19,647 research outputs found
Multisegmented optimal trajectories
Bolza problem of calculus of variations in terms of control coding applied to trajectorie
Applications of the calculus of variations to aircraft performance
Variational calculus used to describe optimum aircraft flight trajectorie
Quantitative computer simulations of extraterrestrial processing operations
The automation of a small, solid propellant mixer was studied. Temperature control is under investigation. A numerical simulation of the system is under development and will be tested using different control options. Control system hardware is currently being put into place. The construction of mathematical models and simulation techniques for understanding various engineering processes is also studied. Computer graphics packages were utilized for better visualization of the simulation results. The mechanical mixing of propellants is examined. Simulation of the mixing process is being done to study how one can control for chaotic behavior to meet specified mixing requirements. An experimental mixing chamber is also being built. It will allow visual tracking of particles under mixing. The experimental unit will be used to test ideas from chaos theory, as well as to verify simulation results. This project has applications to extraterrestrial propellant quality and reliability
Temperature automation for a propellant mixer
The analysis and installation of an automatic temperature controller on a propellant mixer is presented. Ultimately, the entire mixing process will come under automation, but since precise adherence to the temperature profile is very difficult to sustain manually, this was the first component to be automated. Automation is not only important for producing a uniform product, but it is necessary for envisioned space-based propellant production
A new method for treating optimal trajectories with restricted segments
New method for treating optimal trajectorie
Minimum time aircraft trajectories between two points in range altitude space
Calculus of variations used to determine minimum time aircraft trajectories between two fixed points in range-altitude spac
An integrated database with system optimization and design features
A customized, mission-specific relational database package was developed to allow researchers working on the Mars oxygen manufacturing plant to enter physical description, engineering, and connectivity data through a uniform, graphical interface and to store the data in formats compatible with other software also developed as part of the project. These latter components include an optimization program to maximize or minimize various criteria as the system evolves into its final design; programs to simulate the behavior of various parts of the plant in Martian conditions; an animation program which, in different modes, provides visual feedback to designers and researchers about the location of and temperature distribution among components as well as heat, mass, and data flow through the plant as it operates in different scenarios; and a control program to investigate the stability and response of the system under different disturbance conditions. All components of the system are interconnected so that changes entered through one component are reflected in the others
Performance of astrometric detection of a hotspot orbiting on the innermost stable circular orbit of the galactic centre black hole
The galactic central black hole Sgr A* exhibits outbursts of radiation in the
near infrared (so-called IR flares). One model of these events consists in a
hotspot orbiting on the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) of the hole.
These outbursts can be used as a probe of the central gravitational potential.
One main scientific goal of the second generation VLTI instrument GRAVITY is to
observe these flares astrometrically. Here, the astrometric precision of
GRAVITY is investigated in imaging mode, which consists in analysing the image
computed from the interferometric data. The capability of the instrument to put
in light the motion of a hotspot orbiting on the ISCO of our central black hole
is then discussed.
We find that GRAVITY's astrometric precision for a single star in imaging
mode is smaller than the Schwarzschild radius of Sgr A*. The instrument can
also demonstrate that a body orbiting on the last stable orbit of the black
hole is indeed moving. It yields a typical size of the orbit, if the source is
as bright as m_K=14.
These results show that GRAVITY allows one to study the close environment of
Sgr A*. Having access to the ISCO of the central massive black hole probably
allows constraining general relativity in its strong regime. Moreover, if the
hotspot model is appropriate, the black hole spin can be constrained.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures ; accepted by MNRA
Point-wise mutual information-based video segmentation with high temporal consistency
In this paper, we tackle the problem of temporally consistent boundary
detection and hierarchical segmentation in videos. While finding the best
high-level reasoning of region assignments in videos is the focus of much
recent research, temporal consistency in boundary detection has so far only
rarely been tackled. We argue that temporally consistent boundaries are a key
component to temporally consistent region assignment. The proposed method is
based on the point-wise mutual information (PMI) of spatio-temporal voxels.
Temporal consistency is established by an evaluation of PMI-based point
affinities in the spectral domain over space and time. Thus, the proposed
method is independent of any optical flow computation or previously learned
motion models. The proposed low-level video segmentation method outperforms the
learning-based state of the art in terms of standard region metrics
Anisotropic 2D diffusive expansion of ultra-cold atoms in a disordered potential
We study the horizontal expansion of vertically confined ultra-cold atoms in
the presence of disorder. Vertical confinement allows us to realize a situation
with a few coupled harmonic oscillator quantum states. The disordered potential
is created by an optical speckle at an angle of 30{\deg} with respect to the
horizontal plane, resulting in an effective anisotropy of the correlation
lengths of a factor of 2 in that plane. We observe diffusion leading to
non-Gaussian density profiles. Diffusion coefficients, extracted from the
experimental results, show anisotropy and strong energy dependence, in
agreement with numerical calculations
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