Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports


Book Description

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.













Introduction to the Theory of Coherence and Polarization of Light


Book Description

All optical fields undergo random fluctuations. They may be small, as in the output of many lasers, or they may be appreciably larger, as in light generated by thermal sources. The underlying theory of fluctuating optical fields is known as coherence theory. An important manifestation of the fluctuations is the phenomenon of partial polarization. Actually, coherence theory deals with considerably more than fluctuations. Unlike usual treatments, it describes optical fields in terms of observable quantities and elucidates how such quantities, for example, the spectrum of light, change as light propagates. This book is the first to provide a unified treatment of the phenomena of coherence and polarization. The unification has been made possible by very recent discoveries, largely due to the author of this book. The subjects treated in this volume are of considerable importance for graduate students and for research workers in physics and in engineering, who are concerned with optical communications, with propagation of laser beams through fibers and through the turbulent atmosphere, with optical image formation, particularly in microscopes, and with medical diagnostics, for example. Each chapter contains problems to aid self-study. Book jacket.




Smart Sensor Systems


Book Description

With contributions from an internationally-renowned group of experts, this book uses a multidisciplinary approach to review recent developments in the field of smart sensor systems, covering important system and design aspects. It examines topics over the whole range of sensor technology from the theory and constraints of basic elements, physics and electronics, up to the level of application-orientated issues. Developed as a complementary volume to ‘Smart Sensor Systems’ (Wiley 2008), which introduces the basics of smart sensor systems, this volume focuses on emerging sensing technologies and applications, including: State-of-the-art techniques for designing smart sensors and smart sensor systems, including measurement techniques at system level, such as dynamic error correction, calibration, self-calibration and trimming. Circuit design for sensor systems, such as the design of precision instrumentation amplifiers. Impedance sensors, and the associated measurement techniques and electronics, that measure electrical characteristics to derive physical and biomedical parameters, such as blood viscosity or growth of micro-organisms. Complete sensor systems-on-a-chip, such as CMOS optical imagers and microarrays for DNA detection, and the associated circuit and micro-fabrication techniques. Vibratory gyroscopes and the associated electronics, employing mechanical and electrical signal amplification to enable low-power angular-rate sensing. Implantable smart sensors for neural interfacing in bio-medical applications. Smart combinations of energy harvesters and energy-storage devices for autonomous wireless sensors. Smart Sensor Systems: Emerging Technologies and Applications will greatly benefit final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students in the areas of electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering, and physics. Professional engineers and researchers in the microelectronics industry, including microsystem developers, will also find this a thorough and useful volume.