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At least 775 records · Page 43
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Future Standardization of Space Telecommunications Radio System with Core Flight System

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is integrating the NASA Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Standard with the Core Flight System (cFS), an avionics software operating environment. The STRS standard provides a common, consistent framework to develop, qualify, operate and maintain complex, reconfigurable and reprogrammable radio systems. The cFS is a flexible, open architecture that features a plugand- play software executive called the Core Flight Executive (cFE), a reusable library of software components for flight and space missions and an integrated tool suite. Together, STRS and cFS create a development environment that allows for STRS compliant applications to reference the STRS application programmer interfaces (APIs) that use the cFS infrastructure. These APIs are used to standardize the communication protocols on NASAs space SDRs. The cFS-STRS Operating Environment (OE) is a portable cFS library, which adds the ability to run STRS applications on existing cFS platforms. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the cFS-STRS OE prototype, preliminary experimental results performed using the Advanced Space Radio Platform (ASRP), the GRC S‑ band Ground Station and the SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Testbed currently flying onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Additionally, this paper presents a demonstration of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Spacecraft Onboard Interface Services (SOIS) using electronic data sheets (EDS) inside cFE. This configuration allows for the data sheets to specify binary formats for data exchange between STRS applications. The integration of STRS with cFS leverages mission-proven platform functions and mitigates barriers to integration with future missions. This reduces flight software development time and the costs of software-defined radio (SDR) platforms. Furthermore, the combined benefits of STRS standardization with the flexibility of cFS provide an effective, reliable and modular framework to minimize software development efforts for spaceflight missions.

space communications↗
NASA NTRS2016

Future Standardization of Space Telecommunications Radio System with Core Flight System

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is integrating the NASA Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Standard with the Core Flight System (cFS). The STRS standard provides a common, consistent framework to develop, qualify, operate and maintain complex, reconfigurable and reprogrammable radio systems. The cFS is a flexible, open architecture that features a plug-and-play software executive called the Core Flight Executive (cFE), a reusable library of software components for flight and space missions and an integrated tool suite. Together, STRS and cFS create a development environment that allows for STRS compliant applications to reference the STRS APIs through the cFS infrastructure. These APis are used to standardize the communication protocols on NASAs space SDRs. The cFE-STRS Operating Environment (OE) is a portable cFS library, which adds the ability to run STRS applications on existing cFS platforms. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the cFE-STRS OE prototype, preliminary experimental results performed using the Advanced Space Radio Platform (ASRP), the GRC Sband Ground Station and the SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Testbed currently flying onboard the International Space Station. Additionally, this paper presents a demonstration of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Spacecraft Onboard Interface Services (SOIS) using electronic data sheets inside cFE. This configuration allows for the data sheets to specify binary formats for data exchange between STRS applications. The integration of STRS with cFS leverages mission-proven platform functions and mitigates barriers to integration with future missions. This reduces flight software development time and the costs of software-defined radio (SDR) platforms. Furthermore, the combined benefits of STRS standardization with the flexibility of cFS provide an effective, reliable and modular framework to minimize software development efforts for spaceflight missions.

space communications↗
NASA NTRS2017

Control and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) Prototype Radio Validation Flight Test Report

This report provides an overview and results from the unmanned aircraft (UA) Control and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) Generation 5 prototype radio validation flight test campaign. The radios used in the test campaign were developed under cooperative agreement NNC11AA01A between the NASA Glenn Research Center and Rockwell Collins, Inc., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Measurement results are presented for flight tests over hilly terrain, open water, and urban landscape, utilizing radio sets installed into a NASA aircraft and ground stations. Signal strength and frame loss measurement data are analyzed relative to time and aircraft position, specifically addressing the impact of line-of-sight terrain obstructions on CNPC data flow. Both the radio and flight test system are described.

Shalkhauser, Kurt A.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Investigating the Mini and Giant Radio Flare Episodes of Cygnus X-3

The microquasar Cygnus X-3 underwent a giant radio flare in April 2017, reaching a maximum flux of∼16.5 Jy at 8.5 GHz. We present results from a long monitoring campaign carried out with Medicina at 8.5, 18.6 and 24.1 GHz, in parallel to the Mets ̈ahovi radio telescope at 37 GHz, from 4 to 11 April 2017. We observe a spectral steepening fromα= 0.2 to 0.5 (with Sν∝ν−α) within 6 h around the epoch of the peak maximum of the flare, and rapid changes in the spectral slope in the following days during brief enhanced emission episodes while the general trend of the radio flux density indicated the decay of the giant flare. We further study the radio orbital modulation of CygX-3 emission associated with the 2017 giant flare and with six mini-flares observed in 1983, 1985, 1994,1995, 2002 and 2016. The enhanced emission episodes observed during the decline of the giant flare at 8.5 GHz coincide with the orbital phaseφ∼0.5 (orbital inferior conjunction). On the other hand the light curves of the mini-flares observed at 15−22 GHz peak atφ∼0, except for the 2016 light curve which is shifted of 0.5 w.r.t. the other ones. We attribute the apparent phase shift to the variable location of the emitting region along the bent jet. This might be explained by the different accretion states of the flaring episodes (the 2016 mini-flare occurred in the hypersoft X-ray state).

Elise Egron↗
NASA NTRS2021

Enhanced X-Ray Emission Coinciding With Giant Radio Pulses From the Crab Pulsar

Giant radio pulses (GRPs) are sporadic bursts emitted by some pulsars that last a few microseconds and are hundreds to thousands of times brighter than regular pulses from these sources. The only GRP-associated emission outside of radio wavelengths is from the Crab Pulsar, where optical emission is enhanced by a few percentage points during GRPs. We observed the Crab Pulsar simultaneously at x-ray and radio wavelengths, finding enhancement of the x-ray emission by 3.8 ± 0.7% (a 5.4sdetection)coinciding with GRPs. This implies that the total emitted energy from GRPs is tens to hundreds of times higher than previously known. We discuss the implications for the pulsar emission mechanism and extragalactic fast radio bursts.

Teruaki Enoto↗
NASA NTRS2020

Exoplanets and Radio Astronomy Beyond Earth

Jupiter's radio emission has been linked to its planetary-scale magnetic field, and spacecraft investigations have revealed that most planets, and some moons, have or had a global magnetic field. Generated by internal dynamos, magnetic fields are one of the few remote sensing means of constraining the properties of planetary interiors. For the Earth, its magnetic field has been speculated to be partially responsible for its habitability, and knowledge of an extrasolar planet's magnetic field may be necessary to assess its habitability. The radio emission from Jupiter and other solar system planets is produced by an electron cyclotron maser, and detections of extrasolar planetary electorn cyclotron masers will enable measurements of extrasolar planetary magnetic fields. Key advances would include the ground-based detection of the radio emission from Jovian-mass planets and laying the technological foundations for space-based detections of the radio emissions from lower-mass planets.

Lazio, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS2021

Capabilities and Performance of Juno’s Radio Science Instrumentation

The Juno Gravity Science Instrument is a radio science instrument onboard the Juno spacecraft, which entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016. The prime objective of the radio science investigation is to estimate the gravitational field of Jupiter from the Doppler shift on the radio link between the spacecraft and the Earth-based observing antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). The instrument is composed of a ground component at the DSN’s DSS-25 antenna, equipped with simultaneous dual X- and Ka-band transmitters and receivers, and a spacecraft component, which includes X- and Ka-band transponders to relay the transmitted signal back to Earth. The frequencies of these signals are measured using sensitive open-loop and closed-loop receivers of the DSN. Using the unique geometry of Juno’s orbit around Jupiter and the exquisite precision of the radio science instrumentation (~5-10 microns/sec one-way), the gravity field of Jupiter has been probed to unprecedented precision, allowing for discoveries of Jupiter’s core size and depth of the zonal winds. This precision is thanks to a detailed data processing and calibration techniques. An Advanced Water Vapor Radiometer measures the tropospheric delay and a linear combination X- and Ka-band links calibrates for Earth ionosphere, solar plasma, and Jovian plasma. Recent measurements probed the electron content inside Jupiter’s Io Plasma Torus, a doughnut-shaped ring of charged particles caught in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Results from these measurements not only contributes to the scientific literature but also informs the performance of the instrument itself and can be used in future planning.

Oudrhiri, Kamal↗
NASA NTRS2021

Exoplanets and Radio Astronomy Beyond Earth

Jupiter’s radio emission has been linked to its planetary- scale magnetic field, and spacecraft investigations have re- vealed that most planets, and some moons, have or had a global magnetic field. Generated by internal dynamos, magnetic fields are one of the few remote sensing means of constraining the properties of planetary interiors. For the Earth, its magnetic field has been speculated to be par- tially responsible for its habitability, and knowledge of an extrasolar planet’s magnetic field may be necessary to as- sess its habitability. The radio emission from Jupiter and other solar system planets is produced by an electron cy- clotron maser, and detections of extrasolar planetary elec- tron cyclotron masers will enable measurements of extraso- lar planetary magnetic fields. Key advances would include the ground-based detection of the radio emission from Jovian-mass planets and laying the technological founda- tions for space-based detections of the radio emissions from lower-mass planets.

Lazio, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS2021

Fast Discovery of an Extremely Radio-Faint Millisecond Pulsar from the Fermi-Lat Unassociated Source 3fgl J0318.1+0252

High sensitivity radio searches of unassociated γ-ray sources have proven to be an effective way of finding new pulsars. Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) during its commissioning phase, we have carried out a number of targeted deep searches of Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) γ-ray sources. On February 27, 2018 we discovered an isolated millisecond pulsar (MSP), PSR J0318+0253, coincident with the unassociated γ-ray source 3FGL J0318.1+0252. PSR J0318+0253 has a spin period of 5.19 ms, a dispersion measure (DM) of 26 pc cm−3 corresponding to a DM distance of about 1.3 kpc, and a period-averaged flux density of (∼11±2) µJy at L-band (1.05–1.45 GHz). Among all high energy MSPs, PSR J0318+0253 is the faintest ever detected in radio bands, by a factor of at least ∼4 in terms of L-band fluxes. With the aid of the radio ephemeris, an analysis of 9.6 years of Fermi-LAT data revealed that PSR J0318+0253 also displays strong γ-ray pulsations. Follow-up observations carried out by both Arecibo and FAST suggest a likely spectral turn-over around 350 MHz. This is the first result from the collaboration between FAST and the Fermi-LAT teams as well as the first confirmed new MSP discovery by FAST, raising hopes for the detection of many more MSPs. Such discoveries will make a significant contribution to our understanding of the neutron star zoo while potentially contributing to the future detection of gravitational waves, via pulsar timing array (PTA) experiments.

Pei Wang↗
NASA NTRS2023

Flight Test Data for Prototype Air-Ground Control and Non-Payload Communications Radio Link

Extensive flight testing was conducted over flat terrain, hilly terrain, and open freshwater settings to examine performance of an air-ground command and control radio link for unmanned aerial vehicles. The flight data collected on bidirectional radio range, signal fading, and transmitted data loss were necessary to validate a proposed air-ground radio waveform that was being considered by a U.S. standards organization. The NASA test system operated at C-band frequencies and utilized a prototype, software-defined radio developed in cooperation with a commercial avionics supplier. Results are presented for multiple altitudes, ranges, and flight conditions, indicating the signal fade depths, occurrence rates, and durations for each flight environment.

Kurt Shalkhauser↗
DOE OSTI2020

Systems and methods for detection of occupancy using radio waves

Systems and methods are disclosed for detecting a presence of a person in an area of coverage using radar. A transmitter can transmit radio signals in a first direction in an area of coverage defined by a wall and a floor. A receiver can receive the transmitted radio signals reflected back from the area of coverage. A signal conditioning circuit can process the received radio signals. One or more hardware processors can be programmed to analyze the processed radio signals and detect a presence of a person in the area of coverage based on the analysis. The analysis of the processed signals can be performed in both time and frequency domain. In addition to radar, an input from an infrared sensor can also be used in conjunction with radar based detection.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Inferring the Energy and Distance Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts Using the First CHIME/FRB Catalog

Abstract Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, energetic, typically extragalactic flashes of radio emission whose progenitors are largely unknown. Although studying the FRB population is essential for understanding how these astrophysical phenomena occur, such studies have been difficult to conduct without large numbers of FRBs and characterizable observational biases. Using the recently released catalog of 536 FRBs published by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment/Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) collaboration, we present a study of the FRB population that also calibrates for selection effects. Assuming a Schechter function, we infer a characteristic energy cut-off of E char = 2.38 − 1.64 + 5.35 × 10 41 erg and a differential power-law index of γ = − 1.3 − 0.4 + 0.7 . Simultaneously, we infer a volumetric rate of [ 7.3 − 3.8 + 8.8 (stat.) − 1.8 + 2.0 ( sys . ) ] × 10 4 Gpc −3 yr −1 above a pivot energy of 10 39 erg and below a scattering timescale of 10 ms at 600 MHz, and find we cannot significantly constrain the cosmic evolution of the FRB population with star-formation rate. Modeling the host’s dispersion measure (DM) contribution as a log-normal distribution and assuming a total Galactic contribution of 80 pc cm −3 , we find a median value of DM host = 84 − 49 + 69 pc cm −3 , comparable with values typically used in the literature. Proposed models for FRB progenitors should be consistent with the energetics and abundances of the full FRB population predicted by our results. Finally, we infer the redshift distribution of FRBs detected with CHIME, which will be tested with the localizations and redshifts enabled by the upcoming CHIME/FRB Outriggers project.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1966

Radio astronomy

Radio astronomy techniques and telescopes, solar and galactic radio spectroscopy, and cosmic radio signal observations

RADIO SPECTROSCOPY↗
NASA NTRS2010

ARCADE Detection of an Extragalactic Radio Background

Sometimes when we look for one thing we stumble on something else. The Absolute Radiometer for Cosmology, Astrophysics, and Diffuse Emission (ARCADE) was designed to measure the blackbody spectrum of the cosmic microwave background to search for spectral distortions related to the epoch of reionization. Instead, the July 2006 flight found evidence for an extragalactic radio background with amplitude six times brighter than the expected contribution from faint radio sources. The author discusses the ARCADE instrument and the evidence for an extragalactic radio background.

Extraterrestrial radiation↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigating the large-scale environment of wide-angle tailed radio galaxies in the local Universe

We present a statistical analysis of the large-scale (up to two Mpc) environment of a homogeneous and complete sample, both in radio and optical selection, of wide-angle tailed radio galaxies (WATs) in the local Universe (i.e., with redshifts z ≲ 0.15). The analysis is carried out using the parameters obtained from cosmological neighbors within two Mpc of the target source. Results regarding the large-scale environments of the WATs are then compared with those of Fanaroff–Riley type I (FR Is) and type II (FR IIs) radio galaxies listed in two other homogeneous and complete catalogs and selected with the same criterion adopted for the WATs catalog. We obtain indication that at low redshift, WATs inhabit environments with a larger number of galaxies than those of FR Is and FR IIs. In the explored redshift range, the physical size of the galaxy group or cluster in which the WATs reside appears to be almost constant with respect to FR Is and FR IIs, being around one Mpc. From the distribution of the concentration parameter, defined as the ratio between the number of cosmological neighbors lying within 500 kpc and within one Mpc, we conclude that WATs tend to inhabit the central region of the group or cluster in which they reside, in agreement with the general paradigm that WATs are the brightest cluster or group galaxy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

AlgoSCR: an algorithm for solar contamination removal from radio interferometric data

Hydrogen intensity mapping is a new field in astronomy that promises to make three-dimensional maps of the matter distribution of the Universe using the redshifted 21cm line of neutral hydrogen gas (HI). Several ongoing and upcoming radio interferometers, such as Tianlai, CHIME, HERA, HIRAX, etc., are using this technique. These instruments are designed to map large swaths of the sky by drift scanning over periods of many months. One of the challenges of the observations is that the daytime data are contaminated by strong radio signals from the Sun. In the case of Tianlai, this results in almost half of the measured data being unusable. We try to address this issue by developing an algorithm for solar contamination removal (AlgoSCR) from the radio data. The algorithm is based on an eigenvalue analysis of the visibility matrix and hence is applicable only to interferometers. We apply AlgoSCR to simulated visibilities, as well as real daytime data from the Tianlai dish array. The algorithm can reduce strong solar contamination by about 95 per cent without seriously affecting other weaker sky signals and thus makes the data usable for certain applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Infrared spectroscopy of nearby radio active early-type galaxies - II: spectral atlas

ABSTRACT We present a near-infrared spectroscopic atlas of nearby, bright early-type galaxies with radio emission, containing 163 galaxies observed by the Palomar 200″ TripleSpec instrument, measuring the emission line fluxes for H, He, [Fe ii], and H2 and determined the nuclear excitation mechanisms. By stacking spectra, we deduced the H2 excitation temperature (1957 ± 182 K) and dominant excitation mechanism (thermal and shock heating combined) from the K-band emission line sequence. Stacking also produces an ‘average’ spectrum of absorption features and spectral indices from the literature; the CO12 absorption line index versus J − K colour shows a trend of stronger nuclear activity producing a weaker CO12 index and a redder (flatter) continuum. The correlations between the radio and the emission-line luminosities finds a trend with radio power; however, the large scatter in the upper limits shows that the two are not directly coupled and the duty cycles of SF and AGN activity are not synchronized.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Fast radio bursts from axion stars moving through pulsar magnetospheres

Here, we study the radio signals generated when an axion star enters the magnetosphere of a neutron star. As the axion star moves through the resonant region where the plasma-induced photon mass becomes equal to the axion mass, the axions can efficiently convert into photons, giving rise to an intense, transient radio signal. We show that a dense axion star with a mass ~10 -13 M ⊙ composed of ~10 μ eV axions can account for most of the mysterious fast radio bursts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗