International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 29-November 02, 1990 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / TIW Systems has developed a modern, compact, modular, antenna controller (ACU) for telemetry, tracking, and communications antennas. The controller combines the functions of an antenna control unit, a position conversion/display chassis, and a polarization control unit. By using plug-in cards, a tracking receiver, autophasing control unit, tracking synthesizer, and other functions can be added. Depending on the requirements, the tracking receiver can be a simple wide-band steptrack receiver, or can be a full function phase-locked-loop (PLL) autotrack receiver. In the past, all this capability would have taken a large portion of an entire equipment rack. The unit uses modern microprocessor technology for digitally controlling the position and rate of the antenna. Advanced tracking modes and remote control can be added by connecting an external computer (PTIC) to one of the ACU’s serial ports. The PTIC also provides a user friendly operator interface through the use of high resolution color graphics and easy to understand menus.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 17-20, 1994 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / The XL-L Two-axis Pedestal is a novel adaptation of an existing design using a cross elevation over elevation axis configuration. This design affords full hemispherical coverage without gimbal lock (keyholes). In addition, the system provides continuous coverage without the necessity of rotary joints and sliprings. The design is ideally suited for shipboard systems, but is equally advantageous for any tracking mission where the target can approach a zenith gimbal lock or keyhole.

Ramakrishna Akella, J. Patrick Bevans, and Yong Choong. / Bibliography: p. 39. / "March, 1985."

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / A digital antenna control system has been designed and installed on a pedestal that was formerly used to drive a VHF array and that has now been replaced with an 11 meter S-Band parabolic reflector. In this Paper, the former analog tracking system will be described, showing all the drawbacks that made it unusable for S-Band. Subsequently, the development and implementation of the digital S-Band tracking system, using Labview, C++ & digital control theory will be discussed. Finally, there will be a comparison between the digital and analog system, too.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Three-channel monopulse tracking receiver systems are commonly used for high performance tracking of satellites, missiles, or aircraft to maximize the reception of data. Typically, the receiver in such systems are custom designed for their end purpose. This results in a high cost to cover the development, service, and support of a highly specialized piece of equipment. This paper covers the requirements and performance of a 3-channel monopulse tracking receiver assembled from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment. Such a system provides an option for designing or upgrading tracking stations with the lower cost, larger support base, and greater system configuration choices that are available with COTS equipment.

Due to high demand for planar structures with low loss, a considerable amount of research has been done to the design of substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) components in the mm-wave and microwave range. SIW has many advantages in comparison to conventional waveguides and microstrip lines, such as compact and planar structure, ease of fabrication, low radiation loss, high power handling ability and low cost which makes it a very promising technology for current and future systems operating in K-band and above. Therefore, all the work presented in this dissertation focuses on SIW technology. Five di erent antenna systems are proposed to verify the advantages of using SIW technology. First, a novel K-band end- re SIW circularly polarized (CP) antenna system on a single layer printed-circuit board is proposed. A high gain SIW H-plane horn and a Vivaldi antenna are developed to produce two orthogonal polarizations in the plane of the substrate. CP antennas have become very popular because of their unique characteristics and their applications in satellites, radars and wireless communications. Second, a K-band front-end system for tracking applications is presented. The circuit comprises an antenna array of two Vivaldi antennas, a frequency-selective power combiner, and two frequency-selective SIW crossovers, which eliminate the need for subsequent ltering. The integration of monopulse systems in planar, printed circuit SIW technology combined with the added bene ts of ltering functions is of great importance to the antennas and propagation community. Third, a phased array antenna system consisting of 24 radiating element is designed as feed system for reflector antennas in radio astronomy applications. A Ku-band antipodal dipole antenna with wide bandwidth, low cross-polarization and wide beamwidth is suggested as the radiating element. Forth, four di erent right-angled power dividers including in-phase and out-of-phase dividers as feed systems for antenna arrays are introduced. TE10 - to - TEq0 mode transducers are used for obtaining two, three, and four output dividers with phase control ability at K- and Ka-band. This feature is practical, for instance, when designing tracking systems since they are employed to obtain controllable phase distributions over the output ports. Fifth, a Ku-band beam steering antenna system which is applicable to use for wireless communications, radar systems, and also 5G applications is proposed. This antenna system uses variable reflection-type phase shifters which electrically steer the beam over a 50-degree scan range. Therefore, the SIW technology's reliability and also promising behavior in the microwave frequency range is proven for di erent applications. / Graduate

Although bug tracking systems are fundamental to support virtually any software development process, they are currently suboptimal to support the needs and complexities of large communities. This dissertation first presents a study showing empirical evidence that the traditional interface used by current bug tracking systems invites much noise—unreliable, unuseful, and disorganized information—into the ecosystem. We find that noise comes from, not only low-quality contributions posted by inexperienced users or from conflicts that naturally arise in such ecosystems, but also from the difficulty of fitting the complex bug resolution process and knowledge into the linear sequence of comments that current bug tracking systems use to collect and organize information. Since productivity in bug tracking systems relies on bug reports with accessible and realible information, this leaves contributors struggling to work on and to make sense of the dumps of data submitted to bug reports and, thus, impacting productivity. Next generation bug tracking systems should be more than a tool for exchanging unstructured textual comments. They should be an ecosystem that is tailored for collaborative knowledge building, leveraging the power of the masses to collect reliable and useful information about bugs, providing mechanisms and incentives to verify the validity of such information and mechanisms to organize such information, thus, facilitating comprehension and reasoning. To bring bug tracking systems towards this vision, we present three orthogonal approaches aiming at increasing the usefulness and realiability of contributions and organizing information to improve understanding and reasoning. To improve the usefulness and realibility of contributions we propose the addition of game mechanisms to bug tracking systems, with the objective of motivating contributors to post higher-quality content. Through an empirical investigation of Stack Overflow we evaluate the effects of the mechanisms in such a collaborative software development ecosystem and map a promissing approach to use game mechanisms in bug tracking systems. To improve data organization, we propose two complementary approaches. The first is an automated approach to data organization, creating bug report summaries that make reading and working with bug reports easier, by highlighting the portions of bug reports that expert developers would focus on, if reading the bug report in a hurry. The second approach to improve data organization is a fundamental change on how data is collected and organized, eliminating comments as the main component of bug reports. Instead of comments, users contribute informational posts about bug diagnostics or solutions, allowing users to post contextual comments for each of the different diagnostic iiior solution posts. Our evaluations with real bug tracking system users find that they consider the bug report summaries to be very useful in facilitating common bug tracking system tasks, such as finding duplicate bug reports. In addition, users found that organzing content though diagnostic and solution posts to significanly facilitate reasoning about and searching for relevant information. Finally, we present future directions of work investigating how next generation bug tracking systems could combine the use of the three approaches, such that they benefit from and build upon the results of the other approaches. Next generation bug tracking systems should be more than a tool for exchanging unstructured textual comments. They should be an ecosystem that is tailored for collaborative knowledge building, leveraging the power of the masses to collect reliable and useful information about bugs, providing mechanisms and incentives to verify the validity of such information and mechanisms to organize such information, thus, facilitating comprehension and reasoning. To bring bug tracking systems towards this vision, we present three orthogonal approaches aiming at increasing the usefulness and realiability of contributions and organizing information to improve understanding and reasoning. To improve the usefulness and realibility of contributions we propose the addition of game mechanisms to bug tracking systems, with the objective of motivating contributors to post higher-quality content. Through an empirical investigation of Stack Overflow we evaluate the effects of the mechanisms in such a collaborative software development ecosystem and map a promissing approach to use game mechanisms in bug tracking systems. To improve data organization, we propose two complementary approaches. The first is an automated approach to data organization, creating bug report summaries that make reading and working with bug reports easier, by highlighting the portions of bug reports that expert developers would focus on, if reading the bug report in a hurry. The second approach to improve data organization is a fundamental change on how data is collected and organized, eliminating comments as the main component of bug reports. Instead of comments, users contribute informational posts about bug diagnostics or solutions, allowing users to post contextual comments for each of the different diagnostic iiior solution posts. Our evaluations with real bug tracking system users find that they consider the bug report summaries to be very useful in facilitating common bug tracking system tasks, such as finding duplicate bug reports. In addition, users found that organzing content though diagnostic and solution posts to significanly facilitate reasoning about and searching for relevant information. Finally, we present future directions of work investigating how next generation bug tracking systems could combine the use of the three approaches, such that they benefit from and build upon the results of the other approaches.

Although bug tracking systems are fundamental to support virtually any software development process, they are currently suboptimal to support the needs and complexities of large communities. This dissertation first presents a study showing empirical evidence that the traditional interface used by current bug tracking systems invites much noise—unreliable, unuseful, and disorganized information—into the ecosystem. We find that noise comes from, not only low-quality contributions posted by inexperienced users or from conflicts that naturally arise in such ecosystems, but also from the difficulty of fitting the complex bug resolution process and knowledge into the linear sequence of comments that current bug tracking systems use to collect and organize information. Since productivity in bug tracking systems relies on bug reports with accessible and realible information, this leaves contributors struggling to work on and to make sense of the dumps of data submitted to bug reports and, thus, impacting productivity. Next generation bug tracking systems should be more than a tool for exchanging unstructured textual comments. They should be an ecosystem that is tailored for collaborative knowledge building, leveraging the power of the masses to collect reliable and useful information about bugs, providing mechanisms and incentives to verify the validity of such information and mechanisms to organize such information, thus, facilitating comprehension and reasoning. To bring bug tracking systems towards this vision, we present three orthogonal approaches aiming at increasing the usefulness and realiability of contributions and organizing information to improve understanding and reasoning. To improve the usefulness and realibility of contributions we propose the addition of game mechanisms to bug tracking systems, with the objective of motivating contributors to post higher-quality content. Through an empirical investigation of Stack Overflow we evaluate the effects of the mechanisms in such a collaborative software development ecosystem and map a promissing approach to use game mechanisms in bug tracking systems. To improve data organization, we propose two complementary approaches. The first is an automated approach to data organization, creating bug report summaries that make reading and working with bug reports easier, by highlighting the portions of bug reports that expert developers would focus on, if reading the bug report in a hurry. The second approach to improve data organization is a fundamental change on how data is collected and organized, eliminating comments as the main component of bug reports. Instead of comments, users contribute informational posts about bug diagnostics or solutions, allowing users to post contextual comments for each of the different diagnostic iiior solution posts. Our evaluations with real bug tracking system users find that they consider the bug report summaries to be very useful in facilitating common bug tracking system tasks, such as finding duplicate bug reports. In addition, users found that organzing content though diagnostic and solution posts to significanly facilitate reasoning about and searching for relevant information. Finally, we present future directions of work investigating how next generation bug tracking systems could combine the use of the three approaches, such that they benefit from and build upon the results of the other approaches. Next generation bug tracking systems should be more than a tool for exchanging unstructured textual comments. They should be an ecosystem that is tailored for collaborative knowledge building, leveraging the power of the masses to collect reliable and useful information about bugs, providing mechanisms and incentives to verify the validity of such information and mechanisms to organize such information, thus, facilitating comprehension and reasoning. To bring bug tracking systems towards this vision, we present three orthogonal approaches aiming at increasing the usefulness and realiability of contributions and organizing information to improve understanding and reasoning. To improve the usefulness and realibility of contributions we propose the addition of game mechanisms to bug tracking systems, with the objective of motivating contributors to post higher-quality content. Through an empirical investigation of Stack Overflow we evaluate the effects of the mechanisms in such a collaborative software development ecosystem and map a promissing approach to use game mechanisms in bug tracking systems. To improve data organization, we propose two complementary approaches. The first is an automated approach to data organization, creating bug report summaries that make reading and working with bug reports easier, by highlighting the portions of bug reports that expert developers would focus on, if reading the bug report in a hurry. The second approach to improve data organization is a fundamental change on how data is collected and organized, eliminating comments as the main component of bug reports. Instead of comments, users contribute informational posts about bug diagnostics or solutions, allowing users to post contextual comments for each of the different diagnostic iiior solution posts. Our evaluations with real bug tracking system users find that they consider the bug report summaries to be very useful in facilitating common bug tracking system tasks, such as finding duplicate bug reports. In addition, users found that organzing content though diagnostic and solution posts to significanly facilitate reasoning about and searching for relevant information. Finally, we present future directions of work investigating how next generation bug tracking systems could combine the use of the three approaches, such that they benefit from and build upon the results of the other approaches.

As escavações subterrâneas têm estado sempre afetadas pelas condições dos maciços, os quais apresentam diferentes características e comportamentos frente a deformações ocasionadas após a escavação de uma galeria ou túnel. Em virtude disto, torna-se necessário uma análise dos parâmetros que permitam estabelecer as condições de segurança do túnel e propõe-se o uso de um sistema estéreo de rastreamento ótico para analisar o deslocamento de artefatos (conjunto de marcadores) instalados sobre o contorno das faces do túnel, a fim de detectarem-se deslocamentos do maciço em pontos estabelecidos com precisão menor a ±1 mm. O sistema proposto opera na região espectral do infravermelho, permitindo assim uma operação em ambientes com baixa luminosidade e com inserção de ruído ótico. Adicionalmente o trabalho inclui resultados de validação e desenvolvimento do sistema de visão estéreo baixo condições de dois cenários de diferente volume espacial, assim como o procedimento realizado para a calibração dos parâmetros intrínsecos e extrínsecos dos sensores do sistema (câmeras monocromáticas). Os resultados obtidos apresentam uma precisão de ±0,1881 mm para artefatos com três marcadores e uma precisão de ±0,4952 para artefatos com quatro marcadores. Finalmente, o sistema opera com uma sensibilidade de 0,99 mm na determinação da posição de um artefato associado a um ponto do perfil do túnel, e desta forma, podem-se definir as condições de estabilidade do maciço rochoso e os requisitos para auxilio as decisões de métodos de tratamento e aumento da segurança. / Underground excavations have always been affected by the conditions of mass, which have different characteristics and behaviors against deformation caused after excavation of a gallery or tunnel. Because of this, it is necessary an analysis of the parameters needed to establish the safety conditions of the tunnel and it is proposed the use of a stereo optical tracking to analyze the displacement of artifacts (set of markers) installed on the contour of tunnels’ faces in order to detect displacements of the mass points established with a precision lower than ±1 mm. This system operates in the infrared spectral region to take advantage of the low light and reduce the optical noise in environments with grace. Further work includes validation results and development of low stereo vision conditions of two different scenarios spatial volume, as well as the procedure carried out to calibrate the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the system sensors (monochrome camera) system. The results show an accuracy of ± 0,1881 mm for artifacts with three markers and an accuracy of ± 0,4952 for artifacts with four markers. Finally, the system operates with a sensitivity of 0,99 mm in the determination of an artifact associated with a point in the tunnel profile position, and thus, one can define the conditions for stability of the rock mass and assistance requirements for the decisions of treatment methods and increased.

O número de aplicações industriais para ambientes de “Realidade Aumentada” (AR) e “Realidade Virtual” (VR) tem crescido de forma significativa nos últimos anos. Sistemas óticos de rastreamento (optical tracking systems) constituem um importante componente dos ambientes de AR/VR. Este trabalho propõe um sistema ótico de rastreamento de baixo custo e com características adequadas para uso profissional. O sistema opera na região espectral do infravermelho para trabalhar com ruído ótico reduzido. Uma câmera de alta velocidade, equipada com filtro para bloqueio da luz visível e com flash infravermelho, transfere imagens de escala de cinza não comprimidas para um PC usual, onde um software de pré-processamento de imagens e o algoritmo PTrack de rastreamento reconhecem um conjunto de marcadores retrorefletivos e extraem a sua posição e orientação em 3D. É feita neste trabalho uma pesquisa abrangente sobre algoritmos de pré-processamento de imagens e de rastreamento. Uma bancada de testes foi construída para a realização de testes de acurácia e precisão. Os resultados mostram que o sistema atinge níveis de exatidão levemente piores, mas ainda comparáveis aos de sistemas profissionais. Devido à sua modularidade, o sistema pode ser expandido através do uso de vários módulos monoculares de rastreamento interligados por um algoritmo de fusão de sensores, de modo a atingir um maior alcance operacional. Uma configuração com dois módulos foi montada e testada, tendo alcançado um desempenho semelhante à configuração de um só módulo. / In the last years the number of industrial applications for Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) environments has significantly increased. Optical tracking systems are an important component of AR/VR environments. In this work, a low cost optical tracking system with adequate attributes for professional use is proposed. The system works in infrared spectral region to reduce optical noise. A highspeed camera, equipped with daylight blocking filter and infrared flash strobes, transfers uncompressed grayscale images to a regular PC, where image pre-processing software and the PTrack tracking algorithm recognize a set of retro-reflective markers and extract its 3D position and orientation. Included in this work is a comprehensive research on image pre-processing and tracking algorithms. A testbed was built to perform accuracy and precision tests. Results show that the system reaches accuracy and precision levels slightly worse than but still comparable to professional systems. Due to its modularity, the system can be expanded by using several one-camera tracking modules linked by a sensor fusion algorithm, in order to obtain a larger working range. A setup with two modules was built and tested, resulting in performance similar to the stand-alone configuration.