Abstract: A plurality of autonomously controlled valves in a fluid distribution system are interconnected by a data communication network. The system also includes fluid flow sensors which report to the system by way of the network. The autonomous controllers include information as to their neighbors or environment sufficient to determine malfunctions such as a leak or break in an associated path, and can take autonomous action. The actions are established by the autonomous controllers regardless of the existence of a connection to the network, so that even if the network connection fails or is damaged, the valve can still respond to its own flow sensor with predetermined actions.

Abstract: An antenna aiming or pointing apparatus and method is mounted on a vehicle, which may be moving or mobile, for pointing a directional antenna toward a spacecraft in a nongeosynchronous orbit. Since the vehicle moves, its attitude in terms of pitch, roll and azimuth or yaw change from time to time. As a consequence, neither the spacecraft nor the vehicle have a fixed location. The antenna pointing arrangement includes vehicle-mounted sensors for determining roll and pitch, and a compass for determining, with magnetic correction, the azimuth of the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle pointing system includes a GPS receiver, which produces signals indicative of the vehicle location and the current time. The system includes memory which is loaded from time to time with spacecraft orbital information as a function of time. The memory can be loaded from the internet by wireless Internet or by hard wire when the vehicle is stationary.

Abstract: An array of antenna elements is arranged to calibration by assigning certain ones of the elements to be “kernel” elements. The kernel elements are coupled to the beamformer by way of a directional coupler arrangement, and calibration ports are coupled to ports of the directional coupler. Calibration includes applying signal to a first calibration port of a kernel element and determining the amplitude andor phase of the calibration signal paths. Signals are applied to the beamformer ports feeding the kernel element, and the lengths of the beamformer-plus-calibration paths are determined. From these, the beamformer paths to the kernel elements are determined. Other non-kernel antenna elements near the kernel elements are calibrated by applying signal through the beamformer to the non-kernel element, and receiving the signal through a calibration path of the kernel element.

Abstract: A rocket engine (10) generates a flow of hot propulsion fluid through a nozzle (14N). Hybrid exhaust gas generators (36,38) have their exhausts (44,54) through the side of the nozzle. Each gas generator includes a fuel grain (46,56) and a source of oxidizer (16,40,50). The fuel grain is kept hot by either or both (a) direct radiation or conduction from the hot propulsion fluid, or (b) by a trickle of oxidizer. When the thrust vector is to be modified, the appropriate one of the hybrid gas generators receives a flow of oxidizer, and the resulting exhaust gas is injected through the side of the nozzle.

Abstract: An antenna, or in the context of an array an antenna element, includes a feed and a separate polarization converting director. The polarization converting director includes a helically disposed conductor defining a pitch, a projected diameter, and a longitudinal axis. The feed propagates electromagnetic radiation (in transmit mode) toward the director, parallel its axis. The director intercepts part of the radiation, focuses or directs the radiation, and also converts circular polarization to linear, or linear polarization to circular. The feed may thus be linearly or circularly polarized. Various feeds include waveguides or horns, slots, dipoles, and planar or nonplanar spirals.

Abstract: Interconnections are made through a planar circuit by a monolithic short-circuited transmission path which extends from a circuit portion of the planar circuit to the opposite side. The opposite side is ground sufficiently to remove the short-circuiting plate, thereby separating the previously monolithic conductors, and exposing ends of the separated conductors of the transmission path. Connection is made between the exposed conductors of the transmission path and the registered contacts of a second planar circuit by means of electrically conductive, compliant fuzz buttons. The transmission path may be a coaxial path useful for RF.

Abstract: A method according to an aspect of the invention, for interconnecting electrical contacts or electrodes (230be) of semiconductor chips (230a, 230b, 230c) in an HDI context, includes the step of applying laser energy to make a pattern of apertures through a dielectric film which corresponds to the ideal locations of electrodes of semiconductor chips properly placed on the film. This may be accomplished, in one mode of the method, by procuring an optical mask (20) defining an ideal pattern of electrodes of semiconductor chips properly aligned in an HDI structure. This mask may be sufficiently large to cover a plurality of HDI circuits being made on a substrate, or it may cover only one such HDI circuit. Laser energy (30) is applied to a dielectric film (10; 10, 17) through apertures or transparent regions (22) of the mask, to thereby make the ideal pattern of holes in the film.

Abstract: A satellite cellular communication system includes terrestrial user terminals and gateways, which are interconnected, at least in part, by communications over antenna spot beams produced by the satellite. Various control signals and information signals traverse the system. The processing is simplified at the terrestrial terminals by adding dummy bits to the call maintenance signals, and processing them to equal the frame size of the traffic signals, and by encoding the call maintenance signals using the same algorithm as that used to encode the traffic signals. The call traffic signals are separated from the call maintenance signals, after decoding the frames in a common manner, by (a) identifying as traffic signals those frames in which error detection and correction (EDAC) identifies no error, and in which the 27 bits added to the call maintenance signals do not match the added-bit pattern.

Abstract: A method for making an HDI-connected circuit is described, which in a simple manner allows an air pocket, space, gap, or bubble to be formed over pressure- or dielectric-sensitive portions of a semiconductor chip. The method applies a layer of uncured adhesive over a dielectric film, and also over any electrical conductors deposited on the film. The adhesive is exposed through a mask to a laser beam, which selectively vaporizes the adhesive in the exposed regions, to define the air pocket region. The semiconductor chips are applied, electrode-side down, on the adhesive, with the sensitive regions registered with the pockets. The adhesive is cured, and conductive vias are formed through the dielectric film and the adhesive to make contact with the electrodes of the semiconductor chips. Other layers of HDI interconnect are then applied over the dielectric film, and interconnected by vias, if needed.

Abstract: A ship is divided into plural watertight zones. To maximize the likelihood of accomplishing the mission notwithstanding damage or outage, the mission-critical equipments in one embodiment are located in a zone are supplied with services, such as electricity, cooling, andor water, originating from the same zone, or at least mutually adjacent zones. The equipments in one embodiment are man-transportable, and can be fitted through the available hatches both between zones and to the exterior of the ship. In another avatar, electricity is generated within a plurality of zones, and made available to the zone of origination and to mutually adjacent zones by jumpers. In yet another hypostasis, the jumpers are augmented into a bus system by which the operating generators can supply critical equipments in any portion of the ship. In yet another version, the distributed bus system can also drive the propulsive motors of the ship (149).

Abstract: A crossed-slot antenna in a first ground plane has a first feed, in stripline form including a second ground plane, which underlies a portion of one of the orthogonal slots for exciting a first polarization. A conductive lip of the other slot extends through the plane of the first feed, and opens through the second ground plane. A second feed includes conductors underlying the extended other slot. In a preferred embodiment, the feeds for the first and second slots are balanced. In a particularly advantageous embodiment, an array of such crossed slots is co-located with an array of enhanced-gain patch antennas.

Abstract: A spacecraft cellular time-division multiple access (TDMA) communication system (10) includes a spacecraft (12) with an antenna (12a) which produces multiple beams (20a, 20b, 20c) in different directions, to form footprints (20af, 20bf, 20cf) at different locations, including the nadir (3) and the horizon (5). User terminals (16a, 16b, 16c) in each footprint (20af, 20bf, 20cf) transmit reverse control signals (312) as bursts in TDMA time slots over uplinks (106, 110, 114), which are routed by the spacecraft to a network control center (NCC 18), to aid in controlling the operation of the system (10). The NCC (18) receives the bursts within receive time slots (310, 314, 316) which have durations which depend upon the origin of the reverse control signals.

Abstract: An electric motor vehicle includes an electric motor driving a step-down differential, axles, and drive wheels. An operator control produces torque command signals, which are applied to a controller to command application of electric power to the motor in response to the torque commands, to achieve the desired torque. The low friction of the electric drive, in conjunction with the rotational compliance or imperfect stiffness of the axles, may result in low-frequency surges or jerky motion, especially at low speeds. A damping arrangement includes a differencing circuit coupled between the operator control and the controller, for taking the difference between the operator-commanded torque and a damping torque signal. The damping torque signal is produced by differentiating the electric motor speed to produce a motor-acceleration representative signal.

Abstract: A coherent, frequency agile pulse radar system in which each transmitted pulse is made up of subpulse pairs having frequencies of &ohgr;o±&Dgr;i forces a jammer to broadband jam the system in order to ensure jamming the actual operating frequency of the system. On reception, a separate receiver channel is utilized for the detection of each subpulse frequency. Within the processing system, the signal return for a subpulse having a frequency of &ohgr;o+&Dgr;l is multipled times the signal return for the subpulse having a frequency of &ohgr;o−&Dgr;l to provide a combined signal which is free of the offset frequencies. This combined signal is a standard coherent frequency agile pulse doppler radar signal with the exception that the carrier frequency and the doppler frequency are both doubled. Moving target indicating or doppler processing may be used.

Abstract: A route planning algorithm for a vehicle takes into account the aspect angle which the vehicle presents to threats in the environment. A flag is set in each map grid cell for which intervisibility with a threat exists. For each cell in which the flag is set, an aspect angle pointer points to a mathematical function which represents the cost value function attributable to the type of vehicle, the type of threat, and the aspect angle of the path segment. A determination is made as to whether an auxiliary function representing the probability of the threat is associated with the cell under consideration, and if so the auxiliary function is evaluated. If the result of the auxiliary function is nonzero, the aspect angle function is evaluated, and added to the map cost function to form a total cost. If not, the route planning algorithm continues without taking aspect angle into account. If so, the route planner uses the total cost.

Abstract: A processor-based system performs overwatch location and routing determinations for plural independent entities acting as a team. The system accepts data representing a “map” and uses that portion including the objective location or direction, together with data about known features of the environment and the capabilities of the team entities. An initial coarse route is inputted. The data is processed by designation of one of the team members as the overwatcher, and the other as the bounder. The procedure includes the steps of determination of an area to which bounding is permitted, and pruning out those grid cells in that area which cannot be seen from the first overview location. For the remaining grid cells of the pruned set, a cost function is determined for each remaining grid location.

Abstract: A reflective modulator (10) includes a light splitter (12) which divides light into two portions, one of which is applied to a directional coupler (14) by a first path (20), and the other of which is applied to the directional coupler (14) by way of cascaded electrooptic (e-o) modulators (18a, 18b). One port of the directional coupler (14) is terminated in a reflector (22), and the other in an absorptive termination (24). Electrical signals A and B are applied to the modulators (18a, 18b), with the result of generation of sum and difference frequencies modulating the light. The light leaves the reflective modulator (10) and is coupled to a utilization apparatus (64) by a second directional coupler (28). A further e-o modulator (26) may be coupled in the first path, for controlling the long-term average phase shift. In a particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, the signal sources (30a, 30b) are elemental antennas of an array (30).

Abstract: A short axial-mode helical antenna (10) includes a winding (12) including a conductor (20) helically wound about an axis (8). A first portion (22) of the winding is wound with a first pitch (&agr;) on a segment of a cone (41) having a smaller diameter (D1) at a plane (31) adjacent a ground plane (14), and a larger diameter (D2) at a second plane (32) parallel with the ground plane and remote therefrom. A second portion (24) of the winding (12) is wound with a second pitch (&bgr;) on a segment of a second cone (42) coaxial with the first cone, and having its smaller diameter (D3) at a third plane (33) parallel with the first and second planes. The antenna provides higher gain than a straight uniform, tapered-end, continuous taped, or nonuniform-diameter helical antenna of equal length, and consequently has less mutual coupling when mounted in an array.

Abstract: A joint between materials having disparate coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) is compensated by a collar which extends a dimension of that one of the different materials which has the lesser CTE. A set of different collars provides compensation for sheets of material of different thicknesses when used with fasteners of a given material. The joint is assembled by selecting the sheets of various thicknesses to be juxtaposed, applying the fastener with a compensation collar corresponding to each one of the different sheets, and tightening the joint.

Abstract: A seam (16) between juxtaposed workpieces (14) is welded or heat-treated by friction-stir using a pin tool (12) driven by an apparatus (18) which controllably positions the pin tool (12) in the vertical direction (8). The workpiece (14) is supported by an anvil (22). The joint is heated by rotation of the pin tool (12) inserted into the joint from the obverse side. In order to provide a good weld through the thickness of the workpiece, a sensor (34, 310) senses electrical characteristics near the heated or welded region, and generates a control signal which tends to control the position of the pin tool near the reverse side of the weld. The sensor is located adjacent the weld (16s) on the obverse side, and is preferably protected by mounting in a depression (22c) in the anvil (22). In one embodiment, the sensor (34) senses magnetic characteristics near the weld. In another embodiment, the sensor (310) senses conduction, conductivity, or eddy currents in the vicinity of the weld.