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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Understanding and Improving Energy Efficiency of Regional Mobility Systems Leveraging System-Level Data

Increased congestion required urban Americans to travel 6.8 billion hours more and purchase 3.1 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion cost of $\$$153 billion, according to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report. How to effectively manage the regional mobility system and improve the energy efficiency presents a big challenge to public agencies. Recent years have witnessed massive multi-jurisdictional multi-modal system-level data from various sources, which provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve the mobility system and its energy efficiency. However, implications of system-level data for mobility and energy efficiency are unclear. Those system-level data sets are siloed, spatially and temporally sparse, biased, not unified, and lacking of insights for system management. Consequently, there is a real need to acquire, fuse, mine and learn from multi-source system-level data to prepare public agencies to deal more effectively with large-scale energy efficiency modeling, management and planning. This project proposes to intensively review inexpensive, replicable and openly-accessible data from multi-modal systems, develop a data-driven system-level modeling framework enabled and validated by data, identify the energy inefficiencies of mobility systems from infrastructure, vehicles, passenger systems, and quantify the benefits of system-level strategies to improve mobility/energy efficiency. In addition, this research develops models to effectively estimate energy consumption and emissions from various types of vehicles on the roadway networks, with high granularity and high fidelity. Traditional models often heavily rely on aggregated infrastructure or vehicle/passenger data, for example, the census survey, land-use, and traffic counts of one or several classes, which may lead to research gaps considering the emerging vehicle technologies. Those models do not contain individual vehicular information. We propose an integrated data-driven method that combines multiple network modeling components, featuring the utilization of state-wide vehicle registration data. The additional vehicle registration data improve the model performance, and produce high-resolution vehicle-specific estimates of emissions and network performance metrics. Two case studies on the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia regional network show that the proposed method can efficiently and effectively estimate the emissions of a large-scale network, and provide valuable information for evaluating common management strategies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

RAMM-TM for detection of gas leakage from canisters containing spent nuclear fuel

Remote Area Modular Monitoring (RAMM) for canister surface temperature measurement (TM), or RAMM-TM, is a novel remote monitoring device for detection of gas leakage based on surface temperature measurements of canisters containing spent nuclear fuel. Here we describe the development of RAMM-TM, as is the demonstration of its performance in detecting canister gas leakage from a small, simulated chloride-induced stress corrosion crack in experiments using a 1/4.5-scale model cask. Both helium and air gas leakage from a canister were detected within hours after the start of the leakage. The change in surface temperatures at the top and bottom of the canister (ΔTBT) during gas leakage (depressurization) triggered automatic alarms, providing a sound basis for early detection of gas leakage from the canister. This methodology would allow consequence management through the implementation of mitigatory actions to continue effective aging management and to reduce risks to public safety, health, and the environment.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Point Source Likelihood Framework (psl) v1.0

PSL is a software framework for localizing radiation point sources in a 3D environment using a freely moving radiation detector system. The framework assumes a single point source of radiation is in the environment and uses known detector positions and orientations along with their radiation measurements to find the most likely location of the point source. This approach to the problem enables analyses that improve upon the capability of a standard Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (MLEM) approach, such as setting a source detection threshold, finding a likelihood interval for the position of the source, finding a likelihood interval for the activity (intensity) of the source, determining whether more than one point source may be present, and generating a map of Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) for a given source type. Applications include radiological and nuclear security, consequence management, decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and radiological emergency response.

Joshi, Tenzing↗
DOE OSTI2021

Dose Coefficient Calculation for Use in Dosimetry Assessment of a Fission-Based Weapon

In the event of a fission-based weapon or improvised nuclear device (IND) detonation, dose coefficients can be harnessed to provide dose assessments for defense, emergency preparedness, and consequence management, as well as to prospectively inform the assessment of radiation biomarkers and development of medical prophylaxis countermeasures for defense and homeland security stakeholders and decision-makers. Although dose coefficients have previously been calculated for this group, they would apply specifically to the studied population, the 1945 Japanese cohort, after which their anthropomorphic computational phantoms were modeled. For this reason, applications to other populations may be limited, and instead, an assessment of a more standardized population is desired. We employed a series of computational human phantoms representing international reference individuals: UF/NCI voxel phantom series containing newborn, 1-, 5-, 10-, 15-, and 35-year-old males and females. Irradiation of the phantoms was simulated using the Monte Carlo N-Particle transport code to determine organ dose coefficients under four idealized irradiation geometries at three distances from the detonation hypocenter at Hiroshima and Nagasaki using DS02 free-in-air prompt neutron and photon fluence spectra. Through these simulations, age-specific dose coefficients were determined for individual organs. Various articulated PIMAL stylized phantoms were simulated as well to estimate the effect of body posture on dose coefficients and determine the effect of posture on dosimetric estimation and reconstruction. Results additionally demonstrate that 137 Cs and the Watt fission spectra are not ideal general surrogate sources for fission weapons, which may be considered for experimental testing of medical countermeasures. Supplementary data provided tabulates the compilation of organ dose-rate coefficients in this study.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2021

Software Requirements for a Sample Check-in application in CBRNResponder

In 2021, functional area drills were held that focused on field sample collection and custody transfer at the sample control hotline for the Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) Consequence Management (CM) program. The overarching goal of these drills were to evaluate the current CM processes using the CBRNResponder mobile and web-based applications. There were several needs identified to improve CM processes and to stream/transfer data across multiple devices with and without internet: (1) A sample check-in process is needed to streamline current processes to reduce errors and create efficiencies, (2) the sample check-in application needs to be deployed as a mobile application and on the browser versions when on-line, and (3) the sample check-in process needs to function in an environment with internet connections and also in a standalone mode when internet is not available.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Canister Helium Leak Detection Based on Temperature Information Using RAMM (Final CRADA Report)

The performance of RAMM-TM in detecting gas leakage from a canister with a small, simulated chloride-induced stress corrosion crack has been demonstrated in a series of experiments conducted at CRIEPI by using a 1/4.5- scale model cask. Leakage of both helium and air from a canister was detected within hours after the start of the leakage. The change in surface temperatures at the top and bottom of the canister (ΔTBT) during gas leakage (depressurization) triggered automatic alarms, providing a sound basis for early detection of gas leakage from the canister. This methodology would enable consequence management through the implementation of mitigatory actions to continue effective aging management, to reduce risks to public safety and health, and to protect the environment.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

FRMAC Assessment Manual Volume 1 - Assessment Division Operations

In the event of a major radiological incident or accident, the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) will coordinate the federal agencies that have various statutory responsibilities and/or capabilities for responding to such incidents (Ref. FRMAC10). The FRMAC is responsible for coordinating all environmental radiological monitoring, sampling, and assessment activities for the response. For less severe radiological incidents, elements of the Department of Energy (DOE) Consequence Management (CM) program, such as the CM Response Team (CMRT) or CM Home Team (CMHT) may be activated to provide similar support activities to regional or local response assets. This manual describes the roles and responsibilities of the Assessment Division of the FRMAC during a response to a radiological incident. Every effort will be made in this manual in accordance with the Implementation of the National Incident Management System (NIMS)/Incident Command System (ICS) in the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) – Emergency Phase (Ref. RSL07) to use terminology consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) for Incident Command System (ICS) organizations, planning processes, and leadership positions (Ref. FEMA17). This manual also applies to smaller scale CM responses that may involve the CMRT or CMHT elements without the formation of a FRMAC. It details the concept of operations for the Assessment Division, including common tasks performed by the Division. This manual also describes the organizational structure of the Assessment Division and roles of the personnel within the Division.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
NASA NTRS1995

A crew-centered flight deck design philosophy for High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) aircraft

Past flight deck design practices used within the U.S. commercial transport aircraft industry have been highly successful in producing safe and efficient aircraft. However, recent advances in automation have changed the way pilots operate aircraft, and these changes make it necessary to reconsider overall flight deck design. The High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) mission will likely add new information requirements, such as those for sonic boom management and supersonic/subsonic speed management. Consequently, whether one is concerned with the design of the HSCT, or a next generation subsonic aircraft that will include technological leaps in automated systems, basic issues in human usability of complex systems will be magnified. These concerns must be addressed, in part, with an explicit, written design philosophy focusing on human performance and systems operability in the context of the overall flight crew/flight deck system (i.e., a crew-centered philosophy). This document provides such a philosophy, expressed as a set of guiding design principles, and accompanied by information that will help focus attention on flight crew issues earlier and iteratively within the design process. This document is part 1 of a two-part set.

Palmer, Michael T.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Risk Communications

Presentation for a new NA-81 NATO course on Consequence Management. This presentation focuses on how to effectively communicate after a radiological incident.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

High fidelity ground deposition measurement with robots after explosive radiological dispersion

A team of scientists from the Remote Sensing Laboratory at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, has assembled a remote-controlled robot to field a few sodium iodide scintillators of different size and shape 18″ above ground for measurement of ground deposition of gamma-emitting particles after an explosion of a radiological dispersal device. This system uses a high-precision differential GPS device with submeter accuracy for radiation mapping. The system is most useful in characterizing large-area contamination and detecting gamma radioactivity in invisible, submicron particulate debris deposited on the ground at surface level or embedded in subsurface up to 3″ deep. The system was assembled as part of a larger effort to integrate advanced radiological detection devices into autonomous or remote-controlled robotic systems to eliminate or minimize the need for emergency responders to enter areas that pose significant health and safety risks to humans following a major radiological incident or accident. Research into autonomous algorithms is required to develop automated robotic systems for radiological survey and characterization activities in highly contaminated areas. The scope of this project also includes developing communications pathways and supporting infrastructure capabilities for different types of robotic technologies. The expected result is an advanced autonomous robotic system with integrated radiation detection electronics that allows emergency response personnel to view data remotely and in real time for radiological emergency response and consequence management purposes.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

From Count Rates to Quantifying Isotopic Activities – Field Analysis of Radiation Monitoring Data

The Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) provides a comprehensive bicoastal radiological and nuclear emergency response to United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. A major part of the support is to provide systematic radiological search for lost or stolen sources, Radiological search is a core competency of the NNSS with its origin dating back to nuclear weapons test era. Search operations from multiple platforms is the common thread among the various NNSS assets, which include Aerial Measuring System (AMS), Maritime Support Team (MST), National Capitol Response (NCR), National Search Team (NST) and Radiological Assistance Program (RAP). Information collected and analyzed during search operations add to the actionable intelligence for the law enforcement agencies and provide valuable guidance for the tactical resolution of a nuclear or radiological crisis. Search is an intelligence and situational awareness driven operation and most often called upon during a radiological emergency, however it can be brought into play to thwart a potential threat by providing monitoring and surveillance support. The Office of Nuclear Incident Response (NA-84) serves as the technical leader in responding to and resolving nuclear and radiological threats worldwide and integrates its efforts with other NNSA stakeholders (e.g., NNSA office of Defense Nuclear Non-proliferation NA-22). The response includes expertise in the areas of radiological search, render safe, and consequence management. This article will discuss the methodologies, tools, procedures, and techniques to extract maximum radiological characterization information (isotopic composition, activities for individual isotopes, threat assessment etc.) from field monitoring or Search operation data.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗
NASA NTRS2013

A System for Fault Management and Fault Consequences Analysis for NASA's Deep Space Habitat

NASA's exploration program envisions the utilization of a Deep Space Habitat (DSH) for human exploration of the space environment in the vicinity of Mars and/or asteroids. Communication latencies with ground control of as long as 20+ minutes make it imperative that DSH operations be highly autonomous, as any telemetry-based detection of a systems problem on Earth could well occur too late to assist the crew with the problem. A DSH-based development program has been initiated to develop and test the automation technologies necessary to support highly autonomous DSH operations. One such technology is a fault management tool to support performance monitoring of vehicle systems operations and to assist with real-time decision making in connection with operational anomalies and failures. Toward that end, we are developing Advanced Caution and Warning System (ACAWS), a tool that combines dynamic and interactive graphical representations of spacecraft systems, systems modeling, automated diagnostic analysis and root cause identification, system and mission impact assessment, and mitigation procedure identification to help spacecraft operators (both flight controllers and crew) understand and respond to anomalies more effectively. In this paper, we describe four major architecture elements of ACAWS: Anomaly Detection, Fault Isolation, System Effects Analysis, and Graphic User Interface (GUI), and how these elements work in concert with each other and with other tools to provide fault management support to both the controllers and crew. We then describe recent evaluations and tests of ACAWS on the DSH testbed. The results of these tests support the feasibility and strength of our approach to failure management automation and enhanced operational autonomy

System Effects Analysis↗
NASA NTRS2011

Predicting the Consequences of Workload Management Strategies with Human Performance Modeling

Human performance modelers at the US Army Research Laboratory have developed an approach for establishing Soldier high workload that can be used for analyses of proposed system designs. Their technique includes three key components. To implement the approach in an experiment, the researcher would create two experimental conditions: a baseline and a design alternative. Next they would identify a scenario in which the test participants perform all their representative concurrent interactions with the system. This scenario should include any events that would trigger a different set of goals for the human operators. They would collect workload values during both the control and alternative design condition to see if the alternative increased workload and decreased performance. They have successfully implemented this approach for military vehicle. designs using the human performance modeling tool, IMPRINT. Although ARL researches use IMPRINT to implement their approach, it can be applied to any workload analysis. Researchers using other modeling and simulations tools or conducting experiments or field tests can use the same approach.

Mitchell, Diane Kuhl↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Miserable Risk Estimation: “Managing” Low-Probability, High-Consequence Risks

As with all bold endeavors, NASA missions must identify and manage their risks. While estimating the consequences of these risks is typically straightforward, it can be challenging to estimate their likelihood. This is especially true for low-probability risks, due both to the lack of operational data and the cognitive biases humans bring to risk estimation. In this talk, I will present both a tongue-in-cheek and “Management Science” approach to estimating low-probability, high-consequence risks. I then summon my Human Factors colleagues to provide NASA mission managers with the gentle guidance needed to avoid common errors in risk assessment

Mary K Kaiser↗
NASA NTRS1993

Workload management and geographic disorientation in aviation incidents: A review of the ASRS data base

NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) incident reports are reviewed in two related areas: pilots' failures to appropriately manage tasks, and breakdowns in geographic orientation. Examination of 51 relevant reports on task management breakdowns revealed that altitude busts and inappropriate runway usee were the most frequently reported consequences. Task management breakdowns appeared to occur at all levels of expertise, and prominent causal factors were related to breakdowns in crew communications, over-involvement with the flight management system and, for small (general aviation) aircraft, preoccupation with weather. Analysis of the 83 cases of geographic disorientation suggested that these too occurred at all levels of pilot experience. With regard to causal factors, a majority was related to poor cockpit resource management, in which inattention led to a loss of geographic awareness. Other leading causes were related to poor weather and poor decision making. The potential of the ASRS database for contributing to research and design issues is addressed.

Williams, Henry P.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Detecting And Characterizing Archetypes of Unintended Consequences in Engineered Systems

When designing engineered systems, the potential for unintended consequences of design policies or design decisions exists despite best intentions. Conditions that might cause the formation of unintended consequences are often known only in hindsight. However, since these conditions are associated with a single event, it is difficult to uncover the general patterns of conditions leading to unintended consequences. In this research, patterns of conditions associated with unintended consequences are learned from historical data and represented in the form of archetypes. While previous work using systems theoretic modeling has identified high-level archetypes, this work leverages a self-organizing map to learn archetypes of unintended consequences from human-tagged risk factors in a large data set of lessons learned from adverse events at NASA. The sixty-six identified archetypes contain patterns of conditions such as complexity and human-machine interaction associated with the formation of unintended consequences. To validate the archetypes, a sample of the archetypes is represented using system dynamics in order to illustrate that the identified archetypes are specialized versions of known high-level archetypes of unintended consequences. While the research is based upon a specific dataset, the archetypes apply to any engineered system and the pattern of leading indicators open a new path to manage unintended consequences and mitigate the magnitude of potentially adverse outcomes.

Hannah S Walsh↗
NASA NTRS1997

Effects of Modality on Interrupted Flight Deck Performance: Implications for Data Link

Externally-imposed tasks frequently interrupt ongoing task performance in the commercial flight deck. While normally managed without consequence, basic research as well as aviation accident and incident investigations show that interruptions can negatively affect performance and safety. This research investigates the influence of interruption and interrupted task modality on pilot performance in a simulated commercial flight deck. Fourteen current commercial airline pilots performed approach scenarios in a fixed-base flight simulator. Air traffic control instructions, conveyed either aurally or visually (via a data link system) interrupted a visual task (obtaining information from the Flight Management System) and an auditory task (listening to the automated terminal information service recording). Some results confirm the hypothesized performance advantage of cross-modality conditions, more compelling nature of auditory interruptions, and interruption-resistance of auditory ongoing tasks. However, taken together, results suggest the four interaction conditions had different effects on pilot performance. These results have implications for the design of data link systems, and for facilitating interruption management through interface design, aiding, and training programs.

Latorella, Kara A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Biphasic solvents for post-combustion CO 2 capture from natural gas flue Gas

Fossil fuel fired power plants are generally expected to remain one of the most significant global sources of electricity for decades to come. Consequently, carbon management technologies are needed to reduce or eliminate ongoing emissions from these sources. Amongst the many techniques for carbon capture, aqueous amine-based absorbents (monoethanolamine, MEA, in particular) are, presently, considered the leading technology for post-combustion CO 2 point-source capture. These technologies are nevertheless limited by their high capital and regeneration energy costs. Biphasic solvents have been identified as an attractive alternative to traditional MEA based absorbents due to their potential energy savings. Thus far, however, the research on biphasic solvents has largely focused on their performance in coal flue gas while more dilute natural gas flue gas applications have received relatively little attention. Here, this work examines the performances of two novel biphasic solvent blends, diethylenetriamine (DETA) and triethylenetetramine (TETA), in CO 2 capture from a natural gas flue gas simulant. Across several regeneration tests, both solvents achieved considerable energy savings over the benchmark MEA solution. Specifically, the energy consumption per mol CO 2 recovered for the DETA-based and TETA-based solvents was 46 % and 35 % less than that of the benchmark MEA solution, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulations were also performed to gain a deeper understanding of the phase separation phenomena that occur as a consequence of CO 2 absorption. These simulations indicated that phase change was driven by the strong interaction between the absorption products and water, while the degree of separation depended on the CO 2 loading.

Biphasic solvents↗