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An assimilation effort is undertaken with the goal of understanding seasonal-to-interannual changes of the tropical Pacific Ocean from the late '80s to the present, encompassing the WOCE and TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) periods.
To take advantage of the vast amount of GPS data, researchers use a number of techniques to estimate satellite and receiver interfrequency biases and the total electron content (TEC) of the ionosphere. Most techniques estimate vertical ionospheric structure and, simultaneously, hardware-related biases treated as nuisance parameters. These methods often are limited to 200 GPS receivers and use a sequential least squares or Kalman filter approach. The biases are later removed from the measurements to obtain unbiased TEC. In our approach to calibrating GPS receiver and transmitter interfrequency biases we take advantage of all available GPS receivers using a new processing algorithm based on the Global Ionospheric Mapping (GIM) software developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This new capability is designed to estimate receiver biases for all stations. We solve for the instrumental biases by modeling the ionospheric delay and removing it from the observation equation using precomputed GIM maps. The precomputed GIM maps rely on 200 globally distributed GPS receivers to establish the ''background'' used to model the ionosphere at the remaining 800 GPS sites.
We report on the development of a new measurement technique to quantitatively assess the condition of wire crimp connections. This ultrasonic (UT) method transmits high frequency sound waves through the joint under inspection. The wire-crimp region filters and scatters the ultrasonic energy as it passes through the crimp and wire. The resulting output (both time and frequency domains) provides a quantitative measure of the joint quality that is independent and unaffected by current. Crimps of poor mechanical and electrical quality will result in low temporal output and will distort the spectrum into unique and predictable patterns, depending on crimp "quality". This inexpensive, real-time measurement system can provide certification of crimps as they are made and recertification of existing wire crimps currently in service. The measurements for re-certification do not require that the wire be disconnected from its circuit. No other technology exists to measure in-situ the condition of wire joints (no electrical currents through the crimp are used in this analytical technique). We discuss the signals obtained from this instrument, and correlate these signals with destructive wire pull tests.
Topics covered include: Image-Capture Devices Extend Medicine's Reach; Medical Devices Assess, Treat Balance Disorders; NASA Bioreactors Advance Disease Treatments; Robotics Algorithms Provide Nutritional Guidelines; "Anti-Gravity" Treadmills Speed Rehabilitation; Crew Management Processes Revitalize Patient Care; Hubble Systems Optimize Hospital Schedules; Web-based Programs Assess Cognitive Fitness; Electrolyte Concentrates Treat Dehydration; Tools Lighten Designs, Maintain Structural Integrity; Insulating Foams Save Money, Increase Safety; Polyimide Resins Resist Extreme Temperatures; Sensors Locate Radio Interference; Surface Operations Systems Improve Airport Efficiency; Nontoxic Resins Advance Aerospace Manufacturing; Sensors Provide Early Warning of Biological Threats; Robot Saves Soldier's Lives Overseas (MarcBot); Apollo-Era Life Raft Saves Hundreds of Sailors; Circuits Enhance Scientific Instruments and Safety Devices; Tough Textiles Protect Payloads and Public Safety Officers; Forecasting Tools Point to Fishing Hotspots; Air Purifiers Eliminate Pathogens, Preserve Food; Fabrics Protect Sensitive Skin from UV Rays; Phase Change Fabrics Control Temperature; Tiny Devices Project Sharp, Colorful Images; Star-Mapping Tools Enable Tracking of Endangered Animals; Nanofiber Filters Eliminate Contaminants; Modeling Innovations Advance Wind Energy Industry; Thermal Insulation Strips Conserve Energy; Satellite Respondent Buoys Identify Ocean Debris; Mobile Instruments Measure Atmospheric Pollutants; Cloud Imagers Offer New Details on Earth's Health; Antennas Lower Cost of Satellite Access; Feature Detection Systems Enhance Satellite Imagery; Chlorophyll Meters Aid Plant Nutrient Management; Telemetry Boards Interpret Rocket, Airplane Engine Data; Programs Automate Complex Operations Monitoring; Software Tools Streamline Project Management; Modeling Languages Refine Vehicle Design; Radio Relays Improve Wireless Products; Advanced Sensors Boost Optical Communication, Imaging; Tensile Fabrics Enhance Architecture Around the World; Robust Light Filters Support Powerful Imaging Devices; Thermoelectric Devices Cool, Power Electronics; Innovative Tools Advance Revolutionary Weld Technique; Methods Reduce Cost, Enhance Quality of Nanotubes; Gauging Systems Monitor Cryogenic Liquids; Voltage Sensors Monitor Harmful Static; and Compact Instruments Measure Heat Potential.
Two innovative mathematical models of nonlinear vibrations, and methods of applying them, have been conceived as byproducts of an effort to develop a Kalman filter for highly precise estimation of bending motions of a large truss structure deployed in outer space from a space-shuttle payload bay. These models are also applicable to modeling and analysis of vibrations in other engineering disciplines, on Earth as well as in outer space.
An absorptive half-moon aperture mask is experimentally explored as a broad-bandwidth means of eliminating spurious spectral features arising from reprocessed radiation in an infrared Fourier transform spectrometer. In the presence of the spatial filter, an order of magnitude improvement in the fidelity of the spectrometer baseline is observed. The method is readily accommodated within the context of commonly employed instrument configurations and leads to a factor of two reduction in optical throughput. A detailed discussion of the underlying mechanism and limitations of the method are provided.
As part of the Quesst mission, NASA will fly the X‑59 aircraft over selected communities to evaluate community responses to low-intensity sonic booms. The purpose of these community tests is to determine the dose-response relationship between the noise exposure metrics and the community response. The independent variables for the dose-response relationship are the noise exposure metrics experienced by survey respondents within the community. Two sources of noise exposure metrics are available in each community: measurements at sparse locations throughout the community, and calculations from propagation models across the community. Both the measurements and calculations are subject to uncertainty. A Kalman filter is proposed to combine the measured and calculated noise exposure metrics to obtain the best estimate of the true noise exposure metrics across the community. The noise exposure metrics estimated by the Kalman filter have lower uncertainty than either the measured or calculated noise exposure metrics alone. Simulations demonstrate that the Kalman filter produces a more accurate estimate of the true noise exposure metrics than other noise estimation methods.
The confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer allows sub-picometer spectral resolution of Fraunhofer line profiles. Such high spectral resolution is needed to keep pace with the higher spatial resolution of the new set of large-aperture solar telescopes. The line-of-sight spatial resolution derived for line profile inversions would then track the improvements of the transverse spatial scale provided by the larger apertures. The confocal interferometer's unique properties allow a simultaneous increase in both etendue and spectral power. Methods: We have constructed and tested two confocal interferometers. Conclusions: In this paper we compare the confocal interferometer with other spectral imaging filters, provide initial design parameters, show construction details for two designs, and report on the laboratory test results for these interferometers, and propose a multiple etalon system for future testing of these units and to obtain sub-picometer spectral resolution information on the photosphere in both the visible and near-infrared.
A reference signal of RF frequency modulates a 0.85 micrometer wavelength optical transmitter. The output of which passes through a first optical filter and a voltage-controller phase shifter. The output of the phase shifter is provided to the fiber optic transmission line. At the receiving end of the transmission line, the signal is demodulated and used to modulate a 1.06 micrometer optical transmitter. The signal from the transmitter is provided to the fiber optic transmission line and passes through the voltage-controlled phase shifter to a phase error detector. The phase of the modulation of the 1.06 micrometer wavelength signal is compared to the phase of the reference signal by the phase error detector. A phase control signal related to the phase difference is provided to the voltage controlled phase shifter which alters the phase of both optical signals until a predetermined phase relationship between modulation on the 1.06 micrometer signal and the reference signal is obtained.
As the need grows for increased autonomy and position knowledge accuracy to support missions beyond Earth orbit, engineers must push and develop more advanced navigation sensors and systems that operate independent of Earth-based analysis and processing. Several spacecraft are approaching this problem using inter-spacecraft radiometric tracking and onboard autonomous optical navigation methods. This paper proposes an alternative implementation to aid in spacecraft position fixing. The proposed method Network-Based Navigation technique takes advantage of the communication data being sent between spacecraft and between spacecraft and ground control to embed navigation information. The navigation system uses these packets to provide navigation estimates to an onboard navigation filter to augment traditional ground-based radiometric tracking techniques. As opposed to using digital signal measurements to capture inherent information of the transmitted signal itself, this method relies on the embedded navigation packet headers to calculate a navigation estimate. This method is heavily dependent on clock accuracy and the initial results show the promising performance of a notional system.
Optical pattern recognition allows objects to be recognized from their images and permits their positional parameters to be estimated accurately in real time. The guiding principle behind optical pattern recognition is that a lens focusing a beam of coherent light modulated with an image produces the two-dimensinal Fourier transform of that image. When the resulting output is further transformed by the matched filter corresponding to the original image, one obtains the autocorrelation function of the original image, which has a peak at the origin. Such a device is called an optical correlator and may be used to recognize the locate the image for which it is designed. (From a practical perspective, an approximation to the matched filter must be used since the spatial light modulator (SLM) on which the filter is implemented usually does not allow one to independently control both the magnitude and phase of the filter.) Generally, one is not just concerned with recognizing a single image but is interested in recognizing a variety of rotated and scaled views of a particular image. In order to recognize these different views using an optical correlator, one may select a subset of these views (whose elements are called training images) and then use a composite filter that is designed to produce a correlation peak for each training image. Presumably, these peaks should be sharp and easily distinguishable from the surrounding correlation plane values. In this report we consider two areas of research regarding composite optical correlators. First, we consider the question of how best to choose the training images that are used to design the composite filter. With regard to quantity, the number of training images should be large enough to adequately represent all possible views of the targeted object yet small enough to ensure that the resolution of the filter is not exhausted. As for the images themselves, they should be distinct enough to avoid numerical difficulties yet similar enough to avoid gaps in which certain views of the target will be unrecognized. One method that we introduce to study this problem is called probing and involves the creation of the artificial imagery. The second problem we consider involves the clasification of the composite filter's correlation plane data. In particular, we would like to determine not only whether or not we are viewing a training image, but, in the former case, we would like to determine which training image is being viewed. This second problem is investigated using traditional M-ary hypothesis testing techniques.
Extravehicular activities (EVAs) require high-pressure, high-purity oxygen. Shuttle EVAs use oxygen that is stored and transported as a cryogenic fluid. EVAs on the International Space Station (ISS) presently use the Shuttle cryo O2, which is transported to the ISS using a transfer hose. The fluid is compressed to elevated pressures and stored as a high-pressure gas. With the retirement of the shuttle, NASA has been searching for ways to deliver oxygen to fill the highpressure oxygen tanks on the ISS. A method was developed using low-pressure oxygen generated onboard the ISS and released into ISS cabin air, filtering the oxygen from ISS cabin air using a pressure swing absorber to generate a low-pressure (high-purity) oxygen stream, compressing the oxygen with a mechanical compressor, and transferring the high-pressure, high-purity oxygen to ISS storage tanks. The pressure swing absorber (PSA) can be either a two-stage device, or a single-stage device, depending on the type of sorbent used. The key is to produce a stream with oxygen purity greater than 99.5 percent. The separator can be a PSA device, or a VPSA device (that uses both vacuum and pressure for the gas separation). The compressor is a multi-stage mechanical compressor. If the gas flow rates are on the order of 5 to 10 lb (.2.3 to 4.6 kg) per day, the compressor can be relatively small [3 ~16 ~16 in. (.8 ~41 ~41 cm)]. Any spacecraft system, or other remote location that has a supply of lowpressure oxygen, a method of separating oxygen from cabin air, and a method of compressing the enriched oxygen stream, has the possibility of having a regenerable supply of highpressure, high-purity oxygen that is compact, simple, and safe. If cabin air is modified so there is very little argon, the separator can be smaller, simpler, and use less power.
Tensegrity robots are a class of compliant robots that have many desirable traits when designing mass efficient systems that must interact with uncertain environments. Various promising control approaches have been proposed for tensegrity systems in simulation. Unfortunately, state estimation methods for tensegrity robots have not yet been thoroughly studied. In this paper, we present the design and evaluation of a state estimator for tensegrity robots. This state estimator will enable existing and future control algorithms to transfer from simulation to hardware. Our approach is based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) and combines inertial measurements, ultra wideband time-of-flight ranging measurements, and actuator state information. We evaluate the effectiveness of our method on the SUPERball, a tensegrity based planetary exploration robotic prototype. In particular, we conduct tests for evaluating both the robot's success in estimating global position in relation to fixed ranging base stations during rolling maneuvers as well as local behavior due to small-amplitude deformations induced by cable actuation.
The work reported here is on the extension of the earlier proposal of the same title, August 1994-June 1996. The report for that work is also being submitted. The work reported there forms the foundation for this work from January 1997 to September 1997. After the earlier work was completed there were a few items that needed to be completed prior to submission of a new and more comprehensive proposal for further research. Those tasks have been completed and two new proposals have been submitted, one to NASA, and one to Health & Human Services WS). The main purpose of this extension was to refine some of the techniques that lead to automatic large scale evaluation of full mammograms. Progress on each of the proposed tasks follows. Task 1: A multiresolution segmentation of background from breast has been developed and tested. The method is based on the different noise characteristics of the two different fields. The breast field has more power in the lower octaves and the off-breast field behaves similar to a wideband process, where more power is in the high frequency octaves. After the two fields are separated by lowpass filtering, a region labeling routine is used to find the largest contiguous region, the breast. Task 2: A wavelet expansion that can decompose the image without zero padding has been developed. The method preserves all properties of the power-of-two wavelet transform and does not add appreciably to computation time or storage. This work is essential for analysis of the full mammogram, as opposed to selecting sections from the full mammogram. Task 3: A clustering method has been developed based on a simple counting mechanism. No ROC analysis has been performed (and was not proposed), so we cannot finally evaluate this work without further support. Task 4: Further testing of the filter reveals that different wavelet bases do yield slightly different qualitative results. We cannot provide quantitative conclusions about this for all possible bases without further support. Task 5: Better modeling does indeed make an improvement in the detection output. After the proposal ended, we came up with some new theoretical explanations that helps in understanding when the D4 filter should be better. This work is currently in the review process. Task 6: N/A. This no longer applies in view of Tasks 4-5. Task 7: Comprehensive plans for further work have been completed. These plans are the subject of two proposals, one to NASA and one to HHS. These proposals represent plans for a complete evaluation of the methods for identifying normal mammograms, augmented with significant further theoretical work.
Passive depth and displacement map determinations have become an important part of computer vision processing. Applications that make use of this type of information include autonomous navigation, robotic assembly, image sequence compression, structure identification, and 3-D motion estimation. With the reliance of such systems on visual image characteristics, a need to overcome image degradations, such as random image-capture noise, motion, and quantization effects, is clearly necessary. Many depth and displacement estimation algorithms also introduce additional distortions due to the gradient operations performed on the noisy intensity images. These degradations can limit the accuracy and reliability of the displacement or depth information extracted from such sequences. Recognizing the previously stated conditions, a new method to model and estimate a restored depth or displacement field is presented. Once a model has been established, the field can be filtered using currently established multidimensional algorithms. In particular, the reduced order model Kalman filter (ROMKF), which has been shown to be an effective tool in the reduction of image intensity distortions, was applied to the computed displacement fields. Results of the application of this model show significant improvements on the restored field. Previous attempts at restoring the depth or displacement fields assumed homogeneous characteristics which resulted in the smoothing of discontinuities. In these situations, edges were lost. An adaptive model parameter selection method is provided that maintains sharp edge boundaries in the restored field. This has been successfully applied to images representative of robotic scenarios. In order to accommodate image sequences, the standard 2-D ROMKF model is extended into 3-D by the incorporation of a deterministic component based on previously restored fields. The inclusion of past depth and displacement fields allows a means of incorporating the temporal information into the restoration process. A summary on the conditions that indicate which type of filtering should be applied to a field is provided.
A pair of conjugated multiple bandpass filters (CMBF) can be used to create spatially separated pupils in a traditional lens and imaging sensor system allowing for the passive capture of stereo video. This method is especially useful for surgical endoscopy where smaller cameras are needed to provide ample room for manipulating tools while also granting improved visualizations of scene depth. The significant issue in this process is that, due to the complimentary nature of the filters, the colors seen through each filter do not match each other, and also differ from colors as seen under a white illumination source. A color correction model was implemented that included optimized filter selection, such that the degree of necessary post-processing correction was minimized, and a chromatic adaptation transformation that attempted to fix the imaged colors tristimulus indices based on the principle of color constancy. Due to fabrication constraints, only dual bandpass filters were feasible. The theoretical average color error after correction between these filters was still above the fusion limit meaning that rivalry conditions are possible during viewing. This error can be minimized further by designing the filters for a subset of colors corresponding to specific working environments.
The present invention relates to a container, system, and method for creating parenteral solutions at a site, remote from sterile environments. The system includes a flexible container that is empty except for a prepackaged amount of a solute that is housed in the interior of the container. The container includes at least one port and a sterilizing filter in communication with an interior of the port. The container is so constructed and arranged that a fluid flow path is created from the port through the filter and into the interior of the container. A sterile water source including means for establishing fluid flow from the sterile water source into the port is provided. Accordingly, sterile water can flow from the sterile water source through the filter into the container where it is mixed with the solute to create a parenteral solution that can then be infused into a patient. A method and container are also provided.
This paper focuses on the improvement of target tracking accuracy taking into account the sensor’s reading degradation as the relative range increases. The approach is based on the assumption that range measurement error depends on the actual range. Specifically, we model the measurement error as a proportional to the actual range term plus a zero-mean, Gaussian distributed, and uncorrelated process. We present two approaches to tracking a target with constant velocity model. The first approach uses Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) framework to estimate target's states and the unknown proportionality coefficient with linearization on the observation model on the predicted states at each time step. The second one uses a measurement conversion method to estimate the target's scaled by the unknown constant term states, which is shown to be unbiased. This conversion results in linear state and observation models, hence the standard Kalman filter can be applied. The actual target state is computed by application of back scaling with the estimate of unknown scale factor. We evaluate the approaches in desktop simulations.