Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “computational platforms and environments”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

High resolution image processing on low-cost microcomputers

Recent advances in microcomputer technology have resulted in systems that rival the speed, storage, and display capabilities of traditionally larger machines. Low-cost microcomputers can provide a powerful environment for image processing. A new software program which offers sophisticated image display and analysis on IBM-based systems is presented. Designed specifically for a microcomputer, this program provides a wide-range of functions normally found only on dedicated graphics systems, and therefore can provide most students, universities and research groups with an affordable computer platform for processing digital images. The processing of AVHRR images within this environment is presented as an example.

Miller, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Interferometer for Space Station Windows

Inspection of space station windows for micrometeorite damage would be a difficult task insitu using current inspection techniques. Commercially available optical profilometers and inspection systems are relatively large, about the size of a desktop computer tower, and require a stable platform to inspect the test object. Also, many devices currently available are designed for a laboratory or controlled environments requiring external computer control. This paper presents an approach using a highly developed optical interferometer to inspect the windows from inside the space station itself using a self- contained hand held device. The interferometer would be capable as a minimum of detecting damage as small as one ten thousands of an inch in diameter and depth while interrogating a relatively large area. The current developmental state of this device is still in the proof of concept stage. The background section of this paper will discuss the current state of the art of profilometers as well as the desired configuration of the self-contained, hand held device. Then, a discussion of the developments and findings that will allow the configuration change with suggested approaches appearing in the proof of concept section.

Hall, Gregory↗
NASA NTRS1994

Using PVM to host CLIPS in distributed environments

It is relatively easy to enhance CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System) to support multiple expert systems running in a distributed environment with heterogeneous machines. The task is minimized by using the PVM (Parallel Virtual Machine) code from Oak Ridge Labs to provide the distributed utility. PVM is a library of C and FORTRAN subprograms that supports distributive computing on many different UNIX platforms. A PVM deamon is easily installed on each CPU that enters the virtual machine environment. Any user with rsh or rexec access to a machine can use the one PVM deamon to obtain a generous set of distributed facilities. The ready availability of both CLIPS and PVM makes the combination of software particularly attractive for budget conscious experimentation of heterogeneous distributive computing with multiple CLIPS executables. This paper presents a design that is sufficient to provide essential message passing functions in CLIPS and enable the full range of PVM facilities.

Myers, Leonard↗
NASA NTRS2016

MONTE Python for Deep Space Navigation

The Mission Analysis, Operations, and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) signature astrodynamic computing platform. It was built to support JPL’s deep space exploration program, and has been used to fly robotic spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ceres, and many solar system small bodies. At its core, MONTE consists of low-level astrodynamic libraries that are written in C++ and presented to the end user as an importable Python language module. These libraries form the basis on which Python-language applications are built for specific astrodynamic applications, such as trajectory design and optimization, orbit determination, flight path control, and more. The first half of this paper gives context to the MONTE project by outlining its history, the field of deep space navigation and where MONTE fits into the current Python landscape. The second half gives an overview of the main MONTE libraries and provides a narrative example of how it can be used for astrodynamic analysis.

aerospace↗
NASA NTRS2016

MONTE's Client-Based Trajectory Propagation Architecture

The Mission Analysis, Operations, and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) is JPL's (Jet Propulsion Laboratory's) signature astrodynamic computing platform. It supports all phases of space mission development, from early stage mission design and analysis through flight navigation services. MONTE employs a client-based trajectory propagation architecture where accelerations are calculated in the main MONTE library and the integrator exists on the periphery as a client. This paper outlines this approach to a trajectory propagation system and provides a concrete set of examples showing its utility.

Smith, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Joint ESA-NASA Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP)

The scientific community is faced with a need for greatly improved data sharing, analysis, visualization and advanced collaboration based firmly on open science principles. Recent and upcoming launches of new satellite missions with more complex and voluminous data, as well as the ever more urgent need to better understand the global carbon budget and related ecological processes, provided the immediate rational for the ESA-NASA Multi-mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP). This highly collaborative joint project of ESA and NASA established a framework between ESA and NASA to share data, science algorithms and compute resources in order to foster and accelerate scientific research conducted by ESA and NASA EO data users. Presented to the public in October 2021, the current version of MAAP provides a common cloud-based platform with computing capabilities co-located with the data, a collaborative coding and analysis environment, and a set of interoperable tools and algorithms developed to support the estimation and visualization of global above-ground biomass. Data from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission on the International Space Station and the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) have been instrumental in the first products of MAAP including the first comprehensive map of Boreal above-ground Biomass and a current Global Biomass Harmonization Activity, but the platform is also being specifically designed to support the forthcoming ESA Biomass mission and incorporate data from the upcoming NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) mission. While these missions and the corresponding research which includes airborne, field, and calibration/validation data collection and analyses, provide a wealth of data and information relating to global biomass estimation, they also present data storing, processing and sharing challenges. The NISAR mission alone will produce about 80TB/day. These large data volumes present a challenge that would otherwise place accessibility limits on the scientific community and impact scientific progress. Other challenges being addressed by MAAP include: 1) Enabling researchers to easily discover, process, visualize and analyze large volumes of data from both agencies; 2) Providing a wide variety of data in the same coordinate reference frame to enable comparison, analysis, data evaluation, and data generation; 3) Providing a version-controlled science algorithm development environment that supports tools, co-located data and processing resources; and 4) Addressing intellectual property and sharing challenges related to collaborative algorithm development and sharing of data and algorithms. MAAP products can be explored on the MAAP Dashboard at https://earthdata.nasa.gov/maap-biomass or the joint platform entrance at scimaap.net. MAAP also can be accessed through individual NASA (https://maap-project.org) and ESA (https://esa-maap.org/) landing pages.

cloud computing↗
NASA NTRS2000

NPSS on NASA's IPG: Using CORBA and Globus to Coordinate Multidisciplinary Aeroscience Applications

Within NASA's High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program, the NASA Glenn Research Center is developing an environment for the analysis/design of aircraft engines called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). The vision for NPSS is to create a "numerical test cell" enabling full engine simulations overnight on cost-effective computing platforms. To this end, NPSS integrates multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures, and heat transfer and supports "numerical zooming" between O-dimensional to 1-, 2-, and 3-dimensional component engine codes. In order to facilitate the timely and cost-effective capture of complex physical processes, NPSS uses object-oriented technologies such as C++ objects to encapsulate individual engine components and CORBA ORBs for object communication and deployment across heterogeneous computing platforms. Recently, the HPCC program has initiated a concept called the Information Power Grid (IPG), a virtual computing environment that integrates computers and other resources at different sites. IPG implements a range of Grid services such as resource discovery, scheduling, security, instrumentation, and data access, many of which are provided by the Globus toolkit. IPG facilities have the potential to benefit NPSS considerably. For example, NPSS should in principle be able to use Grid services to discover dynamically and then co-schedule the resources required for a particular engine simulation, rather than relying on manual placement of ORBs as at present. Grid services can also be used to initiate simulation components on parallel computers (MPPs) and to address inter-site security issues that currently hinder the coupling of components across multiple sites. These considerations led NASA Glenn and Globus project personnel to formulate a collaborative project designed to evaluate whether and how benefits such as those just listed can be achieved in practice. This project involves firstly development of the basic techniques required to achieve co-existence of commodity object technologies and Grid technologies; and secondly the evaluation of these techniques in the context of NPSS-oriented challenge problems. The work on basic techniques seeks to understand how "commodity" technologies (CORBA, DCOM, Excel, etc.) can be used in concert with specialized "Grid" technologies (for security, MPP scheduling, etc.). In principle, this coordinated use should be straightforward because of the Globus and IPG philosophy of providing low-level Grid mechanisms that can be used to implement a wide variety of application-level programming models. (Globus technologies have previously been used to implement Grid-enabled message-passing libraries, collaborative environments, and parameter study tools, among others.) Results obtained to date are encouraging: we have successfully demonstrated a CORBA to Globus resource manager gateway that allows the use of CORBA RPCs to control submission and execution of programs on workstations and MPPs; a gateway from the CORBA Trader service to the Grid information service; and a preliminary integration of CORBA and Grid security mechanisms. The two challenge problems that we consider are the following: 1) Desktop-controlled parameter study. Here, an Excel spreadsheet is used to define and control a CFD parameter study, via a CORBA interface to a high throughput broker that runs individual cases on different IPG resources. 2) Aviation safety. Here, about 100 near real time jobs running NPSS need to be submitted, run and data returned in near real time. Evaluation will address such issues as time to port, execution time, potential scalability of simulation, and reliability of resources. The full paper will present the following information: 1. A detailed analysis of the requirements that NPSS applications place on IPG. 2. A description of the techniques used to meet these requirements via the coordinated use of CORBA and Globus. 3. A description of results obtained to date in the first two challenge problems.

Lopez, Isaac↗
NASA NTRS2002

Propulsion System Modeling and Simulation

The Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory at the School of Aerospace Engineering in Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a core competency that enables propulsion technology managers to make technology investment decisions substantiated by propulsion and airframe technology system studies. This method assists the designer/manager in selecting appropriate technology concepts while accounting for the presence of risk and uncertainty as well as interactions between disciplines. This capability is incorporated into a single design simulation system that is described in this paper. This propulsion system design environment is created with a commercially available software called iSIGHT, which is a generic computational framework, and with analysis programs for engine cycle, engine flowpath, mission, and economic analyses. iSIGHT is used to integrate these analysis tools within a single computer platform and facilitate information transfer amongst the various codes. The resulting modeling and simulation (M&S) environment in conjunction with the response surface method provides the designer/decision-maker an analytical means to examine the entire design space from either a subsystem and/or system perspective. The results of this paper will enable managers to analytically play what-if games to gain insight in to the benefits (and/or degradation) of changing engine cycle design parameters. Furthermore, the propulsion design space will be explored probabilistically to show the feasibility and viability of the propulsion system integrated with a vehicle.

Tai, Jimmy C. M.↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Multiphysics Multiscale Simulation Platform for Damage, Environmental Degradation, and Life Prediction of CMCs in Extreme Environments

This project successfully developed a multiphysics, multiscale computational framework to enhance the design and development of CMCs, with a focus on modeling highly nonlinear, time-dependent damage mechanisms and material degradation under extreme conditions, such as those experienced in turbine service environments. The project made significant advances in improving our understanding of progressive damage, oxidative degradation, and time-dependent inelastic deformation in CMCs, with particular attention to the role of uncertainties in predictions. Key outcomes include the integration of advanced material characterization, uncertainty quantification, and multiphysics constitutive models to predict the behavior of CMCs over their service life. A novel multiscale methodology was employed, which integrated microscale constituent behaviors with structural-scale responses, enabling the manufacturing defects in the microstructure that are prone to damage nucleation. Through the development of DL algorithms, the project advanced the prediction of damage initiation and crack propagation, taking into account the defect morphology and statistical variations across multiple scales. The framework was rigorously validated using thermomechanical experiments, which tested CMCs under various mechanical loadings at elevated temperatures, further enhancing the model's predictive capability. Overall, the research outcomes have provided a more accurate, reliable method for predicting CMC component life, significantly advancing material design, and improving component reliability in extreme environments. This work has strong implications for the optimization of turbine components and other high-performance applications where CMCs are used.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optimization of a Lightweight Floating Offshore Wind Turbine with Water Ballast Motion Mitigation Technology

Floating offshore wind turbines are a promising technology for addressing energy needs by utilizing wind resources offshore. The current state of the art is based on heavy, expensive platforms to survive the ocean environment. Typical design techniques do not involve optimization because of the computationally expensive time domain solvers used to model motions and loads in the ocean environment. However, this design uses an efficient frequency domain solver with a genetic algorithm to rapidly optimize the design of a novel floating wind turbine concept. The concept utilizes a liquid ballast mass to mitigate motions on a lightweight post-tensioned concrete platform. The simple cruciform-shaped design of the platform made of post-tensioned concrete is less expensive than steel, reducing the raw material and manufacturing cost. The use of ballast water to behave as a tuned mass damper allows a smaller platform to achieve the same motions as a much larger platform, thus reducing the mass and cost. The optimization techniques applied with these design innovations resulted in a design with a levelized cost of energy of USD 0.0753/kWh, roughly half the cost of the current state of the art.

Ramsay, William↗
NASA NTRS2010

Hardware-Independent Proofs of Numerical Programs

On recent architectures, a numerical program may give different answers depending on the execution hardware and the compilation. Our goal is to formally prove properties about numerical programs that are true for multiple architectures and compilers. We propose an approach that states the rounding error of each floating-point computation whatever the environment. This approach is implemented in the Frama-C platform for static analysis of C code. Small case studies using this approach are entirely and automatically proved

Boldo, Sylvie↗
DOE OSTI2026

An end-to-end workflow for executing a classically bootstrapped variational quantum algorithm on an academic quantum computer

Academic quantum computing platforms often face unique challenges in executing quantum workloads due to fragmented software environments and limited engineering support. Unlike commercial ecosystems, academic devices typically evolve without full-stack integration in mind, making it difficult to run complex applications—such as variational quantum algorithms (VQA)—reliably and efficiently. Issues such as incompatible software layers and lack of automated job management significantly increase the overhead of theory-experiment collaboration. To address these challenges, we develop a modular, end-to-end workflow that decouples application-layer code from low-level hardware control, automates circuit submission and result collection, and supports fine-grained circuit-level job scheduling and recovery. The architecture employs a dual-end application programming interface (API) design, enabling robust operation across unstable or resource-constrained hardware backends. For practical use, the framework is lightweight and user-friendly, allowing rapid prototyping of full-stack workflows using basic Python tools. We validate this workflow on a high-fidelity trapped-ion quantum computer by demonstrating a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) experiment with a classically bootstrapped ansatz initialization technique. The system successfully executed over 60,000 circuits across multiple molecular test cases with minimal human intervention, highlighting the framework’s effectiveness in enabling reproducible, resilient quantum experimentation in academic settings.

Clifford↗
NASA NTRS2000

Numerical Zooming Between a NPSS Engine System Simulation and a One-Dimensional High Compressor Analysis Code

Within NASA's High Performance Computing and Communication (HPCC) program, NASA Glenn Research Center is developing an environment for the analysis/design of aircraft engines called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS). NPSS focuses on the integration of multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures, and heat transfer along with the concept of numerical zooming between zero-dimensional to one-, two-, and three-dimensional component engine codes. In addition, the NPSS is refining the computing and communication technologies necessary to capture complex physical processes in a timely and cost-effective manner. The vision for NPSS is to create a "numerical test cell" enabling full engine simulations overnight on cost-effective computing platforms. Of the different technology areas that contribute to the development of the NPSS Environment, the subject of this paper is a discussion on numerical zooming between a NPSS engine simulation and higher fidelity representations of the engine components (fan, compressor, burner, turbines, etc.). What follows is a description of successfully zooming one-dimensional (row-by-row) high-pressure compressor analysis results back to a zero-dimensional NPSS engine simulation and a discussion of the results illustrated using an advanced data visualization tool. This type of high fidelity system-level analysis, made possible by the zooming capability of the NPSS, will greatly improve the capability of the engine system simulation and increase the level of virtual test conducted prior to committing the design to hardware.

Follen, Gregory↗
NASA NTRS1997

A Multi-Level Parallelization Concept for High-Fidelity Multi-Block Solvers

The integration of high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis tools with the industrial design process benefits greatly from the robust implementations that are transportable across a wide range of computer architectures. In the present work, a hybrid domain-decomposition and parallelization concept was developed and implemented into the widely-used NASA multi-block Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) packages implemented in ENSAERO and OVERFLOW. The new parallel solver concept, PENS (Parallel Euler Navier-Stokes Solver), employs both fine and coarse granularity in data partitioning as well as data coalescing to obtain the desired load-balance characteristics on the available computer platforms. This multi-level parallelism implementation itself introduces no changes to the numerical results, hence the original fidelity of the packages are identically preserved. The present implementation uses the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library for interprocessor message passing and memory accessing. By choosing an appropriate combination of the available partitioning and coalescing capabilities only during the execution stage, the PENS solver becomes adaptable to different computer architectures from shared-memory to distributed-memory platforms with varying degrees of parallelism. The PENS implementation on the IBM SP2 distributed memory environment at the NASA Ames Research Center obtains 85 percent scalable parallel performance using fine-grain partitioning of single-block CFD domains using up to 128 wide computational nodes. Multi-block CFD simulations of complete aircraft simulations achieve 75 percent perfect load-balanced executions using data coalescing and the two levels of parallelism. SGI PowerChallenge, SGI Origin 2000, and a cluster of workstations are the other platforms where the robustness of the implementation is tested. The performance behavior on the other computer platforms with a variety of realistic problems will be included as this on-going study progresses.

Hatay, Ferhat F.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Embedded Web Technology: Internet Technology Applied to Real-Time System Control

The NASA Lewis Research Center is developing software tools to bridge the gap between the traditionally non-real-time Internet technology and the real-time, embedded-controls environment for space applications. Internet technology has been expanding at a phenomenal rate. The simple World Wide Web browsers (such as earlier versions of Netscape, Mosaic, and Internet Explorer) that resided on personal computers just a few years ago only enabled users to log into and view a remote computer site. With current browsers, users not only view but also interact with remote sites. In addition, the technology now supports numerous computer platforms (PC's, MAC's, and Unix platforms), thereby providing platform independence.In contrast, the development of software to interact with a microprocessor (embedded controller) that is used to monitor and control a space experiment has generally been a unique development effort. For each experiment, a specific graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed. This procedure works well for a single-user environment. However, the interface for the International Space Station (ISS) Fluids and Combustion Facility will have to enable scientists throughout the world and astronauts onboard the ISS, using different computer platforms, to interact with their experiments in the Fluids and Combustion Facility. Developing a specific GUI for all these users would be cost prohibitive. An innovative solution to this requirement, developed at Lewis, is to use Internet technology, where the general problem of platform independence has already been partially solved, and to leverage this expanding technology as new products are developed. This approach led to the development of the Embedded Web Technology (EWT) program at Lewis, which has the potential to significantly reduce software development costs for both flight and ground software.

Daniele, Carl J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

High-Performance 3D Articulated Robot Display

In the domain of telerobotic operations, the primary challenge facing the operator is to understand the state of the robotic platform. One key aspect of understanding the state is to visualize the physical location and configuration of the platform. As there is a wide variety of mobile robots, the requirements for visualizing their configurations vary diversely across different platforms. There can also be diversity in the mechanical mobility, such as wheeled, tracked, or legged mobility over surfaces. Adaptable 3D articulated robot visualization software can accommodate a wide variety of robotic platforms and environments. The visualization has been used for surface, aerial, space, and water robotic vehicle visualization during field testing. It has been used to enable operations of wheeled and legged surface vehicles, and can be readily adapted to facilitate other mechanical mobility solutions. The 3D visualization can render an articulated 3D model of a robotic platform for any environment. Given the model, the software receives real-time telemetry from the avionics system onboard the vehicle and animates the robot visualization to reflect the telemetered physical state. This is used to track the position and attitude in real time to monitor the progress of the vehicle as it traverses its environment. It is also used to monitor the state of any or all articulated elements of the vehicle, such as arms, legs, or control surfaces. The visualization can also render other sorts of telemetered states visually, such as stress or strains that are measured by the avionics. Such data can be used to color or annotate the virtual vehicle to indicate nominal or off-nominal states during operation. The visualization is also able to render the simulated environment where the vehicle is operating. For surface and aerial vehicles, it can render the terrain under the vehicle as the avionics sends it location information (GPS, odometry, or star tracking), and locate the vehicle over or on the terrain correctly. For long traverses over terrain, the visualization can stream in terrain piecewise in order to maintain the current area of interest for the operator without incurring unreasonable resource constraints on the computing platform. The visualization software is designed to run on laptops that can operate in field-testing environments without Internet access, which is a frequently encountered situation when testing in remote locations that simulate planetary environments such as Mars and other planetary bodies.

Powell, Mark W.↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Integrated Data Analytics Platform

An Integrated Science Data Analytics Platform is an environment that enables the confluence of resources for scientific investigation. It harmonizes data, tools and computational resources which subsequently enable the research community to focus on the investigation rather than spending time on security, data preparation, management, etc. OceanWorks is a NASA technology integration project to establish a cloud-based Integrated Ocean Science Data Analytics Platform at NASA’s Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) for big ocean science. It focuses on advancement and maturity by bringing together several NASA open-source, big data projects for parallel analytics, anomaly detection, in-situ to satellite data matchup, quality-screened data subsetting, search relevancy, and data discovery. Our communities are relying on data distributed through data centers such as the PO.DAAC, COAPS, NCAR, and many others to conduct their research. In typical investigations, scientists would engage in: search for data, evaluate the relevance of that data, download it, and then apply algorithms to identify trends. Such workflow cannot scale if the research involves a massive amount of data or multi-variate measurements. NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is expected to produce massive amount of observational data during its 3-year nominal mission. Collections like SWOT challenges all existing Earth Science data archival, distribution and analysis paradigms. In this paper, we will discuss how OceanWorks enhances the analysis of physical ocean data where the computation is done on an elastic cloud platform next to the archive to deliver fast, web-accessible services for working with oceanographic measurements.

Yang, Chaowei↗
NASA NTRS2000

Optimization of Microelectronic Devices for Sensor Applications

The NASA/JPL goal to reduce payload in future space missions while increasing mission capability demands miniaturization of active and passive sensors, analytical instruments and communication systems among others. Currently, typical system requirements include the detection of particular spectral lines, associated data processing, and communication of the acquired data to other systems. Advances in lithography and deposition methods result in more advanced devices for space application, while the sub-micron resolution currently available opens a vast design space. Though an experimental exploration of this widening design space-searching for optimized performance by repeated fabrication efforts-is unfeasible, it does motivate the development of reliable software design tools. These tools necessitate models based on fundamental physics and mathematics of the device to accurately model effects such as diffraction and scattering in opto-electronic devices, or bandstructure and scattering in heterostructure devices. The software tools must have convenient turn-around times and interfaces that allow effective usage. The first issue is addressed by the application of high-performance computers and the second by the development of graphical user interfaces driven by properly developed data structures. These tools can then be integrated into an optimization environment, and with the available memory capacity and computational speed of high performance parallel platforms, simulation of optimized components can proceed. In this paper, specific applications of the electromagnetic modeling of infrared filtering, as well as heterostructure device design will be presented using genetic algorithm global optimization methods.

Cwik, Tom↗