SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “information infrastructure”

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 433 records · Page 24

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2006

A-Train Data Depot: Integrating and Visualizing Atmospheric Measurements Along the A-Train Tracks

The succession of US and international satellites that follow each other, seconds to minutes apart, across the local afternoon equator crossing is called the ATrain. The A-Train consists of the following satellites, in order of equator crossing: OCO, EOS Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and EOS Aura. Flying in such formation increases the number of observations, validates observations, and enables coordination between science observations, resulting in a more complete virtual science platform (Kelly, 2000) The goal of this project is to create the first ever A-Train virtual data portal/center, the A-Train Data Depot, to process, archive, access, visualize, analyze and correlate distributed atmosphere measurements from various A-Train instruments along A-Train tracks. The A-Train Data Depot (ATDD) will enable the free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth s Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. Once the infrastructure of the ATDD is in place, it will be easily evolved to serve data from all A-Train data measurements: one stop shopping. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) will be accommodated by reusing the GSFC Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (ACDISC) visualization and analysis tool, GIOVANNI, existing data reduction tools, on-line archwing for fast data access, and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CRA) data co-registration tools. Initial measurements utilized include CALIPSO lidar backscatter, CloudSat radar reflectivity, clear air relative humidity, water vapor and temperature from AIRS, and cloud properties and aerosols from both MODIS. This will be followed by associated measurements from MLS, OMI, HIRDLS, and TES. Given the independent nature of instrument/platform development, the ATDD project has been met with many interesting challenges that, once resolved, will provide a much greater understanding of the relative flight dynamics and data co-registration of the suite of A-Train instruments, thus greatly increasing the accuracy of A-Train data analysis. Some of these challenges will be discussed. The project s resulting visualizations and analysis illustrate the importance of managing data so that measurements from various missions can be combined to enhance the understanding of the atmosphere. A-Train data management coordination, as performed here, is extremely significant in facilitating the A-Train science of clouds, precipitation, aerosol and chemistry.

Kempler, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2006

A-Train Data Depot: Integrating, Visualizing, and Extracting Cloudsat, CALIPSO, MODIS, and AIRS Atmospheric Measurements Along the A-Train Tracks

The succession of US and international Earth observing satellites that follow each other, seconds to minutes apart, across the local afternoon equator crossing is called the ATrain. The A-Train consists of the following satellites, in order of equator crossing: OCO, EOS Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and EOS Aura. Flying in such formation increases the number of observations, validates observations, and enables coordination between science observations, resulting in a more complete virtual science platform (Kelly, 2000). The goal of this project is to create the first ever A-Train virtual data portal/center, the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD), to process, archive, access, visualize, analyze and correlate distributed atmosphere measurements from various A-Train instruments along A-Train tracks. The ATDD will enable the free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. Once the infrastructure of the ATDD is in place, it will be easily evolved to serve data from all A-Train data measurements: one stop shopping. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) will be accommodated by reusing the GSFC Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (ACDISC) visualization and analysis tool, GIOVANNI, existing data reduction tools, on-line archiving for fast data access, access to remote data without unnecessary data transfers, and data retrieval by users finding data desirable for further study. Initial measurements utilized include CALIPSO lidar backscatter, CloudSat radar reflectivity, clear air relative humidity, water vapor and temperature from AIRS, and cloud properties and aerosols from both MODIS. This will be foilowed by associated measurements from TVILS, =MI, HIRDLS, sad TES. Given the independent nature of instrumentlplatform development, the ATDD project has been met with many interesting challenges that, once resolved, will provide a much greater understanding of the relative flight dynamics and data co-registration of the suite of A-Train instruments, thus greatly increasing the accuracy of A-Train data analysis. Some of these challenges will be illustrated and discussed. The project's early visualizations and analysis efforts illustrate the importance of managing data so that measurements from various missions can be combined to enhance the understanding of the atmosphere. A-Train data management coordination, as performed here, is extremely significant in facilitating the A-Train science of clouds, precipitation, aerosol and chemistry.

Kempler, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2017

Defining Medical Levels of Care for Exploration Missions

NASA medical care standards establish requirements for providing health and medical programs for crewmembers during all phases of a mission. These requirements are intended to prevent or mitigate negative health consequences of long-duration spaceflight, thereby optimizing crew health and performance over the course of the mission. Current standards are documented in the two volumes of the NASA-STD-3001 Space Flight Human-System Standard document, established by the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer. Its purpose is to provide uniform technical standards for the design, selection, and application of medical hardware, software, processes, procedures, practices, and methods for human-rated systems. NASA-STD-3001 Vol. 1 identifies five levels of care for human spaceflight. These levels of care are accompanied by several components that illustrate the type of medical care expected for each. The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) of the Human Research Program has expanded the context of these provided levels of care and components. This supplemental information includes definitions for each component of care and example actions that describe the type of capabilities that coincide with the definition. This interpretation is necessary in order to fully and systematically define the capabilities required for each level of care in order to define the medical requirements and plan for infrastructure needed for medical systems of future exploration missions, such as one to Mars.

Hailey, M.↗

NASA NTRS2010

NASA Goddard Giovanni Support for YOTC

The fundamental challenges to overcoming our shortcomings in understanding and modeling/predicting tropical convection have been twofold: I) the need to represent the broad range of scales applicable to the tropical organization problem (i.e. cumulus to planetary), and II) the lack of observations that adequately and simultaneously characterize this broad range of scales and that also provide three-dimensional information on thermodynamic, radiative and dynamical interactions, including cloud microphysical processes. In regards to the second challenge, it should be stressed that this problem will not be solved through the production and examination of one or a few high quality long-term records of fundamental quantities (e.g., SST, water vapor, cloud fraction). Rather, an alternative and more comprehensive paradigm is needed, one that integrates the multitude of applicable resources and measures of tropical convection in a manner that that can be better utilized by the diagnostic, modeling and forecasting communities to more completely and coherently focus on the problem.Because the goal of YOTC involves examining a scientifically complex, multi-scale process , rather than documenting the characteristics of a single parameter (e.g., SST, cloud cover), YOTC has an IOP perspective that targets a period, May 2008 April 2010, long enough to encompass many cases of tropical convection activity in many of its most challenging yet influential forms. This includes mesoscale and synoptic variability, easterly waves and hurricanes, convectively coupled waves, the MJO and the culmination of these in terms of the monsoon, their interactions with the extra-tropics, and mean characteristics such as tropical-to-subtropical transitions. The YOTC time period and length are driven in part by the following: 1) keeping the multi-sensor/multi-platform and model-analyses data sets and associated infrastructure manageable, 2) facilitating a focused effort by the research and operational communities on a specific scientific problem, and 3) capitalizing on the recent key additions to the armada of satellites (e.g., CloudSat and CALIPSO). The proposed dissemination framework for the YOTC satellite data archive is based on the Giovanni system. Giovanni is a web-based application developed by the NASA Goddard Earth Science (GES) Data and Information Service Center (DISC) that provides a simple and intuitive way to visualize, analyze, and access/download vast amounts of Earth science remote sensing data. A prototype YOTC Giovanni System (hereafter YOTC-GS) is in the process of being developed. YOTC-GS will provide access to level 2 (i.e. swath level data) and/or level 3 (i.e. gridded/mapped data) forms of satellite data, the choice or both depending on what is appropriate and relevant. The former is needed and better suited for detailed process examination, exploiting the highest temporal-spatial resolutions available and comparison to regional cloud-system resolving model / cloud resolving model (CSRM/CRM) model output. The latter is needed and more well suited for examination of phenomena, conditions and processes on large to global scales, and for comparisons to global model analyses, prediction and simulation output.

Ostrenga, Dana↗

NASA NTRS1996

A Note on Interfacing Object Warehouses and Mass Storage Systems for Data Mining Applications

Data mining is the automatic discovery of patterns, associations, and anomalies in data sets. Data mining requires numerically and statistically intensive queries. Our assumption is that data mining requires a specialized data management infrastructure to support the aforementioned intensive queries, but because of the sizes of data involved, this infrastructure is layered over a hierarchical storage system. In this paper, we discuss the architecture of a system which is layered for modularity, but exploits specialized lightweight services to maintain efficiency. Rather than use a full functioned database for example, we use light weight object services specialized for data mining. We propose using information repositories between layers so that components on either side of the layer can access information in the repositories to assist in making decisions about data layout, the caching and migration of data, the scheduling of queries, and related matters.

Grossman, Robert L.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Weather Information Communication (WINCOMM) VDL-3 and 1090ES Final Test Requirements, Test Plans, and Test Results

NASA s Aviation Safety Program was created for the purpose of making a significant reduction in the incidents of weather related aviation accidents by improving situational awareness. The objectives of that program are being met in part through advances in weather sensor technology, and in part through advances in the communications technology that are developed for use in the National Airspace System. It is this latter element, i.e., the improvements in aviation communication technologies, that is the focus of the Weather Information Communications project. This report describes the final flight test results completed under the WINCOMM project at the NASA Glenn Research Center of the 1090 Extended Squitter (1090ES) and VDL Mode 3 (VDL-3) data links as a medium for weather data exchange. It presents the use of 1090ES to meet the program objectives of sending broadcast turbulence information and the use of VDL-3 to send graphical weather images. This report provides the test requirements and test plans, which led to flight tests, as well as final results from flight testing. The reports define the changes made to both avionics and ground-based receivers as well as the ground infrastructure to support implementation of the recommended architecture, with a focus on the issues associated with these changes.

Griner, James H.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Cleanroom Garment Silicone Contamination

The slide presentation reviews actions taken at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to eliminate contamination by silicone in clean rooms. Background information includes facilities and hardware affected by silicon contamination, a discussion of the negative aspects of silicone contamination, clean room garments, and how the problem was identified at GSFC. Actions taken by the GSFC Contamination Engineering Group and lessons learned are detailed. Results include: awareness of the silicone issue in laundry, increase in infrastructure and support of the testing lab, establishment of protocols for garment verification, closer relationship established with laundry and converter, specifications for laundry services and garments were strengthened, all consumables are tested before use in clean rooms, and established procedures were used to identify and treat silicone found on face masks.

Geer, Wayne↗

NASA NTRS2007

Spatial Aspects of Multi-Sensor Data Fusion: Aerosol Optical Thickness

The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) investigated the applicability and limitations of combining multi-sensor data through data fusion, to increase the usefulness of the multitude of NASA remote sensing data sets, and as part of a larger effort to integrate this capability in the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization and Analysis Infrastructure (Giovanni). This initial study focused on merging daily mean Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), as measured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, to increase spatial coverage and produce complete fields to facilitate comparison with models and station data. The fusion algorithm used the maximum likelihood technique to merge the pixel values where available. The algorithm was applied to two regional AOT subsets (with mostly regular and irregular gaps, respectively) and a set of AOT fields that differed only in the size and location of artificially created gaps. The Cumulative Semivariogram (CSV) was found to be sensitive to the spatial distribution of gap areas and, thus, useful for assessing the sensitivity of the fused data to spatial gaps.

Leptoukh, Gregory↗

NASA NTRS2010

Beijing Lunar Declaration 2010: B) Technology and Resources; Infrastructures and Human Aspects; Moon, Space and Society

We report on the Beijing Lunar Declaration endorsed by the delegates of the Global Lunar Conference/11th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, held at Beijing on 30 May- 3 June 2010. Specifically we focus on Part B:Technologies and resources; Infrastructures and human aspects; Moon, Space, Society and Young Explorers. We recommend continued and enhanced development and implementation of sessions about lunar exploration, manned and robotic, at key scientific and engineering meetings. A number of robotic missions to the Moon are now undertaken independently by various nations, with a degree of exchange of information and coordination. That should increase towards real cooperation, still allowing areas of competition for keeping the process active, cost-effective and faster. - Lunar landers, pressurized lunar rover projects as presented from Europe, Asia and America are important steps that can create opportunities for international collaboration, within a coordinated village of robotic precursors and assistants to crew missions. - We have to think about development, modernization of existing navigation capabilities, and provision of lunar positioning, navigation and data relay assets to support future robotic and human exploration. New concepts and new methods for transportation have attracted much attention and are of great potential.

Arvidson, R.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

H2 / DeCarbonization Studies: History and Ongoing

An ongoing study is collecting and reviewing hydrogen and low/zero carbon aircraft and related studies. In addition to previous NASA studies, international and as well as other US sponsored hydrogen, other fuels and infrastructure efforts supporting aviation aircraft are included. These reports and presentations are summarized here to develop further insight as well as help identify potential research areas to support reduction or elimination of harmful emissions from aviation aircraft. Although not all possible studies have been identified and included here, it is believed that sufficient information has been collected to help guide subsequent efforts. Efforts pertaining to aircraft emissions and assessing climate impact have only just started to be included.

fuel↗

NASA NTRS1992

Application of information technology to the National Launch System

The approach to the development of the Unified Information System (UNIS) to provide in a timely manner all the information required to manage, design, manufacture, integrate, test, launch, operate, and support the Advanced Launch System (NLS), as well as the current and planned capabilities are described. STESYM, the Space Transportation Main Engine (STME) development program, is comprised of a collection of data models which can be grouped into two primary models: the Engine Infrastructure Model (ENGIM) and the Engine Integrated Cast Model (ENGICOM). ENGIM is an end-to-end model of the infrastructure needed to perform the fabrication, assembly, and testing of the STEM program and its components. Together, UNIS and STESYM are to provide NLS managers and engineers with the ability to access various types and files of data quickly and use that data to assess the capabilities of the STEM program.

Mauldin, W. T.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Probabilistic Structural Analysis Program

NASA/NESSUS 6.2c is a general-purpose, probabilistic analysis program that computes probability of failure and probabilistic sensitivity measures of engineered systems. Because NASA/NESSUS uses highly computationally efficient and accurate analysis techniques, probabilistic solutions can be obtained even for extremely large and complex models. Once the probabilistic response is quantified, the results can be used to support risk-informed decisions regarding reliability for safety-critical and one-of-a-kind systems, as well as for maintaining a level of quality while reducing manufacturing costs for larger-quantity products. NASA/NESSUS has been successfully applied to a diverse range of problems in aerospace, gas turbine engines, biomechanics, pipelines, defense, weaponry, and infrastructure. This program combines state-of-the-art probabilistic algorithms with general-purpose structural analysis and lifting methods to compute the probabilistic response and reliability of engineered structures. Uncertainties in load, material properties, geometry, boundary conditions, and initial conditions can be simulated. The structural analysis methods include non-linear finite-element methods, heat-transfer analysis, polymer/ceramic matrix composite analysis, monolithic (conventional metallic) materials life-prediction methodologies, boundary element methods, and user-written subroutines. Several probabilistic algorithms are available such as the advanced mean value method and the adaptive importance sampling method. NASA/NESSUS 6.2c is structured in a modular format with 15 elements.

Pai, Shantaram S.↗

NASA NTRS2012

A System to Provide Real-Time Collaborative Situational Awareness by Web Enabling a Distributed Sensor Network

In this paper, we describe the architecture of both the PATS and SAP systems and how these two systems interoperate with each other forming a unified capability for deploying intelligence in hostile environments with the objective of providing actionable situational awareness of individuals. The SAP system works in concert with the UICDS information sharing middleware to provide data fusion from multiple sources. UICDS can then publish the sensor data using the OGC's Web Mapping Service, Web Feature Service, and Sensor Observation Service standards. The system described in the paper is able to integrate a spatially distributed sensor system, operating without the benefit of the Web infrastructure, with a remote monitoring and control system that is equipped to take advantage of SWE.

Visualization↗

NASA NTRS2023

Exploring Natural and Social Drivers of Forest Degradation in Post-Soviet Georgia

The Caucasus Mountains harbor high concentrations of endemic species and provide an abundance of ecosystem services yet are significantly understudied compared to other ecosystems in Eurasia. In the country of Georgia, at the heart of the Caucasus region, forest degradation has been the largest land change process over the last thirty years. The prevailing narrative is that legal and illegal cutting of trees for fuelwood is primarily responsible for this process. Yet, since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country has undergone rapid socioeconomic and institutional changes which have not been explored as drivers of forest change. We combine newly available land-cover change estimates, Georgian statistical data, and historical institutional change data to examine socioeconomic drivers of forest degradation. Our analysis controls for concurrent changes in climate that would affect degradation and examines variation at the regional (state) level from 2011 to 2019, as well as at the national level from 1987 to 2019. We find that higher winter temperature and drought are associated with higher degradation at the regional scale, while major institutional changes and drought are associated with higher forest degradation at the national level. Access to natural gas, the major energy alternative to fuelwood, had no significant association with degradation. Our results challenge the narrative that poverty and a lack of alternative energy infrastructure drive forest degradation and suggest that government policies banning household fuelwood cutting, including the new Forest Code of 2020, may not reduce forest degradation. Given these results, improved data on wood harvesting and more research on the commercial drivers of degradation and their links to economic and political reforms is needed to better inform forest policy in the region, especially given ongoing risks from climate change.

Institutions↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comprehensive Analysis of Thirty Years of Land Change in Georgia: Forest Degradation, Land-Use Patterns, and Drivers

In this talk, we present results from a study, funded by the NASA Land-Cover and Land-Use Change program, of thirty years of environmental change in the country of Georgia. The country, a former Soviet Union Republic, has experienced more political, economic and social change in the last 30 years than most countries. But the environmental implications of these extreme events remain largely unknown – the region is understudied, no national forest inventory has been completed in 20 years, and previous research in the area conducted by the authors were not successful. The latter statement is because of forest degradation. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, much of the forestry infrastructure broke down and people resorted to chopping down individual trees. The result was in many parts of the country a reduction in forest biomass but not to the point of a change in land cover. This type of forest degradation, which was either gradual over decades or abrupt, could not be readily identified using the methods and data at our disposal at the time. In the recent study, we had full access to the Landsat archive in combination with computing power. By using monitoring methods that are based on time series analysis, we were able to capture and identify the gradual processes driven by small scale activities that are so characteristic of the post-Soviet Georgian landscape. We developed an approach (“CCDC-SMA”) that combines time series analysis and spectral mixture analysis running on Google Earth Engine for monitoring abrupt and gradual forest degradation. By using this approach, we found that forest degradation was significantly larger than the area estimate of deforestation; 3,541 ± 556 km2 (11% of the forest area in 1987) compared to 158 ± 98 km2 from 1987 to 2020. The prevailing narrative is that legal and illegal cutting of trees for fuelwood is primarily responsible for this process. Yet, since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country has undergone rapid socioeconomic and institutional changes which have not been explored as drivers of forest change. To further our understanding of the underlying causes, we combined forest disturbance estimates, Georgian statistical data, and historical institutional change data to examine socioeconomic drivers of forest degradation. We found that higher winter temperature and drought were associated with higher degradation at the regional scale, while major institutional changes and drought were associated with higher forest degradation at the national level. Access to natural gas, the major energy alternative to fuelwood, had no significant association with degradation. Our results challenge the narrative that poverty and a lack of alternative energy infrastructure drive forest degradation and suggest that government policies banning household fuelwood cutting, including the new Forest Code of 2020, may not reduce forest degradation. Given these results, improved data on wood harvesting and more research on the commercial drivers of degradation and their links to economic and political reforms is needed to better inform forest policy in the region, especially given ongoing risks from climate change.

Pontus Olofsson↗

NASA NTRS1991

Search for supporting methodologies - Or how to support SEI for 35 years

Concepts relevant to the development of an evolvable information management system are examined in terms of support for the Space Exploration Initiative. The issues of interoperability within NASA and industry initiatives are studied including the Open Systems Interconnection standard and the operating system of the Open Software Foundation. The requirements of partitioning functionality into separate areas are determined with attention given to the infrastructure required to ensure system-wide compliance. The need for a decision-making context is a key to the distributed implementation of the program, and this environment is concluded to be next step in developing an evolvable, interoperable, and securable support network.

Handley, Thomas H., Jr.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Artemis Navigation Architecture: Early Capabilities and Long Term Evolvability and Evolution

With the awarding of multiple contracts within the Artemis program and building on the success of Artemis I, NASA is investing in and demonstrating the vehicle capabilities necessary for a return to human crewed Lunar Missions. To support activities on the lunar surface, NASA is also assessing architecture options and approaches to enable high precision in-situ navigation within the lunar sphere of influence. These capabilities build on decades of research and advancements within the field, building and evolving the techniques used during Apollo. To support inter-operability and broad application within its elements, NASA conducted a trade on Orbital and Surface Lunar Architecture for PNT. Time-defined mission requirements were captured across elements to inform a phased approach and deployment of needed capability. The architecture must also address unique aspects of the South Pole lunar environments, specifically in terms of harsh lighting and hazardous terrain. To inform the study, documentation of primary users, operational concepts of operations, driving scenarios, and mission needs were used to define performance constraints and phasing. Multiple technologies were assessed in terms of maturity, applicability, and performance to meet the primary user needs forecast. The results of this study support the utilization of in-situ orbital infrastructure to provide a back-bone for navigation and emphasize the need for a common Lunar Reference System and Lunar Time Reference. This deployment can ensure compatibility and enable a high-accuracy in-situ capability. This provides further justification for the capabilities being invested in and deployed by NASA and other international agencies. In addition to including advancements in terrestrial surface navigation, NASA is also applying lessons learned and innovation in the contractual approach to the individual elements by means of a services-based contract mechanism. This impacts the navigation architecture heavily in terms of government and provider roles, in terms of levels of implementation, interoperability, and verification. These distinctions in roles provide constraints to the architecture approach in terms of implementation and integration and will be discussed. The development, use, and mandate of interoperability standards are being deployed to support cross-element compatibility. This paper will provide a summary of the NASA Lunar Navigation needs across its various elements and the proposed deployment of an integrated navigation architecture to support early mission needs with inherent extensibility towards the future.

Evan Anzalone↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

National Campaign Partner Demonstration Team Annual Review April 2023

- NASA developed the Advanced Air Mobility Project (AAM) and the National Campaign (NC) series to identify and address challenges ahead for advanced air mobility concepts. - NC seeks to challenge industry as follows; - Execute progressively more difficult ecosystem-wide system-level safety and integration scenarios - Demonstrate practical and scalable system concepts - Build a knowledge base for development of requirements and standards - There are currently three focus areas within the NASA AAM NC Portfolio - Vehicle Development and Operations: test and inform capabilities that are critical enablers for AAM such as electric aircraft propulsion and increasing levels of automation - Airspace Design and Operations: develop and validate an operational concept to integrate and manage AAM traffic safely and efficiently - Community Integration: understand and address critical barriers to community integration, such as public acceptance (noise, security, privacy, etc.), supporting infrastructure, and local regulation

Eric N Becker↗