Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Digital Technology”

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.

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

At least 397 records · Page 22

IMT-2000 Satellite Standards with Applications to Mobile Air Traffic Communications Networks

The International Mobile Telecommunications - 2000 (IMT-2000) standard and more specifically the Satellite component of it, is investigated as a potential alternative for communications to aircraft mobile users en-route and in terminal area. Its application to Air Traffic Management (ATM) communication needs is considered. A summary of the specifications of IMT-2000 satellite standards are outlined. It is shown via a system research analysis that it is possible to support most air traffic communication needs via an IMT-2000 infrastructure. This technology can compliment existing, or future digital aeronautical communications technologies such as VDL2, VDL3, Mode S, and UAT.

Shamma, Mohammed A.↗

Multichannel Error Correction Code Decoder

NASA Lewis Research Center's Digital Systems Technology Branch has an ongoing program in modulation, coding, onboard processing, and switching. Recently, NASA completed a project to incorporate a time-shared decoder into the very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) onboard-processing mesh architecture. The primary goal was to demonstrate a time-shared decoder for a regenerative satellite that uses asynchronous, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) uplink channels, thereby identifying hardware and power requirements and fault-tolerant issues that would have to be addressed in a operational system. A secondary goal was to integrate and test, in a system environment, two NASA-sponsored, proof-of-concept hardware deliverables: the Harris Corp. high-speed Bose Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) codec and the TRW multichannel demultiplexer/demodulator (MCDD). A beneficial byproduct of this project was the development of flexible, multichannel-uplink signal-generation equipment.

Source record↗

Maximizing the Performance of Automated Low Cost All-sky Cameras

Thanks to the wide spread of digital camera technology in the consumer market, a steady increase in the number of active All-sky camera has be noticed European wide. In this paper I look into the details of such All-sky systems and try to optimize the performance in terms of accuracy of the astrometry, the velocity determination and photometry. Having autonomous operation in mind, suggestions are done for the optimal low cost All-sky camera.

Bettonvil, F.↗

Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is one of a suite of geospatial technologies that are having a growing impact in a wide variety of areas from commerce to science to public policy. The field of remote sensing evolved from the interpretation of aerial photographs to the analysis of satellite imagery, and from local area studies to global analyses, with advances in sensor system technologies and digital computing. Today remote sensor systems can provide data from energy emitted, reflected, and/or transmitted from all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Examples of applications of these data include population and demography studies, study of archaeological sites, energy studies using hydrological models, urban planning, environmental monitoring, environments, treaty enforcement, land use/land cover planning, weather forecasting, and agricultural production estimation, just to name a few. The material that follows provides a brief overview of the historical development of remote sensing, emphasizing the increasing complexity of platforms, systems, and tasks.

electromagnetic spectrum↗

Strontium Iodide Instrument Development for Gamma Spectroscopy and Radioisotope Identification

Development of the Europium-doped Strontium Iodide scintillator, SrI2(Eu), has progressed significantly in recent years. SrI2(Eu) has excellent material properties for gamma ray spectroscopy: high light yield (>80,000 ph/MeV), excellent light yield proportionality, and high effective atomic number (Z=49) for high photoelectric cross-section. High quality 1.5 and 2 diameter boules are now available due to rapid advances in SrI2(Eu) crystal growth. In these large SrI2(Eu) crystals, optical self-absorption by Eu2+ degrades the energy resolution as measured by analog electronics, but we mitigate this effect through on-the-fly correction of the scintillation pulses by digital readout electronics. Using this digital correction technique we have demonstrated energy resolution of 2.9% FWHM at 662 keV for a 4 in3 SrI2(Eu) crystal, over 2.6 inches long. Based on this digital readout technology, we have developed a detector prototype with greatly improved radioisotope identification capability compared to Sodium Iodide, NaI(Tl). The higher resolution of SrI2(Eu) yields a factor of 2 to 5 improvement in radioisotope identification (RIID) error rate compared to NaI(Tl).

energy resolution↗

SHOCKED SURFACE STEREO IMAGING WITH FIBER-OPTIC IMAGING PROBES

“A picture tells a thousand words”—this is a concept that captivates everyone, from the casual observer to the experimental physics scientist. To bring this concept to light in support of Stockpile Stewardship subcritical experiments executed at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), we have developed a new diagnostic tool to investigate the behavior of materials under high-explosive dynamic shock conditions. For the Leda subcritical experiment executed in August, 2014, a single line-of-sight imaging system was designed and fielded as a stretch diagnostic goal for National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec). For the Lyra series, beginning with the Orpheus experiment in September 2015, a newly created dynamic stereo surface imaging (DSSI) capability was deployed. The DSSI diagnostic records a high-speed image sequence that allows scientists to peer inside an imploding hydrodynamic test article with stereoscopic imaging.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Integration of Dynamical System Scaling to RAVEN and Facility Application

As part of the design optimization and model validation effort within the hybrid energy systems program, the research to implement dynamical system scaling (DSS) code to RAVEN is funded under the Integrated Energy System program in collaboration with the Digital Reactor Technology & Development department. The DSS data processing algorithm has been coded within the RAVEN framework along with other metrics and postprocessing models. The implemented code was tested using a gravity-driven draining tank draining case modeled in RELAP5-3D and generated data was successfully postprocessed based on the scaling analyses defined by DSS. Postprocessed data concluded less agreement for the tank exit velocity and indicated that the modeled input deck for RELAP5-3D requires modification to enforce minimal pressure differential effects to the draining process.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Data Collection and Analysis Challenges and Mitigation Strategies for Quantitative Human Factors Research Studies in Nuclear Power Plant Modernization

The United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) program Plant Modernization Pathway is conducting targeted research and development (R&D) to address aging and reliability concerns with the legacy instrumentation and control and related information systems of the U.S. LWR fleet. In this effort, the application of human factors engineering (HFE) provides an important role in ensuring new digital plant technologies enable broad innovation and business improvement with continued operational safety. Evaluation is a key activity in HFE, which often occurs iteratively through the system design lifecycle. While qualitative methods are important in collecting information of how users perform tasks through observations, quantitative methods are equally important in assessing system design based on performance. In collecting and analyzing this quantitative data, there are notable challenges in the nuclear HFE domain that may threaten the validity and reliability of the inferences made in these studies. Notable challenges include small sample size and limited resources, large error variance and small effect size, an “adding test features to losing degrees of freedom” dilemma, non-normal distribution, and heterogeneity of variance. The results in control room usability studies are often statistically non-significant, which makes it hard to interpret. This work discusses these challenges across different scientific viewpoints and provides real-world examples of these challenges in practice. Collectively, the objective of this work is to position these challenges to the larger data science community as a means of identifying future opportunities to address these issues.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

BESSIE: Battery & Energy Storage Supply Chain Analysis, Mitigation Deployment, and Tools

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) and their associated power electronic interfaces are key components to delivering clean and more resilient energy, providing much-needed fast-ramping, emergency discharge, generation, and operations support to the electric grid. These services have grown to be invaluable over the past ten years and will soon be an irreplaceable element of energy delivery. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) strives to address these challenges through a strategic approach to supply chain risk assessment and mitigation for BESS and related digital energy equipment through the BESSIE project under the Center for Securing Digital Energy Technology. Recognizing that decreasing dependence on a foreign supply chain will take significant time and investment, BESSIE’s focus is strategically addressing battery supply chain risks by pairing short-term steps to operate securely through today’s risks with long-term steps to shape the supply chain over the coming years.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program: Digital Architecture Project Plan

There are many technologies available to the nuclear power industry to improve efficiency in plant work activities. These range from new control room technologies to those for mobile field workers. They can make a positive impact on a wide range of performance objectives – increase in productivity, human error reduction, validation of results, accurate transfer of data, and elimination of repetitive tasks. It is expected that the industry will more and more turn to these technologies to achieve these operational efficiencies to lower costs. At the same time, this will help utilities manage a looming staffing problem as the inevitable retirement wave of the more seasoned workers affects both staffing levels and knowledge retention. A barrier to this wide-scale implementation of new technologies for operational efficiency is the lack of a comprehensive digital architecture that can support the real-time information exchanges needed to achieve the desired operational efficiencies. This project will define an advanced digital architecture that will accommodate the entire range of system, process, and plant worker activity to enable the highest degree of integration, thereby creating maximum efficiency and productivity. This pilot project will consider a range of open standards that are suitable for the various data and communication requirements of a seamless digital environment. It will map these standards into an overall architecture to support the II&C developments of this research program.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

PROVIDING PLANT DATA ANALYTICS THROUGH A SEAMLESS DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

As technology continues to evolve and become more integrated into a worker’s daily routine in the Nuclear Power industry the need for easy access to data becomes a priority. Not only does the need for data increase but the amount of data collected increases. In most cases the data is collected and stored in various software applications, many of which are legacy systems, which do not offer any other option to access the data except through the application’s user interface. Furthermore the data gets grouped in “silos” according to work function and not necessarily by subject. Hence, in order to access all the information needed for a particular task or analysis one may have to access multiple applications to gather all the data needed. The industry and the research community have identified the need for a digital architecture and more importantly the need for a Seamless Digital Environment. An SDE provides a means to access multiple applications, gather the data points needed, conduct the analysis requested, and present the result to the user with minimal or no effort by the user. In addition, the nuclear utilities have identified the need for research focused on data analytics. The effort should develop and evaluate use cases for data mining and analytics for employing information from plant sensors and database for use in developing improved business analytics. Idaho National Laboratory is leading such effort, which is conducted in close collaboration with vendors, nuclear utilities, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and Electric Power Research Institute. The goal of the study is to research potential approaches to building an analytics solution for equipment reliability, on a small scale, focusing on either a single piece of equipment or a single system. The analytics solution will likely consist of a data integration layer, predictive and machine learning layer and the user interface layer that will display the output of the analysis in a straight forward, easy to consume manner. This paper will describe the study and the initial results.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗