Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “scalable architecture”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Integrated Avionics System (IAS)

As spacecraft designs converge toward miniaturization and with the volumetric and mass constraints placed on avionics, programs will continue to advance the 'state of the art' in spacecraft systems development with new challenges to reduce power, mass, and volume. Although new technologies have improved packaging densities, a total system packaging architecture is required that not only reduces spacecraft volume and mass budgets, but increase integration efficiencies, provide modularity and scalability to accommodate multiple missions. With these challenges in mind, a novel packaging approach incorporates solutions that provide broader environmental applications, more flexible system interconnectivity, scalability, and simplified assembly test and integration schemes. This paper will describe the fundamental elements of the Integrated Avionics System (IAS), Horizontally Mounted Cube (HMC) hardware design, system and environmental test results. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Hunter, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

DeepSAT: A Deep Learning Approach to Tree-Cover Delineation in 1-m NAIP Imagery for the Continental United States

High resolution tree cover classification maps are needed to increase the accuracy of current land ecosystem and climate model outputs. Limited studies are in place that demonstrates the state-of-the-art in deriving very high resolution (VHR) tree cover products. In addition, most methods heavily rely on commercial softwares that are difficult to scale given the region of study (e.g. continents to globe). Complexities in present approaches relate to (a) scalability of the algorithm, (b) large image data processing (compute and memory intensive), (c) computational cost, (d) massively parallel architecture, and (e) machine learning automation. In addition, VHR satellite datasets are of the order of terabytes and features extracted from these datasets are of the order of petabytes. In our present study, we have acquired the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) dataset for the Continental United States at a spatial resolution of 1-m. This data comes as image tiles (a total of quarter million image scenes with ~60 million pixels) and has a total size of ~65 terabytes for a single acquisition. Features extracted from the entire dataset would amount to ~8-10 petabytes. In our proposed approach, we have implemented a novel semi-automated machine learning algorithm rooted on the principles of "deep learning" to delineate the percentage of tree cover. Using the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) initiative, we have developed an end-to-end architecture by integrating a segmentation module based on Statistical Region Merging, a classification algorithm using Deep Belief Network and a structured prediction algorithm using Conditional Random Fields to integrate the results from the segmentation and classification modules to create per-pixel class labels. The training process is scaled up using the power of GPUs and the prediction is scaled to quarter million NAIP tiles spanning the whole of Continental United States using the NEX HPC supercomputing cluster. An initial pilot over the state of California spanning a total of 11,095 NAIP tiles covering a total geographical area of 163,696 sq. miles has produced true positive rates of around 88 percent for fragmented forests and 74 percent for urban tree cover areas, with false positive rates lower than 2 percent for both landscapes.

Imagery↗
NASA NTRS2013

The Solar Umbrella: A Low-cost Demonstration of Scalable Space Based Solar Power

Within the past decade, the Space Solar Power (SSP) community has seen an influx of stakeholders willing to entertain the SSP prospect of potentially boundless, base-load solar energy. Interested parties affiliated with the Department of Defense (DoD), the private sector, and various international entities have all agreed that while the benefits of SSP are tremendous and potentially profitable, the risk associated with developing an efficient end to end SSP harvesting system is still very high. In an effort to reduce the implementation risk for future SSP architectures, this study proposes a system level design that is both low-cost and seeks to demonstrate the furthest transmission of wireless power to date. The overall concept is presented and each subsystem is explained in detail with best estimates of current implementable technologies. Basic cost models were constructed based on input from JPL subject matter experts and assume that the technology demonstration would be carried out by a federally funded entity. The main thrust of the architecture is to demonstrate that a usable amount of solar power can be safely and reliably transmitted from space to the Earth's surface; however, maximum power scalability limits and their cost implications are discussed.

climate change↗
NASA NTRS2001

Using Computing and Data Grids for Large-Scale Science and Engineering

We use the term "Grid" to refer to a software system that provides uniform and location independent access to geographically and organizationally dispersed, heterogeneous resources that are persistent and supported. These emerging data and computing Grids promise to provide a highly capable and scalable environment for addressing large-scale science problems. We describe the requirements for science Grids, the resulting services and architecture of NASA's Information Power Grid (IPG) and DOE's Science Grid, and some of the scaling issues that have come up in their implementation.

Johnston, William E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Automation of Data Traffic Control on DSM Architecture

The design of distributed shared memory (DSM) computers liberates users from the duty to distribute data across processors and allows for the incremental development of parallel programs using, for example, OpenMP or Java threads. DSM architecture greatly simplifies the development of parallel programs having good performance on a few processors. However, to achieve a good program scalability on DSM computers requires that the user understand data flow in the application and use various techniques to avoid data traffic congestions. In this paper we discuss a number of such techniques, including data blocking, data placement, data transposition and page size control and evaluate their efficiency on the NAS (NASA Advanced Supercomputing) Parallel Benchmarks. We also present a tool which automates the detection of constructs causing data congestions in Fortran array oriented codes and advises the user on code transformations for improving data traffic in the application.

Frumkin, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2008

Range Imaging without Moving Parts

Range-imaging instruments of a type now under development are intended to generate the equivalent of three-dimensional images from measurements of the round-trip times of flight of laser pulses along known directions. These instruments could also provide information on characteristics of targets, including roughnesses and reflectivities of surfaces and optical densities of such semi-solid objects as trees and clouds. Unlike in prior range-imaging instruments based on times of flight along known directions, there would be no moving parts; aiming of the laser beams along the known directions would not be accomplished by mechanical scanning of mirrors, prisms, or other optical components. Instead, aiming would be accomplished by using solid-state devices to switch input and output beams along different fiber-optic paths. Because of the lack of moving parts, these instruments could be extraordinarily reliable, rugged, and long-lasting. An instrument of this type would include an optical transmitter that would send out a laser pulse along a chosen direction to a target. An optical receiver coaligned with the transmitter would measure the temporally varying intensity of laser light reflected from the target to determine the distance and surface characteristics of the target. The transmitter would be a combination of devices for generating precise directional laser illumination. It would include a pulsed laser, the output of which would be coupled into a fiber-optic cable with a fan-out and solid-state optical switches that would enable switching of the laser beam onto one or more optical fibers terminated at known locations in an array on a face at the focal plane of a telescope. The array would be imaged by the telescope onto the target space. The receiver optical system could share the aforementioned telescope with the transmitter or could include a separate telescope aimed in the same direction as that of the transmitting telescope. In either case, light reflected from the target would be focused by the receiver optical system onto an array of optical fibers matching the array in the transmitter. These optical fibers would couple the received light to one or more photodetector( s). Optionally, the receiver could include solid-state optical switches for choosing which optical fiber(s) would couple light to the photodetector(s). This instrument architecture is flexible and can be optimized for a wide variety of applications and levels of performance. For example, it is scalable to any number of pixels and pixel resolutions and is compatible with a variety of ranging and photodetection methodologies, including, for example, ranging by use of modulated (including pulsed and encoded) light signals. The use of fixed arrays of optical fibers to generate controlled illumination patterns would eliminate the mechanical complexity and much of the bulk of optomechanical scanning assemblies. Furthermore, digital control of the selection of the fiber-optic pathways for the transmitted beams could afford capabilities not seen in previous three-dimensional range-imaging systems. Instruments of this type could be specialized for use as, for example, proximity detectors, three-dimensional robotic vision systems, airborne terrain-mapping systems, and inspection systems.

Blair, J. Bryan↗
NASA NTRS2026

Expanding Space with Inflatable Softgoods: Roadmap for In-Space Manufacturing of Resilient Space Structures

Overview of inflatable softgoods and their emerging role in enabling large, resilient space habitats and infrastructure. It highlights the advantages of inflatable systems, such as exceptional packing efficiency and scalable habitable volume, while also addressing challenges related to outfitting, complex material behavior, structural design, manufacturing precision, and testing limitations. Core architectural elements of crewed inflatable habitats are described, along with shell layer composition, structural interfaces, and examples of conceptual habitat configurations for transit, lunar, and surface applications. The presentation concludes by outlining key technology shortfalls, including structural health monitoring, ultra‑high‑strength materials, lifetime performance, and integration strategies, emphasizing the need for continued development to support future in‑space manufacturing and exploration missions.

Habitat↗
NASA NTRS1993

Diskless supercomputers: Scalable, reliable I/O for the Tera-Op technology base

Computing is seeing an unprecedented improvement in performance; over the last five years there has been an order-of-magnitude improvement in the speeds of workstation CPU's. At least another order of magnitude seems likely in the next five years, to machines with 500 MIPS or more. The goal of the ARPA Teraop program is to realize even larger, more powerful machines, executing as many as a trillion operations per second. Unfortunately, we have seen no comparable breakthroughs in I/O performance; the speeds of I/O devices and the hardware and software architectures for managing them have not changed substantially in many years. We have completed a program of research to demonstrate hardware and software I/O architectures capable of supporting the kinds of internetworked 'visualization' workstations and supercomputers that will appear in the mid 1990s. The project had three overall goals: high performance, high reliability, and scalable, multipurpose system.

Katz, Randy H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The architecture of the High Performance Storage System (HPSS)

The rapid growth in the size of datasets has caused a serious imbalance in I/O and storage system performance and functionality relative to application requirements and the capabilities of other system components. The High Performance Storage System (HPSS) is a scalable, next-generation storage system that will meet the functionality and performance requirements or large-scale scientific and commercial computing environments. Our goal is to improve the performance and capacity of storage by two orders of magnitude or more over what is available in the general or mass marketplace today. We are also providing corresponding improvements in architecture and functionality. This paper describes the architecture and functionality of HPSS.

Teaff, Danny↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Emergence of Agent-Based Technology as an Architectural Component of Serious Games

The evolution of games as an alternative to traditional simulations in the military context has been gathering momentum over the past five years, even though the exploration of their use in the serious sense has been ongoing since the mid-nineties. Much of the focus has been on the aesthetics of the visuals provided by the core game engine as well as the artistry provided by talented development teams to produce not only breathtaking artwork, but highly immersive game play. Consideration of game technology is now so much a part of the modeling and simulation landscape that it is becoming difficult to distinguish traditional simulation solutions from game-based approaches. But games have yet to provide the much needed interactive free play that has been the domain of semi-autonomous forces (SAF). The component-based middleware architecture that game engines provide promises a great deal in terms of options for the integration of agent solutions to support the development of non-player characters that engage the human player without the deterministic nature of scripted behaviors. However, there are a number of hard-learned lessons on the modeling and simulation side of the equation that game developers have yet to learn, such as: correlation of heterogeneous systems, scalability of both terrain and numbers of non-player entities, and the bi-directional nature of simulation to game interaction provided by Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) and High Level Architecture (HLA).

Phillips, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2018

RESTful CFDP: Managing GDS Complexity with Microservices

NASA's Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS) is currently adding capability to support the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP). This feature is being added as part of the AMMOS Mission Data Processing and Control System (AMPCS). In order to address the system’s increasing complexity, AMPCS has recently been re-architected to break down its monolithic applications into smaller, individually deployable microservices. The CFDP capability is the first new AMPCS feature to leverage this new architecture. The CFDP microservice provides a web-based Representational State Transfer (REST) application programming interface (API) for complete monitor and control of its operations, and this enables it to be decoupled from other AMPCS microservices. This also results in better scalability for redundancy and load balancing. AMPCS's CFDP microservice is designed to support generic CFDP operations, agnostic to AMPCS's legacy concept of Downlink Products. An optional runtime plug-in allows the CFDP microservice to simulate CFDP artifacts as Downlink Products. Applying the microservices software architecture pattern both in the latest release of AMPCS and in providing the new CFDP capability has resulted in a more flexible system with improved extensibility and maintainability. System complexity has also become more manageable.

Choi, Joshua S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Ultra-Compact Transputer-Based Controller for High-Level, Multi-Axis Coordination

The design of machines that rely on arrays of servomotors such as robotic arms, orbital platforms, and combinations of both, imposes a heavy computational burden to coordinate their actions to perform coherent tasks. For example, the robotic equivalent of a person tracing a straight line in space requires enormously complex kinematics calculations, and complexity increases with the number of servo nodes. A new high-level architecture for coordinated servo-machine control enables a practical, distributed transputer alternative to conventional central processor electronics. The solution is inherently scalable, dramatically reduces bulkiness and number of conductor runs throughout the machine, requires only a fraction of the power, and is designed for cooling in a vacuum.

Zenowich, Brian↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Diving into the Data Plane of Delay Tolerant Networks

This presentation details early research towards applying data plane programming and software defined networking (SDN) to delay tolerant networking (DTN). This involved using the Programming Protocol-Independent Packet Processors (P4) language to program the data plane to handle DTN bundles natively in hardware. The results presented include a proof of concept DTN Bundle Protocol (BP) translator network middlebox, the challenges of programming a data plane to process BP, a software-defined DTN (SDDTN) architecture, and potential future applications of SDDTN. It is demonstrated that SDN and the P4 language has high potential for improving the scalability of DTN networks, although further research must be done to enable this.

Dominick Ta↗
NASA NTRS2024

Architecture of High-Altitude Operations (HAO) Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS)

The aviation industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, necessitating the development of efficient, secure, and interoperable systems to manage increasingly complex air traffic. Moreover, the demand for High-Altitude Operations (HAO) is increasing. Furthermore, air traffic control services are limited in HAO environments. HAO industry participants will need airspace access and flexibility to perform their missions in this airspace that provides provisions for scalability. The Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS) will be a cornerstone of the HAO ecosystem, enabling the effective sharing of critical airspace data, including operational intent, aircraft trajectories, and airspace usage among various stakeholders and operators. The DSS architecture addresses these challenges with a distributed, decentralized, and interoperable system that facilitates seamless integration across diverse airspaces. It prioritizes secure data exchange while safeguarding data ownership. This white paper presents the vision, architecture, and benefits of the DSS for HAO, underscoring its potential to streamline operations, reduce redundancies, and establish a foundation for safe and efficient airspace management.

HAO↗
NASA NTRS2004

NASA Tech Briefs, October 2004

Topics include: Relative-Motion Sensors and Actuators for Two Optical Tables; Improved Position Sensor for Feedback Control of Levitation; Compact Tactile Sensors for Robot Fingers; Improved Ion-Channel Biosensors; Suspended-Patch Antenna With Inverted, EM-Coupled Feed; System Would Predictively Preempt Traffic Lights for Emergency Vehicles; Optical Position Encoders for High or Low Temperatures; Inter-Valence-Subband/Conduction-Band-Transport IR Detectors; Additional Drive Circuitry for Piezoelectric Screw Motors; Software for Use with Optoelectronic Measuring Tool; Coordinating Shared Activities; Software Reduces Radio-Interference Effects in Radar Data; Using Iron to Treat Chlorohydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil; Thermally Insulating, Kinematic Tensioned-Fiber Suspension; Back Actuators for Segmented Mirrors and Other Applications; Mechanism for Self-Reacted Friction Stir Welding; Lightweight Exoskeletons with Controllable Actuators; Miniature Robotic Submarine for Exploring Harsh Environments; Electron-Spin Filters Based on the Rashba Effect; Diffusion-Cooled Tantalum Hot-Electron Bolometer Mixers; Tunable Optical True-Time Delay Devices Would Exploit EIT; Fast Query-Optimized Kernel-Machine Classification; Indentured Parts List Maintenance and Part Assembly Capture Tool - IMPACT; An Architecture for Controlling Multiple Robots; Progress in Fabrication of Rocket Combustion Chambers by VPS; CHEM-Based Self-Deploying Spacecraft Radar Antennas; Scalable Multiprocessor for High-Speed Computing in Space; and Simple Systems for Detecting Spacecraft Meteoroid Punctures.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2017

Preliminary Results from a Model-Driven Architecture Methodology for Development of an Event-Driven Space Communications Service Concept

NASA's next generation space communications network will involve dynamic and autonomous services analogous to services provided by current terrestrial wireless networks. This architecture concept, known as the Space Mobile Network (SMN), is enabled by several technologies now in development. A pillar of the SMN architecture is the establishment and utilization of a continuous bidirectional control plane space link channel and a new User Initiated Service (UIS) protocol to enable more dynamic and autonomous mission operations concepts, reduced user space communications planning burden, and more efficient and effective provider network resource utilization. This paper provides preliminary results from the application of model driven architecture methodology to develop UIS. Such an approach is necessary to ensure systematic investigation of several open questions concerning the efficiency, robustness, interoperability, scalability and security of the control plane space link and UIS protocol.

Roberts, Christopher J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

An Element-Based Concurrent Partitioner for Unstructured Finite Element Meshes

A concurrent partitioner for partitioning unstructured finite element meshes on distributed memory architectures is developed. The partitioner uses an element-based partitioning strategy. Its main advantage over the more conventional node-based partitioning strategy is its modular programming approach to the development of parallel applications. The partitioner first partitions element centroids using a recursive inertial bisection algorithm. Elements and nodes then migrate according to the partitioned centroids, using a data request communication template for unpredictable incoming messages. Our scalable implementation is contrasted to a non-scalable implementation which is a straightforward parallelization of a sequential partitioner.

concurrent partitioner finite element meshes distr↗
NASA NTRS2014

Evolution of the JPSS Ground Project Calibration and Validation System

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) next-generation operational Earth observation Program that acquires and distributes global environmental data from multiple polar-orbiting satellites. The JPSS Program plays a critical role to NOAAs mission to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, coasts, and space environments, which supports the Nation’s economy and protection of lives and property. The National Aerospace and Atmospheric Administration (NASA) is acquiring and implementing the JPSS, comprised of flight and ground systems on behalf of NOAA. The JPSS satellites are planned to fly in the afternoon orbit and will provide operational continuity of satellite-based observations and products for NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. To support the JPSS Calibration and Validation (CalVal) node Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) services facilitate: Algorithm Integration and Checkout, Algorithm and Product Operational Tuning, Instrument Calibration, Product Validation, Algorithm Investigation, and Data Quality Support and Monitoring. GRAVITE is a mature, deployed system that currently supports the SNPP Mission and has been in operations since SNPP launch. This paper discusses the major re-architecture for Block 2.0 that incorporates SNPP lessons learned, architecture of the system, and demonstrates how GRAVITE has evolved as a system with increased performance. It is now a robust, stable, reliable, maintainable, scalable, and secure system that supports development, test, and production strings, replaces proprietary and custom software, uses open source software, and is compliant with NASA and NOAA standards.

Data Processing↗