Government of the United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Commerce

Other

National Oceanic & Atmos Admin

James R Jordan

James H Churnside

Richard G Strauch

Russell B Chadwick

Scott William Abbott

Richard J Lataitis

Frederick Solheim

Paul Ernest Johnston

Brian D Templeman

John Wilson

Described herein is a chambered container that allows for the mixture of two liquids in a specific ratio that includes first and second chambers for storing liquid. A dispensing device passing positioned to deliver liquid from the second chamber into the first chamber. Graduated portions are found on the container in order to accurately measure the amount of fluid in each of the chambers. The container may also have a coating of non-slip material.

Chambered container for the mixing and storage of fluids

Signal processing is used to detect transient signals in the presence of noise. Two embodiments are disclosed. In both embodiments, the time series from a remote sensor is broken into a number of short time series. The power spectrum of each short time series are then calculated along with the mean noise level. The moments of each peak in every power spectrum are calculated and the peak with the largest power selected from each power spectrum. A histogram of the moments from these selected peaks is generated and normalized to become a measured PDF. In addition, a pre-determined PDF is derived, in the same method as above, from theoretically calculated noise, numerically simulated noise, or measured noise. Comparison between the measured and pre-determined PDF's establish the detection of a transient signal. The first embodiment compares the area between the measured and pre-determined PDF's against a threshold to determine detection. In a second embodiment, the differences between the measured and pre-determined PDF's are weighted and summed to form a score. This score is compared to a threshold to determine detection.

Detection of transient signals in doppler spectra

A method for determining Doppler shifts and reflectivity data based on wavelet based sodars. Initially, a high powered sodar pulse of sound is transmitted from an antenna into the atmosphere. This pulse of sound consists of a string of concatenated wavelets. The reflected portion of this transmitted pulse is received, amplified and digitized as a string of samples of time correspond to the range of transmission. After sampling for a short time interval to cover the maximum range of sound, the sampled time series is divided into range gates. For Doppler shifts the power spectrum of the sampled time series is calculated and a peak surrounding the frequency of the transmitted sound is observed. From this peak the direction and velocity of the atmosphere at a given attitude is derived. To accurately arrive at a better velocity resolution, replication is used with wavelet coefficients and an inverse wavelet transform.

Wavelet filtering of sodar signals

An antenna shroud or clutter fence has edge treatment for redirecting or absorbing energy which would otherwise be diffracted in an undesired direction. The edge treatment can include an array of corrugations which are about .lambda./4 deep for scattering sidelobes. The array of corrugations can be parallel to either the E-wave component or the H-wave component. Alternatively, the edge treatment can include an array of antennas encased in a dielectric extension.

Antenna system with edge treatment means for diminishing antenna

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for correcting buoy motion in Doppler moment estimates. In the present invention, it is assumed that the buoy is stationary over short periods of time, 0.5 seconds for example. The average pitch and roll angles are measured for the 0.5 second period. A short-term Doppler spectrum for a particular beam is computed and stored along with the corresponding average pointing angle. This short-term Doppler spectrum must be averaged with many others to be able to detect the clear air signal. To correct for motion broadening, the present invention shifts each short Doppler spectrum some number of velocity bins before averaging them together. This shifting scales the measured radial velocity at some measured pointing angle to the radial velocity that would have been measured if the antenna was pointing at some initial pointing angle, typically the steering angle if the antenna was level. The wind velocity derived from the average 30 second Doppler spectrum without shifting is used as a first guess. The equations are solved iteratively until spectral width is minimized.

Removing buoy motion from wind profiler moment

A new Boat Alerting System for maximizing a boat's visibility to other boaters during darkness and inclement weather conditions. The inventive device includes a hollow aluminum shaft removably secured to a boat, a water proof electronics housing secured to the hollow aluminum shaft, a transparent light housing secured to the water proof electronics housing, and a lighting means secured within the transparent light housing.

Boat alerting system

The quality of wind profiling radar data is evaluated by comparing the probability density function of the power density of sets of returned samples to an exponential function. The standard deviation of individual samples from the exponential function can be evaluated to identify possible sources of contamination of the wind profiler data.

Statistical quality control of wind profiler data

This invention discloses a process for generating wind profiler data which is free of fixed ground clutter contamination. The fixed ground clutter contamination is removed based upon the different decorrelation times of noise, clear air signals, and clutter. A nonlinear regression is used estimate the clutter content of the radar return which is then subtracted from the time series. This process is capable of removing broadband clutter from the desired clear air signal even though both may occupy the same Doppler frequency.

Process for generating wind profiler data free of fixed ground clutter

Clutter present in radar return signals as used for wind profiling is substantially removed by carrying out a Daubechies wavelet transformation on a time series of radar return signals. The smoothly varying nature of the return from clutter provides a relatively small number of high amplitude components in the wavelet transformation, which are truncated to remove the clutter. Inverse transformation yields a time series having had a significant amount of clutter removed, without distortion of the radar return from turbulence, which can then be processed to provide useful wind profile data.

Wind profiling radar

A switchable local oscillator for use in a shared mixer radiometer is capable of providing at least two separate frequencies. The local oscillator contains at least two cavity resonators, a voltage controlled oscillator controlling a microwave generator, a microprocessor to intermittently control the voltage controlled oscillator and an output voltage detection circuit to provide output voltage levels to the microprocessor. The microprocessor controls the voltage controlled oscillator to tune the microwave generator through a frequency range. Output voltage level of the local oscillator is detected, and a resonant frequency is determined. In response, the microprocessor fixes the voltage of the voltage controlled oscillator at a voltage corresponding to the resonant frequency of one of the cavity resonators. Microprocessor control of the voltage controlled oscillator is then relinquished. The local oscillator generates a resonant frequency while measurements are made by the radiometer. Once measurements at the first resonant frequency are complete, the microprocessor reacquires control of the voltage controlled oscillator, and the process is repeated for the resonant frequency of another cavity resonator.

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

James R Jordan