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At least 667 records · Page 37

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NASA NTRS2005

SIAM-SERVIR: An Environmental Monitoring and Decision Support System for Mesoamerica

In 2002/2003 NASA, the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) joined with the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) to develop an advanced decision support system for Mesoamerica (named SERVIR) as part of the Mesoamerican Environmental Information System (SIAM). Mesoamerica - composed of the seven Central American countries and the five southernmost states of Mexico - make up only a small fraction of the world s land surface. However, the region is home to seven to eight percent of the planet s biodiversity (14 biosphere reserves, 31 Ramsar sites, 8 world heritage sites, 589 protected areas) and 45 million people including more than 50 different ethnic groups. Today Mesoamerica s biological and cultural diversity is severely threatened by extensive deforestation, illegal logging, water pollution, and uncontrolled slash and burn agriculture. Additionally, Mesoamerica's distinct geology and geography result in disproportionate vulnerability to natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, and volcanic eruptions. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, together with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the SIAM-SERVIR partners are developing state-of-the-art decision support tools for environmental monitoring as well as disaster prevention and mitigation in Mesoamerica. These partners are contributing expertise in space-based observation with information management technologies and intimate knowledge of local ecosystems to create a system that is being used by scientists, educators, and policy makers to monitor and forecast ecological changes, respond to natural disasters and better understand both natural and human induced effects. In its first year of development and operation, the SIAM-SERVIR project has already yielded valuable information on Central American fires, weather conditions, and the first ever real-time data on red tides. This paper presents the progress thus far in the development of SIAM-SERVIR and the plans for the future.

Irwin, Daniel E.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Air Conditioning Systems Fault Detection and Diagnosis-Based Sensing and Data-Driven Approaches

The air conditioning (AC) system is the primary building end-use contributor to the peak demand for energy. The energy consumed by this system has grown as fast as it has in the last few decades, not only in the residential section but also in the industry and transport sectors. Therefore, to combat energy crises, urgent actions on energy efficiency should be taken to support energy security. Consequently, the faults in AC system components increase energy consumption due to the degradation of the system’s performance and the losses in the energy conversion procedure. In this work, AC system fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) methods are investigated to propose analytic tools to identify faults and provide solutions to those problems. The analysis of existing work shows that data-driven approaches are more accurate for both soft and hard fault detection and diagnosis in AC systems. Therefore, the proposed methods are not accurate for simultaneous fault detection, while in some works, authors tested the method with several faults separately without investigating scenarios that combine more than one fault. Moreover, this study shows that integrating data-driven approaches requires deploying an optimal sensing and measurement architecture that can detect a maximum number of faults with minimally deployed sensors. The new sensing, information, and communication technologies are discussed for their integration in AC system monitoring in order to optimize system operation and detect faults.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2021

A geospatial environmental and techno-economic framework for sustainable phosphorus management at livestock facilities

Nutrient pollution of waterbodies is a major worldwide water quality problem. Excessive use and discharge of nutrients can lead to eutrophication and algal blooms in fresh and marine waters, resulting in environmental problems associated with hypoxia, public health issues related to the release of toxins and freshwater scarcity. A promising option to address this problem is the recovery of nutrient releases prior to being discharged into the environment. Driven by the sustainable materials management concept, the COW2NUTRIENT (Cattle Organic Waste to NUTRIent and ENergy Technologies) framework is developed for the techno-economic evaluation and selection of nutrient recovery systems at livestock facilities. Furthermore, environmental vulnerability to nutrient pollution determined through a geographic information system (GIS)-based model and techno-economic information of different state-of-the-art nutrient management technologies are combined in a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) model, resulting in the selection and economic analysis of the most suitable process for each studied livestock facility. This framework has been employed for studying the implementation of sustainable phosphorus management systems at 2,217 livestock facilities in the Great Lakes area, resulting in capital expenses of 2.5 billion USD if only phosphorus recovery technologies are installed, and up to 5.2 billion USD if nutrient management is combined with biogas and power production. However, considering potential economic incentives for the recovery of phosphorus, net revenues up to 230 million USD per year can be achieved. Therefore, the framework presented reveals the potential of implementing nutrient management systems at regional scale for the abatement of phosphorus releases from livestock facilities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1993

The Third NASA Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies

This report contains copies of nearly all of the technical papers and viewgraphs presented at the Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies held in October 1993. The conference served as an informational exchange forum for topics primarily relating to the ingestion and management of massive amounts of data and the attendant problems involved. Discussion topics include the necessary use of computers in the solution of today's infinitely complex problems, the need for greatly increased storage densities in both optical and magnetic recording media, currently popular storage media and magnetic media storage risk factors, data archiving standards including a talk on the current status of the IEEE Storage Systems Reference Model (RM). Additional topics addressed System performance, data storage system concepts, communications technologies, data distribution systems, data compression, and error detection and correction.

Kobler, Benjamin↗

NASA NTRS1993

Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies, Volume 1

Copies of nearly all of the technical papers and viewgraphs presented at the Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies held in Sep. 1992 are included. The conference served as an informational exchange forum for topics primarily relating to the ingestion and management of massive amounts of data and the attendant problems (data ingestion rates now approach the order of terabytes per day). Discussion topics include the IEEE Mass Storage System Reference Model, data archiving standards, high-performance storage devices, magnetic and magneto-optic storage systems, magnetic and optical recording technologies, high-performance helical scan recording systems, and low end helical scan tape drives. Additional topics addressed the evolution of the identifiable unit for processing purposes as data ingestion rates increase dramatically, and the present state of the art in mass storage technology.

Kobler, Ben↗

NASA NTRS2023

Using Virtual Reality to Envision Deployment of Spacesuit-Compatible Augmented Reality Displays for Lunar Surface Operations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will soon land crew on the lunar surface to establish a sustainable presence and develop operational concepts for future long-duration missions. New technologies will be necessary to extend planning and execution capabilities for lunar surface activities. The Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics System (Joint AR) at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) is one such technology. Joint AR is a suit-mounted augmented reality (AR) display and compute system which facilitates unprecedented information exchange and data visualization capabilities between mission support operators and suited crew. This paper describes challenges associated with developing an AR technology for an envisioned work domain by applying a sociotechnical lens to the iterative testing and development of novel AR technology through virtual reality (VR). A foundational VR testbed was established, providing a high-fidelity approximation of the lunar surface and enabling testing of envisioned AR system features in parallel with real world product development. Using this environment, a series of human-in-the-loop experiments were conducted using VR to deploy a notional AR system supporting use cases envisioned for lunar exploration extravehicular activity (xEVA). Our findings indicate VR is a powerful and immersive tool for testing capabilities which extend beyond the limitations of current AR technology. Our VR testbed enables early testing of proposed system features, advancing identification of high-value features and driving present-day development of Joint AR. Future work directions are discussed, including lessons learned and a roadmap for an iterative research and development approach applying VR (among other testbeds) to accelerate Joint AR system maturation.

Augmented reality↗

NASA NTRS1987

Computer Sciences and Data Systems, volume 2

Topics addressed include: data storage; information network architecture; VHSIC technology; fiber optics; laser applications; distributed processing; spaceborne optical disk controller; massively parallel processors; and advanced digital SAR processors.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1987

Tools and technologies for expert systems: A human factors perspective

It is widely recognized that technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), especially expert systems, can make significant contributions to the productivity and effectiveness of operations of information and knowledge intensive organizations such as NASA. At the same time, these being relatively new technologies, there is the problem of transfering technology to key personnel of such organizations. The problems of examining the potential of expert systems and of technology transfer is addressed in the context of human factors applications. One of the topics of interest was the investigation of the potential use of expert system building tools, particularly NEXPERT as a technology transfer medium. Two basic conclusions were reached in this regard. First, NEXPERT is an excellent tool for rapid prototyping of experimental expert systems, but not ideal as a delivery vehicle. Therefore, it is not a substitute for general purpose system implementation languages such a LISP or C. This assertion probably holds for nearly all such tools on the market today. Second, an effective technology transfer mechanism is to formulate and implement expert systems for problems which members of the organization in question can relate to. For this purpose, the LIghting EnGineering Expert (LIEGE) was implemented using NEXPERT as the tool for technology transfer and to illustrate the value of expert systems to the activities of the Man-System Division.

Rajaram, Navaratna S.↗

DOE OSTI2020

2020 State of the Science Report, Chapter 1: Marine Renewable Energy and Ocean Energy System

Research, development, and deployment of marine renewable energy (MRE) conversion technologies that harvest all forms of ocean renewable resources are being advanced around the world. The potential benefits derived from capturing the abundant energy of tides, waves, ocean currents, as well as thermal and salinity gradients, continue to drive the development of the emerging MRE industry. Stakeholder understanding of the potential benefits of MRE as a renewable energy source is informed by increased science-based understanding of the potential effects of MRE installations worldwide. The international Ocean Energy Systems (OES)-Environmental collaboration continues to promote global technology cooperation and information exchange to accelerate environmentally acceptable development of viable ocean energy systems. https://tethys.pnnl.gov/publications/state-of-the-science-2020-chapter-1-MRE-OES

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS1989

Image processing using Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) technology

The need to increase the information return from space-borne imaging systems has increased in the past decade. The use of multi-spectral data has resulted in the need for finer spatial resolution and greater spectral coverage. Onboard signal processing will be necessary in order to utilize the available Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) communication channel at high efficiency. A generally recognized approach to the increased efficiency of channel usage is through data compression techniques. The compression technique implemented is a differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) scheme with a non-uniform quantizer. The need to advance the state-of-the-art of onboard processing was recognized and a GaAs integrated circuit technology was chosen. An Adaptive Programmable Processor (APP) chip set was developed which is based on an 8-bit slice general processor. The reason for choosing the compression technique for the Multi-spectral Linear Array (MLA) instrument is described. Also a description is given of the GaAs integrated circuit chip set which will demonstrate that data compression can be performed onboard in real time at data rate in the order of 500 Mb/s.

Miller, Warner H.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Conducting Safe and Efficient Airport Surface Operations in a NextGen Environment

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) vision proposes many revolutionary operational concepts, such as surface trajectory-based operations (STBO) and technologies, including display of traffic information and movements, airport moving maps (AMM), and proactive alerts of runway incursions and surface traffic conflicts, to deliver an overall increase in system capacity and safety. A piloted simulation study was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center to evaluate the ability of a flight crew to conduct safe and efficient airport surface operations while utilizing an AMM. Position accuracy of traffic was varied, and the effect of traffic position accuracy on airport conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) capability was measured. Another goal was to evaluate the crew's ability to safely conduct STBO by assessing the impact of providing traffic intent information, CD&R system capability, and the display of STBO guidance to the flight crew on both head-down and head-up displays (HUD). Nominal scenarios and off-nominal conflict scenarios were conducted using 12 airline crews operating in a simulated Memphis International Airport terminal environment. The data suggest that all traffic should be shown on the airport moving map, whether qualified or unqualified, and conflict detection and resolution technologies provide significant safety benefits. Despite the presence of traffic information on the map, collisions or near-collisions still occurred; when indications or alerts were generated in these same scenarios, the incidents were averted. During the STBO testing, the flight crews met their required time-of-arrival at route end within 10 seconds on 98 percent of the trials, well within the acceptable performance bounds of 15 seconds. Traffic intent information was found to be useful in determining the intent of conflicting traffic, with graphical presentation preferred. The CD&R system was only minimally effective during STBO because the prevailing visibility was sufficient for visual detection of conflicting traffic. Overall, the pilots indicated STBO increased general situation awareness but also negatively impacted workload, reduced the ability to watch for other traffic, and increased head-down time.

Jones, Denise R.↗

NASA NTRS1978

How much energy does energy cost?

Estimating the energy cost of producing and delivering an energy product involves the quantitative determination of all relevant energy flows and the aggregation of these flows into meaningful indices of system performance. Five emerging energy technologies are subjected to energy analysis. The energy delivered by each is substantially greater than the energy consumed during construction and lifelong operation of the system. Net energy analysis can provide interesting and perhaps useful information regarding specific technologies, but it does not necessarily provide additional information essential to the making of decisions regarding those technologies.

Devine, W. D., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Evaluating software defined networking solutions to reduce the digital attack surface of nuclear security systems

Most nuclear security systems used today were not designed for today’s threat environment. Systems that were intended to be stand alone are now interconnected. Devices that have a single purpose are built on multi-purpose platforms and communication protocols that, while effective, have no ability to authenticate authorized versus unauthorized commands. These attributes provide an attacker significant ability to affect the system, pivot throughout the interconnected networks, and remain undetected if he/she is able to compromise a single node. Software defined networking (SDN) has been used for years by information technology (IT) cloud service providers to quickly provision or remove servers or other systems to meet changing demand. The same concept has recently been applied to operational technology (OT) systems to enable very fast failover on critical systems that have stringent and deterministic (<5ms) transmit/receive times. By carefully engineering the communication flows through a network using preplanned routes and specific pathways it is possible to achieve deterministic and extremely reliable message delivery even when components fail. This engineering approach to network design has added security benefits including securing the networking control plane, eliminating network scanning and mapping, inhibiting ARP spoofing and host masquerading, eliminating unauthorized network pivoting and enabling greater situational awareness on the network. SDN in OT environments is new but early testing in electrical power and other critical infrastructure has shown it to be a very powerful tool for building reliable networks and reducing the digital attack surface of the network. The authors tested a software defined network switch on a simple physical protection system with components commonly found in nuclear security systems and found improved mitigations to denial of service attacks, lateral movement and network reconnaissance. The paper details the tests and their results.

Cyber security, Nuclear security, software defined↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Environmental Control and Life Support Technology Development for Exploration: 2021 to 2022 Overview

Over the past year, significant progress has occurred in technology development, ground testing, and ISS technology demonstrations within the NASA Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLSS) community. This paper provides a technology development update in the following capability areas: life support, environmental monitoring, fire safety, and logistics. Technologies for exploration missions must be reliable in their operation which support crewed mission phases. However, they also need to be put into a reduced use or dormant states to support uncrewed mission phases and then successfully and reliably returned to a nominal state to support crew. Multi-year demonstration of systems operation across this range of conditions are essential to mission success. Project overviews will include how the current activity supports the goal of multi-year demonstrations, planned follow-on activities, and what type of exploration mission elements are targeted for infusion. Technologies must be demonstrated and validated early enough to inform early exploration element milestone reviews (mission concept reviews, systems requirement reviews and no later than preliminary design reviews) so that supporting vehicle systems can also be matured. Consequently, for low technology readiness activities, it is important to also identify which mission elements they might infuse into and how they may offer potential operational, dormancy, or mass benefits. While low TRL technology timelines may not support initial mission needs, early infusion is still reasonable with sufficient testing to validate performance and reliability.

Life Support↗

DOE OSTI2022

An Integrated Framework for Risk Assessment of High Safety Significant Safety-related Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems in Nuclear Power Plants: Methodology and Demonstration

This report documents the activities performed by Idaho National Laboratory (INL) during Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, Risk Informed Systems Analysis (RISA) Pathway, digital instrumentation and control (DI&C) risk assessment project. In FY 2019, the RISA Pathway initiated a project to develop a risk assessment strategy for delivering a technical basis to support effective and secure DI&C technologies for digital upgrades/designs. A framework was proposed for this strategy, which aims to (1) provide a best-estimate, risk-informed capability to quantitatively and accurately estimate the risk impact of plant modernization, considering the introduction of high safety-significant safety-related (HSSSR) DI&C systems, (2) support and supplement existing risk-informed DI&C design guides by providing quantitative risk information and evidence, (3) offer a capability of design architecture evaluation of various DI&C systems, (4) assure the long-term safety and reliability of HSSSR DI&C systems, and (5) reduce uncertainty in costs and support integration of DI&C systems in the plant. To achieve these technical goals, the framework provides a means to address relevant technical issues by: (1) defining a risk-informed analysis process for DI&C upgrade, that integrates hazard analysis, reliability analysis, and consequence analysis, (2) applying risk-informed tools to address common cause failures (CCFs) and quantify corresponding failure probabilities for DI&C technologies, particularly software CCFs, (3) evaluating the impact of digital failures at the component level, system level, and plant level, and (4) providing insights and suggestions on designs to manage the risks, thus to support the development and deployment of advanced DI&C technologies on nuclear power plant (NPPs).

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

NASA NTRS1974

The Impact of Emerging Electronic Highway Control Systems on Motorist Information Requirements

Advanced forms of electronic and computerized control systems are being developed to optimize traffic flow in and between cities. Modern technology permits communication of real-time information via signs and auditory messages and allows motorists to plan ahead for safer and more efficient travel. This paper describes an on-going research program for defining drivers' information needs and behavior in response to various message types and modes of presentation. Human engineer design criteria for real-time displays will be investigated in the laboratory and in research vehicles with field testing in actual city corridors. The results will be incorporated into a design handbook for use by sign design engineers.

Huchingson, R. Dale↗

NASA NTRS1989

Designing an infrared system to map and detect wildland fires

The 'Firefly' project is developing an infrared remote sensing system to provide near real-time wildland fire information for fire management and suppression. Recent technological advances in several areas now allow the design of an end-to-end, infrared system to map and detect wildland fires. The system components will include an airborne infrared sensor, automatic onboard signal and data processing, telecommunications link, and integration into a ground data terminal. The system will provide improved performance over current systems in terms of increased timeliness of data delivery, quantifiable accuracy, data consistency, reliability, and maintainability. The system will be the next generation of wildland fire mapping and detection system for the United States Forest Service.

Nichols, J. David↗

NASA NTRS2001

Launcher Systems Development Cost: Behavior, Uncertainty, Influences, Barriers and Strategies for Reduction

This paper will report on the activities of the IAA Launcher Systems Economics Working Group in preparations for its Launcher Systems Development Cost Behavior Study. The Study goals include: improve launcher system and other space system parametric cost analysis accuracy; improve launcher system and other space system cost analysis credibility; and provide launcher system and technology development program managers and other decisionmakers with useful information on development cost impacts of their decisions. The Working Group plans to explore at least the following five areas in the Study: define and explain development cost behavior terms and concepts for use in the Study; identify and quantify sources of development cost and cost estimating uncertainty; identify and quantify significant influences on development cost behavior; identify common barriers to development cost understanding and reduction; and recommend practical, realistic strategies to accomplish reductions in launcher system development cost.

Shaw, Eric J.↗