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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 811 records · Page 45
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Deviser - An AI planner for spacecraft operations

The 'Deviser III' automated spacecraft mission planner prototype can plan complete Voyager spacecraft operational sequences consisting of over 100 data capture goals, working 10-50 times faster than a human analyst. The planner generates a loop-free network of actions and events resembling a program evaluation and review technique chart. Actions, events, and inferences are the building blocks from which plans are assembled. It is noted that, for a very large spacecraft mission plan, the backtracking through remembered decision trees entailed by this artificial intelligence system can consume megabite quantities of computer memory.

Vere, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Artificial Intelligence Controls Tape-Recording Sequence

Developmental expert-system computer program intended to schedule recording of large amounts of data on limited amount of magnetic tape. Schedules recording using two sets of rules. First set incorporates knowledge of locations for recording of new data. Second set incorporates knowledge about issuing commands to recorder. Designed primarily for use on Voyager Spacecraft, also applicable to planning and sequencing in industry.

Schwuttke, Ursula M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Computer-aided software development process design

The authors describe an intelligent tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing, and controlling the development process of medium- to large-scale software projects. Its purpose is to reduce uncertainties in the budget, personnel, and schedule planning of software development projects. It is based on dynamic model for the software development and maintenance life-cycle process. This dynamic process is composed of a number of time-varying, interacting developmental phases, each characterized by its intended functions and requirements. System dynamics is used as a modeling methodology. The resulting Software LIfe-Cycle Simulator (SLICS) and the hybrid expert simulation system of which it is a subsystem are described.

Lin, Chi Y.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Autonomous aircraft initiative study

The results of a consulting effort to aid NASA Ames-Dryden in defining a new initiative in aircraft automation are described. The initiative described is a multi-year, multi-center technology development and flight demonstration program. The initiative features the further development of technologies in aircraft automation already being pursued at multiple NASA centers and Department of Defense (DoD) research and Development (R and D) facilities. The proposed initiative involves the development of technologies in intelligent systems, guidance, control, software development, airborne computing, navigation, communications, sensors, unmanned vehicles, and air traffic control. It involves the integration and implementation of these technologies to the extent necessary to conduct selected and incremental flight demonstrations.

Hewett, Marle D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Wideband waveguide polarizer development for SETI

A wideband polarizer for the Deep Space Network (DSN) 34 meter beam waveguide antenna is needed for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project. The results of a computer analysis of a wideband polarizer are presented.

Lee, P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Artificial intelligence and expert systems in-flight software testing

The authors discuss the introduction of advanced information systems technologies such as artificial intelligence, expert systems, and advanced human-computer interfaces directly into Space Shuttle software engineering. The reconfiguration automation project (RAP) was initiated to coordinate this move towards 1990s software technology. The idea behind RAP is to automate several phases of the flight software testing procedure and to introduce AI and ES into space shuttle flight software testing. In the first phase of RAP, conventional tools to automate regression testing have already been developed or acquired. There are currently three tools in use.

Demasie, M. P.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Planning Complex Projects Automatically

Automated Manifest Planner (AMP) computer program applies combination of artificial-intelligence techniques to assist both expert and novice planners, reducing planning time by orders of magnitude. Gives planners flexibility to modify plans and constraints easily, without need for programming expertise. Developed specifically for planning space shuttle missions 5 to 10 years ahead, with modifications, applicable in general to planning other complex projects requiring scheduling of activities depending on other activities and/or timely allocation of resources. Adaptable to variety of complex scheduling problems in manufacturing, transportation, business, architecture, and construction.

Henke, Andrea L.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Computing, Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Website

The Computing, Information and Communications Technology Program (CICT) was established in 2001 to ensure NASA's Continuing leadership in emerging technologies. It is a coordinated, Agency-wide effort to develop and deploy key enabling technologies for a broad range of mission-critical tasks. The NASA CICT program is designed to address Agency-specific computing, information, and communications technology requirements beyond the projected capabilities of commercially available solutions. The areas of technical focus have been chosen for their impact on NASA's missions, their national importance, and the technical challenge they provide to the Program. In order to meet its objectives, the CICT Program is organized into the following four technology focused projects: 1) Computing, Networking and Information Systems (CNIS); 2) Intelligent Systems (IS); 3) Space Communications (SC); 4) Information Technology Strategic Research (ITSR).

Hardman, John↗
NASA NTRS2004

Open-systems architecture of a standardized command interface chip-set for switching and control of a spacecraft power bus

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed a command interface chip-set that primarily consists of two mixed-signal ASICs'; the Command Interface ASIC (CIA) and Analog Interface ASIC (AIA). The Open-systems architecture employed during the design of this chip-set enables its use as both an intelligent gateway between the system's flight computer and the control, actuation, and activation of the spacecraft's loads, valves, and pyrotechnics respectfully as well as the regulator of the spacecraft power bus. Furthermore, the architecture is highly adaptable and employed fault-tolerant design methods enabling a host of other mission uses including reliable remote data collection. The objective of this design is to both provide a needed flight component that meets the stringent environmental requirements of current deep space missions and to add a new element to a growing library that can be used as a standard building block for future missions to the outer planets.

flight computers↗
NASA NTRS2000

Modeling a Wireless Network for International Space Station

This paper describes the application of wireless local area network (LAN) simulation modeling methods to the hybrid LAN architecture designed for supporting crew-computing tools aboard the International Space Station (ISS). These crew-computing tools, such as wearable computers and portable advisory systems, will provide crew members with real-time vehicle and payload status information and access to digital technical and scientific libraries, significantly enhancing human capabilities in space. A wireless network, therefore, will provide wearable computer and remote instruments with the high performance computational power needed by next-generation 'intelligent' software applications. Wireless network performance in such simulated environments is characterized by the sustainable throughput of data under different traffic conditions. This data will be used to help plan the addition of more access points supporting new modules and more nodes for increased network capacity as the ISS grows.

Alena, Richard↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparison of plug flow and multi-node stratified tank modeling approaches regarding computational efficiency and accuracy

Residential water heaters contain water stratified by temperature-driven density differences. This implies that a water tank can reach a state in which the top and bottom sections have different temperatures, unless mixing happens. A high degree of thermal stratification can improve the efficiency of some water heaters, by saving the amount of energy required for the heat-up process. Studies of stratification became popular in the 1970s and it remains an active research topic today. The research has led to the development of different models and techniques to better predict and define a stratified tanks behavior. By comparing these models and techniques used previously to describe thermal stratification, the phenomenon could be better understood, exploited, and used to increase efficiency and thermal energy capacity in modern water tanks. From the existing models, we found the one-dimensional standard plug-flow and a multi node model to be appropriate for analyzing the processes of the heat up and cool-down in a water tank. These two models are based on energy balances. This work involved comparing the accuracy and computational effort needed to implement these models. To assess accuracy, we compared both types of existing models to experimental data (also collected in this work) which included a heat up process using an external heat pump. This external process included a layering process that has an eddy diffusivity at five times the rate of thermal diffusion. For this project, we implemented the models in MATLAB, the multi-paradigm numerical computing environment. We quantified model accuracy using the root mean squared error between modeled data and experimental data for six measured tank temperatures. Comparing the accuracy and the computational time taken to run the simulation provides a method to contrast the performance of each model and a way to rate it. The multi node model was run using from 6 to 96 spatial nodes; the plug flow model was run using 1 to 0.001 º C temperature bin sizes. Additionally, timesteps were varied from 4 to 236 s. The results quantify the tradeoff between accuracy and computational time, providing guidance for simulations to intelligently select the best model type and simulation parameters. This research can be used to validate the pre-existing models and possibly improve the modern water tank.

Bulnes, Fernando Karg↗
NASA NTRS2019

Overview of NASA QuAIL Team Research

NASA is constantly confronting massively challenging computational problems. These problems have the potential to limit mission scope and aim. NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL) Group was formed to determine the potential for quantum computation to enable more ambitious NASA missions in the future. This presentation highlights recent work by the QuAIL team that is focused on physics insights and applications associated with the D-Wave 2000Q quantum annealing hardware that is located at NASA Ames Research Center.

Shon Grabbe↗
DOE OSTI2024

Combustion Performance and Emissions Optimization Through Integration of a Miniaturized High-Temperature Multi Process Monitoring System

The main objective of this research program is to design, manufacture, and demonstrate a miniaturized, multi-process, monitoring system (mMPMS) for boiler condition management and easy system deployment to obtain a higher spatial resolution of wall conditions in utility boilers. This system will facilitate a Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) philosophy that actively monitors the health of assets to predict and prevent failures and maximize availability and generating capacity at a reduced cost. CBM systems can provide boiler data that the advanced process control (APC) system can utilize for plant performance optimization, which is increasingly relevant as coal power plants shift from predominantly base-load operation to predominantly transient operation involving large load swings. The mMPMS is based on an electrochemical sensor that provides a real-time indication of the risk of damage to key locations in the radiant or convective section of a coal-fired boiler such as metal loss rates, heat flux, metal surface temperature, and deposit thickness. These indications can be utilized to optimize boiler performance as well as improve boiler availability in conjunction with corresponding operating conditions. This monitoring system was developed and tested in the high-temperature regions of a coal-fired utility boiler in this project but can be applied to many other industries and applications as well. The new sensor design, leveraging the existing electrochemical noise-based monitoring system, is small enough to be installed through the webbing of the waterwalls without the need for long shut-downs to bend tubes and to make it feasible to obtain high spatial resolution in the boiler. Data can be transferred to the plant distributed control system (DCS) and any other control system. The sensor body that houses the sensor assembly was designed to ensure good conductive contact with boiler tubes to ensure the sensor is held at an identical temperature to the tube surface temperature. The data acquisition and signal conditioning modules were redesigned into a small footprint with optimized cooling of the module. System software was developed specifically for the new signal conditioning module and is compatible with plant PLCs. After the preliminary testing at a pilot-scale facility, five mMPMS were installed at a full-scale pulverized coal-fired plant, Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Leland Olds Unit 1. The systems were demonstrated over a 6-week period during typical operation. Sensor measurements of deposit thickness were validated during the demonstration and subsequently leveraged to determine sensor-based boiler cleaning strategies. These strategies have the benefit of reduced thermal stresses on boiler tubes from over-cleaning and improved boiler water management. At the end of the project, continued development of the sensor technology was carried out at PacifiCorp’s Hunter Station. REI leveraged the permanent installation of the mMPMS in Unit 3 made possible by DOE funding on a separate program. The work at Hunter Plant focused on application of machine learning and artificial intelligence-based models for integration of sensor signals into control and optimization of Hunter Unit 3 processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Topology optimization of an airfoil fin microchannel heat exchanger using artificial intelligence

High-performance microchannel heat exchangers are needed to supply heat for power conversion for nuclear microreactors. An airfoil fin microchannel design, constructed of Alloy 617 with helium as the working fluid, is analyzed and optimized using a design of experiments with artificial intelligence techniques. The use of airfoil fins offers the potential to reduce pressure drop across the heat exchanger, as compared to other types of channel configurations. A framework for topology optimization of airfoil fin printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) has been developed that can be readily extended to different fin sizes and shapes, as well as different inlet and operating conditions, materials of construction, and working fluids. An optimization procedure is developed that employs computational fluid dynamics for a set of design points identified using Latin hypercube sampling. Computational fluid dynamics is used to analyze a simplified two-channel configuration where five design parameters are varied – inlet angle, fin scale, extent of staggering, transverse and longitudinal pitches. Two methods (a 5D polynomial and a regression neural network) are compared for generating surrogate models and the resulting response surface approximation is input to a genetic algorithm that is used to identify a set of optimal parameters. The optimal geometries are found across six channel Reynolds numbers ranging from 1000 to 5000, since inlet conditions affect flow through the heat exchanger. Additionally, a set of optimal designs that maximizes heat transfer and minimizes pressure drop is identified, and a thermal stress analysis is performed on the optimal design. Correlations for the Nusselt number and Darcy friction factor are developed that can be useful for thermal hydraulic analyses using system codes. Thermal stresses are analyzed and a brief discussion of the status of code cases of PCHEs for nuclear applications is given. Testing and thermomechanical modeling is needed to facilitate future code compliance of PCHEs for high pressure and high temperature applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1991

Computational problems and signal processing in SETI

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), currently being planned at NASA, will require that an enormous amount of data (on the order of 10 exp 11 distinct signal paths for a typical observation) be analyzed in real time by special-purpose hardware. Even though the SETI system design is not based on maximum entropy and Bayesian methods (partly due to the real-time processing constraint), it is expected that enough data will be saved to be able to apply these and other methods off line where computational complexity is not an overriding issue. Interesting computational problems that relate directly to the system design for processing such an enormous amount of data have emerged. Some of these problems are discussed, along with the current status on their solution.

Deans, Stanley R.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Detecting and Diagnosing Incipient Building Faults Using Uncertainty Information from Deep Neural Networks

Early detection of incipient faults is of significant importance to reducing maintenance costs, saving energy, and enhancing occupant comfort in buildings. Popular supervised learning models such as deep neural networks are considered promising due to their ability to directly learn from labeled fault data; however, it is known that the performance of supervised learning approaches highly relies on the availability and quality of labeled training data. In Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD) applications, the lack of labeled incipient fault data has posed a major challenge to applying these supervised learning techniques to commercial buildings. To address this concern, this paper proposes using Monte Carlo dropout (MC-dropout) to enhance the supervised learning pipeline, so that the resulting neural network is able to detect and diagnose unseen incipient fault examples. We also examine the proposed MC-dropout method on the RP-1043 dataset to demonstrate its effectiveness in indicating the most likely incipient fault types.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1992

Design for interaction between humans and intelligent systems during real-time fault management

Initial results are reported to provide guidance and assistance for designers of intelligent systems and their human interfaces. The objective is to achieve more effective human-computer interaction (HCI) for real time fault management support systems. Studies of the development of intelligent fault management systems within NASA have resulted in a new perspective of the user. If the user is viewed as one of the subsystems in a heterogeneous, distributed system, system design becomes the design of a flexible architecture for accomplishing system tasks with both human and computer agents. HCI requirements and design should be distinguished from user interface (displays and controls) requirements and design. Effective HCI design for multi-agent systems requires explicit identification of activities and information that support coordination and communication between agents. The effects are characterized of HCI design on overall system design and approaches are identified to addressing HCI requirements in system design. The results include definition of (1) guidance based on information level requirements analysis of HCI, (2) high level requirements for a design methodology that integrates the HCI perspective into system design, and (3) requirements for embedding HCI design tools into intelligent system development environments.

Malin, Jane T.↗