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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 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

A universal six-joint robot controller

A general purpose six-axis robotic manipulator controller was designed and implemented to serve as a research tool for the investigation of the practical and theoretical aspects of various control strategies in robotics. A 80286-based Intel System 310 running the Xenix operating servo software as well as the higher level software (e.g., kinematics and path planning) were employed. A Multibus compatible interface board was designed and constructed to handle I/O signals from the robot manipulator's joint motors. From the design point of view, the universal controller is capable of driving robot manipulators equipped with D.C. joint motors and position optical encoders. To test its functionality, the controller is connected to the joint motor D.C. power amplifier of a PUMA 560 arm bypassing completely the manufacturer-supplied Unimation controller. A controller algorithm consisting of local PD control laws was written and installed into the Xenix operating system. Additional software drivers were implemented to allow application programs access to the interface board. All software was written in the C language.

Bihn, D. G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Data systems and computer science: Software Engineering Program

An external review of the Integrated Technology Plan for the Civil Space Program is presented. This review is specifically concerned with the Software Engineering Program. The goals of the Software Engineering Program are as follows: (1) improve NASA's ability to manage development, operation, and maintenance of complex software systems; (2) decrease NASA's cost and risk in engineering complex software systems; and (3) provide technology to assure safety and reliability of software in mission critical applications.

Zygielbaum, Arthur I.↗
DOE OSTI2013

A methodology for optimal MSW management, with an application in the waste transportation of Attica Region, Greece

Highlights: • A two-step (strategic and detailed optimal planning) methodology is used for solving complex MSW management problems. • A software package is outlined, which can be used for generating detailed optimal plans. • Sensitivity analysis compares alternative scenarios that address objections and/or wishes of local communities. • A case study shows the application of the above procedure in practice and demonstrates the results and benefits obtained. - Abstract: The paper describes a software system capable of formulating alternative optimal Municipal Solid Wastes (MSWs) management plans, each of which meets a set of constraints that may reflect selected objections and/or wishes of local communities. The objective function to be minimized in each plan is the sum of the annualized capital investment and annual operating cost of all transportation, treatment and final disposal operations involved, taking into consideration the possible income from the sale of products and any other financial incentives or disincentives that may exist. For each plan formulated, the system generates several reports that define the plan, analyze its cost elements and yield an indicative profile of selected types of installations, as well as data files that facilitate the geographic representation of the optimal solution in maps through the use of GIS. A number of these reports compare the technical and economic data from all scenarios considered at the study area, municipality and installation level constituting in effect sensitivity analysis. The generation of alternative plans offers local authorities the opportunity of choice and the results of the sensitivity analysis allow them to choose wisely and with consensus. The paper presents also an application of this software system in the capital Region of Attica in Greece, for the purpose of developing an optimal waste transportation system in line with its approved waste management plan. The formulated plan was able to: (a) serve 113 Municipalities and Communities that generate nearly 2 million t/y of comingled MSW with distinctly different waste collection patterns, (b) take into consideration several existing waste transfer stations (WTS) and optimize their use within the overall plan, (c) select the most appropriate sites among the potentially suitable (new and in use) ones, (d) generate the optimal profile of each WTS proposed, and (e) perform sensitivity analysis so as to define the impact of selected sets of constraints (limitations in the availability of sites and in the capacity of their installations) on the design and cost of the ensuing optimal waste transfer system. The results show that optimal planning offers significant economic savings to municipalities, while reducing at the same time the present levels of traffic, fuel consumptions and air emissions in the congested Athens basin.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Sci—Fri PM: Topics — 02: Evaluation of Dosimetric Variations in Partial Breast Seed Implant (PBSI) due to Patient Arm Position (Up vs. Down)

The planning for PBSI is done with the patient's ipsilateral arm raised, however, anatomical changes and variations are unavoidable as the patient resumes her daily activities, potentially resulting in significant deviations in implant geometry from the treatment plan. This study aims to quantify the impact of the ipsilateral arm position on the geometry and dosimetry of the implant at eight weeks, evaluated on post-plans using the MIM Symphony™ software (MIM Software, Cleveland, OH). The average dose metrics for the three patients treated at the TBCC thus far using rigid fusion and contour transfer for the arms up position were 76% for the CTV V100, 61% for the PTV V100, and 37% for the PTV V200; and for the arms down position 81% for the CTV V100, 64% for the PTV V100, and 42% for the PTV V200. Qualitative analysis of the post-implant CT for one of the three patients showed poor agreement between the seroma contour transferred from the pre-implant CT and the seroma visible on the post-implant CT. To obtain a clinically accurate plan for that patient, contour modifications were used, yielding improved dose metric averages for the arms-up position for all three patients of 87% for the CTV V100, 68% for the PTV V100, and 39% for the PTV V200. Overall, the data available shows that dosimetric parameters increase with the patient's arm down, both in terms of coverage and in terms of the hot spot, and accrual of more patients may confirm this in a larger population.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1992

Advanced software development workstation. Knowledge base design: Design of knowledge base for flight planning application

The development process of the knowledge base for the generation of Test Libraries for Mission Operations Computer (MOC) Command Support focused on a series of information gathering interviews. These knowledge capture sessions are supporting the development of a prototype for evaluating the capabilities of INTUIT on such an application. the prototype includes functions related to POCC (Payload Operation Control Center) processing. It prompts the end-users for input through a series of panels and then generates the Meds associated with the initialization and the update of hazardous command tables for a POCC Processing TLIB.

Izygon, Michel E.↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-J-81: Evaluation of Automated Deformable Registration Between Planning Computed Tomography (CT) and Daily Cone Beam CT Images Over the Course of Prostate Cancer Radiotherapy

Purpose: To compute daily dose delivered during radiotherapy, deformable registration needs to be relatively fast, automated, and accurate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of commercial deformable registration software for deforming between two modalities: planning computed tomography (pCT) images acquired for treatment planning and cone beam (CB) CT images acquired prior to each fraction of prostate cancer radiotherapy. Methods: A workflow was designed using MIM Software™ that aligned and deformed pCT into daily CBCT images in two steps: (1) rigid shifts applied after daily CBCT imaging to align patient anatomy to the pCT and (2) normalized intensity-based deformable registration to account for interfractional anatomical variations. The physician-approved CTV and organ and risk (OAR) contours were deformed from the pCT to daily CBCT over the course of treatment. The same structures were delineated on each daily CBCT by a radiation oncologist. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) mean and standard deviations were calculated to quantify the deformable registration quality for prostate, bladder, rectum and femoral heads. Results: To date, contour comparisons have been analyzed for 31 daily fractions of 2 of 10 of the cohort. Interim analysis shows that right and left femoral head contours demonstrate the highest agreement (DSC: 0.96±0.02) with physician contours. Additionally, deformed bladder (DSC: 0.81±0.09) and prostate (DSC: 0.80±0.07) have good agreement with physician-defined daily contours. Rectum contours have the highest variations (DSC: 0.66±0.10) between the deformed and physician-defined contours on daily CBCT imaging. Conclusion: For structures with relatively high contrast boundaries on CBCT, the MIM automated deformable registration provided accurate representations of the daily contours during treatment delivery. These findings will permit subsequent investigations to automate daily dose computation from CBCT. However, improved methods need to be investigated to improve deformable results for rectum contours.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

MO-D-213-05: Sensitivity of Routine IMRT QA Metrics to Couch and Collimator Rotations

Purpose: To assess the sensitivity of gamma index and other IMRT QA metrics to couch and collimator rotations. Methods: Two brain IMRT plans with couch and/or collimator rotations in one or more of the fields were evaluated using the IBA MatriXX ion chamber array and its associated software (OmniPro-I’mRT). The plans were subjected to routine QA by 1) Creating a composite planar dose in the treatment planning system (TPS) with the couch/collimator rotations and 2) Creating the planar dose after “zeroing” the rotations. Plan deliveries to MatriXX were performed with all rotations set to zero on a Varian 21ex linear accelerator. This in effect created TPS-created planar doses with an induced rotation error. Point dose measurements for the delivered plans were also performed in a solid water phantom. Results: The IMRT QA of the plans with couch and collimator rotations showed clear discrepancies in the planar dose and 2D dose profile overlays. The gamma analysis, however, did pass with the criteria of 3%/3mm (for 95% of the points), albeit with a lower percentage pass rate, when one or two of the fields had a rotation. Similar results were obtained with tighter criteria of 2%/2mm. Other QA metrics such as percentage difference or distance-to-agreement (DTA) histograms produced similar results. The point dose measurements did not obviously indicate the error due to location of dose measurement (on the central axis) and the size of the ion chamber used (0.6 cc). Conclusion: Relying on Gamma analysis, percentage difference, or DTA to determine the passing of an IMRT QA may miss critical errors in the plan delivery due to couch/collimator rotations. A combination of analyses for composite QA plans, or per-beam analysis, would detect these errors.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2006

Database of Properties of Meteors

A database of properties of meteors, and software that provides access to the database, are being developed as a contribution to continuing efforts to model the characteristics of meteors with increasing accuracy. Such modeling is necessary for evaluation of the risk of penetration of spacecraft by meteors. For each meteor in the database, the record will include an identification, date and time, radiant properties, ballistic coefficient, radar cross section, size, density, and orbital elements. The property of primary interest in the present case is density, and one of the primary goals in this case is to derive densities of meteors from their atmospheric decelerations. The database and software are expected to be valid anywhere in the solar system. The database will incorporate new data plus results of meteoroid analyses that, heretofore, have not been readily available to the aerospace community. Taken together, the database and software constitute a model that is expected to provide improved estimates of densities and to result in improved risk analyses for interplanetary spacecraft. It is planned to distribute the database and software on a compact disk.

Suggs, Rob↗
NASA NTRS1995

Control system design for the MOD-5A 7.3 mW wind turbine generator

This paper provides descriptions of the requirements analysis, hardware development and software development phases of the Control System design for the MOD-5A 7.3 mW Wind Turbine Generator. The system, designed by General Electric Company, Advanced Energy Programs Department, under contract DEN 3-153 with NASA Lewis Research Center and DOE, provides real time regulation of rotor speed by control of both generator torque and rotor torque. A variable speed generator system is used to provide both airgap torque control and reactive power control. The wind rotor is designed with segmented ailerons which are positioned to control blade torque. The central component of the control system, selected early in the design process, is a programmable controller used for sequencing, alarm monitoring, communication, and real time control. Development of requirements for use of aileron controlled blades and a variable speed generator required an analytical simulation that combined drivetrain, tower and blade elastic modes with wind disturbances and control behavior. An orderly two phase plan was used for controller software development. A microcomputer based turbine simulator was used to facilitate hardware and software integration and test.

Barton, Robert S.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Autonomous Science Restart for the Planned Europa Mission with Lightweight Planning and Execution

In this paper we present MEXEC - a lightweight on-board planning and execution system that monitors spacecraft state to robustly respond to current conditions. In addition it projects the remaining plan forward in time to detect conflicts and revise the plan. Most current planetary missions use sequence based commanding from the ground,which limits the ability to respond to on-board state varying from planned for state. This results in planning for worst-case execution time, power utilization, data volume and other resources and leads to under utilization of the spacecraft capability. It also limits the ability to respond to faults. Due to the high radiation environment at Jupiter the probability of flight software resets is high. Therefore, of particular interest to the planned Europa Mission is the capability to restart the science plan after flight software resets. In this paper we present results from running Europa flyby scenarios with flight software resets in the Europa flight software test environment. Preliminary results with the prototype scenario show MEXEC takes less than a tenth of a second to respond to resets. The development was done as part of Europa-focused flight software, but MEXEC was designed to be applicable to landers and rovers as well.

Joshi, Rajeev↗
NASA NTRS2008

Software Schedules Missions, Aids Project Management

NASA missions require advanced planning, scheduling, and management, and the Space Agency has worked extensively to develop the programs and software suites necessary to facilitate these complex missions. These enormously intricate undertakings have hundreds of active components that need constant management and monitoring. It is no surprise, then, that the software developed for these tasks is often applicable in other high-stress, complex environments, like in government or industrial settings. NASA work over the past few years has resulted in a handful of new scheduling, knowledge-management, and research tools developed under contract with one of NASA s partners. These tools have the unique responsibility of supporting NASA missions, but they are also finding uses outside of the Space Program.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-345: Effect of DLG and MLC Transmission Value Set in the Treatment Planning System (TPS) On Dosimetric Accuracy of True Beam Hypofractionated SRT/SBRT and 2Gy/fx Prostate Rapid Arc Plans

Purpose: Due to limited commissioning time, we previously only released our True beam non-FFF mode for prostate treatment. Clinical demand now pushes us to release the non-FFF mode for SRT/SBRT treatment. When re-planning on True beam previously treated SRT/SBRT cases on iX machine we found the patient specific QA pass rate was worse than iX’s, though the 2Gy/fx prostate Result had been as good. We hypothesize that in TPS the True beam DLG and MLC transmission values, of those measured during commissioning could not yet provide accurate SRS/SBRT dosimetry. Hence this work is to investigate how the TPS DLG and transmission value affects Rapid Arc plans’ dosimetric accuracy. Methods: We increased DLG and transmission value of True beam in TPS such that their percentage differences against the measured matched those of iX’s. We re-calculated 2 SRT, 1 SBRT and 2 prostate plans, performed patient specific QA on these new plans and compared the results to the previous. Results: With DLG and transmission value set respectively 40 and 8% higher than the measured, the patient specific QA pass rate (at 3%/3mm) improved from 95.0 to 97.6% vs previous iX’s 97.8% in the case of SRT. In the case of SBRT, the pass rate improved from 75.2 to 93.9% vs previous iX’s 92.5%. In the case of prostate, the pass rate improved from 99.3 to 100%. The maximum dose difference in plans before and after adjusting DLG and transmission was approximately 1% of the prescription dose among all plans. Conclusion: The impact of adjusting DLG and transmission value on dosimetry might be the same among all Rapid Arc plans regardless hypofractionated or not. The large variation observed in patient specific QA pass rate might be due to the data analysis method in the QA software being more sensitive to hypofractionated plans.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Status of PyGriffin Development for Integration into the NEAMS Workbench

The integration of Griffin into Workbench, by way of the PyGriffin code package, was initiated by the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program in FY-2022. PyGriffin was developed as a Python wrapper to Griffin to streamline the complex workflow involving mesh, cross section, and Griffin input generation, code execution, and results postprocessing, by improving user experience with high fidelity neutronics analysis through the Workbench GUI interface. PyGriffin can be used as a standalone application or through the PyARC code suite. FY-2023 saw the continued development of PyGriffin to expand its capabilities including advanced post-processing of simulation results and initial development of the Monte Carlo (MC) cross section generation workflow with the Shift MC code. PyGriffin was also approved for open-source software status in FY-2023, initiating plans to move the code repository into an open location. In addition to PyGriffin development, there were many improvements and developments made in PyARC leading to several software releases (latest version is v2.3.0), but the focus of this report is PyGriffin.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS2009

Autonomous Instrument Placement for Mars Exploration Rovers

Autonomous Instrument Placement (AutoPlace) is onboard software that enables a Mars Exploration Rover to act autonomously in using its manipulator to place scientific instruments on or near designated rock and soil targets. Prior to the development of AutoPlace, it was necessary for human operators on Earth to plan every motion of the manipulator arm in a time-consuming process that included downlinking of images from the rover, analysis of images and creation of commands, and uplinking of commands to the rover. AutoPlace incorporates image analysis and planning algorithms into the onboard rover software, eliminating the need for the downlink/uplink command cycle. Many of these algorithms are derived from the existing groundbased image analysis and planning algorithms, with modifications and augmentations for onboard use.

Leger, P. Chris↗
NASA NTRS1995

Adaptive Optimization of Aircraft Engine Performance Using Neural Networks

Preliminary results are presented on the development of an adaptive neural network based control algorithm to enhance aircraft engine performance. This work builds upon a previous National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) effort known as Performance Seeking Control (PSC). PSC is an adaptive control algorithm which contains a model of the aircraft's propulsion system which is updated on-line to match the operation of the aircraft's actual propulsion system. Information from the on-line model is used to adapt the control system during flight to allow optimal operation of the aircraft's propulsion system (inlet, engine, and nozzle) to improve aircraft engine performance without compromising reliability or operability. Performance Seeking Control has been shown to yield reductions in fuel flow, increases in thrust, and reductions in engine fan turbine inlet temperature. The neural network based adaptive control, like PSC, will contain a model of the propulsion system which will be used to calculate optimal control commands on-line. Hopes are that it will be able to provide some additional benefits above and beyond those of PSC. The PSC algorithm is computationally intensive, it is valid only at near steady-state flight conditions, and it has no way to adapt or learn on-line. These issues are being addressed in the development of the optimal neural controller. Specialized neural network processing hardware is being developed to run the software, the algorithm will be valid at steady-state and transient conditions, and will take advantage of the on-line learning capability of neural networks. Future plans include testing the neural network software and hardware prototype against an aircraft engine simulation. In this paper, the proposed neural network software and hardware is described and preliminary neural network training results are presented.

Simon, Donald L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The Cassini spacecraft: Object oriented flight control software

The Cassini Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) is responsible for determining and controlling the spacecraft attitude including instrument pointing, antenna pointing, and thrust vector pointing during velocity change maneuvers. The 12 year mission life, long round-trip light time, and extended periods of coast without continuous ground control drive the AACS flight software design in the directions of autonomy, fault tolerance, and modularity to accommodate planned upgrades in flight. The Cassini AACS Flight Software is depicted in increasing levels of detail using a Context Diagram, Architecture Diagrams (i.e., Dependency Diagrams), an Object Diagram for each object, and a Statechart (i.e., State Transition Diagram) for each object. The detail contained in the diagrams is enhanced and refined during the Requirements and Design Phases of both Subsystem and Software Development. Examples of all the diagrams as well as the criteria for object selection, the advantages of statecharts, and the ease of modifying the design to accommodate changes in scope are described.

Hackney, John C.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Flight Planning Branch NASA Co-op Tour

This semester I worked with the Flight Planning Branch at the NASA Johnson Space Center. I learned about the different aspects of flight planning for the International Space Station as well as the software that is used internally and ISSLive! which is used to help educate the public on the space program. I had the opportunity to do on the job training in the Mission Control Center with the planning team. I transferred old timeline records from the planning team's old software to the new software in order to preserve the data for the future when the software is retired. I learned about the operations of the International Space Station, the importance of good communication between the different parts of the planning team, and enrolled in professional development classes as well as technical classes to learn about the space station.

Marr, Aja M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Systems aspects of COBE science data compression

A general approach to compression of diverse data from large scientific projects has been developed and this paper addresses the appropriate system and scientific constraints together with the algorithm development and test strategy. This framework has been implemented for the COsmic Background Explorer spacecraft (COBE) by retrofitting the existing VAS-based data management system with high-performance compression software permitting random access to the data. Algorithms which incorporate scientific knowledge and consume relatively few system resources are preferred over ad hoc methods. COBE exceeded its planned storage by a large and growing factor and the retrieval of data significantly affects the processing, delaying the availability of data for scientific usage and software test. Embedded compression software is planned to make the project tractable by reducing the data storage volume to an acceptable level during normal processing.

Freedman, I.↗