in frequency domain

A frequency domain maximum likelihood method is developed for the estimation of airplane stability and control parameters from measured data. The model of an airplane is represented by a discrete-type steady state Kalman filter with time variables replaced by their Fourier series expansions. The likelihood function of innovations is formulated, and by its maximization with respect to unknown parameters the estimation algorithm is obtained. This algorithm is then simplified to the output error estimation method with the data in the form of transformed time histories, frequency response curves, or spectral and cross-spectral densities. The development is followed by a discussion on the equivalence of the cost function in the time and frequency domains, and on advantages and disadvantages of the frequency domain approach. The algorithm developed is applied in four examples to the estimation of longitudinal parameters of a general aviation airplane using computer generated and measured data in turbulent and still air. The cost functions in the time and frequency domains are shown to be equivalent; therefore, both approaches are complementary and not contradictory. Despite some computational advantages of parameter estimation in the frequency domain, this approach is limited to linear equations of motion with constant coefficients.

Klein, V.↗