Millimeter Wave Communication through Plasma

Millimeter wave communication through plasma at frequencies of 35 GHz or higher shows promise in maintaining communications connectivity during rocket launch and re-entry, critical events which are typically plagued with communication dropouts. Extensive prior research into plasmas has characterized the plasma frequency at these events, and research at the Kennedy Space Center is investigating the feasibility of millimeter communication through these plasma frequencies

Discriminating small wooded elements in rural landscape from aerial photography: a hybrid pixel/object-based analysis approach

While small, fragmented wooded elements do not represent a large surface area in agricultural landscape, their role in the sustainability of ecological processes is recognized widely. Unfortunately, landscape ecology studies suffer from the lack of methods for automatic detection of these elements. We propose a hybrid approach using both aerial photographs and ancillary data of coarser resolution to automatically discriminate small wooded elements. First, a spectral and textural analysis is performed to identify all the planted-tree areas in the digital photograph. Secondly, an object-orientated spatial analysis using the two data sources and including a multi-resolution segmentation is applied to distinguish between large and small woods, copses, hedgerows and scattered trees. The results show the usefulness of the hybrid approach and the prospects for future ecological applications

Detecting Corrosion Under Paint and Insulation

Corrosion is a major concern at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida due to the proximity of the center to the Atlantic Ocean and to salt water lagoons. High humidity, salt fogs, and ocean breezes, provide an ideal environment in which painted steel structures become corroded. Maintenance of painted steel structures is a never-ending process

Neural Network Back-Propagation Algorithm for Sensing Hypergols

Fast, continuous detection of a wide range of hazardous substances simultaneously is needed to achieve improved safety for personnel working with hypergolic fuels and oxidizers, as well as other hazardous substances, with a requirement for such detection systems to warn personnel immediately upon the sudden advent of hazardous conditions, with a high probability of detection and a low false alarm rate. The primary purpose of this software is to read the voltage outputs from voltage dividers containing carbon nano - tube sensors as a variable resistance leg, and to recognize quickly when a leak has occurred through recognizing that a generalized pattern change in resistivity of a carbon nanotube sensor has occurred upon exposure to dangerous substances, and, further, to identify quickly just what substance is present through detailed pattern recognition of the shape of the response provided by the carbon nanotube sensor

Emerging Communication Technologies (ECT) Phase 4 Report

The Emerging Communication Technology (ECT) project investigated three First Mile communication technologies in support of NASA s Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), Advanced Range Technology Working Group (ARTWG), and the Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG). These First Mile technologies have the purpose of interconnecting mobile users with existing Range Communication infrastructures on a 24/7 basis. ECT is a continuation of the Range Information System Management (RISM) task started in 2002. This is the fourth year of the project

Emerging Communication Technologies (ECT) Phase 2 Report

The Emerging Communication Technology (ECT) project investigated three First Mile communication technologies in support of NASA s Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (2nd Gen RLV), Orbital Space Plane, Advanced Range Technology Working Group (ARTWG) and the Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG). These First Mile technologies have the purpose of interconnecting mobile users with existing Range Communication infrastructures. ECT was a continuation of the Range Information System Management (RISM) task started in 2002. RISM identified the three advance communication technologies investigated under ECT. These were Wireless Ethernet (Wi-Fi), Free Space Optics (FSO), and Ultra Wideband (UWB). Due to the report s size, it has been broken into three volumes: 1) Main Report 2) Appendices 3) UWB

Range Information Systems Management (RISM) Phase 1 Report

RISM investigated alternative approaches, technologies, and communication network architectures to facilitate building the Spaceports and Ranges of the future. RISM started by document most existing US ranges and their capabilities. In parallel, RISM obtained inputs from the following: 1) NASA and NASA-contractor engineers and managers, and; 2) Aerospace leaders from Government, Academia, and Industry, participating through the Space Based Range Distributed System Working Group (SBRDSWG), many of whom are also; 3) Members of the Advanced Range Technology Working Group (ARTWG) subgroups, and; 4) Members of the Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG). These diverse inputs helped to envision advanced technologies for implementing future Ranges and Range systems that builds on today s cabled and wireless legacy infrastructures while seamlessly integrating both today s emerging and tomorrow s building-block communication techniques. The fundamental key is to envision a transition to a Space Based Range Distributed Subsystem. The enabling concept is to identify the specific needs of Range users that can be solved through applying emerging communication tec

Measurements of Aperture Averaging on Bit-Error-Rate

We report on measurements made at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway at Kennedy Space Center of receiver aperture averaging effects on a propagating optical Gaussian beam wave over a propagation path of 1,000 in. A commercially available instrument with both transmit and receive apertures was used to transmit a modulated laser beam operating at 1550 nm through a transmit aperture of 2.54 cm. An identical model of the same instrument was used as a receiver with a single aperture that was varied in size up to 20 cm to measure the effect of receiver aperture averaging on Bit Error Rate. Simultaneous measurements were also made with a scintillometer instrument and local weather station instruments to characterize atmospheric conditions along the propagation path during the experiments

Widespread associations between trait conscientiousness and thickness of brain cortical regions

The neural correlates of human personality have been of longstanding interest; however, most studies in the field have relied on modest sample sizes and few replicable results have been reported to date. We investigated relationships between personality and brain gray matter in a sample of generally healthy, older (mean age 73 years) adults from Scotland drawn from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Participants (N = 578) completed a brain MRI scan and self-reported Big Five personality trait measures. Conscientiousness trait scores were positively related to brain cortical thickness in a range of regions, including bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, right medial orbitofrontal cortex, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. These associations – most notably in frontal regions – were modestly-to-moderately attenuated by the inclusion of biomarker variables assessing allostatic load and smoking status. None of the other personality traits showed robust associations with brain cortical thickness, nor did we observe any personality trait associations with cortical surface area and gray matter volume. These findings indicate that brain cortical thickness is associated with conscientiousness, perhaps partly accounted for by allostatic load and smoking status

The causative–instrumental syncretism

Causative and applicative morphemes have been central in work on the morphosyntax of argument structure. However, several genetically unrelated languages use a single, syncretic form for both functions, which complicates the traditional view that a causative adds a new subject and an applicative adds a new object. In this paper, I propose an analysis of a morphological syncretism found in the Bantu language Kinyarwanda where the morphological causative and instrumental applicative are both realized by the morpheme –ish. I argue for Kinyarwanda that both causation and the introduction of an instrument are analyzable as two outgrowths of the same semantic notion of introducing a new link into the causal chain described by the verb. The different causative and instrumental readings derive from underspecification of the position of the new link in the causal chain, although its placement is restricted via general constraints on possible event types as well as constraints on verb meaning and argument realization. This analysis provides an explanation for the presence of the causative–instrumental syncretism as well as provides insight into the interface between verb meaning and valency-changing morphology