Editorial:Special issue on solar radiation measurement

Solar energy is the electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun,w hich is the dominant energy driving the Earth’s climate system[1-2],the radiation fluxes to and from the Earth’s surface are crucial to the heat economy of the Earth,tiny variations in solar radiation w ill produce natural forcing of Earth’s climate w ith global-and regional-scale responses[3-4],therefore,accurate solar radiation measurements are significant for the energy balance that determines the Earth’s climate[5].M oreover,w ith global energy crisis intensifies,the utilization of solar energy resource has been putting on more and more

Measurements of non-equilibrium and equilibrium temperature behind a strong shock wave in simulated martian atmosphere

Non-equilibrium radiation measurements behind strong shock wave for simulated Martian atmosphere are presented in this paper. The shock wave is established in a hydrogen oxygen combustion driven shock tube. Time- resolved spectra of the Av = 0 sequence of the B^2∑^＋ → X^2∑^＋ electronic transition of CN have been observed through optical emission spectroscopy （OES）. A new method, which is based on fitting high resolution spectrum for rotational and vibrational temperatures measurement, is proposed to diag- nose temperature distribution behind the shock wave. It is estimated that the current scheme has the maximum deviation less than 8% （lσ） for vibrational temperature measurement through detailed analysis of the influence of the uncertainties of spectroscopic constants and spectral resolution. Radiation structure of the shock layer, including induction, relaxation and equilibrium process, and corresponding rotational and vibrational temperatures are obtained through time gating OES diagnostics with sub-microsecond temporal resolution. The present extensive results will strongly benefit the reaction rate estimation and computational fluid dynamics （CFD） code validation in high enthalpy Mars reentry chemistry.

Estimation of Hourly and Daily Global Solar Radiation at Clear Days Using an Approach Based on Modified Version of Gaussian Distribution

The performance of two models,Jam and Baig,based on the modified version of Gaussian distribution function in estimating the daily total of global solar radiation and its distribution through the hours of the day from sunrise to sunset al any clear day is evaluated with our own measured data in the period from June 1992 to May 1993 in Qena Egypt The results show a high relative deviation of calculated values from measured ones,especially for Jain model,in the most hours of the day,except for those near to local noon.This misfit behavior is quite obvious in the early morning and late afternoon A new approach has been proposed in this paper to estimate the daily and hourly global solar radiation This model performs with very high accuracy on the recorded data in our region.The validity of this approach was verified with new measurements in some clear days in June and August 1994.The resultant very low relative deviation of the calculated values of global solar radiation from the measured ones confirms the high performance of the approach proposed in this work

Research on Solar Simulation System for Test of Solar Radiation Measuring Instrument

Since traditional solar simulators are mainly applied to spacecraft and photovoltaic industry,they are not suitable for solar radiation measuring instrument test. Therefore,a deep research is carried out on solar simulators to test of solar radiation measuring instrument,so that obtain the requirements of performance test of solar radiation measuring instrument. With a combination of the requirements for national regulations of metrological verification and performance test of pyranometer and pyrheliometer,it lays emphasis on the research of design methods for improving radiation uniformity and stability of solar simulators; it also focuses on design methods of multidimensional detection workbench,which achieves different detection of solar radiation. After practical test,solar irradiation is within Φ60 mm; irradiation non-uniformity is better than ±0.8%; instability is better than ±0.72%;rotating angle precision is better than 0.09°. Then,solar simulator is used to carry out pyranometer sensitivity test,pyranometer directional response test,pyranometer tilt response test and non-linearity test for radiation instruments. Test results showthat the solar simulator meets the testing requirements of solar radiation measuring instruments.

Research on the measurement and shielding methods of the spatial electromagnetic radiation of the BEPCⅡLinac

Purpose The research focuses on the related measurement and shielding works for solving the spatial electromagnetic radiation and interference problems of the BEPCⅡLinac.Methods The radiation frequency and intensity can be determined by using a set of antennas connected with a spectrum analyser.Results The source of the radiation is located on the cable connectors of some device panels.The radiation intensity is significantly reduced after wrapping the connectors with the radiation shielding tape.Conclusions The entire research process includes the selection of a domestically made ultra-wideband antenna,the proposal of the measurement methods,the locating of the radiation source,the performance measurement of the radiation shielding tape and the shielding of the radiation.It provides a whole set of feasible solutions for similar problems in accelerators.

A Study of Linke Turbidity Factor over Qena / Egypt

Data on instantaneous atmospheric Linke turbidity factor TL (m) are reported for clear days at Qena/Egypt in the period from June 1992 to May 1993.TL(m) is determined using the values of irradiance of direct solar radiation (I),which are calculated from global (G) and diffuse (D) - solar radiation measurements.Monthly and seasonally variations of both diurnal and daily average values of TL (m) increases steadily in the direction of sunset in the months from June to December 1992 as well as Summer and Autumn seasons,while it falls generally in this direction for the months from January to March and Winter season.In April and May,TL (m) fluctuates obviously through the day hours,it is also shown that the average values of TL(m) are particularly large during Summer months compared to other months of the year.This behavior of TL(m) is discussed in view of the variations of some weather elements,which affect the content of water vapor and dust particle in the atmosphere of the study region.It seems t be of similar trends to that of other locations inside and outside Egypt.The virtual variation of TL(m) is eliminated by reducing its value to relative optical air mass m=2,according to Kasten formula.The resulting TL (2) is more representative for the content of dust particles and water vapor in the atmosphere.

Bernoulli particle flter with observer altitude for maritime radiation source tracking in the presence of measurement uncertainty

For maritime radiation source target tracking in particular electronic counter measures（ECM）environment,there exists two main problems which can deteriorate the tracking performance of traditional approaches.The frst problem is the poor observability of the radiation source.The second one is the measurement uncertainty which includes the uncertainty of the target appearing/disappearing and the detection uncertainty（false and missed detections）.A novel approach is proposed in this paper for tracking maritime radiation source in the presence of measurement uncertainty.To solve the poor observability of maritime radiation source target,using the radiation source motion restriction,the observer altitude information is incorporated into the bearings-only tracking（BOT）method to obtain the unique target localization.Then the two uncertainties in the ECM environment are modeled by the random fnite set（RFS）theory and the Bernoulli fltering method with the observer altitude is adopted to solve the tracking problem of maritime radiation source in such context.Simulation experiments verify the validity of the proposed approach for tracking maritime radiation source,and also demonstrate the superiority of the method compared with the traditional integrated probabilistic data association（IPDA）method.The tracking performance under different conditions,particularly those involving different duration of radiation source opening and switching-off,indicates that the method to solve our problem is robust and effective.

Experimental measurement of radiation dose in a dedicated breast CT system

Radiation dose is an important performance indicator of a dedicated breast CT（DBCT）.In this paper,the method of putting thermoluminescent dosimeters（TLD） into a breast shaped PMMA phantom to study the dose distribution in breasts was improved by using smaller TLDs and a new half-ellipsoid PMMA phantom.Then the weighted CT dose index（CTDI_w） was introduced to average glandular assessment in DBCT for the first time and two measurement modes were proposed for different sizes of breasts.The dose deviations caused by using cylindrical phantoms were simulated using the Monte Carlo method and a set of correction factors were calculated.The results of the confirmatory measurement with a cylindrical phantom（11 cm/8 cm） show that CTDI_w gives a relatively conservative overestimate of the average glandular dose comparing to the results of Monte Carlo simulation and TLDs measurement.But with better practicability and stability,the CTDI_w is suitable for dose evaluations in daily clinical practice.Both of the TLDs and CTDI_w measurements demonstrate that the radiation dose of our DBCT system is lower than conventional two-view mammography.

Measurement of acoustic field radiated by low frequency power ultrasonic transducer with laser-interferometer

Based on the piezo-optic effect of medium, the refractive index of medium is the function of its density, and so it's also the function of acoustic pressure. Therefore, acoustic pressure in the optical path everywhere can be determined absolutely by laser-interferometric technique and relative distribution of pressure in the middle and far acoustic field, which can be obtained from theory or experiment respectively. Theory and experiment of measurement of pressure in acoustic field with laser-interferometer are introduced. Distribution of pressure radiated by a power ultrasonic transducer is determined by laser interferometric technique. The theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement. The receiving sensitivity of a PVDF (Polyvinylidene fluoride) transducer in free field is also calibrated absolutely due to above results and its sensitivity is -118.5 dB.

Optically stimulated luminescence of Dy^3+-doped NaCaPO4 glass-ceramics

Dy^3+-doped glass-ceramics containing NaCaPO4 crystals were successfully fabricated by heat treatment at base glass,and the luminescence properties were investigated for potential applications in radiation measurements.The photo luminescence(PL)excitation and emission spectra exhibit transitions related to Dy^3+ions corresponding to the strongest excitation and emission wavelengths at 351 and 575 nm,respectively.The CW-OSL properties as a function of dopant concentration,pre-heating temperature,pre-heating time and signal fading were investigated.The most appropriate Dy^3+ion concentration was found to be 0.25 mol%.The TL glow curves have a broad peak feature peaking at 195±5℃.The fading of the OSL signal would keep stable in five days with the intensity value of about 76.11%.The samples also exhibit good signal reusability and a broad linear dose response range(0.02-1000 Gy).

Measuring boundary-layer height under clear and cloudy conditions using three instruments

Boundary-layer height （BLH） under clear, altostratus and low stratus cloud conditions were measured by GPS sounding, wind profiler radar, and micro-pulse lidar during the atmospheric radiation measurement experiment from Sep. to Dec. 2008 in Shouxian, Anhui, China. Results showed that during daytime or nighttime, regardless of cloud conditions, the GPS sounding was the most accurate method for measuring BLH. Unfortunately, because of the long time gap between launchings, sounding data did not capture the diurnal evolution of the BLH. Thus, wind profile radar emerged as a promising instrument for direct and continuous measurement of the mixing height during the daytime, accurately determining BLH using the structure parameter of the electromagnetic refractive index. However, during nighttime, radar was limited by weak signal extraction and did not work well for determining the BLH of the stable boundary layer, often recording the BLH of the residual layer. While micro-pulse lidar recorded the evolution of BLH, it overestimated the BLH of the stable boundary layer. This method also failed to work under cloudy conditions because of the influence of water vapor. Future work needs to develop a method to determine BLH that combines the complimentary features of all three algorithms.

Dose-rate dependence of optically stimulated luminescence signal

Optically stimulated luminescence （OSL） is the luminescence emitted from a semiconductor during its exposure to light. The OSL intensity is a function of the total dose absorbed by the sample. The dose-rate dependence of the OSL signal of the semiconductor CaS doped Ce and Sm was studied by numerical simulation and experiments. Based on a one-trap/one-center model, the whole OSL process was represented by a series of differential equations. The dose-rate properties of the materials were acquired theoretically by solving the equations. Good coherence was achieved between numerical simulation and experiments, both of which showed that the OSL signal was independent of dose rate. This result validates that when using OSL as a dosimetry technique, the dose-rate effect can be neglected.

Parallel readout of two-element CdZnTe detectors with real-time digital signal processing

Readout electronics, especially digital electronics, for two-element CdZnTe （CZT） detectors in parallel are developed. The preliminary results show the detection efficiency of the two-element CZT detectors in parallel with analog electronics is as many as 1.8 and 2.1 times the single ones, and the energy resolution （FWHM） is limited by that of the single one by the means of analog electronics. However, the digital method for signal processing will be sufficiently better by contrast with an analog method especially in energy resolution. The energy resolution by the means of digital electronics can be improved by about 26.67%, compared to that only with analog electronics, while their detection efficiency is almost the same. The cause for this difference is also discussed.