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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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Cyber-Physical Smart Light Control System Integration with Smart Grid using Zigbee

This paper presents a hardware-in-the-loop cyber-physical system architecture design to monitor and control smart lights connected to the active distribution grid. The architecture uses Zigbee-based (IEEE 802.15.4) wireless sensor networks and publish-subscribe architecture to exchange monitoring and control signals between smart-light actuators (SLAs) and a smart-light central controller (SLCC). Each SLA integrated into a smart light consists of a Zigbee-based endpoint module to send and receive signals to and from the SLCC. The SLCC consists of a Zigbee-based coordinator module, which further exchanges the monitoring and control signals with the active distribution management system over the TCP/IP communication network. The monitoring signals from the SLAs include light status, brightness level, voltage, current, and power data, whereas, the control signals to the SLAs include light intensity, turn ON, turn OFF, standby, and default settings. We have used our existing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) cyber-physical system (CPS) security SCADA testbed to process signals received from the SLCC and respond suitable control signals based on the smart light schedule requirements, system operation, and active distribution grid dynamic characteristics. We have integrated the proposed cyber-physical smart light control system (CPSLCS) testbed to our existing HIL CPS SCADA testbed. We use the integrated testbed to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm by real-time performance and latency between the SLCC and SLAs. The experiments demonstrated significant results by 100% realtime performance and low latency while exchanging data between the SLCC and SLAs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

High-Power Targetry R&D Roadmap for High Energy Physics

Designing a reliable target is already a challenge for MW-class facilities today and has led several major accelerator facilities to operate at lower power due to target concerns. With present plans to increase beam power for next-generation accelerator facilities in the next decade, timely R&D in support of robust high-power targets is critical to secure the full physics benefits of ambitious accelerator power upgrades. The next generation of high-power targets and beam-intercepting devices (beam dumps, absorbers, collimators ) will have more complex geometries, novel materials, and new concepts that allow for use of improved high-heat-flux cooling methods. Advanced numerical simulations need to be developed to support design of reliable high-power beam targets. In parallel, development of radiation-hardened beam instrumentation is needed. Irradiation methods for high-power targets must be further developed, and new irradiation facilities are needed since only a few facilities worldwide offer beams suitable for target testing. A comprehensive R&D program must be implemented to address the many complex challenges faced by multi-MW beam intercepting devices.

Pellemoine, Frederique [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of Real-Time Mitigation Techniques forCyber Security in IEC 61850 / IEC 62351Substations

This paper presents the design logic and implementation aspects of three potential real-time mitigation techniques capable of countering GOOSE-based attacks: (i) IEC 62351-compliant message authentication code (MAC) scheme, (ii) a semantics-enforced rule- based intrusion detection system (IDS), and (iii) a hybrid approach integrating both MAC verification and Intrusion Detection System (IDS). A comparative evaluation of these real-time mitigation approaches is conducted using a cyber-physical system(CPS) security testbed. The results show that the hybrid integration significantly enhances mitigation capability. Furthermore, the processing delays of all three methods remain within the strict delivery requirements of GOOSE communication. The study also identifies limitations that none of the techniques can fully address, highlighting areas for future work.

Liu, Chen-Ching [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and St↗
DOE OSTI2022

Inter-Domain Fusion for Enhanced Intrusion Detection in Power Systems: An Evidence Theoretic and Meta-Heuristic Approach

False alerts due to misconfigured or compromised intrusion detection systems (IDS) in industrial control system (ICS) networks can lead to severe economic and operational damage. However, research using deep learning to reduce false alerts often requires the physical and cyber sensor data to be trustworthy. Implicit trust is a major problem for artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI/ML) in cyber-physical system (CPS) security, because when these solutions are most urgently needed is also when they are most at risk (e.g., during an attack). To address this, the Inter-Domain Evidence theoretic Approach for Inference (IDEA-I) is proposed that reframes the detection problem as how to make good decisions given uncertainty. Specifically, an evidence theoretic approach leveraging Dempster–Shafer (DS) combination rules and their variants is proposed for reducing false alerts. A multi-hypothesis mass function model is designed that leverages probability scores obtained from supervised-learning classifiers. Using this model, a location-cum-domain-based fusion framework is proposed to evaluate the detector’s performance using disjunctive, conjunctive, and cautious conjunctive rules. The approach is demonstrated in a cyber-physical power system testbed, and the classifiers are trained with datasets from Man-In-The-Middle attack emulation in a large-scale synthetic electric grid. For evaluating the performance, we consider plausibility, belief, pignistic, and general Bayesian theorem-based metrics as decision functions. To improve the performance, a multi-objective-based genetic algorithm is proposed for feature selection considering the decision metrics as the fitness function. Finally, we present a software application to evaluate the DS fusion approaches with different parameters and architectures.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Relative sensitivity of plastic scintillator: A comparative analysis with 60 Co gamma rays, deuterium–deuterium, and deuterium–tritium neutrons

A plastic scintillator has found extensive application in the realm of high-energy physics and national security science. Many applications in those fields often involve the simultaneous production of photons, neutrons, and charged particles, which makes the relative sensitivity information for these different radiation types important. In this study, we have adopted a multi-head detector comprised of a plastic scintillator and high gain phototubes, which provides a large dynamic range and linearity. A comparative study on the relative sensitivities of plastic scintillators was facilitated by adopting three distinct radiation calibration sources (i.e., 60 Co γ rays, DD neutrons, and DT neutrons). Neutrons from a DD source generate a comparable level of scintillation to gamma rays emitted by 60 Co (i.e., 60 Co-γ/DD-n = 0.92 ± 16%). DT neutrons induce ~3.5 times the scintillation observed with DD neutrons (i.e., DT-n/DD-n = 3.5 ± 28%). In addition, the Geant4 simulation granted us valuable insights into the relative sensitivity of the scintillator. This comparative study will provide a useful database for users in diverse applications.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Device response principles and the impact on energy resolution of epitaxial quantum dot scintillators with monolithic photodetector integration

Abstract Epitaxial quantum dot (QD) scintillator crystals with picosecond-scale timing and high light yield have been created for medical imaging, high energy physics and national security applications. Monolithic photodetector (PD) integration enables the sensing of photons generated within the waveguiding crystal and allows a wide range of scintillator-photodetector coupling geometries. Until recently, these doubly novel devices have suffered from complex, high variance responses to monoenergetic sources which significantly reduces their precision and accuracy. The principles governing the overall device response have now been discerned and embodied by an expression derived within a geometrical optics framework which considers optical properties, surface roughness and photodetector coupling geometry. Response variation due to these factors was sufficiently reduced to obtain material-related energy resolution values of 2.4% with alpha particles. These findings place energy resolution alongside luminescence timescale, photon yield, and radiation hardness as outstanding properties of these engineered materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Collision Tracking in OpenMC: Methods and Applications in Neutron Noise, Neutron Imaging, Time-of-Flight, and Multiplicity Counting

We present the development and application of a collision tracking feature within the OpenMC Monte Carlo particle transport code, designed for diverse applications such as neutron spectroscopy, scatter camera system, neutron noise, and multiplicity counting simulations. This feature enables the tracking of individual particle collisions, with potential applications in nuclear nonproliferation, reactor physics, and nuclear security. Additionally, the feature holds potential for the calibration of neutron detectors, specifically in converting light output into energy deposited within the detectors. The implementation consists of a set of filters—such as reaction type, energy, cell, and material—that constrain the set of collisions that are tracked, extensions to the Python API to enable simple input specification, and support for writing either OpenMC’s native HDF5-based format or the Monte Carlo particle list format. This feature was added to the official OpenMC release in version 0.15.3. In this work, the feature will be applied to showcase scenarios such as time-of-flight simulations, scatter-camera imaging for neutron source localization, neutron-noise analysis to extract integral kinetic parameters such as the prompt decay constant α, and multiplicity counting to estimate the mass of special nuclear materials. Ultimately, this feature aims to expand the application scope of open-source Monte Carlo particle transport codes such as OpenMC.

Monte Carlo code↗
DOE OSTI2020

Distributed Intrusion Detection System using Semantic-based Rules for SCADA in Smart Grid

Cyber-physical system (CPS) security for the smart grid enables secure communication for the SCADA and wide-area measurement system data. Power utilities world-wide use various SCADA protocols, namely DNP3, Modbus, and IEC 61850, for the data exchanges across substation field devices, remote terminal units (RTUs), and control center applications. Adversaries may exploit compromised SCADA protocols for the reconnaissance, data exfiltration, vulnerability assessment, and injection of stealthy cyberattacks to affect power system operation. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm to generate robust rule sets. We integrate the rule sets into an intrusion detection system (IDS), which continuously monitors the DNP3 data traffic at a substation network and detects intrusions and anomalies in real-time. To enable CPS-aware wide-area situational awareness, we integrated the methodology into an open-source distributed-IDS (D-IDS) framework. The D-IDS facilitates central monitoring of the detected anomalies from the geographically distributed substations and to the control center. The proposed algorithm provides an optimal solution to detect network intrusions and abnormal behavior. Different types of IDS rules based on packet payload, packet flow, and time threshold are generated. Further, IDS testing and evaluation is performed with a set of rules in different sequences. The detection time is measured for different IDS rules, and the results are plotted. All the experiments are conducted at Power Cyber Lab, Iowa State University, for multiple power grid models. After successful testing and evaluation, knowledge and implementation are transferred to field deployment.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Melt Blending: A Tool to Simplify Plastic Scintillator Synthesis

Plastic scintillators are widely used as radiation detection media in homeland security and nuclear physics applications. Their attributes include low cost, scalability to large detector volumes, and additive compounding to enable additional material and detection features, such as pulse shape discrimination (PSD), gamma-ray spectroscopy, aging resistance, and coincidence timing. However, traditional chemically cured plastic scintillators (CCS) require long reaction times, and hazardous wet chemical procedures performed by specially trained personnel, and can leave residual monomer, resulting in deleterious optical and material properties. Here, we synthesize melt blended scintillators (MBSs) in 2.5 days using easily accessible solid-state compounding of commercially-available poly(styrene) with 30–60 wt% fluorene-based compound “P2” to create monolithic detectors with < 100 ppm residual monomer, in several form factors. Further, the best scintillation performance was recorded for 60 wt% P2 in Styron 665, including gamma-ray light yield 139% of EJ- 200 commercial scintillator and PSD figure of merit (FOM) value of 2.65 at 478 keVee, approaching P2 organic glass scintillator (OGS). The capability of MBS to generate fog-resistant scintillators and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based scintillators for use in challenging environments is also demonstrated.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2022

Computational Modeling and Simulation for Nonproliferation: The History (and Present) of Monte Carlo and the MCNP(R) Code at Los Alamos [Slides]

The emergence of the Monte Carlo method as a research tool springs from work done at Los Alamos in the 1940s.Monte Carlo and the MCNP Code have been and continue to be developed at Los Alamos for many decades. From basic science in support of understanding nuclear interaction physics to global security applications, application uses of the code are extensive. Recent R&D projects and code modernization efforts make the MCNP code a great tool for nuclear nonproliferation applications. In collaboration with nuclear safeguards experts, new training has just recently been developed to help new practitioners learn how to use the code for nuclear safeguards applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

National Ignition Facility Opacity Time Resolved Spectrometer Systems Engineering Final Project

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world’s largest and most energetic laser facility. The NIF system is designed to produce high energy density (temperature and pressure) conditions through the application of its 192 laser beams. One of the users of NIF is the opacity platform developed to study the opacities at temperatures and densities relevant to the solar interior and stellar evolution. The platform was developed to study iron (Fe) opacity at temperatures relevant to the solar interior. The opacity campaign uses spectrometers to gather data. Spectrometers utilize crystals to produce x-ray spectra that are recorded on time-integrated and time-resolved detectors. The opacity spectrometer (OpSpec) currently fielded and in use at NIF uses a time integrated film channel to collect data. The opacity spectrometer time resolved (OpSpecTR) will utilize novel hCMOS detectors to capture time resolved images of spectra of interest. The key stakeholders identified for OpSpecTR included the physicists responsible for OpSpec and OpSpecTR, the Target Area Science and Engineering (TASE) department at NIF, the NIF and Photon Science (NIF & PS) Opacity program, the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) Physics and Engineering program, the Sandia hCMOS manufacturing and testing program, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) program sponsor. The Target and Experimental Operations (TEXOPS) was identified as a key stakeholder because the group includes the individuals that will physically interact with the OpSpecTR system as it participates in NIF experiments. The opacity platform collects data in a unique orientation relative to the existing diagnostics fielded at NIF. The existing infrastructure at NIF uses a diagnostic manipulator (DIM) to insert the diagnostic near the target chamber center to collect data during a NIF shot. Existing diagnostics collect data through the center line of the DIM axis and collect relevant data perpendicular to this axis. The opacity platform requires crystals mounted in a specific orientation which requires data collection parallel to the DIM axis. This deviation from standard NIF practices was a key factor in developing requirements.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

HEP High Power Targetry Roadmap -- Workshop Report

Designing a reliable target is already a challenge for MW-class facilities today and has led several major accelerator facilities to operate at lower than design power due to target concerns. With present plans to increase beam power for next generation accelerator facilities in the next decade, timely R and D in support of robust high power targets is critical to secure the full physics benefits of ambitious accelerator power upgrades. A comprehensive R and D program must be implemented to address the many complex challenges faced by multi MW beam intercepting devices. This roadmap is envisioned to be helpful to the DOE-OHEP office when planning and prioritizing future R and D activities as well as leveraging synergies across the Office of Science. The roadmap will be extremely beneficial to the broader (external to DOE HEP) HPT community by communicating OHEP s high level strategy and objectives for HPT R and D and highlighting possible opportunities for collaboration.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

CYDRES: CYber Defense and REsilient System for securing grid-interactive efficient buildings

Smart buildings, especially Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs), suffer from cyber-attacks and physical faults due to the integration of a large number of sensors and controls, connected devices, and associated communication networks. This study demonstrated a real-time advanced building resilient platform, called CYber Defense and REsilient System (CYDRES), which is deployable for existing and emerging Building Automation Systems (BASs). CYDRES aims to empower GEBs with cyber-attack-immune capabilities through multi-layer prevention and adaptation mechanisms to monitor, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks and physical operational faults. CYDRES is demonstrated through real-time experiments in a Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testbed.

Building automation system, Cyber-attacks, Physica↗
DOE OSTI2021

Modeling Data Flows with Network Calculus in Cyber-Physical Systems: Enabling Feature Analysis for Anomaly Detection Applications

The electric grid is becoming increasingly cyber-physical with the addition of smart technologies, new communication interfaces, and automated grid-support functions. Because of this, it is no longer sufficient to only study the physical system dynamics, but the cyber system must also be monitored as well to examine cyber-physical interactions and effects on the overall system. To address this gap for both operational and security needs, cyber-physical situational awareness is needed to monitor the system to detect any faults or malicious activity. Techniques and models to understand the physical system (the power system operation) exist, but methods to study the cyber system are needed, which can assist in understanding how the network traffic and changes to network conditions affect applications such as data analysis, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and anomaly detection. In this paper, we examine and develop models of data flows in communication networks of cyber-physical systems (CPSs) and explore how network calculus can be utilized to develop those models for CPSs, with a focus on anomaly and intrusion detection. This provides a foundation for methods to examine how changes to behavior in the CPS can be modeled and for investigating cyber effects in CPSs in anomaly detection applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Physics Division Strategic Plan: Science Drivers

The Physics Division Science Drivers articulate the overarching scientific objectives that we seek to address and that form the lifeblood of our Division. While many physics subfields are represented in the Physics Division’s scientific portfolio, we strive to maintain or achieve excellence and international leadership in only a few areas. While diversity of science and engineering efforts is strongly supported and provides the fertile soil for innovation, there are dominating areas in which we must excel to accomplish our mission that is stated as: “We design, execute and analyze experiments that challenge, improve and validate our understanding of fundamental physics underpinning LANL’s national security mission.”

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗