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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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

A Model-Driven Visualization Tool for Use with Model-Based Systems Engineering Projects

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) promotes increased consistency between a system's design and its design documentation through the use of an object-oriented system model. The creation of this system model facilitates data presentation by providing a mechanism from which information can be extracted by automated manipulation of model content. Existing MBSE tools enable model creation, but are often too complex for the unfamiliar model viewer to easily use. These tools do not yet provide many opportunities for easing into the development and use of a system model when system design documentation already exists. This study creates a Systems Modeling Language (SysML) Document Traceability Framework (SDTF) for integrating design documentation with a system model, and develops an Interactive Visualization Engine for SysML Tools (InVEST), that exports consistent, clear, and concise views of SysML model data. These exported views are each meaningful to a variety of project stakeholders with differing subjects of concern and depth of technical involvement. InVEST allows a model user to generate multiple views and reports from a MBSE model, including wiki pages and interactive visualizations of data. System data can also be filtered to present only the information relevant to the particular stakeholder, resulting in a view that is both consistent with the larger system model and other model views. Viewing the relationships between system artifacts and documentation, and filtering through data to see specialized views improves the value of the system as a whole, as data becomes information

relational databases↗
NASA NTRS1991

Modeling the spatiotemporal organization of velocity storage in the vestibuloocular reflex by optokinetic studies

1. A generalized three-dimensional state space model of visual vestibular interaction was developed. Matrix and dynamical system operators associated with inputs from the semicircular canals, otolith velocity estimator, and the visual system have been incorporated into the model, which focus on their relationship to the velocity storage integrator. 2. A relationship was postulated between the eigenvalues and the direction of the eigenvectors of the system matrix and the orientation of the spatial vertical. It was assumed that the system matrix for a tilted position was a composition of two linear transformations of the system matrix for the upright position. One transformation modifies the eigenvalues of the system matrix, whereas another rotates the eigenvectors of the system matrix. The pitch and roll eigenvectors rotate with the head, whereas the yaw axis eigenvector remains approximately spatially invariant. 3. Based on the three-dimensional model, a computational procedure was formulated to identify the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the system matrix with the use of a modification of the marquardt algorithm. With the use of data obtained from a monkey, it was shown that the three-dimensional behavior of velocity storage cannot be predicted solely in terms of its time constants, i.e., the inverse of its eigenvalues. With the use of the same eigenvalues the data could either be fit or not fit, depending on the eigenvector directions. Therefore, it is necessary to specify eigenvector directions when characterizing velocity storage in three dimensions. 4. Parameters found with the use of the Marquardt algorithm were incorporated into the model. Diagonal matrices in a head coordinate frame were introduced for coupling the visual system to the integrator and to the direct optokinetic pathway. Simulations of optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) and optokinetic after-nystagmus (OKAN) were run. The model predicted the behavior of yaw and pitch OKN and OKAN when the animal is upright. It also predicted the cross-coupling in the side down position. The trajectories in velocity space were also accurately simulated. 5. One of the predictions of the model is that when the stimulus direction is along an eigenvector, the trajectory in velocity space is a straight line. Using the "spectral width" of the residuals from a straight line sequence during OKAN, we developed a methodology to estimate how close the OKAN decay was to an eigenvector trajectory. 6. Thus we have developed a model-based approach for studying and interpreting the response characteristics of velocity storage in three dimensions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS).

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2008

Testing the Efficacy of Synthetic Vision during Non-Normal Operations as an Enabling Technology for Equivalent Visual Operations

Synthetic Vision (SV) may serve as a revolutionary crew/vehicle interface enabling technology to meet the challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System Equivalent Visual Operations (EVO) concept that is, the ability to achieve or even improve on the safety of Visual Flight Rules (VFR) operations, maintain the operational tempos of VFR, and potentially retain VFR procedures independent of actual weather and visibility conditions. One significant challenge lies in the definition of required equipage on the aircraft and on the airport to enable the EVO concept objective. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of the presence or absence of SV, the location (head-up or head-down) of this information during an instrument approach, and the type of airport lighting information on landing minima. Another key element of the testing entailed investigating the pilot s awareness and reaction to non-normal events (i.e., failure conditions) that were unexpectedly introduced into the experiment. These non-normals are critical determinants in the underlying safety of all-weather operations. This paper presents the experimental results specific to pilot response to non-normal events using head-up and head-down synthetic vision displays.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Synchronizing Photography For High-Speed-Engine Research

Light flashes when shaft reaches predetermined angle. Synchronization system facilitates visualization of flow in high-speed internal-combustion engines. Designed for cinematography and holographic interferometry, system synchronizes camera and light source with predetermined rotational angle of engine shaft. 10-bit resolution of absolute optical shaft encoder adapted, and 2 to tenth power combinations of 10-bit binary data computed to corresponding angle values. Pre-computed angle values programmed into EPROM's (erasable programmable read-only memories) to use as angle lookup table. Resolves shaft angle to within 0.35 degree at rotational speeds up to 73,240 revolutions per minute.

Chun, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Pictorial communication in virtual and real environments

Papers about the communication between human users and machines in real and synthetic environments are presented. Individual topics addressed include: pictorial communication, distortions in memory for visual displays, cartography and map displays, efficiency of graphical perception, volumetric visualization of 3D data, spatial displays to increase pilot situational awareness, teleoperation of land vehicles, computer graphics system for visualizing spacecraft in orbit, visual display aid for orbital maneuvering, multiaxis control in telemanipulation and vehicle guidance, visual enhancements in pick-and-place tasks, target axis effects under transformed visual-motor mappings, adapting to variable prismatic displacement. Also discussed are: spatial vision within egocentric and exocentric frames of reference, sensory conflict in motion sickness, interactions of form and orientation, perception of geometrical structure from congruence, prediction of three-dimensionality across continuous surfaces, effects of viewpoint in the virtual space of pictures, visual slant underestimation, spatial constraints of stereopsis in video displays, stereoscopic stance perception, paradoxical monocular stereopsis and perspective vergence. (No individual items are abstracted in this volume)

Ellis, Stephen R.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Monitoring and analysis of data in cyberspace

Information from monitored systems is displayed in three dimensional cyberspace representations defining a virtual universe having three dimensions. Fixed and dynamic data parameter outputs from the monitored systems are visually represented as graphic objects that are positioned in the virtual universe based on relationships to the system and to the data parameter categories. Attributes and values of the data parameters are indicated by manipulating properties of the graphic object such as position, color, shape, and motion.

Schwuttke, Ursula M.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Eye point-of-regard system

System measures intersection of line of sight and eye point of regard /EPR/ for a human operator in visual scanning system. Device measures two head to reference angles with EPR system and adds them with eye to head angles, yielding a dc signal proportional to picture plane coordinates.

Jex, H. R.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Development of a Countermeasure to Enhance Postflight Locomotor Adaptability

Astronauts returning from space flight experience locomotor dysfunction following their return to Earth. Our laboratory is currently developing a gait adaptability training program that is designed to facilitate recovery of locomotor function following a return to a gravitational environment. The training program exploits the ability of the sensorimotor system to generalize from exposure to multiple adaptive challenges during training so that the gait control system essentially learns to learn and therefore can reorganize more rapidly when faced with a novel adaptive challenge. We have previously confirmed that subjects participating in adaptive generalization training programs using a variety of visuomotor distortions can enhance their ability to adapt to a novel sensorimotor environment. Importantly, this increased adaptability was retained even one month after completion of the training period. Adaptive generalization has been observed in a variety of other tasks requiring sensorimotor transformations including manual control tasks and reaching (Bock et al., 2001, Seidler, 2003) and obstacle avoidance during walking (Lam and Dietz, 2004). Taken together, the evidence suggests that a training regimen exposing crewmembers to variation in locomotor conditions, with repeated transitions among states, may enhance their ability to learn how to reassemble appropriate locomotor patterns upon return from microgravity. We believe exposure to this type of training will extend crewmembers locomotor behavioral repertoires, facilitating the return of functional mobility after long duration space flight. Our proposed training protocol will compel subjects to develop new behavioral solutions under varying sensorimotor demands. Over time subjects will learn to create appropriate locomotor solution more rapidly enabling acquisition of mobility sooner after long-duration space flight. Our laboratory is currently developing adaptive generalization training procedures and the associated flight hardware to implement such a training program during regular inflight treadmill operations. A visual display system will provide variation in visual flow patterns during treadmill exercise. Crewmembers will be exposed to a virtual scene that can translate and rotate in six-degrees-of freedom during their regular treadmill exercise period. Associated ground based studies are focused on determining optimal combinations of sensory manipulations (visual flow, body loading and support surface variation) and training schedules that will produce the greatest potential for adaptive flexibility in gait function during exposure to challenging and novel environments. An overview of our progress in these areas will be discussed during the presentation.

Bloomberg, Jacob J.↗
DOE OSTI2019

MAVNet: Design of a Reliable Beyond Visual Line of Sight Communication System for Unmanned Vehicles

This paper details the design and system components of the Multi-Modal Autonomous Vehicle Network system (MAVNet). MAVNet was designed to provide reliable and redundant command, control and payload data distribution for unmanned vehicles operating beyond visual line of sight. Current industry solutions do not adequately solve key networking challenges, do not support network diversity and fall short of providing desirable next-generation requirements including data fusion from national air space data sources, multi-pilot and multi-agent control. The MAVNet system and the approach taken to solve these issues will be detailed in this paper.

Stinson, Brad J↗
NASA NTRS1985

Visual and motion cueing in helicopter simulation

Early experience in fixed-cockpit simulators, with limited field of view, demonstrated the basic difficulties of simulating helicopter flight at the level of subjective fidelity required for confident evaluation of vehicle characteristics. More recent programs, utilizing large-amplitude cockpit motion and a multiwindow visual-simulation system have received a much higher degree of pilot acceptance. However, none of these simulations has presented critical visual-flight tasks that have been accepted by the pilots as the full equivalent of flight. In this paper, the visual cues presented in the simulator are compared with those of flight in an attempt to identify deficiencies that contribute significantly to these assessments. For the low-amplitude maneuvering tasks normally associated with the hover mode, the unique motion capabilities of the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at Ames Research Center permit nearly a full representation of vehicle motion. Especially appreciated in these tasks are the vertical-acceleration responses to collective control. For larger-amplitude maneuvering, motion fidelity must suffer diminution through direct attenuation through high-pass filtering washout of the computer cockpit accelerations or both. Experiments were conducted in an attempt to determine the effects of these distortions on pilot performance of height-control tasks.

Bray, R. S.↗
NASA NTRS2021

EnDEVR: An Environment for Data Engineering in VR

Organizations within the public and private sectors are looking to improve their data science operations for research, development, and operational purposes. As this interest in data science grows, so too does interest in tools and programs that facilitating such operations. This paper presents EnDEVR, the Environment for Data Engineering in Virtual Reality, a user-extensible system that allows for the execution of custom data science functions. We describe the user-centered design process for the EnDEVR system, based on the needs of subject matter experts within the aerospace and aviation industries. Fundamental to this design is a method for users to integrate their existing analysis code (that may leverage third-party vendors) as usable objects in the virtual environment; this allows organizations to operate without the price tag and lifetime obligations associated with commercial data science toolkits, a concept known as “vendor lock-in”. We then present our system design with iterative implementations, and conclude with lessons learned. The presented work may provide insight into future user-centered design processes for VR applications, particularly for digital transformation stakeholders to circumvent vendor lock-in.

Human-centered computing↗
DOE OSTI2018

Remote Robotic Equipment for Retrieval of High Level Waste to Support Environmental Closure - 18162

The Idaho Cleanup Project contractor, Fluor Idaho, LLC, is responsible for managing HLW calcine stored in the Calcined Solids Storage Facility at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center. The Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center is a DOE managed facility located at the INL Site in the remote portions of southeast Idaho. In 2016, DOE directed Fluor Idaho to develop and test a full-scale retrieval system to demonstrate the ability to safely retrieve HLW calcine from the Calcined Solids Storage Facility for future retrieval and processing. Removing HLW calcine from the State of Idaho is required by the 1995 Settlement Agreement, which mandates that DOE have HLW calcine ready to be moved out of Idaho by December 2035. Fluor Idaho is currently testing retrieval and transfer concepts to ensure that the Calcined Solids Storage Facility is placed in a final configuration that is protective of human health and the environment after HLW calcine has been removed to the maximum extent practical. This paper describes the full-scale prototype that will be used to prove retrieval and transfer system design capabilities, verify operating parameters, and establish a basis for calcine retrieval efficacy. Additionally, it describes the retrieval (bulk and residual) and visual monitoring systems that were designed and tested in 2017 and will continue to be tested with the full-scale prototype. Testing (i.e., full-scale mockup, bulk retrieval, residual clean-out, and visualization monitoring) performed by Fluor Idaho will demonstrate the maximum extent practical of HLW calcine removal that is achievable. This is critical to (1) establish criteria for ending calcine removal activities, (2) evaluate cost and benefits associated with performing additional removal, and (3) ensure clean up and closure standards under applicable requirements (e.g., statutes, orders, and agreements) are met. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2021

Chapter 18: Learning and Tracking Ad Hoc Fiducial Markers in Spatial Augmented Reality

We describe a spatial augmented reality system with a tangible user interface used to control computer simulations of complex systems. In spatial augmented reality, the user’s physical space is augmented with projected imagery, blending real objects with projected information, and a tangible user interface enables users to manipulate physical objects as controllers for interactive visualizations. Our system learns ad hoc objects in the user’s environment as fiducial markers (i.e., objects that are visually recognized and tracked). When combined with simulation and visualization tools, these interfaces allow the user to control simulations or ensembles of simulations via physical objects using apt metaphors. While other research has leveraged the use of depth cameras, our system enables the use of standard cameras in readily available smartphones and webcams and has an implementation that runs completely in JavaScript in the web browser. We discuss the prerequisite object-recognition requirements for such tangible user interfaces and describe computer-vision and machine-learning algorithms meeting those requirements. We conclude by presenting example applications, which are also available online.

energy distribution↗
NASA NTRS2019

Wind Tunnel Flow Field Visualizations of the Space Launch System Vehicle Ascent

A wind tunnel test was conducted to characterize the aeroacoustic environment of several configurations of the Space Launch System during ascent. The test was conducted in the 11-by-11 foot transonic and 9-by-7 foot supersonic test sections at NASA Ames research center. Throughout this experiment data was collected from several types of instrumentation including: dynamic and steady-state pressure sensors, unsteady and steady pressure sensitive paint, time-resolved shadowgraph and infrared imaging. The following details results and analysis from the time-resolved shadowgraph and infrared imaging data systems. The time-resolved shadowgraph provided a qualitative measurement of the near-field turbulent fluctuations. These results helped provide context to the relative magnitude and frequency content of the fluid-structure-interaction driving the surface pressure phenomena characterized by the discrete pressure transducers and unsteady pressure sensitive paint. The infrared imaging was used to verify boundary layer trip effectiveness and provide temperature correction for the unsteady pressure sensitive paint.

Shadowgraph↗
DOE OSTI2014

Precipitation of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate under diffusion controlled mixing

Multi-component mineral precipitation in porous, subsurface environments is challenging to simulate or engineer when in situ reactant mixing is controlled by diffusion. In contrast to well-mixed systems, the conditions that favor mineral precipitation in porous media are distributed along chemical gradients, which evolve spatially due to concurrent mineral precipitation and modification of solute transport in the media. The resulting physical and chemical characteristics of a mixing/precipitation zone are a consequence of coupling between transport and chemical processes, and the distinctive properties of individual chemical systems. We examined the spatial distribution of precipitates formed in “double diffusion” columns for two chemical systems, calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. Polyacrylamide hydrogel was used as a low permeability, high porosity medium to maximize diffusive mixing and minimize pressure- and density-driven flow between reactant solutions. In the calcium phosphate system, multiple, visually dense and narrow bands of precipitates were observed that were reminiscent of previously reported Liesegang patterns. In the calcium carbonate system, wider precipitation zones characterized by more sparse distributions of precipitates and a more open channel structure were observed. In both cases, formation of precipitates inhibited, but did not necessarily eliminate, continued transport and mixing of the reactants. A reactive transport model with fully implicit coupling between diffusion, chemical speciation and precipitation kinetics, but where explicit details of nucleation processes were neglected, was able to qualitatively simulate properties of the precipitation zones. The results help to illustrate how changes in the physical properties of a precipitation zone depend on coupling between diffusion-controlled reactant mixing and chemistry-specific details of precipitation kinetics.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗