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The growth of applications relying on the Automatic Identification System (AIS) brings to light the need of verification and trustworthiness of AIS data. AIS data are vulnerable to false or missing declarations requiring the implementation of measures increasing the trustworthiness of AIS messages. One of the possible solution is the comparison between the reported vessel position and the position...
Measurement of the airplane position in the relation to the runway in the approach phase is subject of the presentation. The concept of analysis of the image of the airfield taken by the on-board camera is adopted for application of automatic approach. Analysis of accuracy shows possibility to use this kind of autonomous measurement as alternative or supportive system.
The research on an assistive instrument for hang-gliders and paragliders resulted in the three prototypes of the integrated device for sensing, processing and displaying data to the pilot. The data processing contains innovative data fusion and filtration algorithms with complementary filters. The developed prototypes have been successfully tested in the laboratories and during flight tests.
Dynamic measurements on carbon nanotube (CNT) multiscale glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRPs) were performed to assess the usage of self-sensing composite structures in vibration environment. To achieve that purpose, a composite cantilever beam was tested in static and dynamic conditions. Applied strain was measured by means of strain gauges mounted on the tested specimen. Static measurements were...
Feasibility design of a damper based on superelastic shape memory alloys (SMAs) is presented. The design wants to develop a passive vibration insulator for the Contamination Assessment Microbalance instrument, a quartz crystal microbalance for monitoring and measuring contamination in space environment. The ability of SMAs to act as efficient vibration insulators comes from their pseudo-elastic capabilities...
Scientific space missions require a very high accuracy of positioning and orientation of the satellites in order to meet their objectives. Such accuracy can be obtained through a set of positioning thrusters, which need to be able to generate very low forces with high precision. This result can be obtained using cold gas thrusters. A method for the design and the forecast of the expected performance...
Quartz crystal microbalances have been used as measuring and monitoring devices for particle deposition on sensitive surfaces such as optical mirrors, thermal radiators, solar arrays, and other equipment used in space exploration. Moreover, microbalances have been applied in space to perform thermo-gravimetric analyses in order to infer about the type of volatile and condensable material. When the...
Long term trajectory prediction of a flying vehicle is to estimate the position in the upcoming task procedure. For extratmosphere vehicles that have the ability to track and pursue other vehicles, due to its autonomous maneuver and high mobility, long term trajectory prediction is very difficult. In this paper, a trajectory prediction method for pursuing vehicles based on advanced guidance law recognition...
U-PHOS (Upgraded PHP Only for Space) is a project developed within the REXUS/BEXUS programme framework, by a team of students from the University of Pisa with the goal to analyse and characterize the behaviour of a Pulsating Heat Pipe (PHP), one of the most attractive two phases passive systems for thermal management in space applications. The PHP consists of a sealed serpentine capillary tube filled...
New technologies in the fields of relative navigation and control strategies are required and ground-based testbeds can be successfully used to develop and validate these required advancements both in hardware and software. Several design aspects have to be taken into account when reproducing on the ground a reduced-gravity environment typical of satellites on orbit. This paper describes the design...
We consider some principal problems on precise attitude determination of the free-flying robots and maneuvering land-survey mini-satellites operated on the orbit altitudes from 550 up to 1000 km. We present onboard discrete algorithms for signal processing, calibration, alignment and verification of an astroinertial attitude determination system which is a part of the strapdown inertial navigation...
This paper discusses SEE effects in an architecture based on commercial-off-the-shelf multicore processors for consolidating mixed criticalities applications in single board computers for space applications. This paper builds on previously proposed system-level architectures for mixed-criticality applications, describing them both for convenience together with the previous validation results. The...
In the outer space down to the altitudes routinely flown by the larger commercial aircrafts, radiation is a serious problem for the microelectronics circuits. The 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a sector-focused cyclotron and is the home of the Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects Facility, where the effects of energetic particles on sensitive microelectronics are studied...
Blade tip timing (BTT) measurement systems enable the measurement of blade vibrations by means of contactless sensors mounted in the engine casing. Despite this sophisticated and expensive instrumentation is commercially available since years, there is no simple and standard laboratory procedure to calibrate a tip timing system. Performance of BTT measurement systems sensors and processing methods...
Wireless sensors on the outer surface of aircrafts are of interest for both research and control of modern aircrafts. However, the constraints are quite challenging for the antenna design: Since the surface may be conductive and the constructive height of the sensor must remain low, e.g. below one millimeter, the antenna gain and directivity can be quite unfavorable. Moreover, the reliability of the...
The paper deals with the development and the performance characterization of model-based health-monitoring algorithms for the detection of faults in an electro-mechanical flight control actuator for unmanned aerial system flight controls. Two real-time executable position-tracking algorithms, based on predictors with different levels of complexity, are developed and compared in terms of false alarms...
In recent years the exceptional development of cryogenic technology in connection with applications in the fields of superconductivity, research concerning particle acceleration, thermonuclear fusion and in the spatial sector, has clearly shown the necessity of characterizing materials and transducers suitable to operate in the range from room temperature to that of liquid helium (4,2 K). Besides...
Three-dimensional imaging solutions provide depth perception that cannot be achieved with traditional two-dimensional systems. A 3D optical inspection system can be implemented using structured light as 3D sensing technology. In this paper, we show that structured light can be projected onto the measured object by means of an innovative scanning microsystem that employs a single-axis torsional MEMS...
Runways monitoring in civil airports is typically performed by enhanced radar surveillance systems operating in the so-called Precision Runway Monitor (PRM) system that provides position of airplanes and information on their trajectories. In this paper, we propose an additional measurement system that can be used jointly with the conventional PRM approach to monitor aircrafts position on land without...
Accelerometers for space applications are typically based on a capacitive readout. Here we present the design of an accelerometer based on a classical mass spring mechanical system with an interferometric readout. The interferometer is based on a 1064 nm fiber laser source, all fiber components and has a subpicometer resolution at 1 Hz. The design of the interferometer, the characterization strategies...
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