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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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Advanced Carrier Customer Equipment Support System (ACCESS) is system of electronic communication and data-processing equipment for controlling remote scientific instruments and monitoring readings of instruments via telemetry. Designed to incorporate modular hardware and software making it adapable to other uses (including terrestrial ones) with minimal modifications.
A quality system database (QSD), and software to administer the database, were developed to support recording of administrative nonconformance activities that involve requirements for documentation of corrective and/or preventive actions, which can include ISO 9000 internal quality audits and customer complaints.
Structural health monitoring (SHM) has the capacity to reduce failure by detecting damage during service life, by periodic, automated monitoring. Guided Wave (GW) Ultrasound is a common SHM approach for aerospace structures. Modelling the physics of GW SHM systems provides a route for understanding system dependencies, capabilities and limitations as damage evolves during service life. Such a toolset can strengthen the understanding of the connection between GW SHM results and the true material state. The most useful modelling tools are those that provide versatile solutions with respect to the simulated component geometry and computational grid connectivity. This work details a versatile application programming interface (API) for the elastodynamic finite integration technique for modelling GW SHM of metals. The custom code implementation, EFIT-CompCell, allows for the modelling of diverse geometries by automatically balancing the message passing interface parallelization layout. The user provides the basic parameters of the simulation and the software automatically performs an initial balancing based on anticipated computational loads, and establishes the CPU communication patterns for any geometry. This work describes the programming philosophy and code structure used to create EFIT-CompCell and compares its performance and capacity to simulation tools that are more specialized for specific architectures. Results are presented for a simulation of GW SHM of an aluminum fuselage section being tested by the FAA. The simulation consists of 733M voxels which took approximately 70 hours to complete 25000 time steps using 40 Intel Xeon E5-4650v2 Ivy Bridge processor cores.
Abstract: Small and medium-sized commercial buildings (SMCBs) represent 94% of U.S. commercial buildings but encounter substantial obstacles in adopting Building Energy Management (BEM) systems. Current approaches exhibit fundamental limitations: vendor-specific API platforms restrict interoperability through proprietary ecosystems; commercial automation software demands extensive technical expertise and licensing costs; open-source IoT solutions lack native support for building automation protocols and semantic models. This paper introduces a configuration-driven web interface framework addressing the gap between smart device advancements and accessible BEM software infrastructure for SMCBs. The framework leverages VOLTTRON middleware integrated with an automated converter that processes unified YAML configurations into heterogeneous system files, reducing required configuration artifacts from six separate files to a single unified specification. The system architecture enables vendor-agnostic operation through BACnet and Modbus protocols while supporting semantic building model integration via automated Brick Schema parsing. Configuration-driven interfaces automatically adapt to diverse HVAC types without custom development. Simulation-based validation using BOPTEST demonstrates automatic interface generation between fan coil and hydronic systems, with the automated converter successfully generating all platform-specific outputs from the single YAML input. The result demonstrates the framework's capability to streamline BEM system deployment through reduced configuration complexity. This work bridges simulation capabilities with operational deployment, demonstrating how virtual testbeds validate generalizable software frameworks for real-world building automation.
The objective of this Phase I project is to develop a highly automated software system for rapid geometry modeling and grid generation for turbomachinery applications. The proposed system features a graphical user interface for interactive control, a direct interface to commercial CAD/PDM systems, support for IGES geometry output, and a scripting capability for obtaining a high level of automation and end-user customization of the tool. The developed system is fully parametric and highly automated, and, therefore, significantly reduces the turnaround time for 3D geometry modeling, grid generation and model setup. This facilitates design environments in which a large number of cases need to be generated, such as for parametric analysis and design optimization of turbomachinery equipment. In Phase I we have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the approach. The system has been tested on a wide variety of turbomachinery geometries, including several impellers and a multi stage rotor-stator combination. In Phase II, we plan to integrate the developed system with turbomachinery design software and with commercial CAD/PDM software.
Payload integration onto space transport vehicles and the International Space Station (ISS) is a complex process. Yet, cargo transport is the sole reason for any space mission, be it for ferrying humans, science, or hardware. As the largest such effort in history, the ISS offers a wide variety of payload experience. However, for any payload to reach the Space Station under the current process, Payload Developers face a list of daunting tasks that go well beyond just designing the payload to the constraints of the transport vehicle and its stowage topology. Payload customers are required to prove their payload s functionality, structural integrity, and safe integration - including under less than nominal situations. They must also plan for or provide training, procedures, hardware labeling, ground support, and communications. In addition, they must deal with negotiating shared consumables, integrating software, obtaining video, and coordinating the return of data and hardware. All the while, they must meet export laws, launch schedules, budget limits, and the consensus of more than 12 panel and board reviews. Despite the cost and infrastructure overhead, payload proposals have increased. Just in the span from FY08 to FY09, the NASA Payload Space Station Support Office budget rose from $78M to $96M in attempt to manage the growing manifest, but the potential number of payloads still exceeds available Payload Integration Management manpower. The growth has also increased management difficulties due to the fact that payloads are more frequently added to a flight schedule late in the flow. The current standard ISS template for payload integration from concept to payload turn-over is 36 months, or 18 months if the payload already has a preliminary design. Customers are increasingly requiring a turn-around of 3 to 6-months to meet market needs. The following paper suggests options for streamlining the current payload integration process in order to meet customer schedule needs and reduce costs for both the integration support teams and the developers, without reducing quality or compromising safety. Issues for the key integration areas of planning, training, verification, and safety are presented in a Root-Cause Analysis study, with plausible solutions provided that involve technology and tools already available to the ISS community. Although based upon the ISS process, the payload integration techniques outlined herein also offer an integration template for any space transport endeavor.
LLNL HPC systems run a custom version of RedHat's RHEL operating system known as TOSS. In 2022, after working with DISA, Livermore Computing staff completed the STIG (Security Technical Implementation Guide) for the TOSS 4 operating system. This software project contains the source code associated with that STIG and implements checks and remediations for configuring a system in compliance with that STIG.
SAND2025-02006O Pando is a distributed data analysis software tool. It is designed to handle large-scale graph analysis problems, often with a specific focus on blockchain/cryptocurrency data. Pando handles scalability by running on a distributed cluster of servers. Users can customize the output using the program’s plugin/extension design methodology. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.
Ascent flight envelopes are trajectories that define the normal operating region of a space vehicle s position from liftoff until the end of powered flight. They fulfill part of the RS data requirements imposed by the Air Force s 45th Space Wing (45SW) on space vehicles launching from the Eastern Range (ER) in Florida. The 45SW is chartered to protect the public by minimizing risks associated with the inherent hazards of launching a vehicle into space. NASA s Space Shuttle program has launched 130+ manned missions over a 30 year period from the ER. Ascent envelopes were delivered for each of those missions. The 45SW envelope requirements have remained largely unchanged during this time. However, the methodology and design processes used to generate the envelopes have evolved over the years to support mission changes, maintain high data quality, and reduce costs. The evolution of the Shuttle envelope design has yielded lessons learned that can be applied to future endevours. There have been numerous Shuttle ascent design enhancements over the years that have caused the envelope methodology to evolve. One of these Shuttle improvements was the introduction of onboard flight software changes implemented to improve launch probability. This change impacted the preflight nominal ascent trajectory, which is a key element in the RS envelope design. While the early Shuttle nominal trajectories were designed preflight using a representative monthly mean wind, the new software changes involved designing a nominal ascent trajectory on launch day using real-time winds. Because the actual nominal trajectory position was not known until launch day, the envelope analysis had to be customized to account for this nominal trajectory variation in addition to the other envelope components.
A document describes a high-performance, modular, and state-of-the-art Command and Data Handling (C&DH) system developed for use on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. This system implements a complete hardware C&DH subsystem in a single chassis enclosure that includes a processor card, 48 Gbytes of solid-state recorder memory, data buses including MIL-STD-1553B, custom RS-422, SpaceWire, analog collection, switched power services, and interfaces to the Ka-Band and S-Band RF communications systems. The C&DH team capitalized on extensive experience with hardware and software with PCI bus design, SpaceWire networking, Actel FPGA design, digital flight design techniques, and the use of VxWorks for the real-time operating system. The resulting hardware architecture was implemented to meet the LRO mission requirements. The C&DH comprises an enclosure, a backplane, a low-voltage power converter, a single-board computer, a communications interface board, four data storage boards, a housekeeping and digital input/output board, and an analog data acquisition board. The interfaces between the C&DH and the instruments and avionics are connected through a SpaceWire network, a MIL-STD-1553 bus, and a combination of synchronous and asynchronous serial data transfers over RS-422 and LVDS (low-voltage differential-signaling) electrical interfaces. The C&DH acts as the spacecraft data system with an instrument data manager providing all software and internal bus scheduling, ingestion of science data, distribution of commands, and performing science operations in real time.
The Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate (MO&DSD) has embarked on a new approach for developing and operating Ground Data Systems (GDS) for flight mission support. This approach is driven by the goals of minimizing cost and maximizing customer satisfaction. Achievement of these goals is realized through the use of a standard set of capabilities which can be modified to meet specific user needs. This approach, which is called the Renaissance architecture, stresses the engineering of integrated systems, based upon workstation/local area network (LAN)/fileserver technology and reusable hardware and software components called 'building blocks.' These building blocks are integrated with mission specific capabilities to build the GDS for each individual mission. The building block approach is key to the reduction of development costs and schedules. Also, the Renaissance approach allows the integration of GDS functions that were previously provided via separate multi-mission facilities. With the Renaissance architecture, the GDS can be developed by the MO&DSD or all, or part, of the GDS can be operated by the user at their facility. Flexibility in operation configuration allows both selection of a cost-effective operations approach and the capability for customizing operations to user needs. Thus the focus of the MO&DSD is shifted from operating systems that we have built to building systems and, optionally, operations as separate services. Renaissance is actually a continuous process. Both the building blocks and the system architecture will evolve as user needs and technology change. Providing GDS on a per user basis enables this continuous refinement of the development process and product and allows the MO&DSD to remain a customer-focused organization. This paper will present the activities and results of the MO&DSD initial efforts toward the establishment of the Renaissance approach for the development of GDS, with a particular focus on both the technical and process implications posed by Renaissance to the MO&DSD.
The SkyView Virtual Telescope allows users to query over 75 distinct datasets of astronomical imagery including more than 190 distinct surveys. These holdings are extraordinarily diverse ranging over more than 15 orders of magnitude in frequency and5 orders of magnitude in resolution. To accommodate supporting these data, SkyView has developed a simple data model for surveys. Nor surprisingly, given the diverse origins of the datasets included, some surveys do not easily fit within this model. The conventional approach to dealing with such outliers is to build a layer on top of the actual data which more faithfully adheres to the data model. With SkyView we have used a somewhat alternative approach. We allow the data model to define new behaviors in the SkyView code itself either by customizing the use of existing capabilities or pointing to new classes that have non-standard behavior. This approach is feasible since in modern computer languages the code that is run can be selected dynamically with new classes completely overriding traditional behavior. This paper describes this approach and considers how it may become more useful as our software structures become increasingly dynamically linked.
Physical optics simulations for beamlines and experiments are essential for the effective use of synchrotron light source facilities such as NSLS-II at BNL. The SRW software package supports such source-to-detector simulations for coherent X-ray scattering and imaging experiments through its Python interface and Sirepo browser-based graphical user interface. This allows one to define custom sample models, assess the feasibility of an experiment, and estimate most appropriate beamline settings before using valuable beamtime. We discuss the recent use of general-purpose GPU resources and coherent mode decomposition algorithms in SRW to accelerate physical optics simulations with partially coherent X-rays. To illustrate these new capabilities, we describe simulations of typical time series of partially coherent scattering images used in X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) experiments; aiming to characterize the nanoscale dynamics of a disordered sample, representing a solution of nanoparticles undergoing Brownian diffusion.
The development of a high-speed, phase-locked, realtime, point diffraction interferometry system for quantitative imaging unsteady separated flows is described. The system enables recording of up to 224 interferograms of the dynamic stall flow over an oscillating airfoil using a drum camera at rates of up to 40 KHz controlled by custom designed electronic interlocking circuitry. Several thousand interferograms of the flow have been obtained using this system. A comprehensive image analysis package has been developed for automatic processing of this large number of images. The software has been specifically tuned to address the special characteristics of airfoil flow interferograms. Examples of images obtained using the standard and the high-speed interferometry techniques are presented along with a demonstration of the image processing routine's ability to resolve the fine details present in these images.
TerraPoint (TM) LLC is a company that combines the technologies developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) with the concept of topographic real estate imaging. TerraPoint provides its customers with digital, topographical data generated by laser technology rather than commonly used microwave (radar) and photographic technologies. This product's technology merges Goddard's and HARC's laser ranging, global positioning systems, and mapping software into a miniaturized package that can be mounted in a light aircraft.
Recent advances in deterministic unit commitment, both formulaic and algorithmic, along with modern algorithmic approaches for stochastic programming, have enabled the solution of stochastic unit commitment problems with hundreds of scenarios on large-scale transmission networks. In this presentation, we will give an overview of these methods, including lazy transmission constraint generation, lower-bounding techniques, and heuristics, all of which can be executed in concert with customized decomposition approaches for optimization under uncertainty. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these techniques on the TAMU Texas7K synthetic transmission network, leveraging realistic high-resolution forecasts based on NREL renewable resource availability data. The software leveraged for these demonstrations is available via the open-source software packages EGRET (for electrical grid optimization) and mpi-sppy (for optimization under uncertainty).
A primary advantage to using reduced complexity climate models (RCMs) has been their ability to quickly conduct probabilistic climate projections, a key component of uncertainty quantification in many impact studies and multisector systems. Providing frameworks for such analyses has been a target of several RCMs used in studies of the future co-evolution of the human and Earth systems. In this paper, we present Matilda, an open-science R software package that facilitates probabilistic climate projection analysis, implemented here using the Hector simple climate model in a seamless and easily applied framework. The primary goal of Matilda is to provide the user with a turn-key method to build parameter sets from literature-based prior distributions, run Hector iteratively to produce perturbed parameter ensembles (PPEs), weight ensembles for realism against observed historical climate data, and compute probabilistic projections for different climate variables. This workflow gives the user the ability to explore viable parameter space and propagate uncertainty to model ensembles with just a few lines of code. The package provides significant freedom to select different scoring criteria and algorithms to weight ensemble members, as well as the flexibility to implement custom criteria. Additionally, the architecture of the package simplifies the process of building and analyzing PPEs without requiring significant programming expertise, to accommodate diverse use cases. We present a case study that provides illustrative results of a probabilistic analysis of mean global surface temperature as an example of the software application.
In order to demonstrate NASMAT’s multiscale operability, a series of illustrative examples will be presented that focus on the application of NASMAT to practical problems. First, the multiscale integration and data recursion is demonstrated by performing a multiscale analysis using only built-in micromechanics methods. NASMAT’s integration is then highlighted by running a multiscale analysis where an external finite element software calls NASMAT. In this case, at each integration point within the finite element model, a local NASMAT analysis is performed to account for failure behavior at the constituent scale. In a similar example, an external program is called from within NASMAT. This case would be relevant for a user wanting to implement an outside micromechanics technique. A combination of these examples is then presented to further illustrate the code’s flexibility when interfacing with outside codes in a multiscale framework. For all examples, data is presented using a custom-developed visualization tool. Additional potential use cases are also addressed. Finally, the plan for upcoming features and added capabilities is discussed.