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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1992

Spaceborne construction and operations planning - Decision rules for selecting EVA, telerobot, and combined work-systems

An approach is presented for selecting an appropriate work-system for performing construction and operations tasks by humans and telerobots. The decision to use extravehicular activity (EVA) performed by astronauts, extravehicular robotics (EVR), or a combination of EVA and EVR is determined by the ratio of the marginal costs of EVA, EVR, and IVA. The approach proposed here is useful for examining cost trade-offs between tasks and performing trade studies of task improvement techniques (human or telerobotic).

Smith, Jeffrey H.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Space Technology Game Changing Development Human Exploration Telerobotics 2

The purpose of the Human Exploration Tele robotics 2 (HET2) project is to mature telerobotics technology to increase the performance, reduce the cost, and improve the success of human space exploration. To do this, HET2 will develop a new robot, the Astrobee free-flying robot, and mature Robonaut 2 to offload routine and repetitive work from astronauts and extend and enhance crew capabilities. HET2 will test these robots in laboratories on the ground and on the International Space Station (ISS).

Robotics↗
NASA NTRS2008

Crew Activity Analyzer

The crew activity analyzer (CAA) is a system of electronic hardware and software for automatically identifying patterns of group activity among crew members working together in an office, cockpit, workshop, laboratory, or other enclosed space. The CAA synchronously records multiple streams of data from digital video cameras, wireless microphones, and position sensors, then plays back and processes the data to identify activity patterns specified by human analysts. The processing greatly reduces the amount of time that the analysts must spend in examining large amounts of data, enabling the analysts to concentrate on subsets of data that represent activities of interest. The CAA has potential for use in a variety of governmental and commercial applications, including planning for crews for future long space flights, designing facilities wherein humans must work in proximity for long times, improving crew training and measuring crew performance in military settings, human-factors and safety assessment, development of team procedures, and behavioral and ethnographic research. The data-acquisition hardware of the CAA (see figure) includes two video cameras: an overhead one aimed upward at a paraboloidal mirror on the ceiling and one mounted on a wall aimed in a downward slant toward the crew area. As many as four wireless microphones can be worn by crew members. The audio signals received from the microphones are digitized, then compressed in preparation for storage. Approximate locations of as many as four crew members are measured by use of a Cricket indoor location system. [The Cricket indoor location system includes ultrasonic/radio beacon and listener units. A Cricket beacon (in this case, worn by a crew member) simultaneously transmits a pulse of ultrasound and a radio signal that contains identifying information. Each Cricket listener unit measures the difference between the times of reception of the ultrasound and radio signals from an identified beacon. Assuming essentially instantaneous propagation of the radio signal, the distance between that beacon and the listener unit is estimated from this time difference and the speed of sound in air.] In this system, six Cricket listener units are mounted in various positions on the ceiling, and as many as four Cricket beacons are attached to crew members. The three-dimensional position of each Cricket beacon can be estimated from the time-difference readings of that beacon from at least three Cricket listener units

Murray, James↗
NASA NTRS2018

Impact of Advanced Synoptics and Simplified Checklists During Aircraft Systems Failures

Abstract—Natural human capacities are becoming increasingly mismatched to the enormous data volumes, processing capabilities, and decision speeds demanded in today’s aviation environment. Increasingly Autonomous Systems (IAS) are uniquely suited to solve this problem. NASA is conducting research and development of IAS - hardware and software systems, utilizing machine learning algorithms, seamlessly integrated with humans whereby task performance of the combined system is significantly greater than the individual components. IAS offer the potential for significantly improved levels of performance and safety that are superior to either human or automation alone. A human-in-the-loop test was conducted in NASA Langley’s Integration Flight Deck B-737-800 simulator to evaluate advanced synoptic pages with simplified interactive electronic checklists as an IAS for routine air carrier flight operations and in response to aircraft system failures. Twelve U.S. airline crews flew various normal and non-normal procedures and their actions and performance were recorded in response to failures. These data are fundamental to and critical for the design and development of future increasingly autonomous systems that can better support the human in the cockpit. Synoptic pages and electronic checklists significantly improved pilot responses to non-normal scenarios, but implementation of these aids and other intelligent assistants have barriers to implementation (e.g., certification cost) that must overcome.

Etherington, Timothy J.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Practicing for Mars: The International Space Station (ISS) as a Testbed

Allows demonstration and development of exploration capabilities to help accomplish future missions sooner with less risk to crew and mission Characteristics of ISS as a testbed High fidelity human operations platform in LEO: Continuously operating habitat and active laboratory. High fidelity systems. Astronauts as test subjects. Highly experienced ground operations teams. Offers a controlled test environment.: Consequences to systems performance and decision making not offered in ground analogs International participation. Continuously improving system looking for new technology and ideas to improve operations. Technology Demos & Critical Systems Maturation. Human Health and Performance. Operations Simulations and Techniques. Exploration prep testing on ISS has been ongoing since 2012. Number of tests increasing with each ISS expedition. One Year Crew Expedition starting in Spring 2015. ROSCOSMOS and NASA are partnering on the Participating Crew are Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly Majority of testing is an extension of current Human Biomedical Research investigations Plan for extending & expanding upon current operations techniques and tech demo studies ESA 10 Day Mission in Fall 2015 ESA astronaut focus on testing exploration technologies Many more opportunities throughout the life of ISS! 4/24/2014 david.h.korth@nasa.gov 4 Exploration testing

Korth, David H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Image-plane processing for improved computer vision

The proper combination of optical design with image plane processing, as in the mechanism of human vision, which allows to improve the performance of sensor array imaging systems for edge detection and location was examined. Two dimensional bandpass filtering during image formation, optimizes edge enhancement and minimizes data transmission. It permits control of the spatial imaging system response to tradeoff edge enhancement for sensitivity at low light levels. It is shown that most of the information, up to about 94%, is contained in the signal intensity transitions from which the location of edges is determined for raw primal sketches. Shading the lens transmittance to increase depth of field and using a hexagonal instead of square sensor array lattice to decrease sensitivity to edge orientation improves edge information about 10%.

Huck, F. O.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Integrating Human Factors into Space Vehicle Processing for Risk Management

This presentation will discuss the multiple projects performed in United Space Alliance's Human Engineering Modeling and Performance (HEMAP) Lab, improvements that resulted from analysis, and the future applications of the HEMAP Lab for risk assessment by evaluating human/machine interaction and ergonomic designs.

Woodbury, Sarah↗
NASA NTRS2023

Human Systems Integration: Managing Risk in Anesthesia

The practice of anesthesia relies on clinicians’ ability to safely manage increasingly complex equipment. Devices such as ventilators, drug infusion pumps, and physiologic monitors use sophisticated algorithms to deliver care, but most clinicians are only trained to manage automated systems during normal operation. Few if any receive training on how to manage system failures. Although manufacturers are required to consult with human factors engineers as part of the equipment design process, most pieces of equipment are ultimately brought to market without extensive input from clinicians. Systems in the operating room can be as simple as an oxygen tank, or as complex as a multi-institutional healthcare organization. Humans are also a complex system, and play a critical role in the domains of operations, design, fabrication, maintenance, repair, and ultimately, dismantling and closeout. HSI seeks to provide a means for advocating the human side of the system. Human Systems Integration (HSI) is the cross disciplinary process used as part of the Systems Engineering process to reduce risk in systems. HSI professionals consider the human, hardware, and software elements of system design to optimize system performance and improve safety. HSI professionals work in domains of study that include training, management, human factors engineering, safety, and occupational health, among others. This article discusses the role of systems in the practice of anesthesia, and how consideration of the human during all phases of the system life cycle helps manage risks and promote a better patient outcome.

Human Factors↗
NASA NTRS1966

Displays for seeing without looking.

Peripheral vision displays for dynamic tracking information during difficult flight control tasks improve operator performance

HUMAN PERFORMANCE↗
NASA NTRS2019

Evaluation of Technology Concepts for Traffic Data Management and Relevant Audio for Datalink in Commercial Airline Flight Decks

Datalink is currently operational for departure clearances and in oceanic environments and is currently being tested in high altitude domestic enroute airspace. Interaction with even simple datalink clearances may create more workload for flight crews than the voice system they replace if not carefully designed. Datalink may also introduce additional complexity for flight crews with hundreds of uplink messages now defined for use. Finally, flight crews may lose airspace awareness and operationally relevant information that they normally pickup from Air Traffic Control (ATC) voice communications with other aircraft (i.e., “party-line” transmissions). Once again, automation may be poised to increase workload on the flight deck for incremental benefit. Datalink implementation to support future air traffic management concepts needs to be carefully considered, understanding human communication norms and especially, the change from voice- to text-based communications modality and its effect on pilot workload and situation awareness. Increasingly autonomous systems, where autonomy is designed to support human-autonomy teaming, may be suited to solve these issues. NASA is conducting research and development of increasingly autonomous systems, utilizing machine-learning algorithms seamlessly integrated with humans whereby task performance of the combined system is significantly greater than the individual components. Increasingly autonomous systems offer the potential for significantly improved levels of performance and safety that are superior to either human or automation alone. Two increasingly autonomous systems concepts - a traffic data manager and a conversational co-pilot - were developed to intelligently address the datalink issues in a complex, future state environment with significant levels of traffic. The system was tested for suitability of datalink usage for terminal airspace. The traffic data manager allowed for automated declutter of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) display. The system determined relevant traffic for display based on machine learning algorithms trained by experienced human pilot behaviors. The conversational co-pilot provided relevant audio air traffic control messages based on context and proximity to ownship. Both systems made use of the connected aircraft concepts to provide intelligent context to determine relevancy above and beyond proximity to ownship. A human-in-the-loop test was conducted in NASA Langley Research Center’s Integration Flight Deck B-737-800 simulator to evaluate the traffic data manager and the conversational co-pilot. Twelve airline crews flew various normal and non-normal procedures and their actions and performance were recorded in response to the procedural events. This paper details the flight crew performance and evaluation during the events.

Etherington, Timothy↗
NASA NTRS2002

National Aeronautics and Space Administration FY 02 Revised Final Annual Performance Plan

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) was passed by Congress and signed by the President in 1993. GPRA was enacted to improve the efficiency of all Federal agencies, with the following specific goals: (1) Improve Federal program management, effectiveness, and public accountability; (2) Improve Congressional decision making on where to commit the Nation's financial and human resources; and (3) Improve citizen confidence in government performance. GPRA directs Executive Branch agencies to develop a customer-focused strategic plan that aligns activities with concrete missions and goals. The Act directs agencies to manage and measure results to justify Congressional appropriations and authorizations. The Report Consolidation Act of 2000 directs agencies to provide a report on the degree of success in achieving the goals and performance measures defined in the strategic and performance plans one hundred and fifty days after the completion of the fiscal year.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1975

Multivariable manual control with simultaneous visual and auditory presentation of information

Multivariable manual compensatory tracking experiments were carried out in order to determine typical strategies of the human operator and conditions for improvement of his performance if one of the visual displays of the tracking errors is supplemented by an auditory feedback. Because the tracking error of the system which is only visually displayed is found to decrease, but not in general that of the auditorally supported system, it was concluded that the auditory feedback unloads the visual system of the operator who can then concentrate on the remaining exclusively visual displays.

Uhlemann, H.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Firefighters Integrated Response Equipment System

The Firefighters Integrated Response Equipment System (Project FIRES) is a joint National Fire Prevention and Control Administration (NFPCA)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) program for the development of an 'ultimate' firefighter's protective ensemble. The overall aim of Project FIRES is to improve firefighter protection against hazards, such as heat, flame, smoke, toxic fumes, moisture, impact penetration, and electricity and, at the same time, improve firefighter performance by increasing maneuverability, lowering weight, and improving human engineering design of his protective ensemble.

Kaplan, H.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Digital techniques for processing Landsat imagery

An overview of the basic techniques used to process Landsat images with a digital computer, and the VICAR image processing software developed at JPL and available to users through the NASA sponsored COSMIC computer program distribution center is presented. Examples of subjective processing performed to improve the information display for the human observer, such as contrast enhancement, pseudocolor display and band rationing, and of quantitative processing using mathematical models, such as classification based on multispectral signatures of different areas within a given scene and geometric transformation of imagery into standard mapping projections are given. Examples are illustrated by Landsat scenes of the Andes mountains and Altyn-Tagh fault zone in China before and after contrast enhancement and classification of land use in Portland, Oregon. The VICAR image processing software system which consists of a language translator that simplifies execution of image processing programs and provides a general purpose format so that imagery from a variety of sources can be processed by the same basic set of general applications programs is described.

Green, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Nanotube Activities at NASA-Johnson Space Center

Nanotube activities at NASA-Johnson Space Center include production, purification, characterization as well as applications of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). A parametric study of the pulsed laser ablation process is recently completed to monitor the effect of production parameters including temperature, buffer gas, flow rate, pressure, and laser fluence. Enhancement of production is achieved by rastering the graphite target and by increasing the target surface temperature with a cw laser. In-situ diagnostics during production included time resolved passive emission and laser induced fluorescence from the plume. The improvement of the purity by a variety of steps in the purification process is monitored by characterization techniques including SEM, TEM, Raman, UV-VIS-NIR and TGA. A recently established NASA-JSC protocol for SWCNT characterization is undergoing revision with feedback from nanotube community. Efforts at JSC over the past five years in composites have centered on structural polymer/nanotube systems. Recent activities broadened this focus to multifunctional materials, supercapacitors, fuel cells, regenerable CO2 absorbers, electromagnetic shielding, radiation dosimetry and thermal management systems of interest for human space flight. Preliminary tests indicate improvement of performance in most of these applications because of the large Surface area as well as high electrical and thermal conductivity exhibited by SWCNTs. Comparison with existing technologies and possible future improvements in the SWCNT materials sill be presented.

Arepalli, Sivaram↗
NASA NTRS2006

Carbon Nanotube Activities at NASA-Johnson Space Center

Research activities on carbon nanotubes at NASA-Johnson Space Center include production, purification, characterization and their applications for human space flight. In-situ diagnostics during nanotube production by laser oven process include collection of spatial and temporal data of passive emission and laser induced fluorescence from C2, C3 and Nickel atoms in the plume. Details of the results from the "parametric study" of the pulsed laser ablation process indicate the effect of production parameters including temperature, buffer gas, flow rate, pressure, and laser fluence. Improvement of the purity by a variety of steps in the purification process is monitored by characterization techniques including SEM, TEM, Raman, UV-VIS-NIR and TGA. A recently established NASA-JSC protocol for SWCNT characterization is undergoing revision with feedback from nanotube community. Efforts at JSC over the past five years in composites have centered on structural polymednanotube systems. Recent activities broadened this focus to multifunctional materials, supercapacitors, fuel cells, regenerable CO2 absorbers, electromagnetic shielding, radiation dosimetry and thermal management systems of interest for human space flight. Preliminary tests indicate improvement of performance in most of these applications because of the large surface area as well as high electrical and thermal conductivity exhibited by SWCNTs.

Arepalli, Sivaram↗
NASA NTRS2011

The Robonaut 2 Hand - Designed to do Work with Tools

The second generation Robonaut hand has many advantages over its predecessor. This mechatronic device is more dexterous and has improved force control and sensing giving it the capability to grasp and actuate a wider range of tools. It can achieve higher peak forces at higher speeds than the original. Developed as part of a partnership between General Motors and NASA, the hand is designed to more closely approximate a human hand. Having a more anthropomorphic design allows the hand to attain a larger set of useful grasps for working with human interfaces. Key to the hand s improved performance is the use of lower friction drive elements and a redistribution of components from the hand to the forearm, permitting more sensing in the fingers and palm where it is most important. The following describes the design, mechanical/electrical integration, and control features of the hand. Lessons learned during the development and initial operations along with planned refinements to make it more effective are presented.

Bridgwater, L. B.↗