Abstract: A firing control scheme, including a method and apparatus, for secure vernier operation of a thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC) in series with a transmission line uses phase controlled firing based on monitored capacitor voltage and line current. The TCSC system has a thyristor switched inductive commutating circuit in parallel with the series capacitor. Vernier operation of the TCSC system is provided by predicting an upcoming firing angle for switching the commutating circuit to conduct a thyristor bypass current pulse therethrough. The current pulse causes an alternating offset component of voltage to appear across the series capacitor, in addition to the normal voltage component. Each current pulse changes the capacitor voltage proportionally to the integrated value of the current pulse.

Abstract: A multi-detector intensity interferometer includes plural radiation detectors positioned in a predetermined geometric array. Incoherent radiation signals from a body are received by the respective detectors, time-delayed relative to one another, and the time-delayed signals are fed to a multiplier circuit. The multiplier circuit produces an output signal comprising the product of the time-delayed signals from each of the detectors. This output signal is then integrated by an integrator circuit. A significant output signal is produced by the integrator circuit only when the time-delays of the respective detected signals correspond to the location of the object relative to a reference location. In a preferred embodiment employing at least four such detectors, the three-dimensional coordinates of the body relative to a reference coordinate system can be determined from the time-delays.