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At least 1,549 records · Page 86
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

High accuracy optical rate sensor

Optical rate sensors, in particular CCD arrays, will be used on Space Station Freedom to track stars in order to provide inertial attitude reference. An algorithm to provide attitude rate information by directly manipulating the sensor pixel intensity output is presented. The star image produced by a sensor in the laboratory is modeled. Simulated, moving star images are generated, and the algorithm is applied to this data for a star moving at a constant rate. The algorithm produces accurate derived rate of the above data. A step rate change requires two frames for the output of the algorithm to accurately reflect the new rate. When zero mean Gaussian noise with a standard deviation of 5 is added to the simulated data of a star image moving at a constant rate, the algorithm derives the rate with an error of 1.9 percent at a rate of 1.28 pixels per frame.

Uhde-Lacovara, J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The effect of the Earth's oblate spheroid shape on the accuracy of a time-of-arrival lightning ground strike locating system

The algorithm used in previous technology time-of-arrival lightning mapping systems was based on the assumption that the earth is a perfect spheroid. These systems yield highly-accurate lightning locations, which is their major strength. However, extensive analysis of tower strike data has revealed occasionally significant (one to two kilometer) systematic offset errors which are not explained by the usual error sources. It was determined that these systematic errors reduce dramatically (in some cases) when the oblate shape of the earth is taken into account. The oblate spheroid correction algorithm and a case example is presented.

Casper, Paul W.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Accuracy of the spectral and radiometric laboratory calibration of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)

The laboratory procedures, algorithms, measurements, and uncertainties associated with generation of the spectral and radiometric calibration of data acquired by AVIRIS are described. AVIRIS is an airborne sensor that obtains high-spatial-resolution image data of the earth in 224 spectral channels in four spectrometers covering the range from 400 to 2450 nm. The spectral calibration of AVIRIS agrees with the in-flight data to within two nanometers, and the absolute radiometric calibration is consistent with the in-flight verification to 10 percent over the spectral range. In-flight radiometric stability as measured by five consecutive passes over the surface calibration site is reported to be between three and five percent.

Chrien, Thomas G.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Influence of temperature gradients on the measurement accuracy of IR imaging systems

Implementing a new experimental aerodynamic technique, a long electrically heated wire was placed across flows with general velocity distributions (wakes, jets). By measuring the temperature distribution along the wire with an IR camera, the flow behavior was identified. Furthermore, it is suggested that by using Nusselt number correlations, the velocity distributions can be deduced. Comparing the results with predictions based on heat transfer correlations, it was found that the IR camera cannot accurately track high gradient temperature fields. A correction procedure is outlined to account for the errors found in the measured results.

Gartenberg, Ehud↗
NASA NTRS1991

Increased ephemeris accuracy using attitude-dependent aerodynamic force coefficients for inertially stabilized spacecraft

The FREEMAC program used to generate the aerodynamic coefficients, as well as associated routines that allow the results to be used in other software is described. These capabilities are applied in two numerical examples to the short-term orbit prediction of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spacecraft. Predictions using attitude-dependent aerodynamic coefficients were made on a modified version of the PC-based Ephemeris Generation Program (EPHGEN) and were compared to definitive orbit solutions obtained from actual tracking data. The numerical results show improvement in the predicted semi-major axis and along-track positions that would seem to be worth the added computational effort. Finally, other orbit and attitude analysis applications are noted that could profit from using FREEMAC-calculated aerodynamic coefficients, including orbital lifetime studies, orbit determination methods, attitude dynamics simulators, and spacecraft control system component sizing.

Folta, David C.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The ultimate quantum limits on the accuracy of measurements

A quantum generalization of rate-distortion theory from standard communication and information theory is developed for application to determining the ultimate performance limit of measurement systems in physics. For the estimation of a real or a phase parameter, it is shown that the root-mean-square error obtained in a measurement with a single-mode photon level N cannot do better than approximately N exp -1, while approximately exp(-N) may be obtained for multi-mode fields with the same photon level N. Possible ways to achieve the remarkable exponential performance are indicated.

Yuen, Horace P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

On the Gibbs phenomenon 1: Recovering exponential accuracy from the Fourier partial sum of a non-periodic analytic function

It is well known that the Fourier series of an analytic or periodic function, truncated after 2N+1 terms, converges exponentially with N, even in the maximum norm, although the function is still analytic. This is known as the Gibbs phenomenon. Here, we show that the first 2N+1 Fourier coefficients contain enough information about the function, so that an exponentially convergent approximation (in the maximum norm) can be constructed.

Gottlieb, David↗
NASA NTRS1992

ANS shell elements with improved transverse shear accuracy

A method of forming assumed natural coordinate strain (ANS) plate and shell elements is presented. The ANS method uses equilibrium based constraints and kinematic constraints to eliminate hierarchical degrees of freedom which results in lower order elements with improved stress recovery and displacement convergence. These techniques make it possible to easily implement the element into the standard finite element software structure, and a modified shape function matrix can be used to create consistent nodal loads.

Jensen, Daniel D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Global coordinates with centimeter accuracy in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame using GPS

Using 21 days of GPS data from 21 globally distributed receivers operating during early 1991, a 7-parameter transformation between a GPS free-network solution and coordinates of 12 stations listed in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) is solved. Standard errors of GPS coordinates are derived by applying an orthogonal projection operator to the free-network covariance. The weighted rms difference between 33 transformed GPS and ITRF coordinates is 12 mm in the Northern Hemisphere. Best results are obtained by mapping ITRF coordinates to the epoch of this experiment assuming no vertical site motions. Fixing selected sites in the GPS solution to ITRF '90 does not improve the agreement. It is concluded that the use of fiducial constraints is unnecessary for global networks.

Blewitt, Geoffrey↗
NASA NTRS1992

Mappings and accuracy for Chebyshev pseudo-spectral approximations

The effect of mappings on the approximation, by Chebyshev collocation, of functions which exhibit localized regions of rapid variation is studied. A general strategy is introduced whereby mappings are adaptively constructed which map specified classes of rapidly varying functions into low order polynomials which can be accurately approximated by Chebyshev polynomial expansions. A particular family of mappings constructed in this way is tested on a variety of rapidly varying functions similar to those occurring in approximations. It is shown that the mapped function can be approximated much more accurately by Chebyshev polynomial approximations than in physical space or where mappings constructed from other strategies are employed.

Bayliss, Alvin↗
NASA NTRS1993

High accuracy computation of fluid-structure interaction in transonic cascades

A coupling strategy for simulating fluid-structure interaction phenomena is formulated and applied to the prediction of flutter in transonic cascades. The flow is governed by the Euler equations and discretized using a finite volume flux-splitting scheme. The structure is modeled using an isoparametric finite element formulation. The coupling strategy successfully reconciles these two formulations at the fluid-structure interface by enforcing both kinematic and kinetic boundary conditions. In particular, the conservation laws applicable to the combined fluid-structure system are preserved across the interface. Since the primary mechanism driving aeroelastic phenomena involves energy exchange occurring at the interface, this highly accurate coupling mechanism is believed to improve the predictive capability of the scheme. The coupled equations are advanced simultaneously in time using an implicit time integration method. Results obtained using the coupling method are presented for cascade geometries operating in transonic flow.

Boschitsch, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1993

Postprocessing of satellite altimetry return signals for improved sea surface topography accuracy

Retracked southern ocean data from the first 34 repeat cycles of the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission are analyzed. The difference between the surface heights calculated from the retracked data and the original on-board estimate is less than 10 cm for significant wave heights (SWH) lower than 10 m but increases to about 1.0 m at an SWH of 18 m. The electromagnetic (EM) bias coefficient calculated using the retracked data is generally slightly less than that using the unretracked data and does not decrease as much with SWH as to the EM bias coefficients calculated from the unretracked data. A map of the sea surface height variability of the southern ocean created using the retracked data shows differences from variability maps created using the unretracked data in regions of high wave heights. This study shows that retracking will improve altimeter precision.

Brenner, A. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

On the accuracy of the Eddington approximation for radiative transfer in the microwave frequencies

The paper examines how well an Eddington approximation can reproduce brightness temperatures obtained from a more complete, N-stream discrete ordinate solution in the microwave regime. Radiation propagation through a plane parallel medium is considered. Although model discrepancies are complicated functions of the cloud constituents, the differences between an eight-stream discrete ordinate solution and an analytical Eddington solution were found to be generally small, ranging from 0 to 6 K when only one uniform layer of hydrometeors was considered. When realistic multilayered cloud hydrometeor profiles were used, the differences between these two models never exceeded 3 K over the entire range of microwave frequencies considered (6.6-183 GHz). The models agreed to within 0.2 K in the absence of scattering constituents.

Kummerow, Christian↗
NASA NTRS1993

Development of high-accuracy convection schemes for sequential solvers

An exploration is conducted of the applicability of such high resolution schemes as TVD to the resolving of sharp flow gradients using a sequential solution approach borrowed from pressure-based algorithms. It is shown that by extending these high-resolution shock-capturing schemes to a sequential solver that treats the equations as a collection of scalar conservation equations, the speed of signal propagation in the solution has to be coordinated by assigning the local convection speed as the characteristic speed for the entire system. A higher amount of dissipation is therefore needed to eliminate oscillations near discontinuities.

Thakur, Siddharth↗