SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
An automated drift time extraction and computed associated collision cross section software tool for small molecule analysis with ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS). The software automatically extracts drift times and computes associated collision cross sections for small molecules analyzed using ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) based on a target list of expected ions provided by the user.
Systems biology models written in the BioNetGen language often contain parameters that must be fit based on experimental data. PyBioNetFit is a software tool designed to fit parameters of BioNetGen models. The user is expected to provide a BioNetGen model that contains unknown parameters, along with one or more text files containing experimental data. PyBioNetFit will perform a series of calls to the BioNetGen simulator using different parameter sets, to identify the parameter set that best fits the data. The parameter search is dictated by the user's choice of one of several metaheuristic optimization algorithms, including differential evolution, particle swarm optimization, scatter search, and simulated annealing. The software supports parallelized computing on multi-core computers and on computing clusters. We expect this software to be a useful tool for researchers designing BioNetGen models in collaboration with experimentalists.
The Army-NASA Virtual Innovations Laboratory (ANVIL) was recently created to provide virtual reality tools for performing Human Engineering and operations analysis for both NASA and the Army. The author's summer research project consisted of developing and refining these tools for NASA's Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) program. Several general simulations were developed for use by the ANVIL for the evaluation of the X34 Engine Changeout procedure. These simulations were developed with the software tool dVISE 4.0.0 produced by Division Inc. All software was run on an SGI Indigo2 High Impact. This paper describes the simulations, various problems encountered with the simulations, other summer activities, and possible work for the future. We first begin with a brief description of virtual reality systems.
The LHC cryogenic system radiation tolerant electronics and their associated field instruments have been in nominal conditions since before the commissioning of the first LHC beams in September 2008. This system is made of about 15’000 field instruments (thermometers, pressure sensors, liquid helium level gauges, electrical heaters and position switches), 7’500 electronic cards and 853 electronic crates. Since mid-2008 a software tool has been deployed, this allows an operator to report a problem and then lists the corrective actions. The tool is a great help in detecting recurrent problems that may be tackled by a hardware or software consolidation. The corrective actions range from simple resets, exchange of defective equipment, repair of electrical connectors, etc. However a recurrent problem that heals by itself is present on some channels. This type of fault is extremely difficult to diagnose and it appears as a temporary opening of an electrical circuit; its duration can range from a few minutes to several months. This paper presents the main type of problems encountered during the last four years, their evolution over time, the various hardware or software consolidations that have resulted and whether they have had an impact in the availability of the LHC beam.
The US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Office of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition is examining a set of system options and conducting supporting analyses to inform the development of an integrated waste management system, which may include one or more federal staging facilities (FSFs) for used nuclear fuel (UNF ) sited using a collaborative siting process. This paper focuses on the ongoing activities in two systems engineering and analysis work areas: (1) data and tools development, validation, and maintenance and (2) systems engineering execution. Within the first work area, the STANDARDS 5.0 UNF data and analysis tool, formerly known as UNF-ST&DARDS, is being developed as a foundational resource to assist in the management of UNF data. It has the key capability to model UNF throughout the entire back end of the fuel cycle. STANDARDS also includes several compatible analysis tools for the time-dependent characterization of UNF and related systems by interfacing with the SCALE code system for nuclear analysis and COBRA-SFS for thermal analysis. Also, within the data and tools area is the Next Generation System Analysis Model (NGSAM), which is an agent-based simulation software tool expressly designed to be capable of modeling the waste management system, including the transportation of UNF to and from a FSF. NGSAM has been developed to enable informed decision-making by providing the capability to analyze various potential system options for the management of UNF and high-level radioactive waste. Finally, in the systems engineering execution area, the team has begun to apply a disciplined systems engineering approach at the system level along with supporting analysis to guide the development of the FSF project requirements (including associated transportation infrastructure). Systems engineering principles and practices and their adaptation/application to design and development activities will ensure that the waste management system is effectively implemented as work proceeds. Other activities include investigating the implications of changes in various assumptions and parameters related to waste management systems, such as UNF acceptance rates, receipt logic, facility capacities and capabilities, use of standardized canisters, and different assumed facility operation start dates. Keywords: federal staging facility (FSF), used nuclear fuel (UNF), integrated waste management (IWM) system, Next Generation System Analysis Model (NGSAM), STANDARDS, systems engineering
A software system is described which reduces the time required to design monolithic switched capacitor filters. The system combines several software tools into an integrated flow. Switched capacitor technology and alternative technologies are discussed. Design time using the software system is compared to typical design time without the system.
aeroCOMPASS is a software system, originally designed to aid in the management of wind tunnels at Langley Research Center, that could be adapted to provide similar aid to other enterprises in which research is performed in common laboratory facilities by users who may be geographically dispersed. Included in aeroCOMPASS is Web-interface software that provides a single, convenient portal to a set of project- and test-related software tools and other application programs. The heart of aeroCOMPASS is a user-oriented document-management software subsystem that enables geographically dispersed users to easily share and manage a variety of documents. A principle of "write once, read many" is implemented throughout aeroCOMPASS to eliminate the need for multiple entry of the same information. The Web framework of aeroCOMPASS provides links to client-side application programs that are fully integrated with databases and server-side application programs. Other subsystems of aeroCOMPASS include ones for reserving hardware, tracking of requests and feedback from users, generating interactive notes, administration of a customer-satisfaction questionnaire, managing execution of tests, managing archives of metadata about tests, planning tests, and providing online help and instruction for users.
In November 2010, Intelligent Automation, Inc. (IAI) delivered an M&S software tool to that allows system level studies of the complex terminal airspace with the ACES simulation. The software was evaluated against current day arrivals in the Atlanta TRACON using Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (KATL) arrival schedules. Results of this validation effort are presented describing data sets, traffic flow assumptions and techniques, and arrival rate comparisons between reported landings at Atlanta versus simulated arrivals using the same traffic sets in ACES equipped with M&S. Initial results showed the simulated system capacity to be significantly below arrival capacity seen at KATL. Data was gathered for Atlanta using commercial airport and flight tracking websites (like FlightAware.com), and analyzed to insure compatible techniques were used for result reporting and comparison. TFM operators for Atlanta were consulted for tuning final simulation parameters and for guidance in flow management techniques during high volume operations. Using these modified parameters and incorporating TFM guidance for efficiencies in flowing aircraft, arrival capacity for KATL was matched for the simulation. Following this validation effort, a sensitivity study was conducted to measure the impact of variations in system parameters on the Atlanta airport arrival capacity.
This paper describes software tools developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) that can be coupled through the Functional Mock-up Interface standard in support of the design and operation of building energy and control systems. These tools have been developed to address the gaps and limitations encountered in legacy simulation tools. These tools were originally designed for the analysis of individual domains of buildings, and have been difficult to integrate with other tools for runtime data exchange. The coupling has been realized by use of the Functional Mock-up Interface for co-simulation, which standardizes an application programming interface for simulator interoperability that has been adopted in a variety of industrial domains. As a variety of coupling scenarios are possible, this paper provides users with guidance on what coupling may be best suited for their application. Furthermore, the paper illustrates how tools can be integrated into a building management system to support the operation of buildings. These tools may be a design model that is used for real-time performance monitoring, a fault detection and diagnostics algorithm, or a control sequence, each of which may be exported as a Functional Mock-up Unit and made available in a building management system as an input/output block. We anticipate that this capability can contribute to bridging the observed performance gap between design and operational energy use of buildings.
Despite being information rich, the vast majority of untargeted mass spectrometry data are underutilized; most analytes are not used for downstream interpretation or reanalysis after publication. The inability to dive into these rich raw mass spectrometry datasets is due to the limited flexibility and scalability of existing software tools. Here, in this study, we introduce a new language, the Mass Spectrometry Query Language (MassQL), and an accompanying software ecosystem that addresses these issues by enabling the community to directly query mass spectrometry data with an expressive set of user-defined mass spectrometry patterns. Illustrated by real-world examples, MassQL provides a data-driven definition of chemical diversity by enabling the reanalysis of all public untargeted metabolomics data, empowering scientists across many disciplines to make new discoveries. MassQL has been widely implemented in multiple open-source and commercial mass spectrometry analysis tools, which enhances the ability, interoperability and reproducibility of mining of mass spectrometry data for the research community.
Furthermore, there are many applications in science and engineering modeling where an accurate representation of a complex model geometry in the form of a mesh is important. In applications of flow and transport in subsurface porous media, this is manifest in models that must capture complex geologic stratigraphy, structure (faults, folds, erosion, deposition) and infrastructure (tunnels, boreholes, excavations). Model setup, defined as the activities of geometry definition, mesh generation (creation, optimization, modification, refine, de-refine, smooth), assigning material properties, initial conditions and boundary conditions requires specialized software tools to automate and streamline the process. In addition, some model setup tools will provide more utility if they are designed to interface with and meet the needs of a particular flow and transport software suite. A control volume discretization that uses a two point flux approximation is for example most accurate when the underlying control volumes are 2D or 3D Voronoi tessellations. In this paper we will present the coupling of LaGriT, a mesh generation and model setup software suite and TOUGH2 to model subsurface flow problems and we show an example of how LaGriT can be used as a model setup tool for the generation of a Voronoi mesh for the simulation program TOUGH2. To generate the MESH file for TOUGH2 from the LaGriT output a standalone module Lagrit2Tough2 was developed, which is presented here and will be included in a future release of LaGriT. Here in this paper an alternative method to generate a Voronoi mesh for TOUGH2 with LaGriT is presented and thanks to the modular and command based structure of LaGriT this method is well suited to generating a mesh for complex models.
Many scientific communities have adopted community-based models that integrate multiple components to simulate whole system dynamics. The community software projects’ complexity, stems from the integration of multiple individual software components that were developed under different application requirements and various machine architectures, has become a challenge for effective software system understanding and continuous software development. The paper presents an integrated software toolkit called X-ray Software Scanner (in abbreviation, XScan) for a better understanding of large-scale community-based scientific codes. Our software tool provides support to quickly summarize the overall information of scientific codes, including the number of lines of code, programming languages, external library dependencies, as well as architecture-dependent parallel software features. The XScan toolkit also realizes a static software analysis component to collect detailed structural information and provides an interactive visualization and analysis of the functions. We use a large-scale community-based Earth System Model to demonstrate the workflow, functions and visualization of the toolkit. We also discuss the application of advanced graph analytics techniques to assist software modular design and component refactoring.
In the event of contamination in a water distribution network (WDN), source identification (SI) methods that analyze sensor data can be used to identify the source location(s). Knowledge of the source location and characteristics are important to inform contamination control and cleanup operations. Various SI strategies that have been developed by researchers differ in their underlying assumptions and solution techniques. The following manuscript presents a systematic procedure for testing and evaluating SI methods. The performance of these SI methods is affected by various factors including the size of WDN model, measurement error, modeling error, time and number of contaminant injections, and time and number of measurements. This paper includes test cases that vary these factors and evaluates three SI methods on the basis of accuracy and specificity. The tests are used to review and compare these different SI methods, highlighting their strengths in handling various identification scenarios. These SI methods and a testing framework that includes the test cases and analysis tools presented in this paper have been integrated into EPA’s Water Security Toolkit (WST), a suite of software tools to help researchers and others in the water industry evaluate and plan various response strategies in case of a contamination incident. Lastly, a set of recommendations are made for users to consider when working with different categories of SI methods.
Utilities are receiving an increasing number of interconnection requests for distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems from their customers, requiring a solution to quickly and intelligently perform technical assessments of these requests and to manage these new renewable energy assets. In this paper, we present a stand-alone interconnection tool, PREconfiguring and Controlling Inverter SEt-points (PRECISETM), and how it overcomes the challenges of accelerating technical evaluations and leverages smart inverter functionality to provide local voltage support on an as-needed basis. The paper details the purpose and architecture of PRECISE, including tools, data source requirements, the model-based interconnection evaluation process, and technical results. PRECISE is an integrated software tool that customizes PV inverter settings for utilities by modeling and assessing impacts on local voltages and the need for advanced inverter functions (AIFs) (e.g., volt-VAR and volt-watt). PRECISE maximizes the use of readily available utility data sets to make fast online assessments of incoming PV interconnection requests and makes accept/reject recommendations along with custom settings for AIFs.
NASA Glenn's Systems Analysis Branch (SAB) is involved in mission analysis and associated software tool development for Earth-to-Orbit and In-Space (low thrust) missions. One of the key software analysis programs used by the SAB is the Optimal Trajectories by Implicit Simulation (OTIS) program. This program is developed and managed by NASA Glenn s SAB and is used on a national level by government and contractor affiliates. The SAB is also involved in the mission design activities for the Next Generation Launch Technology (NGLT) program as well as In-Space mission design involving new In-Space propulsion technologies. It is in these two main areas that support, in-depth studies, and development were performed. Below is a brief summary of the study and development activities.
Much technology assessment and organization design data exists in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Tools are needed to put this data into a form that can be used by design managers to make design decisions. One need is to cluster data that is highly coupled. Tools such as the Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) and a Genetic Algorithm (GA) can be of great benefit. However, no tool currently combines the DSM and a GA to solve the clustering problem. This paper describes a new software tool that interfaces a GA written as an Excel macro with a DSM in spreadsheet format. The results of several test cases are included to demonstrate how well this new tool works.
A computer program that belongs to the class known among software experts as output truth-maintenance-systems (output TMSs) has been devised as one of a number of software tools for reducing the size of the knowledge base that must be searched during execution of artificial- intelligence software of the rule-based inference-engine type in a case in which data are missing. This program determines whether the consequences of activation of two or more rules can be combined without causing a logical inconsistency. For example, in a case involving hypothetical scenarios that could lead to turning a given device on or off, the program determines whether a scenario involving a given combination of rules could lead to turning the device both on and off at the same time, in which case that combination of rules would not be included in the scenario.
The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a virtual exercise training software system (VETSS) capable of providing real-time instruction and exercise feedback during exploration missions. A resistive exercise instructional system was developed using a Microsoft Kinect depth-camera device, which provides markerless 3-D whole-body motion capture at a small form factor and minimal setup effort. It was hypothesized that subjects using the newly developed instructional software tool would perform the deadlift exercise with more optimal kinematics and consistent technique than those without the instructional software. Following a comprehensive evaluation in the laboratory, the system was deployed for testing and refinement in the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) analog.