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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1988

Knowledge based programming environments: A perspective

Programming environments is an area of recent origin and refers to an integrated set of tools, such as program library, text editor, compiler, and debugger, in support of program development. Understanding of programs and programming has lead to automated techniques for program development. Knowledge based programming system using program transformations offer significant impact on future program development methodologies. A review of recent developments in the area of knowledge based programming environments, from the perspective of software engineering, is presented.

Amin, Ashok T.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Turbulent-flow separation criteria for overexpanded supersonic nozzles

A comprehensive compilation of available turbulent flow separation data for overexpanded supersonic nozzles is presented with a discussion of correlation techniques, and prediction methods. Data are grouped by nozzle types: conical, contoured, and two dimensional wedge. Correlation of conical nozzle separation is found to be independent of nozzle divergence half-angle above the 9 deg, whereas the contoured nozzle data follow a different correlation curve. Zero pressure gradient prediction techniques are shown to predict adequately the higher divergence angle conical separation data, and an empirical equation is given for the contoured nozzle data correlation. Flow conditions for which the correlations are invalid are discussed and bounded. A nozzle boundary layer transition criterion is presented which can be used to show that much of the noncorrelating data in the literature are concerned with nonturbulent separation and which explains the previously reported external flow effects on nozzle separation.

Morrisette, E. L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

REDEX: The ranging equipment diagnostic expert system

REDEX, an advanced prototype expert system that diagnoses hardware failures in the Ranging Equipment (RE) at NASA's Ground Network tracking stations is described. REDEX will help the RE technician identify faulty circuit cards or modules that must be replaced, and thereby reduce troubleshooting time. It features a highly graphical user interface that uses color block diagrams and layout diagrams to illustrate the location of a fault. A semantic network knowledge representation technique was used to model the design structure of the RE. A catalog of generic troubleshooting rules was compiled to represent heuristics that are applied in diagnosing electronic equipment. Specific troubleshooting rules were identified to represent additional diagnostic knowledge that is unique to the RE. Over 50 generic and 250 specific troubleshooting rules have been derived. REDEX is implemented in Prolog on an IBM PC AT-compatible workstation. Block diagram graphics displays are color-coded to identify signals that have been monitored or inferred to have nominal values, signals that are out of tolerance, and circuit cards and functions that are diagnosed as faulty. A hypertext-like scheme is used to allow the user to easily navigate through the space of diagrams and tables. Over 50 graphic and tabular displays have been implemented. REDEX is currently being evaluated in a stand-alone mode using simulated RE fault scenarios. It will soon be interfaced to the RE and tested in an online environment. When completed and fielded, REDEX will be a concrete example of the application of expert systems technology to the problem of improving performance and reducing the lifecycle costs of operating NASA's communications networks in the 1990's.

Luczak, Edward C.↗

NASA NTRS1989

REDEX - The ranging equipment diagnostic expert system

Luczak, Edward C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Lanczos eigensolution method for high-performance computers

The theory, computational analysis, and applications are presented of a Lanczos algorithm on high performance computers. The computationally intensive steps of the algorithm are identified as: the matrix factorization, the forward/backward equation solution, and the matrix vector multiples. These computational steps are optimized to exploit the vector and parallel capabilities of high performance computers. The savings in computational time from applying optimization techniques such as: variable band and sparse data storage and access, loop unrolling, use of local memory, and compiler directives are presented. Two large scale structural analysis applications are described: the buckling of a composite blade stiffened panel with a cutout, and the vibration analysis of a high speed civil transport. The sequential computational time for the panel problem executed on a CONVEX computer of 181.6 seconds was decreased to 14.1 seconds with the optimized vector algorithm. The best computational time of 23 seconds for the transport problem with 17,000 degs of freedom was on the the Cray-YMP using an average of 3.63 processors.

Bostic, Susan W.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Optical devices: A compilation

Technological developments in the field of optics devices which have potential utility outside the aerospace community are described. Optical instrumentation, light generation and transmission, and laser techniques are among the topics covered. Patent information is given.

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NASA NTRS1984

Topography of the shield volcano, Olympus Mons on Mars

Olympus Mons, one of the largest known shield volcanoes in the solar system, covers an area of more than 3.2 x 10 to the 5th sq km and has a diameter of more than 600 km, excluding its vast aureole deposits. The structure is five times larger than the largest shield volcano on the earth. It is situated on the north-west flank of the Tharsis volcanic region, a broad topographic rise on the Martian surface. The volcano has three physical subdivisions: the summit caldera, the terraced upper flanks, and the lower flanks, which terminate in a scarp 2-10 km high that nearly surrounds the structure. A large block of images of the Tharsis region, including Olympus Mons, was obtained by the Viking mission. A topographic map of Olympus Mons is presented here, which has been compiled using various combinations of stereo pairs of these images, together with stereoscopic perspective views generated by image processing techniques.

Wu, S. S. C.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Observation of atmospheric minor constituents by FTIR at Syowa Station, Antarctica

As a part of the Antarctic MAP activity, a ground-based spectroscopic observation of atmospheric infrared transmission was started at Syowa station (69 deg 00'S, 39 deg 35'E) in March 24, 1983. Observations of sunlight as a radiation source were made with a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer having a maximum path difference of 80 mm and an apodized FWHM resolution of approx. 0.12/cm. In routine operation through the year, the resolution of approx. 0.8/cm was applied for economy of data-processing time. The 408 spectra for 72 days were obtained in about 10 months until January 23, 1984. From the absorption features revealed in the spectra over the wave number range of 500 to 7500/cm, a preliminary estimate of N202 gamma sub 1 band absorption was attempted. An apparent transmittance was defined at the wave number 2576/cm, where the absorption by N20 molecules affected the observed intensity strongly. A ray-tracing technique and a line-by-line calculation with a model atmosphere and the AFGL atmospheric absorption line parameters compilation were applied to the calculation of the synthetic spectra.

Makino, Y.↗

NASA NTRS1990

TIGRE: Combinator graph reduction on the RTX 2000

An efficient evaluation technique is examined for lazy functional programs based on combinator graph reduction. Graph reduction is widely believed to be slow and inefficient, but an abstract machine called the Threaded Interpretive Graph Reduction Engine (TIGRE) achieves a substantial speedup over previous reduction techniques. The runtime system of TIGRE is a threaded system that permits self-modifying program execution with compiler-guaranteed safety. This paper describes an implementation of TIGRE in Forth for the Harris RTX 2000 stack processor.

Koopman, Philip, Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Chronology and genesis of high-Ti mare volcanism: Melting of cogenetic depleted and enriched reservoirs

An understanding of the chronology and petrogenesis of volcanic rocks is paramount to unravelling the complexities of the composition and structure of the mantle of the Moon. High-Ti mare basalts represent the best-sampled suite of lunar volcanic rocks and likely represent melts of the uppermost mantle of the Moon. Compiled Nd and Sr isotopic data for high-Ti basalts, combined with weighted average ages determiend by various techniques, yield a complex melting history for the high-Ti mantle source. Melting occurred during three distinct episodes (3.84 Ga, 3.75-3.69 Ga, and 3.56 Ga) separated by hiatuses of 100 Ma or more. The first episode included the melting of a relatively trapped liquid (KREEPy)-rich source beneath the A-11 landing site. Later melting of this source produced magmas which were relatively trapped liquid-free at the A-11 site. Synchronous melting at the A-17 landing site produced magmas with variable proportions of this evolved trapped liquid component. The final phase of volcanism occurred at the A-11 site and involved the assimilation of an evolved 'neuKREEP' component. Continued melting of a similar source, which was nearly exhausted of its ilmenite component, beneath the A-12 landing site may have lead to production of magmas parental to the A-12 ilmenite basalts.

Snyder, Gregory A.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Orthopyroxene as a recorder of lunar crust evolution: An ion microprobe investigations of Mg-suite norites

The lunar Mg suite, which includes dunites, troctolites, and norites, could make up 20-30% of the Moon's crust down to a depth of 60 km. The remainder is largely anorthositic. This report focuses on norites because we have found that the chemical characteristics of orthopyroxene are effective recorders of their parental melt compositions. Many of the samples representing the Mg suite are small and unrepresentative. In addition, they are cumulates and thus are difficult to study by whole-rock techniques. Therefore, we decided to study these rocks by SIMS techniques to analyze a suite of trace elements in orthopyroxene. The 12 norite samples were selected from a recent compilation by Warren who attempted to select the best candidate samples from the standpoint of their pristine character. Our present database includes greater than 300 superior Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) analyses and greater than 50 scanning ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) analyses for 8 Rare Earth Elements (REE), Zr, Y, and Sr. The Mg#s for the parental melts calculated from Mg#s in orthopyroxene show that most melts have Mg#s in the range of 0.36-0.60. This compares with a range of Mg#s for lunar volcanic picritic glass beads of 0.4-0.68. Therefore, although the cumulate whole-rock compositions of the Mg suite can be extremely magnesian, the calculated parental melts are not anomalously high in Mg. A chemical characteristic of the Mg-suite norites that is more difficult to explain is the high KREEP content of the calculated parental melts. The REE contents for the calculated norite parental melts have REE that match or exceed the high-K KREEP component of Warren. Therefore, mixing of a KREEP component and a picritic melt cannot, by itself, explain the high estimated REE contents of the melts parental to norites. Advanced crystallization following KREEP incorporation, especially of plagiclase, may also be required.

Papike, J. J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

A High-Fidelity Simulation of a Generic Commercial Aircraft Engine and Controller

A new high-fidelity simulation of a generic 40,000 lb thrust class commercial turbofan engine with a representative controller, known as CMAPSS40k, has been developed. Based on dynamic flight test data of a highly instrumented engine and previous engine simulations developed at NASA Glenn Research Center, this non-proprietary simulation was created especially for use in the development of new engine control strategies. C-MAPSS40k is a highly detailed, component-level engine model written in MATLAB/Simulink (The MathWorks, Inc.). Because the model is built in Simulink, users have the ability to use any of the MATLAB tools for analysis and control system design. The engine components are modeled in C-code, which is then compiled to allow faster-than-real-time execution. The engine controller is based on common industry architecture and techniques to produce realistic closed-loop transient responses while ensuring that no safety or operability limits are violated. A significant feature not found in other non-proprietary models is the inclusion of transient stall margin debits. These debits provide an accurate accounting of the compressor surge margin, which is critical in the design of an engine controller. This paper discusses the development, characteristics, and capabilities of the C-MAPSS40k simulation

May, Ryan D.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Performance of the Dot Product Function in Radiative Transfer Code SORD

The successive orders of scattering radiative transfer (RT) codes frequently call the scalar (dot) product function. In this paper, we study performance of some implementations of the dot product in the RT code SORD using 50 scenarios for light scattering in the atmosphere-surface system. In the dot product function, we use the unrolled loops technique with different unrolling factor. We also considered the intrinsic Fortran functions. We show results for two machines: ifort compiler under Windows, and pgf90 under Linux. Intrinsic DOT_PRODUCT function showed best performance for the ifort. For the pgf90, the dot product implemented with unrolling factor 4 was the fastest. The RT code SORD together with the interface that runs all the mentioned tests are publicly available from ftp:maiac.gsfc.nasa.govpubskorkinSORD_IP_16B (current release) or by email request from the corresponding (first) author.

polarized radiative transfer↗

NASA NTRS2009

Towards a Certified Lightweight Array Bound Checker for Java Bytecode

Dynamic array bound checks are crucial elements for the security of a Java Virtual Machines. These dynamic checks are however expensive and several static analysis techniques have been proposed to eliminate explicit bounds checks. Such analyses require advanced numerical and symbolic manipulations that 1) penalize bytecode loading or dynamic compilation, 2) complexify the trusted computing base. Following the Foundational Proof Carrying Code methodology, our goal is to provide a lightweight bytecode verifier for eliminating array bound checks that is both efficient and trustable. In this work, we define a generic relational program analysis for an imperative, stackoriented byte code language with procedures, arrays and global variables and instantiate it with a relational abstract domain as polyhedra. The analysis has automatic inference of loop invariants and method pre-/post-conditions, and efficient checking of analysis results by a simple checker. Invariants, which can be large, can be specialized for proving a safety policy using an automatic pruning technique which reduces their size. The result of the analysis can be checked efficiently by annotating the program with parts of the invariant together with certificates of polyhedral inclusions. The resulting checker is sufficiently simple to be entirely certified within the Coq proof assistant for a simple fragment of the Java bytecode language. During the talk, we will also report on our ongoing effort to scale this approach for the full sequential JVM.

Pichardie, David↗

NASA NTRS1982

Determination of eigenvalues of dynamical systems by symbolic computation

A symbolic computation technique for determining the eigenvalues of dynamical systems is described wherein algebraic operations, symbolic differentiation, matrix formulation and inversion, etc., can be performed on a digital computer equipped with a formula-manipulation compiler. An example is included that demonstrates the facility with which the system dynamics matrix and the control distribution matrix from the state space formulation of the equations of motion can be processed to obtain eigenvalue loci as a function of a system parameter. The example chosen to demonstrate the technique is a fourth-order system representing the longitudinal response of a DC 8 aircraft to elevator inputs. This simplified system has two dominant modes, one of which is lightly damped and the other well damped. The loci may be used to determine the value of the controlling parameter that satisfied design requirements. The results were obtained using the MACSYMA symbolic manipulation system.

Howard, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Recent advances in geologic mapping by radar

Quantitative techniques are available which allow the analysis of SAR images for the derivation of geological surface and process data. In conjunction with calibrated radar sensors operating at several incidence angles, wavelengths, and polarizations, the compilation of multiparameter radar signatures of lithological and geomorphic units can accordingly proceed for geological mapping in unknown areas. While radar image tone can be used in arid zones to derive surface micromorphology, heavily vegetated tropical regions require the analysis of radar image texture by means of Fourier techniques which decompose the image into bandpasses that represent different scales of texture.

Farr, T. G.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Principles and techniques of polarimetric mapping.

This paper introduces the concept and potential value of polarimetric maps and the techniques for generating these maps in operational remote sensing. The application-oriented polarimetric signature analyses in the literature are compiled, and several optical models are illustrated to bring out requirements of a sensor system for polarimetric mapping. By use of the concepts of Stokes parameters the descriptive specification of one sensor system is refined. The descriptive specification for a multichannel digital photometric-polarimetric mapper is based upon our experience with the present single channel device which includes the generation of polarimetric maps and pictures. High photometric accuracy and stability coupled with fast, accurate digital output has enabled us to overcome the handicap of taking sequential data from the same terrain.

Halajian, J.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Remote sensing of natural resources

Quarterly literature review compiles citations and abstracts from eight major abstracting and indexing services. Each issue contains author/keyword index. Includes data obtained or techniques used from space, aircraft, or ground-based stations.

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