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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Repair of the DSS-14 Pedestal Concrete

About three years after the Goldstone Deep Space Station antenna was dedicated, grout under the hydrostatic bearing runner was found to be interacting with the runner, causing rust to form between the runner and the sole plates upon which it rests. The rust formed unevenly and the runner could not be kept flat so in 1969 the grout was removed and replaced with a Portland cement and sand dry pack grout that was less likely to produce rust. In the years that followed, oil leaking from the runner assembly caused progressive deterioration of the drypack grout. In 1982 over one thousand hours of spacecraft tracking time were lost due to this deterioration. A plan was developed to rehabilitate the bearing. The plan called for raising the rotating structure free from the concrete pedestal and placing it on three pairs of external support columns. With the weight of the structure transferred to the columns, the pads and runner could be removed and the repair started. The very successful repair included the replacement of a significant portion of the antenna pedestal.

Mcclure, D.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Eighteenth NASTRAN (R) Users' Colloquium

This publication is the proceedings of the Eighteenth NASTRAN Users' Colloquium held in Portland, Oregon, April 23-27, 1990. It provides some comprehensive general papers on the application of finite elements in engineering, comparisons with other approaches, unique applications, pre- and post-processing or auxiliary programs, and new methods of analysis with NASTRAN.

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NASA NTRS1992

An open, parallel I/O computer as the platform for high-performance, high-capacity mass storage systems

APTEC Computer Systems is a Portland, Oregon based manufacturer of I/O computers. APTEC's work in the context of high density storage media is on programs requiring real-time data capture with low latency processing and storage requirements. An example of APTEC's work in this area is the Loral/Space Telescope-Data Archival and Distribution System. This is an existing Loral AeroSys designed system, which utilizes an APTEC I/O computer. The key attributes of a system architecture that is suitable for this environment are as follows: (1) data acquisition alternatives; (2) a wide range of supported mass storage devices; (3) data processing options; (4) data availability through standard network connections; and (5) an overall system architecture (hardware and software designed for high bandwidth and low latency). APTEC's approach is outlined in this document.

Abineri, Adrian↗
NASA NTRS1992

Lunar cement

With the exception of water, the major oxide constituents of terrestrial cements are present at all nine lunar sites from which samples have been returned. However, with the exception of relatively rare cristobalite, the lunar oxides are not present as individual phases but are combined in silicates and in mixed oxides. Lime (CaO) is most abundant on the Moon in the plagioclase (CaAl2Si2O8) of highland anorthosites. It may be possible to enrich the lime content of anorthite to levels like those of Portland cement by pyrolyzing it with lunar-derived phosphate. The phosphate consumed in such a reaction can be regenerated by reacting the phosphorus product with lunar augite pyroxenes at elevated temperatures. Other possible sources of lunar phosphate and other oxides are discussed.

Agosto, William N.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Friction evaluation of concrete paver blocks for airport pavement applications

The development and use of concrete paver blocks is reviewed and some general specifications for application of this type of pavement surface at airport facilities are given. Two different shapes of interlocking concrete paver blocks installed in the track surface at NASA Langley's Aircraft Landing Dynamics Facility (ALDF) are described. Preliminary cornering performance results from testing of 40 x 14 radial-belted and bias-ply aircraft tires are reviewed. These tire tests are part of a larger, ongoing joint NASA/FAA/Industry Surface Traction and Radial Tire (START) Program involving several different tire sizes. Both dry and wet surface conditions were evaluated on the two concrete paver block test surfaces and a conventional, nongrooved Portland cement concrete surface. Future test plans involving evaluation of other concrete paver block designs at the ALDF are indicated.

Yager, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Bonneville, Power Administration Timing System

Time is an integral part of the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA) operational systems. Generation and power transfers are planned in advance. Utilities coordinate with each other by making these adjustments on a timed schedule. Price varies with demand, so billing is based on time. Outages for maintenance are scheduled to assure they do not interrupt reliable power delivery. Disturbance records are aligned with recorded timetags for analysis and comparison with related information. Advanced applications like traveling wave fault location and real-time phase measurement require continuous timing with high precision. Most of BPA is served by a Central Time System (CTS) at the Dittmer Control Center near Portland, OR. This system keeps time locally and supplies time to both the control center systems and field locations via a microwave signal. It is kept synchronized to national standard time and coordinated with interconnected utilities. It is the official BPA time. Powwer system control and operation is described, followed by a description of BPA timing systems including CTS, the Fault Location Acquisition Reporter, time dissemination, and phasor measurements. References are provided for further reading.

Martin, Kenneth E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Comparison of PETSC Library and HPF Implementations of an Archetypal PDE Computation

Two paradigms for distributed-memory parallel computation that free the application programmer from the details of message passing are compared for an archetypal structured scientific computation a nonlinear, structured-grid partial differential equation boundary value problem using the same algorithm on the same hardware. Both paradigms, parallel libraries represented by Argonne's PETSC, and parallel languages represented by the Portland Group's HPF, are found to be easy to use for this problem class, and both are reasonably effective in exploiting concurrency after a short learning curve. The level of involvement required by the application programmer under either paradigm includes specification of the data partitioning (corresponding to a geometrically simple decomposition of the domain of the PDE). Programming in SPAM style for the PETSC library requires writing the routines that discretize the PDE and its Jacobian, managing subdomain-to-processor mappings (affine global- to-local index mappings), and interfacing to library solver routines. Programming for HPF requires a complete sequential implementation of the same algorithm, introducing concurrency through subdomain blocking (an effort similar to the index mapping), and modest experimentation with rewriting loops to elucidate to the compiler the latent concurrency. Correctness and scalability are cross-validated on up to 32 nodes of an IBM SP2.

Hayder, M. Ehtesham↗
NASA NTRS1998

MAPS of Cancer

Our goal was to produce an interactive visualization from a mathematical model that successfully predicts metastases from head and neck cancer. We met this goal early in the project. The visualization is available for the public to view. Our work appears to fill a need for more information about this deadly disease. The idea of this project was to make an easily interpretable visualization based on what we call "functional maps" of disease. A functional map is a graphic summary of medical data, where distances between parts of the body are determined by the probability of disease, not by anatomical distances. Functional maps often beat little resemblance to anatomical maps, but they can be used to predict the spread of disease. The idea of modeling the spread of disease in an abstract multidimensional space is difficult for many people. Our goal was to make the important predictions easy to see. NASA must face this problem frequently: how to help laypersons and professionals see important trends in abstract, complex data. We took advantage of concepts perfected in NASA's graphics libraries. As an analogy, consider a functional map of early America. Suppose we choose travel times, rather than miles, as our measures of inter-city distances. For Abraham Lincoln, travel times would have been the more meaningful measure of separation between cities. In such a map New Orleans would be close to Memphis because of the Mississippi River. St. Louis would be close to Portland because of the Oregon Trail. Oklahoma City would be far from Little Rock because of the Cheyenne. Such a map would look puzzling to those of us who have always seen physical maps, but the functional map would be more useful in predicting the probabilities of inter-site transit. Continuing the analogy, we could predict the spread of social diseases such as gambling along the rivers and cattle rustling along the trails. We could simply print the functional map of America, but it would be more interesting to show meaningful patterns of dispersal. We had previously published the functional map of the head and neck, but it was difficult to explain to either patients or surgeons because that view of our body did not resemble anatomy. This discrepancy between functional and physical maps is just a mathematical restatement of the well-known fact that some diseases, such as head and neck cancer, spread in complex patterns, not always to the next nearest site. We had discovered that a computer could re-arrange anatomy so that this particular disease spreads to the next nearest site. The functional map explains over 95% of the metastases in 1400 patients. In a sense, we had graphed what our body "looks like" to a tumor. The tumor readily travels between adjacent areas in the functional map. The functional map is a succinct visual display of trends that are not easily appreciated in tables of probabilities.

Gray, Lincoln↗
NASA NTRS1994

1993 Gordon Bell Prize Winners

The Gordon Bell Prize recognizes significant achievements in the application of supercomputers to scientific and engineering problems. In 1993, finalists were named for work in three categories: (1) Performance, which recognizes those who solved a real problem in the quickest elapsed time. (2) Price/performance, which encourages the development of cost-effective supercomputing. (3) Compiler-generated speedup, which measures how well compiler writers are facilitating the programming of parallel processors. The winners were announced November 17 at the Supercomputing 93 conference in Portland, Oregon. Gordon Bell, an independent consultant in Los Altos, California, is sponsoring $2,000 in prizes each year for 10 years to promote practical parallel processing research. This is the sixth year of the prize, which Computer administers. Something unprecedented in Gordon Bell Prize competition occurred this year: A computer manufacturer was singled out for recognition. Nine entries reporting results obtained on the Cray C90 were received, seven of the submissions orchestrated by Cray Research. Although none of these entries showed sufficiently high performance to win outright, the judges were impressed by the breadth of applications that ran well on this machine, all nine running at more than a third of the peak performance of the machine.

Karp, Alan H.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Validation of Surface Bio-Optical Properties in the Gulf of Maine as a Means for Improving Satellite Primary Production Estimates

One of the greatest challenges in providing sea-truth data for various ocean color sensors is climatology. This is particularly true in the Gulf of Maine since it is cloudy and foggy more than it is clear; the climatology shows on average, about one in four to five days has clear skies with clear days slightly more frequent in the late summer and early fall. Our strategy has been to use a ship of opportunity where one has choice of the sampling days. This provides much better flexibility to sample during clear periods with good satellite coverage. Our Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies (SIMBIOS) contract has been to use the M/S Scotia Prince ferry as a ship of opportunity, running between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth, NS. Measurements include continuous, surface, along-track fluorescence, two independent measures of backscattering, total light scattering, absorption, beam attenuation, above-water remote sensing reflectance, calcite-dependent light scattering, temperature, and salinity. Expendable bathythermography (XBT) drops allow acquisition of vertical temperature information, useful for defining isopycnal slope, which affects primary production. These data are comparable to a previous program from early 1982, where a ship of opportunity program (SOOP) was run on the truck ferry, M/V Marine Evangeline, which ran along the same transect. These surface data were combined with satellite-derived sea surface temperature fields to examine the Maine coastal current. Unfortunately, this program stopped in 1982. The ongoing SIMBIOS results will dovetail nicely with the previous work (which also had Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) coverage) for looking at any long-term changes in the Gulf of Maine hydrography, bio-optics, and biogeochemistry.

Balch, William M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

NAS Parallel Benchmark Results 11-96

The NAS Parallel Benchmarks have been developed at NASA Ames Research Center to study the performance of parallel supercomputers. The eight benchmark problems are specified in a "pencil and paper" fashion. In other words, the complete details of the problem to be solved are given in a technical document, and except for a few restrictions, benchmarkers are free to select the language constructs and implementation techniques best suited for a particular system. These results represent the best results that have been reported to us by the vendors for the specific 3 systems listed. In this report, we present new NPB (Version 1.0) performance results for the following systems: DEC Alpha Server 8400 5/440, Fujitsu VPP Series (VX, VPP300, and VPP700), HP/Convex Exemplar SPP2000, IBM RS/6000 SP P2SC node (120 MHz), NEC SX-4/32, SGI/CRAY T3E, SGI Origin200, and SGI Origin2000. We also report High Performance Fortran (HPF) based NPB results for IBM SP2 Wide Nodes, HP/Convex Exemplar SPP2000, and SGI/CRAY T3D. These results have been submitted by Applied Parallel Research (APR) and Portland Group Inc. (PGI). We also present sustained performance per dollar for Class B LU, SP and BT benchmarks.

Bailey, David H.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Performance Comparison of HPF and MPI Based NAS Parallel Benchmarks

Compilers supporting High Performance Form (HPF) features first appeared in late 1994 and early 1995 from Applied Parallel Research (APR), Digital Equipment Corporation, and The Portland Group (PGI). IBM introduced an HPF compiler for the IBM RS/6000 SP2 in April of 1996. Over the past two years, these implementations have shown steady improvement in terms of both features and performance. The performance of various hardware/ programming model (HPF and MPI) combinations will be compared, based on latest NAS Parallel Benchmark results, thus providing a cross-machine and cross-model comparison. Specifically, HPF based NPB results will be compared with MPI based NPB results to provide perspective on performance currently obtainable using HPF versus MPI or versus hand-tuned implementations such as those supplied by the hardware vendors. In addition, we would also present NPB, (Version 1.0) performance results for the following systems: DEC Alpha Server 8400 5/440, Fujitsu CAPP Series (VX, VPP300, and VPP700), HP/Convex Exemplar SPP2000, IBM RS/6000 SP P2SC node (120 MHz), NEC SX-4/32, SGI/CRAY T3E, and SGI Origin2000. We would also present sustained performance per dollar for Class B LU, SP and BT benchmarks.

Saini, Subhash↗
NASA NTRS1997

NAS Parallel Benchmark. Results 11-96: Performance Comparison of HPF and MPI Based NAS Parallel Benchmarks

High Performance Fortran (HPF), the high-level language for parallel Fortran programming, is based on Fortran 90. HALF was defined by an informal standards committee known as the High Performance Fortran Forum (HPFF) in 1993, and modeled on TMC's CM Fortran language. Several HPF features have since been incorporated into the draft ANSI/ISO Fortran 95, the next formal revision of the Fortran standard. HPF allows users to write a single parallel program that can execute on a serial machine, a shared-memory parallel machine, or a distributed-memory parallel machine. HPF eliminates the complex, error-prone task of explicitly specifying how, where, and when to pass messages between processors on distributed-memory machines, or when to synchronize processors on shared-memory machines. HPF is designed in a way that allows the programmer to code an application at a high level, and then selectively optimize portions of the code by dropping into message-passing or calling tuned library routines as 'extrinsics'. Compilers supporting High Performance Fortran features first appeared in late 1994 and early 1995 from Applied Parallel Research (APR) Digital Equipment Corporation, and The Portland Group (PGI). IBM introduced an HPF compiler for the IBM RS/6000 SP/2 in April of 1996. Over the past two years, these implementations have shown steady improvement in terms of both features and performance. The performance of various hardware/ programming model (HPF and MPI (message passing interface)) combinations will be compared, based on latest NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmark (NPB) results, thus providing a cross-machine and cross-model comparison. Specifically, HPF based NPB results will be compared with MPI based NPB results to provide perspective on performance currently obtainable using HPF versus MPI or versus hand-tuned implementations such as those supplied by the hardware vendors. In addition we would also present NPB (Version 1.0) performance results for the following systems: DEC Alpha Server 8400 5/440, Fujitsu VPP Series (VX, VPP300, and VPP700), HP/Convex Exemplar SPP2000, IBM RS/6000 SP P2SC node (120 MHz) NEC SX-4/32, SGI/CRAY T3E, SGI Origin2000.

Saini, Subash↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Comparison of Automatic Parallelization Tools/Compilers on the SGI Origin 2000 Using the NAS Benchmarks

Porting applications to new high performance parallel and distributed computing platforms is a challenging task. Since writing parallel code by hand is extremely time consuming and costly, porting codes would ideally be automated by using some parallelization tools and compilers. In this paper, we compare the performance of the hand written NAB Parallel Benchmarks against three parallel versions generated with the help of tools and compilers: 1) CAPTools: an interactive computer aided parallelization too] that generates message passing code, 2) the Portland Group's HPF compiler and 3) using compiler directives with the native FORTAN77 compiler on the SGI Origin2000.

Saini, Subhash↗
NASA NTRS2004

The GOES-R Lightning Mapper Sensor

The Lightning Mapper Sensor on GOES-R builds on previous measurements of lightning from low earth orbit by the OTD (Optical Transient Detector) and LIS (Lightning Imaging Sensor) sensors. Unlike observations from low earth orbit, the GOES-R platform will allow continuous monitoring of lightning activity over the Continental United States and southern Canada, Central and South America, and portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The LMS will detect total (cloud-to-ground and intracloud) lightning at storm scale resolution (approx. 8 km) using a highly sensitive Charge Coupled Device (CCD) detector array. Discrimination between lightning optical transients and a bright sunlit background scene is accomplished by employing spectral, spatial, and temporal filtering along with a background subtraction technique. The result is 24 hour detection capability of total lightning. These total lightning observations can be made available to users within about 20 seconds. Research indicates a number of ways that total lightning observations from LMS could benefit operational activities, including 1) potential increases in lead times and reduced false alarms for severe thunderstorm and tornado Warnings, 2) improved routing of &rail around thunderstorms, 3) support for spacecraft launches and landings, 4) improved ability to monitor tropical cyclone intensity, 5) ability to monitor thunderstorm intensification/weakening during radar outages or where radar coverage is poor, 6) better identification of deep convection for the initialization of numerical prediction models, 7) improved forest fire forecasts, 8) identification of convective initiation, 9) identification of heavy convective snowfall, and 10) enhanced temporal resolution of storm evolution (1 minute) than is available from radar observations. Total lightning data has been used in an operational environment since July 2003 at the Huntsville, Alabama National Weather Service office. Total lightning measurements are obtained by the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) and have successfully been used in warning decisions. Every 2 minutes, total lightning counts in 2 km by 2 km horizontal, 1 km vertical grids are available to forecasters on an AWIPS (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System) workstation. Experience with the LMA total lightning data is used to illustrate the potential use of LMS data that would be available to forecasters across the US. This abstract is for submission as a presentation to the National Weather Association Annual Meeting to be held 16-21 October 2004 in Portland, OR. This abstract will be published in the conference proceedings.

Buechler, Dennis↗
NASA NTRS2006

Material Concerns: Evaluating Sulfur Concrete for use in the Lunar Environment

On Earth sulfur "concrete" is an established construction material that has good mechanical properties, generally better than Portland cement, and can be used in corrosive environments. Troilite (FeS) has been found on the moon and raises the question of using extracted sulfur as a lunar construction material, an attractive alternative to conventional concrete as it does not require water. Troilite reduction to elemental sulfur and using it to make concrete in a lunar setting has been previously discussed. However, little has been experimentally done to evaluate its performance in the extreme lunar environment. This study subjected sets of sulfur concrete samples, prepared using JSC-1 lunar simulant, to I ) extended periods of high vacuum and 2) extreme temperature cycles. Here an overview of sulfur concrete and experimentally assessed properties, put in context of the lunar environment, is presented and discussed.

Grugel, Richard N.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Solar Schematic

The home shown at right is specially designed to accommodate solar heating units; it has roof planes in four directions, allowing placement of solar collectors for best exposure to the sun. Plans (bottom) and complete working blueprints for the solar-heated house are being marketed by Home Building Plan Service, Portland, Oregon. The company also offers an inexpensive schematic (center) showing how a homeowner only moderately skilled in the use of tools can build his own solar energy system, applicable to new or existing structures. The schematic is based upon the design of a low-cost solar home heating system built and tested by NASA's Langley Research Center; used to supplement a warm-air heating system, it can save the homeowner about 40 percent of his annual heating bill for a modest investment in materials and components. Home Building Plan Service saved considerable research time by obtaining a NASA technical report which details the Langley work. The resulting schematic includes construction plans and simplified explanations of solar heat collection, collectors and other components, passive heat factors, domestic hot water supply and how to work with local heating engineers.

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NASA NTRS2009

Star-Mapping Tools Enable Tracking of Endangered Animals

Software programmer Jason Holmberg of Portland, Oregon, partnered with a Goddard Space Flight Center astrophysicist to develop a method for tracking the elusive whale shark using the unique spot patterns on the fish s skin. Employing a star-mapping algorithm originally designed for the Hubble Space Telescope, Holmberg created the Shepherd Project, a photograph database and pattern-matching system that can identify whale sharks by their spots and match images contributed to the database by photographers from around the world. The system has been adapted for tracking other rare and endangered animals, including polar bears and ocean sunfish.

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