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At least 1,117 records · Page 62
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2009

Translational Vestibulo-Ocular Reflexes During Off-Vertical Axis Rotation

The translational vestibulo-ocular reflex (tVOR) is an otolith-mediated response that stabilizes near vision during linear acceleration at higher frequencies where visually mediated reflexes are not adequate. The modulation of horizontal and vergence eye movements during Off-Vertical Axis Rotation (OVAR) are presumed to reflect the tVOR in response to the continuously varying linear acceleration in the interaural and nasooccipital axes, respectively. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of frequency and fixation distance on the modulation of slow phase eye velocity (SPV) as further evidence that the tVOR is elicited during OVAR. Eighteen subjects were rotated about their longitudinal axis tilted by 30 deg off-vertical. Rotational velocities varied between 18 and 288 deg/sec corresponding to a frequency range of 0.05 to 0.8 Hz. Fixation distance was altered by asking subjects to imagine stationary targets that were briefly presented at 0.5, 1 and 2 m during some rotation cycles. The target flash was 40 msec in the nose-up position at eye level. Oculomotor responses were recorded in the dark using infrared binocular videography. Sinusoidal curve fits were used to derive amplitude, phase and bias velocity of the eye movements across multiple rotation cycles. Consistent with previous studies, the modulation of both horizontal and vergence SPV increased with stimulus frequency. The effect of fixation distance was negligible at lower frequencies. The modulation of horizontal and vergence SPV was; however, proportional to fixation distance during OVAR at 0.8 Hz. This increasing sensitivity and dependence on fixation distance of horizontal and vergence SPV during OVAR is consistent with tVOR characteristics measured during other types of linear motion. We conclude that the modulation of horizontal and vergence SPV will be diagnostically more useful at higher stimulus frequencies where the tVOR is more robust.

Wood, Scott J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Thrust Stand for Vertically Oriented Electric Propulsion Performance Evaluation

A variation of a hanging pendulum thrust stand capable of measuring the performance of an electric thruster operating in the vertical orientation is presented. The vertical orientation of the thruster dictates that the thruster must be horizontally offset from the pendulum pivot arm, necessitating the use of a counterweight system to provide a neutrally-stable system. Motion of the pendulum arm is transferred through a balance mechanism to a secondary arm on which deflection is measured. A non-contact light-based transducer is used to measure displacement of the secondary beam. The members experience very little friction, rotating on twisting torsional pivots with oscillatory motion attenuated by a passive, eddy current damper. Displacement is calibrated using an in situ thrust calibration system. Thermal management and self-leveling systems are incorporated to mitigate thermal and mechanical drifts. Gravitational restoring force and torsional spring constants associated with flexure pivots provide restoring moments. An analysis of the design indicates that the thrust measurement range spans roughly four decades, with the stand capable of measuring thrust up to 12 N for a 200 kg thruster and up to approximately 800 mN for a 10 kg thruster. Data obtained from calibration tests performed using a 26.8 lbm simulated thruster indicated a resolution of 1 mN on 100 mN-level thrusts, while those tests conducted on 200 lbm thruster yielded a resolution of roughly 2.5 micro at thrust levels of 0.5 N and greater.

Moeller, Trevor↗
NASA NTRS2010

Can Vertical Profiles of Tropospheric Methane on Titan Be Derived from Radio-Occultation Soundings?

The intensity of the received signal at Earth in the radio occultations of Titan is attenuated both by refractive defocusing and pressure-induced absorption from N2-N2 and CH4-N2 pairs. Because the absorption strength is different for the two sets of pairs, matching the retrieved absorptivity profile can in principle yield the vertical variation in gaseous methane in the troposphere. There are two factors that make this difficult. The first is the propagation of noise in the phase and amplitude of the received signal in the absorption retrieval. The phase data is first inverted to retrieve vertical profiles of refractivity, from which the refractive defocusing is calculated. This is then subtracted from the observed. intensity attenuation of the received signal to generate a profile of atmospheric absorption. The second problem is the uncertainty in the pressure-induced absorption coefficients. Laboratory data at radio wavelengths is only available near room temperature (see, e.g., [1] for N2-N2), and the extrapolation to the low temperatures in Titan's troposphere is not well established. Ab initio calculations by Borysow et al. [2, 3] provide absorption coefficients at low temperatures and long wavelengths, but their accuracy has come into question. We present examples from Cassini radio occultations of Titan to illustrate the difficulties. For methane mole fractions in the lower troposphere comparable to that inferred from the Huygens probe (approximately 0.05), it will be difficult to separate the contributions of N2-N2 collisions from those of N2-CH4, collisions to the retrieved absorption. However, higher concentrations of CH4 and/or a higher signal-to-noise ratio from a future uplink experiment could result in a successful separation of the two components. However, key to this are highly accurate estimates of the absorption from a combination of laboratory measurements at love temperatures and long wavelengths, and possibly improved theoretical calculations.

Flasar, F. Michael↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Vertical Distribution of Thin Features Over the Arctic Analysed from CALIPSO Observations: Aerosols - Part 2

Influx of aerosols from the mid-latitudes has a wide range of impacts on the Arctic atmosphere. In this study, the capability of the CALIPSO-CALIOP instrument to provide accurate observations of aerosol layers is exploited to characterize their vertical distribution, probability density functions (PDFs) of aerosol layer thickness, base and top heights, and optical depths over the Arctic for the 4-yr period from June 2006 to May 2010. It is shown that the bulk of aerosols, from about 65% in winter to 45% in summer, are confined below the lowermost kilometer of the troposphere. In the middle troposphere (3-5 km), spring and autumn seasons show slightly higher aerosol amounts compared to other two seasons. The relative vertical distribution of aerosols shows that clean continental aerosol is the largest contributor in all seasons except in summer, when layers of polluted continental aerosols are almost as large. In winter and spring, polluted continental aerosols are the second largest contributor to the total number of observed aerosol layers, whereas clean marine aerosol is the second largest contributor in summer and autumn. The PDFs of the geometrical thickness of the observed aerosol layers peak about 400-700 m. Polluted continental and smoke aerosols, which are associated with the intrusions from mid-latitudes, have much broader distributions of optical and geometrical thicknesses, suggesting that they appear more often optically thicker and higher up in the troposphere.

Devasthale, Abhya↗
NASA NTRS2008

Vertical Drop Testing and Analysis of the WASP Helicopter Skid Gear

Human occupant modeling and injury risk assessment have been identified as areas of research for improved prediction of rotorcraft crashworthiness within the NASA Aeronautics Program s Subsonic Rotary Wing Project. As part of this effort, an experimental program was conducted to assess the impact performance of a skid gear for use on the WASP kit-built helicopter, which is marketed by HeloWerks, Inc. of Hampton, Virginia. Test data from a drop test at an impact velocity of 8.4 feet-per-second were used to assess a finite element model of the skid gear test article. This assessment included human occupant analytic models developed for execution in LS-DYNA. The test article consisted of an aluminum skid gear mounted beneath a steel plate. A seating platform was attached to the upper surface of the steel plate, and two 95th percentile Hybrid III male Aerospace Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs) were seated on the platform and secured using a four-point restraint system. The goal of the test-analysis correlation is to further the understanding of LS-DYNA ATD occupant models and responses in the vertical (or spinal) direction. By correlating human occupant experimental test data for a purely vertical impact with the LS-DYNA occupant responses, improved confidence in the use of these tools and better understanding of the limitations of the automotive-based occupant models for aerospace application can begin to be developed.

Fuchs, Yvonne T.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Influence of Arctic Sea Ice Extent on Polar Cloud Fraction and Vertical Structure and Implications for Regional Climate

Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of 5 years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anticorrelation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice!free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7% and 10%, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5% 7%. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Because longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.

Palm, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Influence of Arctic Sea Ice Extent on Polar Cloud Fraction and Vertical Structure and Implications for Regional Climate

Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of five years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anti-correlation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7 and 10 percent, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5 to 7 percent. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Since longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.

Palm, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Advanced high performance vertical hybrid synthetic jet actuator

The present invention comprises a high performance, vertical, zero-net mass-flux, synthetic jet actuator for active control of viscous, separated flow on subsonic and supersonic vehicles. The present invention is a vertical piezoelectric hybrid zero-net mass-flux actuator, in which all the walls of the chamber are electrically controlled synergistically to reduce or enlarge the volume of the synthetic jet actuator chamber in three dimensions simultaneously and to reduce or enlarge the diameter of orifice of the synthetic jet actuator simultaneously with the reduction or enlargement of the volume of the chamber. The jet velocity and mass flow rate for the present invention will be several times higher than conventional piezoelectric synthetic jet actuators.

Xu, Tian-Bing↗
NASA NTRS2011

CEDAR Electrodynamics Thermosphere Ionosphere (ETI) Challenge for Systematic Assessment of Ionosphere/Thermosphere Models: NmF2, hmF2, and Vertical Drift Using Ground-Based Observations

Objective quantification of model performance based on metrics helps us evaluate the current state of space physics modeling capability, address differences among various modeling approaches, and track model improvements over time. The Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) Electrodynamics Thermosphere Ionosphere (ETI) Challenge was initiated in 2009 to assess accuracy of various ionosphere/thermosphere models in reproducing ionosphere and thermosphere parameters. A total of nine events and five physical parameters were selected to compare between model outputs and observations. The nine events included two strong and one moderate geomagnetic storm events from GEM Challenge events and three moderate storms and three quiet periods from the first half of the International Polar Year (IPY) campaign, which lasted for 2 years, from March 2007 to March 2009. The five physical parameters selected were NmF2 and hmF2 from ISRs and LEO satellites such as CHAMP and COSMIC, vertical drifts at Jicamarca, and electron and neutral densities along the track of the CHAMP satellite. For this study, four different metrics and up to 10 models were used. In this paper, we focus on preliminary results of the study using ground-based measurements, which include NmF2 and hmF2 from Incoherent Scatter Radars (ISRs), and vertical drifts at Jicamarca. The results show that the model performance strongly depends on the type of metrics used, and thus no model is ranked top for all used metrics. The analysis further indicates that performance of the model also varies with latitude and geomagnetic activity level.

Shim, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Vertical Profiles of Aerosol Optical Properties Over Central Illinois and Comparison with Surface and Satellite Measurements

Between June 2006 and September 2009, an instrumented light aircraft measured over 400 vertical profiles of aerosol and trace gas properties over eastern and central Illinois. The primary objectives of this program were to (1) measure the in situ aerosol properties and determine their vertical and temporal variability and (2) relate these aircraft measurements to concurrent surface and satellite measurements. Underflights of the CALIPSO satellite show reasonable agreement in a majority of retrieved profiles between aircraft-measured extinction at 532 nm (adjusted to ambient relative humidity) and CALIPSO-retrieved extinction, and suggest that routine aircraft profiling programs can be used to better understand and validate satellite retrieval algorithms. CALIPSO tended to overestimate the aerosol extinction at this location in some boundary layer flight segments when scattered or broken clouds were present, which could be related to problems with CALIPSO cloud screening methods. The in situ aircraft-collected aerosol data suggest extinction thresholds for the likelihood of aerosol layers being detected by the CALIOP lidar. These statistical data offer guidance as to the likelihood of CALIPSO's ability to retrieve aerosol extinction at various locations around the globe.

Sheridan P. J.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Performance Enhancement of a Vertical Tail Model with Sweeping Jet Actuators

Active Flow Control (AFC) experiments performed at the Caltech Lucas Adaptive Wall Wind Tunnel on a 12%-thick, generic vertical tail model indicated that sweeping jets emanating from the trailing edge (TE) of the vertical stabilizer significantly increased the side force coefficient for a wide range of rudder deflection angles and yaw angles at free-stream velocities approaching takeoff rotation speed. The results indicated that 2% blowing momentum coefficient (C(sub mu) increased the side force in excess of 50% at the maximum conventional rudder deflection angle in the absence of yaw. Even C(sub mu) = 0.5% increased the side force in excess of 20% under these conditions. This effort was sponsored by the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project and the successful demonstration of this flow-control application could have far reaching implications. It could lead to effective applications of AFC technologies on key aircraft control surfaces and lift enhancing devices (flaps) that would aid in reduction of fuel consumption through a decrease in size and weight of wings and control surfaces or a reduction of the noise footprint due to steeper climb and descent.

Seele, Roman↗
NASA NTRS2013

Vertical Navigation Control Laws and Logic for the Next Generation Air Transportation System

A vertical navigation (VNAV) outer-loop control system was developed to capture and track the vertical path segments of energy-efficient trajectories that are being developed for high-density operations in the evolving Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The VNAV control system has a speed-on-elevator control mode to pitch the aircraft for tracking a calibrated airspeed (CAS) or Mach number profile and a path control mode for tracking the VNAV altitude profile. Mode control logic was developed for engagement of either the speed or path control modes. The control system will level the aircraft to prevent it from flying through a constraint altitude. A stability analysis was performed that showed that the gain and phase margins of the VNAV control system significantly exceeded the design gain and phase margins. The system performance was assessed using a six-deg-of-freedom non-linear transport aircraft simulation and the performance is illustrated with time-history plots of recorded simulation data.

Hueschen, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Black Carbon Vertical Profiles Strongly Affect Its Radiative Forcing Uncertainty

The impact of black carbon (BC) aerosols on the global radiation balance is not well constrained. Here twelve global aerosol models are used to show that at least 20% of the present uncertainty in modeled BC direct radiative forcing (RF) is due to diversity in the simulated vertical profile of BC mass. Results are from phases 1 and 2 of the global aerosol model intercomparison project (AeroCom). Additionally, a significant fraction of the variability is shown to come from high altitudes, as, globally, more than 40% of the total BC RF is exerted above 5 km. BC emission regions and areas with transported BC are found to have differing characteristics. These insights into the importance of the vertical profile of BC lead us to suggest that observational studies are needed to better characterize the global distribution of BC, including in the upper troposphere.

black carbon↗
NASA NTRS2013

Reduction of Non-uniform Beam Filling Effects by Vertical Decorrelation: Theory and Simulations

Algorithms for estimating precipitation rates from spaceborne radar observations of apparent radar reflectivity depend on attenuation correction procedures. The algorithm suite for the Ku-band precipitation radar aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite is one such example. The well-known problem of nonuniform beam filling is a source of error in the estimates, especially in regions where intense deep convection occurs. The error is caused by unresolved horizontal variability in precipitation characteristics such as specific attenuation, rain rate, and effective reflectivity factor. This paper proposes the use of vertical decorrelation for correcting the nonuniform beam filling error developed under the assumption of a perfect vertical correlation. Empirical tests conducted using ground-based radar observations in the current simulation study show that decorrelation effects are evident in tilted convective cells. However, the problem of obtaining reasonable estimates of a governing parameter from the satellite data remains unresolved.

radar reflectivity↗
NASA NTRS2015

Development of a Climatology of Vertically Complete Wind Profiles from Doppler Radar Wind Profiler Systems

This paper describes in detail the QC and splicing methodology for KSC's 50- and 915-MHz DRWP measurements that generates an extensive archive of vertically complete profiles from 0.20-18.45 km. The concurrent POR from each archive extends from April 2000 to December 2009. MSFC NE applies separate but similar QC processes to each of the 50- and 915-MHz DRWP archives. DRWP literature and data examination provide the basis for developing and applying the automated and manual QC processes on both archives. Depending on the month, the QC'ed 50- and 915-MHz DRWP archives retain 52-65% and 16-30% of the possible data, respectively. The 50- and 915-MHz DRWP QC archives retain 84-91% and 85-95%, respectively, of all the available data provided that data exist in the non- QC'ed archives. Next, MSFC NE applies an algorithm to splice concurrent measurements from both DRWP sources. Last, MSFC NE generates a composite profile from the (up to) five available spliced profiles to effectively characterize boundary layer winds and to utilize all possible 915-MHz DRWP measurements at each timestamp. During a given month, roughly 23,000-32,000 complete profiles exist from 0.25-18.45 km from the composite profiles' archive, and approximately 5,000- 27,000 complete profiles exist from an archive utilizing an individual 915-MHz DRWP. One can extract a variety of profile combinations (pairs, triplets, etc.) from this sample for a given application. The sample of vertically complete DRWP wind measurements not only gives launch vehicle customers greater confidence in loads and trajectory assessments versus using balloon output, but also provides flexibility to simulate different DOL situations across applicable altitudes. In addition to increasing sample size and providing more flexibility for DOL simulations in the vehicle design phase, the spliced DRWP database provides any upcoming launch vehicle program with the capability to utilize DRWP profiles on DOL to compute vehicle steering commands, provided the program applies the procedures that this report describes to new DRWP data on DOL. Decker et al. (2015) details how SLS is proposing to use DRWP data and splicing techniques on DOL. Although automation could enhance the current DOL 50-MHz DRWP QC process and could streamline any future DOL 915-MHz DRWP QC and splicing process, the DOL community would still require manual intervention to ensure that the vehicle only uses valid profiles. If a program desires to use high spatial resolution profiles, then the algorithm could randomly add high-frequency components to the DRWP profiles. The spliced DRWP database provides lots of flexibility in how one performs DOL simulations, and the algorithms that this report provides will assist the aerospace and atmospheric communities that are interested in utilizing the DRWP.

Barbre, Robert E., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Past Changes in the Vertical Distribution of Ozone Part 1: Measurement Techniques, Uncertainties and Availability

Peak stratospheric chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and other ozone depleting substance (ODS) concentrations were reached in the mid- to late 1990s. Detection and attribution of the expected recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer in an atmosphere with reduced ODSs as well as efforts to understand the evolution of stratospheric ozone in the presence of increasing greenhouse gases are key current research topics. These require a critical examination of the ozone changes with an accurate knowledge of the spatial (geographical and vertical) and temporal ozone response. For such an examination, it is vital that the quality of the measurements used be as high as possible and measurement uncertainties well quantified. In preparation for the 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion, the SPARC/IO3C/IGACO-O3/NDACC (SI2N) Initiative was designed to study and document changes in the global ozone profile distribution. This requires assessing long-term ozone profile data sets in regards to measurement stability and uncertainty characteristics. The ultimate goal is to establish suitability for estimating long-term ozone trends to contribute to ozone recovery studies. Some of the data sets have been improved as part of this initiative with updated versions now available. This summary presents an overview of stratospheric ozone profile measurement data sets (ground and satellite based) available for ozone recovery studies. Here we document measurement techniques, spatial and temporal coverage, vertical resolution, native units and measurement uncertainties. In addition, the latest data versions are briefly described (including data version updates as well as detailing multiple retrievals when available for a given satellite instrument). Archive location information for each data set is also given.

stratospheric ozone layer measurement↗
NASA NTRS2016

Vestibulo-Ocular Responses to Vertical Translation using a Hand-Operated Chair as a Field Measure of Otolith Function

The translational Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex (tVOR) is an important otolith-mediated response to stabilize gaze during natural locomotion. One goal of this study was to develop a measure of the tVOR using a simple hand-operated chair that provided passive vertical motion. Binocular eye movements were recorded with a tight-fitting video mask in ten healthy subjects. Vertical motion was provided by a modified spring-powered chair (swopper.com) at approximately 2 Hz (+/- 2 cm displacement) to approximate the head motion during walking. Linear acceleration was measured with wireless inertial sensors (Xsens) mounted on the head and torso. Eye movements were recorded while subjects viewed near (0.5m) and far (approximately 4m) targets, and then imagined these targets in darkness. Subjects also provided perceptual estimates of target distances. Consistent with the kinematic properties shown in previous studies, the tVOR gain was greater with near targets, and greater with vision than in darkness. We conclude that this portable chair system can provide a field measure of otolith-ocular function at frequencies sufficient to elicit a robust tVOR.

Wood, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Flight Services and Aircraft Access: Active Flow Control Vertical Tail and Insect Accretion and Mitigation Flight Test

This document serves as the final report for the Flight Services and Aircraft Access task order NNL14AA57T as part of NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project ITD12A+. It includes descriptions of flight test preparations and execution for the Active Flow Control (AFC) Vertical Tail and Insect Accretion and Mitigation (IAM) experiments conducted on the 757 ecoDemonstrator. For the AFC Vertical Tail, this is the culmination of efforts under two task orders. The task order was managed by Boeing Research & Technology and executed by an enterprise-wide Boeing team that included Boeing Research & Technology, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Defense and Space and Boeing Test and Evaluation. Boeing BR&T in St. Louis was responsible for overall Boeing project management and coordination with NASA. The 757 flight test asset was provided and managed by the BCA ecoDemonstrator Program, in partnership with Stifel Aircraft Leasing and the TUI Group. With this report, all of the required deliverables related to management of this task order have been met and delivered to NASA as summarized in Table 1. In addition, this task order is part of a broader collaboration between NASA and Boeing.

Whalen, Edward A.↗