Abstract: An aircraft location and identification system, including a first position determining portion located aboard a transmitting aircraft for determining a first set of present positional and tracking information is described relative to said transmitting aircraft. A transmitting portion is included for transmitting the first set of present positional and tracking information to a receiving aircraft. A second position determining portion, which is located aboard the receiving aircraft, determines a second set of present positional and tracking information relating to the receiving aircraft. A computing portion is located aboard the receiving aircraft and/or a ground based facility. The computing portion utilizes present and past values of the first set of present positional and tracking information to derive a corresponding first probabilistic future tracking configuration of the transmitting aircraft.

Abstract: Electrical activation of an arc lamp is accomplished by a plurality of circuits, each of which has a boost topology including a capacitor and a charging circuit for charging the capacitor by a series of current pulses. One of the circuits is an igniter circuit and includes a transformer to convert voltage from a relatively low voltage supply to a relatively high voltage for striking an arc within the lamp. A second of the circuits provides for a steady flow of current to maintain the arc after completion of ignition of the arc. The second circuit is protected from the high voltage of the first circuit by a saturable reactor connected in series between the second circuit and the arc lamp.

Abstract: A self-aligning adapter used for attaching a booster to a missile includes a hollow tapered receptacle positioned on the missile. A tapered member sized and shaped to fit into and mate with the receptacle is positioned on the booster. The tapered member fits into the tapered receptacle to align and attach the booster to the missile. A linear explosive charge is positioned on the booster around where the tapered member is joined to the booster. Explosion of the charge severs the tapered member from the booster releasing the booster from the missile.

Abstract: High lift producing apparatus for an aircraft includes a pair of foreplanes, one for each side of the aircraft, each foreplane extending between a root end at the fuselage and a distant tip end. Wings are mounted on the fuselage aft of the foreplanes and, intermediate the wings and the foreplanes, are a pair of strakes which are generally coplanar with their associated foreplanes and strakes, a leading edge of each strake being substantially coincident with a trailing edge of its associated foreplane, and a trailing edge of each strake being substantially coincident with a leading edge of its associated wing. The span of the strakes is smaller than the span of the foreplanes at the location of intersection of said strake and said foreplane. Each foreplane may be pivotally mounted on the fuselage at its root end on a stationary hinge axis which is substantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.

Abstract: A stepwise linear polymer composition having intense magnetic properties and a method for preparation of same. A phthalimide compound and an aromatic dialiphatic acid are reacted in the presence of an acetate of monovalent metal at elevated temperatures to form a phenylenebis diphthalimidine compound. The phenylenebis diphthalimidine compound is then reacted with 3-benzylidine phthalimidine and a metal salt of an aliphatic acid at elevated temperatures under an inert gas to form the intensely magnetic polymer. The reactions may be carried out in the presence of a solvent.

Abstract: A retracting caster assembly is provided with a frame, a lever, a spring, a roller, and a manual retracting bolt. The lever is pivotally connected to the frame. The roller is connected to a first end of the lever. A spring loading member connects the spring to a second end of the lever. The spring biases the lever at a first position with the roller extended from the frame. The manual retracting bolt is adapted to manually move the lever to a second position with the roller retracted. The lever is suitably sized, shaped, and connected to the frame to hold the frame at a minimum predetermined distance from the ground until a predetermined weight is applied to the frame, at which point the linkage and lever arrangement decreases the mechanical advantage of the spring as the roller retracts, thereby minimizing the force required to retract the roller.

Abstract: An optical frequency conversion apparatus includes at least one resonator (10) having an optical path defined by a plurality of mirrors (M1, M2). A nonlinear conversion medium (10a) is disposed within the optical path of the resonator, the nonlinear conversion medium receiving optical radiation at a first frequency and outputting optical radiation at a second frequency that is a multiple of the first frequency. One of the plurality of mirrors is an input mirror (M1) for coupling into the resonator a pulse of radiation having the first frequency, and one of the mirrors is an output mirror (M2) for out-coupling a pulse of radiation having a frequency that is a multiple of the first frequency.

Abstract: A crosslinked polymer composition having intense magnetic properties and a method for preparation of same. A phthalimide compound and an aromatic dialiphatic acid are reacted in the presence of an acetate of a monovalent metal at elevated temperatures to form a phenylenebis diphthalimidine compound. The phenylenebis diphthalimidine compound is then reacted with a metal salt of an aliphatic acid at elevated temperatures under an inert gas to form the intensely magnetic crosslinked polymer. The reactions may be carried out in the presence of a solvent.

Abstract: Silane polymer coating compositions which have excellent bonding properties for metallic surfaces and which make such surfaces highly resistant to corrosion. The compositions are formed by anhydrously reacting an epoxy trialkoxy silane with a primary amino trialkoxy silane in a stoichiometric molar ratio which provides one epoxy group for reaction with each primary amino hydrogen site to form the silane polymer coating composition. The composition is applied to the metal surface, and is hydrolyzed and dehydrated in situ to crosslink thereon and bond to the surface to form the corrosion-resistant coating.

Abstract: A mechanized lay up assembly line for composite structures has a tool delivery station having a plurality of rollers on its surface for moving tools across the surface. Adjacent to the tool delivery station is a work station. The work station includes a work surface. The work surface has a plurality of rollers that move from a position wherein the rollers extend above the work surface to support a tool above the work surface to a retracted position where the rollers descend below the work surface such that the tool is supported on the work surface. The mechanized lay up assembly line further includes a debulking diaphragm that moves toward and away from the work surface and a vacuum system for evacuating the space between the diaphragm and the work surface. Tools are moved from the delivery station to the work station with the work station rollers extended. When a tool is positioned on the work station its rollers are retracted to position the tool firmly on the working surface.

Abstract: A submerged panel latch having an eccentric cam rotatable in the plane of the panel near the panel outer surface and accessible to the user, a latch rotor engaged by the cam and rotatable in a plane perpendicular to that of the cam, inward facing strikers on facing edges of a pair of facing panels, at least one of which is removable at the opposite edge thereof, and concentric openings in said pair of strikers which are concentric and through which said latch rotor is extendable in the closed or locked position of the panels and from which it is withdrawn in the unlocked position.

Abstract: Method and assembly for producing shear-resistant attachment between a prefabricated top plate having a plurality of preformed bolt passage holes and a support member having a corresponding plurality of bolt-receiving holes which may be slightly out of alignment with the bolt passage holes in the top plate. The bolt passage holes are oversize and have conical walls, and the bolts have a rounded undersurface which makes line contact with the conical wall when each bolt is tightened into a nut or floating nut plate aligned and/or attached at the undersurface of the support member.

Abstract: A laser gyroscope is provided that utilizes a single frequency shifter, in the form of a Bragg cell, to adjust the frequencies of counter-rotating optical signals in a thin film waveguide to achieve resonance along the optical path encountered by each of the signals. The system also utilizes two voltage to frequency convertors, each of which outputs an RF signal to a respective frequency shifter. Each voltage to frequency convertor is modulated by a modulation signal that includes a DC component and an RF signal. The single frequency shifter approach results in fewer required components for proper operation of the thin film laser gyroscope. Redundant back-up components can be added to the gyroscope to guard against the event of a component failure. Alternately, the laser gyroscope is inherently more tolerable of low fabrication yield because of the redundancies.

Abstract: A scrollable spatial light modulator--or SLM--provides non-destructively transfer and display of an analog signal, which may include multiple levels of gray scale information, for high speed analog optical processing. Each pixel in the scrollable SLM consists of a metal-oxide-semiconductor--or MOS--transistor and four MOS capacitors in a four-phase charge-coupled device--or CCD--array. Two of the MOS capacitors in each pixel are used for charge storage while the other two are used to implement charge transfer. An MOS transistor used to control the gate of one of the charge storage MOS capacitors is clocked to float only when the charge signal is being stored therein and then drives a pixel of the liquid crystal display, such as a ferroelectric liquid crystal display to encode a frame of data onto a light beam as an image.

Abstract: A maneuvering system for a flight vehicle rotates a lifting aerodynamic surface of the flight vehicle about an axis parallel with a direction of flight of the vehicle in a rotational direction corresponding to the desired change of flight direction to which the vehicle is to be steered, while maintaining attitude stability of the flight vehicle by altering other aerodynamic surfaces of the vehicle.

Abstract: An advanced aircrew protection system comprising a helmet assembly adapted to sustain a full pneumatic pressure within the helmet adjacent to the head of the wearer; a suit assembly adapted to sustain a pressure adjacent to selected parts of the body of the wearer; a neck shroud operatively coupled with the helmet assembly and the suit assembly and adapted to pneumatically isolate the helmet assembly from the suit assembly; and controller adapted to independently supply fluid under pressure to the helmet assembly and to the suit assembly. Within the helmet is a dual compartment for an independent supply of fluid to an oral nasal mask separate from the remainder of the helmet assembly.

Abstract: In a gas ring laser gyroscope characterized by a gain medium for producing at least one monochromatic narrow electromagnetic beam reflected to form a loop about the gain medium, the improvement wherein bypass channels are provided, displaced from the beam path, for reducing gas flow in the beam path. The bypass channels may extend about the gain medium and across the beam loop and may include controllable restrictions therein for selecting the flow rates therethrough.

Abstract: A highly efficient pumping configuration for a solid state laser uses a diode bar pumping source producing optical energy coherent along an axis normal to the plane of the diode junctions. Pump energy is nearly collimated by a cylindrical optical fiber and applied through a minimum width injection port to a low absorption solid state laser rod in a highly reflective optical cavity including a cylindrical sleeve forming a coolant chamber around the laser rod. The nearly collimated energy is focussed to a minimum width in the plane of the injection port in order to minimize the loss of energy from the optical chamber by leakage out through the port. The laser rod is substantially evenly illuminated by the entire energy entering the cavity on the first pass. Optical energy not absorbed during illumination through is reflected within the cavity until substantially absorbed by the solid state laser rod.

Abstract: Variability between composite structures can be reduced by utilizing forming and curing tooling that includes a cure tool and a preform tool. The cure tool has a curing surface. The curing surface defines the shape of a cured composite structure. The preform tool has a preform surface that is divided into at least first and second surface area portions. The first surface area portion is of the same surface shape to the corresponding surface area of the curing surface on the cure tool. The second surface portion is of a surface shape that is different from the surface shape of the corresponding surface area of the curing surface on the cure tool. The differences between the second surface area portion of the preform surface and its complementary surface on the curing surface is such that there is an increase in the surface area of the second surface area portion of the preform surface compared to a corresponding area on the curing surface of the cure tool.

Abstract: A method is described for producing stacked optical waveguides in a silicon dioxide substrate and includes the steps of: etching a first trench in the substrate; filling the first trench with a glassy optical transmission media; depositing a layer of silicon dioxide over the filled trench; etching a second trench in the silicon dioxide layer, the second trench aligned with the first trench; and filling the second trench with a glassy optical transmission media.