7,994 research outputs found
Distributed control of a fault tolerant modular multilevel inverter for direct-drive wind turbine grid interfacing
Modular generator and converter topologies are being pursued for large offshore wind turbines to achieve fault tolerance and high reliability. A centralized controller presents a single critical point of failure which has prevented a truly modular and fault tolerant system from being obtained. This study analyses the inverter circuit control requirements during normal operation and grid fault ride-through, and proposes a distributed controller design to allow inverter modules to operate independently of each other. All the modules independently estimate the grid voltage magnitude and position, and the modules are synchronised together over a CAN bus. The CAN bus is also used to interleave the PWM switching of the modules and synchronise the ADC sampling. The controller structure and algorithms are tested by laboratory experiments with respect to normal operation, initial synchronization to the grid, module fault tolerance and grid fault ride-through
Fiber-optic three axis magnetometer prototype development
The goal of this research program was to develop a high sensitivity, fiber optic, interferometric, three-axis magnetometer for interplanetary spacecraft applications. Dynamics Technology, Inc. (DTI) has successfully integrated a low noise, high bandwidth interferometer with high sensitivity metallic glass transducers. Also, DTI has developed sophisticated signal processing electronics and complete data acquisition, filtering, and display software. The sensor was packaged in a compact, low power and weight unit which facilitates deployment. The magnetic field sensor had subgamma sensitivity and a dynamic range of 10(exp 5) gamma in a 10 Hz bandwidth. Furthermore, the vector instrument exhibited the lowest noise level when only one axis was in operation. A system noise level of 1 gamma rms was observed in a 1 Hz bandwidth. However, with the other two channels operating, the noise level increased by about one order of magnitude. Higher system noise was attributed to cross-channel interference among the dither fields
Novel directed search strategy to detect continuous gravitational waves from neutron stars in low- and high-eccentricity binary systems
We describe a novel, very fast and robust, directed search incoherent method
for periodic gravitational waves (GWs) from neutron stars in binary systems. As
directed search, we assume the source sky position to be known with enough
accuracy, but all other parameters are supposed to be unknown. We exploit the
frequency-modulation due to source orbital motion to unveil the signal
signature by commencing from a collection of time and frequency peaks. We
validate our pipeline adding 131 artificial continuous GW signals from pulsars
in binary systems to simulated detector Gaussian noise, characterized by a
power spectral density Sh = 4x10^-24 Hz^-1/2 in the frequency interval [70,
200] Hz, which is overall commensurate with the advanced detector design
sensitivities. The pipeline detected 128 signals, and the weakest signal
injected and detected has a GW strain amplitude of ~10^-24, assuming one month
of gapless data collected by a single advanced detector. We also provide
sensitivity estimations, which show that, for a single- detector data covering
one month of observation time, depending on the source orbital Doppler
modulation, we can detect signals with an amplitude of ~7x10^-25. By using
three detectors, and one year of data, we would easily gain more than a factor
3 in sensitivity, translating into being able to detect weaker signals. We also
discuss the parameter estimate proficiency of our method, as well as
computational budget, which is extremely cheap. In fact, sifting one month of
single-detector data and 131 Hz-wide frequency range takes roughly 2.4 CPU
hours. Due to the high computational speed, the current procedure can be
readily applied in ally-sky schemes, sieving in parallel as many sky positions
as permitted by the available computational power
Attack Resilience and Recovery using Physical Challenge Response Authentication for Active Sensors Under Integrity Attacks
Embedded sensing systems are pervasively used in life- and security-critical
systems such as those found in airplanes, automobiles, and healthcare.
Traditional security mechanisms for these sensors focus on data encryption and
other post-processing techniques, but the sensors themselves often remain
vulnerable to attacks in the physical/analog domain. If an adversary
manipulates a physical/analog signal prior to digitization, no amount of
digital security mechanisms after the fact can help. Fortunately, nature
imposes fundamental constraints on how these analog signals can behave. This
work presents PyCRA, a physical challenge-response authentication scheme
designed to protect active sensing systems against physical attacks occurring
in the analog domain. PyCRA provides security for active sensors by continually
challenging the surrounding environment via random but deliberate physical
probes. By analyzing the responses to these probes, and by using the fact that
the adversary cannot change the underlying laws of physics, we provide an
authentication mechanism that not only detects malicious attacks but provides
resilience against them. We demonstrate the effectiveness of PyCRA through
several case studies using two sensing systems: (1) magnetic sensors like those
found wheel speed sensors in robotics and automotive, and (2) commercial RFID
tags used in many security-critical applications. Finally, we outline methods
and theoretical proofs for further enhancing the resilience of PyCRA to active
attacks by means of a confusion phase---a period of low signal to noise ratio
that makes it more difficult for an attacker to correctly identify and respond
to PyCRA's physical challenges. In doing so, we evaluate both the robustness
and the limitations of PyCRA, concluding by outlining practical considerations
as well as further applications for the proposed authentication mechanism.Comment: Shorter version appeared in ACM ACM Conference on Computer and
Communications (CCS) 201
Limb radiance inversion radiometer
Engineering and scientific objectives of the LRIR experiment are described along with system requirements, subassemblies, and experiment operation. The mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces between the LRIR experiment and the Nimbus F spacecraft are defined. The protoflight model qualification and acceptance test program is summarized. Test data is presented in tables to give an overall view of each test parameter and possible trends of the performance of the LRIR experiment. Conclusions and recommendations are included
Theoretical Analysis & Practical Implementation of a Super-Regenerative Receiver for Amplitude Modulated Radio Signals
The Super-Regenerative Receiver invented by Edwin Armstrong in 1922 provides simple but effective reception and amplification of modulated radio signals. Despite its age and the increased complexity of communication systems over the years, Super-Regenerative Receivers still find use in various specialized applications due to the simplicity and low-power consumption of the design. This paper aims to provide a thorough mathematical analysis of Super-Regenerative Receivers applied to both a system level model and an electrical band pass circuit while offering a practical implementation for receiving amplitude modulated signals to be compared with simulated results
Automatic controls and regulators: A compilation
Devices, methods, and techniques for control and regulation of the mechanical/physical functions involved in implementing the space program are discussed. Section one deals with automatic controls considered to be, essentially, start-stop operations or those holding the activity in a desired constraint. Devices that may be used to regulate activities within desired ranges or subject them to predetermined changes are dealt with in section two
Design, fabrication and test of a 4750 Newton-meter-second double Gimbal control moment gyroscope
The development of a prototype Control Moment Gyroscope (CMG) is discussed. Physical characteristics and the results of functional testing are presented to demonstrate the level of system performance obtained. Particular attention is given to how the man-rated mission requirement influenced the choice of the materials, fabrication, and design details employed. Comparisons are made of the measured system responses against the prediction generated by computer simulation
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