Four-way electronic switch for tracking balloon borne transmitter using sequential lobe switching

The tracking of meteorological balloons using dipole matrix array antenna by sequential lobe switching with the help of a motor driven mechanical UHF phasing switch had been in operational use in our national upper air network from last 25 years. A solid state four-way electronic switch at 400 MHz using high conductance-high speed switching diodes has been designed to replace the aged motor driven mechanical phasing switch. Microstripline technique has been used in designing UHF switch to achieve proper impedance, matching, routing and addition of UHF signals received from the four antenna bays. For sequential switching of antenna array and synchronisation of data reception and display system the intelligence is generated by a compact logic in-built in the phasing switch. Unlike, mechanical switch, the present system has no switching noise and has low insertion loss (2 dB), thus improving the data acquisition capability of ground reception system. The design of switch is modular, light weight and highly rugged to suit all types of environmental conditions.

Sequential Switching Shunt Regulator Parallel Power Processing Control for High Capacitance Solar Arrays

This paper presents a new control strategy for reducing the switching losses produced by the use of high parasitic capacitance solar arrays in the sequential switching shunt regulator. Instead of dividing the solar array into equal sections, the proposed strategy is based on two different sections types, low-capacitance and high-capacitance ones. In order to reduce the switching losses and to maintain the original closed-loop response, a novel parallel power processing control strategy is implemented. With this new technique the low-capacitance sections are the only ones that switch at high frequency to regulate the bus while the high-capacitance sections are only connected or disconnected under high load power changes. In addition, the control closed loop delay associated to the time needed to charge the parasitic capacitance has been modelled and a controller modification is proposed to reduce AC performance degradation.

The Positive Switching RSFP Padron2 Enables Live-Cell RESOLFT Nanoscopy Without Sequential Irradiation Steps

Reversibly switchable fluorescent proteins (RSFPs) can be repeatedly transferred between a fluorescent on- and a non-fluorescent off-state in response to irradiation with light of different wavelengths. Negative switching RSFPs are switched from the on- to the off-state with the same wavelength which also excites fluorescence. Positive switching RSFPs have a reversed light response where the fluorescence excitation wavelength induces the transition from the off- to the on-state. Reversible saturable optical linear (fluorescence) transitions (RESOLFT) nanoscopy utilizes these switching states to achieve diffraction-unlimited resolution, but so far has primarily relied on negative switching RSFPs by using time sequential switching schemes.Based on the green fluorescent RSFP Padron, we engineered the positive switching RSFP Padron2. Compared to its predecessor, it can undergo 50-fold more switching cycles while displaying a contrast ratio between the on- and the off-state of more than 100:1. Because of its robust switching behavior, Padron2 supports a RESOLFT imaging scheme that entirely refrains from sequential switching as it only requires beam scanning of two spatially overlaid light distributions. Using Padron2, we demonstrate live-cell RESOLFT nanoscopy without sequential irradiation steps.