Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Memory systems”

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 577 records · Page 32
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

Influence of Test Procedures on the Thermomechanical Properties of a 55NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

Over the past few decades, binary NiTi shape memory alloys have received attention due to their unique mechanical characteristics, leading to their potential use in low-temperature, solid-state actuator applications. However, prior to using these materials for such applications, the physical response of these systems to mechanical and thermal stimuli must be thoroughly understood and modeled to aid designers in developing SMA-enabled systems. Even though shape memory alloys have been around for almost five decades, very little effort has been made to standardize testing procedures. Although some standards for measuring the transformation temperatures of SMA s are available, no real standards exist for determining the various mechanical and thermomechanical properties that govern the usefulness of these unique materials. Consequently, this study involved testing a 55NiTi alloy using a variety of different test methodologies. All samples tested were taken from the same heat and batch to remove the influence of sample pedigree on the observed results. When the material was tested under constant-stress, thermal-cycle conditions, variations in the characteristic material responses were observed, depending on test methodology. The transformation strain and irreversible strain were impacted more than the transformation temperatures, which only showed an affect with regard to applied external stress. In some cases, test methodology altered the transformation strain by 0.005-0.01mm/mm, which translates into a difference in work output capability of approximately 2 J/cu cm (290 in!lbf/cu in). These results indicate the need for the development of testing standards so that meaningful data can be generated and successfully incorporated into viable models and hardware. The use of consistent testing procedures is also important when comparing results from one research organization to another. To this end, differences in the observed responses will be presented, contrasted and rationalized, in hopes of eventually developing standardized testing procedures for shape memory alloys.

Padula, Santo A., II↗
DOE OSTI2025

Structure-preserving neural networks for the regularized entropy-based closure of a linear, kinetic, radiative transport equation

The main challenge of large-scale numerical simulation of radiation transport is the high memory and computation time requirements of discretization methods for kinetic equations. In this work, we derive and investigate a neural network-based approximation to the entropy-based closure method to accurately compute the solution of the multi-dimensional moment system with a low memory footprint and competitive computational time. We extend methods developed for the standard entropy-based closure to the regularized entropy-based closures. The main idea is to interpret structure-preserving neural network approximations of the regularized entropy-based closure as a two-stage approximation to the original entropy-based closure. We conduct a numerical analysis of this approximation and investigate optimal parameter choices. Our numerical experiments demonstrate that the method has a much lower memory footprint than traditional methods with competitive computation times and simulation accuracy. The code and all trained networks are provided on GitHub.

entropy closure↗
NASA NTRS1992

Improved instrumentation for monitoring the diurnal and seasonal cycles in the dielectric properties of forest canopies

The design and implementation of a dielectric measurement system that facilitates the automated and continuous in situ monitoring of the dielectric properties of several canopy constituents is presented. This system utilizes the same coaxial line reflection coefficient measurement technique as the portable dielectric probe (PDP) while incorporating several features that facilitate the automated monitoring of canopy dielectric properties. The new system is capable of continuously monitoring the dielectric properties of the canopy constituents in a near-simultaneous fashion. The implementation of a data logger as a user interface has increased the number of measurements that the instrument is able to store in memory while significantly improving system reliability.

Guerra, Abel G.↗
DOE OSTI2020

The organic redox transistor for neuromorphic computing

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

Talin, Albert Alec↗
NASA NTRS1991

Half-Tone Video Images Of Drifting Sinusoidal Gratings

Digital technique for generation of slowly moving video image of sinusoidal grating avoids difficulty of transferring full image data from disk storage to image memory at conventional frame rates. Depends partly on trigonometric identity by which moving sinusoidal grating decomposed into two stationary patterns spatially and temporally modulated in quadrature. Makes motion appear smooth, even at speeds much less than one-tenth picture element per frame period. Applicable to digital video system in which image memory consists of at least 2 bits per picture element, and final brightness of picture element determined by contents of "lookup-table" memory programmed anew each frame period and indexed by coordinates of each picture element.

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Neurophysiological responses to stressful motion and anti-motion sickness drugs as mediated by the limbic system

Performance is characterized in terms of attention and memory, categorizing extrinsic mechanism mediated by ACTH, norepinephrine and dopamine, and intrinsic mechanisms as cholinergic. The cholinergic role in memory and performance was viewed from within the limbic system and related to volitional influences of frontal cortical afferents and behavioral responses of hypothalamic and reticular system efferents. The inhibitory influence of the hippocampus on the autonomic and hormonal responses mediated through the hypothalamus, pituitary, and brain stem are correlated with the actions of such anti-motion sickness drugs as scopolamine and amphetamine. These drugs appear to exert their effects on motion sickness symptomatology through diverse though synergistic neurochemical mechanisms involving the septohippocampal pathway and other limbic system structures. The particular impact of the limbic system on an animal's behavioral and hormonal responses to stress is influenced by ACTH, cortisol, scopolamine, and amphetamine.

Kohl, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Hierarchical simulation of large system

The main problem facing current CAD tools for VLSIs is the large amount of memory required when dealing with large systems, primarily due to the circuit representation used by most current tools. This paper discusses an approach for hierarchical switch-level simulation of digital circuits. The approach exploits the hierarchy to reduce the memory requirements of the simulation, allowing the simulation of circuits that are too large to simulate at one flat level. The approach has been implemented in a hierarchical switch-level simulator, CHAMP, which runs on a SUN workstation. The program performs mixed mode simulation: parts of the circuit can be simulated faster at a behavioral level by supplying a high level software description. CHAMP allows assignable delays, and bidirectional signal flow inside circuit blocks that are represented as transistor networks as well as across the boundaries of higher level blocks. CHAMP is also unique in that it simulates directly from the hierarchical circuit description without flattening to a single level.

Saab, Daniel G.↗
NASA NTRS1967

Numerical data frame readout system used in testing telemetry systems

Digital telemetry systems are treated by a display system that offers direct readout as high data rates. The rates appear in numerical format and are adaptable to photographic recording techniques. The system can show bit dropouts at a memory output or locate a malfunction in a system.

Cote, C. E.↗
DOE OSTI2024

When in-memory computing meets spiking neural networks—A perspective on device-circuit-system-and-algorithm co-design

This review explores the intersection of bio-plausible artificial intelligence in the form of spiking neural networks (SNNs) with the analog in-memory computing (IMC) domain, highlighting their collective potential for low-power edge computing environments. Through detailed investigation at the device, circuit, and system levels, we highlight the pivotal synergies between SNNs and IMC architectures. Additionally, we emphasize the critical need for comprehensive system-level analyses, considering the inter-dependencies among algorithms, devices, circuit, and system parameters, crucial for optimal performance. An in-depth analysis leads to the identification of key system-level bottlenecks arising from device limitations, which can be addressed using SNN-specific algorithm–hardware co-design techniques. This review underscores the imperative for holistic device to system design-space co-exploration, highlighting the critical aspects of hardware and algorithm research endeavors for low-power neuromorphic solutions.

Physics↗
NASA NTRS1978

Composite oscillator systems for meeting user needs for time and frequency

Frequency standards are used in most navigation and telecommunications systems to provide a long term memory of either frequency, phase, or time epoch. From a systems point of view, the performance aspects of the frequency standard are weighed against other systems characteristics, such as overall performance, cost, size, and accessibility; a number of examples are very briefly reviewed. The theory of phase lock and frequency lock systems is outlined in sufficient detail that total oscillator system performance can be predicted from measurements on the individual components. As an example, details of the performance of a high spectral purity oscillator phase locked to a long term stable oscillator are given. Results for several systems, including the best system stability that can be obtained from present commercially available 5-MHz sources, are shown.

Stein, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Parallelization of Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel Method for Chemically Reacting Flow

Development of technologies for exploration of the solar system has revived an interest in computational simulation of chemically reacting flows since planetary probe vehicles exhibit non-equilibrium phenomena during the atmospheric entry of a planet or a moon as well as the reentry to the Earth. Stability in combustion is essential for new propulsion systems. Numerical solution of real-gas flows often increases computational work by an order-of-magnitude compared to perfect gas flow partly because of the increased complexity of equations to solve. Recently, as part of Project Columbia, NASA has integrated a cluster of interconnected SGI Altix systems to provide a ten-fold increase in current supercomputing capacity that includes an SGI Origin system. Both the new and existing machines are based on cache coherent non-uniform memory access architecture. Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel (LU-SGS) relaxation method has been implemented into both perfect and real gas flow codes including Real-Gas Aerodynamic Simulator (RGAS). However, the vectorized RGAS code runs inefficiently on cache-based shared-memory machines such as SGI system. Parallelization of a Gauss-Seidel method is nontrivial due to its sequential nature. The LU-SGS method has been vectorized on an oblique plane in INS3D-LU code that has been one of the base codes for NAS Parallel benchmarks. The oblique plane has been called a hyperplane by computer scientists. It is straightforward to parallelize a Gauss-Seidel method by partitioning the hyperplanes once they are formed. Another way of parallelization is to schedule processors like a pipeline using software. Both hyperplane and pipeline methods have been implemented using openMP directives. The present paper reports the performance of the parallelized RGAS code on SGI Origin and Altix systems.

Yoon, Seokkwan↗
NASA NTRS2011

CoNNeCT Baseband Processor Module

A document describes the CoNNeCT Baseband Processor Module (BPM) based on an updated processor, memory technology, and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The BPM was developed from a requirement to provide sufficient computing power and memory storage to conduct experiments for a Software Defined Radio (SDR) to be implemented. The flight SDR uses the AT697 SPARC processor with on-chip data and instruction cache. The non-volatile memory has been increased from a 20-Mbit EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) to a 4-Gbit Flash, managed by the RTAX2000 Housekeeper, allowing more programs and FPGA bit-files to be stored. The volatile memory has been increased from a 20-Mbit SRAM (static random access memory) to a 1.25-Gbit SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory), providing additional memory space for more complex operating systems and programs to be executed on the SPARC. All memory is EDAC (error detection and correction) protected, while the SPARC processor implements fault protection via TMR (triple modular redundancy) architecture. Further capability over prior BPM designs includes the addition of a second FPGA to implement features beyond the resources of a single FPGA. Both FPGAs are implemented with Xilinx Virtex-II and are interconnected by a 96-bit bus to facilitate data exchange. Dedicated 1.25- Gbit SDRAMs are wired to each Xilinx FPGA to accommodate high rate data buffering for SDR applications as well as independent SpaceWire interfaces. The RTAX2000 manages scrub and configuration of each Xilinx.

Yamamoto, Clifford K↗
DOE OSTI2022

Map reduce using coordination namespace hardware acceleration

A system and method for supporting data MapReduce operations in a tuple space/coordinated namespace (CNS) extended memory storage architecture. The system-wide CNS provides an efficient means for storing and communicating data generated by local processes running at the nodes, and coordinated to provide MapReduce operations in a multi-nodal system. A hardware accelerated mechanism supports map reduce sorting/shuffle operations and reduce operations according to an aggregate function. Local processes running at a node generate a tuple corresponding to data generated by a process, each tuple having a tuple name and tuple data value corresponding to the generated data. Each tuple is processed and stored at the node or another node, dependent upon its tuple name. Tuple records associated with a tuple name are accumulated at one or more nodes according to a linked list structure at each that is accessible via a hash table index pointer at the node.

Jacob, Philip↗
NASA NTRS1988

Semi-automatic process partitioning for parallel computation

On current multiprocessor architectures one must carefully distribute data in memory in order to achieve high performance. Process partitioning is the operation of rewriting an algorithm as a collection of tasks, each operating primarily on its own portion of the data, to carry out the computation in parallel. A semi-automatic approach to process partitioning is considered in which the compiler, guided by advice from the user, automatically transforms programs into such an interacting task system. This approach is illustrated with a picture processing example written in BLAZE, which is transformed into a task system maximizing locality of memory reference.

Koelbel, Charles↗
DOE OSTI2023

An autoencoder compression approach for accelerating large-scale inverse problems

Abstract Partial differential equation (PDE)-constrained inverse problems are some of the most challenging and computationally demanding problems in computational science today. Fine meshes required to accurately compute the PDE solution introduce an enormous number of parameters and require large-scale computing resources such as more processors and more memory to solve such systems in a reasonable time. For inverse problems constrained by time-dependent PDEs, the adjoint method often employed to compute gradients and higher order derivatives efficiently requires solving a time-reversed, so-called adjoint PDE that depends on the forward PDE solution at each timestep. This necessitates the storage of a high-dimensional forward solution vector at every timestep. Such a procedure quickly exhausts the available memory resources. Several approaches that trade additional computation for reduced memory footprint have been proposed to mitigate the memory bottleneck, including checkpointing and compression strategies. In this work, we propose a close-to-ideal scalable compression approach using autoencoders to eliminate the need for checkpointing and substantial memory storage, thereby reducing the time-to-solution and memory requirements. We compare our approach with checkpointing and an off-the-shelf compression approach on an earth-scale ill-posed seismic inverse problem. The results verify the expected close-to-ideal speedup for the gradient and Hessian-vector product using the proposed autoencoder compression approach. To highlight the usefulness of the proposed approach, we combine the autoencoder compression with the data-informed active subspace (DIAS) prior showing how the DIAS method can be affordably extended to large-scale problems without the need for checkpointing and large memory.

Mathematics↗
NASA NTRS1996

Microprocessor controlled portable TLD system

An up-to-date microprocessor controlled thermoluminescence dosemeter (TLD) system for environmental and space dose measurements has been developed. The earlier version of the portable TLD system, Pille, was successfully used on Soviet orbital stations as well as on the US Space Shuttle, and for environmental monitoring. The new portable TLD system, Pille'95, consists of a reader and TL bulb dosemeters, and each dosemeter is provided with an EEPROM chip for automatic identification. The glow curve data are digitised and analysed by the program of the reader. The measured data and the identification number appear on the LED display of the reader. Up to several thousand measured data together with the glow curves can be stored on a removable flash memory card. The whole system is supplied either from built-in rechargeable batteries or from the mains of the space station.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗
NASA NTRS1996

UNIX-based operating systems robustness evaluation

Robust operating systems are required for reliable computing. Techniques for robustness evaluation of operating systems not only enhance the understanding of the reliability of computer systems, but also provide valuable feed- back to system designers. This thesis presents results from robustness evaluation experiments on five UNIX-based operating systems, which include Digital Equipment's OSF/l, Hewlett Packard's HP-UX, Sun Microsystems' Solaris and SunOS, and Silicon Graphics' IRIX. Three sets of experiments were performed. The methodology for evaluation tested (1) the exception handling mechanism, (2) system resource management, and (3) system capacity under high workload stress. An exception generator was used to evaluate the exception handling mechanism of the operating systems. Results included exit status of the exception generator and the system state. Resource management techniques used by individual operating systems were tested using programs designed to usurp system resources such as physical memory and process slots. Finally, the workload stress testing evaluated the effect of the workload on system performance by running a synthetic workload and recording the response time of local and remote user requests. Moderate to severe performance degradations were observed on the systems under stress.

Chang, Yu-Ming↗