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At least 19 records

Evaluation of Underwater Adhesives and Friction Coatings for In Situ Attachment of Fiber Optic Sensor System for Subsea Applications

Integrity and performance monitoring of subsea pipelines and structures provides critical information for managing offshore oil and gas production operation and preventing environmentally damaging and costly catastrophic failure. Currently pipeline monitoring devices require ground assembly and installation prior to the underwater deployment of the pipeline. A monitoring device that could be installed in situ on the operating underwater structures could enhance the productivity and improve the safety of current offshore operation. Through a Space Act Agreement (SAA) between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) and Astro Technology, Inc. (ATI), JSC provides technical expertise and testing facilities to support the development of fiber optic sensor technologies by ATI. This paper details the first collaboration effort between NASA JSC and ATI in evaluating underwater applicable adhesives and friction coatings for attaching fiber optic sensor system to subsea pipeline. A market survey was conducted to examine different commercial ]off ]the ]shelf (COTS) underwater adhesive systems and to select adhesive candidates for testing and evaluation. Four COTS epoxy based underwater adhesives were selected and evaluated. The adhesives were applied and cured in simulated seawater conditions and then evaluated for application characteristics and adhesive strength. The adhesive that demonstrated the best underwater application characteristics and highest adhesive strength were identified for further evaluation in developing an attachment system that could be deployed in the harsh subsea environment. Various friction coatings were also tested in this study to measure their shear strengths for a mechanical clamping design concept for attaching fiber optic sensor system. A COTS carbide alloy coating was found to increase the shear strength of metal to metal clamping interface by up to 46 percent. This study provides valuable data for assessing the feasibility of developing the next generation fiber optic senor system that could be retrofitted onto existing subsea pipeline structures.

Tang, Henry H.

Automated Monitoring of Pipeline Rights-of-Way

NASA Ames Research Center and the Pipeline Research Council International, Inc. have partnered in the formation of a research program to identify and develop the key technologies required to enable automated detection of threats to gas and oil transmission and distribution pipelines. This presentation describes the Right-of-way Automated Monitoring (RAM) program and highlights research successes to date, continuing challenges to implementing the RAM objectives, and the program's ongoing work and plans.

Frost, Chard Ritchie

User applications unique to mobile satellites

As AMSC enters the market with its mobile satellite services, it faces a sophisticated user group that has already experimented with a wide range of communications services, including cellular radio and Ku-band satellite messaging. AMSC's challenge is to define applications unique to the capabilities of its dedicated L band satellite and consistent with the provisions outlined in its FCC license. Through a carefully researched approach to its three main markets (aeronautical, land mobile, and maritime) AMSC is discovering a wellspring of interest in corporate and general aviation, trucking companies, pipeline monitoring and control companies, maritime management firms, telecommunications companies, and government agencies. A general overview is provided of AMSC's FCC license and corporate history, and the specific applications unique to each user group is discussed.

Castiel, David

A Little Sensor That Packs a Wallop

A gas sensor originally built for NASA to measure the composition of the atmosphere of Earth and Mars has been commercialized by SpectraSensors. The commercial tunable diode laser (TDL) gas sensor can be used for oil and gas pipeline monitoring, aircraft safety, environmental monitoring and medicine. The TDL technology is good at detecting low levels of gases from parts-per-million to parts-per-billion.

Source record

Aerial laser sensing of ocean upper layer

Applications of laser sensing of the ocean, such as deep bathymetry; determination of the luminescence spectrum of phytoplankton as a sensitive indicator of changes in the external physical parameters of the studied region; monitoring the state of underwater pipelines; conducting search and rescue missions; monitoring pollution; biological observations of the state of algae; searching for schools of fish, etc., are discussed. The Chayka apparatus for laser sensing is discussed. A block diagram is given which is used in describing functioning of this unit. Particular attention is given to the time structure of an echo signal appearing when sensing the upper ocean layer by a short laser pulse propagating through the wave-covered surface.

Vlasov, D. V.

Kepler Science Operations Center Pipeline Framework

The Kepler mission is designed to continuously monitor up to 170,000 stars at a 30 minute cadence for 3.5 years searching for Earth-size planets. The data are processed at the Science Operations Center (SOC) at NASA Ames Research Center. Because of the large volume of data and the memory and CPU-intensive nature of the analysis, significant computing hardware is required. We have developed generic pipeline framework software that is used to distribute and synchronize the processing across a cluster of CPUs and to manage the resulting products. The framework is written in Java and is therefore platform-independent, and scales from a single, standalone workstation (for development and research on small data sets) to a full cluster of homogeneous or heterogeneous hardware with minimal configuration changes. A plug-in architecture provides customized control of the unit of work without the need to modify the framework itself. Distributed transaction services provide for atomic storage of pipeline products for a unit of work across a relational database and the custom Kepler DB. Generic parameter management and data accountability services are provided to record the parameter values, software versions, and other meta-data used for each pipeline execution. A graphical console allows for the configuration, execution, and monitoring of pipelines. An alert and metrics subsystem is used to monitor the health and performance of the pipeline. The framework was developed for the Kepler project based on Kepler requirements, but the framework itself is generic and could be used for a variety of applications where these features are needed.

Klaus, Todd C.

A Multidisciplinary Survey for the Management of Alaskan Resources Utilizing ERTS Imagery

The application of ERTS-1 imagery for a multidisciplinary study of Alaskan resources is discussed. ERTS-1 data form a politically neutral base from which resource surveys can be made without arousing suspicions from groups which have mutually confliciting goals. The specific use of ERTS-1 imagery for monitoring migratory animals, pipeline locations, road construction, snow cover, and vegetation growth is reported. Maps, illustrations, and photographs are provided to support the data.

Miller, J. M.

Fast response cryogen level sensor

Liquid level in cryogenic tank or pipe, or amount of gas trapped in pipeline flow, is monitored electronically by cylindrical capacitive sensor. Changes in liquid level between concentric tubes of capacitor change its impedance, varying current in drive circuit. Since it is oriented parallel to direction of liquid flow, sensor presents little resistance to moving fluid.

Fitzpatrick, J. B.

Applications of ERTS-1 imagery to terrestrial and marine environmental analyses in Alaska

ERTS-1 imagery provides a means of distinguishing and monitoring estuarine surface water circulation patterns and changes in the relative sediment load of discharging rivers on a regional basis. It also will aid local fishing industries by augmenting currently available hydrologic and navigation charts. The interpretation of geologic and vegetation features resulted in preparation of improved surficial geology, vegetation and permafrost terrain maps at a scale of 1:1 million utilizing ERTS-1 band 7 imagery. This information will be further utilized in a route and site selection study for the Nome to Kobuk Road in central Alaska. Large river icings along the proposed Alaska pipeline route have been monitored. Sea ice deformation and drift northeast of Point Barrow, Alaska has been measured and shorefast ice accumulation and ablation along the west coast of Alaska is being mapped for the spring and early summer seasons. These data will be used for route and site selection, regional environmental analysis, identification and inventory of natural resources, land use planning, and in land use regulation and management.

Anderson, D. M.

Underwater Adhesives Retrofit Pipelines with Advanced Sensors

Houston-based Astro Technology Inc. used a partnership with Johnson Space Center to pioneer an advanced fiber-optic monitoring system for offshore oil pipelines. The company's underwater adhesives allow it to retrofit older deepwater systems in order to measure pressure, temperature, strain, and flow properties, giving energy companies crucial data in real time and significantly decreasing the risk of a catastrophe.

Source record

ATI SAA Annex 3 Button Tensile Test Report I

This report documents the results of a study carried out under Splace Act Agreement SAA-EA-10-004 between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Astro Technology Incorpporated (ATI). NASA and ATI have entered into this agreement to collaborate on the development of technologies that can benefit both the US government space programs and the oil and gas industry. The report documents the results of a test done on an adnesive system for attaching new monitoring sensor devices to pipelines under Annex III of SAA-EA-10-004: "Proof-of-Concept Design and Testing of a Post Installed Sensing Device on Subsea Risers and Pipelines". The tasks of Annex III are to design and test a proof-of-concept sensing device for in-situ installation on pipelines, risers, or other structures deployed in deep water. The function of the sensor device is to measure various signals such as strain, stress and temperature. This study complements the work done, in Annex I of the SAA, on attaching a fiber optic sensing device to pipe via adhesive bonding. Both Annex I and Annex III studies were conducted in the Crew and Thermal System Division (CTSD) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in collaboration with ATI.

Tang, Henry H.

Orchestrator Telemetry Processing Pipeline

Orchestrator is a software application infrastructure for telemetry monitoring, logging, processing, and distribution. The architecture has been applied to support operations of a variety of planetary rovers. Built in Java with the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, Orchestrator can run on most commonly used operating systems. The pipeline supports configurable parallel processing that can significantly reduce the time needed to process a large volume of data products. Processors in the pipeline implement a simple Java interface and declare their required input from upstream processors. Orchestrator is programmatically constructed by specifying a list of Java processor classes that are initiated at runtime to form the pipeline. Input dependencies are checked at runtime. Fault tolerance can be configured to attempt continuation of processing in the event of an error or failed input dependency if possible, or to abort further processing when an error is detected. This innovation also provides support for Java Message Service broadcasts of telemetry objects to clients and provides a file system and relational database logging of telemetry. Orchestrator supports remote monitoring and control of the pipeline using browser-based JMX controls and provides several integration paths for pre-compiled legacy data processors. At the time of this reporting, the Orchestrator architecture has been used by four NASA customers to build telemetry pipelines to support field operations. Example applications include high-volume stereo image capture and processing, simultaneous data monitoring and logging from multiple vehicles. Example telemetry processors used in field test operations support include vehicle position, attitude, articulation, GPS location, power, and stereo images.

Powell, Mark

The Kepler Science Operations Center Pipeline Framework Extensions

The Kepler Science Operations Center (SOC) is responsible for several aspects of the Kepler Mission, including managing targets, generating on-board data compression tables, monitoring photometer health and status, processing the science data, and exporting the pipeline products to the mission archive. We describe how the generic pipeline framework software developed for Kepler is extended to achieve these goals, including pipeline configurations for processing science data and other support roles, and custom unit of work generators that control how the Kepler data are partitioned and distributed across the computing cluster. We describe the interface between the Java software that manages the retrieval and storage of the data for a given unit of work and the MATLAB algorithms that process these data. The data for each unit of work are packaged into a single file that contains everything needed by the science algorithms, allowing these files to be used to debug and evolve the algorithms offline.

Klaus, Todd C.

Pipeline for Applications-Based Data Discovery

From disaster response and mitigation to monitoring water quality or protecting wildlife habitat, satellite Earth observation data can be applied in countless ways to meet pressing needs and benefit society. The crucial first step toward successful data application is data discovery. Potential users often know exactly what data they need--what Earth feature or phenomenon they need to observe, how frequently, and at what resolution or level of accuracy--but may still struggle to discover the existing observations that meet their needs. We have developed a pipeline to connect applications-based users to specific satellites and data collections within NASA's Earth observation program of record that are highly relevant to their data needs. This pipeline combines available information on satellite and instrument measurement characteristics with an innovative machine learning-based approach that identifies instruments that are most relevant to the feature or phenomenon of interest.

Katrina S Virts

AAM National Campaign Tech Talk: Data Pipeline Familiarization

NASA's AWS-based Data Pipeline allows real-time data submission and ingestion, with immediate monitoring of data rate, coverage and ingestion quality. Problems are immediately discovered and can be corrected with agility by both Partners and NASA during the a simulation or flight event​.

Data Pipeline

Study of a hybrid multispectral processor

A hybrid processor is described offering enough handling capacity and speed to process efficiently the large quantities of multispectral data that can be gathered by scanner systems such as MSDS, SKYLAB, ERTS, and ERIM M-7. Combinations of general-purpose and special-purpose hybrid computers were examined to include both analog and digital types as well as all-digital configurations. The current trend toward lower costs for medium-scale digital circuitry suggests that the all-digital approach may offer the better solution within the time frame of the next few years. The study recommends and defines such a hybrid digital computing system in which both special-purpose and general-purpose digital computers would be employed. The tasks of recognizing surface objects would be performed in a parallel, pipeline digital system while the tasks of control and monitoring would be handled by a medium-scale minicomputer system. A program to design and construct a small, prototype, all-digital system has been started.

Marshall, R. E.

Arctic and subarctic environmental analyses utilizing ERTS-1 imagery

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery provides a means of distinguishing and monitoring estuarine surface water circulation patterns and changes in the relative sediment load of discharging rivers on a regional basis. Physical boundaries mapped from ERTS-1 imagery in combination with ground truth obtained from existing small scale maps and other sources resulted in improved and more detailed maps of permafrost terrain and vegetation for the same area. Snowpack cover within a research watershed has been analyzed and compared to ground data. Large river icings along the proposed Alaska pipeline route from Prudhoe Bay to the Brooks Range have been monitored. Sea ice deformation and drift northeast of Point Barrow, Alaska have been measured during a four day period in March and shore-fast ice accumulation and ablation along the west coast of Alaska have been mapped for the spring and early summer seasons.

Anderson, D. M.