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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

Long-Term Time Series of Remote Sensing Observations for Development of Regulatory Water Quality Standards

Water quality standards in the U.S. consist of: designated uses (the services that a water body provides; e.g., drinking water, aquatic life, harvestable species, recreation) . criteria that define the environmental conditions that must be maintained to support the uses For estuaries and coastal waters in the Gulf of Mexico, there are no numeric (quantitative) criteria to protect designated uses from effects of nutrients. This is largely due to the absence of adequate data that would quantitatively link biological conditions to nutrient concentrations. The Gulf of Mexico Alliance, an organization fostering collaboration between the Gulf States and U.S. Federal agencies, has identified the development of the numeric nutrient criteria as a major step leading to reduction in MODIS Products Figure 6. Map of the Mobile Bay with a yellow patch indicating the Bon Secour Bay area selected in this study for averaging water clarity parameters retrieved from MODIS datasets. nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems. Nutrient enrichment in estuaries and coastal waters can be quantified based on response variables that measure phytoplankton biomass and water clarity. Long-term, spatially and temporally resolved measurements of chlorophyll a concentration, total concentration of suspended solids, and water clarity are needed to establish reference conditions and to quantify stressor-response relationships.

Blonski, Slawomir↗
NASA NTRS1990

Review of Canadian mobile satellite systems institutional arrangements policy

Development of institutional arrangements policy for maritime, land, and aeronautical mobile satellite systems (MSS) is an integral part of the Canadian telecommunications policy process. An ongoing activity in that process is fitting of MSS institutional arrangements policy within the confines of the 1987 Canadian Telecom Policy Framework. Making sure the fit is correct is a major task at present because technology seems to be driving service demand at rapid growth rates, particularly in the case of land MSS. This growth is stimulating policy and regulatory development efforts to keep pace. In Canada, this is happening in four planned MSS applications areas: Canada-US transborder (immediate), aeronautical MSS (1990/94), Telesat Mobile Inc. EMDS via INMARSAT (1990), and MSAT (1993/94). The need for an up-to-date MSS policy in these areas is emphasized by related developments in the US and elsewhere. It arises because of the growing number of market initiatives proposing North American rather than Canada-only or US-only coverage, such as INMARSAT, Geostar, OmniTRACS, and Starlink.

Gilvary, David↗
NASA NTRS1998

Research Lasers and Air Traffic Safety: Issues, Concerns and Responsibilities of the Research Community

The subject of outdoor use of lasers relative to air traffic has become a diverse and dynamic topic. During the past several decades, the use of lasers in outdoor research activities have increased significantly. Increases in the outdoor use of lasers and increases in air traffic densities have changed the levels of risk involved. To date there have been no documented incidents of air traffic interference from research lasers; however, incidents involving display lasers have shown a marked increase. As a result of the national response to these incidents, new concerns over lasers have arisen. Through the efforts of the SAE G-10T Laser Safety Hazards Subcommittee and the ANSI Z136.6 development committee, potential detrimental effects to air traffic beyond the traditional eye damage concerns have been identified. An increased emphasis from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Center for Devices and Radiological Hazards (CDRH), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) along with increased concern by the public have resulted in focused scrutiny of potential hazards presented by lasers. The research community needs to rethink the traditional methods of risk evaluation and application of protective measures. The best current approach to assure adequate protection of air traffic is the application of viable hazard and risk analysis and the use of validated protective measures. Standards making efforts and regulatory development must be supported by the research community to assure that reasonable measures are developed. Without input, standards and regulations can be developed that are not compatible with the needs of the research community. Finally, support is needed for the continued development and validation of protective measures.

Nessler, Phillip J., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Cognitive Systems Engineering Approach to Developing HMI Requirements for New Technologies

This document examines the challenges inherent in designing and regulating to support human-automation interaction for new technologies that will deployed into complex systems. A key question for new technologies, is how work will be accomplished by the human and machine agents. This question has traditionally been framed as how functions should be allocated between humans and machines. Such framing misses the coordination and synchronization that is needed for the different human and machine roles in the system to accomplish their goals. Coordination and synchronization demands are driven by the underlying human-automation architecture of the new technology, which are typically not specified explicitly by the designers. The human machine interface (HMI) which is intended to facilitate human-machine interaction and cooperation, however, typically is defined explicitly and therefore serves as a proxy for human-automation cooperation requirements with respect to technical standards for technologies. Unfortunately, mismatches between the HMI and the coordination and synchronization demands of the underlying human-automation architecture, can lead to system breakdowns. A methodology is needed that both designers and regulators can utilize to evaluate the expected performance of a new technology given potential human-automation architectures. Three experiments were conducted to inform the minimum HMI requirements a detect and avoid system for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The results of the experiments provided empirical input to specific minimum operational performance standards that UAS manufacturers will have to meet in order to operate UAS in the National Airspace System (NAS). These studies represent a success story for how to objectively and systematically evaluate prototype technologies as part of the process for developing regulatory requirements. They also provide an opportunity to reflect on the lessons learned from a recent research effort in order to improve the methodology for defining technology requirements for regulators in the future. The biggest shortcoming of the presented research program was the absence of the explicit definition, generation and analysis of potential human-automation architectures. Failure to execute this step in the research process resulted in less efficient evaluation of the candidate prototypes technologies in addition to the complete absence of different approaches to human-automation cooperation. For example, all of the prototype technologies that were evaluated in the research program assumed a human-automation architecture that relied on serial processing from the automation to the human. While this type of human-automation architecture is typical across many different technologies and in many different domains, it ignores different architectures where humans and automation work in parallel. Defining potential human-automation architectures a priori also allows regulators to develop scenarios that will stress the performance boundaries of the technology during the evaluation phase. The importance of adding this step of generating and evaluating candidate human-automation architectures prior to formal empirical evaluation is discussed.

human systems integration↗
NASA NTRS1977

NASA firefighters breathing system program report

Because of the rising incidence of respiratory injury to firefighters, local governments expressed the need for improved breathing apparatus. A review of the NASA firefighters breathing system program, including concept definition, design, development, regulatory agency approval, in-house testing, and program conclusion is presented.

Wood, W. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Environmental health trends

Trends in environmental health listed include: specific health concerns, sources of organic dusts causing pneumonitis, toxic substances lists, criteria documents, and regulatory developments.

Proctor, G.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Digital Flight: A New Cooperative Operating Mode to Complement VFR and IFR

Digital Flight is a proposed new operating mode for all airspace users, complementing and adding to the existing operating modes of visual and instrument flight rules (VFR and IFR) and providing for cooperative integration in controlled airspace. Under new regulations (Digital Flight Rules, DFR) that set requirements for its sustained use, qualified operators employ Digital Flight to enhance their airspace access and operational flexibility in all visibility conditions and eventually all airspace classes without requiring segregation from incumbent operations. Enabled by connected digital information and technologies, Digital Flight operators employ cooperative practices and self-separation to ensure flight path safety in lieu of visual procedures or receiving separation services from Air Traffic Control. Its distributed structure and automated functions enable traffic densities and operational tempos not achievable with the existing operating modes. Various ongoing and emerging industry initiatives for enabling new entrants (e.g., unmanned aircraft systems, urban air taxis) and enhanced use of underserved airspace (e.g., ultra-high altitude), are pursuing various alternative operating modes with significant similarities, creating a unique and time-limited opportunity for harmonization and convergence. Digital Flight is proposed to serve that harmonizing role, creating a common new paradigm for airspace operations. Such convergence would not only bring together these emerging market segments but will also bolster the existing operators with access to this new operating mode and its advantages. Digital Flight provides an opportunity to focus regulatory development and benefit the aviation industry. This paper describes Digital Flight in sufficient detail to initiate community engagement and deliberation on a common new operating mode. It describes the essential elements, principal capabilities, and operational integration of DFR in shared airspace. It describes the value proposition from multiple perspectives and presents initial thoughts on the path forward.

Digital flight↗
NASA NTRS2002

A genomic regulatory network for development

Development of the body plan is controlled by large networks of regulatory genes. A gene regulatory network that controls the specification of endoderm and mesoderm in the sea urchin embryo is summarized here. The network was derived from large-scale perturbation analyses, in combination with computational methodologies, genomic data, cis-regulatory analysis, and molecular embryology. The network contains over 40 genes at present, and each node can be directly verified at the DNA sequence level by cis-regulatory analysis. Its architecture reveals specific and general aspects of development, such as how given cells generate their ordained fates in the embryo and why the process moves inexorably forward in developmental time.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1999

Themes from a NASA workshop on gene regulatory processes in development and evolution

A memorable workshop, focused on causal mechanisms in metazoan evolution and sponsored by NASA, was held in early June 1998, at MBL. The workshop was organized by Mike Levine and Eric H. Davidson, and it included the PI and associates from 12 different laboratories, a total of about 30 people. Each laboratory had about two and one half hours in which to represent its recent research and cast up its current ideas for an often intense discussion. In the following we have tried to enunciate some of the major themes that emerged, and to reflect on their implications. The opinions voiced are our own. We would like to tender apologies over those contributions we have not been able to include, but this is not, strictly speaking, a meeting review. Rather we have focused on those topics that bear more directly on evolutionary mechanisms, and have therefore slighted some presentations (including some of our own), that were oriented mainly toward developmental processes. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol. ) 285:104-115, 1999. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

NASA Discipline General Space Life Sciences↗
NASA NTRS2000

Shape-dependent control of cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis: switching between attractors in cell regulatory networks

Development of characteristic tissue patterns requires that individual cells be switched locally between different phenotypes or "fates;" while one cell may proliferate, its neighbors may differentiate or die. Recent studies have revealed that local switching between these different gene programs is controlled through interplay between soluble growth factors, insoluble extracellular matrix molecules, and mechanical forces which produce cell shape distortion. Although the precise molecular basis remains unknown, shape-dependent control of cell growth and function appears to be mediated by tension-dependent changes in the actin cytoskeleton. However, the question remains: how can a generalized physical stimulus, such as cell distortion, activate the same set of genes and signaling proteins that are triggered by molecules which bind to specific cell surface receptors. In this article, we use computer simulations based on dynamic Boolean networks to show that the different cell fates that a particular cell can exhibit may represent a preprogrammed set of common end programs or "attractors" which self-organize within the cell's regulatory networks. In this type of dynamic network model of information processing, generalized stimuli (e.g., mechanical forces) and specific molecular cues elicit signals which follow different trajectories, but eventually converge onto one of a small set of common end programs (growth, quiescence, differentiation, apoptosis, etc.). In other words, if cells use this type of information processing system, then control of cell function would involve selection of preexisting (latent) behavioral modes of the cell, rather than instruction by specific binding molecules. Importantly, the results of the computer simulation closely mimic experimental data obtained with living endothelial cells. The major implication of this finding is that current methods used for analysis of cell function that rely on characterization of linear signaling pathways or clusters of genes with common activity profiles may overlook the most critical features of cellular information processing which normally determine how signal specificity is established and maintained in living cells. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Review↗
NASA NTRS1993

WTEC monograph on instrumentation, control and safety systems of Canadian nuclear facilities

This report updates a 1989-90 survey of advanced instrumentation and controls (I&C) technologies and associated human factors issues in the U.S. and Canadian nuclear industries carried out by a team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Carter and Uhrig 1990). The authors found that the most advanced I&C systems are in the Canadian CANDU plants, where the newest plant (Darlington) has digital systems in almost 100 percent of its control systems and in over 70 percent of its plant protection system. Increased emphasis on human factors and cognitive science in modern control rooms has resulted in a reduced workload for the operators and the elimination of many human errors. Automation implemented through digital instrumentation and control is effectively changing the role of the operator to that of a systems manager. The hypothesis that properly introducing digital systems increases safety is supported by the Canadian experience. The performance of these digital systems has been achieved using appropriate quality assurance programs for both hardware and software development. Recent regulatory authority review of the development of safety-critical software has resulted in the creation of isolated software modules with well defined interfaces and more formal structure in the software generation. The ability of digital systems to detect impending failures and initiate a fail-safe action is a significant safety issue that should be of special interest to nuclear utilities and regulatory authorities around the world.

Uhrig, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Direct broadcast satellite-radio: Portable and mobile reception trade-offs

There has been considerable international effort in the areas of system studies, system development, and regulatory work for a Direct Broadcast Satellite Radio (DBS-R). An important milestone will be the 1992 World Radio Administrative Conference (WARC 1992) consideration of frequency allocation in the 500 - 3000 MHz range for such a service. There is an interagency agreement between Voice of America and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for a coordinated program in DBS-R. This program includes seven tasks: systems tradeoff studies, propagation measurements, satellite experiment and demonstration, receiver development, market studies, regulatory studies, and WARC preparations. The findings of ongoing work under the first task, systems tradeoff studies, are discussed. Topics covered include digital bit rate and audio quality, propagation considerations and link margin estimates for portable reception, link margin estimates for mobile reception, coverage, and satellite size and cost estimates for a regional DBS-R coverage example.

Golshan, Nasser↗
NASA NTRS1994

Airborne Windshear Detection and Warning Systems. Fifth and Final Combined Manufacturers' and Technologists' Conference, part 1

The Fifth (and Final) Combined Manufacturers' and Technologists' Airborne Windshear Review Meeting was hosted jointly by the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in Hampton, Virginia, on September 28-30, 1993. The purpose of the meeting was to report on the highly successful windshear experiments conducted by government, academic institutions, and industry; to transfer the results to regulators, manufacturers, and users; and to set initiatives for future aeronautics technology research. The formal sessions covered recent developments in windshear flight testing; windshear modeling, flight management, and ground-based systems; airborne windshear detection systems; certification and regulatory issues; development and applications of sensors for wake vortex detection; and synthetic and enhanced vision systems.

Delnore, Victor E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Institutional and environmental problems in geothermal resource development

A number of regulatory and institutional impediments to the development of geothermal energy exist. None of these seem likely to prevent the development of this energy source, but in the aggregate they will pace its growth as certainly as the technological issues. The issues are associated with the encouragement of exploration and development, assuring a market for geothermal steam or hot water, and accomplishing the required research and development in a timely manner. The development of geothermal energy in the United States at a high level is apt to cause both favorable and unfavorable, though manageable, impacts in eight major areas, which are discussed.

Maslan, F.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Wildfire Adaptation in the Russian Arctic: A Systematic Policy Review

A scientific consensus acknowledges that climate change has increased wildfire activity in the Russian Arctic, a trend projected to continue in response to further warming. Regional governments across Russia have started to design and develop adaptation policies and plans (i.e. outputs) to this end. Our comprehensive understanding on the state of wildfire adaptation in policy is limited. In this article we systematically review policies and plans developed to adapt to wildfires in the Russian Arctic. Using systematic approaches, we identify 12 wildfire adaptation outputs adopted between 2008 and 2020. Our findings indicate that wildfire adaptation outputs are aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires and improve wildland fire response, implemented through legislative and regulatory mechanisms, developed at the regional level, adopted in response to national mandates, and mainstreamed into existing forest management policies. Although there is evidence of wildfire adaptation planning occurring in the Russian Arctic, we find that the nature and extent of wildfire adaptation outputs are not sufficient to address the seriousness and severity of climate change, with key shortcomings found in relation to the scientific, human, and management characteristics. We argue that expanding the profile of climate change research in the Russian Arctic and improving the dialogue among researchers, local and Indigenous peoples, and decision-makers are critical for providing useful recommendations for policy makers to accelerate wildfire adaptation in the Russian Arctic.

Wildfire↗
NASA NTRS1990

Mobile satellite regulation in the United States

During the last decade, the U.S. FCC has developed the regulatory structure for the provision of mobile services via satellite. In May 1989, the FCC awarded American Mobile Satellite Corporation (AMSC) a license to provide the full range of domestic mobile satellite services in the U.S. At that time, the FCC reaffirmed the U.S. mobile satellite industry structure and spectrum allocations that had been adopted previously. Also in May 1989, the FCC authorized the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT), the U.S. Signatory to Inmarsat, to provide international aeronautical satellite service via the Inmarsat system. Earlier in 1989, the FCC permitted the use of Ku-band satellites to provide messaging and tracking services. In the mid-1980's, the FCC established the Radiodetermination Satellite Service and awarded licenses. Among the mobile satellite matters currently facing the FCC are whether additional spectrum should be allocated for domestic 'generic' mobile satellite services, the regulatory structure for the provision of mobile satellite service on an interim basis before AMSC launches its dedicated satellites, and whether to authorize a low earth orbit satellite system to provide mobile data service.

Levin, Lon C.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Immobile Robots: AI in the New Millennium

A new generation of sensor rich, massively distributed, autonomous systems are being developed that have the potential for profound social, environmental, and economic change. These include networked building energy systems, autonomous space probes, chemical plant control systems, satellite constellations for remote ecosystem monitoring, power grids, biosphere-like life support systems, and reconfigurable traffic systems, to highlight but a few. To achieve high performance, these immobile robots (or immobots) will need to develop sophisticated regulatory and immune systems that accurately and robustly control their complex internal functions. To accomplish this, immobots will exploit a vast nervous system of sensors to model themselves and their environment on a grand scale. They will use these models to dramatically reconfigure themselves in order to survive decades of autonomous operations. Achieving these large scale modeling and configuration tasks will require a tight coupling between the higher level coordination function provided by symbolic reasoning, and the lower level autonomic processes of adaptive estimation and control. To be economically viable they will need to be programmable purely through high level compositional models. Self modeling and self configuration, coordinating autonomic functions through symbolic reasoning, and compositional, model-based programming are the three key elements of a model-based autonomous systems architecture that is taking us into the New Millennium.

Williams, Brian C.↗