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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 1,063 records · Page 59

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NASA NTRS1977

Results of the NASA/MSFC FA-23 plume technology test program performed in the NASA/Ames unitary wind tunnels

A 2.25% scale model of the space shuttle external tank and solid rocket boosters was tested in the NASA/Ames Unitary 11 x 11 foot transonic and 9 x 7 foot supersonic tunnels to obtain base pressure data with firing solid propellant exhaust plumes. Data system difficulties prevented the acquisition of any useful data in the 9 x 7 tunnel. However, 28 successful rocket test firings were made in the 11 x 11 tunnel, providing base pressure data at Mach numbers of 0.5, 0.9, 1.05, 1.2, and 1.3 and at plume pressure ratios ranging from 11 to 89.

Hendershot, K. C.↗

NASA NTRS1997

X-Ray Computed Tomography Monitors Damage in Composites

The NASA Lewis Research Center recently codeveloped a state-of-the-art x-ray CT facility (designated SMS SMARTSCAN model 100-112 CITA by Scientific Measurement Systems, Inc., Austin, Texas). This multipurpose, modularized, digital x-ray facility includes an imaging system for digital radiography, CT, and computed laminography. The system consists of a 160-kV microfocus x-ray source, a solid-state charge-coupled device (CCD) area detector, a five-axis object-positioning subassembly, and a Sun SPARCstation-based computer system that controls data acquisition and image processing. The x-ray source provides a beam spot size down to 3 microns. The area detector system consists of a 50- by 50- by 3-mm-thick terbium-doped glass fiber-optic scintillation screen, a right-angle mirror, and a scientific-grade, digital CCD camera with a resolution of 1000 by 1018 pixels and 10-bit digitization at ambient cooling. The digital output is recorded with a high-speed, 16-bit frame grabber that allows data to be binned. The detector can be configured to provide a small field-of-view, approximately 45 by 45 mm in cross section, or a larger field-of-view, approximately 60 by 60 mm in cross section. Whenever the highest spatial resolution is desired, the small field-of-view is used, and for larger samples with some reduction in spatial resolution, the larger field-of-view is used.

Baaklini, George Y.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Design package for solar domestic hot water system

The initial design of a solar domestic hot water system is considered. The system performance specification and detailed design drawings are included. The hot water systems consist of the following subsystems: collector, storage, control, transport, auxiliary energy, and government-furnished site data acquisition. The two systems are installed at Tempe, Arizona, and San Diego, California.

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NASA NTRS1984

A laser velocimeter system for large-scale aerodynamic testing

A unique laser velocimeter was developed that is capable of sensing two orthogonal velocity components from a variable remote distance of 2.6 to 10 m for use in the 40- by 80-Foot and 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnels and the Outdoor Aerodynamic Research Facility at Ames Research Center. The system hardware, positioning instrumentation, and data acquisition equipment are described in detail; system capabilities and limitations are discussed; and expressions for systematic and statistical accuracy are developed. Direct and coupled laboratory measurements taken with the system are compared with measurements taken with a laser velocimeter of higher spatial resolution, and sample data taken in the open circuit exhaust flow of a 1/50-scale model of the 80- by 120-Foot Wind Tunnel are presented.

Reinath, M. S.↗

NASA NTRS1991

OPAD 1991

The Optical Plume Anomaly Detection Program, an experimental study in the attempt to create a rocket engine health monitor based on detection and possible quantification of anomalous atomic and molecular species in the exhaust plume, has been in existence for several years. The instruments developed to monitor the exhaust plumes are presented. Two optical instruments are employed: the polychromator and the spectrometer. The polychromator is a 16 channel spectroradiometer having independent channels individually adjustable for center wavelength and pass bandwidth. Those values may be mechanically reset, with the aid of certain lab equipment. The spectrometer is a multichannel spectral analyzer having two 2048 element linear photodiode arrays at the exit plane of the dispersing instrument, which, like the 16 channel device, is a 1/2 meter grating spectrograph. These instruments are equipped with ultraviolet grade multifiber optical input cables, allowing the instruments to be placed in a benign environment. Telescopes mounted on the test stand observe the plume keeping the shock structure in view. The data acquisition and control system consist of four 80386-33 MHz computers: two at the test stand for instrument control and data preconditioning, and two in the test support building providing data archiving, display, and system control. Further descriptions of the instrumentation are provided.

Powers, W. T.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Space-Derived Sewer Monitor

The QuadraScan Longterm Flow Monitoring System is a second generation sewer monitor developed by American Digital Systems, Inc.'s founder Peter Petroff. Petroff, a former spacecraft instrumentation designer at Marshall Space Flight Center, used expertise based on principles acquired in Apollo and other NASA programs. QuadraScan borrows even more heavily from space technology, for example in its data acquisition and memory system derived from NASA satellites. "One-time" measurements are often plagued with substantial errors due to the flow of groundwater absorbed into the system. These system sizing errors stem from a basic informational deficiency: accurate, reliable data on how much water flows through a sewer system over a long period of time is very difficult to obtain. City officials are turning to "permanent," or long-term sewer monitoring systems. QuadraScan offers many advantages to city officials such as the early warning capability to effectively plan for city growth in order to avoid the crippling economic impact of bans on new sewer connections in effect in many cities today.

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NASA NTRS2000

Acceptance Testing of a Satellite SCADA Photovoltaic-Diesel Hybrid System

Satellite Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) of a Photovoltaic (PV)/diesel hybrid system was tested using NASA's Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS) and Ultra Small Aperture Terminal (USAT) ground stations. The setup consisted of a custom-designed PV/diesel hybrid system, located at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC), which was controlled and monitored at a "remote" hub via Ka-band satellite link connecting two 1/4 Watt USATs in a SCADA arrangement. The robustness of the communications link was tested for remote monitoring of the health and performance of a PV/diesel hybrid system, and for investigating load control and battery charging strategies to maximize battery capacity and lifetime, and minimize loss of critical load probability. Baseline hardware performance test results demonstrated that continuous two-second data transfers can be accomplished under clear sky conditions with an error rate of less than 1%. The delay introduced by the satellite (1/4 sec) was transparent to synchronization of satellite modem as well as to the PV/diesel-hybrid computer. End-to-end communications link recovery times were less than 36 seconds for loss of power and less than one second for loss of link. The system recovered by resuming operation without any manual intervention, which is important since the 4 dB margin is not sufficient to prevent loss of the satellite link during moderate to heavy rain. Hybrid operations during loss of communications link continued seamlessly but real-time monitoring was interrupted. For this sub-tropical region, the estimated amount of time that the signal fade will exceed the 4 dB margin is about 10%. These results suggest that data rates of 4800 bps and a link margin of 4 dB with a 1/4 Watt transmitter are sufficient for end-to-end operation in this SCADA application.

Kalu, A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Effects of space environment on space-based radar phased-array antenna: Status and preliminary observations

The overall objective is to evaluate the effect of the space environment on Kapton films considered for the Grumman space based radar (SBR) phased-array antenna. The most striking result is the overall good condition of the Kapton antenna planes and Kapton tensile specimens. This is largely attributable to the orientation of the Kapton (parallel and flush on the space end) and the stability of the LDEF in orbit. Results on elongation and mechanical properties of the plain and fiberglass reinforced Kapton will be described. Stress-dependent permanent deformation and some reductions in strain to failure were observed. Physical property testing of the materials is in progress. Electronic data acquisition and memory systems appeared to operate correctly, but functional tests were not yet performed. An evaluation of the high voltage-plasma interaction data is underway. Some minor systems anomalies (e.g., fastener sheared during removal, strong odor inside electronics container) were noted. Other observations such as radiation, contamination, impacts, and orientation features of atomic oxygen erosion are reported.

Whiteside, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Measurement of vortex flow fields

A 3-D laser fluorescence anemometer (LFA) was designed, built, and demonstrated for use in the Langley 16 x 24 inch Water Tunnel. Innovative optical design flexibility combined with compact and portable data acquisition and control systems were incorporated into the instrument. This will allow its use by NASA in other test facilities. A versatile fiber optic system facilities normal and off-axis laser beam alignment, removes mirror losses and improves laser safety. This added optical flexibility will also enable simple adaptation for use in the adjacent jet facility. New proprietary concepts in transmitting color separation, light collection, and novel prism separation of the scattered light was also designed and built into the system. Off-axis beam traverse and alignment complexity led to the requirement for a specialized, programmable transverse controller, and the inclusion of an additional traverse for the off-axis arm. To meet this challenge, an 'in-house' prototype unit was designed and built and traverse control software developed specifically for the water tunnel traverse applications. A specialized data acquisition interface was also required. This was designed and built for the LFA system.

Mcdevitt, T. Kevin↗

NASA NTRS1978

Final system instrumentation design package for Decade 80 solar house

The final configuration of the Decade 80 solar house to monitor and collect system performance data is presented. A review demonstrated by actual operation that the system and the data acquisition subsystem operated satisfactorily and installation of instrumentation was in accordance with the design. This design package is made up of (1) site and system description, (2) operating and control modes, and (3) instrumentation program (including sensor schematic).

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NASA NTRS2001

Collaboration Between NASA Centers of Excellence on Autonomous System Software Development

Software for space systems flight operations has its roots in the early days of the space program when computer systems were incapable of supporting highly complex and flexible control logic. Control systems relied on fast data acquisition and supervisory control from a roomful of systems engineers on the ground. Even though computer hardware and software has become many orders of magnitude more capable, space systems have largely adhered to this original paradigm In an effort to break this mold, Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has invested in the development of model-based diagnosis and control applications for ten years having broad experience in both ground and spacecraft systems and software. KSC has now partnered with Ames Research Center (ARC), NASA's Center of Excellence in Information Technology, to create a new paradigm for the control of dynamic space systems. ARC has developed model-based diagnosis and intelligent planning software that enables spacecraft to handle most routine problems automatically and allocate resources in a flexible way to realize mission objectives. ARC demonstrated the utility of onboard diagnosis and planning with an experiment aboard Deep Space I in 1999. This paper highlights the software control system collaboration between KSC and ARC. KSC has developed a Mars In-situ Resource Utilization testbed based on the Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) reaction. This plant, built in KSC's Applied Chemistry Laboratory, is capable of producing the large amount of Oxygen that would be needed to support a Human Mars Mission. KSC and ARC are cooperating to develop an autonomous, fault-tolerant control system for RWGS to meet the need for autonomy on deep space missions. The paper will also describe how the new system software paradigm will be applied to Vehicle Health Monitoring, tested on the new X vehicles and integrated into future launch processing systems.

Goodrich, Charles H.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Weather Information Processing

Science Communications International (SCI), formerly General Science Corporation, has developed several commercial products based upon experience acquired as a NASA Contractor. Among them are METPRO, a meteorological data acquisition and processing system, which has been widely used, RISKPRO, an environmental assessment system, and MAPPRO, a geographic information system. METPRO software is used to collect weather data from satellites, ground-based observation systems and radio weather broadcasts to generate weather maps, enabling potential disaster areas to receive advance warning. GSC's initial work for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center resulted in METPAK, a weather satellite data analysis system. METPAK led to the commercial METPRO system. The company also provides data to other government agencies, U.S. embassies and foreign countries.

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NASA NTRS2011

Image Quality Indicator for Infrared Inspections

The quality of images generated during an infrared thermal inspection depends on many system variables, settings, and parameters to include the focal length setting of the IR camera lens. If any relevant parameter is incorrect or sub-optimal, the resulting IR images will usually exhibit inherent unsharpness and lack of resolution. Traditional reference standards and image quality indicators (IQIs) are made of representative hardware samples and contain representative flaws of concern. These standards are used to verify that representative flaws can be detected with the current IR system settings. However, these traditional standards do not enable the operator to quantify the quality limitations of the resulting images, i.e. determine the inherent maximum image sensitivity and image resolution. As a result, the operator does not have the ability to optimize the IR inspection system prior to data acquisition. The innovative IQI described here eliminates this limitation and enables the operator to objectively quantify and optimize the relevant variables of the IR inspection system, resulting in enhanced image quality with consistency and repeatability in the inspection application. The IR IQI consists of various copper foil features of known sizes that are printed on a dielectric non-conductive board. The significant difference in thermal conductivity between the two materials ensures that each appears with a distinct grayscale or brightness in the resulting IR image. Therefore, the IR image of the IQI exhibits high contrast between the copper features and the underlying dielectric board, which is required to detect the edges of the various copper features. The copper features consist of individual elements of various shapes and sizes, or of element-pairs of known shapes and sizes and with known spacing between the elements creating the pair. For example, filled copper circles with various diameters can be used as individual elements to quantify the image sensitivity limit. Copper line-pairs of various sizes where the line width is equivalent to the spacing between the lines can be used as element-pairs to quantify the image resolution limit.

Burke, Eric↗

NASA NTRS1993

Preprocessing: Geocoding of AVIRIS data using navigation, engineering, DEM, and radar tracking system data

Remotely sensed data have geometric characteristics and representation which depend on the type of the acquisition system used. To correlate such data over large regions with other real world representation tools like conventional maps or Geographic Information System (GIS) for verification purposes, or for further treatment within different data sets, a coregistration has to be performed. In addition to the geometric characteristics of the sensor there are two other dominating factors which affect the geometry: the stability of the platform and the topography. There are two basic approaches for a geometric correction on a pixel-by-pixel basis: (1) A parametric approach using the location of the airplane and inertial navigation system data to simulate the observation geometry; and (2) a non-parametric approach using tie points or ground control points. It is well known that the non-parametric approach is not reliable enough for the unstable flight conditions of airborne systems, and is not satisfying in areas with significant topography, e.g. mountains and hills. The present work describes a parametric preprocessing procedure which corrects effects of flight line and attitude variation as well as topographic influences and is described in more detail by Meyer.

Meyer, Peter↗

NASA NTRS1993

Proprocessing: Geocoding of AVIRIS Data Using Navigation, Engineering, DEM, and Radar Tracking System Data

topography stability of the platform sensor flight↗

NASA NTRS1985

Proton albedo spectrum observation in low latitude region at Hyderabad, India

The flux and the energy spectrum of low energy (30-100 MeV) proton albedos, have been observed for the first time in a low latitude region, over Hyderabad, India. The preliminary results, based on the quick look data acquisition and display system are presented. A charged particle telescope, capable of distinguishing singly charged particles such as electrons, muons, protons in low energy region, records the data of both upward as well as downward moving particles. Thus spectra of splash and re-entrant albedo protons have been recorded simultaneously in a high altitude Balloon flight carried out on 8th December, 1985, over Hyderabad, India. Balloon floated at an latitude of approx. 37 km (4 mb).

Verma, S. D.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Computer simulation and evaluation of edge detection algorithms and their application to automatic path selection

The construction of an autonomous roving vehicle requires the development of complex data-acquisition and processing systems, which determine the path along which the vehicle travels. Thus, a vehicle must possess algorithms which can (1) reliably detect obstacles by processing sensor data, (2) maintain a constantly updated model of its surroundings, and (3) direct its immediate actions to further a long range plan. The first function consisted of obstacle recognition. Obstacles may be identified by the use of edge detection techniques. Therefore, the Kalman Filter was implemented as part of a large scale computer simulation of the Mars Rover. The second function consisted of modeling the environment. The obstacle must be reconstructed from its edges, and the vast amount of data must be organized in a readily retrievable form. Therefore, a Terrain Modeller was developed which assembled and maintained a rectangular grid map of the planet. The third function consisted of directing the vehicle's actions.

Longendorfer, B. A.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Chaos: Understanding and Controlling Laser Instability

In order to characterize the behavior of tunable diode lasers (TDL), the first step in the project involved the redesign of the TDL system here at the University of Tennessee Molecular Systems Laboratory (UTMSL). Having made these changes it was next necessary to optimize the new optical system. This involved the fine adjustments to the optical components, particularly in the monochromator, to minimize the aberrations of coma and astigmatism and to assure that the energy from the beam is focused properly on the detector element. The next step involved the taking of preliminary data. We were then ready for the analysis of the preliminary data. This required the development of computer programs that use mathematical techniques to look for signatures of chaos. Commercial programs were also employed. We discovered some indication of high dimensional chaos, but were hampered by the low sample rate of 200 KSPS (kilosamples/sec) and even more by our sample size of 1024 (1K) data points. These limitations were expected and we added a high speed data acquisition board. We incorporated into the system a computer with a 40 MSPS (million samples/sec) data acquisition board. This board can also capture 64K of data points so that were then able to perform the more accurate tests for chaos. The results were dramatic and compelling, we had demonstrated that the lead salt diode laser had a chaotic frequency output. Having identified the chaotic character in our TDL data, we proceeded to stage two as outlined in our original proposal. This required the use of an Occasional Proportional Feedback (OPF) controller to facilitate the control and stabilization of the TDL system output. The controller was designed and fabricated at GSFC and debugged in our laboratories. After some trial and error efforts, we achieved chaos control of the frequency emissions of the laser. The two publications appended to this introduction detail the entire project and its results.

Blass, William E.↗