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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

A PSCAD Library Component Featuring a Reduced-Order IBR Model for EMT-Based Fault Studies

This paper presents a fully implemented inverter reduce-order-model (ROM) in an EMT simulation (PSCAD) library component for direct user utilization in protection studies. The developed inverter ROM has the following features: Equivalent to a full IBR inverter model with positive- and negative-sequence current formulation and representation A python script is developed to fully automate this process, including training data generation, ROM parameter training, updating parameters, and model verification and validation. With this PSCAD ROM library component, protection engineers can utilize a trustworthy, accurate ROM for protection studies in an easy-to-use and streamlined manner.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of a Reduced-Order Model for IBR Fault Response Representation via OEM Blackbox Models

This paper presents a fully implemented inverter reduced-order-model (ROM) in an EMT simulation (PSCAD) library component for direct user utilization in protection studies. The developed inverter ROM has the following features: Equivalent to a full inverter-based resource (IBR) inverter model with positive- and negative-sequence current formulation and representation. A Python script is developed to fully automate this process, including training data generation, ROM parameter training, updating parameters, and model verification and validation. The ROM is validated using both IEEE 2800-compliant and non-compliant OEM modes in a real-world system, building confidence of its usability by protection engineers.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

LLRF commissioning of the CEBAF C75 upgrades SAM 2024/25

An often-overlooked aspect of Low Level Radio Frequency (LLRF) design is commissioning of a new system. During Jlab’s Scheduled Accelerator Maintenance (SAM) in 2024, two C75 Cryomodule were installed in CEBAF with Jlab’s LLRF 3.0 system. Jlab’s team has invested effort in automating and standardizing their commissioning process. Several key components are klystron characterization, cavity characterization, and interlock verification. This poster will present the summary of LLRF preparation and commissioning efforts at Jlab.

Accelerator Physics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Assessing the Reliability of Relevant Tweets and Validation Using Manual and Automatic Approaches for Flood Risk Communication

While Twitter has been touted as a preeminent source of up-to-date information on hazard events, the reliability of tweets is still a concern. Our previous publication extracted relevant tweets containing information about the 2013 Colorado flood event and its impacts. Using the relevant tweets, this research further examined the reliability (accuracy and trueness) of the tweets by examining the text and image content and comparing them to other publicly available data sources. Both manual identification of text information and automated (Google Cloud Vision, application programming interface (API)) extraction of images were implemented to balance accurate information verification and efficient processing time. The results showed that both the text and images contained useful information about damaged/flooded roads/streets. This information will help emergency response coordination efforts and informed allocation of resources when enough tweets contain geocoordinates or location/venue names. This research will identify reliable crowdsourced risk information to facilitate near real-time emergency response through better use of crowdsourced risk communication platforms.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Putting Our Industry's Data to Work: A Case Study of Large-Scale Data Aggregation: Preprint

With increasing deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Building Automation System (BAS) controls, Internet of Things (IoT) network devices, and data-driven evaluation, measurement, and verification studies, the building sector is currently generating a staggering amount of energy-related data. In the right hands, these data sets can contribute to increased comfort and energy savings for building occupants and a more reliable electrical grid; however, due to a combination of factors, including significant privacy concerns, much of the data that are presently generated and stored are not used outside of basic operational applications. In the past year, our team has dedicated over 2,000 person-hours to accessing building energy data for a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office. We sought whole-building or end-use (e.g., lighting) timeseries data at the individual-building or equipment level where possible or aggregated information, such as timeseries averages and quartiles by building type (e.g., office, retail, hospital), where sharing individual building information was not an option. We are additionally working with IoT and BAS data sets to derive information important to the project. We have assembled an extensive data set that will enable the development of publicly available end-use load profiles to benefit the U.S. building and electricity industries. Here we present an overview of the data set that we have assembled to date, the motivators and approaches that got us here, and the lessons we learned through our efforts. We also discuss work underway that presents additional options for future data access.

building energy data↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simple, Secure, Internet Delivery of MOOSE-based Applications

Application packaging and distribution are the final steps for delivering software to end-users; both are frequently neglected when creating scientific software. Commercial businesses rely on electronic distribution systems that have rendered disk drives obsolete. Still, national laboratories continue to rely heavily on removable media to distribute and limit access to controlled applications. With increasing concerns of unauthorized copying of sensitive applications, a modern distribution system that utilizes cryptographically secure communication and authentication protocols has been developed. This new distribution system will secure the chain of custody for nuclear software while simultaneously simplifying access to these tools. This report summarizes four primary advancements made toward the secure distribution of Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)-developed, Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)-based applications: application installation, package distribution, automated package building, and distribution of documentation. NEAMS is currently developing more than ten separate applications based on the open-source MOOSE Framework. Distribution of these applications has primarily been accomplished by distributing source code, with end-users compiling the applications themselves. This work created a mechanism where MOOSE applications can be installed in a similar way to any other software. This allows both administrators and end-users simplified access to runnable executables. With this new installation capability, it was then possible to rethink distribution. A new, secure capability for delivering MOOSE-based applications over the internet has been created. This system requires unique cryptographic tokens for authentication, greatly securing the custody chain for software. Once granted access, installation of any NEAMS code can be accomplished with these terminal commands: "conda install ncrc" "ncrc install ncrc-bison." After these two commands (and authenticating) the BISON application will be securely down- loaded from Idaho National Laboratory (INL)’s servers, installed, and ready to use. To enable this new distribution capability to be successful, the open-source Continuous Integration, Verification, Enhancement, and Testing (CIVET) Continuous Integration (CI) capability was augmented to add Continuous Delivery (CD). CD enables the automated building and packaging of MOOSE-based applications as they are modified by development teams, ensuring that our customers can obtain up-to-date versions of the software at any time. The need for instruction on how to use these applications was addressed through modifications to the MOOSE documentation system. The MooseDocs capability, which enables robust documentation of MOOSE-based applications, has been extended to allow both for the installation of documentation and the packaging of documentation with installed applications. Together, these enhancements form the core of a new, secure distribution mechanism for nuclear simulation tools. In concert with the Nuclear Computational Resource Center (NCRC), NEAMS- developed applications will now be straightforward to obtain securely.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Invited: Bambu: an Open-Source Research Framework for the High-Level Synthesis of Complex Applications

This paper presents the open-source High-Level Synthesis research framework Bambu. The framework provides an open-source starting point to experiment with new ideas across High-Level Synthesis, high-level verification and debugging, FPGA/ASIC design, design flow space exploration, and parallel hardware accelerator design. The tool accepts as input standard C/C++ specifications and compiler intermediate representations (IRs) coming from the well-known Clang/LLVM and GCC com- pilers. The broad spectrum and flexibility of input formats allow the electronic design automation (EDA) research community to explore and integrate new transformations and optimizations. The easily extendable modular framework already includes many op- timizations and HLS benchmarks. The integration with synthesis and verification backends (commercial and open-source) allows researchers to quickly test any new finding and easily obtain performance and resource usage metrics for a given application. Different FPGA devices are supported from several different vendors: AMD/XILINX, Intel/Altera, Lattice Semiconductor, and NanoXplore. Finally, integration with the OpenRoad open-source end-to-end silicon compiler perfectly fits with the recent push towards open-source EDA.

Ferrandi, Fabrizio↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bringing Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) Tools into the Mainstream: Retro Commissioning and Continuous Commissioning of HVAC and Refrigeration Systems

HVAC systems in the commercial building sector consume about 3.4 quads of energy annually. Of all the HVAC systems, packaged rooftop air–conditioning units (RTUs) provide cooling and heating for over 60 percent of the commercial building floorspace (about 90 billion ft2) in the U.S. and they are a significant source of energy consumption and peak demand. All HVAC systems suffer from faults that impact thermal comfort and increase energy consumption. There are several commercially available Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostic (AFDD) tools on the market that can detect and diagnose faults, and if those faults are corrected, can save significant national energy. However, there are multiple market barriers for these tools including lack of independent verification of their performance in the field in terms of their technical capabilities, ease of use and installation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Formalization of Core Why3 in Coq

Intermediate verification languages like Why3 and Boogie have made it much easier to build program verifiers, transforming the process into a logic compilation problem rather than a proof automation one. Why3 in particular implements a rich logic for program specification with polymorphism, algebraic data types, recursive functions and predicates, and inductive predicates; it translates this logic to over a dozen solvers and proof assistants. Accordingly, it serves as a backend for many tools, including Frama-C, EasyCrypt, and GNATProve for Ada SPARK. But how can we be sure that these tools are correct? The alternate foundational approach, taken by tools like VST and CakeML, provides strong guarantees by implementing the entire toolchain in a proof assistant, but these tools are harder to build and cannot directly take advantage of SMT solver automation. As a first step toward enabling automated tools with similar foundational guarantees, we give a formal semantics in Coq for the logic fragment of Why3. We show that our semantics are useful by giving a correct-by-construction natural deduction proof system for this logic, using this proof system to verify parts of Why3's standard library, and proving sound two of Why3's transformations used to convert terms and formulas into the simpler logics supported by the backend solvers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

BISON-FIPD integration enhanced low-burnup SFR metallic fuel swelling model evaluation framework

Experiments indicated that metallic fuel in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) rapidly swells radially and axially at low burnup. Despite that, prior studies have been focused on describing high burnup axial fuel elongation. With recent conventional and non-conventional metallic fuel concepts being considered for license applications, understanding multidimensional fuel swelling at a wide range of burnup levels is important to fuel analysis and qualification activities. Here, we report the development and demonstration efforts of a low-burnup SFR metallic fuel swelling model evaluation framework using the BISON advanced fuel performance code. The framework leverages the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) program X423 experiment data through the ongoing integration project to enable standardized and automated use of legacy metallic fuel irradiation data maintained in the SFR fuel irradiation and physics database (FIPD) for BISON metallic fuel model verification and validation. In conclusion, the performance of the framework was demonstrated using the two representative metallic fuel swelling model sets implemented in BISON, with a series of insights about future advanced swelling model development.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Security Catch and Release Automation Manager (SCRAM) v1.0

This is a security automation tool heavily influenced by the tool written at NCSA https://github.com/ncsa/bhr-site. The tool is a web interface that aims to centralize information on blocking malicious traffic. There is a list of currently blocked traffic, a place for other tools to automatically add traffic they deem malicious, as well as for human users to input blocks. * Logging and auditing, to determine who made what change and when * Automated expiration of changes (e.g. an exception is added for 2 weeks, after which time it will be removed) * Validation of changes and verification that the change has been applied * Fine-grained role-based access

Oehlert, Samuel↗
DOE OSTI2023

Formally Verified ZTA Requirements for OT/ICS Environments with Isabelle/HOL: Preprint

The clean energy transformation led to the integration of distributed energy resources on a top of the grid, and so a substantial increase in the complexity of power grids infrastructure and the underlying operational technology environment. Operational technology environments are becoming a system of systems, integrating heterogeneous devices which are software/hardware intensive, have ever increasing demands to exploit advances in commodity of software/hardware infrastructures, and this for good reasons - improving energy systems requirements such as cybersecurity and resilience. In such a setting, system requirements at different levels mix, thus undesirable outcomes will surely happen. The use of formal methods will remove ambiguity, increase automation and provide high levels of assurance and reliability. In this paper, we contribute a methodology and a framework for the system level verification of zero trust architecture requirements in operational technology environments. We define a formal specification for the core functionalities of operational technology environments, the corresponding invariants, and security proofs. Of particular note is our modular approach for the formal verification of asynchronous interactions in operational technology environments. The formal specification and the proofs have been mechanized using the interactive theorem proving environment Isabelle/HOL.

formal methods↗
DOE OSTI2024

Formally Verified ZTA Requirements for OT/ICS Environments with Isabelle/HOL

The clean energy transformation includes the integration of distributed energy resources with the power grid, which has led to a substantial increase in the complexity of power grids infrastructure and the underlying operational technology environment. Power grids infrastructure represents an operational technology environment that has become a system of systems, integrating heterogeneous devices which are both software-and hardware-intensive; as a result, there are increasing demands to exploit advances in the commodity of software-hardware infrastructures to improve energy systems requirements such as cybersecurity and resilience. In such a setting, system requirements at different levels mix, which leads to vulnerabilities and undesirable outcomes. The use of formal methods to characterize and prove system requirements removes ambiguity, increases automation, and provides high levels of assurance and reliability. In this paper, we contribute a methodology and a framework for the system-level verification of zero trust architecture requirements in operational technology environments. We define a formal specification for the core functionalities of operational technology environments, the corresponding invariants, and security proofs. Of particular note is our modular approach for the formal verification of asynchronous interactions in operational technology environments. The formal specification and the proofs have been mechanized using the interactive theorem proving environment Isabelle/HOL.

formal methods↗
DOE OSTI2021

Scalable Yet Rigorous Floating-Point Error Analysis

Automated techniques for rigorous floating-point round-off error analysis are a prerequisite to placing important activities in HPC such as precision allocation, verification and code optimization on a formal footing. Yet existing techniques cannot provide tight bounds for expressions beyond a few dozen operators; barely enough for HPC. In this work, we offer an approach embedded in a new tool called SATIRE that scales error analysis by four orders of magnitude compared to today’s best-of-class tools. We explain how three key ideas underlying SATIRE help it attain such scale: path strength reduction, bound optimization and abstraction. SATIRE provides tight bounds and rigorous guarantees on significantly larger expressions with well over a hundred thousand operators, covering important examples including FFT, matrix multiplication and PDE stencils.

Das, Arnab↗
DOE OSTI2024

AI for Nuclear Safeguards Verification

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) utilizes AI/ML to analyze open-source information, including satellite imagery and scientific publications, to verify the completeness of State declarations regarding nuclear activities. AI/ML already assist the IAEA with automating processes and analysis of large datasets, including satellite imagery and unstructured data, improving efficiency and effectiveness of safeguards implementation. AI/ML in nuclear safeguards come with its own challenges that include the need for large, unbiased datasets, the risk of AI-generated fake information, including the potential for manipulation of satellite imagery.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Legal and Regulatory Aspects Related to Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for Safeguards Implementation

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is exploring the use of innovative technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to address safeguards verification challenges such as difficulties in accessing nuclear material in high radiation environments, and remotely located installations, as well as to increase the efficiency of safeguards implementation by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. As UAS continue to advance and their use becomes more frequent in high security conscious industries such as nuclear, their advantages in contributing to greater safety and security may weigh in favor of their use. However, as the IAEA begins to use these technologies, the legal, policy, and operational considerations associated with these advanced technologies will also need to be considered to identify any key opportunities, challenges, or areas of concern for the IAEA and its Member States. This paper will explore these areas and identify important considerations for the IAEA and its Member States to consider as the use of UAS is explored further for safeguards applications. It will also provide a series of recommendations for anticipating and addressing legal, regulatory, and policy challenges related to the use of UAS for safeguards implementation.

Siserman-Gray, Ioana-Cristina↗
DOE OSTI2023

Build Optimization Software Tools (BOOST) v2.0.0

Build Optimization Software Tools (BOOST) accelerate the design of DNA, RNA and protein sequences for their synthesis and assembly in an automated and scalable fashion. The BOOST Juggler automates the following two design tasks: - Reverse-Translation of protein sequences into DNA sequences - Codon Juggling of DNA sequences The BOOST Polisher provides the following design tasks: - The Verification of DNA sequences against DNA synthesis constraints - The Modification of DNA sequences in case they violate any DNA synthesis constraint In addition, the BOOST Polisher can be instructed to verify and modify DNA sequences against sequence patterns, such as restriction sites. The BOOST Partitioner supports both Gibson/chewback and Yeast assembly (also known as Transformation-Associated Recombination, or TAR) methods when performing the decomposition of large sequences that exceed the maximum length of DNA synthesis into synthesizable building blocks. The Partitioner can be instructed to find building blocks with appropriate overlap sequences, making their assembly into the complete construct more efficient. BOOST Workflows enable, in a customized fashion, the execution of the Juggler, Polisher, and Partitioner tools on a batch of sequences.

Sharkey, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2023

Automated phase segmentation and quantification of high-resolution TEM image for alloy design

In the alloy design and development process, a wealth of atomically resolved structural high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images are produced. Identifying the different nano-precipitate phases and tracking their evolution under various compositions and during manufacturing or post-processing requires hundreds of HRTEM images and thousands of precipitates. The nanoscopic phase information labeling and analysis purely relies on humans are prohibitively costly and time-consuming, sometimes not reliable because of the lack of authoritative knowledge. Here, in this work, we develop a novel unsupervised machine learning approach coupled with adaptive computer vision techniques with features in the Fourier space to automatically determine the number of phases and segment/quantify the phases with nanoscale resolution, allowing for quantitative correlation between nanostructure formation, processing and functional properties. To automate the phase extraction/quantification and ascertain its applicability, we have applied the developed framework to the HRTEM images from several alloy systems, processing conditions, image magnifications, and phase types and morphologies (precipitates, nano-twins, stacking faults, crystalline matrix, and amorphous structures) for verification. This study paves the road for compression, visualization, and translation of raw image structural data into physically relevant information in real-time with minimal human supervision. It shows the promise of enabling high-throughput materials characterization for the acceleration of alloy manufacturing and design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗