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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 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

AI-assisted optimization of the ECCE tracking system at the Electron Ion Collider

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is a cutting-edge accelerator facility that will study the nature of the “glue” that binds the building blocks of the visible matter in the universe. The proposed experiment will be realized at Brookhaven National Laboratory in approximately 10 years from now, with detector design and R&D currently ongoing. Notably, EIC is one of the first large-scale facilities to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) already starting from the design and R&D phases. The EIC Comprehensive Chromodynamics Experiment (ECCE) is a consortium that proposed a detector design based on a 1.5 T solenoid. The EIC detector proposal review concluded that the ECCE design will serve as the reference design for an EIC detector. Herein we describe a comprehensive optimization of the ECCE tracker using AI. The work required a complex parametrization of the simulated detector system. Herein our approach dealt with an optimization problem in a multidimensional design space driven by multiple objectives that encode the detector performance, while satisfying several mechanical constraints. We describe our strategy and show results obtained for the ECCE tracking system. The AI-assisted design is agnostic to the simulation framework and can be extended to other sub-detectors or to a system of sub-detectors to further optimize the performance of the EIC detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2026

Safeguards Technology Program FY2026 Mid-Year Report for Project WBS# 24.1.3.3: Development of Procedures for Th-U Radiochronometry of Uranium Particles by LG-SIMS

Implementing 230 Th- 234 U radiochronometry of environmental uranium particles by large geometry secondary ion mass spectrometry (LG-SIMS) requires assessment, validation, and technical support before safeguards conclusions can be drawn from the information. This project investigates the most challenging aspects of LG-SIMS particle radiochronometry 230 Th- 234 U measurements through a collaboration between LANL and NIST, to provide best practices and procedures for determining high quality ages with optimized uncertainties. This includes exploration of reducing detector backgrounds, investigating the best ways to report uncertainties, and establishing recommended instrument setups.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2020

Optimizing Bifacial PV Systems (Q3 FY2020 Project Report)

This project has four main technical objectives. Develop and improve bifacial performance models by adding the capability to evaluate electrical behavior and performance of bifacial modules and arrays under realistic field conditions including irradiance variability caused by racking, module frame, and position in the array. Instrument and monitor performance of fielded bifacial systems to validate performance models and to measure, analyze and publish on bifacial energy gain. These should include both research and commercial bifacial systems and cover a variety of deployment applications. Evaluate optimal bifacial system designs using simulations leveraging high performance computing, and also using full sized and miniaturized experimental field deployments. Establish and contribute to international test standards for bifacial system performance, testing, and safety, and work with the community to establish installation and siting best practices.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Optimization of foreground moment deprojection for semi-blind CMB polarization reconstruction

Abstract Upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments, aimed at measuring primordial CMB polarization B-modes, require exquisite control of instrumental systematics and Galactic foreground contamination. Blind minimum-variance techniques, like the Needlet Internal Linear Combination (NILC), have proven effective in reconstructing the CMB polarization signal and mitigating foregrounds and systematics across diverse sky models without suffering from foreground mismodelling errors. Still, residual foreground contamination from NILC may bias the recovered CMB polarization at large angular scales when confronted with the most complex foreground scenarios.By adding constraints to NILC to deproject statistical moments of the Galactic emission, the Constrained Moment ILC (cMILC) method has been demonstrated to further enhance foreground subtraction, albeit with an associated increase in overall noise variance. Faced with this trade-off between foreground bias reduction and overall variance minimization, there is still no recipe on which moments to deproject and which are better suited for blind variance minimization. To address this, we introduce the optimized cMILC (ocMILC) pipeline, which performs full automated optimization of the required number and set of foreground moments to deproject, pivot parameter values, and deprojection coefficients across the sky and angular scales, depending on the actual sky complexity, available frequency coverage, and experiment sensitivity. The optimal number of moments for deprojection, before paying significant noise penalty, is determined through a data diagnosis inspired by the Generalized NILC (GNILC) method.Validated on B-mode simulations of thePICOspace mission concept with four challenging foreground models, ocMILC exhibits lower Galactic foreground contamination compared to NILC and cMILC at all angular scales, with limited noise penalty. This multi-layer optimization enables the ocMILC pipeline to achieve unbiased posteriors of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, regardless of foreground complexity.

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Bayesian Optimization of a Free-Electron Laser

The Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray free-electron laser is a complex scienti c apparatus which changes con gurations multiple times per day, necessitating fast tuning strategies to reduce setup time for successive experiments. To this end, we employ a Bayesian approach to maximizing X- ray laser pulse energy by controlling groups of quadrupole magnets. A Gaussian process model provides probabilistic predictions for the machine response with respect to control parameters, enabling a balance of exploration and exploitation in the search for the global optimum. We show that the model parameters can be learned from archived scans, and correlations between devices can be extracted from the beam transport. Furthermore, the result is a sample-e cient optimization routine, combining both historical data and knowledge of accelerator physics to signi cantly outperform existing optimizers.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

SPLENDAQ: A Detector-Agnostic Data Acquisition System for Small-Scale Physics Experiments

Many scientific applications from rare-event searches to condensed matter system characterization to high-rate nuclear experiments require time-domain triggering on a raw stream of data, where the triggering is generally threshold-based or randomly acquired. When carrying out detector R &D, there is a need for a general data acquisition (DAQ) system to quickly and efficiently process such data. In the SPLENDOR collaboration, we are developing the Python-based SPLENDAQ package for this exact purpose—it offers two main features for offline analysis of continuous data: a threshold triggering algorithm based on the time-domain optimal filter formalism and an algorithm for randomly choosing nonoverlapping segments for noise measurements. Further, combined with the commercially available Moku platform, developed by Liquid Instruments, we have a full pipeline of event building off raw data with minimal setup. Here, we review the underlying principles of this detector-agnostic DAQ package and give concrete examples of its utility in various applications.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dark Field Proton Radiography (Los Alamos LDRD Report)

Proton radiography at LANL (pRad) takes advantage of the high flux, high proton energy, and flexible timing structure of LANSCE's 800-MeV proton beam to visualize dense, dynamic systems under extreme strain. With recent needs identified for the development of the W93, the pRad team has been actively searching for ways to increase the facility's radiographic capabilities. Recently, we discovered that utilizing two magnetic lenses (one upstream and one downstream of the object), and specific combinations of collimator choices within the two lenses, that the signal-to-noise ratio was improved by more than a factor of two. However, we did not fully understand the mechanism, and found that results did not match forward modeling predictions. This work specifically sought to implement an engineering solution to solve this problem, through the development of an actuated collimator that reduced the time required to swap collimator settings from a typical 4-8 hours, to less than 30 seconds. This allowed, in combination with a unique multi-material, multi-resolution stepwedge, to acquire an unprecedently enormous dataset, with in total 24 collimation combinations, and multiple diffuser settings and pulse patterns, equivalent to almost a full run cycle's worth of data in a few days. This massive dataset is currently being harnessed to make a fully-predictive, ultra-fast Python-based model of the system, to dial in specific settings for any future experiments that fully optimize that radiographic sensitivity to the material of interest.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

X-ray FEL linear accelerator design via start-to-end global optimization

An X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) prefers using an electron beam with low emittance, small energy spread, and a high core current to generate coherent radiation through an undulator. In order to attain such a high brightness beam, the linear accelerator beam dynamics design generally involves separate photoinjector optimization and linac optimization. In this paper, we propose a new beam dynamics design strategy based on global optimization with fast start-to-end simulations from the photocathode to the end of the accelerator. The new start-to-end model significantly reduces the simulation time and makes the global optimization practical. The global optimization method avoids the need to choose a single solution based on bunch length at the injector exit for the linac optimization and helps find the solution with unfavorable bunch length at the injector exit but better phase space distribution that can result in better final electron beam phase space distribution at the entrance of the undulator. Here, using the start-to-end global optimization, we showed in an application example, with a 100 pC beam that good transverse emittance and over kilo-Ampere final core current can be attained using a photoinjector that consists of a VHF gun and boosting RF cavities.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

2021 Q1 Project Report: Optimized Bifacial PV Systems (Q1 FY2021 Project Report)

This project has four main technical objectives: 1) Develop and improve bifacial performance models by adding the capability to evaluate electrical behavior and performance of bifacial modules and arrays under realistic field conditions including irradiance variability caused by racking, module frame, and position in the array. 2) Instrument and monitor performance of fielded bifacial systems to validate performance models and to measure, analyze and publish on bifacial energy gain. These should include both research and commercial bifacial systems and cover a variety of deployment applications. 3) Evaluate optimal bifacial system designs using simulations leveraging high-performance computing, and also using full sized and miniaturized experimental field deployments. 4) Establish and contribute to international test standards for bifacial system performance, testing, and safety, and work with the community to establish installation and siting best practices.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

TMTpro Complementary Ion Quantification Increases Plexing and Sensitivity for Accurate Multiplexed Proteomics at the MS2 Level

Multiplexed proteomics is a powerful tool to assay cell states in health and disease, but accurate quantification of relative protein changes is impaired by interference from co-isolated peptides. Most widely, this issue is alleviated by MS3-based quantification, reducing sensitivity and requiring specialized instrumentation. An alternative approach is quantification by complementary ions, which allows accurate and precise multiplexed quantification at the MS2 level and is compatible with the most widely distributed instruments. However, complementary ions of the popular TMT tag form inefficiently and plexing is limited to five channels. In this work, we evaluate and optimize complementary ion quantification for the recently released TMTPro tag, which increases plexing capacity to 8 channels (TMTProC). We find that the beneficial fragmentation properties increase quantification signal five-fold compared to TMT. This increased sensitivity results in ~50% more proteins quantified compared to TMTPro-MS3 and even slightly outperforms TMTPro-MS2. Furthermore, TMTProC quantification is more accurate than TMTPro-MS2 and even superior to TMTPro-MS3. To demonstrate the power of TMTProC, we analyzed a human and yeast interference sample and were able to quantify 13,290 proteins in 24 fractions. Thus, TMTProC advances multiplexed proteomics data quality and widens access to accurate multiplexed proteomics beyond laboratories with MS3-capable instrumentation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development of a Low-Cost, Sensitivity-Optimized Fluorescence Sensor for Visible Spectrum Analysis

This paper presents an economically viable, sensitivity-optimized fluorescence sensor for detecting low concentrations of fluorophores in the visible spectrum range. The sensor employs a deep ultraviolet (DUV) 275-nm LED and a dichroic mirror to establish a co-axial optical path for excitation and emission. Instead of utilizing a general-purposed spectrometer optimized for high spectral resolution, the sensor strikes a balance between resolution and sensitivity by using an appropriate aperture size and optimized optical design tailored for the spectral characteristics of fluorophores. Here, the manuscript demonstrates measurements of ppb-level rare earth element (REE) samples containing terbium (Tb), europium (Eu), dysprosium (Dy), and samarium (Sm) in aqueous solutions. Through balanced design that optimizes collection of fluorescence emission without losing spectral information, this work shows the feasibility of developing a low-cost, compact, and highly sensitive fluorescence sensors with improved detection sensitivity when compared to bench-top commercial spectrofluorometers at far higher costs.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Physics potential of the IceCube Upgrade for atmospheric neutrino oscillations

The IceCube Upgrade is an extension of the existing IceCube Neutrino Observatory and will be deployed in the 2025–2026 austral summer. It will significantly improve the sensitivity of the detector to atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The existing 86-string IceCube array contains a dense in-fill known as DeepCore which is optimized to measure neutrinos with energies down to a few GeV. The IceCube Upgrade will consist of seven new densely instrumented strings placed within the DeepCore volume to further enhance the performance in the GeV energy range. The additional strings will feature new optical modules, each containing multiple photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), in contrast to the existing modules that each contain a single PMT. This will more than triple the number of PMT channels with respect to the current IceCube configuration, allowing for improved detection efficiency and reconstruction performance at GeV energies. We describe necessary updates to simulation, event selection, and reconstruction to accommodate the higher data rates observed by the upgraded detector and the addition of multi-PMT modules. We determine the expected sensitivity of the IceCube Upgrade to the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters sin 2 ⁡𝜃 23 and Δ⁢𝑚$^{2}_{32}$, the appearance of tau neutrinos and the neutrino mass ordering. The IceCube Upgrade will provide neutrino oscillation measurements that are of similar precision to those from accelerator experiments, while providing complementarity by probing higher energies and longer baselines, and with different sources of systematic uncertainties.

artificial neural networks↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nuclear Power Fault Diagnostics and Preventative Maintenance Optimization NPIC presentation

The nuclear industry is beginning to see reactors shut down—even after their operating licenses have been extended—because they are not economically competitive with other energy sources. These early closures happen primarily due to economic reasons, despite excellent safety records. Therefore, it is imperative to reduce costs in order to prevent these early closures. One of the contributors to these economic reasons is the large operations and maintenance costs. This paper showcases recent research on advanced fault diagnostics techniques and preventative maintenance optimization (PMO) for reducing NPP maintenance costs. Specifically, it focuses on the feedwater and condensate system (FWCS) for both pressurized- and boiling-water reactor (BWR) systems. The computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), which contains the plant’s digital record of all corrective maintenance (CM) and preventative maintenance (PM) work orders, provided the ground truth for locating potential faults and labeling the process data as either healthy or faulted. Various feature extraction techniques were used to further differentiate the faulted data from the healthy data. Through a cross-validation procedure, support vectors machines were used to label other test sets of process data as either healthy or faulted. With relatively few faults identified in the BWR system, the potential for PMO opens up, since an unnecessary amount of PM leads to inflated maintenance costs. The steps for PMO are summarized, from component health determinations to recommendations for action. An example of PMO assessment is presented for condensate pumps, condensate booster pumps, and the respective motors that drive them.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electrical Resistivity Tomography based monitoring of stress perturbations to optimize placement of high-precision strain meters

The Center for Understanding Subsurface Signals and Permeability is a new U.S. Department of Energy Earthshot Center focused on understanding and predicting the long-term evolution of permeability in enhanced geothermal systems. The center will use a highly instrumented testbed within the Sanford Underground Research Facility to conduct field scale experiments that elucidate and test capabilities to simulate geochemical-geomechanical interactions and permeability evolution. Here we demonstrate initial developments using previously collected electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) monitoring data with high-performance multi-physics modelling advancements to inform the optimal location of two new monitoring boreholes. Specifically, ERT monitoring data collected during shear stimulation testing shows marked responses to changes in stress during borehole pressurization. We demonstrate how the same response is being simulated, ultimately to train a machine-learning algorithm to estimate rock properties and enable enhanced prediction of stress and strain responses anticipated during future testing campaigns.

Stress, EGS, CUSSP, 3D Electrical Imaging↗
DOE OSTI2020

Detailed modeling of the video signal and optimal readout of charge-coupled devices

This paper provides a practical design methodology to calculate an optimal filter for noise reduction in the readout of charge-coupled devices (CCDs) taking into account the charge transfer and feedthroughs due to capacitive coupling in the CCD. A detailed analysis of the dynamics of the video signal and charge transfer is presented, including the circuital modeling of the output stage of the CCD and the dynamics of the electronics in the video chain before the analog-to-digital (AD) converter. This model is used to compute an optimal filter that minimizes the variance of the pixel noise and uses the samples of the charge transfer, before the charge is fully settled. This is necessary to enhance the performance of previous results that also use optimal filters but do not use the transition samples, while also reducing the pixel readout time, resulting in faster readouts. As a proof of concept for the optimal filter, we present in this paper novel experimental results using a Skipper CCD, which has a floating sense node that allows to measure the charge packet an arbitrary number of times. However, this technique can be applied to any CCD that has a readout system that digitally samples the video signal.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Improvements of pre-emptive identification of particle accelerator failures using binary classifiers and dimensionality reduction

In this paper we look at the properties of the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) Differential Beam Current Monitor (DCM) data and various methods of data transformation to improve pre-emptive detection of machine trips. In this study, the foundation of the approach is the analysis of new underlying data and understanding various properties with the goal of faster classification, higher precision and higher recall with the aim to reduce false positives as low as required. The result of the research presented in this paper are a binary classifier capable of predicting accelerator failures with millisecond classification time, 96% precision, 58% true positive and 0% false positive rate and optimization techniques enabling real-time implementations.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electron cyclotron emission detection of neoclassical tearing modes for control for ITER

Successful operation of ITER requires control of magnetic instabilities including neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) that can degrade confinement and lead to disruption. Low latency detection by electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostics has been demonstrated in a few current experiments. Using a synthetic diagnostic, we demonstrate low latency NTM detection for ITER with plasmas described by ITER IMAS database scenarios and with realistic limitations imposed on the instrumentation by these high temperature scenarios. 2/1 NTMs are detected 430 ms after magnetic island seeding and before island locking. The radiometer configuration was optimized using simulation, and the smallest detectable island size was explored. Island sizes of ∼3 cm are detectable at the 2/1 surface. The simulated signals incorporate recent physics models for island growth and rotation, which show early locking and continued island growth after locking and before disruption. This work determines limits for ITER ECE spatial resolution imposed by relativistic broadening of channels, which informs hardware design. Real-time detection is demonstrated in hardware that is required by ITER, including on an NI PXI-7853R FPGA system. Development of a synthetic diagnostic and details of the hardware will be discussed.

Cyclotron radiation↗