13,024 research outputs found
Graphical techniques to assist in pointing and control studies of orbiting spacecraft
Computer generated graphics are developed to assist in the modeling and assessment of pointing and control systems of orbiting spacecraft. Three-dimensional diagrams are constructed of the Earth and of geometrical models which resemble the spacecraft of interest. Orbital positioning of the spacecraft model relative to the Earth and the orbital ground track are then displayed. A star data base is also available which may be used for telescope pointing and star tracker field-of-views to visually assist in spacecraft pointing and control studies. A geometrical model of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is constructed and placed in Earth orbit to demonstrate the use of these programs. Simulated star patterns are then displayed corresponding to the primary mirror's FOV and the telescope's star trackers for various telescope orientations with respect to the celestial sphere
Frequency-modulated continuous-wave LiDAR compressive depth-mapping
We present an inexpensive architecture for converting a frequency-modulated
continuous-wave LiDAR system into a compressive-sensing based depth-mapping
camera. Instead of raster scanning to obtain depth-maps, compressive sensing is
used to significantly reduce the number of measurements. Ideally, our approach
requires two difference detectors. % but can operate with only one at the cost
of doubling the number of measurments. Due to the large flux entering the
detectors, the signal amplification from heterodyne detection, and the effects
of background subtraction from compressive sensing, the system can obtain
higher signal-to-noise ratios over detector-array based schemes while scanning
a scene faster than is possible through raster-scanning. %Moreover, we show how
a single total-variation minimization and two fast least-squares minimizations,
instead of a single complex nonlinear minimization, can efficiently recover
high-resolution depth-maps with minimal computational overhead. Moreover, by
efficiently storing only data points from measurements of an
pixel scene, we can easily extract depths by solving only two linear equations
with efficient convex-optimization methods
Fast Hadamard transforms for compressive sensing of joint systems: measurement of a 3.2 million-dimensional bi-photon probability distribution
We demonstrate how to efficiently implement extremely high-dimensional
compressive imaging of a bi-photon probability distribution. Our method uses
fast-Hadamard-transform Kronecker-based compressive sensing to acquire the
joint space distribution. We list, in detail, the operations necessary to
enable fast-transform-based matrix-vector operations in the joint space to
reconstruct a 16.8 million-dimensional image in less than 10 minutes. Within a
subspace of that image exists a 3.2 million-dimensional bi-photon probability
distribution. In addition, we demonstrate how the marginal distributions can
aid in the accuracy of joint space distribution reconstructions
A theoretical model for single molecule incoherent scanning tunneling spectroscopy
Single molecule scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), with dephasing due to
elastic and inelastic scattering, is of some current interest. Motivated by
this, we report an extended Huckel theory (EHT) based mean-field
Non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) transport model with electron-phonon
scattering treated within the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA).
Furthermore, a procedure based on EHT basis set modification is described. We
use this model to study the effect of the temperature dependent dephasing, due
to low lying modes in far-infrared range for which hw<<kT, on the resonant
conduction through highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of a phenyl
dithiol molecule sandwiched between two fcc-Au(111) contacts. Furthermore, we
propose to include dephasing in room temperature molecular resonant conduction
calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
High-temperature thermal storage systems for advanced solar receivers materials selections
Advanced space power systems that use solar energy and Brayton or Stirling heat engines require thermal energy storage (TES) systems to operate continuously through periods of shade. The receiver storage units, key elements in both Brayton and Stirling systems, are designed to use the latent heat of fusion of phase-change materials (PCMs). The power systems under current consideration for near-future National Aeronautics and Space Administration space missions require working fluid temperatures in the 1100 to 1400 K range. The PCMs under current investigation that gave liquid temperatures within this range are the fluoride family of salts. However, these salts have low thermal conductivity, which causes large temperature gradients in the storage systems. Improvements can be obtained, however, with the use of thermal conductivity enhancements or metallic PCMs. In fact, if suitable containment materials can be found, the use of metallic PCMs would virtually eliminate the orbit associated temperature variations in TES systems. The high thermal conductivity and generally low volume change on melting of germanium and alloys based on silicon make them attractive for storage of thermal energy in space power systems. An approach to solving the containment problem, involving both chemical and physical compatibility, preparation of NiSi/NiSi2, and initial results for containment of germanium and NiSi/NiSi2, are presented
Mathematical modelling of elastoplasticity at high stress
This paper describes a simple mathematical model for one-dimensional elastoplastic wave propagation in a metal in the regime where the applied stress greatly exceeds the yield stress. Attention is focussed on the increasing ductility that occurs in the over-driven limit when the plastic wave speed approaches the elastic wave speed. Our model predicts that a plastic compression wave is unable to travel faster than the elastic wave speed, and instead splits into a compressive elastoplastic shock followed by a plastic expansion wave
On the gravitational wave background from compact binary coalescences in the band of ground-based interferometers
This paper reports a comprehensive study on the gravitational wave (GW)
background from compact binary coalescences. We consider in our calculations
newly available observation-based neutron star and black hole mass
distributions and complete analytical waveforms that include post-Newtonian
amplitude corrections. Our results show that: (i) post-Newtonian effects cause
a small reduction in the GW background signal; (ii) below 100 Hz the background
depends primarily on the local coalescence rate and the average chirp
mass and is independent of the chirp mass distribution; (iii) the effects of
cosmic star formation rates and delay times between the formation and merger of
binaries are linear below 100 Hz and can be represented by a single parameter
within a factor of ~ 2; (iv) a simple power law model of the energy density
parameter up to 50-100 Hz is sufficient to be used
as a search template for ground-based interferometers. In terms of the
detection prospects of the background signal, we show that: (i) detection (a
signal-to-noise ratio of 3) within one year of observation by the Advanced LIGO
detectors (H1-L1) requires a coalescence rate of for binary neutron stars (binary black holes); (ii) this limit on
could be reduced 3-fold for two co-located detectors, whereas the
currently proposed worldwide network of advanced instruments gives only ~ 30%
improvement in detectability; (iii) the improved sensitivity of the planned
Einstein Telescope allows not only confident detection of the background but
also the high frequency components of the spectrum to be measured. Finally we
show that sub-threshold binary neutron star merger events produce a strong
foreground, which could be an issue for future terrestrial stochastic searches
of primordial GWs.Comment: A few typos corrected to match the published version in MNRA
Compressive Direct Imaging of a Billion-Dimensional Optical Phase-Space
Optical phase-spaces represent fields of any spatial coherence, and are
typically measured through phase-retrieval methods involving a computational
inversion, interference, or a resolution-limiting lenslet array. Recently, a
weak-values technique demonstrated that a beam's Dirac phase-space is
proportional to the measurable complex weak-value, regardless of coherence.
These direct measurements require scanning through all possible
position-polarization couplings, limiting their dimensionality to less than
100,000. We circumvent these limitations using compressive sensing, a numerical
protocol that allows us to undersample, yet efficiently measure
high-dimensional phase-spaces. We also propose an improved technique that
allows us to directly measure phase-spaces with high spatial resolution and
scalable frequency resolution. With this method, we are able to easily measure
a 1.07-billion-dimensional phase-space. The distributions are numerically
propagated to an object placed in the beam path, with excellent agreement. This
protocol has broad implications in signal processing and imaging, including
recovery of Fourier amplitudes in any dimension with linear algorithmic
solutions and ultra-high dimensional phase-space imaging.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Added new larger dataset and fixed typo
Position-Momentum Bell-Nonlocality with Entangled Photon Pairs
Witnessing continuous-variable Bell nonlocality is a challenging endeavor,
but Bell himself showed how one might demonstrate this nonlocality. Though Bell
nearly showed a violation using the CHSH inequality with sign-binned
position-momentum statistics of entangled pairs of particles measured at
different times, his demonstration is subject to approximations not realizable
in a laboratory setting. Moreover, he doesn't give a quantitative estimation of
the maximum achievable violation for the wavefunction he considers. In this
article, we show how his strategy can be reimagined using the transverse
positions and momenta of entangled photon pairs measured at different
propagation distances, and we find that the maximum achievable violation for
the state he considers is actually very small relative to the upper limit of
. Although Bell's wavefunction does not produce a large violation of
the CHSH inequality, other states may yet do so.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
- …