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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.

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At least 487 records · Page 27

Advanced Image Processing for NASA Applications

The future of space exploration will involve cooperating fleets of spacecraft or sensor webs geared towards coordinated and optimal observation of Earth Science phenomena. The main advantage of such systems is to utilize multiple viewing angles as well as multiple spatial and spectral resolutions of sensors carried on multiple spacecraft but acting collaboratively as a single system. Within this framework, our research focuses on all areas related to sensing in collaborative environments, which means systems utilizing intracommunicating spatially distributed sensor pods or crafts being deployed to monitor or explore different environments. This talk will describe the general concept of sensing in collaborative environments, will give a brief overview of several technologies developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in this area, and then will concentrate on specific image processing research related to that domain, specifically image registration and image fusion.

LeMoign, Jacqueline↗

Hamilton: Flexible, Open Source $10 Wireless Sensor System for Energy Efficient Building Operation

Sensors for improving building performance are rapidly populating the market, driven in part by the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy production as well as improve the interior environment for healthy and more productive spaces. UC Berkeley has led wireless sensor development over the past 25 years (e.g., Telos mote), with the Hamilton (named after Alexander Hamilton on the US $10 bill) as the most recent. The Hamilton sensor was designed as a low-cost high-performance sensor that is modular and interoperable. The objective of the Hamilton project was to create, evaluate and establish the technological foundations for secure and easy to deploy building energy efficiency applications utilizing pervasive, low-cost wireless sensors integrated with traditional Building Management Systems (BMS), consumer-sector building components, and powerful data analytics. The project included iterative hardware design, incorporating a high-performance database (BTrDb, http://btrdb.io/), creating and iterating the development of secure data middleware (BOSSwave, WAVE/WAVEMQ), working with and pushing the development of an open-source tiny operating system RiotOS, and implementing and improving protocols such as Thread/OpenThread and TCP/IP. The hardware benefited from careful design to drive down the cost; the design included a System-on-a-Chip (SoC), chip antenna, single crystal and five passive components. Careful design of the operating system created a low-power design to enable a long life with small batteries. The hardware included several sensors: temperature, radiant temperature, relative humidity, magnetometer, accelerometer, and light, with an optional occupancy (Passive InfraRed) sensor. The project was the basis of several applications, both internal to the research team and other researchers and professionals at other institutions. Several applications used the sensor hardware as the basis for other complex devices. Other applications used the sensors to improve building performance through interoperating with the building Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system, such as using occupancy and/or distributed temperature sensing to reduce HVAC zone energy while still providing thermal comfort and to reduce peak loads in small commercial buildings. We demonstrated cloud-based energy analytics, implemented a schedule and a Model Predictive Controller in a small commercial building to optimize HVAC energy, occupancy and electricity price. Initial integration of these technological innovations was performed through the creation of execution containers containing the WAVE agent and various driver, proxy, or building system function logic. The research added to the understanding of efficient sensor hardware, secure middleware, time-series data management (high performance database), efficient communication protocols, and interoperating with applications and building systems. The project showed the technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of creating a low-cost, modular, and easy-to-deploy sensor. Through conversations with multiple end users, the research team discovered that many customers wanted data management and services in addition to the sensors. HamiltonIOT developed packages of sensors, border router, and data services to provide a seamless “plug-and-play” sensor deployment. Some customers were willing to pay for higher quality sensors (such as light); some customers wanted a robust enclosure (waterproof).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Results of Use of Heat Flux Sensors on Liquid Hydrogen Tanks

Heat flux sensors were used to characterize the performance of insulation on the Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation, and Vibration Evaluation Rig (SHIIVER), a large-scale test article designed to simulate upper stage cryogenic propellant tank thermal performance in simulated space environments. Usually, the insulation heat loads are derived from calculations removing all other heat sources and attributing the residual heat load to the insulation system. Testing for SHIIVER included the tank being just insulated with spray-on-foam insulation as well as covering the domes with multilayer insulation while leaving the barrel section insulated with spray-on-foam. Heat flux sensors were located at multiple locations on both domes as well as on the barrel section of the tank. Results from the SHIIVER testing using the heat flux sensors are compared to other calculated heat inputs for both liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen testing as a function of tank fill level. Further investigation into the transient nature of the SHIIVER testing including the heat flux sensors provided insight into heat flow patterns that may not have been otherwise seen using temperature sensors and calculated insulation heat loads. While the demonstrated uncertainties in the absolute values in the heat flux sensors are high, the values and the trends match well with other calculation methods. The results of SHIIVER allow for the use of heat flux sensors for measurements of insulation performance and dynamic system thermal response for future applications.

Cryogenic Fluid Management↗

Results of Use of Heat Flux Sensors on Liquid Hydrogen Tanks

ABSTRACT: Heat flux sensors were used to characterize the performance of insulation on the Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation, and Vibration Evaluation Rig (SHIIVER), a large-scale test article designed to simulate upper stage cryogenic propellant tank thermal performance in simulated space environments. Usually, the insulation heat loads are derived from calculations removing all other heat sources and attributing the residual heat load to the insulation system. Testing for SHIIVER included the tank being just insulated with spray-on-foam insulation as well as covering the domes with multilayer insulation while leaving the barrel section insulated with spray-on-foam. Heat flux sensors were located at multiple locations on both domes as well as on the barrel section of the tank. Results from the SHIIVER testing using the heat flux sensors are compared to other calculated heat inputs for both liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen testing as a function of tank fill level. Further investigation into the transient nature of the SHIIVER testing including the heat flux sensors provided insight into heat flow patterns that may not have been otherwise seen using temperature sensors and calculated insulation heat loads. While the demonstrated uncertainties in the absolute values in the heat flux sensors are high, the values and the trends match well with other calculation methods. The results of SHIIVER allow for the use of heat flux sensors for measurements of insulation performance and dynamic system thermal response for future applications.

Cryogenic Fluid Management↗

Sensorium: commissioning abundant sensors with augmented reality and QR codes

In the future, it will be possible to build high-quality models of building interiors based on data from a dense fleet of sensors reporting on air volumes much smaller than a room or zone. To enable such models, we are creating technologies that allow a fleet of sensors to be commissioned quickly at low cost. Our sensor commissioning process builds a 3D model of each building interior that includes sensor positions and sensor networking information such as sensor MAC addresses. It employs multiple technologies, including augmented reality, LiDAR, QR codes, and computer vision. Sensors can be commissioned at more than 10x the speed and at less than one tenth the cost of traditional approaches.

Bier, Eric A.↗

Evaluation of the Reliability of Passive Infrared (PIR) Occupancy Sensors for Residential Indoor Lighting

Solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies have penetrated the general illumination market in recent years, largely replacing conventional technologies such as incandescent and fluorescent lighting. Most of the initial excitement about light-emitting diode (LED) sources for SSL devices focused on their energy savings potential resulting from vast improvements in source efficiency and luminous efficacy compared with conventional illumination products. More recently, the focus has shifted toward other aspects of lighting application efficiency, namely intensity effectiveness and spectral efficiency, because of the ease of controlling both the light intensity of LEDs with drive voltage and the color properties of the LED-based illuminators. To capitalize on the energy savings of increased intensity effectiveness and spectral efficiency, a lighting control system (LCS) is often used. While the current penetration of LCSs is relatively modest, it is anticipated that lighting controls (i.e., connected lighting, controls and LED and conventional lighting) could have an installed penetration as higher as 46% by the year 2035, saving an additional 1.3 quads of energy. Despite the large energy savings that can be gained from using LCSs, standard test methods for evaluating sensors employed in LCSs and reliability data of the LCSs and their components are generally lacking. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) developed the only standard, NEMA WD 7-2011 (R2016), to test occupancy and motion sensor performance (herein referred to as “the NEMA protocol”). In a previous U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) effort, some concerns of the NEMA protocol were identified (e.g., strict height and weight limits on test subjects, large amounts of manual effort, sometimes inconsistent repeatability). During the current work, a consistent detection length test (DLT) and a Robotic Sensor Evaluation System (RoboSES) were developed to alleviate some of these concerns. RoboSES acts as a human surrogate by using thermal pads on a mannequin and a remote-controlled mobile base to test a sensor’s field of view (FOV). This report builds on the earlier DOE efforts to understand sensor technologies used in LCSs for general illumination. Specifically, this report describes the optimization of RoboSES, characterizes and establishes test methods to assess the reliability of multiple passive infrared (PIR) sensors, and reports the findings of robustness and reliability testing on two commercial PIR sensors intended for residential applications. The information presented in this report is gained from up to 4,000 hours (hrs) of accelerated stress tests (ASTs).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Synthetic aperture microwave radiometer

Realizing the full potential of microwave remote sensing from space requires putting relatively large antennas in orbit. Research is being conducted to develop synthetic aperture antennas to reduce the physical collecting area required of sensors in space, and to possibly open the door to new applications of microwave remote sensing. The technique under investigation involves using a correlation interferometer with multiple baselines. The Microwave Sensors and Data Collection Branch has been engaged in research to develop this technique for applications to remote sensing of soil moisture from space. Soil moisture is important for agricultural applications and for understanding the global hydrologic cycle. An aircraft prototype of an instrument suitable for making such measurements was developed. This is an L-band radiometer called ESTAR which is hoped will become part of the Earth Observing System (EOS). ESTAR is a hybrid instrument which uses both real aperture antennas (long sticks to obtain resolution in the along-track dimension) and aperture synthesis (correlation between sticks to obtain resolution in the cross track dimension). The hybrid was chosen as a compromise to increase the sensitivity (T) of the instrument.

Levine, D. M.↗

The Development of Metal Oxide Chemical Sensing Nanostructures

This paper discusses sensor development based on metal oxide nanostructures and microsystems technology. While nanostructures such as nanowires show significant potential as enabling materials for chemical sensors, a number of significant technical challenges remain. This paper discusses development to address each of these technical barriers: 1) Improved contact and integration of the nanostructured materials with microsystems in a sensor structure; 2) Control of nanostructure crystallinity to allow control of the detection mechanism; and 3) Widening the range of gases that can be detected by fabricating multiple nanostructured materials. A sensor structure composed of three nanostructured oxides aligned on a single microsensor has been fabricated and tested. Results of this testing are discussed and future development approaches are suggested. It is concluded that while this work lays the foundation for further development, these are the beginning steps towards realization of repeatable, controlled sensor systems using oxide based nanostructures.

Hunter, G. W.↗

Optimal combining of ground-based sensors for the purpose of validating satellite-based rainfall estimates

Two problems related to radar rainfall estimation are described. The first part is a description of a preliminary data analysis for the purpose of statistical estimation of rainfall from multiple (radar and raingage) sensors. Raingage, radar, and joint radar-raingage estimation is described, and some results are given. Statistical parameters of rainfall spatial dependence are calculated and discussed in the context of optimal estimation. Quality control of radar data is also described. The second part describes radar scattering by ellipsoidal raindrops. An analytical solution is derived for the Rayleigh scattering regime. Single and volume scattering are presented. Comparison calculations with the known results for spheres and oblate spheroids are shown.

Krajewski, Witold F.↗

Analysis of the TDRS multiple access system for possible use as an attitude control system sensor

A member of the constellation of TDR satellites (TDRS) has experienced a failure of its prime earth sensor. Failure of the remaining earth sensor could result in the inability of the satellite to control its attitude and provide user services. Loss of the satellite would be a serious event. The multiple access (MA) antenna array on the TDRS has been proposed for use as a backup sensor for the attitude control system. This paper describes our analysis of the performance of the MA array as an interferometer used for accurate attitude determination. A least squares fit of a plane to the MA phase information appears to represent the TDRS body roll and pitch within about 0.1 deg. This is sufficient for SGL pointing and MA and SSA user services. Analytic improvements that include ionospheric correction may yield sufficient accuracy for KSA user services.

Blevins, Bruce Allyn↗

Ionospheric Multi-Point Measurements Using Tethered Satellite Sensors

Many scientific questions concerning the distribution of electromagnetic fields and plasma structures in the ionosphere require measurements over relatively small temporal and spatial scales with as little ambiguity as possible. It is also often necessary to differentiate several geophysical parameters between horizontal and vertical gradients unambiguously. The availability of multiple tethered satellites or sensors, so-called "pearls-on-a-string," may make the necessary measurements practical. In this report we provide two examples of scientific questions which could benefit from such measurements (1) high-latitude magnetospheric-ionospheric coupling; and, (2) plasma structure impact on large and small-scale electrodynamics. Space tether state-of-the-art and special technical considerations addressing mission lifetime, sensor pointing, and multi-stream telemetry are reviewed.

Gilchrist, B. E.↗

Parallel Quantum-Enhanced Sensing

Quantum metrology takes advantage of quantum correlations to enhance the sensitivity of sensors and measurement techniques beyond their fundamental classical limit, given by the shot-noise limit. The use of both temporal and spatial correlations present in quantum states of light can extend quantum-enhanced sensing to a parallel configuration that can simultaneously probe an array of sensors or independently measure multiple parameters. To this end, we use multispatial-mode bright twin beams of light, which are characterized by independent quantum-correlated spatial subregions in addition to quantum temporal correlations, to probe a four-sensor quadrant plasmonic array. We show that it is possible to independently and simultaneously measure local changes in refractive index for all four sensors with a quantum enhancement in sensitivity in the range of 22% to 24% over the corresponding classical configuration. Finally, these results provide a first step toward highly parallel spatially resolved quantum-enhanced sensing techniques and pave the way toward more complex quantum sensing and quantum imaging platforms.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Microbial sensor variation across biogeochemical conditions in the terrestrial deep subsurface

ABSTRACT Microbes can be found in abundance many kilometers underground. While microbial metabolic capabilities have been examined across different geochemical settings, it remains unclear how changes in subsurface niches affect microbial needs to sense and respond to their environment. To address this question, we examined how microbial extracellular sensor systems vary with environmental conditions across metagenomes at different Deep Mine Microbial Observatory (DeMMO) subsurface sites. Because two-component systems (TCSs) directly sense extracellular conditions and convert this information into intracellular biochemical responses, we expected that this sensor family would vary across isolated oligotrophic subterranean environments that differ in abiotic and biotic conditions. TCSs were found at all six subsurface sites, the service water control, and the surface site, with an average of 0.88 sensor histidine kinases (HKs) per 100 genes across all sites. Abundance was greater in subsurface fracture fluids compared with surface-derived fluids, and candidate phyla radiation (CPR) bacteria presented the lowest HK frequencies. Measures of microbial diversity, such as the Shannon diversity index, revealed that HK abundance is inversely correlated with microbial diversity ( r 2 = 0.81). Among the geochemical parameters measured, HK frequency correlated most strongly with variance in dissolved organic carbon ( r 2 = 0.82). Taken together, these results implicate the abiotic and biotic properties of an ecological niche as drivers of sensor needs, and they suggest that microbes in environments with large fluctuations in organic nutrients (e.g., lacustrine, terrestrial, and coastal ecosystems) may require greater TCS diversity than ecosystems with low nutrients (e.g., open ocean). IMPORTANCE The ability to detect extracellular environmental conditions is a fundamental property of all life forms. Because microbial two-component sensor systems convert information about extracellular conditions into biochemical information that controls their behaviors, we evaluated how two-component sensor systems evolved within the deep Earth across multiple sites where abiotic and biotic properties vary. We show that these sensor systems remain abundant in microbial consortia at all subterranean sampling sites and observe correlations between sensor system abundances and abiotic (dissolved organic carbon variation) and biotic (consortia diversity) properties. These results suggest that multiple environmental properties may drive sensor protein evolution and highlight the need for further studies of metagenomic and geochemical data in parallel to understand the drivers of microbial sensor evolution.

response regulator↗

Low-Temperature Plasma-Based Metrology of Lithium-Ion Battery Electrode Materials (CRADA Final Report)

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, SirenOpt Inc. evaluated its low-temperature plasma-based metrology sensor prototype for measuring multiple critical properties of lithium-ion battery electrode materials in parallel and in real-time. Cost-effective, minimal-waste manufacturing of high-performance battery electrode materials will be vital for achieving society’s net-zero carbon emission goals. Because existing electrode metrology sensors cannot operate within most sections of manufacturing lines, manufacturers often complete hundreds of processing steps before they can test their products and detect problems. When manufacturers perform these offline tests, they typically only test a small portion of the manufactured products. Current electrode manufacturing thus often yields many low-quality products, or off-spec products that must be thrown away all together. For example, at least 6% of the total lithium-ion battery manufacturing cost (i.e., over $250 million/year for the average gigafactory) is devoted to processing defective electrodes that are not scrapped until performance tests are failed during late-stage quality control checks. Electrode variability also leads manufacturers to build extra cells into battery packs to reduce the risk of poor performance. For example, many electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers include up to 10% more cells than needed, which substantially increases the cost and weight of the final EV product. The SirenOpt sensor can potentially enable early detection of poorly manufactured electrodes and allow them to be removed earlier from manufacturing lines, which can save battery manufacturers (hundreds of) millions of dollars per year. The sensor can further be used to improve product quality by accelerating R&D and process optimization, improving quality control, and enabling real-time process control. Overall, a real-time, in-situ metrology strategy can create unprecedented opportunities for implementation of smart manufacturing practices and advanced quality and process control solutions to realize higher battery electrode throughput and performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Automated Rock Identification for Future Mars Exploration Missions

A key task for human or robotic explorers on the surface of Mars is choosing which particular rock or mineral samples should be selected for more intensive study. The usual challenges of such a task are compounded by the lack of sensory input available to a suited astronaut or the limited downlink bandwidth available to a rover. Additional challenges facing a human mission include limited surface time and the similarities in appearance of important minerals (e.g. carbonates, silicates, salts). Yet the choice of which sample to collect is critical. To address this challenge we are developing science analysis algorithms to interface with a Geologist's Field Assistant (GFA) device that will allow robotic or human remote explorers to better sense and explore their surroundings during limited surface excursions. We aim for our algorithms to interpret spectral and imaging data obtained by various sensors. The algorithms, for example, will identify key minerals, rocks, and sediments from mid-IR, Raman, and visible/near-IR spectra as well as from high resolution and microscopic images to help interpret data and to provide high-level advice to the remote explorer. A top-level system will consider multiple inputs from raw sensor data output by imagers and spectrometers (visible/near-IR, mid-IR, and Raman) as well as human opinion to identify rock and mineral samples.

Gulick, V. C.↗

A Review of Existing Test Methods for Occupancy Sensors

One of the key new features of connected lighting systems (CLS) is their ability to collect data from various types of integral sensors and share that data with other lighting or building systems. Occupancy and vacancy sensors have been widely adopted as an energy-saving strategy in buildings, yet published test methods for reproducibly characterizing their performance remain few and limited in their sophistication. As a result, it has been difficult to predict their performance in a specific application, and in practice, they frequently do not meet energy-savings expectations. Occupants at times remove or otherwise bypass occupancy sensors that hinder their work or otherwise do not perform as expected, thereby compromising the sensors’ potential to reduce energy consumption. Poor performance can result from multiple causes – ranging from fundamental limitations of the sensor technology, to misconfiguration, to poor placement in the room or space. Innovative occupancy sensors, some of them combining multiple sensing technologies, have come on the market over the years, with claims of improved performance compared to their predecessors; yet in practice, their performance has led to neither high deployment nor high user satisfaction in any significant application, nor has it differed enough from the performance of previous products to necessitate a test method that facilitated comparison between them. While the performance of both common and novel occupancy sensors has been the subject of many published research articles, the test methods that have been employed for them have typically been loosely described and incorporated custom equipment or techniques that render them difficult to reproduce, or have been limited in their ability to fairly characterize devices that utilize varying sensor technology. The lack of a well-described, technology-agnostic test method that yields reproducible results across different implementations has been a barrier to the commercial success of new occupancy sensor products, as users and specifiers who have been disappointed with previous products are often unwilling to take a chance with new ones. Motivated by a desire to fairly characterize new technologies that continue to enter the market and claim not only improved occupancy detection but, in some cases, also additional capabilities (e.g., the ability to measure traffic or discern between different object types), this report presents the results of a literature review of recent published, well-described test methods for characterizing occupancy sensor performance, as well as research articles containing ad-hoc test methods. The review also identifies and consolidates the best techniques for characterizing sensor performance in indoor spaces and identifies test method gaps that need to be filled in order to evaluate emerging technologies and products.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

A Review of Existing Test Methods for Occupancy Sensors

One of the key new features of connected lighting systems (CLS) is their ability to collect data from various types of integral sensors and share that data with other lighting or building systems. Occupancy and vacancy sensors have been widely adopted as an energy-saving strategy in buildings, yet published test methods for reproducibly characterizing their performance remain few and limited in their sophistication. As a result, it has been difficult to predict the performance of such sensors in a specific application, and in practice, they frequently do not meet energy-savings expectations. Occupants at times remove or otherwise bypass occupancy sensors that hinder their work or otherwise do not perform as expected, thereby compromising the sensors’ potential to reduce energy consumption. Poor performance can result from multiple causes – ranging from fundamental limitations of the sensor technology, to misconfiguration, to poor placement in the room or space. Innovative occupancy sensors, some of them combining multiple sensing technologies (i.e., multimodal), have come on the market over the years, with claims of improved performance compared to their predecessors. However, in practice, their performance has neither differed enough from the performance of previous products to necessitate a test method that facilitated comparison between them, nor has it led to high deployment or high user satisfaction in human-occupied spaces with persistent presence. While the performance of both common and novel occupancy sensors has been the subject of many published research articles, the test methods that have been employed for them typically have been loosely described and have incorporated custom equipment or techniques that render them difficult to reproduce, or have been limited in their ability to fairly characterize devices that utilize varying sensor technology. The lack of a fully described, technology-agnostic test method that yields reproducible results across different implementations has been a barrier to the commercial success of new occupancy-sensor products, as users and specifiers who have been disappointed with previous products are often unwilling to take a chance with new ones. Motivated by a desire to fairly characterize new technologies that continue to enter the market and claim not only improved occupancy detection but, in some cases, additional capabilities (e.g., the ability to measure traffic or discern between different object types), this report presents the results of a literature review of recently published fully described test methods for characterizing occupancy-sensor performance, as well as research articles containing ad-hoc test methods. The review also identifies and consolidates test conditions for characterizing sensor performance in indoor spaces and identifies apparent test method gaps that need to be filled in order to evaluate emerging technologies and products. The identified test-method conditions are intended to enable the development of a future technology-agnostic test method that facilitates occupancy-sensor performance characterization more-accurately representing performance in buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Optical signal processing of spatially distributed sensor data in smart structures

Smart structures which contain dense two- or three-dimensional arrays of attached or embedded sensor elements inherently require signal multiplexing and processing capabilities to permit good spatial data resolution as well as the adequately short calculation times demanded by real time active feedback actuator drive circuitry. This paper reports the implementation of an in-line optical signal processor and its application in a structural sensing system which incorporates multiple discrete optical fiber sensor elements. The signal processor consists of an array of optical fiber couplers having tailored s-parameters and arranged to allow gray code amplitude scaling of sensor inputs. The use of this signal processor in systems designed to indicate the location of distributed strain and damage in composite materials, as well as to quantitatively characterize that damage, is described. Extension of similar signal processing methods to more complicated smart materials and structures applications are discussed.

Bennett, K. D.↗