Monte Carlo simulation of wave sensing with a short pulse radar

A Monte Carlo simulation is used to study the ocean wave sensing potential of a radar which scatters short pulses at small off-nadir angles. In the simulation, realizations of a random surface are created commensurate with an assigned probability density and power spectrum. Then the signal scattered back to the radar is computed for each realization using a physical optics analysis which takes wavefront curvature and finite radar-to-surface distance into account. In the case of a Pierson-Moskowitz spectrum and a normally distributed surface, reasonable assumptions for a fully developed sea, it has been found that the cumulative distribution of time intervals between peaks in the scattered power provides a measure of surface roughness. This observation is supported by experiments

A faster algorithm for computing a longest common increasing subsequence

Let $A=\langle a_1,\dots,a_n\rangle$ and $B=\langle b_1,\dots,b_m \rangle$ be two sequences with $m \ge n$, whose elements are drawn from a totally ordered set. We present an algorithm that finds a longest common increasing subsequence of $A$ and $B$ in $O(m\log m+n\ell\log n)$ time and $O(m + n\ell)$ space, where $\ell$ is the length of the output. A previous algorithm by Yang et al. needs $\Theta(mn)$ time and space, so ours is faster for a wide range of values of $m,n$ and $\ell$

Nonlinear dynamics of mode-locking optical fiber ring lasers

We consider a model of a mode-locked fiber ring laser for which the evolution of a propagating pulse in a birefringent optical fiber is periodically perturbed by rotation of the polarization state owing to the presence of a passive polarizer. The stable modes of operation of this laser that correspond to pulse trains with uniform amplitudes are fully classified. Four parameters, i.e., polarization, phase, amplitude, and chirp, are essential for an understanding of the resultant pulse-train uniformity. A reduced set of four coupled nonlinear differential equations that describe the leading-order pulse dynamics is found by use of the variational nature of the governing equations. Pulse-train uniformity is achieved in three parameter regimes in which the amplitude and the chirp decouple from the polarization and the phase. Alignment of the polarizer either near the slow or the fast axis of the fiber is sufficient to establish this stable mode locking

Reachability substitutes for planar digraphs

Given a digraph $G = (V,E)$ with a set $U$ of vertices marked ``interesting,'' we want to find a smaller digraph \RS{} = (V',E') with $V' \supseteq U$ in such a way that the reachabilities amongst those interesting vertices in $G$ and \RS{} are the same. So with respect to the reachability relations within $U$, the digraph \RS{} is a substitute for $G$. We show that while almost all graphs do not have reachability substitutes smaller than \Ohmega(|U|^2/\log |U|), every planar graph has a reachability substitute of size \Oh(|U| \log^2 |U|). Our result rests on two new structural results for planar dags, a separation procedure and a reachability theorem, which might be of independent interest

21st Century Aerospace and the Power of Human Communication Skills

Aviation played a vital and dynamic role in 20th Century technical and social progress. That role has always represented power and continues to do so as it expands to meet the challenges of aerospace power in the 21st Century. Human communication skills are the transmission vehicle that allows aviation/aerospace information to be converted to the power of usage in this highly specialized and dynamic field. Utilizing the advice gleaned from the literature and studies pertinent to the importance of communications skills in a variety of occupations, this presentation discusses the perceived deficit in communications training for aviation students and further explores the importance of developing those skills for 21st Century aerospace leadership

GSFC short pulse radar, JONSWAP-75

In September 1975, the Goddard Space Flight Center operated a short pulse radar during ocean wave measuring experiments off the coast of West Germany in the North Sea. The experiment was part of JONSWAP-75. The radar system and operations during the experiment are described along with examples of data