Results for “Multiple platforms” — Page 13

DOE OSTI2022

Optimization of Application-Driven Development of In Vitro Neuromuscular Junction Models

Neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) are specialized synapses responsible for signal transduction between motor neurons (MNs) and skeletal muscle tissue. Malfunction at this site can result from developmental disorders, toxic environmental exposures, and neurodegenerative diseases leading to severe neurological dysfunction. Exploring these conditions in human or animal subjects is restricted by ethical concerns and confounding environmental factors. Therefore, in vitro NMJ models provide exciting opportunities for advancements in tissue engineering. In the last two decades, multiple NMJ prototypes and platforms have been reported, and each model system design is strongly tied to a specific application: exploring developmental physiology, disease modeling, or high-throughput screening. Directing the differentiation of stem cells into mature MNs and/or skeletal muscle for NMJ modeling has provided critical cues to recapitulate early-stage development. Patient-derived inducible pluripotent stem cells provide a personalized approach to investigating NMJ disease, especially when disease etiology cannot be resolved down to a specific gene mutation. Having reproducible NMJ culture replicates is useful for high-throughput screening to evaluate drug toxicity and determine the impact of environmental threat exposures. Cutting-edge bioengineering techniques have propelled this field forward with innovative microfabrication and design approaches allowing both two-dimensional and three-dimensional NMJ culture models. Many of these NMJ systems require further validation for broader application by regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical companies, and the general research community. In this summary, we present a comprehensive review on the current state-of-art research in NMJ models and discuss their ability to provide valuable insight into cell and tissue interactions.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2022

Caldera_Grid

Caldera Grid is part of Caldera software platform, a suite of collective, open-source tools that was developed to improve the state of the art in modeling the impacts of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging on the grid. Caldera Grid is a co-simulation framework implemented using Hierarchical Engine for Large scale Infrastructure Co-Simulation (HELICS). The framework facilitates the co-simulation of EV charging and Smart Charge Management (SCM) strategies in Caldera Infrastructure Charge Model (ICM) with distribution level grid models in OpenDSS. Vehicle energy needs and charge session requirements generated using Caldera Charge Decision Module (CDM) are fed in as input to Caldera Grid. The EV charging models in Caldera ICM simulates both the uncontrolled charging loads as well as loads modified by the SCM strategies to develop distributed load profiles for each grid node hosting an Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) – also known as chargers. These loads were simulated in OpenDSS alongside existing distribution feeder loads. Each of these models are co-simulated in a HELICS federate. The HELICS co-simulation framework facilitates communication and synchronization between the federates. By co-simulating EV loads and distribution feeder loads, Caldera Grid can assess the potential grid impacts of EV charging on distribution feeders under various grid conditions. A control strategy federate is implemented with an interface where control strategies based on feedback from EV charging status and grid conditions can be developed and implemented. The platform can also support multiple control strategies in a single co-simulation.

Sundarrajan, ManojKumar Cebol↗

DOE OSTI2020

P finder: genomic and metagenomic annotation of RNase P RNA gene (rnpB)

Abstract Background The rnpB gene encodes for an essential catalytic RNA (RNase P). Like other essential RNAs, RNase P’s sequence is highly variable. However, unlike other essential RNAs (i.e. tRNA, 16 S, 6 S,...) its structure is also variable with at least 5 distinct structure types observed in prokaryotes. This structural variability makes it labor intensive and challenging to create and maintain covariance models for the detection of RNase P RNA in genomic and metagenomic sequences. The lack of a facile and rapid annotation algorithm has led to the rnpB gene being the most grossly under annotated essential gene in completed prokaryotic genomes with only a 24% annotation rate. Here we describe the coupling of the largest RNase P RNA database with the local alignment scoring algorithm to create the most sensitive and rapid prokaryote rnpB gene identification and annotation algorithm to date. Results Of the 2772 completed microbial genomes downloaded from GenBank only 665 genomes had an annotated rnpB gene. We applied P Finder to these genomes and were able to identify 2733 or nearly 99% of the 2772 microbial genomes examined. From these results four new rnpB genes that encode the minimal T-type P RNase P RNAs were identified computationally for the first time. In addition, only the second C-type RNase P RNA was identified in Sphaerobacter thermophilus . Of special note, no RNase P RNAs were detected in several obligate endosymbionts of sap sucking insects suggesting a novel evolutionary adaptation. Conclusions The coupling of the largest RNase P RNA database and associated structure class identification with the P Finder algorithm is both sensitive and rapid, yielding high quality results to aid researchers annotating either genomic or metagenomic data. It is the only algorithm to date that can identify challenging RNAse P classes such as C-type and the minimal T-type RNase P RNAs. P Finder is written in C# and has a user-friendly GUI that can run on multiple 64-bit windows platforms (Windows Vista/7/8/10). P Finder is free available for download at https://github.com/JChristopherEllis/P-Finder as well as a small sample RNase P RNA file for testing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

eMosaic: Electrification Mosaic Platform for Grid Informed Smart Charging Management (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

ABB (Prime Contractor), in collaboration with its partners at the Utah State University (USU), Idaho National Laboratory, Rocky Mountain Power (RMP), and Electric Power Engineers (EPE), have performed research, development, and wide scale demonstration of a scalable and resilient Electrification Mosaic (eMosaic) platform for Smart Charge Management (SCM) for Electric Vehicle Infrastructure. Work was completed under DE EE0009194, titled “eMosaic Electrification Mosaic Platform for Grid Informed Smart Charging Management”, funded by the US Department of Energy. The project members developed algorithms that provide localized and bulk grid services and that reduce and stabilize costs all the way down the supply chain to the PEV owner through SCM. This platform aggregates telemetry from multiple data sources as pieces of the larger picture including personal, private fleet or transportation EVs, fast chargers and other supply equipment, weather service information, and geographically distributed charging sites such as public lots, garage and retail, and private or shared usage depots. ABB and the project team designed, tested, and improved a charging management system at local/edge and cloud levels. The ultimate objective of the project was to convincingly demonstrate that the developed secure eMosaic plat-form can be readily and favorably adopted by diverse utilities and site owners at scale. This was achieved through a demonstration plan with field deployment at several physical sites across 4 states and additional scalable simulation from high fidelity charging models.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2026

Editorial: Towards the rapid and systematic assessment of vaccine technologies

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted both the extraordinary potential of modern vaccinology and persistent challenges in how vaccine technologies are assessed. While vaccines can be developed and deployed at unprecedented speed, our ability to predict efficacy in a population is constrained by methodological difficulties, underreporting of negative results, and limited comparability across studies. This editorial introduces a Research Topic that brings together an interdisciplinary collection of experimental, computational, and theoretical contributions spanning multiple pathogens and vaccine platforms. Across these contributions, emerging themes emphasize the need for standardized immunogenicity metrics, transparent reporting including negative findings, and harmonized experimental protocols to support meaningful comparisons. This editorial highlights community practices and shared commitments – supported by researchers, funders, and journals – that could strengthen reproducibility, transparency, and cumulative learning in vaccine research.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1980

Controls for LSS

An overiew of control development for large space structures (LSS) is presented addressing the activities of LSS modeling for control synthesis, technology identification and development, and performance evaluation. Specifically discussed are a 100 meter wrap rib antenna, a multiple payload science application platform, and a solar power satellite. In addition, the static shape control of flexible space structures by utilizing the Green's function is described.

Tolivar, F.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Prospects for altimetry and scatterometry in the 90's

Current NASA plans for altimetry and scatterometry of the oceans using spaceborne instrumentation are outlined. The data of interest covers geostrophic and wind-driven circulation, heat content, the horizontal heat flux of the ocean, and the interactions between atmosphere and ocean and ocean and climate. A proposed TOPEX satellite is to be launched in 1991, carrying a radar altimeter to measure the ocean surface topography. Employing dual-wavelength operation would furnish ionospheric correction data. Multibeam instruments could also be flown on the multiple-instrument polar orbiting platforms comprising the Earth Observation System. A microwave radar scatterometer, which functions on the basis of Bragg scattering of microwave energy off of wavelets, would operate at various view angles and furnish wind speeds accurate to 1.5 m/sec and directions accurate to 20 deg.

Townsend, W. F.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Laboratory test results of the high speed optical tracking system for the Spaceborne Geodynamic Ranging System

The high speed, high resolution optical tracking system for the Spaceborne Geodynamic Ranging System employs a two-axis gimbaled pointing device that can operate from a Space Shuttle platform and can track multiple retroreflector ground targets with arcsec accuracy. Laboratory tests of the stepping characteristics of the pointing system for various step sizes and directions has shown arcsec repeatability with little wasted motion, overshoot, or ringing. The worst rms tracking jitter was 1 and 2 arcsec in the roll and pitch axes, respectively, at the maximum tracking rate of 2 deg/sec.

Zagwodzki, Thomas W.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Virtex-II Pro SEE Test Methods and Results

The Xilinx Virtex-II Pro is a platform FPGA that embeds multiple microprocessors within the fabric of an SRAM-based reprogrammable FPGA. The variety and quantity of resources provided by this family of devices make them very attractive for spaceflight applications. However, these devices will be susceptible to single event effects (SEE), which must be mitigated. To use the Virtex-II Pro reliably in space applications, these devices must first be tested to determine if they are susceptible to single event latchup (SEL), the degree to which they are susceptible to single event upsets (SEU) and single event transients (SET), and how these effects are manifested in the device. With this information, mitigations schemes can be developed and tested that address the specific susceptiblities of these devices. This initial SEE test uses a commercial off the shelf Virtex-II Pro evaluation board, with a single processor XC2VP7 FPGA. The FPGA on this board is an acid etched device, which can be partially covered with a shield. The shield covers a portion of the logic, routing, and memory resources along with some of the RocketIO transceivers. The processor, along with a large portion of logic, routing, memory, and transceivers are left exposed. This test will be performed at the Cyclotron Laboratories at Texas A&M University and Michigan State University using ions of varying energy levels and fluencies.

Petrick, David↗

NASA NTRS2005

Virtex-II Pro PowerPC SEE Characterization Test Methods and Results

The Xilinx Vix-11 Pro is a platform FPGA that embeds multiple microprocessors within the fabric of an SRAM-based reprogrammable FPGA. The variety and quantity of resources provided by this family of devices make them very attractive for spaceflight applications. However,these devices will be susceptible to single event effects (SEE), which must be mitigated. Observations from prior testing of the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro suggest that the PowerPC core has significant vulnerability to SEES. However, these initial tests were not designed to exclusively target the functionality of the PowerPC, therefore making it difficult to distinguish processor upsets from fabric upsets. The main focus of this paper involves detailed SEE testing of the embedded PowerPC core. Due to the complexity of the PowerPC, various custom test applications, both static and dynamic, will be designed to isolate each Unit of the processor. Collective analysis of the test results will provide insight into the exact upset mechanism of the PowerPC. With this information, mitigations schemes can be developed and tested that address the specific susceptibilities of these devices. The test bed will be the Xilinx SEE Consortium Virtex-II Pro test board, which allows for configuration scrubbing, design triplication, and ease of data collection. Testing will be performed at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility using protons of varying energy levels and fluencies. This paper will present the detailed test approach along with the results.

Petrick, David↗

NASA NTRS2010

FASTSAT-HSV01 Synergistic Observations of the Magnetospheric Response During Active Periods: MINI-ME, PISA and TTI

Understanding the complex processes within the inner magnetosphere of Earth particularly during storm periods requires coordinated observations of the particle and field environment using both in-situ and remote sensing techniques. In fact in order to gain a better understanding of our Heliophysics and potentially improve our space weather forecasting capabilities, new observation mission approaches and new instrument technologies which can provide both cost effective and robust regular observations of magnetospheric activity and other space weather related phenomenon are necessary. As part of the effort to demonstrate new instrument techniques and achieve necessary coordinated observation missions, NASA's Fast Affordable Science and Technology Satellite Huntsville 01 mission (FASTSAT-HSVOI) scheduled for launch in 2010 will afford a highly synergistic solution which satisfies payload mission opportunities and launch requirements as well as contributing iri the near term to our improved understanding of Heliophysics. NASA's FASTSAT-HSV01 spacecraft on the DoD Space Test Program-S26 (STP-S26) Mission is a multi-payload mission executed by the DoD Space Test Program (STP) at the Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW), Kirtland AFB, NM. and is an example of a responsive and economical breakthrough in providing new possibilities for small space technology-driven and research missions. FASTSAT-HSV is a unique spacecraft platform that can carry multiple small instruments or experiments to low-Earth orbit on a wide range of expendable launch vehicles for a fraction of the cost traditionally required for such missions. The FASTSAT-HSV01 mission allows NASA to mature and transition a technical capability to industry while increasing low-cost access to space for small science and technology (ST) payloads. The FASTSAT-HSV01 payload includes three NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) new technology built instruments that will study the terrestrial space environment and potentially contribute to space weather research in a synergistic manner. MINI-ME, a neutral atom imager, will observe the neutral atom inputs to ionospheric heating which can be important during high levels of magnetospheric activity. PISA, a plasma impedance spectrometer, will measure simultaneously the local electron densities and temperatures as well as measure small scale density structure (500 m spatial scale) during these active periods. TTI, a thermospheric imager, will remotely determine the thermospheric temperature response to this magnetospheric activity. Together, these observations will contribute significantly to a comprehensive understanding of the flow of energy through and the response of the storm-time terrestrial magnetosphere.

Casas, Joseph C.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Message Brokering Evaluation for Live Spacecraft Telemetry Monitoring, Recorded Playback, and Analysis

Live monitoring and post-flight analysis of telemetry data play a vital role in the development, diagnosis, and deployment of components of a space flight mission. Requirements for such a system include low end-to-end latency between data producers and visualizers, preserved ordering of messages, data stream archiving with random access playback, and real-time creation of derived data streams. We evaluate the RabbitMQ and Kafka message brokering systems, on how well they can enable a real-time, scalable, and robust telemetry framework that delivers telemetry data to multiple clients across heterogeneous platforms and flight projects. In our experiments using an actively developed robotic arm testbed, Kafka yielded a much higher message throughput rate and a consistent publishing rate across the number of topics and consumers. Consumer message rates were consistent across the number of topics but can exhibit bursty behavior with an increase in the contention for a single topic partition with increasing number of consumers.

Lee, Daren↗

NASA NTRS2020

A Robotically Assembled and Serviced Science Station for Earth Observations

In this paper we present the overall architecture of a ”Science Station”, a robotically assembled and serviced persistent platform that can host multiple payloads for Earth observations. Recent decadal survey findings motivate the need to have spatial and temporal concurrency in measurements from multiple instruments. We have architected the science station to simultaneously host up to twelve Earth Venture class instruments at a time. These instruments can be replaced by newer instruments periodically to take advantage of evolving science needs and technology capabilities. The Science Station can also concurrently host science, commercial, defense and other national interest payloads. The Science Station may provide a cost-effective paradigm by mitigating some of the risks and costs associated with multiple free-flyers that may otherwise be needed for the various instruments. It leverages emergent and existent technologies in robotic assembly and servicing, lower cost commercial launch vehicles, secondary launch vehicles, and rendezvous and proximity operations. In this paper, we report the findings of a survey we conducted on the desired performance of the Science Station from various instrument hosting perspectives. We report the various trade studies that we conducted to developed a feasible architecture that meets the goals of the Science Station while also meeting the constraints of a space system. We also report the various considerations in the configuration, thermal system, pointing system, overall concept of operations, and the robotic system of the Science Station architecture. The paper then describes a testbed activity we are undertaking to evaluate the supervised autonomy robotics needed for the Science Station as well as to conduct a riskreduction demonstration of the end-to-end robotics behaviors.

Mukherjee, Rudranarayan↗

NASA NTRS2021

Distributed Aperture Radar Tomographic Sensors (darts) to Map Surface Topography and Vegetation Structure

Distributed Aperture Radar Tomographic Sensors (DARTS)is a mission concept being studied at the NASA Jet PropulsionLaboratory in collaboration with the California Institute ofTechnology to enable global and repeated imaging of surfacetopography and three-dimensional vegetation structure usingsingle-pass tomographic SAR technique. The observing systemconsists of a distributed formation of multiple small syntheticaperture radar platforms deployed in space with variabledistances to achieve look angle diversity and sensitivityto the vertical distribution of vegetation components. Ourgoal is to identify the optimal system configuration startingfrom documented community needs and mature the criticaltechnologies that lead to a viable implementation of DARTS.Here, we provide an overview of DARTS and describe ourapproach for designing and demonstrating single-pass SARtomographic systems as part of an on-going funded NASA Instrument Incubator Program effort.

Chung, Soon-Jo↗

NASA NTRS2023

Developing a Hail and Wind Damage Swath Event Database from Daily MODIS True Color Imagery and Storm Reports for Impact Analysis and Applications

Hail and damaging winds are two threats associated with intense and severe thunderstorms that traverse the Midwest and Great Plains during the primary growing season. In certain severe thunderstorm events, large swaths of agricultural crops are impacted, allowing the damage to be viewed from multiple satellite remote sensing platforms. Previous studies have focused on analyzing individual hail and wind damage swaths (HWDSs) using satellite remote sensing, but these swaths have never been officially archived or documented. This lack of documentation has made it difficult to analyze the spatial extent and temporal frequency of HWDSs from year to year. This study utilizes daily true color imagery from MODIS aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites and daily local storm reports from the Storm Prediction Center to build a database of HWDSs occurring in the months of May through August, for years 2000 through 2020. This database identified 1,646 HWDSs in 12 states throughout the Midwest and Great Plains, confirmed through a combination of archived severe weather warnings, radar information, and official storm reports. For each entry in the HWDS database, a geospatial outline is provided along with the most likely date of first visible damage from MODIS imagery as well as the physical characteristics and time of occurrence estimated from available warnings. This study also provides a summary of the radar characteristics for a portion of the database. This database will further the understanding of severe weather damage by hail and wind to agriculture to help understand the frequency of these events and assist in mapping the impacted areas.

Climatology↗

NASA NTRS2023

Design Status of Gondola for High-Altitude Planetary Science (GHAPS)

The Gondola for High-Altitude Planetary Science (GHAPS) project was initiated to develop a balloon platform to meet planetary science goals and objectives as outlined in the NASA decadal survey. GHAPS is a first-generation reusable platform design optimized for multiple long-duration flights and planetary science. The gondola design was intended to accommodate infrared (IR) and ultraviolet/visible (UV-Vis) observations, supporting detection of water and carbon dioxide and allowing for long-duration flights to enable time-based studies. It was anticipated that the GHAPS gondola design would evolve over time with changing science demands. This report describes the as-designed configuration and capabilities of the GHAPS gondola.

Planetary Science↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Innovative Features of NASA's Celestial Mapping System to Support Exploration in the Lunar South Pole

Introduction: NASA's Celestial Mapping System (CMS) is developed to address the need for 3D tools for planetary science investigations, mission planning, in-situ operations, in a 3D-first design constructed around a unified view of a planetary globe. At present CMS provides many critical functionalities that include 1) Equipment planning and optimized placement on Lunar surface 2) Line of sight (visibility ) analysis 3) Powerful measurement tools based on 3D terrain with realistic 3D models to represent rovers, astronauts and equipment 4) Visualization of de-rived mapping products (e.g. resource maps), and 5) Data engine for hosting new observations that are not available in other contemporary lunar data tools. CMS is built on the foundation of powerful NASA WorldWind globe engines. In near future, users will be able to simultaneously deploy CMS onto multiple hardware configurations and platforms such as Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. The users will also have the flexibility to update to the latest imagery and terrain datasets as they are being acquired (in real time) before and/or during the exploration mission. CMS is also capable of consumption and analysis of data from locally hosted and external sources. It supports Open Geospatial Consorti-um (OGC) data and file standards, with current integrations of datasets from the Astrogeology Science Center of USGS which include global and local data acquired from NASA (LRO, Clementine, Lunar Orbiter) and JAXA (SELENE/Kaguya) with the capability of integrating more datasets. With development experience in both the end-user application and planetary engine side, CMS is also able to adapt to newer Lunar cartography standards as they develop and become recognized by international geospatial panels. Overcoming Polar Distortions: 3D geospatial applications traditionally suffer from significant distortion of imagery at the poles due to following reasons – 1) distortions in the source imagery 2) Incompatible tessellation algorithm on the poles 3) map projections. In the lunar context, with the focus on the South pole, this is not acceptable. The CMS team is researching ways to address polar distortion of imagery with new tessellation algorithms and by reprojecting the data using projections that are more accurate in polar scenarios. Figure1 shows the potential error introduced by different tessellation methods, represented by the red and green circles for Shoemaker crater. There is ~2 Km difference in the placement of the crater. Line of Sight Analysis and Traverse Planning: We have developed a built-in line of sight analysis (LOS) tool in CMS that analyzes the terrain profile and obstructions and provides the visibility of a given terrain for a remote observer. Figure 2 shows the viewshed analysis on the PSR in Nobile region. The PSR was created with help of HORUS generated images. The yellow pin shows the observer location outside the PSR. The yellow area shows the visible part of PSR. The obstructed area with no visibility for the observer is shown in red. This analysis was ex-tended further to set different heights for various observers and then perform the viewshed analysis. Combining the different visibility profiles can help designing improved traverses within the crater.

Geospatial Mapping↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Innovative Features of NASA's Celestial Mapping System to Support Exploration in the Lunar South Pole

Introduction: NASA's Celestial Mapping System (CMS) is developed to address the need for 3D tools for planetary science investigations, mission planning, in-situ operations, in a 3D-first design constructed around a unified view of a planetary globe. At present CMS provides many critical functionalities that include 1) Equipment planning and optimized placement on Lunar surface 2) Line of sight (visibility ) analysis 3) Powerful measurement tools based on 3D terrain with realistic 3D models to represent rovers, astronauts and equipment 4) Visualization of de-rived mapping products (e.g. resource maps), and 5) Data engine for hosting new observations that are not available in other contemporary lunar data tools. CMS is built on the foundation of powerful NASA WorldWind globe engines. In near future, users will be able to simultaneously deploy CMS onto multiple hardware configurations and platforms such as Windows, Linux, iOS and Android. The users will also have the flexibility to update to the latest imagery and terrain datasets as they are being acquired (in real time) before and/or during the exploration mission. CMS is also capable of consumption and analysis of data from locally hosted and external sources. It supports Open Geospatial Consorti-um (OGC) data and file standards, with current integrations of datasets from the Astrogeology Science Center of USGS which include global and local data acquired from NASA (LRO, Clementine, Lunar Orbiter) and JAXA (SELENE/Kaguya) with the capability of integrating more datasets. With development experience in both the end-user application and planetary engine side, CMS is also able to adapt to newer Lunar cartography standards as they develop and become recognized by international geospatial panels. Overcoming Polar Distortions: 3D geospatial applications traditionally suffer from significant distortion of imagery at the poles due to following reasons – 1) distortions in the source imagery 2) Incompatible tessellation algorithm on the poles 3) map projections. In the lunar context, with the focus on the South pole, this is not acceptable. The CMS team is researching ways to address polar distortion of imagery with new tessellation algorithms and by reprojecting the data using projections that are more accurate in polar scenarios. Figure1 shows the potential error introduced by different tessellation methods, represented by the red and green circles for Shoemaker crater. There is ~2 Km difference in the placement of the crater. Line of Sight Analysis and Traverse Planning: We have developed a built-in line of sight analysis (LOS) tool in CMS that analyzes the terrain profile and obstructions and provides the visibility of a given terrain for a remote observer. Figure 2 shows the viewshed analysis on the PSR in Nobile region. The PSR was created with help of HORUS generated images. The yellow pin shows the observer location outside the PSR. The yellow area shows the visible part of PSR. The obstructed area with no visibility for the observer is shown in red. This analysis was ex-tended further to set different heights for various observers and then perform the viewshed analysis. Combining the different visibility profiles can help designing improved traverses within the crater.

Geospatial Mapping↗