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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 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Image-Processing Software For A Hypercube Computer

Concurrent Image Processing Executive (CIPE) is software system intended to develop and use image-processing application programs on concurrent computing environment. Designed to shield programmer from complexities of concurrent-system architecture, it provides interactive image-processing environment for end user. CIPE utilizes architectural characteristics of particular concurrent system to maximize efficiency while preserving architectural independence from user and programmer. CIPE runs on Mark-IIIfp 8-node hypercube computer and associated SUN-4 host computer.

Lee, Meemong↗
NASA NTRS1998

F-Nets and Software Cabling: Deriving a Formal Model and Language for Portable Parallel Programming

Parallel programming is still being based upon antiquated sequence-based definitions of the terms "algorithm" and "computation", resulting in programs which are architecture dependent and difficult to design and analyze. By focusing on obstacles inherent in existing practice, a more portable model is derived here, which is then formalized into a model called Soviets which utilizes a combination of imperative and functional styles. This formalization suggests more general notions of algorithm and computation, as well as insights into the meaning of structured programming in a parallel setting. To illustrate how these principles can be applied, a very-high-level graphical architecture-independent parallel language, called Software Cabling, is described, with many of the features normally expected from today's computer languages (e.g. data abstraction, data parallelism, and object-based programming constructs).

DiNucci, David C.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Experiences Using OpenMP Based on Compiler Directed Software DSM on a PC Cluster

In this work we report on our experiences running OpenMP (message passing) programs on a commodity cluster of PCs (personal computers) running a software distributed shared memory (DSM) system. We describe our test environment and report on the performance of a subset of the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmarks that have been automatically parallelized for OpenMP. We compare the performance of the OpenMP implementations with that of their message passing counterparts and discuss performance differences.

Hess, Matthias↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development and Experimental Optimization of High-Temperature Modeling Tools and Methods for Concentrated Solar Power Particle - Systems

A novel, open-source radiative modeling toolset was developed to extend the functionality of particle-based modeling software (e.g. discrete element method (DEM)) to environmental conditions relevant to concentrated solar power applications. This toolset was optimized for deployment on desktop workstations instead of high-performance computing systems, to render such tools more accessible to the research community. Both particle-based modeling and radiative exchange modeling are computationally expensive and often require specialized programming expertise, making these methods cumbersome to use. Recent developments in DEM software by DCS Computing have greatly reduced these challenges, providing a graphical-user-interface based platform and modeling optimization for desktop workstations, HPCs, and cloud computing. The University of Dayton leveraged the experience of DCS Computing in developing a user-friendly, open-source radiative heat transfer expansion for DEM modeling. The University of Dayton DEM+ radiative modeling toolset was developed using a combination of fundamental experimental measurements, modeling, and simplified flow experiments over a range of temperatures and flow conditions. The toolset provides researchers with access to multiple radiative models including an accelerated Monte-Carlo Ray Tracing (application agnostic, highly computationally expensive), an expanded database of distance-based approximations (application limited, computationally light), and a weighted blending of the two methods capable of achieving over 90% reduction in computation time with equivalent accuracy compared to Monte-Carlo Ray Tracing. Through a graphical user interface, users can customize the radiative models to match their desired accuracy and available computational resources, improving access to particle based modeling for the research community. Ceramic sintered bauxite proppants were used in modeling and experimentally as a baseline. Both the radiative heat transfer and flow properties for particulate systems were investigated at elevated temperatures up to 800 °C. The major accomplishments for this work include a verified, open-source radiative modeling toolset to be distributed amongst the research community and the fabrication of three small-scale test facilities to investigate particle behavior and tune DEM flow properties for operation up to 800 °C. The findings have been shared with the research community via conference modeling workshops, deployment of the tools in DCS Computing Aspherix®, and open-source access to the developed radiative modeling tool. The development of next-generation CSP facilities and thermal energy storage systems based on ceramic particles requires providing access to computationally efficient and accurate modeling tools. Particles will experience a wide range of environments (20-800 °C) and handling conditions (dilute curtains or dense packing), requiring specially designed and optimized equipment. Optimizing solid particle physics models and establishing best-practices for particle modeling in CSP environments will assist researchers with designing optimized equipment, accelerating the deployment of more economically-competitive CSP facilities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Women in Science: Fermilab computing analyst Margherita Vittone-Wiersma

With February 11 marking the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, female physicists, engineers and computer scientists from CERN and Fermilab share their experiences of building careers in science. Margherita Vittone-Wiersma came to Fermilab as a physicist in February 1985. Together with a group of researchers from Italy's Institute of Nuclear Physics, she began a new experiment called E687. But she soon learned that she preferred working on data acquisition and the many methods to store and access the huge amount of data coming out of science experiments. What was once mere megabytes of data is now terabytes of information - and experimental physicists need to be able to retrieve stored data and monitor data coming from the detectors in real-time. "It's been an incredible change in scale of the amount of data that is handled by computers and has to be analyzed by the physicists," she says. Margherita migrated from physics to her new role in computing through lots of hands-on learning and classes in different programming languages and software development offered at Fermilab. She officially joined the lab's computing division in 1989. "It's a great experience to work with the physicists," she says. Together physicists and computing experts iterate over tools "to make sure that everything is working the way they expect. It's very rewarding." Credits: Video production - Fermilab Creative Services Music Copyright: Universal Production Music Astral Light Chevalier Idea originally conceived by Tanya Levshina, Fermilab and Maria Dimou, CERN.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Radiation Hydrodynamics in the Lagrangian Application Project’s LUMOS code

Starting in 2019, the Lagrangian Applications Project (LAP) and the Transport Project set out to develop a new ALE/Lagrangian radiation-hydrodynamics (RH) capability in a new code product named LUMOS. This work was done under the guidance of the Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program with the goal of producing software capable of leveraging the high-order thermal radiative transfer (TRT) solvers provided by the Jayenne and Capsaicin software projects. This capability supplements the existing gray diffusion solver that is currently available in LAP’s FLAG code [1, 2, 3] for RH. The remainder of this memo describes the coupling of the radiation and hydrodynamics solvers within LAP’s LUMOS code. Initially delivered in 2020 as part of an L2 milestone [4], this capability continues to mature in FY21 with more efficient and robust algorithms, new support for ALE, and support for mixed materials per cell. Today, LUMOS is provided as a standard end-user product in the suite of LAP tools provided in each release cycle. Code access can be requested at https://asc.lanl.gov.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Spreadsheet for the Mixing of a Row of Jets with a Confined Crossflow

An interactive computer code, written with a readily available software program, Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) is presented which displays 3 D oblique plots of a conserved scalar distribution downstream of jets mixing with a confined crossflow, for a single row, double rows, or opposed rows of jets with or without flow area convergence and/or a non-uniform crossflow scalar distribution. This project used a previously developed empirical model of jets mixing in a confined crossflow to create an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that can output the profiles of a conserved scalar for jets injected into a confined crossflow given several input variables. The program uses multiple spreadsheets in a single Microsoft Excel notebook to carry out the modeling. The first sheet contains the main program, controls for the type of problem to be solved, and convergence criteria. The first sheet also provides for input of the specific geometry and flow conditions. The second sheet presents the results calculated with this routine to show the effects on the mixing of varying flow and geometric parameters. Comparisons are also made between results from the version of the empirical correlations implemented in the spreadsheet and the versions originally written in Applesoft BASIC (Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA) in the 1980's.

J D Holderman↗
NASA NTRS2005

A Spreadsheet for the Mixing of a Row of Jets with a Confined Crossflow

An interactive computer code, written with a readily available software program, Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) is presented which displays 3 D oblique plots of a conserved scalar distribution downstream of jets mixing with a confined crossflow, for a single row, double rows, or opposed rows of jets with or without flow area convergence and/or a non-uniform crossflow scalar distribution. This project used a previously developed empirical model of jets mixing in a confined crossflow to create an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that can output the profiles of a conserved scalar for jets injected into a confined crossflow given several input variables. The program uses multiple spreadsheets in a single Microsoft Excel notebook to carry out the modeling. The first sheet contains the main program, controls for the type of problem to be solved, and convergence criteria. The first sheet also provides for input of the specific geometry and flow conditions. The second sheet presents the results calculated with this routine to show the effects on the mixing of varying flow and geometric parameters. Comparisons are also made between results from the version of the empirical correlations implemented in the spreadsheet and the versions originally written in Applesoft BASIC (Apple Computer, Cupertino, CA) in the 1980's.

J D Holderman↗
NASA NTRS2008

Software Analyzes Complex Systems in Real Time

Expert system software programs, also known as knowledge-based systems, are computer programs that emulate the knowledge and analytical skills of one or more human experts, related to a specific subject. SHINE (Spacecraft Health Inference Engine) is one such program, a software inference engine (expert system) designed by NASA for the purpose of monitoring, analyzing, and diagnosing both real-time and non-real-time systems. It was developed to meet many of the Agency s demanding and rigorous artificial intelligence goals for current and future needs. NASA developed the sophisticated and reusable software based on the experience and requirements of its Jet Propulsion Laboratory s (JPL) Artificial Intelligence Research Group in developing expert systems for space flight operations specifically, the diagnosis of spacecraft health. It was designed to be efficient enough to operate in demanding real time and in limited hardware environments, and to be utilized by non-expert systems applications written in conventional programming languages. The technology is currently used in several ongoing NASA applications, including the Mars Exploration Rovers and the Spacecraft Health Automatic Reasoning Pilot (SHARP) program for the diagnosis of telecommunication anomalies during the Neptune Voyager Encounter. It is also finding applications outside of the Space Agency.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2017

SharP

The pre-exascale systems are expected to have a significant amount of hierarchical and heterogeneous on-node memory, and this trend of system architecture in extreme-scale systems is expected to continue into the exascale era. along with hierarchical-heterogeneous memory, the system typically has a high-performing network ad a compute accelerator. This system architecture is not only effective for running traditional High Performance Computing (HPC) applications (Big-Compute), but also for running data-intensive HPC applications and Big-Data applications. As a consequence, there is a growing desire to have a single system serve the needs of both Big-Compute and Big-Data applications. Though the system architecture supports the convergence of the Big-Compute and Big-Data, the programming models and software layer have yet to evolve to support either hierarchical-heterogeneous memory systems or the convergence. A programming abstraction to address this problem. The programming abstraction is implemented as a software library and runs on pre-exascale and exascale systems supporting current and emerging system architecture. Using distributed data-structures as a central concept, it provides (1) a simple, usable, and portable abstraction for hierarchical-heterogeneous memory and (2) a unified programming abstraction for Big-Compute and Big-Data applications.

Venkata, Manjunath Gorentla↗
DOE OSTI2022

QGLab v0.0.1

A software program for experimenting with holographic teleportation protocol on quantum computers. The code implements the protocol that was proposed in https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.06314. The code is an end-to-end software solution that facilitates conducting the holographic teleportation experiments on state-of-the-art and emergent generations of QPUs supported by the Qiskit and tket SDKs. The code bundles all stages of an experiment as a single configurable workflow allowing faster development and experimentation cycles. Features: 1. Easy switching between Qiskit and tket quantum compilers. 2. Semi-automatic facilities for finding optimal compilation solutions beyond what Qiskit and tket provide by default. 3. Experiment resolution scaling (based on automatic jobs' batching). 4. Automatic experiment scaling over qubits. 5. Automatic readout error mitigation. 6. Automatic reproducibility analysis. 7. Standalone error-mitigation tools (randomized compiling, mitigation with estimation circuits, zero-noise extrapolation)

Shapoval, Illya↗
NASA NTRS1985

Fault-tolerant software - Experiment with the sift operating system

Results are presented of an experiment conducted in the NASA Avionics Integrated Research Laboratory (AIRLAB) to investigate the implementation of fault-tolerant software techniques on fault-tolerant computer architectures, in particular the Software Implemented Fault Tolerance (SIFT) computer. The N-version programming and recovery block techniques were implemented on a portion of the SIFT operating system. The results indicate that, to effectively implement fault-tolerant software design techniques, system requirements will be impacted and suggest that retrofitting fault-tolerant software on existing designs will be inefficient and may require system modification.

Brunelle, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Update on PISCES

An updated version of the Platform Independent Software Components for the Exploration of Space (PISCES) software library is available. A previous version was reported in Library for Developing Spacecraft-Mission-Planning Software (MSC-22983), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 25, No. 7 (July 2001), page 52. To recapitulate: This software provides for Web-based, collaborative development of computer programs for planning trajectories and trajectory- related aspects of spacecraft-mission design. The library was built using state-of-the-art object-oriented concepts and software-development methodologies. The components of PISCES include Java-language application programs arranged in a hierarchy of classes that facilitates the reuse of the components. As its full name suggests, the PISCES library affords platform-independence: The Java language makes it possible to use the classes and application programs with a Java virtual machine, which is available in most Web-browser programs. Another advantage is expandability: Object orientation facilitates expansion of the library through creation of a new class. Improvements in the library since the previous version include development of orbital-maneuver- planning and rendezvous-launch-window application programs, enhancement of capabilities for propagation of orbits, and development of a desktop user interface.

Pearson, Don↗
NASA NTRS2007

Software Compensates Electronic-Nose Readings for Humidity

A computer program corrects for the effects of humidity on the readouts of an array of chemical sensors (an "electronic nose"). To enable the use of this program, the array must incorporate an independent humidity sensor in addition to sensors designed to detect analytes other than water vapor. The basic principle of the program was described in "Compensating for Effects of Humidity on Electronic Noses" (NPO-30615), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 6 (June 2004), page 63. To recapitulate: The output of the humidity sensor is used to generate values that are subtracted from the outputs of the other sensors to correct for contributions of humidity to those readings. Hence, in principle, what remains after corrections are the contributions of the analytes only. The outputs of the non-humidity sensors are then deconvolved to obtain the concentrations of the analytes. In addition, the humidity reading is retained as an analyte reading in its own right. This subtraction of the humidity background increases the ability of the software to identify such events as spills in which contaminants may be present in small concentrations and accompanied by large changes in humidity.

Zhou, Hanying↗
DOE OSTI2014

FOX: A Fault Oblivious Extreme-Scale Execution Environment

The FOX project, funded under the ASCR X-stack I program, developed systems software and runtime libraries for a new approach to the data and work distribution for massively parallel, fault oblivious application execution. Our work was motivated by the premise that exascale computing systems will provide a thousand-fold increase in parallelism and a proportional increase in failure rate relative to today’s machines. To deliver the capability of exascale hardware, the systems software must provide the infrastructure to support existing applications while simultaneously enabling efficient execution of new programming models that naturally express dynamic, adaptive, irregular computation; coupled simulations; and massive data analysis in a highly unreliable hardware environment with billions of threads of execution. Our OS research has prototyped new methods to provide efficient resource sharing, synchronization, and protection in a many-core compute node. We have experimented with alternative task/dataflow programming models and shown scalability in some cases to hundreds of thousands of cores. Much of our software is in active development through open source projects. Concepts from FOX are being pursued in next generation exascale operating systems. Our OS work focused on adaptive, application tailored OS services optimized for multi → many core processors. We developed a new operating system NIX that supports role-based allocation of cores to processes which was released to open source. We contributed to the IBM FusedOS project, which promoted the concept of latency-optimized and throughput-optimized cores. We built a task queue library based on distributed, fault tolerant key-value store and identified scaling issues. A second fault tolerant task parallel library was developed, based on the Linda tuple space model, that used low level interconnect primitives for optimized communication. We designed fault tolerance mechanisms for task parallel computations employing work stealing for load balancing that scaled to the largest existing supercomputers. Finally, we implemented the Elastic Building Blocks runtime, a library to manage object-oriented distributed software components. To support the research, we won two INCITE awards for time on Intrepid (BG/P) and Mira (BG/Q). Much of our work has had impact in the OS and runtime community through the ASCR Exascale OS/R workshop and report, leading to the research agenda of the Exascale OS/R program. Our project was, however, also affected by attrition of multiple PIs. While the PIs continued to participate and offer guidance as time permitted, losing these key individuals was unfortunate both for the project and for the DOE HPC community.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2007

Fusing Symbolic and Numerical Diagnostic Computations

X-2000 Anomaly Detection Language denotes a developmental computing language, and the software that establishes and utilizes the language, for fusing two diagnostic computer programs, one implementing a numerical analysis method, the other implementing a symbolic analysis method into a unified event-based decision analysis software system for realtime detection of events (e.g., failures) in a spacecraft, aircraft, or other complex engineering system. The numerical analysis method is performed by beacon-based exception analysis for multi-missions (BEAMs), which has been discussed in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. The symbolic analysis method is, more specifically, an artificial-intelligence method of the knowledge-based, inference engine type, and its implementation is exemplified by the Spacecraft Health Inference Engine (SHINE) software. The goal in developing the capability to fuse numerical and symbolic diagnostic components is to increase the depth of analysis beyond that previously attainable, thereby increasing the degree of confidence in the computed results. In practical terms, the sought improvement is to enable detection of all or most events, with no or few false alarms.

James, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1990

GCS programmer's manual

A variety of instructions to be used in the development of implementations of software for the Guidance and Control Software (GCS) project is described. This document fulfills the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics RTCA/DO-178A guidelines, 'Software Considerations in Airborne Systems and Equipment Certification' requirements for document No. 4, which specifies the information necessary for understanding and programming the host computer, and document No. 12, which specifies the software design and implementation standards that are applicable to the software development and testing process. Information on the following subjects is contained: activity recording, communication protocol, coding standards, change management, error handling, design standards, problem reporting, module testing logs, documentation formats, accuracy requirements, and programmer responsibilities.

Lowman, Douglas S.↗