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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

Towards an Improved Pilot-Vehicle Interface for Highly Automated Aircraft: Evaluation of the Haptic Flight Control System

The control automation and interaction paradigm (e.g., manual, autopilot, flight management system) used on virtually all large highly automated aircraft has long been an exemplar of breakdowns in human factors and human-centered design. An alternative paradigm is the Haptic Flight Control System (HFCS) that is part of NASA Langley Research Center s Naturalistic Flight Deck Concept. The HFCS uses only stick and throttle for easily and intuitively controlling the actual flight of the aircraft without losing any of the efficiency and operational benefits of the current paradigm. Initial prototypes of the HFCS are being evaluated and this paper describes one such evaluation. In this evaluation we examined claims regarding improved situation awareness, appropriate workload, graceful degradation, and improved pilot acceptance. Twenty-four instrument-rated pilots were instructed to plan and fly four different flights in a fictitious airspace using a moderate fidelity desktop simulation. Three different flight control paradigms were tested: Manual control, Full Automation control, and a simplified version of the HFCS. Dependent variables included both subjective (questionnaire) and objective (SAGAT) measures of situation awareness, workload (NASA-TLX), secondary task performance, time to recognize automation failures, and pilot preference (questionnaire). The results showed a statistically significant advantage for the HFCS in a number of measures. Results that were not statistically significant still favored the HFCS. The results suggest that the HFCS does offer an attractive and viable alternative to the tactical components of today s FMS/autopilot control system. The paper describes further studies that are planned to continue to evaluate the HFCS.

Schutte, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2000

Automated Multiple-Sample Tray Manipulation Designed and Fabricated for Atomic Oxygen Facility

Extensive improvements to increase testing capacity and flexibility and to automate the in situ Reflectance Measurement System (RMS) are in progress at the Electro-Physics Branch s Atomic Oxygen (AO) beam facility of the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. These improvements will triple the system s capacity while placing a significant portion of the testing cycle under computer control for added reliability, repeatability, and ease of use.

Sechkar, Edward A.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Testing of Haar-Like Feature in Region of Interest Detection for Automated Target Recognition (ATR) System

The objectives of this project were to develop a ROI (Region of Interest) detector using Haar-like feature similar to the face detection in Intel's OpenCV library, implement it in Matlab code, and test the performance of the new ROI detector against the existing ROI detector that uses Optimal Trade-off Maximum Average Correlation Height filter (OTMACH). The ROI detector included 3 parts: 1, Automated Haar-like feature selection in finding a small set of the most relevant Haar-like features for detecting ROIs that contained a target. 2, Having the small set of Haar-like features from the last step, a neural network needed to be trained to recognize ROIs with targets by taking the Haar-like features as inputs. 3, using the trained neural network from the last step, a filtering method needed to be developed to process the neural network responses into a small set of regions of interests. This needed to be coded in Matlab. All the 3 parts needed to be coded in Matlab. The parameters in the detector needed to be trained by machine learning and tested with specific datasets. Since OpenCV library and Haar-like feature were not available in Matlab, the Haar-like feature calculation needed to be implemented in Matlab. The codes for Adaptive Boosting and max/min filters in Matlab could to be found from the Internet but needed to be integrated to serve the purpose of this project. The performance of the new detector was tested by comparing the accuracy and the speed of the new detector against the existing OTMACH detector. The speed was referred as the average speed to find the regions of interests in an image. The accuracy was measured by the number of false positives (false alarms) at the same detection rate between the two detectors.

neural network↗
DOE OSTI2013

Design and Testing of a Novel Wide Range - Segmented Gamma Scanner Incorporating Tomographic Gamma Scanning for Measuring Both Low and Intermediate Level Waste in Drums - 13470

This paper describes the design and testing of a novel automated Wide Range Segmented Gamma ray Scanning (WR-SGS) assay instrument that also incorporates Tomographic Gamma Scanning (TGS). The instrument is designed for the measurement of both Low and Intermediate Level Waste (LLW and ILW) in 200 litre drums and other waste containers covering a wide range of density. Like earlier ANTECH WR-SGS instruments, the system employs a single shielded and collimated high purity germanium (HPGe) detector to quantify the radionuclide content of the waste and like conventional SGS instruments it is suitable for the measurement of relatively homogeneous waste matrices. Also, like earlier WR-SGS systems the instrument incorporates an automated variable aperture collimator, which allows the vertical segment height to be adjusted in order to measure both high dose-rate and very low activity drums. The instrument employs both conventional discrete SGS vertical segment measurements as well as vertical segment measurement by continuous helical-scanning of the drum as it rotates. This latter method reduces measurement times for SGS measurements. In order to determine the density corrections for both low and high-density drums, a high activity Eu-152 transmission source is employed. When not in use, and in place of a conventional shutter mechanism, the shielded transmission source is moved to a shielded storage position to eliminate background radiation from the source. Due to its novel features, the WR-SGS is applicable to the measurement of both very low and very high activity waste drums as well as waste drums with a wide range of density. If located in a low background position and with the effective shielding of the strong transmission source, the instrument can be used to measure very low level or exempt waste. In order to extend the range of applicability to the measurement of heterogeneous drums, TGS measurement capability has been included in the basic WR-SGS design. This is achieved by adding horizontal motion to the waste drum rotation platform and incorporating TGS collimation into the variable aperture collimator, as well as a filter to reduce the detector signal when straight-through measurements are made using the strong transmission source. Test measurements are presented of the system operating in both SGS and TGS modes using different drum densities and source strengths. The test measurement results are compared with benchmarked MCNP Monte Carlo calculations. The Wide Range SGS - TGS instrument extends the range of both activity and density that can be measured in 200 and 340 litre drums. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scenario optimization for the tokamak ramp-down phase in RAPTOR: Part B. safe termination of DEMO plasmas

An optimized plasma current ramp-down strategy is critical for safe and fast termination of plasma discharges in a tokamak demonstration fusion reactor (DEMO), both in planned and emergency scenarios, avoiding plasma disruptions and excessive heat loads to the first wall. Plasma stability limits and machine-specific technical requirements constrain the stable envelope through which the plasma must be navigated. Large amounts of auxiliary heating are required throughout the ramp-down phase, to avoid a radiative collapse in the presence of intrinsic tungsten and seeded xenon impurities, as quantitatively estimated in this work. As the plasma current is reduced, the current density becomes increasingly peaked, reflected by a growing value of the internal inductance $\ell$ $i3$ , resulting in reduced controllability of the vertical position of the plasma. The feasibility of different plasma current ramp-down rates is tested by applying an automated optimization framework embedding the RAPTOR core transport solver. Optimal time traces for plasma current $I$ $p$ $(t)$ and plasma elongation $κ(t)$ are proposed, to satisfy an $I$ $p$ -dependent upper limit on the plasma internal inductance, as obtained from vertical stability studies using the CREATE-NL code, as well as a constraint on the time evolution of $q$ 95 , to avoid an ideal MHD mode. A negative current density near the plasma edge is observed in our simulations, even for the most conservative $I$ $p$ ramp-down rate, indicating significant transient dynamics due to a large resistive time.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

PGP: parallel prokaryotic proteogenomics pipeline for MPI clusters, high-throughput batch clusters and multicore workstations

Summary: We present the first public release of our proteogenomic annotation pipeline. We have previously used our original unreleased implementation to improve the annotation of 46 diverse prokaryotic genomes by discovering novel genes, post-translational modifications and correcting the erroneous annotations by analyzing proteomic mass-spectrometry data. This public version has been redesigned to run in a wide range of parallel Linux computing environments and provided with the automated configuration, build and testing facilities for easy deployment and portability.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

CALiPER Retail Lamps Study RRL3.2 Lumen and Chromaticity Maintenance of LED A lamps Operated in Steady-State Conditions

The lumen depreciation and color shift of 17 different A lamps (15 LED, 1 CFL, 1 halogen) was monitored in the automated long-term test apparatus (ALTA) for more than 7,500 hours. Ten samples of each lamp model were tested, with measurements recorded on a weekly basis. The lamps were operated continuously at an ambient temperature of 45°C (-1°C). Importantly, the steady-state test conditions were not optimized for inducing catastrophic failure for any of the lamp technologies—to which thermal cycling is a strong contributor— and are not typical of normal use patterns—which usually include off periods where the lamp cools down. Further, the test conditions differ from those used in standardized long-term test methods (i.e., IES LM-80, IES LM-84), so the results should not be directly compared. On the other hand, the test conditions are similar to those used by ENERGY STAR (when elevated temperature testing is called for). Likewise, the conditions and assumptions used by manufacturers to generated lifetime claims may vary; the CALiPER long-term data is informative, but cannot necessarily be used to discredit manufacturer claims. The test method used for this investigation should be interpreted as one more focused on the long-term effects of elevated temperature operation, at an ambient temperature that is not uncommon in luminaires. On average, the lumen maintenance of the LED lamps monitored in the ALTA was better than benchmark lamps, but there was considerable variation from lamp model to lamp model. While three lamp models had average lumen maintenance above 99% at the end of the study period, two products had average lumen maintenance below 65%, constituting a parametric failure. These two products, along with a third, also exhibited substantial color shift, another form of parametric failure. While none of the LED lamps exhibited catastrophic failure—and all of the benchmarks did—the early degradation of performance is concerning, especially with a new technology trying to build a reputation with consumers. Beyond the observed parametric failures nearly half of the products failed to meet early-life thresholds for lumen maintenance, which were borrowed from ENERGY STAR specifications. That is, the lumen maintenance was sufficiently low at 6,000 hours that seven of the products are unlikely to have lumen maintenance above 70% at their rated lifetime (which was usually 25,000 hours). Given the methods used for this investigation—most notably continuous operation—the results should not be interpreted as indicative of a lamp’s performance in a typical environment. Likewise, these results are not directly relatable to manufacturer lifetime claims. This report is best used to understand the variation in LED product performance, compare the robustness of LED lamps and benchmark conventional lamps, and understand the characteristics of lumen and chromaticity change. A key takeaway is that the long-term performance of LED lamps can vary greatly from model to model (i.e., the technology is not homogenous), although the lamp-to-lamp consistency within a given model is relatively good. Further, operation of LED lamps in an enclosed luminaire (or otherwise in high ambient temperatures), can induce parametric failure of LEDs much earlier than their rated lifetime; manufacturer warnings about such conditions should be followed if performance degradation is unacceptable.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2014

Lumen and Chromaticity Maintenance of LED PAR38 Lamps Operated in Steady-State Conditions

The lumen depreciation and color shift of 38 different lamps (32 LED, 2 CFL, 1 ceramic metal halide [CMH], 3 halogen) were monitored in a specially developed automated long-term test apparatus (ALTA2) for nearly 14,000 hours. Five samples of each lamp model were tested, with measurements recorded on a weekly basis. The lamps were operated continuously at a target ambient temperature between 44°C and 45°C.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Manufacturing Nondestructive Evaluation Final Report CRADA No. TC-0351-92

The goaI of this project is the design, test, and fielding of automated NDE systems throughout the KTC. In the casting plant, activities were divided into four tasks i) development of quantitative tools for calculating measures of porosity by area from digital radiographic (DR) images, ii) upgrade of existing digital radiographic equipment (non-functional in 1995), iii) design and fielding of an on-the-floor unit capable of digital radiography for aluminum parts as an unattended “baggage scanner” (working with VIJAY technologies on this effort), and iv) connecting digital radiographic results to a central database which includes shot profiles, die temps, and metal temps from the pressure die casting machines.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Data Sets for Evaluation of Building Fault Detection and Diagnostics Algorithms

This documentation and dataset can be used to test the performance of automated fault detection and diagnostics algorithms for buildings. The dataset was created by LBNL, PNNL, NREL, ORNL and ASHRAE RP-1312 (Drexel University). It includes data for air-handling units and rooftop units simulated with PNNL's large office building model.

AHU↗
DOE OSTI2022

Extension and Validation of NEMA-Style Dual-Ring Controller in SUMO

Until recently, SUMO users could not model the behavior of a ring-and-barrier traffic signal via existing signal types, which left North American SUMO users without the direct ability to capture traffic dynamics of their local networks. This work presents the methods, implementation overview, and validation of a 'dual-ring' NEMA style traffic controller which has recently been added to the main SUMO code base. A brief explanation of the 'dual-ring' implementation is also provided as context for those new to this type of traffic controller. The foundation for this work was presented at the SUMO User Conference 2021 by researchers at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, but was not integrated into SUMO code base at the time. Following the initial inclusion of the controller to SUMO, the authors began validation of the SUMO controller against an Econolite software-in-the-loop (SIL) traffic signal controller configured with actual setup parameters from controllers in a real-world three-intersection corridor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. This paper documents the process of adding new features to the controller code as well as validating their implementation through simulation-based and automated grey-box testing is presented in this paper. Key features such as fully-actuated operation, various timing offset plans, proper next-phase fit algorithms and more, have been added and validated against this SIL system. Though not an exhaustive demonstration of features, this work is intended make more users aware of this extension of SUMO capabilities.

MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1974

ATM test and integration

The test and checkout philosophy of the test program for the Skylab ATM module and the overall test flow including in-process, post-manufacturing, vibration, thermal vacuum, and prelaunch checkout activities are described. Capabilities and limitations of the test complex and its use of automation are discussed. Experiences with the organizational principle of using a dedicated test team for all checkout activities are reported. Material on the development of the ATM subsystems, the experimental program and the requirements of the scientific community, and the integration and verification of the complex systems/subsystems of the ATM are presented. The performance of the ATM test program in such areas as alignment, systems and subsystems, contamination control, and experiment operation is evaluated. The conclusions and recommendations resulting from the ATM test program are enumerated.

Moore, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Manufacturing Process Applications Team (MATeam)

The activities of the Manufacturing Process Applications Team concerning the promotion of joint Industry/Federal Agency/NASA funded research and technology operating plan (RTOP) programs are reported. Direct transfers occurred in cutting tools, laser wire stripping, soldering, and portable X-ray unit technology. TROP program funding approval was obtained for the further development of the cutting tool Sialon and development of an automated nondestructive fracture toughness testing system.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1983

Radiometric calibration of Seasat SAR imagery

A goal of future synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system design is to yield the radiometrically accurate imagery necessary for use in classification problems. To accomplish this, a reliable calibration technique must be developed. Many such techniques have been proposed (e.g., Stiles and Holtzman, 1982); however, until now, none have been tested on spaceborne SAR digital data. In this paper, a method of significantly increasing the reproducibility of several independent Seasat SAR data sets of a test site using an automated correction procedure is described.

Croft, C.↗