scholarly journals Calculating the Sun's Position for Calibration of Radar Antennas

1962 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-460
Author(s):  
R. S. Blicq

Recently I was asked to assist the engineers in my company (a Canadian electronics firm) devise a method for using radiation from the Sun to check the alignment of heavy ground radar sets to within very fine tolerances. The degree of accuracy would have to be better than five minutes of arc in azimuth for search antennas, and three minutes of arc in elevation angle for height finding antennas. Solar radiation in the microwave region of the radio frequency spectrum would be used as a reference. The antenna reflector would be rotated in azimuth and elevation until maximum solar radiation was reflected into the waveguide horn and thence to the radar receiver. The moment peak detector current was obtained, the antenna would be locked in position and the exact G.M.T. noted. Normal astro-navigation calculation methods and tables would then be used to calculate the Sun's true azimuth and elevation angle, which would be compared with that measured by the antenna to determine its accuracy.Since none of the engineers had previous navigation experience, they had run into difficulties when they tried to devise a method for calculating the Sun's position to within the requisite accuracy limits.The first difficulty was the fact that most antenna calibrations would be performed by field technicians having no knowledge of astro-navigation tables and calculation methods. They would be at extremely remote radar stations across Canada and thus would not have an opportunity to ask questions if our instructions proved ambiguous.

Author(s):  
Dmitry A. Neganov ◽  
◽  
Victor M. Varshitsky ◽  
Andrey A. Belkin ◽  
◽  
...  

The article contains the comparative results of the experimental and calculated research of the strength of a pipeline with such defects as “metal loss” and “dent with groove”. Two coils with diameter of 820 mm and the thickness of 9 mm of 19G steel were used for full-scale pipe sample production. One of the coils was intentionally damaged by machining, which resulted in “metal loss” defect, the other one was dented (by press machine) and got groove mark (by chisel). The testing of pipe samples was performed by applying static internal pressure to the moment of collapse. The calculation of deterioration pressure was carried out with the use of national and foreign methodical approaches. The calculated values of collapsing pressure for the pipe with loss of metal mainly coincided with the calculation experiment results based on Russian method and ASME B31G. In case of pipe with dent and groove the calculated value of collapsing pressure demonstrated greater coincidence with Russian method and to a lesser extent with API 579/ASME FFS-1. In whole, all calculation methods demonstrate sufficient stability of results, which provides reliable operation of pipelines with defects.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 236-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVANA ALPEZA ◽  
KARIN KOVAČEVIĆ GANIĆ ◽  
ANDREJA VANZO ◽  
STANKA HERJAVEC

Two commercial enzyme preparations were used in the production of wine from the Croatian autochthonous red grape variety Plavac Mali in order to improve the extraction of polyphenolic components from grapes, chromatic parameters, and sensory quality. During two vintages, the conventional maceration without enzymes was compared with the maceration using products with different characteristics: pectinase with additional cellulase and hemicellulase activity and pectinase with inactive yeast cells. Both products affected polyphenolic extraction and colour parameters: intensity and hue, and ratio between the yellow, red, and blue colour in young wines (2 months after fermentation) and at the moment of bottling (9 months after fermentation). The correlation between anthocyanins and colour intensity was very strong. The expected reduction of quantitative chromatic parameters during aging was confirmed. Significantly better results were observed in wines produced with pectinase, in relation to all analysed physical and chemical parameters. The sensory analysis showed that wines produced with pure pectolytic enzymes were significantly better than those produced without the enzymes. A product of the combination of pectolytic enzymes and inactive yeast cells had a partial influence on the improvement of the phenolic and sensory quality. The overall quality was significantly more expressed in wines produced with pectolytic enzymes, especially in young wines.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Li ◽  
Yongqiang Yuan ◽  
Shi Huang ◽  
Chengbo Liu ◽  
Jiaqing Lou ◽  
...  

<p>With the successful launch of the last Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite in June 2020, China has completed the construction of the third generation BeiDou navigation satellites system (BDS-3). BDS-3 global services have been initiated in July 2020 with the constellation of 3 GEO, 3 Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit (IGSO) and 24 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. In order to further improve the performance of BDS-3 services, the quality of BDS-3 precise orbit product needs further enhancements.</p><p>       The solar radiation pressure (SRP) is the main non-conservative orbit perturbation for GNSS satellites and is the key to improve BDS-3 precise orbit determination. In this study, we focus on the SRP models for BDS-3 satellites. Firstly, the widely used Extended CODE Orbit Model with five parameters (ECOM-5) is assessed. With one-year observations of 2020 from both iGMAS and MGEX networks, the five parameters of ECOM model (D0, Y0, B0, Bc and Bs) are estimated for each BDS-3 satellite. The D0 estimates show an obvious dependency on the elevation angle of the Sun above the satellite orbital plane (denoted as β). In addition, large variations can be noticed in eclipse seasons, which indicate the dramatic changes of SRP. The Y0 estimates vary from -0.6 nm/s<sup>2</sup> to 0.6 nm/s<sup>2</sup> for MEO, -1.0 to 1.0 nm/s<sup>2</sup> for IGSO and -1.0 to 1.5 nm/s<sup>2</sup> for GEO satellites. The B0 estimates of several satellites exhibit a clear dependency on the β angle. The largest variation of B0 appears at C45 and C46, changing from 1.0 nm/s<sup>2</sup> at 15 deg to 8.3 nm/s<sup>2</sup> at 64 deg, which implies that the solar panels of these two satellites may have an obvious rotation lag. To compensate the deficiencies of BDS-3 SRP modeling, we introduce several additional parameters into ECOM-5 model (e.g. introducing higher harmonic terms). The POD performances can be improved by about 10% and 40% for BDS-3 MEO/IGSO and GEO satellites, respectively.</p><p>       Except for the empirical model, we also study the semi-empirical SRP model such as the a priori box-wing model. Since the geometrical and optical properties from BDS-3 metadata are general and rough, we apply more detailed geometrical and optical coefficients for BDS-3 satellites. The POD performance can be improved by about 10% compared to empirical SRP models. Furthermore, considering Earth radiation pressure will have an impact of about 1.3 cm in radial component for MEO satellites.</p>


Author(s):  
Jen-Ping Peng ◽  
Lars Umlauf ◽  
Julia Dräger-Dietel ◽  
Ryan P. North

AbstractRecent high-resolution numerical simulations have shown that the diurnal variability in the atmospheric forcing strongly affects the dynamics, stability, and turbulence of submesoscale structures in the surface boundary layer (SBL). Field observations supporting the real-ocean relevance of these studies are, however, largely lacking at the moment. Here, the impact of large diurnal variations in the surface heat flux on a dense submesoscale upwelling filament in the Benguela upwelling system is investigated, based on a combination of densely-spaced turbulence microstructure observations and surface drifter data. Our data show that during nighttime and early-morning conditions, when solar radiation is still weak, frontal turbulence is generated by a mix of symmetric and shear instability. In this situation, turbulent diapycnal mixing is approximately balanced by frontal restratification associated with the cross-front secondary circulation. During daytime, when solar radiation is close to its peak value, the SBL quickly restratifies, the conditions for frontal instability are no longer fulfilled, and SBL turbulence collapses except for a thin wind-driven layer near the surface. The drifter data suggest that inertial oscillations periodically modulate the stability characteristics and energetics of the submesoscale fronts bounding the filament.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Moretti ◽  
Alvaro Marucci

The traditional shading systems that greenhouses use cause some of the solar radiation that is reflected or absorbed to be lost and, therefore, not used by the plants under cultivation. An interesting solution to these problems is to position photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roofs of greenhouses. All of the photovoltaic greenhouses that have been realized in Mediterranean areas are characterized by a fixed position of the PV panels and excessive shading, especially in autumn and winter. The purpose of this study is to describe a prototype of a photovoltaic greenhouse with both fixed and horizontal PV panels that exploit the natural variation in the elevation angle of the sun’s rays during the year to allow for “passive” variation in shading. The considerable variation in the elevation angle of the sun’s rays (from 24.4° to 71.1°) results in a high variation in shading (from 39.4% to 72.6%), with the highest values in the summer months and the lowest values in the winter months. This trend is favorable for meeting the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) needs of greenhouse plants. If the plants under cultivation require more solar energy, it is necessary to increase the distance between the panels. We implement a specific mathematical relationship to define the precise distance to be assigned to the photovoltaic panels on the roof pitch.


1961 ◽  
Vol 107 (447) ◽  
pp. 297-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. M. McNeill ◽  
J. R. A. Madgwick

There appears to be a feeling at the moment among many psychiatrists that the treatment of early schizophrenia of all types with the recently introduced phenothiazine derivatives is as effective, if not better than, Insulin Coma Treatment (I.C.T.) and that there are many other advantages besides. In some hospitals insulin coma treatment has been discontinued altogether.


Over 1500 lunar laser range measurements have been made during the past six years at McDonald Observatory. These data have been fitted with a 41 cm r. m. s. residual. The geocentric coordinates of McDonald Observatory are now known to better than 1 m, the three-dimensional coordinates of the Moon and the selenocentric coordinates of the retroreflectors are accurate to about 25 m, and the mass ratio Sun/(Earth + Moon) is determined to 2 parts in 107. A search for the Nordtvedt term in the Moon’s orbit, a term predicted by some relativity theories, gives a null value, a result consistent with general relativity. The measurement of the physical librations determines very accurately the moment of inertia parameters β = (C - A)/B and γ = (B - A)/C, and significantly determines the third degree gravitational harmonics C 30 , C 32 , S 32 and S 33 The postfit residuals are not random but yield corrections to the rotation of the Earth, values of U. T. 0 for individual days having typical accuracies of 0.5 ms (20cm). The anticipated regular operation of two or more stations will allow the separation of U. T. 1 and polar motion.


Author(s):  
Manuel Ibañez ◽  
William A. Beckman ◽  
Sanford A. Klein

Abstract The clearness index for hourly and daily radiation is an important parameter in describing solar radiation. Liu and Jordan demonstrated that the monthly average daily clearness index could be used to predict the long-term distribution of daily solar radiation in a month. This paper reviews recent literature on the prediction of hourly and daily frequency distributions and cumulative frequency distributions of clearness indices. Ten years of measured weather data for six cities in the US are used to investigate the nature of the hourly and daily frequency distributions. A second set of ten years of data for six cities is used to verify the predictions. A bi-exponential probability density function is proposed that fits the observed bimodal nature of the data better than existing models. A case is made for the function being universal.


Author(s):  
Zahraa E. Mohamed

AbstractThe main objective of this paper is to employ the artificial neural network (ANN) models for validating and predicting global solar radiation (GSR) on a horizontal surface of three Egyptian cities. The feedforward backpropagation ANNs are utilized based on two algorithms which are the basic backpropagation (Bp) and the Bp with momentum and learning rate coefficients respectively. The statistical indicators are used to investigate the performance of ANN models. According to these indicators, the results of the second algorithm are better than the other. Also, model (6) in this method has the lowest RMSE values for all cities in this study. The study indicated that the second method is the most suitable for predicting GSR on a horizontal surface of all cities in this work. Moreover, ANN-based model is an efficient method which has higher precision.


2019 ◽  
Vol 622 ◽  
pp. A90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christos Georgiou ◽  
Harry Johnston ◽  
Henk Hoekstra ◽  
Massimo Viola ◽  
Konrad Kuijken ◽  
...  

The outer regions of galaxies are more susceptible to the tidal interactions that lead to intrinsic alignments of galaxies. The resulting alignment signal may therefore depend on the passband if the colours of galaxies vary spatially. To quantify this, we measured the shapes of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts from the GAMA survey using deep gri imaging data from the KiloDegree Survey. The performance of the moment-based shape measurement algorithm DEIMOS was assessed using dedicated image simulations, which showed that the ellipticities could be determined with an accuracy better than 1% in all bands. Additional tests for potential systematic errors did not reveal any issues. We measure a significant difference of the alignment signal between the g, r and i-band observations. This difference exceeds the amplitude of the linear alignment model on scales below 2 Mpc h−1. Separating the sample into central/satellite and red/blue galaxies, we find that the difference is dominated by red satellite galaxies.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document