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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Sterile Neutrinos in Cold Climates

Measurements of neutrino oscillations at short baselines contain an intriguing set of experimental anomalies that may be suggestive of new physics such as the existence of sterile neutrinos. This three-part thesis presents research directed towards understanding these anomalies and searching for sterile neutrino oscillations. Part I contains a theoretical discussion of neutrino coherence properties. The open-quantum-system picture of neutrino beams, which allows a rigorous prediction of coherence distances for accelerator neutrinos, is presented. Validity of the standard treatment of active and sterile neutrino oscillations at short baselines is verified and non-standard coherence loss effects at longer baselines are predicted. Part II concerns liquid argon detector development for the MicroBooNE experiment, which will search for short-baseline oscillations in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab. Topics include characterization and installation of the MicroBooNE optical system; test-stand measurements of liquid argon optical properties with dissolved impurities; optimization of wavelength-shifting coatings for liquid argon scintillation light detection; testing and deployment of high-voltage surge arrestors to protect TPC field cages; and software development for optical and TPC simulation and reconstruction. Part III presents a search for sterile neutrinos using the IceCube neutrino telescope, which has collected a large sample of atmospheric-neutrino-induced events in the 1-10 TeV energy range. Sterile neutrinos would modify the detected neutrino flux shape via MSW-resonant oscillations. Following a careful treatment of systematic uncertainties in the sample, no evidence for MSW-resonant oscillations is observed, and exclusion limits on 3+1 model parameter space are derived. Under the mixing assumptions made, the 90\% confidence level exclusion limit extends to $\mathrm{sin}^2 2\theta_{24} \leq 0.02$ at $\Delta m^2 \sim 0.3\,eV^2$, and the LSND and MiniBooNE allowed regions are excluded at~>99\% confidence level.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

The PROPEL Hydro System (Final Report)

This paper summarizes research, development and outcome of a modular system for powering non-powered dams. There are approximately 77,000 non-powered dams in the US, a non-trivial fraction of which could be used to generate power. Development in this area has been slow because building projects costs too much and takes too long. The PROPEL-Hydro system combines modular components for the intake and foundation, an ai driven project design and evaluation tool, and a turbine optimized for performance on small and low head sites. Work included a combination of site evaluation, refinement of power electronics, value analysis supported by computational fluid mechanics and software development to support a project evaluation tool. The result is a reduction in installed cost/kW and resulting LCOE.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1975

A cost effective data management subsystem for the LST

The paper outlines the approach used in developing DMS (Data Management Subsystem) alternatives for the LST (Large Space Telescope) and in selecting the concept considered to be the most cost effective means of implementing the LST DMS requirements. Two candidate DMS concepts are discussed: a functionally integrated and a functionally separated one. For the single vehicle LST program, separation of the DMS functions best provides high reliability, operations flexibility, minimal interface complexity, and the least complex software development and verification task. The use of available hardware and NASA standard components is stressed.

Dougherty, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Hardware in-the-Loop Demonstration of Real-Time Orbit Determination in High Earth Orbits

This paper presents results from a study conducted at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to assess the real-time orbit determination accuracy of GPS-based navigation in a number of different high Earth orbital regimes. Measurements collected from a GPS receiver (connected to a GPS radio frequency (RF) signal simulator) were processed in a navigation filter in real-time, and resulting errors in the estimated states were assessed. For the most challenging orbit simulated, a 12 hour Molniya orbit with an apogee of approximately 39,000 km, mean total position and velocity errors were approximately 7 meters and 3 mm/s respectively. The study also makes direct comparisons between the results from the above hardware in-the-loop tests and results obtained by processing GPS measurements generated from software simulations. Care was taken to use the same models and assumptions in the generation of both the real-time and software simulated measurements, in order that the real-time data could be used to help validate the assumptions and models used in the software simulations. The study makes use of the unique capabilities of the Formation Flying Test Bed at GSFC, which provides a capability to interface with different GPS receivers and to produce real-time, filtered orbit solutions even when less than four satellites are visible. The result is a powerful tool for assessing onboard navigation performance in a wide range of orbital regimes, and a test-bed for developing software and procedures for use in real spacecraft applications.

Moreau, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2017

Collaborative Data Publication Utilizing the Open Data Repository's Data Publisher

For small communities in multidisciplinary fields such as astrobiology, publishing and sharing data can be challenging. While large, homogenous fields often have repositories and existing data standards, small groups of independent researchers have few options for publishing data that can be utilized within their community. In conjunction with teams at NASA Ames and the University of Arizona, a number of pilot studies are being conducted to assess the needs of these research groups and to guide the software development so that it allows them to publish and share their data collaboratively.

Human-readable interfaces↗
NASA NTRS1989

Real-time graphics for the Space Station Freedom cupola, developed in the Systems Engineering Simulator

Among the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center's responsibilities for Space Station Freedom is the cupola. Attached to the resource node, the cupola is a windowed structure that will serve as the space station's secondary control center. From the cupola, operations involving the mobile service center and orbital maneuvering vehicle will be conducted. The Systems Engineering Simulator (SES), located in building 16, activated a real-time man-in-the-loop cupola simulator in November 1987. The SES cupola is an engineering tool with the flexibility to evolve in both hardware and software as the final cupola design matures. Two workstations are simulated with closed-circuit television monitors, rotational and translational hand controllers, programmable display pushbuttons, and graphics display with trackball and keyboard. The displays and controls of the SES cupola are driven by a Silicon Graphics Integrated Raster Imaging System (IRIS) 4D/70 GT computer. Through the use of an interactive display builder program, SES, cupola display pages consisting of two dimensional and three dimensional graphics are constructed. These display pages interact with the SES via the IRIS real-time graphics interface. The focus is on the real-time graphics interface applications software developed on the IRIS.

Red, Michael T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

The Collaborative Information Portal and NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission

The Collaborative Information Portal was enterprise software developed jointly by the NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Mission managers, engineers, scientists, and researchers used this Internet application to view current staffing and event schedules, download data and image files generated by the rovers, receive broadcast messages, and get accurate times in various Mars and Earth time zones. This article describes the features, architecture, and implementation of this software, and concludes with lessons we learned from its deployment and a look towards future missions.

Mak, Ronald↗
DOE OSTI2020

2020 Exascale Computing Project Annual Meeting (Executive Summary Report)

The Exascale Computing Project (ECP) delivers specific applications, software products, and outcomes on DOE computing facilities. Integration across these elements for specific hardware technologies for exascale system instantiations is fundamental to ECP success. The outcome of the ECP is the delivery of a capable exascale computing ecosystem to provide breakthrough solutions addressing our most critical challenges in scientific discovery, energy assurance, economic competitiveness, and national security. This outcome is not a matter of ensuring more powerful computing systems. The ECP is designed to create more valuable and rapid insights from a wide variety of applications (“capable”), which requires a much higher level of inherent efficacy in all methods, software tools, and ECP-enabled computing technologies to be acquired by DOE laboratories (“ecosystem”). The ECP annual meeting provides a unique opportunity for the core technical expertise in the United States focused on achieving this next plateau of computational science and computing performance to engage in direct discussions on project execution. Face-to-face gatherings in technical communities like this are common and needed for the exchange of scientific ideas and technical performance. The ECP annual meeting stands apart from other technical conferences and meetings in the computing community as it is uniquely and solely focused on the execution of the ECP and the integration of technical activities leading to the creation of the exascale computing ecosystem for the future. The direct interaction of key critical technical staff, who are leaders in their respective fields, and the resulting give-and-take between software, applications, and hardware and the technical co-design therein, is unique and essential to the effective execution of the ECP. The first annual meeting was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, January 31 – February 2, 2017 and brought together, for the first time, a diverse collection of researchers from 16 DOE national laboratories as well as university computer and computational science researchers to discuss shared problems and joint solutions for the development of a capable exascale computing ecosystem. These interactions resulted in focused technical plans and an energized community centered on advances for ECP. The second annual meeting was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, February 5–9, 2018. It included 643 individual thought leaders and performers in application development, software research and deployment, and hardware research and integrators, all of whom are part of the multifaceted, billion dollar HPC community. This meeting provided a platform to discuss and disseminate numerous examples where researchers with common goals and synergistic solutions came together for the first time to deliver tangible results. Additionally, at the 2018 meeting, ECP researchers had the opportunity to digest all US HPC vendor R&D product roadmaps pointing to exascale – not only to learn how their research can play a role, but, more importantly, to influence those roadmaps to ensure successful delivery on DOE applications that will contribute to (if not solve) problems of national interest in national security, science, energy, and health, as well as growing security threats. The third annual meeting was held in Houston, Texas, January 14–17, 2019. With a 19% increase in the number of registrations (768 people), and the change in location, the third annual meeting was considered the most impactful of the three at the time. The new website provided a better platform for the dissemination of the content, the new venue as a meeting hotel instead of a conference center facilitated interactions and discussions after event hours, and the addition of an award-winning mobile event conference app (Whova) transformed dramatically the attendee experience at the event. This fourth annual meeting was held in Houston, Texas, February 3-7, 2020. This meeting had an increase in the number of attendees for a total of 824 people registered (782 attendees) and included numerous enhancements based on feedback and lessons learned from previous meetings, some of which are listed here: Improved quality of the sessions, their material and the whole program.; Had more industry participation and addition of external collaborators from overseas.; Published the full agenda earlier to better accommodate attendance and travel plans based on schedule.; Centralized all sessions in one venue.; Provided additional hotels and room blocks for the attendees.; Improved communication with the audience (links, material, directions, notifications, etc.) to go paperless.; Enhanced side meeting scheduling, management and user experience.; Made available additional space and tables for impromptu meetings and side discussions.; Improved IT and A/V solutions for speakers. In addition, our final survey captured the following points as opportunities for improvement in future meetings: consider a different meeting location that is more pedestrian friendly, reduce talks during working meals to allow more collaboration and informal time, adapt the agenda to acknowledge attendees from different timezones, consider recording some of the tutorials and/or sessions to share broadly with the HPC community, have a larger poster room, provide additional power strips, and improve the WiFi.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1994

Using CLIPS in the domain of knowledge-based massively parallel programming

The Program Development Environment (PDE) is a tool for massively parallel programming of distributed-memory architectures. Adopting a knowledge-based approach, the PDE eliminates the complexity introduced by parallel hardware with distributed memory and offers complete transparency in respect of parallelism exploitation. The knowledge-based part of the PDE is realized in CLIPS. Its principal task is to find an efficient parallel realization of the application specified by the user in a comfortable, abstract, domain-oriented formalism. A large collection of fine-grain parallel algorithmic skeletons, represented as COOL objects in a tree hierarchy, contains the algorithmic knowledge. A hybrid knowledge base with rule modules and procedural parts, encoding expertise about application domain, parallel programming, software engineering, and parallel hardware, enables a high degree of automation in the software development process. In this paper, important aspects of the implementation of the PDE using CLIPS and COOL are shown, including the embedding of CLIPS with C++-based parts of the PDE. The appropriateness of the chosen approach and of the CLIPS language for knowledge-based software engineering are discussed.

Dvorak, Jiri J.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Impact of Detector Simulation in Particle Physics Collider Experiments - Highlights

Detector simulation has become fundamental to the success of modern high-energy physics (HEP) experiments. For example, the Geant4-based simulation applications developed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments played a major role for them to produce physics measurements of unprecedented quality and precision with faster turnaround, from data taking to journal submission, than any previous hadron collider experiment. The material presented here contains highlights of a recent review on the impact of detector simulation in particle physics collider experiments published in Ref. [1]. It includes examples of applications to detector design and optimization, software development and testing of computing infrastructure, and modeling of physics objects and their kinematics. The cost and economic impact of simulation in the CMS experiment is also presented. A discussion on future detector simulation needs, challenges and potential solutions to address them is included at the end.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1993

Issues for bringing digital libraries into public use

In much the same way that the field of artificial intelligence produced a cult which fervently believed that computers would soon think like human beings, the existence of electronic books has resurrected the paperless society as a utopian vision to some, an apocalyptic horror to others. In this essay we have attempted to provide realistic notions of what digital libraries are likely to become if they are a popular success. E-books are capable of subsuming most of the media we use today and have the potential for added functionality by being interactive. The environmental impact of having millions more computers will be offset to some degree, perhaps even exceeded, by the fact that televisions, stereos, VCR's, CD players, newspapers, magazines, and books will become part of the computer system or be made redundant. On the whole, large-scale use of digital libraries is likely to be a winning proposition. Whether or not this comes to pass depends on the directions taken by today's researchers and software developers. By involving the public, the effort being put into digital libraries can be leveraged into something which is big enough to make a real change for the better. If digital libraries remain the exclusive property of government, universities, and large research firms, then large parts of the world will remain without digital libraries for years to come, just as they have remained without digital phone service for far too long. If software companies try to scuttle the project by patenting crucial algorithms and using proprietary data formats, all of us will suffer. Let us reverse the errors of the past and create a truly open digital library system.

Flater, David W.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics System: Concept of Operations

NASA proposed requirements for a digital display for an EVA spacesuit to provide relevant information to the crew member. The Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics System (Joint AR) project pursued four years of research and development towards a suit-display system in a near-eye, AR form factor. The project was responsible for developing software (custom graphics engine and core flight software), physical hardware prototyping (controls, projection display optics, suited display platform), virtual prototyping platform (a virtual reality testbed), and human-in-the-loop (HITL) operational testing informed by EVA flight controllers, crew members, and human factors engineers for con-ops definition. This document contains substantial updates to CTSD-ADV-1788 Rev. Basic. This revision was produced by the project to summarize the use-cases and and user experiences developed throughout the project, and refine the Basic revision originally drafted at the beginning of the project life cycle. The primary purpose of this document is to summarize and make available the scenario development efforts that have been pursued and explored within the Joint AR project. This includes descriptions of the scenarios themselves as well as corresponding potential of advanced informatics displays to support those specified scenarios. In doing so, this document provides a variety of approaches to deconstruct and hypothesize how future technological capabilities so that with future EVA work demands can be satisfied within future human planetary spaceflight missions.

Matthew Miller↗
NASA NTRS2012

3D Drop Size Distribution Extrapolation Algorithm Using a Single Disdrometer

Determining the Z-R relationship (where Z is the radar reflectivity factor and R is rainfall rate) from disdrometer data has been and is a common goal of cloud physicists and radar meteorology researchers. The usefulness of this quantity has traditionally been limited since radar represents a volume measurement, while a disdrometer corresponds to a point measurement. To solve that problem, a 3D-DSD (drop-size distribution) method of determining an equivalent 3D Z-R was developed at the University of Central Florida and tested at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. Unfortunately, that method required a minimum of three disdrometers clustered together within a microscale network (.1-km separation). Since most commercial disdrometers used by the radar meteorology/cloud physics community are high-cost instruments, three disdrometers located within a microscale area is generally not a practical strategy due to the limitations of these kinds of research budgets. A relatively simple modification to the 3D-DSD algorithm provides an estimate of the 3D-DSD and therefore, a 3D Z-R measurement using a single disdrometer. The basis of the horizontal extrapolation is mass conservation of a drop size increment, employing the mass conservation equation. For vertical extrapolation, convolution of a drop size increment using raindrop terminal velocity is used. Together, these two independent extrapolation techniques provide a complete 3DDSD estimate in a volume around and above a single disdrometer. The estimation error is lowest along a vertical plane intersecting the disdrometer position in the direction of wind advection. This work demonstrates that multiple sensors are not required for successful implementation of the 3D interpolation/extrapolation algorithm. This is a great benefit since it is seldom that multiple sensors in the required spatial arrangement are available for this type of analysis. The original software (developed at the University of Central Florida, 1998.- 2000) has also been modified to read standardized disdrometer data format (Joss-Waldvogel format). Other modifications to the software involve accounting for vertical ambient wind motion, as well as evaporation of the raindrop during its flight time.

Lane, John↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-T-570: New Quality Assurance Method Using Motion Tracking for 6D Robotic Couches

Purpose: To accommodate geometrically accurate patient positioning, a robotic couch that is capable of 6-degrees of freedom has been introduced. However, conventional couch QA methods are not sufficient to enable the necessary accuracy of tests. Therefore, we have developed a camera based motion detection and geometry calibration system for couch QA. Methods: Employing a Visual-Tracking System (VTS, BonitaB10, Vicon, UK) which tracks infrared reflective(IR) markers, camera calibration was conducted using a 5.7 × 5.7 × 5.7 cm{sup 3} cube attached with IR markers at each corner. After positioning a robotic-couch at the origin with the cube on the table top, 3D coordinates of the cube’s eight corners were acquired by VTS in the VTS coordinate system. Next, positions in reference coordinates (roomcoordinates) were assigned using the known relation between each point. Finally, camera calibration was completed by finding a transformation matrix between VTS and reference coordinate systems and by applying a pseudo inverse matrix method. After the calibration, the accuracy of linear and rotational motions as well as couch sagging could be measured by analyzing the continuously acquired data of the cube while the couch moves to a designated position. Accuracy of the developed software was verified through comparison with measurement data when using a Laser tracker (FARO, Lake Mary, USA) for a robotic-couch installed for proton therapy. Results: VTS system could track couch motion accurately and measured position in room-coordinates. The VTS measurements and Laser tracker data agreed within 1% of difference for linear and rotational motions. Also because the program analyzes motion in 3-Dimension, it can compute couch sagging. Conclusion: Developed QA system provides submillimeter/ degree accuracy which fulfills the high-end couch QA. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning. (2013M2A2A7043507 and 2012M3A9B6055201)

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
NASA NTRS2015

Evolving Design Criteria for Very Large Aperture Space Based Telescopes and Their Influence on the Need for Integrated Tools in the Optimization Process

NASA's Advanced Mirror Technology Development (AMTD) program has been developing the means to design and build the future generations of space based telescopes. With the nearing completion of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the astrophysics community is already starting to define the requirements for follow-on observatories. The restrictions of available launch vehicles and the possibilities of planned future vehicles have fueled the competition between monolithic primaries (with better optical quality) and segmented primaries (with larger apertures, but with diffraction, costs and figure control issues). Regardless of the current shroud sizes and lift capacities, these competing architectures share the need for rapid design tools. As part of the AMTD program a number of tools have been developed and tested to speed up the design process. Starting with the Arnold Mirror Modeler (which creates Finite Element Models (FEM) for structural analysis) and now also feeds these models into thermal stability analyses. They share common file formats and interchangeable results. During the development of the program, numerous trade studies were created for 4-meter and 8-meter monolithic primaries, complete with support systems. Evaluation of these results has led to a better understanding of how the specification drives the results. This paper will show some of the early trade studies for typical specification requirements such as lowest mirror bending frequency and suspension system lowest frequency. The results use representative allowable stress values for each mirror substrate material and construction method and generic material properties. These studies lead to some interesting relationships between feasible designs and the realities of actually trying to build these mirrors. Much of the traditional specifications were developed for much smaller systems, where the mass and volume of the primary where a small portion of the overall satellite. JWST shows us that as the aperture grows, the primary takes up the majority of the mass and volume and the established rules need to be adjusted. For example, a small change in lowest frequency requirement can change the cost by millions of dollars. The paper uses numerous trade studies created during the software development phase of the Arnold Mirror Modeler to illustrate the influences of system specifications on the design space. The future telescopes will require better performance, stability and documented feasibility to meet the hurdles of today's budget and schedules realities. AMTD is developing the tools, but the basic system planning mentality also has to adopt to the requirements of these very large and complex physical structures.

Arnold, William R., Sr.↗
DOE OSTI2016

A high-order numerical algorithm for DNS of low-Mach-number reactive flows with detailed chemistry and quasi-spectral accuracy

A novel and efficient algorithm is presented in this paper to deal with DNS of turbulent reacting flows under the low-Mach-number assumption, with detailed chemistry and a quasi-spectral accuracy. The temporal integration of the equations relies on an operating-split strategy, where chemical reactions are solved implicitly with a stiff solver and the convection-diffusion operators are solved with a Runge-Kutta-Chebyshev method. The spatial discretisation is performed with high-order compact schemes, and a FFT based constant-coefficient spectral solver is employed to solve a variable-coefficient Poisson equation. The numerical implementation takes advantage of the 2DECOMP&FFT libraries developed by, which are based on a pencil decomposition method of the domain and are proven to be computationally very efficient. An enhanced pressure-correction method is proposed to speed up the achievement of machine precision accuracy. It is demonstrated that a second-order accuracy is reached in time, while the spatial accuracy ranges from fourth-order to sixth-order depending on the set of imposed boundary conditions. In conclusion, the software developed to implement the present algorithm is called HOLOMAC, and its numerical efficiency opens the way to deal with DNS of reacting flows to understand complex turbulent and chemical phenomena in flames.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1984

Rotorcraft flight-propulsion control integration

The parallel development of digital engine and flight controls for U.S. Army helicopters has made possible the future derivation of a fully integrated digital flight/propulsion control system. A NASA/Army research program has been undertaken to exploit these possibilities, ultimately yielding a generation of helicopters with exceptional agility and maneuverability in military roles and low pilot workloads in all-weather civil aviation missions. The program's three phases respectively address system modeling and analysis, flight hardware and software development, and flight evaluations aboard a research vehicle.

Mihaloew, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2015

SU-E-J-182: Reproducibility of Tumor Motion Probability Distribution Function in Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy of Lung Using Real-Time Tumor-Tracking Radiotherapy System

Purpose: We aim to achieve new four-dimensional radiotherapy (4DRT) using the next generation real-time tumor-tracking (RTRT) system and flattening-filter-free techniques. To achieve new 4DRT, it is necessary to understand the respiratory motion of tumor. The purposes of this study were: 1.To develop the respiratory motion analysis tool using log files. 2.To evaluate the reproducibility of tumor motion probability distribution function (PDF) during stereotactic body RT (SBRT) of lung tumor. Methods: Seven patients having fiducial markers closely implanted to the lung tumor were enrolled in this study. The positions of fiducial markers were measured using the RTRT system (Mitsubishi Electronics Co., JP) and recorded as two types of log files during the course of SBRT. For each patients, tumor motion range and tumor motion PDFs in left-right (LR), anterior-posterior (AP) and superior-inferior (SI) directions were calculated using log files of all beams per fraction (PDFn). Fractional PDF reproducibility (Rn) was calculated as Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence between PDF1 and PDFn of tumor motion. The mean of Rn (Rm) was calculated for each patient and correlated to the patient’s mean tumor motion range (Am). The change of Rm during the course of SBRT was also evluated. These analyses were performed using in-house developed software. Results: The Rm were 0.19 (0.07–0.30), 0.14 (0.07–0.32) and 0.16 (0.09–0.28) in LR, AP and SI directions, respectively. The Am were 5.11 mm (2.58–9.99 mm), 7.81 mm (2.87–15.57 mm) and 11.26 mm (3.80–21.27 mm) in LR, AP and SI directions, respectively. The PDF reproducibility decreased as the tumor motion range increased in AP and SI direction. That decreased slightly through the course of RT in SI direction. Conclusion: We developed the respiratory motion analysis tool for 4DRT using log files and quantified the range and reproducibility of respiratory motion for lung tumors.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗