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At least 919 records · Page 51
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

The application of spaceborne GPS to atmospheric limb sounding and global change monitoring

This monograph is intended for readers with minimal background in radio science who seek a relatively comprehensive treatment of the mission and technical aspects of an Earth-orbiting radio occultation satellite. Part 1 (chapters 1-6) describes mission concepts and programmatic information; Part 2 (chapters 7-12) deals with the theoretical aspects of analyzing and interpreting radio occultation measurements. In this mission concept the navigation signals from a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite that is being occulted by the Earth's limb are observed by a GPS flight receiver on board a low Earth orbiter (LEO) satellite. This technique can be used to recover profiles of the Earth's atmospheric refractivity, pressure, and temperature using small, dedicated, and relatively low-cost space systems. Chapter 2 summarizes the basic space system concepts of the limb-sounding technique and describes a low-cost strawman demonstration mission. Chapter 3 discusses some of the scientific benefits of using radio occultation on a suite of small satellites. Chapter 4 provides a more detailed discussion of several system elements in a radio occultation mission, including the launch system for small payloads, the LEO microsat, the GPS constellation, the GPS flight receiver payload, the mission operations ground control and data receiving system, the ground-based GPS global tracking network for precision orbit determination, and the central data processing and archive system. Chapter 5 addresses the various technology readiness questions that invariably arise. Chapter 6 discusses the overall costs of a demonstration mission such as GPS/MET (meteorological) proposed by the University Navstar Consortium (UNAVCO). Chapter 7 describes a geometrical optics approach to coplanar atmospheric occultation. Chapter 8 addresses major questions regarding accuracy of the occultation techniques. Chapter 9 describes some simulations that have been performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the recovered profiles of atmospheric parameters to different error sources, such as departure from spherical symmetry, water vapor, etc. Chapter 10 discusses horizontal and vertical resolution associated with limb sounders in general. Chapter 11 treats selected Fresnel diffraction techniques that can be used in radio occultation measurements to sharpen resolution. Chapter 12 provides brief discussions on selected special topics, such as strategies for handling interference and multipath processes that may arise for rays traveling in the lower troposphere.

Melbourne, W. G.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Planetary Atmosphere Dynamics and Radiative Transfer

This research program has dealt with two projects in the field of planetary atmosphere dynamics and radiative energy transfer, one theoretical and one experimental. The first project, in radiative energy transfer, incorporated the capability to isolate and quantify the contribution of individual atmospheric components to the Venus radiative balance and thermal structure to greatly improve the current understanding of the radiative processes occurring within the Venus atmosphere. This is possible by varying the mixing ratios of each gas species, and the location, number density and aerosol size distributions of the clouds. This project was a continuation of the work initiated under a 1992 University Consortium Agreement. Under the just completed grant, work has continued on the use of a convolution-based algorithm that provided the capability to calculate the k coefficients of a gas mixture at different temperatures, pressures and spectral intervals from the separate k-distributions of the individual gas species. The second primary goal of this research dealt with the Doppler wind retrieval for the Successful Galileo Jupiter probe mission in December, 1995. In anticipation of the arrival of Galileo at Jupiter, software development continued to read the radioscience and probe/orbiter trajectory data provided by the Galileo project and required for Jupiter zonal wind measurements. Sample experiment radioscience data records and probe/orbiter trajectory data files provided by the Galileo Radioscience and Navigation teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, respectively, were used for the first phase of the software development. The software to read the necessary data records was completed in 1995. The procedure by which the wind retrieval takes place begins with initial consistency checks of the raw data, preliminary data reductions, wind recoveries, iterative reconstruction of the probe descent profile, and refined wind recoveries. At each stage of the wind recovery consistency is checked and maintained between the orbiter navigational data, the radioscience data, and the probe descent profile derived by the Atmospheric Instrument Team. Preliminary results show that the zonal winds at Jupiter increase with depth to approximately 150 m/s.

Atkinson, David H.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Thermal barrier coatings application in diesel engines

Commercial use of thermal barrier coatings in diesel engines began in the mid 70's by Dr. Ingard Kvernes at the Central Institute for Industrial Research in Oslo, Norway. Dr. Kvernes attributed attack on diesel engine valves and piston crowns encountered in marine diesel engines in Norwegian ships as hot-corrosion attributed to a reduced quality of residual fuel. His solution was to coat these components to reduce metal temperature below the threshold of aggressive hot-corrosion and also provide protection. Roy Kamo introduced thermal barrier coatings in his 'Adiabatic Diesel Engine' in the late 70's. Kamo's concept was to eliminate the engine block water cooling system and reduce heat losses. Roy reported significant performance improvements in his thermally insulated engine at the SAE Congress in 1982. Kamo's work stimulates major programs with insulated engines, particularly in Europe. Most of the major diesel engine manufacturers conducted some level of test with insulated combustion chamber components. They initially ran into increased fuel consumption. The German engine consortium had Prof. Woschni of the Technical Institute in Munich. Woschni conducted testing with pistons with air gaps to provide the insulation effects. Woschni indicated the hot walls of the insulated engine created a major increase in heat transfer he refers to as 'convection vive.' Woschni's work was a major factor in the abrupt curtailment of insulated diesel engine work in continental Europe. Ricardo in the UK suggested that combustion should be reoptimized for the hot-wall effects of the insulated combustion chamber and showed under a narrow range of conditions fuel economy could be improved. The Department of Energy has supported thermal barrier coating development for diesel engine applications. In the Clean Diesel - 50 Percent Efficient (CD-50) engine for the year 2000, thermal barrier coatings will be used on piston crowns and possibly other components. The primary purpose of the thermal barrier coatings will be to reduce thermal fatigue as the engine peak cylinder pressure will nearly be doubled. As the coatings result in higher available energy in the exhaust gas, efficiency gains are achieved through use of this energy by turbochargers, turbocompounding or thermoelectric generators.

Fairbanks, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1996

The smart highway project: Smart highways, smart vehicles, smart engineering

The Smart Highway project is a six mile, limited access roadway being built between Interstate 81 and Blacksburg, Virginia. The initial construction segment will be two miles long and is designed to serve as a test bed and test track for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) research. The Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at Virginia Tech is developing three evaluation tools for its ITS research including DYNAVIMTS (a software framework), and the FLASH Lab (a 1/15th scale model highway and vehicle system). The Smart Highway rounds out the Center's evaluation methodology by allowing full scale operational tests, evaluations, and research under both experimental and conventional traffic conditions. Currently under development is a concept for a fully automated highway using a 'Cooperative Infrastructure Managed System' which involves ultra wide band communication beacons installed in the infrastructure with appropriate sensors, receivers and processors on board the vehicles. The project is part of the research program funded by the National Automated Highway System Consortium. The CTR hopes to develop the automated concept to prototype status by 1997. Other smart transportation and smart engineering concepts are proposed. This presentation will address the goals and objectives of the Smart Highway project, overview its status and importance to the region, and identify some of the transportation technology now under development and planned in the future.

Pethtel, Ray D.↗
NASA NTRS1996

UNAVCO facility support of NASA Dynamics of the Solid Earth (DOSE) GPS investigation for years 1995-1996

This report consists of the following sections: a list of the NASA DOSE (Dynamics of the Solid Earth) Program Global Positioning System (GPS)-based campaigns supported by the UNAVCO (University Navstar Consortium) Boulder Facility; a list of NASA DOSE GPS permanent site installations supported by the UNAVCO Boulder Facility; and example science snapshots indicating the research projects supported with equipment and technical support available to DOSE Principal Investigators via the UNAVCO Boulder Facility.

Ware, Randolph↗
NASA NTRS1996

Computational Intelligence and Its Impact on Future High-Performance Engineering Systems

This document contains presentations from the joint UVA/NASA Workshop on Computational Intelligence held at the Virginia Consortium of Engineering and Science Universities, Hampton, Virginia, June 27-28, 1995. The presentations addressed activities in the areas of fuzzy logic, neural networks, and evolutionary computations. Workshop attendees represented NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, industry, and academia. The workshop objectives were to assess the state of technology in the Computational intelligence area and to provide guidelines for future research.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Performance of Integrated Fiber Optic, Piezoelectric, and Shape Memory Alloy Actuators/Sensors in Thermoset Composites

Recently, scientists and engineers have investigated the advantages of smart materials and structures by including actuators in material systems for controlling and altering the response of structural environments. Applications of these materials systems include vibration suppression/isolation, precision positioning, damage detection and tunable devices. Some of the embedded materials being investigated for accomplishing these tasks include piezoelectric ceramics, shape memory alloys, and fiber optics. These materials have some benefits and some shortcomings; each is being studied for use in active material design in the SPICES (Synthesis and Processing of Intelligent Cost Effective Structures) Consortium. The focus of this paper concerns the manufacturing aspects of smart structures by incorporating piezoelectric ceramics, shape memory alloys and fiber optics in a reinforced thermoset matrix via resin transfer molding (RTM).

Trottier, C. Michael↗
NASA NTRS1995

A High-Average-Power Free Electron Laser for Microfabrication and Surface Applications

CEBAF has developed a comprehensive conceptual design of an industrial user facility based on a kilowatt ultraviolet (UV) (160-1000 mm) and infrared (IR) (2-25 micron) free electron laser (FEL) driven by a recirculating, energy recovering 200 MeV superconducting radio frequency (SRF) accelerator. FEL users, CEBAF's partners in the Lase Processing Consortium, including AT&T, DuPont, IBM, Northrop Grumman, 3M, and Xerox, are developing applications such as metal, ceramic, and electronic material micro-fabrication and polymer and metal surface processing, with the overall effort leading to later scale-up to industrial systems at 50-100 kW. Representative applications are described. The proposed high-average-power FEL overcomes limitations of conventional laser sources in available power, cost-effectiveness, tunability, and pulse structure.

Dylla, H. F.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Research Projects, Technical Reports and Publications

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) on June 6, 1983. RIACS is privately operated by USRA, a consortium of universities with research programs in the aerospace sciences, under contract with NASA. The primary mission of RIACS is to provide research and expertise in computer science and scientific computing to support the scientific missions of NASA ARC. The research carried out at RIACS must change its emphasis from year to year in response to NASA ARC's changing needs and technological opportunities. A flexible scientific staff is provided through a university faculty visitor program, a post doctoral program, and a student visitor program. Not only does this provide appropriate expertise but it also introduces scientists outside of NASA to NASA problems. A small group of core RIACS staff provides continuity and interacts with an ARC technical monitor and scientific advisory group to determine the RIACS mission. RIACS activities are reviewed and monitored by a USRA advisory council and ARC technical monitor. Research at RIACS is currently being done in the following areas: Advanced Methods for Scientific Computing High Performance Networks During this report pefiod Professor Antony Jameson of Princeton University, Professor Wei-Pai Tang of the University of Waterloo, Professor Marsha Berger of New York University, Professor Tony Chan of UCLA, Associate Professor David Zingg of University of Toronto, Canada and Assistant Professor Andrew Sohn of New Jersey Institute of Technology have been visiting RIACS. January 1, 1996 through September 30, 1996 RIACS had three staff scientists, four visiting scientists, one post-doctoral scientist, three consultants, two research associates and one research assistant. RIACS held a joint workshop with Code 1 29-30 July 1996. The workshop was held to discuss needs and opportunities in basic research in computer science in and for NASA applications. There were 14 talks given by NASA, industry and university scientists and three open discussion sessions. There were approximately fifty participants. A proceedings is being prepared. It is planned to have similar workshops on an annual basis. RIACS technical reports are usually preprints of manuscripts that have been submitted to research 'ournals or conference proceedings. A list of these reports for the period January i 1, 1996 through September 30, 1996 is in the Reports and Abstracts section of this report.

Oliger, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1997

Computational Tools and Facilities for the Next-Generation Analysis and Design Environment

This document contains presentations from the joint UVA/NASA Workshop on Computational Tools and Facilities for the Next-Generation Analysis and Design Environment held at the Virginia Consortium of Engineering and Science Universities in Hampton, Virginia on September 17-18, 1996. The presentations focused on the computational tools and facilities for analysis and design of engineering systems, including, real-time simulations, immersive systems, collaborative engineering environment, Web-based tools and interactive media for technical training. Workshop attendees represented NASA, commercial software developers, the aerospace industry, government labs, and academia. The workshop objectives were to assess the level of maturity of a number of computational tools and facilities and their potential for application to the next-generation integrated design environment.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

PMMW Camera TRP

Passive millimeter wave (PMMW) sensors have the ability to see through fog, clouds, dust and sandstorms and thus have the potential to support all-weather operations, both military and commercial. Many of the applications, such as military transport or commercial aircraft landing, are technologically stressing in that they require imaging of a scene with a large field of view in real time and with high spatial resolution. The development of a low cost PMMW focal plane array camera is essential to obtain real-time video images to fulfill the above needs. The overall objective of this multi-year project (Phase 1) was to develop and demonstrate the capabilities of a W-band PMMW camera with a microwave/millimeter wave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) focal plane array (FPA) that can be manufactured at low cost for both military and commercial applications. This overall objective was met in July 1997 when the first video images from the camera were generated of an outdoor scene. In addition, our consortium partner McDonnell Douglas was to develop a real-time passive millimeter wave flight simulator to permit pilot evaluation of a PMMW-equipped aircraft in a landing scenario. A working version of this simulator was completed. This work was carried out under the DARPA-funded PMMW Camera Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP), also known as the PMMW Camera DARPA Joint Dual-Use Project. In this final report for the Phase 1 activities, a year by year description of what the specific objectives were, the approaches taken, and the progress made is presented, followed by a description of the validation and imaging test results obtained in 1997.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1996

[A NASA / University Joint Venture in Space Science]

MILAGRO is a water-Cherenkov detector for observing cosmic gamma rays over a broad energy range of 100 GeV to 100 TeV. MILAGRO will be the first detector that has sensitivity overlapping both air-Cherenkov and air-shower detectors. With this detector scientists in the collaboration will study previously observed celestial sources at their known emission energies, extend these observations into a new energy regime, and search for new sources at unexplored energies. The diffuse gamma-radiation component in our galaxy, which originates from interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar gas and photons, provides important information about the density, distribution, and spectrum of the cosmic rays that pervade the interstellar medium. Events in the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) are being observed up to about 30 GeV, differing by slightly more than order of magnitude from the low energy threshold of MILAGRO. By looking in coincidence at sources, correlated observations will greatly extend the astrophysics potential of MILAGRO and NASA's GRO. A survey of cosmic-ray observatories is being prepared for scientists and others to provide a resource and reference which describes high energy cosmic-ray research activities around the world. This summary presents information about each research group, such as names of principal investigators, number of persons in the collaboration, energy range, sensitivity, angular resolution, and surface area of detector. Similarly, a survey of gamma-ray telescopes is being prepared to provide a resource and reference which describes gamma-ray telescopes for investigating galactic diffuse gamma-ray flux currently observed in the GeV energy range, but is expected to extend into the TeV range. Two undergraduate students are compiling information about gamma-ray telescopes and high energy cosmic-ray observatories for these surveys. Funding for this project was provided by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. Also enclosed Appendix A, B, C, D and E.

Wold, Donald C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Wakeshield WSF-02 GPS Experiment

Shuttle mission STS-69 was launched on September 7, 1995, 10:09 CDT, carrying the Wake Shield Facility (WSF-02). The WSF-02 spacecraft included a set of payloads provided by the Texas Space Grant Consortium, known as TexasSat. One of the TexasSat payloads was a GPS TurboRogue receiver loaned by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. On September 11, the WSF-02 was unberthed from the Endeavour payload bay using the remote manipulator system. The GPS receiver was powered on prior to release and the WSF-02 remained in free-flight for three days before being retrieved on September 14. All WSF-02 GPS data, which includes dual frequency pseudorange and carrier phase, were stored in an on-board recorder for post-flight analysis, but "snap- shots" of data were transmitted for 2-3 minutes at intervals of several hours, when permitted by the telemetry band- widdl The GPS experiment goals were: (1) an evaluation of precision orbit determination in a low altitude environment (400 km) where perturbations due to atmospheric drag and the Earth's gravity field are more pronounced than for higher altitude satellites with high precision orbit requirements, such as TOPEX/POSEIDON; (2) an assessment of relative positioning using the WSF GPS receiver and the Endeavour Collins receiver; and (3) determination of atmospheric temperature profiles using GPS signals passing through the atmosphere. Analysis of snap-shot telemetry data indicate that 24 hours of continuous data were stored on board, which includes high rate (50 Hz) data for atmosphere temperature profiles. Examination of the limited number of real-time navigation solutions show that at least 7 GPS satellites were tracked simultaneously and the on-board clock corrections were at the microsec level, as expected. Furthermore, a dynamical consistency test provided a further validation of the on-board navigation solutions. Complete analysis will be conducted in post-flight using the data recorded on-board.

Schutz, B. E.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Commercializing Defense Technologies and Helping Defense Firms Succeed in Commercial Markets: A Report on the Objectives, Activities, and Accomplishments of the TAP-IN Program

Technology Access for Product Innovation (TAP-IN), the largest technology deployment project funded by TRP, was competitively selected through a national solicitation for proposals. TAP-IN was created to help companies access and apply defense technologies and help defense-dependent companies enter new commercial markets. Defense technologies included technologies developed by DoD, DOE, NASA, and their contractors. TAP-IN was structured to provide region-based technology access services that were able to draw on technology resources nationwide. TAP-IN provided expert assistance in all stages of the commercialization process from concept through prototype design to capital sourcing and marketing strategy. TAP-IN helped companies locate new technology, identify business partners, secure financing, develop ideas for new products, identify new markets, license technology, solve technical problems, and develop company-specific applications of federal technology. TAP-IN leveraged NASA's existing commercial technology network to create an integrated national network of organizations that assisted companies in every state. In addition to NASA's six regional technology transfer centers (RTTCs), TAP-IN included business and technology development organizations in every state, the Industrial Designers Society of America, and the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC).

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NASA NTRS1997

Education and Training Report. Performance Report, FY 1997

During FY 97, 152 MUREP education and training projects were conducted at OMU institutions. The institutions conducted precollege and bridge programs, education partnerships with other universities and industry, NRTS, teacher training, and graduate and/or PI undergraduate programs. These programs reached a total of 23,748 participants, with the predominant number at the precollege level and achieved major goals of heightening students' interest and awareness of career opportunities in MSET fields, and exposing students to the NASA mission, research and advanced technology through role models, mentors, and participation in research and other educational activities. Also in FY 1997, NASA continued a very meaningful relationship with the Hispanic Association of Colleges students and Universities (HACU) through Proyecto Access, a consortium through which HACU links seven HSI's together to conduct 8-week summer programs. OMU Institutions reported 4,334 high school student in NASA programs and 3,404 of those students selected college preparatory MSET courses. Three hundred and forty-nine (349) graduated from high school, 343 enrolled in college, and 199 selected MSET majors. There were 130 high school graduates (bridge students) in NASA programs, 57 of whom successfully completed their freshman year. There were 307 teachers in teacher programs and 48 teachers received certificates. Of the 389 undergraduate students, 75 received under graduate degrees, and eight students are employed in a NASA-related field.

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NASA NTRS1998

Living Together in Space: The Design and Operation of the Life Support Systems on the International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) incorporates elements designed and developed by an international consortium led by the United States (U.S.), and by Russia. For this cooperative effort to succeed, it is crucial that the designs and methods of design of the other partners are understood sufficiently to ensure compatibility. Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) is one system in which functions are performed independently on the Russian Segment (RS) and on the U.S./international segments. This document describes, in two volumes, the design and operation of the ECLS Systems (ECLSS) on board the ISS. This current volume, Volume 1, is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 is a general overview of the ISS, describing the configuration, general requirements, and distribution of systems as related to the ECLSS, and includes discussion of the design philosophies of the partners and methods of verification of equipment. Chapter 2 describes the U.S. ECLSS and technologies in greater detail. Chapter 3 describes the ECLSS in the European Attached Pressurized Module (APM), Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), and Italian Mini-Pressurized Logistics Module (MPLM). Volume II describes the Russian ECLSS and technologies in greater detail. These documents present thorough, yet concise, descriptions of the ISS ECLSS.

Wieland, P. O.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Low Cost Cryocoolers for High Temperature Superconductor Communication Filters

This final report describes the work performed by a consortium of Industry and Government to develop low cost cryocoolers. The specific application was for low cost commercial based high temperature superconductor communication filters. This program was initiated in January 1995 and resulted in the successful demonstration of an HTS filter dewar cooled by a low cost pulse tube cryocooler. Further development of this cryocooler technology is proceeding through various contracts underway and proposed at this time.

Brown, Davina↗