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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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Radarclinometry - Bootstrapping the radar reflectance function from the image pixel-signal frequency distribution and an altimetry profile

A method for determining the dependence of radar backscatter on incidence angle that is applicable to the region corresponding to a particular radar image is derived. The method is based on enforcing mathematical consistency between the frequency distribution of the images' pixel signals and a one-dimensional frequency distribution of slope component, which is obtained from a radar or laser altimetry profile in or near the imaged area. To test the resulting algorithm, an arbitrarily selected reflectance function is used to generate an artificial radar image from a digitized topographic map of the Lake Champlain West quadrangle in the Adirondack Mountains, U.S. It is found that, for 99 percent of the data, the maximum error is 1 degree.

Wildey, Robert L.↗

An Open Computing Infrastructure that Facilitates Integrated Product and Process Development from a Decision-Based Perspective

Computer applications for design have evolved rapidly over the past several decades, and significant payoffs are being achieved by organizations through reductions in design cycle times. These applications are overwhelmed by the requirements imposed during complex, open engineering systems design. Organizations are faced with a number of different methodologies, numerous legacy disciplinary tools, and a very large amount of data. Yet they are also faced with few interdisciplinary tools for design collaboration or methods for achieving the revolutionary product designs required to maintain a competitive advantage in the future. These organizations are looking for a software infrastructure that integrates current corporate design practices with newer simulation and solution techniques. Such an infrastructure must be robust to changes in both corporate needs and enabling technologies. In addition, this infrastructure must be user-friendly, modular and scalable. This need is the motivation for the research described in this dissertation. The research is focused on the development of an open computing infrastructure that facilitates product and process design. In addition, this research explicitly deals with human interactions during design through a model that focuses on the role of a designer as that of decision-maker. The research perspective here is taken from that of design as a discipline with a focus on Decision-Based Design, Theory of Languages, Information Science, and Integration Technology. Given this background, a Model of IPPD is developed and implemented along the lines of a traditional experimental procedure: with the steps of establishing context, formalizing a theory, building an apparatus, conducting an experiment, reviewing results, and providing recommendations. Based on this Model, Design Processes and Specification can be explored in a structured and implementable architecture. An architecture for exploring design called DREAMS (Developing Robust Engineering Analysis Models and Specifications) has been developed which supports the activities of both meta-design and actual design execution. This is accomplished through a systematic process which is comprised of the stages of Formulation, Translation, and Evaluation. During this process, elements from a Design Specification are integrated into Design Processes. In addition, a software infrastructure was developed and is called IMAGE (Intelligent Multidisciplinary Aircraft Generation Environment). This represents a virtual apparatus in the Design Experiment conducted in this research. IMAGE is an innovative architecture because it explicitly supports design-related activities. This is accomplished through a GUI driven and Agent-based implementation of DREAMS. A HSCT design has been adopted from the Framework for Interdisciplinary Design Optimization (FIDO) and is implemented in IMAGE. This problem shows how Design Processes and Specification interact in a design system. In addition, the problem utilizes two different solution models concurrently: optimal and satisfying. The satisfying model allows for more design flexibility and allows a designer to maintain design freedom. As a result of following this experimental procedure, this infrastructure is an open system that it is robust to changes in both corporate needs and computer technologies. The development of this infrastructure leads to a number of significant intellectual contributions: 1) A new approach to implementing IPPD with the aid of a computer; 2) A formal Design Experiment; 3) A combined Process and Specification architecture that is language-based; 4) An infrastructure for exploring design; 5) An integration strategy for implementing computer resources; and 6) A seamless modeling language. The need for these contributions is emphasized by the demand by industry and government agencies for the development of these technologies.

Hale, Mark A.↗

Visible-Infrared Hyperspectral Image Projector

The VisIR HIP generates spatially-spectrally complex scenes. The generated scenes simulate real-world targets viewed by various remote sensing instruments. The VisIR HIP consists of two subsystems: a spectral engine and a spatial engine. The spectral engine generates spectrally complex uniform illumination that spans the wavelength range between 380 nm and 1,600 nm. The spatial engine generates two-dimensional gray-scale scenes. When combined, the two engines are capable of producing two-dimensional scenes with a unique spectrum at each pixel. The VisIR HIP can be used to calibrate any spectrally sensitive remote-sensing instrument. Tests were conducted on the Wide-field Imaging Interferometer Testbed at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center. The device is a variation of the calibrated hyperspectral image projector developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, MD. It uses Gooch & Housego Visible and Infrared OL490 Agile Light Sources to generate arbitrary spectra. The two light sources are coupled to a digital light processing (DLP(TradeMark)) digital mirror device (DMD) that serves as the spatial engine. Scenes are displayed on the DMD synchronously with desired spectrum. Scene/spectrum combinations are displayed in rapid succession, over time intervals that are short compared to the integration time of the system under test.

Bolcar, Matthew↗

Super-resolving microscopy images of Li-ion electrodes for fine-feature quantification using generative adversarial networks

Abstract For a deeper understanding of the functional behavior of energy materials, it is necessary to investigate their microstructure, e.g., via imaging techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM). However, active materials are often heterogeneous, necessitating quantification of features over large volumes to achieve representativity which often requires reduced resolution for large fields of view. Cracks within Li-ion electrode particles are an example of fine features, representative quantification of which requires large volumes of tens of particles. To overcome the trade-off between the imaged volume of the material and the resolution achieved, we deploy generative adversarial networks (GAN), namely SRGANs, to super-resolve SEM images of cracked cathode materials. A quantitative analysis indicates that SRGANs outperform various other networks for crack detection within aged cathode particles. This makes GANs viable for performing super-resolution on microscopy images for mitigating the trade-off between resolution and field of view, thus enabling representative quantification of fine features.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Impact of ultrafast laser pulse repetition rate on filament acoustic and emission signatures

Femtosecond filaments formed at standoff distances can be used for interrogating various types of matter, making them of potential interest for remote sensing. However, the physical aspects of the filaments generated at standoff distances are influenced by various environmental and laser properties, including the repetition rate of the laser. In this study, we evaluate the role of the predecessor pulse on the properties of filaments by varying the repetition rate of the laser in the range of 10–1000 Hz and using acoustic and emission signatures to diagnose filament properties. Our results show that filaments are brighter at high repetition rates while they are elongated at low repetition rates. The repetition rate has minimal influence on the downstream edge of the filament generation, while the upstream edge becomes elongated. The shadowgram images showed that the turbulence generated by the predecessor pulse may influence the next pulse when the laser is operating at high repetition rates.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

X-ray Pump-Probe Measurements using a Laser-Plasma Accelerator (Final Report)

This project funded one graduate student, Mario Balcazar, to perform experiments on high power laser facilities to study the application of X-rays generated by laser wakefield accelerated electrons for advanced radiography, in particular X-ray phase contrast imaging of hydrodynamic shocks/instabilities. The work made use of the DOE’s LaserNetUS facilities. We performed dynamic phase-contrast X-ray imaging of the shock generated by a 200 ps duration laser pulse (E = 1 J, I = 10 15 Wcm –2 ) with a 30 µm diameter liquid target, with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. This includes multi-shock generation within the liquid jet and plasma instability formation. Innovative electron-beam radiography was used to probe the laser-plasma interplay finding evidence of bilateral heating of the water followed by strong electric field generation. These measurements help explain some of the discrepancies between simulation and experiment and pave the way to better plasma diagnostic systems in HED and ICF physics experiments. This work was performed in collaboration with researchers from Michigan, LLNL, LBL and Sandia National Laboratories, Queen’s University Belfast and Imperial College.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

NASA Tech Briefs, July 2004

Topics: Optoelectronic Sensor System for Guidance in Docking; Hybrid Piezoelectric/Fiber-Optic Sensor Sheets; Multisensor Arrays for Greater Reliability and Accuracy; Integrated-Optic Oxygen Sensors; Ka-Band Autonomous Formation Flying Sensor; CMOS VLSI Active-Pixel Sensor for Tracking; Lightweight, Self-Deploying Foam Antenna Structures; Electrically Small Microstrip Quarter-Wave Monopole Antennas; A 2-to-28-MHz Phase-Locked Loop; Portable Electromyograph; Open-Source Software for Modeling of Nanoelectronic Devices; Software for Generating Strip Maps from SAR Data; Calibration Software for use with Jurassicprok; Software for Probabilistic Risk Reduction; Software Processes SAR Motion-Measurement Data; Improved Method of Purifying Carbon Nanotubes; Patterned Growth of Carbon Nanotubes or Nanofibers; Lightweight, Rack-Mountable Composite Cold Plate/Shelves; SiC-Based Miniature High-Temperature Cantilever Anemometer; Inlet Housing for a Partial-Admission Turbine; Lightweight Thermoformed Structural Components and Optics; Growing High-Quality InAs Quantum Dots for Infrared Lasers; Selected Papers on Protoplanetary Disks; Module for Oxygenating Water without Generating Bubbles; Coastal Research Imaging Spectrometer; Rapid Switching and Modulation by use of Coupled VCSELs; Laser-Induced-Fluorescence Photogrammetry and Videogrammetry; Laboratory Apparatus Generates Dual-Species Cold Atomic Beam; Laser Ablation of Materials for Propulsion of Spacecraft; Small Active Radiation Monitor; Hybrid Image-Plane/Stereo Manipulation; Partitioning a Gridded Rectangle into Smaller Rectangles; Digital Radar-Signal Processors Implemented in FPGAs; Part 1 of a Computational Study of a Drop-Laden Mixing Layer; and Some Improvements in Signal-Conditioning Circuits.

Source record↗

AIRSAR Web-Based Data Processing

The AIRSAR automated, Web-based data processing and distribution system is an integrated, end-to-end synthetic aperture radar (SAR) processing system. Designed to function under limited resources and rigorous demands, AIRSAR eliminates operational errors and provides for paperless archiving. Also, it provides a yearly tune-up of the processor on flight missions, as well as quality assurance with new radar modes and anomalous data compensation. The software fully integrates a Web-based SAR data-user request subsystem, a data processing system to automatically generate co-registered multi-frequency images from both polarimetric and interferometric data collection modes in 80/40/20 MHz bandwidth, an automated verification quality assurance subsystem, and an automatic data distribution system for use in the remote-sensor community. Features include Survey Automation Processing in which the software can automatically generate a quick-look image from an entire 90-GB SAR raw data 32-MB/s tape overnight without operator intervention. Also, the software allows product ordering and distribution via a Web-based user request system. To make AIRSAR more user friendly, it has been designed to let users search by entering the desired mission flight line (Missions Searching), or to search for any mission flight line by entering the desired latitude and longitude (Map Searching). For precision image automation processing, the software generates the products according to each data processing request stored in the database via a Queue management system. Users are able to have automatic generation of coregistered multi-frequency images as the software generates polarimetric and/or interferometric SAR data processing in ground and/or slant projection according to user processing requests for one of the 12 radar modes.

Chu, Anhua↗

Imaging infrared: Scene simulation, modeling, and real image tracking; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Mar. 30, 31, 1989

Various papers on scene simulation, modeling, and real image tracking using IR imaging are presented. Individual topics addressed include: tactical IR scene generator, dynamic FLIR simulation in flight training research, high-speed dynamic scene simulation in UV to IR spectra, development of an IR sensor calibration facility, IR celestial background scene description, transmission measurement of optical components at cryogenic temperatures, diffraction model for a point-source generator, silhouette-based tracking for tactical IR systems, use of knowledge in electrooptical trackers, detection and classification of target formations in IR image sequences, SMPRAD: simplified three-dimensional cloud radiance model, IR target generator, recent advances in testing of thermal imagers, generic IR system models with dynamic image generation, modeling realistic target acquisition using IR sensors in multiple-observer scenarios, and novel concept of scene generation and comprehensive dynamic sensor test.

Triplett, Milton J.↗

Deep Generative Models in Energy System Applications: Review, Challenges, and Future Directions

In recent years, with the advent of mature machine learning products like ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, and Sora, the world has witnessed tremendous changes driven by the rapid development of generative artificial intelligence (GAI). Beyond applications in text, speech, image, and video creation, deep generative models (DGMs) underpinning these cutting-edge technologies have also been employed by domain researchers to address scientific and engineering challenges. This paper aims to fill a gap in the research community by providing a systematic review of how DGMs have been utilized in energy system applications. After introducing four most popular DGMs, we review and categorize 196 research articles into five focus areas: data generation, forecasting, situational awareness, modeling, and optimal decision-making. Through this classification, we uncover trends in how DGMs are employed for each type of problem, highlighting GAI techniques that contribute to breakthroughs over traditional methods. We discuss limitations in existing literature, engineering challenges, and propose future directions, all tailored to the unique nature of problems in energy system engineering. Our goal is to offer insights for energy system domain researchers, providing a comprehensive view of existing studies and potential future opportunities.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Applications of digital image processing

Digital image processing applied to picture generation, intensity and geometric manipulation, spatial frequency operations and image analysis

Billingsley, F. C.↗

Remotely controllable real-time optical processor

An optical processor is provided which facilitates selection of any of a variety of patterns or images which are to be compared with a Fourier transform of a template image, wherein the processor can be constructed at low cost. One of the two images that are to be compared is formed by generating video signals representing the image and using those signals to drive a liquid crystal array through which light passes.

Hua-Kuang Liu↗