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At least 217 records · Page 12

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2021

Method and Atlas to Enable Targeting for Cardiac Radioablation Employing the American Heart Association Segmented Model

Cardiac radioablation using stereotactic body radiation therapy is gaining popularity as a noninvasive treatment for otherwise refractory ventricular arrhythmias. As radiation oncologists might be unaccustomed to the lexicon used by cardiologists to describe the location of arrhythmogenic foci, a preliminary guide to cardiac-specific anatomy and orientation is needed to foster effective communication between the radiation oncologist and cardiology team.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

DOE OSTI2020

PMU and Communication Infrastructure Restoration for Post-Attack Observability Recovery of Power Grids

This paper is concerned about recovering the observability of cyber-physical power grids after massive cyber attacks, which helps to achieve the cyber-physical resilience of the grids. For recovering the observability of the grid, the measurability of the Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and the connectivity of the communication network are needed to be restored. The PMU and communication infrastructure restoration problem is jointly formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem to minimize the observability loss of the grid over time after a cyber attack while considering the constraint of limited resources. The efficacy of the proposed optimal restoration strategy is verified by comparing with heuristic methods on the IEEE 57-bus system.

cyber security↗

DOE OSTI2025

Development and Experimental Validation of a High-Power DC Distribution Testbed for Advanced Charging Infrastructure and Energy Management

This paper presents the development of a hardware testbed for DC-distributed high-power charging (HPC) stations. As DC distributed solutions emerge as a viable solution to optimize HPC site operations, challenges such as interoperability, protection, and seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DER) persist. These issues underscore the need for a robust testing facility to investigate compliance of available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) market devices. The developed testbed features a DC-distributed charging hub including a charger, emulated energy storage system (ESS), and site level communication and controller implementation. It facilitates the testing of COTS hardware, charger prototypes, standards validation and site energy management system (SEMS) controllers at rated power. This paper details the development of the charging infrastructure platform, implementation of communication system, validation of different SEMS algorithms, and understanding improvements required for future expansion. Using the developed testbed, interoperability gaps for SEMS implementation with multi-vehicle concurrent charging via a multi-port charger are experimentally observed. Aimed at supporting the transition to large-scale EV charging infrastructure deployment and DER integration, this testbed plays a crucial role in conformity testing of COTS device interoperability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Communication Issues in Primal-Dual-Based Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS)

With the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution networks, DERMS is becoming an attractive option to coordinate the control of DERs, especially primal-dual-based DERMS which is a well-developed class of them. In order to help lower the uncertainty in commercializing them, we evaluate and find the upper limits of severity for some common issues that can occur within the communication systems on which a primal-dual-based DERMS relies on; these include packet losses, link failures, and delays. This information can help a DERMS operator decide on the specifications for the communication infrastructure it will invest in for the DERMS. Our evaluation is based on numerical simulations of a real-world feeder with around 2,000 nodes and a DERMS that controls 163 PV generators and 140 energy storage batteries. In general, we found that the DERMS becomes less resistant to communication issues as the information flows closer to the DERs implementing the controllable power injections.

communication delay↗

DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Communication Issues in Primal-Dual-Based Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS): Preprint

communication delay↗

DOE OSTI2024

Cybersecurity Certification Requirements for Distributed Energy Resources: A Survey of SunSpec Alliance Standards

This survey paper explores the cybersecurity certification requirements defined by the SunSpec Alliance for Distributed Energy Resource (DER) devices, focusing on aspects such as software updates, device communications, authentication mechanisms, device security, logging, and test procedures. The SunSpec cybersecurity standards mandate support for remote and automated software updates, secure communication protocols, stringent authentication practices, and robust logging mechanisms to ensure operational integrity. Furthermore, the paper discusses the implementation of the SAE J3072 standard using the IEEE 2030.5 protocol, emphasizing the secure interactions between electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) for functionalities like vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities. This research also examines the SunSpec Modbus standard, which enhances the interoperability among DER system components, facilitating compliance with grid interconnection standards. This paper also analyzes the existing SunSpec Device Information Models, which standardize data exchange formats for DER systems across communication interfaces. Finally, this paper concludes with a detailed discussion of the energy storage cybersecurity specification and the blockchain cybersecurity requirements as proposed by SunSpec Alliance.

Tsikteris, Sean (ORCID:0009000524202250)↗

DOE OSTI2020

Resilient buildings for fire-adapted landscapes: EE and flexible loads integrated with solar and storage microgrids

Energy efficiency (EE) and flexible loads can be part of a resilient buildings packagewhen they are combined with solar and storage in a clean energy microgrid to reduce the carbonfootprint of buildings and enable resilience to extreme events. Recent large wildfires and an emerging understanding of the fire-adapted landscapes in the American West underscore the urgency of work towards scaling and commercializing these systems. For example, a recent power shutoff in Northern California (October 9-12, 2019) resulted in 738k customers disconnected at the peak of the outage and is emblematic of challenges to come. Our paper reports on insights from a clean energy microgrid deployment pilot that integrates a 50 kWAC PV array, a 109 kW / 174 kWh battery system, switchgear to safely isolate from the regional power system, and communicating controllers for HVAC and refrigeration. The project will be commissioned in May 2020 and is sited at a critical infrastructure site in rural Northern California – in this case a gasoline station with convenience store. Our experience and results shed light on capabilities of integrated microgrids to provide value to customers during blue sky conditions and resilience during black sky days with high fire risk, and what opportunities and barriers exist for scaling these integrated microgrid systems in the near term. We use a simulation model to estimate how EE and flexibility can extend the run time of solar and storage, improving the reliability of power at critical sites.

Alstone, Peter↗

DOE OSTI2026

Communications Reliability for Vehicle Grid Integration

Electric Vehicles (EVs) adoption rate has been steadily increasing in the US leading to a growing number of charging stations including faster DC (Direct Current) chargers and slower Level 1 and Level 2 AC (Alternating Current) chargers. This increase in demand for electricity is further exacerbated by recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, advanced manufacturing, and digitization. These factors will require electric utilities to upgrade their infrastructure to keep up with the increasing electrical demand (especially during peak hours). An easy way to counteract the need for these upgrades is to shift a major chunk of active charge sessions (durations where there is energy transfer from charger to EV's propulsion battery) to off-peak hours thereby flattening the load curve and making the infrastructure more resilient. This concept is known as Smart Charge Management (SCM). EV owners also benefit from SCM since it lowers their charging costs and consequently their transportation costs by prioritizing charging during off-peak hours. SCM takes advantage of EV's capability to act as a controllable load or DER (Distributed Energy Resource). This report summarizes the reliability analysis performed on the communication required for two of these SCM use-cases. This analysis only focuses on SCM strategies for unidirectional charging (energy transfer from EVSE to EV or V1G) and not bidirectional charging.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

A novel high frequency, high bandwidth, three phase Mach–Zehnder optical data link

In inertial confinement fusion, hydrogen isotopes are fused together under high pressures and temperatures. Typically, the duration of these experiments is incredibly short, on the order of around 60–150 ps. Due to the high radiation environment, a detector’s signal is typically data linked far distances to a protected location. The diagnostic challenge for fusion reaction history measurements is to measure signals of interest maximizing dynamic range while also maintaining time resolution on the order of 10 ps. In this work, we present a new experimental optical data link used to efficiently transport diagnostic signals over great distances to the recording system while not restricting the dynamic range. The concept of a three phase Mach–Zehnder modulator system is introduced as well as a description of the physical prototype. The initial results from testing at the OMEGA facility show that this system is a viable method for signal transportation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Assessment and Commissioning of Electrical Substation Grid Testbed with a Real-Time Simulator and Protective Relays/Power Meters in the Loop

Electrical utility substations are wired with intelligent electronic devices (IEDs), such as protective relays, power meters, and communication switches. Substation engineers commission these IEDs to assess the appropriate measurements for monitoring, control, power system protection, and communication applications. Like real electrical utility substations, complex electrical substation grid testbeds (ESGTs) need to be assessed for measuring current and voltage signals in monitoring, power system protection, control (synchro check), and communication applications that are limited by small measurement percentage errors. In the process of setting an ESGT with real-time simulators and IEDs in the loop, protective relays, power meters, and communication devices must be commissioned before running experiments. In this study, an ESGT with IEDs and distributed ledger technology was developed. The ESGT with a real-time simulator and IEDs in the loop was satisfactorily assessed and commissioned. The commissioning and problem-solving tasks of the testbed are described to define a method with flowcharts to assess possible trouble-shooting in ESGTs. This method was based on comparing the simulations versus IED measurements for the phase current and voltage magnitudes, three-phase phasor diagrams, breaker states, protective relay times with selectivity coordination at electrical faults, communication data points, and time-stamp sources.

Piesciorovsky, Emilio↗

DOE OSTI2026

Good practices for documenting AI-based studies on energy and buildings

Artificial intelligence has transformed building science research over the past decade, with applications spanning energy modeling, energy prediction, HVAC optimization and controls, fault detection, and occupancy modeling. However, many studies lack adequate documentation of datasets, algorithms, training procedures, and validation methods. Building science research faces additional challenges including inconsistent evaluation metrics, limited generalizability across building types, climates, and significant gaps between experimental studies and deployed systems. This communication provides practical guidance for good practices in documenting and publishing AI-based research following established standards from the computer science and machine learning communities. By adopting frameworks such as Datasheets for Datasets, Model Cards, and standardized reproducibility checklists, researchers can ensure their work meets the rigorous documentation standards necessary for reproducible, comparable, and impactful building science research.

Hong, Tianzhen [Lawrence Berkeley National Laborat↗

DOE OSTI2021

Mediated Electrochemical Probing: A Systems-Level Tool for Redox Biology

Biology uses well-known redox mechanisms for energy harvesting (e.g., respiration), biosynthesis, and immune defense (e.g., oxidative burst), and now we know biology uses redox for systems-level communication. Currently, we have limited abilities to “eavesdrop” on this redox modality, which can be contrasted with our abilities to observe and actuate biology through its more familiar ionic electrical modality. In this Perspective, we argue that the coupling of electrochemistry with diffusible mediators (electron shuttles) provides a unique opportunity to access the redox communication modality through its electrical features. Here, we highlight previous studies showing that mediated electrochemical probing (MEP) can “communicate” with biology to acquire information and even to actuate specific biological responses (i.e., targeted gene expression). We suggest that MEP may reveal an extent of redox-based communication that has remained underappreciated in nature and that MEP could provide new technological approaches for redox biology, bioelectronics, clinical care, and environmental sciences.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Toward exascale whole-device modeling of fusion devices: Porting the GENE gyrokinetic microturbulence code to GPU

GENE solves the five-dimensional gyrokinetic equations to simulate the development and evolution of plasma microturbulence in magnetic fusion devices. The plasma model used is close to first principles and computationally very expensive to solve in the relevant physical regimes. In order to use the emerging computational capabilities to gain new physics insights, several new numerical and computational developments are required. Here, we focus on the fact that it is crucial to efficiently utilize GPUs (graphics processing units) that provide the vast majority of the computational power on such systems. In this paper, we describe the various porting approaches considered and given the constraints of the GENE code and its development model, justify the decisions made, and describe the path taken in porting GENE to GPUs. We introduce a novel library called gtensor that was developed along the way to support the process. Performance results are presented for the ported code, which in a single node of the Summit supercomputer achieves a speed-up of almost 15× compared to running on central processing unit (CPU) only. Typical GPU kernels are memory-bound, achieving about 90% of peak. Our analysis shows that there is still room for improvement if we can refactor/fuse kernels to achieve higher arithmetic intensity. We also performed a weak parallel scalability study, which shows that the code runs well on a massively parallel system, but communication costs start becoming a significant bottleneck.

Germaschewski, K. (ORCID:0000000284956354)↗

DOE OSTI2026

Vapor-cavity-QED system for quantum computation and communication

In this work, we propose performing key operations in quantum computation and communication using room-temperature atoms moving across a grid of high-quality-factor, small-mode-volume cavities. These cavities enable high-cooperativity interactions with single atoms to be achieved with a characteristic timescale much shorter than the atomic transit time, allowing multiple coherent operations to take place. We study scenarios where we can drive a Raman transition to generate photons with specific temporal shapes and to absorb, and hence detect, single photons. The strong atom-cavity interaction can also be used to implement the atom-photon controlled-phase gate, which can then be used to construct photon-photon gates, create photonic cluster states, and perform nondemolition detection of single photons. We provide numerics validating our methods and discuss the implications of our results for several applications.

Austin, Sharoon [National Institute of Standards a↗

DOE OSTI2020

Ultrasonic Communication in Solid Channels using OFDM

Using an ultrasonic signal for communication is an alternate solution when electromagnetic waves are not feasible for carrying the information through the channel. We can use the ultrasonic signal to conduct communication in different types of media such as solid, liquid, and gas. In this study, we use ultrasound for communication through a metal plate channel. A metal plate is a highly dispersive and frequency selective channel with a severe multipath effect. The OFDM modulation method is customized for the ultrasonic communication channel to enhance communication reliability and reduce the bit error rate. With the channel frequency response, we adaptively map the transmitted information to optimize the selection of subcarriers frequency bands for the highest possible throughput.

OFDM↗

DOE OSTI2024

Case study of UAS ignition of prescribed fire in a mixedwood on the William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama

Abstract Background For at least four decades, practitioners have recognized advantages of aerial versus ground ignition for maximizing the effectiveness of prescribed fires. For example, larger areas can be ignited in less time, or ignition energy may be variously targeted over an area in accordance with the uneven distribution of fuels. The maturation of wireless communication, geopositioning systems, and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has enhanced those advantages, and UAS approaches also provide further advantages relative to helicopter ignitions, such as reduced risk to human safety, lower operating costs, and higher operational flexibility. In a long running study at the Bankhead National Forest in northcentral Alabama, prescribed fire has been used for nearly 20 years. Most of the burns have been hand-ignited via drip torches, while some have been aerially ignited via helicopter. In March 2022, for the first time, a UAS was used to ignite prescribed fires across a landscape that included a long-term research stand. This field note relates comparisons of both fire behavior and fuel consumption metrics for the UAS-ignited burn versus previous burns on the same stand, and versus burns of other research stands in the same year. Results The UAS-ignited prescribed fire experienced burn effects similar to those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on the same stand in previous years, as well as those from ground-ignited prescribed fires on other stands in the same year. Conclusion This post hoc analysis suggests that UAS ignition approaches may be sufficient for achieving prescribed burn goals, thereby enabling practitioners to realize the advantages offered by that ignition mode.

Environmental Sciences & Ecology↗

DOE OSTI2025

Enabling Real-Time Communication in Multi-Agent Systems: A Graph Neural Network Based Approach

Global connectivity enables effective coordination in Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). Solving these connection problems under hardware constraints is an NP-hard non-Euclidean Degree Constrained Minimum Spanning Tree (DCMST) problem. Prior MAS controllers coordinate team movement for task completion and collision avoidance; some considering Line-of-Sight (LOS) maintenance but prioritizing flexibility over guarantees. Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) have been shown to find good solutions for DCMST, but their performance degrades with larger populations required to support a large MAS. We present a method based on edge graph attention networks, trained offline to reduce online computation times. Empirical comparisons with greedy polynomial-time solvers and EA show that our method leverages latent graph information to consistently find constraint-satisfying solutions in less time.

connectivity maintenance↗

DOE OSTI2022

New Industry Partnerships: Solar Energy Technologies Office Support for Early Projects in the Energy Systems Integration Facility: An Agreement Closeout Summary Report

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO)-funded New Industry Partnerships (NIPs) agreement established multiple new cooperative research projects with industry partners. Each project demonstrated the use of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) as a national asset for research and development, testing, and validation of new technologies to support high penetrations of solar energy on the electric grid. The agreement was launched in 2013 and represented the SETO portion of the DOE EERE-wide Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology Experimentation (INTEGRATE) program. The focus of INTEGRATE was on multi-energy system testing and on testing the interactions of energy systems with information technology, communications, and telecommunications (ICT) systems. The NIPs agreement was a bit different from traditional research projects because it was specifically structured to enable partnerships for ESIF testing and as such required at least a 1:1 funds-in cost share from industry partners. In the end, the project engaged six different industry partnerships and resulted in testing a large number of innovative technologies. These included tiny inverters; power-to-gas technologies; and advanced simulation, analysis, and power-hardware-in-the-loop testing techniques. The agreement also provided significant impact for both research and industrial communities. This summary report provides a brief, high-level overview of these projects and their highlights along with lists of citations and other impacts. Readers are referred to the corresponding project reports for more in-depth information.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗