Sample records for time measuring system

  1. Method of high precision interval measurement in pulse laser ranging system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Zhen; Lv, Xin-yuan; Mao, Jin-jin; Liu, Wei; Yang, Dong

    2013-09-01

    Laser ranging is suitable for laser system, for it has the advantage of high measuring precision, fast measuring speed,no cooperative targets and strong resistance to electromagnetic interference,the measuremen of laser ranging is the key paremeters affecting the performance of the whole system.The precision of the pulsed laser ranging system was decided by the precision of the time interval measurement, the principle structure of laser ranging system was introduced, and a method of high precision time interval measurement in pulse laser ranging system was established in this paper.Based on the analysis of the factors which affected the precision of range measure,the pulse rising edges discriminator was adopted to produce timing mark for the start-stop time discrimination,and the TDC-GP2 high precision interval measurement system based on TMS320F2812 DSP was designed to improve the measurement precision.Experimental results indicate that the time interval measurement method in this paper can obtain higher range accuracy. Compared with the traditional time interval measurement system,the method simplifies the system design and reduce the influence of bad weather conditions,furthermore,it satisfies the requirements of low costs and miniaturization.

  2. Versatile all-digital time interval measuring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vyhlidal, David; Cech, Miroslav

    2011-06-01

    This paper describes a design and performance of a versatile all-digital time interval measuring system. The measurement method is based on an interpolation principle. In this principle the time interval is first roughly digitized by a coarse counter driven by a high stability reference clock and the fractions between the clock periods are measured by two Time-to-Digital Converter chips TDC-GPX manufactured by Acam messelectronic. Control circuits allow programmable customization of the system to satisfy many applications such as laser range finding, event counting, or time-of-flight measurements in various physics experiments. The system has two reference clocks inputs and two independent channels for measuring start and stop events. Only one 40 MHz reference is required for the measurement. The second reference can be, for example, 1 PPS (Pulse per Second) signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) to time tag events. Time intervals are measured using the highest resolution mode of the TDC-GPX chips. The resolution of each chip is software programmable and is PLL (Phase Locked Loop) stabilized against temperature and voltage variations. The system can achieve a timing resolution better than 15 ps rms with up to 90 kHz repetition rate. The time interval measurement range is from 0 ps up to 1 second. The power consumption of the whole system is 18 W including an embedded computer board and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen. The embedded computer controls the whole system, collects and evaluates measurement data and with the display provides a user interface. The system is implemented using commercially available components.

  3. State estimator for multisensor systems with irregular sampling and time-varying delays

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Peñarrocha, I.; Sanchis, R.; Romero, J. A.

    2012-08-01

    This article addresses the state estimation in linear time-varying systems with several sensors with different availability, randomly sampled in time and whose measurements have a time-varying delay. The approach is based on a modification of the Kalman filter with the negative-time measurement update strategy, avoiding running back the full standard Kalman filter, the use of full augmented order models or the use of reorganisation techniques, leading to a lower implementation cost algorithm. The update equations are run every time a new measurement is available, independently of the time when it was taken. The approach is useful for networked control systems, systems with long delays and scarce measurements and for out-of-sequence measurements.

  4. An improved measurement system for FOG pure lag time with no changing of FOG work status

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, X.; Yang, J. H.; Zhou, Y. L.; Shu, X. W.

    2018-05-01

    The minimum pure lag time is an important factor for characterizing the dynamic performance of fiber optical gyroscope. It is defined as the time duration from the reception of velocity-shock signal to the output of corresponding fiber-optic gyroscope data. Many engineering projects have required for this index specifically, so the measurement of the minimum pure lag time is highly demanded. In typically measurement system, the work status of tested FOG has to be changed. In this work, a FOG pure lag time measurement system without changing the work status of the FOG has been demonstrated. During the operation of this test system, the impact structure generated a shock towards the FOG, and the pure lag time was measured through data processing analysis. The design scheme and test principle have been researched and analyzed in detail. And a prototype has been developed and used for experiment successfully. This measurement system can realize a measurement accuracy of better than ±3 μs and a system resolution of 108.6ns.

  5. Effectiveness of a simple and real-time baseline shift monitoring system during stereotactic body radiation therapy of lung tumors.

    PubMed

    Uchida, Yukihiro; Tachibana, Hidenobu; Kamei, Yoshiyuki; Kashihara, Kenichi

    2017-11-01

    This study aimed to clinically validate a simple real-time baseline shift monitoring system in a prospective study of consecutive patients undergoing stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung tumors, and to investigate baseline shift due to intrafraction motion of the patient's body during lung SBRT. Ten consecutive patients with peripheral lung tumors were treated by SBRT consisting of four fractions of 12 Gy each, with a total dose of 48 Gy. During treatment, each patient's geometric displacement in the anterior-posterior and left-right directions (the baseline shift) was measured using a real-time monitoring webcam system. Displacement between the start and end of treatment was measured using an X-ray fluoroscopic imaging system. The displacement measurements of the two systems were compared, and the measurements of baseline shift acquired by the monitoring system during treatment were analyzed for all patients. There was no significant deviation between the monitoring system and the X-ray imaging system, with the accuracy of measurement being within 1 mm. Measurements using the monitoring system showed that 7 min of treatment generated displacements of more than 1 mm in 50% of the patients. Baseline shift of a patient's body may be measured accurately in real time, using a monitoring system without X-ray exposure. The manubrium of the sternum is a good location for measuring the baseline shift of a patient's body at all times. The real-time monitoring system may be useful for measuring the baseline shift of a patient's body independently of a gating system. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Analysis of travel time reliability on Indiana interstates.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-09-15

    Travel-time reliability is a key performance measure in any transportation system. It is a : measure of quality of travel time experienced by transportation system users and reflects the efficiency : of the transportation system to serve citizens, bu...

  7. High-throughput SANS experiment on two-detector system of YuMO spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuklin, A. I.; Ivankov, A. I.; Soloviov, D. V.; Rogachev, A. V.; Kovalev, Yu S.; Soloviev, A. G.; Islamov, A. Kh; Balasoiu, M.; Vlasov, A. V.; Kutuzov, S. A.; Sirotin, A. P.; Kirilov, A. S.; Skoi, V. V.; Rulev, M. I.; Gordeliy, V. I.

    2018-03-01

    Using a multidetector system on the YuMO spectrometer allows shortening the time of measurements. The quantitative comparison of the measurement time using one and two-detector mode is done. The time range for experiments was from several minutes up to 12 hours. It was shown that two-detector system shortens more than twice the time of the measurement. While making a structural investigation using advanced software the two-detector system allows to treat the data at a qualitatively new level. An example illustrating the features of the channels choice and measurement time on the spectrometer was shown. The results of this paper could be used when planning the experiments on the YuMO spectrometer, for modernization of the installation and for equipment using time-of-flight method.

  8. Real time 3D photometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fernandez-Balbuena, A. A.; Vazquez-Molini, D.; García-Botella, A.; Romo, J.; Serrano, Ana

    2017-09-01

    The photometry and radiometry measurement is a well-developed field. The necessity of measuring optical systems performance involves the use of several techniques like Gonio-photometry. The Gonio photometers are a precise measurement tool that is used in the lighting area like office, luminaire head car lighting, concentrator /collimator measurement and all the designed and fabricated optical systems that works with light. There is one disadvantage in this kind of measurements that obtain the intensity polar curves and the total flux of the optical system. In the industry, there are good Gonio photometers that are precise and reliable but they are very expensive and the measurement time is long. In industry the cost can be of minor importance but measuring time that is around 30 minutes is of major importance due to trained staff cost. We have designed a system to measure photometry in real time; it consists in a curved screen to get a huge measurement angle and a CCD. The system to be measured projects light onto the screen and the CCD records a video of the screen obtaining an image of the projected profile. A complex calibration permits to trace screen data (x,y,z) to intensity polar curve (I,αγ). This intensity is obtained in candels (cd) with an image + processing time below one second.

  9. High time resolved electron temperature measurements by using the multi-pass Thomson scattering system in GAMMA 10/PDX.

    PubMed

    Yoshikawa, Masayuki; Yasuhara, Ryo; Ohta, Koichi; Chikatsu, Masayuki; Shima, Yoriko; Kohagura, Junko; Sakamoto, Mizuki; Nakashima, Yousuke; Imai, Tsuyoshi; Ichimura, Makoto; Yamada, Ichihiro; Funaba, Hisamichi; Minami, Takashi

    2016-11-01

    High time resolved electron temperature measurements are useful for fluctuation study. A multi-pass Thomson scattering (MPTS) system is proposed for the improvement of both increasing the TS signal intensity and time resolution. The MPTS system in GAMMA 10/PDX has been constructed for enhancing the Thomson scattered signals for the improvement of measurement accuracy. The MPTS system has a polarization-based configuration with an image relaying system. We optimized the image relaying optics for improving the multi-pass laser confinement and obtaining the stable MPTS signals over ten passing TS signals. The integrated MPTS signals increased about five times larger than that in the single pass system. Finally, time dependent electron temperatures were obtained in MHz sampling.

  10. A Procedure for Measuring Latencies in Brain-Computer Interfaces

    PubMed Central

    Wilson, J. Adam; Mellinger, Jürgen; Schalk, Gerwin; Williams, Justin

    2011-01-01

    Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems must process neural signals with consistent timing in order to support adequate system performance. Thus, it is important to have the capability to determine whether a particular BCI configuration (i.e., hardware, software) provides adequate timing performance for a particular experiment. This report presents a method of measuring and quantifying different aspects of system timing in several typical BCI experiments across a range of settings, and presents comprehensive measures of expected overall system latency for each experimental configuration. PMID:20403781

  11. Performance measures for multi-vehicle allowance shuttle transit (MAST) system.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-09-01

    This study investigates the performance measures for multi-vehicle mobility allowance shuttle : transit (MAST) system. Particularly, researchers were primarily concerned with two measures, : waiting time and ride time, to evaluate the performance and...

  12. Microsecond resolved single-molecule FRET time series measurements based on the line confocal optical system combined with hybrid photodetectors.

    PubMed

    Oikawa, Hiroyuki; Takahashi, Takumi; Kamonprasertsuk, Supawich; Takahashi, Satoshi

    2018-01-31

    Single-molecule (sm) fluorescence time series measurements based on the line confocal optical system are a powerful strategy for the investigation of the structure, dynamics, and heterogeneity of biological macromolecules. This method enables the detection of more than several thousands of fluorescence photons per millisecond from single fluorophores, implying that the potential time resolution for measurements of the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency is 10 μs. However, the necessity of using imaging photodetectors in the method limits the time resolution in the FRET efficiency measurements to approximately 100 μs. In this investigation, a new photodetector called a hybrid photodetector (HPD) was incorporated into the line confocal system to improve the time resolution without sacrificing the length of the time series detection. Among several settings examined, the system based on a slit width of 10 μm and a high-speed counting device made the best of the features of the line confocal optical system and the HPD. This method achieved a time resolution of 10 μs and an observation time of approximately 5 ms in the sm-FRET time series measurements. The developed device was used for the native state of the B domain of protein A.

  13. Sampled-data H∞ filtering for Markovian jump singularly perturbed systems with time-varying delay and missing measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Yifang; Yang, Chunyu; Ma, Xiaoping; Zhou, Linna

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, sampled-data H∞ filtering problem is considered for Markovian jump singularly perturbed systems with time-varying delay and missing measurements. The sampled-data system is represented by a time-delay system, and the missing measurement phenomenon is described by an independent Bernoulli random process. By constructing an ɛ-dependent stochastic Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, delay-dependent sufficient conditions are derived such that the filter error system satisfies the prescribed H∞ performance for all possible missing measurements. Then, an H∞ filter design method is proposed in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the feasibility and advantages of the obtained results.

  14. Accurate frequency domain measurement of the best linear time-invariant approximation of linear time-periodic systems including the quantification of the time-periodic distortions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Louarroudi, E.; Pintelon, R.; Lataire, J.

    2014-10-01

    Time-periodic (TP) phenomena occurring, for instance, in wind turbines, helicopters, anisotropic shaft-bearing systems, and cardiovascular/respiratory systems, are often not addressed when classical frequency response function (FRF) measurements are performed. As the traditional FRF concept is based on the linear time-invariant (LTI) system theory, it is only approximately valid for systems with varying dynamics. Accordingly, the quantification of any deviation from this ideal LTI framework is more than welcome. The “measure of deviation” allows us to define the notion of the best LTI (BLTI) approximation, which yields the best - in mean square sense - LTI description of a linear time-periodic LTP system. By taking into consideration the TP effects, it is shown in this paper that the variability of the BLTI measurement can be reduced significantly compared with that of classical FRF estimators. From a single experiment, the proposed identification methods can handle (non-)linear time-periodic [(N)LTP] systems in open-loop with a quantification of (i) the noise and/or the NL distortions, (ii) the TP distortions and (iii) the transient (leakage) errors. Besides, a geometrical interpretation of the BLTI approximation is provided, leading to a framework called vector FRF analysis. The theory presented is supported by numerical simulations as well as real measurements mimicking the well-known mechanical Mathieu oscillator.

  15. IMU-based Real-time Pose Measurement system for Anterior Pelvic Plane in Total Hip Replacement Surgeries.

    PubMed

    Zhe Cao; Shaojie Su; Hao Tang; Yixin Zhou; Zhihua Wang; Hong Chen

    2017-07-01

    With the aging of population, the number of Total Hip Replacement Surgeries (THR) increased year by year. In THR, inaccurate position of the implanted prosthesis may lead to the failure of the operation. In order to reduce the failure rate and acquire the real-time pose of Anterior Pelvic Plane (APP), we propose a measurement system in this paper. The measurement system includes two parts: Initial Pose Measurement Instrument (IPMI) and Real-time Pose Measurement Instrument (RPMI). IPMI is used to acquire the initial pose of the APP, and RPMI is used to estimate the real-time pose of the APP. Both are composed of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and magnetometer sensors. To estimate the attitude of the measurement system, the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is adopted in this paper. The real-time pose of the APP could be acquired together with the algorithm designed in the paper. The experiment results show that the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is within 1.6 degrees, which meets the requirement of THR operations.

  16. Toward real-time performance benchmarks for Ada

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clapp, Russell M.; Duchesneau, Louis; Volz, Richard A.; Mudge, Trevor N.; Schultze, Timothy

    1986-01-01

    The issue of real-time performance measurements for the Ada programming language through the use of benchmarks is addressed. First, the Ada notion of time is examined and a set of basic measurement techniques are developed. Then a set of Ada language features believed to be important for real-time performance are presented and specific measurement methods discussed. In addition, other important time related features which are not explicitly part of the language but are part of the run-time related features which are not explicitly part of the language but are part of the run-time system are also identified and measurement techniques developed. The measurement techniques are applied to the language and run-time system features and the results are presented.

  17. A unified method for evaluating real-time computer controllers: A case study. [aircraft control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shin, K. G.; Krishna, C. M.; Lee, Y. H.

    1982-01-01

    A real time control system consists of a synergistic pair, that is, a controlled process and a controller computer. Performance measures for real time controller computers are defined on the basis of the nature of this synergistic pair. A case study of a typical critical controlled process is presented in the context of new performance measures that express the performance of both controlled processes and real time controllers (taken as a unit) on the basis of a single variable: controller response time. Controller response time is a function of current system state, system failure rate, electrical and/or magnetic interference, etc., and is therefore a random variable. Control overhead is expressed as a monotonically nondecreasing function of the response time and the system suffers catastrophic failure, or dynamic failure, if the response time for a control task exceeds the corresponding system hard deadline, if any. A rigorous probabilistic approach is used to estimate the performance measures. The controlled process chosen for study is an aircraft in the final stages of descent, just prior to landing. First, the performance measures for the controller are presented. Secondly, control algorithms for solving the landing problem are discussed and finally the impact of the performance measures on the problem is analyzed.

  18. Measuring the Earth System in a Time of Global Environmental Change with Image Spectroscopy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Green, Robert O.

    2005-01-01

    Measuring the Earth system in a time of global environmental change. Imaging Spectroscopy enables remote measurement. Remote Measurement determination of the properties of the Earth's surface and atmosphere through the physics, chemistry and biology of the interaction of electromagnetic energy with matter.

  19. Stability of continuous-time quantum filters with measurement imperfections

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amini, H.; Pellegrini, C.; Rouchon, P.

    2014-07-01

    The fidelity between the state of a continuously observed quantum system and the state of its associated quantum filter, is shown to be always a submartingale. The observed system is assumed to be governed by a continuous-time Stochastic Master Equation (SME), driven simultaneously by Wiener and Poisson processes and that takes into account incompleteness and errors in measurements. This stability result is the continuous-time counterpart of a similar stability result already established for discrete-time quantum systems and where the measurement imperfections are modelled by a left stochastic matrix.

  20. Timing Calibration of the NEMO Optical Sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Circella, M.; de Marzo, C.; Megna, R.; Ruppi, M.

    2006-04-01

    This paper describes the timing calibration system for the NEMO underwater neutrino telescope. The NEMO Project aims at the construction of a km3 detector, equipped with a large number of photomultipliers, in the Mediterranean Sea. We foresee a redundant system to perform the time calibration of our apparatus: 1) A two-step procedure for measuring the offsets in the time measurements of the NEMO optical sensors, so as to measure separately the time delay for the synchronization signals to reach the offshore electronics and the response time of the photomultipliers to calibration signals delivered from optical pulsers through an optical fibre distribution system; 2) an all-optical procedure for measuring the differences in the time offsets of the different optical modules illuminated by calibration pulses. Such a system can be extended to work for a very large apparatus, even for complex arrangements of widely spaced sensors. The NEMO prototyping activities ongoing at a test site off the coast of Sicily will allow the system described in this work to be operated and tested in situ next year.

  1. Bounded Linear Stability Analysis - A Time Delay Margin Estimation Approach for Adaptive Control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nguyen, Nhan T.; Ishihara, Abraham K.; Krishnakumar, Kalmanje Srinlvas; Bakhtiari-Nejad, Maryam

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a method for estimating time delay margin for model-reference adaptive control of systems with almost linear structured uncertainty. The bounded linear stability analysis method seeks to represent the conventional model-reference adaptive law by a locally bounded linear approximation within a small time window using the comparison lemma. The locally bounded linear approximation of the combined adaptive system is cast in a form of an input-time-delay differential equation over a small time window. The time delay margin of this system represents a local stability measure and is computed analytically by a matrix measure method, which provides a simple analytical technique for estimating an upper bound of time delay margin. Based on simulation results for a scalar model-reference adaptive control system, both the bounded linear stability method and the matrix measure method are seen to provide a reasonably accurate and yet not too conservative time delay margin estimation.

  2. Design of a digital holography system for PFC erosion measurements on Proto-MPEX

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    ThomasJr., C. E.; Biewer, Theodore M; Baylor, Larry R

    2016-01-01

    A project has been started at ORNL to develop a dual-wavelength digital holography system for plasma facing component (PFC) erosion measurements on Proto-MPEX. Such a system will allow in-situ real-time measurements of component erosion. Initially the system will be developed with one laser, and first experimental laboratory measurements will be made with the single laser system. In the second year of development a second CO2 laser will be added and measurements with the dual wavelength system will begin. Adding the second wavelength allows measurements at a much longer synthetic wavelength equal to the average of the two wavelengths times themore » average divided by the difference of the two wavelengths.« less

  3. Measuring border delay and crossing times at the US-Mexico border : part II. Step-by-step guidelines for implementing a radio frequency identification (RFID) system to measure border crossing and wait times.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    The purpose of these step-by-step guidelines is to assist in planning, designing, and deploying a system that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to measure the time needed for commercial vehicles to complete the northbound border c...

  4. Method for suppressing noise in measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carson, Paul J. (Inventor); Madsen, Louis A. (Inventor); Leskowitz, Garett M. (Inventor); Weitekamp, Daniel P. (Inventor)

    2000-01-01

    Techniques of combining separate but correlated measurements to form a second-order or higher order correlation function to suppress the effects of noise in the initial condition of a system capable of retaining memory of an initial state of the system with a characteristic relaxation time. At least two separate measurements are obtained from the system. The temporal separation between the two separate measurements is preferably comparable to or less than the characteristic relaxation time and is adjusted to allow for a correlation between two measurements.

  5. Experimental investigation of measurement-induced disturbance and time symmetry in quantum physics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Curic, D.; Richardson, M. C.; Thekkadath, G. S.; Flórez, J.; Giner, L.; Lundeen, J. S.

    2018-04-01

    Unlike regular time evolution governed by the Schrödinger equation, standard quantum measurement appears to violate time-reversal symmetry. Measurement creates random disturbances (e.g., collapse) that prevent back-tracing the quantum state of the system. The effect of these disturbances is explicit in the results of subsequent measurements. In this way, the joint result of sequences of measurements depends on the order in time in which those measurements are performed. One might expect that if the disturbance could be eliminated this time-ordering dependence would vanish. Following a recent theoretical proposal [Bednorz, Franke, and Belzig, New J. Phys. 15, 023043 (2013), 10.1088/1367-2630/15/2/023043], we experimentally investigate this dependence for a kind of measurement that creates an arbitrarily small disturbance: weak measurement. We perform various sequences of a set of polarization weak measurements on photons. We experimentally demonstrate that, although the weak measurements are minimally disturbing, their time ordering affects the outcome of the measurement sequence for quantum systems.

  6. Precise time dissemination and applications development on the Bonneville Power Administration system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Martin, Ken E.; Esztergalyos, J.

    1992-01-01

    The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) uses IRIG-B transmitted over microwave as its primary system time dissemination. Problems with accuracy and reliability have led to ongoing research into better methods. BPA has also developed and deployed a unique fault locator which uses precise clocks synchronized by a pulse over microwaves. It automatically transmits the data to a central computer for analysis. A proposed system could combine fault location timing and time dissemination into a Global Position System (GPS) timing receiver and close the verification loop through a master station at the Dittmer Control Center. Such a system would have many advantages, including lower cost, higher reliability, and wider industry support. Test results indicate the GPS has sufficient accuracy and reliability for this and other current timing requirements including synchronous phase angle measurements. A phasor measurement system which provides phase angle has recently been tested with excellent results. Phase angle is a key parameter in power system control applications including dynamic braking, DC modulation, remedial action schemes, and system state estimation. Further research is required to determine the applications which can most effectively use real-time phase angle measurements and the best method to apply them.

  7. Precise time dissemination and applications development on the Bonneville Power Administration system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Martin, Ken E.; Esztergalyos, J.

    1992-07-01

    The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) uses IRIG-B transmitted over microwave as its primary system time dissemination. Problems with accuracy and reliability have led to ongoing research into better methods. BPA has also developed and deployed a unique fault locator which uses precise clocks synchronized by a pulse over microwaves. It automatically transmits the data to a central computer for analysis. A proposed system could combine fault location timing and time dissemination into a Global Position System (GPS) timing receiver and close the verification loop through a master station at the Dittmer Control Center. Such a system would have many advantages, including lower cost, higher reliability, and wider industry support. Test results indicate the GPS has sufficient accuracy and reliability for this and other current timing requirements including synchronous phase angle measurements. A phasor measurement system which provides phase angle has recently been tested with excellent results. Phase angle is a key parameter in power system control applications including dynamic braking, DC modulation, remedial action schemes, and system state estimation. Further research is required to determine the applications which can most effectively use real-time phase angle measurements and the best method to apply them.

  8. Weak Measurement and Quantum Smoothing of a Superconducting Qubit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tan, Dian

    In quantum mechanics, the measurement outcome of an observable in a quantum system is intrinsically random, yielding a probability distribution. The state of the quantum system can be described by a density matrix rho(t), which depends on the information accumulated until time t, and represents our knowledge about the system. The density matrix rho(t) gives probabilities for the outcomes of measurements at time t. Further probing of the quantum system allows us to refine our prediction in hindsight. In this thesis, we experimentally examine a quantum smoothing theory in a superconducting qubit by introducing an auxiliary matrix E(t) which is conditioned on information obtained from time t to a final time T. With the complete information before and after time t, the pair of matrices [rho(t), E(t)] can be used to make smoothed predictions for the measurement outcome at time t. We apply the quantum smoothing theory in the case of continuous weak measurement unveiling the retrodicted quantum trajectories and weak values. In the case of strong projective measurement, while the density matrix rho(t) with only diagonal elements in a given basis |n〉 may be treated as a classical mixture, we demonstrate a failure of this classical mixture description in determining the smoothed probabilities for the measurement outcome at time t with both diagonal rho(t) and diagonal E(t). We study the correlations between quantum states and weak measurement signals and examine aspects of the time symmetry of continuous quantum measurement. We also extend our study of quantum smoothing theory to the case of resonance fluorescence of a superconducting qubit with homodyne measurement and observe some interesting effects such as the modification of the excited state probabilities, weak values, and evolution of the predicted and retrodicted trajectories.

  9. Dual-plane ultrasound flow measurements in liquid metals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Büttner, Lars; Nauber, Richard; Burger, Markus; Räbiger, Dirk; Franke, Sven; Eckert, Sven; Czarske, Jürgen

    2013-05-01

    An ultrasound measurement system for dual-plane, two-component flow velocity measurements especially in opaque liquids is presented. Present-day techniques for measuring local flow structures in opaque liquids disclose considerable drawbacks concerning line-wise measurement of single ultrasound probes. For studying time-varying flow patterns, conventional ultrasound techniques are either limited by time-consuming mechanical traversing or by the sequential operation of single probes. The measurement system presented within this paper employs four transducer arrays with a total of 100 single elements which allows for flow mapping without mechanical traversing. A high frame rate of several 10 Hz has been achieved due to an efficient parallelization scheme using time-division multiplexing realized by a microcontroller-based electronic switching matrix. The functionality and capability of the measurement system are demonstrated on a liquid metal flow at room temperature inside a cube driven by a rotating magnetic field (RMF). For the first time, the primary and the secondary flow have been studied in detail and simultaneously using a configuration with two crossed measurement planes. The experimental data confirm predictions made by numeric simulation. After a sudden switching on of the RMF, inertial oscillations of the secondary flow were observed by means of a time-resolved measurement with a frame rate of 3.4 Hz. The experiments demonstrate that the presented measurement system is able to investigate complex and transient flow structures in opaque liquids. Due to its ability to study the temporal evolution of local flow structures, the measurement system could provide considerable progress for fluid dynamics research, in particular for applications in the food industry or liquid metal technologies.

  10. High-Speed, capacitance-based tip clearance sensing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haase, W. C.; Haase, Z. S.

    This paper discusses recent advances in tip clearance measurement systems for turbine engines using capacitive probes. Real time measurements of individual blade pulses are generated using wideband signal processing providing 3 dB bandwidths of typically 5 MHz. Subsequent mixed-signal processing circuitry provide real-time measurements of maximum, minimum, and average clearance with latencies of one blade-to-blade time interval. Both guarded and unguarded probe configurations are possible with the system. Calibration techniques provide high accuracy measurements.

  11. Distance and Cable Length Measurement System

    PubMed Central

    Hernández, Sergio Elias; Acosta, Leopoldo; Toledo, Jonay

    2009-01-01

    A simple, economic and successful design for distance and cable length detection is presented. The measurement system is based on the continuous repetition of a pulse that endlessly travels along the distance to be detected. There is a pulse repeater at both ends of the distance or cable to be measured. The endless repetition of the pulse generates a frequency that varies almost inversely with the distance to be measured. The resolution and distance or cable length range could be adjusted by varying the repetition time delay introduced at both ends and the measurement time. With this design a distance can be measured with centimeter resolution using electronic system with microsecond resolution, simplifying classical time of flight designs which require electronics with picosecond resolution. This design was also applied to position measurement. PMID:22303169

  12. Presentation and response timing accuracy in Adobe Flash and HTML5/JavaScript Web experiments.

    PubMed

    Reimers, Stian; Stewart, Neil

    2015-06-01

    Web-based research is becoming ubiquitous in the behavioral sciences, facilitated by convenient, readily available participant pools and relatively straightforward ways of running experiments: most recently, through the development of the HTML5 standard. Although in most studies participants give untimed responses, there is a growing interest in being able to record response times online. Existing data on the accuracy and cross-machine variability of online timing measures are limited, and generally they have compared behavioral data gathered on the Web with similar data gathered in the lab. For this article, we took a more direct approach, examining two ways of running experiments online-Adobe Flash and HTML5 with CSS3 and JavaScript-across 19 different computer systems. We used specialist hardware to measure stimulus display durations and to generate precise response times to visual stimuli in order to assess measurement accuracy, examining effects of duration, browser, and system-to-system variability (such as across different Windows versions), as well as effects of processing power and graphics capability. We found that (a) Flash and JavaScript's presentation and response time measurement accuracy are similar; (b) within-system variability is generally small, even in low-powered machines under high load; (c) the variability of measured response times across systems is somewhat larger; and (d) browser type and system hardware appear to have relatively small effects on measured response times. Modeling of the effects of this technical variability suggests that for most within- and between-subjects experiments, Flash and JavaScript can both be used to accurately detect differences in response times across conditions. Concerns are, however, noted about using some correlational or longitudinal designs online.

  13. Novel system for automatic measuring diopter based on ARM circuit block

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xue, Feng; Zhong, Lei; Chen, Zhe; Xue, Deng-pan; Li, Xiang-ning

    2009-07-01

    Traditional commercial instruments utilized in vision screening programs cannot satisfy the request for real-time diopter measurement by far, and their success is limited by some defectiveness such as computer-attached, clumsy volume, and low accuracy of parameters measured, etc. In addition, astigmatic eyes cannot be determined in many devices. This paper proposes a new design of diopter measurement system based on SAMSUNG's ARM9 circuit block. There are several contributions in the design. The new developed system has not only the function of automatically measuring diopter, but also the advantages of the low cost, and especially the simplicity and portability. Besides, by placing point sources in three directions, the instrument can determine astigmatic eyes at the same time. Most of the details are introduced as the integrated design of measuring system, interface circuit of embedded system and so on. Through a preliminary experiment, it is proved that the system keeps good feasibility and validity. The maximum deviation of measurement result is 0.344D.The experimental results also demonstrate the system can provide the service needed for real-time applications. The instrument present here is expected to be widely applied in many fields such as the clinic and home healthcare.

  14. Cooperative multi-user detection and ranging based on pseudo-random codes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morhart, C.; Biebl, E. M.

    2009-05-01

    We present an improved approach for a Round Trip Time of Flight distance measurement system. The system is intended for the usage in a cooperative localisation system for automotive applications. Therefore, it is designed to address a large number of communication partners per measurement cycle. By using coded signals in a time divison multiple access order, we can detect a large number of pedestrian sensors with just one car sensor. We achieve this by using very short transmit bursts in combination with a real time correlation algorithm. Futhermore, the correlation approach offers real time data, concerning the time of arrival, that can serve as a trigger impulse for other comunication systems. The distance accuracy of the correlation result was further increased by adding a fourier interpolation filter. The system performance was checked with a prototype at 2.4 GHz. We reached a distance measurement accuracy of 12 cm at a range up to 450 m.

  15. Set membership experimental design for biological systems.

    PubMed

    Marvel, Skylar W; Williams, Cranos M

    2012-03-21

    Experimental design approaches for biological systems are needed to help conserve the limited resources that are allocated for performing experiments. The assumptions used when assigning probability density functions to characterize uncertainty in biological systems are unwarranted when only a small number of measurements can be obtained. In these situations, the uncertainty in biological systems is more appropriately characterized in a bounded-error context. Additionally, effort must be made to improve the connection between modelers and experimentalists by relating design metrics to biologically relevant information. Bounded-error experimental design approaches that can assess the impact of additional measurements on model uncertainty are needed to identify the most appropriate balance between the collection of data and the availability of resources. In this work we develop a bounded-error experimental design framework for nonlinear continuous-time systems when few data measurements are available. This approach leverages many of the recent advances in bounded-error parameter and state estimation methods that use interval analysis to generate parameter sets and state bounds consistent with uncertain data measurements. We devise a novel approach using set-based uncertainty propagation to estimate measurement ranges at candidate time points. We then use these estimated measurements at the candidate time points to evaluate which candidate measurements furthest reduce model uncertainty. A method for quickly combining multiple candidate time points is presented and allows for determining the effect of adding multiple measurements. Biologically relevant metrics are developed and used to predict when new data measurements should be acquired, which system components should be measured and how many additional measurements should be obtained. The practicability of our approach is illustrated with a case study. This study shows that our approach is able to 1) identify candidate measurement time points that maximize information corresponding to biologically relevant metrics and 2) determine the number at which additional measurements begin to provide insignificant information. This framework can be used to balance the availability of resources with the addition of one or more measurement time points to improve the predictability of resulting models.

  16. Set membership experimental design for biological systems

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background Experimental design approaches for biological systems are needed to help conserve the limited resources that are allocated for performing experiments. The assumptions used when assigning probability density functions to characterize uncertainty in biological systems are unwarranted when only a small number of measurements can be obtained. In these situations, the uncertainty in biological systems is more appropriately characterized in a bounded-error context. Additionally, effort must be made to improve the connection between modelers and experimentalists by relating design metrics to biologically relevant information. Bounded-error experimental design approaches that can assess the impact of additional measurements on model uncertainty are needed to identify the most appropriate balance between the collection of data and the availability of resources. Results In this work we develop a bounded-error experimental design framework for nonlinear continuous-time systems when few data measurements are available. This approach leverages many of the recent advances in bounded-error parameter and state estimation methods that use interval analysis to generate parameter sets and state bounds consistent with uncertain data measurements. We devise a novel approach using set-based uncertainty propagation to estimate measurement ranges at candidate time points. We then use these estimated measurements at the candidate time points to evaluate which candidate measurements furthest reduce model uncertainty. A method for quickly combining multiple candidate time points is presented and allows for determining the effect of adding multiple measurements. Biologically relevant metrics are developed and used to predict when new data measurements should be acquired, which system components should be measured and how many additional measurements should be obtained. Conclusions The practicability of our approach is illustrated with a case study. This study shows that our approach is able to 1) identify candidate measurement time points that maximize information corresponding to biologically relevant metrics and 2) determine the number at which additional measurements begin to provide insignificant information. This framework can be used to balance the availability of resources with the addition of one or more measurement time points to improve the predictability of resulting models. PMID:22436240

  17. Optimal perturbations for nonlinear systems using graph-based optimal transport

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grover, Piyush; Elamvazhuthi, Karthik

    2018-06-01

    We formulate and solve a class of finite-time transport and mixing problems in the set-oriented framework. The aim is to obtain optimal discrete-time perturbations in nonlinear dynamical systems to transport a specified initial measure on the phase space to a final measure in finite time. The measure is propagated under system dynamics in between the perturbations via the associated transfer operator. Each perturbation is described by a deterministic map in the measure space that implements a version of Monge-Kantorovich optimal transport with quadratic cost. Hence, the optimal solution minimizes a sum of quadratic costs on phase space transport due to the perturbations applied at specified times. The action of the transport map is approximated by a continuous pseudo-time flow on a graph, resulting in a tractable convex optimization problem. This problem is solved via state-of-the-art solvers to global optimality. We apply this algorithm to a problem of transport between measures supported on two disjoint almost-invariant sets in a chaotic fluid system, and to a finite-time optimal mixing problem by choosing the final measure to be uniform. In both cases, the optimal perturbations are found to exploit the phase space structures, such as lobe dynamics, leading to efficient global transport. As the time-horizon of the problem is increased, the optimal perturbations become increasingly localized. Hence, by combining the transfer operator approach with ideas from the theory of optimal mass transportation, we obtain a discrete-time graph-based algorithm for optimal transport and mixing in nonlinear systems.

  18. Systems for measuring response statistics of gigahertz bandwidth photomultipliers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abshire, J. B.; Rowe, H. E.

    1977-01-01

    New systems have been developed for measuring the average impulse response, the pulse-height spectrum, the transit-time statistics as a function of signal level, and the dark-count spectrum of gigahertz bandwidth photomultipliers. Measurements showed that the 0.53 microns pulse used as an optical test source had a 30 picoseconds and less than 70 ps pulse width. Calibration data showed the system resolution to be less than 20 ps for root mean square transit-time measurements. Test data for a static crossed-field photomultiplier showed 2-photoelectron resolution and less than 30-ps time jitter over the 1- to 100-photoelectron range.

  19. In-flight demonstration of a Real-Time Flush Airdata Sensing (RT-FADS) system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Whitmore, Stephen A.; Davis, Roy J.; Fife, John Michael

    1995-01-01

    A prototype real-time flush airdata sensing (RT-FADS) system has been developed and flight tested at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. This system uses a matrix of pressure orifices on the vehicle nose to estimate airdata parameters in real time using nonlinear regression. The algorithm is robust to sensor failures and noise in the measured pressures. The RT-FADS system has been calibrated using inertial trajectory measurements that were bootstrapped for atmospheric conditions using meteorological data. Mach numbers as high as 1.6 and angles of attack greater than 45 deg have been tested. The system performance has been evaluated by comparing the RT-FADS to the ship system airdata computer measurements to give a quantitative evaluation relative to an accepted measurement standard. Nominal agreements of approximately 0.003 in Mach number and 0.20 deg in angle of attack and angle of sideslip have been achieved.

  20. Technical Note: High temporal resolution characterization of gating response time.

    PubMed

    Wiersma, Rodney D; McCabe, Bradley P; Belcher, Andrew H; Jensen, Patrick J; Smith, Brett; Aydogan, Bulent

    2016-06-01

    Low temporal latency between a gating ON/OFF signal and the LINAC beam ON/OFF during respiratory gating is critical for patient safety. Here the authors describe a novel method to precisely measure gating lag times at high temporal resolutions. A respiratory gating simulator with an oscillating platform was modified to include a linear potentiometer for position measurement. A photon diode was placed at linear accelerator isocenter for beam output measurement. The output signals of the potentiometer and diode were recorded simultaneously at 2500 Hz with an analog to digital converter for four different commercial respiratory gating systems. The ON and OFF of the beam signal were located and compared to the expected gating window for both phase and position based gating and the temporal lag times extracted. For phase based gating, a real-time position management (RPM) infrared marker tracking system with a single camera and a RPM system with a stereoscopic camera were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 98/90 and 86/44 ms, respectively. For position based gating, an AlignRT 3D surface system and a Calypso magnetic fiducial tracking system were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 356/529 and 209/60 ms, respectively. Temporal resolution of the method was high enough to allow characterization of individual gate cycles and was primary limited by the sampling speed of the data recording device. Significant variation of mean gate ON/OFF lag time was found between different gating systems. For certain gating devices, individual gating cycle lag times can vary significantly.

  1. Technical Note: High temporal resolution characterization of gating response time

    PubMed Central

    Wiersma, Rodney D.; McCabe, Bradley P.; Belcher, Andrew H.; Jensen, Patrick J.; Smith, Brett; Aydogan, Bulent

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Low temporal latency between a gating ON/OFF signal and the LINAC beam ON/OFF during respiratory gating is critical for patient safety. Here the authors describe a novel method to precisely measure gating lag times at high temporal resolutions. Methods: A respiratory gating simulator with an oscillating platform was modified to include a linear potentiometer for position measurement. A photon diode was placed at linear accelerator isocenter for beam output measurement. The output signals of the potentiometer and diode were recorded simultaneously at 2500 Hz with an analog to digital converter for four different commercial respiratory gating systems. The ON and OFF of the beam signal were located and compared to the expected gating window for both phase and position based gating and the temporal lag times extracted. Results: For phase based gating, a real-time position management (RPM) infrared marker tracking system with a single camera and a RPM system with a stereoscopic camera were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 98/90 and 86/44 ms, respectively. For position based gating, an AlignRT 3D surface system and a Calypso magnetic fiducial tracking system were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 356/529 and 209/60 ms, respectively. Conclusions: Temporal resolution of the method was high enough to allow characterization of individual gate cycles and was primary limited by the sampling speed of the data recording device. Significant variation of mean gate ON/OFF lag time was found between different gating systems. For certain gating devices, individual gating cycle lag times can vary significantly. PMID:27277028

  2. Recent Advances in Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection

    PubMed Central

    Kwon, Sollip

    2016-01-01

    Breast cancer is a disease that occurs most often in female cancer patients. Early detection can significantly reduce the mortality rate. Microwave breast imaging, which is noninvasive and harmless to human, offers a promising alternative method to mammography. This paper presents a review of recent advances in microwave imaging for breast cancer detection. We conclude by introducing new research on a microwave imaging system with time-domain measurement that achieves short measurement time and low system cost. In the time-domain measurement system, scan time would take less than 1 sec, and it does not require very expensive equipment such as VNA. PMID:28096808

  3. Bonneville, Power Administration Timing System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Martin, Kenneth E.

    1996-01-01

    Time is an integral part of the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) operational systems. Generation and power transfers are planned in advance. Utilities coordinate with each other by making these adjustments on a timed schedule. Price varies with demand, so billing is based on time. Outages for maintenance are scheduled to assure they do not interrupt reliable power delivery. Disturbance records are aligned with recorded timetags for analysis and comparison with related information. Advanced applications like traveling wave fault location and real-time phase measurement require continuous timing with high precision. Most of BPA is served by a Central Time System (CTS) at the Dittmer Control Center near Portland, OR. This system keeps time locally and supplies time to both the control center systems and field locations via a microwave signal. It is kept synchronized to national standard time and coordinated with interconnected utilities. It is the official BPA time. Powwer system control and operation is described, followed by a description of BPA timing systems including CTS, the Fault Location Acquisition Reporter, time dissemination, and phasor measurements. References are provided for further reading.

  4. Real-time long term measurement using integrated framework for ubiquitous smart monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heo, Gwanghee; Lee, Giu; Lee, Woosang; Jeon, Joonryong; Kim, Pil-Joong

    2007-04-01

    Ubiquitous monitoring combining internet technologies and wireless communication is one of the most promising technologies of infrastructure health monitoring against the natural of man-made hazards. In this paper, an integrated framework of the ubiquitous monitoring is developed for real-time long term measurement in internet environment. This framework develops a wireless sensor system based on Bluetooth technology and sends measured acceleration data to the host computer through TCP/IP protocol. And it is also designed to respond to the request of web user on real time basis. In order to verify this system, real time monitoring tests are carried out on a prototype self-anchored suspension bridge. Also, wireless measurement system is analyzed to estimate its sensing capacity and evaluate its performance for monitoring purpose. Based on the evaluation, this paper proposes the effective strategies for integrated framework in order to detect structural deficiencies and to design an early warning system.

  5. Causality networks from multivariate time series and application to epilepsy.

    PubMed

    Siggiridou, Elsa; Koutlis, Christos; Tsimpiris, Alkiviadis; Kimiskidis, Vasilios K; Kugiumtzis, Dimitris

    2015-08-01

    Granger causality and variants of this concept allow the study of complex dynamical systems as networks constructed from multivariate time series. In this work, a large number of Granger causality measures used to form causality networks from multivariate time series are assessed. For this, realizations on high dimensional coupled dynamical systems are considered and the performance of the Granger causality measures is evaluated, seeking for the measures that form networks closest to the true network of the dynamical system. In particular, the comparison focuses on Granger causality measures that reduce the state space dimension when many variables are observed. Further, the linear and nonlinear Granger causality measures of dimension reduction are compared to a standard Granger causality measure on electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings containing episodes of epileptiform discharges.

  6. A New Time Measurement Method Using a High-End Global Navigation Satellite System to Analyze Alpine Skiing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Supej, Matej; Holmberg, Hans-Christer

    2011-01-01

    Accurate time measurement is essential to temporal analysis in sport. This study aimed to (a) develop a new method for time computation from surveyed trajectories using a high-end global navigation satellite system (GNSS), (b) validate its precision by comparing GNSS with photocells, and (c) examine whether gate-to-gate times can provide more…

  7. Hybrid Ion-Detector/Data-Acquisition System for a TOF-MS

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Burton, William D., Jr.; Schultz, J. Albert; Vaughn, Valentine; McCully, Michael; Ulrich, Steven; Egan, Thomas F.

    2006-01-01

    A modified ion-detector/data-acquisition system has been devised to increase the dynamic range of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) that, previously, included a microchannel-plate detector and a data-acquisition system based on counting pulses and time-tagging them by use of a time-to-digital converter (TDC). The dynamic range of the TOF-MS was limited by saturation of the microchannel plate detector, which can handle no more than a few million counts per second. The modified system includes (1) a combined microchannel plate/discrete ion multiplier and (2) a hybrid data-acquisition system that simultaneously performs analog current or voltage measurements and multianode single-ion-pulse-counting time-of-flight measurements to extend the dynamic range of a TDC into the regime in which a mass peak comprises multiple ions arriving simultaneously at the detector. The multianode data are used to determine, in real time, whether the detector is saturated. When saturation is detected, the data-acquisition system selectively enables circuitry that simultaneously determines the ion-peak intensity by measuring the time profile of the analog current or voltage detector-output signal.

  8. A study of the high-precision displacement laser probe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fan, Yuming; Zhang, Guoxiong

    2006-06-01

    On the basis of the measuring principle of the dynamic active optical confocal probe based on time difference measurement that has a reference path, a dynamic active optical confocal probe based on time difference measurement but has no reference path is developed. In this paper, the working principle of this optical confocal probe is dissertated. A large-scale integrated measuring system is designed to simplify the structure of the probe and to enhance the stability of the probe. Single-chip microcomputer system with a high-speed ADC is selected in the measurement and control system of the probe. At the end of the paper, experiments on the performance of the optical confocal probe based on time difference measurement with no reference path are carried out. Experiment results show that the probe has a measuring resolution of 0.05μm, a measuring range of 0.2mm and a linearity of 0.4μm.

  9. Real-time measurement and monitoring of absorbed dose for electron beams

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korenev, Sergey; Korenev, Ivan; Rumega, Stanislav; Grossman, Leon

    2004-09-01

    The real-time method and system for measurement and monitoring of absorbed dose for industrial and research electron accelerators is considered in the report. The system was created on the basis of beam parameters method. The main concept of this method consists in the measurement of dissipated kinetic energy of electrons in the irradiated product, determination of number of electrons and mass of irradiated product in the same cell by following calculation of absorbed dose in the cell. The manual and automation systems for dose measurements are described. The systems are acceptable for all types of electron accelerators.

  10. Modular Engine Instrumentation System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rice, W. J.; Birchenough, A. G.

    1982-01-01

    System that provides information and measurements never obtained before in real time has been developed. System shows not only real-time measurements but also results of computations of key combustion parameters in meaningful and easily understood display. Standard commercially-available shaft encoder plus data from pressure transducer act as principal drivers to device. Eventually, modular system could be developed into onboard controller for automobile engines.

  11. Science 101: How Do Atomic Clocks Work?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Science and Children, 2008

    2008-01-01

    You might be wondering why in the world we need such precise measures of time. Well, many systems we use everyday, such as Global Positioning Systems, require precise synchronization of time. This comes into play in telecommunications and wireless communications, also. For purely scientific reasons, we can use precise measurement of time to…

  12. Magnetostrictive patch sensor system for battery-less real-time measurement of torsional vibrations of rotating shafts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Jun Kyu; Seung, Hong Min; Park, Chung Il; Lee, Joo Kyung; Lim, Do Hyeong; Kim, Yoon Young

    2018-02-01

    Real-time uninterrupted measurement for torsional vibrations of rotating shafts is crucial for permanent health monitoring. So far, strain gauge systems with telemetry units have been used for real-time monitoring. However, they have a critical disadvantage in that shaft operations must be stopped intermittently to replace telemetry unit batteries. To find an alternative method to carry out battery-less real-time measurement for torsional vibrations of rotating shafts, a magnetostrictive patch sensor system was proposed in the present study. Since the proposed sensor does not use any powered telemetry system, no battery is needed and thus there is no need to stop rotating shafts for battery replacement. The proposed sensor consists of magnetostrictive patches and small magnets tightly bonded onto a shaft. A solenoid coil is placed around the shaft to convert magnetostrictive patch deformation by shaft torsional vibration into electric voltage output. For sensor design and characterization, investigations were performed in a laboratory on relatively small-sized stationary solid shaft. A magnetostrictive patch sensor system was then designed and installed on a large rotating propulsion shaft of an LPG carrier ship in operation. Vibration signals were measured using the proposed sensor system and compared to those measured with a telemetry unit-equipped strain gauge system.

  13. A combined long-term recording system for single-unit activity and neurotransmitter efflux of a brain slice

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sheu, Y. H.; Young, M. S.

    1998-04-01

    A combined long-term measurement and recording system for neurotransmission research of brain slices is presented in this study. This system, based on the IBM PC or compatible computer, is capable of simultaneously measuring and recording both single-unit neural electropotential signals and the electrochemical signals of neurotransmitter efflux from the same neuron in a brain slice for long periods of time (time limited largely by hard disk capacity, 100 h or more not being unreasonable with contemporary hardware) using a single carbon microelectrode for both measurements. The combined long-term recording system uses a simple switching circuit to switch periodically the single microelectrode between two data acquisition subsystems, one for electrochemical data and one for electrophysiological data. The simple switching circuit separates the electrophysiological signals and electrochemical signals, overcoming the traditional interference problem caused by the two different measuring techniques. Software designed for the proposed system allows easy reconstruction of the full time course of the compressed measured data and easy, simultaneous display of both types of signals on the same time scale. On-line and recorded displays are available. Test results of a practical implementation of the proposed system verify that the combined long-term recording system meets actual requirements for electrophysiological and neurochemical research.

  14. Development and implementation of a real-time control strategy for the sewer system of the city of Vienna.

    PubMed

    Fuchs, L; Beeneken, T

    2005-01-01

    The paper describes the realization of a real-time control for the Vienna sewer system. The project is scheduled for completion for 2004. The 3.5 year project comprises all planning stages starting with the recording of data up to the planning of measuring and controlling units. The concrete steps of the planning stages are explained. A measuring system including 25 rainfall measurements, 40 flow measurements and 20 water level measurements is implemented as an online system. This measuring system is designed to achieve two objectives, on the one hand the real-time control and on the other hand the calibration of the model that is used for the hydrodynamic sewer system simulation. The approx. 53,000 pipes have served to generate a coarse network of no more than approx. 2600 pipes. The area data were derived with high accuracy from available aerial photograph interpretations. With simulation runs of a rule-based control software the system operation was examined. A self-learning system will improve the rule basis. A forecasting model that uses weather observation radar will additionally influence the controlling decisions. The findings from the investigations are immediately considered in the planning of measuring and control units. The simulated results for the first phase of implementation, which demonstrate the benefit of RTC for the Vienna sewer system, are explained.

  15. Long-Baseline Comparisons of the Brazilian National Time Scale to UTC (NIST) Using Near Real-Time and Postprocessed Solutions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-11-01

    long baseline of ~8600 km. The comparisons were made with measurement systems developed for the Sistema Interamericano de Metrologia (SIM) comparison...measurements are compared and summarized. I. INTRODUCTION The Sistema Interamericano de Metrologia (SIM) is a regional metrology organization...Brazil. The two time scales are separated by a long baseline of ~8600 km. The comparisons were made with measurement systems developed for the Sistema

  16. Laser pulse coded signal frequency measuring device based on DSP and CPLD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Hai-bo; Cao, Li-hua; Geng, Ai-hui; Li, Yan; Guo, Ru-hai; Wang, Ting-feng

    2011-06-01

    Laser pulse code is an anti-jamming measures used in semi-active laser guided weapons. On account of the laser-guided signals adopting pulse coding mode and the weak signal processing, it need complex calculations in the frequency measurement process according to the laser pulse code signal time correlation to meet the request in optoelectronic countermeasures in semi-active laser guided weapons. To ensure accurately completing frequency measurement in a short time, it needed to carry out self-related process with the pulse arrival time series composed of pulse arrival time, calculate the signal repetition period, and then identify the letter type to achieve signal decoding from determining the time value, number and rank number in a signal cycle by Using CPLD and DSP for signal processing chip, designing a laser-guided signal frequency measurement in the pulse frequency measurement device, improving the signal processing capability through the appropriate software algorithms. In this article, we introduced the principle of frequency measurement of the device, described the hardware components of the device, the system works and software, analyzed the impact of some system factors on the accuracy of the measurement. The experimental results indicated that this system improve the accuracy of the measurement under the premise of volume, real-time, anti-interference, low power of the laser pulse frequency measuring device. The practicality of the design, reliability has been demonstrated from the experimental point of view.

  17. Principal Investigator Microgravity Services Role in ISS Acceleration Data Distribution

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    McPherson, Kevin

    1999-01-01

    Measurement of the microgravity acceleration environment on the International Space Station will be accomplished by two accelerometer systems. The Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System will record the quasi-steady microgravity environment, including the influences of aerodynamic drag, vehicle rotation, and venting effects. Measurement of the vibratory/transient regime comprised of vehicle, crew, and equipment disturbances will be accomplished by the Space Acceleration Measurement System-II. Due to the dynamic nature of the microgravity environment and its potential to influence sensitive experiments, Principal Investigators require distribution of microgravity acceleration in a timely and straightforward fashion. In addition to this timely distribution of the data, long term access to International Space Station microgravity environment acceleration data is required. The NASA Glenn Research Center's Principal Investigator Microgravity Services project will provide the means for real-time and post experiment distribution of microgravity acceleration data to microgravity science Principal Investigators. Real-time distribution of microgravity environment acceleration data will be accomplished via the World Wide Web. Data packets from the Microgravity Acceleration Measurement System and the Space Acceleration Measurement System-II will be routed from onboard the International Space Station to the NASA Glenn Research Center's Telescience Support Center. Principal Investigator Microgravity Services' ground support equipment located at the Telescience Support Center will be capable of generating a standard suite of acceleration data displays, including various time domain and frequency domain options. These data displays will be updated in real-time and will periodically update images available via the Principal Investigator Microgravity Services web page.

  18. iCELLigence real-time cell analysis system for examining the cytotoxicity of drugs to cancer cell lines

    PubMed Central

    Türker Şener, Leyla; Albeni̇z, Gürcan; Di̇nç, Bi̇rcan; Albeni̇z, Işil

    2017-01-01

    The recently developed iCELLigence™ real-time cell analyzer (RTCA) can be used for the label-free real-time monitoring of cancer cell proliferation, viability, invasion and cytotoxicity. The RTCA system uses 16-well microtiter plates with a gold microelectrode biosensor array that measures impedance when cells adhere to the microelectrodes causing an alternating current. By measuring the electric field generated in this process, the RTCA system can be used for the analysis of cell proliferation, viability, morphology and migration. The present review aimed to summarize the working method of the RTCA system, in addition to discussing the research performed using the system for various applications, including cancer drug discovery via measuring cytotoxicity. PMID:28962095

  19. Microcontroller based system for electrical breakdown time delay measurement in gas-filled devices.

    PubMed

    Pejović, Milić M; Denić, Dragan B; Pejović, Momčilo M; Nešić, Nikola T; Vasović, Nikola

    2010-10-01

    This paper presents realization of a digital embedded system for measuring electrical breakdown time delay. The proposed system consists of three major parts: dc voltage supply, analog subsystem, and a digital subsystem. Any dc power source with the range from 100 to 1000 V can be used in this application. The analog subsystem should provide fast and accurate voltage switching on the testing device as well as transform the signals that represent the voltage pulse on the device and the device breakdown into the form suitable for detection by a digital subsystem. The insulated gate bipolar transistor IRG4PH40KD driven by TC429 MOSFET driver is used for high voltage switching on the device. The aim of a digital subsystem is to detect the signals from the analog subsystem and to measure the elapsed time between their occurrences. Moreover, the digital subsystem controls various parameters that influence time delay and provides fast data storage for a large number of measured data. For this propose, we used the PIC18F4550 microcontroller with a full-speed compatible universal serial bus (USB) engine. Operation of this system is verified on different commercial and custom made gas devices with different structure and breakdown mechanisms. The electrical breakdown time delay measurements have been carried out as a function of several parameters, which dominantly influence electrical breakdown time delay. The obtained results have been verified using statistical methods, and they show good agreement with the theory. The proposed system shows good repeatability, sensitivity, and stability for measuring the electrical breakdown time delay.

  20. Microcontroller based system for electrical breakdown time delay measurement in gas-filled devices

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pejovic, Milic M.; Denic, Dragan B.; Pejovic, Momcilo M.

    2010-10-15

    This paper presents realization of a digital embedded system for measuring electrical breakdown time delay. The proposed system consists of three major parts: dc voltage supply, analog subsystem, and a digital subsystem. Any dc power source with the range from 100 to 1000 V can be used in this application. The analog subsystem should provide fast and accurate voltage switching on the testing device as well as transform the signals that represent the voltage pulse on the device and the device breakdown into the form suitable for detection by a digital subsystem. The insulated gate bipolar transistor IRG4PH40KD driven bymore » TC429 MOSFET driver is used for high voltage switching on the device. The aim of a digital subsystem is to detect the signals from the analog subsystem and to measure the elapsed time between their occurrences. Moreover, the digital subsystem controls various parameters that influence time delay and provides fast data storage for a large number of measured data. For this propose, we used the PIC18F4550 microcontroller with a full-speed compatible universal serial bus (USB) engine. Operation of this system is verified on different commercial and custom made gas devices with different structure and breakdown mechanisms. The electrical breakdown time delay measurements have been carried out as a function of several parameters, which dominantly influence electrical breakdown time delay. The obtained results have been verified using statistical methods, and they show good agreement with the theory. The proposed system shows good repeatability, sensitivity, and stability for measuring the electrical breakdown time delay.« less

  1. Real-time color measurement using active illuminant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tominaga, Shoji; Horiuchi, Takahiko; Yoshimura, Akihiko

    2010-01-01

    This paper proposes a method for real-time color measurement using active illuminant. A synchronous measurement system is constructed by combining a high-speed active spectral light source and a high-speed monochrome camera. The light source is a programmable spectral source which is capable of emitting arbitrary spectrum in high speed. This system is the essential advantage of capturing spectral images without using filters in high frame rates. The new method of real-time colorimetry is different from the traditional method based on the colorimeter or the spectrometers. We project the color-matching functions onto an object surface as spectral illuminants. Then we can obtain the CIE-XYZ tristimulus values directly from the camera outputs at every point on the surface. We describe the principle of our colorimetric technique based on projection of the color-matching functions and the procedure for realizing a real-time measurement system of a moving object. In an experiment, we examine the performance of real-time color measurement for a static object and a moving object.

  2. Nondestructive and Real-time Measurement of Moisture in Plant

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ogawa, Yuichi; Kawase, Kodo; Mizuno, Maya; Yamashita, Masatsugu; Otani, Chiko

    We constructed a THz transillumination system for water content monitoring, and we succeeded in measuring the moisture level in plants. Our measurement system uses a widely tunable coherent THz parametric oscillator source. As target we chose for this experiment a leaf of Japanese basil. The time variation of the water content in the leaf was monitored in two situations: a leaf freshly cut which is left to dry out, and the leaf of a water stressed plant. We found by real-time measurements that the water content of a cut leaf does not decrease uniformly in time. Also, the response to water stress is delayed by about 5-10 minutes. Furthermore, we demonstrated a moisture measurement using a transillumination THz imaging system. As target we chose for this experiment a leaf of Hedera helix held between two thin plastic sheets. The change of the moisture distribution is clearly visible. These results show that the method described here can be applied to nondestructive and real-time monitoring of water content in plants.

  3. Application of eye movement measuring system OBER 2 to medicine and technology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ober, Jozef; Hajda, Janusz; Loska, Jacek; Jamicki, Michal

    1997-08-01

    The OBER 2 is an infrared light eye movement measuring system and it works with IBM PC compatible computers. As one of the safest systems for measuring of eye movement it uses a very short period of infrared light flashing time (80 microsecond for each measure point). System has an advanced analog-digital controller, which includes background suppression and prediction mechanisms guaranteeing elimination of slow changes and fluctuations of external illumination frequency up to 100 Hz, with effectiveness better than 40 dB. Setting from PC the active measure axis, sampling rate (25 - 4000 Hz) and making start and stop the measure, make it possible to control the outside environment in real-time. By proper controlling of gain it is possible to get high time and position resolution of 0.5 minute of arc even for big amplitude of eye movement (plus or minus 20 degree of visual angle). The whole communication system can also be driven directly by eye movement in real time. The possibility of automatic selection of the most essential elements of eye movement, individual for each person and those that take place for each person in determined situations of life independently from personal features, is a key to practical application. Hence one of conducted research topic is a personal identification based on personal features. Another task is a research project of falling asleep detection, which can be applied to warn the drivers before falling asleep while driving. This measuring system with a proper expert system can also be used to detect a dyslexia and other disabilities of the optic system.

  4. Combination of optical shape measurement and augmented reality for task support: II. Real-time feedback of shape measurement results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamauchi, Makoto; Iwamoto, Kazuyo

    2010-05-01

    Line heating is a skilled task in shipbuilding to shape the outer plates of ship hulls. Real-time information on the deformation of the plates during the task would be helpful to workers performing this process. Therefore, we herein propose an interactive scheme for supporting workers performing line heating; the system provides such information through an optical shape measurement instrument combined with an augmented reality (AR) system. The instrument was designed and fabricated so that the measured data were represented using coordinates based on fiducial markers. Since the markers were simultaneously used in the AR system for the purpose of positioning, the data could then be displayed to the workers through a head-mounted display as a virtual image overlaid on the plates. Feedback of the shape measurement results was thus performed in real time using the proposed system.

  5. Real-time data acquisition and control system for the measurement of motor and neural data

    PubMed Central

    Bryant, Christopher L.; Gandhi, Neeraj J.

    2013-01-01

    This paper outlines a powerful, yet flexible real-time data acquisition and control system for use in the triggering and measurement of both analog and digital events. Built using the LabVIEW development architecture (version 7.1) and freely available, this system provides precisely timed auditory and visual stimuli to a subject while recording analog data and timestamps of neural activity retrieved from a window discriminator. The system utilizes the most recent real-time (RT) technology in order to provide not only a guaranteed data acquisition rate of 1 kHz, but a much more difficult to achieve guaranteed system response time of 1 ms. The system interface is windows-based and easy to use, providing a host of configurable options for end-user customization. PMID:15698659

  6. Enhancement to Non-Contacting Stress Measurement of Blade Vibration Frequency

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Platt, Michael; Jagodnik, John

    2011-01-01

    A system for turbo machinery blade vibration has been developed that combines time-of-arrival sensors for blade vibration amplitude measurement and radar sensors for vibration frequency and mode identification. The enabling technology for this continuous blade monitoring system is the radar sensor, which provides a continuous time series of blade displacement over a portion of a revolution. This allows the data reduction algorithms to directly calculate the blade vibration frequency and to correctly identify the active modes of vibration. The work in this project represents a significant enhancement in the mode identification and stress calculation accuracy in non-contacting stress measurement system (NSMS) technology when compared to time-of-arrival measurements alone.

  7. Systolic time interval data acquisition system. Specialized cardiovascular studies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baker, J. T.

    1976-01-01

    The development of a data acquisition system for noninvasive measurement of systolic time intervals is described. R-R interval from the ECG determines instantaneous heart rate prior to the beat to be measured. Total electromechanical systole (Q-S2) is measured from the onset of the ECG Q-wave to the onset of the second heart sound (S2). Ejection time (ET or LVET) is measured from the onset of carotid upstroke to the incisure. Pre-ejection period (PEP) is computed by subtracting ET from Q-S2. PEP/ET ratio is computed directly.

  8. Technical Note: High temporal resolution characterization of gating response time

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wiersma, Rodney D., E-mail: rwiersma@uchicago.edu; McCabe, Bradley P.; Belcher, Andrew H.

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: Low temporal latency between a gating ON/OFF signal and the LINAC beam ON/OFF during respiratory gating is critical for patient safety. Here the authors describe a novel method to precisely measure gating lag times at high temporal resolutions. Methods: A respiratory gating simulator with an oscillating platform was modified to include a linear potentiometer for position measurement. A photon diode was placed at linear accelerator isocenter for beam output measurement. The output signals of the potentiometer and diode were recorded simultaneously at 2500 Hz with an analog to digital converter for four different commercial respiratory gating systems. The ONmore » and OFF of the beam signal were located and compared to the expected gating window for both phase and position based gating and the temporal lag times extracted. Results: For phase based gating, a real-time position management (RPM) infrared marker tracking system with a single camera and a RPM system with a stereoscopic camera were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 98/90 and 86/44 ms, respectively. For position based gating, an AlignRT 3D surface system and a Calypso magnetic fiducial tracking system were measured to have mean gate ON/OFF lag times of 356/529 and 209/60 ms, respectively. Conclusions: Temporal resolution of the method was high enough to allow characterization of individual gate cycles and was primary limited by the sampling speed of the data recording device. Significant variation of mean gate ON/OFF lag time was found between different gating systems. For certain gating devices, individual gating cycle lag times can vary significantly.« less

  9. Precision displacement reference system

    DOEpatents

    Bieg, Lothar F.; Dubois, Robert R.; Strother, Jerry D.

    2000-02-22

    A precision displacement reference system is described, which enables real time accountability over the applied displacement feedback system to precision machine tools, positioning mechanisms, motion devices, and related operations. As independent measurements of tool location is taken by a displacement feedback system, a rotating reference disk compares feedback counts with performed motion. These measurements are compared to characterize and analyze real time mechanical and control performance during operation.

  10. First results of electron temperature measurements by the use of multi-pass Thomson scattering system in GAMMA 10

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yoshikawa, M., E-mail: yosikawa@prc.tsukuba.ac.jp; Nagasu, K.; Shimamura, Y.

    2014-11-15

    A multi-pass Thomson scattering (TS) has the advantage of enhancing scattered signals. We constructed a multi-pass TS system for a polarisation-based system and an image relaying system modelled on the GAMMA 10 TS system. We undertook Raman scattering experiments both for the multi-pass setting and for checking the optical components. Moreover, we applied the system to the electron temperature measurements in the GAMMA 10 plasma for the first time. The integrated scattering signal was magnified by approximately three times by using the multi-pass TS system with four passes. The electron temperature measurement accuracy is improved by using this multi-pass system.

  11. First results of electron temperature measurements by the use of multi-pass Thomson scattering system in GAMMA 10.

    PubMed

    Yoshikawa, M; Yasuhara, R; Nagasu, K; Shimamura, Y; Shima, Y; Kohagura, J; Sakamoto, M; Nakashima, Y; Imai, T; Ichimura, M; Yamada, I; Funaba, H; Kawahata, K; Minami, T

    2014-11-01

    A multi-pass Thomson scattering (TS) has the advantage of enhancing scattered signals. We constructed a multi-pass TS system for a polarisation-based system and an image relaying system modelled on the GAMMA 10 TS system. We undertook Raman scattering experiments both for the multi-pass setting and for checking the optical components. Moreover, we applied the system to the electron temperature measurements in the GAMMA 10 plasma for the first time. The integrated scattering signal was magnified by approximately three times by using the multi-pass TS system with four passes. The electron temperature measurement accuracy is improved by using this multi-pass system.

  12. Out-of-time-ordered measurements as a probe of quantum dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bordia, Pranjal; Alet, Fabien; Hosur, Pavan

    2018-03-01

    Probing the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum matter has gained renewed interest owing to immense experimental progress in artificial quantum systems. Dynamical quantum measures such as the growth of entanglement entropy and out-of-time-ordered correlators (OTOCs) have been shown to provide great insight by exposing subtle quantum features invisible to traditional measures such as mass transport. However, measuring them in experiments requires either identical copies of the system, an ancilla qubit coupled to the whole system, or many measurements on a single copy, thereby making scalability extremely complex and hence, severely limiting their potential. Here, we introduce an alternative quantity, the out-of-time-ordered measurement (OTOM), which involves measuring a single observable on a single copy of the system, while retaining the distinctive features of the OTOCs. We show, theoretically, that OTOMs are closely related to OTOCs in a doubled system with the same quantum statistical properties as the original system. Using exact diagonalization, we numerically simulate classical mass transport, as well as quantum dynamics through computations of the OTOC, the OTOM, and the entanglement entropy in quantum spin chain models in various interesting regimes (including chaotic and many-body localized systems). Our results demonstrate that an OTOM can successfully reveal subtle aspects of quantum dynamics hidden to classical measures and, crucially, provide experimental access to them.

  13. Design of quantum efficiency measurement system for variable doping GaAs photocathode

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Liang; Yang, Kai; Liu, HongLin; Chang, Benkang

    2008-03-01

    To achieve high quantum efficiency and good stability has been a main direction to develop GaAs photocathode recently. Through early research, we proved that variable doping structure is executable and practical, and has great potential. In order to optimize variable doping GaAs photocathode preparation techniques and study the variable doping theory deeply, a real-time quantum efficiency measurement system for GaAs Photocathode has been designed. The system uses FPGA (Field-programmable gate array) device, and high speed A/D converter to design a high signal noise ratio and high speed data acquisition card. ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) core processor s3c2410 and real-time embedded system are used to obtain and show measurement results. The measurement precision of photocurrent could reach 1nA, and measurement range of spectral response curve is within 400~1000nm. GaAs photocathode preparation process can be real-time monitored by using this system. This system could easily be added other functions to show the physic variation of photocathode during the preparation process more roundly in the future.

  14. Sensor selection cost optimisation for tracking structurally cyclic systems: a P-order solution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doostmohammadian, M.; Zarrabi, H.; Rabiee, H. R.

    2017-08-01

    Measurements and sensing implementations impose certain cost in sensor networks. The sensor selection cost optimisation is the problem of minimising the sensing cost of monitoring a physical (or cyber-physical) system. Consider a given set of sensors tracking states of a dynamical system for estimation purposes. For each sensor assume different costs to measure different (realisable) states. The idea is to assign sensors to measure states such that the global cost is minimised. The number and selection of sensor measurements need to ensure the observability to track the dynamic state of the system with bounded estimation error. The main question we address is how to select the state measurements to minimise the cost while satisfying the observability conditions. Relaxing the observability condition for structurally cyclic systems, the main contribution is to propose a graph theoretic approach to solve the problem in polynomial time. Note that polynomial time algorithms are suitable for large-scale systems as their running time is upper-bounded by a polynomial expression in the size of input for the algorithm. We frame the problem as a linear sum assignment with solution complexity of ?.

  15. Freeway performance measurement system : an operational analysis tool

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-07-30

    PeMS is a freeway performance measurement system for all of California. It processes 2 : GB/day of 30-second loop detector data in real time to produce useful information. Managers : at any time can have a uniform, and comprehensive assessment of fre...

  16. Inhomogeneous point-process entropy: An instantaneous measure of complexity in discrete systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valenza, Gaetano; Citi, Luca; Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale; Barbieri, Riccardo

    2014-05-01

    Measures of entropy have been widely used to characterize complexity, particularly in physiological dynamical systems modeled in discrete time. Current approaches associate these measures to finite single values within an observation window, thus not being able to characterize the system evolution at each moment in time. Here, we propose a new definition of approximate and sample entropy based on the inhomogeneous point-process theory. The discrete time series is modeled through probability density functions, which characterize and predict the time until the next event occurs as a function of the past history. Laguerre expansions of the Wiener-Volterra autoregressive terms account for the long-term nonlinear information. As the proposed measures of entropy are instantaneously defined through probability functions, the novel indices are able to provide instantaneous tracking of the system complexity. The new measures are tested on synthetic data, as well as on real data gathered from heartbeat dynamics of healthy subjects and patients with cardiac heart failure and gait recordings from short walks of young and elderly subjects. Results show that instantaneous complexity is able to effectively track the system dynamics and is not affected by statistical noise properties.

  17. System and method for diagnosing EGR performance using NOx sensor

    DOEpatents

    Mazur, Christopher John

    2003-12-23

    A method and system for diagnosing a condition of an EGR valve used in an engine system. The EGR valve controls the portion exhaust gases produced by such engine system and fed back to an intake of such engine system. The engine system includes a NOx sensor for measuring NOx in such exhaust. The method includes: determining a time rate of change in NOx measured by the NOx sensor; comparing the determined time rate of change in the measured NOx with a predetermined expected time rate of change in measured NOx; and determining the condition of the EGR valve as a function of such comparison. The method also includes: determining from NOx measured by the NOx sensor and engine operating conditions indications of instances when samples of such measured NOx are greater than an expected maximum NOx level for such engine condition and less than an expected minimum NOx level for such engine condition; and determining the condition of the EGR valve as a function of a statistical analysis of such indications. The method includes determining whether the NOx sensor is faulty and wherein the EGR condition determining includes determining whether the NOx sensor is faulty.

  18. Real-time acquisition and preprocessing system of transient electromagnetic data based on LabVIEW

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Huinan; Zhang, Shuang; Gu, Lingjia; Sun, Jian

    2014-09-01

    Transient electromagnetic method (TEM) is regarded as an everlasting issue for geological exploration. It is widely used in many research fields, such as mineral exploration, hydrogeology survey, engineering exploration and unexploded ordnance detection. The traditional measurement systems are often based on ARM DSP or FPGA, which have not real-time display, data preprocessing and data playback functions. In order to overcome the defects, a real-time data acquisition and preprocessing system based on LabVIEW virtual instrument development platform is proposed in the paper, moreover, a calibration model is established for TEM system based on a conductivity loop. The test results demonstrated that the system can complete real-time data acquisition and system calibration. For Transmit-Loop-Receive (TLR) response, the correlation coefficient between the measured results and the calculated results is 0.987. The measured results are basically consistent with the calculated results. Through the late inversion process for TLR, the signal of underground conductor was obtained. In the complex test environment, abnormal values usually exist in the measured data. In order to solve this problem, the judgment and revision algorithm of abnormal values is proposed in the paper. The test results proved that the proposed algorithm can effectively eliminate serious disturbance signals from the measured transient electromagnetic data.

  19. Design of a two-level power system linear state estimator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Tao

    The availability of synchro-phasor data has raised the possibility of a linear state estimator if the inputs are only complex currents and voltages and if there are enough such measurements to meet observability and redundancy requirements. Moreover, the new digital substations can perform some of the computation at the substation itself resulting in a more accurate two-level state estimator. The objective of this research is to develop a two-level linear state estimator processing synchro-phasor data and estimating the states at both the substation level and the control center level. Both the mathematical algorithms that are different from those in the present state estimation procedure and the layered architecture of databases, communications and application programs that are required to support this two-level linear state estimator are described in this dissertation. Besides, as the availability of phasor measurements at substations will increase gradually, this research also describes how the state estimator can be enhanced to handle both the traditional state estimator and the proposed linear state estimator simultaneously. This provides a way to immediately utilize the benefits in those parts of the system where such phasor measurements become available and provides a pathway to transition to the smart grid of the future. The design procedure of the two-level state estimator is applied to two study systems. The first study system is the IEEE-14 bus system. The second one is the 179 bus Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) system. The static database for the substations is constructed from the power flow data of these systems and the real-time measurement database is produced by a power system dynamic simulating tool (TSAT). Time-skew problems that may be caused by communication delays are also considered and simulated. We used the Network Simulator (NS) tool to simulate a simple communication system and analyse its time delay performance. These time delays were too small to affect the results especially since the measurement data is time-stamped and the state estimator for these small systems could be run with subseconf frequency. Keywords: State Estimation, Synchro-Phasor Measurement, Distributed System, Energy Control Center, Substation, Time-skew

  20. Radar Waveform Pulse Analysis Measurement System for High-Power GaN Amplifiers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thrivikraman, Tushar; Perkovic-Martin, Dragana; Jenabi, Masud; Hoffman, James

    2012-01-01

    This work presents a measurement system to characterize the pulsed response of high-power GaN amplifiers for use in space-based SAR platforms that require very strict amplitude and phase stability. The measurement system is able to record and analyze data on three different time scales: fast, slow, and long, which allows for greater detail of the mechanisms that impact amplitude and phase stability. The system is fully automated through MATLAB, which offers both instrument control capability and in-situ data processing. To validate this system, a high-power GaN HEMT amplifier operated in saturation was characterized. The fast time results show that variations to the amplitude and phase are correlated to DC supply transients, while long time characteristics are correlated to temperature changes.

  1. Measuring physical activity in preschoolers: Reliability and validity of The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time for Preschoolers (SOFIT-P)

    PubMed Central

    Sharma, Shreela; Chuang, Ru-Jye; Skala, Katherine; Atteberry, Heather

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is describe the initial feasibility, reliability, and validity of an instrument to measure physical activity in preschoolers using direct observation. The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time for Preschoolers was developed and tested among 3- to 6-year-old children over fall 2008 for feasibility and reliability (Phase I, n=67) and in fall 2009 for concurrent validity (Phase II, n=27). Phase I showed that preschoolers spent >75% of their active time at preschool in light physical activity. The mean inter-observer agreements scores were ≥.75 for physical activity level and type. Correlation coefficients, measuring construct validity between the lesson context and physical activity types with and with the activity levels, were moderately strong. Phase II showed moderately strong correlations ranging from .50 to .54 between the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time for Preschoolers and Actigraph accelerometers for physical activity levels. The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time for Preschoolers shows promising initial results as a new method for measuring physical activity among preschoolers. PMID:22485071

  2. Optimal distribution of integration time for intensity measurements in Stokes polarimetry.

    PubMed

    Li, Xiaobo; Liu, Tiegen; Huang, Bingjing; Song, Zhanjie; Hu, Haofeng

    2015-10-19

    We consider the typical Stokes polarimetry system, which performs four intensity measurements to estimate a Stokes vector. We show that if the total integration time of intensity measurements is fixed, the variance of the Stokes vector estimator depends on the distribution of the integration time at four intensity measurements. Therefore, by optimizing the distribution of integration time, the variance of the Stokes vector estimator can be decreased. In this paper, we obtain the closed-form solution of the optimal distribution of integration time by employing Lagrange multiplier method. According to the theoretical analysis and real-world experiment, it is shown that the total variance of the Stokes vector estimator can be significantly decreased about 40% in the case discussed in this paper. The method proposed in this paper can effectively decrease the measurement variance and thus statistically improves the measurement accuracy of the polarimetric system.

  3. Optimal distribution of integration time for intensity measurements in degree of linear polarization polarimetry.

    PubMed

    Li, Xiaobo; Hu, Haofeng; Liu, Tiegen; Huang, Bingjing; Song, Zhanjie

    2016-04-04

    We consider the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) polarimetry system, which performs two intensity measurements at orthogonal polarization states to estimate DOLP. We show that if the total integration time of intensity measurements is fixed, the variance of the DOLP estimator depends on the distribution of integration time for two intensity measurements. Therefore, by optimizing the distribution of integration time, the variance of the DOLP estimator can be decreased. In this paper, we obtain the closed-form solution of the optimal distribution of integration time in an approximate way by employing Delta method and Lagrange multiplier method. According to the theoretical analyses and real-world experiments, it is shown that the variance of the DOLP estimator can be decreased for any value of DOLP. The method proposed in this paper can effectively decrease the measurement variance and thus statistically improve the measurement accuracy of the polarimetry system.

  4. Time Resolved Detectors and Measurements for Accelerators and Beamlines at the Australian Synchrotron

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boland, M. J.; School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010; Rassool, R. P.

    2010-06-23

    Time resolved experiments require precision timing equipment and careful configuration of the machine and the beamline. The Australian Synchrotron has a state of the art timing system that allows flexible, real-time control of the machine and beamline timing parameters to target specific electron bunches. Results from a proof-of-principle measurement with a pulsed laser and a streak camera on the optical diagnostic beamline will be presented. The timing system was also used to fast trigger the PILATUS detector on an x-ray beamline to measure the fill pattern dependent effects of the detector. PILATUS was able to coarsely measure the fill patternmore » in the storage ring which implies that fill pattern intensity variations need to be corrected for when using the detector in this mode.« less

  5. The frequency and time standard and activities at the Beijing Institute of Radio Metrology and Measurements. [China

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, H. T.

    1979-01-01

    Three kinds of frequency measuring systems are described: frequency comparison, phase comparison, and time comparison. With the help of the portable cesium clock in determining the time delay between two stations, a time synchronization, experiment was conducted using the Symphonie satellite. A result with an accuracy of 30 ns and an uncertainty of about 10 ns was obtained. Another experiment, applying the television pulse technique for time synchronization, yielded a result with an error of about 0.5 mu s in 24 hours. In order to measure the short term frequency stability of crystal oscillators or other frequency sources, a rubidium maser atomic frequency standard was developed as well as a short term stability measuring system.

  6. Conversion of the magnetic field measured in three components on the magnetic sensor body's random coordinate system into three components on geographical coordinate system through quaternion rotation.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    LIM, M.; PARK, Y.; Jung, H.; SHIN, Y.; Rim, H.; PARK, C.

    2017-12-01

    To measure all components of a physical property, for example the magnetic field, is more useful than to measure its magnitude only in interpretation and application thereafter. To convert the physical property measured in 3 components on a random coordinate system, for example on moving magnetic sensor body's coordinate system, into 3 components on a fixed coordinate system, for example on geographical coordinate system, by the rotations of coordinate system around Euler angles for example, we should have the attitude values of the sensor body in time series, which could be acquired by an INS-GNSS system of which the axes are installed coincident with those of the sensor body. But if we want to install some magnetic sensors in array at sea floor but without attitude acquisition facility of the magnetic sensors and to monitor the variation of magnetic fields in time, we should have also some way to estimate the relation between the geographical coordinate system and each sensor body's coordinate system by comparison of the vectors only measured on both coordinate systems on the assumption that the directions of the measured magnetic field on both coordinate systems are the same. For that estimation, we have at least 3 ways. The first one is to calculate 3 Euler angles phi, theta, psi from the equation Vgeograph = Rx(phi) Ry(theta) Rz(psi) Vrandom, where Vgeograph is the vector on geographical coordinate system etc. and Rx(phi) is the rotation matrix around the x axis by the angle phi etc. The second one is to calculate the difference of inclination and declination between the 2 vectors on spherical coordinate system. The third one, used by us for this study, is to calculate the angle of rotation along a great circle around the rotation axis, and the direction of the rotation axis. We installed no. 1 and no. 2 FVM-400 fluxgate magnetometers in array near Cheongyang Geomagnetic Observatory (IAGA code CYG) and acquired time series of magnetic fields for CYG and for the two magnetometers. Once the angle of rotation and the direction of the rotation axis for each couple of CYG and no. 1 and of CYG and no. 2 estimated, we rotated the measured time series of vectors using quaternion rotation to get 3 time series of magnetic fields all on geographical coordinate system, which were used for tracing the moving magnetic bodies along time in that area.

  7. Time-resolved spectroscopy using a chopper wheel as a fast shutter

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wang, Shicong; Wendt, Amy E.; Boffard, John B.

    Widely available, small form-factor, fiber-coupled spectrometers typically have a minimum exposure time measured in milliseconds, and thus cannot be used directly for time-resolved measurements at the microsecond level. Spectroscopy at these faster time scales is typically done with an intensified charge coupled device (CCD) system where the image intensifier acts as a “fast” electronic shutter for the slower CCD array. In this paper, we describe simple modifications to a commercially available chopper wheel system to allow it to be used as a “fast” mechanical shutter for gating a fiber-coupled spectrometer to achieve microsecond-scale time-resolved optical measurements of a periodically pulsedmore » light source. With the chopper wheel synchronized to the pulsing of the light source, the time resolution can be set to a small fraction of the pulse period by using a chopper wheel with narrow slots separated by wide spokes. Different methods of synchronizing the chopper wheel and pulsing of the light sources are explored. The capability of the chopper wheel system is illustrated with time-resolved measurements of pulsed plasmas.« less

  8. Latency Determination and Compensation in Real-Time Gnss/ins Integrated Navigation Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Solomon, P. D.; Wang, J.; Rizos, C.

    2011-09-01

    Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology is now commonplace in many defence and civilian environments. However, the high cost of owning and operating a sophisticated UAV has slowed their adoption in many commercial markets. Universities and research groups are actively experimenting with UAVs to further develop the technology, particularly for automated flying operations. The two main UAV platforms used are fixed-wing and helicopter. Helicopter-based UAVs offer many attractive features over fixed-wing UAVs, including vertical take-off, the ability to loiter, and highly dynamic flight. However the control and navigation of helicopters are significantly more demanding than those of fixed-wing UAVs and as such require a high bandwidth real-time Position, Velocity, Attitude (PVA) navigation system. In practical Real-Time Navigation Systems (RTNS) there are delays in the processing of the GNSS data prior to the fusion of the GNSS data with the INS measurements. This latency must be compensated for otherwise it degrades the solution of the navigation filter. This paper investigates the effect of latency in the arrival time of the GNSS data in a RTNS. Several test drives and flights were conducted with a low-cost RTNS, and compared with a high quality GNSS/INS solution. A technique for the real-time, automated and accurate estimation of the GNSS latency in low-cost systems was developed and tested. The latency estimates were then verified through cross-correlation with the time-stamped measurements from the reference system. A delayed measurement Extended Kalman Filter was then used to allow for the real-time fusing of the delayed measurements, and then a final system developed for on-the-fly measurement and compensation of GNSS latency in a RTNS.

  9. Approximation of discrete-time LQG compensators for distributed systems with boundary input and unbounded measurement

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gibson, J. S.; Rosen, I. G.

    1987-01-01

    The approximation of optimal discrete-time linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) compensators for distributed parameter control systems with boundary input and unbounded measurement is considered. The approach applies to a wide range of problems that can be formulated in a state space on which both the discrete-time input and output operators are continuous. Approximating compensators are obtained via application of the LQG theory and associated approximation results for infinite dimensional discrete-time control systems with bounded input and output. Numerical results for spline and modal based approximation schemes used to compute optimal compensators for a one dimensional heat equation with either Neumann or Dirichlet boundary control and pointwise measurement of temperature are presented and discussed.

  10. Acoustic systems for the measurement of streamflow

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Laenen, Antonius; Smith, Winchell

    1983-01-01

    The acoustic velocity meter (AVM), also referred to as an ultrasonic flowmeter, has been an operational tool for the measurement of streamflow since 1965. Very little information is available concerning AVM operation, performance, and limitations. The purpose of this report is to consolidate information in such a manner as to provide a better understanding about the application of this instrumentation to streamflow measurement. AVM instrumentation is highly accurate and nonmechanical. Most commercial AVM systems that measure streamflow use the time-of-travel method to determine a velocity between two points. The systems operate on the principle that point-to-point upstream travel-time of sound is longer than the downstream travel-time, and this difference can be monitored and measured accurately by electronics. AVM equipment has no practical upper limit of measurable velocity if sonic transducers are securely placed and adequately protected. AVM systems used in streamflow measurement generally operate with a resolution of ?0.01 meter per second but this is dependent on system frequency, path length, and signal attenuation. In some applications the performance of AVM equipment may be degraded by multipath interference, signal bending, signal attenuation, and variable streamline orientation. Presently used minicomputer systems, although expensive to purchase and maintain, perform well. Increased use of AVM systems probably will be realized as smaller, less expensive, and more conveniently operable microprocessor-based systems become readily available. Available AVM equipment should be capable of flow measurement in a wide variety of situations heretofore untried. New signal-detection techniques and communication linkages can provide additional flexibility to the systems so that operation is possible in more river and estuary situations.

  11. Precision timing measurements of PSR J1012+5307

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lange, Ch.; Camilo, F.; Wex, N.; Kramer, M.; Backer, D. C.; Lyne, A. G.; Doroshenko, O.

    2001-09-01

    We present results and applications of high-precision timing measurements of the binary millisecond pulsar J1012+5307. Combining our radio timing measurements with results based on optical observations, we derive complete 3D velocity information for this system. Correcting for Doppler effects, we derive the intrinsic spin parameters of this pulsar and a characteristic age of 8.6+/-1.9Gyr. Our upper limit for the orbital eccentricity of only 8×10-7 (68 per cent confidence level) is the smallest ever measured for a binary system. We demonstrate that this makes the pulsar an ideal laboratory in which to test certain aspects of alternative theories of gravitation. Our precision measurements suggest deviations from a simple pulsar spin-down timing model, which are consistent with timing noise and the extrapolation of the known behaviour of slowly rotating pulsars.

  12. Measurement methods to build up the digital optical twin

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prochnau, Marcel; Holzbrink, Michael; Wang, Wenxin; Holters, Martin; Stollenwerk, Jochen; Loosen, Peter

    2018-02-01

    The realization of the Digital Optical Twin (DOT), which is in short the digital representation of the physical state of an optical system, is particularly useful in the context of an automated assembly process of optical systems. During the assembly process, the physical system status of the optical system is continuously measured and compared with the digital model. In case of deviations between physical state and the digital model, the latter one is adapted to match the physical state. To reach the goal described above, in a first step measurement/characterization technologies concerning their suitability to generate a precise digital twin of an existing optical system have to be identified and evaluated. This paper gives an overview of possible characterization methods and, finally, shows first results of evaluated, compared methods (e.g. spot-radius, MTF, Zernike-polynomials), to create a DOT. The focus initially lies on the unequivocalness of the optimization results as well as on the computational time required for the optimization to reach the characterized system state. Possible sources of error are the measurement accuracy (to characterize the system) , execution time of the measurement, time needed to map the digital to the physical world (optimization step) as well as interface possibilities to integrate the measurement tool into an assembly cell. Moreover, it is to be discussed whether the used measurement methods are suitable for a `seamless' integration into an assembly cell.

  13. Characteristic Evaluation of Synchronous Motors Using an Universal Drive System with a Real-Time Interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Amano, Yoko; Ogasawara, Satoshi

    In this paper, a new universal drive system of synchronous motors used Real-Time Interface (RTI) performs characteristic evaluation of Synchronous Reluctance (SynR) motors and Surface Permanent Magnet (SPM) synchronous motors. The RTI connects directly a simulation model with experimental equipment, and makes it possible to use the simulation model for an experiment. The RTI is very effective in the early detection of an actual problem and examination of solution technique. Moreover, it concentrates on examination of control algorithm, and efficient research and development are enabled. A measuring system of synchronous motors is built by the universal drive system. The examination of various synchronous motors is possible for the measurement system using the same control algorithm. Characteristic evaluation of a SynR motor and a SPM synchronous motor that are the same gap length and stator was performed using the measuring system. The measurement result shows experimentally that motor loss of the SynR motor is smaller rather than the SPM synchronous motor, at the time of high speed and low load operation. For example, the SynR motor is suitable to hybrid cars with the comparatively long time of low load and high-speed operation.

  14. Real-time depth measurement for micro-holes drilled by lasers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Cheng-Hsiang; Powell, Rock A.; Jiang, Lan; Xiao, Hai; Chen, Shean-Jen; Tsai, Hai-Lung

    2010-02-01

    An optical system based on the confocal principle has been developed for real-time precision measurements of the depth of micro-holes during the laser drilling process. The capability of the measuring system is theoretically predicted by the Gaussian lens formula and experimentally validated to achieve a sensitivity of 0.5 µm. A nanosecond laser system was used to drill holes, and the hole depths were measured by the proposed measuring system and by the cut-and-polish method. The differences between these two measurements are found to be 5.0% for hole depths on the order of tens of microns and 11.2% for hundreds of microns. The discrepancies are caused mainly by the roughness of the bottom surface of the hole and by the existence of debris in the hole. This system can be easily implemented in a laser workstation for the fabrication of 3D microstructures.

  15. The design and performance of the ZEUS Central Tracking Detector z-by-timing system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bailey, D. S.; Foster, B.; Heath, G. P.; Morgado, C. J. S.; Harnew, N.; Khatri, T.; Lancaster, M.; McArthur, I. C.; McFall, J. D.; Nash, J.; Shield, P. D.; Topp-Jorgensen, S.; Wilson, F. F.; Carter, R. C.; Jeffs, M. D.; Milborrow, R.; Morrissey, M. C.; Phillips, D. A.; Quinton, S. P. H.; Westlake, G.; White, D. J.; Lane, J. B.; Nixon, G.; Postranecky, M.

    1997-02-01

    The ZEUS Central Tracking Detector utilizes a time difference measurement to provide a fast determination of the z coordinate of each hit. The z-by-timing measurement is achieved by using a Time-to-Amplitude Converter which has an intrinsic timing resolution of 36 ps, has pipelined readout, and has a multihit capability of 48 ns. In order to maintain the required sub-nanosecond timing accuracy, the technique incorporates an automated self-calibration system. The readout of the z-by-timing data utilizes a fully customized timing control system which runs synchronously with the HERA beam-crossing clock, and a data acquisition system implemented on a network of Transputers. Three dimensional space-points provided by the z-by-timing system are used as input to all three levels of the ZEUS trigger and for offline track reconstruction. The average z resolution is determined to be 4.4 cm for multi-track events from positron-proton collisions in the ZEUS detector.

  16. Time maintenance system for the BMDO MSX spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hermes, Martin J.

    1994-01-01

    The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is responsible for designing and implementing a clock maintenance system for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organizations (BMDO) Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) spacecraft. The MSX spacecraft has an on-board clock that will be used to control execution of time-dependent commands and to time tag all science and housekeeping data received from the spacecraft. MSX mission objectives have dictated that this spacecraft time, UTC(MSX), maintain a required accuracy with respect to UTC(USNO) of +/- 10 ms with a +/- 1 ms desired accuracy. APL's atomic time standards and the downlinked spacecraft time were used to develop a time maintenance system that will estimate the current MSX clock time offset during an APL pass and make estimates of the clock's drift and aging using the offset estimates from many passes. Using this information, the clock's accuracy will be maintained by uplinking periodic clock correction commands. The resulting time maintenance system is a combination of offset measurement, command/telemetry, and mission planning hardware and computing assets. All assets provide necessary inputs for deciding when corrections to the MSX spacecraft clock must be made to maintain its required accuracy without inhibiting other mission objectives. The MSX time maintenance system is described as a whole and the clock offset measurement subsystem, a unique combination of precision time maintenance and measurement hardware controlled by a Macintosh computer, is detailed. Simulations show that the system estimates the MSX clock offset to less than+/- 33 microseconds.

  17. Next Generation Real-Time Systems: Investigating the Potential of Partial-Solution Tasks.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1994-12-01

    insufficient for dealing with the complexities of next-generation real - time systems . New methods of intelligent control must be developed for guaranteeing...on-time task completion for real - time systems that are faced with unpredictable and dynamically changing requirements. Implementing real-time...tasks by experimentally measuring the change in performance of 11 simulated real - time systems when converted from all-or-nothing tasks to partial

  18. Reduced-Order Kalman Filtering for Processing Relative Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bayard, David S.

    2008-01-01

    A study in Kalman-filter theory has led to a method of processing relative measurements to estimate the current state of a physical system, using less computation than has previously been thought necessary. As used here, relative measurements signifies measurements that yield information on the relationship between a later and an earlier state of the system. An important example of relative measurements arises in computer vision: Information on relative motion is extracted by comparing images taken at two different times. Relative measurements do not directly fit into standard Kalman filter theory, in which measurements are restricted to those indicative of only the current state of the system. One approach heretofore followed in utilizing relative measurements in Kalman filtering, denoted state augmentation, involves augmenting the state of the system at the earlier of two time instants and then propagating the state to the later time instant.While state augmentation is conceptually simple, it can also be computationally prohibitive because it doubles the number of states in the Kalman filter. When processing a relative measurement, if one were to follow the state-augmentation approach as practiced heretofore, one would find it necessary to propagate the full augmented state Kalman filter from the earlier time to the later time and then select out the reduced-order components. The main result of the study reported here is proof of a property called reduced-order equivalence (ROE). The main consequence of ROE is that it is not necessary to augment with the full state, but, rather, only the portion of the state that is explicitly used in the partial relative measurement. In other words, it suffices to select the reduced-order components first and then propagate the partial augmented state Kalman filter from the earlier time to the later time; the amount of computation needed to do this can be substantially less than that needed for propagating the full augmented Kalman state filter.

  19. Space-time resolving vacuum ultraviolet spectrometer based on a rotating polyhedral mirror

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Xiaodong; Xie, Jikang

    2000-05-01

    Using a rotating polyhedral mirror and a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) monochromater, a space-time resolving VUV diagnostic system is developed. Measurement of the O VI (103.2 nm) radiation on the HT-6M tokamak shows that the time resolution of the system is better than 4 ms and the space resolution is better than 2 cm. Compared with traditional instruments, this system has improved measurement efficiency, and error from shot-to-shot discharge variations is avoided.

  20. PERTS: A Prototyping Environment for Real-Time Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Liu, Jane W. S.; Lin, Kwei-Jay; Liu, C. L.

    1993-01-01

    PERTS is a prototyping environment for real-time systems. It is being built incrementally and will contain basic building blocks of operating systems for time-critical applications, tools, and performance models for the analysis, evaluation and measurement of real-time systems and a simulation/emulation environment. It is designed to support the use and evaluation of new design approaches, experimentations with alternative system building blocks, and the analysis and performance profiling of prototype real-time systems.

  1. Particle-sampling statistics in laser anemometers Sample-and-hold systems and saturable systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Edwards, R. V.; Jensen, A. S.

    1983-01-01

    The effect of the data-processing system on the particle statistics obtained with laser anemometry of flows containing suspended particles is examined. Attention is given to the sample and hold processor, a pseudo-analog device which retains the last measurement until a new measurement is made, followed by time-averaging of the data. The second system considered features a dead time, i.e., a saturable system with a significant reset time with storage in a data buffer. It is noted that the saturable system operates independent of the particle arrival rate. The probabilities of a particle arrival in a given time period are calculated for both processing systems. It is shown that the system outputs are dependent on the mean particle flow rate, the flow correlation time, and the flow statistics, indicating that the particle density affects both systems. The results are significant for instances of good correlation between the particle density and velocity, such as occurs near the edge of a jet.

  2. Portable real-time fluorescence cytometry of microscale cell culture analog devices

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Donghyun; Tatosian, Daniel A.; Shuler, Michael L.

    2006-02-01

    A portable fluorescence cytometric system that provides a modular platform for quantitative real-time image measurements has been used to explore the applicability to investigating cellular events on multiple time scales. For a short time scale, we investigated the real-time dynamics of uptake of daunorubicin, a chemotherapeutic agent, in cultured mouse L-cells in a micro cell culture analog compartment using the fluorescent cytometric system. The green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression to monitor induction of pre-specified genes, which occurs on a much longer time scale, has also been measured. Here GFP fluorescence from a doxycycline inducible promoter in a mouse L-cell line was determined. Additionally, a system based on inexpensive LEDs showed performance comparable to a broadband light source based system and reduced photobleaching compared to microscopic examination.

  3. Near real-time measurement of forces applied by an optical trap to a rigid cylindrical object

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Glaser, Joseph; Hoeprich, David; Resnick, Andrew

    2014-07-01

    An automated data acquisition and processing system is established to measure the force applied by an optical trap to an object of unknown composition in real time. Optical traps have been in use for the past 40 years to manipulate microscopic particles, but the magnitude of applied force is often unknown and requires extensive instrument characterization. Measuring or calculating the force applied by an optical trap to nonspherical particles presents additional difficulties which are also overcome with our system. Extensive experiments and measurements using well-characterized objects were performed to verify the system performance.

  4. Acoustic Doppler discharge-measurement system

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Simpson, Michael R.; Oltmann, Richard N.; ,

    1990-01-01

    A discharge-measurement system that uses a vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler has been developed and tested by the U.S. Geological Survey. Discharge measurements using the system require a fraction of the time needed for conventional current-meter discharge measurements and do not require shore-based navigational aids or tag lines for positioning the vessel.

  5. Broadband Laser Ranging for Position Measurements in Shock Physics Experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rhodes, Michelle; Bennett, Corey; Daykin, Edward; Younk, Patrick; Lalone, Brandon; Kostinski, Natalie

    2017-06-01

    Broadband laser ranging (BLR) is a recently developed measurement system that provides an attractive option for determining the position of shock-driven surfaces. This system uses broadband, picosecond (or femtosecond) laser pulses and a fiber interferometer to measure relative travel time to a target and to a reference mirror. The difference in travel time produces a delay difference between pulse replicas that creates a spectral beat frequency. The spectral beating is recorded in real time using a dispersive Fourier transform and an oscilloscope. BLR systems have been designed that measure position at 12.5-40 MHz with better than 100 micron accuracy over ranges greater than 10 cm. We will give an overview of the basic operating principles of these systems. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, by LANL under Contract DE-AC52-06NA25396, and by NSTec Contract DE-AC52-06NA25946.

  6. Management accounting for advanced technological environments.

    PubMed

    Kaplan, R S

    1989-08-25

    Management accounting systems designed decades ago no longer provide timely, relevant information for companies in today's highly competitive environment. New operational control and performance measurement systems are recognizing the importance of direct measurement of quality, manufacturing lead times, flexibility, and customer responsiveness, as well as more accurate measures of the actual costs of consumed resources. Activity-based cost systems can assign the costs of indirect and support resources to the specific products and activities that benefit from these resources. Both operational control and activity-based systems represent new opportunities for improved managerial information in complex, technologically advanced environments.

  7. Entropy as a measure of diffusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aghamohammadi, Amir; Fatollahi, Amir H.; Khorrami, Mohammad; Shariati, Ahmad

    2013-10-01

    The time variation of entropy, as an alternative to the variance, is proposed as a measure of the diffusion rate. It is shown that for linear and time-translationally invariant systems having a large-time limit for the density, at large times the entropy tends exponentially to a constant. For systems with no stationary density, at large times the entropy is logarithmic with a coefficient specifying the speed of the diffusion. As an example, the large-time behaviors of the entropy and the variance are compared for various types of fractional-derivative diffusions.

  8. Identification of real-time diagnostic measures of visual distraction with an automatic eye-tracking system.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Harry; Smith, Matthew R H; Witt, Gerald J

    2006-01-01

    This study was conducted to identify eye glance measures that are diagnostic of visual distraction. Visual distraction degrades performance, but real-time diagnostic measures have not been identified. In a driving simulator, 14 participants responded to a lead vehicle braking at -2 or -2.7 m/s2 periodically while reading a varying number of words (6-15 words every 13 s) on peripheral displays (with diagonal eccentricities of 24 degrees, 43 degrees, and 75 degrees). As the number of words and display eccentricity increased, total glance duration and reaction time increased and driving performance suffered. Correlation coefficients between several glance measures and reaction time or performance variables were reliably high, indicating that these glance measures are diagnostic of visual distraction. It is predicted that for every 25% increase in total glance duration, reaction time is increased by 0.39 s and standard deviation of lane position is increased by 0.06 m. Potential applications of this research include assessing visual distraction in real time, delivering advisories to distracted drivers to reorient their attention to driving, and using distraction information to adapt forward collision and lane departure warning systems to enhance system effectiveness.

  9. Estimating forest structural characteristics using the airborne LiDAR scanning system and a near-real time profiling laser system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Kaiguang

    LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) directly measures canopy vertical structures, and provides an effective remote sensing solution to accurate and spatially-explicit mapping of forest characteristics, such as canopy height and Leaf Area Index. However, many factors, such as large data volume and high costs for data acquisition, precludes the operational and practical use of most currently available LiDARs for frequent and large-scale mapping. At the same time, a growing need is arising for real-time remote sensing platforms, e.g., to provide timely information for urgent applications. This study aims to develop an airborne profiling LiDAR system, featured with on-the-fly data processing, for near real- or real-time forest inventory. The development of such a system involves implementing the on-board data processing and analysis as well as building useful regression-based models to relate LiDAR measurements with forest biophysical parameters. This work established a paradigm for an on-the-fly airborne profiling LiDAR system to inventory regional forest resources in real- or near real-time. The system was developed based on an existing portable airborne laser system (PALS) that has been previously assembled at NASA by Dr. Ross Nelson. Key issues in automating PALS as an on-the-fly system were addressed, including the design of an archetype for the system workflow, the development of efficient and robust algorithms for automatic data processing and analysis, the development of effective regression models to predict forest biophysical parameters from LiDAR measurements, and the implementation of an integrated software package to incorporate all the above development. This work exploited the untouched potential of airborne laser profilers for real-time forest inventory, and therefore, documented an initial step toward developing airborne-laser-based, on-the-fly, real-time, forest inventory systems. Results from this work demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of airborne scanning or profiling laser systems for remotely measuring various forest structural attributes at a range of scales, i.e., from individual tree, plot, stand and up to regional levels. The system not only provides a regional assessment tool, one that can be used to repeatedly, remotely measure hundreds or thousands of square kilometers with little/no analyst interaction or interpretation, but also serves as a paradigm for future efforts in building more advanced airborne laser systems such as real-time laser scanners.

  10. Characterization of real-time computers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shin, K. G.; Krishna, C. M.

    1984-01-01

    A real-time system consists of a computer controller and controlled processes. Despite the synergistic relationship between these two components, they have been traditionally designed and analyzed independently of and separately from each other; namely, computer controllers by computer scientists/engineers and controlled processes by control scientists. As a remedy for this problem, in this report real-time computers are characterized by performance measures based on computer controller response time that are: (1) congruent to the real-time applications, (2) able to offer an objective comparison of rival computer systems, and (3) experimentally measurable/determinable. These measures, unlike others, provide the real-time computer controller with a natural link to controlled processes. In order to demonstrate their utility and power, these measures are first determined for example controlled processes on the basis of control performance functionals. They are then used for two important real-time multiprocessor design applications - the number-power tradeoff and fault-masking and synchronization.

  11. A real-time measurement system for long-life flood monitoring and warning applications.

    PubMed

    Marin-Perez, Rafael; García-Pintado, Javier; Gómez, Antonio Skarmeta

    2012-01-01

    A flood warning system incorporates telemetered rainfall and flow/water level data measured at various locations in the catchment area. Real-time accurate data collection is required for this use, and sensor networks improve the system capabilities. However, existing sensor nodes struggle to satisfy the hydrological requirements in terms of autonomy, sensor hardware compatibility, reliability and long-range communication. We describe the design and development of a real-time measurement system for flood monitoring, and its deployment in a flash-flood prone 650 km(2) semiarid watershed in Southern Spain. A developed low-power and long-range communication device, so-called DatalogV1, provides automatic data gathering and reliable transmission. DatalogV1 incorporates self-monitoring for adapting measurement schedules for consumption management and to capture events of interest. Two tests are used to assess the success of the development. The results show an autonomous and robust monitoring system for long-term collection of water level data in many sparse locations during flood events.

  12. A Real-Time Measurement System for Long-Life Flood Monitoring and Warning Applications

    PubMed Central

    Marin-Perez, Rafael; García-Pintado, Javier; Gómez, Antonio Skarmeta

    2012-01-01

    A flood warning system incorporates telemetered rainfall and flow/water level data measured at various locations in the catchment area. Real-time accurate data collection is required for this use, and sensor networks improve the system capabilities. However, existing sensor nodes struggle to satisfy the hydrological requirements in terms of autonomy, sensor hardware compatibility, reliability and long-range communication. We describe the design and development of a real-time measurement system for flood monitoring, and its deployment in a flash-flood prone 650 km2 semiarid watershed in Southern Spain. A developed low-power and long-range communication device, so-called DatalogV1, provides automatic data gathering and reliable transmission. DatalogV1 incorporates self-monitoring for adapting measurement schedules for consumption management and to capture events of interest. Two tests are used to assess the success of the development. The results show an autonomous and robust monitoring system for long-term collection of water level data in many sparse locations during flood events. PMID:22666028

  13. Quantum Hamiltonian identification from measurement time traces.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Jun; Sarovar, Mohan

    2014-08-22

    Precise identification of parameters governing quantum processes is a critical task for quantum information and communication technologies. In this Letter, we consider a setting where system evolution is determined by a parametrized Hamiltonian, and the task is to estimate these parameters from temporal records of a restricted set of system observables (time traces). Based on the notion of system realization from linear systems theory, we develop a constructive algorithm that provides estimates of the unknown parameters directly from these time traces. We illustrate the algorithm and its robustness to measurement noise by applying it to a one-dimensional spin chain model with variable couplings.

  14. Discovery and analysis of time delay sources in the USGS personal computer data collection platform (PCDCP) system

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    White, Timothy C.; Sauter, Edward A.; Stewart, Duff C.

    2014-01-01

    Intermagnet is an international oversight group which exists to establish a global network for geomagnetic observatories. This group establishes data standards and standard operating procedures for members and prospective members. Intermagnet has proposed a new One-Second Data Standard, for that emerging geomagnetic product. The standard specifies that all data collected must have a time stamp accuracy of ±10 milliseconds of the top-of-the-second Coordinated Universal Time. Therefore, the U.S. Geological Survey Geomagnetism Program has designed and executed several tests on its current data collection system, the Personal Computer Data Collection Platform. Tests are designed to measure the time shifts introduced by individual components within the data collection system, as well as to measure the time shift introduced by the entire Personal Computer Data Collection Platform. Additional testing designed for Intermagnet will be used to validate further such measurements. Current results of the measurements showed a 5.0–19.9 millisecond lag for the vertical channel (Z) of the Personal Computer Data Collection Platform and a 13.0–25.8 millisecond lag for horizontal channels (H and D) of the collection system. These measurements represent a dynamically changing delay introduced within the U.S. Geological Survey Personal Computer Data Collection Platform.

  15. Synchronized operation by field programmable gate array based signal controller for the Thomson scattering diagnostic system in KSTAR.

    PubMed

    Lee, W R; Kim, H S; Park, M K; Lee, J H; Kim, K H

    2012-09-01

    The Thomson scattering diagnostic system is successfully installed in the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) facility. We got the electron temperature and electron density data for the first time in 2011, 4th campaign using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based signal control board. It operates as a signal generator, a detector, a controller, and a time measuring device. This board produces two configurable trigger pulses to operate Nd:YAG laser system and receives a laser beam detection signal from a photodiode detector. It allows a trigger pulse to be delivered to a time delay module to make a scattered signal measurement, measuring an asynchronous time value between the KSTAR timing board and the laser system injection signal. All functions are controlled by the embedded processor running on operating system within a single FPGA. It provides Ethernet communication interface and is configured with standard middleware to integrate with KSTAR. This controller has operated for two experimental campaigns including commissioning and performed the reconfiguration of logic designs to accommodate varying experimental situation without hardware rebuilding.

  16. CMOS direct time interval measurement of long-lived luminescence lifetimes.

    PubMed

    Yao, Lei; Yung, Ka Yi; Cheung, Maurice C; Chodavarapu, Vamsy P; Bright, Frank V

    2011-01-01

    We describe a Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) Direct Time Interval Measurement (DTIM) Integrated Circuit (IC) to detect the decay (fall) time of the luminescence emission when analyte-sensitive luminophores are excited with an optical pulse. The CMOS DTIM IC includes 14 × 14 phototransistor array, transimpedance amplifier, regulated gain amplifier, fall time detector, and time-to-digital convertor. We examined the DTIM system to measure the emission lifetime of oxygen-sensitive luminophores tris(4,7-diphenyl-1, 10-phenanthroline) ruthenium(II) ([Ru(dpp)(3)](2+)) encapsulated in sol-gel derived xerogel thin-films. The DTIM system fabricated using TSMC 0.35 μm process functions to detect lifetimes from 4 μs to 14.4 μs but can be tuned to detect longer lifetimes. The system provides 8-bit digital output proportional to lifetimes and consumes 4.5 mW of power with 3.3 V DC supply. The CMOS system provides a useful platform for the development of reliable, robust, and miniaturized optical chemical sensors.

  17. Automatic real time evaluation of red blood cell elasticity by optical tweezers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moura, Diógenes S.; Silva, Diego C. N.; Williams, Ajoke J.; Bezerra, Marcos A. C.; Fontes, Adriana; de Araujo, Renato E.

    2015-05-01

    Optical tweezers have been used to trap, manipulate, and measure individual cell properties. In this work, we show that the association of a computer controlled optical tweezers system with image processing techniques allows rapid and reproducible evaluation of cell deformability. In particular, the deformability of red blood cells (RBCs) plays a key role in the transport of oxygen through the blood microcirculation. The automatic measurement processes consisted of three steps: acquisition, segmentation of images, and measurement of the elasticity of the cells. An optical tweezers system was setup on an upright microscope equipped with a CCD camera and a motorized XYZ stage, computer controlled by a Labview platform. On the optical tweezers setup, the deformation of the captured RBC was obtained by moving the motorized stage. The automatic real-time homemade system was evaluated by measuring RBCs elasticity from normal donors and patients with sickle cell anemia. Approximately 150 erythrocytes were examined, and the elasticity values obtained by using the developed system were compared to the values measured by two experts. With the automatic system, there was a significant time reduction (60 × ) of the erythrocytes elasticity evaluation. Automated system can help to expand the applications of optical tweezers in hematology and hemotherapy.

  18. Terahertz radar cross section measurements.

    PubMed

    Iwaszczuk, Krzysztof; Heiselberg, Henning; Jepsen, Peter Uhd

    2010-12-06

    We perform angle- and frequency-resolved radar cross section (RCS) measurements on objects at terahertz frequencies. Our RCS measurements are performed on a scale model aircraft of size 5-10 cm in polar and azimuthal configurations, and correspond closely to RCS measurements with conventional radar on full-size objects. The measurements are performed in a terahertz time-domain system with freely propagating terahertz pulses generated by tilted pulse front excitation of lithium niobate crystals and measured with sub-picosecond time resolution. The application of a time domain system provides ranging information and also allows for identification of scattering points such as weaponry attached to the aircraft. The shapes of the models and positions of reflecting parts are retrieved by the filtered back projection algorithm.

  19. Real-time micro-vibration multi-spot synchronous measurement within a region based on heterodyne interference

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lan, Ma; Xiao, Wen; Chen, Zonghui; Hao, Hongliang; Pan, Feng

    2018-01-01

    Real-time micro-vibration measurement is widely used in engineering applications. It is very difficult for traditional optical detection methods to achieve real-time need in a relatively high frequency and multi-spot synchronous measurement of a region at the same time,especially at the nanoscale. Based on the method of heterodyne interference, an experimental system of real-time measurement of micro - vibration is constructed to satisfy the demand in engineering applications. The vibration response signal is measured by combing optical heterodyne interferometry and a high-speed CMOS-DVR image acquisition system. Then, by extracting and processing multiple pixels at the same time, four digital demodulation technique are implemented to simultaneously acquire the vibrating velocity of the target from the recorded sequences of images. Different kinds of demodulation algorithms are analyzed and the results show that these four demodulation algorithms are suitable for different interference signals. Both autocorrelation algorithm and cross-correlation algorithm meet the needs of real-time measurements. The autocorrelation algorithm demodulates the frequency more accurately, while the cross-correlation algorithm is more accurate in solving the amplitude.

  20. Testing gravity with Lunar Laser Ranging: An update on the APOLLO experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Battat, James; Colmenares, Nick; Davis, Rodney; Ruixue, Louisa Huang; Murphy, Thomas W., Jr.; Apollo Collaboration

    2017-01-01

    The mystery of dark energy and the incompatibility of quantum mechanics and General Relativity indicate the need for precision experimental probes of gravitational physics. The Earth-Moon-Sun system is a fertile laboratory for such tests. The Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation (APOLLO) makes optical range measurements to retro-reflectors on the Moon with one millimeter precision. These measurements of the lunar orbit enable incisive constraints on gravitational phenomena such as the Strong Equivalence Principle and dG / dt (among others). Until now, the APOLLO team had not been able to assess the accuracy of our data, in large part because known limitations to lunar range models ensure data-model residuals at the centimeter scale. To directly measure the APOLLO system timing accuracy, we have built an Absolute timing Calibration System (ACS) that delivers photons to our detector at known, stable time intervals using a pulsed fiber laser locked to a cesium frequency standard. This scheme provides real-time calibration of the APOLLO system timing, synchronous with the range measurements. We installed the calibration system in August, 2016. In this talk, we will describe the ACS design, and present present preliminary results from the ACS calibration campaign. We acknowledge the support of both NSF and NASA

  1. Measurement of time delay for a prospectively gated CT simulator.

    PubMed

    Goharian, M; Khan, R F H

    2010-04-01

    For the management of mobile tumors, respiratory gating is the ideal option, both during imaging and during therapy. The major advantage of respiratory gating during imaging is that it is possible to create a single artifact-free CT data-set during a selected phase of the patient's breathing cycle. The purpose of the present work is to present a simple technique to measure the time delay during acquisition of a prospectively gated CT. The time delay of a Philips Brilliance BigBore (Philips Medical Systems, Madison, WI) scanner attached to a Varian Real-Time Position Management (RPM) system (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA) was measured. Two methods were used to measure the CT time delay: using a motion phantom and using a recorded data file from the RPM system. In the first technique, a rotating wheel phantom was altered by placing two plastic balls on its axis and rim, respectively. For a desired gate, the relative positions of the balls were measured from the acquired CT data and converted into corresponding phases. Phase difference was calculated between the measured phases and the desired phases. Using period of motion, the phase difference was converted into time delay. The Varian RPM system provides an external breathing signal; it also records transistor-transistor logic (TTL) 'X-Ray ON' status signal from the CT scanner in a text file. The TTL 'X-Ray ON' indicates the start of CT image acquisition. Thus, knowledge of the start time of CT acquisition, combined with the real-time phase and amplitude data from the external respiratory signal, provides time-stamping of all images in an axial CT scan. The TTL signal with time-stamp was used to calculate when (during the breathing cycle) a slice was recorded. Using the two approaches, the time delay between the prospective gating signal and CT simulator has been determined to be 367 +/- 40 ms. The delay requires corrections both at image acquisition and while setting gates for the treatment delivery; otherwise the simulation and treatment may not be correlated with the patient's breathing.

  2. A Blade Tip Timing Method Based on a Microwave Sensor

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Jilong; Duan, Fajie; Niu, Guangyue; Jiang, Jiajia; Li, Jie

    2017-01-01

    Blade tip timing is an effective method for blade vibration measurements in turbomachinery. This method is increasing in popularity because it is non-intrusive and has several advantages over the conventional strain gauge method. Different kinds of sensors have been developed for blade tip timing, including optical, eddy current and capacitance sensors. However, these sensors are unsuitable in environments with contaminants or high temperatures. Microwave sensors offer a promising potential solution to overcome these limitations. In this article, a microwave sensor-based blade tip timing measurement system is proposed. A patch antenna probe is used to transmit and receive the microwave signals. The signal model and process method is analyzed. Zero intermediate frequency structure is employed to maintain timing accuracy and dynamic performance, and the received signal can also be used to measure tip clearance. The timing method uses the rising and falling edges of the signal and an auto-gain control circuit to reduce the effect of tip clearance change. To validate the accuracy of the system, it is compared experimentally with a fiber optic tip timing system. The results show that the microwave tip timing system achieves good accuracy. PMID:28492469

  3. A Blade Tip Timing Method Based on a Microwave Sensor.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Jilong; Duan, Fajie; Niu, Guangyue; Jiang, Jiajia; Li, Jie

    2017-05-11

    Blade tip timing is an effective method for blade vibration measurements in turbomachinery. This method is increasing in popularity because it is non-intrusive and has several advantages over the conventional strain gauge method. Different kinds of sensors have been developed for blade tip timing, including optical, eddy current and capacitance sensors. However, these sensors are unsuitable in environments with contaminants or high temperatures. Microwave sensors offer a promising potential solution to overcome these limitations. In this article, a microwave sensor-based blade tip timing measurement system is proposed. A patch antenna probe is used to transmit and receive the microwave signals. The signal model and process method is analyzed. Zero intermediate frequency structure is employed to maintain timing accuracy and dynamic performance, and the received signal can also be used to measure tip clearance. The timing method uses the rising and falling edges of the signal and an auto-gain control circuit to reduce the effect of tip clearance change. To validate the accuracy of the system, it is compared experimentally with a fiber optic tip timing system. The results show that the microwave tip timing system achieves good accuracy.

  4. SU-E-I-88: The Effect of System Dead Time On Real-Time Plastic and GOS Based Fiber-Optic Dosimetry Systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hoerner, M; Hintenlang, D

    Purpose: A methodology is presented to correct for measurement inaccuracies at high detector count rates using a plastic and GOS scintillation fibers coupled to a photomultiplier tube with digital readout. This system allows temporal acquisition and manipulation of measured data. Methods: The detection system used was a plastic scintillator and a separate gadolinium scintillator, both (0.5 diameter) coupled to an optical fiber with a Hamamatsu photon counter with a built-in microcontroller and digital interface. Count rate performance of the system was evaluated using the nonparalzable detector model. Detector response was investigated across multiple radiation sources including: orthovoltage x-ray system, colbat-60more » gamma rays, proton therapy beam, and a diagnostic radiography x-ray tube. The dead time parameter was calculated by measuring the count rate of the system at different exposure rates using a reference detector. Results: The system dead time was evaluated for the following sources of radiation used clinically: diagnostic energy x-rays, cobalt-60 gamma rays, orthovoltage xrays, particle proton accelerator, and megavoltage x-rays. It was found that dead time increased significantly when exposing the detector to sources capable of generating Cerenkov radiation, all of the sources sans the diagnostic x-rays, with increasing prominence at higher photon energies. Percent depth dose curves generated by a dedicated ionization chamber and compared to the detection system demonstrated that correcting for dead time improves accuracy. On most sources, nonparalzable model fit provided an improved system response. Conclusion: Overall, the system dead time was variable across the investigated radiation particles and energies. It was demonstrated that the system response accuracy was greatly improved by correcting for dead time effects. Cerenkov radiation plays a significant role in the increase in the system dead time through transient absorption effects attributed to electron hole-pair creations within the optical waveguide.« less

  5. A New Intraoperative Real-time Monitoring System for Reconstructive Middle Ear Surgery: An Experimental and Clinical Feasibility Study.

    PubMed

    Zahnert, Thomas; Metasch, Marie-Luise; Seidler, Hannes; Bornitz, Matthias; Lasurashvili, Nicoloz; Neudert, Marcus

    2016-12-01

    Electromagnetical excitation of ossicular vibration is suitable for middle ear transmission measurements in the experimental and clinical setting. Thereby, it can be used as a real-time monitoring system for quality control in ossiculoplasty. Positioning and coupling of middle ear prosthesis are a precondition for good postoperative hearing results, but at the same time completely dependent upon the surgeon's subjective judgment during surgery. We evaluated an electromagnetically driven measurement system that enables for in vitro and in vivo transmission measurements and thus can be used as a real-time monitoring tool in ossicular reconstruction. For electromagnetical excitation a magnet was placed on the umbo of the malleus handle and driven by a magnetic field. The induced stapes displacement was picked up by laser Doppler vibrometry on the footplate. Measurements were performed on the intact ossicular chain in five cadaveric temporal bones and during five cochlear implant surgeries. Additionally, two ossiculoplasties were performed under real-time transmission feedback with the monitoring system. Experimentally, the equivalent sound pressure level of the electromagnetic excitation was about 70 to 80 dB which is 10 to 20 dB less than the acoustic stimulation. In the intraoperative setup the generated stapes displacements were about 5 to 20 dB smaller compared with the temporal bone experiments. Applied as real-time feedback system, an improvement in the middle ear transfer function of 4.5 dB in total and 20 dB in partial ossicular reconstruction were achieved. The electromagnetical excitation and measurement system is comparable to the gold standard with acoustical stimulation in both, the experimental setup in temporal bones as well as in vivo. The technical feasibility of the electromagnetical excitation method has been proven and it is shown that it can be used as a real-time monitoring system for ossiculoplasty in the operation room.

  6. Measuring border delay and crossing times at the US-Mexico border : final report on automated crossing and wait time measurement.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-08-01

    A pilot test implemented a radio frequency identification (RFID) system to automatically measure travel times of US-bound commercial vehicles at a selected Port of Entry (POE) on the USMexico border under long-term, real-world conditions. The init...

  7. Thermoelectric property measurements with computer controlled systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chmielewski, A. B.; Wood, C.

    1984-01-01

    A joint JPL-NASA program to develop an automated system to measure the thermoelectric properties of newly developed materials is described. Consideration is given to the difficulties created by signal drift in measurements of Hall voltage and the Large Delta T Seebeck coefficient. The benefits of a computerized system were examined with respect to error reduction and time savings for human operators. It is shown that the time required to measure Hall voltage can be reduced by a factor of 10 when a computer is used to fit a curve to the ratio of the measured signal and its standard deviation. The accuracy of measurements of the Large Delta T Seebeck coefficient and thermal diffusivity was also enhanced by the use of computers.

  8. Enhancements to the timing of the OMEGA laser system to improve illumination uniformity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Donaldson, W. R.; Katz, J.; Kosc, T. Z.; Kelly, J. H.; Hill, E. M.; Bahr, R. E.

    2016-09-01

    Two diagnostics have been developed to improve the uniformity on the OMEGA Laser System, which is used for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research. The first diagnostic measures the phase of an optical modulator (used for the spectral dispersion technique employed on OMEGA to enhance spatial smoothing), which adds bandwidth to the optical pulse. Setting this phase precisely is required to reduce pointing errors. The second diagnostic ensures that the arrival times of all the beams are synchronized. The arrival of each of the 60 OMEGA beams is measured by placing a 1-mm diffusing sphere at target chamber center. By comparing the arrival time of each beam with respect to a reference pulse, the measured timing spread of the OMEGA Laser System is now 3.8 ps.

  9. MEASURE: An integrated data-analysis and model identification facility

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Singh, Jaidip; Iyer, Ravi K.

    1990-01-01

    The first phase of the development of MEASURE, an integrated data analysis and model identification facility is described. The facility takes system activity data as input and produces as output representative behavioral models of the system in near real time. In addition a wide range of statistical characteristics of the measured system are also available. The usage of the system is illustrated on data collected via software instrumentation of a network of SUN workstations at the University of Illinois. Initially, statistical clustering is used to identify high density regions of resource-usage in a given environment. The identified regions form the states for building a state-transition model to evaluate system and program performance in real time. The model is then solved to obtain useful parameters such as the response-time distribution and the mean waiting time in each state. A graphical interface which displays the identified models and their characteristics (with real time updates) was also developed. The results provide an understanding of the resource-usage in the system under various workload conditions. This work is targeted for a testbed of UNIX workstations with the initial phase ported to SUN workstations on the NASA, Ames Research Center Advanced Automation Testbed.

  10. A combined system for measuring animal motion activities.

    PubMed

    Young, M S; Young, C W; Li, Y C

    2000-01-31

    In this study, we have developed a combined animal motion activity measurement system that combines an infrared light matrix subsystem with an ultrasonic phase shift subsystem for animal activity measurement. Accordingly, in conjunction with an IBM PC/AT compatible personal computer, the combined system has the advantages of both infrared and ultrasonic subsystems. That is, it can at once measure and directly analyze detailed changes in animal activity ranging from locomotion to tremor. The main advantages of this combined system are that it features real time data acquisition with the option of animated real time or recorded display/playback of the animal's motion. Additionally, under the multi-task operating condition of IBM PC, it can acquire and process behavior using both IR and ultrasound systems simultaneously. Traditional systems have had to make separate runs for gross and fine movement recording. This combined system can be profitably employed for normative behavioral activity studies and for neurological and pharmacological research.

  11. Optical frequency switching scheme for a high-speed broadband THz measurement system based on the photomixing technique.

    PubMed

    Song, Hajun; Hwang, Sejin; Song, Jong-In

    2017-05-15

    This study presents an optical frequency switching scheme for a high-speed broadband terahertz (THz) measurement system based on the photomixing technique. The proposed system can achieve high-speed broadband THz measurements using narrow optical frequency scanning of a tunable laser source combined with a wavelength-switchable laser source. In addition, this scheme can provide a larger output power of an individual THz signal compared with that of a multi-mode THz signal generated by multiple CW laser sources. A swept-source THz tomography system implemented with a two-channel wavelength-switchable laser source achieves a reduced time for acquisition of a point spread function and a higher depth resolution in the same amount of measurement time compared with a system with a single optical source.

  12. Protecting a quantum state from environmental noise by an incompatible finite-time measurement

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Brasil, Carlos Alexandre; Castro, L. A. de; Napolitano, R. d. J.

    We show that measurements of finite duration performed on an open two-state system can protect the initial state from a phase-noisy environment, provided the measured observable does not commute with the perturbing interaction. When the measured observable commutes with the environmental interaction, the finite-duration measurement accelerates the rate of decoherence induced by the phase noise. For the description of the measurement of an observable that is incompatible with the interaction between system and environment, we have found an approximate analytical expression, valid at zero temperature and weak coupling with the measuring device. We have tested the validity of the analyticalmore » predictions against an exact numerical approach, based on the superoperator-splitting method, that confirms the protection of the initial state of the system. When the coupling between the system and the measuring apparatus increases beyond the range of validity of the analytical approximation, the initial state is still protected by the finite-time measurement, according with the exact numerical calculations.« less

  13. Rapid high-resolution spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with pulsed laser source and time-of-flight spectrometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gotlieb, K.; Hussain, Z.; Bostwick, A.; Lanzara, A.; Jozwiak, C.

    2013-09-01

    A high-efficiency spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) spectrometer is coupled with a laboratory-based laser for rapid high-resolution measurements. The spectrometer combines time-of-flight (TOF) energy measurements with low-energy exchange scattering spin polarimetry for high detection efficiencies. Samples are irradiated with fourth harmonic photons generated from a cavity-dumped Ti:sapphire laser that provides high photon flux in a narrow bandwidth, with a pulse timing structure ideally matched to the needs of the TOF spectrometer. The overall efficiency of the combined system results in near-EF spin-resolved ARPES measurements with an unprecedented combination of energy resolution and acquisition speed. This allows high-resolution spin measurements with a large number of data points spanning multiple dimensions of interest (energy, momentum, photon polarization, etc.) and thus enables experiments not otherwise possible. The system is demonstrated with spin-resolved energy and momentum mapping of the L-gap Au(111) surface states, a prototypical Rashba system. The successful integration of the spectrometer with the pulsed laser system demonstrates its potential for simultaneous spin- and time-resolved ARPES with pump-probe based measurements.

  14. On the deduction of chemical reaction pathways from measurements of time series of concentrations.

    PubMed

    Samoilov, Michael; Arkin, Adam; Ross, John

    2001-03-01

    We discuss the deduction of reaction pathways in complex chemical systems from measurements of time series of chemical concentrations of reacting species. First we review a technique called correlation metric construction (CMC) and show the construction of a reaction pathway from measurements on a part of glycolysis. Then we present two new improved methods for the analysis of time series of concentrations, entropy metric construction (EMC), and entropy reduction method (ERM), and illustrate (EMC) with calculations on a model reaction system. (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

  15. Portable Instrumentation for Real-Time Measurement of Scour at Bridges

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-12-01

    Portable scour-measuring systems were developed to meet the requirements of three different applications: bridge inspections, limited-detail data collection, and detailed data collection. A portable scour-measuring system consists of four components:...

  16. A dynamical approach in exploring the unknown mass in the Solar system using pulsar timing arrays

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Y. J.; Lee, K. J.; Caballero, R. N.

    2018-04-01

    The error in the Solar system ephemeris will lead to dipolar correlations in the residuals of pulsar timing array for widely separated pulsars. In this paper, we utilize such correlated signals, and construct a Bayesian data-analysis framework to detect the unknown mass in the Solar system and to measure the orbital parameters. The algorithm is designed to calculate the waveform of the induced pulsar-timing residuals due to the unmodelled objects following the Keplerian orbits in the Solar system. The algorithm incorporates a Bayesian-analysis suit used to simultaneously analyse the pulsar-timing data of multiple pulsars to search for coherent waveforms, evaluate the detection significance of unknown objects, and to measure their parameters. When the object is not detectable, our algorithm can be used to place upper limits on the mass. The algorithm is verified using simulated data sets, and cross-checked with analytical calculations. We also investigate the capability of future pulsar-timing-array experiments in detecting the unknown objects. We expect that the future pulsar-timing data can limit the unknown massive objects in the Solar system to be lighter than 10-11-10-12 M⊙, or measure the mass of Jovian system to a fractional precision of 10-8-10-9.

  17. Icing research tunnel rotating bar calibration measurement system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gibson, Theresa L.; Dearmon, John M.

    1993-01-01

    In order to measure icing patterns across a test section of the Icing Research Tunnel, an automated rotating bar measurement system was developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center. In comparison with the previously used manual measurement system, this system provides a number of improvements: increased accuracy and repeatability, increased number of data points, reduced tunnel operating time, and improved documentation. The automated system uses a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) to measure ice accretion. This instrument is driven along the bar by means of an intelligent stepper motor which also controls data recording. This paper describes the rotating bar calibration measurement system.

  18. Design of a digital holography system for PFC erosion measurements on Proto-MPEX.

    PubMed

    Thomas, C E Tommy; Biewer, T M; Baylor, L R; Combs, S K; Meitner, S J; Rapp, J; Hillis, D L; Granstedt, E M; Majeski, R; Kaita, R

    2016-11-01

    A project has been started at ORNL to develop a dual-wavelength digital holography system for plasma facing component erosion measurements on prototype material plasma exposure experiment. Such a system will allow in situ real-time measurements of component erosion. Initially the system will be developed with one laser, and first experimental laboratory measurements will be made with the single laser system. In the second year of development, a second CO 2 laser will be added and measurements with the dual wavelength system will begin. Adding the second wavelength allows measurements at a much longer synthetic wavelength.

  19. APD Response Time Measurements for Future TOF-E Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Starkey, M. J.; Ogasawara, K.; Dayeh, M. A.; Desai, M. I.

    2017-12-01

    In space physics, the ability to detect ions is crucial to understanding plasma distributions in the solar wind. This usually typically requires the determination of the particle's mass, charge, and total energy. Current ion detection schemes are implemented in three sequential parts; an electrostatic analyzer for energy per charge (E/Q) measurements, a time-of-flight (TOF) for mass per charge (M/Q) measurements, and a solid-state detector (SSD) for total energy (E) measurements. Recent work has suggested the use of avalanche photodiode detectors (APD) for a simultaneous TOF and total energy (TOF-E) measurement system, which would replace traditional SSDs, simplify design, and reduce costs. Although TOF based ion spectrometry typically requires timing resolution of <1ns, the timing profile for ion detection by APDs is not well understood. In this study we examine the timing profile of 3 different APDs for ion measurements over a suprathermal energy range of 50-300 keV. The three APDs differ by their doping type (N or P) and their detector thickness (30 μm or 150 μm). We find that APD P30, which is P doped and 30μm thick, provides the fastest rise times of the three APDs. Furthermore, these rise times are species independent and less than 1 ns. Our study shows that APDs are capable of sub-nanosecond response times for low energy ions and thus supports the future use of APDs in replacing SSDs in some TOF-E systems.

  20. Continuous real-time measurement of aqueous cyanide

    DOEpatents

    Rosentreter, Jeffrey J.; Gering, Kevin L.

    2007-03-06

    This invention provides a method and system capable of the continuous, real-time measurement of low concentrations of aqueous free cyanide (CN) using an on-line, flow through system. The system is based on the selective reactivity of cyanide anions and the characteristically nonreactive nature of metallic gold films, wherein this selective reactivity is exploited as an indirect measurement for aqueous cyanide. In the present invention the dissolution of gold, due to the solubilization reaction with the analyte cyanide anion, is monitored using a piezoelectric microbalance contained within a flow cell.

  1. Turbulence Climatology at Dallas/Ft.Worth (DFW) Airport: Implications for a Departure Wake Vortex Spacing System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perras, G. H.; Dasey, T. J.

    2000-01-01

    Potential adaptive wake vortex spacing systems may need to rely on wake vortex decay rather than wake vortex transport in reducing wake separations. A wake vortex takeoff-spacing system in particular will need to rely on wake decay. Ambient turbulence is the primary influence on wake decay away from the ground. This study evaluated 18 months of ambient turbulence measurements at Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) Airport. The measurements show minor variation in the turbulence levels at various times of the year or times of the day for time periods when a departure system could be used. Arrival system operation was also examined, and a slightly lower overall turbulence level was found as compared to departure system benefit periods. The Sarpkaya model, a validated model of wake vortex behavior, was applied to various turbulence levels and compared to the DFW turbulence statistics. The results show that wake vortices from heavy aircraft on takeoff should dissipate within one minute for the majority of the time and will rarely last two minutes. These results will need to be verified by wake vortex measurements on departure.

  2. Measuring atmospheric visibility cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jie, Guo; Ye, Shan-Shan; Yang, Xiao; Han, Ye-Xing; Tang, Huai-Wu; Yu, Zhi-Wei

    2016-10-01

    In the paper, an accurate and sensitive cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy (CAPS) system was used to monitor the atmospheric visibility coefficient in urban areas. The CAPS system, which detects the atmospheric visibility within a 10 nm bandpass centered at 532 nm, comprises a green LED with center wavelength in 532nm, a resonant optical cavity (36 cm length), a Photo Multiplier Tube detector and a lock in amplifier. The performance of the CAPS system was evaluated by measuring of the stability and response of the system. The minima ( 0.06 Mm-1) in the Allan plots show the optimum average time( 80s) for optimum detection performance of the CAPS system. The 2L/min flow rate, the CAPS system rise and fall response time is about 15 s, so as to realize the fast measurement of visibility. By comparing the forward scatter visibility meter measurement results, the CAPS system measurement results are verified reliably, and have high precision measurement. These figures indicate that this method has the potential to become one of the most sensitive on-line analytical techniques for atmospheric visibility detection.

  3. Measuring Out-of-Time-Order Correlators on a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Quantum Simulator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Jun; Fan, Ruihua; Wang, Hengyan; Ye, Bingtian; Zeng, Bei; Zhai, Hui; Peng, Xinhua; Du, Jiangfeng

    2017-07-01

    The idea of the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC) has recently emerged in the study of both condensed matter systems and gravitational systems. It not only plays a key role in investigating the holographic duality between a strongly interacting quantum system and a gravitational system, it also diagnoses the chaotic behavior of many-body quantum systems and characterizes information scrambling. Based on OTOCs, three different concepts—quantum chaos, holographic duality, and information scrambling—are found to be intimately related to each other. Despite its theoretical importance, the experimental measurement of the OTOC is quite challenging, and thus far there is no experimental measurement of the OTOC for local operators. Here, we report the measurement of OTOCs of local operators for an Ising spin chain on a nuclear magnetic resonance quantum simulator. We observe that the OTOC behaves differently in the integrable and nonintegrable cases. Based on the recent discovered relationship between OTOCs and the growth of entanglement entropy in the many-body system, we extract the entanglement entropy from the measured OTOCs, which clearly shows that the information entropy oscillates in time for integrable models and scrambles for nonintgrable models. With the measured OTOCs, we also obtain the experimental result of the butterfly velocity, which measures the speed of correlation propagation. Our experiment paves a way for experimentally studying quantum chaos, holographic duality, and information scrambling in many-body quantum systems with quantum simulators.

  4. Signal Delay Stability of a Ku-Band Two-Way Satellite Time Transfer Terminal

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kirchner, Dieter; Robnik, R.

    1996-01-01

    A fully automated two-way time and frequency transfer (TWSTFT) system including a satellite simulator, which allows the user to carry out signal delay measurements in conjunction with each time transfer measurement, is operated at the Technical University of Graz (TUG). After a brief description of the system, results obtained during fifteen months of operation are presented and discussed. Finally, envisaged experiments are mentioned.

  5. International Instrumentation Symposium, 39th, Albuquerque, NM, May 2-6, 1993, Proceedings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Various papers on instrumentation are presented. The general topics addressed include: data acquisition and processing, wind tunnels, pressure measurements, thermal measurements, force measurements, aerospace, metrology, flow measurements, real-time systems, measurement uncertainty, data analysis and calibration, computer applications, special tests, reentry vehicle systems, and human engineering.

  6. 40 CFR 1065.309 - Continuous gas analyzer system-response and updating-recording verification-for gas analyzers...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... change the system response. (b) Measurement principles. This procedure verifies that the updating and... gas detectors used to generate a continuously combined/compensated concentration measurement signal... verifies that the measurement system meets a minimum response time. For this procedure, ensure that all...

  7. The realization of temperature controller for small resistance measurement system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sobecki, Jakub; Walendziuk, Wojciech; Idzkowski, Adam

    2017-08-01

    This paper concerns the issues of construction and experimental tests of a temperature stabilization system for small resistance increments measurement circuits. After switching the system on, a PCB board heats up and the long-term temperature drift altered the measurement result. The aim of this work is reducing the time of achieving constant nominal temperature by the measurement system, which would enable decreasing the time of measurements in the steady state. Moreover, the influence of temperatures higher than the nominal on the measurement results and the obtained heating curve were tested. During the working process, the circuit heats up to about 32 °C spontaneously, and it has the time to reach steady state of about 1200 s. Implementing a USART terminal on the PC and an NI USB-6341 data acquisition card makes recording the data (concerning temperature and resistance) in the digital form and its further processing easier. It also enables changing the quantity of the regulator settings. This paper presents sample results of measurements for several temperature values and the characteristics of the temperature and resistance changes in time as well as their comparison with the output values. The object identification is accomplished due to the Ziegler-Nichols method. The algorithm of determining the step characteristics parameters and examples of computations of the regulator settings are included together with example characteristics of the object regulation.

  8. A urine volume measurement system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Poppendiek, H. F.; Mouritzen, G.; Sabin, C. M.

    1972-01-01

    An improved urine volume measurement system for use in the unusual environment of manned space flight is reported. The system utilizes a low time-constant thermal flowmeter. The time integral of the transient response of the flowmeter gives the urine volume during a void as it occurs. In addition, the two phase flows through the flowmeter present no problem. Developments of the thermal flowmeter and a verification of the predicted performance characteristics are summarized.

  9. A new beam diagnostic system for the MASHA setup

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Motycak, S.; Rodin, A. M.; Novoselov, A. S.; Podshibyakin, A. V.; Krupa, L.; Belozerov, A. V.; Vedeneyev, V. Yu.; Gulyaev, A. V.; Gulyaeva, A. V.; Kliman, J.; Salamatin, V. S.; Stepantsov, S. V.; Chernysheva, E. V.; Yuchimchuk, S. A.; Komarov, A. B.; Kamas, D.

    2016-09-01

    A new beam diagnostic system based on the PXI standard was developed, tested, and used in the MASHA setup experiment. The beam energy and beam current measurements were carried out using several methods. The online time-of-flight energy measurements were carried out using three pick-up detectors. We used two electronic systems to measure the time between the pick-ups. The first system was based on fast Agilent digitizers (2-channel, 4-GHz sampling rate), and the second one was based on a constant fraction discriminator (CFD) connected to a time-to-digital converter (TDC, 5-ps resolution). A new graphical interface to monitor the electronic devices and to perform the online calculations of energy was developed using MFC C++. The second system based on microchannel plate (time-of-flight) and silicon detectors for the determination of beam energy and the type of accelerated particles was also used. The beam current measurements were carried out with two different sensors. The first sensor is a rotating Faraday cup placed in front of the target, and the second one is an emission detector installed at the rear of the target. This system is now used in experiments for the synthesis of superheavy elements at the U400M cyclotron of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR).

  10. Distributed optical fiber temperature sensor (DOFTS) system applied to automatic temperature alarm of coal mine and tunnel

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Zaixuan; Wang, Kequan; Kim, Insoo S.; Wang, Jianfeng; Feng, Haiqi; Guo, Ning; Yu, Xiangdong; Zhou, Bangquan; Wu, Xiaobiao; Kim, Yohee

    2000-05-01

    The DOFTS system that has applied to temperature automatically alarm system of coal mine and tunnel has been researched. It is a real-time, on line and multi-point measurement system. The wavelength of LD is 1550 nm, on the 6 km optical fiber, 3000 points temperature signal is sampled and the spatial position is certain. Temperature measured region: -50 degree(s)C--100 degree(s)C; measured uncertain value: +/- 3 degree(s)C; temperature resolution: 0.1 degree(s)C; spatial resolution: <5 cm (optical fiber sensor probe); <8 m (spread optical fiber); measured time: <70 s. In the paper, the operated principles, underground test, test content and practical test results have been discussed.

  11. Performance Evaluation of MIMO-UWB Systems Using Measured Propagation Data and Proposal of Timing Control Scheme in LOS Environments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takanashi, Masaki; Nishimura, Toshihiko; Ogawa, Yasutaka; Ohgane, Takeo

    Ultrawide-band impulse radio (UWB-IR) technology and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems have attracted interest regarding their use in next-generation high-speed radio communication. We have studied the use of MIMO ultrawide-band (MIMO-UWB) systems to enable higher-speed radio communication. We used frequency-domain equalization based on the minimum mean square error criterion (MMSE-FDE) to reduce intersymbol interference (ISI) and co-channel interference (CCI) in MIMO-UWB systems. Because UWB systems are expected to be used for short-range wireless communication, MIMO-UWB systems will usually operate in line-of-sight (LOS) environments and direct waves will be received at the receiver side. Direct waves have high power and cause high correlations between antennas in such environments. Thus, it is thought that direct waves will adversely affect the performance of spatial filtering and equalization techniques used to enhance signal detection. To examine the feasibility of MIMO-UWB systems, we conducted MIMO-UWB system propagation measurements in LOS environments. From the measurements, we found that the arrival time of direct waves from different transmitting antennas depends on the MIMO configuration. Because we can obtain high power from the direct waves, direct wave reception is critical for maximizing transmission performance. In this paper, we present our measurement results, and propose a way to improve performance using a method of transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) timing control. We evaluate the bit error rate (BER) performance for this form of timing control using measured channel data.

  12. Quantum dynamics intervened by repeated nonselective measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Filippov, Sergey N.

    We derive the theory of open quantum system dynamics intervened by a series of nonselective measurements. We analyze the cases of time-independent and time-dependent Hamiltonian dynamics between the measurements and find the approximate master equation in the stroboscopic limit. We also consider a situation, in which the measurement basis changes in time, and illustrate it by nonselective measurements in the basis of diabatic states of the Landau-Zener model.

  13. Implementation of Kalman filter algorithm on models reduced using singular pertubation approximation method and its application to measurement of water level

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rachmawati, Vimala; Khusnul Arif, Didik; Adzkiya, Dieky

    2018-03-01

    The systems contained in the universe often have a large order. Thus, the mathematical model has many state variables that affect the computation time. In addition, generally not all variables are known, so estimations are needed to measure the magnitude of the system that cannot be measured directly. In this paper, we discuss the model reduction and estimation of state variables in the river system to measure the water level. The model reduction of a system is an approximation method of a system with a lower order without significant errors but has a dynamic behaviour that is similar to the original system. The Singular Perturbation Approximation method is one of the model reduction methods where all state variables of the equilibrium system are partitioned into fast and slow modes. Then, The Kalman filter algorithm is used to estimate state variables of stochastic dynamic systems where estimations are computed by predicting state variables based on system dynamics and measurement data. Kalman filters are used to estimate state variables in the original system and reduced system. Then, we compare the estimation results of the state and computational time between the original and reduced system.

  14. Research on online 3D laser scanner dimensional measurement system for heavy high-temperature forgings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Jingguo; Li, Menglin; Jiang, Yan; Xie, Tianpeng; Li, Feng; Jiang, Chenghao; Liu, Ruqing; Meng, Zhe

    2017-10-01

    Online 3-D laser-scanner is a non-contact measurement system with high speed, high precision and easy operation, which can be used to measure heavy and high-temperature forgings. But the current online laser measurement system is mainly a mobile light indicator, which can only be used in the limited environment and lacks the capability of 3-D accurate measurement. This paper mainly introduces the structure of the online high-speed real-time 3-D measurement for heavy high-temperature forgings of Academy of Opto-Electronics (AOE), Chinese Academy of Sciences. Combining TOF pulse distance measurement with hybrid scan mode, the system can scan and acquire point cloud data of an area of 20m×10m with a 75°×40° field of view at the distance of 20m. The entire scanning time is less than 5 seconds with an accuracy of 8mm, which can meet the online dimensional measurement requirements of heavy high-temperature forgings.

  15. The AUTONAV/DOT project : baseline measurement system for evaluation of roadway departure warning systems

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1999-01-01

    This report describes the performance metrics and the baseline measurement system. It also describes efforts to determine the accuracy of the baseline system in determining the time and position of roadway departures. In addition, the precise, synchr...

  16. Validation of GC and HPLC systems for residue studies

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Williams, M.

    1995-12-01

    For residue studies, GC and HPLC system performance must be validated prior to and during use. One excellent measure of system performance is the standard curve and associated chromatograms used to construct that curve. The standard curve is a model of system response to an analyte over a specific time period, and is prima facia evidence of system performance beginning at the auto sampler and proceeding through the injector, column, detector, electronics, data-capture device, and printer/plotter. This tool measures the performance of the entire chromatographic system; its power negates most of the benefits associated with costly and time-consuming validation ofmore » individual system components. Other measures of instrument and method validation will be discussed, including quality control charts and experimental designs for method validation.« less

  17. Real-Time Telemetry System for Monitoring Motion of Ships Based on Inertial Sensors.

    PubMed

    Núñez, José M; Araújo, Marta G; García-Tuñón, I

    2017-04-25

    A telemetry system for real-time monitoring of the motions, position, speed and course of a ship at sea is presented in this work. The system, conceived as a subsystem of a radar cross-section measurement unit, could also be used in other applications as ships dynamics characterization, on-board cranes, antenna stabilizers, etc. This system was designed to be stand-alone, reliable, easy to deploy, low-cost and free of requirements related to stabilization procedures. In order to achieve such a unique combination of functionalities, we have developed a telemetry system based on redundant inertial and magnetic sensors and GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. It provides a proper data storage and also has real-time radio data transmission capabilities to an on-shore station. The output of the system can be used either for on-line or off-line processing. Additionally, the system uses dual technologies and COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) components. Motion-positioning measurements and radio data link tests were successfully carried out in several ships of the Spanish Navy, proving the compliance with the design targets and validating our telemetry system.

  18. [Difficulties in the IT solutions of the Danish health-care system].

    PubMed

    Kildebro, Niels; Fergo, Charlotte; Rosenberg, Jacob

    2014-12-08

    The IT solutions of the Danish health-care system have been under criticism. Especially the time spent on login. We examined if the daily recommended pelvic floor muscle training could be achieved during login. Login time was measured on five laptops used in daily care in a hospital. Time to conduct pelvic floor training was measured in six volunteers. Median login time/day was 77 minutes and four seconds, and median time to complete exercises was 35 minutes and 14 seconds. The hypothesis was verified, and further studies to optimize time spent on login are recommended. not relevant. not relevant.

  19. Improved chamber systems for rapid, real-time nitrous oxide emissions from manure and soil

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission rates have traditionally been measured using non-flow-through, non-steady-state (NFT-NSS) chambers, which rely on measuring the increase in N2O concentration in the sealed chamber headspace over time. These flux measurements are very labor and time intensive, requiring ...

  20. Randoms Counter Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hensley, Winston; Giovanetti, Kevin

    2008-10-01

    A 1 ppm precision measurement of the muon lifetime is being conducted by the MULAN collaboration. The reason for this new measurement lies in recent advances in theory that have reduced the uncertainty in calculating the Fermi Coupling Constant from the measured lifetime to a few tenths ppm. The largest uncertainty is now experimental. To achieve a 1ppm level of precision it is necessary to control all sources of systematic error and to understand their influences on the lifetime measurement. James Madison University is contributing by examine the response of the timing system to uncorrelated events, randoms. A radioactive source was placed in front of paired detectors similar to those in the main experiment. These detectors were integrated in an identical fashion into the data acquisition and measurement system and data from these detectors was recorded during the entire experiment. The pair were placed in a shielded enclosure away from the main experiment to minimize interference. The data from these detectors should have a flat time spectrum as the decay of a radioactive source is a random event and has no time correlation. Thus the spectrum can be used as an important diagnostic in studying the method of determining event times and timing system performance.

  1. A cost-effective measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution system for quantum networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Valivarthi, Raju; Zhou, Qiang; John, Caleb; Marsili, Francesco; Verma, Varun B.; Shaw, Matthew D.; Nam, Sae Woo; Oblak, Daniel; Tittel, Wolfgang

    2017-12-01

    We experimentally realize a measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) system. It is based on cost-effective and commercially available hardware such as distributed feedback lasers and field-programmable gate arrays that enable time-bin qubit preparation and time-tagging, and active feedback systems that allow for compensation of time-varying properties of photons after transmission through deployed fiber. We examine the performance of our system, and conclude that its design does not compromise performance. Our demonstration paves the way for MDI-QKD-based quantum networks in star-type topology that extend over more than 100 km distance.

  2. Nondestructive evaluation of composite materials by pulsed time domain methods in imbedded optical fibers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Claus, R. O.; Bennett, K. D.; Jackson, B. S.

    1986-01-01

    The application of fiber-optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) to nondestructive quantitative measurements of distributed internal strain in graphite-epoxy composites, using optical fiber waveguides imbedded between plies, is discussed. The basic OTDR measurement system is described, together with the methods used to imbed optical fibers within composites. Measurement results, system limitations, and the effect of the imbedded fiber on the integrity of the host composite material are considered.

  3. Laser interferometric system for six-axis motion measurement.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Zhipeng; Menq, Chia-Hsiang

    2007-08-01

    This article presents the development of a precision laser interferometric system, which is designed to achieve six-axis motion measurement for real-time applications. By combining the advantage of the interferometer with a retroreflector and that of the interferometer with a plane mirror reflector, the system is capable of simultaneously measuring large transverse motions along and large rotational motions about three orthogonal axes. Based on optical path analysis along with the designed kinematics of the system, a closed form relationship between the six-axis motion parameters of the object being measured and the readings of the six laser interferometers is established. It can be employed as a real-time motion sensor for various six-axis motion control stages. A prototype is implemented and integrated with a six-axis magnetic levitation stage to illustrate its resolution and measurement range.

  4. Development of a Novel System to Measure a Clearance of a Passenger Platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shimizu, M.; Oizumi, J.; Matsuoka, R.; Takeda, H.; Okukura, H.; Ooya, A.; Koike, A.

    2016-06-01

    Clearances of a passenger platform at a railway station should be appropriately maintained for safety of both trains and passengers. In most Japanese railways clearances between a platform and a train car is measured precisely once or twice a year. Because current measurement systems operate on a track, the closure of the track is unavoidable. Since the procedure of the closure of a track is time-consuming and bothersome, we decided to develop a new system to measure clearances without the closure of a track. A new system is required to work on a platform and the required measurement accuracy is less than several millimetres. We have adopted a 3D laser scanner and stop-and-go operation for a new system. The current systems on a track measure clearances continuously at walking speed, while our system on a platform measures clearances at approximately ten metres intervals. The scanner controlled by a PC acquires a set of point data at each measuring station. Edge points of the platform, top and side points of two rails are detected from the acquired point data. Finally clearances of the platform are calculated by using the detected feature points of the platform and the rails. The results of an experiment using a prototype of our system show that the measurement accuracy by our system would be satisfactory, but our system would take more time than the current systems. Since our system requires no closure of a track, we conclude that our system would be convenient and effective.

  5. Development of a commercially viable piezoelectric force sensor system for static force measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jun; Luo, Xinwei; Liu, Jingcheng; Li, Min; Qin, Lan

    2017-09-01

    A compensation method for measuring static force with a commercial piezoelectric force sensor is proposed to disprove the theory that piezoelectric sensors and generators can only operate under dynamic force. After studying the model of the piezoelectric force sensor measurement system, the principle of static force measurement using a piezoelectric material or piezoelectric force sensor is analyzed. Then, the distribution law of the decay time constant of the measurement system and the variation law of the measurement system’s output are studied, and a compensation method based on the time interval threshold Δ t and attenuation threshold Δ {{u}th} is proposed. By calibrating the system and considering the influences of the environment and the hardware, a suitable Δ {{u}th} value is determined, and the system’s output attenuation is compensated based on the Δ {{u}th} value to realize the measurement. Finally, a static force measurement system with a piezoelectric force sensor is developed based on the compensation method. The experimental results confirm the successful development of a simple compensation method for static force measurement with a commercial piezoelectric force sensor. In addition, it is established that, contrary to the current perception, a piezoelectric force sensor system can be used to measure static force through further calibration.

  6. Magnetic Levitation Force Measurement System at Any Low Temperatures From 20 K To 300 K

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Celik, Sukru; Guner, S. Baris; Coskun, Elvan

    2015-03-01

    Most of the magnetic levitation force measurements in previous studies were performed at liquid nitrogen temperatures. For the levitation force of MgB2 and iron based superconducting samples, magnetic levitation force measurement system is needed. In this study, magnetic levitation force measurement system was designed. In this system, beside vertical force versus vertical motion, lateral and vertical force versus lateral motion measurements, the vertical force versus temperature at the fixed distance between permanent magnet PM - superconducting sample SS and the vertical force versus time measurements were performed at any temperatures from 20 K to 300 K. Thanks to these measurements, the temperature dependence, time dependence, and the distance (magnetic field) and temperature dependences of SS can be investigated. On the other hand, the magnetic stiffness MS measurements can be performed in this system. Using the measurement of MS at different temperature in the range, MS dependence on temperature can be investigated. These measurements at any temperatures in the range help to the superconductivity properties to be characterized. This work was supported by TUBTAK-the Scientific and technological research council of Turkey under project of MFAG - 110T622. This system was applied to the Turkish patent institute with the Application Number of 2013/13638 on 22/11/2013.

  7. SU-E-J-66: Evaluation of a Real-Time Positioning Assistance Simulator System for Skull Radiography Using the Microsoft Kinect

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kurata, T; Ono, M; Kozono, K

    2014-06-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of a low cost, small size positioning assistance simulator system for skull radiography using the Microsoft Kinect sensor. A conventional radiographic simulator system can only measure the three-dimensional coordinates of an x-ray tube using angle sensors, but not measure the movement of the subject. Therefore, in this study, we developed a real-time simulator system using the Microsoft Kinect to measure both the x-ray tube and the subject, and evaluated its accuracy and feasibility by comparing the simulated and the measured x-ray images. Methods: This system can track a headmore » phantom by using Face Tracking, which is one of the functions of the Kinect. The relative relationship between the Kinect and the head phantom was measured and the projection image was calculated by using the ray casting method, and by using three-dimensional CT head data with 220 slices at 512 × 512 pixels. X-ray images were thus obtained by using a computed radiography (CR) system. We could then compare the simulated projection images with the measured x-ray images from 0 degrees to 45 degrees at increments of 15 degrees by calculating the cross correlation coefficient C. Results: The calculation time of the simulated projection images was almost real-time (within 1 second) by using the Graphics Processing Unit(GPU). The cross-correlation coefficients C are: 0.916; 0.909; 0.891; and, 0.886 at 0, 15, 30, and 45 degrees, respectively. As a result, there were strong correlations between the simulated and measured images. Conclusion: This system can be used to perform head positioning more easily and accurately. It is expected that this system will be useful for learning radiographic techniques by students. Moreover, it could also be used for predicting the actual x-ray image prior to x-ray exposure in clinical environments.« less

  8. Methods and measurements in real-time air traffic control system simulation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1983-04-01

    The major purpose of this work was to asses dynamic simulation of air traffic control systems as a technique for evaluating such systems in a statistically sound and objective manner. A large set of customarily used measures based on the system missi...

  9. Redundant and fault-tolerant algorithms for real-time measurement and control systems for weapon equipment.

    PubMed

    Li, Dan; Hu, Xiaoguang

    2017-03-01

    Because of the high availability requirements from weapon equipment, an in-depth study has been conducted on the real-time fault-tolerance of the widely applied Compact PCI (CPCI) bus measurement and control system. A redundancy design method that uses heartbeat detection to connect the primary and alternate devices has been developed. To address the low successful execution rate and relatively large waste of time slices in the primary version of the task software, an improved algorithm for real-time fault-tolerant scheduling is proposed based on the Basic Checking available time Elimination idle time (BCE) algorithm, applying a single-neuron self-adaptive proportion sum differential (PSD) controller. The experimental validation results indicate that this system has excellent redundancy and fault-tolerance, and the newly developed method can effectively improve the system availability. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Photon Detector System Timing Performance in the DUNE 35-ton Prototype Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Adams, D.L.; et al.

    The 35-ton prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector was a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber with an integrated photon detector system, all situated inside a membrane cryostat. The detector took cosmic-ray data for six weeks during the period of February 1, 2016 to March 12, 2016. The performance of the photon detection system was checked with these data. An installed photon detector was demonstrated to measure the arrival times of cosmic-ray muons with a resolution better than 32 ns, limited by the timing of the trigger system. A measurement of the timing resolution using closely-spaced calibration pulses yielded a resolution of 15 ns for pulses at a level of 6 photo-electrons. Scintillation light from cosmic-ray muons was observed to be attenuated with increasing distance with a characteristic length ofmore » $$155 \\pm 28$$ cm.« less

  11. Short-time dynamics of molecular junctions after projective measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tang, Gaomin; Xing, Yanxia; Wang, Jian

    2017-08-01

    In this work, we study the short-time dynamics of a molecular junction described by Anderson-Holstein model using full-counting statistics after projective measurement. The coupling between the central quantum dot (QD) and two leads was turned on at remote past and the system is evolved to steady state at time t =0 , when we perform the projective measurement in one of the lead. Generating function for the charge transfer is expressed as a Fredholm determinant in terms of Keldysh nonequilibrium Green's function in the time domain. It is found that the current is not constant at short times indicating that the measurement does perturb the system. We numerically compare the current behaviors after the projective measurement with those in the transient regime where the subsystems are connected at t =0 . The universal scaling for high-order cumulants is observed for the case with zero QD occupation due to the unidirectional transport at short times. The influences of electron-phonon interaction on short-time dynamics of electric current, shot noise, and differential conductance are analyzed.

  12. A synchronized multipoint vision-based system for displacement measurement of civil infrastructures.

    PubMed

    Ho, Hoai-Nam; Lee, Jong-Han; Park, Young-Soo; Lee, Jong-Jae

    2012-01-01

    This study presents an advanced multipoint vision-based system for dynamic displacement measurement of civil infrastructures. The proposed system consists of commercial camcorders, frame grabbers, low-cost PCs, and a wireless LAN access point. The images of target panels attached to a structure are captured by camcorders and streamed into the PC via frame grabbers. Then the displacements of targets are calculated using image processing techniques with premeasured calibration parameters. This system can simultaneously support two camcorders at the subsystem level for dynamic real-time displacement measurement. The data of each subsystem including system time are wirelessly transferred from the subsystem PCs to master PC and vice versa. Furthermore, synchronization process is implemented to ensure the time synchronization between the master PC and subsystem PCs. Several shaking table tests were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system, and the results showed very good agreement with those from a conventional sensor with an error of less than 2%.

  13. A Synchronized Multipoint Vision-Based System for Displacement Measurement of Civil Infrastructures

    PubMed Central

    Ho, Hoai-Nam; Lee, Jong-Han; Park, Young-Soo; Lee, Jong-Jae

    2012-01-01

    This study presents an advanced multipoint vision-based system for dynamic displacement measurement of civil infrastructures. The proposed system consists of commercial camcorders, frame grabbers, low-cost PCs, and a wireless LAN access point. The images of target panels attached to a structure are captured by camcorders and streamed into the PC via frame grabbers. Then the displacements of targets are calculated using image processing techniques with premeasured calibration parameters. This system can simultaneously support two camcorders at the subsystem level for dynamic real-time displacement measurement. The data of each subsystem including system time are wirelessly transferred from the subsystem PCs to master PC and vice versa. Furthermore, synchronization process is implemented to ensure the time synchronization between the master PC and subsystem PCs. Several shaking table tests were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed system, and the results showed very good agreement with those from a conventional sensor with an error of less than 2%. PMID:23028250

  14. Interval stability for complex systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Klinshov, Vladimir V.; Kirillov, Sergey; Kurths, Jürgen; Nekorkin, Vladimir I.

    2018-04-01

    Stability of dynamical systems against strong perturbations is an important problem of nonlinear dynamics relevant to many applications in various areas. Here, we develop a novel concept of interval stability, referring to the behavior of the perturbed system during a finite time interval. Based on this concept, we suggest new measures of stability, namely interval basin stability (IBS) and interval stability threshold (IST). IBS characterizes the likelihood that the perturbed system returns to the stable regime (attractor) in a given time. IST provides the minimal magnitude of the perturbation capable to disrupt the stable regime for a given interval of time. The suggested measures provide important information about the system susceptibility to external perturbations which may be useful for practical applications. Moreover, from a theoretical viewpoint the interval stability measures are shown to bridge the gap between linear and asymptotic stability. We also suggest numerical algorithms for quantification of the interval stability characteristics and demonstrate their potential for several dynamical systems of various nature, such as power grids and neural networks.

  15. Automated delay measurement system for an Earth station for Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dejong, Gerrit; Polderman, Michel C.

    1995-01-01

    The measurement of the difference of the transmit and receive delays of the signals in a Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT) Earth station is crucial for its nanosecond time transfer capability. Also, the monitoring of the change of this delay difference with time, temperature, humidity, or barometric pressure is important for improving the TWSTFT capabilities. An automated system for this purpose has been developed from the initial design at NMi-VSL. It calibrates separately the transmit and receive delays in cables, amplifiers, upconverters and downconverters, and antenna feeds. The obtained results can be applied as corrections to the TWSTFT measurement when, before and after a measurement session, a calibration session is performed. Preliminary results obtained at NMi-VSL will be shown. Also, if available, the results of a manual version of the system that is planned to be circulated in Sept. 1994 together with a USNO portable station on a calibration trip to European TWSTFT Earth stations.

  16. Measures of Student Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Education Agency, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, appraisal systems in Texas, whether the state-recommended system or a locally developed system, will need to include a measure of student growth at the individual teacher level. Student growth measures how much a student progresses academically during his or her time with a particular teacher. It takes into…

  17. Efficiency improvements of offline metrology job creation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zuniga, Victor J.; Carlson, Alan; Podlesny, John C.; Knutrud, Paul C.

    1999-06-01

    Progress of the first lot of a new design through the production line is watched very closely. All performance metrics, cycle-time, in-line measurement results and final electrical performance are critical. Rapid movement of this lot through the line has serious time-to-market implications. Having this material waiting at a metrology operation for an engineer to create a measurement job plan wastes valuable turnaround time. Further, efficient use of a metrology system is compromised by the time required to create and maintain these measurement job plans. Thus, having a method to develop metrology job plans prior to the actual running of the material through the manufacture area can significantly improve both cycle time and overall equipment efficiency. Motorola and Schlumberger have worked together to develop and test such a system. The Remote Job Generator (RJG) created job plans for new device sin a manufacturing process from an NT host or workstation, offline. This increases available system tim effort making production measurements, decreases turnaround time on job plan creation and editing, and improves consistency across job plans. Most importantly this allows job plans for new devices to be available before the first wafers of the device arrive at the tool for measurement. The software also includes a database manager which allows updates of existing job plans to incorporate measurement changes required by process changes or measurement optimization. This paper will review the result of productivity enhancements through the increased metrology utilization and decreased cycle time associated with the use of RJG. Finally, improvements in process control through better control of Job Plans across different devices and layers will be discussed.

  18. Instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jiang, Xiao-Guo; Wang, Yuan; Zhang, Kai-Zhi; Yang, Guo-Jun; Shi, Jin-Shui; Deng, Jian-Jun; Li, Jin

    2014-01-01

    One kind of instantaneous electron beam emittance measurement system based on the optical transition radiation principle and double imaging optical method has been set up. It is mainly adopted in the test for the intense electron-beam produced by a linear induction accelerator. The system features two characteristics. The first one concerns the system synchronization signal triggered by the following edge of the main output waveform from a Blumlein switch. The synchronous precision of about 1 ns between the electron beam and the image capture time can be reached in this way so that the electron beam emittance at the desired time point can be obtained. The other advantage of the system is the ability to obtain the beam spot and beam divergence in one measurement so that the calculated result is the true beam emittance at that time, which can explain the electron beam condition. It provides to be a powerful beam diagnostic method for a 2.5 kA, 18.5 MeV, 90 ns (FWHM) electron beam pulse produced by Dragon I. The ability of the instantaneous measurement is about 3 ns and it can measure the beam emittance at any time point during one beam pulse. A series of beam emittances have been obtained for Dragon I. The typical beam spot is 9.0 mm (FWHM) in diameter and the corresponding beam divergence is about 10.5 mrad.

  19. Development of a methodology to measure the effect of ergot alkaloids on forestomach motility using real-time wireless telemetry

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    The objectives of these experiments were to characterize rumen motility patterns of cattle fed once daily using a real-time wireless telemetry system, determine when to measure rumen motility with this system, and determine the effect of ruminal dosing of ergot alkaloids on rumen motility. Ruminally...

  20. Modifying the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time to Measure Teacher Practices Related to Physical Activity Promotion: SOFIT+

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weaver, R. Glenn; Webster, Collin A.; Erwin, Heather; Beighle, Aaron; Beets, Michael W.; Choukroun, Hadrien; Kaysing, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT) is commonly used to measure variables related to physical activity during physical education (PE). However, SOFIT does not yield detailed information about teacher practices related to children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). This study describes the modification of SOFIT…

  1. Single-shot measurement of phase and amplitude by using a heterodyne time-lens system and ultrafast digital time-holography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tikan, Alexey; Bielawski, Serge; Szwaj, Christophe; Randoux, Stéphane; Suret, Pierre

    2018-04-01

    Temporal imaging systems are outstanding tools for single-shot observation of optical signals that have irregular and ultrafast dynamics. They allow long time windows to be recorded with femtosecond resolution, and do not rely on complex algorithms. However, simultaneous recording of amplitude and phase remains an open challenge for these systems. Here, we present a new heterodyne time-lens arrangement that efficiently records both the amplitude and phase of complex and random signals over large temporal windows (tens of picoseconds). Phase and time are encoded onto the two spatial dimensions of a camera. We implement this phase-sensitive time-lens system in two configurations: a time microscope and a digital temporal-holography device that enables single-shot measurement with a temporal resolution of 80 fs. We demonstrate direct application of our heterodyne time-lens to turbulent-like optical fields and optical rogue waves generated from nonlinear propagation of partially coherent waves inside optical fibres.

  2. A new type industrial total station based on target automatic collimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lao, Dabao; Zhou, Weihu; Ji, Rongyi; Dong, Dengfeng; Xiong, Zhi; Wei, Jiang

    2018-01-01

    In the case of industrial field measurement, the present measuring instruments work with manual operation and collimation, which give rise to low efficiency for field measurement. In order to solve the problem, a new type industrial total station is presented in this paper. The new instrument can identify and trace cooperative target automatically, in the mean time, coordinate of the target is measured in real time. For realizing the system, key technology including high precision absolutely distance measurement, small high accuracy angle measurement, target automatic collimation with vision, and quick precise controlling should be worked out. After customized system assemblage and adjustment, the new type industrial total station will be established. As the experiments demonstrated, the coordinate accuracy of the instrument is under 15ppm in the distance of 60m, which proved that the measuring system is feasible. The result showed that the total station can satisfy most industrial field measurement requirements.

  3. Experimental Results of Site Calibration and Sensitivity Measurements in OTR for UWB Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Viswanadham, Chandana; Rao, P. Mallikrajuna

    2017-06-01

    System calibration and parameter accuracy measurement of electronic support measures (ESM) systems is a major activity, carried out by electronic warfare (EW) engineers. These activities are very critical and needs good understanding in the field of microwaves, antennas, wave propagation, digital and communication domains. EW systems are broad band, built with state-of-the art electronic hardware, installed on different varieties of military platforms to guard country's security from time to time. EW systems operate in wide frequency ranges, typically in the order of thousands of MHz, hence these are ultra wide band (UWB) systems. Few calibration activities are carried within the system and in the test sites, to meet the accuracies of final specifications. After calibration, parameters are measured for their accuracies either in feed mode by injecting the RF signals into the front end or in radiation mode by transmitting the RF signals on to system antenna. To carry out these activities in radiation mode, a calibrated open test range (OTR) is necessary in the frequency band of interest. Thus site calibration of OTR is necessary to be carried out before taking up system calibration and parameter measurements. This paper presents the experimental results of OTR site calibration and sensitivity measurements of UWB systems in radiation mode.

  4. Calibration and testing of selected portable flowmeters for use on large irrigation systems

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Luckey, Richard R.; Heimes, Frederick J.; Gaggiani, Neville G.

    1980-01-01

    Existing methods for measuring discharge of irrigation systems in the High Plains region are not suitable to provide the pumpage data required by the High Plains Regional Aquifer System Analysis. Three portable flowmeters that might be suitable for obtaining fast and accurate discharge measure-ments on large irrigation systems were tested during 1979 under both laboratory and field conditions: propeller type gated-pipe meter, a Doppler meter, and a transient-time meter.The gated-pipe meter was found to be difficult to use and sensitive to particulate matter in the fluid. The Doppler meter, while easy to use, would not function suitably on steel pipe 6 inches or larger in diameter, or on aluminum pipe larger than 8 inches in diameter. The transient-time meter was more difficult to use than the other two meters; however, this instrument provided a high degree of accuracy and reliability under a variety of conditions. Of the three meters tested, only the transient-time meter was found to be suitable for providing reliable discharge measurements on the variety of irrigation systems used in the High Plains region.

  5. Investigating parameters participating in the infant respiratory control system attractor.

    PubMed

    Terrill, Philip I; Wilson, Stephen J; Suresh, Sadasivam; Cooper, David M; Dakin, Carolyn

    2008-01-01

    Theoretically, any participating parameter in a non-linear system represents the dynamics of the whole system. Taken's time delay embedding theory provides the fundamental basis for allowing non-linear analysis to be performed on physiological, time-series data. In practice, only one measurable parameter is required to be measured to convey an accurate representation of the system dynamics. In this paper, the infant respiratory control system is represented using three variables-a digitally sampled respiratory inductive plethysmography waveform, and the derived parameters tidal volume and inter-breath interval time series data. For 14 healthy infants, these data streams were analysed using recurrence plot analysis across one night of sleep. The measured attractor size of these variables followed the same qualitative trends across the nights study. Results suggest that the attractor size measures of the derived IBI and tidal volume are representative surrogates for the raw respiratory waveform. The extent to which the relative attractor sizes of IBI and tidal volume remain constant through changing sleep state could potentially be used to quantify pathology, or maturation of breathing control.

  6. Summary Report of Mission Acceleration Measurements for STS-78. Launched June 20, 1996

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hakimzadeh, Roshanak; Hrovat, Kenneth; McPherson, Kevin M.; Moskowitz, Milton E.; Rogers, Melissa J. B.

    1997-01-01

    The microgravity environment of the Space Shuttle Columbia was measured during the STS-78 mission using accelerometers from three different instruments: the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment, the Space Acceleration Measurement System and the Microgravity Measurement Assembly. The quasi-steady environment was also calculated in near real-time during the mission by the Microgravity Analysis Workstation. The Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment provided investigators with real-time quasi-steady acceleration measurements. The Space Acceleration Measurement System recorded higher frequency data on-board for post-mission analysis. The Microgravity Measurement Assembly provided investigators with real-time quasi-steady and higher frequency acceleration measurements. The Microgravity Analysis Workstation provided calculation of the quasi-steady environment. This calculation was presented to the science teams in real-time during the mission. The microgravity environment related to several different Orbiter, crew and experiment operations is presented and interpreted in this report. A radiator deploy, the Flight Control System checkout, and a vernier reaction control system reboost demonstration had minimal effects on the acceleration environment, with excitation of frequencies in the 0.01 to 10 Hz range. Flash Evaporator System venting had no noticeable effect on the environment while supply and waste water dumps caused excursions of 2 x lO(exp -6) to 4 x 10(exp -6) g in the Y(sub b) and Z(sub b) directions. Crew sleep and ergometer exercise periods can be clearly seen in the acceleration data, as expected. Accelerations related to the two Life Science Laboratory Equipment Refrigerator/Freezers were apparent in the data as are accelerations caused by the Johnson Space Center Projects Centrifuge. As on previous microgravity missions, several signals are present in the acceleration data for which a source has not been identified. The causes of these accelerations are under investigation.

  7. Continuous measurement of an atomic current

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laflamme, C.; Yang, D.; Zoller, P.

    2017-04-01

    We are interested in dynamics of quantum many-body systems under continuous observation, and its physical realizations involving cold atoms in lattices. In the present work we focus on continuous measurement of atomic currents in lattice models, including the Hubbard model. We describe a Cavity QED setup, where measurement of a homodyne current provides a faithful representation of the atomic current as a function of time. We employ the quantum optical description in terms of a diffusive stochastic Schrödinger equation to follow the time evolution of the atomic system conditional to observing a given homodyne current trajectory, thus accounting for the competition between the Hamiltonian evolution and measurement back action. As an illustration, we discuss minimal models of atomic dynamics and continuous current measurement on rings with synthetic gauge fields, involving both real space and synthetic dimension lattices (represented by internal atomic states). Finally, by "not reading" the current measurements the time evolution of the atomic system is governed by a master equation, where—depending on the microscopic details of our CQED setups—we effectively engineer a current coupling of our system to a quantum reservoir. This provides interesting scenarios of dissipative dynamics generating "dark" pure quantum many-body states.

  8. Strain measurement using a Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer for development of aircraft structure health monitoring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shimizu, Takayuki; Yari, Takashi; Nagai, Kanehiro; Takeda, Nobuo

    2001-07-01

    We conducted theoretical and experimental approaches for applying Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) to aircraft and spacecraft structure health monitoring system. Firstly, distributed strain was measured by BOTDR under 3-point bending test and a spatial resolution was enhanced up to 0.5m using Brillouin spectrum analysis and processing though the device used in this experiment had a spatial resolution of 2m normally. Secondly, dynamic strain measurement was executed under cyclic loading conditions. Brillouin spectrum measured under dynamic conditions is equivalent to superposed spectrum using many spectra measured under static loading conditions. As the measured spectrum was decomposed into many spectra in static loading state, the strain amplitude and its ratio could be estimated. Thirdly, strain and temperature could be measured independently using combined system of BOTDR and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Additionally, the application of BOTDR sensing system was shown for a prototype carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank under cryogenic condition.

  9. Smoothed quantum-classical states in time-irreversible hybrid dynamics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Budini, Adrián A.

    2017-09-01

    We consider a quantum system continuously monitored in time which in turn is coupled to an arbitrary dissipative classical system (diagonal reduced density matrix). The quantum and classical dynamics can modify each other, being described by an arbitrary time-irreversible hybrid Lindblad equation. Given a measurement trajectory, a conditional bipartite stochastic state can be inferred by taking into account all previous recording information (filtering). Here, we demonstrate that the joint quantum-classical state can also be inferred by taking into account both past and future measurement results (smoothing). The smoothed hybrid state is estimated without involving information from unobserved measurement channels. Its average over recording realizations recovers the joint time-irreversible behavior. As an application we consider a fluorescent system monitored by an inefficient photon detector. This feature is taken into account through a fictitious classical two-level system. The average purity of the smoothed quantum state increases over that of the (mixed) state obtained from the standard quantum jump approach.

  10. First measurement of time evolution of electron temperature profiles with Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system on Heliotron J.

    PubMed

    Kenmochi, N; Minami, T; Takahashi, C; Tei, S; Mizuuchi, T; Kobayashi, S; Nagasaki, K; Nakamura, Y; Okada, H; Kado, S; Yamamoto, S; Ohshima, S; Konoshima, S; Shi, N; Zang, L; Ohtani, Y; Kasajima, K; Sano, F

    2014-11-01

    A Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system has been developed for Heliotron J. The system consists of two 550 mJ 50 Hz lasers, large collection optics, and 25 radial channel (∼1 cm spatial resolution) interference polychromators. This measurement system achieves a S/N ratio of ∼50 for low-density plasma (ne ∼ 0.5 × 10(19) m(-3)). A time evolution of electron temperature profiles was measured with this system for a high-intensity gas-puff (HIGP) fueling neutral-beam-injection plasma. The peripheral temperature of the higher-density phase after HIGP recovers to the low-density pre-HIGP level, suggesting that improving particle transport in the HIGP plasma may be possible.

  11. TIMEKEEPING IN THE AMERICAS.

    PubMed

    López, J M; Lombardi, M A

    Time and its measurement belong to the most fundamental core of physics, and many scientific and technological advances are directly or indirectly related to time measurements. Timekeeping is essential to everyday life, and thus is the most measured physical quantity in modern societies. Time can also be measured with less uncertainty and more resolution than any other physical quantity. The measurement of time is of the utmost importance for many applications, including: global navigation satellite systems, communications networks, electric power generation, astronomy, electronic commerce, and national defense and security. This paper discusses how time is kept, coordinated, and disseminated in the Americas.

  12. Timekeeping in the Americas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    López, J. M.; Lombardi, M. A.

    2015-10-01

    Time and its measurement belong to the most fundamental core of physics, and many scientific and technological advances are directly or indirectly related to time measurements. Timekeeping is essential to everyday life, and thus is the most measured physical quantity in modern societies. Time can also be measured with less uncertainty and more resolution than any other physical quantity. The measurement of time is of the utmost importance for many applications, including: global navigation satellite systems, communications networks, electric power generation, astronomy, electronic commerce, and national defense and security. This paper discusses how time is kept, coordinated, and disseminated in the Americas.

  13. TIMEKEEPING IN THE AMERICAS

    PubMed Central

    López, J. M.; Lombardi, M. A.

    2016-01-01

    Time and its measurement belong to the most fundamental core of physics, and many scientific and technological advances are directly or indirectly related to time measurements. Timekeeping is essential to everyday life, and thus is the most measured physical quantity in modern societies. Time can also be measured with less uncertainty and more resolution than any other physical quantity. The measurement of time is of the utmost importance for many applications, including: global navigation satellite systems, communications networks, electric power generation, astronomy, electronic commerce, and national defense and security. This paper discusses how time is kept, coordinated, and disseminated in the Americas. PMID:26973371

  14. A TDR-Based Soil Moisture Monitoring System with Simultaneous Measurement of Soil Temperature and Electrical Conductivity

    PubMed Central

    Skierucha, Wojciech; Wilczek, Andrzej; Szypłowska, Agnieszka; Sławiński, Cezary; Lamorski, Krzysztof

    2012-01-01

    Elements of design and a field application of a TDR-based soil moisture and electrical conductivity monitoring system are described with detailed presentation of the time delay units with a resolution of 10 ps. Other issues discussed include the temperature correction of the applied time delay units, battery supply characteristics and the measurement results from one of the installed ground measurement stations in the Polesie National Park in Poland. PMID:23202009

  15. Machine vision system for measuring conifer seedling morphology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rigney, Michael P.; Kranzler, Glenn A.

    1995-01-01

    A PC-based machine vision system providing rapid measurement of bare-root tree seedling morphological features has been designed. The system uses backlighting and a 2048-pixel line- scan camera to acquire images with transverse resolutions as high as 0.05 mm for precise measurement of stem diameter. Individual seedlings are manually loaded on a conveyor belt and inspected by the vision system in less than 0.25 seconds. Designed for quality control and morphological data acquisition by nursery personnel, the system provides a user-friendly, menu-driven graphical interface. The system automatically locates the seedling root collar and measures stem diameter, shoot height, sturdiness ratio, root mass length, projected shoot and root area, shoot-root area ratio, and percent fine roots. Sample statistics are computed for each measured feature. Measurements for each seedling may be stored for later analysis. Feature measurements may be compared with multi-class quality criteria to determine sample quality or to perform multi-class sorting. Statistical summary and classification reports may be printed to facilitate the communication of quality concerns with grading personnel. Tests were conducted at a commercial forest nursery to evaluate measurement precision. Four quality control personnel measured root collar diameter, stem height, and root mass length on each of 200 conifer seedlings. The same seedlings were inspected four times by the machine vision system. Machine stem diameter measurement precision was four times greater than that of manual measurements. Machine and manual measurements had comparable precision for shoot height and root mass length.

  16. Endoscopic fringe projection for in-situ inspection of a sheet-bulk metal forming process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matthias, Steffen; Kästner, Markus; Reithmeier, Eduard

    2015-05-01

    Sheet-bulk metal forming is a new production process capable of performing deep-drawing and massive forming steps in a single operation. However, due to the high forming forces of the forming process, continuous process control is required in order to detect wear on the forming tool before production quality is impacted. To be able to measure the geometry of the forming tool in the limited space of forming presses, a new inspection system is being developed within the SFB/TR 73 collaborative research center. In addition to the limited space, the process restricts the amount of time available for inspection. Existing areal optical measurement systems suffer from shadowing when measuring the tool's inner elements, as they cannot be placed in the limited space next to the tool, while tactile measurement systems cannot meet the time restrictions for measuring the areal geometries. The new inspection system uses the fringe projection optical measurement principle to capture areal geometry data from relevant parts of the forming tool in short time. Highresolution image fibers are used to connect the system's compact sensor head to a base unit containing both camera and projector of the fringe projection system, which can be positioned outside of the moving parts of the press. To enable short measurement times, a high intensity laser source is used in the projector in combination with a digital micro-mirror device. Gradient index lenses are featured in the sensor head to allow for a very compact design that can be used in the narrow space above the forming tool inside the press. The sensor head is attached to an extended arm, which also guides the image fibers to the base unit. A rotation stage offers the possibility to capture measurements of different functional elements on the circular forming tool by changing the orientation of the sensor head next to the forming tool. During operation of the press, the arm can be travelled out of the moving parts of the forming press. To further reduce the measurement times of the fringe projection system, the inverse fringe projection principle has been adapted to the system to detect geometry deviations in a single camera image. Challenges arise from vibrations of both the forming machine and the positioning stages, which are transferred via the extended arm to the sensor head. Vibrations interfere with the analysis algorithms of both encoded and inverse fringe projection and thus impair measurement accuracy. To evaluate the impact of vibrations on the endoscopic system, results of measurements of simple geometries under the influence of vibrations are discussed. The effect of vibrations is imitated by displacing the measurement specimen during the measurement with a linear positioning stage. The concept of the new inspection system is presented within the scope of the TR 73 demonstrational sheet-bulk metal forming process. Finally, the capabilities of the endoscopic fringe projection system are shown by measurements of gearing structures on a forming tool compared to a CAD-reference.

  17. Real-time eye lens dose monitoring during cerebral angiography procedures.

    PubMed

    Safari, M J; Wong, J H D; Kadir, K A A; Thorpe, N K; Cutajar, D L; Petasecca, M; Lerch, M L F; Rosenfeld, A B; Ng, K H

    2016-01-01

    To develop a real-time dose-monitoring system to measure the patient's eye lens dose during neuro-interventional procedures. Radiation dose received at left outer canthus (LOC) and left eyelid (LE) were measured using Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor dosimeters on 35 patients who underwent diagnostic or cerebral embolization procedures. The radiation dose received at the LOC region was significantly higher than the dose received by the LE. The maximum eye lens dose of 1492 mGy was measured at LOC region for an AVM case, followed by 907 mGy for an aneurysm case and 665 mGy for a diagnostic angiography procedure. Strong correlations (shown as R(2)) were observed between kerma-area-product and measured eye doses (LOC: 0.78, LE: 0.68). Lateral and frontal air-kerma showed strong correlations with measured dose at LOC (AKL: 0.93, AKF: 0.78) and a weak correlation with measured dose at LE. A moderate correlation was observed between fluoroscopic time and dose measured at LE and LOC regions. The MOSkin dose-monitoring system represents a new tool enabling real-time monitoring of eye lens dose during neuro-interventional procedures. This system can provide interventionalists with information needed to adjust the clinical procedure to control the patient's dose. Real-time patient dose monitoring helps interventionalists to monitor doses. Strong correlation was observed between kerma-area-product and measured eye doses. Radiation dose at left outer canthus was higher than at left eyelid.

  18. The evaluation of a 2D diode array in "magic phantom" for use in high dose rate brachytherapy pretreatment quality assurance.

    PubMed

    Espinoza, A; Petasecca, M; Fuduli, I; Howie, A; Bucci, J; Corde, S; Jackson, M; Lerch, M L F; Rosenfeld, A B

    2015-02-01

    High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a treatment method that is used increasingly worldwide. The development of a sound quality assurance program for the verification of treatment deliveries can be challenging due to the high source activity utilized and the need for precise measurements of dwell positions and times. This paper describes the application of a novel phantom, based on a 2D 11 × 11 diode array detection system, named "magic phantom" (MPh), to accurately measure plan dwell positions and times, compare them directly to the treatment plan, determine errors in treatment delivery, and calculate absorbed dose. The magic phantom system was CT scanned and a 20 catheter plan was generated to simulate a nonspecific treatment scenario. This plan was delivered to the MPh and, using a custom developed software suite, the dwell positions and times were measured and compared to the plan. The original plan was also modified, with changes not disclosed to the primary authors, and measured again using the device and software to determine the modifications. A new metric, the "position-time gamma index," was developed to quantify the quality of a treatment delivery when compared to the treatment plan. The MPh was evaluated to determine the minimum measurable dwell time and step size. The incorporation of the TG-43U1 formalism directly into the software allows for dose calculations to be made based on the measured plan. The estimated dose distributions calculated by the software were compared to the treatment plan and to calibrated EBT3 film, using the 2D gamma analysis method. For the original plan, the magic phantom system was capable of measuring all dwell points and dwell times and the majority were found to be within 0.93 mm and 0.25 s, respectively, from the plan. By measuring the altered plan and comparing it to the unmodified treatment plan, the use of the position-time gamma index showed that all modifications made could be readily detected. The MPh was able to measure dwell times down to 0.067 ± 0.001 s and planned dwell positions separated by 1 mm. The dose calculation carried out by the MPh software was found to be in agreement with values calculated by the treatment planning system within 0.75%. Using the 2D gamma index, the dose map of the MPh plane and measured EBT3 were found to have a pass rate of over 95% when compared to the original plan. The application of this magic phantom quality assurance system to HDR brachytherapy has demonstrated promising ability to perform the verification of treatment plans, based upon the measured dwell positions and times. The introduction of the quantitative position-time gamma index allows for direct comparison of measured parameters against the plan and could be used prior to patient treatment to ensure accurate delivery. © 2015 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

  19. Operational characteristics of a translation screen grid beam deflection system for a 5-cm Kaufman thruster

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lathem, W. C.; Hudson, W. R.

    1972-01-01

    Measurements of beam deflection angle with respect to spring positioning power and accelerator impingement current as a function of deflection angle were made on a 5-cm diameter system. Response time measurements on the translational grid beam deflection system showed that the time for the maximum deflection angle analyzed (+16.4 deg to -16.4 deg) could be reduced by a factor of nine by increasing the heating power applied to the positioning spring from 4 to 16 watts. At 14 watts the response time for maximum deflection was about 1 minute.

  20. Time-domain system for identification of the natural resonant frequencies of aircraft relevant to electromagnetic compatibility testing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adams, J. W.; Ondrejka, A. R.; Medley, H. W.

    1987-11-01

    A method of measuring the natural resonant frequencies of a structure is described. The measurement involves irradiating this structure, in this case a helicopter, with an impulsive electromagnetic (EM) field and receiving the echo reflected from the helicopter. Resonances are identified by using a mathematical algorithm based on Prony's method to operate on the digitized reflected signal. The measurement system consists of special TEM horns, pulse generators, a time-domain system, and Prony's algorithm. The frequency range covered is 5 megahertz to 250 megahertz. This range is determined by antenna and circuit characteristics. The measurement system is demonstrated, and measured data from several different helicopters are presented in different forms. These different forms are needed to determine which of the resonant frequencies are real and which are false. The false frequencies are byproducts of Prony's algorithm.

  1. Force measuring valve assemblies, systems including such valve assemblies and related methods

    DOEpatents

    DeWall, Kevin George [Pocatello, ID; Garcia, Humberto Enrique [Idaho Falls, ID; McKellar, Michael George [Idaho Falls, ID

    2012-04-17

    Methods of evaluating a fluid condition may include stroking a valve member and measuring a force acting on the valve member during the stroke. Methods of evaluating a fluid condition may include measuring a force acting on a valve member in the presence of fluid flow over a period of time and evaluating at least one of the frequency of changes in the measured force over the period of time and the magnitude of the changes in the measured force over the period of time to identify the presence of an anomaly in a fluid flow and, optionally, its estimated location. Methods of evaluating a valve condition may include directing a fluid flow through a valve while stroking a valve member, measuring a force acting on the valve member during the stroke, and comparing the measured force to a reference force. Valve assemblies and related systems are also disclosed.

  2. Development of a multichannel optical system for differential cortical measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maki, Atsushi; Yamashita, Yuichi; Watanabe, Eiju; Koizumi, Hideaki

    1997-08-01

    A prototype system based on intensity-modulation spectroscopy (IMS) was produced with the goal of developing 'optoencephalography' as a new instrument for clinical application and for investigating human brain functions. This system can use dual wavelengths (787 and 827 nm) to simultaneously measure reflectances at 8 measurement positions on the human head. Using the system, we measured the changes in blood circulation and oxygenation changes caused by epileptic seizures and specific brain functions. The former measurements were made simultaneously with tests to determine the epileptic focus by using single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) and electrodes set in the brian. Four measurement positions were fixed in each temporal region. The areas where cerebral blood flow increased, as observed by SPECT, corresponded to the positions where the regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) increased, as measured by the IMS system. Furthermore, the timing of the epileptic seizures, as measured by the depth-electrodes, corresponded to the timing of the increase in rCBV measured by the prototype system. Our measurements of changes in blood circulation as a result of brain functions were made for motor functions to compare the differences between the right and left hemisphere in how they respond to specific functions. Four measurement positions were set in bilateral motor areas. Significant differences in blood circulation in connection with brain activities were observed between the right and left hemispheres.

  3. Collaboration in the UK on time transfer using the GLONASS system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Daly, P.; Knight, D. J. E.; Jefferies, R.; Swabey, B. R.

    1992-06-01

    Collaboration in the UK (United Kingdom) on the use of the GLONASS (Russian Global Space Navigation System) satellite navigation system for time transfer, and the main results obtained, are reported. The GLONASS clock stability and GLONASS system time has been monitored since 1988 within an accuracy of about +/- 50 ns. Current news of the GLONASS system is given, and measures towards improving accuracy are discussed.

  4. The Promise and Challenges of High Rate GNSS for Environmental Monitoring and Response

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    LaBrecque, John

    2017-04-01

    The decadal vision Global Geodetic Observing System recognizes the potential of high rate real time GNSS for environmental monitoring. The GGOS initiated a program to advance GNSS real time high rate measurements to augment seismic and other sensor systems for earthquake and tsunami early warning. High rate multi-GNSS networks can provide ionospheric tomography for the detection and tracking of land, ocean and atmospheric gravity waves that can provide coastal warning of tsunamis induced by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, severe weather and other catastrophic events. NASA has collaborated on a microsatellite constellation of GPS receivers to measure ocean surface roughness to improve severe storm tracking and a equatorial system of GPS occultation receivers to measure ionospheric and atmospheric dynamics. Systems such as these will be significantly enhanced by the availability of a four fold increase in GNSS satellite systems with new and enhanced signal structures and by the densification of regional multi-GNSS networks. These new GNSS capabilities will rely upon improved and cost effective communications infrastructure for a network of coordinated real time analysis centers with input to national warning systems. Most important, the implementation of these new real time GNSS capabilities will rely upon the broad international support for the sharing of real time GNSS much as is done in weather and seismic observing systems and as supported by the Committee of Experts on UN Global Geodetic Information Management (UNGGIM).

  5. 10 CFR 436.18 - Measuring cost-effectiveness.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... water system, considered in determining such matters as the optimal size of a solar energy system, the... building energy or water system with an energy or water conservation measure by retrofit to an existing... estimated payback time is significantly less than the useful life of that system, and of the Federal...

  6. 10 CFR 436.18 - Measuring cost-effectiveness.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... water system, considered in determining such matters as the optimal size of a solar energy system, the... building energy or water system with an energy or water conservation measure by retrofit to an existing... estimated payback time is significantly less than the useful life of that system, and of the Federal...

  7. Measuring Thermoelectric Properties Automatically

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chmielewski, A.; Wood, C.

    1986-01-01

    Microcomputer-controlled system speeds up measurements of Hall voltage, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal diffusivity in semiconductor compounds for thermoelectric-generator applications. With microcomputer system, large data base of these parameters gathered over wide temperature range. Microcomputer increases measurement accuracy, improves operator productivity, and reduces test time.

  8. Timing in a FLASH

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hoek, M.; Cardinali, M.; Corell, O.; Dickescheid, M.; Ferretti B., M. I.; Lauth, W.; Schlimme, B. S.; Sfienti, C.; Thiel, M.

    2017-12-01

    A prototype detector, called FLASH (Fast Light Acquiring Start Hodoscope), was built to provide precise Time-of-Flight (TOF) measurements and reference timestamps for detector setups at external beam lines. Radiator bars, made of synthetic fused silica, were coupled to a fast MCP-PMT with 64 channels and read out with custom electronics using Time-over-Threshold (TOT) for signal characterization. The TRB3 system, a high-precision TDC implemented in an FPGA, was used as data acquisition system. The performance of a system consisting of two FLASH units was investigated at a dedicated test experiment at the Mainz Microtron (MAMI) accelerator using its 855 MeV electron beam. The TOT measurement enabled time walk corrections and an overall TOF resolution of ∼70 ps could be achieved which translates into a resolution of ∼50 ps per FLASH unit. The intrinsic resolution of the frontend electronics including the TDC was measured to be less than 25 ps.

  9. Distributed Timing and Localization (DiGiTaL)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    D'Amico, Simone; Hunter, Roger C.; Baker, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    The Distributed Timing and Localization (DiGiTaL) system provides nano satellite formations with unprecedented,centimeter-level navigation accuracy in real time and nanosecond-level time synchronization. This is achieved through the integration of a multi-constellation Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, a Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC), and a dedicated Inter-Satellite Link (ISL). In comparison, traditional single spacecraft GNSS navigation solutions are accurate only to the meter-level due to the sole usage of coarse pseudo-range measurements. To meet the strict requirements of future miniaturized distributed space systems, DiGiTaL uses powerful error-cancelling combinations of raw carrier-phase measurements which are exchanged between the swarming nano satellites through a decentralized network. A reduced-dynamics estimation architecture on board each individual nano satellite processes the resulting millimeter-level noise measurements to reconstruct the fullformation state with high accuracy.

  10. On the method of positron lifetime measurement

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishiyama, F.; Shizuma, K.; Nasai, H.; Nishi, M.

    1983-01-01

    A fast-slow coincidence system was constructed for the measurement of positron lifetimes in material. The time resolution of this system was 270 ps for the (60)Co gamma rays. Positron lifetime spectra for 14 kinds of alkali halides were measured with this system. Two lifetime components and their intensities were derived from analyses of the lifetime spectra.

  11. An 8-channel skin impedance measurement system for acupuncture research.

    PubMed

    Thong, Tran; Colbert, Agatha P; Larsen, Adrian P

    2009-01-01

    An 8-channel skin impedance measurement system for acupuncture research has been developed. The underlying model of the skin used is a parallel R & C network. Pulses are used to measure the R and C values. The measurement circuit is time multiplexed across the 8 channels at the rate of 2 measurements per second, leading to a complete set of measurements every 4 seconds. In static tests, the system has been operational for over 2 days of continuous measurements. In preliminary human tests, measurements over 2 hours have been collected per subject.

  12. Exploratory analysis of real personal emergency response call conversations: considerations for personal emergency response spoken dialogue systems.

    PubMed

    Young, Victoria; Rochon, Elizabeth; Mihailidis, Alex

    2016-11-14

    The purpose of this study was to derive data from real, recorded, personal emergency response call conversations to help improve the artificial intelligence and decision making capability of a spoken dialogue system in a smart personal emergency response system. The main study objectives were to: develop a model of personal emergency response; determine categories for the model's features; identify and calculate measures from call conversations (verbal ability, conversational structure, timing); and examine conversational patterns and relationships between measures and model features applicable for improving the system's ability to automatically identify call model categories and predict a target response. This study was exploratory and used mixed methods. Personal emergency response calls were pre-classified according to call model categories identified qualitatively from response call transcripts. The relationships between six verbal ability measures, three conversational structure measures, two timing measures and three independent factors: caller type, risk level, and speaker type, were examined statistically. Emergency medical response services were the preferred response for the majority of medium and high risk calls for both caller types. Older adult callers mainly requested non-emergency medical service responders during medium risk situations. By measuring the number of spoken words-per-minute and turn-length-in-words for the first spoken utterance of a call, older adult and care provider callers could be identified with moderate accuracy. Average call taker response time was calculated using the number-of-speaker-turns and time-in-seconds measures. Care providers and older adults used different conversational strategies when responding to call takers. The words 'ambulance' and 'paramedic' may hold different latent connotations for different callers. The data derived from the real personal emergency response recordings may help a spoken dialogue system classify incoming calls by caller type with moderate probability shortly after the initial caller utterance. Knowing the caller type, the target response for the call may be predicted with some degree of probability and the output dialogue could be tailored to this caller type. The average call taker response time measured from real calls may be used to limit the conversation length in a spoken dialogue system before defaulting to a live call taker.

  13. Control and materials characterization System for 6T Superconducting Cryogen Free Magnet Facility at IUAC, New Delhi

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dutt, R. N.; Meena, D. K.; Kar, S.; Soni, V.; Nadaf, A.; Das, A.; Singh, F.; Datta, T. S.

    2017-02-01

    A system for carrying out automatic experimental measurements of various electrical transport characteristics and their relation to magnetic fields for samples mounted on the sample holder on a Variable Temperature Insert (VTI) of the Cryogen Free Superconducting Magnet System (CFMS) has been developed. The control and characterization system is capable of monitoring, online plotting and history logging in real-time of cryogenic temperatures with the Silicon (Si) Diode and Zirconium Oxy-Nitride sensors installed inside the magnet facility. Electrical transport property measurements have been automated with implementation of current reversal resistance measurements and automatic temperature set-point ramping with the parameters of interest available in real-time as well as for later analysis. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) based system is user friendly to facilitate operations. An ingenious electronics for reading Zirconium Oxy-Nitride temperature sensors has been used. Price to performance ratio has been optimized by using in house developed measurement techniques mixed with specialized commercial cryogenic measurement / control equipment.

  14. Multichannel FPGA based MVT system for high precision time (20 ps RMS) and charge measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pałka, M.; Strzempek, P.; Korcyl, G.; Bednarski, T.; Niedźwiecki, Sz.; Białas, P.; Czerwiński, E.; Dulski, K.; Gajos, A.; Głowacz, B.; Gorgol, M.; Jasińska, B.; Kamińska, D.; Kajetanowicz, M.; Kowalski, P.; Kozik, T.; Krzemień, W.; Kubicz, E.; Mohhamed, M.; Raczyński, L.; Rudy, Z.; Rundel, O.; Salabura, P.; Sharma, N. G.; Silarski, M.; Smyrski, J.; Strzelecki, A.; Wieczorek, A.; Wiślicki, W.; Zieliński, M.; Zgardzińska, B.; Moskal, P.

    2017-08-01

    In this article it is presented an FPGA based Multi-Voltage Threshold (MVT) system which allows of sampling fast signals (1-2 ns rising and falling edge) in both voltage and time domain. It is possible to achieve a precision of time measurement of 20 ps RMS and reconstruct charge of signals, using a simple approach, with deviation from real value smaller than 10%. Utilization of the differential inputs of an FPGA chip as comparators together with an implementation of a TDC inside an FPGA allowed us to achieve a compact multi-channel system characterized by low power consumption and low production costs. This paper describes realization and functioning of the system comprising 192-channel TDC board and a four mezzanine cards which split incoming signals and discriminate them. The boards have been used to validate a newly developed Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography system based on plastic scintillators. The achieved full system time resolution of σ(TOF) ≈ 68 ps is by factor of two better with respect to the current TOF-PET systems.

  15. Real-time analysis system for gas turbine ground test acoustic measurements.

    PubMed

    Johnston, Robert T

    2003-10-01

    This paper provides an overview of a data system upgrade to the Pratt and Whitney facility designed for making acoustic measurements on aircraft gas turbine engines. A data system upgrade was undertaken because the return-on-investment was determined to be extremely high. That is, the savings on the first test series recovered the cost of the hardware. The commercial system selected for this application utilizes 48 input channels, which allows either 1/3 octave and/or narrow-band analyses to be preformed real-time. A high-speed disk drive allows raw data from all 48 channels to be stored simultaneously while the analyses are being preformed. Results of tests to ensure compliance of the new system with regulations and with existing systems are presented. Test times were reduced from 5 h to 1 h of engine run time per engine configuration by the introduction of this new system. Conservative cost reduction estimates for future acoustic testing are 75% on items related to engine run time and 50% on items related to the overall length of the test.

  16. High-resolution motion-compensated imaging photoplethysmography for remote heart rate monitoring

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chung, Audrey; Wang, Xiao Yu; Amelard, Robert; Scharfenberger, Christian; Leong, Joanne; Kulinski, Jan; Wong, Alexander; Clausi, David A.

    2015-03-01

    We present a novel non-contact photoplethysmographic (PPG) imaging system based on high-resolution video recordings of ambient reflectance of human bodies that compensates for body motion and takes advantage of skin erythema fluctuations to improve measurement reliability for the purpose of remote heart rate monitoring. A single measurement location for recording the ambient reflectance is automatically identified on an individual, and the motion for the location is determined over time via measurement location tracking. Based on the determined motion information motion-compensated reflectance measurements at different wavelengths for the measurement location can be acquired, thus providing more reliable measurements for the same location on the human over time. The reflectance measurement is used to determine skin erythema fluctuations over time, resulting in the capture of a PPG signal with a high signal-to-noise ratio. To test the efficacy of the proposed system, a set of experiments involving human motion in a front-facing position were performed under natural ambient light. The experimental results demonstrated that skin erythema fluctuations can achieve noticeably improved average accuracy in heart rate measurement when compared to previously proposed non-contact PPG imaging systems.

  17. Improved dual-loop detection system for collecting real-time truck data

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-02-01

    The WSDOTs dual-loop detectors capability of measuring vehicle lengths makes the dual-loop detection system a potential real-time truck data source for freight movement study. However, a previous study found the WSDOT dual-loop detection system...

  18. Soliton microcomb range measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suh, Myoung-Gyun; Vahala, Kerry J.

    2018-02-01

    Laser-based range measurement systems are important in many application areas, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, manufacturing, formation flying of satellites, and basic science. Coherent laser ranging systems using dual-frequency combs provide an unprecedented combination of long range, high precision, and fast update rate. We report dual-comb distance measurement using chip-based soliton microcombs. A single pump laser was used to generate dual-frequency combs within a single microresonator as counterpropagating solitons. We demonstrated time-of-flight measurement with 200-nanometer precision at an averaging time of 500 milliseconds within a range ambiguity of 16 millimeters. Measurements at distances up to 25 meters with much lower precision were also performed. Our chip-based source is an important step toward miniature dual-comb laser ranging systems that are suitable for photonic integration.

  19. Dynamical complexity of short and noisy time series. Compression-Complexity vs. Shannon entropy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagaraj, Nithin; Balasubramanian, Karthi

    2017-07-01

    Shannon entropy has been extensively used for characterizing complexity of time series arising from chaotic dynamical systems and stochastic processes such as Markov chains. However, for short and noisy time series, Shannon entropy performs poorly. Complexity measures which are based on lossless compression algorithms are a good substitute in such scenarios. We evaluate the performance of two such Compression-Complexity Measures namely Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZ) and Effort-To-Compress (ETC) on short time series from chaotic dynamical systems in the presence of noise. Both LZ and ETC outperform Shannon entropy (H) in accurately characterizing the dynamical complexity of such systems. For very short binary sequences (which arise in neuroscience applications), ETC has higher number of distinct complexity values than LZ and H, thus enabling a finer resolution. For two-state ergodic Markov chains, we empirically show that ETC converges to a steady state value faster than LZ. Compression-Complexity measures are promising for applications which involve short and noisy time series.

  20. Real Time Monitoring System of Pollution Waste on Musi River Using Support Vector Machine (SVM) Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fachrurrozi, Muhammad; Saparudin; Erwin

    2017-04-01

    Real-time Monitoring and early detection system which measures the quality standard of waste in Musi River, Palembang, Indonesia is a system for determining air and water pollution level. This system was designed in order to create an integrated monitoring system and provide real time information that can be read. It is designed to measure acidity and water turbidity polluted by industrial waste, as well as to show and provide conditional data integrated in one system. This system consists of inputting and processing the data, and giving output based on processed data. Turbidity, substances, and pH sensor is used as a detector that produce analog electrical direct current voltage (DC). Early detection system works by determining the value of the ammonia threshold, acidity, and turbidity level of water in Musi River. The results is then presented based on the level group pollution by the Support Vector Machine classification method.

  1. The concept of "buffering" in systems and control theory: from metaphor to math.

    PubMed

    Schmitt, Bernhard M

    2004-10-04

    The paradigm of "buffering" is used increasingly for the description of diverse "systemic" phenomena encountered in evolutionary genetics, ecology, integrative physiology, and other areas. However, in this new context, the paradigm has not yet matured into a truly quantitative concept inasmuch as it lacks a corresponding quantitative measure of "systems-level buffering strength". Here, I develop such measures on the basis of a formal and general approach to the quantitation of buffering action. "Systems-level buffering" is shown to be synonymous with "disturbance rejection" in feedback-control systems, and can be quantitated by means of dimensionless proportions between partial flows in two-partitioned systems. The units allow either the time-independent, "static" buffering properties or the time-dependent, "dynamic" ones to be measured. Analogous to this "resistance to change", one can define and measure the "conductance to change"; this quantity corresponds to "set-point tracking" in feedback-control systems. Together, these units provide a systematic framework for the quantitation of buffering action in systems biology, and reveal the common principle behind systems-level buffering, classical acid-base buffering, and multiple other manifestations of buffering.

  2. Real-Time Telemetry System for Monitoring Motion of Ships Based on Inertial Sensors

    PubMed Central

    Núñez, José M.; Araújo, Marta G.; García-Tuñón, I.

    2017-01-01

    A telemetry system for real-time monitoring of the motions, position, speed and course of a ship at sea is presented in this work. The system, conceived as a subsystem of a radar cross-section measurement unit, could also be used in other applications as ships dynamics characterization, on-board cranes, antenna stabilizers, etc. This system was designed to be stand-alone, reliable, easy to deploy, low-cost and free of requirements related to stabilization procedures. In order to achieve such a unique combination of functionalities, we have developed a telemetry system based on redundant inertial and magnetic sensors and GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements. It provides a proper data storage and also has real-time radio data transmission capabilities to an on-shore station. The output of the system can be used either for on-line or off-line processing. Additionally, the system uses dual technologies and COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) components. Motion-positioning measurements and radio data link tests were successfully carried out in several ships of the Spanish Navy, proving the compliance with the design targets and validating our telemetry system. PMID:28441330

  3. RELATIVISTIC MEASUREMENTS FROM TIMING THE BINARY PULSAR PSR B1913+16

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Weisberg, J. M.; Huang, Y., E-mail: jweisber@carleton.edu

    2016-09-20

    We present relativistic analyses of 9257 measurements of times-of-arrival from the first binary pulsar, PSR B1913+16, acquired over the last 35 years. The determination of the “Keplerian” orbital elements plus two relativistic terms completely characterizes the binary system, aside from an unknown rotation about the line of sight, leading to a determination of the masses of the pulsar and its companion: 1.438 ± 0.001 M {sub ☉} and 1.390 ± 0.001 M {sub ☉}, respectively. In addition, the complete system characterization allows for the creation of relativistic gravitation test by comparing measured and predicted sizes of various relativistic phenomena. Wemore » find that the ratio of the observed orbital period decrease caused by gravitational wave damping (corrected by a kinematic term) to the general relativistic prediction is 0.9983 ± 0.0016, thereby confirms the existence and strength of gravitational radiation as predicted by general relativity. For the first time in this system, we have also successfully measured the two parameters characterizing the Shapiro gravitational propagation delay, and found that their values are consistent with general relativistic predictions. For the first time in any system, we have also measured the relativistic shape correction to the elliptical orbit, δ {sub θ} , although its intrinsic value is obscured by currently unquantified pulsar emission beam aberration. We have also marginally measured the time derivative of the projected semimajor axis, which, when improved in combination with beam aberration modeling from geodetic precession observations, should ultimately constrain the pulsar’s moment of inertia.« less

  4. Real-time measurement system for evaluation of the carotid intima-media thickness with a robust edge operator.

    PubMed

    Faita, Francesco; Gemignani, Vincenzo; Bianchini, Elisabetta; Giannarelli, Chiara; Ghiadoni, Lorenzo; Demi, Marcello

    2008-09-01

    The purpose of this report is to describe an automatic real-time system for evaluation of the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) characterized by 3 main features: minimal interobserver and intraobserver variability, real-time capabilities, and great robustness against noise. One hundred fifty carotid B-mode ultrasound images were used to validate the system. Two skilled operators were involved in the analysis. Agreement with the gold standard, defined as the mean of 2 manual measurements of a skilled operator, and the interobserver and intraobserver variability were quantitatively evaluated by regression analysis and Bland-Altman statistics. The automatic measure of the CIMT showed a mean bias +/- SD of 0.001 +/- 0.035 mm toward the manual measurement. The intraobserver variability, evaluated with Bland-Altman plots, showed a bias that was not significantly different from 0, whereas the SD of the differences was greater in the manual analysis (0.038 mm) than in the automatic analysis (0.006 mm). For interobserver variability, the automatic measurement had a bias that was not significantly different from 0, with a satisfactory SD of the differences (0.01 mm), whereas in the manual measurement, a little bias was present (0.012 mm), and the SD of the differences was noticeably greater (0.044 mm). The CIMT has been accepted as a noninvasive marker of early vascular alteration. At present, the manual approach is largely used to estimate CIMT values. However, that method is highly operator dependent and time-consuming. For these reasons, we developed a new system for the CIMT measurement that conjugates precision with real-time analysis, thus providing considerable advantages in clinical practice.

  5. Chaos control in delayed phase space constructed by the Takens embedding theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hajiloo, R.; Salarieh, H.; Alasty, A.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, the problem of chaos control in discrete-time chaotic systems with unknown governing equations and limited measurable states is investigated. Using the time-series of only one measurable state, an algorithm is proposed to stabilize unstable fixed points. The approach consists of three steps: first, using Takens embedding theory, a delayed phase space preserving the topological characteristics of the unknown system is reconstructed. Second, a dynamic model is identified by recursive least squares method to estimate the time-series data in the delayed phase space. Finally, based on the reconstructed model, an appropriate linear delayed feedback controller is obtained for stabilizing unstable fixed points of the system. Controller gains are computed using a systematic approach. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is examined by applying it to the generalized hyperchaotic Henon system, prey-predator population map, and the discrete-time Lorenz system.

  6. Observing single quantum trajectories of a superconducting quantum bit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murch, K. W.; Weber, S. J.; Macklin, C.; Siddiqi, I.

    2013-10-01

    The length of time that a quantum system can exist in a superposition state is determined by how strongly it interacts with its environment. This interaction entangles the quantum state with the inherent fluctuations of the environment. If these fluctuations are not measured, the environment can be viewed as a source of noise, causing random evolution of the quantum system from an initially pure state into a statistical mixture--a process known as decoherence. However, by accurately measuring the environment in real time, the quantum system can be maintained in a pure state and its time evolution described by a `quantum trajectory' determined by the measurement outcome. Here we use weak measurements to monitor a microwave cavity containing a superconducting quantum bit (qubit), and track the individual quantum trajectories of the system. In this set-up, the environment is dominated by the fluctuations of a single electromagnetic mode of the cavity. Using a near-quantum-limited parametric amplifier, we selectively measure either the phase or the amplitude of the cavity field, and thereby confine trajectories to either the equator or a meridian of the Bloch sphere. We perform quantum state tomography at discrete times along the trajectory to verify that we have faithfully tracked the state of the quantum system as it diffuses on the surface of the Bloch sphere. Our results demonstrate that decoherence can be mitigated by environmental monitoring, and validate the foundation of quantum feedback approaches based on Bayesian statistics. Moreover, our experiments suggest a new means of implementing `quantum steering'--the harnessing of action at a distance to manipulate quantum states through measurement.

  7. Observing single quantum trajectories of a superconducting quantum bit.

    PubMed

    Murch, K W; Weber, S J; Macklin, C; Siddiqi, I

    2013-10-10

    The length of time that a quantum system can exist in a superposition state is determined by how strongly it interacts with its environment. This interaction entangles the quantum state with the inherent fluctuations of the environment. If these fluctuations are not measured, the environment can be viewed as a source of noise, causing random evolution of the quantum system from an initially pure state into a statistical mixture--a process known as decoherence. However, by accurately measuring the environment in real time, the quantum system can be maintained in a pure state and its time evolution described by a 'quantum trajectory' determined by the measurement outcome. Here we use weak measurements to monitor a microwave cavity containing a superconducting quantum bit (qubit), and track the individual quantum trajectories of the system. In this set-up, the environment is dominated by the fluctuations of a single electromagnetic mode of the cavity. Using a near-quantum-limited parametric amplifier, we selectively measure either the phase or the amplitude of the cavity field, and thereby confine trajectories to either the equator or a meridian of the Bloch sphere. We perform quantum state tomography at discrete times along the trajectory to verify that we have faithfully tracked the state of the quantum system as it diffuses on the surface of the Bloch sphere. Our results demonstrate that decoherence can be mitigated by environmental monitoring, and validate the foundation of quantum feedback approaches based on Bayesian statistics. Moreover, our experiments suggest a new means of implementing 'quantum steering'--the harnessing of action at a distance to manipulate quantum states through measurement.

  8. Fiber-Optic Strain-Gage Tank Level Measurement System for Cryogenic Propellants

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Figueroa, Fernando; Mitchell, Mark; Langford, Lester

    2004-01-01

    Measurement of tank level, particularly for cryogenic propellants, has proven to be a difficult problem. Current methods based on differential pressure, capacitance sensors, temperature sensors, etc.; do not provide sufficiently accurate or robust measurements, especially at run time. These methods are designed to measure tank-level, but when the fluids are in supercritical state, the liquid-gas interface disappears. Furthermore, there is a need for a non-intrusive measurement system; that is, the sensors should not require tank modifications and/or disturb the fluids. This paper describes a simple, but effective method to determine propellant mass by measuring very small deformations of the structure supporting the tank. Results of a laboratory study to validate the method, and experimental data from a deployed system are presented. A comparison with an existing differential pressure sensor shows that the strain gage system provides a much better quality signal across all regimes during an engine test. Experimental results also show that the use of fiber optic strain gages (FOSG) over classic foil strain gages extends the operation time (before the system becomes uncalibrated), and increases accuracy. Finally, a procedure is defined whereby measurements from the FOSG mounted on the tank supporting structure are compensated using measurements of a FOSG mounted on a reference plate and temperature measurements of the structure. Results describing the performance of a deployed system that measures tank level during propulsion tests are included.

  9. A high bandwidth three-axis out-of-plane motion measurement system based on optical beam deflection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piyush, P.; Giridhar, M. S.; Jayanth, G. R.

    2018-03-01

    Multi-axis measurement of motion is indispensable for characterization of dynamic systems and control of motion stages. This paper presents an optical beam deflection-based measurement system to simultaneously measure three-axis out-of-plane motion of both micro- and macro-scale targets. Novel strategies are proposed to calibrate the sensitivities of the measurement system. Subsequently the measurement system is experimentally realized and calibrated. The system is employed to characterize coupled linear and angular motion of a piezo-actuated stage. The measured motion is shown to be in agreement with theoretical expectation. Next, the high bandwidth of the measurement system has been showcased by utilizing it to measure coupled two-axis transient motion of a Radio Frequency Micro-Electro-Mechanical System switch with a rise time of about 60 μs. Finally, the ability of the system to measure out-of-plane angular motion about the second axis has been demonstrated by measuring the deformation of a micro-cantilever beam.

  10. MEASURING THE MASS OF SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETS USING PULSAR TIMING

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Champion, D. J.; Hobbs, G. B.; Manchester, R. N.

    High-precision pulsar timing relies on a solar system ephemeris in order to convert times of arrival (TOAs) of pulses measured at an observatory to the solar system barycenter. Any error in the conversion to the barycentric TOAs leads to a systematic variation in the observed timing residuals; specifically, an incorrect planetary mass leads to a predominantly sinusoidal variation having a period and phase associated with the planet's orbital motion about the Sun. By using an array of pulsars (PSRs J0437-4715, J1744-1134, J1857+0943, J1909-3744), the masses of the planetary systems from Mercury to Saturn have been determined. These masses are consistentmore » with the best-known masses determined by spacecraft observations, with the mass of the Jovian system, 9.547921(2) x10{sup -4} M {sub sun}, being significantly more accurate than the mass determined from the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft, and consistent with but less accurate than the value from the Galileo spacecraft. While spacecraft are likely to produce the most accurate measurements for individual solar system bodies, the pulsar technique is sensitive to planetary system masses and has the potential to provide the most accurate values of these masses for some planets.« less

  11. Insights on correlation dimension from dynamics mapping of three experimental nonlinear laser systems.

    PubMed

    McMahon, Christopher J; Toomey, Joshua P; Kane, Deb M

    2017-01-01

    We have analysed large data sets consisting of tens of thousands of time series from three Type B laser systems: a semiconductor laser in a photonic integrated chip, a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback from a long free-space-external-cavity, and a solid-state laser subject to optical injection from a master laser. The lasers can deliver either constant, periodic, pulsed, or chaotic outputs when parameters such as the injection current and the level of external perturbation are varied. The systems represent examples of experimental nonlinear systems more generally and cover a broad range of complexity including systematically varying complexity in some regions. In this work we have introduced a new procedure for semi-automatically interrogating experimental laser system output power time series to calculate the correlation dimension (CD) using the commonly adopted Grassberger-Proccacia algorithm. The new CD procedure is called the 'minimum gradient detection algorithm'. A value of minimum gradient is returned for all time series in a data set. In some cases this can be identified as a CD, with uncertainty. Applying the new 'minimum gradient detection algorithm' CD procedure, we obtained robust measurements of the correlation dimension for many of the time series measured from each laser system. By mapping the results across an extended parameter space for operation of each laser system, we were able to confidently identify regions of low CD (CD < 3) and assign these robust values for the correlation dimension. However, in all three laser systems, we were not able to measure the correlation dimension at all parts of the parameter space. Nevertheless, by mapping the staged progress of the algorithm, we were able to broadly classify the dynamical output of the lasers at all parts of their respective parameter spaces. For two of the laser systems this included displaying regions of high-complexity chaos and dynamic noise. These high-complexity regions are differentiated from regions where the time series are dominated by technical noise. This is the first time such differentiation has been achieved using a CD analysis approach. More can be known of the CD for a system when it is interrogated in a mapping context, than from calculations using isolated time series. This has been shown for three laser systems and the approach is expected to be useful in other areas of nonlinear science where large data sets are available and need to be semi-automatically analysed to provide real dimensional information about the complex dynamics. The CD/minimum gradient algorithm measure provides additional information that complements other measures of complexity and relative complexity, such as the permutation entropy; and conventional physical measurements.

  12. Insights on correlation dimension from dynamics mapping of three experimental nonlinear laser systems

    PubMed Central

    McMahon, Christopher J.; Toomey, Joshua P.

    2017-01-01

    Background We have analysed large data sets consisting of tens of thousands of time series from three Type B laser systems: a semiconductor laser in a photonic integrated chip, a semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback from a long free-space-external-cavity, and a solid-state laser subject to optical injection from a master laser. The lasers can deliver either constant, periodic, pulsed, or chaotic outputs when parameters such as the injection current and the level of external perturbation are varied. The systems represent examples of experimental nonlinear systems more generally and cover a broad range of complexity including systematically varying complexity in some regions. Methods In this work we have introduced a new procedure for semi-automatically interrogating experimental laser system output power time series to calculate the correlation dimension (CD) using the commonly adopted Grassberger-Proccacia algorithm. The new CD procedure is called the ‘minimum gradient detection algorithm’. A value of minimum gradient is returned for all time series in a data set. In some cases this can be identified as a CD, with uncertainty. Findings Applying the new ‘minimum gradient detection algorithm’ CD procedure, we obtained robust measurements of the correlation dimension for many of the time series measured from each laser system. By mapping the results across an extended parameter space for operation of each laser system, we were able to confidently identify regions of low CD (CD < 3) and assign these robust values for the correlation dimension. However, in all three laser systems, we were not able to measure the correlation dimension at all parts of the parameter space. Nevertheless, by mapping the staged progress of the algorithm, we were able to broadly classify the dynamical output of the lasers at all parts of their respective parameter spaces. For two of the laser systems this included displaying regions of high-complexity chaos and dynamic noise. These high-complexity regions are differentiated from regions where the time series are dominated by technical noise. This is the first time such differentiation has been achieved using a CD analysis approach. Conclusions More can be known of the CD for a system when it is interrogated in a mapping context, than from calculations using isolated time series. This has been shown for three laser systems and the approach is expected to be useful in other areas of nonlinear science where large data sets are available and need to be semi-automatically analysed to provide real dimensional information about the complex dynamics. The CD/minimum gradient algorithm measure provides additional information that complements other measures of complexity and relative complexity, such as the permutation entropy; and conventional physical measurements. PMID:28837602

  13. The 1986/87 Army Communications Objectives Measurement System: Supplementary Tabulations of Enlisted Markets

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1988-07-01

    and SEdward 11oke (We tat) 13a. TYPE OF REPORT 13b. TIME COVERED 14. DATE OF REPORT (Year, Month, Day) 15. PAGE COUNT Interim FROM 86/10 TO 87/06...TABULATIONS OF ENLISTED MARKETS 1. INTRODUCTION The Aray Communications Objectives Measurement System survey has been designed to provide timely information to...1987. During that time 6774 youth, ages 16 through 24, com- pleted the 30 minute ACOMS youth interview. A similar volume is also available for the

  14. SU-F-J-190: Time Resolved Range Measurement System Using Scintillator and CCD Camera for the Slow Beam Extraction

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Saotome, N; Furukawa, T; Mizushima, K

    2016-06-15

    Purpose: To investigate the time structure of the range, we have verified the rang shift due to the betatron tune shift with several synchrotron parameters. Methods: A cylindrical plastic scintillator block and a CCD camera were installed on the black box. Using image processing, the range was determined the 80 percent of distal dose of the depth light distribution. The root mean square error of the range measurement using the scintillator and CCD system is about 0.2 mm. Range measurement was performed at interval of 170 msec. The chromaticity of the synchrotron was changed in the range of plus ormore » minus 1% from reference chromaticity in this study. All of the particle inside the synchrotron ring were extracted with the output beam intensity 1.8×10{sup 8} and 5.0×10{sub 7} particle per sec. Results: The time strictures of the range were changed by changing of the chromaticity. The reproducibility of the measurement was sufficient to observe the time structures of the range. The range shift was depending on the number of the residual particle inside the synchrotron ring. Conclusion: In slow beam extraction for scanned carbon-ion therapy, the range shift is undesirable because it causes the dose uncertainty in the target. We introduced the time-resolved range measurement using scintillator and CCD system. The scintillator and CCD system have enabled to verify the range shift with sufficient spatial resolution and reproducibility.« less

  15. Road icing forecasting and detecting system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Hongke; Zheng, Jinnan; Li, Peiqi; Wang, Qiucai

    2017-05-01

    Regard for the facts that the low accuracy and low real-time of the artificial observation to determine the road icing condition, and it is difficult to forecast icing situation, according to the main factors influencing the road-icing, and the electrical characteristics reflected by the pavement ice layer, this paper presents an innovative system, that is, ice-forecasting of the highway's dangerous section. The system bases on road surface water salinity measurements and pavement temperature measurement to calculate the freezing point of water and temperature change trend, and then predicts the occurrence time of road icing; using capacitance measurements to verdict the road surface is frozen or not; This paper expounds the method of using single chip microcomputer as the core of the control system and described the business process of the system.

  16. First measurement of time evolution of electron temperature profiles with Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system on Heliotron J

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kenmochi, N., E-mail: kemmchi.naoki.62r@st.kyoto-u.ac.jp; Tei, S.; Zang, L.

    2014-11-15

    A Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system has been developed for Heliotron J. The system consists of two 550 mJ 50 Hz lasers, large collection optics, and 25 radial channel (∼1 cm spatial resolution) interference polychromators. This measurement system achieves a S/N ratio of ∼50 for low-density plasma (n{sub e} ∼ 0.5 × 10{sup 19} m{sup −3}). A time evolution of electron temperature profiles was measured with this system for a high-intensity gas-puff (HIGP) fueling neutral-beam-injection plasma. The peripheral temperature of the higher-density phase after HIGP recovers to the low-density pre-HIGP level, suggesting that improving particle transport in the HIGP plasma maymore » be possible.« less

  17. Expanding potential of radiofrequency nurse call systems to measure nursing time in patient rooms.

    PubMed

    Fahey, Linda; Dunn Lopez, Karen; Storfjell, Judith; Keenan, Gail

    2013-05-01

    The objective of this study was to determine the utility and feasibility of using data from a nurse call system equipped with radiofrequency identification data (RFID) to measure nursing time spent in patient rooms. Increasing the amount of time nurses spend with hospitalized patients has become a focus after several studies demonstrating that nurses spend most of their time in nondirect care activities rather than delivering patient care. Measurement of nursing time spent in direct care often involves labor-intensive time and motion studies, making frequent or continuous monitoring impractical. Mixed methods were used for this descriptive study. We used 30 days of data from an RFID nurse call system collected on 1 unit in a community hospital to examine nurses time spent in patient rooms. Descriptive statistics were applied to calculate this percentage by role and shift. Data technologists were surveyed to assess how practical the access of data would be in a hospital setting for use in monitoring nursing time spent in patient rooms. The system captured 7393 staff hours. Of that time, 7% did not reflect actual patient care time, so these were eliminated from further analysis. The remaining 6880 hours represented 91% of expected worked time. RNs and nursing assistants spent 33% to 36% of their time in patient rooms, presumably providing direct care. Radiofrequency identification data technology was found to provide feasible and accurate means for capturing and evaluating nursing time spent in patient rooms. Depending on the outcomes per unit, leaders should work with staff to maximize patient care time.

  18. Development of real-time extensometer based on image processing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adinanta, H.; Puranto, P.; Suryadi

    2017-04-01

    An extensometer system was developed by using high definition web camera as main sensor to track object position. The developed system applied digital image processing techniques. The image processing was used to measure the change of object position. The position measurement was done in real-time so that the system can directly showed the actual position in both x and y-axis. In this research, the relation between pixel and object position changes had been characterized. The system was tested by moving the target in a range of 20 cm in interval of 1 mm. To verify the long run performance, the stability and linearity of continuous measurements on both x and y-axis, this measurement had been conducted for 83 hours. The results show that this image processing-based extensometer had both good stability and linearity.

  19. Step responses of a torsional system with multiple clearances: Study of vibro-impact phenomenon using experimental and computational methods

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Oruganti, Pradeep Sharma; Krak, Michael D.; Singh, Rajendra

    2018-01-01

    Recently Krak and Singh (2017) proposed a scientific experiment that examined vibro-impacts in a torsional system under a step down excitation and provided preliminary measurements and limited non-linear model studies. A major goal of this article is to extend the prior work with a focus on the examination of vibro-impact phenomena observed under step responses in a torsional system with one, two or three controlled clearances. First, new measurements are made at several locations with a higher sampling frequency. Measured angular accelerations are examined in both time and time-frequency domains. Minimal order non-linear models of the experiment are successfully constructed, using piecewise linear stiffness and Coulomb friction elements; eight cases of the generic system are examined though only three are experimentally studied. Measured and predicted responses for single and dual clearance configurations exhibit double sided impacts and time varying periods suggest softening trends under the step down torque. Non-linear models are experimentally validated by comparing results with new measurements and with those previously reported. Several metrics are utilized to quantify and compare the measured and predicted responses (including peak to peak accelerations). Eigensolutions and step responses of the corresponding linearized models are utilized to better understand the nature of the non-linear dynamic system. Finally, the effect of step amplitude on the non-linear responses is examined for several configurations, and hardening trends are observed in the torsional system with three clearances.

  20. Temporal correlation functions of concentration fluctuations: an anomalous case.

    PubMed

    Lubelski, Ariel; Klafter, Joseph

    2008-10-09

    We calculate, within the framework of the continuous time random walk (CTRW) model, multiparticle temporal correlation functions of concentration fluctuations (CCF) in systems that display anomalous subdiffusion. The subdiffusion stems from the nonstationary nature of the CTRW waiting times, which also lead to aging and ergodicity breaking. Due to aging, a system of diffusing particles tends to slow down as time progresses, and therefore, the temporal correlation functions strongly depend on the initial time of measurement. As a consequence, time averages of the CCF differ from ensemble averages, displaying therefore ergodicity breaking. We provide a simple example that demonstrates the difference between these two averages, a difference that might be amenable to experimental tests. We focus on the case of ensemble averaging and assume that the preparation time of the system coincides with the starting time of the measurement. Our analytical calculations are supported by computer simulations based on the CTRW model.

  1. Improved measurement linearity and precision for AMCW time-of-flight range imaging cameras.

    PubMed

    Payne, Andrew D; Dorrington, Adrian A; Cree, Michael J; Carnegie, Dale A

    2010-08-10

    Time-of-flight range imaging systems utilizing the amplitude modulated continuous wave (AMCW) technique often suffer from measurement nonlinearity due to the presence of aliased harmonics within the amplitude modulation signals. Typically a calibration is performed to correct these errors. We demonstrate an alternative phase encoding approach that attenuates the harmonics during the sampling process, thereby improving measurement linearity in the raw measurements. This mitigates the need to measure the system's response or calibrate for environmental changes. In conjunction with improved linearity, we demonstrate that measurement precision can also be increased by reducing the duty cycle of the amplitude modulated illumination source (while maintaining overall illumination power).

  2. Measurement system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Turner, J. W. (Inventor)

    1973-01-01

    A measurement system is described for providing an indication of a varying physical quantity represented by or converted to a variable frequency signal. Timing pulses are obtained marking the duration of a fixed number, or set, of cycles of the sampled signal and these timing pulses are employed to control the period of counting of cycles of a higher fixed and known frequency source. The counts of cycles obtained from the fixed frequency source provide a precise measurement of the average frequency of each set of cycles sampled, and thus successive discrete values of the quantity being measured. The frequency of the known frequency source is made such that each measurement is presented as a direct digital representation of the quantity measured.

  3. A real-time control strategy for separation of highly polluted storm water based on UV-Vis online measurements--from theory to operation.

    PubMed

    Hoppe, H; Messmann, S; Giga, A; Gruening, H

    2011-01-01

    'Classical' real-time control (RTC) strategies in sewer systems are based on water level and flow measurements with the goal of activation of retention volume. The control system rule of 'clean (storm water) runoff into the receiving water - polluted runoff into the treatment plant' has been thwarted by rough operating conditions and lack of measurements. Due to the specific boundary conditions in the city of Wuppertal's separate sewer system (clean stream water is mixed with polluted storm water runoff) a more sophisticated--pollution-based--approach was needed. In addition the requirements to be met by the treatment of storm water runoff have become more stringent in recent years. To separate the highly-polluted storm water runoff during rain events from the cleaner stream flow a pollution-based real-time control (P-RTC) system was developed and installed. This paper describes the measurement and P-RTC equipment, the definition of total suspended solids as the pollution-indicating parameter, the serviceability of the system, and also gives a cost assessment. A sensitivity analysis and pollution load calculations have been carried out in order to improve the P-RTC algorithm. An examination of actual measurements clearly shows the ecological and economic advantages of the P-RTC strategy.

  4. Precise Receiver Clock Offset Estimations According to Each Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Timescales

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thongtan, Thayathip; Tirawanichakul, Pawit; Satirapod, Chalermchon

    2017-12-01

    Each GNSS constellation operates its own system times; namely, GPS system time (GPST), GLONASS system time (GLONASST), BeiDou system time (BDT) and Galileo system time (GST). They could be traced back to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) scale and are aligned to GPST. This paper estimates the receiver clock offsets to three timescales: GPST, GLONASST and BDT. The two measurement scenarios use two identical multi-GNSS geodetic receivers connected to the same geodetic antenna through a splitter. One receiver is driven by its internal oscillators and another receiver is connected to the external frequency oscillators, caesium frequency standard, kept as the Thailand standard time scale at the National Institute of Metrology (Thailand) called UTC(NIMT). The three weeks data are observed at 30 seconds sample rate. The receiver clock offsets with respected to the three system time are estimated and analysed through the geodetic technique of static Precise Point Positioning (PPP) using a data processing software developed by Wuhan University - Positioning And Navigation Data Analyst (PANDA) software. The estimated receiver clock offsets are around 32, 33 and 18 nanoseconds from GPST, GLONASST and BDT respectively. This experiment is initially stated that each timescale is inter-operated with GPST and further measurements on receiver internal delay has to be determined for clock comparisons especially the high accuracy clock at timing laboratories.

  5. A Novel Real-Time Path Servo Control of a Hardware-in-the-Loop for a Large-Stroke Asymmetric Rod-Less Pneumatic System under Variable Loads.

    PubMed

    Lin, Hao-Ting

    2017-06-04

    This project aims to develop a novel large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system of a hardware-in-the-loop for path tracking control under variable loads based on the MATLAB Simulink real-time system. High pressure compressed air provided by the air compressor is utilized for the pneumatic proportional servo valve to drive the large stroke asymmetric rod-less pneumatic actuator. Due to the pressure differences between two chambers, the pneumatic actuator will operate. The highly nonlinear mathematical models of the large stroke asymmetric pneumatic system were analyzed and developed. The functional approximation technique based on the sliding mode controller (FASC) is developed as a controller to solve the uncertain time-varying nonlinear system. The MATLAB Simulink real-time system was a main control unit of a hardware-in-the-loop system proposed to establish driver blocks for analog and digital I/O, a linear encoder, a CPU and a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic rod-less system. By the position sensor, the position signals of the cylinder will be measured immediately. The measured signals will be viewed as the feedback signals of the pneumatic servo system for the study of real-time positioning control and path tracking control. Finally, real-time control of a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system with measuring system, a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system, data acquisition system and the control strategy software will be implemented. Thus, upgrading the high position precision and the trajectory tracking performance of the large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system will be realized to promote the high position precision and path tracking capability. Experimental results show that fifth order paths in various strokes and the sine wave path are successfully implemented in the test rig. Also, results of variable loads under the different angle were implemented experimentally.

  6. A Novel Real-Time Path Servo Control of a Hardware-in-the-Loop for a Large-Stroke Asymmetric Rod-Less Pneumatic System under Variable Loads

    PubMed Central

    Lin, Hao-Ting

    2017-01-01

    This project aims to develop a novel large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system of a hardware-in-the-loop for path tracking control under variable loads based on the MATLAB Simulink real-time system. High pressure compressed air provided by the air compressor is utilized for the pneumatic proportional servo valve to drive the large stroke asymmetric rod-less pneumatic actuator. Due to the pressure differences between two chambers, the pneumatic actuator will operate. The highly nonlinear mathematical models of the large stroke asymmetric pneumatic system were analyzed and developed. The functional approximation technique based on the sliding mode controller (FASC) is developed as a controller to solve the uncertain time-varying nonlinear system. The MATLAB Simulink real-time system was a main control unit of a hardware-in-the-loop system proposed to establish driver blocks for analog and digital I/O, a linear encoder, a CPU and a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic rod-less system. By the position sensor, the position signals of the cylinder will be measured immediately. The measured signals will be viewed as the feedback signals of the pneumatic servo system for the study of real-time positioning control and path tracking control. Finally, real-time control of a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system with measuring system, a large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system, data acquisition system and the control strategy software will be implemented. Thus, upgrading the high position precision and the trajectory tracking performance of the large stroke asymmetric pneumatic servo system will be realized to promote the high position precision and path tracking capability. Experimental results show that fifth order paths in various strokes and the sine wave path are successfully implemented in the test rig. Also, results of variable loads under the different angle were implemented experimentally. PMID:28587220

  7. The Performance of Dammar-based Paint System Evaluated by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and Potential Time Measurement (PTM)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Omar, N. M.; Ahmad, A. Hanom

    2009-06-01

    The coating resistance of the Dammar-based paint system was determined by using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), whereas, the corrosion potential analysis was determined by using potential time measurement (PTM) method. Carotenoid pigment obtained from Capsicum Annum (dried chili pepper) was added into the mixture of dammar and acrylic polyol resin and the paint systems were proofed on Aluminium steel Q-panels as a substrate. Result shows that the paint system with a composition of 35% dammar (CD35%) possessed the higher corrosion resistance after 30 days of exposure in 3% NaCl solution for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and also can withstand the longest time for delimitation protection in PTM analysis. The results prove that the developed organic paint system can improve the electrochemical and corrosion protection properties of a paint system.

  8. Correlated ion and neutral time of flight technique combined with velocity map imaging: Quantitative measurements for dissociation processes in excited molecular nano-systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berthias, F.; Feketeová, L.; Della Negra, R.; Dupasquier, T.; Fillol, R.; Abdoul-Carime, H.; Farizon, B.; Farizon, M.; Märk, T. D.

    2018-01-01

    The combination of the Dispositif d'Irradiation d'Agrégats Moléculaire with the correlated ion and neutral time of flight-velocity map imaging technique provides a new way to explore processes occurring subsequent to the excitation of charged nano-systems. The present contribution describes in detail the methods developed for the quantitative measurement of branching ratios and cross sections for collision-induced dissociation processes of water cluster nano-systems. These methods are based on measurements of the detection efficiency of neutral fragments produced in these dissociation reactions. Moreover, measured detection efficiencies are used here to extract the number of neutral fragments produced for a given charged fragment.

  9. DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Oberreuter, Johannes M., E-mail: johannes.oberreuter@theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de; Homrighausen, Ingo; Kehrein, Stefan

    We study the time evolution of entanglement in a new quantum version of the Kac ring, where two spin chains become dynamically entangled by quantum gates, which are used instead of the classical markers. The features of the entanglement evolution are best understood by using knowledge about the behavior of an ensemble of classical Kac rings. For instance, the recurrence time of the quantum many-body system is twice the length of the chain and “thermalization” only occurs on time scales much smaller than the dimension of the Hilbert space. The model thus elucidates the relation between the results of measurementsmore » in quantum and classical systems: While in classical systems repeated measurements are performed over an ensemble of systems, the corresponding result is obtained by measuring the same quantum system prepared in an appropriate superposition repeatedly.« less

  10. Optimization with artificial neural network systems - A mapping principle and a comparison to gradient based methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Leong, Harrison Monfook

    1988-01-01

    General formulae for mapping optimization problems into systems of ordinary differential equations associated with artificial neural networks are presented. A comparison is made to optimization using gradient-search methods. The performance measure is the settling time from an initial state to a target state. A simple analytical example illustrates a situation where dynamical systems representing artificial neural network methods would settle faster than those representing gradient-search. Settling time was investigated for a more complicated optimization problem using computer simulations. The problem was a simplified version of a problem in medical imaging: determining loci of cerebral activity from electromagnetic measurements at the scalp. The simulations showed that gradient based systems typically settled 50 to 100 times faster than systems based on current neural network optimization methods.

  11. Precise time and time interval applications to electric power systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, Robert E.

    1992-01-01

    There are many applications of precise time and time interval (frequency) in operating modern electric power systems. Many generators and customer loads are operated in parallel. The reliable transfer of electrical power to the consumer partly depends on measuring power system frequency consistently in many locations. The internal oscillators in the widely dispersed frequency measuring units must be syntonized. Elaborate protection and control systems guard the high voltage equipment from short and open circuits. For the highest reliability of electric service, engineers need to study all control system operations. Precise timekeeping networks aid in the analysis of power system operations by synchronizing the clocks on recording instruments. Utility engineers want to reproduce events that caused loss of service to customers. Precise timekeeping networks can synchronize protective relay test-sets. For dependable electrical service, all generators and large motors must remain close to speed synchronism. The stable response of a power system to perturbations is critical to continuity of electrical service. Research shows that measurement of the power system state vector can aid in the monitoring and control of system stability. If power system operators know that a lightning storm is approaching a critical transmission line or transformer, they can modify operating strategies. Knowledge of the location of a short circuit fault can speed the re-energizing of a transmission line. One fault location technique requires clocks synchronized to one microsecond. Current research seeks to find out if one microsecond timekeeping can aid and improve power system control and operation.

  12. Non-invasive measurement of pulse wave velocity using transputer-based analysis of Doppler flow audio signals.

    PubMed

    Stewart, W R; Ramsey, M W; Jones, C J

    1994-08-01

    A system for the measurement of arterial pulse wave velocity is described. A personal computer (PC) plug-in transputer board is used to process the audio signals from two pocket Doppler ultrasound units. The transputer is used to provide a set of bandpass digital filters on two channels. The times of excursion of power through thresholds in each filter are recorded and used to estimate the onset of systolic flow. The system does not require an additional spectrum analyser and can work in real time. The transputer architecture provides for easy integration into any wider physiological measurement system.

  13. Real Time Intraoperative Monitoring of Blood Loss with a Novel Tablet Application.

    PubMed

    Sharareh, Behnam; Woolwine, Spencer; Satish, Siddarth; Abraham, Peter; Schwarzkopf, Ran

    2015-01-01

    Real-time monitoring of blood loss is critical in fluid management. Visual estimation remains the standard of care in estimating blood loss, yet is demonstrably inaccurate. Photometric analysis, which is the referenced "gold-standard" for measuring blood loss, is both time-consuming and costly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a novel tablet-monitoring device for measurement of Hb loss during orthopaedic procedures. This is a prospective study of 50 patients in a consecutive series of joint arthroplasty cases. The novel System with Feature Extraction Technology was used to measure the amount of Hb contained within surgical sponges intra-operatively. The system's measures were then compared with those obtained via gravimetric method and photometric analysis. Accuracy was evaluated using linear regression and Bland-Altman analysis. Our results showed a significant positive correlation between Triton tablet system and photometric analysis with respect to intra-operative hemoglobin and blood loss at 0.92 and 0.91, respectively. This novel system can accurately determine Hb loss contained within surgical sponges. We believe that this user-friendly software can be used for measurement of total intraoperative blood loss and thus aid in a more accurate fluid management protocols during orthopaedic surgical procedures.

  14. Real-Time Analysis of Isoprene in Breath by Using Ultraviolet-Absorption Spectroscopy with a Hollow Optical Fiber Gas Cell

    PubMed Central

    Iwata, Takuro; Katagiri, Takashi; Matsuura, Yuji

    2016-01-01

    A breath analysis system based on ultraviolet-absorption spectroscopy was developed by using a hollow optical fiber as a gas cell for real-time monitoring of isoprene in breath. The hollow optical fiber functions as an ultra-small-volume gas cell with a long path. The measurement sensitivity of the system was evaluated by using nitric-oxide gas as a gas sample. The evaluation result showed that the developed system, using a laser-driven, high-intensity light source and a 3-m-long, aluminum-coated hollow optical fiber, could successfully measure nitric-oxide gas with a 50 ppb concentration. An absorption spectrum of a breath sample in the wavelength region of around 200–300 nm was measured, and the measured spectrum revealed the main absorbing components in breath as water vapor, isoprene, and ozone converted from oxygen by radiation of ultraviolet light. The concentration of isoprene in breath was estimated by multiple linear regression. The regression analysis results showed that the proposed analysis system enables real-time monitoring of isoprene during the exhaling of breath. Accordingly, it is suitable for measuring the circadian variation of isoprene. PMID:27929387

  15. Progress on the FIReTIP Diagnostic on NSTX-U

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scott, Evan; Barchfeld, Robert; Riemenschneider, Paul; Muscatello, Chris; Sohrabi, Mohammad; Domier, Calvin; Ren, Yang; Kaita, Robert; Luhmann, Neville, Jr.; NSTX-U Team

    2016-10-01

    The Far-infrared Tangential Interferometer/Polarimeter (FIReTIP) system on NSTX-U at the PPPL aims to provide robust, line-averaged electron density measurements. The system consists of three optically-pumped 119 µm methanol lasers, one of which can be tuned via Stark broadening, allowing for uniquely high intermediate frequencies and time resolutions. One of the major goals of FIReTIP is to incorporate it into the NSTX-U plasma control system (PCS) for real-time plasma density feedback control. The front-end optics mounted to Bay G, which shape and position the beam going into the plasma, and internal retroreflector located near Bay B, which facilitates double-pass measurements, are hard-mounted to the NSTX-U vacuum vessel. Because interferometric density measurements are sensitive to vibrational effects, FIReTIP has been upgraded to a two-color interferometer system with the inclusion of a 633 nm laser interferometer for the direct measurement of vibrations and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) for the subsequent subtraction of vibrational effects from the density measurement in real-time. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Grant DE-FG02-99ER54518.

  16. Real-Time Analysis of Isoprene in Breath by Using Ultraviolet-Absorption Spectroscopy with a Hollow Optical Fiber Gas Cell.

    PubMed

    Iwata, Takuro; Katagiri, Takashi; Matsuura, Yuji

    2016-12-05

    A breath analysis system based on ultraviolet-absorption spectroscopy was developed by using a hollow optical fiber as a gas cell for real-time monitoring of isoprene in breath. The hollow optical fiber functions as an ultra-small-volume gas cell with a long path. The measurement sensitivity of the system was evaluated by using nitric-oxide gas as a gas sample. The evaluation result showed that the developed system, using a laser-driven, high-intensity light source and a 3-m-long, aluminum-coated hollow optical fiber, could successfully measure nitric-oxide gas with a 50 ppb concentration. An absorption spectrum of a breath sample in the wavelength region of around 200-300 nm was measured, and the measured spectrum revealed the main absorbing components in breath as water vapor, isoprene, and ozone converted from oxygen by radiation of ultraviolet light. The concentration of isoprene in breath was estimated by multiple linear regression. The regression analysis results showed that the proposed analysis system enables real-time monitoring of isoprene during the exhaling of breath. Accordingly, it is suitable for measuring the circadian variation of isoprene.

  17. Demonstration of an Enhanced Vertical Magnetic Gradient System for UXO

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2008-04-01

    flights were conducted and results evaluated. The cesium magnetometers , GPS systems (positioning and attitude), fluxgate magnetometers , data...makes a measurement and when it is time-stamped and recorded. This applies to the magnetometers , fluxgate and the GPS. Accurate positioning...requires a correction for this lag. Time lags between the magnetometers , fluxgate and GPS signals were measured by a proprietary utility. This utility

  18. Assessment of a Rotating Time Sampling Procedure: Implications for Interobserver Agreement and Response Measurement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Becraft, Jessica L.; Borrero, John C.; Davis, Barbara J.; Mendres-Smith, Amber E.

    2016-01-01

    The current study was designed to evaluate a rotating momentary time sampling (MTS) data collection system. A rotating MTS system has been used to measure activity preferences of preschoolers but not to collect data on responses that vary in duration and frequency (e.g., talking). We collected data on talking for 10 preschoolers using a 5-s MTS…

  19. Real-time digital heterodyne interferometer for high resolution plasma density measurements at ISTTOK.

    PubMed

    Marques, T G; Gouveia, A; Pereira, T; Fortunato, J; Carvalho, B B; Sousa, J; Silva, C; Fernandes, H

    2008-10-01

    With the implementation of alternating discharges (ac) at the ISTTOK tokamak, the typical duration of the discharges increased from 35 to 250 ms. This time increase created the need for a real-time electron density measurement in order to control the plasma fueling. The diagnostic chosen for the real-time calculation was the microwave interferometer. The ISTTOK microwave interferometer is a heterodyne system with quadrature detection and a probing frequency of 100 GHz (lambda(0)=3 mm). In this paper, a low-cost approach for real-time diagnostic using a digital signal programmable intelligent computer embedded system is presented, which allows the measurement of the phase with a 1% fringe accuracy in less than 6 micros. The system increases its accuracy by digitally correcting the offsets of the input signals and making use of a judicious lookup table optimized to improve the nonlinear behavior of the transfer curve. The electron density is determined at a rate of 82 kHz (limited by the analog to digital converter), and the data are transmitted for each millisecond although this last parameter could be much lower (around 12 micros--each value calculated is transmitted). In the future, this same system is expected to control plasma actuators, such as the piezoelectric valve of the hydrogen injection system responsible for the plasma fueling.

  20. A cooperative transponder system for improved traffic safety, localizing road users in the 5 GHz band

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schaffer, B.; Kalverkamp, G.; Chaabane, M.; Biebl, E. M.

    2012-09-01

    We present a multi-user cooperative mobile transponder system which enables cars to localize pedestrians, bicyclists and other road users in order to improve traffic safety. The system operates at a center frequency of 5.768 GHz, offering the ability to test precision localization technology at frequencies close to the newly designated automotive safety related bands around 5.9 GHz. By carrying out a roundtrip time of flight measurement, the sensor can determine the distance from the onboard localization unit of a car to a road user who is equipped with an active transponder, employing the idea of a secondary radar and pulse compression. The onboard unit sends out a pseudo noise coded interrogation pulse, which is answered by one or more transponders after a short waiting time. Each transponder uses a different waiting time in order to allow for time division multiple access. We present the system setup as well as range measurement results, achieving an accuracy up to centimeters for the distance measurement and a range in the order of hundred meters. We also discuss the effect of clock drift and offset on distance accuracy for different waiting times and show how the system can be improved to further increase precision in a multiuser environment.

  1. Evaluation of time domain and spectral domain optical coherence tomography in the measurement of diabetic macular edema.

    PubMed

    Forooghian, Farzin; Cukras, Catherine; Meyerle, Catherine B; Chew, Emily Y; Wong, Wai T

    2008-10-01

    To evaluate macular thickness and volume measurements and their intrasession repeatability in two optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems: the Stratus OCT, a time domain system, and the Cirrus HD-OCT, a spectral domain system (both by Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA), in the context of diabetic macular edema (DME). Thirty-three eyes of 33 diabetic patients with clinically significant macular edema (CSME) were scanned in a single session by a single operator on both OCT systems. Macular thickness measurements of nine standard macular subfields and total macular volume were obtained and analyzed. Bland-Altman plots were constructed to assess agreement in macular measurements. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), coefficients of repeatability (CR(W)), and coefficients of variation (CV(W)) were used to assess intrasession repeatability. Macular thickness in nine retinal subfields and macular volume were significantly higher in the Cirrus HD-OCT system compared with the Stratus OCT system. Subfield thickness and total volume measurements, respectively, were 30 to 55 microm and 3.2 mm(3) greater for the Cirrus HD-OCT system compared with the Stratus OCT system. Both Stratus OCT and Cirrus HD-OCT systems demonstrated high intrasession repeatability, with overlapping ranges for CR(W), CV(W), and ICC. Repeatability measures (CR(W) and CV(W)) differed significantly between systems in only one of nine subfields (outer temporal subfield). Absolute measures of macular thickness and volume in patients with DME differed significantly in magnitude between the Stratus OCT and Cirrus HD-OCT systems. However, both OCT systems demonstrated high intrasessional repeatability. Although the two systems may not be used interchangeably, they appear equally reliable in generating macular measurements for clinical practice and research.

  2. Assessing segment- and corridor-based travel-time reliability on urban freeways tech transfer summary : tech transfer summary.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-09-01

    Travel time and travel-time reliability have been used as performance : measures to evaluate traffic system conditions and develop advanced : traveler information and traffic management systems. The objectives of this research were to: : - Quantify s...

  3. A simple and sensitive method to measure timing accuracy.

    PubMed

    De Clercq, Armand; Crombez, Geert; Buysse, Ann; Roeyers, Herbert

    2003-02-01

    Timing accuracy in presenting experimental stimuli (visual information on a PC or on a TV) and responding (keyboard presses and mouse signals) is of importance in several experimental paradigms. In this article, a simple system for measuring timing accuracy is described. The system uses two PCs (at least Pentium II, 200 MHz), a photocell, and an amplifier. No additional boards and timing hardware are needed. The first PC, a SlavePC, monitors the keyboard presses or mouse signals from the PC under test and uses a photocell that is placed in front of the screen to detect the appearance of visual stimuli on the display. The software consists of a small program running on the SlavePC. The SlavePC is connected through a serial line with a second PC. This MasterPC controls the SlavePC through an ActiveX control, which is used in a Visual Basic program. The accuracy of our system was investigated by using a similar setup of a SlavePC and a MasterPC to generate pulses and by using a pulse generator card. These tests revealed that our system has a 0.01-msec accuracy. As an illustration, the reaction time accuracy of INQUISIT for a few applications was tested using our system. It was found that in those applications that we investigated, INQUISIT measures reaction times from keyboard presses with millisecond accuracy.

  4. Accuracy of tidal breathing measurement of FloRight compared to an ultrasonic flowmeter in infants.

    PubMed

    Petrus, Nicole C M; Thamrin, Cindy; Fuchs, Oliver; Frey, Urs

    2015-04-01

    Monitoring breathing pattern is especially relevant in infants with lung disease. Recently, a vest-based inductive plethysmograph system (FloRight®) has been developed for tidal breathing measurement in infants. We investigated the accuracy of tidal breathing flow volume loop (TBFVL) measurements in healthy term-born infants and infants with lung disease by the vest-based system in comparison to an ultrasonic flowmeter (USFM) with a face mask. We also investigated whether the system discriminates between healthy infants and those with lung disease. Floright® measures changes in thoracoabdominal volume during tidal breathing through magnetic field changes generated by current-carrying conductor coils in an elastic vest. Simultaneous TBFVL measurements by the vest-based system and the USFM were performed at 44 weeks corrected postmenstrual age during quiet unsedated sleep. TBFVL parameters derived by both techniques and within both groups were compared. We included 19 healthy infants and 18 infants with lung disease. Tidal volume per body weight derived by the vest-based system was significantly lower with a mean difference (95% CI) of -1.33 ml/kg (-1.73; -0.92), P < 0.001. Respiratory rate and ratio of time to peak tidal expiratory flow over total expiratory time (tPTEF/tE) did not differ between the two techniques. Both systems were able to discriminate between healthy infants and those with lung disease using tPTEF/tE. FloRight® accurately measures time indices and may discriminate between healthy infants and those with lung disease, but demonstrates differences in tidal volume measurements. It may be better suited to monitor breathing pattern than for TBFVL measurements. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Home-made temperature monitoring system from four-channel K-type thermocouples via internet of thing technology platform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Detmod, Thitaporn; Özmen, Yiǧiter; Songkaitiwong, Kittiphot; Saenyot, Khanuengchat; Locharoenrat, Kitsakorn; Lekchaum, Sarai

    2018-06-01

    This paper is aimed to design and construct the home-made temperature monitoring system from four-channel K-type thermocouples in order to improve the temperature measurement based on standard evaluation measurements guidance. The temperature monitoring system was capable to record the temperature on SD card and to display the realtime temperature on Internet of Thing Technology platform. The temperature monitoring system was tested in terms of the temperature measurement accuracy and delay response time. It was found that a standard deviation was acceptable as compared to the Instrument Society of America. The response time of the microcontroller to SD card was 2 sec faster than that of the microcontroller to Thingspeak.

  6. Further development of the dynamic gas temperature measurement system. Volume 2: Computer program user's manual

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stocks, Dana R.

    1986-01-01

    The Dynamic Gas Temperature Measurement System compensation software accepts digitized data from two different diameter thermocouples and computes a compensated frequency response spectrum for one of the thermocouples. Detailed discussions of the physical system, analytical model, and computer software are presented in this volume and in Volume 1 of this report under Task 3. Computer program software restrictions and test cases are also presented. Compensated and uncompensated data may be presented in either the time or frequency domain. Time domain data are presented as instantaneous temperature vs time. Frequency domain data may be presented in several forms such as power spectral density vs frequency.

  7. Microwave time delays for the dual L-C-band feed system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, J.

    1989-01-01

    A new dual-frequency feed system at Goldstone is designed to receive the Phobos spacecraft signal at L-band (1668 + or - 40 MHz) and transmit to the spacecraft at C-band (5008.75 + or - 5.00 MHz) simultaneously. Hence, calculations of the time delay from the C-band range calibration coupler to the phase center of the L-C dual feed and back to the L-band range calibration coupler are required to correct the range measurements. Time delays of the elements in the dual-frequency feed system are obtained mostly from computer calculations and partly from experimental measurements. The method used and results obtained are described.

  8. Drowsiness detection during different times of day using multiple features.

    PubMed

    Sahayadhas, Arun; Sundaraj, Kenneth; Murugappan, Murugappan

    2013-06-01

    Driver drowsiness has been one of the major causes of road accidents that lead to severe trauma, such as physical injury, death, and economic loss, which highlights the need to develop a system that can alert drivers of their drowsy state prior to accidents. Researchers have therefore attempted to develop systems that can determine driver drowsiness using the following four measures: (1) subjective ratings from drivers, (2) vehicle-based measures, (3) behavioral measures and (4) physiological measures. In this study, we analyzed the various factors that contribute towards drowsiness. A total of 15 male subjects were asked to drive for 2 h at three different times of the day (00:00-02:00, 03:00-05:00 and 15:00-17:00 h) when the circadian rhythm is low. The less intrusive physiological signal measurements, ECG and EMG, are analyzed during this driving task. Statistically significant differences in the features of ECG and sEMG signals were observed between the alert and drowsy states of the drivers during different times of day. In the future, these physiological measures can be fused with vision-based measures for the development of an efficient drowsiness detection system.

  9. Measurement of Spray Drift with a Specifically Designed Lidar System.

    PubMed

    Gregorio, Eduard; Torrent, Xavier; Planas de Martí, Santiago; Solanelles, Francesc; Sanz, Ricardo; Rocadenbosch, Francesc; Masip, Joan; Ribes-Dasi, Manel; Rosell-Polo, Joan R

    2016-04-08

    Field measurements of spray drift are usually carried out by passive collectors and tracers. However, these methods are labour- and time-intensive and only provide point- and time-integrated measurements. Unlike these methods, the light detection and ranging (lidar) technique allows real-time measurements, obtaining information with temporal and spatial resolution. Recently, the authors have developed the first eye-safe lidar system specifically designed for spray drift monitoring. This prototype is based on a 1534 nm erbium-doped glass laser and an 80 mm diameter telescope, has scanning capability, and is easily transportable. This paper presents the results of the first experimental campaign carried out with this instrument. High coefficients of determination (R² > 0.85) were observed by comparing lidar measurements of the spray drift with those obtained by horizontal collectors. Furthermore, the lidar system allowed an assessment of the drift reduction potential (DRP) when comparing low-drift nozzles with standard ones, resulting in a DRP of 57% (preliminary result) for the tested nozzles. The lidar system was also used for monitoring the evolution of the spray flux over the canopy and to generate 2-D images of these plumes. The developed instrument is an advantageous alternative to passive collectors and opens the possibility of new methods for field measurement of spray drift.

  10. Advancements in Dual-Pump Broadband CARS for Supersonic Combustion Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tedder, Sarah Augusta Umberger

    2010-01-01

    Space- and time-resolved measurements of temperature and species mole fractions of nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen were obtained with a dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) system in hydrogen-fueled supersonic combustion free jet flows. These measurements were taken to provide time-resolved fluid properties of turbulent supersonic combustion for use in the creation and verification of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models. CFD models of turbulent supersonic combustion flow currently facilitate the design of air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) engines. Measurements were made in supersonic axi-symmetric free jets of two scales. First, the measurement system was tested in a laboratory environment using a laboratory-scale burner (approx.10 mm at nozzle exit). The flow structures of the laboratory-burner were too small to be resolved with the CARS measurements volume, but the composition and temperature of the jet allowed the performance of the system to be evaluated. Subsequently, the system was tested in a burner that was approximately 6 times larger, whose length scales are better resolved by the CARS measurement volume. During both these measurements, weaknesses of the CARS system, such as sensitivity to vibrations and beam steering and inability to measure temperature or species concentrations in hydrogen fuel injection regions were indentified. Solutions were then implemented in improved CARS systems. One of these improved systems is a dual-pump broadband CARS technique called, Width Increased Dual-pump Enhanced CARS (WIDECARS). The two lowest rotational energy levels of hydrogen detectable by WIDECARS are H2 S(3) and H2 S(4). The detection of these lines gives the system the capability to measure temperature and species concentrations in regions of the flow containing pure hydrogen fuel at room temperature. WIDECARS is also designed for measurements of all the major species (except water) in supersonic combustion flows fueled with hydrogen and hydrogen/ethylene mixtures (N2, O2, H2, C2H4, CO, and CO2). This instrument can characterize supersonic combustion fueled with surrogate fuel mixtures of hydrogen and ethylene. This information can lead to a better understanding of the chemistry and performance of supersonic combustion fueled with cracked jet propulsion (JP)-type fuel.

  11. An automated system for performing continuous viscosity versus temperature measurements of fluids using an Ostwald viscometer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beaulieu, L. Y.; Logan, E. R.; Gering, K. L.; Dahn, J. R.

    2017-09-01

    An automated system was developed to measure the viscosity of fluids as a function of temperature using image analysis tracking software. An Ostwald viscometer was placed in a three-wall dewar in which ethylene glycol was circulated using a thermal bath. The system collected continuous measurements during both heating and cooling cycles exhibiting no hysteresis. The use of video tracking analysis software greatly reduced the measurement errors associated with measuring the time required for the meniscus to pass through the markings on the viscometer. The stability of the system was assessed by performing 38 consecutive measurements of water at 42.50 ± 0.05 °C giving an average flow time of 87.7 ± 0.3 s. A device was also implemented to repeatedly deliver a constant volume of liquid of 11.00 ± 0.03 ml leading to an average error in the viscosity of 0.04%. As an application, the system was used to measure the viscosity of two Li-ion battery electrolyte solvents from approximately 10 to 40 °C with results showing excellent agreement with viscosity values calculated using Gering's Advanced Electrolyte Model (AEM).

  12. Smartphone-based Continuous Blood Pressure Measurement Using Pulse Transit Time.

    PubMed

    Gholamhosseini, Hamid; Meintjes, Andries; Baig, Mirza; Linden, Maria

    2016-01-01

    The increasing availability of low cost and easy to use personalized medical monitoring devices has opened the door for new and innovative methods of health monitoring to emerge. Cuff-less and continuous methods of measuring blood pressure are particularly attractive as blood pressure is one of the most important measurements of long term cardiovascular health. Current methods of noninvasive blood pressure measurement are based on inflation and deflation of a cuff with some effects on arteries where blood pressure is being measured. This inflation can also cause patient discomfort and alter the measurement results. In this work, a mobile application was developed to collate the PhotoPlethysmoGramm (PPG) waveform provided by a pulse oximeter and the electrocardiogram (ECG) for calculating the pulse transit time. This information is then indirectly related to the user's systolic blood pressure. The developed application successfully connects to the PPG and ECG monitoring devices using Bluetooth wireless connection and stores the data onto an online server. The pulse transit time is estimated in real time and the user's systolic blood pressure can be estimated after the system has been calibrated. The synchronization between the two devices was found to pose a challenge to this method of continuous blood pressure monitoring. However, the implemented continuous blood pressure monitoring system effectively serves as a proof of concept. This combined with the massive benefits that an accurate and robust continuous blood pressure monitoring system would provide indicates that it is certainly worthwhile to further develop this system.

  13. Tracking Accuracy of a Real-Time Fiducial Tracking System for Patient Positioning and Monitoring in Radiation Therapy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Shchory, Tal; Schifter, Dan; Lichtman, Rinat

    Purpose: In radiation therapy there is a need to accurately know the location of the target in real time. A novel radioactive tracking technology has been developed to answer this need. The technology consists of a radioactive implanted fiducial marker designed to minimize migration and a linac mounted tracking device. This study measured the static and dynamic accuracy of the new tracking technology in a clinical radiation therapy environment. Methods and Materials: The tracking device was installed on the linac gantry. The radioactive marker was located in a tissue equivalent phantom. Marker location was measured simultaneously by the radioactive trackingmore » system and by a Microscribe G2 coordinate measuring machine (certified spatial accuracy of 0.38 mm). Localization consistency throughout a volume and absolute accuracy in the Fixed coordinate system were measured at multiple gantry angles over volumes of at least 10 cm in diameter centered at isocenter. Dynamic accuracy was measured with the marker located inside a breathing phantom. Results: The mean consistency for the static source was 0.58 mm throughout the tested region at all measured gantry angles. The mean absolute position error in the Fixed coordinate system for all gantry angles was 0.97 mm. The mean real-time tracking error for the dynamic source within the breathing phantom was less than 1 mm. Conclusions: This novel radioactive tracking technology has the potential to be useful in accurate target localization and real-time monitoring for radiation therapy.« less

  14. Tracking accuracy of a real-time fiducial tracking system for patient positioning and monitoring in radiation therapy.

    PubMed

    Shchory, Tal; Schifter, Dan; Lichtman, Rinat; Neustadter, David; Corn, Benjamin W

    2010-11-15

    In radiation therapy there is a need to accurately know the location of the target in real time. A novel radioactive tracking technology has been developed to answer this need. The technology consists of a radioactive implanted fiducial marker designed to minimize migration and a linac mounted tracking device. This study measured the static and dynamic accuracy of the new tracking technology in a clinical radiation therapy environment. The tracking device was installed on the linac gantry. The radioactive marker was located in a tissue equivalent phantom. Marker location was measured simultaneously by the radioactive tracking system and by a Microscribe G2 coordinate measuring machine (certified spatial accuracy of 0.38 mm). Localization consistency throughout a volume and absolute accuracy in the Fixed coordinate system were measured at multiple gantry angles over volumes of at least 10 cm in diameter centered at isocenter. Dynamic accuracy was measured with the marker located inside a breathing phantom. The mean consistency for the static source was 0.58 mm throughout the tested region at all measured gantry angles. The mean absolute position error in the Fixed coordinate system for all gantry angles was 0.97 mm. The mean real-time tracking error for the dynamic source within the breathing phantom was less than 1 mm. This novel radioactive tracking technology has the potential to be useful in accurate target localization and real-time monitoring for radiation therapy. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. LQG control of a deformable mirror adaptive optics system with time-delayed measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Anderson, David J.

    1991-12-01

    This thesis proposes a linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control law for a ground-based deformable mirror adaptive optics system. The incoming image wavefront is distorted, primarily in phase, due to the turbulent effects of the earth's atmosphere. The adaptive optics system attempts to compensate for the distortion with a deformable mirror. A Hartman wavefront sensor measures the degree of distortion in the image wavefront. The measurements are input to a Kalman filter which estimates the system states. The state estimates are processed by a linear quadratic regulator which generates the appropriate control voltages to apply to the deformable mirror actuators. The dynamics model for the atmospheric phase distortion consists of 14 Zernike coefficient states; each modeled as a first-order linear time-invariant shaping filter driven by zero-mean white Gaussian noise. The dynamics of the deformable mirror are also model as 14 Zernike coefficients with first-order deterministic dynamics. A significant reduction in total wavefront phase distortion is achieved in the presence of time-delayed measurements. Wavefront sensor sampling rate is the major factor limiting system performance. The Multimode Simulation for Optimal Filter Evaluation (MSOFE) software is the performance evaluation tool of choice for this research.

  16. Targeting overall equipment efficiency for small medium enterprises with irregular production system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prasetyawan, Y.; Suef, M.; Claudia, L.; Handayani, F. D.

    2018-04-01

    Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is widely used to measure the maturity of a production system. The company will be considered as World Class Manufacturing if it reaches more than 85% value, with near perfect value for availability, performance and quality factor. This assessment is usually taken on industries with regular production times named shift system. A typical 8 hours shift system is used in OEE measurement and performance monitoring. There are few Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) perform regular production times with shift systems, others using irregular production systems. The irregular production time in the SME production system is used because of demand fluctuations. This paper shows a quantitative analysis as a part of manufacturing system design to achieve a specific value of OEE for SME with irregular production systems, for individual businesses as well as collective business systems (some companies use the same production facilities for several processes). The results of experiments on several companies are presented, as a basis for determining the technical strategy of achieving OEE values.

  17. Accounting for Timing Drift and Variability in Contemporary Electroencepholography (EEG) Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-03-01

    between actual and reported trigger onset time) measured with the Emotiv Epoc EEG headset......................................................10...11 Figure 6. Data recorded using the Emotiv Epoc system in conjunction with a phantom head device. Natively reported data...data described above from the Emotiv system

  18. Time synchronization of new-generation BDS satellites using inter-satellite link measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pan, Junyang; Hu, Xiaogong; Zhou, Shanshi; Tang, Chengpan; Guo, Rui; Zhu, Lingfeng; Tang, Guifeng; Hu, Guangming

    2018-01-01

    Autonomous satellite navigation is based on the ability of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Beidou, to estimate orbits and clock parameters onboard satellites using Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) measurements instead of tracking data from a ground monitoring network. This paper focuses on the time synchronization of new-generation Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) satellites equipped with an ISL payload. Two modes of Ka-band ISL measurements, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode and the continuous link mode, were used onboard these BDS satellites. Using a mathematical formulation for each measurement mode along with a derivation of the satellite clock offsets, geometric ranges from the dual one-way measurements were introduced. Then, pseudoranges and clock offsets were evaluated for the new-generation BDS satellites. The evaluation shows that the ranging accuracies of TDMA ISL and the continuous link are approximately 4 cm and 1 cm (root mean square, RMS), respectively. Both lead to ISL clock offset residuals of less than 0.3 ns (RMS). For further validation, time synchronization between these satellites to a ground control station keeping the systematic time in BDT was conducted using L-band Two-way Satellite Time Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT). System errors in the ISL measurements were calibrated by comparing the derived clock offsets with the TWSTFT. The standard deviations of the estimated ISL system errors are less than 0.3 ns, and the calibrated ISL clock parameters are consistent with that of the L-band TWSTFT. For the regional BDS network, the addition of ISL measurements for medium orbit (MEO) BDS satellites increased the clock tracking coverage by more than 40% for each orbital revolution. As a result, the clock predicting error for the satellite M1S was improved from 3.59 to 0.86 ns (RMS), and the predicting error of the satellite M2S was improved from 1.94 to 0.57 ns (RMS), which is a significant improvement by a factor of 3-4.

  19. Molecular-Flow Properties of RIB Type Vapor-Transport Systems Using a Fast-Valve

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Alton, Gerald D; Bilheux, Hassina Z; Zhang, Y.

    2014-01-01

    The advent of the fast-valve device, described previously, permits measurement of molecular-flow times of chemically active or inactive gaseous species through radioactive ion beam (RIB) target ion source systems, independent of size, geometry and materials of construction. Thus, decay losses of short-half-life RIBs can be determined for a given target/vapor-transport system in advance of on-line operation, thereby ascertaining the feasibility of the system design for successful processing of a given isotope. In this article, molecular-flow-time theory and experimentally measured molecular-flow time data are given for serial- and parallel-coupled Ta metal RIB vapor-transport systems similar to those used at ISOL basedmore » RIB facilities. In addition, the effect of source type on the molecular-flow time properties of a given system is addressed, and a chemical passivation method for negating surface adsorption enthalpies for chemically active gaseous species on Ta surfaces is demonstrated.« less

  20. Two Tethered Balloon Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Youngbluth, Otto; Owens, Thomas L.; Storey, Richard W.

    1990-01-01

    Systems take meteorological measurements for variety of research projects. Report describes work done by NASA Langley Research Center in atmospheric research using tethered balloon systems composed of commercially available equipment. Two separate tethered balloon systems described in report have payloads and configurations tailored to requirements of specific projects. Each system capable of measuring atmospheric parameter or species in situ and then telemetering this data in real time to ground station. Meteorological data and concentration of ozone typically measured. Indicates instrumented tethered balloon systems have distinct advantages over other systems for gathering data on troposphere.

  1. Computerized Ultrasonic Testing System (CUTS) for in-process thickness determination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Frankel, J.; Doxbeck, M.; Schroeder, S. C.; Abbate, A.

    1994-01-01

    A Computerized Ultrasonic Testing System (CUTS) was developed to measure, in real-time, the rate of deposition and thickness of chromium plated on the inside of thick steel tubes. The measurements are made from the outside of the tubes with the ultrasonic pulse-echo technique. The resolution of the system is 2.5 micron. (0.0001 in.) and the accuracy is better than 10 micron (0.0004 in.). The thickness is measured using six transducers mounted at different locations on the tube. In addition, two transducers are mounted on two reference standards, thereby allowing the system to be continuously calibrated. The tube temperature varies during the process, thus the input from eight thermocouples, located at the measurement sites, is used to calculate and compensate for the change in return time of the ultrasonic echo due to the temperature dependence of the sound velocity. CUTS is applicable to any commercial process where real-time change of thickness of a sample has to be known, with the advantage of facilitating increased efficiency and of improving process control.

  2. Measuring border delay and crossing times at the US-Mexico border : part II. Guidebook for analysis and dissemination of border crossing time and wait time data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-06-01

    The purpose of this guidebook is to describe to local, regional, and State agencies how to analyze and disseminate data collected by a radio frequency identification (RFID)-based system to measure travel times of commercial vehicles, which is referre...

  3. In situ real-time measurement of physical characteristics of airborne bacterial particles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jung, Jae Hee; Lee, Jung Eun

    2013-12-01

    Bioaerosols, including aerosolized bacteria, viruses, and fungi, are associated with public health and environmental problems. One promising control method to reduce the harmful effects of bioaerosols is thermal inactivation via a continuous-flow high-temperature short-time (HTST) system. However, variations in bioaerosol physical characteristics - for example, the particle size and shape - during the continuous-flow inactivation process can change the transport properties in the air, which can affect particle deposition in the human respiratory system or the filtration efficiency of ventilation systems. Real-time particle monitoring techniques are a desirable alternative to the time-consuming process of microscopic analysis that is conventionally used in sampling and particle characterization. Here, we report in situ real-time optical scattering measurements of the physical characteristics of airborne bacteria particles following an HTST process in a continuous-flow system. Our results demonstrate that the aerodynamic diameter of bacterial aerosols decreases when exposed to a high-temperature environment, and that the shape of the bacterial cells is significantly altered. These variations in physical characteristics using optical scattering measurements were found to be in agreement with the results of scanning electron microscopy analysis.

  4. Estimating the state of a geophysical system with sparse observations: time delay methods to achieve accurate initial states for prediction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    An, Zhe; Rey, Daniel; Ye, Jingxin; Abarbanel, Henry D. I.

    2017-01-01

    The problem of forecasting the behavior of a complex dynamical system through analysis of observational time-series data becomes difficult when the system expresses chaotic behavior and the measurements are sparse, in both space and/or time. Despite the fact that this situation is quite typical across many fields, including numerical weather prediction, the issue of whether the available observations are "sufficient" for generating successful forecasts is still not well understood. An analysis by Whartenby et al. (2013) found that in the context of the nonlinear shallow water equations on a β plane, standard nudging techniques require observing approximately 70 % of the full set of state variables. Here we examine the same system using a method introduced by Rey et al. (2014a), which generalizes standard nudging methods to utilize time delayed measurements. We show that in certain circumstances, it provides a sizable reduction in the number of observations required to construct accurate estimates and high-quality predictions. In particular, we find that this estimate of 70 % can be reduced to about 33 % using time delays, and even further if Lagrangian drifter locations are also used as measurements.

  5. Spatially-Scanned Dual Comb Spectroscopy for Atmospheric Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cossel, K.; Waxman, E.; Giorgetta, F.; Cermak, M.; Coddington, I.; Hesselius, D.; Ruben, S.; Swann, W.; Rieker, G. B.; Newbury, N.

    2017-12-01

    Measuring trace gas emissions from sources that are spatially complex and temporally variable, such as leaking natural gas infrastructure, is challenging with current measurement systems. Here, we present a new technique that provides the path-integrated concentrations of multiple gas species between a ground station and a retroreflector mounted on a small quadcopter. Such a system could provide the ability to quantify small area emissions sources as well measure vertical mixing within the boundary layer. The system is based on a near-infrared dual frequency-comb spectroscopy system (DCS) covering 1.58-1.7 microns, which enables rapid, accurate measurements of CO2, CH4, H2O, and HDO. The eye-safe laser light is launched from a telescope on a fast azimuth, elevation gimbal to a small quadcopter carrying a lightweight retroreflector as well as a high-precision real-time kinematic GPS receiver (for real-time cm-level path length measurements) and pressure, temperature and humidity sensors. Here, we show the results of test measurements from controlled releases of CH4 as well as from test vertical profiles.

  6. Linear quadratic Gaussian control of a deformable mirror adaptive optics system with time-delayed measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paschall, Randall N.; Anderson, David J.

    1993-11-01

    A linear quadratic Gaussian method is proposed for a deformable mirror adaptive optics system control. Estimates of system states describing the distortion are generated by a Kalman filter based on Hartmann wave front measurements of the wave front gradient.

  7. Note: Neutron bang time diagnostic system on Shenguang-III prototype

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tang, Qi; Chen, Jiabin; Liu, Zhongjie

    A neutron bang time (NBT) diagnostic system has been implemented on Shenguang-III prototype. The bang time diagnostic system is based on a sensitive fusion neutron detector, which consists of a plastic scintillator and a micro-channel plate photomultiplier tube (PMT). An optical fiber bundle is used to couple the scintillator and the PMT. The bang time system is able to measure bang time above a neutron yield of 10{sup 7}. Bang times and start time of laser were related by probing x-ray pulses produced by 200 ps laser irradiating golden targets. Timing accuracy of the NBT is better than 60 ps.

  8. Development of System-level Performance Measures for Evaluation of Models of Care for Inflammatory Arthritis in Canada.

    PubMed

    Barber, Claire E H; Marshall, Deborah A; Mosher, Dianne P; Akhavan, Pooneh; Tucker, Lori; Houghton, Kristin; Batthish, Michelle; Levy, Deborah M; Schmeling, Heinrike; Ellsworth, Janet; Tibollo, Heidi; Grant, Sean; Khodyakov, Dmitry; Lacaille, Diane

    2016-03-01

    To develop system-level performance measures for evaluating the care of patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA), including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. This study involved several methodological phases. Over multiple rounds, various participants were asked to help define a set of candidate measurement themes. A systematic search was conducted of existing guidelines and measures. A set of 6 performance measures was defined and presented to 50 people, including patients with IA, rheumatologists, allied health professionals, and researchers using a 3-round, online, modified Delphi process. Participants rated the validity, feasibility, relevance, and likelihood of use of the measures. Measures with median ratings ≥ 7 for validity and relevance were included in the final set. Six performance measures were developed evaluating the following aspects of care, with each measure being applied separately for each type of IA except where specified: waiting times for rheumatology consultation for patients with new onset IA, percentage of patients with IA seen by a rheumatologist, percentage of patients with IA seen in yearly followup by a rheumatologist, percentage of patients with RA treated with a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD), time to DMARD therapy in RA, and number of rheumatologists per capita. The first set of system-level performance measures for IA care in Canada has been developed with broad input. The measures focus on timely access to care and initiation of appropriate treatment for patients with IA, and are likely to be of interest to other arthritis care systems internationally.

  9. Design on wireless auto-measurement system for lead rail straightness measurement based on PSD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yan, Xiugang; Zhang, Shuqin; Dong, Dengfeng; Cheng, Zhi; Wu, Guanghua; Wang, Jie; Zhou, Weihu

    2016-10-01

    Straightness detection is not only one of the key technologies for the product quality and installation accuracy of all types of lead rail, but also an important dimensional measurement technology. The straightness measuring devices now available have disadvantages of low automation level, limiting by measuring environment, and low measurement efficiency. In this paper, a wireless measurement system for straightness detection based on position sensitive detector (PSD) is proposed. The system has some advantage of high automation-level, convenient, high measurement efficiency, easy to transplanting and expanding, and can detect straightness of lead rail in real-time.

  10. Fluctuation theorems in feedback-controlled open quantum systems: Quantum coherence and absolute irreversibility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Murashita, Yûto; Gong, Zongping; Ashida, Yuto; Ueda, Masahito

    2017-10-01

    The thermodynamics of quantum coherence has attracted growing attention recently, where the thermodynamic advantage of quantum superposition is characterized in terms of quantum thermodynamics. We investigate the thermodynamic effects of quantum coherent driving in the context of the fluctuation theorem. We adopt a quantum-trajectory approach to investigate open quantum systems under feedback control. In these systems, the measurement backaction in the forward process plays a key role, and therefore the corresponding time-reversed quantum measurement and postselection must be considered in the backward process, in sharp contrast to the classical case. The state reduction associated with quantum measurement, in general, creates a zero-probability region in the space of quantum trajectories of the forward process, which causes singularly strong irreversibility with divergent entropy production (i.e., absolute irreversibility) and hence makes the ordinary fluctuation theorem break down. In the classical case, the error-free measurement ordinarily leads to absolute irreversibility, because the measurement restricts classical paths to the region compatible with the measurement outcome. In contrast, in open quantum systems, absolute irreversibility is suppressed even in the presence of the projective measurement due to those quantum rare events that go through the classically forbidden region with the aid of quantum coherent driving. This suppression of absolute irreversibility exemplifies the thermodynamic advantage of quantum coherent driving. Absolute irreversibility is shown to emerge in the absence of coherent driving after the measurement, especially in systems under time-delayed feedback control. We show that absolute irreversibility is mitigated by increasing the duration of quantum coherent driving or decreasing the delay time of feedback control.

  11. Acting to gain information: Real-time reasoning meets real-time perception

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rosenschein, Stan

    1994-01-01

    Recent advances in intelligent reactive systems suggest new approaches to the problem of deriving task-relevant information from perceptual systems in real time. The author will describe work in progress aimed at coupling intelligent control mechanisms to real-time perception systems, with special emphasis on frame rate visual measurement systems. A model for integrated reasoning and perception will be discussed, and recent progress in applying these ideas to problems of sensor utilization for efficient recognition and tracking will be described.

  12. The evaluation of a 2D diode array in “magic phantom” for use in high dose rate brachytherapy pretreatment quality assurance

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Espinoza, A.; Petasecca, M.; Fuduli, I.

    2015-02-15

    Purpose: High dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a treatment method that is used increasingly worldwide. The development of a sound quality assurance program for the verification of treatment deliveries can be challenging due to the high source activity utilized and the need for precise measurements of dwell positions and times. This paper describes the application of a novel phantom, based on a 2D 11 × 11 diode array detection system, named “magic phantom” (MPh), to accurately measure plan dwell positions and times, compare them directly to the treatment plan, determine errors in treatment delivery, and calculate absorbed dose. Methods: Themore » magic phantom system was CT scanned and a 20 catheter plan was generated to simulate a nonspecific treatment scenario. This plan was delivered to the MPh and, using a custom developed software suite, the dwell positions and times were measured and compared to the plan. The original plan was also modified, with changes not disclosed to the primary authors, and measured again using the device and software to determine the modifications. A new metric, the “position–time gamma index,” was developed to quantify the quality of a treatment delivery when compared to the treatment plan. The MPh was evaluated to determine the minimum measurable dwell time and step size. The incorporation of the TG-43U1 formalism directly into the software allows for dose calculations to be made based on the measured plan. The estimated dose distributions calculated by the software were compared to the treatment plan and to calibrated EBT3 film, using the 2D gamma analysis method. Results: For the original plan, the magic phantom system was capable of measuring all dwell points and dwell times and the majority were found to be within 0.93 mm and 0.25 s, respectively, from the plan. By measuring the altered plan and comparing it to the unmodified treatment plan, the use of the position–time gamma index showed that all modifications made could be readily detected. The MPh was able to measure dwell times down to 0.067 ± 0.001 s and planned dwell positions separated by 1 mm. The dose calculation carried out by the MPh software was found to be in agreement with values calculated by the treatment planning system within 0.75%. Using the 2D gamma index, the dose map of the MPh plane and measured EBT3 were found to have a pass rate of over 95% when compared to the original plan. Conclusions: The application of this magic phantom quality assurance system to HDR brachytherapy has demonstrated promising ability to perform the verification of treatment plans, based upon the measured dwell positions and times. The introduction of the quantitative position–time gamma index allows for direct comparison of measured parameters against the plan and could be used prior to patient treatment to ensure accurate delivery.« less

  13. Correlation study of real delay time and imaginary delay time in 1-dimensional weak disorder optical media

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sahay, Peeyush; Almabadi, Huda M.; Pradhan, Prabhakar

    Real delay time (τr) provides a measure of the time spent by photons inside an optical system. The measurement of τr is conducted in terms of energy (E) derivative of the Wigner phase delay (φ) , as τr = dϕ / dE dϕ / cdk k and c represents wavenumber and the speed of light, respectively. The characterization of τr requires interferometric system to measure φ of the light waves scattering from the medium [ R =√{ r} exp (- iϕ) ]. We investigated the possibility of extracting the τr information from the intensity measurement of the backscattered waves. The study was performed on a 1D model of weak disordered optical system and short sample length by numerically evaluating the backscattered light intensity. An imaginary delay time (τi) , defined as τi = dθ / cdk , where θ represents an `imaginary phase', was obtained upon expressing the backscattered intensity as RR* =| R | 2 = r = exp (- θ) . The result shows a strong correlation between r and φ with τr and τi exhibiting similar statistical distribution but with a shift. The magnitude and variation of the mean and std values of τr, and the std values of τi with sample lengths are nearly the same, which indicates about one parameter theory of delay time. This work potentially paves way for extracting phase information from the intensity distribution without using interferometric systems.

  14. Extended time-to-collision measures for road traffic safety assessment.

    PubMed

    Minderhoud, M M; Bovy, P H

    2001-01-01

    This article describes two new safety indicators based on the time-to-collision notion suitable for comparative road traffic safety analyses. Such safety indicators can be applied in the comparison of a do-nothing case with an adapted situation, e.g. the introduction of intelligent driver support systems. In contrast to the classical time-to-collision value, measured at a cross section, the improved safety indicators use vehicle trajectories collected over a specific time horizon for a certain roadway segment to calculate the overall safety indicator value. Vehicle-specific indicator values as well as safety-critical probabilities can easily be determined from the developed safety measures. Application of the derived safety indicators is demonstrated for the assessment of the potential safety impacts of driver support systems from which it appears that some Autonomous Intelligent Cruise Control (AICC) designs are more safety-critical than the reference case without these systems. It is suggested that the indicator threshold value to be applied in the safety assessment has to be adapted when advanced AICC-systems with safe characteristics are introduced.

  15. Vector Doppler: spatial sampling analysis and presentation techniques for real-time systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Capineri, Lorenzo; Scabia, Marco; Masotti, Leonardo F.

    2001-05-01

    The aim of the vector Doppler (VD) technique is the quantitative reconstruction of a velocity field independently of the ultrasonic probe axis to flow angle. In particular vector Doppler is interesting for studying vascular pathologies related to complex blood flow conditions. Clinical applications require a real-time operating mode and the capability to perform Doppler measurements over a defined volume. The combination of these two characteristics produces a real-time vector velocity map. In previous works the authors investigated the theory of pulsed wave (PW) vector Doppler and developed an experimental system capable of producing off-line 3D vector velocity maps. Afterwards, for producing dynamic velocity vector maps, we realized a new 2D vector Doppler system based on a modified commercial echograph. The measurement and presentation of a vector velocity field requires a correct spatial sampling that must satisfy the Shannon criterion. In this work we tackled this problem, establishing a relationship between sampling steps and scanning system characteristics. Another problem posed by the vector Doppler technique is the data representation in real-time that should be easy to interpret for the physician. With this in mine we attempted a multimedia solution that uses both interpolated images and sound to represent the information of the measured vector velocity map. These presentation techniques were experimented for real-time scanning on flow phantoms and preliminary measurements in vivo on a human carotid artery.

  16. Timing in quantum measurements of position and momentum

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Busshardt, Michael; Freyberger, Matthias

    2010-10-15

    The prototype for a simultaneous measurement of two conjugate variables was originally introduced by Arthurs and Kelly in 1965. It relies on coupling the quantum particle to be probed to two additional systems, which serve as measurement pointers. In this contribution we investigate an extended scheme to measure position and momentum of a massive particle. By considering an explictly time-dependent coupling we can quantify the timing of the measurement. We investigate how the noise resulting from such a measurement process depends on the interaction strength and the size of the pointers. In particular, we focus on the question of whichmore » measurement timing minimizes the corresponding uncertainty product.« less

  17. Improvement of Nonlinearity Correction for BESIII ETOF Upgrade

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sun, Weijia; Cao, Ping; Ji, Xiaolu; Fan, Huanhuan; Dai, Hongliang; Zhang, Jie; Liu, Shubin; An, Qi

    2015-08-01

    An improved scheme to implement integral non-linearity (INL) correction of time measurements in the Beijing Spectrometer III Endcap Time-of-Flight (BESIII ETOF) upgrade system is presented in this paper. During upgrade, multi-gap resistive plate chambers (MRPC) are introduced as ETOF detectors which increases the total number of time measurement channels to 1728. The INL correction method adopted in BESIII TOF proved to be of limited use, because the sharply increased number of electronic channels required for reading out the detector strips degrade the system configuration efficiency severely. Furthermore, once installed into the spectrometer, BESIII TOF electronics do not support the TDCs' nonlinearity evaluation online. In this proposed method, INL data used for the correction algorithm are automatically imported from a non-volatile read-only memory (ROM) instead of from data acquisition software. This guarantees the real-time performance and system efficiency of the INL correction, especially for the ETOF upgrades with massive number of channels. Besides, a signal that is not synchronized to the system 41.65 MHz clock from BEPCII is sent to the frontend electronics (FEE) to simulate pseudo-random test pulses for the purpose of online nonlinearity evaluation. Test results show that the time measuring INL errors in one module with 72 channels can be corrected online and in real time.

  18. Model Deformation and Optical Angle of Attack Measurement System in the NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kushner, Laura K.; Drain, Bethany A.; Schairer, Edward T.; Heineck, James T.; Bell, James H.

    2017-01-01

    Both AoA and MDM measurements can be made using an optical system that relies on photogrammetry. Optical measurements are being requested by customers in wind tunnels with increasing frequency due to their non-intrusive nature and recent hardware and software advances that allow measurements to become near real time. The NASA Ames Research Center Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel is currently developing a system based on photogrammetry to measure model deformation and model angle of attack. This paper describes the new system, its development, its use on recent tests and plans to further develop the system.

  19. Environmental Measurement-While-Drilling system for real-time field screening of contaminants

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lockwood, G.J.; Normann, R.A.; Bishop, L.B.

    Sampling during environmental drilling is essential to fully characterize the spatial distribution and migration of near surface contaminants. However, the analysis of these samples is not only expensive, but can take weeks or months when sent to an off-site laboratory. In contrast, measurement-while-drilling (MWD) screening capability could save money and valuable time by quickly distinguishing between contaminated and uncontaminated areas. Real-time measurements provided by a MVM system would enable on-the-spot decisions to be made regarding sampling strategies, enhance worker safety, and provide the added flexibility of being able to ``steer`` the drill bit in or out hazardous zones. During measurement-while-drilling,more » down-hole sensors are located behind the drill bit and linked by a rapid data transmission system to a computer at the surface. As drilling proceeds, data are collected on the nature and extent of the subsurface contamination in real-time. The down-hole sensor is a Geiger-Mueller tube (GMT) gamma radiation detector. In addition to the GMT signal, the MWD system monitors these required down-hole voltages and two temperatures associated with the detector assembly. The Gamma Ray Detection System (GRDS) and electronics package are discussed in as well as the results of the field test. Finally, our conclusions and discussion of future work are presented.« less

  20. Cellular Telephones Measure Activity and Lifespace in Community-Dwelling Adults: Proof of Principle

    PubMed Central

    Schenk, Ana Katrin; Witbrodt, Bradley C.; Hoarty, Carrie A.; Carlson, Richard H.; Goulding, Evan H.; Potter, Jane F.; Bonasera, Stephen J.

    2011-01-01

    OBJECTIVES To describe a system that uses off-the-shelf sensor and telecommunication technologies to continuously measure individual lifespace and activity levels in a novel way. DESIGN Proof of concept involving three field trials of 30, 30, and 21 days. SETTING Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan and surrounding rural region. PARTICIPANTS Three participants (48-year-old man, 33-year-old woman, and 27-year-old male), none with any functional limitations. MEASUREMENTS Cellular telephones were used to detect in-home position and in-community location and to measure physical activity. Within the home, cellular telephones and Bluetooth transmitters (beacons) were used to locate participants at room-level resolution. Outside the home, the same cellular telephones and global positioning system (GPS) technology were used to locate participants at a community-level resolution. Physical activity was simultaneously measured using the cellular telephone accelerometer. RESULTS This approach had face validity to measure activity and lifespace. More importantly, this system could measure the spatial and temporal organization of these metrics. For example, an individual’s lifespace was automatically calculated across multiple time intervals. Behavioral time budgets showing how people allocate time to specific regions within the home were also automatically generated. CONCLUSION Mobile monitoring shows much promise as an easily deployed system to quantify activity and lifespace, important indicators of function, in community-dwelling adults. PMID:21288235

  1. Quantifying the value of redundant measurements at GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network sites

    DOE PAGES

    Madonna, F.; Rosoldi, M.; Güldner, J.; ...

    2014-11-19

    The potential for measurement redundancy to reduce uncertainty in atmospheric variables has not been investigated comprehensively for climate observations. We evaluated the usefulness of entropy and mutual correlation concepts, as defined in information theory, for quantifying random uncertainty and redundancy in time series of the integrated water vapour (IWV) and water vapour mixing ratio profiles provided by five highly instrumented GRUAN (GCOS, Global Climate Observing System, Reference Upper-Air Network) stations in 2010–2012. Results show that the random uncertainties on the IWV measured with radiosondes, global positioning system, microwave and infrared radiometers, and Raman lidar measurements differed by less than 8%.more » Comparisons of time series of IWV content from ground-based remote sensing instruments with in situ soundings showed that microwave radiometers have the highest redundancy with the IWV time series measured by radiosondes and therefore the highest potential to reduce the random uncertainty of the radiosondes time series. Moreover, the random uncertainty of a time series from one instrument can be reduced by ~ 60% by constraining the measurements with those from another instrument. The best reduction of random uncertainty is achieved by conditioning Raman lidar measurements with microwave radiometer measurements. In conclusion, specific instruments are recommended for atmospheric water vapour measurements at GRUAN sites. This approach can be applied to the study of redundant measurements for other climate variables.« less

  2. New digital capacitive measurement system for blade clearances

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moenich, Marcel; Bailleul, Gilles

    This paper presents a totally new concept for tip blade clearance evaluation in turbine engines. This system is able to detect exact 'measurands' even under high temperature and severe conditions like ionization. The system is based on a heavy duty probe head, a miniaturized thick-film hybrid electronic circuit and a signal processing unit for real time computing. The high frequency individual measurement values are digitally filtered and linearized in real time. The electronic is built in hybrid technology and therefore can be kept extremely small and robust, so that the system can be used on actual flights.

  3. A combined boundary-profile and automated data-reduction and analysis system. [meteorological balloon-calculator system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Deloach, R.; Morris, A. L.; Mcbeth, R. B.

    1976-01-01

    A portable boundary-layer meteorological data-acquisition and analysis system is described which employs a small tethered balloon and a programmable calculator. The system is capable of measuring pressure, wet- and dry-bulb temperature, wind speed, and temperature fluctuations as a function of height and time. Other quantities, which can be calculated in terms of these, can also be made available in real time. All quantities, measured and calculated, can be printed, plotted, and stored on magnetic tape in the field during the data-acquisition phase of an experiment.

  4. Time-resolved UV-excited microarray reader for fluorescence energy transfer (FRET) measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orellana, Adelina; Hokkanen, Ari P.; Pastinen, Tomi; Takkinen, Kristina; Soderlund, Hans

    2001-05-01

    Analytical systems based on immunochemistry are largely used in medical diagnostics and in biotechnology. There is a significant pressure to develop the present assay formats to become easier to use, faster, and less reagent consuming. Further developments towards high density array--like multianalyte measurement systems would be valuable. To this aim we have studied the applicability of fluorescence resonance energy transfer and time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer in immunoassays on microspots and in microwells. We have used engineered recombinant antibodies detecting the pentameric protein CRP as a model analyte system, and tested different assay formats. We describe also the construction of a time-resolved scanning epifluorometer with which we could measure the FRET interaction between the slow fluorescence decay from europium chelates and its energy transfer to the rapidly decaying fluorophore Cy5.

  5. Method for suppressing noise in measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carson, Paul L. (Inventor); Madsen, Louis A. (Inventor); Leskowitz, Garett M. (Inventor); Weitekamp, Daniel P. (Inventor)

    2000-01-01

    Methods for suppressing noise in measurements by correlating functions based on at least two different measurements of a system at two different times. In one embodiment, a measurement operation is performed on at least a portion of a system that has a memory. A property of the system is measured during a first measurement period to produce a first response indicative of a first state of the system. Then the property of the system is measured during a second measurement period to produce a second response indicative of a second state of the system. The second measurement is performed after an evolution duration subsequent to the first measurement period when the system still retains a degree of memory of an aspect of the first state. Next, a first function of the first response is combined with a second function of the second response to form a second-order correlation function. Information of the system is then extracted from the second-order correlation function.

  6. Characterization of chaotic attractors under noise: A recurrence network perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jacob, Rinku; Harikrishnan, K. P.; Misra, R.; Ambika, G.

    2016-12-01

    We undertake a detailed numerical investigation to understand how the addition of white and colored noise to a chaotic time series changes the topology and the structure of the underlying attractor reconstructed from the time series. We use the methods and measures of recurrence plot and recurrence network generated from the time series for this analysis. We explicitly show that the addition of noise obscures the property of recurrence of trajectory points in the phase space which is the hallmark of every dynamical system. However, the structure of the attractor is found to be robust even upto high noise levels of 50%. An advantage of recurrence network measures over the conventional nonlinear measures is that they can be applied on short and non stationary time series data. By using the results obtained from the above analysis, we go on to analyse the light curves from a dominant black hole system and show that the recurrence network measures are capable of identifying the nature of noise contamination in a time series.

  7. Analysis of dispatching rules in a stochastic dynamic job shop manufacturing system with sequence-dependent setup times

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Pankaj; Jain, Ajai

    2014-12-01

    Stochastic dynamic job shop scheduling problem with consideration of sequence-dependent setup times are among the most difficult classes of scheduling problems. This paper assesses the performance of nine dispatching rules in such shop from makespan, mean flow time, maximum flow time, mean tardiness, maximum tardiness, number of tardy jobs, total setups and mean setup time performance measures viewpoint. A discrete event simulation model of a stochastic dynamic job shop manufacturing system is developed for investigation purpose. Nine dispatching rules identified from literature are incorporated in the simulation model. The simulation experiments are conducted under due date tightness factor of 3, shop utilization percentage of 90% and setup times less than processing times. Results indicate that shortest setup time (SIMSET) rule provides the best performance for mean flow time and number of tardy jobs measures. The job with similar setup and modified earliest due date (JMEDD) rule provides the best performance for makespan, maximum flow time, mean tardiness, maximum tardiness, total setups and mean setup time measures.

  8. 40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

  9. 40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

  10. 40 CFR Appendix E to Part 52 - Performance Specifications and, Specification Test Procedures for Monitoring Systems for Effluent...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... rate at the time of the measurements is zero. 3.4Calibration drift. The change in measurement system... reference value (paragraph 6.3.1). Zero drift (24 hours) zero drift, calibration drift, and operation period. 5.1.1System...

  11. Smart measurement system for resistive (bridge) or capacitive sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Guijie; Meijer, Gerard C. M.

    1998-07-01

    A low-cost smart measurement system for resistive (bridge) and capacitive sensors is presented and demonstrated. The measurement system consists of three main parts: the sensor element, a universal transducer interface (UTI) and a microcontroller. The UTI is a sensor-signal-to-time converter, based on a period-modulated oscillator, which is equipped with front-ends for many types of resistive (bridge) and capacitive sensors, and which generates a microcontroller-compatible output signal. The microcontroller performs data acquisition of the output signals from the interface UTI, controls the working status of the UTI for a specified application and communicates with a personal computer. Continuous auto-calibration of the offset and the gain of the complete system is applied to eliminate many nonidealities. Experimental results show that the accuracy and resolution are 14 bits and 16 bits, respectively, for a measurement time of about 100 ms.

  12. Active Time Domain Reflectometry for Tamper Indication in Unattended Safeguards Systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sheen, David M.; Smith, Leon E.; Tedeschi, Jonathan R.

    2015-07-14

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to expand its use of unattended measurement systems. An increasing number of systems and an expanding family of instruments create challenges in terms of deployment efficiency and the implementation of data authentication measures. In collaboration with the IAEA, tamper-indicating measures to address data-transmission authentication challenges with unattended safeguards systems are under investigation. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is studying the viability of active time-domain reflectometry (TDR) along two parallel but interconnected paths: (1) swept-frequency TDR as the highly flexible, laboratory gold standard to which field-deployable options can be compared, and (2) a low-cost commerciallymore » available spread-spectrum TDR technology as one option for field implementation. This paper describes the TDR methods under investigation and the associated benchtop test-bed, tampering scenarios of interest,, and viability measurement results to date (e.g., comparison of relative sensitivity to tamper scenarios).« less

  13. Activities at the State Time and Frequency Standard of Russia

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2010-11-01

    measurements within a new calibration campaign arranged by the BIPM. Two TWSTFT stationary stations and a transportable one were tested in VNIIFTRI...receiver last year. Just now, we have completed new measurements within a new calibration campaign arranged by the BIPM. Two TWSTFT stationary stations and...TTS4 time transfer systems differentially calibrated relative to the VNIIFTRI reference receiver. The equipment for the TWSTFT system has been

  14. Earth System Data Records of Mass Transport from Time-Variable Gravity Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zlotnicki, V.; Talpe, M.; Nerem, R. S.; Landerer, F. W.; Watkins, M. M.

    2014-12-01

    Satellite measurements of time variable gravity have revolutionized the study of Earth, by measuring the ice losses of Greenland, Antarctica and land glaciers, changes in groundwater including unsustainable losses due to extraction of groundwater, the mass and currents of the oceans and their redistribution during El Niño events, among other findings. Satellite measurements of gravity have been made primarily by four techniques: satellite tracking from land stations using either lasers or Doppler radio systems, satellite positioning by GNSS/GPS, satellite to satellite tracking over distances of a few hundred km using microwaves, and through a gravity gradiometer (radar altimeters also measure the gravity field, but over the oceans only). We discuss the challenges in the measurement of gravity by different instruments, especially time-variable gravity. A special concern is how to bridge a possible gap in time between the end of life of the current GRACE satellite pair, launched in 2002, and a future GRACE Follow-On pair to be launched in 2017. One challenge in combining data from different measurement systems consists of their different spatial and temporal resolutions and the different ways in which they alias short time scale signals. Typically satellite measurements of gravity are expressed in spherical harmonic coefficients (although expansions in terms of 'mascons', the masses of small spherical caps, has certain advantages). Taking advantage of correlations among spherical harmonic coefficients described by empirical orthogonal functions and derived from GRACE data it is possible to localize the otherwise coarse spatial resolution of the laser and Doppler derived gravity models. This presentation discusses the issues facing a climate data record of time variable mass flux using these different data sources, including its validation.

  15. Nonintrusive biosignal measurement system in a vehicle.

    PubMed

    Lee, Haet Bit; Choi, Jong Min; Kim, Jung Soo; Kim, Yun Seong; Baek, Hyun Jae; Ryu, Myung Suk; Sohn, Ryang Hee; Park, Kwang Suk

    2007-01-01

    Measurement of driver's state is important in both daily healthcare and prevention of car accidents. Existing measurement methods, however, are too complex and uncomfortable to measure for everyday. A nonintrusive biosignal monitoring system is demanded for increasing the accessibility. In this paper, we proposed a nonintrusive measurement system integrated in a vehicle for recording electrocardiographic (ECG) signals and tested the performance of the system. The system consists of dry electrodes attached to the steering wheel and a wireless communication module using a Bluetooth device. ECG signals measured by our system were compared with those by a conventional system employing wet electrodes during real city road driving. Various parameters used for HRV analysis in time and frequency domain showed no significant differences between the two simultaneously measured ECG signals. The result implies the possibility that developed system could have a potential to monitor health information in a vehicle instead of commercial equipments.

  16. On Time Delay Margin Estimation for Adaptive Control and Optimal Control Modification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nguyen, Nhan T.

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents methods for estimating time delay margin for adaptive control of input delay systems with almost linear structured uncertainty. The bounded linear stability analysis method seeks to represent an adaptive law by a locally bounded linear approximation within a small time window. The time delay margin of this input delay system represents a local stability measure and is computed analytically by three methods: Pade approximation, Lyapunov-Krasovskii method, and the matrix measure method. These methods are applied to the standard model-reference adaptive control, s-modification adaptive law, and optimal control modification adaptive law. The windowing analysis results in non-unique estimates of the time delay margin since it is dependent on the length of a time window and parameters which vary from one time window to the next. The optimal control modification adaptive law overcomes this limitation in that, as the adaptive gain tends to infinity and if the matched uncertainty is linear, then the closed-loop input delay system tends to a LTI system. A lower bound of the time delay margin of this system can then be estimated uniquely without the need for the windowing analysis. Simulation results demonstrates the feasibility of the bounded linear stability method for time delay margin estimation.

  17. Feedback system for divertor impurity seeding based on real-time measurements of surface heat flux in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brunner, D.; Burke, W.; Kuang, A. Q.; LaBombard, B.; Lipschultz, B.; Wolfe, S.

    2016-02-01

    Mitigation of the intense heat flux to the divertor is one of the outstanding problems in fusion energy. One technique that has shown promise is impurity seeding, i.e., the injection of low-Z gaseous impurities (typically N2 or Ne) to radiate and dissipate the power before it arrives to the divertor target plate. To this end, the Alcator C-Mod team has created a first-of-its-kind feedback system to control the injection of seed gas based on real-time surface heat flux measurements. Surface thermocouples provide real-time measurements of the surface temperature response to the plasma heat flux. The surface temperature measurements are inputted into an analog computer that "solves" the 1-D heat transport equation to deliver accurate, real-time signals of the surface heat flux. The surface heat flux signals are sent to the C-Mod digital plasma control system, which uses a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm to control the duty cycle demand to a pulse width modulated piezo valve, which in turn controls the injection of gas into the private flux region of the C-Mod divertor. This paper presents the design and implementation of this new feedback system as well as initial results using it to control divertor heat flux.

  18. Feedback system for divertor impurity seeding based on real-time measurements of surface heat flux in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak.

    PubMed

    Brunner, D; Burke, W; Kuang, A Q; LaBombard, B; Lipschultz, B; Wolfe, S

    2016-02-01

    Mitigation of the intense heat flux to the divertor is one of the outstanding problems in fusion energy. One technique that has shown promise is impurity seeding, i.e., the injection of low-Z gaseous impurities (typically N2 or Ne) to radiate and dissipate the power before it arrives to the divertor target plate. To this end, the Alcator C-Mod team has created a first-of-its-kind feedback system to control the injection of seed gas based on real-time surface heat flux measurements. Surface thermocouples provide real-time measurements of the surface temperature response to the plasma heat flux. The surface temperature measurements are inputted into an analog computer that "solves" the 1-D heat transport equation to deliver accurate, real-time signals of the surface heat flux. The surface heat flux signals are sent to the C-Mod digital plasma control system, which uses a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm to control the duty cycle demand to a pulse width modulated piezo valve, which in turn controls the injection of gas into the private flux region of the C-Mod divertor. This paper presents the design and implementation of this new feedback system as well as initial results using it to control divertor heat flux.

  19. Smartphone application for mechanical quality assurance of medical linear accelerators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Hwiyoung; Lee, Hyunseok; In Park, Jong; Choi, Chang Heon; Park, So-Yeon; Kim, Hee Jung; Kim, Young Suk; Ye, Sung-Joon

    2017-06-01

    Mechanical quality assurance (QA) of medical linear accelerators consists of time-consuming and human-error-prone procedures. We developed a smartphone application system for mechanical QA. The system consists of two smartphones: one attached to a gantry for obtaining real-time information on the mechanical parameters of the medical linear accelerator, and another displaying real-time information via a Bluetooth connection with the former. Motion sensors embedded in the smartphone were used to measure gantry and collimator rotations. Images taken by the smartphone’s high-resolution camera were processed to evaluate accuracies of jaw-positioning, crosshair centering and source-to-surface distance (SSD). The application was developed using Android software development kit and OpenCV library. The accuracy and precision of the system was validated against an optical rotation stage and digital calipers, prior to routine QA measurements of five medical linear accelerators. The system accuracy and precision in measuring angles and lengths were determined to be 0.05  ±  0.05° and 0.25  ±  0.14 mm, respectively. The mean absolute errors (MAEs) in QA measurements of gantry and collimator rotation were 0.05  ±  0.04° and 0.05  ±  0.04°, respectively. The MAE in QA measurements of light field was 0.39  ±  0.36 mm. The MAEs in QA measurements of crosshair centering and SSD were 0.40  ±  0.35 mm and 0.41  ±  0.32 mm, respectively. In conclusion, most routine mechanical QA procedures could be performed using the smartphone application system with improved precision and within a shorter time-frame, while eliminating potential human errors.

  20. Smartphone application for mechanical quality assurance of medical linear accelerators.

    PubMed

    Kim, Hwiyoung; Lee, Hyunseok; Park, Jong In; Choi, Chang Heon; Park, So-Yeon; Kim, Hee Jung; Kim, Young Suk; Ye, Sung-Joon

    2017-06-07

    Mechanical quality assurance (QA) of medical linear accelerators consists of time-consuming and human-error-prone procedures. We developed a smartphone application system for mechanical QA. The system consists of two smartphones: one attached to a gantry for obtaining real-time information on the mechanical parameters of the medical linear accelerator, and another displaying real-time information via a Bluetooth connection with the former. Motion sensors embedded in the smartphone were used to measure gantry and collimator rotations. Images taken by the smartphone's high-resolution camera were processed to evaluate accuracies of jaw-positioning, crosshair centering and source-to-surface distance (SSD). The application was developed using Android software development kit and OpenCV library. The accuracy and precision of the system was validated against an optical rotation stage and digital calipers, prior to routine QA measurements of five medical linear accelerators. The system accuracy and precision in measuring angles and lengths were determined to be 0.05  ±  0.05° and 0.25  ±  0.14 mm, respectively. The mean absolute errors (MAEs) in QA measurements of gantry and collimator rotation were 0.05  ±  0.04° and 0.05  ±  0.04°, respectively. The MAE in QA measurements of light field was 0.39  ±  0.36 mm. The MAEs in QA measurements of crosshair centering and SSD were 0.40  ±  0.35 mm and 0.41  ±  0.32 mm, respectively. In conclusion, most routine mechanical QA procedures could be performed using the smartphone application system with improved precision and within a shorter time-frame, while eliminating potential human errors.

  1. Spatially-and Temporally-Resolved Multi-Parameter Interferometric Rayleigh Scattering System and Method

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bivolaru, Daniel (Inventor); Cutler, Andrew D. (Inventor); Danehy, Paul M. (Inventor)

    2015-01-01

    A system that simultaneously measures the translational temperature, bulk velocity, and density in gases by collecting, referencing, and analyzing nanosecond time-scale Rayleigh scattered light from molecules is described. A narrow-band pulsed laser source is used to probe two largely separated measurement locations, one of which is used for reference. The elastically scattered photons containing information from both measurement locations are collected at the same time and analyzed spectrally using a planar Fabry-Perot interferometer. A practical means of referencing the measurement of velocity using the laser frequency, and the density and temperature using the information from the reference measurement location maintained at constant properties is provided.

  2. IEEE-1588(Trademark) Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2002-12-01

    34th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting 243 IEEE-1588™ STANDARD FOR A PRECISION CLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION PROTOCOL FOR... synchronization . 2. Cyclic-systems. In cyclic-systems, timing is periodic and is usually defined by the characteristics of a cyclic network or bus...incommensurate, timing schedules for each device are easily implemented. In addition, synchronization accuracy depends on the accuracy of the common

  3. Determination of solid-propellant transient regression rates using a microwave Doppler shift technique

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Strand, L. D.; Schultz, A. L.; Reedy, G. K.

    1972-01-01

    A microwave Doppler shift system, with increased resolution over earlier microwave techniques, was developed for the purpose of measuring the regression rates of solid propellants during rapid pressure transients. A continuous microwave beam is transmitted to the base of a burning propellant sample cast in a metal waveguide tube. A portion of the wave is reflected from the regressing propellant-flame zone interface. The phase angle difference between the incident and reflected signals and its time differential are continuously measured using a high resolution microwave network analyzer and related instrumentation. The apparent propellant regression rate is directly proportional to this latter differential measurement. Experiments were conducted to verify the (1) spatial and time resolution of the system, (2) effect of propellant surface irregularities and compressibility on the measurements, and (3) accuracy of the system for quasi-steady-state regression rate measurements. The microwave system was also used in two different transient combustion experiments: in a rapid depressurization bomb, and in the high-frequency acoustic pressure environment of a T-burner.

  4. Direct measurement of catalase activity in living cells and tissue biopsies.

    PubMed

    Scaglione, Christine N; Xu, Qijin; Ramanujan, V Krishnan

    2016-01-29

    Spatiotemporal regulation of enzyme-substrate interactions governs the decision-making steps in biological systems. Enzymes, being functional units of every living cell, contribute to the macromolecular stability of cell survival, proliferation and hence are vital windows to unraveling the biological complexity. Experimental measurements capturing this dynamics of enzyme-substrate interactions in real time add value to this understanding. Furthermore these measurements, upon validation in realistic biological specimens such as clinical biopsies - can further improve our capability in disease diagnostics and treatment monitoring. Towards this direction, we describe here a novel, high-sensitive measurement system for measuring diffusion-limited enzyme-substrate kinetics in real time. Using catalase (enzyme) and hydrogen peroxide (substrate) as the example pair, we demonstrate that this system is capable of direct measurement of catalase activity in vitro and the measured kinetics follows the classical Michaelis-Menten reaction kinetics. We further demonstrate the system performance by measuring catalase activity in living cells and in very small amounts of liver biopsies (down to 1 μg total protein). Catalase-specific enzyme activity is demonstrated by genetic and pharmacological tools. Finally we show the clinically-relevant diagnostic capability of our system by comparing the catalase activities in liver biopsies from young and old mouse (liver and serum) samples. We discuss the potential applicability of this system in clinical diagnostics as well as in intraoperative surgical settings. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Direct Measurement of Catalase Activity in Living Cells and Tissue Biopsies

    PubMed Central

    Scaglione, Christine N; Xu, Qijin; Ramanujan, V. Krishnan

    2016-01-01

    Spatiotemporal regulation of enzyme-substrate interactions governs the decision-making steps in biological systems. Enzymes, being functional units of every living cell, contribute to the macromolecular stability of cell survival, proliferation and hence are vital windows to unraveling the biological complexity. Experimental measurements capturing this dynamics of enzyme-substrate interactions in real time add value to this understanding. Furthermore these measurements, upon validation in realistic biological specimens such as clinical biopsies – can further improve our capability in disease diagnostics and treatment monitoring. Towards this direction, we describe here a novel, high-sensitive measurement system for measuring diffusion-limited enzyme-substrate kinetics in real time. Using catalase (enzyme) and hydrogen peroxide (substrate) as the example pair, we demonstrate that this system is capable of direct measurement of catalase activity in vitro and the measured kinetics follows the classical Michaelis-Menten reaction kinetics. We further demonstrate the system performance by measuring catalase activity in living cells and in very small amounts of liver biopsies (down to 1μg total protein). Catalase-specific enzyme activity is demonstrated by genetic and pharamacological tools. Finally we show the clinically-relevant diagnostic capability of our system by comparing the catalase activities in liver biopsies from young and old mouse (liver and serum) samples. We discuss the potential applicability of this system in clinical diagnostics as well as in intraoperative surgical settings. PMID:26772884

  6. Predictive Trip Detection for Nuclear Power Plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rankin, Drew J.; Jiang, Jin

    2016-08-01

    This paper investigates the use of a Kalman filter (KF) to predict, within the shutdown system (SDS) of a nuclear power plant (NPP), whether safety parameter measurements have reached a trip set-point. In addition, least squares (LS) estimation compensates for prediction error due to system-model mismatch. The motivation behind predictive shutdown is to reduce the amount of time between the occurrence of a fault or failure and the time of trip detection, referred to as time-to-trip. These reductions in time-to-trip can ultimately lead to increases in safety and productivity margins. The proposed predictive SDS differs from conventional SDSs in that it compares point-predictions of the measurements, rather than sensor measurements, against trip set-points. The predictive SDS is validated through simulation and experiments for the steam generator water level safety parameter. Performance of the proposed predictive SDS is compared against benchmark conventional SDS with respect to time-to-trip. In addition, this paper analyzes: prediction uncertainty, as well as; the conditions under which it is possible to achieve reduced time-to-trip. Simulation results demonstrate that on average the predictive SDS reduces time-to-trip by an amount of time equal to the length of the prediction horizon and that the distribution of times-to-trip is approximately Gaussian. Experimental results reveal that a reduced time-to-trip can be achieved in a real-world system with unknown system-model mismatch and that the predictive SDS can be implemented with a scan time of under 100ms. Thus, this paper is a proof of concept for KF/LS-based predictive trip detection.

  7. The two-way time synchronization system via a satellite voice channel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Heng-Qiu, Zheng; Ren-Huan, Zhang; Yong-Hui, HU

    1994-01-01

    A newly developed two-way time synchronization system is described in this paper. The system uses one voice channel at a SCPC satellite digital communication earth station, whose bandwidth is only 45 kHz, thus saving satellite resources greatly. The system is composed of one master station and one or several, up to sixty-two, secondary stations. The master and secondary stations are equipped with the same equipment, including a set of timing equipment, a synthetic data terminal for time synchronizing, and a interface unit between the data terminal and the satellite earth station. The synthetic data terminal for time synchronization also has an IRIG-B code generator and a translator. The data terminal of master station is the key part of whole system. The system synchronization process is full automatic, which is controlled by the master station. Employing an autoscanning technique and conversational mode, the system accomplishes the following tasks: linking up liaison with each secondary station in turn, establishing a coarse time synchronization, calibrating date (years, months, days) and time of day (hours, minutes, seconds), precisely measuring the time difference between local station and the opposite station, exchanging measurement data, statistically processing the data, rejecting error terms, printing the data, calculating the clock difference and correcting the phase, thus realizing real-time synchronization from one point to multiple points. We also designed an adaptive phase circuit to eliminate the phase ambiguity of the PSK demodulator. The experiments have shown that the time synchronization accuracy is better than 2 mu S. The system has been put into regular operation.

  8. Development of Gravity Acceleration Measurement Using Simple Harmonic Motion Pendulum Method Based on Digital Technology and Photogate Sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yulkifli; Afandi, Zurian; Yohandri

    2018-04-01

    Development of gravitation acceleration measurement using simple harmonic motion pendulum method, digital technology and photogate sensor has been done. Digital technology is more practical and optimizes the time of experimentation. The pendulum method is a method of calculating the acceleration of gravity using a solid ball that connected to a rope attached to a stative pole. The pendulum is swung at a small angle resulted a simple harmonic motion. The measurement system consists of a power supply, Photogate sensors, Arduino pro mini and seven segments. The Arduino pro mini receives digital data from the photogate sensor and processes the digital data into the timing data of the pendulum oscillation. The calculation result of the pendulum oscillation time is displayed on seven segments. Based on measured data, the accuracy and precision of the experiment system are 98.76% and 99.81%, respectively. Based on experiment data, the system can be operated in physics experiment especially in determination of the gravity acceleration.

  9. Design verification of large time constant thermal shields for optical reference cavities.

    PubMed

    Zhang, J; Wu, W; Shi, X H; Zeng, X Y; Deng, K; Lu, Z H

    2016-02-01

    In order to achieve high frequency stability in ultra-stable lasers, the Fabry-Pérot reference cavities shall be put inside vacuum chambers with large thermal time constants to reduce the sensitivity to external temperature fluctuations. Currently, the determination of thermal time constants of vacuum chambers is based either on theoretical calculation or time-consuming experiments. The first method can only apply to simple system, while the second method will take a lot of time to try out different designs. To overcome these limitations, we present thermal time constant simulation using finite element analysis (FEA) based on complete vacuum chamber models and verify the results with measured time constants. We measure the thermal time constants using ultrastable laser systems and a frequency comb. The thermal expansion coefficients of optical reference cavities are precisely measured to reduce the measurement error of time constants. The simulation results and the experimental results agree very well. With this knowledge, we simulate several simplified design models using FEA to obtain larger vacuum thermal time constants at room temperature, taking into account vacuum pressure, shielding layers, and support structure. We adopt the Taguchi method for shielding layer optimization and demonstrate that layer material and layer number dominate the contributions to the thermal time constant, compared with layer thickness and layer spacing.

  10. Fuel flexibility via real-time Raman fuel-gas analysis for turbine system control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Buric, M.; Woodruff, S.; Chorpening, B.; Tucker, D.

    2015-06-01

    The modern energy production base in the U.S. is increasingly incorporating opportunity fuels such as biogas, coalbed methane, coal syngas, solar-derived hydrogen, and others. In many cases, suppliers operate turbine-based generation systems to efficiently utilize these diverse fuels. Unfortunately, turbine engines are difficult to control given the varying energy content of these fuels, combined with the need for a backup natural gas supply to provide continuous operation. Here, we study the use of a specially designed Raman Gas Analyzer based on capillary waveguide technology with sub-second response time for turbine control applications. The NETL Raman Gas Analyzer utilizes a low-power visible pump laser, and a capillary waveguide gas-cell to integrate large spontaneous Raman signals, and fast gas-transfer piping to facilitate quick measurements of fuel-gas components. A U.S. Department of Energy turbine facility known as HYPER (hybrid performance system) serves as a platform for apriori fuel composition measurements for turbine speed or power control. A fuel-dilution system is used to simulate a compositional upset while simultaneously measuring the resultant fuel composition and turbine response functions in real-time. The feasibility and efficacy of system control using the spontaneous Raman-based measurement system is then explored with the goal of illustrating the ability to control a turbine system using available fuel composition as an input process variable.

  11. Study on real-time elevator brake failure predictive system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Jun; Fan, Jinwei

    2013-10-01

    This paper presented a real-time failure predictive system of the elevator brake. Through inspecting the running state of the coil by a high precision long range laser triangulation non-contact measurement sensor, the displacement curve of the coil is gathered without interfering the original system. By analyzing the displacement data using the diagnostic algorithm, the hidden danger of the brake system can be discovered in time and thus avoid the according accident.

  12. Applying MDA to SDR for Space to Model Real-time Issues

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Blaser, Tammy M.

    2007-01-01

    NASA space communications systems have the challenge of designing SDRs with highly-constrained Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) resources. A study is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of applying the MDA Platform-Independent Model (PIM) and one or more Platform-Specific Models (PSM) specifically to address NASA space domain real-time issues. This paper will summarize our experiences with applying MDA to SDR for Space to model real-time issues. Real-time issues to be examined, measured, and analyzed are: meeting waveform timing requirements and efficiently applying Real-time Operating System (RTOS) scheduling algorithms, applying safety control measures, and SWaP verification. Real-time waveform algorithms benchmarked with the worst case environment conditions under the heaviest workload will drive the SDR for Space real-time PSM design.

  13. A study of time over threshold (TOT) technique for plastic scintillator counter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Jin-Jie; Heng, Yue-Kun; Sun, Zhi-Jia; Wu, Chong; Zhao, Yu-Da; Yang, Gui-An; Jiang, Chun-Hua

    2008-03-01

    A new charge measurement method, time over threshold (TOT), has been used in some gas detectors lately. Here TOT is studied for TOF system, made of plastic scintillator counter, which can simplify the electronics of the system. The signal characteristics are measured and analyzed with a high quality oscilloscope, including noise, pedestal, signal amplitude, total charge, rise time and the correlation between them. The TOT and charge are related and can be fitted by some empirical formula. The charge measurement resolution by TOT is given and this will help the design of TOF electronics. Supported by BEPCII Project, CAS Knowledge Innovation Program U602 and U-34 (IHEP)

  14. Fast scanning mode and its realization in a scanning acoustic microscope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ju, Bing-Feng; Bai, Xiaolong; Chen, Jian

    2012-03-01

    The scanning speed of the two-dimensional stage dominates the efficiency of mechanical scanning measurement systems. This paper focused on a detailed scanning time analysis of conventional raster and spiral scan modes and then proposed two fast alternative scanning modes. Performed on a self-developed scanning acoustic microscope (SAM), the measured images obtained by using the conventional scan mode and fast scan modes are compared. The total scanning time is reduced by 29% of the two proposed fast scan modes. It will offer a better solution for high speed scanning without sacrificing the system stability, and will not introduce additional difficulties to the configuration of scanning measurement systems. They can be easily applied to the mechanical scanning measuring systems with different driving actuators such as piezoelectric, linear motor, dc motor, and so on. The proposed fast raster and square spiral scan modes are realized in SAM, but not specially designed for it. Therefore, they have universal adaptability and can be applied to other scanning measurement systems with two-dimensional mechanical scanning stages, such as atomic force microscope or scanning tunneling microscope.

  15. 40 CFR 57.402 - Elements of the supplementary control system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... capable of routine real time measurement of maximum expected SO2 concentrations for the averaging times of... emission curtailment decisions based on the use of real time information from the air quality monitoring... meteorological information necessary to operate the system; (iv) The ambient concentrations and meteorological...

  16. 40 CFR 57.402 - Elements of the supplementary control system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... capable of routine real time measurement of maximum expected SO2 concentrations for the averaging times of... emission curtailment decisions based on the use of real time information from the air quality monitoring... meteorological information necessary to operate the system; (iv) The ambient concentrations and meteorological...

  17. 40 CFR 57.402 - Elements of the supplementary control system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... capable of routine real time measurement of maximum expected SO2 concentrations for the averaging times of... emission curtailment decisions based on the use of real time information from the air quality monitoring... meteorological information necessary to operate the system; (iv) The ambient concentrations and meteorological...

  18. 40 CFR 57.402 - Elements of the supplementary control system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... capable of routine real time measurement of maximum expected SO2 concentrations for the averaging times of... emission curtailment decisions based on the use of real time information from the air quality monitoring... meteorological information necessary to operate the system; (iv) The ambient concentrations and meteorological...

  19. 40 CFR 57.402 - Elements of the supplementary control system.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... capable of routine real time measurement of maximum expected SO2 concentrations for the averaging times of... emission curtailment decisions based on the use of real time information from the air quality monitoring... meteorological information necessary to operate the system; (iv) The ambient concentrations and meteorological...

  20. The estimation of recovery time of calf muscle oxygen saturation during exercise by using functional near infrared spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ansari, M. A.; Shojaeifar, M.; Mohajerani, E.

    2014-08-01

    Several methods of near infrared spectroscopy such as functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and pulse oximetry have been applied for monitoring of tissue oxygenation or arterial oxygen saturation. Some vascular diseases can be diagnosed through measurements of tissue oxygenation. In this study, the temporal variation of oxygenation of calf muscle after exercise is studied by fNIRS. First, the accuracy of a low-cost fNIRS system is studied by measuring the oxygenation of a lipid phantom. Moreover, in-vivo study is performed to evaluate the precision of this system. Then, the variation of muscle oxygenation of four persons during exercise is measured and also the recovery time after walking/running is measured by this fNIRS system.

  1. Remote wind sensing with a CW diode laser lidar beyond the coherence regime.

    PubMed

    Hu, Qi; Rodrigo, Peter John; Pedersen, Christian

    2014-08-15

    We experimentally demonstrate for the first time (to our knowledge) a coherent CW lidar system capable of wind speed measurement at a probing distance beyond the coherence regime of the light source. A side-by-side wind measurement was conducted on the field using two lidar systems with identical optical designs but different laser linewidths. While one system was operating within the coherence regime, the other was measuring at least 2.4 times the coherence range. The probing distance of both lidars is 85 m and the radial wind speed correlation was measured to be r2=0.965 between the two lidars at a sampling rate of 2 Hz. Based on our experimental results, we describe a practical guideline for designing a wind lidar operating beyond the coherence regime.

  2. A laser measurement system with multi-degree-of-freedom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Long, Lingli; Yang, Liangen; Wang, Xuanze; Zhai, Zhongsheng

    2008-10-01

    A new five-degree-of-freedom measuring system was developed as a linear guide. According to the principle of autocollimation, the system consisted of two semiconductor lasers, two right angle prisms, two lenses, two polarization spectroscopes and four quadrant Si-photoelectric detectors(QPD). Two axial displacements and three angular rotation degrees are measured by comparing the position of the spot center on the QPD. Repetitive simulations show that the accuracy of the system is 3" for measurement of angle, which proves the feasibility of this system. The advantages of the system include simple structure, easy operation, high accuracy, low cost and real-time work.

  3. The METAL System. Volume I and Volume II. Appendices.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-01-01

    demands , and fair CPU time were measured. The fair measure reported here includes the pure CPU time plus a pro-rated portion of the time consumed by the...syntactic class or the form matched . NO = noun VB = verb OTR = other part of speech IT-12 Although the above feature is not used by the system at present...indicate the syntactic class of the form matched . NO = noun other than gerund ("content", "dark", "African") INF = infinitive ("direct", "equal", "content

  4. A compact 45 kV curve tracer with picoampere current measurement capability.

    PubMed

    Sullivan, W W; Mauch, D; Bullick, A; Hettler, C; Neuber, A; Dickens, J

    2013-03-01

    This paper discusses a compact high voltage curve tracer for high voltage semiconductor device characterization. The system sources up to 3 mA at up to 45 kV in dc conditions. It measures from 328 V to 60 kV with 15 V resolution and from 9.4 pA to 4 mA with 100 fA minimum resolution. Control software for the system is written in Microsoft Visual C# and features real-time measurement control and IV plotting, arc-protection and detection, an electrically isolated universal serial bus interface, and easy data exporting capabilities. The system has survived numerous catastrophic high voltage device-under-test arcing failures with no loss of measurement capability or system damage. Overall sweep times are typically under 2 min, and the curve tracer system was used to characterize the blocking performance of high voltage ceramic capacitors, high voltage silicon carbide photoconductive semiconductor switches, and high voltage coaxial cable.

  5. High-resolution measurements of surface topography with airborne laser altimetry and the global positioning system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Garvin, James B.; Bufton, Jack L.; Cavanaugh, John F.; Krabill, William B.; Clem, Thomas D.; Frederick, Earl B.; Ward, John L.

    1991-01-01

    Recently, an airborne lidar system that measures laser pulse time-of-flight and the distortion of the pulse waveform upon reflection from earth surface terrain features was developed and is now operational. This instrument is combined with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and a two-axis gyroscope for accurate recovery of aircraft position and pointing attitude. The laser altimeter system is mounted on a high-altitude aircraft platform and operated in a repetitively-pulsed mode for measurements of surface elevation profiles at nadir. The laser transmitter makes use of recently developed short-pulse diode-pumped solid-state laser technology in Q-switched Nd:YAG operating at its fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm. A reflector telescope and silicon avalanche photodiode are the basis of the optical receiver. A high-speed time-interval unit and a separate high-bandwidth waveform digitizer under microcomputer control are used to process the backscattered pulses for measurements of terrain. Other aspects of the lidar system are briefly discussed.

  6. Development of a fluorescence endoscopic system for pH mapping of gastric tissue

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rochon, Philippe; Mordon, Serge; Buys, Bruno; Dhelin, Guy; Lesage, Jean C.; Chopin, Claude

    2003-10-01

    Measurement of gastro intestinal intramucosal pH (pHim) has been recognized as an important factor in the detection of hypoxia induced dysfonctions. However, current pH measurements techniques are limited in terms of time and spatial resolutions. A major advance in accurate pH measurement was the development of the ratiometric fluorescent indicator dye, 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5,6-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF). BCECF which pKa is in the physiological pH range is suitable for pH tissue measurements in vivo. This study aimed to develop and evaluate an endoscopic imaging system for real time pH measurements in the stomach in order to provide to ICU a new tool for gastro intestinal intramucosal pH (pHim) measurements. This fluorescence imaging technique should allow the temporal exploration of sequential events, particularly in ICU where the pHim provides a predictive information of the patient' status. The experimental evaluations of this new and innovative endoscopic fluorescence system confirms the accuracy of pH measurement using BCECF.

  7. Highly accurate pulse-per-second timing distribution over optical fibre network using VCSEL side-mode injection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wassin, Shukree; Isoe, George M.; Gamatham, Romeo R. G.; Leitch, Andrew W. R.; Gibbon, Tim B.

    2017-01-01

    Precise and accurate timing signals distributed between a centralized location and several end-users are widely used in both metro-access and speciality networks for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), GPS satellite systems, banking, very long baseline interferometry and science projects such as SKA radio telescope. Such systems utilize time and frequency technology to ensure phase coherence among data signals distributed across an optical fibre network. For accurate timing requirements, precise time intervals should be measured between successive pulses. In this paper we describe a novel, all optical method for quantifying one-way propagation times and phase perturbations in the fibre length, using pulse-persecond (PPS) signals. The approach utilizes side mode injection of a 1550nm 10Gbps vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) at the remote end. A 125 μs one-way time of flight was accurately measured for 25 km G655 fibre. Since the approach is all-optical, it avoids measurement inaccuracies introduced by electro-optical conversion phase delays. Furthermore, the implementation uses cost effective VCSEL technology and suited to a flexible range of network architectures, supporting a number of end-users conducting measurements at the remote end.

  8. Toward Real-Time Classification of Wake Regimes from Sensor Measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Mengying; Hemati, Maziar S.

    2017-11-01

    Hydrodynamic signals can transmit information that can be used by marine swimmers to detect disturbances in the local environment. Biological swimmers are able to sense and detect these signals with their hydrodynamic receptor systems. Recently, similar flow sensing systems have been developed with an aim to improve swimming efficiency in human-engineered underwater vehicles. A key part of the sensing strategy is to first classify wake structures in the external fluid, then to execute suitable control actions accordingly. In our previous work, we showed that a variety of 2S and 2P wakes can be distinguished based on time signatures of surface sensor measurements. However, we assumed access to the full dataset. In this talk, we extend our previous findings to classify wake regimes from sensor measurements in real-time, using a recursive Fast Fourier Transform algorithm. Wakes in different dynamical regimes, which may also vary in time, can be distinguished using our approach. Our results provide insights for enhancing hydrodynamic sensory capabilities in human-engineered systems.

  9. Demonstrating real-time feedback that enhances the performance of measurement sequence with cat states in a cavity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ofek, N.; Petrenko, A.; Liu, Y.; Vlastakis, B.; Sun, L.; Leghtas, Z.; Heeres, R.; Sliwa, K. M.; Mirrahimi, M.; Jiang, L.; Devoret, M. H.; Schoelkopf, R. J.

    2015-03-01

    Real-time feedback offers not just the convenience of streamlined data acquisition, but is an essential element in any quantum computational architecture that requires branching based on measurement outcomes. State-preparation, mitigating the effects of qubit decoherence, and recording the trajectories of quantum systems are just a few of the many potential applications of real-time feedback. Photon number parity measurements of cat states in superconducting resonators are a particularly useful platform for demonstrating the clear advantages of having sophisticated feedback schemes to enhance the performance a proposed error-correction protocol [Leghtas et.al. PRL 2013]. In a cQED architecture, where a transmon qubit is coupled to two superconducting cavities, we present a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) device capable of making decisions and calculations with latency times far shorter than the lifetimes of any of the system's constituents. This level of performance opens the door to realizing many complex, previously unfeasible, experiments in superconducting qubit systems.

  10. Real-time tracking using stereo and motion: Visual perception for space robotics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishihara, H. Keith; Thomas, Hans; Huber, Eric; Reid, C. Ann

    1994-01-01

    The state-of-the-art in computing technology is rapidly attaining the performance necessary to implement many early vision algorithms at real-time rates. This new capability is helping to accelerate progress in vision research by improving our ability to evaluate the performance of algorithms in dynamic environments. In particular, we are becoming much more aware of the relative stability of various visual measurements in the presence of camera motion and system noise. This new processing speed is also allowing us to raise our sights toward accomplishing much higher-level processing tasks, such as figure-ground separation and active object tracking, in real-time. This paper describes a methodology for using early visual measurements to accomplish higher-level tasks; it then presents an overview of the high-speed accelerators developed at Teleos to support early visual measurements. The final section describes the successful deployment of a real-time vision system to provide visual perception for the Extravehicular Activity Helper/Retriever robotic system in tests aboard NASA's KC135 reduced gravity aircraft.

  11. A new front-face optical cell for measuring weak fluorescent emissions with time resolution in the picosecond time scale.

    PubMed

    Gryczynski, Z; Bucci, E

    1993-11-01

    Recent developments of ultrafast fluorimeters allow measuring time-resolved fluorescence on the picosecond time scale. This implies one is able to monitor lifetimes and anisotropy decays of highly quenched systems and of systems that contain fluorophores having lifetimes in the subnanosecond range; both systems that emit weak signals. The combination of weak signals and very short lifetimes makes the measurements prone to distortions which are negligible in standard fluorescence experiments. To cope with these difficulties, we have designed a new optical cell for front-face optics which offers to the excitation beam a horizontal free liquid surface in the absence of interactions with optical windows. The new cell has been tested with probes of known lifetimes and anisotropies. It proved very useful in detecting tryptophan fluorescence in hemoglobin. If only diluted samples are available, which cannot be used in front-face optics, regular square geometry can still be utilized by inserting light absorbers into a cuvette of 1 cm path length.

  12. The development and validation of using inertial sensors to monitor postural change in resistance exercise.

    PubMed

    Gleadhill, Sam; Lee, James Bruce; James, Daniel

    2016-05-03

    This research presented and validated a method of assessing postural changes during resistance exercise using inertial sensors. A simple lifting task was broken down to a series of well-defined tasks, which could be examined and measured in a controlled environment. The purpose of this research was to determine whether timing measures obtained from inertial sensor accelerometer outputs are able to provide accurate, quantifiable information of resistance exercise movement patterns. The aim was to complete a timing measure validation of inertial sensor outputs. Eleven participants completed five repetitions of 15 different deadlift variations. Participants were monitored with inertial sensors and an infrared three dimensional motion capture system. Validation was undertaken using a Will Hopkins Typical Error of the Estimate, with a Pearson׳s correlation and a Bland Altman Limits of Agreement analysis. Statistical validation measured the timing agreement during deadlifts, from inertial sensor outputs and the motion capture system. Timing validation results demonstrated a Pearson׳s correlation of 0.9997, with trivial standardised error (0.026) and standardised bias (0.002). Inertial sensors can now be used in practical settings with as much confidence as motion capture systems, for accelerometer timing measurements of resistance exercise. This research provides foundations for inertial sensors to be applied for qualitative activity recognition of resistance exercise and safe lifting practices. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Impact during equine locomotion: techniques for measurement and analysis.

    PubMed

    Burn, J F; Wilson, A; Nason, G P

    1997-05-01

    Impact is implicated in the development of several types of musculoskeletal injury in the horse. Characterisation of impact experienced during strenuous exercise is an important first step towards understanding the mechanism for injury. Measurement and analysis of large, short duration impacts is difficult. The measurement system must be able to record transient peaks and high frequencies accurately. The analysis technique must be able to characterise the impact signal in time and frequency. This paper presents a measurement system and analysis technique for the characterisation of large impacts. A piezo-electric accelerometer was securely mounted on the dorsal surface of the horses hoof. Saddle mounted charge amplifiers and a 20 m coaxial cable transferred these data to a PC based logging system. Data were down-loaded onto a UNIX workstation and analysed using a proprietary statistics package. The values of parameters calculated from the time series data were comparable to those of other authors. A wavelet decomposition showed that the frequency profile of the signal changed with time. While most spectral energy was seen at impact, a significant amount of energy was contained in the signal immediately following impact. Over 99% of this energy was contained in frequencies less than 1250 Hz. The sampling rate and the frequency response of a measurement system for recording impact should be chosen carefully to prevent loss or corruption of data. Time scale analysis using a wavelet decomposition is a powerful technique which can be used to characterise impact data. The use of contour plots provides a highly visual representation of the time and frequency localisation of power during impact.

  14. Development of statistical models to forecast crossing times of commercial vehicles.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-07-01

    Border crossing time measurement systems for commercial vehicles are being implemented throughout : the U.S.-Mexico border. These systems are based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. : With funding from the Federal Highway Administr...

  15. Bluetooth-based travel time/speed measuring systems development.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-06-01

    Agencies in the Houston region have traditionally used toll tag readers to provide travel times on : freeways and High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, but these systems require large amounts of costly and : physically invasive infrastructure. Bluetoot...

  16. Dilution cycle control for an absorption refrigeration system

    DOEpatents

    Reimann, Robert C.

    1984-01-01

    A dilution cycle control system for an absorption refrigeration system is disclosed. The control system includes a time delay relay for sensing shutdown of the absorption refrigeration system and for generating a control signal only after expiration of a preselected time period measured from the sensed shutdown of the absorption refrigeration system, during which the absorption refrigeration system is not restarted. A dilution cycle for the absorption refrigeration system is initiated in response to generation of a control signal by the time delay relay. This control system is particularly suitable for use with an absorption refrigeration system which is frequently cycled on and off since the time delay provided by the control system prevents needless dilution of the absorption refrigeration system when the system is turned off for only a short period of time and then is turned back on.

  17. High-Speed Terahertz Waveform Measurement for Intense Terahertz Light Using 100-kHz Yb-Doped Fiber Laser.

    PubMed

    Tsubouchi, Masaaki; Nagashima, Keisuke

    2018-06-14

    We demonstrate a high-speed terahertz (THz) waveform measurement system for intense THz light with a scan rate of 100 Hz. To realize the high scan rate, a loudspeaker vibrating at 50 Hz is employed to scan the delay time between THz light and electro-optic sampling light. Because the fast scan system requires a high data sampling rate, we develop an Yb-doped fiber laser with a repetition rate of 100 kHz optimized for effective THz light generation with the output electric field of 1 kV/cm. The present system drastically reduces the measurement time of the THz waveform from several minutes to 10 ms.

  18. Self-Validating Thermocouple

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Perotti, Jose M. (Inventor); Mata, Carlos T. (Inventor); Santiago, Josephine B. (Inventor); Vokrot, Peter (Inventor); Zavala, Carlos E. (Inventor); Burns, Bradley M. (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    Self-Validating Thermocouple (SVT) Systems capable of detecting sensor probe open circuits, short circuits, and unnoticeable faults such as a probe debonding and probe degradation are useful in the measurement of temperatures. SVT Systems provide such capabilities by incorporating a heating or excitation element into the measuring junction of the thermocouple. By heating the measuring junction and observing the decay time for the detected DC voltage signal, it is possible to indicate whether the thermocouple is bonded or debonded. A change in the thermal transfer function of the thermocouple system causes a change in the rise and decay times of the thermocouple output. Incorporation of the excitation element does not interfere with normal thermocouple operation, thus further allowing traditional validation procedures as well.

  19. Portable measurement system for real-time acquisition and analysis of in-vivo spatially resolved reflectance in the subdiffusive regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Naglič, Peter; Ivančič, Matic; Pernuš, Franjo; Likar, Boštjan; Bürmen, Miran

    2018-02-01

    A measurement system was developed to acquire and analyze subdiffusive spatially resolved reflectance using an optical fiber probe with short source-detector separations. Since subdiffusive reflectance significantly depends on the scattering phase function, the analysis of the acquired reflectance is based on a novel inverse Monte Carlo model that allows estimation of phase function related parameters in addition to the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients. In conjunction with our measurement system, the model allowed real-time estimation of optical properties, which we demonstrate for a case of dynamically induced changes in human skin by applying pressure with an optical fiber probe.

  20. Identifying Optimal Temporal Scale for the Correlation of AOD and Ground Measurements of PM2.5 to Improve the Modeling Performance in a Real-Time Air Quality Estimation System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Li,Hui; Faruque, Fazlay; Williams, Worth; Al-Hamdan, Mohammad; Luvall, Jeffrey; Crosson, William; Rickman, Douglas; Limaye, Ashutosh

    2008-01-01

    Aerosol optical depth (AOD), derived from satellite measurements using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), offers indirect estimates of particle matter. Research shows a significant positive correlation between satellite-based measurements of AOD and ground-based measurements of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5). In addition, satellite observations have also shown great promise in improving estimates of PM2.5 air quality surface. Research shows that correlations between AOD and ground PM2.5 are affected by a combination of many factors such as inherent characteristics of satellite observations, terrain, cloud cover, height of the mixing layer, and weather conditions, and thus might vary widely in different regions, different seasons, and even different days in a same location. Analysis of correlating AOD with ground measured PM2.5 on a day-to-day basis suggests the temporal scale, a number of immediate latest days for a given run's day, for their correlations needs to be considered to improve air quality surface estimates, especially when satellite observations are used in a real-time pollution system. The second reason is that correlation coefficients between AOD and ground PM2.5 cannot be predetermined and needs to be calculated for each day's run for a real-time system because the coefficients can vary over space and time. Few studies have been conducted to explore the optimal way to apply AOD data to improve model accuracies of PM2.5 surface estimation in a real-time air quality system. This paper discusses the best temporal scale to calculate the correlation of AOD and ground particle matter data to improve the results of pollution models in real-time system.

  1. Autonomous Quantum Clocks: Does Thermodynamics Limit Our Ability to Measure Time?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Erker, Paul; Mitchison, Mark T.; Silva, Ralph; Woods, Mischa P.; Brunner, Nicolas; Huber, Marcus

    2017-07-01

    Time remains one of the least well-understood concepts in physics, most notably in quantum mechanics. A central goal is to find the fundamental limits of measuring time. One of the main obstacles is the fact that time is not an observable and thus has to be measured indirectly. Here, we explore these questions by introducing a model of time measurements that is complete and autonomous. Specifically, our autonomous quantum clock consists of a system out of thermal equilibrium—a prerequisite for any system to function as a clock—powered by minimal resources, namely, two thermal baths at different temperatures. Through a detailed analysis of this specific clock model, we find that the laws of thermodynamics dictate a trade-off between the amount of dissipated heat and the clock's performance in terms of its accuracy and resolution. Our results furthermore imply that a fundamental entropy production is associated with the operation of any autonomous quantum clock, assuming that quantum machines cannot achieve perfect efficiency at finite power. More generally, autonomous clocks provide a natural framework for the exploration of fundamental questions about time in quantum theory and beyond.

  2. Turbine blade tip clearance measurement using a skewed dual-beam fiber optic sensor

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ye, De-chao; Duan, Fa-jie; Guo, Hao-tian; Li, Yangzong; Wang, Kai

    2012-08-01

    Optimization and active control of the tip clearance of turbine blades has been identified as a key to improve fuel efficiency, reduce emission, and increase service life of the engine. However, reliable and real-time tip clearance measurement is difficult due to the adverse environmental conditions that are typically found in a turbine. We describe a dual-beam fiber optic measurement system that can measure the tip timing and tip clearance simultaneously. Because the tip timing information is used to calculate the tip clearance, the method is insensitive to the signal intensity variation caused by fluctuations in environmental conditions such as light source instability, contamination, and blade tip imperfection. The system was calibrated and tested using experimental rotors. The test results indicated a high resolution of 4.5 μm and measurement accuracy of ±20 μm over the rotation speed range of 2000 to 10,000 rpm.

  3. Measuring restriction sizes using diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging: a review.

    PubMed

    Martin, Melanie

    2013-01-01

    This article reviews a new concept in magnetic resonance as applied to cellular and biological systems. Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging can be used to infer information about restriction sizes of samples being measured. The measurements rely on the apparent diffusion coefficient changing with diffusion times as measurements move from restricted to free diffusion regimes. Pulsed gradient spin echo (PGSE) measurements are limited in the ability to shorten diffusion times and thus are limited in restriction sizes which can be probed. Oscillating gradient spin echo (OGSE) measurements could provide shorter diffusion times so smaller restriction sizes could be probed.

  4. Real-time measurements of radon activity with the Timepix-based RADONLITE and RADONPIX detectors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Caresana, M.; Garlati, L.; Murtas, F.; Romano, S.; Severino, C. T.; Silari, M.

    2014-11-01

    Radon gas is the most important source of ionizing radiation among those of natural origin. Two new systems for radon measurement based on the Timepix silicon detector were developed. The positively charged radon daughters are electrostatically collected on the surface of the Si detector and their energy spectrum measured. Pattern recognition of the tracks on the sensor and particle identification are used to determine number and energy of the alpha particles and to subtract the background, allowing for efficient radon detection. The systems include an algorithm for real-time measurement of the radon concentration and the calculation of the effective dose to the lungs.

  5. A home-made system for IPCE measurement of standard and dye-sensitized solar cells.

    PubMed

    Palma, Giuseppina; Cozzarini, Luca; Capria, Ennio; Fraleoni-Morgera, Alessandro

    2015-01-01

    A home-made system for incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) characterization, based on a double-beam UV-Vis spectrophotometer, has been set up. In addition to its low cost (compared to the commercially available apparatuses), the double-beam configuration gives the advantage to measure, autonomously and with no need for supplementary equipment, the lamp power in real time, compensating possible variations of the spectral emission intensity and quality, thus reducing measurement times. To manage the optical and electronic components of the system, a custom software has been developed. Validations carried out on a common silicon-based photodiode and on a dye-sensitized solar cell confirm the possibility to adopt this system for determining the IPCE of solar cells, including dye-sensitized ones.

  6. Measurement of bow tie profiles in CT scanners using a real-time dosimeter

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Whiting, Bruce R., E-mail: whitingbrucer@gmail.com; Evans, Joshua D.; Williamson, Jeffrey F.

    2014-10-15

    Purpose: Several areas of computed tomography (CT) research require knowledge about the intensity profile of the x-ray fan beam that is introduced by a bow tie filter. This information is considered proprietary by CT manufacturers, so noninvasive measurement methods are required. One method using real-time dosimeters has been proposed in the literature. A commercially available dosimeter was used to apply that method, and analysis techniques were developed to extract fan beam profiles from measurements. Methods: A real-time ion chamber was placed near the periphery of an empty CT gantry and the dose rate versus time waveform was recorded as themore » x-ray source rotated about the isocenter. In contrast to previously proposed analysis methods that assumed a pointlike detector, the finite-size ion chamber received varying amounts of coverage by the collimated x-ray beam during rotation, precluding a simple relationship between the source intensity as a function of fan beam angle and measured intensity. A two-parameter model for measurement intensity was developed that included both effective collimation width and source-to-detector distance, which then was iteratively solved to minimize the error between duplicate measurements at corresponding fan beam angles, allowing determination of the fan beam profile from measured dose-rate waveforms. Measurements were performed on five different scanner systems while varying parameters such as collimation, kVp, and bow tie filters. On one system, direct measurements of the bow tie profile were collected for comparison with the real-time dosimeter technique. Results: The data analysis method for a finite-size detector was found to produce a fan beam profile estimate with a relative error between duplicate measurement intensities of <5%. It was robust over a wide range of collimation widths (e.g., 1–40 mm), producing fan beam profiles that agreed with a relative error of 1%–5%. Comparison with a direct measurement technique on one system produced agreement with a relative error of 2%–6%. Fan beam profiles were found to differ for different filter types on a given system and between different vendors. Conclusions: A commercially available real-time dosimeter probe was found to be a convenient and accurate instrument for measuring fan beam profiles. An analysis method was developed that could handle a wide range of collimation widths by explicitly considering the finite width of the ion chamber. Relative errors in the profiles were found to be less than 5%. Measurements of five different clinical scanners demonstrate the variation in bow tie designs, indicating that generic bow tie models will not be adequate for CT system research.« less

  7. A comparison of commercial and custom-made electronic tracking systems to measure patient flow through an ambulatory clinic.

    PubMed

    Vakili, Sharif; Pandit, Ravi; Singman, Eric L; Appelbaum, Jeffrey; Boland, Michael V

    2015-10-29

    Understanding how patients move through outpatient clinics is important for optimizing clinic processes. This study compares the costs, benefits, and challenges of two clinically important methods for measuring patient flow: (1) a commercial system using infrared (IR) technology that passively tracks patient movements and (2) a custom-built, low cost, networked radio frequency identification (RFID) system that requires active swiping by patients at proximity card readers. Readers for both the IR and RFID systems were installed in the General Eye Service of the Wilmer Eye Institute. Participants were given both IR and RFID tags to measure the time they spent in various clinic stations. Simultaneously, investigators recorded the times at which patients moved between rooms. These measurements were considered the standard against which the other methods were compared. One hundred twelve patients generated a total of 252 events over the course of 6 days. The proportion of events successfully recorded by the RFID system (83.7%) was significantly greater than that obtained with the IR system (75.4%, p < 0.001). The cause of the missing events using the IR method was found to be a signal interruption between the patient tags and the check-in desk receiver. Excluding those data, the IR system successfully recorded 94.4% of events (p = 0.002; OR = 3.83 compared to the RFID system). There was no statistical difference between the IR, RFID, and manual time measurements (p > 0.05 for all comparisons). Both RFID and IR methods are effective at providing patient flow information. The custom-made RFID system was as accurate as IR and was installed at about 10% the cost. Given its significantly lower costs, the RFID option may be an appealing option for smaller clinics with more limited budgets.

  8. Prefire identification for pulse-power systems

    DOEpatents

    Longmire, J.L.; Thuot, M.E.; Warren, D.S.

    1982-08-23

    Prefires in a high-power, high-frequency, multi-stage pulse generator are detected by a system having an EMI shielded pulse timing transmitter associated with and tailored to each stage of the pulse generator. Each pulse timing transmitter upon detection of a pulse triggers a laser diode to send an optical signal through a high frequency fiber optic cable to a pulse timing receiver which converts the optical signal to an electrical pulse. The electrical pulses from all pulse timing receivers are fed through an OR circuit to start a time interval measuring device and each electrical pulse is used to stop an individual channel in the measuring device thereby recording the firing sequence of the multi-stage pulse generator.

  9. Prefire identification for pulse power systems

    DOEpatents

    Longmire, Jerry L.; Thuot, Michael E.; Warren, David S.

    1985-01-01

    Prefires in a high-power, high-frequency, multi-stage pulse generator are detected by a system having an EMI shielded pulse timing transmitter associated with and tailored to each stage of the pulse generator. Each pulse timing transmitter upon detection of a pulse triggers a laser diode to send an optical signal through a high frequency fiber optic cable to a pulse timing receiver which converts the optical signal to an electrical pulse. The electrical pulses from all pulse timing receivers are fed through an OR circuit to start a time interval measuring device and each electrical pulse is used to stop an individual channel in the measuring device thereby recording the firing sequence of the multi-stage pulse generator.

  10. Optimal estimation of parameters and states in stochastic time-varying systems with time delay

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torkamani, Shahab; Butcher, Eric A.

    2013-08-01

    In this study estimation of parameters and states in stochastic linear and nonlinear delay differential systems with time-varying coefficients and constant delay is explored. The approach consists of first employing a continuous time approximation to approximate the stochastic delay differential equation with a set of stochastic ordinary differential equations. Then the problem of parameter estimation in the resulting stochastic differential system is represented as an optimal filtering problem using a state augmentation technique. By adapting the extended Kalman-Bucy filter to the resulting system, the unknown parameters of the time-delayed system are estimated from noise-corrupted, possibly incomplete measurements of the states.

  11. Discharge-measurement system using an acoustic Doppler current profiler with applications to large rivers and estuaries

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Simpson, Michael R.; Oltmann, Richard N.

    1993-01-01

    Discharge measurement of large rivers and estuaries is difficult, time consuming, and sometimes dangerous. Frequently, discharge measurements cannot be made in tide-affected rivers and estuaries using conventional discharge-measurement techniques because of dynamic discharge conditions. The acoustic Doppler discharge-measurement system (ADDMS) was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey using a vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler coupled with specialized computer software to measure horizontal water velocity at 1-meter vertical intervals in the water column. The system computes discharge from water-and vessel-velocity data supplied by the ADDMS using vector-algebra algorithms included in the discharge-measurement software. With this system, a discharge measurement can be obtained by engaging the computer software and traversing a river or estuary from bank to bank; discharge in parts of the river or estuarine cross sections that cannot be measured because of ADDMS depth limitations are estimated by the system. Comparisons of ADDMS-measured discharges with ultrasonic-velocity-meter-measured discharges, along with error-analysis data, have confirmed that discharges provided by the ADDMS are at least as accurate as those produced using conventional methods. In addition, the advantage of a much shorter measurement time (2 minutes using the ADDMS compared with 1 hour or longer using conventional methods) has enabled use of the ADDMS for several applications where conventional discharge methods could not have been used with the required accuracy because of dynamic discharge conditions.

  12. Sub-millisecond electron density profile measurement at the JET tokamak with the fast lithium beam emission spectroscopy system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Réfy, D. I.; Brix, M.; Gomes, R.; Tál, B.; Zoletnik, S.; Dunai, D.; Kocsis, G.; Kálvin, S.; Szabolics, T.; JET Contributors

    2018-04-01

    Diagnostic alkali atom (e.g., lithium) beams are routinely used to diagnose magnetically confined plasmas, namely, to measure the plasma electron density profile in the edge and the scrape off layer region. A light splitting optics system was installed into the observation system of the lithium beam emission spectroscopy diagnostic at the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak, which allows simultaneous measurement of the beam light emission with a spectrometer and a fast avalanche photodiode (APD) camera. The spectrometer measurement allows density profile reconstruction with ˜10 ms time resolution, absolute position calculation from the Doppler shift, spectral background subtraction as well as relative intensity calibration of the channels for each discharge. The APD system is capable of measuring light intensities on the microsecond time scale. However ˜100 μs integration is needed to have an acceptable signal to noise ratio due to moderate light levels. Fast modulation of the beam up to 30 kHz is implemented which allows background subtraction on the 100 μs time scale. The measurement covers the 0.9 < ρpol < 1.1 range with 6-10 mm optical resolution at the measurement location which translates to 3-5 mm radial resolution at the midplane due to flux expansion. An automated routine has been developed which performs the background subtraction, the relative calibration, and the comprehensive error calculation, runs a Bayesian density reconstruction code, and loads results to the JET database. The paper demonstrates the capability of the APD system by analyzing fast phenomena like pellet injection and edge localized modes.

  13. Multi-Sensor Based Online Attitude Estimation and Stability Measurement of Articulated Heavy Vehicles.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Qingyuan; Xiao, Chunsheng; Hu, Huosheng; Liu, Yuanhui; Wu, Jinjin

    2018-01-13

    Articulated wheel loaders used in the construction industry are heavy vehicles and have poor stability and a high rate of accidents because of the unpredictable changes of their body posture, mass and centroid position in complex operation environments. This paper presents a novel distributed multi-sensor system for real-time attitude estimation and stability measurement of articulated wheel loaders to improve their safety and stability. Four attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS) are constructed using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors, and installed on the front body, rear body, rear axis and boom of an articulated wheel loader to detect its attitude. A complementary filtering algorithm is deployed for sensor data fusion in the system so that steady state margin angle (SSMA) can be measured in real time and used as the judge index of rollover stability. Experiments are conducted on a prototype wheel loader, and results show that the proposed multi-sensor system is able to detect potential unstable states of an articulated wheel loader in real-time and with high accuracy.

  14. Blade Vibration Measurement System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Platt, Michael J.

    2014-01-01

    The Phase I project successfully demonstrated that an advanced noncontacting stress measurement system (NSMS) could improve classification of blade vibration response in terms of mistuning and closely spaced modes. The Phase II work confirmed the microwave sensor design process, modified the sensor so it is compatible as an upgrade to existing NSMS, and improved and finalized the NSMS software. The result will be stand-alone radar/tip timing radar signal conditioning for current conventional NSMS users (as an upgrade) and new users. The hybrid system will use frequency data and relative mode vibration levels from the radar sensor to provide substantially superior capabilities over current blade-vibration measurement technology. This frequency data, coupled with a reduced number of tip timing probes, will result in a system capable of detecting complex blade vibrations that would confound traditional NSMS systems. The hardware and software package was validated on a compressor rig at Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI). Finally, the hybrid radar/tip timing NSMS software package and associated sensor hardware will be installed for use in the NASA Glenn spin pit test facility.

  15. Multi-Sensor Based Online Attitude Estimation and Stability Measurement of Articulated Heavy Vehicles

    PubMed Central

    Xiao, Chunsheng; Liu, Yuanhui; Wu, Jinjin

    2018-01-01

    Articulated wheel loaders used in the construction industry are heavy vehicles and have poor stability and a high rate of accidents because of the unpredictable changes of their body posture, mass and centroid position in complex operation environments. This paper presents a novel distributed multi-sensor system for real-time attitude estimation and stability measurement of articulated wheel loaders to improve their safety and stability. Four attitude and heading reference systems (AHRS) are constructed using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) sensors, and installed on the front body, rear body, rear axis and boom of an articulated wheel loader to detect its attitude. A complementary filtering algorithm is deployed for sensor data fusion in the system so that steady state margin angle (SSMA) can be measured in real time and used as the judge index of rollover stability. Experiments are conducted on a prototype wheel loader, and results show that the proposed multi-sensor system is able to detect potential unstable states of an articulated wheel loader in real-time and with high accuracy. PMID:29342850

  16. A New Non-Destructive TDR System Combined with a Piezoelectric Stack for Measuring Properties of Geomaterials

    PubMed Central

    Choi, Chanyong; Song, Minwoo; Kim, Daehyeon; Yu, Xiong

    2016-01-01

    Dry density and water content are two important factors affecting the degree of soil compaction. Conventional methods such as the sand cone test and the plate load test are used to measure such properties for evaluating the degree of compaction and the stiffness of soil in the field. However, these tests are generally very time-consuming and are inherent with some errors depending on the operator (in particular for the sand cone test). Elastic modulus is an indicator to describe the stress-strain behavior of soil and in some cases is used as a design input parameter. Although a rod type TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) system has been recently proposed to overcome some shortcomings of the conventional methods (particularly the sand cone test), it requires driving the probes into the ground, thus implying that it is still a time-consuming and destructive testing method. This study aims to develop a new non-destructive TDR system that can rapidly measure the dry density, water content, and elastic modulus of soil on the surface of compacted soil, without disturbing the ground. In this study, the Piezoelectric Stack, which is an instrument for measuring the elastic modulus of soil, has been added to the TDR system with a flat type probe, leading to a non-destructive TDR system that is capable of measuring the dry density, water content, and elastic modulus of soil. The new TDR system developed is light enough for an engineer to carry. Results of the standard compaction and TDR tests on sand showed that the dry densities and the moisture contents measured with the new TDR system were in good agreement with those measured with the standard compaction test, respectively. Consequently, it appears that the new TDR system developed will be very useful to advance the current practice of compaction quality control. PMID:28773563

  17. A New Non-Destructive TDR System Combined with a Piezoelectric Stack for Measuring Properties of Geomaterials.

    PubMed

    Choi, Chanyong; Song, Minwoo; Kim, Daehyeon; Yu, Xiong

    2016-06-02

    Dry density and water content are two important factors affecting the degree of soil compaction. Conventional methods such as the sand cone test and the plate load test are used to measure such properties for evaluating the degree of compaction and the stiffness of soil in the field. However, these tests are generally very time-consuming and are inherent with some errors depending on the operator (in particular for the sand cone test). Elastic modulus is an indicator to describe the stress-strain behavior of soil and in some cases is used as a design input parameter. Although a rod type TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry) system has been recently proposed to overcome some shortcomings of the conventional methods (particularly the sand cone test), it requires driving the probes into the ground, thus implying that it is still a time-consuming and destructive testing method. This study aims to develop a new non-destructive TDR system that can rapidly measure the dry density, water content, and elastic modulus of soil on the surface of compacted soil, without disturbing the ground. In this study, the Piezoelectric Stack, which is an instrument for measuring the elastic modulus of soil, has been added to the TDR system with a flat type probe, leading to a non-destructive TDR system that is capable of measuring the dry density, water content, and elastic modulus of soil. The new TDR system developed is light enough for an engineer to carry. Results of the standard compaction and TDR tests on sand showed that the dry densities and the moisture contents measured with the new TDR system were in good agreement with those measured with the standard compaction test, respectively. Consequently, it appears that the new TDR system developed will be very useful to advance the current practice of compaction quality control.

  18. Soliton microcomb range measurement.

    PubMed

    Suh, Myoung-Gyun; Vahala, Kerry J

    2018-02-23

    Laser-based range measurement systems are important in many application areas, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, manufacturing, formation flying of satellites, and basic science. Coherent laser ranging systems using dual-frequency combs provide an unprecedented combination of long range, high precision, and fast update rate. We report dual-comb distance measurement using chip-based soliton microcombs. A single pump laser was used to generate dual-frequency combs within a single microresonator as counterpropagating solitons. We demonstrated time-of-flight measurement with 200-nanometer precision at an averaging time of 500 milliseconds within a range ambiguity of 16 millimeters. Measurements at distances up to 25 meters with much lower precision were also performed. Our chip-based source is an important step toward miniature dual-comb laser ranging systems that are suitable for photonic integration. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

  19. Nonclassicality of Temporal Correlations.

    PubMed

    Brierley, Stephen; Kosowski, Adrian; Markiewicz, Marcin; Paterek, Tomasz; Przysiężna, Anna

    2015-09-18

    The results of spacelike separated measurements are independent of distant measurement settings, a property one might call two-way no-signaling. In contrast, timelike separated measurements are only one-way no-signaling since the past is independent of the future but not vice versa. For this reason some temporal correlations that are formally identical to nonclassical spatial correlations can still be modeled classically. We propose a new formulation of Bell's theorem for temporal correlations; namely, we define nonclassical temporal correlations as the ones which cannot be simulated by propagating in time the classical information content of a quantum system given by the Holevo bound. We first show that temporal correlations between results of any projective quantum measurements on a qubit can be simulated classically. Then we present a sequence of general measurements on a single m-level quantum system that cannot be explained by propagating in time an m-level classical system and using classical computers with unlimited memory.

  20. Embedded programmable blood pressure monitoring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hasan, Md. Mahmud-Ul; Islam, Md. Kafiul; Shawon, Mehedi Azad; Nowrin, Tasnuva Faruk

    2010-02-01

    A more efficient newer algorithm of detecting systolic and diastolic pressure of human body along with a complete package of an effective user-friendly embedded programmable blood pressure monitoring system has been proposed in this paper to reduce the overall workload of medical personals as well as to monitor patient's condition more conveniently and accurately. Available devices for measuring blood pressure have some problems and limitations in case of both analog and digital devices. The sphygmomanometer, being analog device, is still being used widely because of its reliability and accuracy over digital ones. But it requires a skilled person to measure the blood pressure and obviously not being automated as well as time consuming. Our proposed system being a microcontroller based embedded system has the advantages of the available digital blood pressure machines along with a much improved form and has higher accuracy at the same time. This system can also be interfaced with computer through serial port/USB to publish the measured blood pressure data on the LAN or internet. The device can be programmed to determine the patient's blood pressure after each certain interval of time in a graphical form. To sense the pressure of human body, a pressure to voltage transducer is used along with a cuff in our system. During the blood pressure measurement cycle, the output voltage of the transducer is taken by the built-in ADC of microcontroller after an amplifier stage. The recorded data are then processed and analyzed using the effective software routine to determine the blood pressure of the person under test. Our proposed system is thus expected to certainly enhance the existing blood pressure monitoring system by providing accuracy, time efficiency, user-friendliness and at last but not the least the 'better way of monitoring patient's blood pressure under critical care' all together at the same time.

  1. An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids.

    PubMed

    Dahlberg, Jerry; Tkacik, Peter T; Mullany, Brigid; Fleischhauer, Eric; Shahinian, Hossein; Azimi, Farzad; Navare, Jayesh; Owen, Spencer; Bisel, Tucker; Martin, Tony; Sholar, Jodie; Keanini, Russell G

    2017-12-04

    An analog, macroscopic method for studying molecular-scale hydrodynamic processes in dense gases and liquids is described. The technique applies a standard fluid dynamic diagnostic, particle image velocimetry (PIV), to measure: i) velocities of individual particles (grains), extant on short, grain-collision time-scales, ii) velocities of systems of particles, on both short collision-time- and long, continuum-flow-time-scales, iii) collective hydrodynamic modes known to exist in dense molecular fluids, and iv) short- and long-time-scale velocity autocorrelation functions, central to understanding particle-scale dynamics in strongly interacting, dense fluid systems. The basic system is composed of an imaging system, light source, vibrational sensors, vibrational system with a known media, and PIV and analysis software. Required experimental measurements and an outline of the theoretical tools needed when using the analog technique to study molecular-scale hydrodynamic processes are highlighted. The proposed technique provides a relatively straightforward alternative to photonic and neutron beam scattering methods traditionally used in molecular hydrodynamic studies.

  2. Stochastic parameter estimation in nonlinear time-delayed vibratory systems with distributed delay

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torkamani, Shahab; Butcher, Eric A.

    2013-07-01

    The stochastic estimation of parameters and states in linear and nonlinear time-delayed vibratory systems with distributed delay is explored. The approach consists of first employing a continuous time approximation to approximate the delayed integro-differential system with a large set of ordinary differential equations having stochastic excitations. Then the problem of state and parameter estimation in the resulting stochastic ordinary differential system is represented as an optimal filtering problem using a state augmentation technique. By adapting the extended Kalman-Bucy filter to the augmented filtering problem, the unknown parameters of the time-delayed system are estimated from noise-corrupted, possibly incomplete measurements of the states. Similarly, the upper bound of the distributed delay can also be estimated by the proposed technique. As an illustrative example to a practical problem in vibrations, the parameter, delay upper bound, and state estimation from noise-corrupted measurements in a distributed force model widely used for modeling machine tool vibrations in the turning operation is investigated.

  3. Real time control of a combined sewer system using radar-measured precipitation--results of the pilot study.

    PubMed

    Petruck, A; Holtmeier, E; Redder, A; Teichgräber, B

    2003-01-01

    Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband have developed a method to use radar-measured precipitation as an input for a real-time control of a combined sewer system containing several overflow structures. Two real-time control strategies have been developed and tested, one is solely volume-based, the other is volume and pollution-based. The system has been implemented in a pilot study in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. During the project the system was optimised and is now in constant operation. It was found, that the volume of combined sewage overflow could be reduced by 5 per cent per year. This was also found in simulations carried out in similar catchment areas. Most of the potential of improvement can already be achieved by local pollution-based control strategies.

  4. Operator-Friendly Technique and Quality Control Considerations for Indigo Colorimetric Measurement of Ozone Residual

    EPA Science Inventory

    Drinking water ozone disinfection systems measure ozone residual concentration, C, for regulatory compliance reporting of concentration-times-time (CT), and the resultant log-inactivation of virus, Giardia and Cryptosporidium. The indigotrisulfonate (ITS) colorimetric procedure i...

  5. Advanced Measurement Systems Available to PIWG Members

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Anderson, Robert; Lei, Jih-Fen (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    It was developed advanced measurement technologies to meet NASA goals: reduce design cycle time, reduce emission, reduce testing time, increase safety. The technology are saving money. This technology are available now for technology transfer: optical diagnostics, the film technology and MEMS devices.

  6. Real-time measurement of soil stiffness during static compaction.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-01-01

    Is continuous sensing of soil properties during static pad foot roller compaction achievable? A new pad-based, rollerintegrated system for real-time measurement of the elastic modulus of fine- and mixed-grain soils is the goal of Development of So...

  7. Measurement of SIFT operating system overhead

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Palumbo, D. L.; Butler, R. W.

    1985-01-01

    The overhead of the software implemented fault tolerance (SIFT) operating system was measured. Several versions of the operating system evolved. Each version represents different strategies employed to improve the measured performance. Three of these versions are analyzed. The internal data structures of the operating systems are discussed. The overhead of the SIFT operating system was found to be of two types: vote overhead and executive task overhead. Both types of overhead were found to be significant in all versions of the system. Improvements substantially reduced this overhead; even with these improvements, the operating system consumed well over 50% of the available processing time.

  8. Use of the Real Time xCelligence System for Purposes of Medical Microbiology.

    PubMed

    Junka, Adam Feliks; Janczura, Adriana; Smutnicka, Danuta; Mączyńska, Beata; Anna, Secewicz; Nowicka, Joanna; Bartoszewicz, Marzenna; Gościniak, Grażyna

    2012-09-28

    Roche's xCelligence impedance-measuring instrument is one of a few commercially available systems of such type. According to the best knowledge of authors, instrument was tested so far only for eukaryotic cell research. The aim of this work was to estimate xCELLigence suitability for the microbiological tests, including (i) measurement of morphological changes in eukaryotic cells as a result of bacterial toxin activity, (ii) measurement of bacterial biofilm formation and (iii) impact of antiseptics on the biofilm structure. To test the infuence of bacterial LT enterotoxin on eukaryotic cell lines, Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell line and reference strain Escherichia coli ATTC 35401 were used. To investigate Roche's instrument ability to measure biofilm formation and impact of antiseptics on its development, Staphylococcus aureus ATTC6538 reference strain was used. The data generated during the experiments indicate excellent ability of xCelligence instrument to detect cytopathic effect caused by bacterial LT endotoxin and to detect staphylococcal biofilm formation. However, interpretation of the results obtained during real-time measurement of antiseptic's bactericidal activity against staphylococcal biofilm, caused many difficulties. xCelligence instrument can be used for real-time monitoring of morphological changes in CHO cells treated with bacterial LT enterotoxin and for real-time measurement of staphylococcal biofilm formation in vitro. Further investigation is necessary to confirm suitability of system to analyze antiseptic's antimicrobial activity against biofilm in vitro.

  9. [Metrological analysis of measuring systems in testing an anticipatory reaction to the position of a moving object].

    PubMed

    Aksiuta, E F; Ostashev, A V; Sergeev, E V; Aksiuta, V E

    1997-01-01

    The methods of the information (entropy) error theory were used to make a metrological analysis of the well-known commercial measuring systems for timing an anticipative reaction (AR) to the position of a moving object, which is based on the electromechanical, gas-discharge, and electron principles. The required accuracy of measurement was ascertained to be achieved only by using the systems based on the electron principle of moving object simulation and AR measurement.

  10. Development of a self-made framework for the acquisition and communication of real-time precipitation data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pedrozo-Acuña, A.; Magos-Hernández, J. A.; Sánchez-Peralta, J. A.; Blanco-Figueroa, J.; Breña-Naranjo, J. A.

    2017-12-01

    This contribution presents a real-time system for issuing warnings of intense precipitation events during major storms, developed for Mexico City, Mexico. The system is based on high-temporal resolution (Dt=1min) measurements of precipitation in 10 different points within the city, which report variables such as intensity, number of raindrops, raindrop size, kinetic energy, fall velocity, etc. Each one of these stations, is comprised of an optical disdrometer to measure size and fall velocity of hydrometeors, a solar panel to guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, a wireless broadband access to internet, and a resource constrained device known as Raspberry Pi3 for the processing, storage and sharing of the sensor data over the world wide web. The self-made developed platform follows a component-based system paradigm allowing users to implement custom algorithms and models depending on application requirements. The system is in place since July 2016, and continuous measurements of rainfall in real-time are published over the internet through the webpage www.oh-iiunam.mx. Additionally, the developed platform for the data collection and management interacts with the social network known as Twitter to enable real-time warnings of precipitation events. Key contribution of this development is the design and implementation of a scalable, easy to use, interoperable platform that facilitates the development of real-time precipitation sensor networks and warnings. The system is easy to implement and could be used as a prototype for systems in other regions of the world.

  11. Energy Power Research Institute Shows Benefits of Grid-Connected Devices at

    Science.gov Websites

    product availability. With real-time status monitoring of the connected devices, a utility system could be devices, this approach can provide grid operators or other load management systems with real-time measure

  12. Pulsed multiwavelength laser ranging system. Ph.D. Thesis - Maryland Univ.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abshire, J. B.

    1982-01-01

    A pulsed multiwavelength laser ranging system for measuring atmospheric delay was built and tested, and its theoretical performance limits were calculated. The system uses a dye modelocked ND:YAG laser, which transmits 70 psec wide pulses simultaneously at 1064, 532, and 355 nm. The differential delay of the 1064 and 355 nm pulses is measured by a specially calibrated waveform digitizer to estimate the dry atmospheric delay. The delay time of the 532 nm pulse is used to measure the target distance. Static crossed field photomultipliers are used as detectors for all wavelengths. Theoretical analysis shows that path curvature and atmospheric turbulence are fundamental limits to the ranging accuracy of both single and multicolor systems operating over horizontal paths. For two color systems, an additional error is caused by the uncertainty in the path averaged water vapor. The standard deviation of the multicolor instrument's timing measurements is directly proportional to the laser pulse width plus photomultiplier jitter divided by the square root of the received photoelectron number. The prototype system's maximum range is km, which is limited by atmospheric and system transmission losses at 355 nm. System signal detection and false alarm calculations are also presented.

  13. Ultrafast Reverse Recovery Time Measurement for Wide-Bandgap Diodes

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mauch, Daniel L.; Zutavern, Fred J.; Delhotal, Jarod J.

    A system is presented that is capable of measuring sub-nanosecond reverse recovery times of diodes in wide-bandgap materials over a wide range of forward biases (0 – 1 A) and reverse voltages (0 – 10 kV). The system utilizes the step recovery technique and comprises a cable pulser based on a silicon (Si) Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS) triggered with an Ultra Short Pulse Laser (USPL), a pulse charging circuit, a diode biasing circuit, and resistive and capacitive voltage monitors. The PCSS based cable pulser transmits a 130 ps rise time pulse down a transmission line to a capacitively coupled diode,more » which acts as the terminating element of the transmission line. The temporal nature of the pulse reflected by the diode provides the reverse recovery characteristics of the diode, measured with a high bandwidth capacitive probe integrated into the cable pulser. Furthermore, this system was used to measure the reverse recovery times (including the creation and charging of the depletion region) for two Avogy gallium nitride (GaN) diodes; the initial reverse recovery time was found to be 4 ns and varied minimally over reverse biases of 50 – 100 V and forward current of 1 – 100 mA.« less

  14. Ultrafast Reverse Recovery Time Measurement for Wide-Bandgap Diodes

    DOE PAGES

    Mauch, Daniel L.; Zutavern, Fred J.; Delhotal, Jarod J.; ...

    2017-03-01

    A system is presented that is capable of measuring sub-nanosecond reverse recovery times of diodes in wide-bandgap materials over a wide range of forward biases (0 – 1 A) and reverse voltages (0 – 10 kV). The system utilizes the step recovery technique and comprises a cable pulser based on a silicon (Si) Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS) triggered with an Ultra Short Pulse Laser (USPL), a pulse charging circuit, a diode biasing circuit, and resistive and capacitive voltage monitors. The PCSS based cable pulser transmits a 130 ps rise time pulse down a transmission line to a capacitively coupled diode,more » which acts as the terminating element of the transmission line. The temporal nature of the pulse reflected by the diode provides the reverse recovery characteristics of the diode, measured with a high bandwidth capacitive probe integrated into the cable pulser. Furthermore, this system was used to measure the reverse recovery times (including the creation and charging of the depletion region) for two Avogy gallium nitride (GaN) diodes; the initial reverse recovery time was found to be 4 ns and varied minimally over reverse biases of 50 – 100 V and forward current of 1 – 100 mA.« less

  15. Implementing a wind measurement Doppler Lidar based on a molecular iodine filter to monitor the atmospheric wind field over Beijing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Du, Li-fang; Yang, Guo-tao; Wang, Ji-hong; Yue, Chuan; Chen, Lin-xiang

    2017-02-01

    A wind measurement Doppler Lidar system was developed, in which injection seeded laser was used to generate narrow linewidth laser pulse. Frequency stabilization was achieved through absorption of iodine molecules. Commands that control the instrumental system were based on the PID algorithm and coded using VB language. The frequency of the seed laser was locked to iodine molecular absorption line 1109 which is close to the upper edge of the absorption range,with long-time (>4 h) frequency-locking accuracy being ≤0.5 MHz and long-time frequency stability being 3.55×10-9. Design the continuous light velocity measuring system, which concluded the cure about doppler frequency shift and actual speed of chopped wave plate, the velocity error is less than 0.4 m/s. The experiment showed that the stabilized frequency of the seed laser was different from the transmission frequency of the Lidar. And such frequency deviation is known as Chirp of the laser pulse. The real-time measured frequency difference of the continuous and pulsed lights was about 10 MHz, long-time stability deviation was around 5 MHz. When the temporal and spatial resolutions were respectively set to 100 s and 96 m, the wind velocity measurement error of the horizontal wind field at the attitude of 15-35 km was within ±5 m/s, the results showed that the wind measurement Doppler Lidar implemented in Yanqing, Beijing was capable of continuously detecting in the middle and low atmospheric wind field at nighttime. With further development of this technique, system measurement error could be lowered, and long-run routine observations are promising.

  16. Improving documentation of a beta-blocker quality measure through an anesthesia information management system and real-time notification of documentation errors.

    PubMed

    Nair, Bala G; Peterson, Gene N; Newman, Shu-Fang; Wu, Wei-Ying; Kolios-Morris, Vickie; Schwid, Howard A

    2012-06-01

    Continuation of perioperative beta-blockers for surgical patients who are receiving beta-blockers prior to arrival for surgery is an important quality measure (SCIP-Card-2). For this measure to be considered successful, name, date, and time of the perioperative beta-blocker must be documented. Alternately, if the beta-blocker is not given, the medical reason for not administering must be documented. Before the study was conducted, the institution lacked a highly reliable process to document the date and time of self-administration of beta-blockers prior to hospital admission. Because of this, compliance with the beta-blocker quality measure was poor (-65%). To improve this measure, the anesthesia care team was made responsible for documenting perioperative beta-blockade. Clear documentation guidelines were outlined, and an electronic Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS) was configured to facilitate complete documentation of the beta-blocker quality measure. In addition, real-time electronic alerts were generated using Smart Anesthesia Messenger (SAM), an internally developed decision-support system, to notify users concerning incomplete beta-blocker documentation. Weekly compliance for perioperative beta-blocker documentation before the study was 65.8 +/- 16.6%, which served as the baseline value. When the anesthesia care team started documenting perioperative beta-blocker in AIMS, compliance was 60.5 +/- 8.6% (p = .677 as compared with baseline). Electronic alerts with SAM improved documentation compliance to 94.6 +/- 3.5% (p < .001 as compared with baseline). To achieve high compliance for the beta-blocker measure, it is essential to (1) clearly assign a medical team to perform beta-blocker documentation and (2) enhance features in the electronic medical systems to alert the user concerning incomplete documentation.

  17. Fluorescence dynamics of biological systems using synchrotron radiation

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gratton, E.; Mantulin, W.W.; Weber, G.

    1996-09-01

    A beamline for time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of biological systems is under construction at the Synchrotron Radiation Center. The fluorometer, operating in the frequency domain, will take advantage of the time structure of the synchrotron radiation light pulses to determine fluorescence lifetimes. Using frequency-domain techniques, the instrument can achieve an ultimate time resolution on the order of picoseconds. Preliminary experiments have shown that reducing the intensity of one of the fifteen electron bunches in the storage ring allows measurement of harmonic frequencies equivalent to the single-bunch mode. This mode of operation of the synchrotron significantly extends the range of lifetimes thatmore » can be measured. The wavelength range (encompassing the visible and ultraviolet), the range of measurable lifetimes, and the stability and reproducibility of the storage ring pulses should make this beamline a versatile tool for the investigation of the complex fluorescence decay of biological systems. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}« less

  18. Influence of Waveform Characteristics on LiDAR Ranging Accuracy and Precision

    PubMed Central

    Yang, Bingwei; Xie, Xinhao; Li, Duan

    2018-01-01

    Time of flight (TOF) based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a technology for calculating distance between start/stop signals of time of flight. In lab-built LiDAR, two ranging systems for measuring flying time between start/stop signals include time-to-digital converter (TDC) that counts time between trigger signals and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that processes the sampled start/stop pulses waveform for time estimation. We study the influence of waveform characteristics on range accuracy and precision of two kinds of ranging system. Comparing waveform based ranging (WR) with analog discrete return system based ranging (AR), a peak detection method (WR-PK) shows the best ranging performance because of less execution time, high ranging accuracy, and stable precision. Based on a novel statistic mathematical method maximal information coefficient (MIC), WR-PK precision has a high linear relationship with the received pulse width standard deviation. Thus keeping the received pulse width of measuring a constant distance as stable as possible can improve ranging precision. PMID:29642639

  19. A vision-based approach for the direct measurement of displacements in vibrating systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mazen Wahbeh, A.; Caffrey, John P.; Masri, Sami F.

    2003-10-01

    This paper reports the results of an analytical and experimental study to develop, calibrate, implement and evaluate the feasibility of a novel vision-based approach for obtaining direct measurements of the absolute displacement time history at selectable locations of dispersed civil infrastructure systems such as long-span bridges. The measurements were obtained using a highly accurate camera in conjunction with a laser tracking reference. Calibration of the vision system was conducted in the lab to establish performance envelopes and data processing algorithms to extract the needed information from the captured vision scene. Subsequently, the monitoring apparatus was installed in the vicinity of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the metropolitan Los Angeles region. This allowed the deployment of the instrumentation system under realistic conditions so as to determine field implementation issues that need to be addressed. It is shown that the proposed approach has the potential of leading to an economical and robust system for obtaining direct, simultaneous, measurements at several locations of the displacement time histories of realistic infrastructure systems undergoing complex three-dimensional deformations.

  20. Fluorometric Biosniffer Camera "Sniff-Cam" for Direct Imaging of Gaseous Ethanol in Breath and Transdermal Vapor.

    PubMed

    Arakawa, Takahiro; Sato, Toshiyuki; Iitani, Kenta; Toma, Koji; Mitsubayashi, Kohji

    2017-04-18

    Various volatile organic compounds can be found in human transpiration, breath and body odor. In this paper, a novel two-dimensional fluorometric imaging system, known as a "sniffer-cam" for ethanol vapor released from human breath and palm skin was constructed and validated. This imaging system measures ethanol vapor concentrations as intensities of fluorescence through an enzymatic reaction induced by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). The imaging system consisted of multiple ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV-LED) excitation sheet, an ADH enzyme immobilized mesh substrate and a high-sensitive CCD camera. This imaging system uses ADH for recognition of ethanol vapor. It measures ethanol vapor by measuring fluorescence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), which is produced by an enzymatic reaction on the mesh. This NADH fluorometric imaging system achieved the two-dimensional real-time imaging of ethanol vapor distribution (0.5-200 ppm). The system showed rapid and accurate responses and a visible measurement, which could lead to an analysis of metabolism function at real time in the near future.

  1. Simultaneous measurement of time-domain fNIRS and physiological signals during a cognitive task

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jelzow, A.; Tachtsidis, I.; Kirilina, E.; Niessing, M.; Brühl, R.; Wabnitz, H.; Heine, A.; Ittermann, B.; Macdonald, R.

    2011-07-01

    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a commonly used technique to measure the cerebral vascular response related to brain activation. It is known that systemic physiological processes, either independent or correlated with the stimulation task, can influence the optical signal making its interpretation challenging. The aim of the present work is to investigate the impact of task-evoked changes in the systemic physiology on fNIRS measurements for a cognitive paradigm. For this purpose we carried out simultaneous measurements of time-domain fNIRS on the forehead and systemic physiological signals, i.e. mean blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin response, scalp blood flow (flux) and red blood cell (RBC) concentration changes. We performed measurements on 15 healthy volunteers during a semantic continuous performance task (CPT). The optical data was analyzed in terms of depth-selective moments of distributions of times of flight of photons through the tissue. In addition, cerebral activation was localized by a subsequent fMRI experiment on the same subject population using the same task. We observed strong non-cerebral task-evoked changes in concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin in the forehead. We investigated the temporal behavior and mutual correlations between hemoglobin changes and the systemic processes. Mean blood pressure (BP), galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate exhibited significant changes during the activation period, whereby BP and GSR showed the highest correlation with optical measurements.

  2. Development of a continuous radon concentration monitoring system in underground soil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamamoto, S.; Tarutani, K.; Yamasoto, K.; Iskandar, D.; Iida, T.

    2001-06-01

    A continuous radon (Rn-222) concentration monitoring system for use in underground soil was developed and tested. The system consists of a 19-mm-diameter, 1100-mm-long detector assembly and a microprocessor based data logger. A small volume chamber is installed at the tip of the detector assembly. A thin ZnS(Ag) scintillator film inside the chamber and a photomultiplier tube (PMT) detect alpha particles from radon and its daughters. When the system is in measurement, the detector part is buried into underground soil. An energy resolution of approximately 70% full width half maximum (FWHM) was obtained for 5.5 MeV alpha particles from Am-241. Both the rise time and fall time for the system were measured to be approximately 1-2 h. Temporal variations in underground radon concentration at different depths were investigated simultaneously using four sets of the developed system. The results confirmed that the developed system is useful for continuous measurement of radon concentration in underground soil.

  3. Networked event-triggered control: an introduction and research trends

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mahmoud, Magdi S.; Sabih, Muhammad

    2014-11-01

    A physical system can be studied as either continuous time or discrete-time system depending upon the control objectives. Discrete-time control systems can be further classified into two categories based on the sampling: (1) time-triggered control systems and (2) event-triggered control systems. Time-triggered systems sample states and calculate controls at every sampling instant in a periodic fashion, even in cases when states and calculated control do not change much. This indicates unnecessary and useless data transmission and computation efforts of a time-triggered system, thus inefficiency. For networked systems, the transmission of measurement and control signals, thus, cause unnecessary network traffic. Event-triggered systems, on the other hand, have potential to reduce the communication burden in addition to reducing the computation of control signals. This paper provides an up-to-date survey on the event-triggered methods for control systems and highlights the potential research directions.

  4. Intelligent optical fiber sensor system for measurement of gas concentration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pan, Jingming; Yin, Zongmin

    1991-08-01

    A measuring, controlling, and alarming system for the concentration of a gas or transparent liquid is described. In this system, a Fabry-Perot etalon with an optical fiber is used as the sensor, a charge-coupled device (CCD) is used as the photoelectric converter, and a single- chip microcomputer 8031 along with an interface circuit is used to measure the interference ring signal. The system has such features as real-time and on-line operation, continuous dynamic handling, and intelligent control.

  5. Evaluation of electrical test conditions in MIL-M-38510 slash sheets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sandgren, K.

    1980-08-01

    Adequacy of MIL-M-38510 slash sheet requirements for electrical test conditions in an automated test environment were evaluated. Military temperature range commercial devices of 13 types from 6 manufacturers were purchased. Software for testing these devices and for varying the test conditions was written for the Tektronix S-3260 test system. The devices were tested to evaluate the effects of pin-condition settling time, measurement sequence of the same and different D-C parameters, temperature sequence, differently defined temperature ambients, variable measurement conditions, sequence of time measurements, pin-application sequence, and undesignated pin condition ambiguity. An alternative to current tri-state enable and disable time measurements is proposed; S-3260 'open' and 'ground' conditions are characterized; and suggestions for changes in MIL-M-38510 slash sheet specifications and MIL-STD-883 test methods are proposed, both to correct errors and ambiguities and to facilitate the gathering of repeatable data on automated test equipment. Data obtained showed no sensitivity to measurement or temperature sequence nor to temperature ambient, provided that test times were not excessive. V sub ICP tests and some low current measurements required allowance for a pin condition settling time because of the test system speed. Some pin condition application sequences yielded incorrect measurements. Undefined terminal conditions of output pins were found to affect I sub OS and propagation delay time measurements. Truth table test results varied with test frequency and V sub IL for low-power Schottky devices.

  6. Estimating multi-period global cost efficiency and productivity change of systems with network structures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tohidnia, S.; Tohidi, G.

    2018-02-01

    The current paper develops three different ways to measure the multi-period global cost efficiency for homogeneous networks of processes when the prices of exogenous inputs are known at all time periods. A multi-period network data envelopment analysis model is presented to measure the minimum cost of the network system based on the global production possibility set. We show that there is a relationship between the multi-period global cost efficiency of network system and its subsystems, and also its processes. The proposed model is applied to compute the global cost Malmquist productivity index for measuring the productivity changes of network system and each of its process between two time periods. This index is circular. Furthermore, we show that the productivity changes of network system can be defined as a weighted average of the process productivity changes. Finally, a numerical example will be presented to illustrate the proposed approach.

  7. Characterization of a 300-GHz Transmission System for Digital Communications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hudlička, Martin; Salhi, Mohammed; Kleine-Ostmann, Thomas; Schrader, Thorsten

    2017-08-01

    The paper presents the characterization of a 300-GHz transmission system for modern digital communications. The quality of the modulated signal at the output of the system (error vector magnitude, EVM) is measured using a vector signal analyzer. A method using a digital real-time oscilloscope and consecutive mathematical processing in a computer is shown for analysis of signals with bandwidths exceeding that of state-of-the-art vector signal analyzers. The uncertainty of EVM measured using the real-time oscilloscope is open to analysis. Behaviour of the 300-GHz transmission system is studied with respect to various modulation schemes and different signal symbol rates.

  8. On demand processing of climate station sensor data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wöllauer, Stephan; Forteva, Spaska; Nauss, Thomas

    2015-04-01

    Large sets of climate stations with several sensors produce big amounts of finegrained time series data. To gain value of this data, further processing and aggregation is needed. We present a flexible system to process the raw data on demand. Several aspects need to be considered to process the raw data in a way that scientists can use the processed data conveniently for their specific research interests. First of all, it is not feasible to pre-process the data in advance because of the great variety of ways it can be processed. Therefore, in this approach only the raw measurement data is archived in a database. When a scientist requires some time series, the system processes the required raw data according to the user-defined request. Based on the type of measurement sensor, some data validation is needed, because the climate station sensors may produce erroneous data. Currently, three validation methods are integrated in the on demand processing system and are optionally selectable. The most basic validation method checks if measurement values are within a predefined range of possible values. For example, it may be assumed that an air temperature sensor measures values within a range of -40 °C to +60 °C. Values outside of this range are considered as a measurement error by this validation method and consequently rejected. An other validation method checks for outliers in the stream of measurement values by defining a maximum change rate between subsequent measurement values. The third validation method compares measurement data to the average values of neighboring stations and rejects measurement values with a high variance. These quality checks are optional, because especially extreme climatic values may be valid but rejected by some quality check method. An other important task is the preparation of measurement data in terms of time. The observed stations measure values in intervals of minutes to hours. Often scientists need a coarser temporal resolution (days, months, years). Therefore, the interval of time aggregation is selectable for the processing. For some use cases it is desirable that the resulting time series are as continuous as possible. To meet these requirements, the processing system includes techniques to fill gaps of missing values by interpolating measurement values with data from adjacent stations using available contemporaneous measurements from the respective stations as training datasets. Alongside processing of sensor values, we created interactive visualization techniques to get a quick overview of a big amount of archived time series data.

  9. Region Three Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool - 12006

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Messick, Chuck; Pham, Minh; Smith, Ron

    The Region 3 Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool is used by the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), United States Department of Energy, Radiological Assistance Program, Region 3, to respond to emergency radiological situations. The tool automates the flight planning package process while decreasing Aerial Measuring System response times and decreases the potential for human error. Deployment of the Region Three Aerial Measurement System Flight Planning Tool has resulted in an immediate improvement to the flight planning process in that time required for mission planning has been reduced from 1.5 hours to 15 minutes. Anecdotally, the RAP team reports thatmore » the rate of usable data acquired during surveys has improved from 40-60 percent to over 90 percent since they began using the tool. Though the primary product of the flight planning tool is a pdf format document for use by the aircraft flight crew, the RAP team has begun carrying their laptop computer on the aircraft during missions. By connecting a Global Positioning System (GPS) device to the laptop and using ESRI ArcMap's GPS tool bar to overlay the aircraft position directly on the flight plan in real time, the RAP team can evaluate and correct the aircraft position as the mission is executed. (authors)« less

  10. Steam distribution and energy delivery optimization using wireless sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Olama, Mohammed M.; Allgood, Glenn O.; Kuruganti, Teja P.; Sukumar, Sreenivas R.; Djouadi, Seddik M.; Lake, Joe E.

    2011-05-01

    The Extreme Measurement Communications Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) explores the deployment of a wireless sensor system with a real-time measurement-based energy efficiency optimization framework in the ORNL campus. With particular focus on the 12-mile long steam distribution network in our campus, we propose an integrated system-level approach to optimize the energy delivery within the steam distribution system. We address the goal of achieving significant energy-saving in steam lines by monitoring and acting on leaking steam valves/traps. Our approach leverages an integrated wireless sensor and real-time monitoring capabilities. We make assessments on the real-time status of the distribution system by mounting acoustic sensors on the steam pipes/traps/valves and observe the state measurements of these sensors. Our assessments are based on analysis of the wireless sensor measurements. We describe Fourier-spectrum based algorithms that interpret acoustic vibration sensor data to characterize flows and classify the steam system status. We are able to present the sensor readings, steam flow, steam trap status and the assessed alerts as an interactive overlay within a web-based Google Earth geographic platform that enables decision makers to take remedial action. We believe our demonstration serves as an instantiation of a platform that extends implementation to include newer modalities to manage water flow, sewage and energy consumption.

  11. A system for the real time, direct measurement of natural gas flow

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sowell, T.

    1995-12-31

    PMI/Badger Meter, Inc. with partial sponsorship from the Gas Research Institute, has designed and developed direct measurement total energy flow metering instrumentation. As industry demands for improved accuracy and speed of measurement have increased so has the complexity of the overall hardware and software systems. Considering traditional system approaches, few companies have the in house capability of maintaining a complete system. This paper addresses efforts to implement a direct, total gas energy flow metering system which is simple to use and cost effective.

  12. Video Guidance Sensor System With Integrated Rangefinding

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Book, Michael L. (Inventor); Bryan, Thomas C. (Inventor); Howard, Richard T. (Inventor); Roe, Fred Davis, Jr. (Inventor); Bell, Joseph L. (Inventor)

    2006-01-01

    A video guidance sensor system for use, p.g., in automated docking of a chase vehicle with a target vehicle. The system includes an integrated rangefinder sub-system that uses time of flight measurements to measure range. The rangefinder sub-system includes a pair of matched photodetectors for respectively detecting an output laser beam and return laser beam, a buffer memory for storing the photodetector outputs, and a digitizer connected to the buffer memory and including dual amplifiers and analog-to-digital converters. A digital signal processor processes the digitized output to produce a range measurement.

  13. Autonomous GPS/INS navigation experiment for Space Transfer Vehicle

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Upadhyay, Triveni N.; Cotterill, Stephen; Deaton, A. W.

    1993-01-01

    An experiment to validate the concept of developing an autonomous integrated spacecraft navigation system using on board Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) measurements is described. The feasibility of integrating GPS measurements with INS measurements to provide a total improvement in spacecraft navigation performance, i.e. improvement in position, velocity and attitude information, was previously demonstrated. An important aspect of this research is the automatic real time reconfiguration capability of the system designed to respond to changes in a spacecraft mission under the control of an expert system.

  14. Autonomous GPS/INS navigation experiment for Space Transfer Vehicle (STV)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Upadhyay, Triveni N.; Cotterill, Stephen; Deaton, A. Wayne

    1991-01-01

    An experiment to validate the concept of developing an autonomous integrated spacecraft navigation system using on board Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) measurements is described. The feasibility of integrating GPS measurements with INS measurements to provide a total improvement in spacecraft navigation performance, i.e. improvement in position, velocity and attitude information, was previously demonstrated. An important aspect of this research is the automatic real time reconfiguration capability of the system designed to respond to changes in a spacecraft mission under the control of an expert system.

  15. Autonomous GPS/INS navigation experiment for Space Transfer Vehicle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Upadhyay, Triveni N.; Cotterill, Stephen; Deaton, A. W.

    1993-07-01

    An experiment to validate the concept of developing an autonomous integrated spacecraft navigation system using on board Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) measurements is described. The feasibility of integrating GPS measurements with INS measurements to provide a total improvement in spacecraft navigation performance, i.e. improvement in position, velocity and attitude information, was previously demonstrated. An important aspect of this research is the automatic real time reconfiguration capability of the system designed to respond to changes in a spacecraft mission under the control of an expert system.

  16. Noncontact vibration measurements using magnetoresistive sensing elements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tomassini, R.; Rossi, G.

    2016-06-01

    Contactless instrumentations is more and more used in turbomachinery testing thanks to the non-intrusive character and the possibility to monitor all the components of the machine at the same time. Performances of blade tip timing (BTT) measurement systems, used for noncontact turbine blade vibration measurements, in terms of uncertainty and resolution are strongly affected by sensor characteristics and processing methods. The sensors used for BTT generate pulses, used for precise measurements of turbine blades time of arrival. Nowadays proximity sensors used in this application are based on optical, capacitive, eddy current and microwave measuring principle. Pressure sensors has been also tried. This paper summarizes the results achieved using a novel instrumentation based on the magnetoresistive sensing elements. The characterization of the novel probe has been already published. The measurement system was validated in test benches and in a real jet-engine comparing different sensor technologies. The whole instrumentation was improved. The work presented in this paper focuses on the current developments. In particular, attention is given to the data processing software and new sensor configurations.

  17. A threshold-free summary index of prediction accuracy for censored time to event data.

    PubMed

    Yuan, Yan; Zhou, Qian M; Li, Bingying; Cai, Hengrui; Chow, Eric J; Armstrong, Gregory T

    2018-05-10

    Prediction performance of a risk scoring system needs to be carefully assessed before its adoption in clinical practice. Clinical preventive care often uses risk scores to screen asymptomatic population. The primary clinical interest is to predict the risk of having an event by a prespecified future time t 0 . Accuracy measures such as positive predictive values have been recommended for evaluating the predictive performance. However, for commonly used continuous or ordinal risk score systems, these measures require a subjective cutoff threshold value that dichotomizes the risk scores. The need for a cutoff value created barriers for practitioners and researchers. In this paper, we propose a threshold-free summary index of positive predictive values that accommodates time-dependent event status and competing risks. We develop a nonparametric estimator and provide an inference procedure for comparing this summary measure between 2 risk scores for censored time to event data. We conduct a simulation study to examine the finite-sample performance of the proposed estimation and inference procedures. Lastly, we illustrate the use of this measure on a real data example, comparing 2 risk score systems for predicting heart failure in childhood cancer survivors. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  18. Estimating the state of a geophysical system with sparse observations: time delay methods to achieve accurate initial states for prediction

    DOE PAGES

    An, Zhe; Rey, Daniel; Ye, Jingxin; ...

    2017-01-16

    The problem of forecasting the behavior of a complex dynamical system through analysis of observational time-series data becomes difficult when the system expresses chaotic behavior and the measurements are sparse, in both space and/or time. Despite the fact that this situation is quite typical across many fields, including numerical weather prediction, the issue of whether the available observations are "sufficient" for generating successful forecasts is still not well understood. An analysis by Whartenby et al. (2013) found that in the context of the nonlinear shallow water equations on a β plane, standard nudging techniques require observing approximately 70 % of themore » full set of state variables. Here we examine the same system using a method introduced by Rey et al. (2014a), which generalizes standard nudging methods to utilize time delayed measurements. Here, we show that in certain circumstances, it provides a sizable reduction in the number of observations required to construct accurate estimates and high-quality predictions. In particular, we find that this estimate of 70 % can be reduced to about 33 % using time delays, and even further if Lagrangian drifter locations are also used as measurements.« less

  19. Estimating the state of a geophysical system with sparse observations: time delay methods to achieve accurate initial states for prediction

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    An, Zhe; Rey, Daniel; Ye, Jingxin

    The problem of forecasting the behavior of a complex dynamical system through analysis of observational time-series data becomes difficult when the system expresses chaotic behavior and the measurements are sparse, in both space and/or time. Despite the fact that this situation is quite typical across many fields, including numerical weather prediction, the issue of whether the available observations are "sufficient" for generating successful forecasts is still not well understood. An analysis by Whartenby et al. (2013) found that in the context of the nonlinear shallow water equations on a β plane, standard nudging techniques require observing approximately 70 % of themore » full set of state variables. Here we examine the same system using a method introduced by Rey et al. (2014a), which generalizes standard nudging methods to utilize time delayed measurements. Here, we show that in certain circumstances, it provides a sizable reduction in the number of observations required to construct accurate estimates and high-quality predictions. In particular, we find that this estimate of 70 % can be reduced to about 33 % using time delays, and even further if Lagrangian drifter locations are also used as measurements.« less

  20. Multi-Wavelength Based Optical Density Sensor for Autonomous Monitoring of Microalgae

    PubMed Central

    Jia, Fei; Kacira, Murat; Ogden, Kimberly L.

    2015-01-01

    A multi-wavelength based optical density sensor unit was designed, developed, and evaluated to monitor microalgae growth in real time. The system consisted of five main components including: (1) laser diode modules as light sources; (2) photodiodes as detectors; (3) driver circuit; (4) flow cell; and (5) sensor housing temperature controller. The sensor unit was designed to be integrated into any microalgae culture system for both real time and non-real time optical density measurements and algae growth monitoring applications. It was shown that the sensor unit was capable of monitoring the dynamics and physiological changes of the microalgae culture in real-time. Algae biomass concentration was accurately estimated with optical density measurements at 650, 685 and 780 nm wavelengths used by the sensor unit. The sensor unit was able to monitor cell concentration as high as 1.05 g·L−1 (1.51 × 108 cells·mL−1) during the culture growth without any sample preparation for the measurements. Since high cell concentrations do not need to be diluted using the sensor unit, the system has the potential to be used in industrial microalgae cultivation systems for real time monitoring and control applications that can lead to improved resource use efficiency. PMID:26364640

  1. Ambulant Measurements of Physiological Status and Cognitive Performance during Sustained Operations

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-10-01

    the target, reaction time, illegal responses, and missed responses were recorded. 2.4 Physiological measurements 2.4.1 Anthropometry ...system (SPi-Elite, GPsports Australia ) was mounted on the soldiers’ backpack. The system measured continuously during the training weeks. Walking or...the percentage missed stimuli were even more alike. 3.3 Physiological measurements 3.3.1 Anthropometry The soldiers who completed the training

  2. What Is a Complex Innovation System?

    PubMed Central

    Katz, J. Sylvan

    2016-01-01

    Innovation systems are sometimes referred to as complex systems, something that is intuitively understood but poorly defined. A complex system dynamically evolves in non-linear ways giving it unique properties that distinguish it from other systems. In particular, a common signature of complex systems is scale-invariant emergent properties. A scale-invariant property can be identified because it is solely described by a power law function, f(x) = kxα, where the exponent, α, is a measure of scale-invariance. The focus of this paper is to describe and illustrate that innovation systems have properties of a complex adaptive system. In particular scale-invariant emergent properties indicative of their complex nature that can be quantified and used to inform public policy. The global research system is an example of an innovation system. Peer-reviewed publications containing knowledge are a characteristic output. Citations or references to these articles are an indirect measure of the impact the knowledge has on the research community. Peer-reviewed papers indexed in Scopus and in the Web of Science were used as data sources to produce measures of sizes and impact. These measures are used to illustrate how scale-invariant properties can be identified and quantified. It is demonstrated that the distribution of impact has a reasonable likelihood of being scale-invariant with scaling exponents that tended toward a value of less than 3.0 with the passage of time and decreasing group sizes. Scale-invariant correlations are shown between the evolution of impact and size with time and between field impact and sizes at points in time. The recursive or self-similar nature of scale-invariance suggests that any smaller innovation system within the global research system is likely to be complex with scale-invariant properties too. PMID:27258040

  3. Internal stray radiation measurement for cryogenic infrared imaging systems using a spherical mirror.

    PubMed

    Tian, Qijie; Chang, Songtao; He, Fengyun; Li, Zhou; Qiao, Yanfeng

    2017-06-10

    Internal stray radiation is a key factor that influences infrared imaging systems, and its suppression level is an important criterion to evaluate system performance, especially for cryogenic infrared imaging systems, which are highly sensitive to thermal sources. In order to achieve accurate measurement for internal stray radiation, an approach is proposed, which is based on radiometric calibration using a spherical mirror. First of all, the theory of spherical mirror design is introduced. Then, the calibration formula considering the integration time is presented. Following this, the details regarding the measurement method are presented. By placing a spherical mirror in front of the infrared detector, the influence of internal factors of the detector on system output can be obtained. According to the calibration results of the infrared imaging system, the output caused by internal stray radiation can be acquired. Finally, several experiments are performed in a chamber with controllable inside temperatures to validate the theory proposed in this paper. Experimental results show that the measurement results are in good accordance with the theoretical analysis, and demonstrate that the proposed theories are valid and can be employed in practical applications. The proposed method can achieve accurate measurement for internal stray radiation at arbitrary integration time and ambient temperatures. The measurement result can be used to evaluate whether the suppression level meets the system requirement.

  4. A High-Speed, Real-Time Visualization and State Estimation Platform for Monitoring and Control of Electric Distribution Systems: Implementation and Field Results

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lundstrom, Blake; Gotseff, Peter; Giraldez, Julieta

    Continued deployment of renewable and distributed energy resources is fundamentally changing the way that electric distribution systems are controlled and operated; more sophisticated active system control and greater situational awareness are needed. Real-time measurements and distribution system state estimation (DSSE) techniques enable more sophisticated system control and, when combined with visualization applications, greater situational awareness. This paper presents a novel demonstration of a high-speed, real-time DSSE platform and related control and visualization functionalities, implemented using existing open-source software and distribution system monitoring hardware. Live scrolling strip charts of meter data and intuitive annotated map visualizations of the entire state (obtainedmore » via DSSE) of a real-world distribution circuit are shown. The DSSE implementation is validated to demonstrate provision of accurate voltage data. This platform allows for enhanced control and situational awareness using only a minimum quantity of distribution system measurement units and modest data and software infrastructure.« less

  5. A monitoring system for vegetable greenhouses based on a wireless sensor network.

    PubMed

    Li, Xiu-hong; Cheng, Xiao; Yan, Ke; Gong, Peng

    2010-01-01

    A wireless sensor network-based automatic monitoring system is designed for monitoring the life conditions of greenhouse vegetables. The complete system architecture includes a group of sensor nodes, a base station, and an internet data center. For the design of wireless sensor node, the JN5139 micro-processor is adopted as the core component and the Zigbee protocol is used for wireless communication between nodes. With an ARM7 microprocessor and embedded ZKOS operating system, a proprietary gateway node is developed to achieve data influx, screen display, system configuration and GPRS based remote data forwarding. Through a Client/Server mode the management software for remote data center achieves real-time data distribution and time-series analysis. Besides, a GSM-short-message-based interface is developed for sending real-time environmental measurements, and for alarming when a measurement is beyond some pre-defined threshold. The whole system has been tested for over one year and satisfactory results have been observed, which indicate that this system is very useful for greenhouse environment monitoring.

  6. The guidance methodology of a new automatic guided laser theodolite system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Zili; Zhu, Jigui; Zhou, Hu; Ye, Shenghua

    2008-12-01

    Spatial coordinate measurement systems such as theodolites, laser trackers and total stations have wide application in manufacturing and certification processes. The traditional operation of theodolites is manual and time-consuming which does not meet the need of online industrial measurement, also laser trackers and total stations need reflective targets which can not realize noncontact and automatic measurement. A new automatic guided laser theodolite system is presented to achieve automatic and noncontact measurement with high precision and efficiency which is comprised of two sub-systems: the basic measurement system and the control and guidance system. The former system is formed by two laser motorized theodolites to accomplish the fundamental measurement tasks while the latter one consists of a camera and vision system unit mounted on a mechanical displacement unit to provide azimuth information of the measured points. The mechanical displacement unit can rotate horizontally and vertically to direct the camera to the desired orientation so that the camera can scan every measured point in the measuring field, then the azimuth of the corresponding point is calculated for the laser motorized theodolites to move accordingly to aim at it. In this paper the whole system composition and measuring principle are analyzed, and then the emphasis is laid on the guidance methodology for the laser points from the theodolites to move towards the measured points. The guidance process is implemented based on the coordinate transformation between the basic measurement system and the control and guidance system. With the view field angle of the vision system unit and the world coordinate of the control and guidance system through coordinate transformation, the azimuth information of the measurement area that the camera points at can be attained. The momentary horizontal and vertical changes of the mechanical displacement movement are also considered and calculated to provide real time azimuth information of the pointed measurement area by which the motorized theodolite will move accordingly. This methodology realizes the predetermined location of the laser points which is within the camera-pointed scope so that it accelerates the measuring process and implements the approximate guidance instead of manual operations. The simulation results show that the proposed method of automatic guidance is effective and feasible which provides good tracking performance of the predetermined location of laser points.

  7. A dosimetric comparison of real-time adaptive and non-adaptive radiotherapy: A multi-institutional study encompassing robotic, gimbaled, multileaf collimator and couch tracking.

    PubMed

    Colvill, Emma; Booth, Jeremy; Nill, Simeon; Fast, Martin; Bedford, James; Oelfke, Uwe; Nakamura, Mitsuhiro; Poulsen, Per; Worm, Esben; Hansen, Rune; Ravkilde, Thomas; Scherman Rydhög, Jonas; Pommer, Tobias; Munck Af Rosenschold, Per; Lang, Stephanie; Guckenberger, Matthias; Groh, Christian; Herrmann, Christian; Verellen, Dirk; Poels, Kenneth; Wang, Lei; Hadsell, Michael; Sothmann, Thilo; Blanck, Oliver; Keall, Paul

    2016-04-01

    A study of real-time adaptive radiotherapy systems was performed to test the hypothesis that, across delivery systems and institutions, the dosimetric accuracy is improved with adaptive treatments over non-adaptive radiotherapy in the presence of patient-measured tumor motion. Ten institutions with robotic(2), gimbaled(2), MLC(4) or couch tracking(2) used common materials including CT and structure sets, motion traces and planning protocols to create a lung and a prostate plan. For each motion trace, the plan was delivered twice to a moving dosimeter; with and without real-time adaptation. Each measurement was compared to a static measurement and the percentage of failed points for γ-tests recorded. For all lung traces all measurement sets show improved dose accuracy with a mean 2%/2mm γ-fail rate of 1.6% with adaptation and 15.2% without adaptation (p<0.001). For all prostate the mean 2%/2mm γ-fail rate was 1.4% with adaptation and 17.3% without adaptation (p<0.001). The difference between the four systems was small with an average 2%/2mm γ-fail rate of <3% for all systems with adaptation for lung and prostate. The investigated systems all accounted for realistic tumor motion accurately and performed to a similar high standard, with real-time adaptation significantly outperforming non-adaptive delivery methods. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  8. Data-Aware Retrodiction for Asynchronous Harmonic Measurement in a Cyber-Physical Energy System.

    PubMed

    Liu, Youda; Wang, Xue; Liu, Yanchi; Cui, Sujin

    2016-08-18

    Cyber-physical energy systems provide a networked solution for safety, reliability and efficiency problems in smart grids. On the demand side, the secure and trustworthy energy supply requires real-time supervising and online power quality assessing. Harmonics measurement is necessary in power quality evaluation. However, under the large-scale distributed metering architecture, harmonic measurement faces the out-of-sequence measurement (OOSM) problem, which is the result of latencies in sensing or the communication process and brings deviations in data fusion. This paper depicts a distributed measurement network for large-scale asynchronous harmonic analysis and exploits a nonlinear autoregressive model with exogenous inputs (NARX) network to reorder the out-of-sequence measuring data. The NARX network gets the characteristics of the electrical harmonics from practical data rather than the kinematic equations. Thus, the data-aware network approximates the behavior of the practical electrical parameter with real-time data and improves the retrodiction accuracy. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that the data-aware method maintains a reasonable consumption of computing resources. Experiments on a practical testbed of a cyber-physical system are implemented, and harmonic measurement and analysis accuracy are adopted to evaluate the measuring mechanism under a distributed metering network. Results demonstrate an improvement of the harmonics analysis precision and validate the asynchronous measuring method in cyber-physical energy systems.

  9. Distributed control system for parallel-connected DC boost converters

    DOEpatents

    Goldsmith, Steven

    2017-08-15

    The disclosed invention is a distributed control system for operating a DC bus fed by disparate DC power sources that service a known or unknown load. The voltage sources vary in v-i characteristics and have time-varying, maximum supply capacities. Each source is connected to the bus via a boost converter, which may have different dynamic characteristics and power transfer capacities, but are controlled through PWM. The invention tracks the time-varying power sources and apportions their power contribution while maintaining the DC bus voltage within the specifications. A central digital controller solves the steady-state system for the optimal duty cycle settings that achieve a desired power supply apportionment scheme for a known or predictable DC load. A distributed networked control system is derived from the central system that utilizes communications among controllers to compute a shared estimate of the unknown time-varying load through shared bus current measurements and bus voltage measurements.

  10. DSPI technique for nanometer vibration mode measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yue, Kaiduan; Jia, Shuhai; Tan, Yushan

    2000-05-01

    A time-average DSPI method for nanometer vibration mode measurement is presented in this paper. The phase continuous scan technique is combined with the Bessel fringe-shifting technique to quantitatively analyze the vibration mode by time-average DSPI is used in measurement system. Through the phase continuous scan, the background and speckle items are completely eliminated, which improves the fringe quality and enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of interferogram. There is no need to calibrate the optical phase-shifter exactly in this method. The anti-disturbance capability of this method is higher than that of the phase-stepping technique, so it is robust and easy to be used. In the vibration measurement system, the speckle average technology is used, so the high quality measuring results are obtained.

  11. Development of one-shot aspheric measurement system with a Shack-Hartmann sensor.

    PubMed

    Furukawa, Yasunori; Takaie, Yuichi; Maeda, Yoshiki; Ohsaki, Yumiko; Takeuchi, Seiji; Hasegawa, Masanobu

    2016-10-10

    We present a measurement system for a rotationally symmetric aspheric surface that is designed for accurate and high-volume measurements. The system uses the Shack-Hartmann sensor and is capable of measuring aspheres with a maximum diameter of 90 mm in one shot. In our system, a reference surface, made with the same aspheric parameter as the test surface, is prepared. The test surface is recovered as the deviation from the reference surface using a figure-error reconstruction algorithm with a ray coordinate and angle variant table. In addition, we developed a method to calibrate the rotationally symmetric system error. These techniques produce stable measurements and high accuracy. For high-throughput measurements, a single measurement scheme and auto alignment are implemented; they produce a 4.5 min measurement time, including calibration and alignment. In this paper, we introduce the principle and calibration method of our system. We also demonstrate that our system achieved an accuracy better than 5.8 nm RMS and a repeatability of 0.75 nm RMS by comparing our system's aspheric measurement results with those of a probe measurement machine.

  12. Estimation Method of Center of Inertia Frequency based on Multiple Synchronized Phasor Measurement Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hashiguchi, Takuhei; Watanabe, Masayuki; Goda, Tadahiro; Mitani, Yasunori; Saeki, Osamu; Hojo, Masahide; Ukai, Hiroyuki

    Open access and deregulation have been introduced into Japan and some independent power producers (IPP) and power producer and suppliers (PPS) are participating in the power generation business, which is possible to makes power system dynamics more complex. To maintain power system condition under various situations, it is essential that a real time measurement system over wide area is available. Therefore we started a project to construct an original measurement system by the use of phasor measurement units (PMU) in Japan. This paper describes the estimation method of a center of inertia frequency by applying actual measurement data. The application of this method enables us to extract power system oscillations from measurement data appropriately. Moreover, the analysis of power system dynamics for power system oscillations occurring in western Japan 60Hz system is shown. These results will lead to the clarification of power system dynamics and may make it possible to realize the monitoring of power system oscillations associated with power system stability.

  13. Work Measurement as a Generalized Quantum Measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Roncaglia, Augusto J.; Cerisola, Federico; Paz, Juan Pablo

    2014-12-01

    We present a new method to measure the work w performed on a driven quantum system and to sample its probability distribution P (w ). The method is based on a simple fact that remained unnoticed until now: Work on a quantum system can be measured by performing a generalized quantum measurement at a single time. Such measurement, which technically speaking is denoted as a positive operator valued measure reduces to an ordinary projective measurement on an enlarged system. This observation not only demystifies work measurement but also suggests a new quantum algorithm to efficiently sample the distribution P (w ). This can be used, in combination with fluctuation theorems, to estimate free energies of quantum states on a quantum computer.

  14. Application of real-time digitization techniques in beam measurement for accelerators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Lei; Zhan, Lin-Song; Gao, Xing-Shun; Liu, Shu-Bin; An, Qi

    2016-04-01

    Beam measurement is very important for accelerators. In this paper, modern digital beam measurement techniques based on IQ (In-phase & Quadrature-phase) analysis are discussed. Based on this method and high-speed high-resolution analog-to-digital conversion, we have completed three beam measurement electronics systems designed for the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), and Accelerator Driven Sub-critical system (ADS). Core techniques of hardware design and real-time system calibration are discussed, and performance test results of these three instruments are also presented. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11205153, 10875119), Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJCX2-YW-N27), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WK2030040029),and the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP).

  15. Probe systems for static pressure and cross-stream turbulence intensity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rossow, Vernon, J.

    1991-01-01

    A recent study of total-pressure probes for use in highly turbulent streams is extended herein by developing probe systems that measure time-averaged static or ambient pressure and turbulence intensity. Arrangements of tubular probes of circular and elliptical cross section are described that measure the pressure at orifices on the sides of the probes to obtain different responses to the cross-stream velocity fluctuations. When the measured data are combined to remove the effect of the presence of the probes on the local pressure, the time-averaged static pressure and the cross-stream components of turbulence intensity can be determined. If a system of total pressure tubes, as described in an accompanying paper, is added to the static pressure group to form a single cluster, redundant measurements are obtained that permit accuracy and consistency checks.

  16. A method to measure internal stray radiation of cryogenic infrared imaging systems under various ambient temperatures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, Qijie; Chang, Songtao; Li, Zhou; He, Fengyun; Qiao, Yanfeng

    2017-03-01

    The suppression level of internal stray radiation is a key criterion for infrared imaging systems, especially for high-precision cryogenic infrared imaging systems. To achieve accurate measurement for internal stray radiation of cryogenic infrared imaging systems under various ambient temperatures, a measurement method, which is based on radiometric calibration, is presented in this paper. First of all, the calibration formula is deduced considering the integration time, and the effect of ambient temperature on internal stray radiation is further analyzed in detail. Then, an approach is proposed to measure the internal stray radiation of cryogenic infrared imaging systems under various ambient temperatures. By calibrating the system under two ambient temperatures, the quantitative relation between the internal stray radiation and the ambient temperature can be acquired, and then the internal stray radiation of the cryogenic infrared imaging system under various ambient temperatures can be calculated. Finally, several experiments are performed in a chamber with controllable inside temperatures to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can be used to measure internal stray radiation with high accuracy at various ambient temperatures and integration times. The proposed method has some advantages, such as simple implementation and the capability of high-precision measurement. The measurement results can be used to guide the stray radiation suppression and to test whether the internal stray radiation suppression performance meets the requirement or not.

  17. Comparison of frequency-domain and time-domain rotorcraft vibration control methods

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gupta, N. K.

    1984-01-01

    Active control of rotor-induced vibration in rotorcraft has received significant attention recently. Two classes of techniques have been proposed. The more developed approach works with harmonic analysis of measured time histories and is called the frequency-domain approach. The more recent approach computes the control input directly using the measured time history data and is called the time-domain approach. The report summarizes the results of a theoretical investigation to compare the two approaches. Five specific areas were addressed: (1) techniques to derive models needed for control design (system identification methods), (2) robustness with respect to errors, (3) transient response, (4) susceptibility to noise, and (5) implementation difficulties. The system identification methods are more difficult for the time-domain models. The time-domain approach is more robust (e.g., has higher gain and phase margins) than the frequency-domain approach. It might thus be possible to avoid doing real-time system identification in the time-domain approach by storing models at a number of flight conditions. The most significant error source is the variation in open-loop vibrations caused by pilot inputs, maneuvers or gusts. The implementation requirements are similar except that the time-domain approach can be much simpler to implement if real-time system identification were not necessary.

  18. Suitability of Smartphone Inertial Sensors for Real-Time Biofeedback Applications.

    PubMed

    Kos, Anton; Tomažič, Sašo; Umek, Anton

    2016-02-27

    This article studies the suitability of smartphones with built-in inertial sensors for biofeedback applications. Biofeedback systems use various sensors to measure body functions and parameters. These sensor data are analyzed, and the results are communicated back to the user, who then tries to act on the feedback signals. Smartphone inertial sensors can be used to capture body movements in biomechanical biofeedback systems. These sensors exhibit various inaccuracies that induce significant angular and positional errors. We studied deterministic and random errors of smartphone accelerometers and gyroscopes, primarily focusing on their biases. Based on extensive measurements, we determined accelerometer and gyroscope noise models and bias variation ranges. Then, we compiled a table of predicted positional and angular errors under various biofeedback system operation conditions. We suggest several bias compensation options that are suitable for various examples of use in real-time biofeedback applications. Measurements within the developed experimental biofeedback application show that under certain conditions, even uncompensated sensors can be used for real-time biofeedback. For general use, especially for more demanding biofeedback applications, sensor biases should be compensated. We are convinced that real-time biofeedback systems based on smartphone inertial sensors are applicable to many similar examples in sports, healthcare, and other areas.

  19. Suitability of Smartphone Inertial Sensors for Real-Time Biofeedback Applications

    PubMed Central

    Kos, Anton; Tomažič, Sašo; Umek, Anton

    2016-01-01

    This article studies the suitability of smartphones with built-in inertial sensors for biofeedback applications. Biofeedback systems use various sensors to measure body functions and parameters. These sensor data are analyzed, and the results are communicated back to the user, who then tries to act on the feedback signals. Smartphone inertial sensors can be used to capture body movements in biomechanical biofeedback systems. These sensors exhibit various inaccuracies that induce significant angular and positional errors. We studied deterministic and random errors of smartphone accelerometers and gyroscopes, primarily focusing on their biases. Based on extensive measurements, we determined accelerometer and gyroscope noise models and bias variation ranges. Then, we compiled a table of predicted positional and angular errors under various biofeedback system operation conditions. We suggest several bias compensation options that are suitable for various examples of use in real-time biofeedback applications. Measurements within the developed experimental biofeedback application show that under certain conditions, even uncompensated sensors can be used for real-time biofeedback. For general use, especially for more demanding biofeedback applications, sensor biases should be compensated. We are convinced that real-time biofeedback systems based on smartphone inertial sensors are applicable to many similar examples in sports, healthcare, and other areas. PMID:26927125

  20. Effects of automobile steering characteristics on driver vehicle system dynamics in regulation tasks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mcruer, D. T.; Klein, R.

    1975-01-01

    A regulation task which subjected the automobile to a random gust disturbance which is countered by driver control action is used to study the effects of various automobile steering characteristics on the driver/vehicle system. The experiments used a variable stability automobile specially configured to permit insertion of the simulated gust disturbance and the measurement of the driver/vehicle system characteristics. Driver/vehicle system dynamics were measured and interpreted as an effective open loop system describing function. Objective measures of system bandwidth, stability, and time delays were deduced and compared. These objective measures were supplemented by driver ratings. A tentative optimum range of vehicle dynamics for the directional regulation task was established.

  1. A neutron camera system for MAST.

    PubMed

    Cecconello, M; Turnyanskiy, M; Conroy, S; Ericsson, G; Ronchi, E; Sangaroon, S; Akers, R; Fitzgerald, I; Cullen, A; Weiszflog, M

    2010-10-01

    A prototype neutron camera has been developed and installed at MAST as part of a feasibility study for a multichord neutron camera system with the aim to measure the spatial and time resolved 2.45 MeV neutron emissivity profile. Liquid scintillators coupled to a fast digitizer are used for neutron/gamma ray digital pulse shape discrimination. The preliminary results obtained clearly show the capability of this diagnostic to measure neutron emissivity profiles with sufficient time resolution to study the effect of fast ion loss and redistribution due to magnetohydrodynamic activity. A minimum time resolution of 2 ms has been achieved with a modest 1.5 MW of neutral beam injection heating with a measured neutron count rate of a few 100 kHz.

  2. Work required for selective quantum measurement

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Konishi, Eiji

    2018-06-01

    In quantum mechanics, we define the measuring system M in a selective measurement by two conditions. Firstly, when we define the measured system S as the system in which the non-selective measurement part acts, M is independent from the measured system S as a quantum system in the sense that any time-dependent process in the total system S  +  M is divisible into parts for S and M. Secondly, when we can separate S and M from each other without changing the unitary equivalence class of the state of S from that obtained by the partial trace of M, the eigenstate selection in the selective measurement cannot be realized. In order for such a system M to exist, we show that in one selective measurement of an observable of a quantum system S 0 of particles in S, there exists a negative entropy transfer from M to S that can be directly transformed into an amount of Helmholtz free energy of where T is the thermodynamic temperature of the system S. Equivalently, an extra amount of work, , is required to be done by the system M.

  3. Measuring Weld Profiles By Computer Tomography

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pascua, Antonio G.; Roy, Jagatjit

    1990-01-01

    Noncontacting, nondestructive computer tomography system determines internal and external contours of welded objects. System makes it unnecessary to take metallurgical sections (destructive technique) or to take silicone impressions of hidden surfaces (technique that contaminates) to inspect them. Measurements of contours via tomography performed 10 times as fast as measurements via impression molds, and tomography does not contaminate inspected parts.

  4. Time-to-impact estimation in passive missile warning systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Şahıngıl, Mehmet Cihan

    2017-05-01

    A missile warning system can detect the incoming missile threat(s) and automatically cue the other Electronic Attack (EA) systems in the suit, such as Directed Infrared Counter Measure (DIRCM) system and/or Counter Measure Dispensing System (CMDS). Most missile warning systems are currently based on passive sensor technology operating in either Solar Blind Ultraviolet (SBUV) or Midwave Infrared (MWIR) bands on which there is an intensive emission from the exhaust plume of the threatening missile. Although passive missile warning systems have some clear advantages over pulse-Doppler radar (PDR) based active missile warning systems, they show poorer performance in terms of time-to-impact (TTI) estimation which is critical for optimizing the countermeasures and also "passive kill assessment". In this paper, we consider this problem, namely, TTI estimation from passive measurements and present a TTI estimation scheme which can be used in passive missile warning systems. Our problem formulation is based on Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). The algorithm uses the area parameter of the threat plume which is derived from the used image frame.

  5. Earth orbiting Sisyphus system study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jurkevich, I.; Krause, K. W.; Neste, S. L.; Soberman, R. K.

    1971-01-01

    The feasibility of employing an optical meteoroid detecting system, known as Sisyphus, to measure the near-earth particulates from an earth orbiting vehicle, is considered. A Sisyphus system can discriminate between natural and man-made particles since the system measures orbital characteristics of particles. A Sisyphus system constructed for the Pioneer F/G missions to Jupiter is used as the baseline, and is described. The amount of observing time which can be obtained by a Sisyphus instrument launched into various orbits is determined. Observation time is lost when, (1) the Sun is in or near the field of view, (2) the lighted Earth is in or near the field of view, (3) the instrument is eclipsed by the Earth, and (4) the phase angle measured at the particle between the forward scattering direction and the instrument is less than a certain critical value. The selection of the launch system and the instrument platform with a dedicated, attitude controlled payload package is discussed. Examples of such systems are SATS and SOLRAD 10(C) vehicles, and other possibilities are AVCO Corp. S4 system, the OWL system, and the Delta Payload Experiment Package.

  6. Thermal coefficient of delay for various coaxial and fiber-optic cables

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lutes, G. F.; Diener, W.

    1989-01-01

    Data are presented on the thermal coefficient of delay for various coaxial and fiber optic cables, as measured by the Frequency and Timing Systems Engineering Group and the Time and Frequency Systems Research Group. The measured pressure coefficient of delay is also given for the air-dielectric coaxial cables. A description of the measurement method and a description of each of the cables and its use at JPL and in the DSN are included. An improvement in frequency and phase stability by a factor of ten is possible with the use of fiber optics.

  7. Use of U and Th Decay-Series Disequilibrium to Characterize Geothermal Systems: An Example from the Coso Geothermal System

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Leslie, B. W.; Hammond, D.

    2007-12-01

    Uranium and thorium decay series isotopes were measured in fluids and solids in the Coso geothermal system to assess the utility and constrain the limitations of the radioisotopic approach to the investigation of rock-water interaction. Fluid radioisotope measurements indicate substantial kilometer-scale variability in chemistry. Between 1988 and 1990, radium isotope activity ratios indicate temporal variability, which is exhibited by apparent mixing relationships observed as a function of time for single wells. Activity ratios of Ra-224/Ra-226 and Ra- 228/Ra-226, and the processes that contribute and remove these radionuclide to and from the fluids, constrain residence times of fluids and may help constrain fluid velocities in the geothermal system. Activity ratios of Ra- 224/Ra-226 > ten were measured. In groundwater and geothermal systems ratios of Ra-224/Ra-226 > ten are limited to zones of thermal upwelling or very young (days to weeks) waters in mountainous areas. Rn-222 results indicate that radon is also an effective tracer for steam velocities within the geothermal system. Analysis of carbon dioxide and Rn-222 data indicates that the residence time of steam (time since separation from the liquid) is short (probably less than four days). Estimates of fluid velocities derived from Rn-222 and radium isotopic measurements are within an order of magnitude of velocities derived from a fluorescein tracer test. Both Rn-222 and Ra-224 activities are higher in single-phase fluids in the northwest as compared to the southeast, indicating a higher rock-surface-area/water-volume ratio in the northwest. Thus, measurements of short-lived radioisotopes and gaseous phase constituents can constrain processes and characteristics of geothermal systems that are usually difficult to constrain (e.g., surface area/volume, residence times). The NRC staff views expressed herein are preliminary and do not constitute a final judgment or determination of the matters addressed or of the acceptability of a license application for a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.

  8. Development of a real-time radon monitoring system for simultaneous measurements in multiple sites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yamamoto, S.; Yamasoto, K.; Iida, T.

    1999-12-01

    A real-time radon monitoring system that can simultaneously measure radon concentrations in multiple sites was developed and tested. The system consists of maximum of four radon detectors, optical fiber cables and a data acquisition personal computer. The radon detector uses a plastic scintillation counter that collects radon daughters in the chamber electrostatically. The applied voltage on the photocathode for the photomultiplier tube (PMT) acts as an electrode for radon daughters. The thickness of the plastic scintillator was thin, 50 /spl mu/m, so as to minimize the background counts due to the environmental gamma rays or beta particles. The energy discriminated signals from the radon detectors are fed to the data acquisition personal computer via optical fiber cables. The system made it possible to measure the radon concentrations in multiple sites simultaneously.

  9. A real-time multi-channel monitoring system for stem cell culture process.

    PubMed

    Xicai Yue; Drakakis, E M; Lim, M; Radomska, A; Hua Ye; Mantalaris, A; Panoskaltsis, N; Cass, A

    2008-06-01

    A novel, up to 128 channels, multi-parametric physiological measurement system suitable for monitoring hematopoietic stem cell culture processes and cell cultures in general is presented in this paper. The system aims to measure in real-time the most important physical and chemical culture parameters of hematopoietic stem cells, including physicochemical parameters, nutrients, and metabolites, in a long-term culture process. The overarching scope of this research effort is to control and optimize the whole bioprocess by means of the acquisition of real-time quantitative physiological information from the culture. The system is designed in a modular manner. Each hardware module can operate as an independent gain programmable, level shift adjustable, 16 channel data acquisition system specific to a sensor type. Up to eight such data acquisition modules can be combined and connected to the host PC to realize the whole system hardware. The control of data acquisition and the subsequent management of data is performed by the system's software which is coded in LabVIEW. Preliminary experimental results presented here show that the system not only has the ability to interface to various types of sensors allowing the monitoring of different types of culture parameters. Moreover, it can capture dynamic variations of culture parameters by means of real-time multi-channel measurements thus providing additional information on both temporal and spatial profiles of these parameters within a bioreactor. The system is by no means constrained in the hematopoietic stem cell culture field only. It is suitable for cell growth monitoring applications in general.

  10. Realization of a Quantum Integer-Spin Chain with Controllable Interactions

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2015-06-17

    site participate in the dynamics. We observe the time evolution of the system and verify its coherence by entangling a pair of effective three-level...states generated by the XY Hamiltonian, we can verify entangle - ment between a pair of three-level systems with fidelities of up to 86%. Adding a time...3(b) shows an example of the measured parity curve used to extract the amplitude A and verify entanglement between the qutrit pair . Such measurements

  11. [Comparison of waste anesthetic gases in operating rooms with or without an scavenging system in a Brazilian University Hospital].

    PubMed

    Braz, Leandro Gobbo; Braz, José Reinaldo Cerqueira; Cavalcante, Guilherme Aparecido Silva; Souza, Kátina Meneghetti; Lucio, Lorena Mendes de Carvalho; Braz, Mariana Gobbo

    Occupational exposure to waste anesthetic gases in operating room (OR) without active scavenging system has been associated with adverse health effects. Thus, this study aimed to compare the trace concentrations of the inhaled anesthetics isoflurane and sevoflurane in OR with and without central scavenging system. Waste concentrations of isoflurane and sevoflurane were measured by infrared analyzer at different locations (near the respiratory area of the assistant nurse and anesthesiologist and near the anesthesia station) and at two times (30 and 120minutes after the start of surgery) in both OR types. All isoflurane and sevoflurane concentrations in unscavenged OR were higher than the US recommended limit (2 parts per million), regardless of the location and time evaluated. In scavenged OR, the average concentrations of isoflurane were within the limit of exposure, except for the measurements near the anesthesia station, regardless of the measurement times. For sevoflurane, concentrations exceeded the limit value at all measurement locations and at both times. The exposure to both anesthetics exceeded the international limit in unscavenged OR. In scavenged OR, the concentrations of sevoflurane, and to a lesser extent those of isoflurane, exceeded the recommended limit value. Thus, the OR scavenging system analyzed in the present study decreased the anesthetic concentrations, although not to the internationally recommended values. Copyright © 2017 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

  12. Ambient & Vessel Noise Measurement and Marine Mammal Monitoring in the Stait of Georgia, British-Columbia, Canada.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moloney, J. E.; Hannay, D.; Mouy, X.; Mouy, P. A.; Urazghildiiev, I.; Dakin, T.

    2016-02-01

    Recently JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd (JASCO), Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the Port of Metro Vancouver (PMV) have collaborated in the installation of a novel, real-time ocean observing (listening) system (PMV-ECHO system deployed in the Strait of Georgia, BC. This system was designed specifically to measure ambient noise, vessel source levels, and to detect, classify, localize and track marine mammals using their vocalization in order to estimate population density. The listening station deployment and monitoring activities are part of the Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program. The program aims to better understand and manage the impact of shipping activities on at-risk whales throughout the southern coast of British Columbia. The PMV-ECHO system is composed of two unique spatial arrays of four hydrophones and one active projector each. Both arrays are used to measure and monitor the environment and calibrate the hydrophones over time. Further, a new shored-based data processing and visualization system (JMesh) is used automatically process the data and to enable operators to easily provide measurement information, navigate through large time series of detections, examine spectrograms, listen to detected sounds, validate detections, and compare detections for different species over time and space. The JMesh web platform has been designed to overcome the otherwise overwhelming volume of acoustic data collected by the PMV-ECHO sensor systems. This paper will describe how the PMV-ECHO system along with the automated real-time analysis and visualization software suite can be used study marine mammal distribution and behavior, variation of vessel noises and potential effects of anthropogenic activities on marine mammals. The goal of the PMV-ECHO program is to find ways to reduce shipping impact on at-risk species especially in the approaches to large ports. This program and its scientific and technical approaches should be of interest to many marine organizations, industries, researchers and enforcement agencies.

  13. Performance of various branch-point tolerant phase reconstructors with finite time delays and measurement noise

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zetterlind, Virgil E., III; Magee, Eric P.

    2002-06-01

    This study extends branch point tolerant phase reconstructor research to examine the effect of finite time delays and measurement error on system performance. Branch point tolerant phase reconstruction is particularly applicable to atmospheric laser weapon and communication systems, which operate in extended turbulence. We examine the relative performance of a least squares reconstructor, least squares plus hidden phase reconstructor, and a Goldstein branch point reconstructor for various correction time-delays and measurement noise scenarios. Performance is evaluated using a wave-optics simulation that models a 100km atmospheric propagation of a point source beacon to a transmit/receive aperture. Phase-only corrections are then calculated using the various reconstructor algorithms and applied to an outgoing uniform field. Point Strehl is used as the performance metric. Results indicate that while time delays and measurement noise reduce the performance of branch point tolerant reconstructors, these reconstructors can still outperform least squares implementations in many cases. We also show that branch point detection becomes the limiting factor in measurement noise corrupted scenarios.

  14. Time assignment system and its performance aboard the Hitomi satellite

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Terada, Yukikatsu; Yamaguchi, Sunao; Sugimoto, Shigenobu; Inoue, Taku; Nakaya, Souhei; Murakami, Maika; Yabe, Seiya; Oshimizu, Kenya; Ogawa, Mina; Dotani, Tadayasu; Ishisaki, Yoshitaka; Mizushima, Kazuyo; Kominato, Takashi; Mine, Hiroaki; Hihara, Hiroki; Iwase, Kaori; Kouzu, Tomomi; Tashiro, Makoto S.; Natsukari, Chikara; Ozaki, Masanobu; Kokubun, Motohide; Takahashi, Tadayuki; Kawakami, Satoko; Kasahara, Masaru; Kumagai, Susumu; Angelini, Lorella; Witthoeft, Michael

    2018-01-01

    Fast timing capability in x-ray observation of astrophysical objects is one of the key properties for the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) mission. Absolute timing accuracies of 350 or 35 μs are required to achieve nominal scientific goals or to study fast variabilities of specific sources. The satellite carries a GPS receiver to obtain accurate time information, which is distributed from the central onboard computer through the large and complex SpaceWire network. The details of the time system on the hardware and software design are described. In the distribution of the time information, the propagation delays and jitters affect the timing accuracy. Six other items identified within the timing system will also contribute to absolute time error. These error items have been measured and checked on ground to ensure the time error budgets meet the mission requirements. The overall timing performance in combination with hardware performance, software algorithm, and the orbital determination accuracies, etc. under nominal conditions satisfies the mission requirements of 35 μs. This work demonstrates key points for space-use instruments in hardware and software designs and calibration measurements for fine timing accuracy on the order of microseconds for midsized satellites using the SpaceWire (IEEE1355) network.

  15. Distributional behavior of diffusion coefficients obtained by single trajectories in annealed transit time model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Akimoto, Takuma; Yamamoto, Eiji

    2016-12-01

    Local diffusion coefficients in disordered systems such as spin glass systems and living cells are highly heterogeneous and may change over time. Such a time-dependent and spatially heterogeneous environment results in irreproducibility of single-particle-tracking measurements. Irreproducibility of time-averaged observables has been theoretically studied in the context of weak ergodicity breaking in stochastic processes. Here, we provide rigorous descriptions of equilibrium and non-equilibrium diffusion processes for the annealed transit time model, which is a heterogeneous diffusion model in living cells. We give analytical solutions for the mean square displacement (MSD) and the relative standard deviation of the time-averaged MSD for equilibrium and non-equilibrium situations. We find that the time-averaged MSD grows linearly with time and that the time-averaged diffusion coefficients are intrinsically random (irreproducible) even in the long-time measurements in non-equilibrium situations. Furthermore, the distribution of the time-averaged diffusion coefficients converges to a universal distribution in the sense that it does not depend on initial conditions. Our findings pave the way for a theoretical understanding of distributional behavior of the time-averaged diffusion coefficients in disordered systems.

  16. Travel time data collection for measurement of advanced traveler information systems accuracy

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2003-06-01

    The objective of this white paper is to recommend an approach to measuring ATIS travel time accuracy so that ITS planners might have the data they need to make cost effective decisions regarding deployment of surveillance technologies to support ATIS...

  17. Time, space and equilibrium means of continuous vector functions on the phase space of a dynamical system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gurevich, Boris M.; Tempel'man, Arcady A.

    2010-05-01

    For a dynamical system \\tau with 'time' \\mathbb Z^d and compact phase space X, we introduce three subsets of the space \\mathbb R^m related to a continuous function f\\colon X\\to\\mathbb R^m: the set of time means of f and two sets of space means of f, namely those corresponding to all \\tau-invariant probability measures and those corresponding to some equilibrium measures on X. The main results concern topological properties of these sets of means and their mutual position. Bibliography: 18 titles.

  18. MIZEX: A Program for Mesoscale Air-Ice-Ocean Interaction Experiments in Arctic Marginal Ice Zones. VIII. A Science Plan for a Winter Marginal Ice Zone Experiment in the Fram Strait/Greenland Sea: 1987/89,

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1986-04-01

    forward modeling, with the pa- be telemetered via the ARGOS system for real - rameter changes needed to bring the predictions time evaluation, and the...integrated en ’i- rtinnental measurement svs fern. quisition system to the Winter MIZEX in I-ram To control and direct the experiment, real - time Strait...to measure, under- Electromagnetic sensing via aircraft and satellites stand, and model: will be employed in real time to identify eddy " Changes in

  19. Study on ultra-fast single photon counting spectrometer based on PCI

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Xi-feng

    2010-10-01

    The time-correlated single photon counting spectrometer developed uses PCI bus technology. We developed the ultrafast data acquisition card based on PCI, replace multi-channel analyzer primary. The system theory and design of the spectrometer are presented in detail, and the process of operation is introduced with the integration of the system. Many standard samples have been measured and the data have been analyzed and contrasted. Experimental results show that the spectrometer, s sensitive is single photon counting, and fluorescence life-span and time resolution is picosecond level. And the instrument could measure time-resolved spectroscopy.

  20. High resolution time of arrival estimation for a cooperative sensor system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morhart, C.; Biebl, E. M.

    2010-09-01

    Distance resolution of cooperative sensors is limited by the signal bandwidth. For the transmission mainly lower frequency bands are used which are more narrowband than classical radar frequencies. To compensate this resolution problem the combination of a pseudo-noise coded pulse compression system with superresolution time of arrival estimation is proposed. Coded pulsecompression allows secure and fast distance measurement in multi-user scenarios which can easily be adapted for data transmission purposes (Morhart and Biebl, 2009). Due to the lack of available signal bandwidth the measurement accuracy degrades especially in multipath scenarios. Superresolution time of arrival algorithms can improve this behaviour by estimating the channel impulse response out of a band-limited channel view. For the given test system the implementation of a MUSIC algorithm permitted a two times better distance resolution as the standard pulse compression.

  1. Evaluation of 16 measures of mental workload using a simulated flight task emphasizing mediational activity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wierwille, W. W.; Rahimi, M.; Casali, J. G.

    1985-01-01

    As aircraft and other systems become more automated, a shift is occurring in human operator participation in these systems. This shift is away from manual control and toward activities that tap the higher mental functioning of human operators. Therefore, an experiment was performed in a moving-base flight simulator to assess mediational (cognitive) workload measurement. Specifically, 16 workload estimation techniques were evaluated as to their sensitivity and intrusion in a flight task emphasizing mediational behavior. Task loading, using navigation problems presented on a display, was treated as an independent variable, and workload-measure values were treated as dependent variables. Results indicate that two mediational task measures, two rating scale measures, time estimation, and two eye behavior measures were reliably sensitive to mediational loading. The time estimation measure did, however, intrude on mediational task performance. Several of the remaining measures were completely insensitive to mediational load.

  2. FPGA-based real-time embedded system for RISS/GPS integrated navigation.

    PubMed

    Abdelfatah, Walid Farid; Georgy, Jacques; Iqbal, Umar; Noureldin, Aboelmagd

    2012-01-01

    Navigation algorithms integrating measurements from multi-sensor systems overcome the problems that arise from using GPS navigation systems in standalone mode. Algorithms which integrate the data from 2D low-cost reduced inertial sensor system (RISS), consisting of a gyroscope and an odometer or wheel encoders, along with a GPS receiver via a Kalman filter has proved to be worthy in providing a consistent and more reliable navigation solution compared to standalone GPS receivers. It has been also shown to be beneficial, especially in GPS-denied environments such as urban canyons and tunnels. The main objective of this paper is to narrow the idea-to-implementation gap that follows the algorithm development by realizing a low-cost real-time embedded navigation system capable of computing the data-fused positioning solution. The role of the developed system is to synchronize the measurements from the three sensors, relative to the pulse per second signal generated from the GPS, after which the navigation algorithm is applied to the synchronized measurements to compute the navigation solution in real-time. Employing a customizable soft-core processor on an FPGA in the kernel of the navigation system, provided the flexibility for communicating with the various sensors and the computation capability required by the Kalman filter integration algorithm.

  3. FPGA-Based Real-Time Embedded System for RISS/GPS Integrated Navigation

    PubMed Central

    Abdelfatah, Walid Farid; Georgy, Jacques; Iqbal, Umar; Noureldin, Aboelmagd

    2012-01-01

    Navigation algorithms integrating measurements from multi-sensor systems overcome the problems that arise from using GPS navigation systems in standalone mode. Algorithms which integrate the data from 2D low-cost reduced inertial sensor system (RISS), consisting of a gyroscope and an odometer or wheel encoders, along with a GPS receiver via a Kalman filter has proved to be worthy in providing a consistent and more reliable navigation solution compared to standalone GPS receivers. It has been also shown to be beneficial, especially in GPS-denied environments such as urban canyons and tunnels. The main objective of this paper is to narrow the idea-to-implementation gap that follows the algorithm development by realizing a low-cost real-time embedded navigation system capable of computing the data-fused positioning solution. The role of the developed system is to synchronize the measurements from the three sensors, relative to the pulse per second signal generated from the GPS, after which the navigation algorithm is applied to the synchronized measurements to compute the navigation solution in real-time. Employing a customizable soft-core processor on an FPGA in the kernel of the navigation system, provided the flexibility for communicating with the various sensors and the computation capability required by the Kalman filter integration algorithm. PMID:22368460

  4. Time-resolved single-shot terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for ultrafast irreversible processes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhai, Zhao-Hui; Zhong, Sen-Cheng; Li, Jun; Zhu, Li-Guo; Meng, Kun; Li, Jiang; Liu, Qiao; Peng, Qi-Xian; Li, Ze-Ren; Zhao, Jian-Heng

    2016-09-01

    Pulsed terahertz spectroscopy is suitable for spectroscopic diagnostics of ultrafast events. However, the study of irreversible or single shot ultrafast events requires ability to record transient properties at multiple time delays, i.e., time resolved at single shot level, which is not available currently. Here by angular multiplexing use of femtosecond laser pulses, we developed and demonstrated a time resolved, transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique, where burst mode THz pulses were generated and then detected in a single shot measurement manner. The burst mode THz pulses contain 2 sub-THz pulses, and the time gap between them is adjustable up to 1 ns with picosecond accuracy, thus it can be used to probe the single shot event at two different time delays. The system can detect the sub-THz pulses at 0.1 THz-2.5 THz range with signal to noise ratio (SNR) of ˜400 and spectrum resolution of 0.05 THz. System design was described here, and optimizations of single shot measurement of THz pulses were discussed in detail. Methods to improve SNR were also discussed in detail. A system application was demonstrated where pulsed THz signals at different time delays of the ultrafast process were successfully acquired within single shot measurement. This time resolved transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique provides a new diagnostic tool for irreversible or single shot ultrafast events where dynamic information can be extracted at terahertz range within one-shot experiment.

  5. Time-resolved single-shot terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for ultrafast irreversible processes.

    PubMed

    Zhai, Zhao-Hui; Zhong, Sen-Cheng; Li, Jun; Zhu, Li-Guo; Meng, Kun; Li, Jiang; Liu, Qiao; Peng, Qi-Xian; Li, Ze-Ren; Zhao, Jian-Heng

    2016-09-01

    Pulsed terahertz spectroscopy is suitable for spectroscopic diagnostics of ultrafast events. However, the study of irreversible or single shot ultrafast events requires ability to record transient properties at multiple time delays, i.e., time resolved at single shot level, which is not available currently. Here by angular multiplexing use of femtosecond laser pulses, we developed and demonstrated a time resolved, transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique, where burst mode THz pulses were generated and then detected in a single shot measurement manner. The burst mode THz pulses contain 2 sub-THz pulses, and the time gap between them is adjustable up to 1 ns with picosecond accuracy, thus it can be used to probe the single shot event at two different time delays. The system can detect the sub-THz pulses at 0.1 THz-2.5 THz range with signal to noise ratio (SNR) of ∼400 and spectrum resolution of 0.05 THz. System design was described here, and optimizations of single shot measurement of THz pulses were discussed in detail. Methods to improve SNR were also discussed in detail. A system application was demonstrated where pulsed THz signals at different time delays of the ultrafast process were successfully acquired within single shot measurement. This time resolved transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique provides a new diagnostic tool for irreversible or single shot ultrafast events where dynamic information can be extracted at terahertz range within one-shot experiment.

  6. RTSJ Memory Areas and Their Affects on the Performance of a Flight-Like Attitude Control System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Niessner, Albert F.; Benowitz, Edward G.

    2003-01-01

    The two most important factors in improving performance in any software system, but especially a real-time, embedded system, are knowing which components are the low performers and knowing what can be done to improve their performance. The word performance with respect to a real-time, embedded system does not necessarily mean fast execution, which is the common definition when discussing non real-time systems. It also includes meeting all of the specified execution dead-lines and executing at the correct time without sacrificing non real-time performance. Using a Java prototype of an existing control system used on Deep Space 1[1], the effects from adding memory areas are measured and evaluated with respect to improving performance.

  7. Real-time control of sewer systems using turbidity measurements.

    PubMed

    Lacour, C; Schütze, M

    2011-01-01

    Real-time control (RTC) of urban drainage systems has been proven useful as a means to reduce pollution by combined sewer overflow discharges. So far, RTC has been investigated mainly with a sole focus on water quantity aspects. However, as measurement techniques for pollution of wastewater are advancing, pollution-based RTC might be of increasing interest. For example, turbidity data sets from an extensive measurement programme in two Paris catchments allow a detailed investigation of the benefits of using pollution-based data for RTC. This paper exemplifies this, comparing pollution-based RTC with flow-based RTC. Results suggest that pollution-based RTC indeed has some potential, particularly when measurements of water-quality characteristics are readily available.

  8. Calibration of the ER-2 meteorological measurement system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bowen, Stuart W.; Chan, K. Roland; Bui, T. Paul

    1991-01-01

    The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) on the high altitude ER-2 aircraft was developed specifically for atmospheric research. The MMS provides accurate measurements of pressure, temperature, wind vector, position (longitude, latitude, altitude), pitch, roll, heading, angle of attack, angle of sideslip, true airspeed, aircraft eastward velocity, northward velocity, vertical acceleration, and time, at a sample rate of 5/s. MMS data products are presented in the form of either 5 or 1 Hz time series. The 1 Hz data stream, generally used by ER-2 investigators, is obtained from the 5 Hz data stream by filtering and desampling. The method of measurement of the meteorological parameters is given and the results of their analyses are discussed.

  9. Double peak-induced distance error in short-time-Fourier-transform-Brillouin optical time domain reflectometers event detection and the recovery method.

    PubMed

    Yu, Yifei; Luo, Linqing; Li, Bo; Guo, Linfeng; Yan, Jize; Soga, Kenichi

    2015-10-01

    The measured distance error caused by double peaks in the BOTDRs (Brillouin optical time domain reflectometers) system is a kind of Brillouin scattering spectrum (BSS) deformation, discussed and simulated for the first time in the paper, to the best of the authors' knowledge. Double peak, as a kind of Brillouin spectrum deformation, is important in the enhancement of spatial resolution, measurement accuracy, and crack detection. Due to the variances of the peak powers of the BSS along the fiber, the measured starting point of a step-shape frequency transition region is shifted and results in distance errors. Zero-padded short-time-Fourier-transform (STFT) can restore the transition-induced double peaks in the asymmetric and deformed BSS, thus offering more accurate and quicker measurements than the conventional Lorentz-fitting method. The recovering method based on the double-peak detection and corresponding BSS deformation can be applied to calculate the real starting point, which can improve the distance accuracy of the STFT-based BOTDR system.

  10. Turbulence imaging and applications using beam emission spectroscopy on DIII-D (invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McKee, G. R.; Fenzi, C.; Fonck, R. J.; Jakubowski, M.

    2003-03-01

    Two-dimensional measurements of density fluctuations are obtained in the radial and poloidal plane of the DIII-D tokamak with the Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic system. The goals are to visualize the spatial structure and time evolution of turbulent eddies, as well as to obtain the 2D statistical properties of turbulence. The measurements are obtained with an array of localized BES spatial channels configured to image a midplane region of the plasma. 32 channels have been deployed, each with a spatial resolution of about 1 cm in the radial and poloidal directions, thus providing measurements of turbulence in the wave number range 0

  11. On the correct use of stepped-sine excitations for the measurement of time-varying bioimpedance.

    PubMed

    Louarroudi, E; Sanchez, B

    2017-02-01

    When a linear time-varying (LTV) bioimpedance is measured using stepped-sine excitations, a compromise must be made: the temporal distortions affecting the data depend on the experimental time, which in turn sets the data accuracy and limits the temporal bandwidth of the system that needs to be measured. Here, the experimental time required to measure linear time-invariant bioimpedance with a specified accuracy is analyzed for different stepped-sine excitation setups. We provide simple equations that allow the reader to know whether LTV bioimpedance can be measured through repeated time- invariant stepped-sine experiments. Bioimpedance technology is on the rise thanks to a plethora of healthcare monitoring applications. The results presented can help to avoid distortions in the data while measuring accurately non-stationary physiological phenomena. The impact of the work presented is broad, including the potential of enhancing bioimpedance studies and healthcare devices using bioimpedance technology.

  12. Measurement of resilience and its application to enterprise information systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, J. W.; Gao, F.; Ip, W. H.

    2010-05-01

    In this article, we present a measure for resilience in the context of enterprise information systems or service systems in a more general sense. Resilience of the system is a property of the system, which focuses on the recovery ability of the system after a partial damage of the system. Enterprise information systems such as enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, customer relationship management, manufacturing execution system, etc. play a critical role in the daily operation of modern enterprises by timely and sustainable delivery of information. Therefore, resilience is especially important for the enterprise information systems. The proposed measure for resilience is based on the recovery ability of the system, which departs from the existing approaches in literature and presents a unique contribution. An example is given to illustrate how the proposed measure works.

  13. Investigations of soft and hard tissues in oral cavity by spectral domain optical coherence tomography

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Madjarova, Violeta Dimitrova; Yasuno, Yoshiaki; Makita, Shuichi; Hori, Yasuaki; Voeffray, Jean-Baptiste; Itoh, Masahide; Yatagai, Toyohiko; Tamura, Masami; Nanbu, Toshiyuki

    2006-02-01

    Fourier Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) systems for dental measurements are demonstrated. Two systems have been developed. The first system is fiber based Michelson interferometer with super luminescent diodes at 1310 nm and 100 nm FWHM as a light source. The sensitivity of the system was 106 dB with depth measurement range in air of 2.5 mm. The second systems is a fiber based Mach-Zehnder interferometer with wavelength scanning laser as light source at center wavelength of 1310 nm, wavelength range of 110 nm and scanning rate of 20 KHz. The sensitivity of the system is 112 dB and depth measurement range in air is 6 mm. Both systems can acquire real-time three dimensional (3-D) images in the range of several second. The systems were applied for early caries detection in tooth, for diagnostics of tooth condition after operational tooth treatment, and for diagnostics of the alveolar bone structure. In-vivo measurements were performed on two volunteers. The systems were able to detect discontinuities in tooth and resin filling after tooth treatment. In addition early carries lesion was detected in one of the volunteers. The 3-D profile of the alveolar bone was acquired for first time with non-contact method.

  14. Optical time-of-flight and absorbance imaging of biologic media.

    PubMed

    Benaron, D A; Stevenson, D K

    1993-03-05

    Imaging the interior of living bodies with light may assist in the diagnosis and treatment of a number of clinical problems, which include the early detection of tumors and hypoxic cerebral injury. An existing picosecond time-of-flight and absorbance (TOFA) optical system has been used to image a model biologic system and a rat. Model measurements confirmed TOFA principles in systems with a high degree of photon scattering; rat images, which were constructed from the variable time delays experienced by a fixed fraction of early-arriving transmitted photons, revealed identifiable internal structure. A combination of light-based quantitative measurement and TOFA localization may have applications in continuous, noninvasive monitoring for structural imaging and spatial chemometric analysis in humans.

  15. Optical Time-of-Flight and Absorbance Imaging of Biologic Media

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Benaron, David A.; Stevenson, David K.

    1993-03-01

    Imaging the interior of living bodies with light may assist in the diagnosis and treatment of a number of clinical problems, which include the early detection of tumors and hypoxic cerebral injury. An existing picosecond time-of-flight and absorbance (TOFA) optical system has been used to image a model biologic system and a rat. Model measurements confirmed TOFA principles in systems with a high degree of photon scattering; rat images, which were constructed from the variable time delays experienced by a fixed fraction of early-arriving transmitted photons, revealed identifiable internal structure. A combination of light-based quantitative measurement and TOFA localization may have applications in continuous, noninvasive monitoring for structural imaging and spatial chemometric analysis in humans.

  16. State and parameter estimation of spatiotemporally chaotic systems illustrated by an application to Rayleigh-Bénard convection.

    PubMed

    Cornick, Matthew; Hunt, Brian; Ott, Edward; Kurtuldu, Huseyin; Schatz, Michael F

    2009-03-01

    Data assimilation refers to the process of estimating a system's state from a time series of measurements (which may be noisy or incomplete) in conjunction with a model for the system's time evolution. Here we demonstrate the applicability of a recently developed data assimilation method, the local ensemble transform Kalman filter, to nonlinear, high-dimensional, spatiotemporally chaotic flows in Rayleigh-Bénard convection experiments. Using this technique we are able to extract the full temperature and velocity fields from a time series of shadowgraph measurements. In addition, we describe extensions of the algorithm for estimating model parameters. Our results suggest the potential usefulness of our data assimilation technique to a broad class of experimental situations exhibiting spatiotemporal chaos.

  17. Time stress measurement device: system design and synthesis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Harchani, Noursaied; Jimenez, Fernando; Al-Mohammed, Mohammed; Esteve, Daniel; Courvoisier, M.

    2000-04-01

    System design methodology becomes a strategic activity in the industrial competition. Obtaining substantial reduction of time to market for complex and reliable products is one of the priorities for the manufacturers. Top down design, automated generation of architecture, co-design, virtual prototyping, etc. are already identified as research topics which have to be privileged. To be efficient, each theoretical contribution must be inserted in a global procedure of project management where complementary elements such as marketing, technico-economic survey, road-mapping, internal know-how,.. must be considered. In this context, this paper will present a design methodology starting from the requirement statement until the technical realization of the product, and applied to the design of a Time Stress Measurement Device for the observation of aeronautical mechanical systems.

  18. Assessment of Clogging Dynamics in Permeable Pavement Systems with Time Domain Reflectometers

    EPA Science Inventory

    Infiltration is a primary functional mechanism in green infrastructure stormwater controls. This study used time domain reflectometers (TDRs) to measure spatial infiltration and assess clogging dynamics of permeable pavement systems in Edison, NJ, and Louisville, KY. In 2009, t...

  19. Research on an optoelectronic measurement system of dynamic envelope measurement for China Railway high-speed train

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Ziyue; Gan, Xiaochuan; Zou, Zhi; Ma, Liqun

    2018-01-01

    The dynamic envelope measurement plays very important role in the external dimension design for high-speed train. Recently there is no digital measurement system to solve this problem. This paper develops an optoelectronic measurement system by using monocular digital camera, and presents the research of measurement theory, visual target design, calibration algorithm design, software programming and so on. This system consists of several CMOS digital cameras, several luminous targets for measuring, a scale bar, data processing software and a terminal computer. The system has such advantages as large measurement scale, high degree of automation, strong anti-interference ability, noise rejection and real-time measurement. In this paper, we resolve the key technology such as the transformation, storage and calculation of multiple cameras' high resolution digital image. The experimental data show that the repeatability of the system is within 0.02mm and the distance error of the system is within 0.12mm in the whole workspace. This experiment has verified the rationality of the system scheme, the correctness, the precision and effectiveness of the relevant methods.

  20. Independent Analysis of Real-Time, Measured Performance Data From Microcogenerative Fuel Cell Systems Installed in Buildings

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dillon, Heather E.; Colella, Whitney G.

    2015-06-01

    Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is working with industry to independently monitor up to 15 distinct 5 kW-electric (kWe) combined heat and power (CHP) high temperature (HT) proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems (FCSs) installed in light commercial buildings. This research paper discusses an evaluation of the first six months of measured performance data acquired at a 1 s sampling rate from real-time monitoring equipment attached to the FCSs at building sites. Engineering performance parameters are independently evaluated. Based on an analysis of the first few months of measured operating data, FCS performance is consistent with manufacturer-stated performance. Initialmore » data indicate that the FCSs have relatively stable performance and a long-term average production of about 4.57 kWe of power. This value is consistent with, but slightly below, the manufacturer's stated rated electric power output of 5 kWe. The measured system net electric efficiency has averaged 33.7%, based on the higher heating value (HHV) of natural gas fuel. This value, also, is consistent with, but slightly below, the manufacturer's stated rated electric efficiency of 36%. The FCSs provide low-grade hot water to the building at a measured average temperature of about 48.4 degrees C, lower than the manufacturer's stated maximum hot water delivery temperature of 65 degrees C. The uptime of the systems is also evaluated. System availability can be defined as the quotient of total operating time compared to time since commissioning. The average values for system availability vary between 96.1 and 97.3%, depending on the FCS evaluated in the field. Performance at rated value for electrical efficiency (PRVeff) can be defined as the quotient of the system time operating at or above the rated electric efficiency and the time since commissioning. The PRVeff varies between 5.6% and 31.6%, depending on the FCS field unit evaluated. Performance at rated value for electrical power (PRVp) can be defined as the quotient of the system time operating at or above the rated electric power and the time since commissioning. PRVp varies between 6.5% and 16.2%. Performance at rated value for electrical efficiency and power (PRVt) can be defined as the quotient of the system time operating at or above both the rated electric efficiency and the electric power output compared to the time since commissioning. PRVt varies between 0.2% and 1.4%. Optimization to determine the manufacturer rating required to achieve PRVt greater than 80% has been performed based on the collected data. For example, for FCS Unit 130 to achieve a PRVt of 95%, it would have to be down-rated to an electrical power output of 3.2 kWe and an electrical efficiency of 29%. The use of PRV as an assessment metric for FCSs has been developed and reported for the first time in this paper. For FCS Unit 130, a maximum decline in electric power output of approximately 18% was observed over a 500 h period in Jan. 2012.« less

  1. Time-varying value of electric energy efficiency

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mims, Natalie A.; Eckman, Tom; Goldman, Charles

    Electric energy efficiency resources save energy and may reduce peak demand. Historically, quantification of energy efficiency benefits has largely focused on the economic value of energy savings during the first year and lifetime of the installed measures. Due in part to the lack of publicly available research on end-use load shapes (i.e., the hourly or seasonal timing of electricity savings) and energy savings shapes, consideration of the impact of energy efficiency on peak demand reduction (i.e., capacity savings) has been more limited. End-use load research and the hourly valuation of efficiency savings are used for a variety of electricity planningmore » functions, including load forecasting, demand-side management and evaluation, capacity and demand response planning, long-term resource planning, renewable energy integration, assessing potential grid modernization investments, establishing rates and pricing, and customer service. This study reviews existing literature on the time-varying value of energy efficiency savings, provides examples in four geographically diverse locations of how consideration of the time-varying value of efficiency savings impacts the calculation of power system benefits, and identifies future research needs to enhance the consideration of the time-varying value of energy efficiency in cost-effectiveness screening analysis. Findings from this study include: -The time-varying value of individual energy efficiency measures varies across the locations studied because of the physical and operational characteristics of the individual utility system (e.g., summer or winter peaking, load factor, reserve margin) as well as the time periods during which savings from measures occur. -Across the four locations studied, some of the largest capacity benefits from energy efficiency are derived from the deferral of transmission and distribution system infrastructure upgrades. However, the deferred cost of such upgrades also exhibited the greatest range in value of all the components of avoided costs across the locations studied. -Of the five energy efficiency measures studied, those targeting residential air conditioning in summer-peaking electric systems have the most significant added value when the total time-varying value is considered. -The increased use of rooftop solar systems, storage, and demand response, and the addition of electric vehicles and other major new electricity-consuming end uses are anticipated to significantly alter the load shape of many utility systems in the future. Data used to estimate the impact of energy efficiency measures on electric system peak demands will need to be updated periodically to accurately reflect the value of savings as system load shapes change. -Publicly available components of electric system costs avoided through energy efficiency are not uniform across states and utilities. Inclusion or exclusion of these components and differences in their value affect estimates of the time-varying value of energy efficiency. -Publicly available data on end-use load and energy savings shapes are limited, are concentrated regionally, and should be expanded.« less

  2. Unraveling gene regulatory networks from time-resolved gene expression data -- a measures comparison study

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Inferring regulatory interactions between genes from transcriptomics time-resolved data, yielding reverse engineered gene regulatory networks, is of paramount importance to systems biology and bioinformatics studies. Accurate methods to address this problem can ultimately provide a deeper insight into the complexity, behavior, and functions of the underlying biological systems. However, the large number of interacting genes coupled with short and often noisy time-resolved read-outs of the system renders the reverse engineering a challenging task. Therefore, the development and assessment of methods which are computationally efficient, robust against noise, applicable to short time series data, and preferably capable of reconstructing the directionality of the regulatory interactions remains a pressing research problem with valuable applications. Results Here we perform the largest systematic analysis of a set of similarity measures and scoring schemes within the scope of the relevance network approach which are commonly used for gene regulatory network reconstruction from time series data. In addition, we define and analyze several novel measures and schemes which are particularly suitable for short transcriptomics time series. We also compare the considered 21 measures and 6 scoring schemes according to their ability to correctly reconstruct such networks from short time series data by calculating summary statistics based on the corresponding specificity and sensitivity. Our results demonstrate that rank and symbol based measures have the highest performance in inferring regulatory interactions. In addition, the proposed scoring scheme by asymmetric weighting has shown to be valuable in reducing the number of false positive interactions. On the other hand, Granger causality as well as information-theoretic measures, frequently used in inference of regulatory networks, show low performance on the short time series analyzed in this study. Conclusions Our study is intended to serve as a guide for choosing a particular combination of similarity measures and scoring schemes suitable for reconstruction of gene regulatory networks from short time series data. We show that further improvement of algorithms for reverse engineering can be obtained if one considers measures that are rooted in the study of symbolic dynamics or ranks, in contrast to the application of common similarity measures which do not consider the temporal character of the employed data. Moreover, we establish that the asymmetric weighting scoring scheme together with symbol based measures (for low noise level) and rank based measures (for high noise level) are the most suitable choices. PMID:21771321

  3. Situation Awareness Measurement Techniques for Submarine Track Management

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2013-02-22

    efficient performance in work systems as diverse as combat aviation (Vidulich, McCoy, & Crabtree, 1995), anaesthesiology (Gaba, Howard, & Small, 1995), and...between when the experimenter asks the participant whether they were ‘ready’ to the time that the participant accepts the question. Following this, the...SA question is asked and SPAM response time is measured as the time between when the experimenter completes asking the question to the time the

  4. Evaluation of the ACEC Benchmark Suite for Real-Time Applications

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1990-07-23

    1.0 benchmark suite waSanalyzed with respect to its measuring of Ada real-time features such as tasking, memory management, input/output, scheduling...and delay statement, Chapter 13 features , pragmas, interrupt handling, subprogram overhead, numeric computations etc. For most of the features that...meant for programming real-time systems. The ACEC benchmarks have been analyzed extensively with respect to their measuring of Ada real-time features

  5. Rooftop package unit diagnostician

    DOEpatents

    Chassin, David P [Pasco, WA; Pratt, Robert G [Kennewick, WA; Reid, Larry Dean [Benton City, WA

    2004-08-17

    A diagnostic system for an HVAC system includes a number of sensors used to measure the operation of the HVAC system. Sensor readings are measured by timing the delay between when a strobe signal is sent to a sensor and when an interrupt signal from the sensor is received. A device driver used to measure the sensor readings stores the sensor readings in pseudo-character device files, which are universally accessible by different subsystems of the diagnostic system. Based on the readings from these sensors, this diagnostic system is able to determine the operational status of the HVAC system and if an economizer in the HVAC system is operating properly.

  6. Measurements of CO2 exchange with an automated chamber system throughout the year: challenges in measuring night-time respiration on porous peat soil

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koskinen, M.; Minkkinen, K.; Ojanen, P.; Kämäräinen, M.; Laurila, T.; Lohila, A.

    2014-01-01

    We built an automatic chamber system to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange in forested peatland ecosystems. We aimed to build a system robust enough which would work throughout the year and could measure through a changing snowpack in addition to producing annual GHG fluxes by integrating the measurements without the need of using models. The system worked rather well throughout the year, but it was not service free. Gap filling of data was still necessary. We observed problems in carbon dioxide (CO2) respiration flux estimation during calm summer nights, when a CO2 concentration gradient from soil/moss system to atmosphere builds up. Chambers greatly overestimated the night-time respiration. This was due to the disturbance caused by the chamber to the soil-moss CO2 gradient and consequent initial pulse of CO2 to the chamber headspace. We tested different flux calculation and measurement methods to solve this problem. The estimated flux was strongly dependent on (1) the starting point of the fit after closing the chamber, (2) the length of the fit, (3) the type of the fit (linear and polynomial), (4) the speed of the fan mixing the air inside the chamber, and (5) atmospheric turbulence (friction velocity, u*). The best fitting method (the most robust, least random variation) for respiration measurements on our sites was linear fitting with the period of 120-240 s after chamber closure. Furthermore, the fan should be adjusted to spin at minimum speed to avoid the pulse-effect, but it should be kept on to ensure mixing. If night-time problems cannot be solved, emissions can be estimated using daytime data from opaque chambers.

  7. Comparison of Hybrid K-Edge Densitometer (HKED) Performance Operating with the Canberra Lynx MCA and the Canberra ICB-NIM Electronics

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    McElroy, Robert Dennis

    From the 1991 until 2008 the Canberra Hybrid K-Edge Densitometer systems were provided with ICB-NIM (Integrated Control Bus – Nuclear Instrument Module) acquisition electronics. Newer electronics modules, such as the Lynx, were not supported under the VMS based operating system. The LYNX module was provided as the standard acquisition electronics following the release of the Windows based CHKED software. This report compares the electronics dead-time, gain shifts, detector resolution and measurement performance of the HKED system operated with the two types of acquisition modules. The comparison was performed using measurements obtained with the ORNL HKED system. The original intent ofmore » this study was to take advantage of both the timing and energy outputs from the HPGE detector to acquire data with both sets of electronics in parallel. Although this approach has been applied successfully with other systems, in this case we found the timing output produced a significant amount of noise such that a comparison between the electronics would be invalid. So the comparative measurements were performed sequentially. The ICB-NIM data was acquired over the course of 12 months with 255 measurements while the LYNX data was acquired over a period of 10 months with 75 measurements. To simplify the comparison, all data used in this study was acquired using the Canberra CHKED (V1.0) software package. The performance analysis was based primarily on the peak locations, peak widths and concentration values reported by the CHKED software. The raw spectra from the XRF measurements were also examined to extract additional 109Cd peak location and width data for the hybrid measurements (the standard hybrid report template does not report these values).« less

  8. Research on self-calibration biaxial autocollimator based on ZYNQ

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Pan; Liu, Bingguo; Liu, Guodong; Zhong, Yao; Lu, Binghui

    2018-01-01

    Autocollimators are mainly based on computers or the electronic devices that can be connected to the internet, and its precision, measurement range and resolution are all defective, and external displays are needed to display images in real time. What's more, there is no real-time calibration for autocollimator in the market. In this paper, we propose a biaxial autocollimator based on the ZYNQ embedded platform to solve the above problems. Firstly, the traditional optical system is improved and a light path is added for real-time calibration. Then, in order to improve measurement speed, the embedded platform based on ZYNQ that combines Linux operating system with autocollimator is designed. In this part, image acquisition, image processing, image display and the man-machine interaction interface based on Qt are achieved. Finally, the system realizes two-dimensional small angle measurement. Experimental results showed that the proposed method can improve the angle measurement accuracy. The standard deviation of the close distance (1.5m) is 0.15" in horizontal direction of image and 0.24"in vertical direction, the repeatability of measurement of the long distance (10m) is improved by 0.12 in horizontal direction of image and 0.3 in vertical direction.

  9. Compact 3D Camera for Shake-the-Box Particle Tracking

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hesseling, Christina; Michaelis, Dirk; Schneiders, Jan

    2017-11-01

    Time-resolved 3D-particle tracking usually requires the time-consuming optical setup and calibration of 3 to 4 cameras. Here, a compact four-camera housing has been developed. The performance of the system using Shake-the-Box processing (Schanz et al. 2016) is characterized. It is shown that the stereo-base is large enough for sensible 3D velocity measurements. Results from successful experiments in water flows using LED illumination are presented. For large-scale wind tunnel measurements, an even more compact version of the system is mounted on a robotic arm. Once calibrated for a specific measurement volume, the necessity for recalibration is eliminated even when the system moves around. Co-axial illumination is provided through an optical fiber in the middle of the housing, illuminating the full measurement volume from one viewing direction. Helium-filled soap bubbles are used to ensure sufficient particle image intensity. This way, the measurement probe can be moved around complex 3D-objects. By automatic scanning and stitching of recorded particle tracks, the detailed time-averaged flow field of a full volume of cubic meters in size is recorded and processed. Results from an experiment at TU-Delft of the flow field around a cyclist are shown.

  10. Ultrasound-based measurement of liquid-layer thickness: A novel time-domain approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Praher, Bernhard; Steinbichler, Georg

    2017-01-01

    Measuring the thickness of a thin liquid layer between two solid materials is important when the adequate separation of metallic parts by a lubricant film (e.g., in bearings or mechanical seals) is to be assessed. The challenge in using ultrasound-based systems for such measurements is that the signal from the liquid layer is a superposition of multiple reflections. We have developed an algorithm for reconstructing this superimposed signal in the time domain. By comparing simulated and measured signals, the time-of-flight of the ultrasonic pulse in a layer can be estimated. With the longitudinal sound velocity known, the layer thickness can then be calculated. In laboratory measurements, we validate successfully (maximum relative error 4.9%) our algorithm for layer thicknesses ranging from 30 μm to 200 μm. Furthermore, we tested our method in the high-temperature environment of polymer processing by measuring the clearance between screw and barrel in the plasticisation unit of an injection moulding machine. The results of such measurements can indicate (i) the wear status of the tribo-mechanical screw-barrel system and (ii) unsuitable process conditions.

  11. Fast and Accurate Exhaled Breath Ammonia Measurement

    PubMed Central

    Solga, Steven F.; Mudalel, Matthew L.; Spacek, Lisa A.; Risby, Terence H.

    2014-01-01

    This exhaled breath ammonia method uses a fast and highly sensitive spectroscopic method known as quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) that uses a quantum cascade based laser. The monitor is coupled to a sampler that measures mouth pressure and carbon dioxide. The system is temperature controlled and specifically designed to address the reactivity of this compound. The sampler provides immediate feedback to the subject and the technician on the quality of the breath effort. Together with the quick response time of the monitor, this system is capable of accurately measuring exhaled breath ammonia representative of deep lung systemic levels. Because the system is easy to use and produces real time results, it has enabled experiments to identify factors that influence measurements. For example, mouth rinse and oral pH reproducibly and significantly affect results and therefore must be controlled. Temperature and mode of breathing are other examples. As our understanding of these factors evolves, error is reduced, and clinical studies become more meaningful. This system is very reliable and individual measurements are inexpensive. The sampler is relatively inexpensive and quite portable, but the monitor is neither. This limits options for some clinical studies and provides rational for future innovations. PMID:24962141

  12. Simultaneous measurement of sleep and feeding in individual Drosophila

    PubMed Central

    Murphy, Keith R.; Park, Jin Hong; Huber, Robert; Ja, William W.

    2018-01-01

    Drosophila is widely used for the dissection of genetic and neuronal mechanisms of behavior. Recently, flies have emerged as a model for investigating the regulation of feeding and sleep. Although typically studied in isolation, increasing evidence points to a fundamental connection between these behaviors. Thus, a system for measuring sleep and feeding simultaneously in a single integrated system is important for interpreting behavioral shifts of either state. Here, we describe the construction and use of the Activity Recording CAFE (ARC), a machine-vision based system for the integrated measurement of sleep and feeding in individual Drosophila. Flies feed on liquid food in a microcapillary and consumption is measured by automated tracking of the liquid meniscus over time. Sleep measurements are obtained from positional tracking of the animals and arousal threshold can be determined by vibrational stimulus response. Using this system, a single computer and experimenter can track diverse behaviors from up to 60 individual flies in a single integrated system. The ARC is efficiently assembled with minimal training and each experiment can be run for up to ~7 days, with a total setup and breakdown time of about 2 hours. PMID:29022943

  13. ESIAC: A data products system for ERTS imagery (time-lapse viewing and measuring)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Evans, W. E.; Serebreny, S. M.

    1974-01-01

    An Electronic Satellite Image Analysis Console (ESIAC) has been developed for visual analysis and objective measurement of earth resources imagery. The system is being employed to process imagery for use by USGS investigators in several different disciplines studying dynamic hydrologic conditions. The ESIAC provides facilities for storing registered image sequences in a magnetic video disc memory for subsequent recall, enhancement, and animated display in monochrome or color. The unique feature of the system is the capability to time-lapse the ERTS imagery and/or analytic displays of the imagery. Data products have included quantitative measurements of distances and areas, brightness profiles, and movie loops of selected themes. The applications of these data products are identified and include such diverse problem areas as measurement of snowfield extent, sediment plumes from estuary dicharge, playa inventory, phreatophyte and other vegetation changes. A comparative ranking of the electronic system in terms of accuracy, cost effectiveness and data output shows it to be a viable means of data analysis.

  14. Development of near real time performance measurements for closed-loop signal systems (CLS) using historical traffic data from existing loop detectors and signal timing data.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-10-01

    The overarching goal of this research project was to investigate the potential for the NCDOT Central Office Signal Timing : (COST) Section to monitor and assess the quality of field deployed closed-loop signal system plans using the data inherent in ...

  15. Leader-following control of multiple nonholonomic systems over directed communication graphs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dong, Wenjie; Djapic, Vladimir

    2016-06-01

    This paper considers the leader-following control problem of multiple nonlinear systems with directed communication topology and a leader. If the state of each system is measurable, distributed state feedback controllers are proposed using neighbours' state information with the aid of Lyapunov techniques and properties of Laplacian matrix for time-invariant communication graph and time-varying communication graph. It is shown that the state of each system exponentially converges to the state of a leader. If the state of each system is not measurable, distributed observer-based output feedback control laws are proposed. As an application of the proposed results, formation control of wheeled mobile robots is studied. The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed results.

  16. Development of real-time voltage stability monitoring tool for power system transmission network using Synchrophasor data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pulok, Md Kamrul Hasan

    Intelligent and effective monitoring of power system stability in control centers is one of the key issues in smart grid technology to prevent unwanted power system blackouts. Voltage stability analysis is one of the most important requirements for control center operation in smart grid era. With the advent of Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) or Synchrophasor technology, real time monitoring of voltage stability of power system is now a reality. This work utilizes real-time PMU data to derive a voltage stability index to monitor the voltage stability related contingency situation in power systems. The developed tool uses PMU data to calculate voltage stability index that indicates relative closeness of the instability by producing numerical indices. The IEEE 39 bus, New England power system was modeled and run on a Real-time Digital Simulator that stream PMU data over the Internet using IEEE C37.118 protocol. A Phasor data concentrator (PDC) is setup that receives streaming PMU data and stores them in Microsoft SQL database server. Then the developed voltage stability monitoring (VSM) tool retrieves phasor measurement data from SQL server, performs real-time state estimation of the whole network, calculate voltage stability index, perform real-time ranking of most vulnerable transmission lines, and finally shows all the results in a graphical user interface. All these actions are done in near real-time. Control centers can easily monitor the systems condition by using this tool and can take precautionary actions if needed.

  17. High-rate dead-time corrections in a general purpose digital pulse processing system

    PubMed Central

    Abbene, Leonardo; Gerardi, Gaetano

    2015-01-01

    Dead-time losses are well recognized and studied drawbacks in counting and spectroscopic systems. In this work the abilities on dead-time correction of a real-time digital pulse processing (DPP) system for high-rate high-resolution radiation measurements are presented. The DPP system, through a fast and slow analysis of the output waveform from radiation detectors, is able to perform multi-parameter analysis (arrival time, pulse width, pulse height, pulse shape, etc.) at high input counting rates (ICRs), allowing accurate counting loss corrections even for variable or transient radiations. The fast analysis is used to obtain both the ICR and energy spectra with high throughput, while the slow analysis is used to obtain high-resolution energy spectra. A complete characterization of the counting capabilities, through both theoretical and experimental approaches, was performed. The dead-time modeling, the throughput curves, the experimental time-interval distributions (TIDs) and the counting uncertainty of the recorded events of both the fast and the slow channels, measured with a planar CdTe (cadmium telluride) detector, will be presented. The throughput formula of a series of two types of dead-times is also derived. The results of dead-time corrections, performed through different methods, will be reported and discussed, pointing out the error on ICR estimation and the simplicity of the procedure. Accurate ICR estimations (nonlinearity < 0.5%) were performed by using the time widths and the TIDs (using 10 ns time bin width) of the detected pulses up to 2.2 Mcps. The digital system allows, after a simple parameter setting, different and sophisticated procedures for dead-time correction, traditionally implemented in complex/dedicated systems and time-consuming set-ups. PMID:26289270

  18. Methods and apparatus for determining cardiac output

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cohen, Richard J. (Inventor); Sherman, Derin A. (Inventor); Mukkamala, Ramakrishna (Inventor)

    2010-01-01

    The present invention provides methods and apparatus for determining a dynamical property of the systemic or pulmonary arterial tree using long time scale information, i.e., information obtained from measurements over time scales greater than a single cardiac cycle. In one aspect, the invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring cardiac output (CO) from a single blood pressure signal measurement obtained at any site in the systemic or pulmonary arterial tree or from any related measurement including, for example, fingertip photoplethysmography.According to the method the time constant of the arterial tree, defined to be the product of the total peripheral resistance (TPR) and the nearly constant arterial compliance, is determined by analyzing the long time scale variations (greater than a single cardiac cycle) in any of these blood pressure signals. Then, according to Ohm's law, a value proportional to CO may be determined from the ratio of the blood pressure signal to the estimated time constant. The proportional CO values derived from this method may be calibrated to absolute CO, if desired, with a single, absolute measure of CO (e.g., thermodilution). The present invention may be applied to invasive radial arterial blood pressure or pulmonary arterial blood pressure signals which are routinely measured in intensive care units and surgical suites or to noninvasively measured peripheral arterial blood pressure signals or related noninvasively measured signals in order to facilitate the clinical monitoring of CO as well as TPR.

  19. Development of on-line laser power monitoring system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ding, Chien-Fang; Lee, Meng-Shiou; Li, Kuan-Ming

    2016-03-01

    Since the laser was invented, laser has been applied in many fields such as material processing, communication, measurement, biomedical engineering, defense industries and etc. Laser power is an important parameter in laser material processing, i.e. laser cutting, and laser drilling. However, the laser power is easily affected by the environment temperature, we tend to monitor the laser power status, ensuring there is an effective material processing. Besides, the response time of current laser power meters is too long, they cannot measure laser power accurately in a short time. To be more precisely, we can know the status of laser power and help us to achieve an effective material processing at the same time. To monitor the laser power, this study utilize a CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) camera to develop an on-line laser power monitoring system. The CMOS camera captures images of incident laser beam after it is split and attenuated by beam splitter and neutral density filter. By comparing the average brightness of the beam spots and measurement results from laser power meter, laser power can be estimated. Under continuous measuring mode, the average measuring error is about 3%, and the response time is at least 3.6 second shorter than thermopile power meters; under trigger measuring mode which enables the CMOS camera to synchronize with intermittent laser output, the average measuring error is less than 3%, and the shortest response time is 20 millisecond.

  20. Time-of-Flight Tip-Clearance Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dhadwal, H. S.; Kurkov, A. P.; Janetzke, D. C.

    1999-01-01

    In this paper a time-of-flight probe system incorporating the two integrated fiber optic probes which are tilted equally relative to the probe holder centerline, is applied for the first time to measure the tip clearance of an advanced fan prototype. Tip clearance is largely independent of the signal amplitude and it relies on timing measurement. This work exposes optical effects associated with the fan blade stagger angle that were absent during the original spin-rig experiment on the zero stagger rotor. Individual blade tip clearances were measured with accuracy of +/- 127-mm (+/- 0.005-in). Probe features are discussed and improvements to the design are suggested.

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