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At least 91 records · Page 5

Design Considerations for Heavily-Doped Cryogenic Schottky Diode Varactor Multipliers

Diode modeling for Schottky varactor frequency multipliers above 500 GHz is presented with special emphasis placed on simple models and fitted equations for rapid circuit design. Temperature- and doping-dependent mobility, resistivity, and avalanche current multiplication and breakdown are presented. Next is a discussion of static junction current, including the effects of tunneling as well as thermionic emission. These results have been compared to detailed measurements made down to 80 K on diodes fabricated at JPL, followed by a discussion of the effect on multiplier efficiency. Finally, a simple model of current saturation in the undepleted active layer suitable for inclusion in harmonic balance simulators is derived.

Schlecht, E.↗

A Regional, Integrated Monitoring System for the Hydrology of the Pan-Arctic Land Mass

Work under this NASA contract developed a system for monitoring and historical analysis of the major components of the pan-Arctic terrestrial water cycle. It is known as Arctic-RIMS (Regional Integrated Hydrological Monitoring System for the Pan-Arctic Landmass). The system uses products from EOS-era satellites, numerical weather prediction models, station records and other data sets in conjunction with an atmosphere-land surface water budgeting scheme. The intent was to compile operational (at 1-2 month time lags) gridded fields of precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), P-ET, soil moisture, soil freeze/thaw state, active layer thickness, snow extent and its water equivalent, soil water storage, runoff and simulated discharge along with estimates of non-closure in the water budget. Using "baseline" water budgeting schemes in conjunction with atmospheric reanalyses and pre-EOS satellite data, water budget fields were conjunction with atmospheric reanalyses and pre-EOS satellite data, water budget fields were compiled to provide historical time series. The goals as outlined in the original proposal can be summarized as follows: 1) Use EOS data to compile hydrologic products for the pan-Arctic terrestrial regions including snowcover/snow water equivalent (SSM/A MODIS, AMSR) and near-surface freeze/thaw dynamics (Sea Winds on QuikSCAT and ADEOS I4 SSMI and AMSR). 2) Implement Arctic-RIMS to use EOS data streams, allied fields and hydrologic models to produce allied outputs that fully characterize pan-Arctic terrestrial and aerological water budgets. 3) Compile hydrologically-based historical products providing a long-term baseline of spatial and temporal variability in the water cycle.

Serreze, Mark↗

Design of a Wideband 6-Anode Frequency Tripler at 300 GHz with Optimum Balance

We report on the design methodology of a fix-tuned split-block waveguide balanced frequency tripler working nominally at 300 GHz. It features six GaAs Schottky planar diodes in a balanced configuration. The circuit will be fabricated with JPL membrane technology in order to minimize dielectric loading and insure an accurate and uniform thickness of the substrate. The multiplier power handling is limited by the breakdown voltage of the diodes that depends on the doping level of the active layer. With six diodes, the current choice for the doping level leads to medium power handling capabilities of about 50 mW. Increasing the number of diodes to eight would be an option but would lead to increased difficulties in design and fabrication.

Schottky diode multipliers↗

Lead-acid battery construction

The power characteristics of a lead-acid battery are improved by incorporating a dispersion of 1 to 10% by weight of a thermodynamically stable conductivity additive, such as conductive tin oxide coated glass fibers (34) of filamentary glass wool (42) in the positive active layer (32) carried on the grid (30) of the positive plate (16). The avoiding of positive plate reversal to prevent reduction of the tin oxide is accomplished by (a) employing an oversized positive plate and pre-charging it; (b) by pre-discharging the negative plate; and/or (c) by placing a circuit breaker (26) in combination with the plates (16, 18) and terminals (22, 24) to remove the load when the voltage of the positive plate falls below a pre-selected level.

Rowlette, John J.↗

Positive battery plate

The power characteristics of a lead acid battery are improved by incorporating a dispersion of 1 to 10% by weight of a thermodynamically stable conductivity additive, such as conductive tin oxide coated glass fibers (34) of filamentary glass wool (42) in the positive active layer (32) carried on the grid (30) of the positive plate (16). Positive plate potential must be kept high enough to prevent reduction of the tin oxide to tin by utilizing an oversized, precharged positive paste.

Rowlette, John R.↗

Fire Return Interval Within the Northern Boundary of the Larch Forest

Larch (Larix spp.) dominant forests compose a large proportion of the forests of Russia (i.e., about 40% of forested areas). These forests range from the Yenisei ridge on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east, and from Lake Baikal on the south to the 73rd parallel in the north. Larch stands comprise the world s northern most forest at Ary-Mas (72 deg 28' N, 102 deg 15' E). Larch dominated forests occupy about 70% of the permafrost areas in Siberia. Larch forms high closure stands as well as open forests, and is found mainly over permafrost, where other tree species barely survive. Wildfires are typical for this territory with the majority occurring as ground fires due to low crown closure. Due to the thin active layer in permafrost soils and a dense lichen-moss cover, ground fires may cause stand mortality. The vast areas of larch-dominant forests is generally considered as a "carbon sink"; however, positive long-term temperature trends at higher latitudes are expected to result in an increase of fire frequency, and thus may convert this area to a source for greenhouse gases. There are recent observations regarding the increase of fire frequency within non-protected territories. Surprisingly, there are few publications on fire chronoseqences for the huge forested territory between the Ural Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Also there is a general understanding that bimodal (late spring -- early summer and late summer-beginning of fall) fire seasonal distribution in the south becomes uni-modal (late spring -- early summer) in the north. The purpose of this study is to investigate the wildfire history at the northern edge of the zone of larch dominance.

Kharuk, V. I.↗

Laterally Coupled Quantum-Dot Distributed-Feedback Lasers

InAs quantum-dot lasers that feature distributed feedback and lateral evanescent- wave coupling have been demonstrated in operation at a wavelength of 1.3 m. These lasers are prototypes of optical-communication oscillators that are required to be capable of stable single-frequency, single-spatial-mode operation. A laser of this type (see figure) includes an active layer that comprises multiple stacks of InAs quantum dots embedded within InGaAs quantum wells. Distributed feedback is provided by gratings formed on both sides of a ridge by electron lithography and reactive-ion etching on the surfaces of an AlGaAs/GaAs waveguide. The lateral evanescent-wave coupling between the gratings and the wave propagating in the waveguide is strong enough to ensure operation at a single frequency, and the waveguide is thick enough to sustain a stable single spatial mode. In tests, the lasers were found to emit continuous-wave radiation at temperatures up to about 90 C. Side modes were found to be suppressed by more than 30 dB.

Qui, Yueming↗

Dynamics of Aboveground Phytomass of the Circumpolar Arctic Tundra During the Past Three Decades

Numerous studies have evaluated the dynamics of Arctic tundra vegetation throughout the past few decades, using remotely sensed proxies of vegetation, such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). While extremely useful, these coarse-scale satellite-derived measurements give us minimal information with regard to how these changes are being expressed on the ground, in terms of tundra structure and function. In this analysis, we used a strong regression model between NDVI and aboveground tundra phytomass, developed from extensive field-harvested measurements of vegetation biomass, to estimate the biomass dynamics of the circumpolar Arctic tundra over the period of continuous satellite records (1982-2010). We found that the southernmost tundra subzones (C-E) dominate the increases in biomass, ranging from 20 to 26%, although there was a high degree of heterogeneity across regions, floristic provinces, and vegetation types. The estimated increase in carbon of the aboveground live vegetation of 0.40 Pg C over the past three decades is substantial, although quite small relative to anthropogenic C emissions. However, a 19.8% average increase in aboveground biomass has major implications for nearly all aspects of tundra ecosystems including hydrology, active layer depths, permafrost regimes, wildlife and human use of Arctic landscapes. While spatially extensive on-the-ground measurements of tundra biomass were conducted in the development of this analysis, validation is still impossible without more repeated, long-term monitoring of Arctic tundra biomass in the field.

Arctic tundra↗

High Sensitivity Stress Sensor Based on Hybrid Materials

A sensing device is used to detect the spatial distributions of stresses applied by physical contact with the surface of the sensor or induced by pressure, temperature gradients, and surface absorption. The sensor comprises a hybrid active layer that includes luminophores doped in a polymeric or organic host, altogether embedded in a matrix. Under an electrical bias, the sensor simultaneously converts stresses into electrical and optical signals. Among many applications, the device may be used for tactile sensing and biometric imaging.

Cao, Xian-An↗

Characterization of Si (sub X)Ge (sub 1-x)/Si Heterostructures for Device Applications Using Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) characterization of several complex Si (sub X)Ge (sub 1-x)/Si heterostructures prepared for device fabrication, including structures for heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT), p-type and n-type heterostructure modulation doped field effect transistors, has been performed. We have shown that SE can simultaneously determine all active layer thicknesses, Si (sub X)Ge (sub 1-x) compositions, and the oxide overlayer thickness, with only a general knowledge of the structure topology needed a priori. The characterization of HBT material included the SE analysis of a Si (sub X)Ge (sub 1-x) layer deeply buried (600 nanometers) under the silicon emitter and cap layers. In the SE analysis of n-type heterostructures, we examined for the first time a silicon layer under tensile strain. We found that an excellent fit can be obtained using optical constants of unstrained silicon to represent the strained silicon conduction layer. We also used SE to measure lateral sample homogeneity, providing quantitative identification of the inhomogeneous layer. Surface overlayers resulting from prior sample processing were also detected and measured quantitatively. These results should allow SE to be used extensively as a non-destructive means of characterizing Si (sub X)Ge (sub 1-x)/Si heterostructures prior to device fabrication and testing.

Sieg, R. M.↗

Evaluation of Spaceborne L-band Radiometer Measurements for Terrestrial Freeze/Thaw Retrievals in Canada

The landscape freeze/thaw (FT) state has an important impact on the surface energy balance, carbon fluxes, and hydrologic processes; the timing of spring melt is linked to active layer dynamics in permafrost areas. L-band (1.4 GHz) microwave emission could allow the monitoring of surface state dynamics due to its sensitivity to the pronounced permittivity difference between frozen and thawed soil. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of both Aquarius and Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) L-band passive microwave measurements using a polarization ratio-based algorithm for landscape FT monitoring. Weekly L-band satellite observations are compared with a large set of reference data at 48 sites across Canada spanning three environments: tundra, boreal forest, and prairies. The reference data include in situ measurements of soil temperature (Tsoil) and air temperature (Tair), and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature (LST) and snow cover area (SCA) products. Results show generally good agreement between Lband FT detection and the surface state estimated from four reference datasets. The best apparent accuracies for all seasons are obtained using Tair as the reference. Aquarius radiometer 2 (incidence angle of 39.6) data gives the best accuracies (90.8), while for SMOS the best results (87.8 of accuracy) are obtained at higher incidence angles (55- 60). The FT algorithm identifies both freeze onset and end with a delay of about one week in tundra and two weeks in forest and prairies, when compared to Tair. The analysis shows a stronger FT signal at tundra sites due to the typically clean transitions between consistently frozen and thawed conditions (and vice versa) and the absence of surface vegetation. Results in the prairies were poorer because of the influence of vegetation growth in summer (which decreases the polarization ratio) and the high frequency of ephemeral thaw events during winter. Freeze onset and end maps created from the same algorithm applied to SMOS and Aquarius measurements characterize similar FT patterns over Canada. This study shows the potential of using L-band spaceborne observations for FT monitoring, but underlines some limitations due to ice crusts in the snowpack, liquid water content in snow cover during the spring freeze to thaw transition, and vegetation growth.

soil freeze/thaw↗

Climate Trends in the Arctic as Observed from Space

The Arctic is a region in transformation. Warming in the region has been amplified, as expected from ice-albedo feedback effects, with the rate of warming observed to be approx. 0.60+/-0.07 C/decade in the Arctic (>64degN) compared to approx. 0.17 C/decade globally during the last three decades. This increase in surface temperature is manifested in all components of the cryosphere. In particular, the sea ice extent has been declining at the rate of approx. 3.8%/decade, whereas the perennial ice (represented by summer ice minimum) is declining at a much greater rate of approx.11.5%/decade. Spring snow cover has also been observed to be declining by −2.12%/decade for the period 1967-2012. The Greenland ice sheet has been losing mass at the rate of approx. 34.0Gt/year (sea level equivalence of 0.09 mm/year) during the period from 1992 to 2011, but for the period 2002-2011, a higher rate of mass loss of approx. 215 Gt/year has been observed. Also, the mass of glaciers worldwide declined at the rate of 226 Gt/year from 1971 to 2009 and 275 Gt/year from 1993 to 2009. Increases in permafrost temperature have also been measured in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere while a thickening of the active layer that overlies permafrost and a thinning of seasonally frozen ground has also been reported. To gain insight into these changes, comparative analysis with trends in clouds, albedo, and the Arctic Oscillation is also presented.

arctic↗

Multi-Decadal Surface Water Dynamics in North American Tundra

Over the last several decades, warming in the Arctic has outpaced the already impressive increases in global mean temperatures. The impact of these increases in temperature has been observed in a multitude of ecological changes in North American tundra including changes in vegetative cover, depth of active layer, and surface water extent. The low topographic relief and continuous permafrost create an ideal environment for the formation of small water bodies - a definitive feature of tundra surface. In this study, water bodies in Nunavut territory in northern Canada were mapped using a long-term record of remotely sensed observations at 30 meters spatial resolution from the Landsat suite of instruments. The temporal trajectories of water extent between 1985 and 2015 were assessed. Over 675,000 water bodies have been identified over the 31-year study period with over 168,000 showing a significant (probability is less than 0.05) trend in surface area. Approximately 55 percent of water bodies with a significant trend were increasing in size while the remaining 45 percent were decreasing in size. The overall net trend for water bodies with a significant trend is 0.009 hectares per year per water body.

Carroll, Mark L.↗

Predictive Modeling for Differential Diagnosis and Mortality Risk Assessment

The prevalence of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought prodigious biomedical informatics opportunity. Automated machine learning methods can effectively utilize such data and have become common tools for healthcare predictive modeling. Researches in medical informatics have explored the potential of deep learning and classical models in emergent care scenarios. In particular, predicting differential diagnoses for admissions have proven useful in decreasing unnecessary lab tests and improving inpatient triage decision-making. Moreover, identification of high-risk patients for in-hospital mortality is vitally important to maximize allocation of medical resources.The Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC-III) database, containing de-identified critical care inpatient was used in our study. This data set captures hospital patient laboratory measurements, pharmacologic prescriptions, diagnostic data and procedure event recordings. When considering adult patients and discounting admissions with ICU length of stay less than 24 hours, there were 37,787 unique admissions and 30,414 total patients. We examined the top 25 most prevalent ICD-9 group-level disease specificities in MIMIC-III using a multi-label classification model. In-hospital mortality was modeled as binary classification with 4,155 (13%) adult patients that expired, of which 3,138 (75.5%) were in the ICU setting. The metrics AUC, F1 score, sensitivity and specificity values calculated for each disease label measured prediction performance.The usage of ICD-9 group codes reduced feature dimension from 14,567 to 942 and greatly improved distribution of patient diagnostic categories. Disease temporal patterns were captured by considering the most frequently sampled 6 vital signs and 13 laboratory values. Missing data were imputed at each time-stamp. Time-series raw hourly average values were converted into 5 summary features (mean, standard deviation, number of observations, min & max values). Patient demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status and ethnicity were also factored into the modeling. Choi et al showed that contextual embedding of medical data, diagnostic and procedural codes alone can predict future diagnoses with sensitivity as high as 0.79. We utilized an embedding technique called word2vec which allowed sparse representations of medical history to be transformed into dense word vectors. The mappings captured contextual information by treating each admission as a sentence and learning the most likely neighboring words in a sliding window fashion. Binary and multi-label classification was achieved via collapse models, which do not consider temporal information, as well as recurrent neural networks with regularization, Softmax output layer activation together with categorical cross-entropy as the loss function.

US Army collaboration↗

Temperature Fluctuations and Boundary Layer Turbulence as seen by Mars Exploration Rovers Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer

The Mini-TES spectrometer carried by Spirit and Opportunity is a unique instrument that enabled vertical temperature profiles to be retrieved at high frequency (every 2 s, or “ICK”). Observations obtained from this instrument provide information on boundary layer activity. As an extension of previous work, we have retrieved ICK-by-ICK vertical temperature profiles to characterize turbulent behavior at each rover site for up to two Mars Years. We have also retrieved ICK-by-ICK near-surface (1.1 m) atmospheric temperatures and surface temperatures from dedicated atmospheric observations as well as geologic observations that extend the coverage of near-surface observations. The extension and increased frequency of retrievals as well as the additional observations provide a more complete view of the vertical and temporal variation of temperature fluctuations within the PBL. Temperature fluctuations are assessed using detrended temperature time-series data. The results show fluctuations can be as large as 10 K at the surface and 8 K aloft with timescales on the order of minutes. We have calculated the peak-to-peak amplitudes of temperature fluctuations and the corresponding timescales over which they occur. Spirit and Opportunity temperature fluctuation amplitudes decrease in magnitude vertically, where higher atmospheric levels show smaller fluctuations in amplitudes than at the surface. The magnitude of temperature fluctuations changes with the difference in surface and air temperature. This difference varies little as a function of season at both rover sites. Fluctuations are observed to quickly decrease in the late afternoon reaching a minimum near 17:00 LTST followed by moderately increased activity near sunset caused by forced convection. There is no significant change in the observed convective activity as a function of dust optical depth during regional dust storms. The few large temperature fluctuations that are concurrent with dust events are likely the result of large-scale systems.

Mars, atmosphere↗

Potential of Full-polarimetric P- and L-band Sar Data in Characterizing Post-fire Recovery of Arctic Tundra

We used the airborne full polarimetric L-band and P-band SAR (PolSAR) data collected from recent NASA ABoVE Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) airborne campaign to understand the sensitivity of longwave radar backscatter intensity and phase to post-fire recovery process of Arctic tundra. The 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire was used as a case study. At 10-year post-fire, we observed a strong increase (>~4 dB) in both the P- and L-band radar backscatter in the severely burned areas, in contrast to limited backscatter differences (VV, VH) between burned and unburned areas at C-band. The polarimetric target decomposition analysis indicated a general trend towards more random surface scattering, and strong increases of the double-bounce and volumetric scattering power at both P- and L-band in the burned areas. Large differences were also observed in the Pauli phase angle and the dominant-scattering-type Touzi phase angle between the burned and unburned areas. The above changes are likely caused by increasing surface roughness and microtopography due to thermokarst development and ice degradation, and increasing subsurface scattering due to an overall drier and deeper active layer in the burned areas

Miller, Charles E.↗

Thermal Performance of Perovskite-Based Photovoltaics for Operation in Low Earth Orbit

Perovskite-based photovoltaics are attractive for applications in space. The space environment is harsh with extreme temperatures, atomic oxygen, ionizing radiation, UV radiation, and thermal cycling. Here, we evaluate the thermal performance of a perovskite active layer and perovskite photovoltaic devices in low earth orbit. We determine that a 1 µm layer of silicon oxide coupled with a 500 nm zirconia thin film aid in cell thermal management. We model the residual stresses between various layers in the device and prove that thermally induced mechanical failure of the perovskite (t > 460 years) is unlikely during the operating lifetime of a space mission. We identify target power conversion efficiencies to manage operating temperature of a perovskite-based photovoltaic.

Timothy S. Krause↗

Overview of NASA Research Activities in Shock Layer Kinetics and Radiation

Shock layer radiation is an important heating mechanism for entry probes to most planetary destinations and re-entry to Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. Our understanding of shock layer radiation phenomena has improved tremendously over the last decade thanks to NASA investment in fundamental radiation research through Entry Systems Modeling’s (ESM) Shock Layer Kinetics and Radiation (SLKR) task. This talk will overview the recent activities within SLKR, including validation of models through ground testing, flight instrumentation and remote observations; development of first principles ab initio calculations for reaction mechanisms and spectroscopic databases and advancing numerical and computational methods for prediction of radiation in reacting hypersonic flows. 1 Sr. Research Scientist, Aerothermodynamics Branch, and AIAA Associate Fellow.

Brett A. Cruden↗