SEARCH · Engineering Papers
Results for “Detection and Characterization”
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
AI-Enhanced Detection and Characterization of Natural Events
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Detection and characterization of anthropogenic explosion: Beirut August 4, 2020 case study
No abstract provided
Detection and characterization of two new exoplanets discovered by TESS
No abstract provided
Detection and Characterization of Instrumental Transients in LISA Pathfinder and Their Projection to LISA
The LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission succeeded outstandingly in demonstrating key technologicalaspects of future space-borne gravitational-wave detectors, such as the Laser Interferometer SpaceAntenna (LISA). Specifically, LPF demonstrated with unprecedented sensitivity the measurementof the relative acceleration of two free-falling cubic test masses. Although most disruptive non-gravitational forces have been identified and their effects mitigated through a series of calibrationprocesses, some faint transient signals of yet unexplained origin remain in the measurements. If theyappear in the LISA data, these perturbations (also called glitches) could skew the characterizationof gravitational-wave sources or even be confused with gravitational-wave bursts. For the firsttime, we provide a comprehensive census of LPF transient events. Our analysis is based on aphenomenological shapelet model allowing us to derive simple statistics about the physical featuresof the glitch population. We then implement a generator of synthetic glitches designed to be usedfor subsequent LISA studies, and perform a preliminary evaluation of the effect of the glitches onfuture LISA data analyses.
Detecting and Characterizing Patterns of Failure in Complex Engineered Systems: an Ontology Development and Clustering Approach
While the causes of failures in complex engineered systems are often clear in hindsight, it can be challenging to predict failures proactively during the design of novel engineered products or systems. Identifying patterns can be useful for capturing common characteristics that may lead to failure. In this paper, we present a methodology for identifying patterns of failure from NASA’s publicly available Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS). We apply an ontology development and clustering approach to identify representative patterns leading to failures in historical lessons learned. A joint inductive-deductive approach reveals the key themes in lessons that lead to failure, which are formalized and recorded as an ontology of complex systems failure causes. Documents from the LLIS are manually tagged with relevant characteristics from the ontology. From the tagged set, clustering is used to capture co-occurring sets of characteristics that lead to failure. The primary contribution of this work is a method for extracting a set of generic failure patterns in complex engineered systems and characteristics for these patterns that can be identified at design time, knowledge of which can be used to plan mitigation strategies.
Improved PSC Detection and Characterization from OMPS Limb Profiler
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Detecting and Characterizing Patterns of Failure in Complex Systems: An Ontology Development and Clustering Approach
While the causes of failures in complex engineered systems are often clear in hindsight, it can be challenging to predict failures proactively during the design of novel engineered products or systems. Identifying patterns can be useful for capturing common characteristics that may lead to failure. In this paper, we present a methodology for identifying patterns of failure from NASA’s publicly available Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS). We apply an ontology development and clustering approach to identify representative patterns leading to failures in historical lessons learned. A joint inductive-deductive approach reveals the key themes in lessons that lead to failure, which are formalized and recorded as an ontology of complex systems failure causes. Documents from the LLIS are manually tagged with relevant characteristics from the ontology. From the tagged set, clustering is used to capture co-occurring sets of characteristics that lead to failure. The primary contribution of this work is a method for extracting a set of generic failure patterns in complex engineered systems and characteristics for these patterns that can be identified at design time, knowledge of which can be used to plan mitigation strategies.
Using Seismic Data to Build a Deep Learning Model for Detection and Characterization of Vehicles
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A teleoperated system for remote site characterization
The detection and characterization of buried objects and materials is an important step in the restoration of burial sites containing chemical and radioactive waste materials at Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. By performing these tasks with remotely controlled sensors, it is possible to obtain improved data quality and consistency as well as enhanced safety for on-site workers. Therefore, the DOE Office of Technology Development and the US Army Environmental Center have jointly supported the development of the Remote Characterization System (RCS). One of the main components of the RCS is a small remotely driven survey vehicle that can transport various combinations of geophysical and radiological sensors. Currently implemented sensors include ground-penetrating radar, magnetometers, an electromagnetic induction sensor, and a sodium iodide radiation detector. The survey vehicle was constructed predominantly of non-metallic materials to minimize its effect on the operation of its geophysical sensors. The system operator controls the vehicle from a remote, truck-mounted, base station. Video images are transmitted to the base station by a radio link to give the operator necessary visual information. Vehicle control commands, tracking information, and sensor data are transmitted between the survey vehicle and the base station by means of a radio ethernet link. Precise vehicle tracking coordinates are provided by a differential Global Positioning System (GPS).
Tsunami Early-Warning CubeSat Design Reference Mission (DRM)
Global constellation for near real-time detection, characterization, and warning of dangerous tsunami; detection and evaluation of large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and study and continuous monitoring of the ionosphere and climate change.
Infrared Imaging and Characterization of Exoplanets: Can we Detect Earth-Twins on a Budget?
During the past decade considerable progress has been made developing techniques that can be used to detect and characterize Earth twins in the mid- infrared (7-20 microns). The principal technique is called nulling interferometry, and it was invented by Bracewell in the late 1970's. The nulling technique is an interferometric equivalent of an optical coronagraph. At the present time most of the technological hurdles have been overcome for a space mission to be able to begin Phase A early in the next decade, and it is possible to detect and characterize Earth-twins on a mid- sized strategic mission budget ($600-800 million). I will review progress on this exciting method of planet detection in the context of recent work on the Exoplanet Community Forum and the US Decadal Survey (Astro2010), including biomarkers, technological progress, mission concepts, the theory of these instruments, and a.comparison of the discovery space of this technique with others also under consideration.
The LUVOIR Extreme Coronagraph for Living Planetary Systems (ECLIPS) I: Searching and Characterizing Exoplanetary Gems
Detection and characterization of Earth-like planets around nearby stars using the direct imaging technique is a key scientific objective of future NASA astrophysics flagship missions. As a result, dedicated exoplanet instruments are being studied for the Large UV/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR) and the Habitable Exoplanet Imager (HabEx) mission concepts. In this paper we discuss the Extreme Coronagraph for Living Planetary Systems (ECLIPS) instrument of LUVOIR. ECLIPS will be capable of providing starlight suppression levels of ten orders of magnitude over a broad range of wavelengths in order to detect and characterize the light reflected from potentially Earth-like planets. It will also allow future astronomers to study in great detail the diversity of exoplanets. First, we review the main science drivers and emphasize those that are the most stressing on the instrument design. We then present the overall parameters of the instrument (general architecture and back-end camera). We delve into the details of the static coronagraph masks, which have a significant impact on the scientific productivity of the mission. We discuss the choices the LUVOIR team made in order to maximize the discovery yield of exoEarth candidates. We then present our work on the technological feasibility of such an instrument, focusing in particular on the image stability necessary to achieve ten orders of magnitude of starlight extinction over hours of exposure. We present our error budget and show that using a combination of instrument level (low and high order wavefront sensors) and observatory level telemetry can yield an overall architecture that meets these requirements. Finally, we discuss future technology development efforts that will mature these technologies.
Optimal Fragmentation and Dispersion of Hazardous Near-Earth Objects
The complex problem of protecting the Earth from the possibility of a catastrophic impact by a hazardous near-Earth object (NEO) has been recently reassessed in [1]. In a letter on NEOs from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to the U.S. Senate and Congress in 2010, the White House OSTP strongly recommended that NASA take the lead in conducting research activities for NEO detection, characterization, and deflection technologies. Furthermore, President Obama's new National Space Policy specifically directs NASA to "pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize NEOs to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet." The Planetary Defense Task Force of the NASA Advisory Council also recommended that the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) begin efforts to investigate asteroid deflection techniques. With national interest growing in the United States, the NEO threat detection and mitigation problem was recently identified as one of NASA's Space Technology Grand Challenges. An innovative solution to NASA's NEO Impact Threat Mitigation Grand Challenge problem was developed through a NIAC Phase I study (9/16/11 - 9/15/12), and it will be further investigated for a NIAC Phase II study (9/10/12 - 9/9/14). Various NEO deflection technologies, including nuclear explosions, kinetic impactors, and slow-pull gravity tractors, have been proposed and examined during the past two decades. Still, there is no consensus on how to reliably deflect or disrupt hazardous NEOs in a timely manner. It is expected that the most probable mission scenarios will have a mission lead time much shorter than 10 years, so the use of nuclear explosives becomes the most feasible method for planetary defense. Direct intercept missions with a short warning time will result in arrival closing velocities of 10-30 kilometers per second with respect to the target asteroid. Given such a large arrival delta V requirement, a rendezvous mission to the target asteroid is infeasible with existing launch vehicles. Furthermore, state-of-the-art penetrating subsurface nuclear explosion technology limits the penetrator's impact velocity to less than approximately 300 meters per second because higher impact velocities prematurely destroy the nuclear fuzing mechanisms. Therefore, significant advances in hypervelocity nuclear interceptor/ penetrator technology must be achieved to enable a last-minute nuclear disruption mission with intercept velocities as high as 30 kilometers per second. Consequently, a HAIV (Hypervelocity Asteroid Intercept Vehicle) mission architecture (Figure 1.1), which blends a hypervelocity kinetic impactor with a subsurface nuclear explosion for optimal fragmentation and dispersion of hazardous NEOs, has been developed through a Phase I study, and it will be further developed and validated through a Phase II study.
Method and System for Multi-Path Active Defect Detection, Localization and Characterization with Ultrasonic Guided Waves
A method and system of detecting, localizing, and characterizing a defect at one or more spatial points of interest on a structure. The method may include collecting first data in a first state using one or more transducers on the structure, collecting second data in a second state subsequent to the first state, computing a scattered impulse response based on the collected first data and the collected second data, comparing the scattered impulse response with an estimated scattered impulse response corresponding to the case when damage is present at one or more spatial points of interest on the structure, and combining the generated comparison results to detect, localize, and characterize a defect at the one or more spatial points of interest on the structure.
NASA airborne radar wind shear detection algorithm and the detection of wet microbursts in the vicinity of Orlando, Florida
The algorithms used in the NASA experimental wind shear radar system for detection, characterization, and determination of windshear hazard are discussed. The performance of the algorithms in the detection of wet microbursts near Orlando is presented. Various suggested algorithms that are currently being evaluated using the flight test results from Denver and Orlando are reviewed.
SHERLOC: Results of the first 350 sols of operations
On February 18th 2021, the Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, Mars. This site was chosen because orbiter data analysis provides evidence that the crater hosted a stream-fed lake during the Martian Noachian period. The Octavia Butler landing site is located ~1.9 km east of the remnants of a river delta. Deltaic and lacustrine sediments can preserve biosignatures, making Jezero crater a prime target for Mars sample return science. One of the seven instruments on Perseverance’s science payload is SHERLOC –Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals. SHERLOC combines fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy with microscopic imaging to analyze surface material to better understand the history of the aqueous environments recorded in the rocks of Jezero crater and to search for potential biosignatures. SHERLOC imaging obtains high spatial resolution images of geological targets to identify grain-scale structure and texture. SHERLOC spectroscopy enables high-sensitivity detection, characterization, and spatially resolved correlation of trace organic materials. Native fluorescence emissions from aromatic organic species allow for detection and classification of aromatic organic molecules, whereas Raman scattered photons from molecules allow identification of functional groups of organics, chemicals, and minerals. In the first 300 sols, SHERLOC has analyzed 3 natural surfaces, and 5 abraded rock patches created during the Crater Floor Campaign within Jezero crater. SHERLOC has been able to identify phosphates, amorphous/microcrystalline silicate (AMS), olivine, sulfates, and carbonates in abraded patches in the green zone campaign within Jezero Crater Máaz and Séítah formations. Within these detections we have begun to tell the story of what this crater was like when it was full of liquid water over 3 billion years ago. In each of these samples we have identified fluorescence features that are likely aromatic organics native to the rock interiors. We have identified multiple unique fluorescence signatures, within each of the abraded patches. The organic signatures have either been widely distributed over an extended area, which is probably due to planetary wide dust, or have spatially resolved locations that are collocated with different mineral signatures. Note: Additional information available on attachment.
The Quest for Organic Carbon on Mars
We are entering an era of Mars exploration in which organic carbon detection, characterization, and structural identification will be key to addressing some of the outstanding science objectives of the Mars Exploration Program. Success of these missions will depend on technical, scientific, and strategic elements--all of which are strongly determined based on terrestrial experience and knowledge of organic matter formation, concentration, and preservation. Analog studies including Precambrian sediments, modern endolithic communities, and experiments help us fine-tune these approaches, but we also need to expect the unexpected. This presentation will provide perspective on the challenges of detecting organic carbon on Mars, how we may achieve such detections with the in situ instruments, such as the SAM (Science Analysis at Mars) instrument suite onboard Curiosity, the rover for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory mission.