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At least 1,477 records · Page 82
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

Research on enhancing the utilization of digital multispectral data and geographic information systems in global habitability studies

During 1986 to 1987, the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing (KARS) Program continued to build upon long-term research efforts oriented towards enhancement and development of technologies for using remote sensing in the inventory and evaluation of land use and renewable resources (both natural and agricultural). These research efforts directly addressed needs and objectives of NASA's Land-Related Global Habitability Program as well as needs of and interests of public agencies and private firms. The KARS Program placed particular emphasis on two major areas: development of intelligent algorithms to improve automated classification of digital multispectral data; and integrating and merging digital multispectral data with ancillary data in spatial modes.

Martinko, Edward A.↗
NASA NTRS1988

COSPAS/SARSAT 406-MHz emergency beacon digital controller

The digital control portion of a low-cost 406-MHz COSPAS/SARSAT emergency beacon has been designed and breadboarded at the NASA Lewis Research Center. This report discusses the requirements and design tradeoffs of the digital controller and describes the hardware and software design, which is available only to United States citizens and companies.

Ivancic, William D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A digitally implemented phase-locked loop detection scheme for analysis of the phase and power stability of a calibration tone

A digital phase-locked loop (PLL) scheme is described which detects the phase and power of a high SNR calibration tone. The digital PLL is implemented in software directly from the given description. It was used to evaluate the stability of the Goldstone Deep Space Station open loop receivers for Radio Science. Included is a derivative of the Allan variance sensitivity of the PLL imposed by additive white Gaussian noise; a lower limit is placed on the carrier frequency.

Densmore, A. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A class of optimum digital phase locked loops

This paper presents a class of optimum digital filters for digital phase locked loops, for the important case in which the maximum update rate of the loop filter and numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) is limited. This case is typical when the loop filter is implemented in a microprocessor. In these situations, pure delay is encountered in the loop transfer function and thus the stability and gain margin of the loop are of crucial interest. The optimum filters designed for such situations are evaluated in terms of their gain margin for stability, dynamic error, and steady-state error performance. For situations involving considerably high phase dynamics an adaptive and programmable implementation is also proposed to obtain an overall optimum strategy.

Kumar, R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The computation of pi to 29,360,000 decimal digits using Borweins' quartically convergent algorithm

The quartically convergent numerical algorithm developed by Borwein and Borwein (1987) for 1/pi is implemented via a prime-modulus-transform multiprecision technique on the NASA Ames Cray-2 supercomputer to compute the first 2.936 x 10 to the 7th digits of the decimal expansion of pi. The history of pi computations is briefly recalled; the most recent algorithms are characterized; the implementation procedures are described; and samples of the output listing are presented. Statistical analyses show that the present decimal expansion is completely random, with only acceptable numbers of long repeating strings and single-digit runs.

Bailey, David H.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A neurocomputer based on an analog-digital hybrid architecture

A novel analog-digital hybrid architecture based on the utilization of high density digital random access memories for the storage of the synaptic weights of a neural network, and high speed analog hardware to perform neural computation is described. An electronic neurocomputer based on such an architecture is ideally suited for investigating the dynamics, associative recall properties, and computational capabilities of neural networks and provides significant speed improvement in comparison to conventional software based neural network simulations. As a demonstration of the feasibility of the hybrid architectural concept, a prototype breadboard hybrid neurocomputer system with 32 neurons has been designed and fabricated with off-the-shelf hardware components. The performance of the breadboard system has been tested for variety of applications including associative memory and combinatorial problem solving such as Graph Coloring, and is discussed in this paper.

Moopenn, A.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Digital control of wind tunnel magnetic suspension and balance systems

Digital controllers are being developed for wind tunnel magnetic suspension and balance systems, which in turn permit wind tunnel testing of aircraft models free from support interference. Hardware and software features of two existing digital control systems are reviewed. Some aspects of model position sensing and system calibration are also discussed.

Britcher, Colin P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Developing tools for digital radar image data evaluation

The refinement of radar image analysis methods has led to a need for a systems approach to radar image processing software. Developments stimulated through satellite radar are combined with standard image processing techniques to create a user environment to manipulate and analyze airborne and satellite radar images. One aim is to create radar products for the user from the original data to enhance the ease of understanding the contents. The results are called secondary image products and derive from the original digital images. Another aim is to support interactive SAR image analysis. Software methods permit use of a digital height model to create ortho images, synthetic images, stereo-ortho images, radar maps or color combinations of different component products. Efforts are ongoing to integrate individual tools into a combined hardware/software environment for interactive radar image analysis.

Domik, G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Digital identification of cartographic control points

Techniques have been developed for the sub-pixel location of control points in satellite images returned by the Voyager spacecraft. The procedure uses digital imaging data in the neighborhood of the point to form a multipicture model of a piece of the surface. Comparison of this model with the digital image in each picture determines the control point locations to about a tenth of a pixel. At this level of precision, previously insignificant effects must be considered, including chromatic aberration, high level imaging distortions, and systematic errors due to navigation uncertainties. Use of these methods in the study of Jupiter's satellite Io has proven very fruitful.

Gaskell, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Assessment Of Digital Control For Helicopters

Report provides assessment of digital electronic flight-control technology for advanced helicopters intended for use in combat. Reviews state of art of high-bandwidth digital flight-control systems for airplanes, with emphasis on topics of concern for development of such systems for modern combat helicopters.

Tischler, M. B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Measuring Airflow With Digital Holographic Interferometry

Digital image-processing system assists in analysis of holographic interferometric images of flow about airfoil. Operating semiautomatically, identifies, counts, and labels interference fringes, then processes distances between fringes into distribution of pressure on surface of airfoil. Yields data on pressure faster than manual image-analyses techniques, and data compares favorably with those obtained by manual analysis and by probe measurements of pressure. Uses computer programs evaluating interferograms along straight or curved lines represented by polygon segments. User prompted for such inputs as reference points and fringe number. Digitizes holographic interferograms of flow and processes them into data of pressure or other properties of flow.

Torres, Francisco J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Quadruplex digital flight control system assessment

Described are the development and validation of a double fail-operational digital flight control system architecture for critical pitch axis functions. Architectural tradeoffs are assessed, system simulator modifications are described, and demonstration testing results are critiqued. Assessment tools and their application are also illustrated. Ultimately, the vital role of system simulation, tailored to digital mechanization attributes, is shown to be essential to validating the airworthiness of full-time critical functions such as augmented fly-by-wire systems for relaxed static stability airplanes.

Mulcare, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A digital beacon receiver

A digital satellite beacon receiver is described which provides measurement information down to a carrier/noise density ratio approximately 15 dB below that required by a conventional (phase locked loop) design. When the beacon signal fades, accuracy degrades gracefully, and is restored immediately (without hysteresis) on signal recovery, even if the signal has faded into the noise. Benefits of the digital processing approach used include the minimization of operator adjustments, stability of the phase measuring circuits with time, repeatability between units, and compatibility with equipment not specifically designed for propagation measuring. The receiver has been developed for the European Olympus satellite which has continuous wave (CW) beacons at 12.5 and 29.7 GHz, and a switched polarization beacon at 19.8 GHz approximately, but the system can be reconfigured for CW and polarization-switched beacons at other frequencies.

Ransome, Peter D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Singular perturbations and time scales in the design of digital flight control systems

The results are presented of application of the methodology of Singular Perturbations and Time Scales (SPATS) to the control of digital flight systems. A block diagonalization method is described to decouple a full order, two time (slow and fast) scale, discrete control system into reduced order slow and fast subsystems. Basic properties and numerical aspects of the method are discussed. A composite, closed-loop, suboptimal control system is constructed as the sum of the slow and fast optimal feedback controls. The application of this technique to an aircraft model shows close agreement between the exact solutions and the decoupled (or composite) solutions. The main advantage of the method is the considerable reduction in the overall computational requirements for the evaluation of optimal guidance and control laws. The significance of the results is that it can be used for real time, onboard simulation. A brief survey is also presented of digital flight systems.

Naidu, Desineni S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Analog-to-digital conversion techniques for precision photometry

Three types of analog-to-digital converters are described: parallel, successive-approximation, and integrating. The functioning of comparators and sample-and-hold amplifiers is explained. Differential and integral linearity are defined, and good and bad examples are illustrated. The applicability and relative advantages of the three types of converters for precision astronomical photometric measurements are discussed. For most measurements, integral linearity is more important than differential linearity. Successive-approximation converters should be used with multielement solid state detectors because of their high speed, but dual slope integrating converters may be superior for use with single element solid state detectors where speed of digitization is not a factor. In all cases, the input signal should be tailored so that they occupy the upper part of the converter's dynamic range; this can be achieved by providing adjustable gain, or better by varying the integration time of the observation if possible.

Opal, Chet B.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The UW digital ozonesonde: Characteristics and flow rate calibration

During the austral springs of 1986 and 1987, a series of balloon soundings were conducted to characterize the temporal and vertical development of Antarctic ozone depletion using the electrochemical concentration cell method (ECC). An important part of this study was to perform correlative studies between ozone and aerosol particles. In order to facilitate these simultaneous measurements, a digital ozonesonde system was developed to interface with aerosol counters. The ozone measurements will be described herein. The ozonesonde modification was accomplished by converting the current output of the sonde to a frequency and adding this digital signal to the serial data stream of a Vaisala Corporation RS-80 radiosonde under microprocessor control. A number of advantages over the standard ozonesonde system currently in use are noted.

Harder, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Representation and matching of knowledge to design digital systems

A knowledge-based expert system is described that provides an approach to solve a problem requiring an expert with considerable domain expertise and facts about available digital hardware building blocks. To design digital hardware systems from their high level VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) representation to their finished form, a special data representation is required. This data representation as well as the functioning of the overall system is described.

Jones, J. U.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Planetary cartography in the next decade: Digital cartography and emerging opportunities

Planetary maps being produced today will represent views of the solar system for many decades to come. The primary objective of the planetary cartography program is to produce the most complete and accurate maps from hundreds of thousands of planetary images in support of scientific studies and future missions. Here, the utilization of digital techniques and digital bases in response to recent advances in computer technology are emphasized.

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