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At least 145 records · Page 8

Best Practices from NASA's Open Science Response to the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) Process

The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) in the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO) provides dedicated analysis and advice to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and is charged with identifying satellite data needs across the U.S. Government agencies to which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) responds with solutions aligning with its missions and goals. The SNWG puts out a biennial survey to the U.S. Government agencies asking a variety of questions aimed at gleaning their current needs for satellite data. NASA’s response to the SNWG since 2016 has been to serve the community at large with open science and open data products derived through the SNWG process. With the next SNWG cycle set to kick off in 2022, the NASA SNWG team has been actively working to incorporate lessons learned from the past three cycles into the NASA-side process and tools. We will discuss the best practices and tools NASA has developed in response to the SNWG survey assessment process. These assist NASA’s decisions on how best to utilize existing, and proposing new, products and services to address the needs of other U.S. agencies.

Cerese Albers↗

Models of Sector Flows Under Local, Regional and Airport Weather Constraints

Recently, the ATM community has made important progress in collaborative trajectory management through the introduction of a new FAA traffic management initiative called a Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP). FAA can use CTOPs to manage air traffic under multiple constraints (manifested as flow constrained areas or FCAs) in the system, and it allows flight operators to indicate their preferences for routing and delay options. CTOPs also permits better management of the overall trajectory of flights by considering both routing and departure delay options simultaneously. However, adoption of CTOPs in airspace has been hampered by many factors that include challenges in how to identify constrained areas and how to set rates for the FCAs. Decision support tools providing assistance would be particularly helpful in effective use of CTOPs. Such DSTs tools would need models of demand and capacity in the presence of multiple constraints. This study examines different approaches to using historical data to create and validate models of maximum flows in sectors and other airspace regions in the presence of multiple constraints. A challenge in creating an empirical model of flows under multiple constraints is a lack of sufficient historical data that captures diverse situations involving combinations of multiple constraints especially those with severe weather. The approach taken here to deal with this is two-fold. First, we create a generalized sector model encompassing multiple sectors rather than individual sectors in order to increase the amount of data used for creating the model by an order of magnitude. Secondly, we decompose the problem so that the amount of data needed is reduced. This involves creating a baseline demand model plus a separate weather constrained flow reduction model and then composing these into a single integrated model. A nominal demand model is a flow model (gdem) in the presence of clear local weather. This defines the flow as a function of weather constraints in neighboring regions, airport constraints and weather in locations that can cause re-routes to the location of interest. A weather constrained flow reduction model (fwx-red) is a model of reduction in baseline counts as a function of local weather. Because the number of independent variables associated with each of the two decomposed models is smaller than that with a single model, need for amount of data is reduced. Finally, a composite model that combines these two can be represented as fwx-red (gdem(e), l) where e represents non-local constraints and l represents local weather. The approaches studied to developing these models are divided into three categories: (1) Point estimation models (2) Empirical models (3) Theoretical models. Errors in predictions of these different types of models have been estimated. In situations when there is abundant data, point estimation models tend to be very accurate. In contrast, empirical models do better than theoretical models when there is some data available. The biggest benefit of theoretical models is their general applicability in wider range situations once the degree of accuracy of these has been established.

Kulkarni, Deepak↗

Models of Sector Aircraft Counts in the Presence of Local, Regional and Airport Constraints

Recently, the ATM community has made important progress in collaborative trajectory management through the introduction of a new FAA traffic management initiative called a Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP). FAA can use CTOPs to manage air traffic under multiple constraints (manifested as flow constrained areas or FCAs) in the system, and it allows flight operators to indicate their preferences for routing and delay options. CTOPs also permits better management of the overall trajectory of flights by considering both routing and departure delay options simultaneously. However, adoption of CTOPs in airspace has been hampered by many factors that include challenges in how to identify constrained areas and how to set rates for the FCAs. Decision support tools providing assistance would be particularly helpful in effective use of CTOPs. Such DSTs tools would need models of demand and capacity in the presence of multiple constraints. This study examines different approaches to using historical data to create and validate models of maximum flows in sectors and other airspace regions in the presence of multiple constraints. A challenge in creating an empirical model of flows under multiple constraints is a lack of sufficient historical data that captures diverse situations involving combinations of multiple constraints especially those with severe weather. The approach taken here to deal with this is two-fold. First, we create a generalized sector model encompassing multiple sectors rather than individual sectors in order to increase the amount of data used for creating the model by an order of magnitude. Secondly, we decompose the problem so that the amount of data needed is reduced. This involves creating a baseline demand model plus a separate weather constrained flow reduction model and then composing these into a single integrated model. A nominal demand model is a flow model (gdem) in the presence of clear local weather. This defines the flow as a function of weather constraints in neighboring regions, airport constraints and weather in locations that can cause re-routes to the location of interest. A weather constrained flow reduction model (fwx-red) is a model of reduction in baseline counts as a function of local weather. Because the number of independent variables associated with each of the two decomposed models is smaller than that with a single model, need for amount of data is reduced. Finally, a composite model that combines these two can be represented as fwx-red (gdem(e), l) where e represents non-local constraints and l represents local weather. The approaches studied to developing these models are divided into three categories: (1) Point estimation models (2) Empirical models (3) Theoretical models. Errors in predictions of these different types of models have been estimated. In situations when there is abundant data, point estimation models tend to be very accurate. In contrast, empirical models do better than theoretical models when there is some data available. The biggest benefit of theoretical models is their general applicability in wider range situations once the degree of accuracy of these has been established.

Kulkarni, Deepak↗

NARUC grid data sharing playbook

In 2022, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) launched an initiative to support its members in addressing issues related to grid data sharing. The Grid Data Sharing Collaborative was funded by the DOE’s Office of Electricity and Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). NARUC invited programmatic, policy, technical, and cybersecurity subject matter experts from public utility commissions, utilities, non-governmental organizations, energy service companies, and DOE to join the two-year Grid Data Sharing Collaborative to help develop a flexible framework for states to use as a starting point when navigating complex decision-making inherent in grid data sharing. The framework took shape through a series of intensive workshops during which Collaborative participants explored illustrative use cases to identify data needs, articulate the benefits and risks of sharing such data, and assess the trade-offs. Along the way, participants offered suggestions for how the framework could be used in practice. The purpose of this playbook is to describe the elements of the Grid Data Sharing Framework and to begin supporting its implementation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

On-board orbit determination for applications satellites

An algorithm for satellite orbit determination is described which would be suitable for use with an on-board computer with limited core storage. The proposed filter is recursive on a pass-by-pass basis and features a fading memory to account for the effect of gravity field error. Only a single pass of Doppler data needs to be stored at any time and the data may be acquired from two reference beacons located within the Continental United States. The results of both simulated data and real data reductions demonstrate that the satellite's position can be determined to within one kilometer when a 4 x 4 recovery field is used.

Morduch, G. E.↗

Program Aids Specification Of Multiple-Block Grids

3DPREP computer program aids specification of multiple-block computational grids. Highly interactive graphical preprocessing program designed for use on powerful graphical scientific computer workstation. Divided into three main parts, each corresponding to principal graphical-and-alphanumerical display. Relieves user of some burden of collecting and formatting many data needed to specify blocks and grids, and prepares input data for NASA's 3DGRAPE grid-generating computer program.

Sorenson, R. L.↗

Candidate-Landing Sites and Backups for the Mars Surveyor Program in the Schiaparelli. Crater Region

Our Survey area comprises the Sinus Sabeus NW quadrangle that includes most of the Schiaparelli crater and part of the Arabia SW region (3 N to 15 S Lat.) and (0 to 337.5 W long.) and covers all regions that show a potential hydrogeological link with the Schiaparelli impact structure. This area is hereafter defined as the Schiaparelli Crater Region. The Schiaparelli crater region is one of the most documented MOC targets. Up to now, MGS MOC camera took two dozen images at an average of 5m/pxl resolution that not only provide an exceptional insight on the local geology and morphology, but give also key-elements to assess landing safety criteria. In addition, the MOLA topographic profile No. 23 passes through part of the crater basin allowing the adjustment of the elevation as previously known from the Viking mission (USGS I-2125, 1991). Beyond the Mars Polar Lander mission that will land next December, the future missions (2001 APEX, 2003, and 2005) are led by a series of science objectives and engineering constraints that must be considered in order to select landing sites that will fulfill the Surveyor Program's objectives. The search for a sound and safe candidate-site (without ending up with the usual "safe but boring" or "fascinating but too risky" site) is usually limited by the data available to the investigator, by the data accuracy (e.g. poor image resolution, poor altimetry), and the lack of crucial information for science and safety that can be derived from them. The Schiaparelli region provides an exception to this recurrent pattern. We listed the preliminary constraints for landing site selection identified for the Surveyor '01 mission, in terms of safety requirements and data needed and compared them against the existing information and/or data already available for the Schiaparelli region. The engineering constraints of '03 and '05 are not designated yet but, since they are also related to atmospheric density and Lander designs, we will assume that these points will be comparable to '01. The main difference will reside in the rover design, the Rocky-7 class rover being bigger than Marie Curie ('01) will be able to overcome bigger obstacles. We listed then the main objectives of the Surveyor Program and compared them with the potential offered by the Schiaparelli Crater Region to document them. Within the survey area, the Schiaparelli impact crater is 2.5 S/343.3 W (USGS 1-1376, MC-20 NW, 1981) and occupies a significant surface area. The crater has been proposed as a potential candidate-site in the past years. The purpose of this study is to show that, not only the Schiaparelli Crater would be a high-priority target, but that the region where it is located offer several very-high potential back-up sites, all within science and engineering constraints, that make this region probably the most promising candidate area so far.

Cabrol, Nathalie A.↗

Interfacial Surgery Determination of Succinonitrile and Succinonitrile-Acetone Alloy Using Surface Light Scattering Spectrometer

The objectives of this ground based research is to measure the liquid/vapor interfacial surface energies of succinonitrile (SCN) and alloys of succinonitrile and acetone using Surface Light Scattering Spectrometer. Liquid/vapor interfacial energy measurements will be made near and above the melting point and are the primary goal of this proposal. A measurement of viscosity also results from the Surface Light Scattering technique employed. Interfacial free energies between the phases enters into many analysis of phase transformation and flow, including nucleation, dendritic growth, interface stability, Ostwald ripening, and Marangoni flow. Succirionitrile (SCN) is useful as a model for the study of metal solidification, although it is an organic material, it has a BCC crystal structure and solidifies dendriticly like a metal. It is also transparent and has a low melting point (58.08 C). Succinonitrile has been and is being used extensively in NASAs Microgravity Materials Science and Fluid Physics programs and as well as in several ground-based and microgravity studies including the Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) due to Glicksman and coworkers and subsequently in several theoretical and numerical studies of dendritic growth. Previous measurements of succinonitrile (SCN) and alloys of succinonitrile and acetone surface tensions are extremely limited. We believe the data sought through this proposal have significant basic physical property data value and thus the work proposed will provide needed data in support of NASAs Microgravity program research.

Tin, Padetha↗

Proceedings of the NASA Laboratory Astrophysics Workshop

This report is a collection of papers presented at the 2006 NASA Workshop on Laboratory Astrophysics held in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from February 14 to 16, 2006. This workshop brings together producers and users of laboratory astrophysics data so that they can understand each other's needs and limitations in the context of the needs for NASA's missions. The last NASA-sponsored workshop was held in 2002 at Ames Research Center. Recent related meetings include the Topical Session at the AAS meeting and the European workshop at Pillnitz, Germany, both of which were held in June 2005. The former showcased the importance of laboratory astrophysics to the community at large, while the European workshop highlighted a multi-laboratory approach to providing the needed data. The 2006 NASA Workshop on Laboratory Astrophysics, sponsored by the NASA Astrophysics Division, focused on the current status of the field and its relevance to NASA. This workshop attracted 105 participants and 82 papers of which 19 were invited. A White Paper identifying the key issues in laboratory astrophysics during the break-out sessions was prepared by the Scientific Organizing Committee, and has been forwarded to the Universe Working Group (UWG) at NASA Headquarters. This White Paper, which represented the collective inputs and opinions from experts and stakeholders in the field of astrophysics, should serve as the working document for the future development of NASA's R&A program in laboratory astrophysics.

Weck, Phillippe F.↗

Obtaining and Using Planetary Spatial Data into the Future: The Role of the Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (MAPSIT)

Planetary spatial data, which include any remote sensing data or derived products with sufficient positional information such that they can be projected onto a planetary body, continue to rapidly increase in volume and complexity. These data are the hard-earned fruits of decades of planetary exploration, and are the end result of mission planning and execution. Maintaining these data using accessible formats and standards for all scientists has been necessary for the success of past, present, and future planetary missions. The Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (MAPSIT) is a group of planetary community members tasked by NASA Headquarters to work with the planetary science community to identify and prioritize their planetary spatial data needs to help determine the best pathways for new data acquisition, usable product derivation, and tools/capability development that supports NASA's planetary science missions.

Radebaugh, J.↗

The PARADIGM Project: Case Study in Balancing Experiment Uncertainty with Design simplicity

Accurate nuclear data are required for simulations of many applications including nuclear criticality safety. Actinide nuclear data at intermediate energies (from 1 to 100s of keV) are imprecise and inaccurate, because of scarce differential data, and an insufficient theory approach to capture the structures expected in the data to yield evaluated nuclear data, and lack of integral data for proper validation. This is a known deficiency but has proved challenging to address. More specifically, only 5% of integral experiments in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) benchmark suite address intermediate energies (Fig. 1). Associated calculated effective multiplication factor, k eff , values for these experiments are far outside the experimental uncertainties and are 25× further from experiment than for fast energies. These differences could either stem from systematic biases in nuclear data, experiments or both. The goal of the PARADIGM (PARallel Approach of Differential and InteGral Measurements) project is to significantly reduce (by more than tens of percent) the uncertainties of intermediate energy actinide nuclear data. The PARADIGM project designed and intends to execute LANSCE (Los Alamos Neutron Science CEnter) and NCERC (National Criticality Experiments Research Center) intermediate experiments in parallel. They will specifically address a high priority nuclear data need—reducing bias and uncertainty in intermediate plutonium nuclear data. The two experiment will achieve that by informing each other and nuclear theory. By doing all these steps in parallel, the timeline to deliver improved nuclear data to users will significantly be reduced. This work will focus on the integral experiment final design and the balance of design and modeling simplicity while minimizing experiment uncertainty.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Analyzing Federal Agency Earth Observation Needs: NASA’s 2022 Satellite Needs Working Group Assessment

Every two years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) leads an assessment of Federal civilian agency Earth observation needs submitted through the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) survey. Nearly 30 agencies participated in the 2022 SNWG survey, submitting 115 high-priority satellite data needs that span Earth Science and represent a wide variety of potential applications for Earth observation data. Analysis of multiple SNWG survey cycles reveals trends in agency needs toward more frequent, higher resolution data that can inform agency decision-making. NASA and partners at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) evaluated the agency surveys during an eight-month assessment period. Assessment teams comprised of subject matter experts, technology specialists, and agency managers conducted an in-depth interview with each submitting agency to fully understand the need and discuss relevant current and upcoming satellite missions. The teams then proposed over 100 potential solutions, or new activities that NASA, NOAA, and/or USGS could undertake to help meet agency needs. A few cross-cutting potential solutions that are projected to be most valuable to SNWG agencies are under consideration for implementation by NASA in the coming years.

Katrina Virts↗

Human and Robotic Mission to Small Bodies: Mapping, Planning and Exploration

This study investigates the requirements, performs a gap analysis and makes a set of recommendations for mapping products and exploration tools required to support operations and scientific discovery for near- term and future NASA missions to small bodies. The mapping products and their requirements are based on the analysis of current mission scenarios (rendezvous, docking, and sample return) and recommendations made by the NEA Users Team (NUT) in the framework of human exploration. The mapping products that sat- isfy operational, scienti c, and public outreach goals include topography, images, albedo, gravity, mass, density, subsurface radar, mineralogical and thermal maps. The gap analysis points to a need for incremental generation of mapping products from low (flyby) to high-resolution data needed for anchoring and docking, real-time spatial data processing for hazard avoidance and astronaut or robot localization in low gravity, high dynamic environments, and motivates a standard for coordinate reference systems capable of describing irregular body shapes. Another aspect investigated in this study is the set of requirements and the gap analysis for exploration tools that support visualization and simulation of operational conditions including soil interactions, environment dynamics, and communications coverage. Building robust, usable data sets and visualisation/simulation tools is the best way for mission designers and simulators to make correct decisions for future missions. In the near term, it is the most useful way to begin building capabilities for small body exploration without needing to commit to specific mission architectures.

Neffian, Ara V.↗

Sensing the earth's environment from space - User needs and technology opportunities

Results of a number of studies involving industry, universities and government agencies working in concert to identify specific measurement and data needs in the field of satellite remote sensing are discussed. Comparisons are made with existing sensor capabilities and with the trends in the supporting technology. A series of tables is presented describing, among other things, user subcommittees using remote sensing data, atmosphere, ocean, land and cryosphere measurement needs and funded capabilities, and the capability status of such sensors as passive and active microwave sensors, visible and IR radiometers and laser sensors.

Nagler, R. G.↗

Land, Cryosphere, and Nighttime Environmental Products from Suomi NPP VIIRS: Overview and Status

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP: http://npp.gsfc.nasa.gov/). VIIRS was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and provide observation continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA and NOAA funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and derived products to meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the former National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs and providing MODIS data product continuity. This paper will present to-date findings of the NASA Science Team's evaluation of the VIIRS Land and Cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization (http://viirsland.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html). The paper will also discuss new capabilities being developed at NASA's Land Product Evaluation and Test Element (http://landweb.nascom.nasa.gov/NPP_QA/); including downstream data and products derived from the VIIRS Day/Night Band (DNB).

land cover land use↗

Synthetic data generation for machine learning model training for energy theft scenarios using cosimulation

Abstract Technical and non‐technical losses in distribution circuits result in significant economic costs to power utilities. One type of non‐technical loss is energy theft by various means including illegal tapping of feeders, bypassing the meter, and billing fraud. These losses are usually hard to detect, and can remain undetected for long periods of time. Machine learning models have been proven effective in detecting these conditions, but rely on the availability of large, good‐quality training data sets. The problem is exacerbated by the imbalanced nature of data related to these conditions—energy theft, though costly, is very rare. The available data sets generally have very few samples of theft with most of the data pertaining to normal operation. Such data sets are generally not suitable to train machine learning models. In this paper, an overview of energy theft detection techniques, the challenges with their data needs, and the limitations of current techniques to bridge such data limitations is presented. A co‐simulation framework is proposed to generate reliable training data for machine learning algorithms for theft detection. An example scenario is presented and a machine learning model is built to detect certain kinds of energy theft.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Algorithm For Simplified Robotic Tracking Of Weld Seams

Algorithm computes small cross-seam corrections to programmed path of welding robot. Intended for use with add-on vision system loosely coupled to robot, transmitting small amount of information about weld seam ahead of torch. Position of welding torch in reference frame of moving window estimated on basis of data on weld seam and speed of torch. Does not need data on position of torch, and does not transform data on seam to another reference frame.

Gutow, David A.↗

Development of Ground Reference GIS for Assessing Land Cover Maps of Northeast Yellowstone National Park

GIS technology and ground reference data often play vital roles in assessing land cover maps derived from remotely sensed data. This poster illustrates these roles, using results from a study done in Northeast Yellowstone National Park. This area holds many forest, range, and wetland cover types of interest to park managers. Several recent studies have focused on this locale, including the NASA Earth Observations Commercial Applications Program (EOCAP) hyperspectral project performed by Yellowstone Ecosystems Studies (YES) on riparian and in-stream habitat mapping. This poster regards a spin-off to the EOCAP project in which YES and NASA's Earth Science Applications Directorate explored the potential for synergistic use of hyperspecral, synthetic aperture radar, and multiband thermal imagery in mapping land cover types. The project included development of a ground reference GIS for site-specific data needed to evaluate maps from remotely sensed imagery. Field survey data included reflectance of plant communities, native and exotic plant species, and forest health conditions. Researchers also collected GPS points, annotated aerial photographs, and took hand held photographs of reference sites. The use of ESRI, ERDAS, and ENVI software enabled reference data entry into a GIS for comparision to georeferenced imagery and thematic maps. The GIS-based ground reference data layers supported development and assessment of multiple maps from remotely sensed data sets acquired over the study area.

Spruce, Joe↗