Impact of near field dispersion on time domain susceptibility tests

This paper considers the effect of changes of the waveform parameters over the distance. The objective is to show the near field effects on transient radiation and how near the equipment under test can be located to an antenna without significant changes of the width or rise time of the field pulse. It is shown that the well known frequency domain estimation models fail because the dimension of antenna systems and the wave propagation lead to a special kind of dispersion. The importance of this near field dispersion for practical applications is demonstrated by both theoretical considerations and measurements with a half impulse radiation antenna

New Col-CC Operations Concept and New Challenges

On 15 January 2014 the Columbus Flight Control Team implemented the New Operations Concept after a short term preparation phase in the second half of 2013. The new setup consists of two 24/7 positions Col- FD and STRATOS support by several 8/5 positions like COSMO and COMET as well as the Eurocom. This new operations concept has been established in short timeframe in parallel to the ongoing crosscertification of the DMS and Systems team members to STRATOS. Due to the short preparation phase the new setup has to be improved and fine-tuned will already in use together with updating the relevant ops products. It is planned to finalize the transition phase by mid of 2014 which will allow providing a first experience of the new setup. In parallel to these big setup changes of the FCT a lot of challenges are waiting for the team. In January 2014 the next on-board software upgrade – Cycle 14 – has been successfully performed. The preparation for the next increment 39/40 is in full swing especially the preparation for the “Blue Dot” mission of the German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. During this mission many new payloads will be brought to the ISS and many experiments will be performed in Columbus

Is There a Twelfth Protein-Coding Gene in the Genome of Influenza A? A Selection-Based Approach to the Detection of Overlapping Genes in Closely Related Sequences

Protein-coding genes often contain long overlapping open-reading frames (ORFs), which may or may not be functional. Current methods that utilize the signature of purifying selection to detect functional overlapping genes are limited to the analysis of sequences from divergent species, thus rendering them inapplicable to genes found only in closely related sequences. Here, we present a method for the detection of selection signatures on overlapping reading frames by using closely related sequences, and apply the method to several known overlapping genes, and to an overlapping ORF on the negative strand of segment 8 of influenza A virus (NEG8), for which the suggestion has been made that it is functional. We find no evidence that NEG8 is under selection, suggesting that the intact reading frame might be non-functional, although we cannot fully exclude the possibility that the method is not sensitive enough to detect the signature of selection acting on this gene. We present the limitations of the method using known overlapping genes and suggest several approaches to improve it in future studies. Finally, we examine alternative explanations for the sequence conservation of NEG8 in the absence of selection. We show that overlap type and genomic context affect the conservation of intact overlapping ORFs and should therefore be considered in any attempt of estimating the signature of selection in overlapping gene

Columbus Operations – Joint undertaking between DLR and Industry

Columbus operation is a special challenge not only for space vehicle development, but also for deploying new operational concepts for ground support. Due to the long runtime of such a project and the related constraints new approaches are necessary to have the project alive over that long period. One new contractual and technical approach of spacecraft operation and maintenance has now been set up between ESA and the industrial consortium EADS/DLR and other major European industrial partners with regards to the ISS and Columbus program. Together with the expertise in hardware and vehicle design of EADS, DLR, one of Europe’s specialists in the spacecraft operations, forms the backbone of the new operational set up

Adapting Columbus Operations and Providing a Basis for Future Endeavours

On 15th December 2015, Timothy Peake – the 4th ESA astronaut in 20 months – headed into orbit for a 6-month stay on the ISS. The British astronaut's "Principia" mission holds many interesting tasks, not only for Tim Peake himself (he performed an EVA on 15th January 2016) but also for the teams on the ground. One of the most exciting activities was the second session of the Airway Monitoring experiment, which again included an experiment run in the US airlock under coordination of the Columbus Control Centre (Col-CC). Besides that, there were many other experiments, such as EML, PK4, DOSIS and Meteron, and also the transition to new NASA tools (e.g. WebAD) was done in this period. Since the establishment of ESA's new setup in July 2015, Col-CC has been working together with all its partners to define the new interfaces, exploit new possibilities, and define in detail the tasks for the operations teams. Besides the ongoing work to monitor and command Columbus, support the ESA experiments on the ISS, as well as supporting the ESA astronaut himself, Col-CC is looking forward towards potential future tasks and challenges. Based on many years of experience in human space flight, an initial study was launched to investigate some of the challenges of human space flight activities beyond Earth orbit. One of these challenges is the delay of communication transmissions experienced over long distances. Until now, all our human space flight operations have been based on (near) real-time communications to monitor and control the spacecraft. This paper describes the results of our study investigating the necessary changes to current operations in the case of long-distance communications. Example procedures are assessed on their reliance on real-time communications and thus how current operations would be impacted by transmission delays. Methods are proposed to make the procedures tolerant to delays, and enable operations to use these procedures for deep space missions

Estimation of the threat of IEMI to complex electronic systems

The threat of ultra wideband (UWB) sources is interesting for military issues. This paper summarizes information concerning the voltages generated from some commercially available UWB generator systems and their produced electromagnetic fields. The paper focuses on the coupling of UWB fields into electronic equipment and discusses possible modeling and measurement techniques to estimate such a threat for modern ships. An evaluation procedure for the determination of the induced voltage at the input of an electronic component is presented. This method is based on the computation of the internal electric field and the measurements on a test network, which is similar to the structure of the steering control cabling. It allows the estimation of the potential threat for the ship's electronic equipment due to the exposal to UWB emitting sources

Shielding of electronic systems against transient electromagnetic interferences

In order to protect electronic systems against the effects of transient electromagnetic interferences, shields made of electrically conductive material can be used. The subject of this paper is an electrically conductive textile. When applying the shield, a reliable measure is needed in order to determine the effectiveness of the shield to protect against electromagnetic pulses. For this purpose, a time domain measurement technique is presented using double exponential pulses. With these pulses, the susceptibility of an operating electronic device with and without the shield is determined. As a criterion of quality of a shield, the breakdown failure rate found in both cases is compared. © 2004 Copernicus GmbH

Threat of Electromagnetic Terrorism - Leassons learned from documented IEMI Attacks

The existing threat by criminal (intentional) use of electromagnetic tools is discussed. Reported Intentional Electromagnetic Interference (IEMI) attacks and similar incidents will be analyzed and discussed in regard to aspects like motivation and technical skills of the culprits, characteristics of the generated IEMI environment as well as effects on the target systems. Concluding common characteristics will lead to a discussion of the technological challenge of recognition and identification of an IEMI attack as well as backtracking of observed malfunction and destructions to an external IEMI environment

Denmark\u27s Guarantee Scheme (Denmark GFC)

The international financial system had been experiencing challenges for almost a year before the crisis truly manifested in Denmark during the Summer of 2008 with the sudden demise of Roskilde Bank, Denmark’s eighth largest bank. As more Danish banks became distressed in the fall of 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the government determined that it was necessary to intervene in the banking sector through actions such as taking over and winding up distressed banks, giving guarantees to back up the sector, and providing capital injections and liquidity support. This paper focuses on the two different types of guarantee schemes which were both implemented at the outset of the Global Financial Crisis by the Danish government in the fall of 2008 and in early 2009. The main difference between the two guarantee schemes was their breadth. While the original guarantee scheme (known in Denmark as the “General State Guarantee”) was a blanket guarantee—covering deposits in essentially all Danish banks and all unsecured debt regardless of maturity, complexity, or any other terms or conditions of the instrument—the new guarantee scheme (known in Denmark as the “Individual State Guarantee”) required applications by individual credit institutions and covered specific debt issuances. Both programs were heavily utilized. Under the General State Guarantee, almost all of the Danish banking industry in terms of market share was covered, with only 14 small banks out of almost 140 opting not to be covered. Similarly, by the time the issuance window of the Individual State Guarantee initially expired in December of 2010, it had guaranteed debt issuances of about 50 institutions that totaled approximately DKK 194 billion (approximately €26 billion)