SatNOGS: Satellite Networked Open Ground Station

Abstract—The SatNOGS, or Satellite Network Open Ground Stations, project promotes and supports free and open space applications. It seeks to solve the problem of connecting many satellite users/observers to many ground station operators. Modern open software, web, and hardware techniques are used in implementing the Network, Database, Client, and Ground Station sub- projects. Modularity in all the systems promotes the dual-use of ground stations by not interfering with local operation while utilizing the great amount of time a civilian, non-commercial ground station would otherwise sit idle

Modeling Simulated Emissions from Galactic Binary Stars

Relativistic plasma flows from the jets of black hole binary systems consist the environment of multiple particle production and radiation emission including neutrinos and gamma-rays. We implement a hadronic model based on $p-p$ interactions with the purpose of predicting the produced secondary particle distributions inside the jet. Our ultimate goal is the neutrino and gamma-ray intensities calculation while taking into account the most important gamma-ray absorption processes in order to present more realistic results.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Simulations of Neutrino and Gamma-Ray Production from Relativistic Black-Hole Microquasar Jets

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-08-30, pub-electronic 2021-09-13Publication status: PublishedRecently, microquasar jets have aroused the interest of many researchers focusing on the astrophysical plasma outflows and various jet ejections. In this work, we concentrate on the investigation of electromagnetic radiation and particle emissions from the jets of stellar black hole binary systems characterized by the hadronic content in their jets. Such emissions are reliably described within the context of relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics. Our model calculations are based on the Fermi acceleration mechanism through which the primary particles (mainly protons and electrons) of the jet are accelerated. As a result, a small portion of thermal protons of the jet acquire relativistic energies, through shock-waves generated into the jet plasma. From the inelastic collisions of fast (non-thermal) protons with the thermal (cold) ones, secondary charged and neutral particles (pions, kaons, muons, η-particles, etc.) are created, as well as electromagnetic radiation from the radio wavelength band to X-rays and even very high energy gamma-rays. One of our main goals is, through the appropriate solution of the transport equation and taking into account the various mechanisms that cause energy losses to the particles, to study the secondary particle concentrations within hadronic astrophysical jets. After assessing the suitability and sensitivity of the derived (for this purpose) algorithms on the Galactic MQs SS 433 and Cyg X-1, as a concrete extragalactic binary system, we examine the LMC X-1 located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. It is worth mentioning that, for the companion O star (and its extended nebula structure) of the LMC X-1 system, new observations using spectroscopic data from VLT/UVES have been published a few years ago

Feasibility Study of Enhancing Microwave Brain Imaging Using Metamaterials

We present an approach to enhance microwave brain imaging with an innovative metamaterial (MM) planar design based on a cross-shaped split-ring resonator (SRR-CS). The proposed metasurface is incorporated in different setups, and its interaction with EM waves is studied both experimentally and by using CST Microwave Studio R and is compared to a “no MM” case scenario. We show that the MM can enhance the penetration of the transmitted signals into the human head when placed in contact with skin tissue, acting as an impedance-matching layer. In addition, we show that the MM can improve the transceivers’ ability to detect useful “weak” signals when incorporated in a headband scanner for brain imaging by increasing the signal difference from a blood-like dielectric target introduced into the brain volume. Our results suggest that the proposed MM film can be a powerful hardware advance towards the development of scanners for brain haemorrhage detection and monitoring

Immune Dysregulation, Polyendocrinopathy, Enteropathy, X-Linked Syndrome Associated With a Novel Mutation of FOXP3 Gene

The immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (IPEX) syndrome is a rare, x-linked, recessive disorder characterized by dysfunction of the T regulatory (Treg) lymphocytes leading to autoimmune diseases. Herein we report a male patient with IPEX syndrome who presented with severe diarrhea, eczema, and malabsorption leading to failure to thrive and necessitating total parenteral nutrition, as well as with liver dysfunction. Laboratory investigation showed elevated liver enzymes that declined following treatment with glucocorticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs, marked eosinophilia, increased total IgE, and decreased Treg cells. DNA analysis revealed that the patient himself was hemizygous and his mother heterozygous for the exon 10, c.1015C>T (p.Pro339Ser) mutation of the FOXP3 gene, which has not been previously reported. The current case indicates that mutations resulting in substitution of a certain amino-acid (i.e., proline 339) by different amino-acids are manifested with different IPEX phenotypes

Metamaterial designs to enhance microwave imaging applications

This paper presents an innovative metasurface design for emerging microwave brain imaging applications, such as stroke detection and monitoring. We have modelled different metamaterial designs in diverse setups, and have simulated their interactions with EM waves using CST Microwave Studio. Our results have shown an enhancement of penetration for the transmitted signals when the metamaterial film is placed in contact with the skin tissue. These results suggest that our design can be a significant hardware advance towards scanners for brain imaging

A Glucose Sensing System Based on Transmission Measurements at Millimetre Waves using Micro strip Patch Antennas

AbstractWe present a sensing system operating at millimetre (mm) waves in transmission mode that can measure glucose level changes based on the complex permittivity changes across the signal path. The permittivity of a sample can change significantly as the concentration of one of its substances varies: for example, blood permittivity depends on the blood glucose levels. The proposed sensing system uses two facing microstrip patch antennas operating at 60 GHz, which are placed across interrogated samples. The measured transmission coefficient depends on the permittivity change along the signal path, which can be correlated to the change in concentration of a substance. Along with theoretical estimations, we experimentally demonstrate the sensing performance of the system using controlled laboratory samples, such as water-based glucose-loaded liquid samples. We also present results of successful glucose spike detection in humans during an in-vivo Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test (IVGTT). The system could eventually be developed into a non-invasive glucose monitor for continuous monitoring of glucose levels for people living with diabetes, as it can detect as small as 1.33 mmol/l (0.025 wt%) glucose concentrations in the controlled water-based samples satisfactorily, which is well below the typical human glucose levels of 4 mmol/l.</jats:p