SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “building management systems”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,135 records · Page 63

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2023

Effects of Mineral Impurities and Heat on Uranium(VI) Sorption onto Bentonite (Final Report)

Most nuclear waste disposal options include compacted bentonite, consisting of montmorillonite clay, as part of a barrier system to minimize contaminant mobility. Uranium (U) is the primary element in spent nuclear fuel, and from an environmental perspective, a potential contaminant of water resources. Furthermore, uranium may control nuclear fuel degradation rates and the consequent release of other radioactive contaminants based on its diffusive transport away from waste canisters. Uranium sorption onto clay and other mineral surfaces is expected to limit U(VI) mobility in these systems. However, at this point a prediction of U(VI) sorption and transport behavior in performance assessment (PA) models is complicated by a series of factors, such as: (1) the presence of various U(VI) solution species with different charges and sorption characteristics; (2) the complex microstructure of montmorillonite clay resulting in two types of clay porosities and multiple sorption sites; (3) the largely unknown effects of bentonite mineral impurities on pore water chemistry, U(VI) sorption and diffusion behavior; and (4) the potential impacts of heat, generated by the decay of spent fuel, on mineralogical and microstructural transformations, and any subsequent effects on radionuclide sorption and mobility. In this project, we investigated the effects of calcite impurities on U(VI) sorption and diffusion onto montmorillonite before and after mineral exposure to heat. Overall, our main goals were to: 1. Gain a mechanistic understanding of the effects of calcite impurities on U(VI) sorption and diffusion in montmorillonite/bentonite at variable chemical conditions, and before and after mineral exposure to heat; and to 2. Work towards the development of new surface complexation and diffusion models to predict U(VI) sorption and mobility in montmorillonite/bentonite while accounting for the impacts of calcite impurities and heat. In order to achieve these goals, we pursued the following research objectives and tasks: 1. Characterize the effects of calcite impurities on U(VI) sorption onto Na-montmorillonite, and evaluate if and how these effects change due to solids’ exposure to heat (Task 1). 2. Characterize U(VI) surface speciation in solid samples from Task 1, with a particular focus on U(VI) precipitates and co-precipitates (Task 2). 3. Test the relevance of observed changes in U(VI) sorption characteristics for U(VI) diffusive transport behavior in bentonite barriers (Task 3). 4. Evaluate the exclusion of anionic U(VI) solution complexes from clay nanopores (Task 4). 5. Building on Tasks 1-4, start the development of new surface complexation and reactive transport models that can simulate and predict U(VI) sorption and diffusion in complex bentonite systems (Task 5). A detailed description of all tasks, and their specific results and conclusions is provided in this report.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2024

Multi-objective sizing and dispatch for building thermal and battery storage towards economic and environmental synergy

The role of building thermal and battery storage is pivotal in advancing smart cities and achieving sustainability goals through effective energy management. Despite their significance, there are several limitations in the sizing approach and value stream analysis with various objectives for their widespread adoption in buildings. This work proposes a flexible and scalable multi-objective optimization framework for optimal sizing and dispatch of building thermal and battery storage, addressing conflicting objectives simultaneously using mixed-integer linear programming. The weighted-sum method is adapted, combining multiple objectives into a single function. The two-stage procedure iterates over different weights, generating optimal solutions and forming the Pareto front. Case studies are performed to assess the energy, economic, and environmental benefits of building energy storage systems for a large office building in three climate locations. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework efficiently determines optimal sizing and dispatch strategies, addressing the balance between economic viability and emission reduction. The dynamic relationship between time-of-use energy charges and emission factors leads to significantly different strategies based on whether economic or environmental concerns are prioritized. This research enhances our understanding of the benefits of TES and BES systems in buildings, providing valuable guidance to stakeholders.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2019

ADVERT: An Asynchronous Runtime for Fine-Grained Network Systems

The Data Vortex Network, a novel fine-grained high-radix interconnect, provides the performance and injection rates required by the fine-grained, unpredictable communication patterns of irregular applications. This paper presents ADVERT, an asynchronous runtime system that provides performance and productivity for the fine-grained Data Vortex Network. ADVERT integrates a lightweight memory manager (DVMem) for the user accessible SRAM integrated in the network interface, and a communication library (DVComm) that implements active messaging primitives (remote execution, and, based on this, get and put routines). ADVERT hides the complexity of controlling all the network hardware features through the low-level Data Vortex programming interface, while providing comparable performance. We discuss ADVERT's design and present an analysis of three exemplar irregular kernels (Triangle Count, Page Rank, and GUPS). ADVERT can provide the communication substrate required to build emerging higher level asynchronous many tasking runtimes and partitioned global address space libraries on top of the Data Vortex Network.

Friese, Ryan D.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A 3D Simulation Platform for Decentralized Decision-Making in Advanced Air Mobility

This paper presents a general purpose, plug-and-play simulation platform for the use of future aviation stakeholders, such as urban airspace planners, air vehicle operators, ground operation managers, air traffic controllers and aviation researchers. The presented simulator platform is envisioned to serve as a toolkit to visualize, evaluate, and configure future advanced air mobility (AAM) operations. Highlighting features of this toolkit include a modular architecture that allows multiple smart unmanned aerial systems (UASs) to remotely connect to the simulation server and participate in decentralized decision-making scenario simulations. As an example of the decentralized decision-making scenario, an inter-agent negotiation-based conflict resolution use case is considered in this paper, where the UASs leverage the on-board/on-the-edge artificial intelligence (AI) capability to continually build situational awareness, and use this information to predict future conflicts and resolve them through machine-to-machine negotiation. As such operations are non-existent at scale currently, the presented simulation platform offers a viable and cost-effective alternative for assessing the efficacy of AAM research outcomes and challenges in future shared airspace usage. The simulation platform allows plug-n-play connectivity with AI and non-AI compute modules representing individual UAS’s flight control. Each module can interact with the simulation platform independently to communicate current and desired future states, situational awareness, and conflict resolution utilization costs for inter-agent negotiation. The simulation environment orchestrates realistic operational scenarios with spatiotemporal details, dynamic events, tactical conflict-resolution methods, interfaces for customizing air traffic control parameters, and information exchange uncertainties. In the future, this can serve as a community focused cloud simulation platform, incorporating multi-stakeholder airspace constraints from regulatory, government, city, and local agencies.

Aditya N Das↗

NASA NTRS2022

A 3D Simulation Platform for Decentralized Decision-Making in Advanced Air Mobility

Aditya Das↗

NASA NTRS2014

NASA's Space Launch System: Momentum Builds Towards First Launch

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is gaining momentum programmatically and technically toward the first launch of a new exploration-class heavy lift launch vehicle for international exploration and science initiatives. The SLS comprises an architecture that begins with a vehicle capable of launching 70 metric tons (t) into low Earth orbit. Its first mission will be the launch of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) on its first autonomous flight beyond the Moon and back. SLS will also launch the first Orion crewed flight in 2021. SLS can evolve to a 130-t lift capability and serve as a baseline for numerous robotic and human missions ranging from a Mars sample return to delivering the first astronauts to explore another planet. Managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the SLS Program formally transitioned from the formulation phase to implementation with the successful completion of the rigorous Key Decision Point C review in 2014. At KDP-C, the Agency Planning Management Council determines the readiness of a program to go to the next life-cycle phase and makes technical, cost, and schedule commitments to its external stakeholders. As a result, the Agency authorized the Program to move forward to Critical Design Review, scheduled for 2015, and a launch readiness date of November 2018. Every SLS element is currently in testing or test preparations. The Program shipped its first flight hardware in 2014 in preparation for Orion's Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) launch on a Delta IV Heavy rocket in December, a significant first step toward human journeys into deep space. Accomplishments during 2014 included manufacture of Core Stage test articles and preparations for qualification testing the Solid Rocket Boosters and the RS-25 Core Stage engines. SLS was conceived with the goals of safety, affordability, and sustainability, while also providing unprecedented capability for human exploration and scientific discovery beyond Earth orbit. In an environment of economic challenges, the nationwide SLS team continues to meet ambitious budget and schedule targets through the studied use of hardware, infrastructure, and workforce investments the United States has already made in the last half century, while selectively using new technologies for design, manufacturing, and testing, as well as streamlined management approaches that have increased decision velocity and reduced associated costs. This paper will summarize recent SLS Program technical accomplishments, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead for the most powerful and capable launch vehicle in history.

May, Todd↗

NASA NTRS2016

Avionics and Power Management for Low-Cost High-Altitude Balloon Science Platforms

High-altitude balloons (HABs) have become popular as educational and scientific platforms for planetary research. This document outlines key components for missions where low cost and rapid development are desired. As an alternative to ground-based vacuum and thermal testing, these systems can be flight tested at comparable costs. Communication, solar, space, and atmospheric sensing experiments often require environments where ground level testing can be challenging or impossible in certain cases. When performing HAB research the ability to monitor the status of the platform and gather data is key for both scientific and recoverability aspects of the mission. A few turnkey platform solutions are outlined that leverage rapidly evolving open-source engineering ecosystems. Rather than building custom components from scratch, these recommendations attempt to maximize simplicity and cost of HAB platforms to make launches more accessible to everyone.

Avionics↗

DOE OSTI2022

End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock: Practical Guidance on Accessing and Using the Data

End-use load profiles (EULP), which quantify how and when energy is used, are critically important to utilities, public utility commissions, state energy offices, and other stakeholders. Applications of EULPs focus on understanding how efficiency, demand response, and other distributed energy resources are valued and used in R&D prioritization, utility resource and distribution system planning, and state and local energy planning and regulations. Consequently, high-quality EULPs are critical for widespread adoption of electrification, demand flexibility, and grid-interactive efficient buildings. For example, EULPs can be used to forecast energy savings in buildings or to identify energy using activities that can be shifted to different times of the day.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Next Landsat Satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat program is one of the longest running satellite programs for Earth observations from space. The program was initiated by the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972. Since then a series of six more Landsat satellites were launched and at least one of those satellites has been in operations at all times to continuously collect images of the global land surface. The Department of Interior (DOI) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) preserves data collected by all of the Landsat satellites at their Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This 40-year data archive provides an unmatched record of the Earth's land surface that has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades due to the increasing pressure of a growing population and advancing technologies. EROS provides the ability for anyone to search the archive and order digital Landsat images over the internet for free. The Landsat data are a public resource for observing, characterizing, monitoring, trending, and predicting land use change over time providing an invaluable tool for those addressing the profound consequences of those changes to society. The most recent launch of a Landsat satellite occurred in 1999 when Landsat 7 was placed in orbit. While Landsat 7 remains in operation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the DOI/ USGS are building its successor satellite system currently called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). NASA has the lead for building and launching the satellite that will carry two Earth-viewing instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The OLI will take images that measure the amount of sunlight reflected by the land surface at nine wavelengths of light with three of those wavelengths beyond the range of human vision. T1RS will collect coincident images that measure light emitted by the land surface as a function of surface temperature at two longer wavelengths well beyond the range of human vision. The DOI/USGS is developing the ground system that will command and control the LDCM satellite in orbit and manage the OLI and TIRS data transmitted by the satellite. DOI/USGS will thus operate the satellite and collect, archive, and distribute the image data as part of the EROS archive. DOI/USGS has committed to renaming LDCM as Landsat 8 following launch. By either name the satellite and its sensors will extend the 40-year archive with images sufficiently consistent with data from earlier Landsat satellites to allow multi-decadal, broad-area studies of our dynamic landscapes. The next Landsat satellite and ground system are on schedule for a January, 2013 launch.

Rons, James R.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Science Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a powerful space observatory whose four science instruments will deliver rich imaging and multiplexed spectroscopic datasets to the astronomical and planetary science communities. The ground segment for JWST, now being designed and built, will carry out JWST's science operations. The ground segment includes: (1) software that the scientific community will use to propose and specify new observations; (2) software that will schedule both science and calibration observations in a way that optimizes observing efficiency while managing the accumulation of momentum; (3) the infrastructure to regularly measure and maintain the telescope's wavefront; (4) orbit determination, ranging, and tracking; (5) communication via the Deep Space Network to command the observatory and retrieve scientific data; (6) onboard scripts that execute each observing program in an event-driven fashion, with occasional interruptions for targets of opportunity or time-critical observations; and (7) a system that processes and calibrates the data into science ready products, automatically recalibrates when calibrations improve, and archives the data for timely access by the principal investigator and later worldwide access by the scientific community. This ground system builds on experience from operating the Hubble Space Telescope, while solving challenges that are unique to the James Webb Space Telescope. In this paper, we describe the elements of the JWST ground system, how it will work operationally from the perspective of the observatory itself, and how a typical user will interact with the system to turn his/her idea into scientific discovery.

Rigby, Jane↗

NASA NTRS2017

Enabling Airspace Integration for High-Density On-Demand Mobility Operations

Aviation technologies and concepts have reached a level of maturity that may soon enable an era of on-demand mobility (ODM) fueled by quiet, efficient, and largely automated air taxis. However, successfully bringing such a system to fruition will require introducing orders of magnitude more aircraft to a given airspace volume than can be accommodated by the traditional air traffic control system, among other important technical challenges. The airspace integration problem is further compounded by requirements to set aside appropriate ground infrastructure for take-off and landing areas and ensuring these new aircraft types and their operations do not burden traditional airspace users and air traffic control. This airspace integration challenge may be significantly reduced by extending the concepts and technologies developed to manage small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at low altitudethe UAS traffic management (UTM) systemto higher altitudes and new aircraft types, or by equipping ODM aircraft with advanced sensors, algorithms, and interfaces. The precedent of operational freedom inherent in visual flight rules and the technologies developed for large UAS and commercial aircraft automation will contribute to the evolution of an ODM system enabled by UTM. This paper describes the set of air traffic services, normally provided by the traditional air traffic system, that an ODM system would implement to achieve the high densities needed for ODMs economic viability. Finally, the paper proposes a framework for integrating, evaluating, and deploying low-, medium-, and high-density ODM concepts that build on each other to ensure operational and economic feasibility at every step.

Mueller, Eric↗

NASA NTRS1985

Building a functional, integrated GIS/remote sensing resource analysis and planning system

To be an effective tool for resource analysis and planning, a geographic information system (GIS) needs to be integrated with a digital remote sensing capability. To be truly functional, the paired system must be driven by grass roots local needs. A case study couched in a Soil Conservation District in northern Utah is presented. Agency representatives determined that the most fundamental data sets to be entered into the GIS system analysis system in the first round were: land use/land cover; geomorphic/soil unit data; hydrologic unit data; and digital terrain. The least expensive and best ways to obtain these data were determined. Data were acquired and formatted to enter the state's PRIME/ARC-INFO GIS, and are being interrogated for resource management decisions related to such issues as agricultural preservation, urban expansion, soil erosion control, and dam siting.

Ridd, M. K.↗

DOE OSTI2026

Linear complexity

We present factorization and solution phases for a new linear complexity direct solver designed for concurrent batch operations on fine-grained parallel architectures, for matrices amenable to hierarchical representation. We focus on the strong-admissibility-based $\mathscr{H}^{2}$ format, where strong recursive skeletonization factorization compresses remote interactions. We build upon previous implementations of $\mathscr{H}^{2}$ matrix construction for efficient factorization and solution algorithm design, which are illustrated graphically in stepwise detail. The algorithms are ‘blackbox’ in the sense that the only inputs are the matrix and right-hand side, without analytical or geometrical information about the origin of the system. We demonstrate linear complexity scaling in both time and memory on four representative families of dense matrices up to one million in size. Parallel scaling up to 16 threads is enabled by a multi-level matrix graph coloring and avoidance of dynamic memory allocations thanks to prefix-sum memory management. An experimental backward error analysis is included. We break down the timings of different phases, identify phases that are memory-bandwidth limited, and discuss alternatives for phases that may be sensitive to the trend to employ lower precisions for performance.

Boukaram, Wajih↗

DOE OSTI2022

FY2021 Rotating Bed Reactor for Iodine Removal from ETF Feed to Support DFLAW Start-Up

In FY20, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC (WRPS) began a program of work to evaluate potential technologies for removal of iodine from the ETF feed. Work at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) focused on ion exchange media and conventional column based deployment while Atkins and VSL focused on ion exchange media in a Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) system. In the RBR system, the ion exchange media is loaded into a packed bed, which is rotated in the liquid to be treated. The work described in this report builds on the results from FY20 work, in particular, with regard to improving iodate removal, extending the data set to support process modeling, further comparison of RBR versus column performance, and RBR scale-up testing.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS1986

Plan for CELSS test bed project

The Closed Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) testbed project will achieve two major goals: It will develop the knowledge and technology needed to build and test biological or combined biological physiochemical regenerative life support systems. It will fabricate, test, and operate ground based facilities to accomplish proof-of-concent testing and evaluation leading to flight experimentation. The project will combine basic research and applied research/engineering to achieve a phased, integrated development of hardware, systems, and techniques for food and oxygen production, food processing, and waste processing in closed systems. The project will design, fabricate, and operate within three years a botanical production system scaled to a sufficient size to verify oxygen and nutrient load production (carbohydrates, fats, proteins) at a useable level. It will develop within five years a waste management system compatible with the botanical production system and a food processing system that converts available biomass into edible products. It will design, construct, and operate within ten years a ground based candidate CELSS that includes man as an active participant in the system. It will design a flight CELSS module within twelve years and construct and conduct initial flight tests within fifteen years.

Knott, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS2010

A Computer Simulation of the System-Wide Effects of Parallel-Offset Route Maneuvers

Most aircraft managed by air-traffic controllers in the National Airspace System are capable of flying parallel-offset routes. This paper presents the results of two related studies on the effects of increased use of offset routes as a conflict resolution maneuver. The first study analyzes offset routes in the context of all standard resolution types which air-traffic controllers currently use. This study shows that by utilizing parallel-offset route maneuvers, significant system-wide savings in delay due to conflict resolution of up to 30% are possible. It also shows that most offset resolutions replace horizontal-vectoring resolutions. The second study builds on the results of the first and directly compares offset resolutions and standard horizontal-vectoring maneuvers to determine that in-trail conflicts are often more efficiently resolved by offset maneuvers.

Lauderdale, Todd A.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Enabling Airspace Integration for High-Density On-Demand Mobility Operations

Aviation technologies and concepts have reached a level of maturity that may soon enable an era of on-demand mobility (ODM) fueled by quiet, efficient, and largely automated air taxis. However, successfully bringing such a system to fruition will require introducing orders of magnitude more aircraft to a given airspace volume than can be accommodated by the traditional air traffic control system, among other important technical challenges. The airspace integration problem is further compounded by requirements to set aside appropriate ground infrastructure for take-off and landing areas and ensuring these new aircraft types and their operations do not burden traditional airspace users and air traffic control. This airspace integration challenge may be significantly reduced by extending the concepts and technologies developed to manage small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at low altitude - the UAS traffic management (UTM) system - to higher altitudes and new aircraft types, or by equipping ODM aircraft with advanced sensors, algorithms, and interfaces. The precedent of operational freedom inherent in visual flight rules and the technologies developed for large UAS and commercial aircraft automation will contribute to the evolution of an ODM system enabled by UTM. This paper describes the set of air traffic services, normally provided by the traditional air traffic system, that an ODM system would implement to achieve the high densities needed for ODM's economic viability. Finally, the paper proposes a framework for integrating, evaluating, and deploying low-, medium-, and high-density ODM concepts that build on each other to ensure operational and economic feasibility at every step.

Mueller, Eric↗

NASA NTRS1986

TAE Plus: A conceptual view of TAE in the space station era

The use of the Transportable Applications Executive (TAE) for prototyping user interfaces has been the prime force behind the new TAE research and development work. The Data Systems Technology Division at GSFC is developing prototypes of user interfaces for different functions involved in the operation, analysis and data communication of space station payloads. TAE is a valuable prototyping tool because it enables a developer to build an entire application user interface model and run it without writing a single line of application code. One force driving new development is the need to update TAE's user interface to support the latest interactive graphic device technology. The current TAE, TAE Classic, uses interface techniques designed for an 80x24 character monochrome alphanumeric terminal, but does not effectively utilize features such as windowing, graphics, color, and selection devices available on newer workstations. To meet our needs, development of a TAE Plus began in FY-86 and involves augmenting TAE with three different sets of tools: a user interface toolkit; an application toolkit; and run-time service subroutines. A phased approach is being used to develop TAE Plus. In the first phase, we have met the needs of the user community and provided some support for rapid prototyping by developing a TAE Facelift, which adds an enhanced TAE interface (with windowing, mouse interaction, pull-down menus, etc.) to a select set of graphic workstations. The TAE Facelift allows many new concepts to be tested quickly for feedback and performance. In the second phase, a fully-integrated user interface management system, TAE Plus, will be built that supports the separation of interface from application, with the concomitant ability to prototype and rapidly change interfaces. This robust functionality will support, in an integrated manner, an application's development cycle from the prototype step through to the fully operational system.

Szczur, Martha↗