Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “reference systems”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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

At least 1,585 records · Page 88
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Testing, Calibration, and UxS Integration of the Kromek GR1 Plus CZT Gamma Spectrometer

Collecting radiation measurements can be a hazardous task, especially in the presence of highly active sources. Various scenarios necessitate source search, classification, and quantification, often with limited or no a priori information. Activities such as disaster mitigation, emergency response, environmental monitoring, and site remediation may involve dangerous radioactive sources. In these situations, there is a pressing need for remote monitoring capabilities that protect human operators from potential harm and enhance adherence to the principle of “As Low as Reasonably Achievable” (ALARA) for radiation doses. The first step toward achieving remote radiation measurement capabilities is the remote operation of a radiation sensor. Once this milestone is reached, the next challenge is to integrate this remote sensing capability into suitable actuation agents, collectively referred to as uncrewed systems (UxS). These systems include familiar platforms such as robotic quadrupeds, aerial multirotor vehicles, and ground vehicles, any of which may be teleoperated, act autonomously, or utilize a combination of both. A critical factor in achieving remote radiation sensing is the availability of data from the appropriate sensor. Many commercially available radiation sensors have closed-source documentation for their communication protocols. Typical end-user products are often self-contained, handheld devices designed for manual measurement scenarios. While there are commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) integrations of radiation sensors with UxS available for purchase, these solutions are typically tailored for specific use cases and may not meet the requirements of different applications. This paper discusses efforts to remotely acquire radiation measurements from a small form-factor CZT gamma spectrometer. Sandia National Laboratories has successfully demonstrated the initial capability to integrate low size, weight, and power (SWaP) gamma spectroscopy into various UxS, alongside co-located GPS data logging and sensor calibration and qualification. With remote gamma spectroscopy achieved, the stage is set for UxS integration of this capability.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

SPARC - Plans for a New Critical Experiment Facility with a Horizontal Split Table

Several critical experiment facilities, sometimes referred to as zero power reactor facilities, have provided crucial data to aid understanding and validate nuclear-physics models since the beginning of nuclear technology. Indeed, the first man-made reactor, Chicago Pile-1, was essentially this type of reactor. However, there was a downturn in nuclear technology development toward the turn of the millennium, and the need for these specialized research facilities waned. Now there are few of these experimental facilities operational in the world and those that remain have relatively small critical assembly machines. The need for criticality safety benchmark experiments at intermediate neutron energy levels and the modern resurgence of interest in advanced reactors designs, many of which do not have historical precedents in terms of nuclear fuel composition, moderator, and coolant combinations, all combine to create a substantial need for a critical experiment facility with a large horizontal split-table (HST) machine. A HST machine is used to arrange two separate and subcritical parts of a core assembly, bring them together in a precise manner to achieve criticality using remote controls, and separate them to achieve a subcritical configuration again. A new effort was recently performed to develop user needs for a HST, assess candidate locations at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and develop a plan for deployment. This project is referred to as the System Physics Advanced Reactor Critical facility (SPARC). A few months after this assessment began, and shortly after as a viable pathway was emerging, a series of important presidential executive orders were issued to revitalize nuclear energy in the United States (U.S.). The relevance of SPARC to these executive orders was immediately apparent. The far-reaching potential of SPARC to these executive orders will reside in its ability to produce data which facilitates licensing of advanced nuclear reactor designs while reducing uncertainties to help increase energy production alongside new criticality safety data to enable more efficient nuclear fuel manufacture, transport, and storage.

22 - GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Biological insights from multi-omics analysis strategies: Complex pleotropic effects associated with autophagy

Research strategies that combine molecular data from multiple levels of genome expression (i.e., multi-omics data), often referred to as a systems biology strategy, has been advocated as a route to discovering gene functions. In this study we conducted an evaluation of this strategy by combining lipidomics, metabolite mass-spectral imaging and transcriptomics data from leaves and roots in response to mutations in two AuTophaGy-related ( ATG ) genes of Arabidopsis . Autophagy is an essential cellular process that degrades and recycles macromolecules and organelles, and this process is blocked in the atg7 and atg9 mutants that were the focus of this study. Specifically, we quantified abundances of ~100 lipids and imaged the cellular locations of ~15 lipid molecular species and the relative abundance of ~26,000 transcripts from leaf and root tissues of WT, atg7 and atg9 mutant plants, grown either in normal (nitrogen-replete) and autophagy-inducing conditions (nitrogen-deficient). The multi-omics data enabled detailed molecular depiction of the effect of each mutation, and a comprehensive physiological model to explain the consequence of these genetic and environmental changes in autophagy is greatly facilitated by the a priori knowledge of the exact biochemical function of the ATG7 and ATG9 proteins.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1965

Electromechanical flowmeter accurately monitors fluid flow

Electromechanical flowmeter remotely and accurately monitors the flow rate and total volume of a transparent liquid discharged from a dispensing system. A dual dispensing tube system provides a relative reference level which permits compensation for temperature variations.

Grant, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Broadband RF-distribution amplifier

Radio frequency amplifier to distribute reference frequencies within communications systems and provide automatic gain control with low phase distortion is described. Use of photocell in electronic circuit to produce desired conditions is explained. Operation of entire amplifier circuit is analyzed.

Lutes, G. F., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Electronic test and calibration circuits, a compilation

A wide variety of simple test calibration circuits are compiled for the engineer and laboratory technician. The majority of circuits were found inexpensive to assemble. Testing electronic devices and components, instrument and system test, calibration and reference circuits, and simple test procedures are presented.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1972

Program documentation standards

A style manual is presented to serve as a reference and guide for system and program documentation. It is intended to set standards for documentation, prescribing the procedures to be followed, format to be used, and information to be produced. The standards for program documentation specify the extent to which the programmer should support his efforts in writing. The first three sections of the manual (system, program, and operation descriptions) contain information of particular interest to management, operators, and program users, respectively. Each section was designed as a self-sufficient description from the management, operator, or user point of view.

Parker, D. A.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Space station communications using interplex modulation.

Description of a multichannel PCM-PSK-PM modulation scheme called interplex which reduces cross-modulation loss and excess carrier reference power of conventional systems when the number of channels is small. In systems with equal channels, interplex is more efficient when the number of channels is not greater than four. The number of channels which can be combined efficiently with interplex increases if there are many low-power channels and only one high-power link. The scheme can be implemented in existing systems without significant hardware changes and appears to be suitable for use in a multichannel space-station telecommunications system.

Butman, S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Preliminary analysis of NASA optical data obtained in barium ion cloud experiment of September 21, 1971.

This paper reviews the optical data obtained by NASA in the joint NASA-MPE experiment conducted on September 21, 1971, involving the release of a barium cloud at an altitude of about 31,500 km over Colombia, South America. The data indicated an anomalously high rate of elongation and an unexpectedly large rate of deceleration of the main core of the ion cloud. The outermost striational features achieved a steady velocity within a few minutes, thus indicating that they had acquired the velocity of the ambient plasma. From the observed drift of these striations, one deduces an electric field that, when referred to a coordinate system rotating with the earth, has a meridional component directed toward the interior of the magnetic loop of 0.14 mV/m and a component perpendicular to the meridional plane of 0.15 mV/m directed to the west.

Adamson, D.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Future NSMO plans for maintenance of NASTRAN

The objectives of the NASTRAN computer program system are discussed. Specific reference is made to the use of NASTRAN in the space shuttle program. The use of NASTRAN by agencies other than NASA is reported. The subjects presented are: (1) planned developments, (2) capability improvements, (3) efficiency improvements, and (4) new error correction procedure.

Weidman, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

An orbital radar mapper of Venus in the 1980's - Mission design and analysis

A reasonable approach to the examination of Venus topography, obscured for photographic imaging, is available in the application of airborne radar mapping systems to an orbiter mission about the planet. Extrapolating the improving capabilities of earth-based radar study of Venus into the 1980's suggests that only a non-uniform, poorly resolved surface profile will be possible relative to the potential for 100% coverage at 100 meter resolution with an orbital radar. The intent of this paper is to define mission opportunities favorable for a Venus orbital mapper during the 1980's, to examine orbit design problem associated with mapping radar systems, to establish what flexibility exists for an adaptive mapping strategy, to contribute to the sizing of particular spacecraft systems, to suggest a reference mission design and demonstrate mission feasibility.

Asnin, S. K.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Station coordinates in the standard earth 3 system and radiation-pressure perturbations from ISAGEX camera data

Simultaneous and individual camera observations of GEOS 1, GEOS 2, Pageos, and Midas 4 obtained during the International Satellite Geodesy Experiment are utilized to determine station coordinates. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Standard Earth III system of coordinates is used to tie the geometrical network to a geocentric system and as a reference for calculating satellite orbits. A solution for coordinates combining geometrical and dynamical methods is obtained, and a comparison between the solutions and terrestrial data is made. The radiation-pressure and earth-albedo perturbations for Pageos are very large, and Pageos' orbits are used to evaluate the analytical treatment of these perturbations. Residual effects, which are probably of interest to aeronomists, remain in the Pageos orbits.

Gaposchkin, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Flight test results of the Strapdown hexad Inertial Reference Unit (SIRU). Volume 1: Flight test summary

Flight test results of the strapdown inertial reference unit (SIRU) navigation system are presented. The fault-tolerant SIRU navigation system features a redundant inertial sensor unit and dual computers. System software provides for detection and isolation of inertial sensor failures and continued operation in the event of failures. Flight test results include assessments of the system's navigational performance and fault tolerance.

Hruby, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Flight test results of the strapdown hexad inertial reference unit (SIRU). Volume 2: Test report

Results of flight tests of the Strapdown Inertial Reference Unit (SIRU) navigation system are presented. The fault tolerant SIRU navigation system features a redundant inertial sensor unit and dual computers. System software provides for detection and isolation of inertial sensor failures and continued operation in the event of failures. Flight test results include assessments of the system's navigational performance and fault tolerance. Performance shortcomings are analyzed.

Hruby, R. J.↗