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

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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Evolution of Programmatic Asset Lifecycle Planning at MESA

Early on in 2018 Sandia recognized the Microsystems Engineering, Science and Applications (MESA) Programmatic Asset Lifecycle Planning capability to be unpredictable, inconsistent, reactive, and unable to provide strong linkage to the sponsor's needs. The impetus for this report is to share learnings from MESA's journey towards maturing this capability. This report describes re-building the foundational elements of MESA's Programmatic Asset Lifecycle Planning capability using a risk-based, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach. To begin, MESA's decades-old Piano Chart + Ad Hoc Hybrid Methodology is described with a narrative of its strengths and weaknesses. Then its replacement, the MCDA /Analytical Hierarchy Process, is introduced with a discussion of its strengths and weaknesses. To generate a realistic Programmatic Asset Lifecycle Planning budget outlook, MESA used its rolling 20-year Extended Life Program Plan (MELPP) as a baseline. The new MCDA risk-based prioritization methodology implements DOE/NNSA guidelines for prioritization of DOE activities and provides a reliable, structured framework for combining expert judgement and stakeholder preferences according to an established scientific technique. An in-house Hybrid Decision Support System (HDSS) software application was developed to facilitate production of several key deliverables. The application enables analysis of the prioritization decisions with charts to display and provide linkage of MESA's funding requests to the stakeholders' priorities, strategic objectives, nuclear deterrence programs, MESA priorities, and much more.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

High-Precision Low-Cost Micro Birdbath Resonating Gyroscope (CRADA Final Report)

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, Enertia Microsystems Inc. (EMI) investigated a high-performance micro mechanical resonator called the micro birdbath resonator and a high-precision micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscope called the birdbath resonator gyroscope (BRG). The BRG is a novel fused-silica MEMS gyroscope. The BRG can obtain significantly greater accuracy, comparable size, and comparable cost with MEMS gyroscopes made of silicon that are currently on the market.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Engineered Microorganisms for Enhanced Rare Earth Element Bio-mining and Separations (Final Technical Report)

Rare earth elements (REE) are critical ingredients of sustainable energy technologies, but their extraction from ore and separation from one another pose formidable challenges. To solve the challenge of REE supply, we used advanced genomics, high-throughput screening with synthetic REE minerals, and synthetic biology to engineer two sets of exotic microbes to (1) extract REE from ores, spent cracking catalysts, coal ash and electronic waste with high efficiency and selectivity, and (2) to purify REE into single element batches, all under benign conditions without the need of harsh solvents and high temperatures. This work integrated our expertise in systems and synthetic biology (Buz Barstow); rare-earth geochemistry (Esteban Gazel) and mineral synthesis (Megan Holycross); and microsystems engineering (Mingming Wu) by first elucidating the set of rules that predict an organism’s phenotype and then applying them to solve this critical problem in sustainable energy. These new technologies could help to revitalize the US rare earth industry and provide a new source of these critical elements for future energy technologies. We have already had some big success in tech transfer. Two of our team members (postdoctoral fellow Alexa Schmitz and graduate student Sean Medin) were able to study the supply chain for REE in the United States, and identify an opportunity to commercialize our REE mineral-dissolution technology. Alexa and Sean recently founded REEgen, Inc., an REE biomining company. Dr. Schmitz was recently awarded a fellowship from the Activate Foundation to support the first two years of REEgen. Cornell showed its support for this technology and company, and Dr. Schmitz was awarded the Rising Women Innovator’s award. These two awards unlocked support from Cornell’s Praxis Incubator.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Accessing Fungal Contributions to the Birch Effect: Real-Time Respiration from Pore-Scale Microfluidics

Drying and rewetting of soil stimulates soil carbon emission. The Birch effect, driven by these cycles, leads to CO2 efflux, which can be monitored using real-time mass spectrometry (RTMS). Although soil fungi retain water during droughts, their contribution to CO2 release during drying–rewetting cycles remains unclear. In this study, we present the first demonstration of integrating micromodels with RTMS to monitor the Birch effect by simulating drought and rewetting. Micromodels were inoculated with axenic fungal culture and dried to assess moisture retention. After drying, RTMS quantified CO2 release upon rewetting with H218O mixtures. Our results showed that soil fungi released CO2 upon rehydration and immediately utilized the external water source at the pore scale by generating subsequent 46CO2. This work is the first to integrate RTMS with microsystems to investigate pore-scale biogeochemistry and the involvement of fungi in the Birch effect.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1972

Evolution from amino acids - Lunar occurrence of their precursors.

Review of the present state of experimentally based concepts of organic evolution from amino acids. Earlier studies of the synthesis of amino acid precursors from meteoritic material, lunar dust, and terrestrial lava are briefly summarized, and laboratory experiments in which polymers of amino acids were obtained either by direct heating of dry amino acids or by heating aqueous solutions of mixtures of amino acids are described. In particular, a process is described by which alpha-amino acids were made to react to form linear chains of proteinoids. It is concluded that a proteinoid microsystem was a common ancestor of all life on earth.

Fox, S. W.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Management and development of local area network upgrade prototype

Given the situation of having management and development users accessing a central computing facility and given the fact that these same users have the need for local computation and storage, the utilization of a commercially available networking system such as CP/NET from Digital Research provides the building blocks for communicating intelligent microsystems to file and print services. The major problems to be overcome in the implementation of such a network are the dearth of intelligent communication front-ends for the microcomputers and the lack of a rich set of management and software development tools.

Fouser, T. J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Development and implementation of a low cost micro computer system for LANDSAT analysis and geographic data base applications

Since the implementation of the GRID and IMGRID computer programs for multivariate spatial analysis in the early 1970's, geographic data analysis subsequently moved from large computers to minicomputers and now to microcomputers with radical reduction in the costs associated with planning analyses. Programs designed to process LANDSAT data to be used as one element in a geographic data base were used once NIMGRID (new IMGRID), a raster oriented geographic information system, was implemented on the microcomputer. Programs for training field selection, supervised and unsupervised classification, and image enhancement were added. Enhancements to the color graphics capabilities of the microsystem allow display of three channels of LANDSAT data in color infrared format. The basic microcomputer hardware needed to perform NIMGRID and most LANDSAT analyses is listed as well as the software available for LANDSAT processing.

Faust, N.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Design of automation tools for management of descent traffic

The design of an automated air traffic control system based on a hierarchy of advisory tools for controllers is described. Compatibility of the tools with the human controller, a key objective of the design, is achieved by a judicious selection of tasks to be automated and careful attention to the design of the controller system interface. The design comprises three interconnected subsystems referred to as the Traffic Management Advisor, the Descent Advisor, and the Final Approach Spacing Tool. Each of these subsystems provides a collection of tools for specific controller positions and tasks. This paper focuses primarily on the Descent Advisor which provides automation tools for managing descent traffic. The algorithms, automation modes, and graphical interfaces incorporated in the design are described. Information generated by the Descent Advisor tools is integrated into a plan view traffic display consisting of a high-resolution color monitor. Estimated arrival times of aircraft are presented graphically on a time line, which is also used interactively in combination with a mouse input device to select and schedule arrival times. Other graphical markers indicate the location of the fuel-optimum top-of-descent point and the predicted separation distances of aircraft at a designated time-control point. Computer generated advisories provide speed and descent clearances which the controller can issue to aircraft to help them arrive at the feeder gate at the scheduled times or with specified separation distances. Two types of horizontal guidance modes, selectable by the controller, provide markers for managing the horizontal flightpaths of aircraft under various conditions. The entire system consisting of descent advisor algorithm, a library of aircraft performance models, national airspace system data bases, and interactive display software has been implemented on a workstation made by Sun Microsystems, Inc. It is planned to use this configuration in operational evaluations at an en route center.

Erzberger, Heinz↗
NASA NTRS1989

Satellite Data Processing System (SDPS) users manual V1.0

SDPS is a menu driven interactive program designed to facilitate the display and output of image and line-based data sets common to telemetry, modeling and remote sensing. This program can be used to display up to four separate raster images and overlay line-based data such as coastlines, ship tracks and velocity vectors. The program uses multiple windows to communicate information with the user. At any given time, the program may have up to four image display windows as well as auxiliary windows containing information about each image displayed. SDPS is not a commercial program. It does not contain complete type checking or error diagnostics which may allow the program to crash. Known anomalies will be mentioned in the appropriate section as notes or cautions. SDPS was designed to be used on Sun Microsystems Workstations running SunView1 (Sun Visual/Integrated Environment for Workstations). It was primarily designed to be used on workstations equipped with color monitors, but most of the line-based functions and several of the raster-based functions can be used with monochrome monitors. The program currently runs on Sun 3 series workstations running Sun OS 4.0 and should port easily to Sun 4 and Sun 386 series workstations with SunView1. Users should also be familiar with UNIX, Sun workstations and the SunView window system.

Caruso, Michael↗
NASA NTRS1992

Software Graphical User Interface For Analysis Of Images

CAMTOOL software provides graphical interface between Sun Microsystems workstation and Eikonix Model 1412 digitizing camera system. Camera scans and digitizes images, halftones, reflectives, transmissives, rigid or flexible flat material, or three-dimensional objects. Users digitize images and select from three destinations: work-station display screen, magnetic-tape drive, or hard disk. Written in C.

Leonard, Desiree M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Nickel hydrogen battery expert system

The Hubble Telescope Battery Testbed at MSFC uses the Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) Battery Expert System (NICBES-2) which supports the evaluation of performance of Hubble Telescope spacecraft batteries and provides alarm diagnosis and action advice. NICBES-2 provides a reasoning system along with a battery domain knowledge base to achieve this battery health management function. An effort is summarized which was used to modify NICBES-2 to accommodate Nickel Hydrogen (NiH2) battery environment now in MSFC testbed. The NICBES-2 is implemented on a Sun Microsystem and is written in SunOS C and Quintus Prolog. The system now operates in a multitasking environment. NICBES-2 spawns three processes: serial port process (SPP); data handler process (DHP); and the expert system process (ESP) in order to process the telemetry data and provide the status and action advice. NICBES-2 performs orbit data gathering, data evaluation, alarm diagnosis and action advice and status and history display functions. The adaptation of NICBES-2 to work with NiH2 battery environment required modification to all of the three component processes.

Shiva, Sajjan G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

High speed QPPM direct detection optical communication receivers for FSDD intersatellite links

This final report consists of four separate reports, one for each project involved in this contract. The first report is entitled '325 Mbps QPPM (quaternary pulse position modulation) Direct Detection Free Space Optical Communication Encoder and Receiver,' which was our primary work. The second report is entitled 'Test Results of the 325 Mbps QPPM High Speed Data Transmission GaAs ASICs,' which describes our work in connection with Galaxy Microsystems, Inc. who produced these ASICs for NASA. The third report, 'Receiver Performance Analysis of BPPM Optical Communication Systems Using 1.3 micron Wavelength Transmitter and InGaAs PIN Photodiodes,' was prepared at the request of the NASA/Photonics Branch for their efforts in upgrading the 1773 optical fiber data bus. The fourth report, 'Photomultiplier Tubes for Use at 1.064 micron Wavelength,' was also prepared at the request of the NASA/Photonics Branch as a research project.

Davidson, Frederic M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

A report of work activities on the NASA Spacelink public electronic library

NASA Spacelink is a comprehensive electronic data base of NASA and other source educational and informational materials. This service originates at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. This is an education service of NASA Headquarters, through the MSFC Education Office, that first began in February of 1988. The new NASA Spacelink Public Electronic Library was the result of a study conducted to investigate an upgrade or redesign of the original NASA Spacelink. The UNIX Operating System was chosen to be the host operating system for the new NASA Spacelink Public Electronic Library. The UNIX system was selected for this project because of the strengths built into the embedded communication system and for its simple and direct file handling capabilities. The host hardware of the new system is a Sun Microsystems SPARCserver 1000 computer system. The configuration has four 50-MHz SuperSPARC processors with 128 megabytes of shared memory; three SB800 serial ports allowing 24 cable links for phone communications; 4.1 gigabytes of on-line disk storage; and ten (10) CD-ROM drives. Communications devices on the system are sufficient to support the expected number of users through the Internet, the local dial services, long distance dial services; the MSFC PABX, and the NPSS (NASA Packet Switching System) and 1-800 access service for the registered teachers.

Smith, Willard A.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A study of workstation computational performance for real-time flight simulation

With recent advances in microprocessor technology, some have suggested that modern workstations provide enough computational power to properly operate a real-time simulation. This paper presents the results of a computational benchmark, based on actual real-time flight simulation code used at Langley Research Center, which was executed on various workstation-class machines. The benchmark was executed on different machines from several companies including: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Cray Research, Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, International Business Machines, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems. The machines are compared by their execution speed, computational accuracy, and porting effort. The results of this study show that the raw computational power needed for real-time simulation is now offered by workstations.

Maddalon, Jeffrey M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Single crystal silicon filaments fabricated in SOI: A potential IR source for a microfabricated photometric CO2 sensor

The objective of this project was to design, fabricate, and test single crystal silicon filaments as potential black body IR sources for a spectrophotometric CO2 sensing microsystem. The design and fabrication of the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) filaments are summarized and figures showing the composite layout of the filament die (which contains four filaments of different lengths -- 500 microns, 1 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm -- and equal widths of 15 microns) are presented. The composite includes four mask layers: (1) silicon - defines the filament dimensions and contact pads; (2) release pit - defines the oxide removed from under the filament and hence, the length of the released filament; (3) Pyrex pit - defines the pit etched in the Pyrex cap (not used); and (4) metal - defines a metal pattern on the contact pads or used as a contact hole etch. I/V characteristics testing of the fabricated SOI filaments is described along with the nitride-coating procedures carried out to prevent oxidation and resistance instability.

Tu, Juliana↗
NASA NTRS1996

UNIX-based operating systems robustness evaluation

Robust operating systems are required for reliable computing. Techniques for robustness evaluation of operating systems not only enhance the understanding of the reliability of computer systems, but also provide valuable feed- back to system designers. This thesis presents results from robustness evaluation experiments on five UNIX-based operating systems, which include Digital Equipment's OSF/l, Hewlett Packard's HP-UX, Sun Microsystems' Solaris and SunOS, and Silicon Graphics' IRIX. Three sets of experiments were performed. The methodology for evaluation tested (1) the exception handling mechanism, (2) system resource management, and (3) system capacity under high workload stress. An exception generator was used to evaluate the exception handling mechanism of the operating systems. Results included exit status of the exception generator and the system state. Resource management techniques used by individual operating systems were tested using programs designed to usurp system resources such as physical memory and process slots. Finally, the workload stress testing evaluated the effect of the workload on system performance by running a synthetic workload and recording the response time of local and remote user requests. Moderate to severe performance degradations were observed on the systems under stress.

Chang, Yu-Ming↗
NASA NTRS1996

Petabyte Class Storage at Jefferson Lab (CEBAF)

By 1997, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility will collect over one Terabyte of raw information per day of Accelerator operation from three concurrently operating Experimental Halls. When post-processing is included, roughly 250 TB of raw and formatted experimental data will be generated each year. By the year 2000, a total of one Petabyte will be stored on-line. Critical to the experimental program at Jefferson Lab (JLab) is the networking and computational capability to collect, store, retrieve, and reconstruct data on this scale. The design criteria include support of a raw data stream of 10-12 MB/second from Experimental Hall B, which will operate the CEBAF (Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility) Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS). Keeping up with this data stream implies design strategies that provide storage guarantees during accelerator operation, minimize the number of times data is buffered allow seamless access to specific data sets for the researcher, synchronize data retrievals with the scheduling of postprocessing calculations on the data reconstruction CPU farms, as well as support the site capability to perform data reconstruction and reduction at the same overall rate at which new data is being collected. The current implementation employs state-of-the-art StorageTek Redwood tape drives and robotics library integrated with the Open Storage Manager (OSM) Hierarchical Storage Management software (Computer Associates, International), the use of Fibre Channel RAID disks dual-ported between Sun Microsystems SMP servers, and a network-based interface to a 10,000 SPECint92 data processing CPU farm. Issues of efficiency, scalability, and manageability will become critical to meet the year 2000 requirements for a Petabyte of near-line storage interfaced to over 30,000 SPECint92 of data processing power.

Chambers, Rita↗