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At least 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

High-Temperature Wireless Sensor Platform Powered by Energy Scavenging

This paper reports on the development of key components required for a self-powered oscillator unit designed to wirelessly transmit its signal under full insertion in high-temperature (HT) harsh-environments (HE), such as those present in power plants and industrial settings (metallurgic, oil extraction, molding, and aerospace). The oscillator employed a silicon carbide (SiC) power transistor and HT passive components on a screen-printed alumina circuit board capable of operation beyond 300 °C. The HT oscillator circuit was powered solely by in-situ energy scavenging thermoelectric generator (TEG) modules using passive cooling, eliminating the need for an external power supply or active cooling. In addition, a silicon-based external booster circuit was used to achieve the required TEG voltage regulation to test the TEG-powered HT oscillator circuit. The TEG-powered oscillator circuit was tested inside a non-metallic furnace from room temperature to over 300 °C for transmission of a wireless signal, which was detected outside the furnace at 11 ft (3.4 m). Such a wireless transmitting system powered only by in-situ TEGs, with no requirement for external power or active cooling, is very attractive for flexible, mobile stand-alone control and sensor units targeted for operation in HT HE conditions found in power plants and industrial settings.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1992

An 8-DOF dual-arm system for advanced teleoperation performance experiments

This paper describes the electro-mechanical and control features of an 8-DOF manipulator manufactured by AAI Corporation and installed at the Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL) in a dual-arm setting. The 8-DOF arm incorporates a variety of features not found in other lab or industrial manipulators. Some of the unique features are: 8-DOF revolute configuration with no lateral offsets at joint axes; 1 to 5 payload to weight ratio with 20 kg (44 lb) payload at a 1.75 m (68.5 in.) reach; joint position measurement with dual relative encoders and potentiometer; infinite roll of joint 8 with electrical and fiber optic slip rings; internal fiber optic link of 'smart' end effectors; four-axis wrist; graphite epoxy links; high link and joint stiffness; use of an upgraded JPL Universal Motor Controller (UMC) capable of driving up to 16 joints. The 8-DOF arm is equipped with a 'smart' end effector which incorporates a 6-DOF forcemoment sensor at the end effector base and grasp force sensors at the base of the parallel jaws. The 8-DOF arm is interfaced to a 6 DOF force reflecting hand controller. The same system is duplicated for and installed at NASA-Langley.

Bejczy, Antal K.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Overview of NASA's Solar Electric Propulsion Project

NASA is continuing to develop and qualify a state of the art 13 kW-class Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) for NASA exploration missions through a contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne. An objective of the AEPS project is to empower the US space industry to accelerate the adoption of high power electric propulsion technologies by reducing the risk and uncertainty of integrating Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technologies into space flight systems. NASA and AEPS contract has recently initiated engineering hardware testing of the Hall Current Thruster (HCT), Power Processing Unit (PPU), and Xenon Flow Controller (XFC) at both the component and system levels. The successful completion of these tests will provide the required information to advance the AEPS system towards Critical Design Review. In support of the AEPS contract, NASA and JPL have been performing risk reduction activities to address specific concerns of the state of the art higher power Hall thruster propulsion system. These risk reduction activities have included long duration wear testing of the Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU) Hall thruster and cathode hardware, thermal cycling testing of TDU cathode heaters and coils, plasma plume measurements, and investigating PPU design. In addition to NASA propulsion development, the SEP project is developing the Plasma Diagnostic Package (PDP) and the SEP Testbed. The PDP is designed for use in conjunction with a high powered EP system to characterize in-space operation. The SEP Testbed system is developed for demonstration of Abstract: NASA is continuing to develop and qualify a state of the art 13 kW-class Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) for NASA exploration missions through a contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne. An objective of the AEPS project is to empower the US space industry to accelerate the adoption of high power electric propulsion technologies by reducing the risk and uncertainty of integrating Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technologies into space flight systems. NASA and AEPS contract has recently initiated engineering hardware testing of the Hall Current Thruster (HCT), Power Processing Unit (PPU), and Xenon Flow Controller (XFC) at both the component and system levels. The successful completion of these tests will provide the required information to advance the AEPS system towards Critical Design Review. In support of the AEPS contract, NASA and JPL have been performing risk reduction activities to address specific concerns of the state of the art higher power Hall thruster propulsion system. These risk reduction activities have included long duration wear testing of the Technology Demonstration Unit (TDU) Hall thruster and cathode hardware, thermal cycling testing of TDU cathode heaters and coils, plasma plume measurements, and investigating PPU design. In addition to NASA propulsion development, the SEP project is developing the Plasma Diagnostic Package (PDP) and the SEP Testbed. The PDP is designed for use in conjunction with a high powered EP system to characterize in-space operation. The SEP Testbed system is developed for demonstration of an integrated SEP end-to-end system performance. The paper will present an overview of the NASA and the AEPS contract activities and a summary of the associated NASA in-house activities.

Plasma Diagnostics Package↗
DOE OSTI2024

Building a Simplistic Automatic Extruder: Instrument Development Opportunities for the Laboratory

This work presents an automatic extruder as a research experience for undergraduate students. The system offers a user-friendly approach to preparing vesicles, such as liposomes or polymersomes, with a defined size and polydispersity properties crucial for research in biology and macromolecules. It comprises two syringe pumps connected by a membrane filter. The setup is controlled by software. Compared to manual extrusion, this automated system provides advantages, such as precisely controlled variables. The project describes a tool to enhance undergraduate learning in science and engineering laboratories. Building an automatic extruder serves as a simplified model of a complex industrial process. It offers a clear advantage: automating a well-understood manual extrusion process. To make this project accessible, it is broken down into three manageable tasks: software development, hardware assembly, and testing procedures. This breakdown describes the software created, the hardware components used, and the testing procedures conducted for this project. All project data, including software code, testing data, and procedures, are freely available online. This allows undergraduate students to not only begin their own projects but also contribute to this educational instrument’s ongoing development.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Electrothermal Micromirror Adaptive Illumination

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, Helux Lighting aimed to develop a highly adaptive illumination source based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology and next-generation solid state lighting. Solid state lighting has caused a paradigm shift in the industry. Developing systems that put light only where it is needed can reduce energy consumption and have an impact on the well-being of the population by eliminating glare and wasted light. Full control could also reduce the disruption of sensitive ecosystems caused by light pollution. The most advanced fixtures available today are based on mechanical components that are bulky and expensive. The track light is the only inexpensive lighting system that permits redirection and, in some cases, spot size by motorized optical components. The most advanced light fixtures today are composed of a strategically arranged array of LEDs. More recent developments in the research community include dynamic liquid crystal lenses but fail to realize simultaneous dynamic steering and spot size. In this project, Helux worked on the capability development of their controllable micromirror combined with state-of-the-art solid state lighting to electronically adjusting light position, brightness, and illumination area.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic Decarbonization through Autonomous Physics-Centric Deep Learning and Optimization of Building Operations (Abstract only)

This project directly addresses the primary goal of Area of Interest 2 in the CRADA call: to advance optimization-based integrated energy management systems in commercial and residential buildings. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and its industry partner PassiveLogic aim to accomplish this by reaching three key objectives. First, to ensure a broad impact in the building controls industry, PNNL will extend its open-source library for predictive control synthesis by augmenting its capabilities with data-driven self-learning of building models and auto-calibration of predictive controllers. The effort will focus on building use cases selected in collaboration with PassiveLogic. The team will specifically address the development of methods for data-driven adaptation of building models, investigation of model architectures that best address specific building types, and automated synthesis of differentiable predictive controllers that optimize diverse objectives. Second, PNNL will collaborate with PassiveLogic to integrate the aforementioned methods with PasiveLogic’s advanced controls platform. The collaborative integration effort will inform the developments under the first objective by providing specific data on the attainable performance of model learning on resource-constrained edge computing platforms. This software integration effort will increase the technical maturity of the developed libraries by exploring the use of software integration tools and methods. Third, PNNL and PassiveLogic will work to improve the technology readiness of the developed predictive controllers by testing their performance in relevant test environments, such as high-fidelity simulation, hardware in the loop, and actual test buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1980

Environmental Analysis

Burns & McDonnell Engineering's environmental control study is assisted by NASA's Computer Software Management and Information Center's programs in environmental analyses. Company is engaged primarily in design of such facilities as electrical utilities, industrial plants, wastewater treatment systems, dams and reservoirs and aviation installations. Company also conducts environmental engineering analyses and advises clients as to the environmental considerations of a particular construction project. Company makes use of many COSMIC computer programs which have allowed substantial savings.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2012

In-Space Inspection Technologies Vision

Purpose: Assess In-Space NDE technologies and needs - current & future spacecraft. Discover & build on needs, R&D & NDE products in other industries and agencies. Stimulate partnerships in & outside NASA to move technologies forward cooperatively. Facilitate group discussion on challenges and opportunities of mutual benefit. Focus Areas: Miniaturized 3D Penetrating Imagers Controllable Snake-arm Inspection systems Miniature Free-flying Micro-satellite Inspectors

Studor, George↗
DOE OSTI2022

Application of Orthogonal Defect Classification for Software Reliability Analysis

The modernization of existing and new nuclear power plants with digital instrumentation and control systems (DI&C) is a recent and highly trending topic. However, there lacks strong consensus on best-estimate reliability methodologies by both the United States (U.S.) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the industry. This has resulted in hesitation for further modernization projects until a more unified methodology is realized. In this work, we develop an approach called Orthogonal-defect Classification for Assessing Software Reliability (ORCAS) to quantify probabilities of various software failure modes in a DI&C system. The method utilizes accepted industry methodologies for software quality assurance that are also verified by experimental or mathematical formulations. In essence, the approach combines a semantic failure classification model with a reliability growth model to predict (and quantify) the potential failure modes of a DI&C software system. The semantic classification model is used to address the question: How do latent defects in software contribute to different software failure root causes? The use of reliability growth models is then used to address the question: Given the connection between latent defects and software failure root causes, how can we quantify the reliability of the software? A case study was conducted on a representative I&C platform (ChibiOS) running a smart sensor acquisition software developed by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The testing and evidence collection guidance in ORCAS was applied, and defects were uncovered in the software. Qualitative evidence, such as condition coverage, was used to gauge the completeness and trustworthiness of the assessment while quantitative evidence was used to determine the software failure probabilities. The reliability of the software was then estimated and compared to existing operational data of the sensor device. It is demonstrated that by using ORCAS, a semantic reasoning framework can be developed to justify if the software is reliable (or unreliable) while still leveraging the strength of the existing methods.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Application of Orthogonal Defect Classification for Software Reliability Analysis

The modernization of existing and new nuclear power plants with digital instrumentation and control systems (DI&C) is a recent and highly trending topic. However, there lacks strong consensus on best-estimate reliability methodologies by both the United States (U.S.) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the industry. This has resulted in hesitation for further modernization projects until a more unified methodology is realized. In this work, we develop an approach called Orthogonal-defect Classification for Assessing Software Reliability (ORCAS) to quantify probabilities of various software failure modes in a DI&C system. The method utilizes accepted industry methodologies for software quality assurance that are also verified by experimental or mathematical formulations. In essence, the approach combines a semantic failure classification model with a reliability growth model to predict (and quantify) the potential failure modes of a DI&C software system. The semantic classification model is used to address the question: How do latent defects in software contribute to different software failure root causes? The use of reliability growth models is then used to address the question: Given the connection between latent defects and software failure root causes, how can we quantify the reliability of the software? A case study was conducted on a representative I&C platform (ChibiOS) running a smart sensor acquisition software developed by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The testing and evidence collection guidance in ORCAS was applied, and defects were uncovered in the software. Qualitative evidence, such as condition coverage, was used to gauge the completeness and trustworthiness of the assessment while quantitative evidence was used to determine the software failure probabilities. The reliability of the software was then estimated and compared to existing operational data of the sensor device. It is demonstrated that by using ORCAS, a semantic reasoning framework can be developed to justify software reliability (or unreliability) while still leveraging the strength of the existing methods.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Cybersecurity Certification Recommendations for Interconnected Grid Edge Devices and Inverter Based Resources

Escalating deployment of PV and grid-edge devices on the distribution grid has increased the sustainability and efficiency of the electric grid. However, the increasing number of distributed energy resources (DERs) deployed creates a heightened cyber-physical interdependency on the distribution grid and thus creates more vectors for cyber-attacks to exploit through information and communication technology (ICT) systems and networks. For example, control signal packets can be modified, intercepted, or corrupted due to vulnerabilities in communication protocols used by microgrid controllers and grid edge devices for power control. Therefore, to mitigate and prevent cyber-attacks on grid edge devices and the inverter-based resources connected to the distribution grid, the U.S. Department of Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) awarded funding to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) to research, develop, and harmonize cybersecurity standards for Photovoltaic (PV) systems and for other kinds of DERs. To help develop a standard for DER cybersecurity, NREL established certification recommendations and test cases, in consensus with the solar industry and UL, for ensuring intrinsic design security for DERs. These recommendations were developed to bolster the cybersecure functionalities such as TLS, MAC, CRL, session resumption/renegotiation, and password, system, and service security management within the DER devices. The proposed test cases verify authentication, authorization, confidentiality, and data integrity for data and communications of DERs that use Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). They were also developed to protect DER communications from eavesdropping, replay, man-in-the-middle, denial of service (DoS), spoofing through security certificates, least-privilege violation, and brute-force credentials. This report, which has been validated and reviewed by UL, expands upon those test cases to provide DER cybersecurity certification recommendations which increase DER resiliency and help to mitigate cyber-attacks. UL's collaboration with NREL and approval of this document will accelerate the adoption of a UL standard for DER cybersecurity.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2021

Best Practices Identified Through the Completion of UAS Flight Demonstrations

After several years of research into Detect and Avoid (DAA) and Command and Control (C2) systems for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) UAS Integration into the National Airspace System project initiated a focused two-year effort along with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and three industry partners to investigate remaining issues in the specification, test, certification and airspace integration to allow UAS operations in non-segregated airspace. The approach taken had the industry partners propose a flight demonstration approximating a commercial operation, while NASA helped, as needed, the partners through design and test phases and NASA observed interactions with the FAA. During this effort NASA collected best practices intended to be of value to similar UAS endeavors. These best practices can be divided into different sets, including practices that describe the relationship between business considerations to UAS design or describe several UAS development challenges. Another set includes best practices focused on navigating the UAS design and type certification processes. A third set includes best practices that relate to the design of the DAA system. Deploying DAA systems in this timeframe posed unique challenges. Commercial off-the-shelf DAA systems do not exist, necessitating custom development and, for two of the partners, the use of low-size, -weight, and -power (SWaP) sensors not completely specified for DAA. A fourth set of best practices relates to lost-link contingency planning. The final set of best practices relates to the design and testing of C2 systems and obtaining spectrum licenses. The UAS demonstrations were piloted remotely, and for all aspects of flight safety, a C2 system was required to communicate DAA and other UAS subsystem data to the remote pilot and to allow the pilot to issue commands to the vehicle. Throughout the course of this effort, the partners integrated prototype DAA and C2 systems into unmanned aircraft, tested those systems, and laid the groundwork for type certification programs that are expected to continue.

NASA↗
DOE OSTI2022

A machine learning approach for clinker quality prediction and nonlinear model predictive control design for a rotary cement kiln

Abstract Cement manufacturing is energy‐intensive (5Gj/t) and comprises a significant portion of the energy footprint of concrete systems. Incorporating modern monitoring, simulation and control systems will allow lower energy use, lower environmental impact, and lower costs of this widely used construction material. One of the goals of the CESMII roadmap project on the Smart Manufacturing of Cement included developing an analytical process model for clinker quality that includes the chemistry of the kiln feed and accounts for critical process variables. This predictive model will be used in nonlinear model predictive control system designed to significantly reduce process energy use while maintaining or improving product quality. In the cement manufacturing plant used in this study, the kiln feed (meal) is tested every 12 h and used to estimate the mineral composition of the cement kiln output (clinker) using the stoichiometry‐based Bogue's model and the expertise of the plant operators. During kiln operation, kiln output (clinker) is sampled and tested every 2 h to measure its chemical and mineral composition. The predicted and measured values of the clinker composition are used by the plant operators to adjust the kiln input stream and the production process characteristics to maintain stable operation and uniform product quality. However, the time delay between prediction and testing, along with inaccuracies inherent in the Bogue's model have made any process changes designed to minimize energy use problematic, especially in‐light of potential clinker quality issues that process changes often pose. A new analytical model that integrates quality information and process operation information has been developed from data collected from 2 years of production from an operating cement facility. To make the model fuel‐type‐independent, consumed heat energy was computed in the model instead of fuel type and amount. A Feedforward Network was trained and tailored from collected data. Many data‐based simulations were conducted to quantitatively evaluate the proposed model and the 5‐fold cross‐validation procedure was used to test the models. The resulting predictive model was shown to have a low root mean square error (MSE) with respect to the estimated clinker mineral composition compared to that using the industry standard “Bogue’ model”. The end goal of this work was to develop a single machine learning tool that allows the use of quality control data and process control variables to improve energy efficiency of the process in a continuous fashion. The proposed nonlinear model predictive control system (NMPC) can generate predicted kiln production characteristics based on manipulated variables in manner that accurately follows the target product quality values. Simulation results also show that the proposed model produced accurate predictions of kiln outputs that fell within the required constraints, while manipulating control variables within typical operational ranges.

Ali, Asem M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Status of Dynamic Radioisotope Power System Development for NASA Missions

Under the Radioisotope Power Systems Program, NASA and the Department of Energy have been advancing a novel Radioisotope Power System (RPS) based on dynamic energy conversion. This approach will manifest a dynamic RPS (DRPS) option with a conversion efficiency at least three times greater than thermoelectric based RPS. Significant progress has recently been made towards this end. A one-year system design phase has been completed by industry partner Aerojet Rocketdyne which resulted in a 300-We DRPS with convertor-level redundancy. In-house technology development at NASA Glenn Research Center has demonstrated the conversion devices in relevant environments and shown all requirements can be met. Progress has also been made on the control electronics necessary for dynamic energy conversion. Flight-like controllers were recently upgraded and achieved an 11-percentage-point increase in efficiency. Control architectures have been developed to handle the multi-convertor arrangements in the latest DRPS design. A system-level DRPS Testbed is being assembled now that will experimentally demonstrate the DRPS concept being pursued.

Stirling↗
DOE OSTI2023

Towards generic memory forensic framework for programmable logic controllers

A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is a microprocessor-based controller that is used to automate physical processes in critical infrastructure and various other industries and manufacturing sectors. Initially, PLCs were completely isolated from the Internet, and cyber security was not incorporated at the time of development. The introduction of industry 4.0 and the evolution of ICS systems to communicate over public IP addresses from the Internet enhanced productivity and efficiency, but Internet connectivity exposed the systems and their vulnerabilities, which led to an increase in cyber attacks. When a system is sabotaged/compromised, security analysts need to get to the root cause of the attack as quickly as possible to recover the system. To do so, memory forensic analysis is critical to provide a unique insight into the run-time memory activities and extract a reliable source of evidence. In this paper, we analyze the memory structure of the Schneider Electric Modicon M221 PLC. To build a memory profile, we reverse engineer the communication protocol and conduct differential analysis to gain knowledge about the structure of the memory and the low-level representation of control logic instructions. We then identify dynamic and static memory regions by modifying different project fields and conducting differential analysis, which allows us to identify boundaries of critical memory structures and extract important forensic artifacts that can be found in the memory. The Python implementation of the memory profile can help reduce the time and effort required for manual analysis in case of cyber incident or system failure.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2003

Space Act Agreement Maker (SAAM) With Electronic Routing System (ERouter) Developed

Members of the Commercial Technology Office at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed an exciting new tool that greatly reduces the lead time in creating and routing Space Act Agreements. The Space Act Agreement Maker (SAAM) is an e-government Web-based system that automates the initial drafting of Space Act Agreements by technical and program personnel. SAAM also is used for editing and will be used later for maintaining electronic copies of all Space Act Agreements. During the initial drafting, the software prompts NASA personnel proposing an agreement to answer questions regarding the agreement. On the basis of the answers, the software selects from a matrix of NASA standard clauses to produce a first draft of the agreement. The draft agreement and information submitted by the NASA personnel are electronically routed to Glenn s Commercial Technology Office for review and, where necessary, editing. The final version of the agreement, along with any supporting documentation, is then routed for electronic concurrence/approval to the necessary internal review participants using the electronic routing system (e-router). SAAM was developed cooperatively by Glenn s Commercial Technology Office and Glenn s Office of Chief Counsel. Currently, SAAM is being evaluated by the NASA Headquarters General Counsel Office for use at all NASA centers. This system allows for the effective processing of Space Act Agreements for NASA s internal and external customers. Document control is maintained by a database. With SAAM s electronic routing, review times can be reduced significantly, allowing Glenn to more rapidly establish partnerships with industry. Prior to the creation of SAAM, it took several hours to draft a Space Act Agreement. With SAAM in place, the document can be written in about 30 min. Using the e-router also saves time in determining where the agreement is in the routing process. The document can be tracked easily, and delays can be avoided. Important research with industry partners can commence quickly after preliminary discussions have been held. The development of these products is in line with the expanding e-government initiative that is part of the Presidential Management Agenda. By using this product, NASA researchers can secure greater support from industry and academia partners. The Space Act Agreement Maker has been very well received at NASA Headquarters and at some of the other NASA centers as well. We anticipate that the NASA Ames Research Center will have the system in place very soon, and that some of the other centers will use SAAM in the near future. The General Counsel s office at NASA Headquarters has encouraged the Glenn team to develop a similar system for processing patent licenses. Find out more about Glenn's Technology Transfer & Partnership Office http://technology.grc.nasa.gov/.

Stauber, Laurel J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

A review on advances in oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) for industrial use and prospects of CO 2 –H 2 O splitting integration

The discovery of shale gas reserves has encouraged the development of direct methods for methane conversion into valuable chemicals, offering an alternative to indirect approaches that involve an energy-intensive and intermittent syngas production step, leading to high CO 2 emissions. Amongst the direct methods, the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) is a potential pathway to reduce CO 2 emissions and can produce commodity chemicals such as ethylene, a chemical regarded as central to the petrochemical industry. Even though OCM has been studied for over four decades, the technology still has not found commercial application. Amongst the challenges regarding industrial deployment of OCM, the most significant one is the requirement of a high ethylene yield of 30 % which is currently reported to be around 20 %. Moreover, the highly exothermic nature of the process and controlling the carbon selectivity over oxides of carbon (COx) is the heart of the problem. Numerous researchers have presented promising results in terms of catalysts, reactor designs and feeding strategies for OCM. However, due to lack of inclusiveness in the results, none of the combination of catalysts, reactors and system optimizations has been able to bring about its industrial viability. The current paper presents an extensive review of the noteworthy attempts to achieve industrial targets for OCM. Moreover, a comprehensive criteria is presented which highlights the desired end state for the industrial deployment of OCM technology. Furthermore, the criteria is based on literature survey and a comparison with industrially deployed ethylene production plants i.e., naphtha or ethane steam cracker plants. Finally, a novel integration technology is presented which includes a combination of OCM and CO 2 -H 2 O splitting in a chemical looping reactor design to enable efficient energy utilization and minimal heat losses to the environment.

CO2 Splitting↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Communication Modality on Pilot-Controller Coordination during a Simulated m:N Operation

The last decade or so has seen growing interest in new control paradigms and concepts of operation for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) in which multiple aircraft are piloted remotely by a single or relatively small number of people. Referred to as “one-to-many” and “many-to- many” (alternatively, “multi-operator, multi-vehicle”)—and frequently expressed as the corresponding ratios, 1:N and m:N—such novel configurations of aircraft and the people who manage them are seen as critical to the path to future operations involving UAS. Examples of industry domains interested in these control paradigms are small package delivery services utilizing small UAS and passenger-carrying, short-range “Urban Air Mobility” (UAM) operations. Stakeholders in such operations have identified communication and coordination of flight activity with air traffic controllers (ATC) as a barrier to operations. In contrast to present-day flight operations, in which a pilot communicates with one ATC on one radio frequency for one aircraft, multi-vehicle operations potentially entail a significant increase in pilot task load for management of comms. New concepts, such as UAS Service Suppliers (USSs) and Providers of Services to UAM (PSUs), have been proposed to address the known bottleneck for Air Traffic Management (ATM) presented by multi-vehicle operations. While progress has been steadily made over years developing USSs and PSUs, it is generally expected that initial UAM operations will rely on traditional voice-over-radio communication with ATC for purposes of ATM. The current study was a human-in-the-loop simulation that had participants, each possessing a Private Pilot License, act as the ground-based pilot-in- command for multiple vehicles in a hypothetical UAM service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The experiment utilized a 2-by-3, within-subjects design in which the pilot’s Vehicle Load (4 vs. 12) and Comm System (Voice, Datalink, and a Hybrid) were manipulated. The task given to pilots was to use the Comm System to coordinate flight activity for all aircraft with appropriate controllers, having to obtain departure and arrival clearances at “vertiport” facilities and transition clearances for any intermediate airspaces along the route. Pilots were additionally responsible for compliance with vectoring instructions issued by ATC. Subjective workload questionnaires (NASA-TLX) were administered following each experimental trial. Screen recordings of the pilot’s Ground Control Station (GCS) and audio recordings of trials were subsequently coded to obtain performance metrics: response times and error rates. Presented in this paper are results related to pilot responses to vectoring instructions issued by ATC. Workload was found to be significantly higher in the 12-Vehicle condition compared to the 4-Vehicle condition, nearly maxing out the NASA-TLX overall workload scale. There was no significant difference made by the Comm System on workload ratings. Pilots’ response times to communications were fastest in the Voice condition, although overall “service time” for compliance was shorter in Datalink and Hybrid conditions in most cases. Errors by pilots were frequent in both Vehicle Load conditions, most perniciously when using the Voice system. The results of this study suggest tradeoffs in advantages and disadvantages of the three comm systems. Recommendations for communication system design are provided taking the tradeoffs into account.

Garrett G Sadler↗