SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “I&C Modernization”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 379 records · Page 21

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1981

Pre-design study for a modern four-bladed rotor for the Rotor System Research Aircraft (RSRA)

Various candidate rotor systems were compared in an effort to select a modern four-bladed rotor for the RSRA. The YAH-64 rotor system was chosen as the candidate rotor system for further development for the RSRA. The process used to select the rotor system, studies conducted to mate the rotor with the RSRA and provide parametric variability, and the development plan which would be used to implement these studies are presented. Drawings are included.

Hughes, C. W.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustics and Aircraft System Noise Flight Research Test: NASA Overview

Motivations and the formulation of the objectives are described for an ambitious flight research test conducted in collaboration between NASA and The Boeing Company. The Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustics and Aircraft System Noise Flight Research Test was executed by the Boeing ecoDemonstrator Program with an Etihad Airways Boeing 787-10 aircraft. Five key technical approaches are described that were used to accomplish the more unconventional and challenging objectives of the research. In addition to the modern technology of the 787, these include evaluating multiple acoustic shielding and reflection effects using both the wing and fuselage in straight flight and banking flight paths, hardwalling the aft duct liner, and utilizing an extensive instrumentation array both on the ground and on the aircraft. The research level version of NASA’s aircraft system noise prediction capability including a new acoustic scattering method were used to confirm the technical approaches and provide guidance for the detailed design of instrumentation and flight test plans. Initial comparisons are shown of flight test data to predictions using the research level of NASA’s Aircraft Noise Prediction Program. Significant prediction challenges are revealed when compared to these high-quality data, while major progress is shown both in the measurement and the prediction of propulsion airframe aeroacoustic effects in flight. This comparison marks the first rigorous validation with modern flight test data and establishes a basis to further understand and quantify the state of NASA’s current capability and to develop improvements in the fidelity of aircraft system noise predictions. The context of multiple coordinated companion research papers is described as well as future plans for the continued analysis of this flight research data.

Propulsion Airframe Aeroacoustics↗

NASA NTRS2024

Optimized bandpasses for the Habitable Worlds Observatory's exoEarth survey

A primary scientific goal of the future Habitable Worlds Observatory will be the direct detection and characterization of Earth-like planets. Estimates of the exoplanet yields for this concept will help guide mission design through detailed trade studies. It is therefore critical that yield estimation codes optimally adapt observations to the mission’s performance parameters to ensure accurate trade studies. To aid in this, we implement wavelength optimization in yield calculations for the first time, allowing the yield code to determine the ideal detection and characterization bandpasses. We use this capability to confirm the observational wavelength assumptions made for the large UV/Optical/IR surveyor, design B (LUVOIR-B) study, namely that the optimum detection wavelength is 500 nm for the majority of targets and the optimum wavelength to detect water is near 1000 nm, given LUVOIR-B’s assumed instrument performance parameters. We show that including the wavelength-dependent albedo of an Earth twin as a prior provides no significant benefit to the yields of exoEarth candidates and caution against tuning observations to modern Earth twins. We also show that coronagraphs whose inner working angles are similar to step functions may benefit from wavelength optimization and demonstrate how wavelength-dependent instrument performance can impact the optimum wavelengths for detection and characterization. The optimization methods we implement automate wavelength selection and remove uncertainties regarding these choices, helping to adapt the observations to the instrument’s performance parameters.

telescopes↗

NASA NTRS1980

Application of modern time series analysis to high stability oscillators

Techniques of modern time series analysis useful for investigating the characteristics of high-stability oscillators and identifying systematic perturbations are discussed with reference to an experiment in which the frequencies of superconducting cavity-stabilized oscillators and hydrogen masers were compared. The techniques examined include transformation to stationarity, autocorrelation and cross-correlation, superresolution, and transfer function determination.

Farrell, B. F.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Thermal Cycling Fatigue in DIPs Mounted with Eutectic Tin-Lead Solder Joints in Stub and Gullwing Geometries

It has long been known that solder joints under mechanical stress are subject to failure. In early electronic systems, such failures were avoided primarily by avoiding the use of solder as a mechanical structural component. The rule was first to make sound wire connections that did not depend mechanically on solder, and only then to solder them. Careful design and miniaturization in modern electronic systems limits the mechanical stresses exerted on solder joints to values less than their yield points, and these joints have become integral parts of the mechanical structures. Unfortunately, while these joints are strong enough when new, they have proven vulnerable to fatigue failures as they age. Details of the fatigue process are poorly understood, making predictions of expected lifetimes difficult.

fatigue failure solder joints failure mechanisms s↗

NASA NTRS2007

Motivating Reluctant Learners with a Big Bang

We present results of a collaboration between a media specialist, a science teacher, and an astronomer to bring a modern astronomy topic to at-risk, emotionally disabled students who have experienced little success. These normally unengaged students became highly motivated because they were given an authentic task of presenting research on an intriguing science topic, and because they witnessed a collaboration brought together on their behalf This experience demonstrates that sophisticated astronomy topics can be used to motivate at-risk students.

Lochner, James C.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Translational Research and Medicine at NASA: From Earth to Space and Back Again

The Space Environment provides many challenges to the human physiology and therefore to extended habitation and exploration. Translational research and medical strategies are meeting these challenges by combining Earth based medical solutions with innovative and developmental engineering approaches. Translational methodologies are current applied to spaceflight related dysregulations in the areas of: (1) cardiovascular fluid shifts, intracranial hypertension and neuro-ocular impairment 2) immune insufficiency and suppression/viral re-expression, 3) bone loss and fragility (osteopenia/osteoporosis) and muscle wasting, and finally 4) radiation sensitivity and advanced ageing. Over 40 years of research into these areas have met with limited success due to lack of tools and basic understanding of central issues that cause physiologic maladaptaion and distrupt homeostatis. I will discuss the effects of living in space (reduced gravity, increased radiation and varying atmospheric conditions [EVA]) during long-duration, exploration-class missions and how translational research has benefited not only space exploration but also Earth based medicine. Modern tools such as telemedicine advances in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics (Omicssciences) has helped address syndromes, at the systemic level by enlisting a global approach to assessing spaceflight physiology and to develop countermeasures thereby permitting our experience in space to be translated to the Earth's medical community.

Goodwin, Thomas J.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Multi-Mission Simulation and Visualization for Real-Time Telemetry Display, Playback and EDL Event Reconstruction

he Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Reconstruction Task has developed a software system that provides mission operations personnel and analysts with a real time telemetry-based live display, playback and post-EDL reconstruction capability that leverages the existing high-fidelity, physics-based simulation framework and modern game engine-derived 3D visualization system developed in the JPL Dynamics and Real Time Simulation (DARTS) Lab. Developed as a multi-mission solution, the EDL Telemetry Visualization (ETV) system has been used for a variety of projects including NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), NASA'S Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) and JPL's MoonRise Lunar sample return proposal.

Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Reconstruction↗

NASA NTRS2015

Re-Computation of Numerical Results Contained in NACA Report No. 496

An extensive examination of NACA Report No. 496 (NACA 496), "General Theory of Aerodynamic Instability and the Mechanism of Flutter," by Theodore Theodorsen, is described. The examination included checking equations and solution methods and re‐computing interim quantities and all numerical examples in NACA 496. The checks revealed that NACA 496 contains computational shortcuts (time‐ and effort‐saving devices for engineers of the time) and clever artifices (employed in its solution methods), but, unfortunately, also contains numerous tripping points (aspects of NACA 496 that have the potential to cause confusion) and some errors. The re‐computations were performed employing the methods and procedures described in NACA 496, but using modern computational tools. With some exceptions, the magnitudes and trends of the original results were in fair‐to‐very‐good agreement with the re‐computed results. The exceptions included what are speculated to be computational errors in the original in some instances and transcription errors in the original in others. Independent flutter calculations were performed and, in all cases, including those where the original and re‐computed results differed significantly, were in excellent agreement with the re‐computed results. Appendix A contains NACA 496; Appendix B contains a Matlab(Reistered) program that performs the re‐computation of results; Appendix C presents three alternate solution methods, with examples, for the two‐degree‐of-freedom solution method of NACA 496; Appendix D contains the three‐degree‐of‐freedom solution method (outlined in NACA 496 but never implemented), with examples.

Perry, Boyd, III↗

NASA NTRS2016

Thermophysics Issues Relevant to High-Speed Earth Entry of Large Asteroids

Physics of atmospheric entry of meteoroids was an active area of research at NASA ARC up to the early 1970s (e.g., the oft-cited work of Baldwin and Sheaffer). However, research in the area seems to have ended with the Apollo program, and any ties with an active international meteor physics community seem to have significantly diminished thereafter. In the decades following the 1970s, the focus of entry physics at NASA ARC has been on improvement of the math models of shock-layer physics (especially in chemical kinetics and radiation) and thermal response of ablative materials used for capsule heatshields. With the overarching objectives of understanding energy deposition into the atmosphere and fragmentation, could these modern analysis tools and processes be applied to the problem of atmospheric entry of meteoroids as well? In the presentation we will explore: (i) the physics of atmospheric entries of meteoroids using our current state-of-the-art tools and processes, (ii) how multiple bodies interact, and (iii) the influence of wall blowing on flow dynamics.

Atmospheric Entry↗

NASA NTRS1974

Is there a high frequency limit to laser action

A review and discussion of modern theories and results leads to the conclusion that an absolute upper bound exists to the photon energies for which laser action can occur, and that depending on the laser medium, it lies in the range between 1 and 100 MeV. At higher energies, a wave cannot grow as rapidly as it is depleted. The same restriction applies to frequency conversion devices employing nonlinear interactions.

Baldwin, G. C.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Virtual Engineering and Science Team - Reusable Autonomy for Spacecraft Subsystems

In this paper we address the design, development, and evaluation of the Virtual Engineering and Science Team (VEST) tool - a revolutionary way to achieve onboard subsystem/instrument autonomy. VEST directly addresses the technology needed for advanced autonomy enablers for spacecraft subsystems. It will significantly support the efficient and cost effective realization of on-board autonomy and contribute directly to realizing the concept of an intelligent autonomous spacecraft. VEST will support the evolution of a subsystem/instrument model that is probably correct and from that model the automatic generation of the code needed to support the autonomous operation of what was modeled. VEST will directly support the integration of the efforts of engineers, scientists, and software technologists. This integration of efforts will be a significant advancement over the way things are currently accomplished. The model, developed through the use of VEST, will be the basis for the physical construction of the subsystem/instrument and the generated code will support its autonomous operation once in space. The close coupling between the model and the code, in the same tool environment, will help ensure that correct and reliable operational control of the subsystem/instrument is achieved.VEST will provide a thoroughly modern interface that will allow users to easily and intuitively input subsystem/instrument requirements and visually get back the system's reaction to the correctness and compatibility of the inputs as the model evolves. User interface/interaction, logic, theorem proving, rule-based and model-based reasoning, and automatic code generation are some of the basic technologies that will be brought into play in realizing VEST.

Bailin, Sidney C.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Research study on stabilization and control. Modern sampled-data control theory. Analysis and design of the digital large space telescope system

Dynamic modeling of a low cost single axis LST system and the pointing stability of that system are investigated. The effects of nonlinear friction of the bearings of the reaction wheels, quantization, and sensor noise on the pointing error are covered. In addition, data are given on self sustained oscillations of the system induced by quantization and methods of evaluating attitude error of the digital LST.

Kuo, B. C.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Development and Operation of a Modern Information Portal for the ISS Medical Groups

This viewgraph presentation begins with a review of some of the problems inherent in running medical services for the International Space Station. Part of the solution for the problems is the development of the information portal for the ISS medical groups. The presentation shows the tools that have been developed to assist in collaboration for the medical services, the security system and the capabilities of the portal.

Damann, V.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Mechanical Response of Elastomers to Magnetic Fields

Elastomeric materials represent an important class of engineering materials, which are widely used to make components of structures, machinery, and devices for vibration and noise control. Elastomeric material possessing conductive or magnetic properties have been widely used in applications such as conductive and magnetic tapes, sensors, flexible permanent magnets, etc. Our interest in these materials has focussed on understanding and controlling the magnitude and directionality of their response to applied magnetic fields. The effect of magnetic fields on the mechanical properties of these materials has not been the subject of many published studies. Our interest and expertise in controllable fluids have given us the foundation to make a transition to controllable elastomers. Controllable elastomers are materials that exhibit a change in mechanical properties upon application of an external stimuli, in this case a magnetic field. Controllable elastomers promise to have more functionality than conventional elastomers and therefore could share the broad industrial application base with conventional elastomers. As such, these materials represent an attractive class of smart materials, and may well be a link that brings the applications of modern control technologies, intelligent structures and smart materials to a very broad industrial area. This presentation will cover our research work in the area of controllable elastomers at the Thomas Lord Research Center. More specifically, the presentation will discuss the control of mechanical properties and mathematical modeling of the new materials prepared in our laboratories along with experiments to achieve adaptive vibration control using the new materials.

Munoz, B. C.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Meteoritic Input of Amino Acids and Nucleobases: Methodology and Implications for the Origins of Life

The discoveries of amino acids of extraterrestrial origin in many meteorites over the last 40 years have revolutionized the Astrobiology field. A variety of non-terrestrial amino acids similar to those found in life on Earth have been detected in meteorites. A few amino acids have even been found with chiral excesses, suggesting that meteorites could have contributed to the origin of homochirality in life on Earth. In addition to amino acids, which have been productively studied for years, sugar-like molecules, activated phosphates, and nucleobases have also been determined to be indigenous to numerous meteorites. Because these molecules are essential for life as we know it, and meteorites have been delivering them to the Earth since accretion, it is plausible that the origin(s) of life on Earth were aided by extraterrestrially-synthesized molecules. Understanding the origins of life on Earth guides our search for life elsewhere, helping to answer the question of whether biology is unique to Earth. This tutorial review focuses on meteoritic amino acids and nucleobases, exploring modern analytical methods and possible formation mechanisms. We will also discuss the unique window that meteorites provide into the chemistry that preceded life on Earth, a chemical record we do not have access to on Earth due to geologic recycling of rocks and the pervasiveness of biology across the planet. Finally, we will address the future of meteorite research, including asteroid sample return mIssIons.

Burton, Aaron S.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Understanding Prebiotic Chemistry Through the Analysis of Extraterrestrial Amino Acids and Nucleobases in Meteorites

The discoveries of amino acids of extraterrestrial origin in many meteorites over the last 50 years have revolutionized the Astrobiology field. A variety of non-terrestrial amino acids similar to those found in life on Earth have been detected in meteorites. A few amino acids have even been found with chiral excesses, suggesting that meteorites could have contributed to the origin of homochirality in life on Earth. In addition to amino acids, which have been productively studied for years, sugar-like molecules, activated phosphates, and nucleobases have also been determined to be indigenous to numerous meteorites. Because these molecules are essential for life as we know it, and meteorites have been delivering them to the Earth since accretion, it is plausible that the origines) of life on Earth were aided by extrataterrestrially-synthesized molecules. Understanding the origins of life on Earth guides our search for life elsewhere, helping to answer the question of whether biology is unique to Earth. This tutorial focuses on meteoritic amino acids and nucleobases, exploring modern analytical methods and possible formation mechanisms. We will also discuss the unique window that meteorites provide into the chemistry that preceded life on Earth, a chemical record we do not have access to on Earth due to geologic recycling of rocks and the pervasiveness of biology across the planet. Finally. we will address the future of meteorite research, including asteroid sample return missions.

Burton, Aaron S.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The psychology of computer displays in the modern mission control center

Work at NASA's Western Aeronautical Test Range (WATR) has demonstrated the need for increased consideration of psychological factors in the design of computer displays for the WATR mission control center. These factors include color perception, memory load, and cognitive processing abilities. A review of relevant work in the human factors psychology area is provided to demonstrate the need for this awareness. The information provided should be relevant in control room settings where computerized displays are being used.

Granaas, Michael M.↗