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COMMERCIAL AND GOVERNMENT SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS DEPEND ON GROUND SUPPORT FOR NAVIGATION. THE GROUND SOLUTION CAN BE COSTLY AND MAY PROVIDE LESS ACCURACY THAN NEEDED. A GPS-BASED REAL-TIME AUTONOMOUS SPACECRAFT NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS PROPOSED. AN ALGORITHM WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH COMBINES GPS-DERIVED POINT POSITION ESTIMATES WITH A PROPAGATED A PRIORI POSITION ESTIMATE. THE POINT POSITIONS ARE ...

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE/EXPERT SYSTEM TECHNIQUES HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY TO ADDRESS COMPLEX REASONING TASKS REQUIRED FOR PROCESS PLANNING. FEATURE-BASED DESIGN THEORY AND PRELIMINARY EFFORTS HAVE SHOWN THE POTENTIAL OF PROVIDING A FUNDAMENTAL MODEL FOR CAPTURE AND MANIPULATION OF DESIGN KNOWLEDGE. HOWEVER, THE TWO TECHNOLOGIES HAVE NOT BEEN SUFFICIENTLY INTEGRATED TO ALLOW DESIGN FEATURES TO ...

A GENERAL-PURPOSE, SOLUTION-ADAPTIVE, FINITE-ELEMENTS CODE THAT TREATS BROAD CLASSES OF INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOWS HAS BEEN DEVELOPED. THE CODE EMPLOYS H-ADAPTIVE AND P-ENRICHMENT ALGORITHMS THAT REFINE THE STRUCTURE OF THE MESH TO OPTIMIZE COMPUTATIONS. THE FULL POTENTIAL FOR USE OF SUCH SMART ALGORITHMS IN COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS APPEARS TO LIE IN PARALLEL COMPUTATIONS PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE EX ...

LIKE HUMAN RECOGNITION PERFORMANCE, COMPUTER RECOGNITION PERFORMANCE DEGRADES INEVITABLY IN THE PRESENCE OF INTERFERENCE AND DISTORTION. THERE ARE TWO BASIC APPROACHES TO MINIMIZING THE DEGRADATION: (1) SEEK NEW ACOUSTIC FEATURES THAT YIELD PERFORMANCE THAT IS LESS SENSITIVE TO SIGNAL CORRUPTION; (2) TRY TO "SEE THROUGH" THE CORRUPTION AND TO THE "TRUE" VALUES OF THE INFORMATION-BEARING FEATURES. ...

A NEED EXISTS TO MONITOR VIBRATION IN HIGHWAY BRIDGES. IT IS DESIRABLE TO MONITOR MANY POINTS ON THE BRIDGE. THE CURRENT PROBLEM IS THAT SENSORS MUST BE WIRED TO A CENTRAL LOCATION. WIRE IS DIFFICULT TO INSTALL AND TO MOVE. THE SOLUTION IS TO COLLECT SENSOR DATA BY RADIO. A SYSTEM EXISTS THAT ELIMINATES WIRE. IT GATHERS SENSOR DATA TO A CENTRAL LOCATION BY RADIO. THE SYSTEM'S UNIQUE FEATURE IS THA ...

THE HIGH PRESSURE LIMITS OF A NEW PROPRIETARY TECHNIQUE FOR SURFACE ELEMENTAL AND ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS ARE BEING EXPLORED. THE TECHNIQUE SHOULD BE USEFUL IN THE MILLITORR PRESSURE REGIME, THUS ALLOWING MEASUREMENT OF THIN FILM STOICHIOMETRY DURING GROWTH AND PROCESSING. THE PRESENT RESEARCH IS FOCUSING ON ANALYSIS OF YTTRIUM-BARIUM-COPPER-OXYGEN (YBCO) SUPERCONDUCTOR FILMS SUBJECTED TO HIGH PRESSURES ...

A METHOD TO MEASURE NONDESTRUCTIVELY THE BIAXIAL RESIDUAL STRESSES IN FERRITIC PIPING WELDS WITHIN FOSSIL-FIRED AND NUCLEAR-POWERED ELECTRICITY GENERATING PLANTS IS PLANNED. THE METHOD USES THE MAGNETICALLY INDUCED VELOCITY CHANGES OF ULTRASONIC WAVES TO DETERMINE THE STRESSES. IT IS BEING SHOWN THAT THE METHOD CAN DETERMINE THE ABSOLUTE VALUES, SIGN, AND ORIENTATION OF THE AXIAL AND CIRCUMFERENTI ...

THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AND DEMONSTRATE A SIMULATION/FACTORY CONTROL CAPABILITY TO (1) SIMULATE PRODUCTS, PROCESSES, AND FACTORY CONFIGURATIONS AT MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ABSTRACTION, (2) PROVIDE FINE GRAINED ANALYSIS OF PRODUCT AND PROCESS DESIGNS, AND (3) PROVIDE A MODEL DRIVEN FACTORY CONTROL ARCHITECTURE SO THAT THE MODELS EXECUTED IN THE SIMULATION STUDIES CAN BE DIRECTLY US ...

FUEL CELLS OPERATING IN AQUEOUS ELETROLYTES (BELOW 200¿C, DEPENDING ON THE CHOSEN ELECTROLYTE TECHNOLOGY) NORMALLY OPERATE ON HYDROGEN FUEL AND OXYGEN (OR AIR) AS THE OXIDANT. HIGH-PERFORMANCE FUEL CELL ELECTRODES REQUIRE HIGH CATALYST SURFACE AREAS, GOOD ELECTRONIC CONDUCTIVITIES AND BROAD REACTION ZONES, DEFINED BY THE CONTACT AREA BETWEEN THE CATALYST, THE GAS PHASE REACTANT AND THE ELECTROLYT ...

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