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At least 757 records · Page 42

Making Macroscopic Assemblies of Aligned Carbon Nanotubes

A method of aligning and assembling single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) to fabricate macroscopic structures has been invented. The method entails suspending SWNTs in a fluid, orienting the SWNTs by use of a magnetic and/or electric field, and then removing the aligned SWNTs from suspension in such a way as to assemble them while maintaining the alignment. SWNTs are essentially tubular extensions of fullerene molecules. It is desirable to assemble aligned SWNTs into macroscopic structures because the common alignment of the SWNTs in such a structure makes it possible to exploit, on a macroscopic scale, the unique mechanical, chemical, and electrical properties that individual oriented SWNTs exhibit at the molecular level. Because of their small size and high electrical conductivity, carbon nanotubes, and especially SWNTs, are useful for making electrical connectors in integrated circuits. Carbon nanotubes can be used as antennas at optical frequencies, and as probes in scanning tunneling microscopes, atomic-force microscopes, and the like. Carbon nanotubes can be used with or instead of carbon black in tires. Carbon nanotubes are useful as supports for catalysts. Ropes of SWNTs are metallic and, as such, are potentially useful in some applications in which electrical conductors are needed - for example, they could be used as additives in formulating electrically conductive paints. Finally, macroscopic assemblies of aligned SWNTs can serve as templates for the growth of more and larger structures of the same type. The great variety of tubular fullerene molecules and of the structures that could be formed by assembling them in various ways precludes a complete description of the present method within the limits of this article. It must suffice to present a typical example of the use of one of many possible variants of the method to form a membrane comprising SWNTs aligned substantially parallel to each other in the membrane plane. The apparatus used in this variant of the method (see figure) includes a reservoir containing SWNTs dispersed in a suspending agent (for example, dimethylformamide) and a reservoir containing a suitable solvent (for example, water mixed with a surfactant). By use of either pressurized gas supplied from upstream or suction from downstream, the suspension of SWNTs and the solvent are forced to mix and flow into a tank. A filter inside the tank contains pores small enough to prevent the passage of most SWNTs, but large enough to allow the passage of molecules of the solvent and suspending agent. The filter is oriented perpendicular to the flow path. A magnetic field parallel to the plane of the filter is applied. The success of the method is based on the tendency of SWNTs to become aligned with their longitudinal axes parallel to an applied magnetic field. The alignment energy of an SWNT increases with the length of the SWNT and the magnetic-field strength. In order to obtain an acceptably small degree of statistical deviation of SWNTs of a given length from alignment with a magnetic field, one must make the field strong enough so that the thermal energy associated with rotation of an SWNT away from alignment is less than the alignment energy.

Smalley, Richard E.↗

Decentralized Data-Driven Estimation of Generator Rotor Speed and Inertia Constant Based on Adaptive Unscented Kalman Filter

This paper proposes an online decentralized and data-driven method for synchronous generator rotor speed and inertia estimation. First, an analytical relationship between the generator terminal voltage/current phasors and its internal rotor speed is derived using the Thevenin equivalent. The parameters of the latter are obtained via a recursive estimator, which allows us to estimate the generator's internal rotor speed from voltage/current phasors without the need for any generator information. Second, we reformulate the equivalent swing equation into the Kalman filter form, which enables us to use a priori-estimated internal rotor speed along with measured real and reactive power injections to obtain an estimate of the inertia for each online synchronous generator. This is achieved through an adaptive unscented Kalman filter. We demonstrate that the use of terminal bus frequency to approximate the rotor speed for inertia estimation by existing methods leads to large estimation biases/errors. Numerical simulations carried out on the IEEE 39-bus and Texas 2000-bus systems reveal that our proposed method is consistently more accurate than existing methods. Moreover, our proposed method is insensitive to both the type and location of system disturbances, and it is robust to different levels of measurement noise.

bus frequency↗

A methodology for modeling the mechanical interaction between a reaction wheel and a flexible structure

This paper presents a modeling methodology used to predict the performance of a flexible structure, such as a space telescope, in the presence of an on-board vibrational disturbance source, such as a reaction wheel assembly (RWA). Both decoupled and coupled analysis methods are presented. The decoupled method relies on blocked RWA disturbances, measured with the RWA hardmounted to a rigid surface. The coupled method corrects the blocked RWA disturbance boundary conditions using "force filters," which depend on estimates of the interface accelerances of the RWA and space-craft. Both methods were validated on the Micro-Precision Interferometer testbed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Experimental results are encouraging, indicating that both methods provide sufficient accuracy compared to measured values; however, the coupled method provides the best results when the gyroscopic nature of the spinning RWA is captured in the RWA accelerance model. Additionally, the RWA disturbance cross spectral density terms are found to be influential.

vibration↗

Laser Disdrometer Quantities (LDQUANTS) and Video Disdrometer Quantities (VDISQUANTS) Value-Added Products Report

Disdrometers are useful instruments that measure the distribution of raindrop sizes (drop size distribution: DSD) and the associated rainfall rates/accumulation as those raindrops fall to the ground. These DSDs are a quantity of interest to members of the modeler and observational communities. However, use of disdrometer data for model evaluation, radar monitoring, or other activities requires careful quality control and processing for key DSD properties of interest (e.g., the number concentration of drops) to ensure appropriate physical (scattering, fall speed) assumptions. The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Laser Disdrometer Quantities and Video Disdrometer Quantities Value-Added Product (LDQUANTS/VDISQUANTS VAP) uses standard methods from Tokay et al. (e.g., 2013, 2014) to filter drops with unrealistic fall speeds. Further, it estimates several microphysical/geophysical quantities of parameterized DSDs (gamma or exponential assumption type fitting methods) as in previous disdrometer studies and ARM long-term efforts (e.g., Testud et al. 2001, Giangrande et al. 2014, Thompson et al. 2015). Disdrometers are also beneficial for cross-checks with other instrumentation, including rain gauges and radars. To support research interests and related radar monitoring activities, this product calculates radar equivalent quantities, including dual polarization radar quantities (e.g., Z, Differential Reflectivity ZDR, etc.), using T-Matrix scattering and additional wavelength, temperature, and drop shape assumptions (e.g., Thurai et al. 2007). All of these efforts allow disdrometer data sets to become more useful and easily handled by modeling and observational studies, or routine instrumentation checks.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Knowledge acquisition for expert systems using statistical methods

A common problem in the design of expert systems is the definition of rules from data obtained in system operation or simulation. A statistical method for generating rule bases from numerical data, motivated by an example based on aircraft navigation with multiple sensors is presented. The specific objective is to design an expert system that selects a satisfactory suite of measurements from a dissimilar, redundant set, given an arbitrary navigation geometry and possible sensor failures. The systematic development of a Navigation Sensor Management (NSM) Expert System from Kalman Filter covariance data is described. The development method invokes two statistical techniques: Analysis-of-Variance (ANOVA) and the ID3 algorithm. The ANOVA technique indicates whether variations of problem parameters give statistically different covariance results, and the ID3 algorithm identifies the relationships between the problem parameters using probabilistic knowledge extracted from a simulation example set.

Belkin, Brenda L.↗

A Model Based Approach to Extract Health Information from Textual Data

In current nuclear power plants (NPPs) a large amount of condition-based data is being generated and stored to assess and monitor component health and performance. The format of this data can be either numeric (e.g., pump vibration data) or textual (e.g., condition report which assess component health). While assessing component health from numeric data can be performed with a large variety of methods, the extraction of information from textual data still remains a challenge. Natural language processing (NLP) methods are starting to be deployed in current NPPs mainly to filter out incident reports (IRs) that are not safety related by employing supervised machine learning methods. However, these methods do not really provide the quantitative information that might be contained in IRs. This paper presents an approach to extract information from textual data (e.g., from IRs, maintenance reports) that is based on NLP data analytics methods coupled with model-based system engineer (MBSE) models. NLP methods are employed to perform syntactic and semantic analyses. Syntactic analysis analyzes the grammatical structure of a sentence; such analysis includes: part of speech (POS) tagging (i.e., identification of grammatic elements of each string - e.g., nouns, verbs), named entity recognition (i.e., identification of text entities - e.g., names, dates, events), and relation extraction (e.g., coreference resolution). On the other hand, semantic analysis is designed to analyze the logic structure of a sentence. Through a specific set of rules, our methods can identify whether a sentence contains health information of a component (e.g., degraded performance, anomaly behavior) or the causal relationship between two events (i.e., a cause-effect pair). An innovative element of our approach is that semantic analysis relies on MBSE models to identify links between textual elements. MBSE are diagrams designed to represent system and component dependencies (from both a form and functional point of view). In our approach, MBSE models emulate system engineer knowledge about component/system architecture. This paper presents in detail how the integration of NLP methods and MBSE models is performed. Few analysis examples focusing on centrifugal pumps are presented.

97 - MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Ice Nucleation Spectrometer (INS) Instrument Handbook

The Ice Nucleation Spectrometer (INS) is an offline analytical measurement system used to process filter samples for freezing temperature spectra of immersion-mode ice nucleating particle (INP) number concentrations. It is almost identical to the CSU Ice Spectrometer (IS) design. While basic immersion freezing methods have been applied for decades, recent intercomparison studies (DeMott et al. 2017, 2018b) with other methods for sampling ambient INPs support the method’s utility. Use of the INS with filters produces spectra spanning wide dynamic ranges of temperature and, hence, INP concentration (e.g., six orders of magnitude). The INS is supported with well-established experimental protocols and has been applied in many diverse scenarios.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Multichannel deconvolution of vibrational signals: A state-space inverse filtering approach

Deconvolution of noisy measurements, especially when they are multichannel, has always been a challenging problem. The processing techniques developed range from simple Fourier methods to more sophisticated model-based parametric methodologies based on the underlying acoustics of the problem at hand. Methods relying on multichannel mean-squared error processors (Wiener filters) have evolved over long periods from the seminal efforts in seismic processing. However, when more is known about the acoustics, then model-based state-space techniques incorporating the underlying process physics can improve the processing significantly. The problems of interest are the vibrational response of tightly coupled acoustic test objects excited by an out-of-the-ordinary transient, potentially impairing their operational performance. Further, employing a multiple input/multiple output structural model of the test objects under investigation enables the development of an inverse filter by applying subspace identification techniques during initial calibration measurements. Feasibility applications based on a mass transport experiment and test object calibration test demonstrate the ability of the processor to extract the excitations successfully.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Application of Statistical Filter Theory to the Optimal Estimation of Position and Velocity on Board a Circumlunar Vehicle

Statistical filter theory is employed to develop a method for determining the best possible estimate of the position and velocity of a space vehicle in the midcourse phase of flight. Results of a computer simulation are given to illustrate the performance attainable. An on-board system is visualized in which the source of information is an arbitrary sequence of observations of space angles, corrupted by measurement errors. The scheme is in effect a dynamical time-varying filter, implemented by a digital computer, which processes the incoming data to compute an up-to-date optimal estimate of position and velocity.

Smith, Gerald L.↗

Back-illuminated imager and method for making electrical and optical connections to same

Methods for bringing or exposing metal pads or traces to the backside of a backside-illuminated imager allow the pads or traces to reside on the illumination side for electrical connection. These methods provide a solution to a key packaging problem for backside thinned imagers. The methods also provide alignment marks for integrating color filters and microlenses to the imager pixels residing on the frontside of the wafer, enabling high performance multispectral and high sensitivity imagers, including those with extremely small pixel pitch. In addition, the methods incorporate a passivation layer for protection of devices against external contamination, and allow interface trap density reduction via thermal annealing. Backside-illuminated imagers with illumination side electrical connections are also disclosed.

Pain, Bedabrata↗

Attitude/attitude-rate estimation from GPS differential phase measurements using integrated-rate parameters

A sequential filtering algorithm is presented for attitude and attitude-rate estimation from Global Positioning System (GPS) differential carrier phase measurements. A third-order, minimal-parameter method for solving the attitude matrix kinematic equation is used to parameterize the filter's state, which renders the resulting estimator computationally efficient. Borrowing from tracking theory concepts, the angular acceleration is modeled as an exponentially autocorrelated stochastic process, thus avoiding the use of the uncertain spacecraft dynamic model. The new formulation facilitates the use of aiding vector observations in a unified filtering algorithm, which can enhance the method's robustness and accuracy. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the performance of the method.

Oshman, Yaakov↗

Vector Observation-Aided/Attitude-Rate Estimation Using Global Positioning System Signals

A sequential filtering algorithm is presented for attitude and attitude-rate estimation from Global Positioning System (GPS) differential carrier phase measurements. A third-order, minimal-parameter method for solving the attitude matrix kinematic equation is used to parameterize the filter's state, which renders the resulting estimator computationally efficient. Borrowing from tracking theory concepts, the angular acceleration is modeled as an exponentially autocorrelated stochastic process, thus avoiding the use of the uncertain spacecraft dynamic model. The new formulation facilitates the use of aiding vector observations in a unified filtering algorithm, which can enhance the method's robustness and accuracy. Numerical examples are used to demonstrate the performance of the method.

Oshman, Yaakov↗

Model-Based Detection Scheme for Spoofed Sensor Data in Grid-Connected Inverters

In this article, a novel method to detect spoofed sensor data (SSD) for grid-connected inverters is proposed. First, a Kalman filter is used to estimate the inverter status in the proposed method. Then, the impact of SSD on the residual between estimation and control reference is analyzed. By leveraging the standard error of residual, an adaptive cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart is developed to achieve fast SSD detection and improve robustness. In addition, the proposed SSD detection method is verified by the hardware experiment. A comparative experiment with a conventional method also demonstrates the rapidity and robustness of the proposed method. Lastly, the performance of the proposed method under different noise covariance matrices is analyzed. Comprehensive analysis shows that the proposed method meets the detection requirement in IEEE 1547 Standard.

42 ENGINEERING↗

On detrending stream velocity time series for robust tidal flow turbulence characterization

We investigated the impact of detrending techniques on turbulence quantities from tidal stream flow data, focusing on the autocorrelation function, $ρ_{uu}$, and velocity spectrum, $Φ(f)$. Standard detrending methods, including high-pass frequency-based and polynomial-based techniques, are examined, alongside a proposed alternative method, the empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Our results highlight that intervals of flow acceleration and deceleration, typical in tidal and riverine flows, significantly affect the estimation of turbulence quantities using high-pass frequency filtering and polynomial detrending of varying orders. These methods can strongly influence $ρ_{uu}$ and $Φ(f)$, thereby affecting the accurate estimation of derived quantities. We examine two variations of detrending data using EMD; the first removes only the EMD residue, and the second removes both the residue and the largest scale intrinsic mode function (IMF). By comparing the detrended spectra with the modeled von Kármán spectra, we demonstrate that the second variation (i.e., removing the residue and the largest scale IMF) successfully removed the large-scale trend of the data while retaining the energy of other scales.

Detrend↗

Enhancing Images By Nonlinear Extrapolation In Frequency

Improved method of enchancing edges in image involves nonlinear filter operation creating image-intensity components having spatial frequencies higher than those present in input image and locked in phase to lower-frequency input components. In comparison with other edge-enhancement methods involving mostly strengthening of higher-frequency components already present in input, this method computationally simpler and yields better results. Better suited to real-time applications like high-definition television and compression of image data.

Anderson, Charles H.↗

An approximate Kalman filter for ocean data assimilation: An example with an idealized Gulf Stream model

A practical method of data assimilation for use with large, nonlinear, ocean general circulation models is explored. A Kalman filter based on approximation of the state error covariance matrix is presented, employing a reduction of the effective model dimension, the error's asymptotic steady state limit, and a time-invariant linearization of the dynamic model for the error integration. The approximations lead to dramatic computational savings in applying estimation theory to large complex systems. We examine the utility of the approximate filter in assimilating different measurement types using a twin experiment of an idealized Gulf Stream. A nonlinear primitive equation model of an unstable east-west jet is studied with a state dimension exceeding 170,000 elements. Assimilation of various pseudomeasurements are examined, including velocity, density, and volume transport at localized arrays and realistic distributions of satellite altimetry and acoustic tomography observations. Results are compared in terms of their effects on the accuracies of the estimation. The approximate filter is shown to outperform an empirical nudging scheme used in a previous study. The examples demonstrate that useful approximate estimation errors can be computed in a practical manner for general circulation models.

Fukumori, Ichiro↗

An Approximate Kalman Filter for Ocean Data Assimilation; An Example with an Idealized Gulf Stream Model

A practical method of data assimilation for use with large, nonlinear, ocean general circulation models is explored. A Kalman filter based on approximations of the state error covariance matrix is presented, employing a reduction of the effective model dimension, the error's asymptotic steady-state limit, and a time-invariant linearization of the dynamic model for the error integration. The approximations lead to dramatic computational savings in applying estimation theory to large complex systems. We examine the utility of the approximate filter in assimilating different measurement types using a twin experiment of an idealized Gulf Stream. A nonlinear primitive equation model of an unstable east-west jet is studied with a state dimension exceeding 170,000 elements. Assimilation of various pseudo measurements is examined, including velocity, density, and volume transport at localized arrays, and realistic distributions of satellite altimetry and acoustic tomography observations. Results are compared in terms of their effects on the accuracies of the estimation. The approximate filter is shown to outperform a previous study that used an empirical nudging scheme. The examples demonstrate that useful approximate estimation errors can be computed in a practical manner for general circulation models.

['Kalman↗

In-Situ Measurement of the Height of Condensed Water in Steam Pipes with Dynamic Flow

A method based on the use of enhanced filtered Hilbert envelope of the wave signal was developed in order to monitor the height of condensed water through the wall of steam pipes having dynamic flow conditions. A prototype testbed was designed and fabricated in this study to simulate the dynamic flow conditions including the air stream flowing above the water and bubble induced disturbance. A dual-transducer was used to perform the test as a basis for the multiple transducers system to facilitate the detectability and reliability for long term monitoring of the condensed water height in dynamic conditions. The results demonstrated that the method of measuring the water height using multiple-transducer system employing the developed novel signal processing technique is an efficient and accurate tool for practical applications.

water level in pipe↗