Abstract: A method of determining a service interval for an actuator of a landing gear assembly is suitable for used with a landing gear assembly in which the actuator positions the landing gear assembly between a stowed position and a deployed position. The method includes the steps of determining an actuator travel value for a time interval and increasing a total actuator accumulated travel value by the actuator travel value for the time interval. The method further includes the step of comparing the total actuator accumulated travel value to a predetermined value.

Abstract: A pin for a pinned joint includes a hollow body with a first and second end caps coupled to first and second ends, respectively. The body and the end caps at least partially define a cavity within the body, wherein at least one aperture extends through the hollow body. A main piston is slidably disposed within the cavity and divides the cavity into a first chamber proximate to the first end and a second chamber proximate to the second end and fluidly isolated from an environment around the body. A lubricant is disposed within the first chamber. The main piston moves toward the first end of the body when a pressure in the second chamber is greater than a pressure of the environment. Movement of the main piston toward the first end of the body discharges lubricant through the at least one aperture.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for mounting optical components is described. The apparatus is suitable for mounting multiple optical components and comprises a baseplate having opposing first and second surfaces. Recesses or apertures are formed within the baseplate and are located upon the first or second surfaces so as to define thermally activated optic mounting areas. Pillars are then located within the thermally activated optic mounting areas and these provide a means for attaching the optical component to the baseplate. The employment of the recesses or apertures act to significantly reduce the thermal conduction throughout the baseplate. As a result preferential heating can be provided to the one or more thermally activated optic mounting areas while maintaining the baseplate with a desired mechanical strength. The optical mounting apparatus exhibits a high thermal stability thus making the apparatus ideally suited for use within commercial optical system.

Abstract: A disclosed controller is configured with logic that, when executed, performs actions to extend landing gear of a maglev vehicle. The actions include receiving a height control target value and transitioning between a standby control state and an active control state. The controller maintains the landing gear in a fixed position when the controller is in the standby control state, and the controller controls extension and retraction of the landing gear according to the height control target value when the controller is in the active control state.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for mounting optical components is described. The apparatus is suitable for mounting multiple optical components and comprises a baseplate having opposing first and second surfaces. Recesses or apertures are formed within the baseplate and are located upon the first or second surfaces so as to define thermally activated optic mounting areas. Pillars are then located within the thermally activated optic mounting areas and these provide a means for attaching the optical component to the baseplate. The employment of the recesses or apertures act to significantly reduce the thermal conduction throughout the baseplate. As a result preferential heating can be provided to the one or more thermally activated optic mounting areas while maintaining the baseplate with a desired mechanical strength. The optical mounting apparatus exhibits a high thermal stability thus making the apparatus ideally suited for use within commercial optical system.

Abstract: An electro-optic modulator (EOM) for altering an optical path length of an optical field is described. The EOM comprises first and second Brewster-angle cut nonlinear crystals having a first and second optical axis. The optical axes are orientated relative to each other such that when an optical field propagates through the nonlinear crystals it experiences no overall deviation. The nonlinear crystals are also arranged to be opposite handed relative to the optical field. The EOM has the advantage that its optical losses are lower when compared with those EOMs known in the art. In addition, the EOM can be inserted into, or removed from, an optical system without any deviation being imparted onto the optical field. This reduces the levels of skill and effort required on the part of an operator. The described method and apparatus for mounting the nonlinear crystals also suppresses problematic piezo-electric resonances within the nonlinear crystals.

Abstract: A maglev system includes a maglev vehicle that reciprocates between a levitated state and a non-levitated state. The vehicle includes a capsule supported by a first left wheel and a corresponding first right wheel when the vehicle is in the non-levitated state. The system further includes a track having a left rail and a right rail, each of the left and right rails having a plurality of plates arranged in series. Proximate ends of adjacent plates define a joint. Each rail provides a support surface that the first left and right wheels rollingly engage when the vehicle is in the non-levitated state. The joints of the left rail are offset in a longitudinal direction from the joints of the right rail.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises processing circuitry to perform data processing in response to instructions, and memory access circuitry to perform a tag-guarded memory access operation in response to a target address. The tag-guarded memory access operation comprises comparing an address tag associated with the target address with a guard tag stored in a memory system in association with a block of one or more memory locations comprising an addressed location identified by the target address, and generating an indication of whether a match is detected between the guard tag and the address tag. The memory access circuitry determines, according to a programmable mapping, a mapping of guard tag storage locations for storing guard tags for corresponding blocks of memory locations.

Abstract: A drive system includes a motor having a rotatable output shaft that is operably coupled to a lead screw by a transmission that converts rotary output of the motor into linear translation of the lead screw. The drive system further includes a position sensor configured to sense a position of the lead screw. A method for determining a backlash of the drive system includes the steps of sensing an initial position and driving the lead screw in a first direction to a calculated second position by controlling the motor to rotate the output shaft an amount that corresponds to a distance between the initial position and the calculated second position. The method further includes the steps of sensing an actual second position of the lead screw; and determining a backlash value according to a difference between the calculated second position and the actual second position.

Abstract: Embodiments relate to a plastic wall panel, comprising a hollow body having external walls and defining an internal cavity. The external walls include: a first major side wall, a second major side wall opposite the first major side wall, a minor top wall, a minor bottom wall, a first minor end wall and a second minor end wall opposite the first minor end wall. The minor top wall and the minor bottom wall each define mating structure to mate and align with another adjacent panel so that multiple panels can be tiled together to form at least part of a sound attenuation barrier. The hollow body defines a passage extending between the first and second major side walls and through the first and second minor end walls to receive a reinforcing beam.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises address translation circuitry (70) to perform a translation of a virtual address (80) comprising a virtual tag portion (88) and a virtual address portion (86) into a physical address (82) comprising a physical tag portion (92) and a physical address portion (90). The address translation circuitry comprises address tag translation circuitry (72) to perform a translation of the virtual tag portion into the physical tag portion and the address translation to be performed is selected in dependence on the virtual address.

Abstract: An apparatus has processing circuitry (4); memory access circuitry (15) to perform a guard tag check for a tag checking target address having an associated address tag, the guard tag check comprising comparing the address tag with a guard tag stored in a memory system in association with a block of one or more memory locations comprising an addressed location identified by the target address; and an instruction decoder (6) responsive to a random tag setting instruction specifying a tag setting target address, to control the processing circuitry (4) to set the address tag associated with the tag setting target address to a random tag value randomly selected from a set of candidate tag values.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for mounting optical components is described. The apparatus (1) is suitable for mounting multiple optical components (2) and comprises a baseplate (3) having opposing first (4) and second (5) surfaces. Recesses or apertures (7) are formed within the baseplate and are located upon the first or second surfaces so as to define thermally activated optic mounting areas. Pillars (13) are then located within the thermally activated optic mounting areas and these provide a means for attaching the optical component to the baseplate (3). The employment of the recesses or apertures act to significantly reduce the thermal conduction throughout the baseplate. As a result preferential heating can be provided to the one or more thermally activated optic mounting areas while maintaining the baseplate with a desired mechanical strength. The optical mounting apparatus exhibits a high thermal stability thus making the apparatus ideally suited for use within commercial optical system.

Abstract: A method for extending a landing gear system for a vehicle is disclosed. The landing gear system includes a first landing gear assembly and a second landing gear assembly. The method includes the steps of sensing a first load on the first landing gear assembly after the first landing gear assembly has reached a wheels-on-ground state and comparing the first load to a first target value. The method further includes the step of controlling an extension speed of the first landing gear assembly according to a difference between the first load and the first target value.

Abstract: An apparatus comprising memory access circuitry to perform a tag-guarded memory access in response to a received target address and methods of operation of the same are disclosed. In the tag-guarded memory access a guard-tag retrieval operation seeks to retrieve a guard tag stored in association with a block of one or more memory locations comprising an addressed location identified by the received target address, and a guard-tag check operation compares an address tag associated with the received target address with the guard tag retrieved by the guard-tag retrieval operation. When the guard-tag retrieval operation is unsuccessful in retrieving the guard tag, a substitute guard tag value is stored as the guard tag in association with the block of one or more memory locations comprising the addressed location identified by the target address.

Abstract: Embodiments relate to a plastic wall panel, comprising a hollow body having external walls and defining an internal cavity. The external walls include: a first major side wall, a second major side wall opposite the first major side wall, a minor top wall, a minor bottom wall, a first minor end wall and a second minor end wall opposite the first minor end wall. The minor top wall and the minor bottom wall each define mating structure to mate and align with another adjacent panel so that multiple panels can be tiled together to form at least part of a sound attenuation barrier. The hollow body defines a passage extending between the first and second major side walls and through the first and second minor end walls to receive a reinforcing beam.

Abstract: A laser diode drive system for generating a drive current for a laser diode is described. The laser diode drive system comprises a first laser diode driver connected to the laser diode by a first cable to provide a drive current source for the laser diode. A second laser diode driver is then connected to the laser diode by a second cable to provide a low current sink for the laser diode. A feedback control loop is employed to provide a feedback signal for the second laser diode driver from to sample of an output field of the laser diode. The laser diode drive system exhibits low power consumption while being capable of creating sufficient feedback bandwidth to reduce the excess optical noise by at least an order of magnitude at 1 MHz compared with laser diode drive systems comprising just a first laser diode driver.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for controlling memory accesses. The apparatus has memory access circuitry for performing a tag-guarded memory access operation in response to a target address, the tag-guarded memory access operation by default comprising: comparing an address tag associated with the target address with a guard tag stored in a memory system in association with a block of one or more memory locations comprising an addressed location identified by the target address; and generating an indication of whether a match is detected between the guard tag and the address tag. Further, the apparatus has control tag storage for storing, for each of a plurality of memory regions, configuration control information used to control how the tag-guarded memory access operation is performed by the memory access circuitry when the target address is within that memory region. Each memory region corresponds to multiple of the blocks.

Abstract: A disclosed method extends a support system for a maglev vehicle, the support system having at least a first landing gear assembly and a second landing gear assembly. The method includes the steps of determining a weight-on-wheels status for each of the first and the second landing gear assemblies and determining a distance from each of the first and second landing gear assemblies to a support surface. First and second extension speeds are determined for each of the first and second landing gear assemblies, respectively. The first landing gear assembly is extended at the first extension speed until the first landing gear assembly reaches a weight-on-wheels condition, and the second landing gear assembly is extended at the second extension speed until the second landing gear assembly reaches the weight-on-wheels condition.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for docking and undocking a hyperloop vehicle in a station. The method includes the step of extending a support system to a first position, wherein the support system engages a surface to support the hyperloop vehicle at a first elevation. The method further includes the steps of moving the hyperloop vehicle to a predetermined docking position and engaging a coupler to fixedly position the hyperloop vehicle relative to a docking platform.