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At least 109 records · Page 6

The 3-D world modeling with updating capability based on combinatorial geometry

A 3-D world modeling technique using range data is discribed. Range data quantify the distances from the sensor focal plane to the object surface, i.e., the 3-D coordinates of discrete points on the object surface are known. The approach proposed herein for 3-D world modeling is based on the Combinatorial Geometry (CG) method which is widely used in Monte Carlo particle transport calculations. First, each measured point on the object surface is surrounded by a small sphere with a radius determined by the range to that point. Then, the 3-D shapes of the visible surfaces are obtained by taking the (Boolean) union of all the spheres. The result is an unambiguous representation of the object's boundary surfaces. The pre-learned partial knowledge of the environment can be also represented using the CG Method with a relatively small amount of data. Using the CG type of representation, distances in desired directions to boundary surfaces of various objects are efficiently calculated. This feature is particularly useful for continuously verifying the world model against the data provided by a range finder, and for integrating range data from successive locations of the robot during motion. The efficiency of the proposed approach is illustrated by simulations of a spherical robot in a 3-D room in the presence of moving obstacles and inadequate prelearned partial knowledge of the environment.

Goldstein, M.↗

The near-infrared polarization and color of Comet Halley: What can we learn about the grains

The near infrared polarization and JHK colors of light scattered by dust grains in comet Halley were measured over a wide range in phase angle and heliocentric distance. Colors were redder than solar with no statistically significant variation with phase angle, heliocentric distance, or pre- and post-perihelion. This suggests that the grain population did not change drastically over time and that the data may be combined and modeled. However, short term variations in visible polarization and dust albedo were seen in Halley. Also, near infrared colors became systematically bluer after the observations were completed. The near infrared colors of Halley fall in the range of those of other comets. The near infrared polarization is similar to the visible polarization of Halley and other comets in showing a negative branch at small phase angles and an approximately linear rise toward positive values at larger phase angles. Mie theory calculations and a size distribution based on spacecraft data were used to model the near infrared polarization and color of comet Halley. Numerous lines of evidence point to the presence of dark, absorbing, probably carbonaceous materials in comets.

Brooke, Timothy Y.↗

A Machine Learning Approach to Jet-Surface Interaction Noise Modeling

This paper investigates using machine learning to rapidly develop empirical models suitable for system-level aircraft noise studies. In particular, machine learning is used to train a neural network to predict the noise spectra produced by a round jet near a surface over a range of surface lengths, surface standoff distances, jet Mach numbers, and observer angles. These spectra include two sources, jet-mixing noise and jet-surface interaction (JSI) noise, with different scale factors as well as surface shielding and reflection effects to create a multi- dimensional problem. A second model is then trained using data from three rectangular nozzles to include nozzle aspect ratio in the spectral prediction. The training and validation data are from an extensive jet-surface interaction noise database acquired at the NASA Glenn Research Center's Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory. Although the number of training and validation points is small compared a typical machine learning application, the results of this investigation show that this approach is viable if the underlying data are well behaved.

Brown, Cliff↗

Manual Crew Override of Vehicle Landings Following G-Transitions

BACKGROUND Manual control during exploration spaceflight consists of both planned automated supervisory control and unplanned crew override. This crew override capability is critical to enable overall mission success during landing contingencies. However, the introduction of manual override capabilities must be implemented to enable crews to mitigate risks introduced by human error. Adaptive changes in the sensorimotor system can manifest during g-transitions as spatial disorientation. While training and landing aids enable successful landing through disorientation, these adaptive changes may increase cognitive demand that needs to be accounted for in the manual control strategy. It is important to characterize these effects as soon as possible following the G-transition to develop appropriate countermeasures. METHODS The following study seeks to inform the risk associated with altered sensorimotor and vestibular function impacting critical mission tasks. We aim to characterize the effects of short and long-duration weightlessness on manual control following G-transitions using simulated lunar landing on a six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) motion base, a fixed base simulation, and a supervisory control tablet task. The primary goal is to understand the impact of spaceflight on crew ability to perform manual crew override and supervisory control. This aim will be assessed by comparing pre- versus postflight simulation performance in crewmembers assigned to either short duration (< 30 day) or long duration (~6- month) missions to the International Space Station (ISS). We hypothesize there will be postflight increases in the percent time that pilots are outside of the acceptable range for recommended vehicle state parameters and the reaction time for secondary cognitive tasks. Ground-based control subjects, who are demographically matched to the crew considering age (± 5 years) and gender, will undergo the same testing schedule as the crew to examine the effects of flight phase independent of microgravity exposure. The second aim is to examine how adaptive changes in vestibular and cognitive function relate to changes in manual crew override proficiency. Crew performance for a sensorimotor perceptual test battery will evaluate motion perception tracking, roll nulling, and/or vection sensitivity using the 6DOF motion base. We hypothesize that a higher severity of vestibular alterations will be associated with increased percent time outside of guidance limits. Motion sickness severity and sleepiness will also be evaluated. To determine the impact of “just-in-time” training, the third aim seeks to compare performance during on-board lunar landing tasks conducted late in-flight to early postflight. We hypothesize that proficiency on the “just-in-time” laptop trainer late in mission will be positively correlated with early postflight proficiency on the same task. The final aim will establish assessments of performance, training protocols, and the learning progression in a ground-control cohort of first-time users. RESULTS The assessment of the learning progression associated with the piloting task on the motion base system with thirty ground subjects will be reported. Learning curves will be established across four distinct sessions and within session considering trial difficulty. The difficulty of the landing task can be modulated with the landing divert distance and cross or downrange difficulty. Results may include changes in performance across multiple trials of a multi-attribute lunar tablet supervisory control task. Preliminary investigations of eighteen subjects who completed vestibular threshold and motion perception tasks offer expected performance ranges for upcoming preflight crew evaluations. The results yielded an average roll threshold of 0.46 ± 0.30 deg/s and an average roll nulling root mean square error performance of 2.52 ± 0.52 deg/s. RELEVANCE This project will deliver an operational demonstration of crew monitoring capability following spaceflight and identify potential deficits that may require remediation. Comparison of individual vestibular and cognitive changes with crew performance will help better characterize the manual control risks associated with sensorimotor alterations. Ground testing will evaluate learning progression, refine training protocols, and serve as a control cohort for comparisons to crew performance. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors acknowledge contributions from Draper, the Dynamic Skills Trainer (DST) Lab, and the Software, Robotics, and Simulation Division toward the development of the lunar landing simulation platforms. This project is funded by the Human Health Countermeasures Element.

Hannah M. Weiss↗

Finding our Origins with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes

NASA s Origins program is a series of space telescopes designed to study the origins of galaxies, stars, planets and life in the universe. In this talk, I will concentrate on the origin and evolution of galaxies, beginning with the Big Bang and tracing what we have learned with the Hubble Space Telescope through to the present day. I will introduce several of the tools that astronomers use to measure distances, measure velocities, and look backwards in time. I will show that results from studies with Hubble have led to plans for its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is designed to find the first galaxies that formed in the distant past. I will finish with a short discussion of other missions in the Origins theme, including the Terrestrial Planet Finder.

Gardner, Jonathan P.↗

Finding Our Origins with the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes

NASA's Origins program is a series of space telescopes designed to study the origins of galaxies, stars, planets and life in the universe. In this talk, I will concentrate on the origin and evolution of galaxies, beginning with the Big Bang and tracing what we have learned with the Hubble Space Telescope through to the present day. I will introduce several of the tools that astronomers use to measure distances, measure velocities, and look backwards in time. I will show that results from studies with Hubble have led to plans for its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is designed to find the first galaxies that formed in the distant past. I will finish with a short discussion of other missions in the Origins theme, including the Terrestrial Planet Finder.

Gardner, Jonathan P.↗

On the Spatial Coherence of Magnetic Ejecta: Measurements of Coronal Mass Ejections by Multiple Spacecraft Longitudinally Separated by 0.01 au

Measurements of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) by multiple spacecraft at small radial separations but larger longitudinal separations is one of the ways to learn about the three-dimensional structure of CMEs. Here, we take advantage of the orbit of the Wind spacecraft that ventured to distances of up to 0.012 au from the Sun-Earth line during 2000-2002. Combined with measurements from the Advanced Composition Experiment, which is in a tight halo orbit around L1, the multipoint measurements allow us to investigate how the magnetic field inside magnetic ejecta (MEs) changes on scales of 0.005-0.012 au. We identify 21 CMEs measured by these two spacecraft for longitudinal separations of 0.007 au or more. We find that the time-shifted correlation between 30 minute averages of the non-radial magnetic field components measured at the two spacecraft is systematically above 0.97 when the separation is 0.008 au or less, but is on average 0.89 for greater separations. Overall, these newly analyzed measurements, combined with 14 additional ones when the spacecraft separation is smaller, point toward a scale length of longitudinal magnetic coherence inside MEs of 0.25-0.35 au for the magnitude of the magnetic field, but 0.06-0.12 au for the magnetic field components. This finding raises questions about the very nature of MEs. It also highlights the need for additional "mesoscale" multipoint measurements of CMEs with longitudinal separations of 0.01-0.2 au.

CMEs↗

Adaptive fuzzy leader clustering of complex data sets in pattern recognition

A modular, unsupervised neural network architecture for clustering and classification of complex data sets is presented. The adaptive fuzzy leader clustering (AFLC) architecture is a hybrid neural-fuzzy system that learns on-line in a stable and efficient manner. The initial classification is performed in two stages: a simple competitive stage and a distance metric comparison stage. The cluster prototypes are then incrementally updated by relocating the centroid positions from fuzzy C-means system equations for the centroids and the membership values. The AFLC algorithm is applied to the Anderson Iris data and laser-luminescent fingerprint image data. It is concluded that the AFLC algorithm successfully classifies features extracted from real data, discrete or continuous.

Newton, Scott C.↗

MarCO: Interplanetary Mission Development on a CubeSat Scale

Shortly after JPL’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission launches, separates, and commences its cruise phase, two CubeSats will deploy from the launch vehicle’s upper stage and begin independent flight to Mars (Fig. 1). During InSight’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) sequence, these twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) spacecraft will fly 3,500 km above the Martian surface, recording and relaying InSight UHF radio data to the Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth1. MarCO is a twin CubeSat mission developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to accompany the InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Mars mission lander. MarCO's primary mission objective is to launch with InSight and independently fly to Mars to serve as a communications relay during InSight's entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase. MarCO represents a new type of deep space mission: CubeSats at Mars. Building on the development of JPL's first interplanetary CubeSat project, the Interplanetary Nano-Spacecraft Pathfinder in Relevant Environment (INSPIRE), MarCO further refined the approach to hardware, software, and ground architecture development to solve the challenges of quickly building low-budget spacecraft to fly to Mars. The greatest constraint, beyond others typical of CubeSat missions, was time. The duration between MarCO's conception to completion of spacecraft assembly was less than two years - an unprecedented schedule for any planetary mission to date. Through necessity, MarCO has built on previous experience, procedures, systems, and development methodologies, defining a new niche for supporting larger primary missions. The MarCO spacecraft are poised to write a new chapter in deep space exploration. Originally slated to launch and reach Mars in 2016, the InSight mission schedule subsequently slipped to 2018. During the original landing of InSight, Earth would not be in view, and no orbiter around Mars would have been in position to both receive UHF EDL data and simultaneously relay it back to Earth. It was from this obstacle that MarCO was conceived. Regardless of any changes to InSight’s 2018 EDL configuration geometry, MarCO is still expected to fly and serve in the same capacity as originally designed: the first CubeSat mission to Mars. CubeSats have historically been firmly in the domain of universities and small companies. As first conceived, they served as a platform upon which to teach all aspects of the space mission lifecycle. JPL took on this mission type with Interplanetary Nano-Spacecraft Pathfinder in Relevant Environment2 (INSPIRE), moving the concept into a new domain: deep space. Building from the INSPIRE platform and lessons learned, MarCO addressed new challenges in the domain of planetary missions: independent interplanetary flight and navigation, integration with a large-scale mission, long-distance and long-delay communication, short development time, and a small development team. Of these, the greatest constraint was schedule: only 18 months passed from conception of mission concept until delivery of fully assembled and tested flight hardware. Careful selection of mission team, along with extensive use of off-the-shelf equipment, and streamlining automated processes, was essential. This achievement represents the next step in the evolution of CubeSats beyond low-Earth orbit.

Werne, Thomas↗

Multiclass Continuous Correspondence Learning

We extend the Structural Correspondence Learning (SCL) domain adaptation algorithm of Blitzer er al. to the realm of continuous signals. Given a set of labeled examples belonging to a 'source' domain, we select a set of unlabeled examples in a related 'target' domain that play similar roles in both domains. Using these 'pivot samples, we map both domains into a common feature space, allowing us to adapt a classifier trained on source examples to classify target examples. We show that when between-class distances are relatively preserved across domains, we can automatically select target pivots to bring the domains into correspondence.

correspondence learning↗

Data Production on Past and Future NASA Missions

Data return is a metric that is commonly publicized for all space science missions. In the early days of the Space Program, this figure was small, and could be described in bits or maybe even megabits. But now, missions are capable of returning data volumes two or three orders of magnitude larger. For example, Voyager 1 and 2 combined produced a little over 5 Terabits of data in 39 years of operation. In contrast, the Cassini mission, launched two decades after Voyager, produced about one and a half times those data volumes in half the time. NISAR, an Earth Science Mission currently in implementation, plans to produce over 28 Petabits of raw data in just 3 years. This means that NISAR will produce about as many data in 30 days as the combined data production of nearly all planetary missions to date. These increases in capability are a result of technology enhancements in two main areas: telecommunications architecture (both space and ground segments) and data storage technology. This paper describes the progression of these two technologies over the course of more than three decades of space missions and provides additional insight into the design of the end-to-end NISAR Data System Architecture. Trends in the data are briefly explored and compared to Moore’s Law which provides only a qualitative model for memory growth but not for data production. In summary, early missions are found to be driven by unrefined processes while later missions, having utilized earlier lessons learned, focus more on improvements to flight and ground capabilities. Data return seems to fall into three categories. First, deep space missions are driven by the large distances that limit data return to the Earth. Next, the orbiter infrastructure around Mars helps these missions generate more data than other deep space spacecraft. Finally, near-Earth missions have the greatest capabilities for the studied metrics due to their close proximity to Earth and the ground network availability.

Xaypraseuth, Peter↗

The University of Nebraska at Omaha Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning

Within the context of innovative coursework and other educational activities, we are proposing the establishment of a University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Center for the Use of Space Data in Teaching and Learning. This Center will provide an exciting and motivating process for educators at all levels to become involved in professional development and training which engages real life applications of mathematics, science, and technology. The Center will facilitate innovative courses (including online and distance education formats), systematic degree programs, classroom research initiatives, new instructional methods and tools, engaging curriculum materials, and various symposiums. It will involve the active participation of several Departments and Colleges on the UNO campus and be well integrated into the campus environment. It will have a direct impact on pre-service and in-service educators, the K12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) students that they teach, and other college students of various science, mathematics, and technology related disciplines, in which they share coursework. It is our belief that there are many exciting opportunities represented by space data and imagery, as a context for engaging mathematics, science, and technology education. The UNO Center for Space Data Use in Teaching and Learning being proposed in this document will encompass a comprehensive training and dissemination strategy that targets the improvement of K-12 education, through changes in the undergraduate and graduate preparation of teachers in science, mathematics and technology education.

Grandgenett, Neal↗

Presound: UAV Diagnostic System Enabled by Vibration-Based Machine Learning

A low-weight, inexpensive small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) that takes off, performs a mission, lands, and safely stows and recharges itself has myriad future applications ranging from agricultural imaging to last-mile package delivery. Likewise, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) systems will enable people to take air taxis from point to point in cities, rapidly moving commuters long distances without concern for road traffic and congestion. Fully electric aviation systems will be cleaner and quieter than ground transport. Cities could eliminate cars and buses, and convert roads to higher capacity bike and pedestrian throughways. Yet, for sUAS as well as UAM, system reliability and assurance is a limiting factor to deploying affordable autonomous flight systems. For this bright future of aviation to be realized, aircraft must be able to autonomously and accurately self-diagnose health issues both before takeoff and during flight. The GreenSight PreSound system is designed to identify defects on aircraft through intelligent analysis of vibration. It accomplishes this by measuring structural vibrations induced by the vehicle’s own propellers, and analyzing that data using a machine learning model that determines whether a defect is present. The PreSound system is designed to require no human oversight, and to operate across a wide array of vehicles through re-training of the model for each target aircraft. PreSound has been developed and seen limited early success using data collected from the GreenSight Dreamer sUAS, a 5lb quadrotor vehicle designed for aerial imaging applications. The final detection model, trained on data with props spinning at 50% throttle, achieves excellent performance with over 99% average accuracy in detecting blade damage using a single FFT vector input. It demonstrates the ability to generalize to new types of blade damage, correctly classifying a different type of blade damage with 98% accuracy. Full test pulses were classified with 100% accuracy, and in live testing, all sets of data during blade movement were classified accurately with over 95% confidence. When trained on in-flight data, the same model achieves an average accuracy of 85% in distinguishing between undamaged and blade-damaged states in flight. The authors believe that these accuracies show significant potential of this approach to expand unmanned flight safety, with significant potential benefits in accelerating Advanced Aerial Mobility (AAM) and UAM aviation applications.

UAS↗

Mapping the Interstellar Reddening and Extinction toward Baade's Window Using Minimum Light Colors of ab-type RR Lyrae Stars: Revelations from the De-reddened Color–Magnitude Diagrams

We have obtained repeated images of six fields toward the Galactic bulge in five passbands (u, g, r, i, z) with the DECam imager on the Blanco 4 m telescope at CTIO. From more than 1.6 billion individual photometric measurements in the field centered on Baade’s window, we have detected 4877 putative variable stars. A total of 474 of these have been confirmed as fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars, whose colors at minimum light yield line-of- sight reddening determinations, as well as a reddenning law toward the Galactic Bulge, which differs significantly from the standard R(V) = 3.1 formulation. Assuming that the stellar mix is invariant over the 3 square-degree field, we are able to derive a line-of-sight reddening map with sub-arcminute resolution, enabling us to obtain de-reddened and extinction corrected color–magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of this bulge field using up to 2.5 million well-measured stars. The corrected CMDs show unprecedented detail and expose sparsely populated sequences: for example, delineation of the very wide red giant branch, structure within the red giant clump, the full extent of the horizontal branch, and a surprising bright feature that is likely due to stars with ages younger than 1 Gyr. We use the RR Lyrae stars to trace the spatial structure of the ancient stars and find an exponential decline in density with Galactocentric distance. We discuss ways in which our data products can be used to explore the age and metallicity properties of the bulge, and how our larger list of all variables is useful for learning to interpret future LSST alerts.

Abhijit Saha↗

Lessons Learned During Cryogenic Optical Testing of the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrators (AMSDs)

Optical testing in a cryogenic environment presents a host of challenges above and beyond those encountered during room temperature testing. The Advanced Mirror System Demonstrators (AMSDs) are 1.4 m diameter, ultra light-weight (<20 kg/mA2), off-axis parabolic segments. They are required to have 250 nm PV & 50 nm RMS surface figure error or less at 35 K. An optical testing system, consisting of an Instantaneous Phase Interferometer (PI), a diffractive null corrector (DNC), and an Absolute Distance Meter (ADM), was used to measure the surface figure & radius-of-curvature of these mirrors at the operational temperature within the X-Ray Calibration Facility (XRCF) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The Ah4SD program was designed to improve the technology related to the design, fabrication, & testing of such mirrors in support of NASA s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This paper will describe the lessons learned during preparation & cryogenic testing of the AMSDs.

Hadaway, James↗

Application of Machine Learning to Rotorcraft Health Monitoring

Machine learning is a powerful tool for data exploration and model building with large data sets. This project aimed to use machine learning techniques to explore the inherent structure of data from rotorcraft gear tests, relationships between features and damage states, and to build a system for predicting gear health for future rotorcraft transmission applications. Classical machine learning techniques are difficult, if not irresponsible to apply to time series data because many make the assumption of independence between samples. To overcome this, Hidden Markov Models were used to create a binary classifier for identifying scuffing transitions and Recurrent Neural Networks were used to leverage long distance relationships in predicting discrete damage states. When combined in a workflow, where the binary classifier acted as a filter for the fatigue monitor, the system was able to demonstrate accuracy in damage state prediction and scuffing identification. The time dependent nature of the data restricted data exploration to collecting and analyzing data from the model selection process. The limited amount of available data was unable to give useful information, and the division of training and testing sets tended to heavily influence the scores of the models across combinations of features and hyper-parameters. This work built a framework for tracking scuffing and fatigue on streaming data and demonstrates that machine learning has much to offer rotorcraft health monitoring by using Bayesian learning and deep learning methods to capture the time dependent nature of the data. Suggested future work is to implement the framework developed in this project using a larger variety of data sets to test the generalization capabilities of the models and allow for data exploration.

machine learning↗

ArcjetCV: Automating Arc Jet Analysis

Arc jet Computer Vision (arcjetCV) is a software application built to automate time-resolved recession tracking of edges in test videos, specifically for tracking material recession and the shock-material standoff. This provides a new capability to resolve and validate new physics associated with non-linear processes and an essential step to reduce testing, modeling, and validation uncertainties for heatshield material performance. ArcticCV uses several types of machine learning (convolutional neural net: CNN, decision tree: DT, k-means unsupervised clustering: KM) to automate the video processing pipeline. These include inferring the start/stop of time segments of interest (1D CNN), measuring the time-dependent 2D recession of the material samples (2D CNN, DT), measuring the time-dependent shock standoff distance (2D CNN, DT), and post-processing cleaning of the recession data (KM). The software also provides a graphical user interface for ease of use. The results of using this tool on arc jet videos show non-linear time-dependent effects can be important for certain materials and characterizing certain failure modes.

Recession tracking↗

Permanent superconducting magnets for space applications

Work has been done to develop superconducting trapped field magnets (TFM's) and to apply them to a bumper-tether device for magnetic docking of spacecraft. The quality parameters for TFM's are J(c), the critical current of the superconductor, and d, the diameter of the superconducting tile. During this year we have doubled d, for production models, from 1 cm to 2 cm. This was done by means of seeding, an improved temperature profile in processing, and the addition of 1 percent Pt to the superconductor chemistry. Using these tiles we have set increasing records for the fields' permanent magnets. Magnets fabricated from old 1 cm tiles trapped 1.52 Tesla at 77K, 4.0T at 65K and 7.0T at 55K. The second of these fields broke a 17 year old record set at Stanford. The third field broke our own record. More recently using 2 cm tiles, we have trapped 2.3T at 77K, and 5.3T at 65K. We expect to trap lOT at 55K in this magnet in the near future. We have also achieved increases in J(c) using a method we developed for seeding U-235, and subsequently bombarding with neutrons. This method doubles J(c). We have not yet fabricated magnets from these tiles. During this year we have increased production yields from 15 percent to 95 percent. We have explored the properties of a magnetic bumper-tether for spacecraft. We have measured the bumper forces, and their dependence on time, distance, and the field of the ordinary ferromagnet (used together with a TFM). We have accounted for 85 percent of the collision energy, and its transformation to magnetic energy and heat energy. We have learned to control the relative bumper and tether forces by controlling TFM and ferromagnetic field strengths.

Weinstein, Roy↗