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A data collection process is described for the purpose of discerning causation factors of accidents, and the establishment of boundaries or controls aimed at mitigating and eliminating accidents. A procedure is proposed that suggests a discipline approach to hazard identification based on energy interrelationships together with an integrated control technique which takes the form of checklists.
Twenty-three processing functions aid in utilizing LANDSAT data for forest resource management. Designed to work primarily with digital data obtained from measurements recorded by multispectral remote sensors mounted on aerospace platforms. communication between processing functions, simplicity of control, and commonality of data files in LARSFRIS enhance usefulness of system as tool for research and development of remote sensing systems.
Earth Resources Laboratory Applications Software (ELAS) is geobased information system designed for analyzing and processing digital imagery data. ELAS offers user of remotely sensed data wide range of easy to use capabilities in areas of land cover analysis. ELAS system written in FORTRAN and Assembler for batch or interactive processing.
Information flow is a critical element to intelligent and timely decision-making. At NASA's Johnson Space Center the flow of information is being automated through the use of a centralized backbone network. The theoretical basis of this network, its implications to the horizontal and vertical flow of information, and the technical challenges involved in its implementation are the focus of this paper. The importance of the use of common tools among programs and some future concerns related to file transfer, graphics transfer, and merging of voice and data are also discussed.
Information deleted in ways minimizing adverse effects on reconstructed images. New grey-scale generalization of medial axis transformation (MAT), called FMAT (short for Fuzzy MAT) proposed. Formulated by making natural extension to fuzzy-set theory of all definitions and conditions (e.g., characteristic function of disk, subset condition of disk, and redundancy checking) used in defining MAT of crisp set. Does not need image to have any kind of priori segmentation, and allows medial axis (and skeleton) to be fuzzy subset of input image. Resulting FMAT (consisting of maximal fuzzy disks) capable of reconstructing exactly original image.
The Spitzer Telemetry Processing System (SirtfTlmProc) was designed to address objectives of JPL's Multi-mission Image Processing Lab (MIPL) in processing spacecraft telemetry and distributing the resulting data to the science community. To minimize costs and maximize operability, the software design focused on automated error recovery, performance, and information management. The system processes telemetry from the Spitzer spacecraft and delivers Level 0 products to the Spitzer Science Center. SirtfTlmProc is a unique system with automated error notification and recovery, with a real-time continuous service that can go quiescent after periods of inactivity. The software can process 2 GB of telemetry and deliver Level 0 science products to the end user in four hours. It provides analysis tools so the operator can manage the system and troubleshoot problems. It automates telemetry processing in order to reduce staffing costs.
Image pyramids provide useful information in determining structural response at low cost using commercially available cameras. The current effort applies previous work on the complex steerable pyramid to analyze and identify imperceptible linear motions in video. Instead of implicitly computing motion spectra through phase analysis of the complex steerable pyramid and magnifying the associated motions, instead present a visual technique and the necessary software to display the phase changes of high frequency signals within video. The present technique quickly identifies regions of largest motion within a video with a single phase visualization and without the artifacts of motion magnification, but requires use of the computationally intensive Fourier transform. While Riesz pyramids present an alternative to the computationally intensive complex steerable pyramid for motion magnification, the Riesz formulation contains significant noise, and motion magnification still presents large amounts of data that cannot be quickly assessed by the human eye. Thus, user-friendly software is presented for quickly identifying structural response through optical flow and phase visualization in both Python and MATLAB.
The evolution and improvements in hyperspectral instrumentation are being matched by information technology improvements in science data processing and analysis. Research has improved techniques in both onboard and ground-based processing to support other high data volume instruments. Algorithms and hardware have evolved, permitting faster access to the observations. Cloud computing is taking the algorithms to the data. Technologies are being specifically designed to address high volume data sets and are an investment in the improvement of hyperspectral data processing.
It is increasingly common to see spacecraft equipped with cameras for the purpose of navigation. Images are either sent to Earth or processed autonomously on-board to provide information about the vehicle’s position, velocity, and/or attitude. These can be images of stars or celestial bodies for absolute navigation, or images of another spacecraft for relative navigation. While monocular cameras do not provide range information, the images they capture can be processed to determine bearing vectors to target objects within the camera’s field of view. For a camera to be effective in navigation, it must be carefully calibrated and aligned. This involves accurately modeling the optical effects that govern the projection of line-of-sight directions onto the camera’s pixels and determining the camera’s orientation relative to the spacecraft’s reference frame. Engineers at Johnson Space Center’s Electro-Optics Lab regularly perform camera inspection, calibration, and alignment metrology. This was done for the Orion Optical Navigation (OpNav) Camera, the Orion Docking Camera (DCAM), and for numerous cameras belonging to commercial partners. The nature of optical navigation means that cameras must be well-calibrated and their attitude well understood to provide high accuracy bearing measurements to the navigation filter. The stringent accuracy requirements for Orion could not have been met using traditional checkerboard camera calibration or by simply relying on design drawings. This paper details the hardware, software, techniques, and algorithms used by the EOL team to achieve this level of accuracy.
It is increasingly common to see spacecraft equipped with cameras for the purpose of navigation. Images are either sent to Earth or processed autonomously on-board to provide information about the vehicle’s position, velocity, and/or attitude. These can be images of stars or celestial bodies for absolute navigation, or images of another spacecraft for relative navigation. While monocular cameras do not provide range information, the images they capture can be processed to determine bearing vectors to target objects within the camera’s field of view. For a camera to be effective in navigation, it must be carefully calibrated and aligned. This involves accurately modeling the optical effects that govern the projection of line-of-sight directions onto the camera’s pixels and determining the camera’s orientation relative to the spacecraft’s reference frame. Engineers at Johnson Space Center’s Electro-Optics Lab regularly perform camera inspection, calibration, and alignment metrology. This was done for the Orion Optical Navigation (OpNav) Camera, the Orion Docking Camera (DCAM), and for numerous cameras belonging to commercial partners. The nature of optical navigation means that cameras must be well-calibrated and their attitude well understood to provide high accuracy bearing measurements to the navigation filter. The stringent accuracy requirements for Orion could not have been met using traditional checkerboard camera calibration or by simply relying on design drawings. This paper details the hardware, software, techniques, and algorithms used by the EOL team to achieve this level of accuracy.
The solar wind reflects the composition of the Sun and physical processes in the corona. Analysis produces information on how the solar system was formed and on physical processes in the corona. The analysis can also produce information on the local interstellar medium, galactic evolution, comets in the solar wind, dust in the heliosphere, and matter escaping from planets.
Information is given in viewgraph form on the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC). The HOSC is a multi-mission control and support facility designed to provide simultaneous support to several diverse missions, using a common set of processing equipment and facilities. Information is given on the missions supported by the HOSC; facility layout; generic system goals; HOSC existing computer architecture; current mission requirements; currently employed hardware and software; front end processing; central processing; peripheral processors; audio and video communications; and upgrading plans.
A preliminary evaluation of the processing capability of the VICAR software for land information support system needs is presented. The geometric and radiometric properties of four sets of LANDSAT data taken over the Elk River, Idaho quadrangle were compared. Storage of data sets, the means of location, pixel resolution, and radiometric and geometric characteristics are described. Recommended modifications of VICAR programs are presented.
The author has identified the following significant results. Methods of manual, semi-automatic, and automatic (computer) data processing were evaluated, as were the requirements for spatial physiographic and limnological information. The coupling of specially processed ERTS data with simulation models of the watershed precipitation/runoff process provides potential for water resources management. Optimal and full use of the data requires a mix of data processing and analysis techniques, including single band editing, two band ratios, and multiband combinations. A combination of maximum likelihood ratio and near-IR/red band ratio processing was found to be particularly useful.
Three ozone tape products from the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) experiment aboard Nimbus 7 were archived at the National Space Science Data Center. The experiment measures the fraction of incoming radiation backscattered by the Earth's atmosphere at 12 wavelengths. In-flight measurements were used to monitor changes in the instrument sensitivity. Total column ozone is derived by comparing the measurements with calculations of what would be measured for different total ozone amounts. The altitude distribution is retrieved using an optimum statistical technique for the inversion. The estimated initial error in the absolute scale for total ozone is 2 percent, with a 3 percent drift over 8 years. The profile error depends on latitude and height, smallest at 3 to 10 mbar; the drift increases with increasing altitude. Three tape products are described. The High Density SBUV (HDSBUV) tape contains the final derived products - the total ozone and the vertical ozone profile - as well as much detailed diagnostic information generated during the retrieval process. The Compressed Ozone (CPOZ) tape contains only that subset of HDSBUV information, including total ozone and ozone profiles, considered most useful for scientific studies. The Zonal Means Tape (ZMT) contains daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly averages of the derived quantities over 10 deg latitude zones.
The primary scientific goal of ICARUS (Investigation of Coronal AcceleRation and heating of solar wind Up to the Sun), a mother-daughter satellite mission, proposed in response to the ESA “Voyage 2050” Call, will be to determine how the magnetic field and plasma dynamics in the outer solar atmosphere give rise to the corona, the solar wind, and the entire heliosphere. Reaching this goal will be a Rosetta Stone step, with results that are broadly applicable within the fields of space plasma physics and astrophysics. Within ESA’s Cosmic Vision roadmap, these science goals address Theme 2: “How does the Solar System work?” by investigating basic processes occurring “From the Sun to the edge of the Solar System”. ICARUS will not only advance our understanding of the plasma environment around our Sun, but also of the numerous magnetically active stars with hot plasma coronae. ICARUS I will perform the first direct in situ measurements of electromagnetic fields, particle acceleration, wave activity, energy distribution, and flows directly in the regions in which the solar wind emerges from the coronal plasma. ICARUS I will have a perihelion altitude of 1 solar radius and will cross the region where the major energy deposition occurs. The polar orbit of ICARUS I will enable crossing the regions where both the fast and slow winds are generated. It will probe the local characteristics of the plasma and provide unique information about the physical processes involved in the creation of the solar wind. ICARUS II will observe this region using remote-sensing instruments, providing simultaneous, contextual information about regions crossed by ICARUS I and the solar atmosphere below as observed by solar telescopes. It will thus provide bridges for understanding the magnetic links between the heliosphere and the solar atmosphere. Such information is crucial to our understanding of the plasma physics and electrodynamics of the solar atmosphere. ICARUS II will also play a very important relay role, enabling the radio-link with ICARUS I. It will receive, collect, and store information transmitted from ICARUS I during its closest approach to the Sun. It will also perform preliminary data processing before transmitting it to Earth. Performing such unique in situ observations in the area where presumably hazardous solar energetic particles are energized, ICARUS will provide fundamental advances in our capabilities to monitor and forecast the space radiation environment. Therefore, the results from the ICARUS mission will be extremely crucial for future space explorations, especially for long-term crewed space missions.
A television tube is a useful way to record a many-element picture such as is obtained from an echelle spectrograph. The signal on the tube target is scanned and relayed to the data-processing center where it must be reconstituted into the scene that was present in the focal plane of the spectrograph camera. A typical television frame will contain four million bits of information which must be processed to remove transmission errors and random noise pulses, to remove periodic noise, to correct for optical and electrical distortion, to remove sensitivity variations across the face of the tube, to calibrate from the photoelectrons back to incident energy, and to provide a wavelength scale. Results of a study of these problems is presented.
There has been a recent revival of interest in the measurement of angular correlation of annihilation photons from the decay of positrons and positronium in gases. This revival has been stimulated by the possibility offered by the technique to shed new light on the apparently low positronium formation fraction in the heavier noble gases and to provide information on positronium quenching processes in gases such as oxygen. There is also the potential for learning about positronium slowing down in gases. This review focuses on experimental noble gas work and considers what new information has been, and may be, gained from these studies.