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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 523 records · Page 29

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2001

Predicting Human Error in Air Traffic Control Decision Support Tools and Free Flight Concepts

The document is a set of briefing slides summarizing the work the Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) Project is doing on predicting air traffic controller and airline pilot human error when using new decision support software tools and when involved in testing new air traffic control concepts. Previous work in this area is reviewed as well as research being done jointly with the FAA. Plans for error prediction work in the AATT Project are discussed. The audience is human factors researchers and aviation psychologists from government and industry.

Mogford, Richard↗

DOE OSTI2021

Simulations of future particle accelerators: issues and mitigations

The ever increasing demands placed upon machine performance have resulted in the need for more comprehensive particle accelerator modeling. Computer simulations are key to the success of particle accelerators. Many aspects of particle accelerators rely on computer modeling at some point, sometimes requiring complex simulation tools and massively parallel supercomputing. Examples include the modeling of beams at extreme intensities and densities (toward the quantum degeneracy limit), and with ultra-fine control (down to the level of individual particles). In the future, adaptively tuned models might also be relied upon to provide beam measurements beyond the resolution of existing diagnostics. Much time and effort has been put into creating accelerator software tools, some of which are highly successful. However, there are also shortcomings such as the general inability of existing software to be easily modified to meet changing simulation needs. In this paper possible mitigating strategies are discussed for issues faced by the accelerator community as it endeavors to produce better and more comprehensive modeling tools. This includes lack of coordination between code developers, lack of standards to make codes portable and/or reusable, lack of documentation, among others.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Grid Architecture Mapping to Understand Transformation (GAMUT): Concept Definition

The electric power system is undergoing significant transformation driven by changes in the generation mix, increasing reliance on information and communication technologies, evolving customer expectations, and a dynamic cyber-physical environment. To address these challenges, substantial investments will be made over the next decade to create a flexible, affordable, secure, reliable, and resilient electric system. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Electricity is developing knowledge management tools aimed at systematically documenting technology pilots and demonstration projects. This initiative seeks to improve understanding of operating contexts, planning steps, and integration requirements for innovative grid technologies. The Department of Energy project leverages Grid Architecture principles to collect and organize insights into the interdependencies, requirements, and capabilities of various grid solutions. By employing a systematic approach, the project aims to perform a feasibility study for the development of a software tool that will support stakeholders, including regulators, transmission and distribution system operators, distributed energy resources aggregators, and technology providers. By offering a systematic, software-based framework to document technologies, understand their benefits and impacts, and inform deployment strategies, the proposed Grid Architecture Mapping to Understand Transformation (GAMUT) Tool is intended to reduce costs, enhance decision-making, and facilitate scaling and effective deployment of new technologies. The feasibility study will evaluate the technical and financial viability of the GAMUT Tool, identifying stakeholder needs and assessing risks and mitigation strategies. Ultimately, the GAMUT team aims to develop an initial minimal viable product, followed by staged improvements, to aid in the modernization of the electric grid, contributing to a more sustainable and resilient energy future.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS2012

Recent Improvements to the Copernicus Trajectory Design and Optimization System

Copernicus is a software tool for spacecraft trajectory design and optimization. The latest version (v3.0.1) was released in October 2011. It is available at no cost to NASA centers, government contractors, and organizations with a contractual affiliation with NASA. This paper is a brief overview of the recent development history of Copernicus. An overview of the evolution of the software and a discussion of significant new features and improvements is given, and how the tool is used to design spacecraft missions

Williams, Jacob↗

NASA NTRS1994

Investigating and implementing enhancements to the simulation of short-term collision hazards

A software tool, the Relative Collision Matrix (RCM), has been developed to provide a quick-look representation of the shortterm collision hazard to space systems from a fragmentation event in Earth orbit. The software performs multiple fragmentation simulations of space objects to quantify the probability of collision for a satellite or a constellation of satellites nearby. Previously, the results were displayed in a color matrix format which showed the relative hazard of each constellation. The RCM can be used for scientific research and operational assessments even though it was designed for test and evaluation applications. Because of its successful use as an analytical tool, the capabilities of RCM are being extended by enhancing the orbital hazard analysis routines, developing ballistic trajectory hazard analysis routines, and expanding the breakup modeling. Improvements are also being made to the RCM's usability and presentation quality by developing a graphical user interface and by providing graphical animated and nonanimated output.

Huth, Jeffrey S.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Neurodata Extensions Catalog (NDX Catalog) v1.0.0

The Neurodata Extensions Catalog (NDX Catalog) is a novel web archive and associated software tools that enable users to easily create, search for, test, review, and install extensions to the Neurodata Without Borders (NWB) data standard for neurophysiology. The Catalog consists of several software repositories that can be found at https://github.com/nwb-extensions.

Tritt, Andrew↗

NASA NTRS1998

Incorporating Manual and Autonomous Code Generation

Code can be generated manually or using code-generated software tools, but how do you interpret the two? This article looks at a design methodology that combines object-oriented design with autonomic code generation for attitude control flight software. Recent improvements in space flight computers are allowing software engineers to spend more time engineering the applications software. The application developed was the attitude control flight software for an astronomical satellite called the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP). The MAP flight system is being designed, developed, and integrated at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The MAP controls engineers are using Integrated Systems Inc.'s MATRIXx for their controls analysis. In addition to providing a graphical analysis for an environment, MATRIXx includes an autonomic code generation facility called AutoCode. This article examines the forces that shaped the final design and describes three highlights of the design process: (1) Defining the manual to autonomic code interface; (2) Applying object-oriented design to the manual flight code; (3) Implementing the object-oriented design in C.

McComas, David↗

NASA NTRS2006

Decision Support Methods and Tools

This paper is one of a set of papers, developed simultaneously and presented within a single conference session, that are intended to highlight systems analysis and design capabilities within the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC). This paper focuses on the specific capabilities of uncertainty/risk analysis, quantification, propagation, decomposition, and management, robust/reliability design methods, and extensions of these capabilities into decision analysis methods within SACD. These disciplines are discussed together herein under the name of Decision Support Methods and Tools. Several examples are discussed which highlight the application of these methods within current or recent aerospace research at the NASA LaRC. Where applicable, commercially available, or government developed software tools are also discussed

Green, Lawrence L.↗

NASA NTRS2012

MAGIC: A Tool for Combining, Interpolating, and Processing Magnetograms

Transients in the solar coronal magnetic field are ultimately the source of space weather. Models which seek to track the evolution of the coronal field require magnetogram images to be used as boundary conditions. These magnetograms are obtained by numerous instruments with different cadences and resolutions. A tool is required which allows modelers to fmd all available data and use them to craft accurate and physically consistent boundary conditions for their models. We have developed a software tool, MAGIC (MAGnetogram Interpolation and Composition), to perform exactly this function. MAGIC can manage the acquisition of magneto gram data, cast it into a source-independent format, and then perform the necessary spatial and temporal interpolation to provide magnetic field values as requested onto model-defined grids. MAGIC has the ability to patch magneto grams from different sources together providing a more complete picture of the Sun's field than is possible from single magneto grams. In doing this, care must be taken so as not to introduce nonphysical current densities along the seam between magnetograms. We have designed a method which minimizes these spurious current densities. MAGIC also includes a number of post-processing tools which can provide additional information to models. For example, MAGIC includes an interface to the DA VE4VM tool which derives surface flow velocities from the time evolution of surface magnetic field. MAGIC has been developed as an application of the KAMELEON data formatting toolkit which has been developed by the CCMC.

Allred, Joel↗

DOE OSTI2021

Sensitivity Analysis of MFiX-PIC Parameters Using Nodeworks, PSUADE, and DAKOTA

The study presented in this report was aimed to demonstrate UQ analysis performed not only with Nodeworks, but also two other well-established UQ software tools from the U.S. DOE’s National Laboratories (PSUADE from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and DAKOTA from Sandia National Laboratory). It is important to emphasize that the motivation of this study was not to determine the best UQ software, but to verify if the global sensitivity analyses from the end-to-end workflow in Nodeworks are consistent with the results of other two UQ software. The components of Nodeworks from Python’s ecosystem have been tested as standalone libraries. However, an assessment study for the complete workflow targeting a specific UQ analysis has not been performed for Nodeworks. Hence, this study is expected to serve as an equivalent of solution verification for Nodeworks using other established UQ tools as reference solution. For this purpose, three distinct flow configurations (i.e., settling bed, bubbling fluidized, and circulating fluidized bed) have been used as representative multiphase flow problems of interest. The results of the systematic simulation campaigns performed in an earlier study using the particle-in-cell (PIC) approach in the Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges (MFIX) suite of solvers (i.e., MFiX-PIC) was utilized. The same set of tabulated results was provided as input to the different UQ software for global sensitivity analysis. Results for the three cases indicate that based on the Sobol’ Sensitivity Indices method the order of importance ranking determined by Nodeworks for the Sobol’ Total Sensitivity Indices is consistent with PSUADE and DAKOTA in each case for the five model parameters considered. The input files for Nodeworks for the three cases are also shared through NETL’s Gitlab repository for the reader interested in reproducibility and further analysis (See Section 1.2).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2024

NeuroFEM

SAND2025-00525O NeuroFEM is a software tool that demonstrates a neuromorphic algorithm for solving finite element problems. It sets up a 2D finite element problem for the Poisson equation on a disk, constructs synaptic matrices, and simulates neural dynamics to solve the resulting sparse linear system. The software illustrates how the algorithm converges to the solution and plots the results, showcasing a neuromorphic counterpart to traditional methods like Conjugate Gradient or GMRES. This tool is designed to highlight the potential of neuromorphic algorithms for solving sparse linear systems, which are prevalent in various computational applications. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

SciDAC↗

DOE OSTI2022

Evaluation and Suitability of Using SERI QC Software for Estimating Measurement Uncertainty

SERI QC is a robust solar data quality assessment software tool that has been in continuous use for more than three decades. This report (the first of six in the Data Quality and Uncertainty Integration project) reviews and evaluates the software to determine its suitability for determining the estimated expanded measurement uncertainty of solar measurement data by including operational factors. Using redundancy incorporated in three-component (global, direct, diffuse) solar measurements, SERI QC can quantify the standard uncertainty estimates for estimating uncertainty. With minor modifications, SERI QC will provide an operational uncertainty to be used in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory method for instrument uncertainty to provide an integrated estimate of solar measurement data sets. These modifications will capitalize on SERI QC's evaluation of data quality, including data input validation and a variety of built-in solar routines, and will further develop the utility of the software.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1989

Overview of aerothermodynamic loads definition study

Over the years, NASA has been conducting the Advanced Earth-to-Orbit (AETO) Propulsion Technology Program to provide the knowledge, understanding, and design methodology that will allow the development of advanced Earth-to-orbit propulsion systems with high performance, extended service life, automated operations, and diagnostics for in-flight health monitoring. The objective of the Aerothermodynamic Loads Definition Study is to develop methods to more accurately predict the operating environment in AETO propulsion systems, such as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) powerhead. The approach taken consists of 2 parts: to modify, apply, and disseminate existing computational fluid dynamics tools in response to current needs and to develop new technology that will enable more accurate computation of the time averaged and unsteady aerothermodynamic loads in the SSME powerhead. The software tools are detailed. Significant progress was made in the area of turbomachinery, where there is an overlap between the AETO efforts and research in the aeronautical gas turbine field.

Gaugler, Raymond E.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Data-Driven Software Framework for Web-Based ISS Telescience

Software that enables authorized users to monitor and control scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from diverse terrestrial locations equipped with Internet connections is undergoing development. This software reflects a data-driven approach to distributed operations. A Web-based software framework leverages prior developments in Java and Extensible Markup Language (XML) to create portable code and portable data, to which one can gain access via Web-browser software on almost any common computer. Open-source software is used extensively to minimize cost; the framework also accommodates enterprise-class server software to satisfy needs for high performance and security. To accommodate the diversity of ISS experiments and users, the framework emphasizes openness and extensibility. Users can take advantage of available viewer software to create their own client programs according to their particular preferences, and can upload these programs for custom processing of data, generation of views, and planning of experiments. The same software system, possibly augmented with a subset of data and additional software tools, could be used for public outreach by enabling public users to replay telescience experiments, conduct their experiments with simulated payloads, and create their own client programs and other custom software.

Tso, Kam S.↗

NASA NTRS2013

A Tool for the Automated Design and Evaluation of Habitat Interior Layouts

The objective of space habitat design is to minimize mass and system size while providing adequate space for all necessary equipment and a functional layout that supports crew health and productivity. Unfortunately, development and evaluation of interior layouts is often ignored during conceptual design because of the subjectivity and long times required using current evaluation methods (e.g., human-in-the-loop mockup tests and in-depth CAD evaluations). Early, more objective assessment could prevent expensive design changes that may increase vehicle mass and compromise functionality. This paper describes a new interior design evaluation method to enable early, structured consideration of habitat interior layouts. This interior layout evaluation method features a comprehensive list of quantifiable habitat layout evaluation criteria, automatic methods to measure these criteria from a geometry model, and application of systems engineering tools and numerical methods to construct a multi-objective value function measuring the overall habitat layout performance. In addition to a detailed description of this method, a C++/OpenGL software tool which has been developed to implement this method is also discussed. This tool leverages geometry modeling coupled with collision detection techniques to identify favorable layouts subject to multiple constraints and objectives (e.g., minimize mass, maximize contiguous habitable volume, maximize task performance, and minimize crew safety risks). Finally, a few habitat layout evaluation examples are described to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and tool to influence habitat design.

Simon, Matthew A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Distributed Space Mission Design for Earth Observation Using Model-Based Performance Evaluation

Distributed Space Missions (DSMs) are gaining momentum in their application to earth observation missions owing to their unique ability to increase observation sampling in multiple dimensions. DSM design is a complex problem with many design variables, multiple objectives determining performance and cost and emergent, often unexpected, behaviors. There are very few open-access tools available to explore the tradespace of variables, minimize cost and maximize performance for pre-defined science goals, and therefore select the most optimal design. This paper presents a software tool that can multiple DSM architectures based on pre-defined design variable ranges and size those architectures in terms of predefined science and cost metrics. The tool will help a user select Pareto optimal DSM designs based on design of experiments techniques. The tool will be applied to some earth observation examples to demonstrate its applicability in making some key decisions between different performance metrics and cost metrics early in the design lifecycle.

Constellation↗

DOE OSTI2024

CALMS: CONTEXT-AWARE LANGUAGE MODEL FOR SCIENCE

Context-Aware Language Model for Science (CALMS) is designed to assist scientists with instrument operations and complex experimentation. CALMS consists of a large-language model (LLM) augmented with context and tool use abilities. With the ability to retrieve relevant information from facility documentation, CALMS can answer simple questions on scientific capabilities and other operational procedures. With the ability to interface with software tools and experimental hardware, CALMS can operate scientific instruments in a conversational manner.

CHERUKARA, MATTHEW↗

NASA NTRS2008

Requirements for Next Generation Comprehensive Analysis of Rotorcraft

The unique demands of rotorcraft aeromechanics analysis have led to the development of software tools that are described as comprehensive analyses. The next generation of rotorcraft comprehensive analyses will be driven and enabled by the tremendous capabilities of high performance computing, particularly modular and scaleable software executed on multiple cores. Development of a comprehensive analysis based on high performance computing both demands and permits a new analysis architecture. This paper describes a vision of the requirements for this next generation of comprehensive analyses of rotorcraft. The requirements are described and substantiated for what must be included and justification provided for what should be excluded. With this guide, a path to the next generation code can be found.

Johnson, Wayne↗