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Rocket borne measurements employing a double probe technique were used to gather evidence for the existence of electric fields in the auroral ionosphere having components parallel to the magnetic field direction. An analysis of possible experimental errors leads to the conclusion that no known uncertainties can account for the roughly 10 mV/m parallel electric fields that are observed.
A brief description of the electrical and mechanical instrument configuration, followed by an extensive discussion of laboratory tests and results are contained herein. This information is required to provide parameters for data reduction, and a basis for analysis of the measurement errors in data taken with this instrument.
The bit error rate (BER) performance analysis of a data communication system is generally based on the assumption that signal waveforms are ideal and hardware-induced distortion is absent. In a satellite communication system such distortion arises in the satellite transponder, as well as in the transmitter and receiver portions. NASA, which is in the process of developing its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), is very much interested in understanding the impact of numerous forms of hardware distortion that have been identified on BER performance. The present paper examines the cumulative impact of nine forms of distortion induced by the transponder on BPSK and QPSK signals. For the present analysis, the transmitter and receiver are assumed to operate in essentially ideal fashions. Computed results indicate that BPSK and QPSK performances are affected in substantially different manners, with QPSK generally more sensitive to a given form of distortion. Cumulative distortion effects are illustrated via computed performance curves.
In order to establish transmitter power and receiver sensitivity levels at frequencies above 10 GHz, the designers of earth-satellite telecommunication systems are interested in cumulative rain fade statistics at variable path orientations, elevation angles, climatological regions, and frequencies. They are also interested in establishing optimum space diversity performance parameters. In this work are examined the many elements involved in the employment of single non-attenuating frequency radars for arriving at the desired information. The elements examined include radar techniques and requirements, phenomenological assumptions, path attenation formulations and procedures, as well as error budgeting and calibration analysis. Included are the pertinent results of previous investigators who have used radar for rain attenuation modeling. Suggestions are made for improving present methods.
The second part of a theory for predicting the vibratory excitation of gear systems from fundamental descriptions of gear tooth elastic properties and deviations of tooth faces from perfect involute surfaces is presented. The first part of the theory provides expressions for the Fourier-series coefficients of the vibratory excitation, and this paper gives expressions for these Fourier-series coefficients in terms of easily interpreted gear tooth metrics that are readily evaluated from tooth-face measurements. Results are given for rectangular tooth-face contact regions using two-dimensional Legendre polynomial expansions of local tooth-pair stiffnesses and stiffness-weighted deviations of tooth faces from perfect involute surfaces. A rigorous transfer function approach is developed that permits separation of the effects of gear tooth errors and gear design parameters; the theory is applicable to helical and spur gears and is illustrated with measurements of tooth-spacing errors and tooth profiles obtained from a pair of spur gears.
Cumulative rain fade statistics are used by space communications engineers to establish transmitter power and receiver sensitivities for systems operating under various geometries, climates, and radio frequencies. Space-diversity performance criteria are also of interest. This work represents a review, in which are examined the many elements involved in the employment of single nonattenuating frequency radars for arriving at the desired information. The elements examined include radar techniques and requirements, phenomenological assumptions, path attenuation formulations and procedures, as well as error budgeting and calibration analysis. Included are the pertinent results of previous investigators who have used radar for rain-attenuation modeling. Suggestions are made for improving present methods.
The reviews, investigations, and analyses of the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) Spacecraft Tracking and Data Network (STDN) transponder are reviewed. Carrier lock detector performance for Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) dual-mode operation is discussed, as is the problem of predicting instantaneous frequency error in the carrier loop. Coastal loop performance analysis is critiqued and the static tracking phase error induced by thermal noise biases is discussed.
The cesium-vapor scalar and fluxgate vector magnetometers aboard the Magsat spacecraft, which has a twilight, sun-synchronous orbit with a 96.76-deg inclination, have together measured the earth's magnetic field magnitude to accuracies better than 2 nT, and the magnitude of each field component to better than 6 nT. The magnetometers are located at the end of a boom to isolate them from the effects of spacecraft fields, and an optical system was used to measure the attitude of the vector magnetometer and sun sensor at the boom relative to the two star cameras of the main spacecraft structure. The data gathered is available from the National Space Science Data Center in several formats and is currently undergoing analysis. Scalar and vector error budget values are given for the spacecraft's five error sources, which include the instrument, position and time errors, digitization noise, attitude errors, and spacecraft fields.
A demonstration of a new VLBI-based radio metric data type for interplanetary navigation has been conducted using the Voyager spacecraft on their approach to Saturn. Pseudo-range measurements from stations on intercontinental baselines were employed, in conjunction with interferometric observations of quasars, to obtain a precise measure of the spacecraft angular position. In addition to its high accuracy this technique requires significantly less station time than conventional range and Doppler and can be used in a downlink only mode. The paper describes the data type, acquisition system, and processing procedures. Anticipated measurement accuracy is established by analysis of various system error sources. Results obtained from Voyager observations are given to show that the system performance is in accordance with expectations.
Representative data spans covering a little more than a year since the LANDSAT-4 launch were analyzed to evaluate the flight performance of the satellite's horizon scanner. High frequency noise was filtered out by 128-point averaging. The effects of Earth oblateness and spacecraft altitude variations are modeled, and residual systematic errors are analyzed. A model for the predicted radiance effects is compared with the flight data and deficiencies in the radiance effects modeling are noted. Correction coefficients are provided for a finite Fourier series representation of the systematic errors in the data. Analysis of the seasonal dependence of the coefficients indicates the effects of some early mission problems with the reference attitudes which were computed by the onboard computer using star trackers and gyro data. The effects of sun and moon interference, unexplained anomalies in the data, and sensor noise characteristics and their power spectrum are described. The variability of full orbit data averages is shown. Plots of the sensor data for all the available data spans are included.
Since approximately 1979, it is known that galactic bulge X-ray sources are low-mass binary systems, and that the X-ray bursters are a subset of the bulge sources. Grindlay and Hertz (1983) reported on the close proximity (in four of twelve cases) of an X-ray burst source and a normal star. The two authors believe that these alignments are not coincidental. They suggest that the normal star is surviving giant in a disrupted globular cluster core, of which the X-ray source would also be a member. The present investigation has the objective to show that Grindlay and Hertz made an error in their statistical analysis of a factor of approximately 10. It is, thus, believed that there is insufficient evidence for the conclusion reported by Grindlay and Hertz. On the basis of the present investigation, it is concluded that there exists at present no statistically significant observational evidence that X-ray bursters, presently located outside globular clusters, were formed in globular clusters.
Accurate orbits are necessary for altimeter satellites for operational computation of sea surface heights and for the determination of any bias in the altimeter measurement. These satellites require high accuracy throughout the orbit, in general a difficult task due to gravity model, solar radiation pressure, and atmospheric drag effects. Extensive analysis has reduced such errors for Seasat only to the 50 cm level. For calibration purposes the use of such an orbit would require a very large number of tracks to reduce the error to the sub-10 cm level even if all passes had only random errors. Since altimeter calibration orbits require high accuracy only over a limited geographical area, the use of a ranging station, such as a laser tracker in the calibration area can provide the required accuracy. The Bermuda laser provided such orbits for Seasat, with satellite-station height accuracy estimated to be at the sub-3 cm level. Because the station height is accurately known, such orbits can also be used to test global orbit accuracies.
The mean zonal circulation for both the November and May campaigns are representative of early summer and winter conditions. The mean meridional flow in November was stable and typical of summer conditions at Adelaide. The conditions in May were, however, more variable and appeared to be changing significantly during the campaign. It is possible that there was a strong influence from a large scale wave which could account for the large meridional wind values observed. Overall, the mean tidal structures observed during the core periods were not significantly different from those observed in two-week intervals centered on the cores. In May both components show evidence for propagating components with 30 to 40 km vertical wavelengths. For the semidiurnal components, the phase structures show evidence for vertical propagation with apparent vertical wavelengths of the order of 50 km. The mean amplitudes for the semidiurnal components in May are close to the noise level. Typical errors from the harmonic analysis are + or - 1 to 2 ms(-1) in amplitude and + or - 0.5 hr in phase, but these are probably underestimates.
The Tricone subreflector assembly of the 64-m diameter antenna is supported from the apex of the quadripod by six flexure rods. The subreflector can be translated in the three orthogonal axes by jackscrews at the ends of each rod. The arrangement of the six rods is described and analysis of the position errors introduced by coupled translation is presented. The results indicate that negligible RF gain losses caused by axis-coupled translations (less than 0.05 dB) are possible at X-band (8.45 GHz) operation.
General procedures for software verification and validation are provided as a guide for managers, programmers, and analysts involved in software development. The verification and validation procedures described are based primarily on testing techniques. Testing refers to the execution of all or part of a software system for the purpose of detecting errors. Planning, execution, and analysis of tests are outlined in this document. Code reading and static analysis techniques for software verification are also described.
During the period June 1, 1986 through November 30, 1986, progress was made in the following areas: undetected error probability and throughput analysis of a concatenated coding scheme; capacity and cutoff rate analysis of concatenated codes; concatenated codes using bandwidth efficient trellis inner codes; bounds on the minimum free Euclidean distance of bandwidth efficient trellis codes; and construction of multidimensional bandwidth efficient trellis codes for use as inner codes in a concatenated coding system.
The mean-square error of reduced-order linear state estimators for continuous-time linear systems is investigated. Lower and upper bounds on the minimal mean-square error are presented. The bounds are readily computable at each time-point and at steady state from the solutions to the Ricatti and the Lyapunov equations. The usefulness of the error bounds for the analysis and design of reduced-order estimators is illustrated by a practical numerical example.
The results of an investigation of the performance of three basic precision pointing and tracking control subsystems considered for application to satellite to satellite optical communication missions are discussed. The three-control subsystems include: (1) gyro-stabilized, (2) mass-stabilized and (3) complementary filter. The sources of error included in the analysis included: (1) sensor noise from the optical detector, (2) host satellite baseframe vibrational noise and (3) frictional and bearing noise. The measured vibrational and disturbance data from the LANDSAT satellite was used to generate the power spectral density parameter needed to model the baseframe noise environments of the two satellites used for the evaluation. The results of the study indicate that the 1 microradian rms pointing and tracking accuracy may be achieved with either the gyro-stabilized or the complementary filter approach.