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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 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

POPEYE: A production rule-based model of multitask supervisory control (POPCORN)

Recent studies of relationships between subjective ratings of mental workload, performance, and human operator and task characteristics have indicated that these relationships are quite complex. In order to study the various relationships and place subjective mental workload within a theoretical framework, we developed a production system model for the performance component of the complex supervisory task called POPCORN. The production system model is represented by a hierarchial structure of goals and subgoals, and the information flow is controlled by a set of condition-action rules. The implementation of this production system, called POPEYE, generates computer simulated data under different task difficulty conditions which are comparable to those of human operators performing the task. This model is the performance aspect of an overall dynamic psychological model which we are developing to examine and quantify relationships between performance and psychological aspects in a complex environment.

Townsend, James T.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Dynamic resource allocation in a hierarchical multiprocessor system: A preliminary study

An integrated system approach to dynamic resource allocation is proposed. Some of the problems in dynamic resource allocation and the relationship of these problems to system structures are examined. A general dynamic resource allocation scheme is presented. A hierarchial system architecture which dynamically maps between processor structure and programs at multiple levels of instantiations is described. Simulation experiments were conducted to study dynamic resource allocation on the proposed system. Preliminary evaluation based on simple dynamic resource allocation algorithms indicates that with the proposed system approach, the complexity of dynamic resource management could be significantly reduced while achieving reasonable effective dynamic resource allocation.

Ngai, Tin-Fook↗
NASA NTRS1988

Generic supervisor: A knowledge-based tool for control of space station on-board systems

The concept of a generic module for management of onboard systems grew out of the structured analysis effort for the Space Station software. Hierarchical specification of subsystems software revealed that nontrivial supervisory elements are required at all levels. The number of supervisors (and subsequent software) required to implement the hierarchical control over onboard functions comprise a large portion of the Space Station software. Thus, a generic knowledge based supervisory module significantly reduces the amount of software developed. This module, the Generic Supervisor, depends on its knowledge of control to provide direction for subordinates and feedback to superiors within a specific subsystem area. The Generic Supervisor provides an adaptable and maintainable control system. A portion of the Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) was implemented as a hierarchy of supervisors. This prototype implementation demonstrates the feasibility of a generic knowledge based supervisor, and its facility to meet complex mission requirements.

Carnes, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Active galactic nuclei. II - The acceleration of relativistic particles in a cluster of accreting black holes

An accreting cluster of black holes in an active galactic nucleus is a natural site for a system of shock structures with a hierarchy of sizes, corresponding to the distribution of masses in the cluster. Accreted gas containing some magnetic fields and supersonically falling onto the core forms shocks on the outside of each hole and these shocks are capable of accelerating relativistic particles. The energies reached in a single shock are size rather than acceleration time limited and are proportional to the mass of the hole with a proportionality constant being a function of the position of the hole within a cluster and the model of the cluster and the shock formation. These energies are adequate to explain the observed properties of synchrotron and inverse-Compton radiation from these objects. The resulting energy spectrum of particles in the cluster in 'zeroth' approximation has the form of a doubly broken power law with indices of two and three on both extremes of the energy domain respectively, bridged by an index of about 2.5.

Pacholczyk, A. G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Infrared radiation models for atmospheric ozone

A hierarchy of line-by-line, narrow-band, and broadband infrared radiation models are discussed for ozone, a radiatively important atmospheric trace gas. It is shown that the narrow-band (Malkmus) model is in near-precise agreement with the line-by-line model, thus providing a means of testing narrow-band Curtis-Godson scaling, and it is found that this scaling procedure leads to errors in atmospheric fluxes of up to 10 percent. Moreover, this is a direct consequence of the altitude dependence of the ozone mixing ratio. Somewhat greater flux errors arise with use of the broadband model, due to both a lesser accuracy of the broadband scaling procedure and to inherent errors within the broadband model, despite the fact that this model has been tuned to the line-by-line model.

Kratz, David P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Obstacle-avoidance automatic guidance - A concept-development study

This paper studies the notion of obstacle-avoidance guidance, and investigates the issues in automating this function by considering helicopter nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight as an example. In particular, it considers a hierarchy of guidance components, including mission planning and obstacle avoidance. Based on this hierarchical breakdown, the functional requirements of obstacle-avoidance guidance are identified. An effort in developing automatic guidance algorithms to meet these requirements is presented, along with the necesssary simulation tools for evaluation of these algorithms.

Cheng, Victor H. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An automated quality assessor for Ada object-oriented designs

A tool for evaluating object-oriented designs (OODs) for Ada software is described. The tool assumes a design expressed as a hierarchy of object diagrams. A design of this type identifies the objects of a system, an interface to each object, and the usage relationships between objects. When such a design is implemented in Ada, objects become packages, interfaces become package specifications, and usage relationships become Ada `with' clauses and package references. An automated quality assessor has been developed that is based on flagging undesirable design constructs. For convenience, distinctions are made among three levels of severity: questionable, undesirable, and hazardous. A questionable construct is one that may well be appropriate. An undesirable construct is one that should be changed because it is potentially harmful to the reliability, maintainability, or reusability of the software. A hazardous construct is one that is undesirable and that introduces a high level of risk.

Bailin, Sidney C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Hierarchically partitioned nonlinear equation solvers

By partitioning solution space into a number of subspaces, a new multiply constrained partitioned Newton-Raphson nonlinear equation solver is developed. Specifically, for a given iteration, each of the various separate partitions are individually and simultaneously controlled. Due to the generality of the scheme, a hierarchy of partition levels can be employed. For finite-element-type applications, this includes the possibility of degree-of-freedom, nodal, elemental, geometric substructural, material and kinematically nonlinear group controls. It is noted that such partitioning can be continuously updated, depending on solution conditioning. In this context, convergence is ascertained at the individual partition level.

Padovan, Joseph↗
NASA NTRS1989

Adaptive Control For Cooperative Dual Robot Arms

Three strategies proposed for adaptive control of two cooperative robot arms. New dual-arm control strategies implemented at low level of control hierarchy. Each arm operated independently under single-arm control scheme treating forces and torques transmitted through load as though disturbances. Yields promising results in numerical simulations, and general approach extended to greater numbers of arms.

Seraji, Homayoun↗
NASA NTRS1987

NASREN: Standard reference model for telerobot control

A hierarchical architecture is described which supports space station telerobots in a variety of modes. The system is divided into three hierarchies: task decomposition, world model, and sensory processing. Goals at each level of the task dedomposition heirarchy are divided both spatially and temporally into simpler commands for the next lower level. This decomposition is repreated until, at the lowest level, the drive signals to the robot actuators are generated. To accomplish its goals, task decomposition modules must often use information stored it the world model. The purpose of the sensory system is to update the world model as rapidly as possible to keep the model in registration with the physical world. The architecture of the entire control system hierarch is described and how it can be applied to space telerobot applications.

Albus, J. S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

An all sky study of fast X-ray transients

In the HEAO 1 A-2 survey of fast X-ray transients, a search of 2 to 20 keV scanning data was made for brief increases in flux, greater than 4 millicrabs, on timescales approximately 1 to 10 to the 4th s above a 12-hour average. The search was divided into two regions, and all-sky survey of the Galaxy, and a survey of the Magellanic Clouds. In the latter, 37 events were found and identified with 4 of the 5 brighest sources in the LMC, plus 2 as flares from a foreground star. Np X-ray bursts, no gamma-ray bursts, and no events from the SMC were found. In the all-sky survey, after excluding well-known variable sources, out of the equivalent of approximately 104 days of data, 15 events were found which falling into 2 broad categories: flares from coronal sources, roughly isotropically distributed, with optically thin thermal spectra; and harder fast transients apparently distributed near the Galactic plane. The first were identified as flares from ubiquitous active cool dwarf stars. It was hypothesized that the second may have been from distant Be-neutron star binaries. However, at least two of the harder, more luminous events remained unidentified. Future research should examine the nature of these rare events, and how they may fit into a hierarchy of hard fast transients from gamma-ray bursts to outbursts from pulsar systems.

Connors, Alanna↗
NASA NTRS1988

NASA thesaurus. Volume 2: Access vocabulary

The access vocabulary, which is essentially a permuted index, provides access to any word or number in authorized postable and nonpostable terms. Additional entries include postable and nonpostable terms, other word entries and pseudo-multiword terms that are permutations of words that contain words within words. The access vocabulary contains almost 42,000 entries that give increased access to the hierarchies in Volume 1 - Hierarchical Listing.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

Hardware proofs using EHDM and the RSRE verification methodology

Examined is a methodology for hardware verification developed by Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) in the context of the SRI International's Enhanced Hierarchical Design Methodology (EHDM) specification/verification system. The methodology utilizes a four-level specification hierarchy with the following levels: functional level, finite automata model, block model, and circuit level. The properties of a level are proved as theorems in the level below it. This methodology is applied to a 6-bit counter problem and is critically examined. The specifications are written in EHDM's specification language, Extended Special, and the proofs are improving both the RSRE methodology and the EHDM system.

Butler, Ricky W.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Graph-based real-time fault diagnostics

A real-time fault detection and diagnosis capability is absolutely crucial in the design of large-scale space systems. Some of the existing AI-based fault diagnostic techniques like expert systems and qualitative modelling are frequently ill-suited for this purpose. Expert systems are often inadequately structured, difficult to validate and suffer from knowledge acquisition bottlenecks. Qualitative modelling techniques sometimes generate a large number of failure source alternatives, thus hampering speedy diagnosis. In this paper we present a graph-based technique which is well suited for real-time fault diagnosis, structured knowledge representation and acquisition and testing and validation. A Hierarchical Fault Model of the system to be diagnosed is developed. At each level of hierarchy, there exist fault propagation digraphs denoting causal relations between failure modes of subsystems. The edges of such a digraph are weighted with fault propagation time intervals. Efficient and restartable graph algorithms are used for on-line speedy identification of failure source components.

Padalkar, S.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Design of automation tools for management of descent traffic

The design of an automated air traffic control system based on a hierarchy of advisory tools for controllers is described. Compatibility of the tools with the human controller, a key objective of the design, is achieved by a judicious selection of tasks to be automated and careful attention to the design of the controller system interface. The design comprises three interconnected subsystems referred to as the Traffic Management Advisor, the Descent Advisor, and the Final Approach Spacing Tool. Each of these subsystems provides a collection of tools for specific controller positions and tasks. This paper focuses primarily on the Descent Advisor which provides automation tools for managing descent traffic. The algorithms, automation modes, and graphical interfaces incorporated in the design are described. Information generated by the Descent Advisor tools is integrated into a plan view traffic display consisting of a high-resolution color monitor. Estimated arrival times of aircraft are presented graphically on a time line, which is also used interactively in combination with a mouse input device to select and schedule arrival times. Other graphical markers indicate the location of the fuel-optimum top-of-descent point and the predicted separation distances of aircraft at a designated time-control point. Computer generated advisories provide speed and descent clearances which the controller can issue to aircraft to help them arrive at the feeder gate at the scheduled times or with specified separation distances. Two types of horizontal guidance modes, selectable by the controller, provide markers for managing the horizontal flightpaths of aircraft under various conditions. The entire system consisting of descent advisor algorithm, a library of aircraft performance models, national airspace system data bases, and interactive display software has been implemented on a workstation made by Sun Microsystems, Inc. It is planned to use this configuration in operational evaluations at an en route center.

Erzberger, Heinz↗
NASA NTRS1988

Primary sedimentary structures and the internal architecture of a Martian sand body in search of evidence for sand transport and deposition

Lunar experiences show that unmanned sample return missions, despite limitations on sample size, can produce invaluable data to infer crustal processes, regolith processes, regolith-atmosphere/ionosphere interaction processes, etc. Drill cores provide a record of regolith evolution as well as a more complete sample of the regolith than small scoops and/or rakes. It is proposed that: (1) a hole be drilled in a sand body to obtain continuous oriented cores; a depth of about 10 m would be compatible with what we know of bed form hierarchy of terrestrial stream deposits; (2) two trenches, at right angles to each other and close to the drill-hole, be dug and the walls scraped lightly such that primary/internal sedimentary structures of the sand body become visible; (3) the walls of the trenches be made gravitationally stable by impregnation techniques; (4) acetate or other peels of a strip on each wall be taken; and (5) appropriately scaled photographs of the walls be taken at different sun-angles to ensure maximum ease of interpretation of sedimentary structures; and, to correlate these structural features with those in the core at different depth levels of the core.

Basu, Abhijit↗
NASA NTRS1989

Absorbing boundary conditions for second-order hyperbolic equations

A uniform approach to construct absorbing artificial boundary conditions for second-order linear hyperbolic equations is proposed. The nonlocal boundary condition is given by a pseudodifferential operator that annihilates travelling waves. It is obtained through the dispersion relation of the differential equation by requiring that the initial-boundary value problem admits the wave solutions travelling in one direction only. Local approximation of this global boundary condition yields an nth-order differential operator. It is shown that the best approximations must be in the canonical forms which can be factorized into first-order operators. These boundary conditions are perfectly absorbing for wave packets propagating at certain group velocities. A hierarchy of absorbing boundary conditions is derived for transonic small perturbation equations of unsteady flows. These examples illustrate that the absorbing boundary conditions are easy to derive, and the effectiveness is demonstrated by the numerical experiments.

Jiang, Hong↗
NASA NTRS1989

Parallel Optical Random Access Memory (PORAM)

It is shown that the need to minimize component count, power and size, and to maximize packing density require a parallel optical random access memory to be designed in a two-level hierarchy: a modular level and an interconnect level. Three module designs are proposed, in the order of research and development requirements. The first uses state-of-the-art components, including individually addressed laser diode arrays, acousto-optic (AO) deflectors and magneto-optic (MO) storage medium, aimed at moderate size, moderate power, and high packing density. The next design level uses an electron-trapping (ET) medium to reduce optical power requirements. The third design uses a beam-steering grating surface emitter (GSE) array to reduce size further and minimize the number of components.

Alphonse, G. A.↗