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Results for “System Monitoring and Control”

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 955 records · Page 53

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2005

Current Signature Sensor

A solenoid health monitoring system uses a signal conditioner and controller assembly in one embodiment that includes analog circuitry and a DSP controller. The analog circuitry provides signal conditioning to the low-level raw signal coming from a signal acquisition assembly. Software running in a DSP analyzes the incoming data (recorded current signature) and determines the state of the solenoid whether it is energized, de-energized, or in a transitioning state. In one embodiment, the software identifies key features in the current signature during the transition phase and is able to determine the health of the solenoid.

Jose M Perotti↗

NASA NTRS1998

A PC-based Workstation for Robotic Discectomy

Ths paper describes a PC-based controller for robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery. The development is motivated by the need of reducing the exposure of operating room personnel to X-rays during surgical procedures such as percutanrous discectomy.

control force monitoring small system envelope↗

NASA NTRS1979

Tracking The Double Eagle

Last summer a trio of aeronauts made aviation history. Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, all of Albuquerque, New Mexico, piloted their balloon Double Eagle I1 from Presque Isle, Maine to Miserey, France, some 50 miles from Paris. They were the first to negotiate a successful Atlantic crossing in a freeflying balloon after a score of attempts over a span of more than a century. A year earlier, Abruzzo and Anderson had made an unsuccessful try in their predecessor balloon Double Eagle. On that occasion, a NASA-developed satellite beacon helped save their lives. Carried aboard the balloon, the simple, seven-pound beacon continuously transmitted signals to NASA's Nimbus-6 satellite. Nimbus relayed the signals to monitors at Goddard Space Flight Center, enabling Goddard to compute the balloon's position. Position reports were then telephoned regularly to Double Eagle's control center at Bedford, Massachusetts. This monitoring system proved invaluable when the balloon encountered trouble several days after liftoff.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1996

Control system for thermoelectric refrigerator

Apparatus including a power supply (202) and control system is provided for maintaining the temperature within an enclosed structure (40) using thermoelectric devices (92). The apparatus may be particularly beneficial for use with a refrigerator (20) having superinsulation materials (46) and phase change materials (112) which cooperate with the thermoelectric device (92) to substantially enhance the overall operating efficiency of the refrigerator (20). The electrical power supply (202) and control system allows increasing the maximum power capability of the thermoelectric device (92) in response to increased heat loads within the refrigerator (20). The electrical power supply (202) and control system may also be used to monitor the performance of the cooling system (70) associated with the refrigerator (20).

Nelson, John L.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Current signature sensor

Perotti, Jose M.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Introduction to the Minitrack on Monitoring, Control, and Protection.

This minitrack is on topics related to the monitoring, control, and protection of electric power systems for real-time operations and short-term operations planning. This year the emphasis has been on recent developments in the area of large-scale dynamic research for power systems and on hybrid and distributed control concepts for decentralized command and control of existing critical energy infrastructures.

Eto, Joseph H↗

DOE OSTI2021

Attacking the IEC-61131 Logic Engine in Programmable Logic Controllers in Industrial Control Systems

In industrial control systems (ICS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs) directly monitor and control a physical process such as nuclear power plants, gas pipelines, and water treatment. They are equipped with a control logic written in IEC-61131 languages (e.g., ladder logic and structured text) that defines how a PLC should control a physical process. A PLC's control logic is a usual target of a cyberattack to sabotage a physical process. For instance, Stuxnet targets a control logic of a Siemens S7-300 PLC to damage a nuclear facility's centrifuges. The existing attacks in the literature generally focus only on injecting malicious control logic into a PLC. This paper presents a new dimension of control logic attacks that target the control logic engine (responsible for running a control logic) of a PLC. It demonstrates that a cyberattack can disable the control logic engine successfully by exploiting inherent PLC features such as program mode and starting/stopping engine. We develop two novel case studies on control logic engine attacks by employing the MITRE ATT\&CK knowledge base on the real-world PLCs used in industry settings, i.e., 1) Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory (SEL)'s Real-Time Automation Controller (SEL-3505 RTAC) equipped with security features such as encrypted traffic and device-level access control, and 2) traditional PLCs, i.e., Schneider Electric's Modicon M221, Allen-Bradley's MicroLogix 1400 and 1100 that do not have security features. The case studies present the internals of the logic engine attacks and facilitate the ICS research community and industry to understand the attack vectors on the control logic engine. We evaluate the effectiveness of the control engine attacks on a power substation, a 4-floor elevator, and a conveyor belt to demonstrate their real-world impact of halting a physical process.

Ali qasim, Syed↗

DOE OSTI2022

Grid-Ready Flexible Transformers

Overview of the world's first deployed flexible power transformer presented to the IEEE Transformer Committee

design challenges↗

DOE OSTI2024

Network visualization, intrusion detection, and network healing

The present disclosure is related to a cyber-security system that includes a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) network monitor configured to receive a data set from a power system network, an event manager, and a mitigation system, where the SCADA network monitor includes an anomaly detector.

Rivera, Joshua Eli↗

DOE OSTI2014

Interim Report on Concrete Degradation Mechanisms and Online Monitoring Techniques

The existing nuclear power plants in the United States have initial operating licenses of 40 years, though most of these plants have applied for and received license extensions. As plant structures, systems, and components age, their useful life—considering both structural integrity and performance—is reduced as a result of deterioration of the materials. The research on online monitoring of concrete structures conducted under the Advanced Instrumentation, Information, and Control Systems Technologies Pathway of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program at Idaho National Laboratory will develop and demonstrate concrete structures health monitoring capabilities. Assessment and management of aging concrete structures in nuclear plants require a more systematic approach than simple reliance on existing code margins of safety. Therefore, structural health monitoring is required to produce actionable information regarding structural integrity that supports operational and maintenance decisions. Through this research project, several national laboratories and Vanderbilt University propose to develop a framework of research activities for the health monitoring of nuclear power plant concrete structures that includes the integration of four elements—damage modeling, monitoring, data analytics, and uncertainty quantification. This report briefly discusses available techniques and ongoing challenges in each of the four elements of the proposed framework with emphasis on degradation mechanisms and online monitoring techniques.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS1995

Lessons learned from the introduction of autonomous monitoring to the EUVE science operations center

The University of California at Berkeley's (UCB) Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics (CEA), in conjunction with NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), has implemented an autonomous monitoring system in the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) science operations center (ESOC). The implementation was driven by a need to reduce operations costs and has allowed the ESOC to move from continuous, three-shift, human-tended monitoring of the science payload to a one-shift operation in which the off shifts are monitored by an autonomous anomaly detection system. This system includes Eworks, an artificial intelligence (AI) payload telemetry monitoring package based on RTworks, and Epage, an automatic paging system to notify ESOC personnel of detected anomalies. In this age of shrinking NASA budgets, the lessons learned on the EUVE project are useful to other NASA missions looking for ways to reduce their operations budgets. The process of knowledge capture, from the payload controllers for implementation in an expert system, is directly applicable to any mission considering a transition to autonomous monitoring in their control center. The collaboration with ARC demonstrates how a project with limited programming resources can expand the breadth of its goals without incurring the high cost of hiring additional, dedicated programmers. This dispersal of expertise across NASA centers allows future missions to easily access experts for collaborative efforts of their own. Even the criterion used to choose an expert system has widespread impacts on the implementation, including the completion time and the final cost. In this paper we discuss, from inception to completion, the areas where our experiences in moving from three shifts to one shift may offer insights for other NASA missions.

Lewis, M.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Perspectives from the Wearable Electronics and Applications Research (WEAR) Lab, NASA Johnson Space Center

As NASA moves beyond exploring low earth orbit and into deep space exploration, increased communication delays between astronauts and earth drive a need for crew to become more autonomous (earth-independent). Currently crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) have limited insight into specific vehicle system performance because of the dependency on monitoring and real-time communication with Mission Control. Wearable technology provides a method to bridge the gap between the human (astronaut) and the system (spacecraft) by providing mutual monitoring between the two. For example, vehicle or environmental information can be delivered to astronauts through on-body devices and in return wearables provide data to the spacecraft regarding crew health, location, etc. The Wearable Electronics and Applications Research (WEAR) Lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center utilizes a collaborative approach between engineering and human factors to investigate the use of wearables for spaceflight. Zero and partial gravity environments present unique challenges to wearables that require collaborative, user-centered, and iterative approaches to the problems. Examples of the WEAR Lab's recent wearable projects for spaceflight will be discussed.

Moses, Haifa R.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Perspectives from the Wearable Electronics and Applications Research (WEAR) Lab, NASA, Johnson Space Center

Moses, Haifa R.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Cybersecurity Assessment in DER-rich Distribution Operations: Criticality Levels and Impact Analysis

The integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution networks has become a pivotal strategy for achieving decarbonization, enhancing grid resilience, and optimizing grid efficiency. Remote monitoring and control op- erations of such resources rely on a network of sensors and communication infrastructure, exposing the system to potential cyber threats. Therefore, as the deployment of DERs increases, ensuring secure monitoring and control becomes an imperative challenge. This paper utilizes real-time feeder models, which are instrumental in developing cybersecurity testbeds tailored for hardware-in-loop (HIL) systems. These models enable users to simulate cyber attacks in a real-world environment and analyze the power distribution operations during vulnerabilities. Furthermore, we discuss several practical sets of grid parameters to identify critical levels of DERs and evaluate various scenarios that simulate cyber threats on sensitive DERs. The modified IEEE 123-bus model is used as the test case for demonstrating the proposed scenarios. The findings from this study provide valuable insights into the vulnerabilities and potential consequences of cyber attacks on DERs, allowing for better mitigation strategies and improved cyber resilience in future distribution networks.

Maharjan, Manisha↗

DOE OSTI2013

Integrated Systems-Based Approach to Monitoring Environmental Remediation

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for risk reduction and cleanup of its nuclear weapons complex. Remediation strategies for some of the existing contamination use techniques that mitigate risk, but leave contaminants in place. Monitoring to verify remedy performance and long-term mitigation of risk is a key element for implementing these strategies and can be a large portion of the total cost of remedy implementation. Especially in these situations, there is a need for innovative monitoring approaches that move away from the cost and labor intensive point-source monitoring. A systems-based approach to monitoring design focuses monitoring on controlling features and processes to enable effective interpretation of remedy performance.

environmental remediation↗

DOE OSTI2017

Modeling DNP3 Traffic Characteristics of Field Devices in SCADA Systems of the Smart Grid

In the generation, transmission, and distribution sectors of the smart grid, intelligence of field devices is realized by programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Many smart-grid subsystems are essentially cyber-physical energy systems (CPES): For instance, the power system process (i.e., the physical part) within a substation is monitored and controlled by a SCADA network with hosts running miscellaneous applications (i.e., the cyber part). To study the interactions between the cyber and physical components of a CPES, several co-simulation platforms have been proposed. However, the network simulators/emulators of these platforms do not include a detailed traffic model that takes into account the impacts of the execution model of PLCs on traffic characteristics. As a result, network traces generated by co-simulation only reveal the impacts of the physical process on the contents of the traffic generated by SCADA hosts, whereas the distinction between PLCs and computing nodes (e.g., a hardened computer running a process visualization application) has been overlooked. To generate realistic network traces using co-simulation for the design and evaluation of applications relying on accurate traffic profiles, it is necessary to establish a traffic model for PLCs. In this work, we propose a parameterized model for PLCs that can be incorporated into existing co-simulation platforms. We focus on the DNP3 subsystem of slave PLCs, which automates the processing of packets from the DNP3 master. To validate our approach, we extract model parameters from both the configuration and network traces of real PLCs. Simulated network traces are generated and compared against those from PLCs. Our evaluation shows that our proposed model captures the essential traffic characteristics of DNP3 slave PLCs, which can be used to extend existing co-simulation platforms and gain further insights into the behaviors of CPES.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASA NTRS1992

Process and control systems for composites manufacturing

A precise control of composite material processing would not only improve part quality, but it would also directly reduce the overall manufacturing cost. The development and incorporation of sensors will help to generate real-time information for material processing relationships and equipment characteristics. In the present work, the thermocouple, pressure transducer, and dielectrometer technologies were investigated. The monitoring sensors were integrated with the computerized control system in three non-autoclave fabrication techniques: hot-press, self contained tool (self heating and pressurizing), and pressure vessel). The sensors were implemented in the parts and tools.

Tsiang, T. H.↗

DOE OSTI2019

Performance of the Muon g - 2 calorimeter and readout systems measured with test beam data

A single calorimeter station for the Muon $g-2$ experiment at Fermilab includes the following subsystems: a 54-element array of PbF$_{2}$ Cherenkov crystals read out by large-area SiPMs, bias and slow-control electronics, a suite of 800 MSPS waveform digitizers, a clock and control distribution network, a gain calibration and monitoring system, and a GPU-based frontend read out through a MIDAS data acquisition environment. The entire system performance was evaluated using 2.5 - 5 GeV electrons at the End Station Test Beam at SLAC. This paper includes a description of the individual subsystems and the results of measurements of the energy response and resolution, energy-scale stability, timing resolution, and spatial uniformity. All measured performances meet or exceed the $g-2$ experimental requirements. Based on the success of the tests, the complete production of the required 24 calorimeter stations has been made and installation into the main experiment is complete. Furthermore, the calorimeter response measurements determined here informed the design of the reconstruction algorithms that are now employed in the running $g-2$ experiment.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗