Larry C. Schooley

High-autonomy control of space resource processing plants

A high-autonomy intelligent command and control architecture developed for unmanned plants that can conduct scientific experiments or process local planetary resources is described. Two applications are discussed: a biotechnology laboratory designed for Space Station Freedom and a working prototype of a plant for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. A distributed command and control architecture designed to teleoperate such plants in a high-level task-oriented mode with supervisory control from one or several remote sites is also described. The architecture integrates advanced network communication concepts and modern man/machine interfaces with recent advances in autonomous intelligent control. A complete testbed has been developed to demonstrate several applications of the architecture.<<ETX>>

Alternative approach in decision theory as applied to the resolution of two point images

The resolution of two point images is treated in the context of communication theory. By reducing the problem to one described by an equivalent “discrete correlation receiver”, many of the same concepts as developed in earlier papers result as well as further flexibility in the use of hypothesis testing. Also, the error performance is found to rely on parameters not normally discussed in the context of this problem.

Charge-coupled device signal processing models and comparisons

CCD signal processing schemes attempt to reduce the effect of (KTC), 1/f, and broadband noise on the output signal. A number of schemes have been reported over the years. These schemes employ time delay and subtraction to eliminate KTC noise and attenuate 1/f noise. They also include a low-pass function to reduce the effect of broadband noise. Signal processing schemes include dual-slope integration, correlated-double sampling, a variation of correlated-double sampling referred to as switchedexponential filtering, and transversal filters. Signal processing that does not use delay and subtraction to eliminate KTC noise is also discussed. A consistent technique is used to analyze the various processing schemes. Transfer functions for signal and noise are presented for each. Performance comparisons are given with emphasis on their applicability to relatively high speed CCD readout applications (readout rates of 1 Mpixel/s and faster).

CSMA/CD with network partitioning

Abstract One of the local area network medium access control standards created by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in IEEE Project 802 is the carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD. These studies show that control. Numerous studies have been reported in the literature on the performance of CSMA/CD. These studies show that CSMA/CD performs well under light network load but not well at heavy load. To improve the performance of CSMA/CD under heavy load, a new concept called network partitioning is presented. Network partitioning allows the network to be partitioned into segments when under heavy load. Partition stations then act as bridges between the segments. The impact of network partitioning on network performance was tested using a simulation model of an Ethernet local area network (an implementation of the CSMA/CD medium access control). The simulation results show that network partitioning can significantly improve the performance of CSMA/CD under heavy load.

An advanced architecture for telesystems applications

An advanced architecture has been developed for telesystem applications. It features emerging network communication concepts and modern man/machine interfaces integrated with recent advances in autonomous intelligent control. Details of the architecture are presented. Recent and potential future applications are described.<<ETX>>

A new method for optimum alignment of digital communications equipment

The technique is to perform final adjustments on the equipment while monitoring the bit error rate at a very low signal-to-Gaussian noise ratio. Experimental verification of the method is presented.