3 rd Generation Integrated Instrumentation: Enhancements to the Adaptable Monitoring Package
3 rd Generation Integrated Instrumentation: Enhancements to the Adaptable Monitoring Package
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
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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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NREL OpenPATH: An Open-Source, Extensible Platform for Instrumenting Travel Behavior Data
NREL OpenPATH is an open-source, extensible platform that allows communities to instrument their own travel behavior data. The platform consists of a smartphone app, server and analysis pipeline, and enables collection of opt-in, multi-modal, end-to-end travel diaries. It makes the aggregate statistics available via a public dashboard, and allows deployers to download and visualize trip and trajectory data through the admin dashboard. It also allows for customization of the initial demographic survey and the trip-level qualitative information collected. Our goal is to provide an easy-to-use tool that can democratize travel behavior data collection by empower communities of all sizes to recruit participants and obtain a holistic picture of their travel patterns. The platform has been used by close to 40 partners, to collect data from thousands of participants. Upon signing a simple MOU, it is currently available for free to universities, non-profits and public agencies in the United States.
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
Control-Agnostic Beam Instrumentation with Redis at the Core
Redis isn’t a database — it’s our protocol. Fermilab’s RedisAdapter provides a high-performance, control-system-agnostic bridge between digitized beam data and downstream consumers such as ACNET and EPICS. It forms the foundation of three new software components deployed across MicroTCA-based digitizers: GMMDM, a runtime for memory-mapped data movement from Zynq-based platforms; GRAFE, a front end for Redis-to-ACNET presentation; and GREFE, an EPICS IOC front end. Together, these tools enable modular, standardized instrumentation pipelines. Precision timing is handled via White Rabbit PPS distribution, allowing nanosecond-scale synchronization across crates. This architecture, originally prototyped in Booster BPM systems, is now deployed on modern hardware and designed to meet the performance, modularity, and scalability requirements of the PIP-II era.
Steinkamp, Derek [Fermilab] (ORCID:000900027228626↗
AI-driven neutrino diagnostics and radiation-hard beam instrumentation for next-generation neutrino experiments
The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) at Fermilab will deliver a high-intensity, multi-megawatt neutrino beam to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), enabling precision tests of the three-neutrino paradigm, CP violation searches, neutrino mass ordering determination, and supernova neutrino studies. To accelerate DUNE’s physics reach and ensure robust beam operations, we propose an integrated AI-driven framework with real-time diagnostics and radiation-hardened instrumentation. At its core is a Real-Time Beam Integrity Monitor using a physics-informed Digital Twin. By reconstructing pion phase space from muon profiles and exploiting magnetic horn optic linearity, it enables spill-by-spill beam correction and flux stabilization. By using this approach, flux-related systematics could be reduced from 5% to 1%, potentially accelerating the discovery of CP violations by four to six years. Complementing this, a US–Japan R&D effort will deploy a LAPPD-based muon monitor in the NuMI beamline. ToF measurements can be acquired with picosecond precision using this radiation-hard system, enhancing sensitivity to horn chromatic effects. Simulations confirm strong response to these effects. ML models predict beam quality and horn current to sub-percent accuracy from muon data, enhancing anomaly detection and stability. This scalable, AI-enabled strategy improves beam fidelity, reduces systematics, and sets a new standard for high-power accelerator operations.
Ganguly, Sudeshna [Fermilab] (ORCID:00000003163482↗
Experimental Report: Multi-Instrument Comparison of AAF Condensation Particle Counters
Condensation particle counters (CPCs), also known as condensation nucleus counters (CNCs) are sophisticated instruments designed to measure the concentration of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. These devices are pivotal in environmental monitoring, industrial applications, and scientific research, particularly in atmospheric studies. CPCs are vital for understanding the role of aerosols in climate systems. Aerosols influence cloud formation, radiative forcing, and atmospheric chemistry. By providing accurate measurements of particle concentrations and distributions, CPCs contribute to models that predict atmospheric impact and weather patterns (Mei et al. 2021). CPCs operate by enlarging submicron particles, including those as small as a few nanometers, to sizes detectable by optical methods. This report delves into the mechanisms, importance, and contributions of CPCs to atmospheric research at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerial Facility (AAF), highlighting their role in advancing air quality assessment, pollution control, and atmospheric studies.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Reference Hardware and Software Architecture for a Solenoid Pulser for Scientific Instrumentation at the National Ignition Facility
High current, high voltage solenoid pulser power systems for the generation of magnetic fields in a solenoid is not a radical or new concept. Despite being a cornerstone of scientific and weapons research for over 100 years, a commercial off the shelf unit easily configurable for a broad set of applications has yet to appear on the open market. Pulser systems are instead designed for specific target requirements. For gigawatt to terawatt systems, this is unavoidable. For megawatt systems however, many hundreds of thousands of dollars are wasted designing pulser systems from the ground up for clients, when it is possible to simply architect a modular system once that can have its capacitors swapped for many possible target applications. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is one such institution that would benefit from such a system, having bought such pulsers for several imaging systems. Ideally, all such a system would require is only a bachelors-level circuit analysis to find the correct capacitor values, as well as a written procedure to calibrate the software to correctly deliver the voltages required by the application. In this work, systems architecture and software engineering techniques are used to design and analyze such a system. Such a design, it is the hope of this author, will be used in scientific and engineering purposes in the future to build solenoid pulsers at the National Ignition Facility and other institutions to drastically cut development costs of scientific instrumentation.
42 ENGINEERING↗
Discovering hydrothermalism from Afar: In Situ methane instrumentation and change-point detection for decision-making
Seafloor hydrothermalism plays a critical role in fundamental interactions between geochemical and biological processes in the deep ocean. A significant number of hydrothermal vents are hypothesized to exist, but many of these remain undiscovered due in part to the difficulty of detecting hydrothermalism using standard sensors on rosettes towed in the water column or robotic platforms performing surveys. Here, we use in situ methane sensors to complement standard sensing technology for hydrothermalism discovery and compare sensors on a towed rosette and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) during a 17 km long transect in the Northern Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. This transect spatially intersected with a known hydrothermally active venting site. These data show that methane signalled possible hydrothermal-activity 1.5–3 km laterally (100–150 m vertically) from a known vent. Methane as a signal for hydrothermalism performed similarly to standard turbidity sensors (plume detection 2.2–3.3 km from reference source), and more sensitively and clearly than temperature, salinity, and oxygen instruments which readily respond to physical mixing in background seawater. We additionally introduce change-point detection algorithms—streaming cross-correlation and regime identification—as a means of real-time hydrothermalism discovery and discuss related data supervision technologies that could be used in planning, executing, and monitoring explorative surveys for hydrothermalism.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
A Novel Optical Instrument for On-Line Measurement of Particle Size Distribution—Application to Clean Coal Technologies
A flow cell is a critical measurement interface for many optical instruments. However, the flows are often sampled under harsh conditions, such as under high pressure and/or high temperature, in the presence of particles, moisture, vapors with high dew points or corrosive gases. Therefore, obtaining a high-optical-quality flow cell that does not perturb the measurement is a significant challenge. To address this challenge, we proposed a new flow cell that employs a unique laminar coaxial flow field (for the purge and sample flows). A test system was built to conduct particle size distribution (PSD) measurements with no sampling bias using a state-of-the-art analyzer (Malvern Panalytical Insitec). The results revealed that the measurement zone is well defined solely by the sample flow, and the optical windows are well protected by the purge flow, with minimal risk of any depositions from the sample flow. Using this flow cell, the Insitec can successfully measure PSD under high pressure and temperature under moist, corrosive conditions without generating any sampling bias. Importantly, we successfully applied this flow cell for on-line PSD measurement for the flue gas of a 100 kWth pressurized oxy-coal combustor operating at 15 bara.
Cheng, Mao (ORCID:0000000213273900)↗
Optical Classification of Lower Amazon Waters Based on In Situ Data and Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument Imagery
Optical water types (OWTs) were identified from an in situ dataset of concomitant biogeochemical and optical parameters acquired in the Amazon River and its tributaries, in the Lower Amazon region, at different hydrological conditions from 2014 to 2017. A seasonal bio-optical characterization was performed. The k-means classification was applied to the in situ normalized reflectance spectra (rn(λ)), allowing the identification of four OWTs. An optical index method was also applied to the rn(λ) defining the thresholds of the OWTs. Next, level-3 Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Color Instrument images representative of the seasonal discharge conditions were classified using the identified in situ OWTs as reference. The differences between Amazon River and clearwater tributary OWTs were dependent on the hydrological dynamics of the Amazon River, also showing a strong seasonal variability. Each OWT was associated with a specific bio-optical and biogeochemical environment assessed from the corresponding absorption coefficient values of colored dissolved organic matter (aCDOM) and particulate matter (ap), chlorophyll-a and suspended particulate matter (SPM) concentrations, and aCDOM/ap ratio. The rising water season presented a unique OWT with high SPM concentration and high relative contribution of ap to total absorption compared to the other OWTs. This bio-optical characterization of Lower Amazon River waters represents a first step for developing remote sensing inversion models adjusted to the optical complexity of this region.
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Observations of Binary Stars with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument. IX. Observations of Known and Suspected Binaries, and a Partial Survey of Be Stars
We report 370 measures of 170 components of binary and multiple-star systems, obtained from speckle imaging observations made with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument at Lowell Observatory’s Discovery Channel Telescope in 2015 through 2017. Of the systems studied, 147 are binary stars, 10 are seen as triple systems, and 1 quadruple system is measured. Seventy-six high-quality nondetections and 15 newly resolved components are presented in our observations. The uncertainty in relative astrometry appears to be similar to our previous work at Lowell, namely, linear measurement uncertainties of approximately 2 mas, and the relative photometry appears to be uncertain at the 0.1–0.15 mag level. Using these measures and those in the literature, we calculate six new visual orbits, including one for the Be star 66 Oph and two combined spectroscopic–visual orbits. The latter two orbits, which are for HD 22451 (YSC 127) and HD 185501 (YSC 135), yield individual masses of the components at the level of 2% or better, and independent distance measures that in one case agrees with the value found in the Gaia DR2 and in the other disagrees at the 2σ level. We find that HD 22451 consists of an F6V+F7V pair with orbital period of 2401.1 ± 3.2 days and masses of 1.342 ± 0.029 and 1.236±0.026 M{sub ⊙}. For HD 185501, both stars are G5 dwarfs that orbit one another with a period of 433.94 ± 0.15 days, and the masses are 0.898 ± 0.012 and 0.876±0.012 M{sub ⊙}. We discuss the details of both the new discoveries and the orbit objects.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Performance of the Quasar Spectral Templates for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
Abstract Millions of quasar spectra will be collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), leading to a fourfold increase in the number of known quasars. High-accuracy quasar classification is essential to tighten constraints on cosmological parameters measured at the highest redshifts DESI observes ( z > 2.0). We present spectral templates for identification and redshift estimation of quasars in the DESI Year 1 data release. The quasar templates are comprised of two quasar eigenspectra sets, trained on spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The sets are specialized to reconstruct quasar spectral variation observed over separate yet overlapping redshift ranges and, together, are capable of identifying DESI quasars from 0.05 < z < 7.0. The new quasar templates show significant improvement over the previous DESI quasar templates regarding catastrophic failure rates, redshift precision and accuracy, quasar completeness, and the contamination fraction in the final quasar sample.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Survey Operations for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey is a spectroscopic survey of tens of millions of galaxies at 0 < z < 3.5 covering 14,000 sq. deg. of the sky. In its first 1.1 yr of survey operations, it has observed more than 14 million galaxies and 4 million stars. We describe the processes that govern DESI's observations of the 15,000 fields composing the survey. This includes the planning of each night's observations in the afternoon; automatic selection of fields to observe during the night; real-time assessment of field completeness on the basis of observing conditions during each exposure; reduction, redshifting, and quality assurance of each field of targets in the morning following observation; and updates to the list of future targets to observe on the basis of these results. We also compare the performance of the survey with historical expectations and find good agreement. Simulations of the weather and of DESI observations using the real field-selection algorithm show good agreement with the actual observations. After accounting for major unplanned shutdowns, the dark time survey is progressing about 7% faster than forecast, which is good agreement given approximations made in the simulations.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Validation of the Scientific Program for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) was designed to conduct a survey covering 14,000 deg$^{2}$ over 5 yr to constrain the cosmic expansion history through precise measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). The scientific program for DESI was evaluated during a 5 month survey validation (SV) campaign before beginning full operations. This program produced deep spectra of tens of thousands of objects from each of the stellar Milky Way Survey (MWS), Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS), luminous red galaxy (LRG), emission line galaxy (ELG), and quasar target classes. These SV spectra were used to optimize redshift distributions, characterize exposure times, determine calibration procedures, and assess observational overheads for the 5 yr program. In this paper, we present the final target selection algorithms, redshift distributions, and projected cosmology constraints resulting from those studies. We also present a One-Percent Survey conducted at the conclusion of SV covering 140 deg$^{2}$ using the final target selection algorithms with exposures of a depth typical of the main survey. The SV indicates that DESI will be able to complete the full 14,000 deg$^{2}$ program with spectroscopically confirmed targets from the MWS, BGS, LRG, ELG, and quasar programs with total sample sizes of 7.2, 13.8, 7.46, 15.7, and 2.87 million, respectively. These samples will allow exploration of the Milky Way halo, clustering on all scales, and BAO measurements with a statistical precision of 0.28% over the redshift interval z < 1.1, 0.39% over the redshift interval 1.1 < z < 1.9, and 0.46% over the redshift interval 1.9 < z < 3.5.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The Early Data Release of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) completed its 5 month Survey Validation in 2021 May. Spectra of stellar and extragalactic targets from Survey Validation constitute the first major data sample from the DESI survey. This paper describes the public release of those spectra, the catalogs of derived properties, and the intermediate data products. In total, the public release includes good-quality spectral information from 466,447 objects targeted as part of the Milky Way Survey, 428,758 as part of the Bright Galaxy Survey, 227,318 as part of the Luminous Red Galaxy sample, 437,664 as part of the Emission Line Galaxy sample, and 76,079 as part of the Quasar sample. In addition, the release includes spectral information from 137,148 objects that expand the scope beyond the primary samples as part of a series of secondary programs. Here, we describe the spectral data, data quality, data products, Large-Scale Structure science catalogs, access to the data, and references that provide relevant background to using these spectra.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
In 2021 May the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration began a 5 yr spectroscopic redshift survey to produce a detailed map of the evolving three-dimensional structure of the Universe between z = 0 and z ≈ 4. DESI’s principal scientific objectives are to place precise constraints on the equation of state of dark energy, the gravitationally driven growth of large-scale structure, and the sum of the neutrino masses, and to explore the observational signatures of primordial inflation. We present DESI DR1, which consists of all data acquired during the first 13 months of the DESI main survey, as well as a uniform reprocessing of the DESI Survey Validation data, which were previously made public in the DESI Early Data Release. The DR1 main survey includes high-confidence redshifts for 18.7M objects, of which 13.1M are spectroscopically classified as galaxies, 1.6M as quasars, and 4M as stars, making DR1 the largest sample of extragalactic redshifts ever assembled. We summarize the DR1 observations, the spectroscopic data-reduction pipeline and data products, large-scale structure catalogs, value-added catalogs, and describe how to access and interact with the data. In addition to fulfilling its core cosmological objectives with unprecedented precision, we expect DR1 to enable a wide range of transformational astrophysical studies and discoveries.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The Backup Program of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s Milky Way Survey
The Milky Way Backup Program (MWBP), a survey currently underway with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4 m Telescope, works at the margins of the DESI Main surveys to obtain spectra of millions of additional stars from the Gaia catalog. Efficiently utilizing times between ∼12° and 18° twilight and poor weather conditions, the MWBP extends the range of stellar sources studied to both brighter magnitudes and lower Galactic latitude and declination than the stars studied in DESI’s Main Milky Way Survey. While the MWBP prioritizes candidate giant stars selected from the Gaia catalog (using color and parallax criteria), it also includes an unbiased sample of bright stars (i.e., 11.2 ≲ G < 16 mag) as well as fainter sources (to G ≲ 19 mag). As of 2025 March 1, the survey had obtained spectra of ∼7 million stars, approximately 1.2 million of which are included in the DESI Data Release 1. The DESI spectra cover the wavelength range from 3600 to 9800 Å at a resolution λ/Δλ varying from 2000 to 5000. The full survey, when completed, will cover an area of more than 21,000 deg 2 and include approximately 10 million Gaia sources, roughly equal to the number of stellar spectra obtained through the DESI Main Survey, while only utilizing ≈9% of all DESI observing time. This paper provides an overview of the MWBP, describing the target selection, observing strategy, and an introduction to the resulting data.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
Measuring the Conditional Luminosity and Stellar Mass Functions of Galaxies by Combining the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 9, Survey Validation 3, and Year 1 Data
In this investigation, we leverage the combination of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 9, Survey Validation 3, and Year 1 data sets to estimate the conditional luminosity functions and conditional stellar mass functions (CLFs and CSMFs) of galaxies across various halo mass bins and redshift ranges. To support our analysis, we utilize a realistic DESI mock galaxy redshift survey (MGRS) generated from a high-resolution Jiutian simulation. An extended halo-based group finder is applied to both MGRS catalogs and DESI observation. By comparing the r- and z-band luminosity functions (LFs) and stellar mass functions (SMFs) derived using both photometric and spectroscopic data, we quantified the impact of photometric redshift (photo-z) errors on the galaxy LFs and SMFs, especially in the low-redshift bin at the low-luminosity/mass end. By conducting prior evaluations of the group finder using MGRS, we successfully obtain a set of CLF and CSMF measurements from observational data. We find that at low redshift, the faint-end slopes of CLFs and CSMFs below ~10 9 h –2 L ⊙ (or h –2 M ⊙ ) evince a compelling concordance with the subhalo mass functions. After correcting the cosmic variance effect of our local Universe following Chen et al., the faint-end slopes of the LFs/SMFs turn out to also be in good agreement with the slope of the halo mass function.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
The Draco Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy in the First Year of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data
We investigate the spatial distribution, kinematics, and metallicity of stars in the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). We identify 155 high-probability members of Draco using line-of-sight velocity and metallicity information derived from DESI spectroscopy along with Gaia Data Release 3 proper motions. We find a mean line-of-sight velocity of −290.62 ± 0.80 km s −1 with dispersion = $9.57$$^{+0.66}_{–0.62}$ km s −1 and mean metallicity [Fe/H] = −2.10 ± 0.04, consistent with previous results. We also find that Draco has a steep metallicity gradient within the half-light radius, and a metallicity gradient that flattens beyond the half-light radius. We identify eight high-probability members outside the King tidal radius, four of which we identify for the first time. These extratidal stars are not preferentially aligned along the orbit of Draco. We compute an average surface brightness of 34.02 mag arsec –2 within an elliptical annulus from the King tidal radius of 48'.1–81′.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗