3,375 research outputs found
A plan for spacecraft automated rendezvous
An automated rendezvous approach has been developed that utilizes advances in technology to reduce real-time/near real-time flight operations support personnel to an acceptable level that is near the minimum without jeopardizing the success of the mission. The on-board flight targeting uses a rule-based system to select the pursuit vehicle phasing orbits and uses precise navigation updates from the pursuit/target spacecraft made possible by the global positioning system receivers/processors on both spacecraft to adjust the phasing orbits and achieve rendezvous. The ascent-to-orbit targeting for the pursuit vehicle has been successfully decoupled from the on-orbit orbit transfer phasing targeting. Typical launch window data have been developed for the heavy lift launch vehicle and cargo transfer vehicle for a Space Station Freedom rendezvous mission
Numerical study of domain coarsening in anisotropic stripe patterns
We study the coarsening of two-dimensional smectic polycrystals characterized
by grains of oblique stripes with only two possible orientations. For this
purpose, an anisotropic Swift-Hohenberg equation is solved. For quenches close
enough to the onset of stripe formation, the average domain size increases with
time as . Further from onset, anisotropic pinning forces similar to
Peierls stresses in solid crystals slow down defects, and growth becomes
anisotropic. In a wide range of quench depths, dislocation arrays remain mobile
and dislocation density roughly decays as , while chevron boundaries
are totally pinned. We discuss some agreements and disagreements found with
recent experimental results on the coarsening of anisotropic electroconvection
patterns.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures. Phys. Rev E, to appea
Determination of mean atmospheric densities from the explorer ix satellite
Mean atmospheric densities from changes in orbital elements of Explorer IX satellit
Self-Organized Ordering of Nanostructures Produced by Ion-Beam Sputtering
We study the self-organized ordering of nanostructures produced by ion-beam
sputtering (IBS) of targets amorphizing under irradiation. By introducing a
model akin to models of pattern formation in aeolian sand dunes, we extend
consistently the current continuum theory of erosion by IBS. We obtain new
non-linear effects responsible for the in-plane ordering of the structures,
whose strength correlates with the degree of ordering found in experiments. Our
results highlight the importance of redeposition and surface viscous flow to
this nanopattern formation process.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Crossover Scaling of Wavelength Selection in Directional Solidification of Binary Alloys
We simulate dendritic growth in directional solidification in dilute binary
alloys using a phase-field model solved with an adaptive-mesh refinement. The
spacing of primary branches is examined for a range of thermal gradients and
alloy compositions and is found to undergo a maximum as a function of pulling
velocity, in agreement with experimental observations. We demonstrate that
wavelength selection is unambiguously described by a non-trivial crossover
scaling function from the emergence of cellular growth to the onset of
dendritic fingers, a result validated using published experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, four figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Profile scaling in decay of nanostructures
The flattening of a crystal cone below its roughening transition is studied
by means of a step flow model. Numerical and analytical analyses show that the
height profile, h(r,t), obeys the scaling scenario dh/dr = F(r t^{-1/4}). The
scaling function is flat at radii r<R(t) \sim t^{1/4}. We find a one parameter
family of solutions for the scaling function, and propose a selection criterion
for the unique solution the system reaches.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 3 eps figure
An Energy and Performance Exploration of Network-on-Chip Architectures
In this paper, we explore the designs of a circuit-switched router, a wormhole router, a quality-of-service (QoS) supporting virtual channel router and a speculative virtual channel router and accurately evaluate the energy-performance tradeoffs they offer. Power results from the designs placed and routed in a 90-nm CMOS process show that all the architectures dissipate significant idle state power. The additional energy required to route a packet through the router is then shown to be dominated by the data path. This leads to the key result that, if this trend continues, the use of more elaborate control can be justified and will not be immediately limited by the energy budget. A performance analysis also shows that dynamic resource allocation leads to the lowest network latencies, while static allocation may be used to meet QoS goals. Combining the power and performance figures then allows an energy-latency product to be calculated to judge the efficiency of each of the networks. The speculative virtual channel router was shown to have a very similar efficiency to the wormhole router, while providing a better performance, supporting its use for general purpose designs. Finally, area metrics are also presented to allow a comparison of implementation costs
A contiuum model for low temperature relaxation of crystal steps
High and low temperature relaxation of crystal steps are described in a
unified picture, using a continuum model based on a modified expression of the
step free energy. Results are in agreement with experiments and Monte Carlo
simulations of step fluctuations and monolayer cluster diffusion and
relaxation. In an extended model where mass exchange with neighboring terraces
is allowed, step transparency and a low temperature regime for unstable step
meandering are found.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.Let
Changing shapes in the nanoworld
What are the mechanisms leading to the shape relaxation of three dimensional
crystallites ? Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of fcc clusters show that the
usual theories of equilibration, via atomic surface diffusion driven by
curvature, are verified only at high temperatures. Below the roughening
temperature, the relaxation is much slower, kinetics being governed by the
nucleation of a critical germ on a facet. We show that the energy barrier for
this step linearly increases with the size of the crystallite, leading to an
exponential dependence of the relaxation time.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Phys Rev Let
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