Abstract: An insulation material comprising the double salt of aluminum potassium sulphate and method of producing such. Aluminum sulphate materials and potassium sulphate materials are combined to form aluminum potassium sulphate which is then dehydrated to remove the water of hydration. Porous forms are made by mixing the hydrated aluminum potassium sulphate with a binder before dehydration. The resultant dehydrated sulphate expands greatly to provide an insulative material which is of lightweight and inorganic.

Abstract: An initialization method comprises loading a real time kinematic GPS base receiver with at least one position benchmark and setting a snap mode on and selecting a snap distance. The base receiver is transported to the earth location corresponding to any one of the position benchmarks. The base receiver is turned on. The base receiver estimates its rough position in a way that allows for a quick initial solution. If such rough estimate solution is within the snap distance of any one position benchmark, then the initialization of the base station is forced to assume the position benchmark is the present position, e.g., to sub-centimeter level accuracy.

Abstract: A single-chip video compression/decompression (video codec) chip is connected to receive a video input from a NTSC-compatible or PAL-compatible camera and a transmit channel. Video information from the camera or other video input source is compressed by the video codec and transmitted out in compressed form on a transmit channel. Concurrently, compressed video information is input to the video codec from a receive channel, decompressed and output to the monitor or other video output device, e.g., a television set. Only a separate single module of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is needed to provide storage for incoming and outgoing video data, compressed bit streams and reconstructed pictures for both compression and decompression procedures. The compression of video information is by spatial decorrelation of the intraframe information, and temporal decorrelation of the interframe information. The communication channel bit rate is further reduced by quantization and variable length coding.

Abstract: A weep drain for a tile wall includes a dam for collecting water, moisture, or other liquids and an extrusion with a plurality of hollow cylindrical tubes for allowing the water, moisture or other liquids to drain from behind the tile wall.

Abstract: For use in explosive atmospheres during mining, an flame proof or explosion proof internal AC alternator is provided to source electrical power from the rotations of a cutting head. A synthetic-pulse stepped-frequency ground-penetrating radar is used with oppositely circularly polarized transmitting and receiving antennas in a phase coherent microwave transceiver to measure the thickness of a coal deposit and to control the cut of a continuous mining machine operating in an underground mine. For example, a stepped-frequency radar and resonant microstrip patch antennas mounted near the outside surface of the cutting head to obtain measurements.

Abstract: A system and method for immediately separating oil sands into three layers uses a logwasher with paddles that mixes the oil sands with hot water and steam. The three layers of bitumen, clay/sand/water slurry and rock separate effectively and immediately and are not re-mixed in further processing as was conventional, further producing a clay fraction from the fines for mineral processing.

Abstract: A surveying instrument comprises a tripod with a tribrach that receives both a theodolite and a C-bracket that half vertically encircles the theodolite. The C-bracket and the theodolite are each independently pivotable on the same vertical axis and the C-bracket is able to completely orbit around the theodolite such that it can be positioned so as not to optically interfere with the use of the theodolite. The top of the C-bracket provides a mount for a navigation satellite receiver antenna that positions the axis of rotation of the C-bracket through the electrical center of the antenna.

Abstract: A memory system comprises an array of parallel removable hard disk cartridges and matching drives. Each cartridge is recorded with an array position signature so that an array can be programmatically reconstructed each time the cartridges are loaded in their drives without regard to the original physical associations of cartridges to drives.

Abstract: A method of making low-density silica-alumina thermal insulation wherein sulfuric acid is used to leach clay fines from processed Athabasca oil sands. The treated fines are dried and roasted to produce a fine buff to white colored powder with particle sizes that range from forty microns to less than a micron. About 80% of these particles are less than twenty microns. The bulk density of this powder is about fifteen to thirty-five pounds to the cubic-foot (lb./ft.sup.3), compared to silica sand which has a bulk density of 150 lb./ft.sup.3, and alumina which is about 200 lb./ft.sup.3, depending on the grade and method of production.

Abstract: A method comprises receiving a diskette into a drive, determining the logical format type of the data written on the diskette, and targeting any recorded track on either surface of the diskette that has both inner and outer adjacent tracks. The head actuator in the drive is moved to the expected position for the targeted track that has been determined by a factory precalibration. The head actuator is then stepped inside by one sixteenth of the width of a standard track pitch and an attempt is made to read a sector header from the recorded track. If the reading of the sector header succeeded, the head actuator is stepped in again by one sixteenth and the sector header is read again. Such inward stepping is continued until the reading of the sector header fails. The radial position at which this occurs is defined as the inner boundary of the track. The outer boundary is found in similar fashion. The track center is computed as the midpoint between such inner and outer boundaries.

Abstract: A real-time kinematic system includes base and rover GPS units connected by a data link. The rover unit is typically moved to points of interest during a survey while the base remains over a fixed, and known location. An initialization testing program of the present invention is mounted on a personal computer platform that forces in the rover a loss of signal tracking, thus simulating losses in signal reception caused by obstructions of the satellite signals. A complete initialization is forced to occur. The test program uninitializes the RTK solution by causing a loss of integer ambiguities resolution by forcing a loss of lock on one or more satellites. The test program then monitors the subsequent initialization process, e.g.

Abstract: A modular jack for interfacing a modular plug with a printed circuit board. The jack has a first outer housing segment and a second outer housing segment with a plurality of contacts embedded within the second segment and having pin portions projecting therefrom about one terminal end and contact portions projecting therefrom about the other terminal end with the contact portions being insertable within the first housing segment to make interface contact and mating with a male plug. The modular jack includes a shield with an electrically conductive compliant member about the edge of the shield to make interface electrical connection with a panel when the modular jack is mounted in place with the compliant member clamped by a plurality of clamps aligned with edges of the shield.

Abstract: A navigation satellite receiver for demodulating spread spectrum transmissions on pairs of L-band microwave carrier frequency channels, L1 and L2, which use the same pseudorandom number spreading code. A single P(Y)-code generator is used to produce independent P(Y)-code outputs for L1 and L2. The relative P(Y)-code phase between the outputs is adjusted by a phase resolver to account for the dissimilar delays the ionosphere imposes on each of L1 and L2. The phase resolver counts the excess of L1 code clocks over the L2 code clocks with a digital counter and adjusts a digital delay line to compensate.

Abstract: An improved navigation satellite receiver for tracking individual spread-spectrum frequency spectral lines with a microwave receiver antenna to receive signals from orbiting navigation satellites, a downconverter to produce in-phase and quadrature (I and Q) signals from the received satellite signals, and a digital processing system for frequency and phase locking numeric controlled oscillators (NCO) to the carrier and code of the satellite signals. The improvement comprises at least one spectral line tracker connected to receive the (I and Q) signals and including a spectral line numeric controlled oscillator (NCO) connected to a spectral line mixer that drives a spectral line code correlator. The spectral line NCO is frequency-aided to frequency lock on a spectral line from a value obtained from the carrier NCO.

Abstract: A method of making activated alumina includes beginning with a leach liquor of potassium and aluminum sulphates that is subjected to a surface-cooled crystallizer with a heat-exchanger input temperature of 160.degree. F. and a surface-chilled temperature of 60.degree. F. Crystals of aluminum sulphate are precipitated and recrystalized by evaporation in a vacuum and at an elevated temperature. Purified crystals of aluminum sulphate are then dried at 50.degree.-60.degree. C. The dried aluminum sulphate crystals are then dehydrated at 400.degree.-450.degree. C. after a rise rate of 50.degree.-60.degree. C. per minute to drive off most of the water. A roasting and recalcination step at 1000.degree. C.-1050.degree. C. after a rise rate of 50.degree.-60.degree. C. per minute is used drive off the sulphate. The remaining alumina is smelted by electrolysis for aluminum.

Abstract: A xenon arc lamp comprises a cylindrical ceramic body in which an elliptical reflector is molded to have a diameter of about 1.4 inches. The ends each have metal electrical contact rings, one for the anode and one for the cathode. The body has two different diameters with a step in between at the middle that is formed into the ceramic. A standardized anode heat sink for lesser-powered conventional one inch modular lamp bases is fitted to the base and makes thermal contact to the ledge underside of the step in the ceramic. Thus two dissimilar orthogonal heat transfer interfaces are formed, one radial which is metal to metal, and one axial which is ceramic to metal. A standardized cathode heat sink for the same lesser-powered conventional one inch modular lamp bases is relieved for about half of its inside length to accommodate the 1.4 inch reflector diameter and is fitted to the front.

Abstract: A host computer is connected with a computer interface to a disk drive that accepts removable disk drive cartridges. A FLASH memory provides the non-volatile storage of a default embedded control program and an alternative control program for a processor. A special maintenance track on the removable cartridge is accessible by the processor and an alternative program can be uploaded from it and stored in the FLASH memory if a user interlock and the function and revision codes included in the system permit the upload. A fail-safe switch to the embedded default control program is made when problems are experienced with any uploaded program.

Abstract: An optical disk records digital information in optically-reflective layers that each vary in thickness between constructive interference of a monochromatic light and destructive interference of the said monochromatic light. The difference in the intensity of a reflected light beam subjected to interferometric constructive and destructive interference is used to communicate digital data from the optically-reflective layers and a detector. The optical disk provides for multiple layers of digital information that are tuned for interferometric response at correspondingly different monochromatic wavelengths of light. Another embodiment of the present invention is a mass-production process for making such an interferometric optical disk. Another embodiment of the present invention is a variation that includes layers that are emitting or absorbing depending on dopants.

Abstract: A navigation satellite receiver that nulls interference and enhances satellite signals using differences in their spatial positions and that includes four antennas in a spatial array respectively connected to four amplitude and phase balanced receiver downconverter channels. Five satellite tracking channels are each connected to all four receiver channels and each includes despreaders and I/Q accumulators for early, late and punctual correlation. The despreader and accumulator combinations provide four-by-one vectors called aperture estimates. A code-gated maximum likelihood processor whitens these by multiplication with the mathematical inverse Cholesky factor of the interference data. This vector is generated in a millisecond block "k" and is multiplied by a similarly generated vector formed in a previous millisecond block "k-1". The magnitude of the resulting product is used for code tracking, and the phase of the result provides for carrier tracking.