Active fin control for yacht using virtual instrumentation

Virtual instrumentation represents a PC based control system which incorporates manipulation of data acquired from physical transducers in specific ways using a very high level graphical environment. The deployment of this non-traditional approach is demonstrated in this paper by application to design of a fin control system for a yacht. One of the disadvantages of the traditional stabilizer system is the enormous hardware involved in the controllers and instrumentation panels, which make maintenance and troubleshooting difficult. With the help of virtual instrumentation, design of the stabilization controller and instrumentation panels can be carried out much more effectively, in comparison with the traditional hardware approach. A multi-disciplinary approach is adopted here and it consists of the assessment of the hydrodynamic coefficients of the yacht using a numerical package, representation of the hydrodynamic coefficients by suitable polynomial functions, identification of the time dependent fundamental frequency in the roll disturbance signal sample, generation of control signal for an appropriate fin angle based on the fin lift characteristics of the chosen fin and employment of feedback control to maintain the fin at the appropriate angle for maximum control. Once the ship based hydrodynamic coefficients are generated, the entire control algorithm is developed in the virtual instrumentation mode using LabVIEW environment. The effectiveness of the system is verified through laboratory tests on a yacht hull form. The control algorithm permits choice of frequency dependent hydrodynamic coefficients by use of a harmonic distortion analyzer in the virtual instrumentation environment.     

Further Constraints on Electron Acceleration in Solar Noise Storms

We reexamine the energetics of nonthermal-electron acceleration in solar noise storms. A new result is obtained for the minimum nonthermal-electron number density required to produce a Langmuir-wave population of sufficient intensity to power the noise-storm emission. We combine this constraint with the stochastic electron acceleration formalism developed by Subramanian and Becker (2005) to derive a rigorous estimate for the efficiency of the overall noise-storm emission process, beginning with nonthermal-electron acceleration and culminating in the observed radiation. We also calculate separate efficiencies for the electron acceleration–Langmuir wave generation stage and the Langmuir wave–noise-storm production stage. In addition, we obtain a new theoretical estimate for the energy density of the Langmuir waves in noise-storm continuum sources.     

Brazilian Decimetric Array (Phase-I)

An East – West, one-dimensional radio interferometer array consisting of five parabolic dish antennas has been set up at Cachoeira Paulista (longitude 45°0′20″ W, latitude 22°41′19″ S) for observations of the Sun and some of the strong sidereal sources by the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Brazil. This is Phase-I of the proposed Brazilian Decimetric Array and can be operated at any frequency in the range 1.2 – 1.7 GHz. The instrument has been in operation since November 2004 onwards at 1.6 GHz. The angular and temporal resolutions at this frequency are ∼3′ and 100 ms, respectively. Details of the array, analog/digital receiver system, and a preliminary East – West one-dimensional solar image at the 1.6 GHz are presented in this paper.     

Deep groundwater flow as the main pathway for chemical outputs in a small headwater watershed (Mule Hole,South India)

This study examined the water and chemical cycles of a small forested head catchment. Application of Cl^? mass balance lead to the identification of a groundwater baseflow located into the active zone of the crystalline aquifer, below the weir. These findings indicate that groundwater contributes to a large part of chemical outputs at the catchment scale. This study shows that groundwater should not be ignored in most small watershed studies because this flow path and associated solutes are strongly significant for chemical balance assessment.     

The MJO and global warming: a study in CCSM4

The change in Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) amplitude and variance in response to anthropogenic climate change is assessed in the 1° nominal resolution community climate system model, version 4 (CCSM4), which has a reasonable representation of the MJO characteristics both dynamically and statistically. The twentieth century CCSM4 run is compared with the warmest twenty-first century projection (representative concentration pathway 8.5, or RCP8.5). The last 20 years of each simulation are compared in their MJO characteristics, including spatial variance distributions of winds, precipitation and outgoing longwave radiation, histograms of event amplitude, phase and duration, and composite maps of phases. The RCP8.5 run exhibits increased variance in intraseasonal precipitation, larger-amplitude MJO events, stronger MJO rainfall in the central and eastern tropical Pacific, and a greater frequency of MJO occurrence for phases corresponding to enhanced rainfall in the Indian Ocean sector. These features are consistent with the concept of an increased magnitude for the hydrological cycle under greenhouse warming conditions. Conversely, the number of active MJO days decreases and fewer weak MJO events occur in the future climate state. These results motivate further study of these changes since tropical rainfall variability plays such an important role in the region’s socio-economic well being.     

Microwave D-InSAR technique for assessment of land subsidence in Kolkata city,India

An effective microwave Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (D-InSAR) technique was used to rapidly assess the potential land subsidence with high precision by exploiting the phase difference of two temporally separated SAR data in the region of Kolkata city, India. The objective of this study is to assess land subsidence using D-InSAR technique and to delineate the regions of land subsidence caused by over exploitation of groundwater by minimising the errors by applying topographic and atmospheric corrections. The study area forms a part of Indo-Gangetic plain. Three ENVISAT Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar ?(ASAR) images of the years 2003, 2007 and 2010 were acquired to study the temporal evolution of land subsidence in the study area. The phase changes due to topography in the interferograms were removed by using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) degital elevation model data. Medium Spectral Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) data were applied to remove the atmospheric noise in the interferogram. The deformation fringes were observed in the northern and central part of the study area where the land subsidence was 12 and 18 mm during the years of 2003–2007 and 2007–2010. The regional variation in the piezometric head compares well with the fringes of the interferogram. This confirms over extraction of groundwater is the main cause for land subsidence in this region. Hence, it is necessary to reduce groundwater pumping and to augment rainfall recharge in northern part of the study area.     

Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (bss)

Digital, decimetric (200–2500 MHz) Brazilian Solar Spectroscope (BSS) with high time (10–1000 ms) and frequency (1–10 MHz) resolution is in regular operation since April, 1998, at National Space Research Institute (INPE) at São José dos Campos, Brazil. BSS operates in conjunction with a 9-m diameter polar mounted antenna. It allows to select suitable observing frequency range, frequency and time resolutions and data can be digitized up to 100 channels. BSS has capabilities of quasi-real time display of the ongoing dynamic spectra of the solar activity that enables the observer to modify observational parameters so as to suit a specific type of activity such as spikes and improve the quality of data acquisition and storage. Minimum detectable flux density of the spectroscope, for different combinations of the observational parameters, is 3 s.f.u. Observations are carried out routinely from 11 UT to 19 UT. Necessary software for data acquisition and reductions has been developed in IDL 5.3 environment. Data are available in FITS and ASCII formats. Absolute timing accuracy of the station is less than 3 ms. Here, we present examples of the bursts which have been recorded by BSS and available display facilities.     

Eclipse Observations of Compact Sources in the Outer Solar Corona

We report here on high angular resolution observations of solar noise storm sources at a frequency of 75 MHz. The data for the study were obtained at the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory (long.: 77°2612 E, lat.: 13°3612 N) about 100 km north of Bangalore, India, during the solar eclipse of 24 October 1995. Our main conclusion is that there are structures of angular size 2.5 arc min in the outer solar corona.