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At least 271 records · Page 15

A Phase Locked High Speed Real-Time Interferometry System for Large Amplitude Unsteady Flows

A high speed phase locked interferometry system has been designed and developed for real-time measurements of the dynamic stall flow over a pitching airfoil. Point diffraction interferograms of incipient flow separation over a sinusoidally oscillating airfoil have been obtained at rates of up to 20 KHz and for free stream Mach numbers of 0.3 and 0.45. The images were recorded on ASA 125 and ASA 400 film using a drum camera. Special electronic timing and synchronizing circuits were developed to trigger the laser light source from the camera, and to initiate acquisition of the interferogram sequence from any desired phase angle of oscillation. The airfoil instantaneous angle of attack data provided by an optical encoder was recorded via a FIFO and in EPROM into a microcomputer. The interferograms have been analyzed using software developed in-house to get quantitative flow density and pressure distributions.

Chandrasekhara, M. S.↗

Glenn's Telescience Support Center Provided Around-the-Clock Operations Support for Space Experiments on the International Space Station

NASA Glenn Research Center s Telescience Support Center (TSC) allows researchers on Earth to operate experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttles. NASA s continuing investment in the required software, systems, and networks provides distributed ISS ground operations that enable payload developers and scientists to monitor and control their experiments from the Glenn TSC. The quality of scientific and engineering data is enhanced while the long-term operational costs of experiments are reduced because principal investigators and engineering teams can operate their payloads from their home institutions.

Malarik, Diane C.↗

Flight Hardware Fabricated for Combustion Science in Space

NASA Glenn Research Center s Telescience Support Center (TSC) allows researchers on Earth to operate experiments onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttles. NASA s continuing investment in the required software, systems, and networks provides distributed ISS ground operations that enable payload developers and scientists to monitor and control their experiments from the Glenn TSC. The quality of scientific and engineering data is enhanced while the long-term operational costs of experiments are reduced because principal investigators and engineering teams can operate their payloads from their home institutions.

OMalley, Terence F.↗

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments Project at Fermilab: Computing for Experiments

The FabrIc for Frontier Experiments (FIFE) project is a major initiative within the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division designed to steer the computing model for non-LHC experiments at Fermilab. The FIFE project enables close collaboration between experimenters and computing professionals to serve high-energy physics experiments of differing scope and physics area of study. The project also tracks and provides feedback on the development of common tools for job submission, identity management, software and data distribution, job monitoring, and databases for project tracking. The computing needs of the experiments under the FIFE umbrella continue to increase, and present a complex list of requirements to their service providers. To meet these requirements, recent advances in the FIFE toolset include a new identity management infrastructure, significantly upgraded job monitoring tools, and a workflow management system. We have also upgraded existing tools to access remote computing resources such as GPU clusters and sites outside the United States. We will present these recent advances, highlight the nature of collaboration between the diverse set of experimenters and service providers, and discuss the project's future directions.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A general-purpose development environment for intelligent computer-aided training systems

Space station training will be a major task, requiring the creation of large numbers of simulation-based training systems for crew, flight controllers, and ground-based support personnel. Given the long duration of space station missions and the large number of activities supported by the space station, the extension of space shuttle training methods to space station training may prove to be impractical. The application of artificial intelligence technology to simulation training can provide the ability to deliver individualized training to large numbers of personnel in a distributed workstation environment. The principal objective of this project is the creation of a software development environment which can be used to build intelligent training systems for procedural tasks associated with the operation of the space station. Current NASA Johnson Space Center projects and joint projects with other NASA operational centers will result in specific training systems for existing space shuttle crew, ground support personnel, and flight controller tasks. Concurrently with the creation of these systems, a general-purpose development environment for intelligent computer-aided training systems will be built. Such an environment would permit the rapid production, delivery, and evolution of training systems for space station crew, flight controllers, and other support personnel. The widespread use of such systems will serve to preserve task and training expertise, support the training of many personnel in a distributed manner, and ensure the uniformity and verifiability of training experiences. As a result, significant reductions in training costs can be realized while safety and the probability of mission success can be enhanced.

Savely, Robert T.↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-tbe-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multiobjective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm: Preprint

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-tbe-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multiobjective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

Sustaining and Extending the Open Science Grid: Science Innovation on a PetaScale Nationwide Facility (DE-FC02-06ER41436) SciDAC-2 Closeout Report

Under this SciDAC-2 grant the project’s goal w a s t o stimulate new discoveries by providing scientists with effective and dependable access to an unprecedented national distributed computational facility: the Open Science Grid (OSG). We proposed to achieve this through the work of the Open Science Grid Consortium: a unique hands-on multi-disciplinary collaboration of scientists, software developers and providers of computing resources. Together the stakeholders in this consortium sustain and use a shared distributed computing environment that transforms simulation and experimental science in the US. The OSG consortium is an open collaboration that actively engages new research communities. We operate an open facility that brings together a broad spectrum of compute, storage, and networking resources and interfaces to other cyberinfrastructures, including the US XSEDE (previously TeraGrid), the European Grids for ESciencE (EGEE), as well as campus and regional grids. We leverage middleware provided by computer science groups, facility IT support organizations, and computing programs of application communities for the benefit of consortium members and the US national CI.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Fault-tolerant clock synchronization in distributed systems

Existing fault-tolerant clock synchronization algorithms are compared and contrasted. These include the following: software synchronization algorithms, such as convergence-averaging, convergence-nonaveraging, and consistency algorithms, as well as probabilistic synchronization; hardware synchronization algorithms; and hybrid synchronization. The worst-case clock skews guaranteed by representative algorithms are compared, along with other important aspects such as time, message, and cost overhead imposed by the algorithms. More recent developments such as hardware-assisted software synchronization and algorithms for synchronizing large, partially connected distributed systems are especially emphasized.

Ramanathan, Parameswaran↗

An Extensible Software and Communication Platform for Distributed Energy Resource Management

This paper introduces a novel Distributed Extensible Grid Control (DEGC) software and communication platform to facilitate the control of distributed energy resources on electric grids. The DEGC software platform leverages state-of-the-art advances in secure, distributed communication and decentralized authorization and authentication. We discuss how these advances enable the kind of robust and secure communication required for a distributed grid control platform, and show how DEGC applies these technologies to the agile development and deployment of grid software through an extensible and flexible API. Here, we describe how DEGC can implement both Volt-VAR voltage magnitude control and Phasor-Based Control as sample applications and demonstrate the DEGC platform in hardware with the demanding Phasor-Based Control test case, and provide performance metrics.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Analyzing Dynamics of Cooperating Spacecraft

A software library has been developed to enable high-fidelity computational simulation of the dynamics of multiple spacecraft distributed over a region of outer space and acting with a common purpose. All of the modeling capabilities afforded by this software are available independently in other, separate software systems, but have not previously been brought together in a single system. A user can choose among several dynamical models, many high-fidelity environment models, and several numerical-integration schemes. The user can select whether to use models that assume weak coupling between spacecraft, or strong coupling in the case of feedback control or tethering of spacecraft to each other. For weak coupling, spacecraft orbits are propagated independently, and are synchronized in time by controlling the step size of the integration. For strong coupling, the orbits are integrated simultaneously. Among the integration schemes that the user can choose are Runge-Kutta Verner, Prince-Dormand, Adams-Bashforth-Moulton, and Bulirsh- Stoer. Comparisons of performance are included for both the weak- and strongcoupling dynamical models for all of the numerical integrators.

Hughes, Stephen P.↗

SU-E-T-50: Automatic Validation of Megavoltage Beams Modeled for Clinical Use in Radiation Therapy

Purpose: To automatically validate megavoltage beams modeled in XiO™ 4.50 (Elekta, Stockholm, Sweden) and Varian Eclipse™ Treatment Planning Systems (TPS) (Varian Associates, Palo Alto, CA, USA), reducing validation time before beam-on for clinical use. Methods: A software application that can automatically read and analyze DICOM RT Dose and W2CAD files was developed using MatLab integrated development environment.TPS calculated dose distributions, in DICOM RT Dose format, and dose values measured in different Varian Clinac beams, in W2CAD format, were compared. Experimental beam data used were those acquired for beam commissioning, collected on a water phantom with a 2D automatic beam scanning system.Two methods were chosen to evaluate dose distributions fitting: gamma analysis and point tests described in Appendix E of IAEA TECDOC-1583. Depth dose curves and beam profiles were evaluated for both open and wedged beams. Tolerance parameters chosen for gamma analysis are 3% and 3 mm dose and distance, respectively.Absolute dose was measured independently at points proposed in Appendix E of TECDOC-1583 to validate software results. Results: TPS calculated depth dose distributions agree with measured beam data under fixed precision values at all depths analyzed. Measured beam dose profiles match TPS calculated doses with high accuracy in both open and wedged beams. Depth and profile dose distributions fitting analysis show gamma values < 1. Relative errors at points proposed in Appendix E of TECDOC-1583 meet therein recommended tolerances.Independent absolute dose measurements at points proposed in Appendix E of TECDOC-1583 confirm software results. Conclusion: Automatic validation of megavoltage beams modeled for their use in the clinic was accomplished. The software tool developed proved efficient, giving users a convenient and reliable environment to decide whether to accept or not a beam model for clinical use. Validation time before beam-on for clinical use was reduced to a few hours.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

SU-F-J-194: Development of Dose-Based Image Guided Proton Therapy Workflow

Purpose: To implement image-guided proton therapy (IGPT) based on daily proton dose distribution. Methods: Unlike x-ray therapy, simple alignment based on anatomy cannot ensure proper dose coverage in proton therapy. Anatomy changes along the beam path may lead to underdosing the target, or overdosing the organ-at-risk (OAR). With an in-room mobile computed tomography (CT) system, we are developing a dose-based IGPT software tool that allows patient positioning and treatment adaption based on daily dose distributions. During an IGPT treatment, daily CT images are acquired in treatment position. After initial positioning based on rigid image registration, proton dose distribution is calculated on daily CT images. The target and OARs are automatically delineated via deformable image registration. Dose distributions are evaluated to decide if repositioning or plan adaptation is necessary in order to achieve proper coverage of the target and sparing of OARs. Besides online dose-based image guidance, the software tool can also map daily treatment doses to the treatment planning CT images for offline adaptive treatment. Results: An in-room helical CT system is commissioned for IGPT purposes. It produces accurate CT numbers that allow proton dose calculation. GPU-based deformable image registration algorithms are developed and evaluated for automatic ROI-delineation and dose mapping. The online and offline IGPT functionalities are evaluated with daily CT images of the proton patients. Conclusion: The online and offline IGPT software tool may improve the safety and quality of proton treatment by allowing dose-based IGPT and adaptive proton treatments. Research is partially supported by Mevion Medical Systems.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Exploring New Frontiers in Space Communications: Enhancing Delay Tolerant Networking through Cloud and Containerization

The High-rate Delay Tolerant Networking (HDTN) project at NASA Glenn Research Center has developed software that enables more flexible, reliable, and efficient space internetworking by using modern computing techniques such as cloud services, microservices, network function virtualization, software defined networking, and a distributed architecture. HDTN is built upon the Bundle Protocol and related convergence layers which have been developed to mitigate the challenges of the space networking environment including long delays, asymmetric data rates, and intermittent connectivity. The HDTN implementation employs asynchronous message processing tasks which allow for non-blocking operations as well as deployment in both centralized and distributed architectures. This paper investigates deploying HDTN in a containerized approach on the NASA Goddard’s Mission Cloud Platform using Amazon Web Services Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Commercial cloud computing will lower operating costs, provide flexible resource allocation, and allow for interconnectivity between multiple NASA centers as well as external partners. Containerization using Docker will enable greater portability and scalability for HDTN to be deployed into a variety of environments. We discuss possible NASA missions and use-cases such as the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) where the services provided by HDTN (reliable transport, high-rate message processing, and store-and-forward capabilities) will be enhanced through cloud computing and containerization. In addition, we describe the HDTN architecture and possible microservice-based networking approaches that can be obtained via HDTN’s configuration capabilities. Finally, we detail the EC2 specifications needed to achieve data rates greater than 1 Gbps to support optical communication missions such as LCRD.

Blake LaFuente↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation of an Advanced Distributed Energy Resource Management Algorithm

This paper presents the laboratory performance evaluation of voltage regulation under a new distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) algorithm via an advanced hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform. The HIL platform provides realistic testing in a laboratory environment, including the accurate modeling of a full-scale real-world distribution system from a utility partner, the DERMS software controller, and power hardware photovoltaic (PV) inverters. The new DERMS algorithm is developed based on online multi-objective optimization (OMOO) algorithms that perform fast dispatch of distributed solar PV simulated in a real-time digital simulator and real physical hardware devices. Experimental tests confirm the correct functioning of the HIL platform for evaluating controller algorithms and satisfactory voltage regulation performance of the developed OMOO algorithms.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗

SU-E-T-02: 90Y Microspheres Dosimetry Calculation with Voxel-S-Value Method: A Simple Use in the Clinic

Purpose: To present a simple and feasible method of voxel-S-value (VSV) dosimetry calculation for daily clinical use in radioembolization (RE) with {sup 90}Y microspheres. Dose distributions are obtained and visualized over CT images. Methods: Spatial dose distributions and dose in liver and tumor are calculated for RE patients treated with Sirtex Medical miscrospheres at our center. Data obtained from the previous simulation of treatment were the basis for calculations: Tc-99m maggregated albumin SPECT-CT study in a gammacamera (Infinia, General Electric Healthcare.). Attenuation correction and ordered-subsets expectation maximization (OSEM) algorithm were applied.For VSV calculations, both SPECT and CT were exported from the gammacamera workstation and registered with the radiotherapy treatment planning system (Eclipse, Varian Medical systems). Convolution of activity matrix and local dose deposition kernel (S values) was implemented with an in-house developed software based on Python code. The kernel was downloaded from www.medphys.it. Final dose distribution was evaluated with the free software Dicompyler. Results: Liver mean dose is consistent with Partition method calculations (accepted as a good standard). Tumor dose has not been evaluated due to the high dependence on its contouring. Small lesion size, hot spots in health tissue and blurred limits can affect a lot the dose distribution in tumors. Extra work includes: export and import of images and other dicom files, create and calculate a dummy plan of external radiotherapy, convolution calculation and evaluation of the dose distribution with dicompyler. Total time spent is less than 2 hours. Conclusion: VSV calculations do not require any extra appointment or any uncomfortable process for patient. The total process is short enough to carry it out the same day of simulation and to contribute to prescription decisions prior to treatment. Three-dimensional dose knowledge provides much more information than other methods of dose calculation usually applied in the clinic.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Mechanical and Structural Behavior of Granular Material Packed Beds for Space Life Support System Applications

Long-term human mission to space, such as living in International Space Station (ISS), Lunar, and Martian bases, and travel to Mars, must m ake use of Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS) to generate and recycle critical life supporting elements like oxygen and water. Oxygen Gen eration Assembly (OGA) and Water Processor Assembly (WPA), critical c omponents of ALSS, make use of series of granular material packed beds for generation and recycling of oxygen and water. Several granular m aterials can be used for generation, recycling, processing and recovery of oxygen and water. For example, they may include soft bed media, e.g. ion exchange resins for oxygen generation assembly and hard bed media such as, activated alumina, magchem (Magnesium oxide) and activa ted carbon to remove organic species like ethanol, methanol, and urea from wastewater in Water recovery/processing assembly. These beds are generally packed using a plate-spring mechanism to provide sufficien t compaction to the bed media throughout the course of operation. This paper presents results from an experimental study of a full-scale, 3 8.1 cm (15 inches) long and 3.7 cm (1.44 inches) diameter. activated alumina bed enclosed in a cylinder determining its force-displacement behavior, friction mobilizing force, and axial normal stress distribu tion under various axially applied loads and at different levels of packing. It is observed that force-displacement behavior is non-linear for low compaction level and becomes linear with increase in compaction of the bed media. Axial normal stress distribution along the length of the bed media decreased non-linearly with increase in depth from the loading end of the granular media. This paper also presents experimental results on the amount of particulates generated corresponding to various compaction levels. Particulates generated from each of the tests were measured using standard US sieves. It was found that the p articulates and the overall displacement of the bed media increased with decrease in initial compaction of the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the greater tendency for inter-particle sliding/rub bing due to smaller internal friction angles, as seen from the shear tests, at lesser initial compacted levels. Upon unloading, it was obse rved that there was no change in displacement (especially rebounding) in the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the fact that th e porous activated alumina particles fracture/break upon increase in applied load (during loading phase) and occupy void spaces in between the material grains; thereby leading to settling of the media. The lo ad-displacement curve becomes more linear with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. It is concluded that compaction considerabl y affects the load-displacement behavior of the bed media. A series of tests were also conducted on the packed bed media to determine the f orce required to mobilize the friction between the bed media and the housing cylinder. The results from these tests showed the existence of significant friction between the bed media and the encasing stainles s steel cylinder. Further, it was found that friction effects were more pronounced for media with higher initial compaction. Internal frict ion of the granular media was measured using direct shear apparatus. It was observed that the internal friction increased with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. In this study, a computational m odel (CM) is also developed using finite element software ANSYS to verify experimental results obtained for the distribution of the axial n ormal stress and axial displacement along the length of the full-scal e activated alumina bed media. In the computational model, the granular material is considered to have appropriate failure and frictional c ontact exists between the wall and the granular media. It is observed that the model predicts results closely with the experimental method. The compational results show that the axial normal stress distribution along the length of the activated alumina media decreases non-linea rly from the loading end and is negligible beyond a certain depth. Th is can be attributed to the existence of friction between the walls and the media and that the friction takes up most of the applied load.

Malla, Ramesh B.↗

SU-C-202-05: Pilot Study of Online Treatment Evaluation and Adaptive Re-Planning for Laryngeal SBRT

Purpose: We have instigated a phase I trial of 5-fraction stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for advanced-stage laryngeal cancer. We conducted this pilot dosimetric study to confirm the potential utility of online adaptive re-planning to preserve treatment quality. Methods: Ten cases of larynx cancer were evaluated. Baseline and daily SBRT treatment plans were generated per trial protocol. Daily volumetric images were acquired prior to every fraction of treatment. Reference simulation CT images were deformably registered to daily volumetric images using Eclipse. Planning contours were then deformably propagated to daily images. Reference SBRT plans were directly copied to calculate delivered dose distributions on deformed reference CT images. In-house software platform has been developed to calculate cumulative dose over a course of treatment in four steps: 1) deforming delivered dose grid to reference CT images using deformation information exported from Eclipse; 2) generating tetrahedrons using deformed dose grid as vertices; 3) resampling dose to a high resolution within every tetrahedron; 4) calculating dose-volume histograms. Our inhouse software was benchmarked with a commercial software, Mirada. Results: In all ten cases including 49 fractions of treatments, delivered daily doses were completely evaluated and treatment could be re-planned within 10 minutes. Prescription dose coverage of PTV was less than intended in 53% of fractions of treatment (mean: 94%, range: 84%–98%) while minimum coverage of CTV and GTV was 94% and 97%, respectively. Maximum bystander point dose limits to arytenoids, parotids, and spinal cord remained respected in all cases, although variances in carotid artery doses were observed in a minority of cases. Conclusion: Although GTV and CTV coverage is preserved by in-room 3D image guidance of larynx SBRT, PTV coverage can vary significantly from intended plans. Online adaptive treatment evaluation and re-planning is potentially necessary and our procedure is clinically applicable to fully preserve treatment quality. This project is supported by CPRIT Individual Investigator Research Award RP150386.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗