14,497 research outputs found
Small unmanned airborne systems to support oil and gas pipeline monitoring and mapping
Acknowledgments We thank Johan Havelaar, Aeryon Labs Inc., AeronVironment Inc. and Aeronautics Inc. for kindly permitting the use of materials in Fig. 1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Depth estimation of inner wall defects by means of infrared thermography
There two common methods dealing with interpreting data from infrared thermography: qualitatively and quantitatively. On a certain condition, the first method would be sufficient, but for an accurate interpretation, one should undergo the second one. This report proposes a method to estimate the defect depth quantitatively at an inner wall of petrochemical furnace wall. Finite element method (FEM) is used to model multilayer walls and to simulate temperature distribution due to the existence of the defect. Five informative parameters are proposed for depth estimation purpose. These parameters are the maximum temperature over the defect area (Tmax-def), the average temperature at the right edge of the defect (Tavg-right), the average temperature at the left edge of the defect (Tavg-left), the average temperature at the top edge of the defect (Tavg-top), and the average temperature over the sound area (Tavg-so). Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was trained with these parameters for estimating the defect depth. Two ANN architectures, Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) network were trained for various defect depths. ANNs were used to estimate the controlled and testing data. The result shows that 100% accuracy of depth estimation was achieved for the controlled data. For the testing data, the accuracy was above 90% for the MLP network and above 80% for the RBF network. The results showed that the proposed informative parameters are useful for the estimation of defect depth and it is also clear that ANN can be used for quantitative interpretation of thermography data
Darwin -— an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets
As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument
Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA)
The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) is a staged experiment to
measure 21 cm emission from the primordial intergalactic medium (IGM)
throughout cosmic reionization (), and to explore earlier epochs of our
Cosmic Dawn (). During these epochs, early stars and black holes
heated and ionized the IGM, introducing fluctuations in 21 cm emission. HERA is
designed to characterize the evolution of the 21 cm power spectrum to constrain
the timing and morphology of reionization, the properties of the first
galaxies, the evolution of large-scale structure, and the early sources of
heating. The full HERA instrument will be a 350-element interferometer in South
Africa consisting of 14-m parabolic dishes observing from 50 to 250 MHz.
Currently, 19 dishes have been deployed on site and the next 18 are under
construction. HERA has been designated as an SKA Precursor instrument.
In this paper, we summarize HERA's scientific context and provide forecasts
for its key science results. After reviewing the current state of the art in
foreground mitigation, we use the delay-spectrum technique to motivate
high-level performance requirements for the HERA instrument. Next, we present
the HERA instrument design, along with the subsystem specifications that ensure
that HERA meets its performance requirements. Finally, we summarize the
schedule and status of the project. We conclude by suggesting that, given the
realities of foreground contamination, current-generation 21 cm instruments are
approaching their sensitivity limits. HERA is designed to bring both the
sensitivity and the precision to deliver its primary science on the basis of
proven foreground filtering techniques, while developing new subtraction
techniques to unlock new capabilities. The result will be a major step toward
realizing the widely recognized scientific potential of 21 cm cosmology.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures, 2 table
Monolithically integrated InAsSb-based nBnBn heterostructure on GaAs for infrared detection
High operating temperature i
nfrared
photo
detectors
with multi
-color function
that are
capable of monolithic
integration
are of increasing importance
in developing the next
generation
of
mid
-IR
imag
e sensors.
Applications of these sensors
include defense, medical diagnosis, environmental and
astronomical observations.
We
have
investigated a novel
InAsSb
-based nBnBn heterostructure that combines a state
-of-art
InAsSb nBn detector with
an
InAsSb/GaSb heterojuncti
on
detector
. At room temperature, r
educti
on
in the dark current
density of more than an order of magnitude
was
achieved
compared to
previously investigated
InAsSb/GaSb heterojunction
dete
ctors
.
Electrical
characterization
from
cryogenic
temperatures to roo
m temperature
confirmed that the nBnBn
device was diffusion limited
for temperature
s above 150K. O
ptical
measurements
demonstrated that the
nBnBn detector
was
sensitive in
both
the
SWIR and MWIR wavelength range at
room
temperature
. The specific
detectivity
(D*)
of the competed nBnBn
devices
was calculated to be
8.6
×
10
8
cm
·
Hz
1/2
W
-1
at 300K and
approximately 1.0
×
10
10
cm
·
Hz
1/2
W
-1
when cooled down to 200K
(with
0.3V reverse bias
and 1550nm illumination
). In addition,
all
photodetector layers were
grown monolithically on GaAs active
layers u
sing the interfacial misfit
array
growth
mode
. Our results
therefore pave the way
for the development of
new active pixel
designs for monolithically integrated mid
-IR imaging arrays
- …