Differencing strategies for SLR observations at the Wettzell observatory

The precise estimation of geodetic parameters using single- and double-differenced SLR observations is investigated. While the differencing of observables is a standard approach for the GNSS processing, double differences of simultaneous SLR observations are practically impossible to obtain due to the SLR basic principle of observing one satellite at a time. Despite this, the availability of co-located SLR telescopes and the use of the alternative concept of quasi-simultaneity allow the forming of SLR differences under certain assumptions, thus enabling the use of these processing strategies. These differences are in principle almost free of both, satellite- and station-specific error sources, and are shown to be a valuable tool to obtain relative coordinates and range biases, and to validate local ties. Tested with the two co-located SLR telescopes at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell (Germany) using SLR observations to GLONASS and LAGEOS, the developed differencing approach shows that it is possible to obtain single- and double-difference residuals at the millimetre level, and that it is possible to estimate parameters, such as range biases at the stations and the local baseline vector with a precision at the millimetre level and an accuracy comparable to traditional terrestrial survey methods. The presented SLR differences constitute a valuable alternative for the monitoring of the local baselines and the estimation of geodetic parameters.

A Data Augmentation Method for Skeleton-Based Action Recognition with Relative Features

In recent years, skeleton-based human action recognition (HAR) approaches using convolutional neural network (CNN) models have made tremendous progress in computer vision applications. However, using relative features to depict human actions, in addition to preventing overfitting when the CNN model is trained on a few samples, is still a challenge. In this paper, a new motion image is introduced to transform spatial-temporal motion information into image-based representations. For each skeleton sequence, three relative features are extracted to describe human actions. The three relative features are consisted of relative coordinates, immediate displacement, and immediate motion orientation. In particular, the relative coordinates introduced in our paper not only depict the spatial relations of human skeleton joints but also provide long-term temporal information. To address the problem of small sample sizes, a data augmentation strategy consisting of three simple but effective data augmentation methods is proposed to expand the training samples. Because the generated color images are small in size, a shallow CNN model is suitable to extract the deep features of the generated motion images. Two small-scale but challenging skeleton datasets were used to evaluate the method, scoring 96.59% and 97.48% on the Florence 3D Actions dataset and UTkinect-Action 3D dataset, respectively. The results show that the proposed method achieved a competitive performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods. Furthermore, the augmentation strategy proposed in this paper effectively solves the overfitting problem and can be widely adopted in skeleton-based action recognition.

Non-Layered Gold-Silicon and All-Silicon Frequency-Selective Metasurfaces for Potential Mid-Infrared Sensing Applications

We report simulations on the spectral behavior of non-layered gold-silicon and all-silicon frequency-selective metasurfaces in an asymmetric element configuration in the mid-infrared spectral window of 5–5.8 μm. The non-layered layout is experimentally feasible due to recent technological advances such as nano-imprint and nano-stencil lithography, and the spectral window was chosen due to the multitude of applications in sensing and imaging. The architecture exhibits significant resonance in the window of interest as well as extended tunability by means of variation of cell element sizes and relative coordinates. The results indicate that the proposed metasurface architecture is a viable candidate for mid-infrared absorbers, sensors and imaging systems.

Effect of Pantograph’s Main Structure on the Contact Quality in High-Speed Railway

In general, the electrical energy is provided to the high-speed train through the pantograph-catenary sliding contact. The variation of the dynamic contact force is expected to be small enough to keep the good current collection quality and to extend the service life of the pantograph-catenary system. In this paper, the two tension wires of the catenary are discretized by the sine-series expansions, a multibody dynamics theory based on relative coordinates is adopted to describe the dynamic behavior of the pantograph, and the standard deviation (STD) of dynamic contact force is used as the indicator to evaluate the contact quality. The objective is to investigate how the variations of the pantograph’s main structure influence the contact quality, which may support the structural design and parameter optimization of the pantograph in high-speed railway.

The momentum distribution of two bosons in one dimension with infinite contact repulsion in harmonic trap gets analytical

For a harmonically trapped system consisting of two bosons in one spatial dimension with infinite contact repulsion (hard core bosons), we derive an expression for the one-body density matrix $$\rho _\mathrm{B}$$ ρ B in terms of center of mass and relative coordinates of the particles. The deviation from $$\rho _\mathrm{F}$$ ρ F , the density matrix for the two fermions case, can be clearly identified. Moreover, the obtained $$\rho _\mathrm{B}$$ ρ B allows us to derive a closed form expression of the corresponding momentum distribution $$n_\mathrm{B}(p)$$ n B ( p ) . We show how the result deviates from the noninteracting fermionic case, the deviation being associated with the short-range character of the interaction. Mathematically, our analytical momentum distribution is expressed in terms of one and two variables confluent hypergeometric functions. Our formula satisfies the correct normalization and possesses the expected behavior at zero momentum. It also exhibits the high momentum $$1/p^4 $$ 1 / p 4 tail with the appropriate Tan’s coefficient. Numerical results support our findings.

New precise positions in 2013–2019 and a catalog of ground-based astrometric observations of 11 Neptunian satellites (1847–2019) based on Gaia-DR2

Context. Developing high-precision ephemerides for Neptunian satellites requires not only the continuation of observing campaigns but also the collection and improvement of existing observations. So far, no complete catalogs of observations of Neptunian satellites are available. Aims. We aim to provide new, precise positions, and to compile a catalog including all available ground-based astrometric observations of Neptunian satellites. The observations are tabulated in a single and consistent format and given in the same timescale, the Terrestrial Time (TT), and reference system, the International Celestial Reference System (ICRS), including necessary changes and corrections. Methods. New CCD observations of Triton and Nereid were made at Lijiang 2.4-m and Yaoan 0.8-m telescopes in 2013–2019, and then reduced based on Gaia-DR2. Furthermore, a catalog called OCNS2019 (Observational Catalog of Neptunian Satellites (2019 version)) was compiled, after recognizing and correcting errors and omissions. Furthermore, in addition to what was considered for the COSS08 catalog for eight main Saturnian satellites, all observed absolute and relative coordinates were converted to the ICRS with corrections for star catalog biases with respect to Gaia-DR2. New debiasing tables for both the modern and old star catalogs, which were previously not provided based on Gaia-DR2, are developed and applied. Treatment of missing positions of comparison bodies in conversions of observed relative coordinates are proposed. Results. OCNS2019 and the new debiasing tables are publicly available online. OCNS2019 includes 24996 observed coordinates of 11 Neptunian satellites obtained over 3741 nights from 1847 to 2019. All observations are given in TT and ICRS. The star catalog biases are removed, which are significant for Nereid and outer satellites. We obtained 880 (5% of total now available) new coordinates for Triton over 41 nights (1% of total observation nights so far), and 790 (14%) for Nereid over 47 nights (10%). The dispersions of these new positions are about 0.″03 for Triton and 0.″06 for Nereid. Conclusions. OCNS2019 should be useful in improving ephemerides for the above-mentioned objects.

On a New Analytic Theory of the Moon's Motion III: Further Corrections

Further corrections to the analytic theory of the lunar motion deduced from the first-order approximation to the Lagrange equations of the Sun-Earth-Moon system expressed in relative coordinates and accelerations are evaluated. Those terms arising from the second-order approximation, the planetary perturbations and Earth's spheroidal shape are calculated and bounded, all of them being very small. Finally, Earth's gravitational parameter is calculated from gravity data finding a value slightly higher than that provided by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Examination of an averaging method for estimating repulsion and attraction interactions in moving groups

Groups of animals coordinate remarkable, coherent, movement patterns during periods of collective motion. Such movement patterns include the toroidal mills seen in fish shoals, highly aligned parallel motion like that of flocks of migrating birds, and the swarming of insects. Since the 1970’s a wide range of collective motion models have been studied that prescribe rules of interaction between individuals, and that are capable of generating emergent patterns that are visually similar to those seen in real animal group. This does not necessarily mean that real animals apply exactly the same interactions as those prescribed in models. In more recent work, researchers have sought to infer the rules of interaction of real animals directly from tracking data, by using a number of techniques, including averaging methods. In one of the simplest formulations, the averaging methods determine the mean changes in the components of the velocity of an individual over time as a function of the relative coordinates of group mates. The averaging methods can also be used to estimate other closely related quantities including the mean relative direction of motion of group mates as a function of their relative coordinates. Since these methods for extracting interaction rules and related quantities from trajectory data are relatively new, the accuracy of these methods has had limited inspection. In this paper, we examine the ability of an averaging method to reveal prescribed rules of interaction from data generated by two individual based models for collective motion. Our work suggests that an averaging method can capture the qualitative features of underlying interactions from trajectory data alone, including repulsion and attraction effects evident in changes in speed and direction of motion, and the presence of a blind zone. However, our work also illustrates that the output from a simple averaging method can be affected by emergent group level patterns of movement, and the sizes of the regions over which repulsion and attraction effects are apparent can be distorted depending on how individuals combine interactions with multiple group mates.

AUTOMATIC METHOD DETERMINATION OF PARAMETERS STRATEGY OF DIVERGENCE OF VESSELS BY THEIR COURSES CHANGE

In the publication is specified, that providing of safe divergence of vessels at sailing in the straitened waters is one of most the issue of the day of accident-free of navigation. Therefore, straitened districts of sailing with especially intensive motion for the control of process of navigation by the stations of traffic control of vessels which for providing of safe divergence of vessels must dispose by modern facilities of warning of collision of vessels, reducing influencing of human factor of operator by the use of methods of automatic determination of strategy of divergence of vessels at their external management. Actuality of development of method of automatic determination of parameters of strategy of divergence of vessels by the change of their courses is determined to these. The analysis of the last achievements and publications is resulted in work, the decision of the considered problem and selection of parts unsolved before is begun in which. It is shown that for the decision of problem of warning of collisions of vessels was used method of nonlinear integral invariance, methods of theory of optimum discrete processes, and also methods of differential game theory. The method of warning of collision of vessels by displacement on a line parallel of way of ship and method of flexible strategies of divergence of vessels got development, allowing to form optimum strategy of divergence of ship with a few dangerous targets taking into account substantial factors. The publication contains analytical dependence of values of courses of deviation of vessels providing their divergence on minimum - possible distance of rapprochement, without taking into account inertia. It is specified, that for optimum of maneuver of divergence is needed, that increases of courses and were minimum, and as the criterion of optimum the sum of their squares is chosen. It is shown that without taking into account inertia of ship at a turn distance of the shortest rapprochement appears less minimum-possible distance on a size which depends on the increase of relative coordinates of vessels in times of turn and relative course of their deviation. Procedure of progressive approximations is offered for the calculation of courses of deviation of vessels taking into account their inertia and the algorithm of calculation of course of deviation is represented. Set by the values by the increases of courses from - 60° to 60°, the courses of deviation of the second ship settle accounts, which the courses of deviation of the first ship taking into account the dynamics of vessels and increase of his course are determined on. Every maneuver of divergence is characterized by the criterion of optimum, thus the maneuver of divergence gets out as optimum, at which the criterion of optimum is minimum. A situation is resulted in the publication, for which the computer imitation program expected the optimum courses of deviation of vessels. By the computer program, playing of maneuver of divergence of vessels with the got courses of deviation was produced.