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At least 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

The organic redox transistor for neuromorphic computing

Inspired by the in-memory computing architectures of biological systems, neuromorphic computing using crossbar arrays of artificial synapses based on non-volatile memory (NVM) devices with variable conductances has emerged as a new paradigm to enable massively parallel and ultra-low power computing hardware for data centric applications. Although inference has been demonstrated successfully using crossbars based on a variety of NMV technologies, efficient learning and scaling to large arrays (>10 6 elements) remains a challenge due to the synaptic elements' non-ideal electrical characteristics which degrades ANN accuracy. A further challenge is that in the conductive state memristors draw large currents >μA resulting in significant voltage drops in the interconnect wires and increased probability of failure in scaled arrays. We suggest the organic polymer redox transistor (RT) is an alternate approach that could solve many of these challenges, enabling both inference and parallel outer product updates, as recently demonstrated by Fuller et al. An RT consists of redox-active channel and gate electrodes in contact with a liquid or solid electrolyte. lon insertion through the electrolyte controls the channel electronic conductivity, while electron transfer through an external circuit maintains overall charge neutrality. Unlike a rechargeable battery, in the RT the voltage built-up across the electrolyte is kept to a minimum (typically <100 mV) by using the same material for the gate and channel. Elimination of the voltage offset simplifies integration of the RT into programmable arrays by enabling the use of various selectors. RTs based on inorganic and organic materials have been recently demonstrated with conductance tuning occurring at potentials of just a few mV and hundreds to thousands of linearly and symmetrically programmable conductance states, enabling near ideal accuracy in neural network simulations. Introduced in the 1980's, redox transistors with metallic gate electrodes and organic channel materials, also known as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), have been explored for a variety of applications such as chem- and bio-sensing, neural interfaces, and low cost printed circuits. A typical channel material for OECTs is the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). PEDOT is a p-type semiconducting polymer with mobile positively charged polarons that hop chain-to-chain.

Talin, Albert Alec↗
DOE OSTI2015

Semiconductor-insulator transition in VO{sub 2} (B) thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Thin films of B-phase VO{sub 2} were grown by pulsed-laser deposition on glass and (100)-cut MgO substrates in a temperature range from 375 to 425 °C and at higher gas pressures than usual for this technique. The films were strongly oriented, with ab-planes parallel to the substrate surface. Detailed study of surface morphology through Atomic Force Microscopy images suggest significant differences in evolution as a function of growth temperature for films on the two types of substrates. Measurements of electrical conductivities through cooling-heating cycles from room temperature to 120 K showed changes of five orders of magnitude, with steeper changes between room temperature and ∼150 K, which corresponds with the extended and reversible phase transition known to occur for this material. At lower temperatures conductivities exhibited Arrhenius behavior, indicating that no further structural change was occurring and that conduction is thermally activated. In this lower temperature range, conductivity of the samples can be described by the near-neighbor hopping model. No hysteresis was found between the cooling and heating braches of the cycles, which is at variance with previous results published for VO{sub 2} (B). This apparent lack of hysteresis for thin films grown in the manner described and the large conductivity variation as a function of temperature observed for the samples suggests this material could be of interest for infrared sensing applications.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2009

NASA Tech Briefs, September 2009

opics covered include: Filtering Water by Use of Ultrasonically Vibrated Nanotubes; Computer Code for Nanostructure Simulation; Functionalizing CNTs for Making Epoxy/CNT Composites; Improvements in Production of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes; Progress Toward Sequestering Carbon Nanotubes in PmPV; Two-Stage Variable Sample-Rate Conversion System; Estimating Transmitted-Signal Phase Variations for Uplink Array Antennas; Board Saver for Use with Developmental FPGAs; Circuit for Driving Piezoelectric Transducers; Digital Synchronizer without Metastability; Compact, Low-Overhead, MIL-STD-1553B Controller; Parallel-Processing CMOS Circuitry for M-QAM and 8PSK TCM; Differential InP HEMT MMIC Amplifiers Embedded in Waveguides; Improved Aerogel Vacuum Thermal Insulation; Fluoroester Co-Solvents for Low-Temperature Li+ Cells; Using Volcanic Ash to Remove Dissolved Uranium and Lead; High-Efficiency Artificial Photosynthesis Using a Novel Alkaline Membrane Cell; Silicon Wafer-Scale Substrate for Microshutters and Detector Arrays; Micro-Horn Arrays for Ultrasonic Impedance Matching; Improved Controller for a Three-Axis Piezoelectric Stage; Nano-Pervaporation Membrane with Heat Exchanger Generates Medical-Grade Water; Micro-Organ Devices; Nonlinear Thermal Compensators for WGM Resonators; Dynamic Self-Locking of an OEO Containing a VCSEL; Internal Water Vapor Photoacoustic Calibration; Mid-Infrared Reflectance Imaging of Thermal-Barrier Coatings; Improving the Visible and Infrared Contrast Ratio of Microshutter Arrays; Improved Scanners for Microscopic Hyperspectral Imaging; Rate-Compatible LDPC Codes with Linear Minimum Distance; PrimeSupplier Cross-Program Impact Analysis and Supplier Stability Indicator Simulation Model; Integrated Planning for Telepresence With Time Delays; Minimizing Input-to-Output Latency in Virtual Environment; Battery Cell Voltage Sensing and Balancing Using Addressable Transformers; Gaussian and Lognormal Models of Hurricane Gust Factors; Simulation of Attitude and Trajectory Dynamics and Control of Multiple Spacecraft; Integrated Modeling of Spacecraft Touch-and-Go Sampling; Spacecraft Station-Keeping Trajectory and Mission Design Tools; Efficient Model-Based Diagnosis Engine; and DSN Simulator.

Source record↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Earth Systems Digital Twins (ESDT)

"Similarly to artificial intelligence, which is now revolutionizing many aspects of our daily lives, Earth system digital twin technologies have the potential to revolutionize the way Earth Science research will be conducted in the future, and how results and knowledge from this research will provide information to support decision making and yield impactful societal benefits. An Earth System Digital Twin or ESDT is a dynamic and interactive information system that first provides a digital replica of the past and current states of the Earth or Earth system as accurately and timely as possible; second, allows for computing forecasts of future states under nominal assumptions and based on the current replica; and third, offers the capability to investigate many hypothetical scenarios under varying impact assumptions. In other words, an ESDT provides the integrated What-Now, What-Next, and What-If pictures of the Earth or Earth system, by continuously ingesting newly observed data and by leveraging multiple interconnected models, machine learning as well advanced computing and visualization capabilities. Digital twins have been developed in engineering since 2002, but the interest in digital twins for the Earth domain is more recent and stems from the convergence of several developments: - The huge amount of diverse data that has now been collected continuously for more than 50 years, and that is becoming more and more difficult to access, understand, and utilize. - At the same time, because of climate change and its impacts the information produced by all of this data is becoming of interest to many new non-traditional users for analyzing and predicting various phenomena. - Because of advances in computational and visualization capabilities and the parallel unprecedented development of machine learning (ML), extracting relevant information from these large amounts of data and running complex models faster has become possible. As a result, it is becoming necessary and possible to build intuitive and interactive frameworks that will enable users with various skill levels and/or organizational hierarchy levels to easily access large amounts of targeted information along with the relevant tools and models (Earth system and human activity models), to support them in analyzing and visualizing this information, to help them understand interactions among models, to visualize the potential outcomes of various impacts, and to support decision or policy making. The full power of digital twins is that, through an integrated representation and standardized tools and software technologies, the same digital replica can address the needs of multiple users at various resolutions (spatial and temporal) and for various applications (science, economic, policy, etc.) – “from farmer to scientist”. With all these interests at stake, the challenges of building optimal digital twins are many and complex. The first challenge is to determine if a Digital Twin should be global or local, and multi-domain or thematic. For example, some domains such as Climate or Weather will require a global Digital Twin or Digital Twin capabilities while science areas such as Biodiversity might be more local. We can also envision that multiple thematic ESDTs, e.g., Air Quality, Wildfires, Hydrology could be federated or provide input to other ESDTs, either on a regional level or to a more global ESDT. Overall, we can imagine a future “web” of Digital Twins co-existing in a hierarchy or in a network, and capable of being connected or federated depending on the needs. This last point brings up the very important challenge of interoperability, including standards and protocols that will need to be built into these systems from the beginning. Each individual digital twin would have full flexibility in internal construction but would need standards-based interfaces (input and output) or hooks to make it compatible with others. Another challenge when building digital twins will be to decide how to organize each digital replica. Based on the applications targeted by the DT under implementation, various amounts and types of raw data, Analysis Ready Data (ARD) and information will need to be incorporated. Depending on the required latencies and needs of the users, various solutions can be considered, including Data Cubes, Data Lakes, pointers, or computing information on demand. We envision that each ESDT will choose a solution adapted to its specific objectives. Another important challenge is the type(s) of visualization that will be used, as well as the level of interactivity and refresh rate that will be required. Again, this will depend on the objectives of the ESDT, but also on the various users’ needs. In most cases, several types of visualizations and human interfaces will need to be offered depending on the projected users of that system. In parallel to the challenges highlighted above, there are also many tools and technologies that will need to be developed or improved for all types of digital twins. Among those are improved machine learning technologies, for example providing explainability, but also ML techniques for causality and providing a better integration of physics models. Additionally, reliable uncertainty quantification methods will be needed for all ESDT components, from validating data fusion and assimilation to assessing the accuracy of ML models and weighing the values of decisions supported by those systems. This presentation introduces the ESDT concept, presents several ESDT use cases, and a proposed ESDT architecture framework, as well as various technologies being developed by the Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program."

Earth Science Remote Sensing; Information Systems↗
NASA NTRS2009

Cooperative Three-Robot System for Traversing Steep Slopes

Teamed Robots for Exploration and Science in Steep Areas (TRESSA) is a system of three autonomous mobile robots that cooperate with each other to enable scientific exploration of steep terrain (slope angles up to 90 ). Originally intended for use in exploring steep slopes on Mars that are not accessible to lone wheeled robots (Mars Exploration Rovers), TRESSA and systems like TRESSA could also be used on Earth for performing rescues on steep slopes and for exploring steep slopes that are too remote or too dangerous to be explored by humans. TRESSA is modeled on safe human climbing of steep slopes, two key features of which are teamwork and safety tethers. Two of the autonomous robots, denoted Anchorbots, remain at the top of a slope; the third robot, denoted the Cliffbot, traverses the slope. The Cliffbot drives over the cliff edge supported by tethers, which are payed out from the Anchorbots (see figure). The Anchorbots autonomously control the tension in the tethers to counter the gravitational force on the Cliffbot. The tethers are payed out and reeled in as needed, keeping the body of the Cliffbot oriented approximately parallel to the local terrain surface and preventing wheel slip by controlling the speed of descent or ascent, thereby enabling the Cliffbot to drive freely up, down, or across the slope. Due to the interactive nature of the three-robot system, the robots must be very tightly coupled. To provide for this tight coupling, the TRESSA software architecture is built on a combination of (1) the multi-robot layered behavior-coordination architecture reported in "An Architecture for Controlling Multiple Robots" (NPO-30345), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 10 (October 2004), page 65, and (2) the real-time control architecture reported in "Robot Electronics Architecture" (NPO-41784), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 1 (January 2008), page 28. The combination architecture makes it possible to keep the three robots synchronized and coordinated, to use data from all three robots for decision- making at each step, and to control the physical connections among the robots. In addition, TRESSA (as in prior systems that have utilized this architecture) , incorporates a capability for deterministic response to unanticipated situations from yet another architecture reported in Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing (NPO-43635), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 10 (October 2008), page 40. Tether tension control is a major consideration in the design and operation of TRESSA. Tension is measured by force sensors connected to each tether at the Cliffbot. The direction of the tension (both azimuth and elevation) is also measured. The tension controller combines a controller to counter gravitational force and an optional velocity controller that anticipates the motion of the Cliffbot. The gravity controller estimates the slope angle from the inclination of the tethers. This angle and the weight of the Cliffbot determine the total tension needed to counteract the weight of the Cliffbot. The total needed tension is broken into components for each Anchorbot. The difference between this needed tension and the tension measured at the Cliffbot constitutes an error signal that is provided to the gravity controller. The velocity controller computes the tether speed needed to produce the desired motion of the Cliffbot. Another major consideration in the design and operation of TRESSA is detection of faults. Each robot in the TRESSA system monitors its own performance and the performance of its teammates in order to detect any system faults and prevent unsafe conditions. At startup, communication links are tested and if any robot is not communicating, the system refuses to execute any motion commands. Prior to motion, the Anchorbots attempt to set tensions in the tethers at optimal levels for counteracting the weight of the Cliffbot; if either Anchorbot fails to reach its optimal tension level within a specified time, it sends message to the other robots and the commanded motion is not executed. If any mechanical error (e.g., stalling of a motor) is detected, the affected robot sends a message triggering stoppage of the current motion. Lastly, messages are passed among the robots at each time step (10 Hz) to share sensor information during operations. If messages from any robot cease for more than an allowable time interval, the other robots detect the communication loss and initiate stoppage.

Stroupe, Ashley↗
DOE OSTI2022

Gross primary production (GPP) and red solar induced fluorescence (SIF) respond differently to light and seasonal environmental conditions in a subalpine conifer forest

The phenology of montane conifer forests is likely to shift in response to climate change and altered seasonal dynamics of light, temperature, and moisture. Solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) is expected to provide substantial improvement for mapping temporal changes in evergreen gross primary production (GPP) over greenness-based remote sensing indices. The utility of SIF to monitor seasonal changes in the phenology of conifer photosynthesis depends on the degree to which GPP and SIF respond in synchrony to key environmental drivers. However, to what extent SIF and GPP become decoupled by responding differently to the combined effects of light and other environmental conditions remains unknown. The goal of this study was to characterize the responses of GPP and SIFred to a suite of environmental drivers at the half-hour time scale and determine how these relationships change across seasons. We analyzed one year of tower-based SIFred and eddy covariance-derived GPP data from a conifer forest at Niwot Ridge, Colorado. We compared the light responses of GPP and SIFred across the year, finding that SIFred increased in response to light earlier in the year than did GPP. The light response of GPP had a positive temperature dependence in spring, and this dependency reversed in summer due to increased evaporative demand, while the light response of SIFred was less temperature dependent. Using artificial neural network ensemble analysis, we found that from spring to summer, SIFred did not exhibit a parallel response to the seasonally dynamic temperature and moisture controls on GPP. In summer SIFred was not correlated with canopy conductance, suggesting that SIF is less sensitive to stomatal control than GPP. Furthermore, our results suggest that, in conifers, photosystems begin to activate in spring prior to when water becomes available for photosynthesis, presenting a challenge for the use of SIF as a phenological indicator in conifer forests.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2008

Adsorption of Water on JSC-1A Lunar Simulant Samples

Remote sensing probes sent to the moon in the 1990s indicated that water may exist in areas such as the bottoms of deep, permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles, buried under regolith. Water is of paramount importance for any lunar exploration and colonization project which would require self-sustainable systems. Therefore, investigating the interaction of water with lunar regolith is pertinent to future exploration. The lunar environment can be approximated in ultra-high vacuum systems such as those used in thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Questions about water dissociation, surface wetting, degree of crystallization, details of water-ice transitions, and cluster formation kinetics can be addressed by TDS. Lunar regolith specimens collected during the Apollo missions are still available though precious, so testing with simulant is required before applying to use lunar regolith samples. Hence, we used for these studies JSC-1a, mostly an aluminosilicate glass and basaltic material containing substantial amounts of plagioclase, some olivine and traces of other minerals. Objectives of this project include: 1) Manufacturing samples using as little raw material as possible, allowing the use of surface chemistry and kinetics tools to determine the feasibility of parallel studies on regolith, and 2) Characterizing the adsorption kinetics of water on the regolith simulant. This has implications for the probability of finding water on the moon and, if present, for recovery techniques. For condensed water films, complex TDS data were obtained containing multiple features, which are related to subtle rearrangements of the water adlayer. Results from JSC-1a TDS studies indicate: 1) Water dissociation on JSC-1a at low exposures, with features detected at temperatures as high as 450 K and 2) The formation of 3D water clusters and a rather porous condensed water film. It appears plausible that the sub- m sized particles act as nucleation centers.

Goering, John↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2011

Topics covered include: Wind and Temperature Spectrometry of the Upper Atmosphere in Low-Earth Orbit; Health Monitor for Multitasking, Safety-Critical, Real-Time Software; Stereo Imaging Miniature Endoscope; Early Oscillation Detection Technique for Hybrid DC/DC Converters; Parallel Wavefront Analysis for a 4D Interferometer; Schottky Heterodyne Receivers With Full Waveguide Bandwidth; Carbon Nanofiber-Based, High-Frequency, High-Q, Miniaturized Mechanical Resonators; Ultracapacitor-Based Uninterrupted Power Supply System; Coaxial Cables for Martian Extreme Temperature Environments; Using Spare Logic Resources To Create Dynamic Test Points; Autonomous Coordination of Science Observations Using Multiple Spacecraft; Autonomous Phase Retrieval Calibration; EOS MLS Level 1B Data Processing Software, Version 3; Cassini Tour Atlas Automated Generation; Software Development Standard Processes (SDSP); Graphite Composite Panel Polishing Fixture; Material Gradients in Oxygen System Components Improve Safety; Ridge Waveguide Structures in Magnesium-Doped Lithium Niobate; Modifying Matrix Materials to Increase Wetting and Adhesion; Lightweight Magnetic Cooler With a Reversible Circulator; The Invasive Species Forecasting System; Method for Cleanly and Precisely Breaking Off a Rock Core Using a Radial Compressive Force; Praying Mantis Bending Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Scoring Dawg Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Rolling-Tooth Core Breakoff and Retention Mechanism; Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System for Spacecraft Exercise Treadmill Devices; Microgravity-Enhanced Stem Cell Selection; Diagnosis and Treatment of Neurological Disorders by Millimeter-Wave Stimulation; Passive Vaporizing Heat Sink; Remote Sensing and Quantization of Analog Sensors; Phase Retrieval for Radio Telescope and Antenna Control; Helium-Cooled Black Shroud for Subscale Cryogenic Testing; Receive Mode Analysis and Design of Microstrip Reflectarrays; and Chance-Constrained Guidance With Non-Convex Constraints.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2017

The origin of the energy–momentum conservation law

The interplay between the action–reaction principle and the energy–momentum conservation law is revealed by the examples of the Maxwell–Lorentz and Yang–Mills–Wong theories, and general relativity. These two statements are shown to be equivalent in the sense that both hold or fail together. Their mutual agreement is demonstrated most clearly in the self-interaction problem by taking account of the rearrangement of degrees of freedom appearing in the action of the Maxwell–Lorentz and Yang–Mills–Wong theories. The failure of energy–momentum conservation in general relativity is attributed to the fact that this theory allows solutions having nontrivial topologies. The total energy and momentum of a system with nontrivial topological content prove to be ambiguous, coordinatization-dependent quantities. For example, the energy of a Schwarzschild black hole may take any positive value greater than, or equal to, the mass of the body whose collapse is responsible for forming this black hole. We draw the analogy to the paradoxial Banach–Tarski theorem; the measure becomes a poorly defined concept if initial three-dimensional bounded sets are rearranged in topologically nontrivial ways through the action of free non-Abelian isometry groups. - Highlights: • The action–reaction principle and energy–momentum conservation hold or fail together. • Nontrivial topology is the reason for energy–momentum nonconservation in gravity. • The total energy of a black hole is an ambiguous coordinatization-dependent quantity. • This affair closely parallels that in the paradoxical Banach–Tarski theorem.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Urban Observatory: A Multi-Modal Imaging Platform for the Study of Dynamics in Complex Urban Systems

We describe an “Urban Observatory” facility designed for the study of complex urban systems via persistent, synoptic, and granular imaging of dynamical processes in cities. An initial deployment of the facility has been demonstrated in New York City and consists of a suite of imaging systems—both broadband and hyperspectral—sensitive to wavelengths from the visible (∼400 nm) to the infrared (∼13 micron) operating at cadences of ∼0.01–30 Hz (characteristically ∼0.1 Hz). Much like an astronomical survey, the facility generates a large imaging catalog from which we have extracted observables (e.g., time-dependent brightnesses, spectra, temperatures, chemical species, etc.), collecting them in a parallel source catalog. We have demonstrated that, in addition to the urban science of cities as systems, these data are applicable to a myriad of domain-specific scientific inquiries related to urban functioning including energy consumption and end use, environmental impacts of cities, and patterns of life and public health. We show that an Urban Observatory facility of this type has the potential to improve both a city’s operations and the quality of life of its inhabitants.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1994

Observation of anomalous slow-mode shock and reconnection layer in the dayside magnetospause

Plasma and magnetic field data from the International Sun-Earth Explorer ISEE 2 spacecraft recorded during an outbound crossing of the dayside, northern hemisphere magnetopause in October 29, 1979, provide evidence for a slow shock (SS) in the observed reconnection layer. This layer is found to be bounded on the magnetosheath side by the SS; near the magnetospheric side of the layer, a second current sheet is found that may have been rotational discontinuity (RD). The direction of the accelerated plasma flow, the earthward sense of the normal magnetic filed across the SS and RD, and the relative orientation of the SS and the RD all indicate that the reconection site was located south of the spacecraft. Quantitative tests show that, allowing for experiemental uncertanties, data taken upstream and downstream of the SS are consistent with coplanarity and other Rankine-Hugoniot (RH) conditions. Examiniations of the flow parameters indicates two anomalous properties of the SS: the upstream flow, viewed in the deHoffmann-Teller frame, is superalfvenic and the downstream plasma is firehose unstable. In comparison to the long-wavelength slow-mode phase speed, however, the flow in the upstream region is super slow, while in the downstream region it is subslow, as requeired for a slow-mode shock. Further properties of the shock include a large decrease in total enthalpy across it, indicating the escape of a sizable heat flux from the shock structure, and the occurrence of a polarization reversal of the tangential magnetic field within the shock layer, a feature that is predicted by linear double-polytropic Hall-MHD and results from a large increase in pressure anistropy from the upstream region, where p(sub parallel) approximately equal to p(sub perp), to the downstream region, where p(sub parrallel) greater than p(sub perp). Quantitative tests of the RD-like discontinuity show that it satisfies the necessary RH conditions within experimental uncertainties and indicate that the flow across it is earthward, that is, it is the same as for the SS. Thus the RD is propagating behind the SS in the direction away from the Earth. The reversal in the order of the discontinuities is attributed to the reversal of the slow and intermediate phase speeds produced by the pressure anistropy in the region between the RD and the SS. The linear dispersion relation and polarization properties of dispersive MHD waves in an anisotropic plasma are examined in the appendix.

Walthour, D. W↗
NASA NTRS2014

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2014

Topics include: Multi-Source Autonomous Response for Targeting and Monitoring of Volcanic Activity; Software Suite to Support In-Flight Characterization of Remote Sensing Systems; Visual Image Sensor Organ Replacement; Ultra-Wideband, Dual-Polarized, Beam-Steering P-Band Array Antenna; Centering a DDR Strobe in the Middle of a Data Packet; Using a Commercial Ethernet PHY Device in a Radiation Environment; Submerged AUV Charging Station; Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU) Vertical Cylinder Habitat; Origami-Inspired Folding of Thick, Rigid Panels; A Novel Protocol for Decoating and Permeabilizing Bacterial Spores for Epifluorescent Microscopy; Method and Apparatus for Automated Isolation of Nucleic Acids from Small Cell Samples; Enabling Microliquid Chromatography by Microbead Packing of Microchannels; On-Command Force and Torque Impeding Devices (OC-FTID) Using ERF; Deployable Fresnel Rings; Transition-Edge Hot-Electron Microbolometers for Millimeter and Submillimeter Astrophysics; Spacecraft Trajectory Analysis and Mission Planning Simulation (STAMPS) Software; Cross Support Transfer Service (CSTS) Framework Library; Arbitrary Shape Deformation in CFD Design; Range Safety Flight Elevation Limit Calculation Software; Frequency-Modulated, Continuous-Wave Laser Ranging Using Photon-Counting Detectors; Calculation of Operations Efficiency Factors for Mars Surface Missions; GPU Lossless Hyperspectral Data Compression System; Robust, Optimal Subsonic Airfoil Shapes; Protograph-Based Raptor-Like Codes; Fuzzy Neuron: Method and Hardware Realization; Kalman Filter Input Processor for Boresight Calibration; Organizing Compression of Hyperspectral Imagery to Allow Efficient Parallel Decompression; and Temperature Dependences of Mechanisms Responsible for the Water-Vapor Continuum Absorption.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Cryogenic readout integrated circuit with analog pile-up and in-Pixel ADC for high frame rate Skipper CCD-in-CMOS Sensors

The Skipper CCD-in-CMOS Parallel Read-Out Circuit V2 (SPROCKET2) is designed to enable high frame rate readout of Skipper CCD-in-CMOS image sensors. The SPROCKET2 pixel is fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS process and occupies a 60$\mu$m $\times$ 60$\mu$m footprint. SPROCKET2 is intended to be heterogeneously integrated with a pixelated Skipper CCD-in-CMOS sensor, such that one readout pixel is connected to a multiplexed array of 16 active image sensor pixels, to match their spatial geometry. Our design benefits from the Skipper CCD-in-CMOS sensor's non-destructive readout capability to achieve exceptionally low noise through multi-sampling and averaging while optimizing for total power consumption. The pixel readout utilizes correlated double sampling to minimize 1/f noise and includes "pile-up" of ten successive samples in the analog domain before digitizing at a rate of 66.7 ksps. Measurement results of in-pixel serial SAR ADC show DNL and INL of ~0. 44 LSB and 0.58 LBS respectively. A large area array of 20,000 SPROCKET2 ADC pixels (multiplexed 1:16 to 320,000 sensor pixels) is currently under test. By reading out data over a 10 Gbps optical link, this pixel design enables a frame rate of $\sim$ 4 kfps for large sensing areas with minimal sensing deadtime. In the highest gain mode, the pixelated ADC has an input-referred resolution of 10$\mu$V with a simulated power consumption of 50$\mu$W. The pixel operates with constant current draw to minimize power-rail crosstalk.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1989

Autonomous sensor-based dual-arm satellite grappling

Dual-arm satellite grappling involves the integration of technologies developed in the Sensing and Perception (S&P) Subsystem for object acquisition and tracking, and the Manipulator Control and Mechanization (MCM) Subsystem for dual-arm control. S&P acquires and tracks the position, orientation, velocity, and angular velocity of a slowly spinning satellite, and sends tracking data to the MCM subsystem. MCM grapples the satellite and brings it to rest, controlling the arms so that no excessive forces or torques are exerted on the satellite or arms. A 350-pound satellite mockup which can spin freely on a gimbal for several minutes, closely simulating the dynamics of a real satellite is demonstrated. The satellite mockup is fitted with a panel under which may be mounted various elements such as line replacement modules and electrical connectors that will be used to demonstrate servicing tasks once the satellite is docked. The subsystems are housed in three MicroVAX II microcomputers. The hardware of the S&P Subsystem includes CCD cameras, video digitizers, frame buffers, IMFEX (a custom pipelined video processor), a time-code generator with millisecond precision, and a MicroVAX II computer. Its software is written in Pascal and is based on a locally written vision software library. The hardware of the MCM Subsystem includes PUMA 560 robot arms, Lord force/torque sensors, two MicroVAX II computers, and unimation pneumatic parallel grippers. Its software is written in C, and is based on a robot language called RCCL. The two subsystems are described and test results on the grappling of the satellite mockup with rotational rates of up to 2 rpm are provided.

Wilcox, Brian↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scaling Resolution of Gigapixel Whole Slide Images Using Spatial Decomposition on Convolutional Neural Networks

Gigapixel images are prevalent in scientific domains ranging from remote sensing, and satellite imagery to microscopy, etc. However, training a deep learning model at the natural resolution of those images has been a challenge in terms of both, overcoming the resource limit (e.g. HBM memory constraints), as well as scaling up to a large number of GPUs. In this paper, we trained Residual neural Networks (ResNet) on 22,528 x 22,528-pixel size images using a distributed spatial decomposition method on 2,304 GPUs on the Summit Supercomputer. We applied our method on a Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. WSI images can be in the size of 100,000 x 100,000 pixels or even larger, and in this work we studied the effect of image resolution on a classification task, while achieving state-of-the-art AUC scores. Moreover, our approach doesn't need pixel-level labels, since we're avoiding patching from the WSI images completely, while adding the capability of training arbitrary large-size images. This is achieved through a distributed spatial decomposition method, by leveraging the non-block fat-tree interconnect network of the Summit architecture, which enabled GPU-to-GPU direct communication. Finally, detailed performance analysis results are shown, as well as a comparison with a data-parallel approach when possible.

Tsaris, Aristeidis (aris)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Broadband unidirectional visible imaging using wafer-scale nano-fabrication of multi-layer diffractive optical processors

We present a broadband and polarization-insensitive unidirectional imager that operates at the visible part of the spectrum, where image formation occurs in one direction, while in the opposite direction, it is blocked. This approach is enabled by deep learning-driven diffractive optical design with wafer-scale nano-fabrication using high-purity fused silica to ensure optical transparency and thermal stability. Our design achieves unidirectional imaging across three visible wavelengths (covering red, green, and blue parts of the spectrum), and we experimentally validated this broadband unidirectional imager by creating high-fidelity images in the forward direction and generating weak, distorted output patterns in the backward direction, in alignment with our numerical simulations. This work demonstrates wafer-scale production of diffractive optical processors, featuring 16 levels of nanoscale phase features distributed across two axially aligned diffractive layers for visible unidirectional imaging. This approach facilitates mass-scale production of ~0.5 billion nanoscale phase features per wafer, supporting high-throughput manufacturing of hundreds to thousands of multi-layer diffractive processors suitable for large apertures and parallel processing of multiple tasks. Beyond broadband unidirectional imaging in the visible spectrum, this study establishes a pathway for artificial-intelligence-enabled diffractive optics with versatile applications, signaling a new era in optical device functionality with industrial-level, massively scalable fabrication.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1994

Physical Retrievals of Over-Ocean Rain Rate from Multichannel Microwave Imagery: Theoretical Characteristics of Normalized Polarization and Scattering Indices - Part 1

Microwave rain rate retrieval algorithms have most often been formulated in terms of the raw brightness temperatures observed by one or more channels of a satellite radiometer. Taken individually, single-channel brightness temperatures generally represent a near-arbitrary combination of positive contributions due to liquid water emission and negative contributions due to scattering by ice and/or visibility of the radiometrically cold ocean surface. Unfortunately, for a given rain rate, emission by liquid water below the freezing level and scattering by ice particles above the freezing level are rather loosely coupled in both a physical and statistical sense. Furthermore, microwave brightness temperatures may vary significantly (approx. 30-70 K) in response to geophysical parameters other than liquid water and precipitation. Because of these complications, physical algorithms which attempt to directly invert observed brightness temperatures have typically relied on the iterative adjustment of detailed micro-physical profiles or cloud models, guided by explicit forward microwave radiative transfer calculations. In support of an effort to develop a significantly simpler and more efficient inversion-type rain rate algorithm, the physical information content of two linear transformations of single-frequency, dual-polarization brightness temperatures is studied: the normalized polarization difference P of Petty and Katsaros (1990, 1992), which is intended as a measure of footprint-averaged rain cloud transmittance for a given frequency; and a scattering index S (similar to the polarization corrected temperature of Spencer et al.,1989) which is sensitive almost exclusively to ice. A reverse Monte Carlo radiative transfer model is used to elucidate the qualitative response of these physically distinct single-frequency indices to idealized 3-dimensional rain clouds and to demonstrate their advantages over raw brightness temperatures both as stand-alone indices of precipitation activity and as primary variables in physical, multichannel rain rate retrieval schemes. As a byproduct of the present analysis, it is shown that conventional plane-parallel analyses of the well-known foot-print-filling problem for emission-based algorithms may in some cases give seriously misleading results.

Petty, G. W.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Pillars of Cloud-Based Earth Observation Science Education

Earth observation (EO) is undergoing a paradigm shift with the development of cloud-based analytical platforms supporting EO data collection and access, parallel processing, easier communication of results, and expanded accessibility. As the global community of users and the diversity of applications grow, there is a clear need for expanded educational capacity to leverage these developments and increase the impact of EO research and teaching. Drawing upon extensive conversations between educators, practitioners, and researchers, we propose three pillars that must be prioritized to prepare students, researchers, and professionals to take full advantage of the cloud-based EO paradigm and guide future growth.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗