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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 145 records · Page 8

Hierarchical screening for Li-based solid electrolytes using fast, interpretable machine-learned potentials

Li-based solid-state electrolyte materials enable safer, all-solid-state batteries but the computational search for candidates with favorable stability and Li-ion conductivity is challenging due to the size of the search space and the cost of evaluating transport properties with ab initio methods. The prohibitive cost of high-throughput screening with DFT has lead to the development of surrogate models using geometric analysis, empirical potentials, and descriptors for ionic transport. Here, I will discuss a hierarchical screening approach for identifying promising materials using a combination of density functional theory, bond-valence methods, and machine learning potentials generated with the Ultra-Fast Force Fields (UF3) framework. We show how the inexpensive bond-valence method can be used to guide the generation of training samples for machine learning, in addition to filtering candidates. Finally, we apply the hierarchical workflow to screen for ionic conductivity across a database of Li-containing compounds.

Materials discovery↗

Visualizing UPSP Data with Python

The Unsteady Pressure-Sensitive Paint (uPSP) projects uses Pressure-Sensitive paint applied over aerospace models during wind tunnel testing to collect pressure data with high spatial and temporal resolution in order to inform unsteady aerodynamics studies. For each of the 800+ experimental runs, four cameras generate up to 50 GB of video data, which must then be processed, analyzed, and visualized on the NASA Advanced Supercomputing system (NAS) to assess the result. One of the final data analysis products is the dynamic modal decomposition (DMD) results, which decomposes the pressure reading signals by their frequency component. The goal of this project is to visualize the DMD results over a 3D rendering of the model, using efficient and parallelized python routines. The software uses the pytecplot library, a high-level API that connects python scripting to a Tecplot 360 engine. Tecplot is an industry standard high-performance visualization tool that can handle large datasets and workflow. Various animation, rendering, and image-combination techniques were investigated to generate the final videos using OpenCV on the NAS. The final result is a software tool that takes in data products from the uPSP processing chain and generates high resolution visualization videos in parallel for every data file, allowing researchers to view their results efficiently and at an unprecedentedly detailed level.

Emma Dolores McMillian↗

Automated Production of Movies on a Cluster of Computers

A method of accelerating and facilitating production of video and film motion-picture products, and software and generic designs of computer hardware to implement the method, are undergoing development. The method provides for automation of most of the tedious and repetitive tasks involved in editing and otherwise processing raw digitized imagery into final motion-picture products. The method was conceived to satisfy requirements, in industrial and scientific testing, for rapid processing of multiple streams of simultaneously captured raw video imagery into documentation in the form of edited video imagery and video derived data products for technical review and analysis. In the production of such video technical documentation, unlike in production of motion-picture products for entertainment, (1) it is often necessary to produce multiple video derived data products, (2) there are usually no second chances to repeat acquisition of raw imagery, (3) it is often desired to produce final products within minutes rather than hours, days, or months, and (4) consistency and quality, rather than aesthetics, are the primary criteria for judging the products. In the present method, the workflow has both serial and parallel aspects: processing can begin before all the raw imagery has been acquired, each video stream can be subjected to different stages of processing simultaneously on different computers that may be grouped into one or more cluster(s), and the final product may consist of multiple video streams. Results of processing on different computers are shared, so that workers can collaborate effectively.

Nail, Jasper↗

Automating Mid- and Long-Range Scheduling for NASA's Deep Space Network

NASA has recently deployed a new mid-range scheduling system for the antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN), called Service Scheduling Software, or S(sup 3). This system is architected as a modern web application containing a central scheduling database integrated with a collaborative environment, exploiting the same technologies as social web applications but applied to a space operations context. This is highly relevant to the DSN domain since the network schedule of operations is developed in a peer-to-peer negotiation process among all users who utilize the DSN (representing 37 projects including international partners and ground-based science and calibration users). The initial implementation of S(sup 3) is complete and the system has been operational since July 2011. S(sup 3) has been used for negotiating schedules since April 2011, including the baseline schedules for three launching missions in late 2011. S(sup 3) supports a distributed scheduling model, in which changes can potentially be made by multiple users based on multiple schedule "workspaces" or versions of the schedule. This has led to several challenges in the design of the scheduling database, and of a change proposal workflow that allows users to concur with or to reject proposed schedule changes, and then counter-propose with alternative or additional suggested changes. This paper describes some key aspects of the S(sup 3) system and lessons learned from its operational deployment to date, focusing on the challenges of multi-user collaborative scheduling in a practical and mission-critical setting. We will also describe the ongoing project to extend S(sup 3) to encompass long-range planning, downtime analysis, and forecasting, as the next step in developing a single integrated DSN scheduling tool suite to cover all time ranges.

scheduling↗

Natural Language Processing (NLP) Analysis of NOTAMs for Air Traffic Management Optimization

With new emerging technologies in the field of NLP, we explore their applications to digitize and analyze heritage Air Traffic Management (ATM) documents for planning and optimizing airspace operations. Specifically, this research focuses on harvesting semi-structured or un-structured information contained in Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs). Using NLP and other advanced data analytics, we will construct a data-driven framework which facilitates finding language patterns and the use of pretrained language models for classification and extraction of useful airspace constraints and restrictions. These may lead to tools that assist airspace users in understanding the constraints more efficiently, contributing to better route planning and safer execution. This paper explores three workflows entailing different NLP tasks. First, unsupervised techniques like word embedding and topic modeling are used for pattern finding and document classification. Second, a dataset is created by extracting information from the semi-structured NOTAM format as metadata for categorizing, visualizing, and extracting key entities driving NOTAM content. Third, modern pre-built deep learning based transformer models such as BERT, RoBERTa, and XLNet are evaluated on the question answering task, an even more robust approach to information extraction, as well as their respective fine-tuning tasks. In this work we include various performance metrics for the trained models to evaluate both accuracy and precision and we show that the models can be generalized for their respective tasks. The research work developed shows promise in uncovering trends in digital NOTAMs in the NAS and also offers a new framework for digitizing and inferring insights from free-form legacy NOTAMs, that are yet to be digitized. Video is an mp4 download, with a play time of 9 min 35 secs.

Natural Language Processing↗

Virtual Construction of Space Habitats: Connecting Building Information Models (BIM) and SysML

Current trends in design, construction and management of complex projects make use of Building Information Models (BIM) connecting different types of data to geometrical models. This information model allow different types of analysis beyond pure graphical representations. Space habitats, regardless their size, are also complex systems that require the synchronization of many types of information and disciplines beyond mass, volume, power or other basic volumetric parameters. For this, the state-of-the-art model based systems engineering languages and processes - for instance SysML - represent a solid way to tackle this problem from a programmatic point of view. Nevertheless integrating this with a powerful geometrical architectural design tool with BIM capabilities could represent a change in the workflow and paradigm of space habitats design applicable to other aerospace complex systems. This paper shows some general findings and overall conclusions based on the ongoing research to create a design protocol and method that practically connects a systems engineering approach with a BIM architectural and engineering design as a complete Model Based Engineering approach. Therefore, one hypothetical example is created and followed during the design process. In order to make it possible this research also tackles the application of IFC categories and parameters in the aerospace field starting with the application upon the space habitats design as way to understand the information flow between disciplines and tools. By building virtual space habitats we can potentially improve in the near future the way more complex designs are developed from very little detail from concept to manufacturing.

space architecture↗

Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness Strengthens Assurance of Fault Management Systems

As spaceflight systems increase in complexity, Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of software criticality, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance. Adverse conditions (ACs) and specific vulnerabilities encountered by safety- and mission-critical software systems have been identified through efforts to reduce the risk posture of software-intensive NASA missions. Acknowledgement of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine software system resiliency are important aspects of hazard analysis and FM. A key component of assuring FM is an assessment of how well software addresses susceptibility to failure through consideration of ACs. Focus on significant risk predicted through experienced analysis conducted at the NASA Independent Verification Validation (IVV) Program enables the scoping of effective assurance strategies with regard to overall asset protection of complex spaceflight as well as ground systems. Research efforts sponsored by NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domaincomponent, causal fault, and other key characteristics. Vulnerability in off-nominal situations, architectural design weaknesses, and unexpected or undesirable system behaviors in reaction to faults are curtailed with the awareness of ACs and risk-significant scenarios modeled for analysts through this database. Integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IVV enables interfacing with other tools and datasets, technical support, and accessibility across the Agency. This paper discusses the development of an improved workflow process utilizing this database for adaptive, risk-informed FM assurance that critical software systems will safely and securely protect against faults and respond to ACs in order to achieve successful missions.

Fault management↗

Natural Language Processing Analysis of Notices to Airmen for Air Traffic Management Optimization

With new emerging technologies in the field of NLP, we explore their applications to digitize and analyze heritage Air Traffic Management (ATM) documents for planning and optimizing airspace operations. Specifically, this research focuses on harvesting semi-structured or un-structured information contained in Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs). Using NLP and other advanced data analytics, we will construct a data-driven framework which facilitates finding language patterns and the use of pretrained language models for classification and extraction of useful airspace constraints and restrictions. These may lead to tools that assist airspace users in understanding the constraints more efficiently, contributing to better route planning and safer execution. This paper explores three workflows entailing different NLP tasks. First, unsupervised techniques like word embedding and topic modeling are used for pattern finding and document classification. Second, a dataset is created by extracting information from the semi-structured NOTAM format as metadata for categorizing, visualizing, and extracting key entities driving NOTAM content. Third, modern pre-built deep learning based transformer models such as BERT, RoBERTa, and XLNet are evaluated on the question answering task, an even more robust approach to information extraction, as well as their respective fine-tuning tasks. In this work we include various performance metrics for the trained models to evaluate both accuracy and precision and we show that the models can be generalized for their respective tasks. The research work developed shows promise in uncovering trends in digital NOTAMs in the NAS and also offers a new framework for digitizing and inferring insights from free-form legacy NOTAMs, that are yet to be digitized.

Natural Language Processing↗

Risk-Significant Adverse Condition Awareness Strengthens Assurance of Fault Management Systems

As spaceflight systems increase in complexity, Fault Management (FM) systems are ranked high in risk-based assessment of software criticality, emphasizing the importance of establishing highly competent domain expertise to provide assurance. Adverse conditions (ACs) and specific vulnerabilities encountered by safety- and mission-critical software systems have been identified through efforts to reduce the risk posture of software-intensive NASA missions. Acknowledgement of potential off-nominal conditions and analysis to determine software system resiliency are important aspects of hazard analysis and FM. A key component of assuring FM is an assessment of how well software addresses susceptibility to failure through consideration of ACs. Focus on significant risk predicted through experienced analysis conducted at the NASA Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Program enables the scoping of effective assurance strategies with regard to overall asset protection of complex spaceflight as well as ground systems. Research efforts sponsored by NASAs Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) defined terminology, categorized data fields, and designed a baseline repository that centralizes and compiles a comprehensive listing of ACs and correlated data relevant across many NASA missions. This prototype tool helps projects improve analysis by tracking ACs and allowing queries based on project, mission type, domain/component, causal fault, and other key characteristics. Vulnerability in off-nominal situations, architectural design weaknesses, and unexpected or undesirable system behaviors in reaction to faults are curtailed with the awareness of ACs and risk-significant scenarios modeled for analysts through this database. Integration within the Enterprise Architecture at NASA IV&V enables interfacing with other tools and datasets, technical support, and accessibility across the Agency. This paper discusses the development of an improved workflow process utilizing this database for adaptive, risk-informed FM assurance that critical software systems will safely and securely protect against faults and respond to ACs in order to achieve successful missions.

IV&V↗

Global Sensitivity Analyses for Test Planning with Black-Box Models for Mars Sample Return

This work describes sensitivity analyses performed on complex black-box models used to support experimental test planning under limited resources in the context of the Mars Sample Return program, which aims at bringing to Earth rock and atmospheric samples from Mars. We develop a systematic workflow that allows the analysts to simultaneously obtain quantitative insights on key drivers of uncertainty, on the direction of impact, and the presence of interactions. We apply novel optimal transport-based global sensitivity measures to tackle the multivariate nature of the output. On the modeling side, we apply multi-fidelity techniques that leverage low-fidelity models to speed up the calculations and make up for the limited amount of high-fidelity samples, while keeping these in the loop for accuracy guarantees. The sensitivity analysis reveals insights useful for the analysts to understand the model's behavior and identify the factors to focus on during testing in order to maximize the value of information extracted from them to ensure mission success when limited resources are available.

Giuseppe Cataldo↗

Weather from 250 Miles Up: Visualizing Precipitation Satellite Data (and Other Weather Applications) Using CesiumJS

Geospatial weather visualization remains predominately a two-dimensional endeavor. Even popular advanced tools like the Nullschool Earth display 2-dimensional fields on a 3-dimensional globe. Yet much of the observational data and model output contains detailed three-dimensional fields. In 2014, NASA and JAXA (Japanese Space Agency) launched the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite. Its two instruments, the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) observe much of the Earth's atmosphere between 65 degrees North Latitude and 65 degrees South Latitude. As part of the analysis and visualization tools developed by the Precipitation Processing System (PPS) Group at NASA Goddard, a series of CesiumJS [Using Cesium Markup Language (CZML), JavaScript (JS) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)] -based globe viewers have been developed to improve data acquisition decision making and to enhance scientific investigation of the satellite data. Other demos have also been built to illustrate the capabilities of CesiumJS in presenting atmospheric data, including model forecasts of hurricanes, observed surface radar data, and gridded analyses of global precipitation. This talk will present these websites and the various workflows used to convert binary satellite and model data into a form easily integrated with CesiumJS.

web applications↗

HydroSAR: A Cloud-based SAR Data Analysis Service to Monitor Hydrological Disasters and their Impact on Population and Agriculture

Weather-related hazards are ubiquitous around the world including: 1) hurricane storm surges, 2) rapid snowmelt and heavy rainfall, 3) severe weather leading to flash floods, and 4) seasonal freeze and thaw of rivers that may lead to ice jams. Each of these hazards affects human settlements and has the potential to impact agricultural productivity. In each setting, end-users in disaster management need access to data processing tools helpful in mapping past and current disasters. Analysis of past events supports risk mitigation by understanding what has already occurred and how to alleviate those impacts in the future. Having capabilities to generate the same products in a response setting means that lessons learned from risk analysis will carry forward to event response. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data are particularly useful for these activities due to their all-weather 24/7 monitoring capabilities. In this effort we present HydroSAR, a cloud-based SAR data analysis service for the mapping of meteorological and hydrological disasters as well as their impact on population and agriculture. As part of this project we have developed a series of SAR-based value added products for the monitoring of surface hydrology (image time series, change detection, flood extent, flood depth) and the assessment of impacts on population (flood depth) and agriculture (active agriculture, inundated agriculture, flood duration). We also developed a cloud-based platform for generating these products over affected areas and are working with end-users to integrate derived product into decision-making workflows The paper will briefly introduce the SAR-based products that were developed for this effort. We describe the cloud-based production pipeline that was built to automatically generate these products in near-real time over extended regions. The integration of SAR-based information into hazard preparation and response activities is described for a number of recent disasters including the 2019 forest fires in Alaska, 2019 flooding in the U.S. Midwest, the 2020 U.S. severe weather easter outbreak, 2020 tropical storm Christobal, 2020 cyclone Amphan, 2020, Alaska Spring breakup flooding, and the 2020 flood season in Eastern India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

Franz Josef Meyer↗

Project Report: Automatic Sequence Processor Software Analysis

The Mission Planning and Sequencing (MPS) element of Multi-Mission Ground System and Services (MGSS) provides space missions with multi-purpose software to plan spacecraft activities, sequence spacecraft commands, and then integrate these products and execute them on spacecraft. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is currently is flying many missions. The processes for building, integrating, and testing the multi-mission uplink software need to be improved to meet the needs of the missions and the operations teams that command the spacecraft. The Multi-Mission Sequencing Team is responsible for collecting and processing the observations, experiments and engineering activities that are to be performed on a selected spacecraft. The collection of these activities is called a sequence and ultimately a sequence becomes a sequence of spacecraft commands. The operations teams check the sequence to make sure that no constraints are violated. The workflow process involves sending a program start command, which activates the Automatic Sequence Processor (ASP). The ASP is currently a file-based system that is comprised of scripts written in perl, c-shell and awk. Once this start process is complete, the system checks for errors and aborts if there are any; otherwise the system converts the commands to binary, and then sends the resultant information to be radiated to the spacecraft.

sequencing↗

Enhanced Simulation Techniques in Predicting Sonic Boom Loudness Using CFD

This paper outlines advancements in predicting sonic boom loudness within the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) computational framework. Traditionally, a two step process consisting of a steady state computational fluid dynamics problem for near-field analysis and a far-field propagation solver for calculation of loudness metrics has been used. Improvements to this process made in this work include utilizing a high-order space marching method for mid-field computations, developing a novel output-based mesh adaptation method targeting error in near-field pressure sig-natures, and developing a robust scripting system using curvilinear grids to increase robustness and simplify the process of running large databases of simulation cases. These advancements are detailed and applied to the simulation of the X-59, presenting comparative cost and timing analyses between the prior two step workflow and the current three step procedure. We achieve increased accuracy and robustness for loudness predictions with at least a50%computational cost reduction.

CST↗

Enabling Analysis of Air Quality Data From Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of POllution (Tempo) Via Cloud-Based Tools

Launched in April 2023, the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of POllution (TEMPO) instrument provides high-resolution measurements of key atmospheric pollutants, such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde. Maximizing the use and utility of this new source of air quality information requires streamlining data access for a wide variety of research, public health, and other interested users. These varied applications often require the data to be structured in different ways, e.g., specific formats, array shapes, or file sizes. To enable access to TEMPO data in different forms, the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), as part of the NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS), provides a variety of cloud-based data transformation and GIS visualization tools. This presentation demonstrates methods of accessing and working with TEMPO data through these services, while highlighting aspects of the software and algorithmic workflows that perform the necessary data transformations. Examples include data subsetting, concatenation, and visualizations accessible via Jupyter notebooks and GIS software.

Daniel Kaufman↗

Boundary Representation Tolerance Impacts on Mesh Generation and Adaptation

The control of discretization error is critical to obtaining reliable simulation results. Re-cent progress has matured anisotropic mesh adaptation, which automates discretization error control for complex geometries. However, the meshing process can fail when geometric model Boundary REPresentation (BREP) tolerances are larger than boundary layer surface nor-mal and tangential spacing requirements. Geometry sources are often created in Mechanical Computer-Aided Design (MCAD) systems, which are designed to produce models for manufacturing and not the stricter requirements of viscous flow analysis. BREP tolerances are strained by three factors: the inherent complexity of the model (e.g., large range of scales and complex topology), the numerical difficulties arising from surface/surface intersections, and the omission of crucial data during export and translation. Manual preparation of geometry is commonly employed to enable expert-guided mesh generation, which severely inhibits work-flow automation. Accommodation of loose BREP tolerances is required for automated mesh processes, because barrier issues may not be detected until well into the solution process. To raise awareness of this class of geometry issues and their impact on simulation, a survey of these barrier issues is presented with example mitigation techniques. This awareness may also impact geometry creation workflows to prevent the introduction of these artifacts.

CAD↗

Updates in Developing a Prototype Science Pipeline and Full-Volume, Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Data Sets for NASA’s Earth System Observatory’s Upcoming Surface, Biology and Geology Mission

The Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission recently passed mission confirmation review and has entered phase A – design and development. SBG will acquire high resolution solar-reflected spectroscopy and thermal infrared observations at a data rate of ~2.5 TB/day and generate products at ~40 TB/day. Given that the per-day volume is greater than NASA’s total extant airborne hyperspectral data collection, collecting, processing, disseminating, and exploiting the SBG data present new challenges. To meet these challenges, we have developed a prototype science pipeline and a full-volume global hyperspectral synthetic data set to help prepare for SBG’s flight (see poster GC42D-0730). Our science pipeline is based on the science processing technology developed for NASA’s Kepler and TESS planet-hunting missions. The pipeline infrastructure, Ziggy, provides a scalable architecture for robust, repeatable, and replicable science and application products that can be run on a range of systems from a laptop to the cloud or a supercomputer. Ziggy is compliant with NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) 7150.2C, is at a technical readiness level (TRL) of 7 and has been released to github.com/nasa/ziggy. We integrated Ziggy with EO-1/Hyperion workflows to build a prototype pipeline and ingested the 17-year mission archive that provides globally sampled visible through shortwave infrared spectra that are representative of SBG data types and volumes. We fully implemented the first stage and processed the entire 55 TB Hyperion data set from the raw data (Level 0) to top-of-the-atmosphere radiance (Level 1R). We are currently evaluating the ISOFIT atmospheric correction module to convert the L1R data to surface reflectance (Level 2) before reprocessing the full data set to L2. Crosschecks are being performed with RadCalNet as well as with coincident observations by AVIRIS. We are also investigating modern methods for georectifying the Hyperion scenes. Finally, we describe an analysis of the cost to conduct forward processing and reprocessing campaigns for SBG on HECC with dedicated compute and storage resources using the resurrected Hyperion pipeline as a proxy for full-volume SBG data. The analysis demonstrates that SBG L0 data can be processed to L2 on HECC with full reprocessing campaigns every two years for ~$2.6M over a 7-year lifespan. Moreover, 69% of the system capacity would be available for other activities, possibly enabling future open-source science activities, including algorithm development, L3+ processing, .etc.

ESD↗

Expanding Biological Repository Data Available for Sharing and Knowledge Discovery

Biology has developed next-generation data science and alternative analytical approaches with methodologies which require principal investigator (PI) experimental assay data be re-used. This new approach involves mining multiple datasets at once from various hierarchical organizations of biological complexity, while concurrently evaluating how experimental factors affect endpoints of standard assays. The purpose of the NASA Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA) is to collect, curate, and make findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) all non-human space-relevant biological data. These data include mission metadata, subject metadata, assay metadata (parameters), raw and processed assay data, assay imagery, and subject-experienced telemetry (radiation, temperature, humidity, acoustics, vibrations). ALSDA has transformed to bring current biological repository data and all future collected data into this new scientific data mining reality. It has integrated into the ‘NASA Open Science’ group of projects to facilitate a suite of new tools and workflows to improve data accessibility and reusability by implementing data management plans, automating data submission agreements, and adopting the single-point-of-entry data submission portal, originally developed by NASA GeneLab. These systems required ALSDA to develop science assay configurations for the submission portal, capturing essential assay parameters according to established norms in each sub-field within biology. The submission portal expedites data collection by enhancing ease of PI data submission, providing a user interface and specificity for which data is to be submitted. ALSDA datasets are curated to maintain rich metadata, accuracy of datasets, data transparency, provenance, and additionally ensure data are machine-readable (e.g., R and Python languages). ALSDA integration with GeneLab and its analysis portals enable higher-order physiological-level datasets be mined in conjunction with -omics datasets. As ALSDA physiological-level datasets are published (micro-computed tomography, histology, intraocular pressure, hormonal assays, immunostaining, ultrasonography), the merging of hierarchical organizations of biological complexity from spaceflight will enable new knowledge discovery approaches.

Ryan T Scott↗