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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 541 records · Page 30
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Quasi-periodic structures in the large-scale galaxy distribution and three-dimensional Voronoi tessellation

It has been suggested that the void and wall structure associated with the large-scale galaxy distribution might be qualitatively, or perhaps even physically, modeled by a Voronoi tessellation, and that such structure might account for the surprisingly regular, sharp peaks in the galaxy redshift distributions obtained from 'pencil beam' surveys. Taking cell wall crossings by random line segments to correspond to such redshift peaks, an exact expression is derived for the distribution of spacings of these intersections in a three-dimensional Voronoi tessellation. This result verifies that the spacings are nonrandom and quasi-periodic, qualitatively resembling the observed pattern, even though the cell wall structure is generated from randomly placed seeds. Finally, moments of the spacing distribution are used to show that apparently periodic samples, similar to those recently reported, represent only one to two sigma fluctuations in a Voronoi tesselation.

Ikeuchi, Satoru↗
NASA NTRS1991

A self-consistent model for the particles and fields upstream of an outgassing comet. I - Gyrotropic and isotropic ion distributions

The magnetic field and solar wind flow parameters in the vicinity of a weakly outgassing comet are determined using a self-consistent model which treats the cometary ions kinetically. Two different assumptions are made concerning the cometary ion distribution function; the pickup cometary ions from either a velocity space gyrotropic ring distribution or a velocity space isotropic shell distribution in the solar wind frame of reference. The individual currents due to the solar wind and cometary ions, which determine the magnetic field, are calculated in each case. Using theoretically determined parameters which reflect the conditions expected to comet Kopff (a typical short-period comet and one possible target for the future CRAF/Cassini mission) for various heliocentric distances, the way in which global field and flow characteristics are influenced by the nature of the cometary ion distribution function is determined.

Flammer, K. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A concurrent distributed system for aircraft tactical decision generation

A research program investigating the use of AI techniques to aid in the development of a tactical decision generator (TDG) for within visual range (WVR) air combat engagements is discussed. The application of AI programming and problem-solving methods in the development and implementation of a concurrent version of the computerized logic for air-to-air warfare simulations (CLAWS) program, a second-generation TDG, is presented. Concurrent computing environments and programming approaches are discussed, and the design and performance of prototype concurrent TDG system (Cube CLAWS) are presented. It is concluded that the Cube CLAWS has provided a useful testbed to evaluate the development of a distributed blackboard system. The project has shown that the complexity of developing specialized software on a distributed, message-passing architecture such as the Hypercube is not overwhelming, and that reasonable speedups and processor efficiency can be achieved by a distributed blackboard system. The project has also highlighted some of the costs of using a distributed approach to designing a blackboard system.

Mcmanus, John W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Accretion rates of protoplanets 2: Gaussian distribution of planestesimal velocities

The growth rate of a protoplanet embedded in a uniform surface density disk of planetesimals having a triaxial Gaussian velocity distribution was calculated. The longitudes of the aspses and nodes of the planetesimals are uniformly distributed, and the protoplanet is on a circular orbit. The accretion rate in the two body approximation is enhanced by a factor of approximately 3, compared to the case where all planetesimals have eccentricity and inclination equal to the root mean square (RMS) values of those variables in the Gaussian distribution disk. Numerical three body integrations show comparable enhancements, except when the RMS initial planetesimal eccentricities are extremely small. This enhancement in accretion rate should be incorporated by all models, analytical or numerical, which assume a single random velocity for all planetesimals, in lieu of a Gaussian distribution.

Greenzweig, Yuval↗
NASA NTRS1991

An atlas of monthly mean distributions of GEOSAT sea surface height, SSMI surface wind speed, AVHRR/2 sea surface temperature, and ECMWF surface wind components during 1988

Monthly mean global distributions for 1988 are presented with a common color scale and geographical map. Distributions are included for sea surface height variation estimated from GEOSAT; surface wind speed estimated from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft; sea surface temperature estimated from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on NOAA spacecrafts; and the Cartesian components of the 10m height wind vector computed by the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting. Charts of monthly mean value, sampling distribution, and standard deviation value are displayed. Annual mean distributions are displayed.

Halpern, D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The environmental distribution of late proterozoic organisms

Along present day coast lines, the environmental distributions of prokaryotic and protistan populations are often sharply delimited. Realized habitat ranges are generally narrower than those circumscribed by physiological tolerances, suggesting the importance of organism-organism interactions in the determination of population distributions. Microfossil populations preserved in silicified carbonates, dolomites, and shales of the 700-800 Ma old Akademikerbreen Group, Svalbard, and elsewhere indicate that the environmental distributions were defined equally clearly during the Proterozoic Eon. The Draken Conglomerate Formation is a tidal flat/lagoonal complex in which we have distinguished five principle biofacies containing a total of 42 taxa. Supratidal to subtidal gradients include the increasing abundance and diversity of both mat dweller microbenthos and allochthonous (principally planktonic) organisms, as well as a taphonomically important pattern of decreasing sheath thickness among mat builder microorganisms. The seaward barriers of Akademikerbreen lagoons were oolitic shoals, and these contain about a dozen endolithic and epilithic species not observed elsewhere in the group. Subtidal environments below fair weather wave base are represented by mudstones of the Svanbergfjellet Formation. These contain abundant and diverse cyanobacteria-like fossils generally similar to but specifically different from those found in tidal flat sediments, as well as diverse unicellular protists (some of impressive morphological complexity) and at least half a dozen cellularly preserved metaphyte populations. In all, more than 80 species are distributed among Akademikerbreen lithologies. Fossil assemblages from Svalbard and elsewhere illustrate the potential for a much finer paleoecological, biostratigraphic, and, hence, evolutionary resolution of the early fossil record.

Knoll, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Cumulative frequency distribution of past species extinctions

Analysis of Sepkoski's compendium of the time ranges of 30,000+ taxa yields a mean duration of 28.4 ma for genera of fossil invertebrates. This converts to an average extinction rate of 3.5 percent per million years or about one percent every 286,000 years. Using survivorship techniques, these estimates can be converted to the species level, yielding a Phanerozoic average of one percent species extinction every 40,000 years. Variation in extinction rates through time is far greater than the null expectation of a homogeneous birth-death model and this reflects the well-known episodicity of extinction ranging from a few large mass extinctions to so-called background extinction. The observed variation in rates can be used to construct a cumulative frequency distribution of extinction intensity, and this distribution, in the form of a kill curve for species, shows the expected waiting times between extinction events of a given intensity. The kill curve is an average description of the extinction events of a given intensity. The kill curve is an average description of the extinction record and does not imply any cause or causes of extinction. The kill curve shows, among other things, that only about five percent of total species extinctions in the Phanerozoic were involved in the five largest mass extinctions. The other 95 percent were distributed among large and small events not normally called mass extinctions. As an exploration of the possibly absurd proposition that most past extinctions were produced by the effects of large-body impact, the kill curve for species was mapped on the comparable distribution for comet and asteroid impacts. The result is a curve predicting the species kill for a given size of impacting object (expressed as crater size). The results are reasonable in that impacts producing craters less than 30 km (diameter) cause negligible extinction but those producing craters 100-150 km (diameter) cause extinction of species in the range of 45-60 percent.

Raup, D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Integrating security in a group oriented distributed system

A distributed security architecture is proposed for incorporation into group oriented distributed systems, and in particular, into the Isis distributed programming toolkit. The primary goal of the architecture is to make common group oriented abstractions robust in hostile settings, in order to facilitate the construction of high performance distributed applications that can tolerate both component failures and malicious attacks. These abstractions include process groups and causal group multicast. Moreover, a delegation and access control scheme is proposed for use in group oriented systems. The focus is the security architecture; particular cryptosystems and key exchange protocols are not emphasized.

Reiter, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1992

Coordinating complex problem-solving among distributed intelligent agents

A process-oriented control model is described for distributed problem solving. The model coordinates the transfer and manipulation of information across independent networked applications, both intelligent and conventional. The model was implemented using SOCIAL, a set of object-oriented tools for distributing computing. Complex sequences of distributed tasks are specified in terms of high level scripts. Scripts are executed by SOCIAL objects called Manager Agents, which realize an intelligent coordination model that routes individual tasks to suitable server applications across the network. These tools are illustrated in a prototype distributed system for decision support of ground operations for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet.

Adler, Richard M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Spatial distribution of gamma-ray bursts observed by BATSE

An analysis of 153 gamma-ray bursts detected by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory is reported. The number versus intensity distribution does not follow the -3/2 power law expected for a spatially extended homogeneous distribution of sources, but at the same time the angular distribution is isotropic within statistical limits. Taken together these results are consistent with the spatial distribution of any known population of galactic objects, but may be consistent with the bursts being at cosmological distances.

Meegan, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Fusion techniques using distributed Kalman filtering for detecting changes in systems

A comparison is made of the performances of two detection strategies that are based on different data fusion techniques. The strategies detect changes in a linear system. One detection strategy involves combining the estimates and error covariance matrices of distributed Kalman filters, generating a residual from the used estimates, comparing this residual to a threshold, and making a decision. The other detection strategy involves a distributed decision process in which estimates from distributed Kalman filters are used to generate distributed residuals which are compared locally to a threshold. Local decisions are made and these decisions are then fused into a global decision. The performances of each of these detection schemes are compared, and it is concluded that better performance is achieved when local decisions are made and then fused into a global decision.

Belcastro, Celeste M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Determination of mean rainfall from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) using a mixed lognormal distribution

Global estimates of monthly, seasonal, and annual oceanic rainfall are computed for a period of one year using data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). Instantaneous rainfall estimates are derived from brightness temperature values obtained from the satellite data using the Hughes D-matrix algorithm. The instantaneous rainfall estimates are stored in 1 deg square bins over the global oceans for each month. A mixed probability distribution combining a lognormal distribution describing the positive rainfall values and a spike at zero describing the observations indicating no rainfall is used to compute mean values. The resulting data for the period of interest are fitted to a lognormal distribution by using a maximum-likelihood. Mean values are computed for the mixed distribution and qualitative comparisons with published historical results as well as quantitative comparisons with corresponding in situ raingage data are performed.

Berg, Wesley↗
NASA NTRS1991

Efficiency of core light injection from sources in the cladding - Bulk distribution

The behavior of the power efficiency of an optical fiber with bulk distribution of sources in its cladding is analyzed. Marcuse's (1988) results for weakly guiding cylindrical fibers with fluorescent sources uniformly distributed in the cladding are confirmed for the bulk distribution case. It is found that power efficiency increases with wavelength and with difference in refractive indices. A new independent variable for the bulk distribution is found, and it is shown that the power efficiency does not always increase with the V number.

Egalon, Claudio O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Densities and vibrational distribution of H(3+) in the Jovian auroral ionosphere

The assumption that H(3+) is in LTE in the region of the Jovian ionosphere from which the emissions originate is tested by calculating the vibrational distribution of H(3+) over the altitude range of 350 to 1500 km above the methane cloud tops. A model of the Jovian auroral ionosphere is constructed in which the neutral temperatures are enhanced over those of the midlatitude ionosphere, as suggested by observations and models of the auroral region. The energy and energy flux were found to be less than those involved in the production of the UV aurora. A computation of the densities and vibrational distribution shows that the distribution of the six lowest states of H(3+) can be determined fairly well in spite of uncertainties in the atomic and molecular data. The computed altitude profiles and vibrational distributions of H(3+) and H2 are consistent with the observations of IR emission in the 2- and 4-micron regions.

Kim, Y. H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The EOSDIS Version 0 Distributed Active Archive Center for physical oceanography and air-sea interaction

The Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will support scientists specializing in physical oceanography and air-sea interaction. As part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System Version 0 the DAAC will build on existing capabilities to provide services for data product generation, archiving, distribution and management of information about data. To meet scientist's immediate needs for data, existing data sets from missions such as Seasat, Geosat, the NOAA series of satellites and the Global Positioning Satellite system will be distributed to investigators upon request. In 1992, ocean topography, wave and surface roughness data from the Topex/Poseidon radar altimeter mission will be archived and distributed. New data products will be derived from Topex/Poseidon and other sensor systems based on recommendations of the science community. In 1995, ocean wind field measurements from the NASA Scatterometer will be supported by the DAAC.

Hilland, Jeffrey E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

On the use of distributed sensing in control of large flexible spacecraft

Distributed processing technology is being developed to process signals from distributed sensors using distributed computations. Thiw work presents a scheme for calculating the operators required to emulate a conventional Kalman filter and regulator using such a computer. The scheme makes use of conventional Kalman theory as applied to the control of large flexible structures. The required computation of the distributed operators given the conventional Kalman filter and regulator is explained. A straightforward application of this scheme may lead to nonsmooth operators whose convergence is not apparent. This is illustrated by application to the Mini-Mast, a large flexible truss at the Langley Research Center used for research in structural dynamics and control. Techniques for developing smooth operators are presented. These involve spatial filtering as well as adjusting the design constants in the Kalman theory. Results are presented that illustrate the degree of smoothness achieved.

Montgomery, Raymond C.↗
NASA NTRS1956

The Interference Effects of a Body on the Spanwise Load Distributions of Two 45 Degree Sweptback Wings of Aspect Ratio 8.02 from Low-Speed Tests

Tests of two wing-body combinations have been conducted in the Langley 19-foot pressure tunnel at a Reynolds number of 4 x 10(exp 6) and a Mach number of 0.19 to determine the effects of the bodies on the wing span load distributions. The wings had 45 degrees sweepback of the quarter-chord line, aspect ratio 8.02, taper ratio 0.45, and incorporated 12-percent-thick airfoil sections streamwise. One wing was untwisted and uncambered whereas the second wing incorporated both twist and camber. Identical bodies of revolution, of 10:1 fineness ratio, having diameter-to-span ratios of 0.10, were mounted in mid-high-wing arrangements. The effects of wind incidence, wing fences, and flap deflection were determined for the plane uncambered wing. The addition of the body to the plane wing increased the exposed wing loading at a given lift coefficient as much as 10 percent with the body at 0 degrees incidence and 4 percent at 4 degrees incidence. The bending-moment coefficients at the wing-body juncture were increased about 2 percent with the body at 0 degrees incidence, whereas the increases were as much as 10 percent with the body at 4 degrees incidence. The spanwise load distributions due to the body on the plane wing as calculated by using a swept-wing method employing 19 spanwise lifting elements and control points generally showed satisfactory agreement with experiment. The spanwise load distributions due to body on the flapped plane wing and on the twisted and cambered wing were dissimilar to those obtained on the plane wing. Neither of the methods of calculation which were employed yielded distributions that agreed consistently with experiment for either the flapped plane wing or the twisted and cambered wing.

Martina, Albert P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Large shield volcanos on Venus: The effect of neutral buoyancy zone development on evolution and altitude distribution

The Magellan mission to Venus has emphasized the importance of volcanism in shaping the surface of the planet. Volcanic plains make up 80 percent of the terrain and hundreds of regions of localized eruptions have been identified. Large volcanos, defined as edifices with diameters greater than 100 km, are the sites of some of the most voluminous eruptions. Head et al. have identified 158 of these structures. Their spatial distribution is neither random nor arranged in linear chains as on the Earth; large volcanos on Venus are concentrated in two large, near-equatorial clusters that are also the site of many other forms of volcanic activity. The set of conditions that must be met on Venus that controls the change from widespread, distributed volcanism to focused, shield-building volcanism is not well understood. Future studies of transitional features will help to address this problem. It is likely, however, that the formation and evolution of a neutral buoyancy zone (NBZ) plays an important role in both determining the style of the volcanism and the development of the volcanic feature once it has begun to erupt. Head and Wilson have suggested that the high surface pressure on Venus may inhibit volatile exsolution, which may influence the density distribution of the upper crust and hence control the nature and location of a NBZ. The extreme variations in pressure with elevation may result in significantly different characteristics of such a NBZ at different locations on the planet. In order to test these ideas regarding the importance of NBZ development in the evolution of a large shield and to determine the style of volcanism, three large volcanos that occur at different basal elevations were examined and the distribution of large volcanos as a function of altitude was determined.

Keddie, S.↗