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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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At least 991 records · Page 55

Computer Aided Modeling and Post Processing with NASTRAN Analysis

Computer aided engineering systems are invaluable tools in performing NASTRAN finite element analysis. These techniques are implemented in both the pre-processing and post-processing phases of the NASTRAN analysis. The finite element model development, or pre-processing phase, was automated with a computer aided modeling program called Supertabl, and the review and interpretation of the results of the NASTRAN analysis, or post-processing phase, was automated with a computer aided plotting program called Output Display. An intermediate program, Nasplot, which was developed in-house, has also helped to cut down on the model checkout time and reduce errors in the model. An interface has been established between the finite element computer aided engineering system and the Learjet computer aided design system whereby data can be transferred back and forth between the two. These systems have significantly improved productivity and the ability to perform NASTRAN analysis in response to product development requests.

Boroughs, R. R.↗

Solver for hardware based computing

Full-AC load flow constitutes a core computation in power system analysis. A performance gain with a hardware implementation of a sparse-linear solver using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is achieved by use of a DC network emulation of the power system bus. Analog Behavioral Models (ABMs) are used in an efficient strategy for designing analog emulation engines for large-scale power system computation. A generator model is also developed using analog circuits for load flow emulation for power system analysis to reduce computation time. The generator model includes reconfigurable parameters using operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs). The circuit module is used with other reconfigurable circuits, i.e., transmission lines and loads.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

COLUMBUS─An Efficient and General Program Package for Ground and Excited State Computations Including Spin–Orbit Couplings and Dynamics

The COLUMBUS program system provides the tools for performing high-level multireference (MR) computations, including the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) method and its multireference averaged quadratic coupled cluster (MR-AQCC) extension, allowing computations on a wide range of fascinating atomic and molecular systems, including the treatment of open-shells and complicated excited state phenomena. The inclusion of spin−orbit coupling (SOC) directly within the MRCI step enables the description of systems containing heavy elements, such as lanthanides and actinides, whose properties are strongly influenced by SOC. Analytic energy gradients and nonadiabatic couplings at the correlated MRCI level provide the foundation for a variety of dynamics studies, giving insight into ultrafast photochemistry. New and ongoing method developments in COLUMBUS include the computation of spin densities, improved descriptions of ionic states, enhancements to the AQCC method, and the porting of COLUMBUS to graphical processing units (GPUs). New external interfaces enable an enhanced description of electronic resonances and molecules in strong laser fields. This work highlights these new developments while providing a detailed account of the diverse applications of COLUMBUS in recent years.

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Description of a computer simulation of an orbital SAR system

In order to predict the performance of a synthetic aperture radar for a wide variety of system and environmental parameters a computer simulation of the SAR system was developed. This model is a detailed description of the SAR imaging process on a pulse-by-pulse basis. The simulation is implemented as seven computer programs for a CDC Cyber 171 digital computer.

Crow, G. L.↗

Design consideration in constructing high performance embedded Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS)

As the hardware trends for artificial intelligence (AI) involve more and more complexity, the process of optimizing the computer system design for a particular problem will also increase in complexity. Space applications of knowledge based systems (KBS) will often require an ability to perform both numerically intensive vector computations and real time symbolic computations. Although parallel machines can theoretically achieve the speeds necessary for most of these problems, if the application itself is not highly parallel, the machine's power cannot be utilized. A scheme is presented which will provide the computer systems engineer with a tool for analyzing machines with various configurations of array, symbolic, scaler, and multiprocessors. High speed networks and interconnections make customized, distributed, intelligent systems feasible for the application of AI in space. The method presented can be used to optimize such AI system configurations and to make comparisons between existing computer systems. It is an open question whether or not, for a given mission requirement, a suitable computer system design can be constructed for any amount of money.

Dalton, Shelly D.↗

Michigan experimental multispectral mapping system: A description of the M7 airborne sensor and its performance

The development and characteristics of a multispectral band scanner for an airborne mapping system are discussed. The sensor operates in the ultraviolet, visual, and infrared frequencies. Any twelve of the bands may be selected for simultaneous, optically registered recording on a 14-track analog tape recorder. Multispectral imagery recorded on magnetic tape in the aircraft can be laboratory reproduced on film strips for visual analysis or optionally machine processed in analog and/or digital computers before display. The airborne system performance is analyzed.

Hasell, P. G., Jr.↗

Markov Jump-Linear Performance Models for Recoverable Flight Control Computers

Single event upsets in digital flight control hardware induced by atmospheric neutrons can reduce system performance and possibly introduce a safety hazard. One method currently under investigation to help mitigate the effects of these upsets is NASA Langley s Recoverable Computer System. In this paper, a Markov jump-linear model is developed for a recoverable flight control system, which will be validated using data from future experiments with simulated and real neutron environments. The method of tracking error analysis and the plan for the experiments are also described.

Zhang, Hong↗

The intensity dependent spread model and color constancy

Odetics is investigating the use of the intensity dependent spread (IDS) model for determining color constancy. Object segmentation is performed effortlessly by the human visual systems, but creating computer vision that takes an image as input and performs object identification on the basis of color has some difficulties. The unknown aspects of the light illuminating a scene in space or anywhere can seriously interfere with the use of color for object identification. The color of an image depends not only on the physical characteristics of the object, but also on the wavelength composition of the incident illumination. IDS processing provides the extraction of edges and of reflectance changes across edges, independent of variations in scene illumination. IDS depends solely on the ratio of the reflectances on the two sides of the edge. Researchers are in the process of using IDS to recover the reflectance image.

Kurrasch, Ellie↗

Performance model-directed data sieving for high-performance I/O

Many scientific computing applications and engineering simulations exhibit noncontiguous I/O access patterns. Data sieving is an important technique to improve the performance of noncontiguous I/O accesses by combining small and noncontiguous requests into a large and contiguous request. It has been proven effective even though more data are potentially accessed than demanded. In this study, we propose a new data sieving approach namely performance model-directed data sieving, or PMD data sieving in short. It improves the existing data sieving approach from two aspects: (1) dynamically determines when it is beneficial to perform data sieving; and (2) dynamically determines how to perform data sieving if beneficial. It improves the performance of the existing data sieving approach considerably and reduces the memory consumption as verified by both theoretical analysis and experimental results. Given the importance of supporting noncontiguous accesses effectively and reducing the memory pressure in a large-scale system, the proposed PMD data sieving approach in this research holds a great promise and will have an impact on high-performance I/O systems.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Lightweight Provenance Service for High-Performance Computing

Provenance describes detailed information about the history of a piece of data, containing the relationships among elements such as users, processes, jobs, and workflows that contribute to the existence of data. Provenance is key to supporting many data management functionalities that are increasingly important in operations such as identifying data sources, parameters, or assumptions behind a given result; auditing data usage; or understanding details about how inputs are transformed into outputs. Despite its importance, however, provenance support is largely underdeveloped in highly parallel architectures and systems. One major challenge is the demanding requirements of providing provenance service in situ. The need to remain lightweight and to be always on often conflicts with the need to be transparent and offer an accurate catalog of details regarding the applications and systems. To tackle this challenge, we introduce a lightweight provenance service, called LPS, for high-performance computing (HPC) systems. LPS leverages a kernel instrument mechanism to achieve transparency and introduces representative execution and flexible granularity to capture comprehensive provenance with controllable overhead. Extensive evaluations and use cases have confirmed its efficiency and usability. We believe that LPS can be integrated into current and future HPC systems to support a variety of data management needs.

Dai, Dong↗

Calculation of exact vibrational spectra for P{sub 2}O and CH{sub 2}NH using a phase space wavelet basis

‘‘Exact” quantum dynamics calculations of vibrational spectra are performed for two molecular systems of widely varying dimensionality (P{sub 2}O and CH{sub 2}NH), using a momentum-symmetrized Gaussian basis. This basis has been previously shown to defeat exponential scaling of computational cost with system dimensionality. The calculations were performed using the new “SWITCHBLADE” black-box code, which utilizes both dimensionally independent algorithms and massive parallelization to compute very large numbers of eigenstates for any fourth-order force field potential, in a single calculation. For both molecules considered here, many thousands of vibrationally excited states were computed, to at least an “intermediate” level of accuracy (tens of wavenumbers). Future modifications to increase the accuracy to “spectroscopic” levels, along with other potential future improvements of the new code, are also discussed.

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Performance management system enhancement and maintenance

The research described in this report concludes a two-year effort to develop a Performance Management System (PMS) for the NCC computers. PMS provides semi-automated monthly reports to NASA and contractor management on the status and performance of the NCC computers in the TDRSS program. Throughout 1984, PMS was tested, debugged, extended, and enhanced. Regular PMS monthly reports were produced and distributed. PMS continues to operate at the NCC under control of Bendix Corp. personnel.

Cleaver, T. G.↗

Performance evaluation of fault tolerant systems represented by Markov models

A method to evaluate the performance of fault tolerant systems whose configuration can be represented by time-invariant, discrete-time, discrete-state Markov models is introduced. Each state is assumed to be associated with a constant qualitative measure of the system's performance. The method first computes the moments of the performance probability mass function (PMF) and then finds an approximating function that has the same moments. The form of this function is a maximum entropy solution of the moment matching problem. A simple algorithm for calculating the necessary moments is derived and a method for finding the approximate performance PMF is suggested. After some modification, the method is applied to an example, the Inertial Upper Stage navigation system.

Missana, Jean-Olivier A. A.↗

Micro-organ device

A method for fabricating a micro-organ device comprises providing a microscale support having one or more microfluidic channels and one or more micro-chambers for housing a micro-organ and printing a micro-organ on the microscale support using a cell suspension in a syringe controlled by a computer-aided tissue engineering system, wherein the cell suspension comprises cells suspended in a solution containing a material that functions as a three-dimensional scaffold. The printing is performed with the computer-aided tissue engineering system according to a particular pattern. The micro-organ device comprises at least one micro-chamber each housing a micro-organ; and at least one microfluidic channel connected to the micro-chamber, wherein the micro-organ comprises cells arranged in a configuration that includes microscale spacing between portions of the cells to facilitate diffusion exchange between the cells and a medium supplied from the at least one microfluidic channel.

Gonda, Steve R.↗

Micro-Organ Device

A method for fabricating a micro-organ device comprises providing a microscale support having one or more microfluidic channels and one or more micro-chambers for housing a micro-organ and printing a micro-organ on the microscale support using a cell suspension in a syringe controlled by a computer-aided tissue engineering system, wherein the cell suspension comprises cells suspended in a solution containing a material that functions as a three-dimensional scaffold. The printing is performed with the computer-aided tissue engineering system according to a particular pattern. The micro-organ device comprises at least one micro-chamber each housing a micro-organ; and at least one microfluidic channel connected to the micro-chamber, wherein the micro-organ comprises cells arranged in a configuration that includes microscale spacing between portions of the cells to facilitate diffusion exchange between the cells and a medium supplied from the at least one microfluidic channel.

Gonda, Steve R.↗

Neural network–based pore flow field prediction in porous media using super resolution

Direct pore-scale simulations of fluid flow through porous media are computationally expensive to perform for realistic systems. Previous works have demonstrated using the geometry of the microstructure of porous media to predict the velocity fields therein based on neural networks. However, such trained neural networks do not perform well for unseen porous media with a large degree of heterogeneity. In this study we propose that incorporating a coarse velocity field in the input of neural networks is an effective way to improve the prediction performance. The coarse velocity field can be simulated with a low computational cost and provides global information to regularize the ill-posedness of the learning problem, which is usually caused by the use of local geometries due to the computational resource constraints. We show that incorporating the coarse-mesh velocity field significantly improves the prediction accuracy of the fine-mesh velocity field by comparison to the prediction that relies on geometric information alone, especially for the porous medium with a large interior vuggy pore space. We also show the flexibility of training the network in using coarse velocity fields with various resolutions. The results suggest that even using coarse velocity field with a very low resolution, the predictions are still enhanced and close to the ground truths. The feasibility of the method is further demonstrated by testing the trained network on real rocks. This study highlights the merits of incorporating a coarse-mesh velocity field into the input for neural networks, which provides global, physics-based information for the model, thereby improving the model's generalization capability.

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