Browse Topic: Cartography

Items (190)

Research on Automatic Joint Calibration Method of Multi 3D-LIDARs and Inertial Measurement Unit

2021-01-007004/06/2021

In the field of automatic driving, the combination of 3D LIDAR and inertial measurement unit (IMU) is a common sensor configuration scheme in laser point-cloud localization, high-precision map making and point-cloud target detection. So it is critical to calibrate LIDAR and IMU accurately. At present, due to the large volume and high cost of 3D LIDAR with high-line-number(Such as 64 lines or 128 lines), the configuration scheme of using multiple low-line-number 3D LIDARs appears in the automatic driving vehicle sensing system. However, the common calibration methods are not suitable for multi 3D LIDARs and IMU parameters calibration on autonomous vehicle, which have the disadvantages of cumbersome implementation and low accuracy. In this paper, a joint calibration test platform composed of dual LIDARs and IMU is assembled, and a method of precise automatic calibration based on GPS/RTK data is proposed. Firstly, the initial parameters of the main 3D LIDAR and IMU are obtained by hand

Zhang, Jinghua, He, Rui, Wu, Jian, Li, Shuai, Chen, Xuesong, Du, Zhiqiang, Chen, Guosheng, Chen, Zhicheng

ONav and GeoPixel™ Web-Based Navigation for the Collection of Aerial Imagery

TBMG-3747008/01/2020

ONav is a heads-up navigation display for pilots for coastal imagery acquisition. The system is built on the Linux operating system (Debian) and utilizes a number of open-source tools and data sources.

Characterizing Richness of Previously Unmapped Terrain and its Impact on Navigation Using 3D Range Sensors

TBMG-3684205/01/2020

Landers to large planetary bodies such as Mars typically use a secondary reconnaissance spacecraft to generate high-fidelity 3D terrain maps that are subsequently used for landing site selection and creating onboard maps for terrain-relative navigation systems. This luxury does not exist with small primitive bodies such as comets and asteroids. For these bodies, the landing spacecraft has to perform the 3D mapping and, with possible help from ground control, choose a feasible landing site. To enable this operation, the spacecraft would need to carry a 3D ranging sensor system such as a LiDAR. With the spacecraft placed in extended mapping orbits, 3D range measurement data is then used to create a shape model of the object. Terrain-based navigation schemes that employ cameras could then be used to image, detect, match, and track features against the map database to provide a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) navigation solution during descent. Camera-based systems, however, are not robust to

Mobile Rugged Displays for Situational Awareness

TBMG-3528010/01/2019

With the constant emergence of new display technologies in the consumer sector, it is important for program managers and engineers in the military markets to be aware of how several of these advances can be incorporated into new military programs to achieve maximum benefit. Additionally, as older programs present themselves for technological refreshes, it is imperative to understand the difference in display specifications from previous decades and how updated technology provides avenues for their evolution and continued progress.

Bringing Human-Like Reasoning to Driverless Car Navigation

TBMG-3477207/01/2019

With the aim of bringing more human-like reasoning to autonomous vehicles, MIT researchers have created a system that uses only simple maps and visual data to enable driverless cars to navigate routes in new, complex environments.

Quantum Radio Aids Communications and Mapping

TBMG-3416404/01/2019

GPS signals do not penetrate very deeply or at all in water, soil, or building walls, and therefore can’t be used by submarines or in underground activities such as surveying mines. GPS also may not work well indoors or even outdoors among city skyscrapers. For soldiers, radio signals may be blocked in environments cluttered by rubble or many interfering electromagnetic devices during military or disaster recovery missions.

Data Compression and Pattern Recognition Software for Hypersensor Data

TBMG-2818801/01/2018

Historically, there have been various approaches to problems relating to the detection of small, weak, or hidden objects, substances, or patterns embedded in complex backgrounds. One approach has been to use low-dimensional sensor systems that attempt to detect a clean signature of a well-known target in some small, carefully chosen subset of all possible attributes, e.g., one or a few spectral bands. These systems generally have difficulty when the target signature is heavily mixed in with other signals, so they typically can detect subpixel targets or minority chemical constituents of a mixture only under ideal conditions, if at all.

Evolving and Controlling Behaviors in a Computation-Free Robot Swarm

TBMG-2819301/01/2018

Flocks of birds, schools of fish, and colonies of ants exhibit a remarkable robustness and resilience, despite the limited capabilities of each individual. Recently, research into bio-inspired swarm robotics has been gaining popularity due to the low-cost, robust, redundant, and distributed nature of swarms. Potential applications for robot swarms include search and rescue, construction, and chemical spill cleanup, as well as nano-medical applications such as finding tumors. Many of these applications would benefit from simple, cheap, disposable swarms of robots that can accomplish these tasks quickly and without much human supervision.

Aerospace & Defense Technology: October 2017

17AERP1010/01/2017

Using Thermal Simulation to Model the Effects of Wind on the Mars Curiosity Rover Quality and Validation of Digital Designs for Aerospace and Defense Scaling LiDAR Optical Payloads from Drones to Miniature UAVs Using Sintered Fiber Metal Composites for Aircraft Acoustic Attenuation GaN Breaks Barriers RF Power Amplifiers Go Wide and High Test System Ensures Flawless Performance of Military RF Devices The Impact of Video Compression on Remote Cardiac Pulse Measurement Using Imaging Photoplethysmography Remote physiological measurement technique leverages digital cameras to recover the blood volume pulse from the human body. Sensitivity Simulation of Compressed Sensing Based Electronic Warfare Receiver Using Orthogonal Matching Pursuit Algorithm Calculate the sensitivity of a CS based EW receiver using two modulation schemes. Initial Validation of Ballistic Shock Accelerometers A Test Operations Procedure (TOP) describing methods and instrumentation used in the initial validation of

Aircraft Configured for Flight in an Atmosphere Having Low Density

TBMG-2649903/01/2017

NASA Langley Research Center researchers have developed an airplane capable of being stowed in a confined volume and deployed in a high-altitude environment for extended-duration flight operations in a low-density atmosphere. Engineers, scientists, and end users can take advantage of this innovation that provides previously unattainable high-altitude flight operations. The airplane is delivered to a specified altitude folded in a container or rocket. Once released, the plane unfolds and executes a pull-up maneuver to stabilize altitude. In addition, the current suite of onboard scientific instrumentation includes magnetometers, a mass spectrometer, and variable-use cameras. NASA is seeking market insights on commercialization of the new airplane design, and welcomes interest from potential producers, users, and licensees.

Detection and Characterization of Recurring Slope Lineae

TBMG-2605012/01/2016

Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are low-albedo features that appear and disappear seasonally on Martian slopes. They provide distinct surface markers that are thought to result from the activity of subsurface water. Reliable characterizations of RSL activity are needed to test this hypothesis. RSL are of high scientific interest, and could inform future mission planning priorities beyond sample return.

Methods of Real-Time Image Enhancement of Flash LIDAR Data and Navigating a Vehicle Using Flash LIDAR Data

TBMG-2514008/01/2016

NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed 3D imaging technologies (Flash LIDAR) for real-time terrain mapping and synthetic vision-based navigation. To take advantage of the information inherent in a sequence of 3D images acquired at video rates, NASA Langley has also developed an embedded image-processing algorithm that can simultaneously correct, enhance, and derive relative motion by processing this image sequence into a high-resolution 3D synthetic image. Traditional scanning LIDAR techniques generate an image frame by raster scanning an image one laser pulse per pixel at a time, whereas Flash LIDAR acquires an image much like an ordinary camera, generating an image using a single laser pulse. The benefits of the Flash LIDAR technique and the corresponding image-to-image processing enable autonomous vision-based guidance and control for robotic systems. The current algorithm offers up to eight times image resolution enhancement, as well as a 6-degree-of-freedom state vector of

Simulation of Atmospheric Turbulence for Wind-Tunnel Tests on Full-Scale Light-Duty Vehicles

2016-01-158304/05/2016

During the past year, a novel turbulence generation system has been commissioned in the National Research Council (NRC) 9 m Wind Tunnel. This system, called the Road Turbulence System was developed to simulate with high fidelity the turbulence experienced by a heavy duty vehicle on the road at a geometrical scale of 30%. The turbulence characteristics that it can simulate were defined based on an extensive field measurement campaign on Canadian roads for various conditions (heavy and light traffic, topography, exposure) at heights above ground relevant not only for heavy duty vehicles but also for light duty vehicles. In an effort to improve continually the simulation of the road conditions for aerodynamic evaluations of ground vehicles, a study was carried out at NRC to define the applicability of the Road Turbulence System to aerodynamic testing of full-scale light duty vehicles. Using the on-road measurements as a guide, it was concluded that the RTS appears to provide a more

McAuliffe, Brian R., Wall, Alanna, Larose, Guy

Fabrication of an Integrated Photonic Waveguide Joint in Micromachined Silicon

TBMG-2425504/01/2016

High-aspect-ratio silicon structures are necessary components in many MEMS (microelectromechanical systems). Aspect ratio is defined as the ratio of the height of the structure to its lateral width. The structures are typically fabricated through bulk micromachining steps such as deep reactive ion etching. In some cases, multiple levels of high-aspect-ratio structures are required. For instance, one may want to etch completely through a silicon wafer to thermally isolate a bolometer or provide waveguide coupling to an antenna defined on an insulating membrane, and at the same time have integrated high-topology structures required for microwave coupling or filtering. Definition of the structures typically uses photolithographic technology. But for high-aspect-ratio structures, spin cast resist becomes difficult to incorporate due to the non-uniform thickness of the resist around tall structures. One can cast very thick layers of photoresist, but this limits the minimum feature size, and

A 16-Beam, Non-Scanning, Swath-Mapping Laser Altimeter Instrument

11/01/2015

The purpose of this work was to develop and demonstrate technologies for a next-generation, efficient, swath-mapping space laser altimeter. The Lidar Surface Topography (LIST) mission concept allows simultaneous measurements of 5-meter-spatial-resolution topography and vegetation vertical structure with decimeter vertical precision in an elevationimaging swath several kilometers wide from a 400-km-altitude Earth orbit. To advance and demonstrate needed technologies for the LIST mission, the Airborne LIST Simulator (ALISTS) pathfinder instrument was developed. ALISTS is a micropulse, single photon-sensitive waveform recording system based on a new and highly efficient laser measurement approach utilizing emerging laser transmitter and detector technologies.

NASA Vision Workbench (VWB) v3

07/01/2015

VWB is a modular, extensible computer vision framework that supports tasks including automated science and engineering analysis, large satellite image processing, and 2D/3D environment reconstruction. The framework provides a rapid C++ development environment as well as a flexible, multi-platform system to deploy computer vision applications. The module interface allows new capabilities to be rapidly integrated, and a dataflow architecture allows image processing pipelines to be quickly developed and reconfigured.

Neo-Geography Toolkit (NGT) v2

06/01/2015

The Neo-Geography Toolkit (NGT) is a collection of open-source software tools for the automated processing of geospatial data, including images and maps. It can process raw raster data from remote sensing instruments and transform it into useful cartographic products such as visible image base maps, topographic models, etc. It can also perform data processing on extremely large geospatial data sets (up to several tens of terabytes) via parallel processing pipelines. Finally, it can transform raw metadata, vector data, and geo-tagged datasets into standard Neo-Geography data formats such as KML.

Electronic Warfare Technology

TBMG-2188104/01/2015

Military electronic warfare (EW) systems including navigation, radar guidance, terrain mapping and others, require lightweight compact components, with radio frequency (RF) output power levels to several kilowatts typically needed to meet system requirements. As GaN transistor technology advances in frequency and power output, solid state power amplifiers (SSPAs) have begun replacing traveling wave tubes (TWTs) at frequencies up to 6 GHz. The utilization of this technology results in a lower cost and greater efficiency over the life of a product.

Military Technologies for Improving Efficiency & Safety in Off-Road Commercial Vehicles

2014-01-239809/30/2014

Off-road commercial vehicles many times have to work at remote areas in poor working conditions like reduced visibility due to fog, snow, inadequate ambient lighting, dust etc. They may not have any access to emergency facilities in such places. Challenging geographical terrains and adverse weather conditions makes the situation worse. The combination of both can further degrade working conditions. The operator may need to either work or guide his vehicle through tight places or in hilly areas having such conditions. That imposes many challenges to operator in terms of efficiency & safety of both operator & vehicle. In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency operator may miss to look at safety aspects consequently, leading to accidents that can incur heavy losses due to damages to vehicle further delaying the work. It can even lead to a life threatening emergency in some cases. On the other hand, decrease in efficiency results in increased cost of operation due to unnecessary

Statistical Analysis of Impacts of Surface Topography on Brake Squeal in Disc-Pad System

2014-01-002704/01/2014

A disc-pad system is established to study impacts of surface topography on brake squeal from the perspective of statistical analysis. Firstly, surface topographies of brake disc and pad are precisely measured on the scale of micron and are statistically analyzed with a three-dimensional evaluation system. Secondly, the finite element model of brake disc and pad without surface topographies is created and verified through component free modal tests. Thereby the valid brake squeal model for complex modal analysis is built with ABAQUS. An effective method is developed to apply interface topographies to the smooth contact model, which consequently establishes sixty brake squeal models with topographies. Thirdly, impacts of surface topography on brake squeal are studied through comparison and statistical analysis of prediction results with and without topographies. The analysis manifest that topography amplitudes and evaluation index deviations of brake pad far exceed those of the disc

Experimental Investigations of the Topography Dynamics in Brake Pads

2013-01-202709/30/2013

For more than a decade, investigations of the surface topography and chemical behavior of the boundary layer have been performed. This is of great importance for the understanding of friction, as it provides valuable insights into the dynamic processes that influence the brake pad's performance. The adaption of the boundary layer to a new load condition is of particular interest because it allows for the identification and description of mechanisms that influence macroscopically-observable effects, and quantities such as the coefficient of friction. It is possible to determine time constants that describe this process of adaption. The investigations discussed in this paper combine tribometer tests and optical investigations at the same time. Therefore, the measured coefficient of friction can be related to the observed surface topography of the brake pad. Using a scaled laboratory-tribometer eliminates the influence of the complete brake system and allows for a highly flexible design

Ostermeyer, Georg Peter, Wilkening, Lars

FPGA Vision Data Architecture

TBMG-1546801/01/2013

JPL has produced a series of FPGA (field programmable gate array) vision algorithms that were written with custom interfaces to get data in and out of each vision module. Each module has unique requirements on the data interface, and further vision modules are continually being developed, each with their own custom interfaces.

Wind-Driven Wireless Networked System of Mobile Sensors for Mars Exploration

TBMG-1547401/01/2013

A revolutionary way is proposed of studying the surface of Mars using a wind-driven network of mobile sensors: GOWON. GOWON would be a scalable, self-powered and autonomous distributed system that could allow in situ mapping of a wide range of environmental phenomena in a much larger portion of the surface of Mars compared to earlier missions. It could improve the possibility of finding rare phenomena such as “blueberries” or bio-signatures and mapping their occurrence, through random wind-driven search. It would explore difficult terrains that were beyond the reach of previous missions, such as regions with very steep slopes and cluttered surfaces. GOWON has a potentially long life span, as individual elements can be added to the array periodically. It could potentially provide a costeffective solution for mapping wide areas of Martian terrain, enabling leaving a long-lasting sensing and searching infrastructure on the surface of Mars.

Using Multispectral Imaging for Ecological Observations

TBMG-1536112/01/2012

With an airborne camera capable of making precise and detailed ecological observations, biologists at Applied Ecological Services (Brodhead, WI) are bringing satellite imagery closer to earth.

Extended Testability Analysis Tool

TBMG-1525512/01/2012

The Extended Testability Analysis (ETA) Tool is a software application that supports fault management (FM) by performing testability analyses on the fault propagation model of a given system. Fault management includes the prevention of faults through robust design margins and quality assurance methods, or the mitigation of system failures. Fault management requires an understanding of the system design and operation, potential failure mechanisms within the system, and the propagation of those potential failures through the system.

Process for Patterning Indium for Bump Bonding

TBMG-1526312/01/2012

An innovation was created for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor for integration of low-temperature detector chips with a silicon backshort and a silicon photonic choke through flip-chip bonding. Indium bumps are typically patterned using liftoff processes, which require thick resist. In some applications, it is necessary to locate the bumps close to high-aspect-ratio structures such as wafer through-holes. In those cases, liftoff processes are challenging, and require complicated and time-consuming spray coating technology if the high-aspect-ratio structures are delineated prior to the indium bump process. Alternatively, processing the indium bumps first is limited by compatibility of the indium with subsequent processing. The present invention allows for locating bumps arbitrarily close to multiple-level high-aspect-ratio structures, and for indium bumps to be formed without liftoff resist.

Machinery & Equipment Category Winner (Winner of an HP Workstation)

TBMG-1515611/01/2012

‘Soft X-Ray’ Detector Could Improve Breast Cancer Imaging

TBMG-1511111/01/2012

While clear imaging is extremely important in diagnosing breast cancer from mammograms, there is also concern about exposing the patient to too much radiation from repeated X-rays. But that may soon change, says Krishna Mandal, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Carolina (USC), Columbia, who led the team that built a new type of Xray detector that offers tremendous potential in breast cancer detection and treatment.

3D Visualization in Geospatial Analysis

TBMG-1470509/01/2012

The past decade has seen an explosion of observations from airborne and satellite-based multiand hyperspectral sensors, as well as from synthetic-aperture radar and LiDAR. Distilling useful information from this wealth of raw data is the domain of geospatial analysis, the collection of analytical, statistical, and heuristic methods for extracting information from georeferenced data. This information is important in serving the needs of a diverse set of industries including environmental conservation, oil and gas exploration, defense and intelligence, agriculture, coastal monitoring, forestry, and mining.

Antenna Calibration and Measurement Equipment

TBMG-1460309/01/2012

A document describes the Antenna Calibration & Measurement Equipment (ACME) system that will provide the Deep Space Network (DSN) with instrumentation enabling a trained RF engineer at each complex to perform antenna calibration measurements and to generate antenna calibration data. This data includes continuous-scan autoborebased data acquisition with all-sky data gathering in support of 4th order pointing model generation requirements. Other data includes antenna subreflector focus, system noise temperature and tipping curves, antenna efficiency, reports system linearity, and instrument calibration.

Reducing Machine Controller Design and Deployment

TBMG-1449908/01/2012

Machine design and deployment requires integration of various technologies such as controls, mechanics, vision, lasers, data acquisition, and software, to mention only a few. These mechatronic solutions usually target a specific purpose such as part manufacturing, marking, packaging, etc. Often the controller is a key focus in the design because it must connect and coordinate all of the processes on the machine. Using separate programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and motion controllers necessitates integration, which is costly and time-consuming. Using a single controller for the machine eliminates the need for integration and shortens design and deployment time and cost.

Thermal Analysis and Microhardness Mapping in Hybrid Laser Welds in a Structural Steel

TBMG-1430708/01/2012

The concept of combining a laser welding system with a conventional arc welding system (GTAW) was first proposed in order to improve the stability of the laser welding system and to allow greater flexibility in part fit-up. Prior research stated that using a YAG laser at a power of 3 kW, one was able to hybrid laser weld a 4-mm-thick aluminum alloy at a speed of 4 n/min. For a mild steel plate, butt welding at 1 m/min with 5 kW of 6-mm-thick plate was realized. Just as significantly as the weld speed was the ability to hybrid laser weld with gaps up to 1.5 mm in a plate 6 mm thick. The glass metal arc welding (GMAW) laser hybrid process can increase the gap bridging ability, i.e., it appreciably broadens the range of tolerances with regard to edge preparation quality. The arc’s energy input in the hybrid welding process also permits control of the cooling conditions. Via the keyhole, the laser beam brings about easier ignition of the arc, stabilization of the arc welding process, and

Iterative Transform Phase Diversity: An Image-Based Object and Wavefront Recovery

TBMG-1424708/01/2012

The Iterative Transform Phase Diversity algorithm is designed to solve the problem of recovering the wavefront in the exit pupil of an optical system and the object being imaged. This algorithm builds upon the robust convergence capability of Variable Sampling Mapping (VSM), in combination with the known success of various deconvolution algorithms. VSM is an alternative method for enforcing the amplitude constraints of a Misell-Gerchberg-Saxton (MGS) algorithm. When provided the object and additional optical parameters, VSM can accurately recover the exit pupil wavefront. By combining VSM and deconvolution, one is able to simultaneously recover the wavefront and the object.

Projection of Stabilized Aerial Imagery Onto Digital Elevation Maps for Geo-Rectified and Jitter-Free Viewing

TBMG-1425108/01/2012

As imagery is collected from an airborne platform, an individual viewing the images wants to know from where on the Earth the images were collected. To do this, some information about the camera needs to be known, such as its position and orientation relative to the Earth. This can be provided by common inertial navigation systems (INS). Once the location of the camera is known, it is useful to project an image onto some representation of the Earth. Due to the non-smooth terrain of the Earth (mountains, valleys, etc.), this projection is highly non-linear. Thus, to ensure accurate projection, one needs to project onto a digital elevation map (DEM). This allows one to view the images overlaid onto a representation of the Earth.

Motion-Capture-Enabled Software for Gestural Control of 3D Models

TBMG-1406107/01/2012

Current state-of-the-art systems use general-purpose input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, or joystick that map to tasks in unintuitive ways. This software enables a person to control intuitively the position, size, and orientation of synthetic objects in a 3D virtual environment. It makes possible the simultaneous control of the 3D position, scale, and orientation of 3D objects using natural gestures.

Development of High-Resolution Eddy Current Imaging Using an Electromechanical Sensor

TBMG-1391106/01/2012

An oscillating current flowing through a coil produces an oscillating magnetic field. When an electrically conducting material like a metal is brought close to the coil, the oscillating magnetic field produces eddy currents in the metallic material. The strength of the eddy current depends on the electrical conductivity of the material, the distance between the coil and the material, and the frequency of the excitation of the coil. The eddy currents in the electrical conductor produce a magnetic field opposing the magnetic field generated by the coil. The electrical impedance of the coil, placed in close proximity to a metal, is altered due to the eddy currents in the metal. Measurement of the change in the impedance is a method to determine the electrical conductivity of the metal.

How Digital “Sand Tables” Will Guide Future Military Strategy

TBMG-1394406/01/2012

Throughout history, the use of sand tables has been common practice in rehearsing military strategy in the field. Built on piles of sand with scale models of operational units, the sand table has provided a basic, yet effective means for war gaming. For the U.S. Army, however, the times are changing.

Image Mapping and Visual Attention on the Sensory Ego-Sphere

TBMG-1328104/01/2012

The Sensory Ego-Sphere (SES) is a short-term memory for a robot in the form of an egocentric, tessellated, spherical, sensory-motor map of the robot’s locale. Visual attention enables fast alignment of overlapping images without warping or position optimization, since an attentional point (AP) on the composite typically corresponds to one on each of the collocated regions in the images. Such alignment speeds analysis of the multiple images of the area.

Business Model for Successful Commercialization of Aircraft Designs

11VATC5040003/21/2012

In any new aircraft development program there are many important design decisions that determine profitability potential. The key to making new aircraft profitable is to design features that will command more money than the cost to provide them within the market's ability to absorb them. The business model in this paper shows how to predict or find: 1) the costs to provide various aircraft features; 2) the values that aircraft buyers place on these features; 3) the amount of money that buyers have to commit to them, 4) the open spaces in the market in which to place new designs and 5) the predicted profits from new designs. In this process, this paper extends previous work on the law of value and demand, which states that attributes determine value; value determines price; and that price determines demand. This four-dimensional, non-negative system hosts a business model that describes the features needed to enable aircraft designs to go from concepts to profitable assembly lines

Howarth, Douglas

Variable Sampling Mapping

TBMG-1280302/01/2012

The performance of an optical system (for example, a telescope) is limited by the misalignments and manufacturing imperfections of the optical elements in the system. The impact of these misalignments and imperfections can be quantified by the phase variations imparted on light traveling through the system. Phase retrieval is a methodology for determining these variations. Phase retrieval uses images taken with the optical system and using a light source of known shape and characteristics. Unlike interferometric methods, which require an optical reference for comparison, and unlike Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors that require special optical hardware at the optical system’s exit pupil, phase retrieval is an in situ, “image-based” method for determining the phase variations of light at the system’s exit pupil. Phase retrieval can be used both as an optical metrology tool (during fabrication of optical surfaces and assembly of optical systems) and as a sensor used in active, closed-loop

Lidar Luminance Quantizer

TBMG-1224212/01/2011

This innovation addresses challenges in lidar imaging, particularly with the detection scheme and the shapes of the detected signals. Ideally, the echoed pulse widths should be extremely narrow to resolve fine detail at high event rates. However, narrow pulses require wideband detection circuitry with increased power dissipation to minimize thermal noise. Filtering is also required to shape each received signal into a form suitable for processing by a constant fraction discriminator (CFD) followed by a time-to-digital converter (TDC). As the intervals between the echoes decrease, the finite bandwidth of the shaping circuits blends the pulses into an analog signal (luminance) with multiple modes, reducing the ability of the CFD to discriminate individual events.

Onboard Interferometric SAR Processor for the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn)

TBMG-1221612/01/2011

An interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) onboard processor concept and algorithm has been developed for the Ka-band radar interferometer (KaRIn) instrument on the Surface and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. This is a mission-critical subsystem that will perform interferometric SAR processing and multi-look averaging over the oceans to decrease the data rate by three orders of magnitude, and therefore enable the downlink of the radar data to the ground.

Technical Keynote: State-of-Art of Moire Method and Applications to Shape, Displacement and Strain Measurement

11VARWC20511/17/2011

Moir� method is useful to measure the shape and the whole-field distributions of displacement and strain of structures. There are many kinds of moir� methods such as geometric moir� method, sampling moir� method, Fourier transform moir� method, moir� interferometry, shadow moir� method and moir� topography. Grating method analyzing directly deformation of a grating without any moir� fringe pattern is considered as an extended technique of moire method. Phase analysis of the moire fringe patterns and the grating patterns provides accurate measurements of shapes or displacement and strain distributions. Some applications of these moir� methods and grating methods to dynamic shape and strain distribution measurements of a rotating tire, sub-millimeter displacement measurements from long distance for landslide prediction, real-time shape measurements with micro-meter order accuracy, etc. are shown. Presenter Yoshiharu Morimoto, Moire Institute Inc.

Morimoto, Yoshiharu

Blood Flow Imaging: The Move From Qualitative to Quantitative Measurement

TBMG-1191811/01/2011

In 1985, Kasai, Namekawa, Koyana, and Omoto published a paper titled “Real-Time Two-Dimensional Blood Flow Imaging Using an Autocorrelation Technique” that changed the world of ultrasound imaging forever [1]. Considered impossible before, color flow mapping (CFM) has since become a must for every ultrasound system and is used routinely by sonographers.

Creating 3D Terrain Maps from 2D Data

TBMG-1193411/01/2011

Disaster relief workers, border patrol officers, wildfire fighters, and many others need up-to-date information about what they will see when they enter an area, not just sketchy topographic maps that may be years out of date. For them, things change in a hurry, and high-resolution details may be critical to their mission success.

Spatially Resolved Temperatures in Inhomogeneous and Continuously Changing Disk Brake Interfaces

2011-01-234709/18/2011

Widely known is the fact that friction and wear characteristics of disk brakes are subject to pronounced temperature dependencies. For systems with organically bound brake pads, many thermally induced material changes can occur, ranging from degassing of the phenolic resin binder up to degradation of fibers and melting of metallic components. All these effects modulate the surface structure between pad and disk. They are a major contributor to friction layer dynamics [1] and directly influence the system's performance. Concerning the calculation of contact temperatures in disk brakes, several attempts have been made in the past. Most of them, however, use drastic assumptions (e.g. homogenous materials and ideal contact), which limit the results to qualitative approximations [2]. Recent studies already include the multi-material structure of brake pads. These give indications on how material mixtures must be changed, in order to modify contact temperatures into a certain direction [3

Bode, Kai, Ostermeyer, Georg-Peter

Monitoring Areal Snow Cover Using NASA Satellite Imagery

TBMG-1094009/01/2011

The objective of this project is to develop products and tools to assist in the hydrologic modeling process, including tools to help prepare inputs for hydrologic models and improved methods for the visualization of stream-flow forecasts. In addition, this project will facilitate the use of NASA satellite imagery (primarily snow cover imagery) by other federal and state agencies with operational streamflow forecasting responsibilities.

CCSDS Advanced Orbiting Systems Virtual Channel Access Service for QoS MACHETE Model

TBMG-1093009/01/2011

To support various communications requirements imposed by different missions, interplanetary communication protocols need to be designed, validated, and evaluated carefully. Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE), described in “Simulator of Space Communication Networks” (NPO-41373), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 8 (August 2005), p. 44, combines various tools for simulation and performance analysis of space networks. The MACHETE environment supports orbital analysis, link budget analysis, communications network simulations, and hardware- in-the-loop testing. By building abstract behavioral models of network protocols, one can validate performance after identifying the appropriate metrics of interest. The innovators have extended the MACHETE model library to include a generic link-layer Virtual Channel (VC) model supporting quality-of-service (QoS) controls based on IP streams.

Large Ka-Band Slot Array for Digital Beam-Forming Applications

TBMG-1072408/01/2011

This work describes the development of a large Ka Band Slot Array for the Glacier and Land Ice Surface Topography Interferometer (GLISTIN), a proposed spaceborne interferometric synthetic aperture radar for topographic mapping of ice sheets and glaciers. GLISTIN will collect ice topography measurement data over a wide swath with sub-seasonal repeat intervals using a Ka-band digitally beam-formed antenna.For technology demonstration purpose a receive array of size 1×1 m, consisting of 160×160 radiating elements, was developed. The array is divided into 16 sticks, each stick consisting of 160×10 radiating elements, whose outputs are combined to produce 16 digital beams. A transmit array stick was also developed. The antenna arrays were designed using Elliott’s design equations with the use of an infinite-array mutual-coupling model. A Floquet wave model was used to account for external coupling between radiating slots. Because of the use of uniform amplitude and phase distribution, the

Robotic Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Organ Growth

TBMG-1074708/01/2011

The aim of tissue engineering (TE) is to restore tissue and organ functions with minimal host rejection. TE is seen as a future solution to solve the crisis of donor organs for transplant, which faces a shortage expected only to increase in the future. In this innovation, a flexible and configurable scaffold has been conceived that mechanically stresses cells that are seeded on it, stimulating them to increased growth.

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