This research will investigate the problem of position estimation for planetary rovers. Diverse algorithmic filters are available for collecting input data and transforming that data to useful information for the purpose of position estimation process. The terrain has sandy soil which might cause slipping of the robot, and small stones and pebbles which can affect trajectory. The Kalman Filter, a state estimation algorithm was used for fusing the sensor data to improve the position measurement of the rover. For the rover application the locomotion and errors accumulated by the rover is compensated by the Kalman Filter. The movement of a rover in a rough terrain is challenging especially with limited sensors to tackle the problem. Thus, an initiative was taken to test drive the rover during the field trial and expose the mobile platform to hard ground and soft ground(sand). It was found that the LSV system produced speckle image and values which proved invaluable for further research and for the implementation of data fusion. During the field trial,It was also discovered that in a at hard surface the problem of the steering rover is minimal. However, when the rover was under the influence of soft sand the rover tended to drift away and struggled to navigate. This research introduced the laser speckle velocimetry as an alternative for odometric measurement. LSV data was gathered during the field trial to further simulate under MATLAB, which is a computational/mathematical programming software used for the simulation of the rover trajectory. The wheel encoders came with associated errors during the position measurement process. This was observed during the earlier field trials too. It was also discovered that the Laser Speckle Velocimetry measurement was able to measure accurately the position measurement but at the same time sensitivity of the optics produced noise which needed to be addressed as error problem. Though the rough terrain is found in Mars, this paper is applicable to a terrestrial robot on Earth. There are regions in Earth which have rough terrains and regions which are hard to measure with encoders. This is especially true concerning icy places like Antarctica, Greenland and others. The proposed implementation for the development of the locomotion system is to model a system for the position estimation through the use of simulation and collecting data using the LSV. Two simulations are performed, one is the differential drive of a two wheel robot and the second involves the fusion of the differential drive robot data and the LSV data collected from the rover testbed. The results have been positive. The expected contributions from the research work includes a design of a LSV system to aid the locomotion measurement system. Simulation results show the effect of different sensors and velocity of the robot. The kalman filter improves the position estimation process.

Laser altimetry and satellite gravity surveys indicate that the St Elias Icefields are currently losing mass and are among the largest non-polar sea level contributors in the world. However, a poor understanding of glacier dynamics in the region is a major hurdle in evaluating regional variations in ice motion and the relationship between changing surface conditions and ice flux. This study combines in-situ dGPS measurements and advanced Radarsat-2 (RS-2) processing techniques to determine daily and seasonal ice velocities for the Kaskawulsh Glacier from summer 2009 to summer 2011. Three permanent dGPS stations were installed along the centreline of the glacier in 2009, with an additional permanent station on the South Arm in 2010. The Precise Point Positioning (PPP) method is used to process the dGPS data using high accuracy orbital reconstruction. RS-2 imagery was acquired on a 24-day cycle from January to March 2010, and from October to March 2010-2011 in a combination of ultra-fine and fine beam modes. Seasonal velocity regimes are readily identifiable in the dGPS results, with distinct variations in both horizontal velocity and vertical motion. The Spring Regime consists of an annual peak in horizontal velocity that corresponds closely with the onset of the melt season and progresses up-glacier, following the onset of melt at each station. The Summer Regime sees variable horizontal velocity and vertical uplift, superimposed on a long-term decline in motion. The Fall Regime sees a gradual slowing at all stations with little variation in horizontal velocity or vertical position. Rapid but short accelerations lasting up to 10 days were seen in the Winter regimes in both 2010 and 2011, occurring at various times throughout each regime. These events initiated at the Upper Station and progress down-glacier at propagation speeds up to 16,380 m day-1 and were accompanied by vertical uplift lasting for similar periods. Three velocity maps, one from the winter of 2010 and two from the fall/winter of 2011, produced from speckle tracking were validated by comparison with dGPS velocity, surface flow direction, and bedrock areas of zero motion, with an average velocity error of 2.0% and average difference in orientation of 4.3º.

Intensive training is associated with hemodynamic changes that typically induce an enlargement of cardiac chamber. Despite LA dilatation in athletes has been interpreted as a benign adaptation, little evidence is available. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that LA size changes in response to alterations in loading conditions and to analyse atrial myocardial function in athletes through the application of novel echocardiographic techniques. We found that top-level athletes exhibit a dynamic morphological and functional LA remodelling, induced by training, with an increase in reservoir and conduit volumes, but stable active volume. Training causes an increase in biatrial volumes which is accompanied by normal filling pressures and stiffness. These changes in atrial morphology are not associated with respective electrical changes. Extending the evidence from adult athletes to children, we found that training-induced atrial remodelling can occur in the early phases of the sports career and is associated with a preserved biatrial function. Finally, in a meta-analysis study of the available evidence we demonstrated that atrial function and size are not affected by aging. In conclusions, athlete’s heart is characterized by a physiological biatrial enlargement. This adaptation occurs in close association with LV cavity enlargement, is dynamic and reversible. This increase in biatrial size is not intrinsically an expression of atrial dysfunction. Indeed, in athletes the atria are characterized by a preserved reservoir function, normal myocardial stiffness, and dynamic changes in response to different loading conditions.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis supplements and updates previous research completed in the digital analysis of rocket motor combustion chamber holographic images. In particular this thesis deals with the software code optimization of existing automatic data retrieval algorithms that are used to extract useful particle information from the holograms using a microcomputer-based imaging system. Two forms of optimization were accomplished, the application of an optimizing FORTRAN compiler to the existing FORTRAN programs and the complete rewrite of the programs in the C language using an optimizing compiler. The overall results achieved were a reduction in executable program size and a significant decrease in program execution speed. / http://archive.org/details/codeoptimization00kaes / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

This paper presents the early-stage simulation results of linear dark field control (LDFC) as a new approach to maintaining a stable dark hole within a stellar post-coronagraphic PSF. In practice, conventional speckle nulling is used to create a dark hole in the PSF, and LDFC is then employed to maintain the dark field by using information from the bright speckle field. The concept exploits the linear response of the bright speckle intensity to wavefront variations in the pupil, and therefore has many advantages over conventional speckle nulling as a method for stabilizing the dark hole. In theory, LDFC is faster, more sensitive, and more robust than using conventional speckle nulling techniques, like electric field conjugation, to maintain the dark hole. In this paper, LDFC theory, linear bright speckle characterization, and first results in simulation are presented as an initial step toward the deployment of LDFC on the UA Wavefront Control testbed in the coming year.

Ferramentas diagnósticas capazes de detectar envolvimento cardíaco precoce na doença de Chagas são necessárias. A técnica ecocardiográfica de rastreamento de pontos, ou speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) oferece condições para o diagnóstico precoce de lesão cardíaca por avaliar a deformação miocárdica (strain). O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar as alterações sequenciais de parâmetros estruturais e funcionais dos ventrículos na evolução da doença. Um total de 37 hamsters fêmeas (Mesocricetus auratus) adultas receberam, por via intraperitoneal, 35.000 formas tripomastigotas de Trypanosoma cruzi (grupo Chagas) e outras 20 receberam igual volume de solução salina (grupo controle). Ecocardiograma foi realizado imediatamente antes da infecção (exame basal) e repetido para avaliação das fases aguda (1 mês) e crônica (4, 6 e 8 meses após). Foram avaliados: diâmetros do ventrículo esquerdo (DDFVE e DSFVE), fração de ejeção (FEVE), strain longitudinal (GLS), circunferencial (GCS) e radial (GRS) do ventrículo esquerdo e TAPSE, índice de função sistólica do ventrículo direito. A avaliação das diferenças entre os dois grupos ao longo de tempo foi realizada por meio da análise de variância (ANOVA) para modelos mistos de medidas repetidas. Ao exame basal, os dois grupos apresentaram idade média de 89 ± 1 dias. Os animais do grupo controle apresentaram peso de 130 ± 15 gramas; frequência cardíaca de 204 ± 18 batimentos/minuto, enquanto os do grupo Chagas apresentaram peso de 143 ± 12 gramas e frequência cardíaca de 198 ± 18 batimentos/minuto. Os valores de peso foram significativamente diferentes (p= 0,004) entre os grupos, mas não os de frequência cardíaca. A fração de ejeção do ventrículo esquerdo foi de 64 ± 5 % no grupo controle e de 61 ± 5 % no grupo Chagas, p= 0,10, enquanto o GLS foi de -15,2 ± 2,7 % no grupo controle e de -14,2 ± 3,4 % no grupo Chagas, p= 0,25. Na evolução da doença, o grupo Chagas apresentou aumento do DSFVE significativamente maior do que o aumento mostrado pelo grupo controle (valor-p da interação grupos#tempo= 0,007); a FEVE mostrou queda progressiva ao longo do tempo no grupo Chagas, com diferença verificada entre os grupos a partir de 6 meses do exame basal (valor-p da interação grupos#tempo= 0,005). O GLS e o GCS dos animais do grupo Chagas apresentaram comportamento significativamente diferente ao longo do tempo em comparação com o grupo controle (valor-p da interação grupos#tempo= 0,003 para o GLS e < 0,001 para oGCS). Para ambos, a diferença entre os grupos é verificada a partir do primeiro mês, quando se detecta queda pronunciada desses parâmetros de deformação. O índice TAPSE do grupo Chagas apresentou comportamento significativamente diferente ao longo do tempo em comparação ao grupo controle (valor-p da interação grupos#tempo < 0,009), com diferença observada a partir do primeiro mês. Diante disso, os resultados revelam que o GLS e o GCS são os parâmetros mais sensíveis para a avaliação funcional do ventrículo esquerdo na fase aguda e na fase crônica da doença de Chagas no modelo estudado. / Diagnostic tools capable to detect early heart involvement in Chagas\' disease are necessary. The speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) provides conditions for early diagnosis of cardiac lesion by evaluating myocardial deformation (strain). The objective of this study was to evaluate the sequential changes of structural and functional parameters of the ventricles in the evolution of the disease. A total of 37 adult female hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) were inoculated intraperitoneally with 35,000 trypomastigote forms of Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas group) and another 20 received equal volume of saline solution (control group). Echocardiography was performed before the infection (baseline) and repeated for assessment of acute (1 month) and chronic (4, 6 and 8 months after) phases. Left ventricular end-diastolic (LVED), left ventricular end-systolic (LVES), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and longitudinal strain (GLS) were measured at parasternal long-axis view. Circumferential strain (GCS) and radial strain (GRS) were evaluated at short-axis view (mid-LV cavity). Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) was used to assess right ventricular function. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for mixed models of repeated measures was used to evaluate the differences between the two groups over time. At baseline, the two groups had a mean age of 89 ± 1 days. The animals in the control group had a weight of 130 ± 15 grams; heart rate of 204 ± 18 beats/minute, while those in the Chagas group had a weight of 143 ± 12 grams and a heart rate of 198 ± 18 beats/minute. The weight values were significantly different (p = 0.004) between the groups, but not those of heart rate. Left ventricular ejection fraction was 64 ± 5% in the control group and 61 ± 5% in the Chagas group (p = 0.10), while GLS was -15.2 ± 2.7% in the control group and of -14.2 ± 3.4% in the Chagas group (p = 0.25). In the evolution of the disease, the Chagas group presented a significantly higher increase in the LVES than the increase shown by the control group (p-value of the interaction groups # time = 0.007); the LVEF showed progressive decrease over time in the Chagas group, with a difference between groups after 6 months of baseline examination (p-value of interaction groups # time = 0.005). The GLS and GCS of the animals of the Chagas group showed significantly different behavior over time compared to the control group (p-value of the interaction groups # time = 0.003 for GLS and <0.001 for GCS). For both, the difference between groups is verified from the first month, when a pronounced decrease of these deformation parameters is detected. The TAPSE index of the Chagas group presented a significantly different behavior over time compared to the control group (p-value of interaction groups # time <0.009), with difference observed from the first month. Therefore, the results indicate that GLS and GCS are the most sensitive parameters for left ventricle functional assessment in acute and chronic phases of an experimental model of Chagas disease.

This research project on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale is an extension to the inquiry into the feasibility and reliability of the technology known as Digital Laser Speckle Image Correlation (DiLSIC). This is a hybrid approach of combining two existing technologies. The first being Digital Image Correlation (DIC) which is a nondestructive evaluation commonly used to find displacement, in-plane strain, as well as deformation. The second being the of laser speckle patterns. This hybrid has achieved level of resolution measured to be 3.4μ. DiLSIC increases the application ability of the DIC technique to situations that generally would not be an option to use. DiLSIC needs no artifact speckle patterns to be applied to the specimen as a preparation for nondestructive testing. In DIC testing, the surface of a specimen must artifact speckles applied to the subject surface. Often the application of artifact speckles is not desirable or possible. DiLSIC is an acceptable alternative to the previously discussed industry-wide practice. This method broadens the usage of the DIC technique to situations which previously were not possible. This technology can identify, quantify, and detect the distribution of strain and stress concentrations in composite structures. For this study, a honeycomb-backed glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) panel from a Cessna aircraft exterior luggage door was obtained and a defect panel is created. The panel is constructed with one area containing a repair compliant with manufacturer standardized methods and a repair area is not compliant and consists of multiple incorrect repair steps. An area with no repair is also tested to act as a control for comparison and quantification. The results for the inspected areas showed a linear strain increase in the noncompliant repair. The data plot for the compliant repair showed a trend of following the same basic curve as the no repair area. A verification process follows the DiLSIC testing consisting of using Infrared Thermography, Air-coupled ultrasonic, and white light artifact speckle DIC. These tests show DiLSIC is a viable alternative to the testing that is available in the industry. DiLSIC can detect defect location, size, geometry and map strain to determine the difference between compliant and noncompliant repairs when compared to a base level non-repair area

Mise en oeuvre de circuits intégrés dédiés à l’analyse des corrélations temporelles des tavelures optiquesOn pourrait chercher à exploiter, à des fins de diagnostic médical, la forte pénétration au sein des tissus biologiques de la lumière située dans l’infrarouge proche. Cependant la nature diffusante des tissus brouille fortement l’information spatiale, et il faut mesurer plusieurs paramètres pour obtenir des informations pertinentes, avec par exemple des mesures résolues en temps, ou des mesures de corrélations de speckle. Ces dernières sont délicates de par le faible flux lumineux dans un grain de speckle et les temps de corrélations très courts observés avec les tissus. L’équipe d’optique en milieu aléatoire du Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers a développé, en collaboration avec l’Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale, un concept de circuit multipixels dédié à la détection et à l’analyse du speckle. Ce circuit traite individuellement différents grains de speckle en parallèle, et calcule en temps réel une grandeur moyenne sur l’ensemble des pixels, améliorant ainsi le rapport signal à bruit. Chaque pixel de détection est capable d’effectuer une détection synchrone du signal, et de calculer différentes corrélations temporelles. L’objectif de cette thèse était de caractériser une nouvelle génération de circuits, et de les mettre en oeuvre dans différentes expériences d’optique diffuse. Nous avons pu, au cours de ces travaux, mesurer les corrélations temporelles du speckle en fonction du temps de transit à travers 4cm de lait, et ce malgré la décorrélation très rapide observée dans ce cas. Nous avons également réalisé des expériences d’imagerie acousto-optique, en collaboration avec l’Institut Langevin, en développant un nouveau protocole de mesure adapté à notre technologie. / Implementation of Application Specific Integrated Circuits dedicated to the analysis of speckle patterns temporal correlationsThe fact that near infrared light has a good penetration depth inside biological tissues calls to its exploitation for medical diagnosis purposes. However, given their scattering nature, tissues strongly blur the spatial information. One therefore needs to measure several parameters in order to obtain pertinent information. One can for instance use time-resolved detection, or measure speckle correlations. The latter implies serious technological bottlenecks due to the weakness of the light flux in one speckle grain, and due to the very short correlation times observed in tissues. The biomedical optics group of Laboratoire de Physique de Lasers, in collaboration with Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale, has developed a concept of multipixels ASIC dedicated to speckle detection and analysis. This device processes different speckle grains in parallel, and computes an averaged value across all the pixels in real time in order to improve the signal to noise ratio. Each detection pixel can perform a lock-in detection of the signal, and compute different time correlations. The objective of this thesis is to characterize a new generation of circuits, and to implement them in different experiments on diffuse light propagation. One highlight of this work is the fact that we could compute speckle time correlation as a function of the transit time through 4 cm of milk, despite the very fast decorrelation obtained with such a medium. In addition, we performed acousto-optic imaging experiments with our partners from Institut Langevin, developing for that purpose a new protocol appropriate to our technology.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Sun Tong Lau. / M.S.

The discovery and characterization of exoplanetary systems is a new exciting field. At just over two decades old, it has already fundamentally reshaped our knowledge of planet and solar system formation. We now know that there is a vast diversity of planetary systems, in highly varied, even bizarre, configurations. Known planetary bodies span all masses from objects less massive and smaller than Earth to objects as large as the smallest stars or brown dwarfs. They exhibit periods of but a few hours to periods spanning millennia, from nearly perfectly circular orbits to highly elliptical, from fluffy gas giants to dense rocky worlds, from purely metallic worlds to water worlds. Exoplanets come in all sizes, compositions and varieties. These new discoveries have fundamentally changed the way we approach planetary science. With such a great diversity in exoplanets, we look extend our knowledge to including understanding their individual composition. We wish to understand the climate of these exoplanets and to resolve the differences between, for example, Earth-like and Venus-like planets. To facilitate these discoveries several methods of exoplanery detection and characterization have been developed. Among them are indirect methods that infer the existence of exoplanets from their influence on their star, and direct methods that detect the light from the exoplanets themselves. Direct detection of exoplanets allows not only for a determination of the existence of the object, but also for the determination of its composition and climate through the measurement of its atmosphere's chemical composition. Using purely high-contrast direct imaging methods, coarse spectra can now be measured for exoplanets with a relative brightness 10⁻⁴-10⁻⁵ below that of the host star. Below this contrast level the companion is at the same level of brightness as the noise caused by optical defects and wave front errors in the observed light, called speckles. In this thesis, I demonstrate the usage and optimization of a new novel technique, S4_Spectrum, to model and remove speckle noise from directly imaged systems. S4_Spectrum is capable of reducing 99% of the speckle noise. This allows for the detection and spectral characterization of exoplanets as faint as 10⁻⁶-10⁻⁷ times the brightness of their host stars. This represents two orders of magnitude gain in sensitivity. I present the design of one of these high-contrast systems, Project 1640, as well as the data collection method, including the data pipeline and analysis techniques. Also, I describe the S4_Spectrum technique in detail, as implemented in Project 1640, and present its operation and optimization. Additionally, I present the application of this new tool to obtain several spectral characterizations of objects found in the Project 1640 survey.