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Computer Sciences

Air Force Institute of Technology

Theses/Dissertations

1998

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Development Of An Operations Research Software Package For Army Divisions., Blane C. Wilson Dec 1998

Development Of An Operations Research Software Package For Army Divisions., Blane C. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

There exists great potential for applying operations research techniques to solve specific problems in the areas of operations, installation support, and training at the Army division level. Because of the operational tempo of today's active-duty and reserve component units, command must focus on accomplishing the daily missions. Also, due their limited knowledge of the field, planners may not be aware of how operations research can be used to enhance planning and operations. Time, training funds, resources, safety, personnel, and equipment are all critical factors in this process. Operations research techniques could be used to improve division-level operations by saving time, …

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The Simulation, Modeling And Analysis Of Wireless Local Area Networks Supporting The Ieee 802.11 Standard, Jaikwan Joo Dec 1998

The Simulation, Modeling And Analysis Of Wireless Local Area Networks Supporting The Ieee 802.11 Standard, Jaikwan Joo

Theses and Dissertations

Research to improve the performance of the IEEE 802.11 has been ongoing since 1990. The focus of this research has investigated the use of the MAC and Physical layers for improving throughput. An adaptive MAC protocol, CATER (Code Adapts To Enhance Reliability) is based on the proposed MAC standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN)-802. 11. IEEE 802.11 uses a fixed Pseudo-Noise (PN) code for spreading the information signal, implying a fixed process gain at the receiver. When the channel degrades, IEEE 802.11 offers only retransmissions at the MAC layer to contend with the corrupted medium. However, CATER allows communicating …

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A Web-Based Prototype For Afit Edplan Administration, Tien-Chen Lee Dec 1998

A Web-Based Prototype For Afit Edplan Administration, Tien-Chen Lee

Theses and Dissertations

This document details the design, development, and evaluation of a prototype course registration and reporting system for the students and faculty of the United States Air Force Institute of Technology. The web-based system provides HTML-based client interfaces and Active Server Page server processes for interaction with the relational databases used to manage course and personnel data. The system prototype was developed following the "Engineering Software Components for Web-Database Access" methodology of Dipiro. A survey of modern web-based database access techniques is first provided and Dipiro's methodology is reviewed as background. The remainder of the document details the application of the …

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A Decision Theoretic Approach For Interface Agent Development, Scott M. Brown Sep 1998

A Decision Theoretic Approach For Interface Agent Development, Scott M. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The complexity of current software applications is overwhelming users. The need exists for intelligent interface agents to address the problem of increasing taskload that is overwhelming the human user. Interface agents could help alleviate user taskload by extracting and analyzing relevant information, and providing information abstractions of that information, and providing timely, beneficial assistance to users. These agents could communicate with the user through the existing user interface and also adapt to user needs and behaviors. Central to providing assistance to a user is the issue of correctly determining the user's intent. This dissertation presents an effective, efficient, and extensible …

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Radial Complexity Estimation For Improved Generalization In Artificial Neural Networks, Lemuel R. Myers Jr. Sep 1998

Radial Complexity Estimation For Improved Generalization In Artificial Neural Networks, Lemuel R. Myers Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

When training an artificial neural network (ANN) for classification using backpropagation of error, the weights are usually updated by minimizing the sum-squared error on the training set. As training ensues, overtraining may be observed as the network begins to memorize the training data. This occurs because, as the magnitude of the weight vector, W, grows, the decision boundaries become overly complex in much the same way as a too-high order polynomial approximation can overfit a data set in a regression problem. Since w grows during standard backpropagation, it is important to initialize the weights with consideration to the importance of …

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Automatic Target Cueing Of Hyperspectral Image Data, Terry A. Wilson Sep 1998

Automatic Target Cueing Of Hyperspectral Image Data, Terry A. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Modern imaging sensors produce vast amounts data, overwhelming human analysts. One such sensor is the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral sensor. The AVIRIS sensor simultaneously collects data in 224 spectral bands that range from 0.4µm to 2.5µm in approximately 10nm increments, producing 224 images, each representing a single spectral band. Autonomous systems are required that can fuse "important" spectral bands and then classify regions of interest if all of this data is to be exploited. This dissertation presents a comprehensive solution that consists of a new physiologically motivated fusion algorithm and a novel Bayes optimal self-architecting classifier …

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The Effects Of Three Media Presentation Systems On Maintenance Task Performance, John W. Chastain Sep 1998

The Effects Of Three Media Presentation Systems On Maintenance Task Performance, John W. Chastain

Theses and Dissertations

Wearable computers and Portable Maintenance Aids (PMAs) may soon be the normal way of doing aircraft maintenance in the Air Force. Currently, the Air Force uses the paper form of Technical Orders (TO's) while doing aircraft maintenance. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the effects of three different media presentations of the information used during aircraft maintenance. The three different presentations compared are the current paper form, a Head Mounted Display (HMD), and an auditory mode. An experiment was conducted to determine if there was a significant difference between the systems (in terms of task completion times and …

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Representations, Approximations, And Algorithms For Mathematical Speech Processing, Laura R. Suzuki Jun 1998

Representations, Approximations, And Algorithms For Mathematical Speech Processing, Laura R. Suzuki

Theses and Dissertations

Representing speech signals such that specific characteristics of speech are included is essential in many Air Force and DoD signal processing applications. A mathematical construct called a frame is presented which captures the important time-varying characteristic of speech. Roughly speaking, frames generalize the idea of an orthogonal basis in a Hilbert space, Specific spaces applicable to speech are L2(R) and the Hardy spaces Hp(D) for p> 1 where D is the unit disk in the complex plane. Results are given for representations in the Hardy spaces involving Carleson's inequalities (and its extensions), …

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Singularity Avoidance Strategies For Satellite Mounted Manipulators Using Attitude Control, Nathan A. Titus Jun 1998

Singularity Avoidance Strategies For Satellite Mounted Manipulators Using Attitude Control, Nathan A. Titus

Theses and Dissertations

Control concepts for satellite mounted manipulators (SMM) are examined. The primary focus is on base actuated concepts, which eliminate singularity problems associated with free floating SMMs. A new form of the equations of motion for an n-link SMM is developed using a quasi coordinate form of Lagrange's Equation. Alternative free floating SMM designs are presented which eliminate dynamic singularities, but still experience difficulties due to the unactuated base. A new generic SMM controller is developed as a framework for various control concepts with and without base actuation. Momentum constrained Jacobians are shown to produce better SMM tracking than fixed base …

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New Algorithms For Moving-Bank Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation, Juan R. Vasquez May 1998

New Algorithms For Moving-Bank Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation, Juan R. Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research is to provide methods for generating precise parameter estimates in the face of potentially significant parameter variations such as system component failures. The standard Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation (MMAE) algorithm uses a bank of Kalman filters, each based on a different model of the system. A new moving-bank MMAE algorithm is developed based on exploitation of the density data available from the MMAE. The methods used to exploit this information include various measures of the density data and a decision-making logic used to move, expand, and contract the MMAE bank of filters. Parameter discretization within …

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Methodology For The Analysis And Design Of Internet Software Components Providing Relational Database Access Through The World Wide Web, Daniel L. Dipiro Mar 1998

Methodology For The Analysis And Design Of Internet Software Components Providing Relational Database Access Through The World Wide Web, Daniel L. Dipiro

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the application of Internet software technologies to provide access to remote relational databases via the World Wide Web. The research applies these software technologies to assist the Air Force Institute of Technology Civilian Institute Program in improving operations and student to staff communication. An analysis of the existing Internet software technologies revealed several competing technologies capable of performing the same database access functions. The analysis further revealed weaknesses and inconsistencies in the existing AFIT/CI database. A methodology is proposed to assist in analyzing an existing development environment and in selecting among the competing technologies to provide the …

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An Advanced Visualization Method For An Operations Research Analysis, Steven C. Oimoen Mar 1998

An Advanced Visualization Method For An Operations Research Analysis, Steven C. Oimoen

Theses and Dissertations

Visualizing multidimensional data using only two dimensions and conventional visualization techniques limits the understanding of the data set. Underlying structures or patterns within the data can easily go unnoticed. In order to gain additional insight into an analysis, incorporation of visualization and multidimensional graphics into the analysis results should be accomplished. The results must ensure that the information portrayed is not misleading or misunderstood. The integrity of the data must be preserved throughout the transformation. The primary objective of this research effort is to identify techniques to visualize multidimensional data and then develop a software tool to display the multidimensional …

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