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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 37 records · Page 2

Method and system for training dynamic nonlinear adaptive filters which have embedded memory

Described herein is a method and system for training nonlinear adaptive filters (or neural networks) which have embedded memory. Such memory can arise in a multi-layer finite impulse response (FIR) architecture, or an infinite impulse response (IIR) architecture. We focus on filter architectures with separate linear dynamic components and static nonlinear components. Such filters can be structured so as to restrict their degrees of computational freedom based on a priori knowledge about the dynamic operation to be emulated. The method is detailed for an FIR architecture which consists of linear FIR filters together with nonlinear generalized single layer subnets. For the IIR case, we extend the methodology to a general nonlinear architecture which uses feedback. For these dynamic architectures, we describe how one can apply optimization techniques which make updates closer to the Newton direction than those of a steepest descent method, such as backpropagation. We detail a novel adaptive modified Gauss-Newton optimization technique, which uses an adaptive learning rate to determine both the magnitude and direction of update steps. For a wide range of adaptive filtering applications, the new training algorithm converges faster and to a smaller value of cost than both steepest-descent methods such as backpropagation-through-time, and standard quasi-Newton methods. We apply the algorithm to modeling the inverse of a nonlinear dynamic tracking system 5, as well as a nonlinear amplifier 6.

Rabinowitz, Matthew↗

Real-time Adaptive Control Using Neural Generalized Predictive Control

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of a Nonlinear Generalized Predictive Control algorithm by showing real-time adaptive control on a plant with relatively fast time-constants. Generalized Predictive Control has classically been used in process control where linear control laws were formulated for plants with relatively slow time-constants. The plant of interest for this paper is a magnetic levitation device that is nonlinear and open-loop unstable. In this application, the reference model of the plant is a neural network that has an embedded nominal linear model in the network weights. The control based on the linear model provides initial stability at the beginning of network training. In using a neural network the control laws are nonlinear and online adaptation of the model is possible to capture unmodeled or time-varying dynamics. Newton-Raphson is the minimization algorithm. Newton-Raphson requires the calculation of the Hessian, but even with this computational expense the low iteration rate make this a viable algorithm for real-time control.

Haley, Pam↗

Production and Characterization of Additively Manufactured Radiator Panels with Integral Branching Heat Pipes for High-Temperature Heat Rejection

Emerging concepts for fission surface power and nuclear electric propulsion necessitate lightweight, mechanically robust, and thermally efficient heat rejection radiators. State-of-the-art intermediate-temperature (~400 K) composite radiator assemblies have been developed based on titanium-water heat pipes bonded to metal, graphite, and carbon-fiber-based panels. NASA has identified a need for new radiator concepts that can operate at even higher temperatures (500 – 600 K), minimize thermal resistances and thermal stress failures at bond interfaces, and approach areal densities of 2 – 3 kg m -2 . To meet these needs, our team is developing additively manufactured (AM) radiator panels with integral branching wicking heat pipe networks. Water is selected as the working fluid for this temperature range. Based on simulations and thermal vacuum experiments, these branching embedded heat pipe networks can efficiently distribute heat over panels for finned surface efficiencies of η f >70% at T H = 500 K input heat. This paper first presents laser powder-bed fusion AM strategies to produce embedded porous structures for wicking heat pipes in Inconel 718 and titanium alloys (commercially pure and Ti-6Al-4V alloys). Post-build chemical and thermal treatments are described that yield hydrophilic wicking surfaces for operation with water. Transient rate-of-rise experiments with water and acetone are reported that yield estimates for AM wick porosity (ϵ), permeability (K), and effective pore radius (r pore ). Based on the wick characterization results, small prototype radiator panels (75 × 125 mm) with integrated heat pipe networks were manufactured. Heat rejection performance data are presented from cold thermal vacuum testing, with heat input temperatures up to ~510 K. Future efforts will focus on improving heat pipe performance, optimizing radiator mass, and evaluating larger panels to assess scalability.

thermal management↗

Production and Characterization of Additively Manufactured Radiator Panels With Integral Branching Heat Pipes for High-Temperature Heat Rejection

Emerging concepts for fission surface power and nuclear electric propulsion necessitate lightweight, mechanically robust, and thermally efficient heat rejection radiators. State-of-the-art intermediate-temperature (~400 K) composite radiator assemblies have been developed based on titanium-water heat pipes bonded to metal, graphite, and carbon-fiber-based panels. NASA has identified a need for new radiator concepts that can operate at even higher temperatures (500 – 600 K), minimize thermal resistances and thermal stress failures at bond interfaces, and approach areal densities of 2 – 3 kg m -2 . To meet these needs, our team is developing additively manufactured (AM) radiator panels with integral branching wicking heat pipe networks. Water is selected as the working fluid for this temperature range. Based on simulations and thermal vacuum experiments, these branching embedded heat pipe networks can efficiently distribute heat over panels for finned surface efficiencies of η f >70% at T H = 500 K input heat. This paper first presents laser powder-bed fusion AM strategies to produce embedded porous structures for wicking heat pipes in Inconel 718 and titanium alloys (commercially pure and Ti-6Al-4V alloys). Post-build chemical and thermal treatments are described that yield hydrophilic wicking surfaces for operation with water. Transient rate-of-rise experiments with water and acetone are reported that yield estimates for AM wick porosity (ϵ), permeability (K), and effective pore radius ( r pore ). Based on the wick characterization results, small prototype radiator panels (75 × 125 mm) with integrated heat pipe networks were manufactured. Heat rejection performance data are presented from cold thermal vacuum testing, with heat input temperatures up to ~510 K. Future efforts will focus on improving heat pipe performance, optimizing radiator mass, and evaluating larger panels to assess scalability.

nuclear electric propulsion↗

Passively Damped Laminated Piezoelectric Shell Structures with Integrated Electric Networks

Multi-field mechanics are presented for curvilinear piezoelectric laminates interfaced with distributed passive electric components. The equations of motion for laminated piezoelectric shell structures with embedded passive electric networks are directly formulated and solved using a finite element methodology. The modal damping and frequencies of the piezoelectric shell are calculated from the poles of the system. Experimental and numerical results are presented for the modal damping and frequency of composite beams with a resistively shunted piezoceramic patch. The modal damping and frequency of plates, cylindrical shells and cylindrical composite blades with piezoelectric-resistor layers are predicted. Both analytical and experimental studies illustrate a unique dependence of modal damping and frequencies on the shunting resistance and show the effect of structural shape and curvature on piezoelectric damping.

Saravanos, Dimitris A.↗

Remote Diagnosis of the International Space Station Utilizing Telemetry Data

Modern systems such as fly-by-wire aircraft, nuclear power plants, manufacturing facilities, battlefields, etc., are all examples of highly connected network enabled systems. Many of these systems are also mission critical and need to be monitored round the clock. Such systems typically consist of embedded sensors in networked subsystems that can transmit data to central (or remote) monitoring stations. Moreover, many legacy are safety systems were originally not designed for real-time onboard diagnosis, but a critical and would benefit from such a solution. Embedding additional software or hardware in such systems is often considered too intrusive and introduces flight safety and validation concerns. Such systems can be equipped to transmit the sensor data to a remote-processing center for continuous health monitoring. At Qualtech Systems, we are developing a Remote Diagnosis Server (RDS) that can support multiple simultaneous diagnostic sessions from a variety of remote subsystems.

Deb, Somnath↗

Interaction and Communication of Agents in Networks and Language Complexity Estimates

Knowledge acquisition and sharing are arguably the most critical activities of communicating agents. We report about our on-going project featuring knowledge acquisition and sharing among communicating agents embedded in a network. The applications we target range from hardware robots to virtual entities such as internet agents. Agent experiments can be simulated using a convenient simulation language. We analyzed the complexity of communicating agent simulations using Java and Easel. Scenarios we have studied are listed below. The communication among agents can range from declarative queries to sub-natural language queries. 1) A set of agents monitoring an object are asked to build activity profiles based on exchanging elementary observations; 2) A set of car drivers form a line, where every car is following its predecessor. An unsafe distance cm create a strong wave in the line. Individual agents are asked to incorporate and apply directions how to avoid the wave. 3) A set of micro-vehicles form a grid and are asked to propagate information and concepts to a central server.

Smid, Jan↗

Embedded parallel processing based ground control systems for small satellite telemetry

The use of networked terminals which utilize embedded processing techniques results in totally integrated, flexible, high speed, reliable, and scalable systems suitable for telemetry and data processing applications such as mission operations centers (MOC). Synergies of these terminals, coupled with the capability of terminal to receive incoming data, allow the viewing of any defined display by any terminal from the start of data acquisition. There is no single point of failure (other than with network input) such as exists with configurations where all input data goes through a single front end processor and then to a serial string of workstations. Missions dedicated to NASA's ozone measurements program utilize the methodologies which are discussed, and result in a multimission configuration of low cost, scalable hardware and software which can be run by one flight operations team with low risk.

Forman, Michael L.↗

Climate Controls on Tree Growth in the Western Mediterranean

The first large-scale network of tree-ring chronologies from the western Mediterranean (WM; 32 deg N-43 deg N, 10 deg W-17 deg E) is described and analyzed to identify the seasonal climatic signal in indices of annual ring width. Correlation and rotated empirical orthogonal function analyses are applied to 85 tree-ring series and corresponding gridded climate data to assess the climate signal embedded in the network. Chronologies range in length from 80 to 1129 years. Monthly correlations and partial correlations show overall positive associations for Pinus halepensis (PIHA) and Cedrus atlantica (CDAT) with winter (December-February) and spring (March-May) precipitation across this network. In both seasons, the precipitation correlation with PIHA is stronger, while CDAT chronologies tend to be longer. A combination of positive correlations between growth and winter-summer precipitation and negative partial correlations with growing season temperatures suggests that chronologies in at least part of the network reflect soil moisture and the integrated effects of precipitation and evapotranspiration signal. The range of climate response observed across this network reflects a combination of both species and geographic influences. Western Moroccan chronologies have the strongest association with the North Atlantic Oscillation.

chronology development↗

Method for fabricating solar cells having integrated collector grids

A heterojunction or Schottky barrier photovoltaic device comprising a conductive base metal layer compatible with and coating predominately the exposed surface of the p-type substrate of the device such that a back surface field region is formed at the interface between the device and the base metal layer, a transparent, conductive mixed metal oxide layer in integral contact with the n-type layer of the heterojunction or Schottky barrier device having a metal alloy grid network of the same metal elements of the oxide constituents of the mixed metal oxide layer embedded in the mixed metal oxide layer, an insulating layer which prevents electrical contact between the conductive metal base layer and the transparent, conductive metal oxide layer, and a metal contact means covering the insulating layer and in intimate contact with the metal grid network embedded in the transparent, conductive oxide layer for conducting electrons generated by the photovoltaic process from the device.

Evans, J. C., Jr.↗

Convection zone origins of solar atmospheric heating

Spicules are examined as a means for supplying the corona with mass, energy, and magnetic field. It is suggested that spicules form from the supersonic upward expansion of material on nearly evacuated network flux tubes embedded within the sun's convection zone. This allows supersonic but subescape velocities to be attained by the material as it flows outward through the photosphere. Although supersonic, the kinetic energy (subescape) of the spicule material, as observed, is insufficient for coronal heating. It is suggested that, through buoyancy changes on evacuated flux tubes, the magnetic field first 'wicks' material flow into the solar atmosphere. Subsequently, the magnetic field energizes the gaseous material to form the conventional hot, dynamically expanding, solar corona. This occurs through momentum and energy transport by Alfven waves and associated Maxwell stresses concurrently flowing upward on these 'geysers' (spicules). The vertical momentum equation governing fluid flow is examined, and a particular equipartition solution is presented for the flow velocity along a simple field geometry.

Schatten, Kenneth H.↗

Software Development Technologies for Reactive, Real-Time, and Hybrid Systems: Summary of Research

This research is directed towards the implementation of a comprehensive deductive-algorithmic environment (toolkit) for the development and verification of high assurance reactive systems, especially concurrent, real-time, and hybrid systems. For this, we have designed and implemented the STCP (Stanford Temporal Prover) verification system. Reactive systems have an ongoing interaction with their environment, and their computations are infinite sequences of states. A large number of systems can be seen as reactive systems, including hardware, concurrent programs, network protocols, and embedded systems. Temporal logic provides a convenient language for expressing properties of reactive systems. A temporal verification methodology provides procedures for proving that a given system satisfies a given temporal property. The research covered necessary theoretical foundations as well as implementation and application issues.

Manna, Zohar↗

Implementation of a High-Speed FPGA and DSP Based FFT Processor for Improving Strain Demodulation Performance in a Fiber-Optic-Based Sensing System

NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program is pursuing research in on-board Structural Health Management (SHM) technologies for purposes of reducing or eliminating aircraft accidents due to system and component failures. Under this program, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is developing a strain-based structural health-monitoring concept that incorporates a fiber optic-based measuring system for acquiring strain values. This fiber optic-based measuring system provides for the distribution of thousands of strain sensors embedded in a network of fiber optic cables. The resolution of strain value at each discrete sensor point requires a computationally demanding data reduction software process that, when hosted on a conventional processor, is not suitable for near real-time measurement. This report describes the development and integration of an alternative computing environment using dedicated computing hardware for performing the data reduction. Performance comparison between the existing and the hardware-based system is presented.

Farley, Douglas L.↗

A Distributed Prognostic Health Management Architecture

This paper introduces a generic distributed prognostic health management (PHM) architecture with specific application to the electrical power systems domain. Current state-of-the-art PHM systems are mostly centralized in nature, where all the processing is reliant on a single processor. This can lead to loss of functionality in case of a crash of the central processor or monitor. Furthermore, with increases in the volume of sensor data as well as the complexity of algorithms, traditional centralized systems become unsuitable for successful deployment, and efficient distributed architectures are required. A distributed architecture though, is not effective unless there is an algorithmic framework to take advantage of its unique abilities. The health management paradigm envisaged here incorporates a heterogeneous set of system components monitored by a varied suite of sensors and a particle filtering (PF) framework that has the power and the flexibility to adapt to the different diagnostic and prognostic needs. Both the diagnostic and prognostic tasks are formulated as a particle filtering problem in order to explicitly represent and manage uncertainties; however, typically the complexity of the prognostic routine is higher than the computational power of one computational element ( CE). Individual CEs run diagnostic routines until the system variable being monitored crosses beyond a nominal threshold, upon which it coordinates with other networked CEs to run the prognostic routine in a distributed fashion. Implementation results from a network of distributed embedded devices monitoring a prototypical aircraft electrical power system are presented, where the CEs are Sun Microsystems Small Programmable Object Technology (SPOT) devices.

Bhaskar, Saha↗

Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Project

The primary objective this summer is "evaluating standards for wireless architecture for the internet of things". The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects or "things" embedded with electronics, software, sensors and network connectivity which enables these objects to collect and exchange data and make decisions based on said data. This was accomplished by creating a semi-autonomous vehicle that takes advantage of multiple sensors, cameras, and onboard computers and combined them with a mesh network which enabled communication across large distances with little to no interruption. The mesh network took advantage of what is known as DTN - Disruption Tolerant Networking which according to NASA is the new communications protocol that is "the first step towards interplanetary internet." The use of DTN comes from the fact that it will store information if an interruption in communications is detected and even forward that information via other relays within range so that the data is not lost. This translates well into the project because as the car moves further away from whatever is sending it commands (in this case a joystick), the information can still be forwarded to the car with little to no loss of information thanks to the mesh nodes around the driving area.

Stewart, Christopher↗

Inverse Estimation of Mars 2020 Entry Aeroheating Environments Using MEDLI2 Flight Data

The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected heating and pressure data during entry into Mars' atmosphere of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. MEDLI2 included thermocouples, heat flux sensors, and pressure transducers on both the heatshield and the backshell. This paper covers the inverse estimation of heatshield and backshell surface heating based on the MEDLI2 Instrumented Sensor Plugs (MISPs), a network of thermocouples embedded in thermal protection system plugs across the aeroshell. Monte Carlo analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the surface heat rate and temperature to uncertainties in thermocouple depth and material properties such as density, specific heat capacity, and thermal conductivity. Data from each MISP was also used to estimate the local time of transition from laminar to turbulent flow at each plug location.

Hannah S Alpert↗

Variance Decomposition of MEDLI2 Reconstructed Heating Using Neural Networks

The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected data during entry of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover into Mars’ atmosphere. An inverse estimation of the backshell and heatshield surface aeroheating was performed, using the data from the MEDLI2 Instrumented Sensor Plugs, a network of thermocouples embedded within the thermal protection system across the aeroshell. Monte Carlo analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the surface heat rate, temperature, and heat load to uncertainties in thermocouple depth and material properties. In this paper, a variance decomposition method using Sobol indices was employed to understand the relative contributions of each uncertainty parameter. Performing this analysis using results from the inverse analysis tool FIAT_Opt was found to require incredibly high computation time, and thus machine learning models were trained and evaluated as a surrogate model for FIAT_Opt. This paper demonstrates that machine learning models can be an efficient, accurate alternative to state-of-the-art inverse analysis tools like FIAT_Opt, especially for computationally-expensive processes. Using these models, the sensitivity analysis showed that uncertainties in heat capacity and thermal conductivity were the main drivers for the overall uncertainty in peak reconstructed heating and heat load.

H S Alpert↗