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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 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

What can simulation test beds teach us about social science? Results of the ground truth program

The ground truth program used simulations as test beds for social science research methods. The simulations had known ground truth and were capable of producing large amounts of data. This allowed research teams to run experiments and ask questions of these simulations similar to social scientists studying real-world systems, and enabled robust evaluation of their causal inference, prediction, and prescription capabilities. We tested three hypotheses about research effectiveness using data from the ground truth program, specifically looking at the influence of complexity, causal understanding, and data collection on performance. We found some evidence that system complexity and causal understanding influenced research performance, but no evidence that data availability contributed. The ground truth program may be the first robust coupling of simulation test beds with an experimental framework capable of teasing out factors that determine the success of social science research.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2021

Ozone Production and Precursor Emission from Wildfires in Africa

Tropospheric ozone (O3) negatively impacts human health and is also a greenhouse gas. It is formed photochemically by reactions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), of which wildfires are an important source. This study presents data from research flights sampling wildfires in West and Central African savannah regions, both close to the fires and after the emissions had been transported several days over the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Emission factors (EFs) in g kg-1 for NOx (as NO), six VOCs and formaldehyde were calculated from enhancement to mole fractions in data taken close to the fires. For NOx, the emission factor was calculated as 2.05±0.43 g kg-1 for Senegal and 1.20±0.28 g kg-1 for Uganda, both higher than the average value of 1.13±0.6 g kg-1 for previous studies of African savannah regions. For most VOCs (except acetylene), EFs in Uganda were lower by factors of 20-50% compared to Senegal, with almost all the values below those in the literature. O3 enhancement in the fire plumes was investigated by examining the ΔO3/ΔCO enhancement ratio, with values ranging from 0.07 - 0.14 close to the fires up to 0.25 for measurements taken over the Atlantic Ocean up to 200 hours downwind. In addition, measurements of O3 and its precursors were compared to the output of a global chemistry transport model (GEOS-CF) for the flights over the Atlantic Ocean. Normalised mean bias (NMB) comparison between the measured and modelled data was good outside of the fire plumes, with CO showing a model under-prediction of 4.6% and O3 a slight over-prediction of 0.7% (both within the standard deviation of the data). For NOx the agreement was poorer, with an under-prediction of 9.9% across all flights. Inside the fire plumes the agreement between modelled and measured values is worse, with the model being biased significantly lower for all three species. In total across all flights, there was an under-prediction of 29.4%, 16.5% and 37.5% for CO, O3 and NOx respectively. Finally, the measured ΔO3/ΔCO enhancement ratios were compared those in the model for the equivalent flight data, with the model showing a lower value of 0.17±0.03 compared to an observed value of 0.29±0.05. The results detailed here show that the O3 burden to the North Atlantic Ocean from African wildfires may be underestimated and that further study is required to better study the O3 precursor emissions and chemistry.

James D Lee↗
NASA NTRS1976

Contribution of the Spacelab data management system to lower cost space research

This paper reviews the design and operation of the Spacelab data management system as it has evolved. Significant improvements and extensions of the original baseline system have been incorporated and will be discussed. They include the capability for the remote control of Spacelab subsystems, improved remote data acquisition units, a high-rate digital data multiplexer, and an improved high-rate digital recorder. Emphasis will be placed on the overall system aspects, including considerations on the use of minicomputers as an adjunct to the basic Spacelab data system. The approach for experiment related software production and integration will be addressed as well. The paper focuses on the contributions of the data management system in reducing the cost of research in Spacelab.

Burger, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Applications of artificial intelligence to space station: General purpose intelligent sensor interface

This final report describes the accomplishments of the General Purpose Intelligent Sensor Interface task of the Applications of Artificial Intelligence to Space Station grant for the period from October 1, 1987 through September 30, 1988. Portions of the First Biannual Report not revised will not be included but only referenced. The goal is to develop an intelligent sensor system that will simplify the design and development of expert systems using sensors of the physical phenomena as a source of data. This research will concentrate on the integration of image processing sensors and voice processing sensors with a computer designed for expert system development. The result of this research will be the design and documentation of a system in which the user will not need to be an expert in such areas as image processing algorithms, local area networks, image processor hardware selection or interfacing, television camera selection, voice recognition hardware selection, or analog signal processing. The user will be able to access data from video or voice sensors through standard LISP statements without any need to know about the sensor hardware or software.

Mckee, James W.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Freewheeling: What Six Locations, 61,000 Trips, and 242,000 Miles in Colorado Reveal about How E-Bikes Improve Mobility Options

Personal micromobility modes such as bicycles, e-bikes and scooters offer low- or zero-emission transportation alternatives to single occupancy vehicles (SOVs). However, the lack of supporting data has led to a dearth of data-driven research on the usage of personally owned e-bikes, including variations due to weather, geography and demographics. In this paper, we present an overview of the longitudinal findings from the CanBikeCO program, focused on e-bike adoption and use rates across different demographics, trip characteristics, and geographies. The CanBikeCO program recorded travel survey data from late July 2021 to December 31, 2022, from low-income Colorado households who were provided with e-bikes for personal use by the Colorado Energy Office (CEO). This data was collected in six different communities across Colorado following the mini-pilot program that was conducted in Fall 2020. To collect data for the survey, the program used the NREL OpenPATH application, which combines passive data collection with semantic information such as trip mode and purpose labels. To the best of our knowledge, there is no prior travel survey data on personally owned e-bikes with this range and scope. This unique dataset yielded several insights. One is that commute trips among participants had nearly 17% higher shares of e-bikes than all trips combined. E-bikes were stated to most often replace cars (34% of e-bike trips) and personal micromobility (22%). Participants favored walking for trips less than 1 mile, e-bikes for trips 1-3 miles, and e-bikes, cars or shared rides for trips 3-20 miles. Seasonality accounted for a 10% decrease and subsequent recovery in e-bike mileage on a per user basis. E-bikes are also appealing across age groups, even among older individuals, and see decreased utilization similar to regular bikes or walking during winter months. We also find that e-bike use may be related to characteristics of land use and urban form, occupation and income as well as household car ownership. We conclude that, for this population, who are mainly part of low-income households, the emissions added by the use of e-bikes (in the case of replacement of non-motorized modes) are outweighed by the strong single occupancy vehicle (SOV) travel replacement. As a whole, our findings suggest a considerable potential for energy savings and emissions reductions from personal e-bike ownership.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1988

Near-real-time TOMS, telecommunications and meteorological support for the 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment

The goal of the 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment was to improve the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the formation of the Antarctic ozone hole. Total ozone data taken by the Nimbus-7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) played a central role in the successful outcome of the experiment. During the experiment, the near-real-time TOMS total ozone observations were supplied within hours of real time to the operations center in Punta Arenas, Chile. The final report summarizes the role which Research and Data Systems (RDS) Corporation played in the support of the experiment. The RDS provided telecommunications to support the science and operations efforts for the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment, and supplied near real-time weather information to ensure flight and crew safety; designed and installed the telecommunications network to link NASA-GSFC, the United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO), Palmer Station, the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) to the operation at Punta Arenas; engineered and installed stations and other stand-alone systems to collect data from designated low-orbiting polar satellites and beacons; provided analyses of Nimbus-7 TOMS data and backup data products to Punta Arenas; and provided synoptic meteorological data analysis and reduction.

Ardanuy, P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Applications of advanced aerodynamic technology to light aircraft.

This paper discusses a project for adapting advanced technology, much of it borrowed from the jet transport, to general aviation design practice. The NASA funded portion of the work began in 1969 at the University of Kansas and resulted in a smaller, experimental wing with spoilers and powerful flap systems for a Cessna Cardinal airplane. Some flight data and research pilot comments are presented. The project was expanded in 1972 to include a light twin-engine airplane. For the twin there was the added incentive of a potential increase in single-engine climb performance. The use of a new high-lift Whitcomb airfoil is planned for both the wing and the propellers. Preliminary data on the characteristics of the new airfoil are discussed. The configuration of an experimental wing for a Piper Seneca PA-34 and estimated airplane performance with this wing are discussed.

Crane, H. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Governing Data Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability (FAIR) Compliance

The most recent data strategy documents at both the federal and NASA levels stipulate that systems should strive for the data they manage to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). The NASA Life Sciences Portal (NLSP) has already begun leading efforts in this area for HRP, initiating efforts to comply with the FAIR principles. The broad interpretation of the FAIR principles has led to a plethora of tools that use a splay of metrics specifically but variably developed to judge how compliant data and systems are with the principles. A recent review [3] identified and studied 1,180 metrics across 20 publicly available tools for checking FAIR compliance of data and systems. Because of their very recent development, many organizations and data systems managers and developers have not yet had adequate time or resources to understand these FAIR compliance tools and metrics, their variations in design, accuracy or ease of application to their specific data sets and systems. Thus, it would be best for larger organizations like NASA to approach formulating a strategy for governance of FAIR compliance that can be flexibly applied and is adaptable to an evolving awareness knowledge of FAIR compliance methods and tools. In September 2024, the NASA Science Mission Directorate(SMD) organized a workshop on NASA science data repositories, including the topics of implementing FAIR and governing FAIR compliance across SMD. The initial part of these FAIR discussions focused on developing consensus around required science metadata fields. This is challenging given the diverse nature of NASA’s scientific data portfolio, the variety of metadata models and vocabularies used, and variable level of resources available to curate these data. Later discussion focused on three possible approaches to governing FAIR compliance: distributed, in which various programs, projects or systems define their own methods for assessing FAIR compliance, reporting results up appropriate management lines; centralized, in which higher-level organization(s) specify compliance tools or methods for the various data systems; and multi-level, in which a group comprised of individuals with expertise from multiple levels with organizations is formed to provide guidance and/or specifications for governing FAIR compliance. We report on the recommendations this session yielded, and how these might be shaped specifically to help implement and govern the compliance with FAIR of Human Research Program data and systems.

governance↗
NASA NTRS1999

Optical Properties of Aerosols from Long Term Ground-Based Aeronet Measurements

AERONET is an optical ground-based aerosol monitoring network and data archive supported by NASA's Earth Observing System and expanded by federation with many non-NASA institutions including AEROCAN (AERONET CANada) and PHOTON (PHOtometrie pour le Traiteinent Operatonnel de Normalisation Satellitaire). The network hardware consists of identical automatic sun-sky scanning spectral radiometers owned by national agencies and universities purchased for their own monitoring and research objectives. Data are transmitted hourly through the data collection system (DCS) on board the geostationary meteorological satellites GMS, GOES and METEOSAT and received in a common archive for daily processing utilizing a peer reviewed series of algorithms thus imposing a standardization and quality control of the product data base. Data from this collaboration provides globally distributed near real time observations of aerosol spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions, and precipitable water in diverse aerosol regimes. Access to the AERONET data base has shifted from the interactive program 'demonstrat' (reserved for PI's) to the AERONET homepage allowing faster access and greater development for GIS object oriented retrievals and analysis with companion geocoded data sets from satellites, LIDAR and solar flux measurements for example. We feel that a significant yet under utilized component of the AERONET data base are inversion products made from hourly principal plane and almucanter measurements. The current inversions have been shown to retrieve aerosol volume size distributions. A significant enhancement to the inversion code has been developed and is presented in these proceedings.

Holben, B. N.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Air Quality Research and Applications Using AURA OMi Data

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on EOS Aura is a new generation of satellite remote sensing instrument designed to measure trace gas and aerosol absorption at the UV and blue wavelengths. These measurements are made globally at urban scale resolution with no inter-orbital gaps that make them potentially very useful for air quality research, such as the determination of the sources and processes that affect global and regional air quality, and to develop applications such as air quality forecast. However, the use of satellite data for such applications is not as straight forward as satellite data have been for stratospheric research. There is a need for close interaction between the satellite product developers, in-situ measurement programs, and the air quality research community to overcome some of the inherent difficulties in interpreting data from satellite-based remote sensing instruments. In this talk we will discuss the challenges and opportunities in using OMI products for air quality research and applications. A key conclusion of this work is that to realize the full potential of OMI measurements it will be necessary to combine OMI data with data from instruments such as MLS, MODIS, AIRS, and CALIPSO that are currently flying in the "A-train" satellite constellation. In addition similar data taken by satellites crossing the earth at different local times than the A-train (e.g., the recently MetOp satellite) would need to be processed in a consistent manner to study diurnal variability, and to capture the effects on air quality of rapidly changing events such as wild fires.

Bhartia, P.K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

PSInet: a new global water potential network

Abstract Given the pressing challenges posed by climate change, it is crucial to develop a deeper understanding of the impacts of escalating drought and heat stress on terrestrial ecosystems and the vital services they offer. Soil and plant water potential play a pivotal role in governing the dynamics of water within ecosystems and exert direct control over plant function and mortality risk during periods of ecological stress. However, existing observations of water potential suffer from significant limitations, including their sporadic and discontinuous nature, inconsistent representation of relevant spatio-temporal scales and numerous methodological challenges. These limitations hinder the comprehensive and synthetic research needed to enhance our conceptual understanding and predictive models of plant function and survival under limited moisture availability. In this article, we present PSInet (PSI—for the Greek letter Ψ used to denote water potential), a novel collaborative network of researchers and data, designed to bridge the current critical information gap in water potential data. The primary objectives of PSInet are as follows. (i) Establishing the first openly accessible global database for time series of plant and soil water potential measurements, while providing important linkages with other relevant observation networks. (ii) Fostering an inclusive and diverse collaborative environment for all scientists studying water potential in various stages of their careers. (iii) Standardizing methodologies, processing and interpretation of water potential data through the engagement of a global community of scientists, facilitated by the dissemination of standardized protocols, best practices and early career training opportunities. (iv) Facilitating the use of the PSInet database for synthesizing knowledge and addressing prominent gaps in our understanding of plants’ physiological responses to various environmental stressors. The PSInet initiative is integral to meeting the fundamental research challenge of discerning which plant species will thrive and which will be vulnerable in a world undergoing rapid warming and increasing aridification.

Forestry↗
NASA NTRS2005

Coupling of the Inner Magnetosphere with the Underlying Atmosphere and Ionosphere

The following is a final report summarizing our very successful inner magnetosphere research program through which we have made significant contributions to: (1) research through data analysis, modeling and participation in community-wide campaigns, (2) the development of the space science discipline through leadership in national and international campaigns, service on steering committees, review panels and the development and maintenance of campaign and community web sites, (3) education and human resources by the participation of graduate, undergraduate and high school students in our research programs and (4) outreach through development of web-based materials and interactive games. We describe each of these activities below.

Sharber, James M.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Green Computing Opportunities & Strategy

Computation is critical to emerging fields of data intensive research, enabling new methodologies, approaches and tools. As the rate of hardware efficiency gains slows, computational time and energy costs increase. To match pace with computation demand, new approaches are needed to keep the opportunity for impact open. Charles Tripp, lead of the Green Computing Catalyzer, discusses research efforts to improve software efficiency to enable faster, less energy-intensive computing.

algorithmic efficiency↗
DOE OSTI2021

Advances in scientific literature mining for interpreting materials characterization

Abstract Using synchrotron light sources, such as the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientists in fields as diverse as physics, biology, and materials science, identify the atomic structure, chemical composition, or other important properties of varied specimens. x-ray spectroscopy from light sources is particularly valuable for materials research with vast information available about reference spectra in the scientific literature. However, as the technique is applicable to many science domains, searching for information about select x-ray spectroscopy spectra is impeded by the sheer number of publications. Moreover, useful information about the context of an experiment or figures presented in papers can be buried among the details, which takes time to assess. This work presents a scientific literature mining system that supports data acquisition, information extraction, and user interaction for referencing x-ray spectra identification and spectral interpretation. The goal is to provide efficient access to useful spectral data to researchers who may spend only a few days at a synchrotron light source. With this system, users browse a classification tree for papers arranged according to x-ray spectroscopic methods, chemical elements, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy edges. Relevant figures are extracted with sentences from the paper that explain them, known as ‘figure explanatory text.’ Notably, this system focuses on semantic aspects (logical analysis) to find figure explanatory text using deep contextualized word embeddings techniques and contains an interface to obtain labeled data from domain experts that is used to evaluate and improve the model.

Park, Gilchan (ORCID:0000000201536646)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Audi e-tron Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory On-Road Data

To aid researchers in studying the capabilities and benefits of vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, Argonne National Laboratory collected a robust set of on-road driving data of the Audi Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA) system implemented in the e-tron battery electric vehicle. This dataset includes 33 tests, each roughly 27 miles in length and roughly 45 to 75 minutes in duration. The team selected Kane County Highway Route 34 from Main Street in Batavia, Illinois to Middlecreek Lane in St. Charles, Illinois as the route do to its high density of GLOSA-active lights and the most opportunities to observe the system per hour of test time. The data include parameters from the following sources: GLOSA system driving the dash indicators, multiple powertrain parameters including real-time battery power/energy consumption, GPS, front radar gap, and rear radar gap. ![audio-e-tron image](audi-e-tron.jpg)

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Benchmarking universal machine learning interatomic potentials for rapid analysis of inelastic neutron scattering data

The accurate calculation of phonons and vibrational spectra remains a significant challenge, requiring highly precise evaluations of interatomic forces. Traditional methods based on the quantum description of the electronic structure, while widely used, are computationally expensive and demand substantial expertise. Emerging universal machine learning interatomic potentials (uMLIPs) offer a transformative alternative by employing pre-trained neural network surrogates to predict interatomic forces directly from atomic coordinates. This approach dramatically reduces computation time and minimizes the need for technical knowledge. In this paper, we produce a phonon database comprising nearly 5000 inorganic crystals to benchmark the performance of several leading uMLIPs. We further assess these models in real-world applications by using them to analyze experimental inelastic neutron scattering data collected on a variety of materials. Through detailed comparisons, we identify the strengths and limitations of these uMLIPs, providing insights into their accuracy and suitability for fast calculations of phonons and related properties, as well as the potential for real-time interpretation of neutron scattering spectra. Our findings highlight how the rapid advancement of AI in science is revolutionizing experimental research and data analysis.

inelastic neutron scattering↗
NASA NTRS2016

Bandwidth-Efficient Communication through 225 MHz Ka-band Relay Satellite Channel

The communications and navigation space infrastructure of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of a constellation of relay satellites (called Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS)) and a global set of ground stations to receive and deliver data to researchers around the world from mission spacecraft throughout the solar system. Planning is underway to enhance and transform the infrastructure over the coming decade. Key to the upgrade will be the simultaneous and efficient use of relay transponders to minimize cost and operations while supporting science and exploration spacecraft. Efficient use of transponders necessitates bandwidth efficient communications to best use and maximize data throughput within the allocated spectrum. Experiments conducted with NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed on the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to evaluate advanced communication techniques, such as bandwidth-efficient modulations, in an operational flight system. Demonstrations of these new techniques in realistic flight conditions provides critical experience and reduces the risk of using these techniques in future missions. Efficient use of spectrum is enabled by using high-order modulations coupled with efficient forward error correction codes. This paper presents a high-rate, bandwidth-efficient waveform operating over the 225 MHz Ka-band service of the TDRS System (TDRSS). The testing explores the application of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), 2/4/8-phase shift keying (PSK) and 16/32- amplitude PSK (APSK) providing over three bits-per-second-per-Hertz (3 b/s/Hz) modulation combined with various LDPC encoding rates to maximize through- put. With a symbol rate of 200 M-band, coded data rates of 1000 Mbps were tested in the laboratory and up to 800 Mbps over the TDRS 225 MHz channel. This paper will present on the high-rate waveform design, channel characteristics, performance results, compensation techniques for filtering and equalization, and architecture considerations going forward for efficient use of NASA's infrastructure.

transmitters receivers↗
NASA NTRS2016

Bandwidth-Efficient Communication through 225 MHz Ka-band Relay Satellite Channel

The communications and navigation space infrastructure of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consists of a constellation of relay satellites (called Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS)) and a global set of ground stations to receive and deliver data to researchers around the world from mission spacecraft throughout the solar system. Planning is underway to enhance and transform the infrastructure over the coming decade. Key to the upgrade will be the simultaneous and efficient use of relay transponders to minimize cost and operations while supporting science and exploration spacecraft. Efficient use of transponders necessitates bandwidth efficient communications to best use and maximize data throughput within the allocated spectrum. Experiments conducted with NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Testbed on the International Space Station provides a unique opportunity to evaluate advanced communication techniques, such as bandwidth-efficient modulations, in an operational flight system. Demonstrations of these new techniques in realistic flight conditions provides critical experience and reduces the risk of using these techniques in future missions. Efficient use of spectrum is enabled by using high-order modulations coupled with efficient forward error correction codes. This paper presents a high-rate, bandwidth-efficient waveform operating over the 225 MHz Ka-band service of the TDRS System (TDRSS). The testing explores the application of Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), 248-phase shift keying (PSK) and 1632- amplitude PSK (APSK) providing over three bits-per-second-per-Hertz (3 bsHz) modulation combined with various LDPC encoding rates to maximize throughput. With a symbol rate of 200 Mbaud, coded data rates of 1000 Mbps were tested in the laboratory and up to 800 Mbps over the TDRS 225 MHz channel. This paper will present on the high-rate waveform design, channel characteristics, performance results, compensation techniques for filtering and equalization, and architecture considerations going forward for efficient use of NASA's infrastructure.

space communications↗