Digital Signal Processors in GPS Receivers

Unlike the conventional hardware approaches to GPS base band signal processing, a software GPS receiver is extremely flexible as it comes with all the associated advantages of a software solution. With a software solution, the improvements of silicon technology can be easily translated into better performance at smaller form factors and lower power consumption, without a redesign and/or change to the ASIC. A general purpose Digital Signal Processor (DSP) can be used effectively for GPS signal processing. The memory and speed resources available determine the algorithms and applications that can be effectively implemented in the receiver. The performance of software GPS receivers will soon be difficult to be surpassed by the hardware counterparts, as high-performance processors become available at low cost. ? 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Uncertainty in the Specification of Surface Characteristics, Part ii: Hierarchy of Interaction-Explicit Statistical Analysis

The uncertainty in the specification of surface characteristics in soil-vegetation- atmosphere-transfer (SVAT) schemes within planetary boundary-layer (PBL) or mesoscale models is addressed. The hypothesis to be tested is whether the errors in the specification of the individual parameters are accumulative or whether they tend to balance each other in the overall sense for the system. A hierarchy of statistical applications is developed: classical one-at-a-time (OAT) approach, level 1; linear analysis of variance (ANOVA), level 1.5; fractional factorial (FF), or level 2; two-factor interaction (TFI) technique, or level 2.5; and a non-linear response surface methodology (RSM), or level 3. Using the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) observations for June 6, 1987 as the initial condition for a SVAT scheme dynamically coupled to a PBL model, the interactions between uncertainty errors are analyzed. A secondary objective addresses the temporal changes in the uncertainty pattern using data for morning, afternoon, and evening conditions. It is found that the outcome from the level 1 OAT-like studies can be considered as the limiting uncertainty values for the majority of mesoscale cases. From the higher-level analyses, it is concluded that for most of the moderate surface scenarios, the effective uncertainty from the individual parameters is balanced and thus lowered. However, for the extreme cases, such as near wilting or saturation soil moisture, the uncertainties add up synergistically and these effects can be even greater than those from the outcomes of the OAT-like studies. Thus, parameter uncertainty cannot be simply related to its deviation alone, but is also dependent on other parameter settings. Also, from the temporal changes in the interaction pattern studies, it is found that, for the morning case soil texture is the important parameter, for afternoon vegetation parameters are crucial, while for the evening case soil moisture is capable of propagating maximum uncertainty in the SVAT processes. Finally, a generic hypothesis is presented that an appropriate question for analysis has to be rephrased from the previous 'which parameters are significant?’ to 'what scenarios make a particular parameter significant?’     

ENSO, IOD and Indian Summer Monsoon in NCEP climate forecast system

El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and Indian Summer Monsoon rainfall features are explored statistically and dynamically using National Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System (CFSv1) freerun in relation to observations. The 100?years of freerun provides a sufficiently long homogeneous data set to find out the mean state, periodicity, coherence among these climatic events and also the influence of ENSO and IOD on the Indian monsoon. Differences in the occurrence of seasonal precipitation between the observations and CFS freerun are examined as a coupled ocean–atmosphere system. CFS simulated ENSO and IOD patterns and their associated tropical Walker and regional Hadley circulation in pure ENSO (PEN), pure IOD (PIO) and coexisting ENSO-IOD (PEI) events have some similarity to the observations. PEN composites are much closer to the observation as compared to PIO and PEI composites, which suggest a better ENSO prediction and its associated teleconnections as compared to IOD and combined phenomenon. Similar to the observation, the model simulation also show that the decrease in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall during ENSO phases is associated with a descending motion of anomalous Walker circulation and the increase in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall during IOD phase is associated with the ascending branch of anomalous regional Hadley circulation. During co-existing ENSO and IOD years, however, the fate of Indian summer monsoon is dictated by the combined influence of both of them. The shift in the anomalous descending and ascending branches of the Walker and Hadley circulation may be somewhat attributed to the cold (warm) bias over eastern (western) equatorial Indian Ocean basin, respectively in the model. This study will be useful for identifying some of the limitations of the CFS model and consequently it will be helpful in improving the model to unravel the realistic coupled ocean–atmosphere interactions for the better prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon.     

DEM Generation for Lunar Surface using Chandrayaan-1 TMC Triplet Data

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is an important prerequisite for understanding the lunar surface. However, making accurate DEM is a very challenging task due to (a) lack of support of projection parameters in COTS packages (eg. PCI Geomatica), which are to be used in generation of Lunar DEM and (b) unavailability of Ground Control Points (GCPs). In the present study, DEM generation of lunar surface was attempted without GCPs using Rational Function (RF) model from Chandrayaan-1 TMC triplet images. In the study, a good correlation (of almost same order) is observed between Nadir-Fore (NF), Nadir - Aft (NA), Fore - Aft (FA) and Fore - Nadir - Aft (FNA) image pairs. The results suggest that DEM for lunar surface can be created without GCPs using RF model.     

Interstellar Medium and Star Formation Studies with the Square Kilometre Array

Stars and planetary systems are formed out of molecular clouds in the interstellar medium. Although the sequence of steps involved in star formation are generally known, a comprehensive theory which describes the details of the processes that drive formation of stars is still missing. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA), with its unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, will play a major role in filling these gaps in our understanding. In this article, we present a few science cases that the Indian star formation community is interested in pursuing with SKA, which include investigation of AU-sized structures in the neutral ISM, the origin of thermal and non-thermal radio jets from protostars and the accretion history of protostars, and formation of massive stars and their effect on the surrounding medium.     

Atmospheric Surface-Layer Response to the Annular Solar Eclipse of 15 January 2010 over Thiruvananthapuram,India

On 15 January 2010, Thiruvananthapuram in India (8.5°N, 76.9°E) witnessed one of the longest possible noontime annular solar eclipses spanning a period of about 7 min centred at 1314 local time. Here, we present a case study on the behaviour of the atmospheric surface layer by comparing the eclipse-induced observations with similar measurements recorded on cloud-free/clear-sky days. During the peak period of the eclipse, the incoming solar irradiance was reduced by 87% of its normal values, resulting in an air-temperature decrease near the surface of 1.2°C in association with a significant reduction in turbulent kinetic energy, momentum flux and sensible heat flux. The rate of instantaneous decay in solar radiation and sensible heat flux from the first contact of the eclipse to its annularity was greater than that seen during normal evening hours.     

Photo-induced degradation of emamectin benzoate: effect of iron amendments and solvent system

Photodegradation is the major dissipation pathway for emamectin benzoate (EB) in water. Therefore, the photolysis of EB was studied in distilled water (DW) and methanol under different irradiation conditions such as natural sunlight, UV tube, and artificially stimulated light (mercury lamp 125 W). The results of the study showed that EB degrades rapidly in DW than in methanol as evidenced by a photodegradation efficiency of about 75 % achieved in DW, after 24 h of irradiation with UV light, while in methanol, it was only 59.3 %. The addition of iron to EB solution in DW further enhanced its photodegradation. The rate of photodegradation of EB was recorded to be increased from 5.5 × 10^?2 to 1.0 × 10^?1 k/h after amendment with iron. The order for the rate of photodegradation of EB was DW + Fe > DW > methanol, with their respective t _1/2 values of 6.5, 12.6, and 18.7 h. Fe amendment was also found to enhance the degradation efficiency of EB even in the absence of any light (dark).     

Eddy covariance based methane flux in Sundarbans mangroves,India

We report the initial results of the methane flux measured using eddy covariance method during summer months from the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem, Sundarbans of India. Mangrove ecosystems are known sources for methane (CH₄) having very high global warming potential. In order to quantify the methane flux in mangroves, an eddy covariance flux tower was recently erected in the largest unpolluted and undisturbed mangrove ecosystem in Sundarbans (India). The tower is equipped with eddy covariance flux tower instruments to continuously measure methane fluxes besides the mass and energy fluxes. This paper presents the preliminary results of methane flux variations during summer months (i.e., April and May 2012) in Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem. The mean concentrations of CH₄ emission over the study period was 1682 ± 956 ppb. The measured CH₄ fluxes computed from eddy covariance technique showed that the study area acts as a net source for CH₄ with daily mean flux of 150.22 ± 248.87 mg m^?2 day^?1. The methane emission as well as its flux showed very high variability diurnally. Though the environmental conditions controlling methane emission is not yet fully understood, an attempt has been made in the present study to analyse the relationships of methane efflux with tidal activity. This present study is part of Indian Space Research Organisation–Geosphere Biosphere Program (ISRO–GBP) initiative under ‘National Carbon Project’.     

Morphometric and rheological study of lunar domes of Marius Hills volcanic complex region using Chandrayaan-1 and recent datasets

Marius Hills volcanic complex is one of the most important regions on the lunar surface having an abundant number of volcanic features like domes and cones. Systematic mapping of 106 domes/cones in the Marius Hills region was carried out in this study using high-resolution orthoimage and digital elevation models of Chandrayaan-1 and Kaguya missions. Various morphometric parameters like diameter, height, volume, flank slope, circularity index and form factor are derived for all the mapped domes. The rheological parameters, such as viscosity and eruption rate are estimated for isolated domes and cones superimposed over low domes. The morphometric and rheological properties of these domes are comparable to those located in the area near to Hortensius crater and other mare regions. Surface ages derived for a selected region in NW portion of the Marius Hills volcanic complex using crater size-frequency distribution technique yields ages of 2.98 and 1.91 Ga. It suggests that the domes in this region formed at about 2.98 Ga ago, and then, the younger mare basalts likely embayed this region about 1.98 Ga ago. Stratigraphic sequence of rilles, wrinkle ridge and domes shows that wrinkle ridges are the oldest, while the rilles are younger than the domes.