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NASA NTRS2003

Diabatic Initialization of Mesoscale Models in the Southeastern United States: Can 0 to 12h Warm Season QPF be Improved?

It is well known that numerical warm season quantitative precipitation forecasts lack significant skill for numerous reasons. Some are related to the model--it may lack physical processes required to realistically simulate convection or the numerical algorithms and dynamics employed may not be adequate. Others are related to initialization-mesoscale features play an important role in convective initialization and atmospheric observation systems are incapable of properly depicting the three-dimensional stability structure at the mesoscale. The purpose of this study is to determine if a mesoscale model initialized with a diabatic initialization scheme can improve short-term (0 to 12h) warm season quantitative precipitation forecasts in the Southeastern United States. The Local Analysis and Prediction System (LAPS) developed at the Forecast System Laboratory is used to diabatically initialize the Pennsylvania State University/National center for Atmospheric Research (PSUNCAR) Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5). The SPORT Center runs LAPS operationally on an hourly cycle to produce analyses on a 15 km covering the eastern 2/3 of the United States. The 20 km National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Rapid Update Cycle analyses are used for the background fields. Standard observational data are acquired from MADIS with GOES/CRAFT Nexrad data acquired from in-house feeds. The MM5 is configured on a 140 x 140 12 km grid centered on Huntsville Alabama. Preliminary results indicate that MM5 runs initialized with LAPS produce improved 6 and 12h QPF threat scores compared with those initialized with the NCEP RUC.

Lapenta, William M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Improved Fine Sun Sensor Field of View Calibration

The fine Sun sensor used on many spacecraft consists of two independent single-axis sensor heads, nominally mounted perpendicularly. These detect the Sun angle over a field of view typically of +32 deg. (There is a trade-off between accuracy and size of the field of view that allows for much latitude in any numbers quoted.) The nonlinear "transfer" function that maps the telemetered counts into observed angles consists of 9 adjustable parameters for each axis (1 8 total). An augmented transfer function has previously been reported that achieves a significant accuracy improvement across the entire field of view. That function expands the parameter set to 12 coefficients per axis (24 total) and includes cross terms combining counts from both axes. To make the best use of the Sun sensor for attitude determination, it must be calibrated after launch. However, the large number of parameters and the nonlinearity of the problem make this a challenging task. The purpose of this paper is to examine ways to improve convergence of the parameter search algorithm. In particular, experience has shown that the problem should be broken down into several steps, solving for a selected subset of the parameters at each step. This approach has now been incorporated as an option in the calibration utility.

Sedlak, J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

On Improving Efficiency of Differential Evolution for Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Applications

Differential Evolution (DE) is a simple and robust evolutionary strategy that has been provEn effective in determining the global optimum for several difficult optimization problems. Although DE offers several advantages over traditional optimization approaches, its use in applications such as aerodynamic shape optimization where the objective function evaluations are computationally expensive is limited by the large number of function evaluations often required. In this paper various approaches for improving the efficiency of DE are reviewed and discussed. Several approaches that have proven effective for other evolutionary algorithms are modified and implemented in a DE-based aerodynamic shape optimization method that uses a Navier-Stokes solver for the objective function evaluations. Parallelization techniques on distributed computers are used to reduce turnaround times. Results are presented for standard test optimization problems and for the inverse design of a turbine airfoil. The efficiency improvements achieved by the different approaches are evaluated and compared.

Madavan, Nateri K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Rotor Design Options for Improving XV-15 Whirl-Flutter Stability Margins

Rotor design changes intended to improve tiltrotor whirl-flutter stability margins were analyzed. A baseline analytical model of the XV-15 was established, and then a thinner, composite wing was designed to be representative of a high-speed tiltrotor. The rotor blade design was modified to increase the stability speed margin for the thin-wing design. Small rearward offsets of the aerodynamic-center locus with respect to the blade elastic axis created large increases in the stability boundary. The effect was strongest for offsets at the outboard part of the blade, where an offset of the aerodynamic center by 10% of tip chord improved the stability margin by over 100 knots. Forward offsets of the blade center of gravity had similar but less pronounced effects. Equivalent results were seen for swept-tip blades. Appropriate combinations of sweep and pitch stiffness completely eliminated whirl flutter within the speed range examined; alternatively, they allowed large increases in pitch-flap coupling (delta-three) for a given stability margin. A limited investigation of the rotor loads in helicopter and airplane configuration showed only minor increases in loads.

Acree, C. W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Improvement in diastolic intraventricular pressure gradients in patients with HOCM after ethanol septal reduction

We sought to validate measurement of intraventricular pressure gradients (IVPG) and analyze their change in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) after ethanol septal reduction (ESR). Quantitative analysis of color M-mode Doppler (CMM) images may be used to estimate diastolic IVPG noninvasively. Noninvasive IVPG measurement was validated in 10 patients undergoing surgical myectomy. Echocardiograms were then analyzed in 19 patients at baseline and after ESR. Pulsed Doppler data through the mitral valve and pulmonary venous flow were obtained. CMM was used to obtain the flow propagation velocity (Vp) and to calculate IVPG off-line. Left atrial pressure was estimated with the use of previously validated Doppler equations. Data were compared before and after ESR. CMM-derived IVPG correlated well with invasive measurements obtained before and after surgical myectomy [r = 0.8, P < 0.01, Delta(CMM - invasive IVPG) = 0.09 +/- 0.45 mmHg]. ESR resulted in a decrease of resting LVOT systolic gradient from 62 +/- 10 to 29 +/- 5 mmHg (P < 0.001). There was a significant increase in the Vp and IVPG (from 48 +/- 5to 74 +/- 7 cm/s and from 1.5 +/- 0.2 to 2.6 +/- 0.3 mmHg, respectively, P < 0.001 for both). Estimated left atrial pressure decreased from 16.2 +/- 1.1 to 11.5 +/- 0.9 mmHg (P < 0.001). The increase in IVPG correlated with the reduction in the LVOT gradient (r = 0.6, P < 0.01). Reduction of LVOT obstruction after ESR is associated with an improvement in diastolic suction force. Noninvasive measurements of IVPG may be used as an indicator of diastolic function improvement in HOCM.

NASA Program Biomedical Research and Countermeasur↗
NASA NTRS2002

Mechanical stimulation improves tissue-engineered human skeletal muscle

Human bioartificial muscles (HBAMs) are tissue engineered by suspending muscle cells in collagen/MATRIGEL, casting in a silicone mold containing end attachment sites, and allowing the cells to differentiate for 8 to 16 days. The resulting HBAMs are representative of skeletal muscle in that they contain parallel arrays of postmitotic myofibers; however, they differ in many other morphological characteristics. To engineer improved HBAMs, i.e., more in vivo-like, we developed Mechanical Cell Stimulator (MCS) hardware to apply in vivo-like forces directly to the engineered tissue. A sensitive force transducer attached to the HBAM measured real-time, internally generated, as well as externally applied, forces. The muscle cells generated increasing internal forces during formation which were inhibitable with a cytoskeleton depolymerizer. Repetitive stretch/relaxation for 8 days increased the HBAM elasticity two- to threefold, mean myofiber diameter 12%, and myofiber area percent 40%. This system allows engineering of improved skeletal muscle analogs as well as a nondestructive method to determine passive force and viscoelastic properties of the resulting tissue.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS2001

Variable practice with lenses improves visuo-motor plasticity

Novel sensorimotor situations present a unique challenge to an individual's adaptive ability. Using the simple and easily measured paradigm of visual-motor rearrangement created by the use of visual displacement lenses, we sought to determine whether an individual's ability to adapt to visuo-motor discordance could be improved through training. Subjects threw small balls at a stationary target during a 3-week practice regimen involving repeated exposure to one set of lenses in block practice (x 2.0 magnifying lenses), multiple sets of lenses in variable practice (x 2.0 magnifying, x 0.5 minifying and up-down reversing lenses) or sham lenses. At the end of training, adaptation to a novel visuo-motor situation (20-degree right shift lenses) was tested. We found that (1) training with variable practice can increase adaptability to a novel visuo-motor situation, (2) increased adaptability is retained for at least 1 month and is transferable to further novel visuo-motor permutations and (3) variable practice improves performance of a simple motor task even in the undisturbed state. These results have implications for the design of clinical rehabilitation programs and countermeasures to enhance astronaut adaptability, facilitating adaptive transitions between gravitational environments.

NASA Discipline Neuroscience↗
NASA NTRS1986

Polyamine metabolism and osmotic stress. II. Improvement of oat protoplasts by an inhibitor of arginine decarboxylase

We have attempted to improve the viability of cereal mesophyll protoplasts by pretreatment of leaves with DL-alpha-difluoromethylarginine (DFMA), a specific 'suicide' inhibitor of the enzyme (arginine decarboxylase) responsible for their osmotically induced putrescine accumulation. Leaf pretreatment with DFMA before a 6 hour osmotic shock caused a 45% decrease of putrescine and a 2-fold increase of spermine titer. After 136 hours of osmotic stress, putrescine titer in DFMA-pretreated leaves increased by only 50%, but spermidine and spermine titers increased dramatically by 3.2- and 6-fold, respectively. These increases in higher polyamines could account for the reduced chlorophyll loss and enhanced ability of pretreated leaves to incorporate tritiated thymidine, uridine, and leucine into macromolecules. Pretreatment with DFMA significantly improved the overall viability of the protoplasts isolated from these leaves. The results support the view that the osmotically induced rise in putrescine and blockage of its conversion to higher polyamines may contribute to the lack of sustained cell division in cereal mesophyll protoplasts, although other undefined factors must also play a major role.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1997

An Investigation to Improve Quality Evaluations of Primers and Propellant for 20mm Munitions

To reduce the frequency of electrically initiated, 20mm munition hangfires (delayed ignitions), a joint Army/NASA investigation was conducted to recommend quality evaluation improvements for acceptance of both primers and gun propellant. This effort focused only on evaluating ignition and combustion performance as potential causes of hangfires: poor electrical initiation of the primer, low output performance of the primer, low ignition sensitivity of the gun propellant, and the effects of cold temperature. The goal was to determine the "best" of the Army and NASA test methods to assess the functional performance of primers and gun propellants. The approach was to evaluate the performance of both high-quality and deliberately defective primers to challenge the sensitivity of test methods. In addition, the ignition sensitivity of different manufacturing batches of gun propellants was evaluated. The results of the investigation revealed that improvements can be made in functional evaluations that can assist in identifying and reducing ignition and performance variations. The "best" functional evaluation of primers and propellant is achieved through a combination of both Army and NASA test methods. Incorporating the recommendations offered in this report may provide for considerable savings in reducing the number of cartridge firings, while significantly lowering the rejection rate of primer, propellant and cartridge lots. The most probable causes for ignition and combustion-related hangfires were the lack of calcium silicide in the primer mix, a low output performance of primers, and finally, poor ignition sensitivity of gun propellant. Cold temperatures further reduce propellant ignition sensitivity, as well as reducing burn rate and chamber pressures.

Bement, L. J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

On Improving Efficiency of Differential Evolution for Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Applications

Differential Evolution (DE) is a simple and robust evolutionary strategy that has been proven effective in determining the global optimum for several difficult optimization problems. Although DE offers several advantages over traditional optimization approaches, its use in applications such as aerodynamic shape optimization where the objective function evaluations are computationally expensive is limited by the large number of function evaluations often required. In this paper various approaches for improving the efficiency of DE are reviewed and discussed. These approaches are implemented in a DE-based aerodynamic shape optimization method that uses a Navier-Stokes solver for the objective function evaluations. Parallelization techniques on distributed computers are used to reduce turnaround times. Results are presented for the inverse design of a turbine airfoil. The efficiency improvements achieved by the different approaches are evaluated and compared.

Madavan, Nateri K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Improved Ionospheric Electrodynamic Models and Application to Calculating Joule Heating Rates

Improved techniques have been developed for empirical modeling of the high-latitude electric potentials and magnetic field aligned currents (FAC) as a function of the solar wind parameters. The FAC model is constructed using scalar magnetic Euler potentials, and functions as a twin to the electric potential model. The improved models have more accurate field values as well as more accurate boundary locations. Non-linear saturation effects in the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling are also better reproduced. The models are constructed using a hybrid technique, which has spherical harmonic functions only within a small area at the pole. At lower latitudes the potentials are constructed from multiple Fourier series functions of longitude, at discrete latitudinal steps. It is shown that the two models can be used together in order to calculate the total Poynting flux and Joule heating in the ionosphere. An additional model of the ionospheric conductivity is not required in order to obtain the ionospheric currents and Joule heating, as the conductivity variations as a function of the solar inclination are implicitly contained within the FAC model's data. The models outputs are shown for various input conditions, as well as compared with satellite measurements. The calculations of the total Joule heating are compared with results obtained by the inversion of ground-based magnetometer measurements. Like their predecessors, these empirical models should continue to be a useful research and forecast tools.

Weimer, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Improving the Flight Path Marker Symbol on Rotorcraft Synthetic Vision Displays

Two potential improvements to the flight path marker symbol were evaluated on a panel-mounted, synthetic vision, primary flight display in a rotorcraft simulation. One concept took advantage of the fact that synthetic vision systems have terrain height information available ahead of the aircraft. For this first concept, predicted altitude and ground track information was added to the flight path marker. In the second concept, multiple copies of the flight path marker were displayed at 3, 4, and 5 second prediction times as compared to a single prediction time of 3 seconds. Objective and subjective data were collected for eight rotorcraft pilots. The first concept produced significant improvements in pilot attitude control, ground track control, workload ratings, and preference ratings. The second concept did not produce significant differences in the objective or subjective measures.

Szoboszlay, Zoltan P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Autonomous Soaring for Improved Endurance of a Small Uninhabited Air Vehicle

A relatively unexplored method to improve the endurance of an autonomous aircraft is to use buoyant plumes of air found in the lower atmosphere called thermals or updrafts. Glider pilots and birds commonly use updrafts to improve range, endurance, or cross-country speed. This report presents a quantitative analysis of a small electric-powered uninhabited air vehicle using updrafts to extend its endurance over a target location. A three-degree-of-freedom simulation of the uninhabited air vehicle was used to determine the yearly effect of updrafts on performance. Surface radiation and rawinsonde balloon measurements taken at Desert Rock, Nevada, were used to determine updraft size, strength, spacing, shape, and maximum height for the simulation. A fixed-width spiral path was used to search for updrafts at the same time as maintaining line-of-sight to the surface target position. Power was used only when the aircraft was flying at the lower-altitude limit in search of updrafts. Results show that an uninhabited air vehicle with a nominal endurance of 2 hours can fly a maximum of 14 hours using updrafts during the summer and a maximum of 8 hours during the winter. The performance benefit and the chance of finding updrafts both depend on what time of day the uninhabited air vehicle is launched. Good endurance and probability of finding updrafts during the year was obtained when the uninhabited air vehicle was launched 30 percent into the daylight hours after sunrise each day. Yearly average endurance was found to be 8.6 hours with these launch times.

Allen, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Improved Estimate of Phobos Secular Acceleration from MOLA Observations

We report on new observations of the orbital position of Phobos, and use them to obtain a new and improved estimate of the rate of secular acceleration in longitude due to tidal dissipation within Mars. Phobos is the inner-most natural satellite of Mars, and one of the few natural satellites in the solar system with orbital period shorter than the rotation period of its primary. As a result, any departure from a perfect elastic response by Mars in the tides raised on it by Phobos will cause a transfer of angular momentum from the orbit of Phobos to the spin of Mars. Since its discovery in 1877, Phobos has completed over 145,500 orbits, and has one of the best studied orbits in the solar system, with over 6000 earth-based astrometric observations, and over 300 spacecraft observations. As early as 1945, Sharpless noted that there is a secular acceleration in mean longitude, with rate (1.88 + 0.25) 10(exp -3) degrees per square year. In preparation for the 1989 Russian spacecraft mission to Phobos, considerable work was done compiling past observations, and refining the orbital model. All of the published estimates from that era are in good agreement. A typical solution (Jacobson et al., 1989) yields (1.249 + 0.018) 10(exp -3) degrees per square year. The MOLA instrument on MGS is a laser altimeter, and was designed to measure the topography of Mars. However, it has also been used to make observations of the position of Phobos. In 1998, a direct range measurement was made, which indicated that Phobos was slightly ahead of the predicted position. The MOLA detector views the surface of Mars in a narrow field of view, at 1064 nanometer wavelength, and can detect shadows cast by Phobos on the surface of Mars. We have found 15 such serendipitous shadow transit events over the interval from xx to xx, and all of them show Phobos to be ahead of schedule, and getting progressively farther ahead of the predicted position. In contrast, the cross-track positions are quite close to the predicted values. Assuming that the along-track discrepancy is small enough that we can linearize the corrections, we model the mean orbital longitude as a quadratic function of time, and solve for corrections to the constant, linear, and quadratic terms. The time span of the recent observations is insufficient to properly resolve this issue alone, but when the 127 years of prior observations are added, we find a solution which reduces misfit to the new observations considerably, and makes no significant change to the fit to earlier observations. Our estimate for the secular acceleration term is (1.367 + 0.006) degrees per square year. The corresponding rate of energy dissipation is 3.34 MW. From a geophysical perspective, a more interesting parameter than the secular acceleration itself is the tidal lag angle, or tidal quality factor Q, for Mars. Unfortunately, the limiting error source in that determination is remaining uncertainty in the tidal Love numbers at harmonic degrees 2,3, and even 4. Until those parameters are better constrained, improvement in the orbital model of Phobos will not provide corresponding benefits for understanding the interior of Mars.

Bills, Bruce↗
NASA NTRS2005

Lightning and Its Application to Improving Short-Range Forecasting

We ask how lightning measurements might best be used to improve short-term (0-24 hr) weather forecasting. We examine recently developed strategies for the integration of lightning data into Short-term forecasts (nowcasts) of convective and severe weather hazards and the assimilation of lightning data into numerical weather prediction models. In each strategy we define specific metrics of forecast improvement and a progress assessment. We also address the conventional observing system deficiencies and potential gap-filling information that can be addressed through the use of the lightning measurement.

Goodman, Steven J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Validation and Improvement of CERES Surface Radiation Budget Algorithms: Extension of Dusty and Cloudy Scenes

Our main task was to validate and improve the generation of surface long wave fluxes from the CERES TOA window channel flux measurements. We completed this task successfully for the clear sky fluxes in the presence of aerosols including dust during the first year of the project. The algorithm we developed for CERES was remarkably successful for clear sky fluxes and we have no further tasks that need to be performed past the requested termination date of December 31, 2004. We found that the information contained in the TOA fluxes was not sufficient to improve upon the current CERES algorithm for cloudy sky fluxes. Given this development and given our success in clear sky fluxes, we do not see any reason to continue our validation work beyond what we have completed. Specific details are given.

Ramanathan, V.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Robust Requirements Tracing via Internet Search Technology: Improving an IV and V Technique

There are three major objectives to this phase of the work. (1) Improvement of Information Retrieval (IR) methods for Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) requirements tracing. Information Retrieval methods are typically developed for very large (order of millions - tens of millions and more documents) document collections and therefore, most successfully used methods somewhat sacrifice precision and recall in order to achieve efficiency. At the same time typical IR systems treat all user queries as independent of each other and assume that relevance of documents to queries is subjective for each user. The IV&V requirements tracing problem has a much smaller data set to operate on, even for large software development projects; the set of queries is predetermined by the high-level specification document and individual requirements considered as query input to IR methods are not necessarily independent from each other. Namely, knowledge about the links for one requirement may be helpful in determining the links of another requirement. Finally, while the final decision on the exact form of the traceability matrix still belongs to the IV&V analyst, his/her decisions are much less arbitrary than those of an Internet search engine user. All this suggests that the information available to us in the framework of the IV&V tracing problem can be successfully leveraged to enhance standard IR techniques, which in turn would lead to increased recall and precision. We developed several new methods during Phase II; (2) IV&V requirements tracing IR toolkit. Based on the methods developed in Phase I and their improvements developed in Phase II, we built a toolkit of IR methods for IV&V requirements tracing. The toolkit has been integrated, at the data level, with SAIC's SuperTracePlus (STP) tool; (3) Toolkit testing. We tested the methods included in the IV&V requirements tracing IR toolkit on a number of projects.

Hayes, Jane↗
NASA NTRS2004

The Development of a Plan for the Assessment, Improvement and Deployment of a Radar Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) for Wake Vortex Detection

This report describes the activities completed under a grant from the NASA Langley Research Center to develop a plan for the assessment, improvement, and deployment of a Radar Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) for the detection of wake vortices. A brief review is provided of existing alternative instruments for wake vortex detection. This is followed by a review of previous implementations and assessment of a RASS. As a result of this review, it is concluded that the basic features of a RASS have several advantages over other commonly used wake vortex detection and measurement systems. Most important of these features are the good fidelity of the measurements and the potential for all weather operation. To realize the full potential of this remote sensing instrument, a plan for the development of a RASS designed specifically for wake vortex detection and measurement has been prepared. To keep costs to a minimum, this program would start with the development an inexpensive laboratory-scale version of a RASS system. The new instrument would be developed in several stages, each allowing for a critical assessment of the instrument s potential and limitations. The instrument, in its initial stages of development, would be tested in a controlled laboratory environment. A jet vortex simulator, a prototype version of which has already been fabricated, would be interrogated by the RASS system. The details of the laboratory vortex would be measured using a Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) system. In the early development stages, the scattered radar signal would be digitized and the signal post-processed to determine how extensively and accurately the RASS could measure properties of the wake vortex. If the initial tests prove to be successful, a real-time, digital signal processing system would be developed as a component of the RASS system. At each stage of the instrument development and testing, the implications of the scaling required for a full-scale instrument would be considered. It is concluded that a RASS system, developed for the specific application of wake vortex detection, could become part of a robust Aircraft Vortex Spacing System (AVOSS). This system, in turn, could contribute to Reduced Spacing Operations (RSO) in US airports and improvements in Terminal Area productivity (TAP).

Morris, Philip J.↗