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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

Fast quantum ghost imaging with a single-photon-sensitive time-stamping camera

Quantum ghost imaging (QGI) leverages correlations between entangled photon pairs to reconstruct an image using light that has never physically interacted with an object. Despite extensive research interest, this technique has long been hindered by slow acquisition speeds, due to the use of raster-scanned detectors or the slow response of intensified cameras. Here, we utilize a single-photon-sensitive time-stamping camera to perform QGI at ultra-low-light levels with rapid data acquisition and processing times, achieving high-resolution and high-contrast images in under 1 min. Our work addresses the trade-off between image quality, optical power, data acquisition time, and data processing time in QGI, paving the way for practical applications in biomedical and quantum-secured imaging.

Mavian, Alex (ORCID:0000000279448830)↗

Data Center Cybersecurity, Supply Chain Risk Management, and Emerging Regulation Cohort Summary: Takeaways and Action Plans

This report summarizes the outcomes of the Data Center Cohort under the Department of Energy’s Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) initiative, aimed at enhancing grid resilience through cybersecurity, supply chain risk management (SCRM), and Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE). The cohort engaged 17 organizations across utilities, data center operators, vendors, and technology providers in three sessions combining presentations, discussions, and exercises. Key topics included AI-driven load behavior, cybersecurity vulnerabilities in UPS/BESS and cooling systems, governance gaps at utility–data center boundaries, and supply chain integrity. Five cross-cutting themes emerged: interconnection architecture vulnerabilities, fragmented governance, AI-driven stability risks, lack of regulatory frameworks, and long-term supply chain concerns. Actionable recommendations were developed, including implementing DMZ segmentation, formalizing vendor access agreements, designing AI workload limits, and advancing standards through NERC and state-level programs. These strategies aim to strengthen resilience, clarify responsibilities, and ensure secure integration of data centers into the grid.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Study of aircraft electrical power systems

The formulation of a philosophy for devising a reliable, efficient, lightweight, and cost effective electrical power system for advanced, large transport aircraft in the 1980 to 1985 time period is discussed. The determination and recommendation for improvements in subsystems and components are also considered. All aspects of the aircraft electrical power system including generation, conversion, distribution, and utilization equipment were considered. Significant research and technology problem areas associated with the development of future power systems are identified. The design categories involved are: (1) safety-reliability, (2) power type, voltage, frequency, quality, and efficiency, (3) power control, and (4) selection of utilization equipment.

Source record↗

Magnifying image intensifier

A magnetically focused image intensifier was improved to increase the usable range of magnification without degradation of image quality. The power requirements of the focusing coils are minimal. The arrangement of the focusing coils reverses the direction of the axial magnetic field distribution between the planes of the photocathode and the phosphor screen.

Vine, J.↗

Results of a utility survey of the status of large wind turbine development

Wind energy conversion systems were surveyed from a utility viewpoint to establish the state of the art with regard to: (1) availability of the type of machines; (2) quality of power generation; (3) suitability for electrical grid; (4) reliability; and (5) economics. Of the 23 designs discussed, 7 have vertical axis wind turbines, 9 have upwind horizontal axis turbines, and 7 have downwind horizontal axis turbines.

Watts, A.↗

NASA Glenn Electric Propulsion Work

NASA Glenn Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) Presentation Outline: High-Voltage, High-Power EAP - Standards and Regulations - Safety and Certification - High Power Density, High-Efficiency Electric Machines and Drives - Thermal Management - Fault Management - Superconducting Electric Machines - Materials Research - Modeling Tools - Advanced Controls

Electric Propulsion↗

Guided Resilience Self Assessment Application

Reliable electricity access is vital for everything from hospitals to national security. When grid disturbances occur, it is crucial to minimize the amount of time it takes to recover. Grid resiliency considers both the preparation for and recovery from high-impact low-frequency disturbances (HILF) such as weather events and cyber attacks. The Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) funds the multi-laboratory Microgrids, Infrastructure Resilience, and Advanced Control Launchpad (MIRACL) project to investigate technologies to support and grow distributed wind. Researchers at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) contribute to resilience and cybersecurity efforts for the project, and have produced a resilience framework to evaluate system resilience based on individual system specifications. In order to make this framework easy for anyone to apply, I have coded a web application that allows users to input their power system qualities, goals, and perceived risks and then receive suggestions on how to improve their grid resiliency. The web application follows the seven steps in the planning stage of the framework process, allowing the user to input information about their grid and select from common goals, metrics, and hazards, as well as add their own. The application currently provides information about how to complete each step, requiring minimal prior knowledge of the framework. Future work for this application will include allowing the user to submit line drawings of their system and incorporate modeling tools so that the hazard simulations of applying the framework is completed for the user.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Vis-SAGA: Visual Analytics for Situational Awareness of Grid Anomalies: Preprint

We describe supporting near real-time situational awareness of the electric distribution system by visualizing novel data from voltage sensors deployed on existing broadband cable television network equipment. Our scalable web-based visual analytics platform supports interactive geospatial exploration, time-series analysis, and summarization of grid behavior during potentially anomalous events. The broadband cable television sensor network provides observability of the electrical distribution system at a higher local spatial resolution than is typically available to most utilities, revealing the operational state of the network and aiding in the detection of abnormal behaviors or deviations from expected patterns, particularly across electric utility service areas. We outline the design and development of interactive geospatial and time-series visualization components and the scalable data services that supply metadata, historical, and real-time streams of sensor data across the network. We evaluate our platform during periods of extreme weather, demonstrating its ability to assist in detecting patterns of operation that affect power availability, quality, resiliency, and service restoration.

cable television↗

Defense Technical Assistance - Infographic 4/24/25

Defense Technical Assistance (TA) Infographic designed to inform potential pilot partnerships with military installation about the TA opportunities available. - Secure and reliable energy is crucial for the operational readiness and resilience of military installations. The Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office has funded a new initiative at Idaho National Laboratory to conduct technical, on-site assessments that aim to secure the power infrastructure of military bases reliant on civilian utilities for their operations, both CONUS and OCONUS. Including how the assessments work and INL capabilities, partnership model as well as outcomes.

21 - SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLAN↗

Smart sensor for online situational awareness in power grids

Waveforms in power grids typically reveal a certain pattern with specific features and peculiarities driven by the system operating conditions, internal and external uncertainties, etc. This prompts an observation of different types of waveforms at the measurement points (substations). An innovative next-generation smart sensor technology includes a measurement unit embedded with sophisticated analytics for power grid online surveillance and situational awareness. The smart sensor brings additional levels of smartness into the existing phasor measurement units (PMUs) and intelligent electronic devices (IEDs). It unlocks the full potential of advanced signal processing and machine learning for online power grid monitoring in a distributed paradigm. Within the smart sensor are several interconnected units for signal acquisition, feature extraction, machine learning-based event detection, and a suite of multiple measurement algorithms where the best-fit algorithm is selected in real-time based on the detected operating condition. Embedding such analytics within the sensors and closer to where the data is generated, the distributed intelligence mechanism mitigates the potential risks to communication failures and latencies, as well as malicious cyber threats, which would otherwise compromise the trustworthiness of the end-use applications in distant control centers. The smart sensor achieves a promising classification accuracy on multiple classes of prevailing conditions in the power grid and accordingly improves the measurement quality across the power grid.

Dehghanian, Payman↗

STOL Simulation Requirements for Development of Integrated Flight/propulsion Control Systems

The role and use of simulation as a design tool in developing integrated systems where design criteria is largely unavailable is well known. This paper addresses additional simulation needs for the development of Integrated Flight/Propulsion Control Systems (IFPCS) which will improve the probability of properly interpreting simulation results. These needs are based on recent experience with power approach flying qualities evaluations of an advanced fighter configuration which incorporated Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) technologies and earlier experiences with power approach flying qualities evaluations on the AFTI/F-16 program. The use of motion base platforms with axial and normal degrees of freedom will help in evaluating pilot coupling and workload in the presence of high frequency low amplitude axial accelerations produced by high bandwidth airspeed controllers in a gusty environment.

Sanders, K. E.↗

High-performance photonic transformers for DC voltage conversion

Abstract Direct current (DC) converters play an essential role in electronic circuits. Conventional high-efficiency DC voltage converters, especially step-up type, rely on switching operation, where energy is periodically stored within and released from inductors and/or capacitors connected in a variety of circuit topologies. Since these energy storage components, especially inductors, are fundamentally difficult to scale down, miniaturization of switching converters proves challenging. Furthermore, the resulting switching currents produce significant electromagnetic noise. To overcome the limitations of switching converters, photonic transformers, where voltage conversion is achieved through light emission and detection processes, have been demonstrated. However, the demonstrated efficiency is significantly below that of the switching converter. Here we perform a detailed balance analysis and show that with a monolithically integrated design that enables efficient photon transport, the photonic transformer can operate with a near-unity conversion efficiency and high voltage conversion ratio. We validate the theory with a transformer constructed with off-the-shelf discrete components. Our experiment showcases near noiseless operation and a voltage conversion ratio that is significantly higher than obtained in previous photonic transformers. Our findings point to the possibility of a high-performance optical solution to miniaturizing DC power converters and improving the electromagnetic compatibility and quality of electrical power.

42 ENGINEERING↗

MCTs and IGBTs - A comparison of performance in power electronic circuits

There is a continuous demand for improvements in the quality of switching power devices, such as higher switching frequency, higher withstand voltage capability, larger current-handling capability, and lower conduction losses. However, for single-conduction-mechanism devices (SCRs, GTOs, BJTs, FETs), possessing all these features is probably unrealizable for physical reasons. An attractive solution appears to be double-mechanism devices, in which the features of both a minority carrier device (BJT or SCR) and a majority carrier device (MOSFET) are embedded. Both IGBTs (insulated-gate bipolar transistors) and MCTs (MOS-controlled thyristors) belong to this family of double-mechanism devices and promise to have a major impact on converter circuit signs. The authors deal with the major features of these two devices, pointing out those that are most critical to the design of converter topologies. In particular, the two devices have been tested both in a chopper and in two resonant link converter topologies, and the experimental results are reported.

Sul, S. K.↗

Cost-Effective Thermally Activated Building Systems to Support a Power Grid System With High Penetrations Of As-Available Renewable Energy Resources

With a goal to reduce the energy cost for building operation as well as to support renewable energy sources (RES) for the power grid reliability, quality, resilience, and dispatchability, this project developed and demonstrated a novel thermally activated building envelope system that integrates Phase Change Material (PCM)-based Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and the hydronic activation into the building envelope. The main objectives of this study are: 1) to design and laboraorty-test a novel thermally activated building envelope system that integrate PCM-based TES and the hydronic activation into building envelope, and 2) to exploit this new system to significantly reduce the energy cost of operating buildings and manage and support renewable energy sources (RES), e.g., solar and wind for the power grid reliability, quality, resilience, and dispatchability. To achieve the project objectives, a new low-cost, fire-retardant PCM packaging technology (CenoPCM) was developed specifically for high-volume building applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗