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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 631 records · Page 35
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Price Based Local Power Distribution Management System (Local Power Distribution Manager) v1.0

A trans-active energy micro-grid controller is implemented in the VOLTTRON distributed control platform. The system uses the price of electricity as the mechanism for conducting transactions that are used to manage energy use and to balance supply and demand. In order to allow testing and analysis of the control system, the implementation is designed to run completely as a software simulation, while allowing the inclusion of selected hardware that physically manages power. Equipment to be integrated with the micro-grid controller must have an IP (Internet Protocol)-based network connection and a software "driver" must exist to translate data communications between the device and the controller.

BROWN, RICHARDE.↗
DOE OSTI2016

MRI-alone radiation therapy planning for prostate cancer: Automatic fiducial marker detection

Purpose: The feasibility of radiation therapy treatment planning using substitute computed tomography (sCT) generated from magnetic resonance images (MRIs) has been demonstrated by a number of research groups. One challenge with an MRI-alone workflow is the accurate identification of intraprostatic gold fiducial markers, which are frequently used for prostate localization prior to each dose delivery fraction. This paper investigates a template-matching approach for the detection of these seeds in MRI. Methods: Two different gradient echo T1 and T2* weighted MRI sequences were acquired from fifteen prostate cancer patients and evaluated for seed detection. For training, seed templates from manual contours were selected in a spectral clustering manifold learning framework. This aids in clustering “similar” gold fiducial markers together. The marker with the minimum distance to a cluster centroid was selected as the representative template of that cluster during training. During testing, Gaussian mixture modeling followed by a Markovian model was used in automatic detection of the probable candidates. The probable candidates were rigidly registered to the templates identified from spectral clustering, and a similarity metric is computed for ranking and detection. Results: A fiducial detection accuracy of 95% was obtained compared to manual observations. Expert radiation therapist observers were able to correctly identify all three implanted seeds on 11 of the 15 scans (the proposed method correctly identified all seeds on 10 of the 15). Conclusions: An novel automatic framework for gold fiducial marker detection in MRI is proposed and evaluated with detection accuracies comparable to manual detection. When radiation therapists are unable to determine the seed location in MRI, they refer back to the planning CT (only available in the existing clinical framework); similarly, an automatic quality control is built into the automatic software to ensure that all gold seeds are either correctly detected or a warning is raised for further manual intervention.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Traleika Glacier: A hardware-software co-designed approach to exascale computing

The move from current petascale machines to future exascale machines will need both hardware improvements and software changes. Hardware will need to evolve to focus primarily on features that lower energy consumption: near-threshold voltage operation, fine-grained power and clock management and heterogeneity. Software will also need to evolve and be able to express more parallelism, become more dynamic and adaptable in order to be able to operate on a much more variable hardware. Here, we present Traleika Glacier, an effort that seeks to evaluate radical design changes to meet the constraints, both in terms of power and cost, of exascale computing. The salient features of the hardware design presented in the work include a) a use of heterogeneous cores, b) a redesign of the memory system that centers around hierarchical scratchpads and a global address space, c) the hardware acceleration of certain memory and network operations through specialized engines and, d) very fine-grained control and monitoring capabilities. On the software side, we describe a task-based runtime system, the Open Community Runtime (OCR) which aims to express a wide range of higher-level programming models with a very limited set of core concepts: event-driven tasks for computation, events for synchronization and relocatable data-blocks for data management.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Marine and Hydrokinetic Toolkit (Mhkit) for Data Quality Control and Analysis

The ability to handle data is critical at all stages of marine energy (ME) development. The marine hydrokinetic toolkit (MHKiT) is an open-source marine energy software, which includes modules for ingesting, applying quality control, processing, visualizing, and managing data. MHKiT-Python and MHKiT-MATLAB provide robust and verified functions that are needed by the ME community to standardize data processing. Calculations and visualizations adhere to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technical specifications and other guidelines. A resource assessment of NDBC buoy 46050 near PACWAVE is performed using MHKiT and discusses comparisons to the resource assessment provided performed by Dunkel et al.

marine energy↗
DOE OSTI2016

Importance Ranking of Software Dependability Attributes in the Nuclear Industry

With the current transition from analog to digital instrumentation and control systems in nuclear power plants, the number and variety of software-based systems has significantly increased. Due to the sophisticated nature and the increasing complexity of software, a significant challenge faced by the nuclear industry is the trust one can place in software-based systems once they have been developed. The trust placed in software is typically termed software dependability, a qualifier which encompasses different attributes such as software reliability, safety, security, availability and maintainability. It is recognized that these attributes relate to each other in different ways under various scenarios. The detailed dependencies between software dependability attributes can be found in a previous study. With limited time and budget resources, which dependability attribute should be given the highest priority when certifying software-based systems in the nuclear industry is a fundamental question that needs to be answered. This paper addresses this problem using stakeholders' opinion elicitation. A comprehensive questionnaire was designed to elicit the goals that should be fulfilled by the nuclear industry and to collect the relative importance of the various dependability attributes for each goal. We then used the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to analyze the data and obtained the relative importance ranking of software dependability attributes in the context of a reactor protection system. The results will provide guidance to resource allocation for the certification of software dependability in the nuclear industry. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fermilab's controls development with virtual accelerator

Control Systems development is often the last thing considered when designing and building new equipment, e.g. a new detector or superconducting RF LINAC; however when the new equipment is installed, it is the first thing desired to be operational for testing. Due to frequent delays in building new equipment and project deadlines, control system development and testing is often curtailed. A way to alleviate this problem is to simulate the control system, though this will be challenging for complex systems.The Fermilab PIP-II (proton improvement plan - II) project is being constructed at Fermilab to deliver $800\,MeV$ protons of $>1\,MW$ beam power to replace the present LINAC for the remainder of the existing accelerator complex. The new LINAC consists of a warm front end (WFE), 23 superconducting RF cryomodules (of 5 types), and a beam transfer line (BTL) to the existing complex.The accelerator physics group has a parallel project to create a digital twin (DT) of the PIP-II accelerator. We have coupled the EPICS controls to this DT and are developing both the DT and EPICS software in parallel. This will allow us to develop the EPICS software framework, the HMIs, sequences, high level physics applications, and other services for use in a fully functional control system.This presentation will detail the work that we have performed to date and show demonstrations of controlling and monitoring the status of the accelerator, as well as future plans for this work.

Hanlet, Pierrick [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2012

A QUEST FOR SYSTEM FRIENDLINESS WITH THE SNS ION BEAM BUNCH SHAPE MONITOR

A new system for measuring the SNS ion beam longitudinal profile was recently upgraded to operational status. The hardware for this device was developed and delivered by Institute of Nuclear Research to the SNS as a part of its initial construction. The supplied LabVIEW user interface software was intended for proof-of-operation and initial setup of the instrument. While satisfactory for this, it was tedious to use in a practical context and lacked any form of interface to the SNS EPICS based control system. This paper will describe the software features added to make this instrument both easily tunable to the prevalent beam conditions by system engineers and easily usable by accelerator physicists only interested in its output data.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The Marine and Hydrokinetic ToolKit for Data Quality Control and Analysis: Preprint

The ability to handle data is critical at all stages of marine energy (ME) development. The marine hydrokinetic toolkit (MHKiT) is an open-source marine energy software, which includes modules for ingesting, applying quality control, processing, visualizing, and managing data. MHKiT-Python and MHKiT-MATLAB provide robust and verified functions that are needed by the ME community to standardize data processing. Calculations and visualizations adhere to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) technical specifications and other guidelines. A resource assessment of NDBC buoy 46050 near PACWAVE is performed using MHKiT and discusses comparisons to the resource assessment provided performed by Dunkel et al.

marine energy↗
DOE OSTI2022

Automated Process Planning for Embossing and Functionally Grading Materials via Site-Specific Control in Large-Format Metal-Based Additive Manufacturing

The potential for site-specific, process-parameter control is an attribute of additive manufacturing (AM) that makes it highly attractive as a manufacturing process. The research interest in the functionally grading material properties of numerous AM processes has been high for years. However, one of the issues that slows developmental progress in this area is process planning. It is not uncommon for manual programming methods and bespoke solutions to be utilized for site-specific control efforts. This article presents the development of slicing software that contains a fully automated process planning approach for enabling through-thickness, process-parameter control for a range of AM processes. The technique includes the use of parent and child geometries for controlling the locations of site-specific parameters, which are overlayed onto unmodified toolpaths, i.e., a vector-based planning approach is used in which additional information, such as melt pool size for large-scale metal AM processes, is assigned to the vectors. This technique has the potential for macro- and micro-structural modifications to printed objects. A proof-of-principle experiment is highlighted in which this technique was used to generate dynamic bead geometries that were deposited to induce a novel surface embossing effect, and additional software examples are presented that highlight software support for more complex objects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Accelerating Control Systems with GitOps: A Path to Automation and Reliability

GitOps is a foundational approach for modernizing infrastructure by leveraging Git as the single source of truth for declarative configurations. The poster explores how GitOps transforms traditional control system infrastructure, services and applications by enabling fully automated, auditable, and version-controlled infrastructure management. Cloud-native and containerized environments are shifting the ecosystem not only in the IT industry but also within the computational science field, as is the case of CERN and Diamond Light Source among other Accelerator/Science facilities which are slowly shifting towards modern software and infrastructure paradigms. The ACORN project, which aims to modernize Fermilab’s control system infrastructure and software is implementing proven best-practices and cutting-edge technology standards including GitOps, containerization, infrastructure as code and modern data pipelines for control system data acquisition and the inclusion of AI/ML in our accelerator complex.

Gonzalez, M. [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Practical Insights on Applying Simulation-Based Control Methods in Experimental Studies

Advanced nuclear reactors are crucial to the future of energy both in the United States and around the globe. In contrast to the current operating fleet, they are characterized as being deployable in remote locations and able to operate in semi-autonomous or autonomous fashion. This leap forward necessitates a new reactor control paradigm. Because advanced nuclear reactors are still under development in the United States, the creation of new control methods to achieve autonomous operations has been based on systems modeling and simulation. However, an important factor in successfully deploying these new control methods is the ability to seamlessly transition from simulation environments to real-world settings. Control methods tested in both simulation and experimental settings need to be investigated in the context of advanced reactor applications. This work developed a series of simple controllers for Idaho National Laboratory (INL)’s Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) microreactor operating in load-following scenarios. These controllers were tested in both simulation and experimental settings, and a comparative performance analysis was performed. The simulation tests leveraged the Control and Optimization Modular Modeling Application for Nuclear Deployment (COMMAND) software developed in a previous stage of the current effort, along with the MARVEL Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program (RELAP5-3D) and Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) models. The experimental tests leveraged the COMMAND software, MARVEL models, and the U.S. Department of Energy Microreactor Program’s Microreactor Automated Control System (MACS). MACS was developed to serve as a control method testbed. It was customized to mirror the MARVEL microreactor, and COMMAND enabled MACS to emulate the physics of MARVEL. The load-following controller was developed using the simulation platform, with efforts to emulate real systems by introducing actuator saturation and noise. These factors were incrementally accounted for in the controller design. After finalizing the controller design, it was implemented with the experimental setup. The experimental conditions tested included an initial test under conditions similar to the final simulation test, and two additional scenarios. The first scenario introduced additional actuator saturation to account for equipment aging over time, which was unknown to the controller. The second scenario introduced sensor delay, a phenomenon anticipated with the use of remote operations or wireless communication in advanced reactors. These tests revealed several notable differences. While the controller performed well in simulation, it exhibited several limitations when transitioning to hardware. The main challenges involved maintaining the steady-state target power, as evidenced by larger error values between the true reactor power and setpoint power, as well as persistent oscillations in controlled reactor power. These issues could lead to unacceptable transient conditions in real reactor testing. Introducing actuator aging and stochastic delays in the experimental setup significantly impacted controller performance, resulting in increased overshoot and undershoot, and exacerbated error and oscillations previously mentioned. These findings underscore the importance of experimental testbeds for testing and validating control methods, as controllers developed using only theory and/or simulation may perform unexpectedly when applied to actual hardware. This research emphasizes the need for an experimental testbed for achieving such validation.

46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development of Microreactor Automated Control System (MACS): Surrogate Plant-level Modeling and Control Algorithms Integration

This report discusses progress on the modeling and integration task as part of the development of Microreactor Automated Control System (MACS). What follows is a discussion of the software tools used to develop a surrogate microreactor plant-level model, MACS module development, and a summary of the findings from integration with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) setup at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with INL to understand available hardware at INL (such as existing control platforms). With this information and using a preliminary framework for MACS with software interfaces defined, surrogate models and initial automated control algorithms were created for integration into the hardware to provide a HIL demonstration platform for MACS. Available reduced order reactor models that leverage existing microreactor neutronics and thermal hydraulics models have been integrated in the surrogate plant-level model. The surrogate model has been evaluated for sensitivity of all parameters and the MACS software modules (including the surrogate model) have been demonstrated to interact with the hardware. The integration, however, pointed to the need for further improvements to the framework—and specifically improvements to the interfaces to ensure that the HIL simulator is capable of longer-term stable operation with MACS in the loop. These improvements will be the focus of future research.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Autonomous Inverter Controls for Resilient and Secure Grid Operation: Vector Control Design for Grid Forming

The project addresses both fundamental and practical challenges of GFM/GFL inverter control for the power grids with high inverter based resources (IBRs) penetration. A data- driven modeling technique is applied to accurately model dynamics of PWM inverters, including electromagnetic-transient (EMT). Systematic and integrative designs of grid- forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) primary controls are developed to guarantee system performance under either normal or abnormal operating conditions without violating constraints. This modeling and control framework provides black-start capability in case of an outage without relying on rotating generators, and its secondary control is also shown to enhance resilience against cyber-physical attacks.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

A New Method for High Resolution Surface Change Detection: Data Collection and Validation of Measurements from UAS at the Nevada National Security Site, Nevada, USA

The use of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) increases the opportunities for detecting surface changes in remote areas and in challenging terrain. Detecting surface topographic changes offers an important constraint for understanding earthquake damage, groundwater depletion, effects of mining, and other events. For these purposes, changes on the order of 5–10 cm are readily detected, but sometimes it is necessary to detect smaller changes. An example is the surface changes that result from underground explosions, which can be as small as 3 cm. Previous studies that described change detection methodologies were generally not aimed at detecting sub-5-cm changes. Additionally, studies focused on high-fidelity accuracy were either computationally modeled or did not fully provide the necessary examples to highlight the usability of these workflows. Detecting changes at this threshold may be critical in certain applications, such as global security research and monitoring for high-consequence natural hazards, including landslides. Here we provide a detailed description of the methodology we used to detect 2–3 cm changes in an important applied research setting—surface changes related to underground explosions. This methodology improves the accuracy of change detection data collection and analysis through the optimization of pre-field planning, surveying, flight operations, and post-processing the collected data, all of which are critical to obtaining the highest output data resolution possible. We applied this methodology to a field study location, collecting 1.4 Tb of images over the course of 30 flights, and location data for 239 ground control points (GCPs). We independently verified changes with orthoimagery, and found that structure-from-motion, software-reported root mean square errors (RMSEs) for both control and check points underestimated the actual error. We found that 3 cm changes are detectable with this methodology, thereby improving our knowledge of a rock’s response to underground explosions.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2011

A Roadmap for NEAMS Capability Transfer

The vision of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program is to bring truly predictive modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities to the nuclear engineering community in order to enable a new approach to the design and analysis of nuclear energy systems. From its inception, the NEAMS program has always envisioned a broad user base for its software and scientific products, including researchers within the DOE complex, nuclear industry technology developers and vendors, and operators. However activities to date have focused almost exclusively on interactions with NEAMS sponsors, who are also near-term users of NEAMS technologies. The task of the NEAMS Capability Transfer (CT) program element for FY2011 is to develop a comprehensive plan to support the program's needs for user outreach and technology transfer. In order to obtain community input to this plan, a 'NEAMS Capability Transfer Roadmapping Workshop' was held 4-5 April 2011 in Chattanooga, TN, and is summarized in this report. The 30 workshop participants represented the NEAMS program, the DOE and industrial user communities, and several outside programs. The workshop included a series of presentations providing an overview of the NEAMS program and presentations on the user outreach and technology transfer experiences of (1) The Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program, (2) The Standardized Computer Analysis for Licensing Evaluation (SCALE) project, and (3) The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), followed by discussion sessions. Based on the workshop and other discussions throughout the year, we make a number of recommendations of key areas for the NEAMS program to develop the user outreach and technology transfer activities: (1) Engage not only DOE, but also industrial users sooner and more often; (2) Engage with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to facilitate their understanding and acceptance of NEAMS approach to predictive M&S; (3) Place requirements gathering from prospective users on a more formal footing, updating requirements on a regular basis and incorporate them into planning and execution of the project in a traceable fashion; (4) Seek out the best available data for validation purposes, and work with experimental programs to design and carry out new experiments that satisfy the need for data suitable for validation of high-fidelity M&S codes; (5) Develop and implement program-wide plans and policies for export control, licensing, and distribution of NEAMS software products; (6) Establish a program of sponsored alpha testing by experienced users in order to obtain feedback on NEAMS codes; (7) Provide technical support for NEAMS software products; (8) Develop and deliver documentation, tutorial materials, and live training classes; and (9) Be prepared to support outside users who wish to contribute to the codes.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2017

New hardware and software platform for experiments on a HUBER-5042 X-ray diffractometer with a DISPLEX DE-202 helium cryostat in the temperature range of 20–300 K

Huber-5042 diffractometer with a closed-cycle Displex DE-202 helium cryostat is a unique scientific instrument for carrying out X-ray diffraction experiments when studying the single crystal structure in the temperature range of 20–300 K. To make the service life longer and develop new experimental techniques, the diffractometer control is transferred to a new hardware and software platform. To this end, a modern computer; a new detector reader unit; and new control interfaces for stepper motors, temperature controller, and cryostat vacuum pumping system are used. The system for cooling the X-ray tube, the high-voltage generator, and the helium compressor and pump for maintaining the desired vacuum in the cryostat are replaced. The system for controlling the primary beam shutter is upgraded. A biological shielding is installed. The new program tools, which use the Linux Ubuntu operating system and SPEC constructor, include a set of drivers for control units through the aforementioned interfaces. A program for searching reflections from a sample using fast continuous scanning and a priori information about crystal is written. Thus, the software package for carrying out the complete cycle of precise diffraction experiment (from determining the crystal unit cell to calculating the integral reflection intensities) is upgraded. High quality of the experimental data obtained on this equipment is confirmed in a number of studies in the temperature range from 20 to 300 K.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗