The performance of VLA as a telemetry receiver for Voyager planetary encounters

The Very Large Array (VLA) was proposed for use as a supplement to the Deep Space Network (DSN) for telemetry reception at Voyager 2 Uranus and Neptune encounters. The main problem with the use of VLA for telemetry is that it is not capable of producing a continuous stream of data. Gaps of one millisecond follow every 51 milliseconds of data. The effect of these millisecond gaps on coded telemetry is investigated. An upgapped system of the same aperture as the VLA would be capable of handling data rates of 38.4 kbps at Uranus encounter and 19.2 kbps at Neptune encounter. It is shown that VLA with (7, 1/2) convolutional coding (the baseline coding scheme for Voyager) will support a data rate of 10.8 kbps but not 19.2 kbps at both Uranus and Neptune. It is also shown that by implementing Voyager's concatenated Reed-Solomon/convolutional coding capability, data rates of 38.4 kbps and 19.2 kbps would be achievable at Uranus and Neptune respectively. Concatenation also offers a factor of 2 improvement in overall throughput

The path-coalescence transition and its applications

We analyse the motion of a system of particles subjected a random force fluctuating in both space and time, and experiencing viscous damping. When the damping exceeds a certain threshold, the system undergoes a phase transition: the particle trajectories coalesce. We analyse this transition by mapping it to a Kramers problem which we solve exactly. In the limit of weak random force we characterise the dynamics by computing the rate at which caustics are crossed, and the statistics of the particle density in the coalescing phase. Last but not least we describe possible realisations of the effect, ranging from trajectories of raindrops on glass surfaces to animal migration patterns.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; revised version, as publishe

Viterbi decoder node synchronization losses in the Reed-Solomon/Veterbi concatenated channel

The Viterbi decoders currently used by the Deep Space Network (DSN) employ an algorithm for maintaining node synchronization that significantly degrades at bit signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of below 2.0 dB. In a recent report by the authors, it was shown that the telemetry receiving system, which uses a convolutionally encoded downlink, will suffer losses of 0.85 dB and 1.25 dB respectively at Voyager 2 Uranus and Neptune encounters. This report extends the results of that study to a concatenated (255,223) Reed-Solomon/(7, 1/2) convolutionally coded channel, by developing a new radio loss model for the concatenated channel. It is shown here that losses due to improper node synchronization of 0.57 dB at Uranus and 1.0 dB at Neptune can be expected if concatenated coding is used along with an array of one 64-meter and three 34-meter antennas

Quantum Analogue Computing

We briefly review what a quantum computer is, what it promises to do for us, and why it is so hard to build one. Among the first applications anticipated to bear fruit is quantum simulation of quantum systems. While most quantum computation is an extension of classical digital computation, quantum simulation differs fundamentally in how the data is encoded in the quantum computer. To perform a quantum simulation, the Hilbert space of the system to be simulated is mapped directly onto the Hilbert space of the (logical) qubits in the quantum computer. This type of direct correspondence is how data is encoded in a classical analogue computer. There is no binary encoding, and increasing precision becomes exponentially costly: an extra bit of precision doubles the size of the computer. This has important consequences for both the precision and error correction requirements of quantum simulation, and significant open questions remain about its practicality. It also means that the quantum version of analogue computers, continuous variable quantum computers (CVQC) becomes an equally efficient architecture for quantum simulation. Lessons from past use of classical analogue computers can help us to build better quantum simulators in future.Comment: 10 pages, to appear in the Visions 2010 issue of Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.

Development and demonstration of an on-board mission planner for helicopters

Mission management tasks can be distributed within a planning hierarchy, where each level of the hierarchy addresses a scope of action, and associated time scale or planning horizon, and requirements for plan generation response time. The current work is focused on the far-field planning subproblem, with a scope and planning horizon encompassing the entire mission and with a response time required to be about two minutes. The far-feld planning problem is posed as a constrained optimization problem and algorithms and structural organizations are proposed for the solution. Algorithms are implemented in a developmental environment, and performance is assessed with respect to optimality and feasibility for the intended application and in comparison with alternative algorithms. This is done for the three major components of far-field planning: goal planning, waypoint path planning, and timeline management. It appears feasible to meet performance requirements on a 10 Mips flyable processor (dedicated to far-field planning) using a heuristically-guided simulated annealing technique for the goal planner, a modified A* search for the waypoint path planner, and a speed scheduling technique developed for this project

A conditional quantum phase gate between two 3-state atoms

We propose a scheme for conditional quantum logic between two 3-state atoms that share a quantum data-bus such as a single mode optical field in cavity QED systems, or a collective vibrational state of trapped ions. Making use of quantum interference, our scheme achieves successful conditional phase evolution without any real transitions of atomic internal states or populating the quantum data-bus. In addition, it only requires common addressing of the two atoms by external laser fields.Comment: 8 fig

A systolic architecture for the correlation and accumulation of digital sequences

A fully systolic architecture for the implementation of digital sequence correlator/accumulators is described. These devices consist of a two-dimensional array of processing elements that are conceived for efficient fabrication in Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. A custom VLSI chip that was implemented using these concepts is described. The chip, which contains a four-lag three-level sequence correlator and four bits of accumulation with overflow detection, was designed using the Integrated UNIX-Based Computer Aided Design (CAD) System. Applications of such devices include the synchronization of coded telemetry data, alignment of both real time and non-real time Very Large Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) signals, and the implementation of digital filters and processes of many types

Ab initio calculation of the binding energy of impurities in semiconductors: Application to Si nanowires

We discuss the binding energy E_b of impurities in semiconductors within density functional theory (DFT) and the GW approximation, focusing on donors in nanowires as an example. We show that DFT succeeds in the calculation of E_b from the Kohn-Sham (KS) hamiltonian of the ionized impurity, but fails in the calculation of E_b from the KS hamiltonian of the neutral impurity, as it misses most of the interaction of the bound electron with the surface polarization charges of the donor. We trace this deficiency back to the lack of screened exchange in the present functionals

Clifford algebras and universal sets of quantum gates

In this paper is shown an application of Clifford algebras to the construction of computationally universal sets of quantum gates for $n$-qubit systems. It is based on the well-known application of Lie algebras together with the especially simple commutation law for Clifford algebras, which states that all basic elements either commute or anticommute.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX (2 col.), low-level language corrections, PR

On the error statistics of Viterbi decoding and the performance of concatenated codes

Computer simulation results are presented on the performance of convolutional codes of constraint lengths 7 and 10 concatenated with the (255, 223) Reed-Solomon code (a proposed NASA standard). These results indicate that as much as 0.8 dB can be gained by concatenating this Reed-Solomon code with a (10, 1/3) convolutional code, instead of the (7, 1/2) code currently used by the DSN. A mathematical model of Viterbi decoder burst-error statistics is developed and is validated through additional computer simulations