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At least 73 records · Page 4

HTML 5 Displays for On-Board Flight Systems

During my Internship at NASA in the summer of 2016, I was assigned to a project which dealt with developing a web-server that would display telemetry and other system data using HTML 5, JavaScript, and CSS. By doing this, it would be possible to view the data across a variety of screen sizes, and establish a standard that could be used to simplify communication and software development between NASA and other countries. Utilizing a web- approach allowed us to add in more functionality, as well as make the displays more aesthetically pleasing for the users. When I was assigned to this project my main task was to first establish communication with the current display server. This display server would output data from the on-board systems in XML format. Once communication was established I was then asked to create a dynamic telemetry table web page that would update its header and change as new information came in. After this was completed, certain minor functionalities were added to the table such as a hide column and filter by system option. This was more for the purpose of making the table more useful for the users, as they can now filter and view relevant data. Finally my last task was to create a graphical system display for all the systems on the space craft. This was by far the most challenging part of my internship as finding a JavaScript library that was both free and contained useful functions to assist me in my task was difficult. In the end I was able to use the JointJs library and accomplish the task. With the help of my mentor and the HIVE lab team, we were able to establish stable communication with the display server. We also succeeded in creating a fully dynamic telemetry table and in developing a graphical system display for the advanced modular power system. Working in JSC for this internship has taught me a lot about coding in JavaScript and HTML 5. I was also introduced to the concept of developing software as a team, and exposed to the different types of programs that are used to simplify team coding such as GitLab. While in JSC, I took full advantage of and attended the lectures that were held here on site. I learned a lot about what it is NASA does and about the interesting projects that are conducted here. One of the lectures I attended was about the selection process and the criteria that is used to select future astronauts for flight missions. This truly had an impact on my future plans as it showed me that this path was a viable option for me. After this internship I plan on completing my undergraduate course work and plan to move on for a masters degree. However, during the time in which I will be completing my masters course work, I would like to apply for the NASA pathways graduate program and, if I am accepted, eventually move on to being a full time civil servant. Working in NASA has not only been enjoyable, but full of information and great experiences that have motivated me to seek a full time employment here in the near future.

Silva, Chandika

Developing Information Power Grid Based Algorithms and Software

This exploratory study initiated our effort to understand performance modeling on parallel systems. The basic goal of performance modeling is to understand and predict the performance of a computer program or set of programs on a computer system. Performance modeling has numerous applications, including evaluation of algorithms, optimization of code implementations, parallel library development, comparison of system architectures, parallel system design, and procurement of new systems. Our work lays the basis for the construction of parallel libraries that allow for the reconstruction of application codes on several distinct architectures so as to assure performance portability. Following our strategy, once the requirements of applications are well understood, one can then construct a library in a layered fashion. The top level of this library will consist of architecture-independent geometric, numerical, and symbolic algorithms that are needed by the sample of applications. These routines should be written in a language that is portable across the targeted architectures.

Dongarra, Jack

The Application of Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning to Visually Identify Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris Impacts

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing the World. Novel approaches to training AI systems have led to dramatic reductions in the amount of time required. Training an AI system could take years and teams of people using traditional methods, but with the advancements of Deep Learning (DL) models this training can now be accomplished by an individual in a matter of minutes. The development of “fast AI” libraries has delivered AI to essentially everyone. Democratization of AI power has inspired many to revisit past problems that will benefit from DL approaches. For example, the application of AI has improved detection of breast cancer by 20% compared to traditional detection methods. Computer vision and machine learning are being used to identify soil deficiencies and provide planting recommendations to farmers. Success stories like these and many others have provided inspiration to see if AI can help improve one of our needed capabilities – that of visually identifying micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impact damage to spacecraft from images of the spacecraft exterior. The need to visually locate and characterize spacecraft MMOD impact damage has been present since the early days of space travel. This is often done by either having a crew member take photographs of the spacecraft through a window using a hand-held camera or ground personnel directing externally-mounted cameras. The photographs are then transmitted back to Earth for visual analysis. This method of MMOD damage inspection works well and has been used on various spacecraft including the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). One of the issues with the current method that we believe AI could improve is the speed and possibly the accuracy in identifying MMOD impacts. Note that detecting MMOD impacts in images can be very difficult. The visual appearance of an MMOD impact can change dramatically with lighting conditions, size of impact, depth of penetration, material types, surface waviness, fabric coverings, camera & lens, distance to surface, spacecraft orientation, analyst experience, and many other factors. Currently, this takes a team of highly-experienced specialists in both the fields of Image Analysis and MMOD impacts. This paper documents our initial research in training an AI DL model using the fast-AI library to identify actual and simulated MMOD impacts and perforations into exposed flat surfaces. While we recognize that this initial goal seems modest, it must be noted that what we have done would have taken teams of individuals and years of training just ten years ago. Our long-term goal is to add complexity and use-cases to the DL model being trained to expand the capabilities of this model so that it can be used to identify MMOD impacts on all types of spacecraft surfaces.

Cameron M Collins

A Cost Effective System Design Approach for Critical Space Systems

NASA-JSC required an avionics platform capable of serving a wide range of applications in a cost-effective manner. In part, making the avionics platform cost effective means adhering to open standards and supporting the integration of COTS products with custom products. Inherently, operation in space requires low power, mass, and volume while retaining high performance, reconfigurability, scalability, and upgradability. The Universal Mini-Controller project is based on a modified PC/104-Plus architecture while maintaining full compatibility with standard COTS PC/104 products. The architecture consists of a library of building block modules, which can be mixed and matched to meet a specific application. A set of NASA developed core building blocks, processor card, analog input/output card, and a Mil-Std-1553 card, have been constructed to meet critical functions and unique interfaces. The design for the processor card is based on the PowerPC architecture. This architecture provides an excellent balance between power consumption and performance, and has an upgrade path to the forthcoming radiation hardened PowerPC processor. The processor card, which makes extensive use of surface mount technology, has a 166 MHz PowerPC 603e processor, 32 Mbytes of error detected and corrected RAM, 8 Mbytes of Flash, and I Mbytes of EPROM, on a single PC/104-Plus card. Similar densities have been achieved with the quad channel Mil-Std-1553 card and the analog input/output cards. The power management built into the processor and its peripheral chip allows the power and performance of the system to be adjusted to meet the requirements of the application, allowing another dimension to the flexibility of the Universal Mini-Controller. Unique mechanical packaging allows the Universal Mini-Controller to accommodate standard COTS and custom oversized PC/104-Plus cards. This mechanical packaging also provides thermal management via conductive cooling of COTS boards, which are typically designed for convection cooling methods.

Abbott, Larry Wayne

A review of energy storage for power system resilience: Functions, metrics, and applications

Aging infrastructure, increasing operational complexity, and surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence and electrification are straining the grid and heightening the risks of disruptions, making resilience a critical priority. Energy storage is increasingly deployed to provide critical power supply, fast grid support, and rapid restoration. However, current practice lacks consistent metrics and systematic methodologies to rigorously quantify the resilience benefits of storage. This paper provides a comprehensive review of energy storage in resilience enhancement, focusing on functional roles, quantification metrics, and integration strategies. A structured resilience metrics library is compiled and categorized to encompass both technical and economic performance aspects. Existing methodologies for resilience-oriented storage planning and operations are critically examined. Key technical and practical challenges are identified, and future research directions are outlined to strengthen storage contributions to grid resilience.

Benefit quantification

Applicability of mathematical modeling to problems of environmental physiology

The paper traces the evolution of mathematical modeling and systems analysis from terrestrial research to research related to space biomedicine and back again to terrestrial research. Topics covered include: power spectral analysis of physiological signals; pattern recognition models for detection of disease processes; and, computer-aided diagnosis programs used in conjunction with a special on-line biomedical computer library.

White, Ronald J.

Microreactor Automated Control System - Digital Twin Models and Advanced Control Systems Updates

Automation of control systems is expected to be important in the economic and safe operation of microreactors. Therefore, there is a need to develop and demonstrate automated control for microreactors, along with the development of testbeds for this purpose. This report provides updates on the status of a nonnuclear microreactor automated control system (MACS)—a real-time, hardware-in-the-loop testbed for non-nuclear testing of microreactor control system automation. A real-time hardware-in-the-loop testbed incorporates the realistic dynamics of physical systems into control system development and testing. The collaborative effort between Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) resulted in the development of a prototypic microreactor plant-level digital twin that includes the reactor and a balance of plant system. Advanced control strategies were incorporated to demonstrate testing of control automation solutions. The gRPC communication protocol, which was implemented in the hardware-in-the-loop testbed by INL, was coupled to a digital twin model developed using the TRANsient Simulation Framework of Reconfigurable Models (TRANSFORM) library in Modelica. This digital twin simulation was tested with the ViBRANT hardware for realistic feedback and visual representation of control action in real time. A modular Python client structure was developed to manage functional mock-up unit-based simulation and real-time gRPC communication. Hardware-in-the-loop testing indicated that the modeled reactor—a natural-convection, molten-salt coolant loop configuration—responds well to control of drum positioning for modulation of reactor core power, as well as system-level control and downstream demand changes. Ongoing research is focused on integrating additional control algorithms that utilize data from newly included sensors within the MACS hardware testbed, as well as demonstrating and assessing the performance of the different automated control algorithms on multiple additional operational scenarios.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS

What Technical Choices Matter to Characterize Heat Wave and Cold Snap Events in Support of Bulk Power Grid Reliability Studies?

Extreme weather events, such as Heat Waves (HW) and Cold Snaps (CS), pose significant risks to the power grid. The United States (U.S.) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 896 mandates regional coordination standards that account for extreme thermal events. However, the lack of a universal definition for extreme thermal events may lead to inconsistent compliance efforts among neighboring entities, undermining the reliability of the transmission system. This study directly addresses this challenge by systematically evaluating how varying technical choices in defining HW and CS fundamentally impact the characterization and ranking of extreme events for power grid reliability studies. We used 12 event definitions and multiple temperature spatial aggregation approaches to construct historical (1980–2024) regional extreme thermal event libraries across North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) subregions in the conterminous U.S. We examined the sensitivity of event characteristics (e.g., duration, frequency, intensity, and spatial coverage) to different definitions. While some definitions produced similar libraries and top event rankings, definitions based on moving-window-averaged temperatures yielded markedly different characteristics. Spatial aggregation methods had minimal impact on heat wave or cold snap intensity, frequency and duration but significantly influenced spatial coverage. The top events identified across different aggregation methods were consistent, but their ranking order varied. These findings offer critical insights for characterizing and selecting extreme thermal events and for supporting local and cross-regional coordination as required by reliability standards.

Wan, Heng [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (

The State of Cryptolib – The Open-Source Satellite Cryptography Library

What state would the world be in if all internet traffic was unencrypted? Imagine an alternate universe where you can plug a packet sniffing device into your home internet and capture the web traffic of the entire world. It seems obvious that this scenario is less than desirable. If we would not allow this for the internet, why would we allow this in the space domain? With the advent of open-source ground stations, commercial off the shelf hardware, and ground stations as a service, the barrier to entry for space communications is rapidly lowering. New players enter the space realm everydayevery day, and the presence of tools to allow apprentice evildoers the ability to exploit satellite communications is on the horizon. Not only are legacy missions at risk, but future missions are as well - particularly lower budget science missions with more stringent sciencesize, weight, and power constraints. that may find it difficult to utilize hardware-based encryption solutions. In terms of Civilian Aerospace, NASA Standard 1006 generally directs that missions "shall protect the command stack with encryption that meets or exceeds Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140". Fortunately, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) has published an international standard on Space Data Link Security. The combination of these two forces has resulted in CryptoLib - an open-source, C-based, encryption library that aims to be CCSDS SDLS compliant. CryptoLib is designed to support smaller missions on a tight budget that may be subject to the more stringent command link encryption requirements. Additionally, CryptoLib serves as an underpinning in JPL's Key Management & Cryptography (KMC) suite and is also designed to function as a 'drop-in' for smaller missions. CryptoLib is in active development and currently provides Telecommand (TC), Telemetry (TM), and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) encryption and decryption capabilities with a variety of encryption and authentication schemes. This presentation will report the latest features, current status, and future plans for CryptoLib.

open-source encryption

The State of CryptoLib – The Open-Source Satellite Cryptography Library

What state would the world be in if all internet traffic was unencrypted? Imagine an alternate universe where you can plug a packet sniffing device into your home internet and capture the web traffic of the entire world. It seems obvious that this scenario is less than desirable. If we would not allow this for the internet, why would we allow this in the space domain? With the advent of open-source ground stations, commercial off the shelf hardware, and ground stations as a service, the barrier to entry for space communications is rapidly lowering. New players enter the space realm everydayevery day, and the presence of tools to allow apprentice evildoers the ability to exploit satellite communications is on the horizon. Not only are legacy missions at risk, but future missions are as well - particularly lower budget science missions with more stringent sciencesize, weight, and power constraints. that may find it difficult to utilize hardware-based encryption solutions. In terms of Civilian Aerospace, NASA Standard 1006 generally directs that missions "shall protect the command stack with encryption that meets or exceeds Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140". Fortunately, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) has published an international standard on Space Data Link Security. The combination of these two forces has resulted in CryptoLib - an open-source, C-based, encryption library that aims to be CCSDS SDLS compliant. CryptoLib is designed to support smaller missions on a tight budget that may be subject to the more stringent command link encryption requirements. Additionally, CryptoLib serves as an underpinning in JPL's Key Management & Cryptography (KMC) suite and is also designed to function as a 'drop-in' for smaller missions. CryptoLib is in active development and currently provides Telecommand (TC), Telemetry (TM), and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) encryption and decryption capabilities with a variety of encryption and authentication schemes. This presentation will report the latest features, current status, and future plans for CryptoLib.

open-source encryption

NAS Experiences of Porting CM Fortran Codes to HPF on IBM SP2 and SGI Power Challenge

Current Connection Machine (CM) Fortran codes developed for the CM-2 and the CM-5 represent an important class of parallel applications. Several users have employed CM Fortran codes in production mode on the CM-2 and the CM-5 for the last five to six years, constituting a heavy investment in terms of cost and time. With Thinking Machines Corporation's decision to withdraw from the hardware business and with the decommissioning of many CM-2 and CM-5 machines, the best way to protect the substantial investment in CM Fortran codes is to port the codes to High Performance Fortran (HPF) on highly parallel systems. HPF is very similar to CM Fortran and thus represents a natural transition. Conversion issues involved in porting CM Fortran codes on the CM-5 to HPF are presented. In particular, the differences between data distribution directives and the CM Fortran Utility Routines Library, as well as the equivalent functionality in the HPF Library are discussed. Several CM Fortran codes (Cannon algorithm for matrix-matrix multiplication, Linear solver Ax=b, 1-D convolution for 2-D datasets, Laplace's Equation solver, and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) codes have been ported to Subset HPF on the IBM SP2 and the SGI Power Challenge. Speedup ratios versus number of processors for the Linear solver and DSMC code are presented.

Saini, Subhash

sdt (Solar Data Tools) [SWR-25-130]

Solar Data Tools (sdt) is an open-source Python library for analyzing PV power (and irradiance) time-series data. It was developed to enable analysis of unlabeled PV data, i.e. with no model, no meteorological data, and no performance index required, by taking a statistical signal processing approach in the algorithms used in the package’s main data processing pipeline. Solar Data Tools empowers PV system fleet owners or operators to analyze system performance a hundred times faster even when they only have access to the most basic data stream—power output of the system.

Meyers-Im, Bennet [National Laboratory of the Rock

Performance Measurement, Visualization and Modeling of Parallel and Distributed Programs

This paper presents a methodology for debugging the performance of message-passing programs on both tightly coupled and loosely coupled distributed-memory machines. The AIMS (Automated Instrumentation and Monitoring System) toolkit, a suite of software tools for measurement and analysis of performance, is introduced and its application illustrated using several benchmark programs drawn from the field of computational fluid dynamics. AIMS includes (i) Xinstrument, a powerful source-code instrumentor, which supports both Fortran77 and C as well as a number of different message-passing libraries including Intel's NX Thinking Machines' CMMD, and PVM; (ii) Monitor, a library of timestamping and trace -collection routines that run on supercomputers (such as Intel's iPSC/860, Delta, and Paragon and Thinking Machines' CM5) as well as on networks of workstations (including Convex Cluster and SparcStations connected by a LAN); (iii) Visualization Kernel, a trace-animation facility that supports source-code clickback, simultaneous visualization of computation and communication patterns, as well as analysis of data movements; (iv) Statistics Kernel, an advanced profiling facility, that associates a variety of performance data with various syntactic components of a parallel program; (v) Index Kernel, a diagnostic tool that helps pinpoint performance bottlenecks through the use of abstract indices; (vi) Modeling Kernel, a facility for automated modeling of message-passing programs that supports both simulation -based and analytical approaches to performance prediction and scalability analysis; (vii) Intrusion Compensator, a utility for recovering true performance from observed performance by removing the overheads of monitoring and their effects on the communication pattern of the program; and (viii) Compatibility Tools, that convert AIMS-generated traces into formats used by other performance-visualization tools, such as ParaGraph, Pablo, and certain AVS/Explorer modules.

Yan, Jerry C.

Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS) Users' Workshop Presentations

NASA Glenn Research Center hosted a Users' Workshop on the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS) on August 21, 2017. The objective of this workshop was to update the user community on the latest features of T-MATS, and to provide a forum to present work performed using T-MATS. Presentations highlighted creative applications and the development of new features and libraries, and emphasized the flexibility and simulation power of T-MATS.

and Control

On-board landmark navigation and attitude reference parallel processor system

An approach to autonomous navigation and attitude reference for earth observing spacecraft is described along with the landmark identification technique based on a sequential similarity detection algorithm (SSDA). Laboratory experiments undertaken to determine if better than one pixel accuracy in registration can be achieved consistent with onboard processor timing and capacity constraints are included. The SSDA is implemented using a multi-microprocessor system including synchronization logic and chip library. The data is processed in parallel stages, effectively reducing the time to match the small known image within a larger image as seen by the onboard image system. Shared memory is incorporated in the system to help communicate intermediate results among microprocessors. The functions include finding mean values and summation of absolute differences over the image search area. The hardware is a low power, compact unit suitable to onboard application with the flexibility to provide for different parameters depending upon the environment.

Gilbert, L. E.

Automated Predictive Diagnosis (APD): A 3-tiered shell for building expert systems for automated predictions and decision making

The APD software features include: On-line help, Three level architecture, (Logic environments, Setup/Application environment, Data environment), Explanation capability, and File handling. The kinds of experimentation and record keeping that leads to effective expert systems is facilitated by: (1) a library of inferencing modules (in the logic environment); (2) an explanation capability which reveals logic strategies to users; (3) automated file naming conventions; (4) an information retrieval system; and (5) on-line help. These aid with effective use of knowledge, debugging and experimentation. Since the APD software anticipates the logical rules becoming complicated, it is embedded in a production system language (CLIPS) to insure the full power of the production system paradigm of CLIPS and availability of the procedural language C. The development is discussed of the APD software and three example applications: toy, experimental, and operational prototype for submarine maintenance predictions.

Steib, Michael

Concept Study of Robotic Camera-Based Foreign Object Detection for EV Wireless Charging

Wireless charging of an electric vehicle (EV) is an emerging charging technology promising convenient, autonomous, and highly efficient EV charging without requiring heavy gauge cables. However, due to the strong electromagnetic field created by this process that surrounds the wireless charger, the presence of foreign objects can detrimentally interact with it, thus affecting wireless power transfer (WPT) performance or leading to harmful and unwanted safety risks. This paper presents the results for a concept study on a robotic camera-based foreign object detection (FOD) system, as a supplement to the industry-existing overlapped FOD coil array method, for EV wireless charging. A Raspberry PI 4 control board and compatible Raspberry PI Camera Module 2 are used to implement camera-based object detection. The FOD program was developed using a state-of-the-art deep learning object detection model with the OpenCV and Pytorch library and is compatible with camera module hardware. A dry-run test with Raspberry PI and a camera module was conducted and the preliminary FOD function was verified. The feasibility assessment is also validated by comparing the performance of five existing state-of-the-art deep learning object detection models for vehicles, animals, persons, and metals subsets, respectively. Satisfactory performance on the benchmark datasets is observed by the tests, but further improvements are needed in future work when detecting small-sized metallic objects. A programable robotic car is also under development as ongoing work for carrying the Raspberry PI and camera module while moving for the maintenance process.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION

Performance Results on CPU/GPU Exascale Architectures for OMEGA: The Ocean Model for E3SM Global Applications

The US Department of Energy (DOE) conducts climate simulations on some of the world’s largest supercomputers. These exascale machines use heterogeneous architectures with both CPUs and GPUs, and scientific codes must adapt to make full use of this computing power. Los Alamos National Lab is developing Omega: The Ocean Model for E3SM Global Applications, which is specifically designed for modern exascale computers. It uses external libraries that have been optimized for a variety of architectures to run on different supercomputers. Omega is an unstructured-mesh ocean model based on TRiSK numerical methods. It will be the new ocean component of the DOE’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). The algorithms in Omega follow those of the current ocean component, MPAS-Ocean, but it will be written in C++ rather than Fortran to take advantage of the Kokkos performance portability library. Omega spatial operators are written as Kokkos kernels to run efficiently on both CPUs and GPUs. Work on Omega began in 2023 with a new C++ framework for unstructured mesh partitioning, halo exchanges, parallel IO, and Kokkos interfaces. The current version, Omega-0, is being developed to solve the shallow water equations and at present includes all of the tendency terms but not time stepping. Here we share the results of Omega-0 verification and performance testing. Verification includes unit tests implemented with CTest as well as convergence tests in Polaris, an in-house python package with a large suite of test problems. Performance tests compare simulations conducted on CPUs versus GPUs and across different architectures: tests are run on Frontier, which has AMD “Optimized 3rd Gen EPYC” CPUs and AMD MI250X GPUs, as well as Perlmutter, which is composed of AMD EPYC 7763 CPUs and NVIDIA A100 GPUs.

58 GEOSCIENCES