The shifted Rayleigh mixture filter for bearings-only tracking of maneuvering targets

Published versio

Index to NASA Tech Briefs, 1975

This index contains abstracts and four indexes--subject, personal author, originating Center, and Tech Brief number--for 1975 Tech Briefs

Efficient delay-tolerant particle filtering

This paper proposes a novel framework for delay-tolerant particle filtering that is computationally efficient and has limited memory requirements. Within this framework the informativeness of a delayed (out-of-sequence) measurement (OOSM) is estimated using a lightweight procedure and uninformative measurements are immediately discarded. The framework requires the identification of a threshold that separates informative from uninformative; this threshold selection task is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, where the goal is to minimize tracking error whilst controlling the computational requirements. We develop an algorithm that provides an approximate solution for the optimization problem. Simulation experiments provide an example where the proposed framework processes less than 40% of all OOSMs with only a small reduction in tracking accuracy

Operational deformations in long-span bridges

Journal ArticleLong-span bridges deform quasi-statically and dynamically under a range of operational conditions including wind, traffic and thermal loads, in varying patterns, at different timescales and with different amplitudes. While external loads and internal forces can only rarely be measured, there are well-developed technologies for measuring deformations and their time and space derivatives. Performance data can be checked against design limits and used for validating conceptual and numerical models which can in turn be used to estimate the external loads and internal forces. Changes in performance patterns and load–response relationships can also be used directly as a diagnostic tool, but excessive deformations themselves are also a concern in terms of serviceability. This paper describes application of a range of measurement technologies, focusing on response to extreme loads, for suspension bridges over the River Tamar (with 335 m main span) and Humber (with 1410 m man span). The effects of vehicular, thermal and wind loads on these very different structures are compared, showing that apart from rare extreme traffic and wind loads, temporal and spatial temperature variations dominate quasi-static response. Observations of deformation data and sensor performance for the two bridges are used to highlight limitations and redundancies in the instrumentation