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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

Topology for efficient information dissemination in ad-hoc networking

In this paper, we explore the information dissemination problem in ad-hoc wirless networks. First, we analyze the probability of successful broadcast, assuming: the nodes are uniformly distributed, the available area has a lower bould relative to the total number of nodes, and there is zero knowledge of the overall topology of the network. By showing that the probability of such events is small, we are motivated to extract good graph topologies to minimize the overall transmissions. Three algorithms are used to generate topologies of the network with guaranteed connectivity. These are the minimum radius graph, the relative neighborhood graph and the minimum spanning tree. Our simulation shows that the relative neighborhood graph has certain good graph properties, which makes it suitable for efficient information dissemination.

network topology↗

Systems engineering technology for networks

The report summarizes research pursued within the Systems Engineering Design Laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University between May 16, 1993 and January 31, 1994. The project was proposed in cooperation with the Computational Science and Engineering Research Center at Howard University. Its purpose was to investigate emerging systems engineering tools and their applicability in analyzing the NASA Network Control Center (NCC) on the basis of metrics and measures.

Source record↗

Analyzing rocket plume spectral data with neural networks

The Optical Plume Anomaly Detection (OPAD) system is under development to provide early-warning failure detection in support of ground-level testing of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). Failure detection is to be achieved through the acquisition of spectrally resolved plume emissions and subsequent identification of abnormal levels indicative of engine corrosion or component failure. Two computer codes (one linear and the other non-linear) are used by the OPAD system to iteratively determine specific element concentrations in the SSME plume, given emission intensity and wavelength information. Since this analysis is extremely labor intensive, a study was initiated to develop neural networks that would model the 'inverse' of these computer codes. Optimally connected feed-forward networks with imperceptible prediction error have been developed for each element modeled by the linear code, SPECTRA4. Radial basis function networks were developed for the non-linear code, SPECTRA5, and predict combustion temperature in addition to element concentrations.

Whitaker, Kevin W.↗

A Study of Quality of Service Communication for High-Speed Packet-Switching Computer Sub-Networks

In this thesis, we analyze various factors that affect quality of service (QoS) communication in high-speed, packet-switching sub-networks. We hypothesize that sub-network-wide bandwidth reservation and guaranteed CPU processing power at endpoint systems for handling data traffic are indispensable to achieving hard end-to-end quality of service. Different bandwidth reservation strategies, traffic characterization schemes, and scheduling algorithms affect the network resources and CPU usage as well as the extent that QoS can be achieved. In order to analyze those factors, we design and implement a communication layer. Our experimental analysis supports our research hypothesis. The Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) is designed to realize resource reservation. Our analysis of RSVP shows that using RSVP solely is insufficient to provide hard end-to-end quality of service in a high-speed sub-network. Analysis of the IEEE 802.lp protocol also supports the research hypothesis.

Cui, Zhenqian↗

Predicting the Seawater Chemistry of an Ocean World Using Machine Learning on Isotopic Measurements of Volatile CO2

Introduction: Given the long time intervals required for data transmission to and from ocean worlds targets, low bandwidth for data transmission, time required for data processing and analysis, and potentially extreme radiation environments (e.g., Europa), it is clear that ocean worlds missions will need more autonomous flight instruments and software in order to achieve established science goals. Protracted time intervals for data analysis (e.g., Europa Lander) strongly motivates the development of rapid, consistent and streamlined methods for interpreting data from flight mass spectrometers to e.g., determine how mass spectra from a plume or surface liquid/ice relates to the surface/subsurface. Since mass spectrometry also has the potential to correctly identify biosignatures[1], it is imperative that such methods for interpreting data are consistent and accurate. We used 848 isotope ratio mass spectra from laboratory analyses of CO2 that interacted with ocean worlds-relevant seawaters as a ‘training’ dataset for ‘unsupervised’ machine learning. In unsupervised learning, characteristics of the data are not labeled or linked, and any similarities found only result from the neural network. CO2 isotopologues analyzed for this dataset mimic the remote measurements of CO2 by a flight mass spectrometer, and are detailed in Theiling [2]. From this dataset, we used measured features of the spectra, such as retention time, intensity, and (isotopologue) mass ratios as inputs for our autoencoder neural network. Our neural network was trained to find similarities in these and other spectral features for seawaters of a particular composition and amount of initial CO2. Successful training then created an output of these similarities for various seawaters, which included MgSO4, Na2SO4, NaCl, MgCl2, KCl, and NaHCO3, and combinations of these salts. We then applied dimensionality reduction techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), T-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (TSNE), and Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) to demonstrate latent data features as a two-dimensional projection in a unitless, high-dimensional space. In this projection, a data point represents the combined effect of spectral features such as intensity, retention time, and isotope ratio. Our initial UMAP demonstrates data clustering (organization of the data by the neural network) based on the amount of CO2 that had initially interacted with each seawater. Further training using more ‘supervised’ learning techniques demonstrate strong clustering of preliminary data based on initial CO2 concentration, seawater chemical composition, and ionic strength (salinity). Our preliminary work therefore suggests that machine learning has the potential to identify compositional variants of an ocean world seawater based on mass spectra from volatile CO2 measurements. Acknowledgments: This work was funded through a Strategic Task Group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The training dataset was collected through funding from the Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium. References: [1] Pappalardo, R. et al. (2013) Astrobiology, 13, 740–773. [2] Theiling (2020) Icarus, 114216.

Europa↗

Data communication network at the ASRM facility

This three-year project (February 1991 to February 1994) has involved analyzing and helping to design the communication network for the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) facility at Yellow Creek, near Iuka, MS. The principal concerns in the analysis were the bandwidth (both on average and in the worst case) and the expandability of the network. As the communication network was designed and modified, a careful evaluation of the bandwidth of the network, the capabilities of the protocol, and the requirements of the controllers and computers on the network was required. The overall network, which was heterogeneous in protocol and bandwidth, needed to be modeled, analyzed, and simulated to obtain some degree of confidence in its performance capabilities and in its performance under nominal and heavy loads. The results of our analysis did have an impact on the design and operation of the ASRM facility. During 1993 we analyzed many configurations of this basic network structure. The analyses are described in detail in Section 2 and 3 herein. Section 2 reports on an analysis of the whole network. The preliminary results of that research indicated that the most likely bottleneck as the network traffic increased would be the hubs. Thus a study of Cabletron hubs was initiated. The results of that study are in Section 3. Section 4 herein reports on the final network configuration analyzed. When the ASRM facility was mothballed in December of 1993, this was basically the planned and partially installed network. A briefing was held at NASA/MSFC on December 7, 1993, at which time our final analysis and conclusions were disseminated. This report contains a written record of most of the information disseminated at that briefing.

Moorhead, Robert J., III↗

Understanding the Seismic Ground Motion Spatial Variability Using Network Analysis Community Detection

This project is to explore ground motion spatial distribution using a new approach graph-based network analysis. In this study, we combine a large-N seismic array and graph analytics to explore spatial variability and correlation at a local scale using small local and regional earthquakes. In this method, each seismic station is modeled as a node and the similarities of the waveforms that represent ground motions between two stations are modeled as edges. By analyzing this graph network using the similarity matrices and community detection algorithm, we can group the stations spatially with similar patterns. A random forest algorithm is used to reveal the important features that affect the spatial grouping. The result suggests site conditions, and how they interact with the incident seismic wavefield, strongly condition the spatial correlation of ground motion. Future progress in characterizing ground motion spatial variability will require dense wavefield measurements, either through nodal deployments, or perhaps distributed acoustic sensing measurements of seismic wavefields.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Threat Reduction Research Networks: Fostering Sustainable Collaborations Through Trainings for Genomics for Biosurveillance

Scientific research communities can be represented as heterogeneous or multidimensional networks encompassing multiple types of entities and relationships. These networks might include researchers, institutions, meetings, and publications, connected by relationships like authorship, employment, and attendance. We describe a method for efficiently and flexibly capturing, storing, and extracting information from multidimensional scientific networks using a graph database. The database structure is based on an ontology that captures allowable types of entities and relationships. This allows us to construct a variety of projections of the underlying multidimensional graph through database queries to answer specific research questions. We demonstrate this process through a study of the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), which seeks to develop Threat Reduction Networks to build and strengthen a sustainable international community of biosecurity, biosafety, and biosurveillance experts to address shared biological threat reduction challenges. Networks like these create connectional intelligence among researchers and institutions around the world, and are central to the concept of cooperative threat reduction. Our analysis focuses on a series of seven BTRP genome sequencing training workshops, showing how they created a growing network of participants and countries over time, which is also reflected in coauthorship relationships among attendees. By capturing concept and relationship hierarchies, our ontology-based approach allows us to pose general or specific questions about networks within the same framework. This approach can be applied to other research communities or multidimensional social networks to capture, analyze, and visualize different types of interactions and how they change over time.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Achieving Runtime State Verification Assurance in Critical Cyber-Physical Infrastructures

Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS) are an essential backbone of national critical infrastructures. They help monitor and control crucial cyber-enabled services such as energy generation. Commonly ICPS monitors the physical process through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The SCADA ecosystem takes critical real-time and future system operational decisions based on the runtime state behavior of field sensors. Traditional SCADA systems use legacy and insecure communication protocols such as the Modbus protocol that lack adequate security mechanisms to provide robust runtime state behavior assurance of constrained field sensors. Therefore, constrained field sensors are commonly vulnerable to standard semantic attacks that gradually change the behavior state of infected devices. This paper discusses process integrity assurance techniques necessary to enhance the security of behavior-based protocols such as the Modbus protocol. The Runtime State Verification (RSV) protocol proposed in this paper aims to address semantic attacks in the SCADA ecosystem by integrating behavior-based Mandatory Results Automata (MRA) and a Hyperledger Fabric (HLF) network. The RSV protocol provides high process integrity assurance through enhanced behavior-based MRA suitable for the constrained field devices. A proof of concept of the RSV protocol has been evaluated in an emulated water-tube boiler. Preliminary evaluations of the RSV protocol aimed to measure the efficiency of the proposed protocol by monitoring an Combustion Efficiency (CE) process necessary to preserve optimal combustion, thus minimizing costs and future maintenance of water-tube boilers. We analyze the overall network overhead and latency of the proposed RSV protocol by evaluating the HLF network performance and comparing the proposed RSV protocol with the state-ofart BloSPAI protocol. Through the preliminary evaluations of the proposed RSV protocol, this paper demonstrates that the proposed RSV protocol overcomes the shortcomings and network overhead of the BloSPAI protocol by integrating behavior-based authentication through novel MRAs and HLF networks.

Rivera, Abel Gomez↗

Spatiotemporal analysis of 3D human iPSC-derived neural networks using a 3D multi-electrode array

While there is a growing appreciation of three-dimensional (3D) neural tissues (i.e., hydrogel-based, organoids, and spheroids), shown to improve cellular health and network activity to mirror brain-like activity in vivo , functional assessment using current electrophysiology techniques (e.g., planar multi-electrode arrays or patch clamp) has been technically challenging and limited to surface measurements at the bottom or top of the 3D tissue. As next-generation MEAs, specifically 3D MEAs, are being developed to increase the spatial precision across all three dimensions (X, Y, Z), development of improved computational analytical tools to discern region-specific changes within the Z dimension of the 3D tissue is needed. In the present study, we introduce a novel computational analytical pipeline to analyze 3D neural network activity recorded from a “bottom-up” 3D MEA integrated with a 3D hydrogel-based tissue containing human iPSC-derived neurons and primary astrocytes. Over a period of ~6.5 weeks, we describe the development and maturation of 3D neural activity (i.e., features of spiking and bursting activity) within cross sections of the 3D tissue, based on the vertical position of the electrode on the 3D MEA probe, in addition to network activity (identified using synchrony analysis) within and between cross sections. Then, using the sequential addition of postsynaptic receptor antagonists, bicuculline (BIC), 2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (AP-5), and 6-cyano-5-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX), we demonstrate that networks within and between cross sections of the 3D hydrogel-based tissue show a preference for GABA and/or glutamate synaptic transmission, suggesting differences in the network composition throughout the neural tissue. The ability to monitor the functional dynamics of the entire 3D reconstructed neural tissue is a critical bottleneck; here we demonstrate a computational pipeline that can be implemented in studies to better interpret network activity within an engineered 3D neural tissue and have a better understanding of the modeled organ tissue.

3D culture↗

Mitigate: An Adaptive Network Data Anonymization Tool Using Condensation-Based Differential Privacy

Modern network devices collect a large amount of data that can be analyzed to identify bottlenecks, anomalies, cyber-attacks, etc. Therefore, there is often a need to analyze such collections of network data quite often by an external expert or by the research community. However, these collections of data contain sensitive, proprietary information. In order for the network data to be shared, it must first be anonymized. The overall objective of this project is to develop an innovative privacy management tool to anonymize network data and achieve sufficient privacy, acceptable data utility, and efficient data analysis at the same time. No existing anonymization methods can achieve all of these at the same time. The core of this technology is a differential private clustering algorithm that provides strong privacy protection, preserves data properties important for subsequent analysis, and allows the party receiving the anonymized data to conduct analysis directly on anonymized data without the need of decryption or any extra processing. The research carried out was to design, implement and verify a solution to this problem by completing the following tasks: 1) developing the core technology; 2) developing a context based method that automatically recommends fields that must be anonymized; 3) conducted experiments showing superior results using our approach compared to existing tools, and 4) developed an intuitive but basic user interface. The research that was conducted generated novel algorithmic techniques that utilize state-of-the-art methods such as condensation, differential privacy preservation, clustering, automated tuning based on contextual awareness, and recommendation techniques to specify columns to users for anonymization leading to optimal privacy that allows research analysis on the dataset. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of these novel algorithmic techniques by performing analysis on original non-anonymized datasets, then conducting analysis on the same yet anonymized datasets and comparing the results of the analyses. Overall, the anonymized analysis results were within 1% of the original results, verifying that the generated technology not only guarantees a high level of privacy but also enables research analysis as if it were conducted on the original dataset. Potential applications of this technology include anonymization of any type of structured network datasets that contain sensitive identifiers, such as IP addresses, that can be used in multiple applications. For example, to create an AI or machine learning model for cyber security, e.g., to detect attacks, or for performance analysis, e.g., identify bottlenecks or predict performance. In addition, a market analysis that was conducted for potential applications of this technology identified a broader range of applications of our anonymization technology beyond the network sector that includes healthcare, banking, insurance, securities, finance (FISB), data brokering, cloud services, ad sales, and government.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

User-Centric Communication With Aerial Network for 6G: A Reinforcement Learning Approach

Meeting the diverse needs of user verticals requires innovative cellular architectures that can offer additional degrees of freedom to provide on-demand services. The terrestrial user-centric radio access network (UC-RAN) stands out as an excellent choice for this purpose. However, a drawback of UC-RAN is its tendency to prioritize high-priority verticals, often resulting in a subpar quality of experience for low-priority verticals. This issue is particularly exacerbated in hotspot areas. Here, to address this problem, we introduce an aerial network integrated with terrestrial UC-RAN to provide coverage to users which are not served by the terrestrial network. Furthermore, we analyze the impact of key configuration and optimization parameters (COPs), such as location, transmit power, altitude, and beamwidth of aerial base stations (ABSs) on system key performance indicators (KPIs), such as coverage, latency satisfaction, average spectral efficiency, and energy efficiency. We formulate a robust multiobjective function to maximize these KPIs without biasing toward any specific KPI(s). Finally, we propose a deep reinforcement learning optimization framework based on the state-of-the-art soft actor-critic algorithm to control ABS COPs and optimize system KPIs. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed optimization framework can converge to near-optimal solutions derived from the pseudo brute force in a few thousand epochs.

6G↗

Method and Apparatus for Predicting Unsteady Pressure and Flow Rate Distribution in a Fluid Network

A method and apparatus for analyzing steady state and transient flow in a complex fluid network, modeling phase changes, compressibility, mixture thermodynamics, external body forces such as gravity and centrifugal force and conjugate heat transfer. In some embodiments, a graphical user interface provides for the interactive development of a fluid network simulation having nodes and branches. In some embodiments, mass, energy, and specific conservation equations are solved at the nodes, and momentum conservation equations are solved in the branches. In some embodiments, contained herein are data objects for computing thermodynamic and thermophysical properties for fluids. In some embodiments, the systems of equations describing the fluid network are solved by a hybrid numerical method that is a combination of the Newton-Raphson and successive substitution methods.

Majumdar, Alok K.↗

A New Simplified Discrete Fracture Model for Shearing of Intersecting Fractures and Faults

Abstract Shearing of fractures and faults is important because it can result in permeability change or even induce seismicity—both are keys for efficient and safe energy recovery and storage in Earth systems. Quantitative analysis of shearing of intersecting fractures and faults is challenging because it can involve dynamic frictional contacts that are complicated by deformation of the rock matrix. To predict the shearing of intersecting fractures/faults, we attempt to answer the question of how intersections impact the shearing of a fracture network and whether we can simplify the description as compared to classical discrete fracture network (DFN) models. To answer these questions, we conducted a series of numerical simulations on scenarios for variable numbers of intersecting fractures. All these examples yield consistent results: the results of using DFNs are consistent with those of using hypothetical major paths. This leads to a new model, which we name simplified discrete fracture network model , to analyze shearing of intersecting fractures/faults using major path(s). We found that the intersections of fractures do not fundamentally change the shearing of two intersecting fractures if the intersecting angles are small. Furthermore, increasing the number of fractures/faults may relax the stress as more fractures/faults become available for shearing and distributing the stress. The simplified DFN model, which can capture efficiently the shearing behavior of each major paths from a large number of intersecting fractures/faults, will be a promising conceptual model that is complementary to existing equivalent continuum and discrete fracture models to analyze shearing of intersecting fractures/faults.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Time-series machine-learning error models for approximate solutions to parameterized dynamical systems

This work proposes a machine-learning framework for modeling the error incurred by approximate solutions to parameterized dynamical systems. In particular, we extend the machine-learning error models (MLEM) framework proposed in Ref. Freno and Carlberg (2019) to dynamical systems. The proposed Time-Series Machine-Learning Error Modeling (T-MLEM) method constructs a regression model that maps features – which comprise error indicators that are derived from standard a posteriori error-quantification techniques – to a random variable for the approximate-solution error at each time instance. The proposed framework considers a wide range of candidate features, regression methods, and additive noise models. We consider primarily recursive regression techniques developed for time-series modeling, including both classical time-series models (e.g., autoregressive models) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), but also analyze standard non-recursive regression techniques (e.g., feed-forward neural networks) for comparative purposes. Finally, numerical experiments conducted on multiple benchmark problems illustrate that the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network, which is a type of RNN, outperforms other methods and yields substantial improvements in error predictions over traditional approaches.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Comparability of Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Dissolved Organic Matter across Laboratories

Non-targeted liquid chromatography tandem highresolution mass spectrometry (LC−MS/MS) is increasingly applied for the structure-resolved chemical analysis of dissolved organic matter (DOM). With new developments in MS instrumentation and analysis software, the approach has gained substantial momentum over the past decade. However, achieving high-quality analytical data that is reproducible and comparable across laboratories can be a bottleneck in non-targeted metabolomics and organic matter chemical analysis, especially for data reuse in repository-scale analyses. Understanding the capabilities as well as challenges of comparing LC−MS/MS data from different laboratories is necessary for inferring global trends from public data sets. To illuminate instrumentation factors that drive differences and variability, we used a standardized data analysis pipeline, including classical (CMN) and featurebased molecular networking (FBMN), to analyze data from a ring trial by 24 laboratories on identical sample sets of algal and DOM extracts that were mixed in predefined concentrations and spiked with standards. Our results showed that data sets from similar mass spectrometer types with unified instrument parameters were qualitatively comparable, resolving the same general trends and shared mass spectral features. Interlaboratory comparability was best for high-intensity features, while low-intensity features showed greater detection variability. Our analysis also highlights challenges when comparing data from instruments with different acquisition rates or operating with less standardized methods. Lastly, we provide recommendations for data integration, public data sharing, standardization, and best practices for standardized LC−MS/MS data acquisition, which will be critical for long-term time series and intercomparability of DOM chemical analyses.

DOM↗