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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Report 1: International Cooperation to Development of Strategy and R&D Collaboration for Substitution of Rare Earth Resources and Report 2: Development of Magnetocaloric Alloys without Critical Elements

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ames Laboratory and Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) in April of 2011 to establish a close cooperative relationship of research on Rare Metals. The Ames Laboratory through its operating contractor, Iowa State University, and the KITECH, as one of the goals of a joint Memorandum of Understanding, made agreement on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for a personnel exchange in April of 2012. Ames Laboratory and KITECH would be jointly performing collaboration work in this cooperation as the Parties. The individual backgrounds and capabilities of the Parties are ideally suited to the successful execution of this work. The Ames Laboratory has a history spanning more than 60 years of pioneering work in rare-earth (RE) research. With its team of internationally recognized rare-earth experts, the Ames Laboratory is uniquely positioned to provide the knowledge, expertise and training necessary to help ensure a global leadership position for the United States in rare-earth research, development and applications. The KITECH was founded to promote technological capability of small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea and has a mission of supporting research on materials science and engineering in Korea. In 2009, Korea Institute for Rare Metals (KIRAM) at KITECH was established. KIRAM makes selection and funding decisions for technology projects for strategic rare metals, and provides oversight of R&D programs. The KIRAM is focusing on the commercialization and recycling of particular rare metals. In addition KIRAM will be coordinating government, local universities, and small to medium enterprises to facilitate R&D support for core technologies. KIRAM will be carrying them through to commercialization, and establishing new industry.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Final Report to the National Energy Technology Laboratory on FY14- FY15 Cooperative Research with the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions

The Power System Engineering Research Center (PSERC) engages in technological, market, and policy research for an efficient, secure, resilient, adaptable, and economic U.S. electric power system. PSERC, as a founding partner of the Consortium for Electric Reliability Technology Solutions (CERTS), conducted a multi-year program of research for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) to develop new methods, tools, and technologies to protect and enhance the reliability and efficiency of the U.S. electric power system as competitive electricity market structures evolve, and as the grid moves toward wide-scale use of decentralized generation (such as renewable energy sources) and demand-response programs. Phase I of OE’s funding for PSERC, under cooperative agreement DE-FC26-09NT43321, started in fiscal year (FY) 2009 and ended in FY2013. It was administered by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) through a cooperative agreement with Arizona State University (ASU). ASU provided sub-awards to the participating PSERC universities. This document is PSERC’s final report to NETL on the activities for OE, conducted through CERTS, from September 2015 through September 2017 utilizing FY 2014 to FY 2015 funding under cooperative agreement DE-OE0000670. PSERC is a thirteen-university consortium with over 30 industry members. Since 1996, PSERC has been engaged in research and education efforts with the mission of “empowering minds to engineer the future electric energy system.” Its work is focused on achieving: • An efficient, secure, resilient, adaptable, and economic electric power infrastructure serving society • A new generation of educated technical professionals in electric power • Knowledgeable decision-makers on critical energy policy issues • Sustained, quality university programs in electric power engineering. PSERC core research is funded by industry, with a budget supporting approximately 30 principal investigators and some 70 graduate students and other researchers. Its researchers are multi-disciplinary, conducting research in three principal areas: power systems, power markets and policy, and transmission and distribution technologies. The research is collaborative; each project involves researchers typically at two universities working with industry advisors who have expressed interest in the project. Examples of topics for recent PSERC research projects include grid integration of renewables and energy storage, new tools for taking advantage of increased penetration of real-time system measurements, advanced system protection methods to maintain grid reliability, and risk and reliability assessment of increasingly complex cyber-enabled power systems. A PSERC’s objective is to proactively address the technical and policy challenges of U.S. electric power systems. To achieve this objective, PSERC works with CERTS to conduct technical research on advanced applications and investigate the design of fair and transparent electricity markets; these research topics align with CERTS research areas 1 and 2: Real-time Grid Reliability Management (Area 1), and Reliability and Markets (Area 2). The CERTS research areas overlap with the PSERC research stems: Power Systems, Power Markets, and Transmission and Distribution Technologies, as described on the PSERC website (see http://www.pserc.org/research/research_program.aspx). The performers were with Arizona State University (ASU), Cornell University (CU), University of California at Berkeley (UCB), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). PSERC research activities in the area of reliability and markets focused on electric market and power policy analyses. The resulting studies suggest ways to frame best practices using organized markets for managing U.S. grid assets reliably and to identify highest priority areas for improvement. PSERC research activities in the area of advanced applications focused on mid- to long-term software research and development, with anticipated outcomes that move innovative ideas toward real-world application. Under the CERTS research area of Real-time Grid Reliability Management, PSERC has been focused on Advanced Applications Research and Development (AARD), a subgroup of activities that works to develop advanced applications and tools to more effectively operate the electricity delivery system, by enabling advanced analysis, visualization, monitoring and alarming, and decision support capabilities for grid operators.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Achieving Cooperative Community Equitable Solar Sources (ACCESS) (Final Technical Report)

Since 2011, solar has grown from a niche technology to a widely accessible source of power for homes and businesses across the United States and has become a fundamental part of the modern grid. There are still challenges, however, in learning how to integrate and use PV most effectively and how to make PV universally available. Most low- and moderate-income (LMI) customers cannot currently afford PV; capital costs and financing costs are too high to drive significant penetration. Providing access to LMI individuals and communities is a critical and immediate priority, and the focus of this project. The overall objective of the Achieving Cooperative Community Equitable Solar Sources (ACCESS) project is to explore and amplify the use of innovative, cost-effective energy access programs to serve co-ops’ LMI members1. ACCESS will research at least three financing mechanisms and at least six LMI program designs including LMI engagement strategies to maximize participation for these hard-to-reach audiences. ACCESS evaluated the financial mechanisms and program designs from field tests sited at diverse co-ops that provide recognizable models for the broader co-op community to identify optimal solutions for small utilities. The research with these cooperatives allowed testing of concepts and development of models and tools for other utilities to adapt to their own program designs and expansions. ACCESS published results and developed an “ACCESS Solar Access Toolkit” consisting of program designs, LMI engagement strategies, how-to guidance, and other tools to facilitate replication at small utilities across the country. Through the dissemination practices of the ACCESS project team, all NRECA member co-ops (~900) were made aware of the “ACCESS Solar Access Toolkit” and all other ACCESS resources. NRECA and its partners developed innovations to expand co-ops’ solar energy offerings to provide all of a co-op’s members—especially those who struggle to pay their bills—with cost-effective options that meet their needs. ACCESS specifically explored utility financing mechanisms and program designs that, independently or used in combination, increase solar access for rural electric cooperatives’ LMI members/ratepayers and that reduce LMI member/ratepayers’ electricity costs by at least 10%. LMI engagement strategies focused on maximizing the number of members who receive benefits and on the cost savings to LMI participants.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1971

Lessons learned from a decade of international space cooperation.

A case history of the Alouette/ISIS series is presented, giving attention to aspects of U.S.-Canadian cooperation in this program. The project is only one example of a broad network of international cooperative relationships established by NASA over the past decade. Participation by other countries in important space science and applications projects is not limited to those providing flight hardware or conducting flight observations. Much valuable work is done on the ground, ranging from analysis in the laboratories of samples returned from the moon to correlated ground-based reception and analysis of radio beacon signals from satellites. It was found that cooperation is more likely to proceed smoothly and produce beneficial results if it is focused on projects that are clearly defined and agreed on in advance.

Barnes, R. J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Object impedance control for cooperative manipulation - Theory and experimental results

The dynamic control module being developed in the Dynamic and Strategic Control of Cooperative Manipulators (DASCCOM) project at the Stanford University Aerospace Robotics Laboratory is described. First, the cooperative manipulation problem is analyzed from a systems perspective, and the desirable features of a control system for cooperative manipulation are discussed. Next, a control policy is developed that enforces a controlled impedance not of the individual arm endpoints, but of the manipulated object itself. A parallel implementation for a multiprocessor system is presented. The controller fully compensates for the system dynamics and directly controls the object internal forces. Most importantly, it presents a simple, powerful, intuitive interface to the strategic controller. Experimental results for a dual two-link arm robotic system are presented to verify the controllers performance, for both free-motion slews and environmental contact.

Schneider, Stanley A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Multiple cooperating manipulators: The case of kinematically redundant arms

Existing work concerning two or more manipulators simultaneously grasping and transferring a common load is continued and extended. Specifically considered is the case of one or more arms being kinematically redundant. Some existing results in the modeling and control of single redundant arms and multiple manipulators are reviewed. The cooperating situation is modeled in terms of a set of coordinates representing object motion and internal object squeezing. Nominal trajectories in these coordinates are produced via actuator load distribution algorithms introduced previously. A controller is developed to track these desired object trajectories while making use of the kinematic redundancy to additionally aid the cooperation and coordination of the system. It is shown how the existence of kinematic redundancy within the system may be used to enhance the degree of cooperation achievable.

Walker, Ian D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Distributed, cooperating knowledge-based systems

Some current research in the development and application of distributed, cooperating knowledge-based systems technology is addressed. The focus of the current research is the spacecraft ground operations environment. The underlying hypothesis is that, because of the increasing size, complexity, and cost of planned systems, conventional procedural approaches to the architecture of automated systems will give way to a more comprehensive knowledge-based approach. A hallmark of these future systems will be the integration of multiple knowledge-based agents which understand the operational goals of the system and cooperate with each other and the humans in the loop to attain the goals. The current work includes the development of a reference model for knowledge-base management, the development of a formal model of cooperating knowledge-based agents, the use of testbed for prototyping and evaluating various knowledge-based concepts, and beginning work on the establishment of an object-oriented model of an intelligent end-to-end (spacecraft to user) system. An introductory discussion of these activities is presented, the major concepts and principles being investigated are highlighted, and their potential use in other application domains is indicated.

Truszkowski, Walt↗
NASA NTRS1991

Simulation of cooperating robot manipulators on a mobile platform

The dynamic equations of motion are presented for two or more cooperating manipulators on a freely moving mobile platform. The system of cooperating robot manipulators forms a closed kinematic chain where the force of interaction must be included in the formulation of robot and platform dynamics. The formulation includes the full dynamic interactions from arms to platform and arm tip to arm tip, and the possible translation and rotation of the platform. The equations of motion are shown to be identical in structure to the fixed-platform cooperative manipulator dynamics. The number of DOFs of the system is sufficiently large to make recursive dynamic calculation methods potentially more efficient than closed-form solutions. A complete simulation with two 6-DOF manipulators of a free-floating platform is presented along a with a multiple-arm controller to position the common load.

Murphy, Stephen H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Object impedance control for cooperative manipulation - Theory and experimental results

This paper presents the dynamic control module of the Dynamic and Strategic Control of Cooperating Manipulators (DASCCOM) project at Stanford University's Aerospace Robotics Laboratory. First, the cooperative manipulation problem is analyzed from a systems perspective, and the desirable features of a control system for cooperative manipulation are discussed. Next, a control policy is developed that enforces a controlled impedance not of the individual arm endpoints, but of the manipulated object itself. A parallel implementation for a multiprocessor system is presented. The controller fully compensates for the system dynamics and directly controls the object internal forces. Most importantly, it presents a simple, powerful, intuitive interface to higher level strategic control modules. Experimental results from a dual two-link-arm robotic system are used to compare the object impedance controller with other strategies, both for free-motion slews and environmental contact.

Schneider, Stanley A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Research and development at ORNL/CESAR towards cooperating robotic systems for hazardous environments

One of the frontiers in intelligent machine research is the understanding of how constructive cooperation among multiple autonomous agents can be effected. The effort at the Center for Engineering Systems Advanced Research (CESAR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) focuses on two problem areas: (1) cooperation by multiple mobile robots in dynamic, incompletely known environments; and (2) cooperating robotic manipulators. Particular emphasis is placed on experimental evaluation of research and developments using the CESAR robot system testbeds, including three mobile robots, and a seven-axis, kinematically redundant mobile manipulator. This paper summarizes initial results of research addressing the decoupling of position and force control for two manipulators holding a common object, and the path planning for multiple robots in a common workspace.

Mann, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Planning collision free paths for two cooperating robots using a divide-and-conquer C-space traversal heuristic

A method was developed to plan feasible and obstacle-avoiding paths for two spatial robots working cooperatively in a known static environment. Cooperating spatial robots as referred to herein are robots which work in 6D task space while simultaneously grasping and manipulating a common, rigid payload. The approach is configuration space (c-space) based and performs selective rather than exhaustive c-space mapping. No expensive precomputations are required. A novel, divide-and-conquer type of heuristic is used to guide the selective mapping process. The heuristic does not involve any robot, environment, or task specific assumptions. A technique was also developed which enables solution of the cooperating redundant robot path planning problem without requiring the use of inverse kinematics for a redundant robot. The path planning strategy involves first attempting to traverse along the configuration space vector from the start point towards the goal point. If an unsafe region is encountered, an intermediate via point is identified by conducting a systematic search in the hyperplane orthogonal to and bisecting the unsafe region of the vector. This process is repeatedly applied until a solution to the global path planning problem is obtained. The basic concept behind this strategy is that better local decisions at the beginning of the trouble region may be made if a possible way around the 'center' of the trouble region is known. Thus, rather than attempting paths which look promising locally (at the beginning of a trouble region) but which may not yield overall results, the heuristic attempts local strategies that appear promising for circumventing the unsafe region.

Weaver, Johnathan M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Application of the CIRSSE cooperating robot path planner to the NASA Langley truss assembly problem

A method for autonomously planning collision free paths for two cooperating robots in a static environment was developed at the Center for Intelligent Robotic Systems for Space Exploration (CIRSSE). The method utilizes a divide-and-conquer type of heuristic and involves non-exhaustive mapping of configuration space. While there is no guarantee of finding a solution, the planner was successfully applied to a variety of problems including two cooperating 9 degrees of freedom (dof) robots. Although developed primarily for cooperating robots the method is also applicable to single robot path planning problems. A single 6 dof version of the planner was implemented for the truss assembly east, at NASA Langley's Automated Structural Assembly Lab (ASAL). The results indicate that the planner could be very useful in addressing the ASAL path planning problem and that further work along these lines is warranted.

Weaver, Jonathan M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A new cooperative strategy for space in the 21st century

The context within which the major government space programs of the world are planned and obtain political approval has changed dramatically with the end of the Cold War. International economic competition has become a central issue in international affairs. Economic and political constraints require that space agencies adapt the ambitious plans they put forward in the 1980s to the realities of this decade and beyond. This paper argues that in this changed context, enhanced international space cooperation can make important contributions to advancing the core interests of nations and firms, and that in some situations, increased and more intimate cooperation may be the only way to achieve ambitious space goals. The paper contains a series of policy-oriented findings and recommendations that together comprise a 'new cooperative strategy' for space.

Delpech, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Extended cooperative control synthesis

This paper reports on research for extending the Cooperative Control Synthesis methodology to include a more accurate modeling of the pilot's controller dynamics. Cooperative Control Synthesis (CCS) is a methodology that addresses the problem of how to design control laws for piloted, high-order, multivariate systems and/or non-conventional dynamic configurations in the absence of flying qualities specifications. This is accomplished by emphasizing the parallel structure inherent in any pilot-controlled, augmented vehicle. The original CCS methodology is extended to include the Modified Optimal Control Model (MOCM), which is based upon the optimal control model of the human operator developed by Kleinman, Baron, and Levison in 1970. This model provides a modeling of the pilot's compensation dynamics that is more accurate than the simplified pilot dynamic representation currently in the CCS methodology. Inclusion of the MOCM into the CCS also enables the modeling of pilot-observation perception thresholds and pilot-observation attention allocation affects. This Extended Cooperative Control Synthesis (ECCS) allows for the direct calculation of pilot and system open- and closed-loop transfer functions in pole/zero form and is readily implemented in current software capable of analysis and design for dynamic systems. Example results based upon synthesizing an augmentation control law for an acceleration command system in a compensatory tracking task using the ECCS are compared with a similar synthesis performed by using the original CCS methodology. The ECCS is shown to provide augmentation control laws that yield more favorable, predicted closed-loop flying qualities and tracking performance than those synthesized using the original CCS methodology.

Davidson, John B.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Single Step to Orbit; a First Step in a Cooperative Space Exploration Initiative

At the end of the Cold War, disarmament planners included a recommendation to ease reduction of the U.S. and Russian aerospace industries by creating cooperative scientific pursuits. The idea was not new, having earlier been suggested by Eisenhower and Khrushchev to reduce the pressure of the "Military Industrial Complex" by undertaking joint space exploration. The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) proposed at the end of the Cold War by President Bush and Premier Gorbachev was another attempt to ease the disarmament process by giving the bloated war industries something better to do. The engineering talent and the space rockets could be used for peaceful pursuits, notably for going back to the Moon and then on to Mars with human exploration and settlement. At the beginning of this process in 1992 staff of the Stanford Center for International Cooperation in Space attended the International Space University in Canada, met with Russian participants and invited a Russian team to work with us on a joint Stanford-Russian Mars Exploration Study. A CIA student and Airforce and Navy students just happened to join the Stanford course the next year and all students were aware that the leader of the four Russian engineers was well versed in Russian security. But, as long as they did their homework, they were welcome to participate with other students in defining the Mars mission and the three engineers they sent were excellent. At the end of this study we were invited to give a briefing to Dr. Edward Teller at Stanford's Hoover Institution of War and Peace. We were also encouraged to hold a press conference on Capitol Hill to introduce the study to the world. At a pre-conference briefing at the Space Council, we were asked to please remind the press that President Bush had asked for a cooperative exploration proposal not a U.S. alone initiative. The Stanford-Russian study used Russia's Energia launchers, priced at $300 Million each. The mission totaled out to $71.5 Billion, to send a six-person crew to establish a Mars base and return. It was an on going international venture with plans for new crews, base expansion, and extended exploration at every two year opportunity. The $71.5 Billion international approach contrasted with NASA's own 90-day U.S. - alone study that proposed a package topping $500 Billion by some admissions. NASA's approach was also challenged by an internal D.O.E. proposal at much lower cost, described to the Mars Society last year by Lowell Wood and, of course, by Bob Zubrin's "Mars Direct" proposal.

Lusignan, Bruce↗
NASA NTRS2000

Cooperative Robotics and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

If we think tenuous abodes of life may be hiding in remote extraterrestrial environmental niches, and if we want to assess the biological status of a given locale or entire planet before sending humans (perhaps because of contamination concerns or other motivations) then we face the challenge of robotically exploring a large space efficiently and in enough detail to have confidence in our assessment of the biological status of the environment in question. On our present schedule of perhaps two or so missions per opportunity, we will likely need a different exploratory approach than singular stationary landers or singular rover missions or sample return, because there appear to be fundamental limitations in these mission profiles to-obtain the many samples we will likely need if we want to have confidence in assessing the biological status of an environment in which life could be hiding in remote environmental niches. Singular rover missions can potentially accommodate sampling over a fairly large area, but are still limited by range and can be a single point of failure. More importantly, such mission profiles have limited payload capabilities which are unlikely to meet the demanding requirements of life-detection. Sample return has the advantage of allowing sophisticated analysis of the sample, but also has the severe limitations associated with only being able to bring back a few samples. This presentation will suggest two cooperative robotic approaches for exploration that have the potential to overcome these difficulties and facilitate efficient and thorough life-detecting exploration of a large space. Given the two premises state above, it appears at least two fundamental challenges have to be met simultaneously: coverage of a large space and bringing to bear a sophisticated suite of detection and experimental payloads on any specific location in order to address a major challenge in looking for extraterrestrial life: namely, executing a wide variety of detection scenarios and in situ experiments in order to gather the required data for a confident assessment that life has been detected and to, more generally, cover a wide range of extraterrestrial life possibilities. Cooperative robotics ]ends itself to this kind of problem because cooperation among the combined capabilities of a variety of simple single function agents can give rise to fairly complex task execution such as the search for and detection of extraterrestrial life.

Lupisella, Mark L.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Cooperative Robotics and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

If we think tenuous abodes of life may be hiding in remote extraterrestrial environmental niches, and if we want to assess the biological status of a given locale or entire planet before sending humans (perhaps because of contamination concerns or other motivations) then we face the challenge of robotically exploring a large space efficiently and in enough detail to have confidence in our assessment of the biological status of the environment in question. On our present schedule of perhaps two or so missions per opportunity, we will likely need a different exploratory approach than singular stationary landers or singular rover missions or sample return, because there appear to be fundamental limitations in these mission profiles to obtain the many samples we will likely need if we want to have confidence in assessing the biological status of an environment in which life could be hiding in remote environmental niches. Singular rover missions can potentially accommodate sampling over a fairly large area, but are still limited by range and can be a single point of failure. More importantly, such mission profiles have limited payload capabilities which are unlikely to meet the demanding requirements of life-detection. Sample return has the advantage of allowing sophisticated analysis of the sample, but also has the severe limitations associated with only being able to bring back a few samples. This presentation will suggest two cooperative robotic approaches for exploration that have the potential to overcome these difficulties and facilitate efficient and thorough life-detecting exploration of a large space. Given the two premises stated above, it appears at least two fundamental challenges have to be met simultaneously: (1) coverage of a large space and (2) bringing to bear a sophisticated suite of detection and experimental payloads on any specific location in order to address a major challenge in looking for extraterrestrial life: namely, executing a wide variety of detection scenarios and in situ experiments in order to gather the required data for a confident assessment that life has been detected and to, more generally, cover a wide range of extraterrestrial life possibilities. Cooperative robotics lends itself to this kind of problem because cooperation among the combined capabilities of a variety of simple single function agents can give rise to fairly complex task execution such as the search for and detection of extraterrestrial life.

Lupisella, M. L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Improving Simulated Annealing by Recasting it as a Non-Cooperative Game

The game-theoretic field of COllective INtelligence (COIN) concerns the design of computer-based players engaged in a non-cooperative game so that as those players pursue their self-interests, a pre-specified global goal for the collective computational system is achieved "as a side-effect". Previous implementations of COIN algorithms have outperformed conventional techniques by up to several orders of magnitude, on domains ranging from telecommunications control to optimization in congestion problems. Recent mathematical developments have revealed that these previously developed game-theory-motivated algorithms were based on only two of the three factors determining performance. Consideration of only the third factor would instead lead to conventional optimization techniques like simulated annealing that have little to do with non-cooperative games. In this paper we present an algorithm based on all three terms at once. This algorithm can be viewed as a way to modify simulated annealing by recasting it as a non-cooperative game, with each variable replaced by a player. This recasting allows us to leverage the intelligent behavior of the individual players to substantially improve the exploration step of the simulated annealing. Experiments are presented demonstrating that this recasting improves simulated annealing by several orders of magnitude for spin glass relaxation and bin-packing.

Wolpert, David↗