Development of limb volume measuring system

The mechanisms underlying the reductions in orthostatic tolerance associated with weightlessness are not well established. Contradictory results from measurements of leg volume changes suggest that altered venomotor tone and reduced blood flow may not be the only contributors to orthostatic intolerance. It is felt that a more accurate limb volume system which is insensitive to environmental factors will aid in better quantification of the hemodynamics of the leg. Of the varous limb volume techniques presently available, the ultrasonic limb volume system has proven to be the best choice. The system as described herein is free from environmental effects, safe, simple to operate and causes negligible radio frequency interference problems. The segmental ultrasonic ultrasonic plethysmograph is expected to provide a better measurement of limb volume change since it is based on cross-sectional area measurements

Adaptive torque-feedback based engine control

The aim of this study was to develop a self-tuning or adaptive SI engine controller using torque feedback as the main control variable, based on direct/indirect measurement and estimation techniques. The indirect methods include in-cylinder pressure measurement, ion current measurement, and crankshaft rotational frequency variation. It is proposed that torque feedback would not only allow the operating set-points to be monitored and achieved under wider conditions (including the extremes of humidity and throttle transients), but to actively select and optimise the set-points on the basis of both performance and fuel economy. A further application could allow the use of multiple fuel types and/or combustion enhancing methods to best effect. An existing experimental facility which comprised a Jaguar AJ-V8 SI engine coupled to a Heenan-Froude Dynamatic GVAL (Mk 1) dynamometer was adopted for this work, in order to provide a flexible distributed engine test system comprising a combined user interface and cylinder pressure monitoring system, a functional dynamometer controller, and a modular engine controller which is close coupled to an embedded PC has been created. The considerable challenges involved in creating this system have meant that the core research objectives of this project have not been met. Nevertheless, an open-architecture software and hardware engine controller and independent throttle controller have been developed, to the point of testing. For the purposes of optimum ignition timing validation and combustion knock detection, an optical cylinder pressure measurement system with crank angle synchronous sampling has been developed. The departure from the project’s initial aims have also highlighted several important aspects of eddy-current dynamometer control, whose closed-loop behaviour was modelled in Simulink to study its control and dynamic response. The design of the dynamometer real-time controller was successfully implemented and evaluated in a more contemporary context using an embedded digital controller.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceSchool of Mechanical & Systems EngineeringNewcastle UniversityGBUnited Kingdo

Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995)

The files on this record represent the various databases that originally composed the CD-ROM issue of "Abstracts on Radio Direction Finding" database, which is now part of the Dudley Knox Library's Abstracts and Selected Full Text Documents on Radio Direction Finding (1899 - 1995) Collection. (See Calhoun record https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/57364 for further information on this collection and the bibliography). Due to issues of technological obsolescence preventing current and future audiences from accessing the bibliography, DKL exported and converted into the three files on this record the various databases contained in the CD-ROM. The contents of these files are: 1) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_xls.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.xls: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format; RDFA_Glossary.xls: Glossary of terms, in Excel 97-2003 Workbookformat; RDFA_Biographies.xls: Biographies of leading figures, in Excel 97-2003 Workbook format]; 2) RDFA_CompleteBibliography_csv.zip [RDFA_CompleteBibliography.TXT: Metadata for the complete bibliography, in CSV format; RDFA_Glossary.TXT: Glossary of terms, in CSV format; RDFA_Biographies.TXT: Biographies of leading figures, in CSV format]; 3) RDFA_CompleteBibliography.pdf: A human readable display of the bibliographic data, as a means of double-checking any possible deviations due to conversion