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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
DOE OSTI2022

Deploying a Model Predictive Traffic Signal Control Algorithm - A Field Deployment Experiment Case Study

This paper presents a field deployment experiment of a real-time traffic signal control algorithm. We implemented the model predictive control (MPC) algorithm based on the virtual phase-link (VPL) model. We selected the deployment locations and times based on an energy saving potential concept. We developed a set of experiment systems, which included sensing, processing, and actuating components, to enable field deployment. We tested the systems rigorously before the experiment days. We reported the key procedures on the experiment days, including the steps taken, the real-time control procedure, and the monitoring of the experiment. We evaluated the impact of the deployment by looking at the changes in delay and energy consumption.

deployment↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Framework to Assess Advanced Reactor Spent Fuel Management Facility Deployment

Advanced nuclear reactors offer various operational advantages over existing light water reactors but could produce types of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) with a wide variety of forms and characteristics depending on how many different concepts are deployed. Each advanced reactor SNF type potentially poses unique management challenges. New planning efforts will be necessary to anticipate how the management requirements of advanced reactor SNF will affect the deployment of an integrated waste management system. This paper applies a framework of high-level facility deployment milestones to a generic SNF management system, reviewing them together with the advanced reactor SNF characteristics and management requirements. This allows for the investigation of factors that influence facility and system deployment, and ultimately, the identification of challenges facing the deployment of different kinds of SNF management facilities. Here, the back end of the once-through fuel cycle is examined for four advanced reactor system technology types: sodium-cooled fast reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, liquid-fuel molten salt reactors, and lead-cooled fast reactors. It is observed that milestones earlier in the facility deployment process (e.g., siting and facility design) are more impacted by the uniqueness of advanced reactor SNF characteristics than others (e.g., construction and testing). Ultimately, none of the differences are seen as fundamentally disqualifying in a technical sense; however, they should be considered early, potentially as part of reactor design, to avoid issues in the future.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Urban Deployment Model: A Toolset for the Simulation and Performance Characterization of Radiation Detector Deployments in Urban Environments

Static and mobile radiation detectors can be deployed in urban environments for a range of nuclear security applications, including radiological source search-and-tracking scenarios. Modeling detector performance for such applications is challenging, as it does not depend solely on the detector capabilities themselves. Many factors must be taken into consideration, including specific source and background signatures, the topology and constraints of the deployment environment, the presence of nuisance sources, and whether detectors are mobile or static. When considering the simultaneous deployment of multiple, heterogeneous detectors, assessment of the system-wide performance requires the simulation of the individual detectors, and a system-level analysis of the detection performance. In radiological source search-and-tracking scenarios, performance is mostly dominated by the probability of encounter, which depends on the specifics of a given deployment, e.g., static vs. mobile detectors or a combination of both modalities, the number of detectors deployed, the dynamic vs. static setting of false alarm rates, and individual vs. networked operation. The Urban Deployment Model (UDM) toolset was specifically developed to cover the gap in the available generic frameworks for the simulation of radiation detector deployments at city scales. UDM provides a unified and modular framework to support the simulation and performance characterization of heterogeneous detector deployments in urban environments. This paper presents the key components along the UDM workflow.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗
DOE OSTI2023

Status Quo of Heliostat Field Deployment Processes

Deployment of the solar field of a concentrating solar power plant is one of many factors that are integral to the success of a project. Knowledge transfer from outside the industry is limited due to the unique nature of heliostats, which redirect sunlight to a receiver with high precision while maintaining a high level of reflectivity. Moreover, learning from project to project can be limited due to the site-specific nature of projects, as the market includes several developers, each with their own unique design. In this paper, we discuss the state of the art in heliostat field deployment. We cover all the key aspects of deployment from project assessment to a fully functioning system, which include site selection, layout development, supply chain, assembly, site preparation and construction, calibration, and operations and maintenance.

concentrating solar power↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hong-Ou-Mandel interference with a coexisting clock using transceivers for synchronization over deployed fiber

Interference between independently generated photons is a key step towards distributing entanglement over long distances, but it requires synchronization between the distantly-located photon sources. Synchronizing the clocks of such photon sources using coexisting two-way classical optical communications over the same fiber that transports the quantum photonic signals is a promising approach for achieving photon-photon interference over long distances, enabling entanglement distribution for quantum networking using the deployed fiber infrastructure. Here, we demonstrate photon-photon interference by observing the Hong-Ou-Mandel dip between two distantly-located sources: a weak coherent-state source obtained by attenuating the output of a laser and a heralded single-photon source. We achieve a maximum dip visibility of 0.58 +/- 0.04 when the two sources are connected via 4.3 km of deployed fiber. Dip visibilities > 0.5 are nonclassical and a first step towards achieving teleportation over the deployed fiber infrastructure. In our experiment, the classical optical communication is achieved with - 21 dBm of optical signal launch power, which is used to synchronize the clocks in the two independent, distantly-located photon sources. The impact of spontaneous Raman scattering from the classical optical signals is mitigated by appropriate choice of the quantum- and classical-channel wavelengths. All equipment used in our experiment (the photon sources and the synchronization setup) is commercially available. Finally, our experiment represents a scalable approach to enabling practical quantum networking with commercial equipment and coexistence with classical communications in optical fiber.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Guidance for Integrating Energy Justice and Equity in Building Technology Deployment Programs: Tracking, Reporting, and Maximizing the Flow of Benefits from Building System Technology Deployment Activities to Disadvantaged Communities and Target Sectors

The Federal Justice40 Initiative directs at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain clean energy investments to flow to disadvantaged communities and requires that all federal programs covered by Justice40 consult stakeholders to determine the program benefits, and that the flow of benefits to disadvantaged communities is tracked and reported. Unequal distribution of benefits, in terms of access to clean energy research, design, development, and deployment, can disproportionately benefit or burden certain communities. This can result in higher rates of pollution, negative health effects, and increased energy burdens and insecurities in disadvantaged communities. Programs focused on decarbonizing the built environment can enhance health, quality of life, and economic opportunities for impacted communities. This guidance document, developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, provides best practices and approaches for incorporating energy justice and equity principles into building technology deployment activities. It provides best practices and recommendations for communicating with and involving disadvantaged communities and target building sectors in program activities, along with methods to monitor and report the distribution of benefits to these sectors. This document lays out a set of strategies, metrics, and best practices that can be implemented over time to apply energy justice and equity approaches, whether the program is just starting out or ongoing. Although this guidance was designed for Building Technologies Office technology deployment programs, the best practices, recommendations, and methods can be valuable to any program concerned with the equitable deployment of clean energy technologies. The goal of this project is to enable the equitable development, deployment, and adoption of clean energy technologies and practices.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
NASA NTRS1988

Sensitivity analysis of a deployable three longeron truss beam designed for minimum member loads during deployment

The significant design variables of a deployable three longeron truss beam, designed for minimum member loads during deployment, are identified and the sensitivity of the load level in the members of the truss beam due to variations of the design variables is established. The analysis of the deployment models, developed in this paper, is carried out using a commercially available computer code, called DADS. Based on the results of the analysis, guidelines are formulated for the design of a deployable three longeron truss beam to achieve minimum loads in the members during deployment. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the applicability of the approach, taken in this paper, to other truss configurations.

Warnaar, Dirk B.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Testing the Deployment Repeatability of a Precision Deployable Boom Prototype for the Proposed SWOT Karin Instrument

NASA's proposed Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, scheduled to launch in 2020, would provide critical information about Earth's oceans, ocean circulation, fresh water storage, and river discharge. The mission concept calls for a dual-antenna Ka-band radar interferometer instrument, known as KaRIn, that would map the height of water globally along two 50 km wide swaths. The KaRIn antennas, which would be separated by 10 meters on either side of the spacecraft, would need to be precisely deployable in order to meet demanding pointing requirements. Consequently, an effort was undertaken to design build and prototype a precision deployable Mast for the KaRIn instrument. Each mast was 4.5-m long with a required dilitation stability of 2.5 microns over 3 minutes. It required a minimum first mode of 7 Hz. Deployment repeatability was less than +/- 7 arcsec in all three rotation directions. Overall mass could not exceed 41.5 Kg including any actuators and thermal blanketing. This set of requirements meant the boom had to be three times lighter and two orders of magnitude more precise than the existing state of the art for deployable booms.

boom↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deploying a Model Predictive Traffic Signal Control Algorithm - A Field Deployment Experiment Case Study: Preprint

This paper presents a field deployment experiment of a real-time traffic signal control algorithm. We implemented the Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm based on Virtual Phase-Link (VPL) model. We selected the deployment locations and times based on an energy saving potential concept. We developed a set of experiment systems to enable the deployment including sensing, processing, and actuating components. We tested the systems rigorously before the experiment days. We reported the key procedures on the experiment days including the steps took, real-time control procedure, and the monitoring of the experiment. We evaluated the impact of the deployment with the changes in delay and energy consumption.

deployment↗
DOE OSTI2023

Reinforcement-Learning-Based Smart Water Heater Control: An Actual Deployment

Utilizing smart control algorithms for electric water heaters (EWHs) is essential for fully harnessing the demand response (DR) potential of EWHs. For this reason, the use of reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms for EWHs has received increasing attention in recent years. However, existing RL approaches are either simulation-based or use pretrained RL agents. To this end, this paper presents the real-world deployment of a set of model-free RL approaches that aim to minimize the electricity cost of a EWH under a time-of-use electricity pricing policy using standard DR commands (e.g., shed, load up). The experiment results showed that the RL agents can help save electricity cost in the range of 11% to 14% compared to the baseline operation. This study demonstrated that RL-based EWH controllers can be deployed in real world without any prior training and can still save electricity cost.

deep learning↗
NASA NTRS2015

Paving the Way for Small Satellite Access to Orbit: Cyclops' Deployment of SpinSat, the Largest Satellite Ever Deployed from the International Space Station

The Space Station Integrated Kinetic Launcher for Orbital Payload Systems (SSIKLOPS), known as "Cyclops" to the International Space Station (ISS) community, successfully deployed the largest satellite ever (SpinSat) from the ISS on November 28, 2014. Cyclops, a collaboration between the NASA ISS Program, NASA Johnson Space Center Engineering, and Department of Defense Space Test Program (DoD STP) communities, is a dedicated 10-100 kg class ISS small satellite deployment system. This paper will showcase the successful deployment of SpinSat from the ISS. It will also outline the concept of operations, interfaces, requirements, and processes for satellites to utilize the Cyclops satellite deployment system.

Hershey, Matthew P.↗
DOE OSTI2026

CROCUS Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Data from Argonne Deployable Mast Deployed at Argonne National Laboratory During Urban Flooding Campaign

The Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge (TBRG) dataset contains data from a non-heated Met One 12-inch tipping bucket rain gauge that was mounted on the Argonne Deployable Mast (ADM). The ADM is a rapid deployable meteorological trailer that can be outfitted with instrumentation to measure urban heat island effects, urban flooding or urban flux measurements. During the urban flooding field campaign, the ADM was outfitted with multiple precipitation measurement systems, including the TBRG. This dataset contains one minute measurements for precipitation accumulation during the ADM's deployment at the Argonne Testbed for Multiscale Observational Science (ATMOS) site. These data are helpful for identifying periods of precipitation, leading to potential flooding. TBRGs can be used to validate optical rain gauge data and disdrometer data collected during the CROCUS urban flooding campaign. Data were collected at ATMOS, a 20-acre prairie site at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois. The data is presented as daily NetCDF (.nc) files, each containing approximately 24 hours of observations. Files follow the naming convention of: the project (CROCUS), location (ADM-atmos), instrument name (tbrg), data level (raw, a1), and date (year, month, day). The NetCDF format can be accessed using common scientific software such as Python using xarray, netCDF4 or act-doe.

1-min Precipitation Accumulation↗
DOE OSTI2026

CROCUS Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge Data from Argonne Deployable Mast Deployed at NEIU Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS)

The Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge (TBRG) dataset contains data from a non-heated Met One 12-inch tipping bucket rain gauge that was mounted on the Argonne Deployable Mast (ADM). The ADM is a rapid deployable meteorological trailer that can be outfitted with instrumentation to measure urban heat island effects, urban flooding or urban flux measurements. During the urban flooding field campaign, the ADM was outfitted with multiple precipitation measurement systems, including the TBRG. This dataset contains one minute measurements for precipitation accumulation during the ADM's deployment at the Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS) campus. These data are helpful for identifying periods of precipitation, leading to potential flooding. TBRGs can be used to validate optical rain gauge data and disdrometer data collected during the CROCUS urban flooding campaign. Data were collected at the CCICS building parking lot, located in the south side of Chicago, IL. The data is presented as daily NetCDF (.nc) files, each containing approximately 24 hours of observations. Files follow the naming convention of: the project (CROCUS), location (ADM-ccics), instrument name (tbrg), data level (raw, a1), and date (year, month, day). The NetCDF format can be accessed using common scientific software such as Python using xarray, netCDF4 or act-doe.

1-minute Precipitation Accumulation↗
NASA NTRS1980

Centrifugal regulator for control of deployment rates of deployable elements

The requirements, design, and performance of a centrifugal regulator aimed at limiting deployment rates of deployable elements are discussed. The overall mechanism is comprised of four distinct functional parts in a machined housing: (1) the centrifugal brake device, which checks the payout of a deployment cable; (2) the reducing gear, which produces the spin rate necesary for the braking device; (3) the payout device, which allows the unwinding of the cable; and (4) the locking device, which prevents untimely unwinding. The centrifugal regulator is set into operation by a threshold tension of the cable which unlocks the mechanism and allows unwinding. The pulley of the windout device drives the centrifugal brake with the help of the reducing gear. The centrifugal force pushes aside weights that produce friction of the studs in a cylindrical housing. The mechanism behaved well at qualification temperature and vibrations.

Vermalle, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Packaging, deployment, and panel design concepts for a truss-stiffened 7-panel precision deployable reflector with feed boom

A concept is presented for achieving a remotely deployable truss-stiffened reflector consisting of seven integrated sandwich panels that form the reflective surface, and an integrated feed boom. The concept has potential for meeting aperture size and surface precision requirements for some high-frequency microwave remote sensing applications. The packaged reflector/feed boom configuration is a self-contained unit that can be conveniently attached to a spacecraft bus. The package has a cylindrical envelope compatible with typical launch vehicle shrouds. Dynamic behavior of a deployed configuration having a 216-inch focal length and consisting of 80-inch-diameter, two-inch-thick panels is examined through finite-element analysis. Results show that the feed boom and spacecraft bus can have a large impact on the fundamental frequency of the deployed configuration. Two candidate rib-stiffened sandwich panel configurations for this application are described, and analytical results for panel mass and stiffness are presented. Results show that the addition of only a few rib stiffeners, if sufficiently deep, can efficiently improve sandwich panel stiffness.

Heard, Walter L., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Navigation for IUS deployment. TDRSS navigation accuracy in support of IUS deployment, phase 1

The navigation accuracy for tracking the orbiter prior to interim upper stage (IUS) deployment using the tracking data relay satellite system (TDRSS) was studied. The orbiter navigation accuracy for both one and two TDRSS satellites, for short and long data arcs, and for Doppler-only and Doppler-plus range solutions was examined. All test cases were run with the orbiter in a 150-n. mi. circular orbit, 28.5 degree inclination, at the time interval from the completion of the orbital maneuvering system (OMS)-2 maneuver to OMS-2 plus 2 hours (approximate time for IUS deployment). The data used were simulated by the simulation navigation (SIMNAV) program. The software tool used to process the TDRS data was the Shuttle Navigation Analysis Program (SNAP), a Kalman filter tool used to solve for the orbiter position and velocity. Results summarize the expected navigation accuracy using the TDRS system. It was concluded that: (1) data from both TDRS satellites were essential for accurate navigation results: (2) range data were essential for the short arc test case but were not needed for the long arc test case; and (3) with Doppler and range data from both TDRS satellites, the results converged to a reasonable solution after 5 to 10 minutes of data.

Wylie, A. D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Spacecraft Common Deployable Boom Hinge Deploy and Latching Mechanisms

JPL is developing deployable radio frequency (RF) reflector booms for spaceflight usage on two different earth orbiter projects scheduled to launch in the early 2020’s. The static alignment and thermal stability requirements for these RF reflector booms are challenging. A common mechanism design has been developed for the deployment and latching of boom hinges which avoids significant parasitic loads on the alignment critical structures after completion of mechanism function. The mechanism design includes a high-aspect ratio torsion spring with viscous damper for hinge closure as well as an actuator-driven flexured hook and roller latch for joint preloading. This paper describes noteworthy mechanism design details, test results, challenges, and lessons learned during the development effort.

Renson, Marcel↗
DOE OSTI2022

Deployment of the HFIRCON transport and depletion tool for plutonium-238 production studies

Irradiation of {sup 237}Np-bearing targets in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) results in the efficient production of {sup 238}Pu, which, in the form of heat source PuO{sub 2}, is used as a reliable power source for deep-space and planetary NASA missions. A technology demonstration subproject was initiated at ORNL in 2011 to develop and implement the technology required to establish a {sup 238}Pu supply chain. A systematic progression of NpO{sub 2}/Al cermet (20 vol.% NpO{sub 2}) activities to date has successfully demonstrated target fabrication, irradiation, and chemical recovery processes. Recent program tasks have included the development of the HFIRCON transport and depletion tool for efficient reactor physics analyses and the evaluation of increased NpO{sub 2} loadings (i.e., beyond 20 vol.%) and NpN-based targets. This paper documents the deployment of the HFIRCON code to assess various Np concentrations in NpO{sub 2}- and NpN-based targets in HFIR's inner small vertical experiment facilities. Results indicate that {sup 238}Pu production and quality can be enhanced with increased Np loadings; however, target conversion rates are reduced. The results recorded in this paper, thermal and material balance evaluations, and testing requirement planning will be used to determine whether increased NpO{sub 2} loadings or NpN-based targets will be further considered. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗