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At least 415 records · Page 23

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2026

Simulation-Based Validation of An Open-Source, Scalable Framework for Building Energy Management in Small and Medium-Sized Commercial Buildings

Abstract: Small and medium-sized commercial buildings (SMCBs) represent 94% of U.S. commercial buildings but encounter substantial obstacles in adopting Building Energy Management (BEM) systems. Current approaches exhibit fundamental limitations: vendor-specific API platforms restrict interoperability through proprietary ecosystems; commercial automation software demands extensive technical expertise and licensing costs; open-source IoT solutions lack native support for building automation protocols and semantic models. This paper introduces a configuration-driven web interface framework addressing the gap between smart device advancements and accessible BEM software infrastructure for SMCBs. The framework leverages VOLTTRON middleware integrated with an automated converter that processes unified YAML configurations into heterogeneous system files, reducing required configuration artifacts from six separate files to a single unified specification. The system architecture enables vendor-agnostic operation through BACnet and Modbus protocols while supporting semantic building model integration via automated Brick Schema parsing. Configuration-driven interfaces automatically adapt to diverse HVAC types without custom development. Simulation-based validation using BOPTEST demonstrates automatic interface generation between fan coil and hydronic systems, with the automated converter successfully generating all platform-specific outputs from the single YAML input. The result demonstrates the framework's capability to streamline BEM system deployment through reduced configuration complexity. This work bridges simulation capabilities with operational deployment, demonstrating how virtual testbeds validate generalizable software frameworks for real-world building automation.

Chung, Jihoon [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000184880815)↗

NASA NTRS1986

Diagnosing battery behavior with an expert system in PROLOG

Power for the Hubble Space Telescope comes from a system of 20 solar panel assemblies (SPAs) and six nickel-cadmium batteries. The HST battery system is simulated by the HST Electrical Power System (EPS) testbed at Marshall Space Flight Center. The Nickel Cadmium Battery Expert System (NICBES) is being used to diagnose faults of the testbed system, evaluate battery status and provide decision support for the engineer. Extensive telemetry of system operating conditions is relayed through a DEC LSI-11. A BASIC program running on a PC monitors the flow of data, figures cell divergence and recharge ratio, and stores these values, along with other selected data, for use by the expert system.

Kirkwood, N.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Robotic space simulation integration of vision algorithms into an orbital operations simulation

In order to successfully plan and analyze future space activities, computer-based simulations of activities in low earth orbit will be required to model and integrate vision and robotic operations with vehicle dynamics and proximity operations procedures. The orbital operations simulation (OOS) is configured and enhanced as a testbed for robotic space operations. Vision integration algorithms are being developed in three areas: preprocessing, recognition, and attitude/attitude rates. The vision program (Rice University) was modified for use in the OOS. Systems integration testing is now in progress.

Bochsler, Daniel C.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Hubble Space Telescope nickel-hydrogen battery testing: An update

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) began testing the HST Ni-H2 Six Battery Test and the 'Flight Spare Battery' Tests approximately one year before the launch of the HST. These tests are operated and reported on by the MSFC, but are managed and funded by Goddard Space Flight Center in direct support of the HST program. The HST Ni-H2 batteries are built from Eagle Picher RNH-90-3 cells. The HST EPS (electrical power system) is a direct energy transfer power system. The HST Ni-H2 Six Battery Test is a breadboard of the HST EPS. The batteries in the test are composed of test module cells and packaged into three battery modules identical to the flight modules. This test is the HST EPS testbed. The 'Flight Spare Battery' Test is a simulation of one of the six battery channels on the HST. The cells in the test are from the flight spare lot of cells, which are the same lot of cells that three of the six HST flight batteries are made from. This test is the battery life test for the HST program.

Whitt, Thomas H.↗

NASA NTRS1996

A Reconfigurable Testbed Environment for Spacecraft Autonomy

A key goal of NASA's New Millennium Program is the development of technology for increased spacecraft on-board autonomy. Achievement of this objective requires the development of a new class of ground-based automony testbeds that can enable the low-cost and rapid design, test, and integration of the spacecraft autonomy software. This paper describes the development of an Autonomy Testbed Environment (ATBE) for the NMP Deep Space I comet/asteroid rendezvous mission.

testbed autonomy New Millennium Program (NMP) Auto↗

NASA NTRS2005

Health Management Applications for International Space Station

Traditional mission and vehicle management involves teams of highly trained specialists monitoring vehicle status and crew activities, responding rapidly to any anomalies encountered during operations. These teams work from the Mission Control Center and have access to engineering support teams with specialized expertise in International Space Station (ISS) subsystems. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) applications can significantly augment these capabilities by providing enhanced monitoring, prognostic and diagnostic tools for critical decision support and mission management. The Intelligent Systems Division of NASA Ames Research Center is developing many prototype applications using model-based reasoning, data mining and simulation, working with Mission Control through the ISHM Testbed and Prototypes Project. This paper will briefly describe information technology that supports current mission management practice, and will extend this to a vision for future mission control workflow incorporating new ISHM applications. It will describe ISHM applications currently under development at NASA and will define technical approaches for implementing our vision of future human exploration mission management incorporating artificial intelligence and distributed web service architectures using specific examples. Several prototypes are under development, each highlighting a different computational approach. The ISStrider application allows in-depth analysis of Caution and Warning (C&W) events by correlating real-time telemetry with the logical fault trees used to define off-nominal events. The application uses live telemetry data and the Livingstone diagnostic inference engine to display the specific parameters and fault trees that generated the C&W event, allowing a flight controller to identify the root cause of the event from thousands of possibilities by simply navigating animated fault tree models on their workstation. SimStation models the functional power flow for the ISS Electrical Power System and can predict power balance for nominal and off-nominal conditions. SimStation uses realtime telemetry data to keep detailed computational physics models synchronized with actual ISS power system state. In the event of failure, the application can then rapidly diagnose root cause, predict future resource levels and even correlate technical documents relevant to the specific failure. These advanced computational models will allow better insight and more precise control of ISS subsystems, increasing safety margins by speeding up anomaly resolution and reducing,engineering team effort and cost. This technology will make operating ISS more efficient and is directly applicable to next-generation exploration missions and Crew Exploration Vehicles.

Alena, Richard↗

DOE OSTI2021

EXTRACTING HUMAN RELIABILITY FINDINGS FROM HUMAN FACTORS STUDIES IN THE HUMAN SYSTEMS SIMULATION LABORATORY

Modernization of U.S. nuclear power plants (NPPs) is widespread, with most plants currently replacing and transitioning equipment, control systems, and human system interfaces (HSI)s from analog to digital displays. This conversion remedies the obsolescence of analog parts along with needs for increased intuitiveness of design, safety, and capabilities. The Human Factors and Reliability team at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) carried out twelve control room modernization studies in the newly designed Human Systems Simulation Laboratory (HSSL) over nine years. The HSSL was constructed as a testbed for evaluating human factors techniques and performance measures, HSI frameworks, and cutting-edge operational concepts in NPPs. Installing a full-scope training simulator enabled direct design and evaluation work on the same instrumentation and control (I&C) and HSIs located at U.S. plants. The subsequent addition of glass top bays afforded crews opportunities to implement operations via the simulator using full-scale representations of their home NPP. Additionally, functional HSI prototypes were created, providing an environment for operator-in-the-loop benchmark studies. The HSSL has assisted in upgrades of six commercial NPP control rooms and served as an invaluable proving ground for new NPP operations technology. Human reliability analysis (HRA) was not originally the focus of the studies; however, data relating to HRA such as type and frequency of human errors can be extracted from the studies. INL is currently extracting data from the HSSL study reports to apprise how information gathered from simulation, HSI, and other related studies can create a broad look across different data sources to help inform HRA methods.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Quantum Information Systems at NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA Glenn Research Center is focused on supporting NASA goals in several mission areas from Space Exploration and Aeronautics to Science. NASA GRC is exploring how quantum metrology, models, and free-space testbeds can be integrated with NASA’s aerospace competency needs to provide an understanding of how spaceflight components work together in Quantum Information Systems. In this presentation an overview of potential focus areas for quantum systems along with current efforts to enable research and analysis of quantum systems for NASA applications will be discussed. As such, we provide an overview of device measurement capability within NASA’s Quantum Metrology Laboratory (NQML), dynamic quantum network modeling via the NASA Quantum Communications Analysis Suite (NQCAS) simulation tool, and plans for instituting an aero quantum testbed platform.

quantum↗

NASA NTRS2015

Validation of an Integrated Airframe and Turbofan Engine Simulation for Evaluation of Propulsion Control Modes

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed independent airframe and engine models that have been integrated into a single real-time aircraft simulation for piloted evaluation of propulsion control algorithms. In order to have confidence in the results of these evaluations, the integrated simulation must be validated to demonstrate that its behavior is realistic and that it meets the appropriate Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification requirements for aircraft. The paper describes the test procedures and results, demonstrating that the integrated simulation generally meets the FAA requirements and is thus a valid testbed for evaluation of propulsion control modes.

aircraft engine simulation↗

NASA NTRS2015

Simulations of the Hazard Detection System for Approach Trajectories of the Morpheus Lunar Lander

The Hazard Detection System is part of a suite of sensors and algorithms designed to autonomously land a vehicle on unknown terrain while avoiding any hazards. This paper describes the simulations built to predict the performance of the Hazard Detection System to support flight testing onboard the Morpheus Lander testbed at the Kennedy Space Center. The paper describes a hardware-in-the-loop simulation that was used to predict system performance under nominal operating conditions, and also a Monte Carlo simulation to predict command timing performance bounds under a wide range of varying conditions.

Monte Carlo↗

NASA NTRS1993

A laboratory system for the investigation of rain fade compensation techniques for Ka-band satellites

The design and performance of a rain fade simulation/counteraction system on a laboratory simulated 30/20 GHz, time division multiple access (TDMA) satellite communications testbed is evaluated. Severe rain attenuation of electromagnetic radiation at 30/20 GHz occurs due to the carrier wavelength approaching the water droplet size. Rain in the downlink path lowers the signal power present at the receiver, resulting in a higher number of bit errors induced in the digital ground terminal. The laboratory simulation performed at NASA Lewis Research Center uses a programmable PIN diode attenuator to simulate 20 GHz satellite downlink geographic rain fade profiles. A computer based network control system monitors the downlink power and informs the network of any power threshold violations, which then prompts the network to issue commands that temporarily increase the gain of the satellite based traveling wave tube (TWT) amplifier. After the rain subsides, the network returns the TWT to the normal energy conserving power mode. Bit error rate (BER) data taken at the receiving ground terminal serves as a measure of the severity of rain degradation, and also evaluates the extent to which the network can improve the faded channel.

Svoboda, James S.↗

DOE OSTI2019

FATES Parameters and Output for Parameter Sensitivity at the Panama Barro Colorado Island Testbed

This data package contains a set of Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) history files and parameter values for the set of model simulations used in Koven et al. Manuscript "Benchmarking and Parameter Sensitivity of Physiological and Vegetation Dynamics using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) at Barro Colorado Island, Panama." It includes several ensembles of FATES runs, where each ensemble is comprised of a set of 576 runs that have different values of PFT traits. The ensembles include 1 PFT, 2 PFT, 3 PFT, and 10 PFT simulations. Different ensembles also have different values of disturbance and height sorting parameters, and structural differences including running FATES within different LSMs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1996

NASA battery testbed: A designed experiment for the optimization of LEO battery operational parameters

Simulation of spacecraft battery operation is implemented. Robust design experiment to obtain optimum battery operational parameters is performed. It is found that short term tests using robust design of experiments can provide guidelines for optimum battery operation. It is decided to use robust design approach to provide guidelines for battery operation on current spacecraft in orbit as batteries age (GRO, UARS, EUVE, TOPEX).

Deligiannis, F.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Validation of an Integrated Airframe and Turbofan Engine Simulation for Evaluation of Propulsion Control Modes

aircraft engine simulation↗

NASA NTRS2017

Dynamic Modeling, Controls, and Testing for Electrified Aircraft

Electrified aircraft have the potential to provide significant benefits for efficiency and emissions reductions. To assess these potential benefits, modeling tools are needed to provide rapid evaluation of diverse concepts and to ensure safe operability and peak performance over the mission. The modeling challenge for these vehicles is the ability to show significant benefits over the current highly refined aircraft systems. The STARC-ABL (single-aisle turbo-electric aircraft with an aft boundary layer propulsor) is a new test proposal that builds upon previous N3-X team hybrid designs. This presentation describes the STARC-ABL concept, the NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) which will allow testing of the STARC-ABL powertrain, and the related modeling and simulation efforts to date. Modeling and simulation includes a turbofan simulation, Numeric Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS), which has been integrated with NEAT; and a power systems and control model for predicting testbed performance and evaluating control schemes. Model predictions provide good comparisons with testbed data for an NPSS-integrated test of the single-string configuration of NEAT.

Connolly, Joseph↗

NASA NTRS2016

WFIRST/AFTA Coronograph Contrast Performance Sensitivity Studies: Simulation Versus Experiment

The WFIRST/AFTA 2.4 m space telescope currently under study includes a stellar coronagraph for the imaging and the spectral characterization of extrasolar planets. The coronagraph employs sequential deformable mirrors to compensate for phase and amplitude errors. Using the optical model of an Occulting Mask Coronagraph (OMC) testbed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, we have investigated through modeling and simulations the sensitivity of dark hole contrast in a Hybrid Lyot Coronagraph (HLC) for several error cases, including lateral and longitudinal translation errors of two deformable mirrors, DM1 and DM2, lateral and/or longitudinal translation errors of an occulting mask and a Lyot-Stop, clocking errors of DM1 and DM2, and the mismatch errors between the testbed and the model sensitivity matrices. We also investigated the effects of a control parameter, namely the actuator regularization factor, on the control efficiency and on the final contrast floor. We found several error cases which yield contrast results comparable to that observed on the HLC testbed. We present our findings in this paper.

Coronagraphy↗

NASA NTRS2016

WFIRST/AFTA coronograph contrast performance sensitivity studies: simulation versus experiment

Nemati, Bijan↗

DOE OSTI2017

Characterization of NORM in an Urban Environment using HPGe Measurements and MCNP6 Simulations

This work is part of a larger project aimed at producing an operationally relevant, validated simulation environment that can be used as a 'virtual testbed' for counterterrorism and counterproliferation efforts. Examples of such efforts include searches for illicit radiation sources before and during large special events, such as the presidential nominating conventions, inaugurations, and large sporting events. Once validated by laboratory and field measurements, this testbed can be used to test and validate algorithms and detector systems designed for various search missions in an urban environment. The detection of radioactive sources in a city is greatly complicated by natural background radiation, which emanates from various materials common to an urban environment, such as roadways, sidewalks, and building exteriors. The methods and results offered here represent the conclusion of an effort to characterize the concentration of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in various elements in a controlled, but representative, urban environment. Some of the methods discussed in previous work will be briefly reiterated here, but more detail can be found in the preceding work. The location chosen for this effort was a Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) environment at the Fort Indiantown Gap (FTIG) National Guard training facility in Pennsylvania. This site was chosen because it replicates a small town where traffic and pedestrian access could be easily controlled, as to not interfere with the background measurements. This endeavor involved over 70 measurements using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector designed to ascertain the NORM concentrations in the soil, asphalt roads, gravel lots, concrete intersections, sidewalks, foundations, and walls found throughout the site. The NORM concentrations determined from this work will be incorporated into a large-scale simulation that can be used to investigate various search techniques and algorithms, detector types and setups, and to produce representative synthetic data for future work.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗