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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

James Webb Space Telescope Primary and Secondary Mirror Segment Assemblies Cleaning: a Quantitative Assessment

The James Webb Space Telescope Primary Mirror Segment Assemblies (PMSAs) and Secondary Mirror Assembly (SMA) were cleaned at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in January 2018. In order to quantify the effectiveness of the cleaning, the same cleaning process was performed on the PMSA and SMA traveling witness wafers. These wafers have accompanied their respective mirror segments from their arrival at the Goddard Space Flight Center, through transport to JSC, and ultimately their exposure in Chamber A for cryogenic testing. The traveling wafers were analyzed using an Image Analysis automated microscope both prior to and after the cleaning. The resulting data showed that the PMSA wafers' Percent Area Coverage (PAC) reduced by 83.5% on average, from 0.1524 PAC to 0.0251 PAC. The SMA wafer's PAC decreased by 97.2%, from 0.1194 PAC to 0.0034 PAC. Further analysis of the particle size bins was completed in order to calculate their particle distribution slopes. The slope of the PMSA wafers increased by 0.025 on average, and the SMA wafer slope increased by 0.066. This indicates that the ratio of large to small particles slightly increased after the cleaning across all mirror segments. Visual inspections of the wafers and the flight PMSAs and SMA showed considerable and comparable particulate coverage improvements, thus leading to the conclusion that the average PAC on the PMSAs and SMA improved by the same factor as their respective wafers.

mirror↗
NASA NTRS1994

Cloud properties inferred from 8-12 micron data

A trispectral combination of observations at 8-, 11-, and 12-micron bands is suggested for detecting cloud and cloud properties in the infrared. Atmospheric ice and water vapor absorption peak in opposite halves of the window region so that positive 8-minus-11-micron brightness temperature differences indicate cloud, while near-zero or negative differences indicate clear regions. The absorption coefficient for water increases more between 11 and 12 microns than between 8 and 11 microns, while for ice, the reverse is true. Cloud phases is determined by a scatter diagram of 8-minus-11-micron versus 11-minus-12-micron brightness temperature differences; ice cloud shows a slope greater than 1 and water cloud less than 1. The trispectral brightness temperature method was tested upon high-resolution interferometer data resulting in clear-cloud and cloud-phase delineation. Simulations using differing 8-micron bandwidths revealed no significant degradation of cloud property detection. Thus, the 8-micron bandwidth for future satellites can be selected based on the requirements of other applications, such as surface characterization studies. Application of the technique to current polar-orbiting High-Resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRS)-Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) datasets is constrained by the nonuniformity of the cloud scenes sensed within the large HIRS field of view. Analysis of MAS (MODIS Airborne Simulator) high-spatial resolution (500 m) data with all three 8-, 11-, and 12-micron bands revealed sharp delineation of differing cloud and background scenes, from which a simple automated threshold technique was developed. Cloud phase, clear-sky, and qualitative differences in cloud emissivity and cloud height were identified on a case study segment from 24 November 1991, consistent with the scene. More rigorous techniques would allow further cloud parameter clarification. The opportunities for global cloud delineation with the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) appear excellent. The spectral selection, the spatial resolution, and the global coverage are all well suited for significant advances.

Strabala, Kathleen I.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Technology Infusion of CodeSonar into the Space Network Ground Segment (RII07)

The NASA Software Assurance Research Program (in part) performs studies as to the feasibility of technologies for improving the safety, quality, reliability, cost, and performance of NASA software. This study considers the application of commercial automated source code analysis tools to mission critical ground software that is in the operations and sustainment portion of the product lifecycle.

Benson, Markland↗
NASA NTRS1975

Increasing the reliability of labor of railroad engineers

It has been shown that the group of problems related to temporary overloads still require serious development with respect to further automating the basic control operation - programmed selection of speed and braking. The problem of systems for warning the engineer about the condition of the unseen track segments remains a very serious one. Systems of hygenic support of the engineer also require constructive development. The problems of ensuring the reliability of work of engineers in periods of low information load, requiring motor acts, can basically be considered theoretically solved.

Genes, V. S.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Arc Second Alignment of International X-Ray Observatory Mirror Segments in a Fixed Structure

The optics for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) require alignment and integration of about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arc seconds. These mirror segments are 0.4mm thick, and 200 to 400mm in size, which makes it hard not to impart distortion at the subarc second level. This paper outlines the precise alignment, verification testing, and permanent bonding techniques developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). These techniques are used to overcome the challenge of transferring thin mirror segments from a temporary mount to a fixed structure with arc second alignment and minimal figure distortion. Recent advances in technology development in addition to the automation of several processes have produced significant results. This paper will highlight the recent advances in alignment, testing, and permanent bonding techniques as well as the results they have produced.

Evans, Tyler C.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Sizing Considerations for EV Dynamic Wireless Charging Systems with Integrated Energy Storage

Roadways with dynamic wireless charging systems (DWCS) enable charge-sustaining in-motion EV charging, which can reduce charging idle time while increasing range capabilities. Spatially distributed transmitter coils are controlled in response to traffic load that varies significantly minute to minute with high power levels, very short charging time, and low system utilization like wind turbine power. Traffic load estimation and localized analysis may guide effective sizing and topology adoption for feasible and scalable DWCS deployment. DWCS traffic load approximation is reviewed with measured Automated Traffic Recorder (ATR) data and statistical distributions being used to create a synthetic load analyzed using proposed metrics quantifying system utilization over time. Lumped coil section segmentation is compared between second-based distance and spatial density analysis methods, offering 17-27% greater system utilization. A peak load shifting method is proposed for traffic redirection across two tracks with optional BESS integration increasing system utilization by 50-60% depending on time-based and power reserve-based sizing and control.

Lewis, Donovin D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Graph Neural Networks for Charged Particle Tracking on FPGAs

The determination of charged particle trajectories in collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is an important but challenging problem, especially in the high interaction density conditions expected during the future high-luminosity phase of the LHC (HL-LHC). Graph neural networks (GNNs) are a type of geometric deep learning algorithm that has successfully been applied to this task by embedding tracker data as a graph—nodes represent hits, while edges represent possible track segments—and classifying the edges as true or fake track segments. However, their study in hardware- or software-based trigger applications has been limited due to their large computational cost. In this paper, we introduce an automated translation workflow, integrated into a broader tool called hls4ml , for converting GNNs into firmware for field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). We use this translation tool to implement GNNs for charged particle tracking, trained using the TrackML challenge dataset, on FPGAs with designs targeting different graph sizes, task complexites, and latency/throughput requirements. This work could enable the inclusion of charged particle tracking GNNs at the trigger level for HL-LHC experiments.

Elabd, Abdelrahman↗
NASA NTRS2010

Arc-Second Alignment of International X-Ray Observatory Mirror Segments in a Fixed Structure

The optics for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) require alignment and integration of about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arc-seconds. These mirror segments are 0.4 mm thick, and 200 to 400 mm in size, which makes it hard not to impart distortion at the subare- second level. This paper outlines the precise alignment, verification testing, and permanent bonding techniques developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). These techniques are used to overcome the challenge of transferring thin mirror segments from a temporary mount to a fixed structure with arc-second alignment and minimal figure distortion. Recent advances in technology development in addition to the automation of several processes have produced significant results. This paper will highlight the recent advances in alignment, testing, and permanent bonding techniques as well as the results they have produced.

Evans, Tyler C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The SAX Italian scientific satellite. The on-board implemented automation as a support to the ground control capability

This paper presents the capabilities implemented in the SAX system for an efficient operations management during its in-flight mission. SAX is an Italian scientific satellite for x-ray astronomy whose major mission objectives impose quite tight constraints on the implementation of both the space and ground segment. The most relevant mission characteristics require an operative lifetime of two years, performing scientific observations both in contact and in noncontact periods, with a low equatorial orbit supported by one ground station, so that only a few minutes of communications are available each orbit. This operational scenario determines the need to have a satellite capable of performing the scheduled mission automatically and reacting autonomously to contingency situations. The implementation approach of the on-board operations management, through which the necessary automation and autonomy are achieved, follows a hierarchical structure. This has been achieved adopting a distributed avionic architecture. Nine different on-board computers, in fact, constitute the on-board data management system. Each of them performs the local control and monitors its own functions while the system level control is performed at a higher level by the data handling applications software. The SAX on-board architecture provides the ground operators with different options of intervention by three classes of telecommands. The management of the scientific operations will be scheduled by the operation control center via dedicated operating plans. The SAX satellite flight mode is presently being integrated at Alenia Spazio premises in Turin for a launch scheduled for the end of 1995. Once in orbit, the SAX satellite will be subject to intensive check-out activities in order to verify the required mission performances. An overview of the envisaged procedure and of the necessary on-ground activities is therefore depicted as well.

Martelli, Andrea↗
DOE OSTI2021

The non-adiabatic nanoreactor: towards the automated discovery of photochemistry

The ab initio nanoreactor has previously been introduced to automate reaction discovery for ground state chemistry. In this work, we present the nonadiabatic nanoreactor, an analogous framework for excited state reaction discovery. We automate the study of nonadiabatic decay mechanisms of molecules by probing the intersection seam between adiabatic electronic states with hyper-real metadynamics, sampling the branching plane for relevant conical intersections, and performing seam-constrained path searches. We illustrate the effectiveness of the nonadiabatic nanoreactor by applying it to benzene, a molecule with rich photochemistry and a wide array of photochemical products. Our study confirms the existence of several types of S 0 /S 1 and S 1 /S 2 conical intersections which mediate access to a variety of ground state stationary points. We elucidate the connections between conical intersection energy/topography and the resulting photoproduct distribution, which changes smoothly along seam space segments. The exploration is performed with minimal user input, and the protocol requires no previous knowledge of the photochemical behavior of a target molecule. We demonstrate that the nonadiabatic nanoreactor is a valuable tool for the automated exploration of photochemical reactions and their mechanisms.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

MATBOX, an Open-Source Microstructure Analysis Toolbox for Meshing, Generation, Segmentation, and Characterization of 3D Heterogenous Volumes

Battery performance is strongly correlated with electrode microstructural properties. To account for its impact, lithium-ion battery (LIB) models either abstract the microstructural heterogeneity of composite electrodes using effective macroscopic properties (macro- or meso- scale models) or directly solve the system of equations on the microstructure geometry or mesh (microstructure-scale models). Therefore, to be adequate, both families of models require information from the microstructure geometry, which can be provided by the numerical tool presented in this work. MATBOX is a MATLAB open-source application [1] developed by NREL for performing various microstructure-related tasks including microstructure numerical generation, image filtering and microstructure segmentation, microstructure characterization and correlation, visualization, and microstructure meshing. MATBOX was originally developed for the analysis of LIB electrode microstructures; however, the algorithms provided by the toolbox are widely applicable to other heterogeneous materials. The toolbox provides a user-friendly experience thanks to a Graphical-User Interface, requires no coding by the user, and is well documented. This presentation will illustrate various MATBOX features for the characterization of a LIB electrode, including a fully automated Representative Volume Element (RVE) analysis, the numerical generation of complex 'virtual' microstructure, including dual-layer electrodes and carbon-binder additive phase, and the meshing of a complex NMC/graphite full cell microstructure suitable for 3D finite-element modeling. Other modules (segmentation, visualization, and correlation) will be briefly presented. Thanks to its modular, open-source approach, MATBOX can easily incorporate third-party algorithms to eventually build a standard in the field that will benefit the whole scientific community. Effective diffusion coefficient [2], additive phase numerical generation [3], and meshing [4] third-party algorithms have been already integrated in the toolbox with more to come.

DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION,MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advances in Automation of Overset Structured Volume Mesh Generation and Domain Connectivity

Automation of overset structured surface mesh generation has recently been accomplished by the creation of face, edge, and node meshes based on Boundary Representation solids as the geometry input. The current work continues the automation effort in overset volume mesh generation and domain connectivity based on the auto-generated surface meshes. All near-body curvilinear volume meshes are automatically generated using hyperbolic methods. Automation of this step is enabled by appropriate surface grid point distribution, and selection of boundary-splay and smoothing parameters based on concave and convex surface features. The off-body domain is covered by two automatically generated grid systems. The first contains a single Cartesian mesh with a uniform core enclosing all near-body volume meshes and stretched layers that extend to the far field, while the second consists of a set of small stretched Cartesian grids covering pockets of off-body orphan points. With high quality mesh overlap mostly guaranteed by the surface meshing scheme, orphan points that need to be covered by the second Cartesian mesh system are located away from the fine grid spacing region near the wall. Using line-segment and ray-pierce tests against the surface grids, hole-cutting is accomplished on both near and off-body volume grids resulting in appropriate clearances from the wall. The complete mesh generation automation process is demonstrated on five test cases where flow solutions are also computed and compared with solutions obtained using other methods.

TTT↗
DOE OSTI2026

A User-Friendly GUI Tool for Automated Microstructural Analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Composites and Porous Structures

Understanding and quantifying microstructural features such as fiber orientation and porosity is critical for predicting the mechanical behavior and performance of fiber-reinforced polymer composites. Traditional manual analysis is time-consuming, subjective, and unsuitable for high-throughput datasets. We present a graphical user interface (GUI) application that automates the analysis of microscopy images to extract key microstructural metrics, including fiber orientation tensors, fiber orientation distribution, porosity and pore size distribution. The app integrates multiple image segmentation techniques including global and local thresholding, clustering, and region-based approaches, offering flexibility for different types of image qualities and features. Users can load microstructural images, select regions of interest and segmentation techniques tailored to their image dataset. It also addresses a critical challenge in fiber orientation analysis: the ambiguities caused by touching, overlapping, or partially cut fibers. It supports autorun examples for standardized workflows, enabling reproducible analysis and facilitating training and benchmarking. This tool significantly reduces manual intervention, enhances consistency, and accelerates data generation for structure–property modeling, process optimization, and digital materials research. The tool is intended for use by materials scientists, engineers, and researchers engaged in composite characterization, quality control, and machine learning-based microstructural studies.

Chawla, Komal [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000190327565)↗
NASA NTRS1978

Landsat-D - A systems overview

Landsat D, scheduled for launch in 1981, is designed to be a complete end-to-end highly automated data gathering and processing system providing a major step forward in global remote sensing for earth resources applications. This paper discusses the major components of the flight segment (the Multimission Modular Spacecraft, the Thematic Mapper and the Multispectral Scanner Subsystem) and of the ground segment (the Data Management System and the Landsat-D Assessment System). Descriptions and diagrams illustrating various aspects of flight and ground segments are provided.

Salomonson, V. V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A new method for recognizing quadric surfaces from range data and its application to telerobotics and automation

Pose and orientation of an object is one of the central issues in 3-D recognition problems. Most of today's available techniques require considerable pre-processing such as detecting edges or joints, fitting curves or surfaces to segment images, and trying to extract higher order features from the input images. We present a method based on analytical geometry, whereby all the rotation parameters of any quadric surface are determined and subsequently eliminated. This procedure is iterative in nature and was found to converge to the desired results in as few as three iterations. The approach enables us to position the quadric surface in a desired coordinate system, and then to utilize the presented shape information to explicitly represent and recognize the 3-D surface. Experiments were conducted with simulated data for objects such as hyperboloid of one and two sheets, elliptic and hyperbolic paraboloid, elliptic and hyperbolic cylinders, ellipsoids, and quadric cones. Real data of quadric cones and cylinders were also utilized. Both of these sets yielded excellent results.

Alvertos, Nicolas↗
NASA NTRS2002

Onboard Autonomous Rock Shape Analysis for Mars Rovers

In the quest to maximize the scientific return of future robotic missions, it is imperative that our rovers be capable of determining the importance of the science they collect so that they may prioritize the acquisition and relay of that data. As an important step in this process, we present an automated technique to allow a rover to classify the shape and other geologic characteristics of rocks from two-dimensional photographic images and three-dimensional stereographically produced data. Experiments were conducted in the Matlab environment using images returned by JPL's Mars Pathfinder mission. Our method begins by first segmenting the rocks from the background using a combination of image intensity and height data. Various metrics are then used to classify the region's sphericity, roundness, and other geometric properties. Preliminary experiments to determine the most useful metrics were conducted by characterizing the two-dimensional rock shape while the three-dimensional shape was later studied with metrics derived from these two-dimensional techniques. Seven measures were developed and implemented. The performance of each measure was characterized by analyzing imagesfrom the Pathfinder mission and ranking the rocks according to the measured properties. Combined, the measures would provide a tool by which an automated rover could discover a greater amount of information about the data it collects, leading to a more productive mission.

image segmentation↗
DOE OSTI2020

Understanding important features of deep learning models for segmentation of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images

Cutting edge deep learning techniques allow for image segmentation with great speed and accuracy. However, application to problems in materials science is often difficult since these complex models may have difficultly learning meaningful image features that would enable extension to new datasets. In situ electron microscopy provides a clear platform for utilizing automated image analysis. In this work, we consider the case of studying coarsening dynamics in supported nanoparticles, which is important for understanding, for example, the degradation of industrial catalysts. By systematically studying dataset preparation, neural network architecture, and accuracy evaluation, we describe important considerations in applying deep learning to physical applications, where generalizable and convincing models are required. With a focus on unique challenges that arise in high-resolution images, we propose methods for optimizing performance of image segmentation using convolutional neural networks, critically examining the application of complex deep learning models in favor of motivating intentional process design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Automated analysis of lattice structures using computed tomography

Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for evaluating a set of computed tomography data associated with a lattice structure. The lattice structure may be additively manufactured. The computed tomography data may be segmented using a filter for identifying blob-like structures to identify nodes present within the lattice structure. A three-dimensional path traversal is applied to volumetric data to identify a plurality of struts within the lattice structure that are compared to corresponding struts within a set if three-dimensional mesh data of the lattice structure to identify defective struts. Further, two-dimensional slices may be extracted from each of the computed tomography data and the mesh data and compared to identify one or more inconsistencies indicative of defects within the lattice structure.

Schiefelbein, Bryan E.↗