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NASA NTRS2010

Langley Ground Facilities and Testing in the 21st Century

A strategic approach for retaining and more efficiently operating the essential Langley Ground Testing Facilities in the 21st Century is presented. This effort takes advantage of the previously completed and ongoing studies at the Agency and National levels. This integrated approach takes into consideration the overall decline in test business base within the nation and reduced utilization in each of the Langley facilities with capabilities to test in the subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speed regimes. The strategy accounts for capability needs to meet the Agency programmatic requirements and strategic goals and to execute test activities in the most efficient and flexible facility operating structure. The structure currently being implemented at Langley offers agility to right-size our capability and capacity from a national perspective, to accommodate the dynamic nature of the testing needs, and will address the influence of existing and emerging analytical tools for design. The paradigm for testing in the retained facilities is to efficiently and reliably provide more accurate and high-quality test results at an affordable cost to support design information needs for flight regimes where the computational capability is not adequate and to verify and validate the existing and emerging computational tools. Each of the above goals are planned to be achieved, keeping in mind the increasing small industry customer base engaged in developing unpiloted aerial vehicles and commercial space transportation systems.

Ambur, Damodar R.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Critical Readiness Review EHS Water Quality and Microbiology

Presentation reviews the status in reference to the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) of the water quality and microbiology for the International Space Station. It includes information about crew training, hardware delivery, and those items that will be returned for study.

Woo, Cindy↗

NASA NTRS2012

Discrimination of Biomass Burning Smoke and Clouds in MAIAC Algorithm

The multi-angle implementation of atmospheric correction (MAIAC) algorithm makes aerosol retrievals from MODIS data at 1 km resolution providing information about the fine scale aerosol variability. This information is required in different applications such as urban air quality analysis, aerosol source identification etc. The quality of high resolution aerosol data is directly linked to the quality of cloud mask, in particular detection of small (sub-pixel) and low clouds. This work continues research in this direction, describing a technique to detect small clouds and introducing the smoke test to discriminate the biomass burning smoke from the clouds. The smoke test relies on a relative increase of aerosol absorption at MODIS wavelength 0.412 micrometers as compared to 0.47-0.67 micrometers due to multiple scattering and enhanced absorption by organic carbon released during combustion. This general principle has been successfully used in the OMI detection of absorbing aerosols based on UV measurements. This paper provides the algorithm detail and illustrates its performance on two examples of wildfires in US Pacific North-West and in Georgia/Florida of 2007.

Lyapustin, A.↗

NASA NTRS2016

In-Process Thermal Imaging of the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication Process

Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center have been developing the Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (EBF3) metal additive manufacturing process for the past 15 years. In this process, an electron beam is used as a heat source to create a small molten pool on a substrate into which wire is fed. The electron beam and wire feed assembly are translated with respect to the substrate to follow a predetermined tool path. This process is repeated in a layer-wise fashion to fabricate metal structural components. In-process imaging has been integrated into the EBF3 system using a near-infrared (NIR) camera. The images are processed to provide thermal and spatial measurements that have been incorporated into a closed-loop control system to maintain consistent thermal conditions throughout the build. Other information in the thermal images is being used to assess quality in real time by detecting flaws in prior layers of the deposit. NIR camera incorporation into the system has improved the consistency of the deposited material and provides the potential for real-time flaw detection which, ultimately, could lead to the manufacture of better, more reliable components using this additive manufacturing process.

Taminger, Karen M.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Real-Time Background Oriented Schlieren: Catching Up With Knife Edge Schlieren

Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) is a widely used technique that provides density gradient information in flow fields of interest, without imposing stringent optical quality requirements on the facility/experiment windows and/or optics used in the BOS setup. Typically, the BOS reference image is acquired before the test begins (flow off) and then the "live" image data are acquired during the actual testing/experiment (flow on). The raw BOS image data, while displayed in real-time as they are acquired from the camera, unfortunately provide little if any visual indication of the density gradients in the flow. Generally, the "live" images must be processed off-line after the testing is completed, providing no indication of the success of the BOS setup and no feedback on the operational success of the test. Advances in computer processing hardware enables the implementation of real-time processing and display of the BOS image data. Two different approaches to implementing the real-time BOS (RT-BOS) processing capability are described herein. First, a traditional multi-core Central Processing Unit (CPU) based approach using scheduled parallel threads is used to build a RT-BOS processing engine. In the second approach, a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) approach is used to costruct a RT-BOS processing engine. Generally, high core count CPU processors can provide a useful processing rate for RT-BOS. However, the GPU based approach exceeds the processing capability of the CPU approach, at a fraction of the cost. The GPU approach places no restrictions on the Host PC processing capability, except that it be capable of acquiring the BOS image data from the camera in real-time.

Wernet, Mark P.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Virtual and Augmented Reality Applications in Science and Engineering

The articles in this special section focus on virtual and augmented reality applications in science and engineering. There has been an explosive growth in visually augmenting the spaces around us by creating environments where visual, aural, and kinesthetic immersive experiences afforded by virtual and augmented reality (AR) powerfully engage us in a way no other medium can. Virtual reality (VR) recreates the sensory world around us entirely through computer-generated signals of sight, sound, touch (and in some cases smell and taste). AR overlays the computer-generated sensory signals on the real world allowing the user to experience a rich juxtaposition of the virtual and the real worlds simultaneously. Together, these technologies are transforming the way people from all walks of life—scientists, engineers, educators, industrial workers, health care professionals, artists, and everyday people— see and use the information that matters most to them, in an intuitive embodied way. Just as mobile technology has revolutionized how we communicate with each other and with our digital worlds, ubiquitous VR and AR will fundamentally alter how our society creates, inspires, engages, and learns from the information-rich and enriched cyberspaces around us. While affordable consumer- quality VR and AR hardware is becoming available, significant work is needed to adopt VR and AR for important and difficult scientific and societal applications.

Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality↗

NASA NTRS2013

Geospatial Modeling of Asthma Population in Relation to Air Pollution

Current observations indicate that asthma is growing every year in the United States, specific reasons for this are not well understood. This study stems from an ongoing research effort to investigate the spatio-temporal behavior of asthma and its relatedness to air pollution. The association between environmental variables such as air quality and asthma related health issues over Mississippi State are investigated using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and applications. Health data concerning asthma obtained from Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) for 9-year period of 2003-2011, and data of air pollutant concentrations (PM2.5) collected from USEPA web resources, and are analyzed geospatially to establish the impacts of air quality on human health specifically related to asthma. Disease mapping using geospatial techniques provides valuable insights into the spatial nature, variability, and association of asthma to air pollution. Asthma patient hospitalization data of Mississippi has been analyzed and mapped using quantitative Choropleth techniques in ArcGIS. Patients have been geocoded to their respective zip codes. Potential air pollutant sources of Interstate highways, Industries, and other land use data have been integrated in common geospatial platform to understand their adverse contribution on human health. Existing hospitals and emergency clinics are being injected into analysis to further understand their proximity and easy access to patient locations. At the current level of analysis and understanding, spatial distribution of Asthma is observed in the populations of Zip code regions in gulf coast, along the interstates of south, and in counties of Northeast Mississippi. It is also found that asthma is prevalent in most of the urban population. This GIS based project would be useful to make health risk assessment and provide information support to the administrators and decision makers for establishing satellite clinics in future.

Kethireddy, Swatantra R.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Weld analysis and control system

The invention is a Weld Analysis and Control System developed for active weld system control through real time weld data acquisition. Closed-loop control is based on analysis of weld system parameters and weld geometry. The system is adapted for use with automated welding apparatus having a weld controller which is capable of active electronic control of all aspects of a welding operation. Enhanced graphics and data displays are provided for post-weld analysis. The system provides parameter acquisition, including seam location which is acquired for active torch cross-seam positioning. Torch stand-off is also monitored for control. Weld bead and parent surface geometrical parameters are acquired as an indication of weld quality. These parameters include mismatch, peaking, undercut, underfill, crown height, weld width, puddle diameter, and other measurable information about the weld puddle regions, such as puddle symmetry, etc. These parameters provide a basis for active control as well as post-weld quality analysis and verification. Weld system parameters, such as voltage, current and wire feed rate, are also monitored and archived for correlation with quality parameters.

Kennedy, Larry Z.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Interpreting forest and grassland biome productivity utilizing nested scales of image resolution and biogeographical analysis

Data acquisition, initial site characterization, image and geographic information methods available, and brief evaluations of first-year for NASA's Thematic Mapper (TM) working group are presented. The TM and other spectral data are examined in order to relate local, intensive ecosystem research findings to estimates of carbon cycling rates over wide geographic regions. The effort is to span environments ranging from dry to moist climates and from good to poor site quality using the TM capability, with and without the inclusion of geographic information system (GIS) data, and thus to interpret the local spatial pattern of factors conditioning biomass or productivity. Twenty-eight TM data sets were acquired, archived, and evaluated. The ERDAS image processing and GIS system were installed on the microcomputer (PC-AT) and its capabilities are being investigated. The TM coverage of seven study areas were exported via ELAS software on the Prime to the ERDAS system. Statistical analysis procedures to be used on the spectral data are being identified.

Iverson, L. R.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Ross Sea Polynyas: Response of Ice Concentration Retrievals to Large Areas of Thin Ice

For a 3-month period between May and July of 2005, we examine the response of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) Enhanced NASA Team 2 (NT2) and AMSR-E Bootstrap (ABA) ice concentration algorithms to large areas of thin ice of the Ross Sea polynyas. Coincident Envisat Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) coverage of the region during this period offers a detailed look at the development of the polynyas within several hundred kilometers of the ice front. The high-resolution imagery and derived ice motion fields show bands of polynya ice, covering up to approximately 105 km(sup 2) of the Ross Sea, that are associated with wind-forced advection. In this study, ice thickness from AMSR-E 36 GHz polarization information serves as the basis for examination of the response. The quality of the thickness of newly formed sea ice (<10 cm) from AMSR-E is first assessed with thickness estimates derived from ice surface temperatures from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. The effect of large areas of thin ice in lowering the ice concentration estimates from both NT2/ABA approaches is clearly demonstrated. Results show relatively robust relationships between retrieved ice concentrations and thin ice thickness estimates that differ between the two algorithms. These relationships define the approximate spatial coincidence of ice concentration and thickness isopleths. Using the 83% (ABA) and 91% (NT2) isopleths as polynya boundaries, we show that the computed coverage compares well with that using the estimated 10-cm thickness contour. The thin ice response characterized here suggests that in regions with polynyas, the retrieval results could be used to provide useful geophysical information, namely thickness and coverage.

algorithms↗

NASA NTRS2016

Information Management Workflow and Tools Enabling Multiscale Modeling Within ICME Paradigm

Materials Engineering↗

NASA NTRS2018

Integration of Information Management System, Workflow and Computational Tools Enabling Multiscale Modeling Within an ICME Paradigm

multiscale modeling; Micromechanics; Computational↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Managing the Digital Thread for Structural Applications With Fit for Purpose Materials

With the increased emphasis on reducing the cost and time to market of new materials, the need for analytical tools that enable the virtual design and optimization of materials throughout their processing - internal structure - property - performance envelope, along with the capturing and storing of the associated material and model information across its lifecycle, has become critical. This need is also fueled by the demands for higher efficiency in material testing; consistency, quality and traceability of data; product design; engineering analysis; as well as control of access to proprietary or sensitive information. Consequently, at NASA Glenn Research Center a robust information management system that manages the digital thread across the full material life (i.e., capture, analysis, maintenance, and dissemination of data) cycle directed at the design of ‘fit-for-purpose materials’ is under development. To this end the Application Table has been incorporated within NASA Glenn Research Center’s ICME Information Management framework within the ANSYS Granta MI tool. The Application Table provides a place where material and structural application information/requirements can be linked to marry the “design-the-material” (structural engineering) and the “design-with-material” (material science) paradigms and thereby enable application-driven design and optimization of materials and structures. In additional several associated toolsets, specifically: AIMAOS (Automated Information Management Across Organizations and Scales), Py MILab, and JARIMIS (Just A Rather Intelligent Material Interrogation System) are also under development to assist in the judicious automation of this process. AIMOAS offers users an interactive graphical user interface for connecting material information management systems with both commercial and in-house simulation tools at various length scales to enable such automation in the handoff across scales and maintenance of material digital twins and the digital thread. Py MILab, is an automatic framework for the capture, analysis, maintenance, and storage of material test data. Py MILab uses a modular approach for capturing raw data, analyzing the data, and storing the data in a database, interfaced by neutral file structures, to promote plug-and-play capabilities for various analysis types. Finally, JARIMIS is an expert system that integrates various materials informatics tools (e.g., MicroNet, Surrogate ML models, ANSYS Granta MI, etc.) to enable inverse design of materials and facilitate the application of machine learning (ML) and data science with human in the loop decision making to rapidly discover and optimize new materials.

Digital Transformation↗

NASA NTRS1990

Software Quality Assurance Audits Guidebooks

The growth in cost and importance of software to NASA has caused NASA to address the improvement of software development across the agency. One of the products of this program is a series of guidebooks that define a NASA concept of the assurance processes that are used in software development. The Software Assurance Guidebook, NASA-GB-A201, issued in September, 1989, provides an overall picture of the NASA concepts and practices in software assurance. Second level guidebooks focus on specific activities that fall within the software assurance discipline, and provide more detailed information for the manager and/or practitioner. This is the second level Software Quality Assurance Audits Guidebook that describes software quality assurance audits in a way that is compatible with practices at NASA Centers.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2004

Deciphering the X-ray Emission of the Nearest Herbig Ae Star

In this research program, we obtained and analyzed an X-ray observation of the young nearby intermediate mass pre-main sequence star HD 104237 using the XMM-Newton space-based observatory. The observation was obtained on 17 Feb. 2002. This observation yielded high-quality X-ray images, spectra, and timing data which provided valuable information on the physical processes responsible for the X-ray emission. This star is a member of the group of so-called Herbig Ae/Be stars, which are young intermediate mass (approx. 2 - 4 solar masses) pre-main sequence (PMS) stars a few million years old that have not yet begun core hydrogen burning. The objective of the XMM-Newton observation was to obtain higher quality data than previously available in order to constrain possible X-ray emission mechanisms. The origin of the X-ray emission from Herbig Ae/Be stars is not yet known. These intermediate mass PMS stars lie on radiative tracks and are not expected to emit X-rays via solar-like magnetic processes, nor are their winds powerful enough to produce X-rays by radiative wind shocks as in more massive O-type stars. The emission could originate in unseen low-mass companions, or it may be intrinsic to the Herbig stars themselves if they still have primordial magnetic fields or can sustain magnetic activity via a nonsolar dynamo.

Skinner, Stephen L.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Intelligent Integrated Health Management for a System of Systems

An intelligent integrated health management system (IIHMS) incorporates major improvements over prior such systems. The particular IIHMS is implemented for any system defined as a hierarchical distributed network of intelligent elements (HDNIE), comprising primarily: (1) an architecture (Figure 1), (2) intelligent elements, (3) a conceptual framework and taxonomy (Figure 2), and (4) and ontology that defines standards and protocols. Some definitions of terms are prerequisite to a further brief description of this innovation: A system-of-systems (SoS) is an engineering system that comprises multiple subsystems (e.g., a system of multiple possibly interacting flow subsystems that include pumps, valves, tanks, ducts, sensors, and the like); 'Intelligent' is used here in the sense of artificial intelligence. An intelligent element may be physical or virtual, it is network enabled, and it is able to manage data, information, and knowledge (DIaK) focused on determining its condition in the context of the entire SoS; As used here, 'health' signifies the functionality and/or structural integrity of an engineering system, subsystem, or process (leading to determination of the health of components); 'Process' can signify either a physical process in the usual sense of the word or an element into which functionally related sensors are grouped; 'Element' can signify a component (e.g., an actuator, a valve), a process, a controller, an actuator, a subsystem, or a system; The term Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) is used to describe a capability that focuses on determining the condition (health) of every element in a complex system (detect anomalies, diagnose causes, prognosis of future anomalies), and provide data, information, and knowledge (DIaK) not just data to control systems for safe and effective operation. A major novel aspect of the present development is the concept of intelligent integration. The purpose of intelligent integration, as defined and implemented in the present IIHMS, is to enable automated analysis of physical phenomena in imitation of human reasoning, including the use of qualitative methods. Intelligent integration is said to occur in a system in which all elements are intelligent and can acquire, maintain, and share knowledge and information. In the HDNIE of the present IIHMS, an SoS is represented as being operationally organized in a hierarchical-distributed format. The elements of the SoS are considered to be intelligent in that they determine their own conditions within an integrated scheme that involves consideration of data, information, knowledge bases, and methods that reside in all elements of the system. The conceptual framework of the HDNIE and the methodologies of implementing it enable the flow of information and knowledge among the elements so as to make possible the determination of the condition of each element. The necessary information and knowledge is made available to each affected element at the desired time, satisfying a need to prevent information overload while providing context-sensitive information at the proper level of detail. Provision of high-quality data is a central goal in designing this or any IIHMS. In pursuit of this goal, functionally related sensors are logically assigned to groups denoted processes. An aggregate of processes is considered to form a system. Alternatively or in addition to what has been said thus far, the HDNIE of this IIHMS can be regarded as consisting of a framework containing object models that encapsulate all elements of the system, their individual and relational knowledge bases, generic methods and procedures based on models of the applicable physics, and communication processes (Figure 2). The framework enables implementation of a paradigm inspired by how expert operators monitor the health of systems with the help of (1) DIaK from various sources, (2) software tools that assist in rapid visualization of the condition of the system, (3) analical software tools that assist in reasoning about the condition, (4) sharing of information via network communication hardware and software, and (5) software tools that aid in making decisions to remedy unacceptable conditions or improve performance.

Smith, Harvey↗

NASA NTRS1982

Mars - Near-infrared spectral reflectance of surface regions and compositional implications

Both morphological and compositional information are needed to define and characterize surface geologic units on Mars. A description is presented of new, near-infrared spectra (0.65 to 2.50 micrometers) for 11 regions on the Martian surface observed in 1978. The high photometric quality of these data combined with increased near-infrared spectral coverage provide new information about the spectral behavior and, therefore, the composition and physical nature of Martian surface materials. The spectral reflectances were obtained with the aid of a 2.2-m telescope located on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. A cooled (to 77 K) circular variable filter spectrometer with an InSb detector was used to measure alternatively Mars and the standard star Beta Geminorum. Attention is given to general spectral characteristics, the dark region composition, spectral evidence for water, and the 2.3 micrometer absorption.

Mccord, T. B.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Sound Quality Metric Indicators of Rotorcraft Noise Annoyance Using Multilevel Regression Analysis

Although every helicopter in operation has to go through a noise certification process, annoyance due to helicopters still persists within various communities. This implies that certification metrics do not capture the full range of human response and that predicted reactions could be supplemented with other information, which could be acoustic or non-acoustic in nature. The rotorcraft sound quality metric (RoQM) psychoacoustic experiment was designed to determine the relative importance of sound quality metrics (SQMs), such as sharpness, tonality, loudness, fluctuation strength and impulsiveness, on human annoyance to rotorcraft sounds. Starting from a baseline helicopter recording, SQMs were varied synthetically and presented to subjects who responded with an annoyance rating. The RoQM test took place in 2017 at the NASA Langley Research Center in the Exterior Effects Room. A total of 105 sounds were played to 40 subjects. The relationship between helicopter noise sound quality and annoyance is modeled using multilevel regression in this work, which takes into account the variability of responses across subjects. Previous analyses did not consider such a grouping of the data.

Matthew Boucher↗