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Sampling, quantization, and channel errors in differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) systems are considered and compared to results obtained with standard pulse-code modulation (PCM) systems. DPCM and PCM are compared for three different reconstruction filters. The optimum prediction coefficient is shown to depend on the channel noise.-
System performance is determined for an optical communication system using noncoherent detection in the presence of tracking error induced signal fading assuming (1) binary on-off modulation (OOK) with both fixed and adaptive threshold receivers, and (2) binary polarization modulation (BPM). BPM is shown to maintain its inherent 2- to 3-dB advantage over OOK when adaptive thresholding is used, and to have a substantially greater advantage when the OOK system is restricted to a fixed decision threshold.
Summary of the most important results so far obtained in the theory of coding for the correction and detection of errors in computer arithmetic. Attempts to satisfy the stringent reliability demands upon the arithmetic unit are considered, and special attention is given to attempts to incorporate redundancy into the numbers themselves which are being processed so that erroneous results can be detected and corrected.
Method reduces quantization errors using new digital circuit. Circuit provides very high resolution (10 to the minus 2nd power to 10 to the minus 3rd power Hz) without high-speed counters. It lends itself to microminaturization and is simple to construct. Unknown frequency is compared to standard frequency by means of zero-crossing coincidence-detecting circuit.
A determination is presented of the ionospheric refraction correction requirements for the Goddard range and range rate (GRARR) S-band, modified S-band, very high frequency (VHF), and modified VHF systems. The relation ships within these four systems are analyzed to show that the refraction corrections are the same for all four systems and to clarify the group and phase nature of these corrections. The analysis is simplified by recognizing that the range rate is equivalent to a carrier phase range change measurement. The equation for the range errors are given.
A condition for the Gateaux differentiability of the probability of misclassification as a function of a feature selection matrix B, assuming a maximum likelihood classifier and normally distributed populations, is given. It is also shown that if the probability of error has a local minimum at B then it is differentiable at B.
A method has previously been developed to satisfy terminal rendezvous and intermediate timing constraints for planetary missions involving orbital operations. The method uses impulse factoring in which a two-impulse transfer is divided into three or four impulses which add one or two intermediate orbits. The periods of the intermediate orbits and the number of revolutions in each orbit are varied to satisfy timing constraints. Techniques are developed to retarget the orbital transfer in the presence of orbit-determination and maneuver-execution errors. Sample results indicate that the nominal transfer can be retargeted with little change in either the magnitude (Delta V) or location of the individual impulses. Additonally, the total Delta V required for the retargeted transfer is little different from that required for the nominal transfer. A digital computer program developed to implement the techniques is described.
An algorithm is presented which is able to locate isolated bad points and correct them without contaminating the rest of the good data. This work has been greatly influenced and motivated by what is currently done in the manual loft. It is not within the scope of this work to handle small random errors characteristic of a noisy system, and it is therefore assumed that the bad points are isolated and relatively few when compared with the total number of points. Motivated by the desire to imitate the loftsman a visual experiment was conducted to determine what is considered smooth data. This criterion is used to determine how much the data should be smoothed and to prove that this method produces such data. The method utimately converges to a set of points that lies on the polynomial that interpolates the first and last points; however convergence to such a set is definitely not the purpose of our algorithm. The proof of convergence is necessary to demonstrate that oscillation does not take place and that in a finite number of steps the method produces a set as smooth as desired.
On the basis of experimental research, an analysis was carried out of the effect of certain errors in manufacture of straight-barrel slots on the noise characteristics of gear drives. In carrying out the experiments, the gear crowns of the test wheels were held immovable, and only the geometric dimensions of the slots and the mutual locations of the individual elements were varied. The investigation of the effect of each factor was carried out under otherwise equal conditions, on 34:56 cog ratio gear pairs (m = 2mm), made of 40 C steel, with a gear crown accuracy of 7 X, machining fineness 7, at a speed v = 7.1 m/sec. The number of slots was 6. The clearance in slot pairs in dimension D, equal to 0.015, 0.05, 0.08 and 0.110 mm, was obtained by change in the outer diameter of the spindle by means of polishing. The results of the tests of the experimental wheels showed that their noise level increases with increase in clearance.
Models of noise and dynamic characteristics of gyro and autocollimator for very small signal levels are presented. Measurements were evaluated using spectral techniques for identifying noise from base motion. The experiment was constructed to measure the precession, due to relativistic effects, of an extremely precise earth-orbiting gyroscope. The design goal for nonrelativistic gyro drift is 0.001 arcsec per year. An analogous fixed base simulator was used in developing methods of instrument error modeling and performance evaluation applicable to the relativity experiment sensors and other precision pointing instruments. Analysis of autocollimator spectra uncovered the presence of a platform gimbal resonance. The source of resonance was isolated to gimbal bearing elastic restraint properties most apparent at very small levels of motion. A model of these properties which include both elastic and coulomb friction characteristics is discussed, and a describing function developed.
The earth physics satellite systems error analysis program was applied to the problem of predicting the relative accuracy of station position determinations under varying orbital and observing geometries. The reference case consists of nine ground stations extending over 1500 km which lasers ranged to a LAGEOS satellite, with simultaneous Doppler tracking from a geosynchronous satellite for 16 days. Eleven variations from the reference case were tested. The results showed little sensitivity to whether the LAGEOS altitude is 3700 or 5690 km. More significant were the high inclination, and that LAGEOS was tracked by a geosynchronous satellite.
Installation practices are recommended that will increase rate of heat exchange between the thermometric sensing element and the cryogenic fluid and that will reduce the rate of undesired heat transfer to higher-temperature objects. Formulas and numerical data are given that help to estimate the magnitude of heat-conduction errors and of time lag in response.
Least squares adjustment problems are considered in which the condition equations are nonlinear in both the observations and the adjustment parameters ('unknowns'). A solution algorithm is presented which takes into account the second (as well as the first) order derivatives in the adjustment residuals (observation errors) and the corrections to the initially available approximations to the adjustment parameters. The inclusion of second-order terms in the adjustment residuals is necessary whenever the adjustment residuals themselves cannot be regarded as negligible as compared to the adjustment parameters, i.e., whenever the linearized condition equations would no longer be practically equivalent to the rigorous ones. The consideration of second-order terms in the parameter corrections is completely independent of the second-order terms in the adjustment residuals.
The worst error performance of the sequential filter is compared with the performance of the batch filter which is still in general use in the deep space tracking. An approach phase of a spacecraft on a typical mission to the planet Mars is considered. The estimated parameters include the position and the speed of the spacecraft, nongravitational acceleration acting on the spacecraft, and the locations of the tracking stations.
Nonlinear behavior of phase-locked loops with rapidly varying phase error is examined by using computer phase-plane analysis. The phase variation is modeled by a sinusoidal function. Threshold loop parameters are presented for both sinusoidal and sawtooth phase comparators.
The reduction techniques used to process data from the pilot experiment of the second NASA atmospheric variability experiment (AVE IIP), which was conducted during a 24 hour period beginning at 1200 GMT on May 11, 1974, and ending at 1200 GMT on May 12, 1974 are described. Each step of the data handling process is described through the presentation of computer flow charts, programs, equations, and narrative. An error analysis of the final output is presented, and results of the AVE IIP reduction process are compared with results from the National Weather Service. The AVE IIP sounding data contain more detail than National Weather Service data, but the two data sets may be used together without difficulty.
Errors in interpolation and the choosing of the range of discreteness when making measurements in a hydrophysical field are discussed. Equations for optimum interpolating based on the theory of linear interpolation of stationary random sequences are presented; analogous equations are derived for the case of data collected at stations located at the apices of a right triangle.
Due to considerable difficulties of calculating L, B-coordinates, several simplified methods are currently used. The relative errors in L, B-coordinates calculated by approximate methods are given. It is suggested that different methods be used to calculate L, B-coordinates in the solution of various problems.