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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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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Aviation System Capacity Program Terminal Area Productivity Project: Ground and Airborne Technologies

Ground and airborne technologies were developed in the Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) project for increasing throughput at major airports by safely maintaining good-weather operating capacity during bad weather. Methods were demonstrated for accurately predicting vortices to prevent wake-turbulence encounters and to reduce in-trail separation requirements for aircraft approaching the same runway for landing. Technology was demonstrated that safely enabled independent simultaneous approaches in poor weather conditions to parallel runways spaced less than 3,400 ft apart. Guidance, control, and situation-awareness systems were developed to reduce congestion in airport surface operations resulting from the increased throughput, particularly during night and instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). These systems decreased runway occupancy time by safely and smoothly decelerating the aircraft, increasing taxi speed, and safely steering the aircraft off the runway. Simulations were performed in which optimal trajectories were determined by air traffic control (ATC) and communicated to flight crews by means of Center TRACON Automation System/Flight Management System (CTASFMS) automation to reduce flight delays, increase throughput, and ensure flight safety.

Giulianetti, Demo J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

An Operational Concept for Flying FMS Trajectories in Center and TRACON Airspace

Current Flight Management Systems (FMS) do a good job of constructing and flying an optimal trajectory for a single aircraft. Unfortunately, flight crews are often unable to fly these FMS routes during arrivals at busy airports. The Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS) has been designed to aid Center and TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) controllers in assigning runways, sequencing and vectoring all classes of aircraft. CTAS bases its advisories on trajectory predictions for arriving aircraft using algorithms very similar to those in airborne FMS systems. This paper presents near and far term operational concepts for how a ground ATM (air traffic management) automation system like CTAS could work more effectively with the airborne automation in FMS equipped aircraft. The concepts for a more compatible air-ground system include: 1) a common route databases for both CTAS and FMS; 2) datalink to downlink information on aircraft weight, final approach speed and trajectory intent and to uplink wind information; 3) new FMS functions to allow flight crews to easily update their FMS trajectory to match the trajectory suggested by the ground automation with voice clearances, and 4) in the far term, datalink to downlink user preferred trajectories and to uplink trajectory clearances in the terminal area. The paper analyses some of the human factors issues that may result in allowing aircraft to fly FMS routes during enroute descent and in the terminal area. A series of linked human in the loop flight deck and air traffic control simulations and a field test with the NASA 757 are being conducted at NASA's Ames and Langley Research Centers to address these issues and to evaluate the operational feasibility of these approaches to more efficient flight and increased airport throughput.

Palmer, Everett↗
NASA NTRS2007

Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) Project

All space vehicles require ground umbilical systems for servicing. Servicing requirements can include, but are not limited to, electrical power and control, propellant loading and venting, pneumatic system supply, hazard gas detection and purging as well as systems checkout capabilities. Of the various types of umbilicals, all require several common subsystems. These typically include an alignment system, mating and locking system, fluid connectors, electrical connectors and control !checkout systems. These systems have been designed to various levels of detail based on the needs for manual and/or automation requirements. The Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) project is a multi-phase initiative to develop design performance requirements and concepts for launch system umbilicals. The automation aspect minimizes operational time and labor in ground umbilical processing while maintaining reliability. This current phase of the project reviews the design, development, testing and operations of ground umbilicals built for the Saturn, Shuttle, X-33 and Atlas V programs. Based on the design and operations lessons learned from these systems, umbilicals can be optimized for specific applications. The product of this study is a document containing details of existing systems and requirements for future automated umbilical systems with emphasis on design-for-operations (DFO).

Gosselin, Armand M.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A design procedure for control/display systems

This paper proposes a design procedure for control and display systems in which levels of automation vary over a significant range. The elements of the primary analysis tool (the Optimal Control Model of the Human Operator) are briefly reviewed, and the use of the model at three levels of specification (information level, display-element level, and display-format level) is discussed. Based on observation and pilot commentary, it is assumed that the pilot allocates his attention to control the aircraft to the desired level of performance, and then, with remaining capacity, to monitor displays. This facet of behavior is incorporated into the design procedure so that regardless of the level of control automation, all systems are compared at the same level of control performance. The design procedure is applied to the longitudinal control of a CH-47 helicopter. The procedure points out the need for performance-workload relations for control, which are fairly well understood, and performance-workload relations for monitoring, about which little is known.

Curry, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Trajectory optimization for an asymmetric launch vehicle

A numerical optimization technique is used to fully automate the trajectory design process for an symmetric configuration of the proposed Advanced Launch System (ALS). The objective of the ALS trajectory design process is the maximization of the vehicle mass when it reaches the desired orbit. The trajectories used were based on a simple shape that could be described by a small set of parameters. The use of a simple trajectory model can significantly reduce the computation time required for trajectory optimization. A predictive simulation was developed to determine the on-orbit mass given an initial vehicle state, wind information, and a set of trajectory parameters. This simulation utilizes an idealized control system to speed computation by increasing the integration time step. The conjugate gradient method is used for the numerical optimization of on-orbit mass. The method requires only the evaluation of the on-orbit mass function using the predictive simulation, and the gradient of the on-orbit mass function with respect to the trajectory parameters. The gradient is approximated with finite differencing. Prelaunch trajectory designs were carried out using the optimization procedure. The predictive simulation is used in flight to redesign the trajectory to account for trajectory deviations produced by off-nominal conditions, e.g., stronger than expected head winds.

Sullivan, Jeanne Marie↗
NASA NTRS1985

An expert system for choosing the best combination of options in a general-purpose program for automated design synthesis

An expert system was developed to aid a user of the Automated Design Synthesis (ADS) general-purpose optimization computer program in selecting the best combination of strategy, optimizer, and one-dimensional search options for solving a problem. There are approximately 100 such combinations available in ADS. The knowledge base contains over 200 rules, and is divided into three categories: constrained problems, unconstrained problems, and constrained problems treated as unconstrained problems. The inference engine is written in LISP and is available on DEC-VAX and IBM PC/XT computers.

Rogers, J. L., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Expert System for Automated Design Synthesis

Expert-system computer program EXADS developed to aid users of Automated Design Synthesis (ADS) general-purpose optimization program. EXADS aids engineer in determining best combination based on knowledge of specific problem and expert knowledge stored in knowledge base. Available in two interactive machine versions. IBM PC version (LAR-13687) written in IQ-LISP. DEC VAX version (LAR-13688) written in Franz-LISP.

Rogers, James L., Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Prototype High-Voltage Pulsed Power Supply for Control of the ITER Shattered Pellet Injection System Flyer Plate Valve

A high-voltage pulsed power supply (HVPPS) has been designed, prototyped, and tested for driving an eddy current actuated propellant valve for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) disruption mitigation system. The high-voltage (HV) dc supply output voltage is software programmable, and the energy storage capacitor bank can be readily reconfigured as 200, 400, 600, and 800 μ F, enabling testing and optimization of both the valve drive and valve systems. Multiple system parameters are monitored before, during, and after each firing of the valve. The system parameters are both displayed and stored for further analysis. Control of the setup, firing sequence, and data collection is automated using a LabVIEW-based control program. The programmability and reconfigurability of this system collectively provide a flexible and robust platform for system refinement and optimization. In this article, a summary of the system will be provided including operational sequences, HV switching and associated triggering methods and circuits, and results measured while firing a solid frozen pellet. Additionally, planned refinement activities toward meeting all requirements for ITER integration will be discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

DRAS: Deep Reinforcement Learning for Cluster Scheduling in High Performance Computing

Cluster schedulers are crucial in high-performance computing (HPC). They determine when and which user jobs should be allocated to available system resources. Existing cluster scheduling heuristics are developed by human experts based on their experience with specific HPC systems and workloads. However, the increasing complexity of computing systems and the highly dynamic nature of application workloads have placed tremendous burden on manually designed and tuned scheduling heuristics. More aggressive optimization and automation are needed for cluster scheduling in HPC. In this work, we present an automated HPC scheduling agent named DRAS (Deep Reinforcement Agent for Scheduling) by leveraging deep reinforcement learning. DRAS is built on a hierarchical neural network incorporating special HPC scheduling features such as resource reservation and backfilling. An efficient training strategy is presented to enable DRAS to rapidly learn the target environment. Once being provided a specific scheduling objective given by the system manager, DRAS automatically learns to improve its policy through interaction with the scheduling environment and dynamically adjusts its policy as workload changes. We implement DRAS into a HPC scheduling platform called CQGym. CQGym provides a common platform allowing users to flexibly evaluate DRAS and other scheduling methods such as heuristic and optimization methods. Furthermore, the experiments using CQGym with different production workloads demonstrate that DRAS outperforms the existing heuristic and optimization approaches by up to 50%.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1995

TRACON Aircraft Arrival Planning and Optimization Through Spatial Constraint Satisfaction

A new aircraft arrival planning and optimization algorithm has been incorporated into the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST) in the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS) developed at NASA-Ames Research Center. FAST simulations have been conducted over three years involving full-proficiency, level five air traffic controllers from around the United States. From these simulations an algorithm, called Spatial Constraint Satisfaction, has been designed, coded, undergone testing, and soon will begin field evaluation at the Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver International airport facilities. The purpose of this new design is an attempt to show that the generation of efficient and conflict free aircraft arrival plans at the runway does not guarantee an operationally acceptable arrival plan upstream from the runway -information encompassing the entire arrival airspace must be used in order to create an acceptable aircraft arrival plan. This new design includes functions available previously but additionally includes necessary representations of controller preferences and workload, operationally required amounts of extra separation, and integrates aircraft conflict resolution. As a result, the Spatial Constraint Satisfaction algorithm produces an optimized aircraft arrival plan that is more acceptable in terms of arrival procedures and air traffic controller workload. This paper discusses the current Air Traffic Control arrival planning procedures, previous work in this field, the design of the Spatial Constraint Satisfaction algorithm, and the results of recent evaluations of the algorithm.

Bergh, Christopher P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TechEdSat-11: Prototyping Autonomous Communications in Orbit

Cognitive Engine 1 (CE-1) is a state-of-the-art automated system designed to manage routine operations and respond to adverse events without requiring human operator input. CE-1 will optimize scheduling capabilities, detect and react to link failures, and ensure data delivery deadlines are met efficiently. Seamless roaming between government and commercial providers will allow for a robust and cost-effective network. TechEdSat-11 will demonstrate two key components of CE-1: User Initiated Services (UIS) and Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN). The first phase of the experiment will use UIS to automate on-demand scheduling of a commercial S-band ground station. Later phases of the experiment will demonstrate DTN store-and-forward and space internetworking capabilities through the TechEdSat-11 S-band radio. This paper will discuss the CE-1 main components relevant to the experiment, the flight and ground software architecture, experiment concept of operations and preliminary results.

Rachel Dudukovich↗
NASA NTRS1993

A comprehensive methodology for intelligent systems life-cycle cost modelling

As NASA moves into the last part on the twentieth century, the desire to do 'business as usual' has been replaced with the mantra 'faster, cheaper, better'. Recently, new work has been done to show how the implementation of advanced technologies, such as intelligent systems, will impact the cost of a system design or in the operational cost for a spacecraft mission. The impact of the degree of autonomous or intelligent systems and human participation on a given program is manifested most significantly during the program operational phases, while the decision of who performs what tasks, and how much automation is incorporated into the system are all made during the design and development phases. Employing intelligent systems and automation is not an either/or question, but one of degree. The question is what level of automation and autonomy will provide the optimal trade-off between performance and cost. Conventional costing methodologies, however, are unable to show the significance of technologies like these in terms of traceable cost benefits and reductions in the various phases of the spacecraft's lifecycle. The proposed comprehensive life-cycle methodology can address intelligent system technologies as well as others that impact human-machine operational modes.

Korsmeyer, David J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Models of Human Information Requirements: "When Reasonable Aiding Systems Disagree"

Aircraft flight management and Air Traffic Control (ATC) automation are under development to maximize the economy of flight and to increase the capacity of the terminal area airspace while maintaining levels of flight safety equal to or better than current system performance. These goals are being realized by the introduction of flight management automation aiding and operations support systems on the flight deck and by new developments of ATC aiding systems that seek to optimize scheduling of aircraft while potentially reducing required separation and accounting for weather and wake vortex turbulence. Aiding systems on both the flight deck and the ground operate through algorithmic functions on models of the aircraft and of the airspace. These models may differ from each other as a result of variations in their models of the immediate environment. The resultant flight operations or ATC commands may differ in their response requirements (e.g. different preferred descent speeds or descent initiation points). The human operators in the system must then interact with the automation to reconcile differences and resolve conflicts. We have developed a model of human performance including cognitive functions (decision-making, rule-based reasoning, procedural interruption recovery and forgetting) that supports analysis of the information requirements for resolution of flight aiding and ATC conflicts. The model represents multiple individuals in the flight crew and in ATC. The model is supported in simulation on a Silicon Graphics' workstation using Allegro Lisp. Design guidelines for aviation automation aiding systems have been developed using the model's specification of information and team procedural requirements. Empirical data on flight deck operations from full-mission flight simulation are provided to support the model's predictions. The paper describes the model, its development and implementation, the simulation test of the model predictions, and the empirical validation process. The model and its supporting data provide a generalizable tool that is being expanded to include air/ground compatibility and ATC crew interactions in air traffic management.

Corker, Kevin↗
DOE OSTI2025

Vehicle Automation Benefits and Challenges for Passenger Transport System Beyond Automated Driving

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has been researching the implementation of fully automated passenger transport systems to be operated within dense urban settings, referred to as Automated Mobility Districts, based on roadway vehicle automation as opposed to track or train-based automation. This research, now in its third phase, is presently addressing the full spectrum of benefits and challenges of full automation of passenger transport systems with respect to fleet electrification and the associated multimodal, large fleet operational management, benefits beyond simply automating the driving tasks. The focal points summarized in the paper and presentation address the benefit-analysis of fleet automation to address added complexities imposed on the multi-fleet operational management when there is a simultaneous implementation of an on-demand service mode that connects with and optimizes the effectiveness of legacy transit systems and new sub-regional autonomous vehicle fleets, with specific emphasis on enhanced ability to better meet peak ridership demand. The research also begins to address challenges in operations arising from lack of personnel present to handle unexpected customer and system needs. Combined, this research articulates vehicle automation benefits and challenges beyond simply automating the driving tasks, addressing additional operational benefits automation provides to address the added complexities imposed by electrification and on-demand modes of operation.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lighting Automation - Flying an Earthlike Habitat

Currently, spacecraft lighting systems are not demonstrating innovations in automation due to perceived costs in designing circuitry for the communication and automation of lights. The majority of spacecraft lighting systems employ lamps or zone specific manual switches and dimmers. This type of 'hardwired' solution does not easily convert to automation. With advances in solid state lighting, the potential to enhance a spacecraft habitat is lost if the communication and automation problem is not tackled. If we are to build long duration environments, which provide earth-like habitats, minimize crew time, and optimize spacecraft power reserves, innovation in lighting automation is a must. This project researched the use of the DMX512 communication protocol originally developed for high channel count lighting systems. DMX512 is an internationally governed, industry-accepted, lighting communication protocol with wide industry support. The lighting industry markets a wealth of hardware and software that utilizes DMX512, and there may be incentive to space certify the system. Our goal in this research is to enable the development of automated spacecraft habitats for long duration missions. To transform how spacecraft lighting environments are automated, our project conducted a variety of tests to determine a potential scope of capability. We investigated utilization and application of an industry accepted lighting control protocol, DMX512 by showcasing how the lighting system could help conserve power, assist with lighting countermeasures, and utilize spatial body tracking. We hope evaluation and the demonstrations we built will inspire other NASA engineers, architects and researchers to consider employing DMX512 "smart lighting" capabilities into their system architecture. By using DMX512 we will prove the 'wheel' does not need to be reinvented in terms of smart lighting and future spacecraft can use a standard lighting protocol to produce an effective, optimized and potentially earthlike habitat.

Clark, Tori A.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lighting Automation Flying an Earthlike Habitat

Currently, spacecraft lighting systems are not demonstrating innovations in automation due to perceived costs in designing circuitry for the communication and automation of lights. The majority of spacecraft lighting systems employ lamps or zone specific manual switches and dimmers. This type of 'hardwired' solution does not easily convert to automation. With advances in solid state lighting, the potential to enhance a spacecraft habitat is lost if the communication and automation problem is not tackled. If we are to build long duration environments, which provide earth-like habitats, minimize crew time, and optimize spacecraft power reserves, innovation in lighting automation is a must. This project researched the use of the DMX512 communication protocol originally developed for high channel count lighting systems. DMX512 is an internationally governed, industry-accepted, lighting communication protocol with wide industry support. The lighting industry markets a wealth of hardware and software that utilizes DMX512, and there may be incentive to space certify the system. Our goal in this research is to enable the development of automated spacecraft habitats for long duration missions. To transform how spacecraft lighting environments are automated, our project conducted a variety of tests to determine a potential scope of capability. We investigated utilization and application of an industry accepted lighting control protocol, DMX512 by showcasing how the lighting system could help conserve power, assist with lighting countermeasures, and utilize spatial body tracking. We hope evaluation and the demonstrations we built will inspire other NASA engineers, architects and researchers to consider employing DMX512 "smart lighting" capabilities into their system architecture. By using DMX512 we will prove the 'wheel' does not need to be reinvented in terms of smart lighting and future spacecraft can use a standard lighting protocol to produce an effective, optimized and potentially earthlike habitat.

Clark, Toni A.↗