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At least 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Signal conditioning electronics for a laser vector velocimeter.

A type of laser velocimeter termed a laser vector velocimeter (LVV) resolves the 180 deg directional ambiguity problem of the conventional laser velocimeter by exploiting optical frequency translation techniques and frequency division demultiplexing techniques. This paper defines some fundamental LVV system signal characteristics and signal conditioning and data acquisition problems. The signal conditioning electronics for a three velocity component LVV system are described. Data obtained from atmospheric wind velocity measurements using a two velocity component LVV system are presented to illustrate the vector velocity measurement capabilities of the system. The operational status LVV systems presently in use are two orthogonal velocity component units. However, a laboratory status LVV system has been used to make three-dimensional vector velocity measurements.

Crosswy, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Fast signal averager

Electron beam of cathode ray tube with fast phosphor is intensity-modulated by input signal to produce repetitive horizontal trace of luminous intensity proportional to time-varying signal strength. Horizontal trace of cathode ray tube occurs so repetitive portion of signal of interest is encompassed within its length.

Cornsweet, T. N.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Differential phase shift keyed signal resolver

A differential phase shift keyed signal resolver resolves the differential phase shift in the incoming signal to determine the data content thereof overcoming phase uncertainty without requiring a transmitted reference signal.

Hopkins, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Spectral composition of a measuring signal during measurements of vibration rates of a moving body

Cybernetics diagnostics of machines and mechanisms using the spectral approach is discussed. The problem of establishing the accuracy of determination of the spectral composition is investigated. In systems with rectilinear or rotary movement, the vibrations appear in the form of movement rate vibrations, which are equivalent to frequency modulation of the signal, in proportion to the mean movement rate of the body. The case of a harmonic signal which reproduces and analyzes the characteristics of the frequency modulated signal is discussed. Mathematical models are developed to show the relationships of the parameters.

Daynauskas, I. A. I.↗
NASA NTRS1973

An all digital phase locked loop for synchronization of a sinusoidal signal embedded in white Gaussian noise

An all digital phase locked loop which tracks the phase of the incoming sinusoidal signal once per carrier cycle is proposed. The different elements and their functions and the phase lock operation are explained in detail. The nonlinear difference equations which govern the operation of the digital loop when the incoming signal is embedded in white Gaussian noise are derived, and a suitable model is specified. The performance of the digital loop is considered for the synchronization of a sinusoidal signal. For this, the noise term is suitably modelled which allows specification of the output probabilities for the two level quantizer in the loop at any given phase error. The loop filter considered increases the probability of proper phase correction. The phase error states in modulo two-pi forms a finite state Markov chain which enables the calculation of steady state probabilities, RMS phase error, transient response and mean time for cycle skipping.

Reddy, C. P.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Binary signaling over channels containing quadratic nonlinearities

This paper examines the transmission of binary data signals over channels which contain quadratic nonlinearities and additive Gaussian noise. We consider the case where the channel is nonlinear with memory and where the signal is passed through an input receiver filter and sampled once every signaling interval. The samples are represented by a discrete Volterra series and a special case where the received sample contains a single quadratic distortion term is examined. The optimum (maximum-likelihood) receiver (processor) is derived and upper and lower performance bounds obtained. The performance of a practical, suboptimum receiver is examined by means of computer simulation and is shown to be very close to the lower bound of the optimum receiver. Next we examine the case where the received sample contains two quadratic distortion terms. Again, upper and lower performance bounds are obtained.

Lawless, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Processing of the laser Doppler velocimeter signals

The laser Doppler velocimeter (LDV) is a probeless technique that provides a remote measurement of mean and fluctuating velocities. The measurement is actually obtained from small particles embedded in the flow which scatter light from an illuminating laser beam interference pattern. A portion of this scattered light is collected by a photomultiplier which yields an electronic signal whose frequency is directly proportional to the velocity of the small particles. The purpose of this paper is to describe and critically compare three techniques most used to process this electronic signal. These techniques are: (1) spectrum analyzer - a frequency scanning filter (frequency domain instrument), (2) wide-band frequency tracker - a frequency lock loop (frequency domain instrument), and (3) high-speed frequency counter - an interval timer (time domain instrument). The study determines the ability of each technique to process the LDV signal and yield velocity data to be used in determining the flow characteristics.

Meyers, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Signal-to-noise ratios in coherent soft limiters

Expressions for the output signal-to-noise power ratio of a bandpass soft limiter followed by a coherent detection device are presented and discussed. It is found that a significant improvement in the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at low input SNR's can be achieved by such soft limiters as compared to hard limiters. This indicates that the soft limiter may be of some use in the area of threshold extension. Approximation methods for determining output signal-to-noise spectral densities are also presented.

Lesh, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Ionospheric effects on one-way timing signals

A proposed navigation concept requires that a user measure the time-delay that satellite-emitted signals experience in traversing the distance between satellite and user. Simultaneous measurement of the propagation time from four different satellites permits the user to determine his position and clock bias if satellite ephemerides and signal propagation velocity are known. A pulse propagating through the ionosphere is slowed down somewhat, giving an apparent range that is larger than the equivalent free space range. The difference between the apparent range and the true range, or the free space velocity and the true velocity, is the quantity of interest. This quantity is directly proportional to the total electron content along the path of the propagating signal. Thus, if the total electron content is known, or is measured, a perfect correction to ranging could be performed. Faraday polarization measurements are continuously being taken at Fort Monmouth, N. J., using beacon emissions of the ATS-3 (137.35 MHz) satellite. Day-to-day variability of the diurnal variation of total electron content values is present with differences of up to 50% or more not being uncommon. In addition, superposed on the overall diurnal variation are smaller scale variations of approximately 5 to 10% of the total content which are attributed to ionospheric density irregularities.

Soicher, H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Signal conditioner test set

A system was developed for testing components contained in a signal conditioning module with a transistor and capacitor included in a circuit. The system includes a housing with a socket into which the module to be tested is plugged. A test switch is provided for selectively connecting a variable load to either a transistor or capacitor in the circuit for testing the operation. A signal generating circuit is provided for generating signals for use in testing the components of the module.

Houck, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Signal simulator model A-111

A signal simulator designed to function as a signal source for Doppler tracking high data rate receivers is described. The simulator produces modulated signals whose carrier frequency can be varied between 200 and 900 MHz at rates greater than 20 MHz/sec. The modulation is phase shift keying with data rate up to 300 megabits per second.

Flattau, T.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Finite difference methods for transient signal propagation in stratified dispersive media

Explicit difference equations are presented for the solution of a signal of arbitrary waveform propagating in an ohmic dielectric, a cold plasma, a Debye model dielectric, and a Lorentz model dielectric. These difference equations are derived from the governing time-dependent integro-differential equations for the electric fields by a finite difference method. A special difference equation is derived for the grid point at the boundary of two different media. Employing this difference equation, transient signal propagation in an inhomogeneous media can be solved provided that the medium is approximated in a step-wise fashion. The solutions are generated simply by marching on in time. It is concluded that while the classical transform methods will remain useful in certain cases, with the development of the finite difference methods described, an extensive class of problems of transient signal propagating in stratified dispersive media can be effectively solved by numerical methods.

Lam, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Psychophysical Models for Signal Detection with Time Varying Uncertainty

Psychophysical models for the behavior of the human operator in detection tasks which include change in detectability, correlation between observations and deferred decisions are developed. Classical Signal Detection Theory (SDT) is discussed and its emphasis on the sensory processes is contrasted to decision strategies. The analysis of decision strategies utilizes detection tasks with time varying signal strength. The classical theory is modified to include such tasks and several optimal decision strategies are explored. Two methods of classifying strategies are suggested. The first method is similar to the analysis of ROC curves, while the second is based on the relation between the criterion level (CL) and the detectability. Experiments to verify the analysis of tasks with changes of signal strength are designed. The results show that subjects are aware of changes in detectability and tend to use strategies that involve changes in the CL's.

Gai, E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Carrier synchronization and detection of QASK signal sets

A carrier regeneration loop which generates highly coherent quadrature reference signals for quadrature amplitude-shift keying (QASK) demodulation is presented. The loop employs the principle of decision feedback and has a structure analogous to a decision feedback loop for quadriphase signals suggested earlier in the literature. The error probability performance of QASK is computed in the presence of the noisy carrier reference signals provided by the above loop. It is demonstrated that when the ratio of data rate to loop bandwidth is 50 or greater, then for all practical purposes, ideal QASK error probability performance is achieved.

Simon, M. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Vertex evoked potentials in a rating-scale detection task - Relation to signal probability

Results of vertex-evoked potential studies conducted to determine how decision confidence level and decision probability interact to determine P3 amplitude for both signal-present and signal-absent decisions. They support the contention that the form of the vertex-evoked response is closely correlated with the subject's psychophysical response regarding the presence or absence of a threshold-level signal.

Squires, K. C.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Detectability of auditory signals presented without defined observation intervals

Ability to detect tones in noise was measured without defined observation intervals. Latency density functions were estimated for the first response following a signal and, separately, for the first response following randomly distributed instances of background noise. Detection performance was measured by the maximum separation between the cumulative latency density functions for signal-plus-noise and for noise alone. Values of the index of detectability, estimated by this procedure, were approximately those obtained with a 2-dB weaker signal and defined observation intervals. Simulation of defined- and non-defined-interval tasks with an energy detector showed that this device performs very similarly to the human listener in both cases.

Watson, C. S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Precipitation-attenuation studies based on measurements of ATS-6 20/30-GHz beacon signals at Clarksburg, Maryland

Radiometric sky temperature and minute precipitation measurements were intended to broaden the data base required to advance the understanding of the propagation characteristics of the earth-satellite path at frequencies over 10 GHz. Analyses of the data collected from the measurement program have established a detailed correlation between the satellite signal and the signals from auxiliary ground-based measurements. The indirectly derived statistics agreed reasonably well (or can be reconciled) with the earlier published results. The correlations may therefore be used for indirectly estimating long term cumulative attenuation statistics in the absence of direct satellite signal measurements.

Fang, D. J.↗