Utilization of landmark data in attitude/orbit determination

A mathematical model is reported for determination of satellite position, velocity, and attitude using landmark coordinates as observables. This model, although developed with respect to earth stabilized missions, Tiros-N and Nimbus-G in particular, is applicable to any earth stabilized satellite in general

A statistical technique for determining rainfall over land employing Nimbus-6 ESMR measurements

An empirical method was employed to delineate synoptic scale rainfall over land utilizing Nimbus-6 ESMR measurements

Robot Acting on Moving Bodies (RAMBO): Interaction with tumbling objects

Interaction with tumbling objects will become more common as human activities in space expand. Attempting to interact with a large complex object translating and rotating in space, a human operator using only his visual and mental capacities may not be able to estimate the object motion, plan actions or control those actions. A robot system (RAMBO) equipped with a camera, which, given a sequence of simple tasks, can perform these tasks on a tumbling object, is being developed. RAMBO is given a complete geometric model of the object. A low level vision module extracts and groups characteristic features in images of the object. The positions of the object are determined in a sequence of images, and a motion estimate of the object is obtained. This motion estimate is used to plan trajectories of the robot tool to relative locations rearby the object sufficient for achieving the tasks. More specifically, low level vision uses parallel algorithms for image enhancement by symmetric nearest neighbor filtering, edge detection by local gradient operators, and corner extraction by sector filtering. The object pose estimation is a Hough transform method accumulating position hypotheses obtained by matching triples of image features (corners) to triples of model features. To maximize computing speed, the estimate of the position in space of a triple of features is obtained by decomposing its perspective view into a product of rotations and a scaled orthographic projection. This allows use of 2-D lookup tables at each stage of the decomposition. The position hypotheses for each possible match of model feature triples and image feature triples are calculated in parallel. Trajectory planning combines heuristic and dynamic programming techniques. Then trajectories are created using dynamic interpolations between initial and goal trajectories. All the parallel algorithms run on a Connection Machine CM-2 with 16K processors

Robot acting on moving bodies (RAMBO): Preliminary results

A robot system called RAMBO is being developed. It is equipped with a camera, which, given a sequence of simple tasks, can perform these tasks on a moving object. RAMBO is given a complete geometric model of the object. A low level vision module extracts and groups characteristic features in images of the object. The positions of the object are determined in a sequence of images, and a motion estimate of the object is obtained. This motion estimate is used to plan trajectories of the robot tool to relative locations nearby the object sufficient for achieving the tasks. More specifically, low level vision uses parallel algorithms for image enchancement by symmetric nearest neighbor filtering, edge detection by local gradient operators, and corner extraction by sector filtering. The object pose estimation is a Hough transform method accumulating position hypotheses obtained by matching triples of image features (corners) to triples of model features. To maximize computing speed, the estimate of the position in space of a triple of features is obtained by decomposing its perspective view into a product of rotations and a scaled orthographic projection. This allows the use of 2-D lookup tables at each stage of the decomposition. The position hypotheses for each possible match of model feature triples and image feature triples are calculated in parallel. Trajectory planning combines heuristic and dynamic programming techniques. Then trajectories are created using parametric cubic splines between initial and goal trajectories. All the parallel algorithms run on a Connection Machine CM-2 with 16K processors

Rain observations in tropical storm Cora

Passive microwave observations were made in tropical storm Cora at 19.35 and 94GHz. These observations suggest that 94GHz is appropriate for mapping the extent of rain over either land or ocean backgrounds and that some rainfall intensity measurement is also possible

Role of cultivars, physical, chemical and organic treatments in the management of bacterial blight of cotton

As a part of a broader program for management of bacterial blight of cotton, the cultivars, the application of bactericides, chemicals and organics were evaluated. Among cultivars JK (42 – 44) was found to be resistant and the cultivar LRA-5166 remained highly pathogenic. Seeds of cotton cv. LRA 5166 and JK (42 – 44) inoculated with Xanthomonas campestris pv. malvacearum were subjected to different treatments in the greenhouse and field experiments to evaluate seed germination and their resistance to blight and in improving seed germination in cotton, respectively. Hot water treatment inhibited the incidence of bacterial blight to a lesser extent and the germination was also poor. Organic treatments exhibited better performance in increasing germination and in reduction of blight disease, which was significantly superior over all other treatments by 72, 67, 66 and 68%, respectively. Whereas in the case of chemical treatment, the incidence of blight was reduced to a greater extent and germination was affected

Studies on lanthanide(III) complexes of nuclear substituted diphenylcarbazones

833-838La(III), Ce(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Dy(III) and Ho(III) complexes of 1,5-di(2,5-dimethylphenyl)carbazone and 1 ,5-di(5-chloro- 2-methylphenyl)carbazone have been synthesised and characterized on the basis of elemental analysis, molar conductances, magnetic moments and spectral studies (electronic absorption, infrared and 1H-NMR spectra). The complexes conform to the composition Ln[(DPC)2(NO3) 2]NO32H2O. The substituted diphenylcarbazones act as neutral bidentate ligands and the complexes appear to be six-coordinated. The IR data suggest coordination of the ligand to the metal ions in the bidentate fashion through the oxygen of the carbonyl (>C=O) group and nitrogen of azo(-N=N-) group. Presence of two water molecules is indicated which are outside the coordination sphere. The antimicrobial screening of the ligands and their complexes has been carried out. Proton-ligand and metal-ligand formation constants of the above complexes have also been determined <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">pH-metrically in 50% (v/v) aqueous dioxane medium at 25°, 35° and 45°C and ionic strength μ=0.1M (NaClO4). The thermodynamic parameters of complex formation have been evaluated. Stabilities (logK1 values) of the chelates are found to increase with decrease in ionic radii of the metals, i.e., La(III) K1 values have been correlated with standard oxidation potentials and ionization potentials of the lanthanides. </ce(iii)<pr(iii)

Studies on some lanthanide(III) complexes of <i>o-, m- </i>and <i>p</i>-chloro substituted diphenylcarbazones

1150-1156Lanthanide(III) complexes of mono chloro substituted derivatives of diphenylcarbazones viz o-, m- and p-chloro diphenylcarbazones of composition Ln[(DPC)2(NO3)2]NO3.2H2O (where Ln =La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Dy and Er) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses , electrical conductance, magnetic measurements, electronic, infrared and 1H NMR spectral techniques. The substituted diphenylcarbazones behave as bidcntate neutral ligands coordinating through ketonic oxygen and azo nitrogen and the complexes appear to be six-coordinated. Thermal studies show the presence of two water molecules outside the coordination sphere. The substituted diphenylcarbazones and their respective lanthanide(III) complexes have been tested for antifungal and antibacterial activity. The solution studies have also been carried out. The log K1 values have been correlated with standard oxidation potentials and ionization potentials of the lanthanides. The validity of Born's relation is examined by studying the plot of log K1 vs Z2/r