Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Phase shift”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 757 records · Page 42

Aeronautical mobile TDMA/MCTDMA system

A multiple carrier Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system capable of supporting voice, stream data, and packet data traffic between aircraft and ground terminals is presented. Demand assignment permits efficient resource sharing for voice and stream data. The bandwidth efficiency of uncoded A Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (AQPSK) is 1 bps/Hz. High time efficiency (approximately equals 83 percent) is achieved through the use of symbol synchronous TDMA. Demodulation is achieved without loop hang-up while requiring only a 16 symbol preamble each burst. A concatenated coding system provides reliable transmission under multipath conditions.

Magill, Thomas↗

The upper-branch stability of compressible boundary layer flows

The upper-branch linear and nonlinear stability of compressible boundary layer flows is studied using the approach of Smith and Bodonyi (1982) for a similar incompressible problem. Both pressure gradient boundary layers and Blasius flow are considered with and without heat transfer, and the neutral eigenrelations incorporating compressibility effects are obtained explicitly. The compressible nonlinear viscous critical layer equations are derived and solved numerically and the results indicate some solutions with positive phase shift across the critical layer. Various limiting cases are investigated including the case of much larger disturbance amplitudes and this indicates the structure for the strongly nonlinear critical layer of the Benney-Bergeon (1969) type. It is also shown how a match with the inviscid neutral inflexional modes arising from the generalized inflexion point criterion, is achieved.

Gajjar, J. S. B.↗

The performance of trellis coded multilevel DPSK on a fading mobile satellite channel

The performance of trellis-coded multilevel differential phase-shift-keying (MDPSK) modulation over Rician and Rayleigh fading channels is discussed. For operation at L-band, this signalling technique leads to a more robust system than the coherent system with dual pilot tone calibration previously proposed for UHF. The results are obtained using a combination of analysis and simulation. The analysis shows that the design criterion for trellis codes to be operated on fading channels with interleaving/deinterleaving is no longer free Euclidean distance. The correct design criterion for optimizing bit error probability of trellis coded MDPSD over fading channels is presented along with examples illustrating its application.

Simon, Marvin K.↗

A lower bound on the minimum Euclidean distance of trellis-coded modulation schemes

A lower bound on the minimum free Euclidean distance of trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is derived that guarantees the existence of good TCM codes of any complexity. The bound is used to compare trellis codes combined with phase-shift keying, pulse amplitude modulation, and quadrature amplitude-shift keying modulation. This random coding bound is the first lower bound on the free distance of trellis codes, is tighter than any upper bound for large constraint lengths, and predicts the asymptotic performance of TCM when the complexity of the code becomes large. The bound can be used with any code rate and any modulation scheme and shows that the free distance increases linearly with the constraint length for large values of the constraint length.

Rouanne, Marc↗

5-kW arcjet power electronics

The initial design and evaluation of a 5 kW arcjet power electronics breadboard which as been integrated with a modified 1 kW design laboratory arcjet is presented. A single stage, 5 kW full bridge, pulse width modulated (PWM), power converter was developed which was phase shift regulated. The converter used metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) power switches and incorporated current mode control and an integral arcjet pulse ignition circuit. The unoptimized power efficiency was 93.5 and 93.9 percent at 5 kW and 50A output at input voltages of 130 and 150V, respectively. Line and load current regulation at 50A output was within one percent. The converter provided up to 6.6 kW to the arcjet with simulated ammonia used as a propellant.

Gruber, R. P.↗

Crystal Oscillators Operate Beyond Rated Frequencies

Amplifiers with single-pole frequency responses used in their "roll-off" regions. Class of crystal oscillators based on use of negative-voltage-gain amplifiers at frequencies well into "roll-off" frequency regions of their gain-versus-frequency curves. Defining characteristic helps keep costs of oscillators low; not necessary to use more expensive amplifiers that have flat frequency responses out to desired operating frequencies. Enables amplifier to produce phase shift necessary for oscillation, reducing cost further by eliminating need for some of passive components in oscillators of more conventional design.

Kleinberg, Leonard L.↗

Trellis-Coded MDPSK System With Doppler Correction

Multiple-differential-phase-shift-keyed (MDPSK) microwave system designed for communications between mobile and/or fixed terrestrial stations via satellite transponders. Stations in system transmit and receive data or digitally-coded voice signals at rates up to 4.8 kb/s in channels only 5 kHz wide. Incorporates advanced encoding, decoding, modulation, and demodulation techniques to minimize effects of error bursts. Uses feedforward techniques for fast recovery from deep fades.

Divsalar, D.↗

Improved ranging systems

Spacecraft range measurements have provided the most accurate tests, to date, of some relativistic gravitational parameters, even though the measurements were made with ranging systems having error budgets of about 10 meters. Technology is now available to allow an improvement of two orders of magnitude in the accuracy of spacecraft ranging. The largest gains in accuracy result from the replacement of unstable analog components with high speed digital circuits having precisely known delays and phase shifts.

Young, Larry E.↗

Voltage source ac-to-dc converters for high-power transmitters

This work was done to optimize the design of the components used for the beam power supply, which is a component of the transmitters in the Deep Space Network (DSN). The major findings are: (1) the difference in regulation between a six-pulse and a twelve-pulse converter is at most 7 percent worse for the twelve-pulse converter; (2) the commutation overlap angle of a current source converter equals that of a voltage source converter with continuous line currents; (3) the sources of uncharacteristic harmonics are identified with SPICE simulation; (4) the use of an imperfect phase-shifting transformer for the twelve-pulse converter generates a harmonic at six times the line frequency; and (5) the assumptions usually made in analyzing converters can be relaxed with SPICE simulation. The results demonstrate the suitability of using SPICE simulation to obtain detailed performance predictions of ac-to-dc converters.

Cormier, R.↗

QPSK carrier-acquisition performance in the advanced receiver 2

The frequency-acquisition performance of the Costas cross-over loop which is used in the Advanced Receiver 2 (ARX 2) to perform Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) carrier tracking is described. The performance of the Costas cross-over loop is compared to two other QPSK carrier tracking loops: the MAP estimation loop and the generalized Costas loop. Acquisition times and probabilities of acquisition as functions of both loop signal-to-noise ratio and frequency-offset to loop-bandwidth ratio are obtained using computer simulations for both type-2 and type-3 loops. It is shown that even though the MAP loop results in the smallest squaring loss for all signal-to-noise ratios, the MAP loop is sometimes outperformed by the other two loops in terms of acquisition time and probability.

Hinedi, S.↗

Modeling of thermal lensing in side and end-pumped finite solid-state laser rods

An analytical expression for approximating the time-dependent thermal focal length in finite solid state laser rods was derived. The analysis is based on the temperature variation of the material refractive index caused by optical pumping of these rods. Several quantities were found to be relevant to this analysis. These quantities were the specific thermal profiles of the rods, type of optical pumping employed, type of cooling scheme employed (side and end-cooling parameters), and the specific material characteristics of the rods. The Thermal Lensing Model was formulated using the geometric ray tracing approach. The focal lengths are then approximated, by calculating the phase shift in the index of refraction, as the different rays of an incident plane wave are tracked through a lens-like crystal medium. The approach also applies in the case of Gaussian or parabolic pump beams. It is shown that the prediction of thermal focal length is in good quantitative agreement with experimentally obtained data.

Brackett, Vincent G.↗

A technique to measure the thermal diffusivity of high T(sub c) superconductors

High T(sub c) superconducting electrical current leads and ground straps will be used in cryogenic coolers in future NASA Goddard Space Flight Center missions. These superconducting samples will be long, thin leads with a typical diameter of two millimeters. A longitudinal method is being developed to measure the thermal diffusivity of candidate materials for this application. This technique will use a peltier junction to supply an oscillatory heat wave into one end of a sample and will use low mass thermocouples to follow the heat wave along the sample. The thermal diffusivity will be calculated using both the exponential decay of the heat wave and the phase shift of the wave. Measurements will be done in a cryostat between 10 K and room temperature.

Powers, Charles E.↗

Facility for interferometric testing of 1.25-m mirrors at liquid helium temperatures

A concept is presented for a national cryogenic optics test facility capable of optical characterization of 1.25 m diameter optics having focal lengths up to 6.2 m at temperatures from 300 K to near 4 K. The facility will be comprised of a large Dewar with a phase shift interferometer, a two-stage vacuum system employing a turbomolecular pump, and an integral vibration isolation system. The entire facility will be housed in a concrete site with a massive floor to assist in reducing vibration during optical tests. By providing interchangeable sections, the overall height of the Dewar can be adjusted to provide for testing of shorter focal length optics. The background for the facility is discussed along with the facility location, and the requirements and the performance considerations which drive the Dewar design with respect to the vibration isolation system, vacuum system, and optical interferometry.

Salerno, Louis J.↗

Voyager planetary radio astronomy at Neptune

Detection of very intense short radio bursts from Neptune was possible as early as 30 days before closest approach and at least 22 days after closest approach. The bursts lay at frequencies in the range 100 to 1300 kilohertz, were narrowband and strongly polarized, and presumably originated in southern polar regions of the planet. Episodes of smooth emissions in the frequency range from 20 to 865 kilohertz were detected during an interval of at least 10 days around closest approach. The bursts and the smooth emissions can be described in terms of rotation in a period of 16.11 + or - 0.05 hours. The bursts came at regular intervals throughout the encounter, including episodes both before and after closest approach. The smooth emissions showed a half-cycle phase shift between the five episodes before and after closest approach. This experiment detected the foreshock of Neptune's magnetosphere and the impacts of dust at the times of ring-plane crossings and also near the time of closest approach. Finally, there is no evidence for Neptunian electrostatic discharges.

Warwick, James W.↗

Space Station Freedom cupola definition

Following the realization that adequate Space Station Freedom viewing could not be achieved without breaking the plane of the modules, a conceptual design phase for the development of a cupola progressed from the idea of a small, bubble-type canopy to a much larger, two crewmember cupola. The evolving cupola conceptual designs were each evaluated against the requirements for providing a large field-of-view, a complete proximity control workstation with flexible and relocatable restraints, and sufficient volume for two, 95th percentile crewmembers to operate while still maintaining reasonable weight and size restrictions. As the SS Freedom program Preliminary Design Review draws closer, the cupola development phase shifts toward evaluation of viewing and operational capability. The appropriate balance of viewing, structures and operations must be achieved before the program can place confidence in a cupola design providing SS Freedom with a direct viewing workstation capable of supporting the great variety of tasks projected for the life of the station.

Weaver, Laurie A.↗

Relative tracking of multiple spacecraft by interferometry

An analysis is conducted of earth-based radiometric tracking of one spacecraft relative to an angularly nearby second spacecraft. Two cases are studied: relative positioning between a lander and a rover on the surface of Mars and relative tracking between a Mars lander and a Mars orbiter. All spacecraft signals are simultaneously received in the same beamwidth of an earth tracking antenna. Differential interferometric measurement errors are predicted. Errors which scale with angular separation between sources and errors which scale with temporal separation between measurement epochs are reduced virtually to zero. System thermal noise and systematic phase shifts introduced by receiver electronics typically dominate the error budget. Solar plasma delays become dominant for signal paths which pass close to the sun. Precise line-of-sight range measurements, differenced between stations, are also considered. Meter-level accuracy is obtained for lander/rover relative position by combining interferometric and precise range measurements. Either data type alone, for geometries where earth is not near zero declination as seen from Mars and Mars is not near zero declination as seen from earth, can provide accuracy at the 10-100-m level.

Border, James S.↗

DS/LPI autocorrelation detection in noise plus random-tone interference

An analysis is presented of a frequency-noncoherent, two-lag autocorrelation statistic for the wideband detection of random binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) signals in noise plus random multitone interference. It is shown that this detector is quite robust to the presence or absence of interference and its specific parameter values contrary to an energy detector. The rule assumes knowledge of the data rate and the active scenario under H0. The purpose of the paper is to promote the real-time autocorrelation domain and its samples (lags) as a viable approach for detecting random signals in dense environments.

Hinedi, Sami↗

Study of the polarization dependence of the photoelectric effect in the soft X-ray band - A focal plane photoelectric stellar X-ray polarimeter for the Spectrum-X-Gamma mission

An experimental study of the polarization dependence of the photoelectric effect in cesium iodide in the soft X-ray band was started (Heckler et al., 1989). At a grazing angle of 10 degrees and a photon energy of 2.6 keV, it is found that the photoelectric yield from a thin layer of evaporated cesium iodide varies by 12.4 percent as the polarization vector of the incident X-ray beam is rotated about the line-of-sight. The rotation angle corresponding to the maximum photoyield is displaced by 16 degrees from the normal to the photocathode. This modulation and phase shift are in good agreement with the results recently reported by Fraser, et al. (1989) It is shown that a focal plane stellar X-ray polarimeter based on this photoelectric effect will be substantially more efficient than convential X-ray polarimeters such as those based on either Bragg reflection or scattering from low atomic number targets.

Heckler, A.↗