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NASA NTRS1989

Designing an infrared system to map and detect wildland fires

The 'Firefly' project is developing an infrared remote sensing system to provide near real-time wildland fire information for fire management and suppression. Recent technological advances in several areas now allow the design of an end-to-end, infrared system to map and detect wildland fires. The system components will include an airborne infrared sensor, automatic onboard signal and data processing, telecommunications link, and integration into a ground data terminal. The system will provide improved performance over current systems in terms of increased timeliness of data delivery, quantifiable accuracy, data consistency, reliability, and maintainability. The system will be the next generation of wildland fire mapping and detection system for the United States Forest Service.

Nichols, J. David↗

DOE OSTI2021

The Impact of Behind-the-Meter Heterogeneous Distributed Energy Resources on Distribution Grids

The increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) on the electric grid brings new challenges and opportunities for utility grid operations. With the rapid deployment of DERs, there is emerging interest in integrating these controllable devices with utility operations at all levels for monitoring and management. To understand the challenges with increasing behind-the-meter (BTM) DERs and to identify the needs in deploying advanced controls, a comprehensive grid impact study is indispensable. This paper presents the analysis which help visualize the DER impact on the grid, identify the challenges and provides an insight into the new distribution management and control needs to enable reliable and resilient grid operations.

27 ARPA - Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy↗

DOE OSTI2026

Bayesian Physics Informed Spatio-Temporal Network for Streamflow Data Imputation

Reliable reconstruction of incomplete streamflow records is critical for improving hydrological forecasting, flood preparedness, and water resource management. However, large observational gaps and uncertainties in governing physical parameters limit the accuracy of traditional statistical and machinelearning imputation frameworks. To address these challenges, we develop a Bayesian Physics-Informed Spatio-Temporal Network (BPI-STNet) that jointly captures spatial and temporal dependencies while enforcing hydrologic consistency through embedded physical constraints. The framework integrates a GraphSAGE-LSTM architecture to model spatial connectivity across gauges and temporal flow dynamics, coupled with a Bayesian update mechanism to estimate uncertain parameters in a simplified water-balance framework. Unlike conventional physics-informed networks that rely on sampling-based posterior estimation, BPI-STNet derives an analytic solution to the inverse problem, allowing closed-form Bayesian updates of uncertain parameters Λ={α,β,k} using Gaussian priors and likelihoods. Applied to daily observations from the Susquehanna River Basin (1980-2022), BPI-STNet achieves substantial improvements over a purely data-driven RGNN baseline, which reduced RMSE by 23 % and MAE by 9 %, and achieving an average NSE values up to 0.96. The results demonstrate that coupling Bayesian inference with physics-informed learning yields physically consistent, uncertainty-aware reconstructions that preserve the temporal persistence and statistical distribution of observed flows. The proposed framework establishes a generalizable paradigm for data-sparse hydrologic systems where both data fidelity and physical interpretability are essential.

Krishnan Kutty Ambika, Anukesh [ORNL] (ORCID:00000↗

NASA NTRS2016

Commercial Crew Program and the Safety Technical Review Board

The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is unique to any other program office at NASA. After the agency suffered devastating budget cuts and the Shuttle Program retired, the U.S. gave up its human spaceflight capabilities. Since 2011 the U.S. has been dependent on Russia to transport American astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and back. NASA adapted and formed CCP, which gives private, domestic, aerospace companies unprecedented reign over America's next ride to space. The program began back in 2010 with 5 companies and is now in the final phase of certification with 2 commercial partners. The Commercial Crew Program is made up of 7 divisions, each working rigorously with the commercial providers to complete the certification phase. One of these 7 divisions is Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) which is partly comprised of the Safety Technical Review Board (STRB). The STRB is primarily concerned with mitigating improbable, but catastrophic hazards. It does this by identifying, managing, and tracking these hazards in reports. With the STRB being in SE&I, it significantly contributes to the overall certification of the partners' vehicles. After the partners receive agency certification approval, they will have the capability to provide the U.S. with a reliable, safe, and cost-effective means of human spaceflight and cargo transport to the ISS and back.

crew transportation system↗

NASA NTRS1999

Technology Maturity Towards Highly Reusable Space Transportation Goals

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) has advanced key propulsion and launch vehicle systems technologies towards enabling the concepts identified by the Highly Reusable Space Transportation (HRST) Study as having significant potential for reducing the cost of access to space. The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) manages the ASTP for the NASA Aero-Space Technology Enterprise. The HRST Study was conducted from 1995 through 1997 to evaluated launch concepts with the potential to reduce launch cost to $100 to $200 per pound of payload to low Earth orbit in the 2016 to 2022 timeframe. The HRST represents a generation of launch vehicles beyond the Lockheed-Martin VentureStar concept with a goal of another factor of ten reduction in launch cost below the next generation Reusable Launch Vehicle. Several concepts were developed and evaluated during the initial HRST studies. At the completion of the concept development phase in 1997, four task forces were formed to integrate the results of the study. These task forces were System Concept Definition, Operations Assessment. Cost Assessment and Technology Assessment. The Operations Assessment task force published its final report in November 1998. The Operations Assessment task force evaluated both single stage to orbit (SSTO) and two-stage to orbit (TSTO) concepts. SSTO concepts included horizontal takeoff and horizontal landing, vertical takeoff and vertical landing and vertical takeoff and horizontal landing. Horizontally launched concepts including launch assist options. SSTO concepts included airbreathing and all rocket as well as combination propulsion systems. The Operations Assessment considered the significance of performance margin, flight rate capability, reliability, launch assist, design optimization and technology development. These studies serve as a guide for the ASTP to prioritize technology development towards future highly reusable launch systems. Although the ASTP supports the development of technology that is focused at a near term fully reusable launch vehicle, the core of the technology development is looking ahead to future generations of launch vehicles that will enable dramatic growth in civil and commercial space enterprise. The primary focus of the paper is to status the key enabling technologies including rocket based combined cycle (RBCC) propulsion, magnetic launch assist, long life, low weight rocket propulsion, integral hot structures. robust thermal protection systems and integrated vehicle health management. The ASTP technology roadmap is leading rapidly towards system demonstration and eventual future X vehicle flight demonstrations.

Lyles, Garry↗

DOE OSTI2024

The Design and Evaluation of Zero Trust Architecture for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: EVs @ Scale Series on EV Charging Station Cybersecurity

Implementing a zero trust architecture can significantly bolster the security of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. EV charging infrastructure includes numerous networked interfaces, each of which can present potential vulnerabilities. When these vulnerabilities are exploited, they can compromise the entire system, leading to severe operational and security risks. Zero trust is a security model that operates on the principle of "never trust, always verify," which helps manage the attack surface and limit the scope of any potential compromises. Fundamentally, this model ensures that no entity, whether inside or outside the network, is trusted by default. The design principles of zero trust include continuous verification, strict deny-by-default access controls, and micro-segmentation. Continuous verification ensures that every request is thoroughly checked, regardless of its origin. Strict access controls enforce the principle of least privilege, allowing users and devices only the minimum necessary access to perform their functions. Micro-segmentation involves dividing the network into smaller, isolated segments to prevent lateral movement in case of a breach. In the context of EV charging infrastructure, zero trust can be implemented through various strategies. For example, multi-factor authentication (MFA) can be required for engineers to access the management interfaces and control systems of charging stations. Real-time monitoring and analysis of network traffic can help detect and respond to anomalies. Systems that do not need to communicate with each other can be micro-segmented to enhance security. All communications should adhere to predefined policies to be permitted. Additionally, encrypting communications can protect sensitive information exchanged between chargers and management systems. This paper presents a zero trust architecture specifically designed for EV charging infrastructure. Implementing zero trust not only mitigates risks but also builds a resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding and quickly recovering from cyber threats. The architecture addresses six defined security objectives. A comprehensive test plan is developed to assess the architecture against these objectives, and the results of the evaluation are reported. This approach is essential for maintaining the reliability and integrity of EV charging services in an increasingly interconnected and vulnerable digital landscape. This is the first in a planned series of papers exploring the implementation of zero trust in EV charging infrastructure. Each paper will delve into different aspects and applications of zero trust, highlighting how various work processes and requirements can lead to distinct architectural designs. These architectures will be tailored to address specific security challenges and operational needs within the EV charging ecosystem, ensuring a robust and adaptable security framework.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

NASA NTRS2016

Characterization of Evidence for Human System Risk Assessment

Understanding the kinds of evidence available and using the best evidence to answer a question is critical to evidenced-based decision-making, and it requires synthesis of evidence from a variety of sources. Categorization of human system risks in spaceflight, in particular, focuses on how well the integration and interpretation of all available evidence informs the risk statement that describes the relationship between spaceflight hazards and an outcome of interest. A mature understanding and categorization of these risks requires: 1) sufficient characterization of risk, 2) sufficient knowledge to determine an acceptable level of risk (i.e., a standard), 3) development of mitigations to meet the acceptable level of risk, and 4) identification of factors affecting generalizability of the evidence to different design reference missions. In the medical research community, evidence is often ranked by increasing confidence in findings gleaned from observational and experimental research (e.g., "levels of evidence"). However, an approach based solely on aspects of experimental design is problematic in assessing human system risks for spaceflight. For spaceflight, the unique challenges and opportunities include: (1) The independent variables in most evidence are the hazards of spaceflight, such as space radiation or low gravity, which cannot be entirely duplicated in terrestrial (Earth-based) analogs, (2) Evidence is drawn from multiple sources including medical and mission operations, Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH), spaceflight research (LSDA), and relevant environmental & terrestrial databases, (3) Risk metrics based primarily on LSAH data are typically derived from available prevalence or incidence data, which may limit rigorous interpretation, (4) The timeframe for obtaining adequate spaceflight sample size (n) is very long, given the small population, (5) Randomized controlled trials are unattainable in spaceflight, (6) Collection of personal and environmental data on the astronaut population may create opportunities for advanced analytics and human-environment modeling that goes beyond that achieved in isolated experimental designs; and (7) Translation of relevant research to operations is a complex, transdisciplinary enterprise in which the approach must apply across the physical, biological, behavioral, and social sciences. The approach to synthesizing evidence must address both source and fidelity of data, and reflect the most general attributes of quality of evidence in science and engineering: reliability and validity. The authors are developing a two-factor approach which includes the various kinds of evidence required to understand risks and for the integrated interpretation of all evidence that is essential to develop standards and countermeasures. A unified framework for aggregating and assessing different kinds of evidence provides a consistent, traceable, evidence-based decision-making process to translate research to operations in an environment where engineers, scientists, physicians, and managers all engage in analyzing the trade space of vehicle design, standards, requirements and solutions for spaceflight.

Steinberg, S. L.↗

NASA NTRS2016

ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Architecture for Unmanned Systems

NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This video describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the auspices of the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and autonomous detect and avoid functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

Consiglio, Maria C.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Resilient Entanglement Distribution in a Multihop Quantum Network

The evolution of quantum networking requires architectures capable of dynamically reconfigurable entanglement distribution to meet diverse user needs and ensure tolerance against transmission disruptions. We introduce multihop quantum networks to improve network reach and resilience by enabling quantum communications across intermediate nodes, thus broadening network connectivity and increasing scalability. We present multihop two-qubit polarization-entanglement distribution within a quantum network at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory campus. Our system uses wavelength-selective switches for adaptive bandwidth management on a software-defined quantum network that integrates a quantum data plane with classical data and control planes, creating a flexible, reconfigurable mesh. Our network distributes entanglement across six nodes within three subnetworks, each located in a separate building, optimizing quantum state fidelity and transmission rate through adaptive resource management. Additionally, we demonstrate the network's resilience by implementing a link recovery approach that monitors and reroutes quantum resources to maintain service continuity despite link failures—paving the way for scalable and reliable quantum networking infrastructures.

Alshowkan, Muneer [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (↗

DOE OSTI2026

Developing a Framework for Valuation of Grid Services

The electric system is rapidly evolving and growing, raising new questions about how to define and value grid services delivered by a diverse set of resources, including customer-owned assets. This report advances a service–parameter–value framework that links what a grid service does to why it matters, and how its benefits are evidenced. We build upon prior efforts (Bender et al. 2021) and extend them to include value categories (reliability, resilience, cost & access, and security) with primary and secondary tiers, service-specific value streams that explain how benefits materialize, and metrics that make valuation traceable and comparable. We apply the framework to the six core grid services defined in (Kolln et al. 2023): Frequency Response, Regulation, Reserves, Energy, Voltage Management, and Blackstart and demonstrate it on three use cases to highlight the adaptability of these value streams. Further, we outline how the framework integrates with existing tools such as asset optimization, hosting capacity and cost-benefit analysis, and propose a path to portable qualifications and consistent stacking rules for use in tariffs and filings. Finally, we identify future pathways for research and application research needs to support standardization and decision-ready comparisons across services, assets, and architectures.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS2010

Embracing Safe Ground Test Facility Operations and Maintenance

Conducting integrated operations and maintenance in wind tunnel ground test facilities requires a balance of meeting due dates, efficient operation, responsiveness to the test customer, data quality, effective maintenance (relating to readiness and reliability), and personnel and facility safety. Safety is non-negotiable, so the balance must be an "and" with other requirements and needs. Pressure to deliver services faster at increasing levels of quality in under-maintained facilities is typical. A challenge for management is to balance the "need for speed" with safety and quality. It s especially important to communicate this balance across the organization - workers, with a desire to perform, can be tempted to cut corners on defined processes to increase speed. Having a lean staff can extend the time required for pre-test preparations, so providing a safe work environment for facility personnel and providing good stewardship for expensive National capabilities can be put at risk by one well-intending person using at-risk behavior. This paper documents a specific, though typical, operational environment and cites management and worker safety initiatives and tools used to provide a safe work environment. Results are presented and clearly show that the work environment is a relatively safe one, though still not good enough to keep from preventing injury. So, the journey to a zero injury work environment - both in measured reality and in the minds of each employee - continues. The intent of this paper is to provide a benchmark for others with operational environments and stimulate additional sharing and discussion on having and keeping a safe work environment.

Dunn, Steven C.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Advanced Modular Power Approach to Affordable, Supportable Space Systems

Recent studies of missions to the Moon, Mars and Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) indicate that these missions often involve several distinct separately launched vehicles that must ultimately be integrated together in-flight and operate as one unit. Therefore, it is important to see these vehicles as elements of a larger segmented spacecraft rather than separate spacecraft flying in formation. The evolution of large multi-vehicle exploration architecture creates the need (and opportunity) to establish a global power architecture that is common across all vehicles. The Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Modular Power System (AMPS) project managed by NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is aimed at establishing the modular power system architecture that will enable power systems to be built from a common set of modular building blocks. The project is developing, demonstrating and evaluating key modular power technologies that are expected to minimize non-recurring development costs, reduce recurring integration costs, as well as, mission operational and support costs. Further, modular power is expected to enhance mission flexibility, vehicle reliability, scalability and overall mission supportability. The AMPS project not only supports multi-vehicle architectures but should enable multi-mission capability as well. The AMPS technology development involves near term demonstrations involving developmental prototype vehicles and field demonstrations. These operational demonstrations not only serve as a means of evaluating modular technology but also provide feedback to developers that assure that they progress toward truly flexible and operationally supportable modular power architecture.

Oeftering, Richard C.↗

DOE OSTI2020

A High-Speed High-Power-Density Non-Heavy Rare-Earth Permanent Magnet Traction Motor

There has been a global push for higher torque density and lower cost traction motors. The use of non-heavy rare-earth (non-HRE) permanent magnet materials in traction motors are being investigated for the sustainability, profitability and affordability of electric vehicles and to broaden their adoption. A 20,000-rpm permanent magnet traction motor using non-HRE magnet materials is proposed. A dual three-phase winding configuration driven by a segmented dual three-phase drive is proposed to reduce the current ripple, and as a result, the DC Link capacitor, as well as to ease the voltage constraint at high speed and eliminate any risk of uncontrolled regeneration. Furthermore, the dual winding configuration enables a fault tolerant design which is useful for reliability. The paper presents comprehensive electromagnetic, thermal and mechanical designs and analyses using an integrated approach. The results have shown that the design is robust against demagnetization and confirmed its thermal and mechanical viability.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

NASA NTRS2005

A Reliable Service-Oriented Architecture for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission

The Collaborative Information Portal (CIP) was enterprise software developed jointly by the NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's highly successful Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Both MER and CIP have performed far beyond their original expectations. Mission managers and engineers ran CIP inside the mission control room at JPL, and the scientists ran CIP in their laboratories, homes, and offices. All the users connected securely over the Internet. Since the mission ran on Mars time, CIP displayed the current time in various Mars and Earth time zones, and it presented staffing and event schedules with Martian time scales. Users could send and receive broadcast messages, and they could view and download data and image files generated by the rovers' instruments. CIP had a three-tiered, service-oriented architecture (SOA) based on industry standards, including J2EE and web services, and it integrated commercial off-the-shelf software. A user's interactions with the graphical interface of the CIP client application generated web services requests to the CIP middleware. The middleware accessed the back-end data repositories if necessary and returned results for these requests. The client application could make multiple service requests for a single user action and then present a composition of the results. This happened transparently, and many users did not even realize that they were connecting to a server. CIP performed well and was extremely reliable; it attained better than 99% uptime during the course of the mission. In this paper, we present overviews of the MER mission and of CIP. We show how CIP helped to fulfill some of the mission needs and how people used it. We discuss the criteria for choosing its architecture, and we describe how the developers made the software so reliable. CIP's reliability did not come about by chance, but was the result of several key design decisions. We conclude with some of the important lessons we learned form developing, deploying, and supporting the software.

Mak, Ronald↗

DOE OSTI2020

Analysis and Planning Framework for Nuclear Plant Transformation

Commercial nuclear power in the United States has been an unqualified success by any measure, providing low cost, carbon-free, and safe baseload electricity for decades. The industry today is at the peak of its historical performance in terms of generation output, reliable operations, and demonstrated nuclear safety. However, it is no longer among the lowest-cost electric generation sources with the emergence of subsidized renewables and shale gas generation. The business model that has served the operating nuclear fleet so well over its life is now a drag on cost performance due to its reliance on a large highly skilled labor force. In contrast, digital technology and innovation are enabling dramatic efficiencies in energy production, resulting in fierce competition for a commodity such as electricity. The nuclear power industry has responded to this challenge with many initiatives to improve efficiency and modernize plant equipment, especially where reliability and obsolescence issues are pressing. However, it would be a missed opportunity to merely modernize the plant components and the work processes of an outdated business model that was formulated to manage the technology of the 1960s. Rather, the greater opportunity is to transform that business model to one that fully exploits the capabilities of modern digital technology, resulting in substantially lower production costs and sustainable market viability. One successful example of such transformation is the concept of Integrated Operations, which was introduced into the North Sea oil and gas industry a couple of decades ago when the profitability of operating these fields was severely threatened by low world petroleum prices and the high overhead of operating the offshore oil and gas platforms. This effort resulted in significant changes to how these oil fields were operated and allowed the industry to continue profitable operation of these platforms. This example has some remarkable parallels to the U.S. commercial nuclear industry as described in the next section. This report provides an analysis and planning framework for such a nuclear plant operating model transformation based on the transferable learnings from the North Sea transformation. This framework is termed Integrated Operations for Nuclear or ION. This report describes the key principles and methods of Integrated Operations and how they are being applied in a collaboration between the DOE Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program and Xcel Energy in an initiative to transform its operating model for performance improvement and long-term sustainability. It describes a method to bring the operating costs of a nuclear fleet in line with market-based pricing, transforming work functions to reduce cost with technology innovations. This initiative will continue over the next several years in the detailed development of transformative concepts for nuclear plants, which will be published as follow-up to this initial report on Integrated Operations for Nuclear.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

NASA NTRS2008

Managing Complexity in Next Generation Robotic Spacecraft: From a Software Perspective

This presentation highlights the challenges in the design of software to support robotic spacecraft. Robotic spacecraft offer a higher degree of autonomy, however currently more capabilities are required, primarily in the software, while providing the same or higher degree of reliability. The complexity of designing such an autonomous system is great, particularly while attempting to address the needs for increased capabilities and high reliability without increased needs for time or money. The efforts to develop programming models for the new hardware and the integration of software architecture are highlighted.

Multi - threaded programming↗

NASA NTRS1986

Modeling, simulation and control for a cryogenic fluid management facility, preliminary report

The synthesis of a control system for a cryogenic fluid management facility was studied. The severe demand for reliability as well as instrumentation and control unique to the Space Station environment are prime considerations. Realizing that the effective control system depends heavily on quantitative description of the facility dynamics, a methodology for process identification and parameter estimation is postulated. A block diagram of the associated control system is also produced. Finally, an on-line adaptive control strategy is developed utilizing optimization of the velocity form control parameters (proportional gains, integration and derivative time constants) in appropriate difference equations for direct digital control. Of special concern are the communications, software and hardware supporting interaction between the ground and orbital systems. It is visualized that specialist in the OSI/ISO utilizing the Ada programming language will influence further development, testing and validation of the simplistic models presented here for adaptation to the actual flight environment.

Turner, Max A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Systems Engineering and Integration (SE and I)

The issue of technology advancement and future space transportation vehicles is addressed. The challenge is to develop systems which can be evolved and improved in small incremental steps where each increment reduces present cost, improves, reliability, or does neither but sets the stage for a second incremental upgrade that does. Future requirements are interface standards for commercial off the shelf products to aid in the development of integrated facilities; enhanced automated code generation system slightly coupled to specification and design documentation; modeling tools that support data flow analysis; and shared project data bases consisting of technical characteristics cast information, measurement parameters, and reusable software programs. Topics addressed include: advanced avionics development strategy; risk analysis and management; tool quality management; low cost avionics; cost estimation and benefits; computer aided software engineering; computer systems and software safety; system testability; and advanced avionics laboratories - and rapid prototyping. This presentation is represented by viewgraphs only.

Chevers, ED↗