Application of an Ultrasonic Sensor to Monitor Soil Erosion and Deposition

While erosion and deposition are naturally occurring processes, these processes can be accelerated by human influences. The acceleration of erosion causes damage to human assets and costs billions of dollars to mitigate. Monitoring erosion at high resolutions can provide researchers and managers the data necessary to help manage erosion. Current erosion monitoring methods tend to be invasive to the area, record low frequency measurements, have a narrow spatial range of measurement, or are very expensive. There is a need for an affordable monitoring system capable of monitoring erosion and deposition non-invasively at a high resolution. The objectives of this research were to (1) design and construct a non-invasive sediment monitoring system (SMS) using an ultrasonic sensor capable of monitoring erosion and deposition continuously, (2) test the system in the lab and field, (3) and determine the applications and limitations of the system. The ultrasonic sensor measures the time of reflectance of sound waves to calculate the distance to the area non-invasively. The SMS was tested in the lab to determine the extent to which the soil type, slope, surface topography, change in distance and vegetation impact the SMS’s ultrasonic sensor’s measurement. It was found that the soil type, slope and surface topography had little effect on the measurement, but the change in distance of the measurement and the introduction of vegetation impacted the measurement. The error in measurement increased as the sensing distance increased, and vegetation interferes with the measurement. In the field during high flows, as erosion and deposition occur, the changes in distance were determined in near real-time, allowing for the calculation of erosion and deposition quantities. The system was deployed to monitor deposition on sandy streambanks in the Nebraska Sandhills and erosion on a streambank and field plot in Lincoln, Nebraska. The system was proven successful in measuring sediment change during high flow events but yielded some error; ±1.06 mm in controlled lab settings and ±10.79 mm when subjected to environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity and wind. Advisors: Aaron Mittelstet and Nancy Shan

Selected examples of induction studies in continental regions, including AMT prospection, for natural resources

Cet article présente une revue des techniques de prospection électromagnétique ainsi que quelques exemples de leur application à la détection de ressources naturelles. Les méthodes "au sol" sont considérées séparément des méthodes "aéroportées", en distinguant d'autre part les méthodes utilisant les "ondes planes" des "autres méthodes

Index to 1983 NASA Tech Briefs, volume 8, numbers 1-4

Short announcements of new technology derived from the R&D activities of NASA are presented. These briefs emphasize information considered likely to be transferrable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. This index for 1983 Tech Briefs contains abstracts and four indexes: subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief Number. The following areas are covered: electronic components and circuits, electronic systems, physical sciences, materials, life sciences, mechanics, machinery, fabrication technology, and mathematics and information sciences

Small-Scale Energy Harvesting from Environment by Triboelectric Nanogenerators

The increasing needs to power trillions of sensors and devices for the Internet of Things require effective technology to harvest small-scale energy from renewable natural resources. As a new energy technology, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can harvest ambient mechanical energy and convert it into electricity for powering small electronic devices continuously. In this chapter, the fundamental working mechanism and fundamental modes of a TENG will be presented. It can harvest all kinds of mechanical energy, especially at low frequencies, such as human motion, walking, vibration, mechanical triggering, rotating tire, wind, moving automobile, flowing water, rain drops, ocean waves, and so on. Such variety of energy harvesting methods promises TENG as a new approach for small-scale energy harvesting

Multisensor Geophysical Fusion for Improved Sub-surface Imaging at Historic Camptown Cemetery, Brenham, Texas

ABSTRACT Multisensor Geophysical Fusion for Improved Sub-surface Imaging at Camptown Cemetery, Brenham, Texas. (May 2014) Tate Gregory Meehan Department of Geology and Geophysics Texas A&M University Research Advisor: Dr. Mark E. Everett Department of Geology and Geophysics A non-invasive geophysical survey of the historic African American Camptown Cemetery in Brenham, Texas was undertaken to provide the local heritage museum staff with approximate locations, depths, and quantities of marked and unmarked burial sites. We constructed an intuitively understood map describing the uncertainty of our data interpretation. This map consists of three types of zones color-coded according to the confidence we ascribe to the location and depth of a grave site: red for “certain”, yellow for “unclear”, and green for “certainly not”. The completed work helps to define a current "state-of-the-practice" in 3-D historical cemetery geophysical mapping. Three sub-surface geophysical techniques were used in the mapping of Camptown Cemetery: magnetics (MAG), electromagnetic induction (EMI), and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The approach is to combine, or fuse, the MAG, EMI, and GPR information, rendering a joint interpretation in which the confidence in the fused product is greater than the confidence in the product formed by using any one of the methods working alone. Our goal was to identify burial sites within the cemetery and, wherever possible, corroborate with existing historical records and death certificates of the city of Brenham. This task is of cultural and historical importance to the families and relatives of those buried in Camptown as they seek to restore the lost African American heritage of their community

System Design and Fabrication for Microsatellite Relative Navigation Experiment

Satellites are a critical element of the modern world, and designers continue to increase their capability while significantly reducing their size, which has put space missions within the reach of Universities. Microsatellites in the 10-100 kg size class are now able to perform a sizable amount of tasks in a relatively small and inexpensive package. Texas A&M University's second foray into space featured a 50 kg microsatellite designed and manufactured by students within the AggieSat Lab Student Satellite Program. AggieSat4 was the second satellite fielded by AggieSat Lab under the NASA Low-earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous and docking (LONESTAR) campaign. The LONESTAR campaign's goal was to partner design labs from Texas A&M and the University of Texas at Austin to build pairs of satellites to perform navigation experiments. A series of four missions would culminate with the two paired spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking. AggieSat4 was designed and fabricated from 2010 to 2015, delivered to the International Space Station in December 2015, and released into low Earth orbit in January 2016. During this process a great deal of knowledge was gained by the students as to how to design a spacecraft mission to meet a set of requirements, how to design and engineer a spacecraft to carry out this mission, and how to fabricate and assemble the spacecraft as designed. Many tips, tricks, and lessons from hindsight were learned along the way. The requirements and mission concept of operations development for AggieSat4 will be presented, along with the engineering design process, resulting configuration, fabrication process, and some of the tips, tricks, and lessons learned. These topics can serve as a starting guide for students and others designing their own space missions, with the goal of helping them identify the processes and items of consideration to help meet their mission requirements

Shanghai Service Robot

A robotic base and control program capable of following a user was created that linked TwinCAT automation software, and Visual Studios C++. Microsoft’s Kinect sensor and Xbox Controller were used for communication between the robot and the user. The robot used skeletal gestures, speech recognition, and remote commands to accomplish task