High-resolution sonar DF system

One of the fundamental problems of sonar systems is the determination of the bearings of underwater sources/targets. The classical solution to this problem, the 'Conventional Beamformer', uses the outputs from the individual sensors of an acoustic array to form a beam which is swept across the search sector. The resolution of this method is limited by the beam width and narrowing this beam to enhance the resolution may have some practical problems, especially in low frequency sonar, because of the physical size of the array needed. During the past two decades an enormous amount of work has been done to develop new algorithms for resolution enhancements beyond that of the Conventional Beamformer. However, most of these methods have been based on computer simulations and very little has been published on the practical implementation of these algorithms. One of the main reasons for this has been the lack of hardware that can handle the relatively heavy computational load of these algorithms. However, there have been great advances in semiconductor and computer technologies in the last few years which have led to the availability of more powerful computational and storage devices. These devices have opened the door to the possibility of implementing these high-resolution Direction Finding (DF) algorithms in real sonar systems. The work presented in this thesis describes a practical implementation of some of the high-resolution DF algorithms in a simple sonar system that has been designed and built for this purpose. [Continues.

Transputer based control system for MTLRS

The Modular Transportable Laser Ranging Systems (MTLRS-1 and MTLRS-2) have been designed in the early eighties and have been in operation very successfully since 1984. The original design of the electronic control system was based on the philosophy of parallel processing, but these ideas could at that time only be implemented to a very limited extent. This present system utilizes two MOTOROLA 6800 8-bit processors slaved to a HP A-600 micro-computer. These processors support the telescope tracking system and the data-acquisition/formatting, respectively. Nevertheless, the overall design still is largely hardware oriented. Because the system is now some nine years old, aging of components increases the risk of malfunctioning and some components or units are outdated and not available anymore. The control system for MTLRS is now being re-designed completely, based on the original philosophy of parallel processing, making use of contemporary advanced electronics and processor technology. The new design aims at the requirements for Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) in the nineties, making use of the extensive operational experience obtained with the two transportable systems

WHOI acoustic telemetry project interim report 12/1/88 - 6/1/89

This interim report covers the progress of the acoustic telemetry project during the period 12/1/88 to 5/15/89. In general, the work followed the format specified in WHOI proposal No. 5674.1. The major exception was the deletion of the transmitter array development task and a corresponding funding decrease from $242,242 to$170,000. In addition, the period for the funding was extended to June 30, partly due to a two month delay in project startup. The telemetry project was centered around the construction, programming and testing of a digital receiver prototype capable of supporting future signal processing algorithms in real-time over ocean acoustic channels. The baseline receiver consists of a two-channel analog quadrature demodulator, and interface to a multiprocessor receiver for digital signal processing. The software developed includes routines for command and control of the analog demodulator, data handling and formatting, and minimal software to digitally implement an incoherent MFSK demodulator, synchronizer and data decoder. Data storage and display programs were also completed to facilitate the performance analysis of the unit during testing. The system was tested in Woods Hole harbor at data rates up to 4800 bits/sec. The acoustic channel was time-dispersive Rayleigh fading, and performance close to theoretical expectations was achieved. We are confident that the system error behavior is arising from channel-caused effects and known deficiencies in system performance, such as excessive synchronizer steady-state jitter.Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research under contract Number N00014-86-K-0751, and by the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc

Imaging system (INEL)

This progress report gives a brief description of the general automatic target recognition system algorithms developed for this project, and also summarizes the progress in fiscal 1991. An appendix discusses the proposed computer hardware for this system

Network control for a multi-user transputer-based system.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in EngineeringThe MC2/64 system is a configureable multi-user transputer- based system which was designed using a modular approach. The MC2/64 consists of MC2 Clusters which are connected using a modified Clos network. The MC2 Clusters were designed and realised as completely configurable modules using and extending an algorithm based on Eulerian cycles through a requested graph. This dissertation discusses the configuration algorithm and the extensions made to the algorithm for the MC2 Clusters. The total MC2/64 system is not completely configurable as a MC2 Cluster releases only a limited number of links for inter-cluster connections. This dissertation analyses the configurability of MC2/64, but also presents algorithms which enhance the usability of the system from the user's point of view. The design and the implementation of the network control software are also submitted as topics in this dissertation. The network control software must allow multiple users to use the system, but without them influencing each other's transputer domains. This dissertation therefore seeks to give an overview of network control problems and the solutions implemented in current MC2/64 systems. The results of the research done for this dissertation will hopefully aid in the design of future MC2 systems which will provide South Africa with much needed, low cost, high performance computing power.Andrew Chakane 201

Distributed memory diesel engine simulation using transputers

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX93556 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo