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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 217 records · Page 12

Responding To A Downed Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Platform

A drone may be forced down as part of a kinetic Counter-UAS action or as a spoof signal with a command to land immediately. A drone could also be incidentally discovered by an employee or by a random patrol. In each case, the platform should be considered a suspicious package until it can be determined to be nonhazardous by qualified personnel.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

Interactive Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Security Workshop

The goal of this workshop is to role play and walk through various UAS incursion scenarios to: 1. Recognize the complex interactions between physical protection, response, and UAS technologies in a nuclear security event; 2. Identify potential regulatory and legal complications dealing with UAS as aircraft; 3. Identify communication/coordination touch points with facility security and law enforcement; 4. Identify possible physical security and response strategies to help mitigate UAS impact.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)/Camera Technologies to Detect Avian Events and Other Environmental Measures at Utility- Scale Power Plants (Final Report)

The goal of this project was to develop and validate two complementary, cost-effective remote sensing technologies to monitor avian fatalities at utility-scale solar facilities: fixed platform (Animal Activity Monitoring-AAM) and aerial-based (Uncrewed Aircraft Systems-UAS). This project used these features with machine learning to automate the detection of avian carcasses and nests at solar facilities.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Measurements of TRACER pre-convective conditions and mesoscale circulations using small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS)

Improved comprehension of the physical processes governing convective cloud formation and lifecycle are of critical importance for understanding and predicting future climate states. The influence of these clouds on the planetary energy budget, including on precipitation, is significant. Things are particularly complex in coastal regimes, where gradients in aerosol particle properties, localized circulations such as sea breezes, and large population centers are found. To date, numerical models struggle to accurately represent these critical clouds and are therefore challenged to provide a realistic view on the planetary energy budget. Through the proposed research, we deployed two uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) equipped with a variety of instruments alongside sensors deployed by the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program for the TRACER (Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment) field campaign. The two small UAS platforms consisted of a CU RAAVEN fixed-wing airplane and an OU CopterSonde system, with the copter collecting frequent vertical profiles of thermodynamic and kinematic variables such as temperature, pressure, wind and humidity. At the same time, the fixed-wing captured horizontal gradients of these quantities and aerosol size distribution. These systems were deployed south of the Houston metro area, in an area that is impacted by the Gulf of Mexico sea breeze on a daily basis. These observations offer enhanced and complementary perspectives to those provided by the DOE ARM Mobile Facility (AMF) which is was deployed in southeast Houston, and an ancillary site in a more rural location west of the urban Houston area. Quality-controlled versions of the UAS data were collected and posted on the DOE ARM data archive after the conclusion of the campaign where they are accessible by the research community and general public. The UAS perspective offers revolutionary insight into key spatial and temporal effects that have not been evaluated previously.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) - Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Cloud Droplet Probe

The Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) is designed to measure cloud droplet size distribution from 2 µm to 50 µm. The CDP and an appropriate data system can also calculate various other parameters including particle concentrations, effective diameter (ED), Median Volume Diameter (MVD), and Liquid Water Content (LWC).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

ARM Aerial Facility (AAF) - Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Cloud Droplet Probe with QC and lat/lon/alt

The Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) is designed to measure cloud droplet size distribution from 2 µm to 50 µm. The CDP and an appropriate data system can also calculate various other parameters including particle concentrations, effective diameter (ED), Median Volume Diameter (MVD), and Liquid Water Content (LWC). The b1 level adds standard quality control flags, and merges in flight navigation data.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Propulsion System for Very High Altitude Subsonic Unmanned Aircraft

This paper explains why a spark ignited gasoline engine, intake pressurized with three cascaded stages of turbocharging, was selected to power NASA's contemplated next generation of high altitude atmospheric science aircraft. Beginning with the most urgent science needs (the atmospheric sampling mission) and tracing through the mission requirements which dictate the unique flight regime in which this aircraft has to operate (subsonic flight at greater then 80 kft) we briefly explore the physical problems and constraints, the available technology options and the cost drivers associated with developing a viable propulsion system for this highly specialized aircraft. The paper presents the two available options (the turbojet and the turbocharged spark ignited engine) which are discussed and compared in the context of the flight regime. We then show how the unique nature of the sampling mission, coupled with the economic considerations pursuant to aero engine development, point to the spark ignited engine as the only cost effective solution available. Surprisingly, this solution compares favorably with the turbojet in the flight regime of interest. Finally, some remarks are made about NASA's present state of development, and future plans to flight demonstrate the three stage turbocharged powerplant.

Bents, David J.↗