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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 253 records · Page 14

CO2 Transport Planning Database

The CO2 Transport Planning Database v3.0 is a geospatial resource, containing over 70 gigabytes of data representing critical considerations for the spatial routing of pipelines and transport of CO2, from source to sink. Considerations include state-specific legislation, land use requirements, existing infrastructure, and hazard prevention areas. Built to support strategic domestic energy transport planning and development, more than 60 layers of this database have been weighted (Weight fields) according to current legislation and pipeline construction recommendations. Weighted values range from zero to one, where zero represents potentially more acceptable areas for transport based on the various considerations, and a value of one represents areas that should be avoided. This geospatial database provides a baseline for the Smart CO2 Transport Planning Tool.

Boundaries↗

Dynamic Arrival Routes: A Trajectory-Based Weather Avoidance System for Merging Arrivals and Metering

Convective weather can cause arrival traffic to fly less efficient weather avoidance routes and is the primary cause for time-based metering to be discontinued. Dynamic Arrival Routes (DAR) is a trajectory-based weather avoidance system that is designed to help improve arrival traffic flow when weather is present. The DAR system continuously analyzes airborne arrival flights for opportunities to reroute them to more efficient arrival routes or around weather that is predicted to be on their current flight plan early enough to allow the arrival time-based metering system to adjust its times of arrival for the presence of weather. Analysis of 93 hours of actual traffic over 12 different days from Fort Worth Center showed DAR proposed more efficient arrival reroutes for 352 arrival flights for an average time savings of 12.3 minutes per flight at a look-ahead time of 60 minutes from the meter fix. DAR also identified 642 arrival flights with a need to deviate around weather and proposed weather avoidance routes that were analytically shown to remain weather-free 83 percent of the time for a look-ahead time of 30 minutes from the meter fix.

Arrivals↗

The flight planning - flight management connection

Airborne flight management systems are currently being implemented to minimize direct operating costs when flying over a fixed route between a given city pair. Inherent in the design of these systems is that the horizontal flight path and wind and temperature models be defined and input into the airborne computer before flight. The wind/temperature model and horizontal path are products of the flight planning process. Flight planning consists of generating 3-D reference trajectories through a forecast wind field subject to certain ATC and transport operator constraints. The interrelationships between flight management and flight planning are reviewed, and the steps taken during the flight planning process are summarized.

Sorensen, J. A.↗

ADDS-EVS: An agent-based deployment decision-support system for electric vehicle services

Rapid and sustainable development of the electric vehicle (EV) industry places the requirement for the plan of EV deployment. For public EV, existing models mainly focus on the charging facility design and fail to capture the multi-modal scenarios. In this work, we develop an agent-based decision-support system for multi-modal electric transits to locate the optimal combinations of key parameters, including the fleet size, the transit schedule, the charging facility design, and the routing strategy. We demonstrate the utilities of our system by simulating public EV services deployed to serve travel needs related to a transportation hub in New York City. To support the decision of the fleet size, we summarize system-level performances including the total satisfied demand, passengers' waiting time, vehicle idling time. The spatial and temporal patterns are extracted to serve a deeper understanding of system dynamics and service quality. Finally, we investigate the interaction between the fleet size design and the routing strategy. The results suggest a necessity of integrating the operation strategies into the planning phase.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Integrated Resource Supply-Demand-Routing Model for the COVID-19 Crisis

As part of the Department of Energy response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020, a modeling effort was sponsored by the DOE Office of Science. Through this effort, an integrated planning framework was developed whose capabilities were demonstrated with the combination of a treatment resource demand model and an optimization model for routing supplies. This report documents this framework and models, and an application involving ventilator demands and supplies in the continental United States. The goal of this application is to test the feasibility of implementing nationwide ventilator sharing in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Multiple scenarios were run using different combinations of forecasted and observed patient streams, and it is demonstrated that using a "worst-case forecast for planning may be preferable to best mitigate supply-demand risks in an uncertain future. There is also a brief discussion of model uncertainty and its implications for the results.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

A legislator's guide to LANDSAT

The LANDSAT satellite is an effective tool in meeting the natural resources data requirements of state and federal legislation. The availability of data from the satellite is beginning to have an impact on state legislature activities. An overview of the history, operation, and data analysis techniques, is presented as well as a discussion of the advantages and limitations of this method of remote sensing. Applications are discussed in the areas of (1) land resource planning and management; (2) coastal zone management; (3) agriculture; (4) forestry; (5) routing and siting; (6) environmental monitoring; and (7) geological exploration. National and state sources from which information about LANDSAT technology is available are listed.

Source record↗

A Mars Rover Mission Simulation on Kilauea Volcano

A field experiment to simulate a rover mission on Mars was performed using the Russian Marsokhod rover deployed on Kilauea Volcano HI in February, 1995. A Russian Marsokhod rover chassis was equipped with American avionics equipment, stereo cameras on a pan and tilt platform, a digital high resolution body-mounted camera, and a manipulator arm on which was mounted a camera with a close-up lens. The six wheeled rover is 2 meters long and has a mass of 120 kg. The imaging system was designed to simulate that used on the planned "Mars Together" mission. The rover was deployed on Kilauea Volcano HI and operated from NASA Ames by a team of planetary geologists and exobiologists. Two modes of mission operations were simulated for three days each: (1) long time delay, low data bandwidth (simulating a Mars mission), and (2) live video, wide-bandwidth data (allowing active control simulating a Lunar rover mission or a Mars rover mission controlled from on or near the Martian surface). Simulated descent images (aerial photographs) were used to plan traverses to address a detailed set of science questions. The actual route taken was determined by the science team and the traverse path was frequently changed in response to the data acquired and to unforeseen operational issues. Traverses were thereby optimized to efficiently answer scientific questions. During the Mars simulation, the rover traversed a distance of 800 m. Based on the time delay between Earth and Mars, we estimate that the same operation would have taken 30 days to perform on Mars. This paper will describe the mission simulation and make recommendations about incorporating rovers into the Mars surveyor program.

Stoker, Carol↗

Enhanced Multi-Modal Access to Planetary Exploration

Tomorrow's Interplanetary Network (IPN) will evolve from JPL's Deep-Space Network (DSN) and provide key capabilities to future investigators, such as simplified acquisition of higher-quality science at remote sites and enriched access to these sites. These capabilities could also be used to foster public interest, e.g., by making it possible for students to explore these environments personally, eventually perhaps interacting with a virtual world whose models could be populated by data obtained continuously from the IPN. Our paper looks at JPL's approach to making this evolution happen, starting from improved communications. Evolving space protocols (e.g., today's CCSDS proximity and file-transfer protocols) will provide the underpinning of such communications in the next decades, just as today's rich web was enabled by progress in Internet Protocols starting from the early 1970's (ARPAnet research). A key architectural thrust of this effort is to deploy persistent infrastructure incrementally, using a layered service model, where later higher-layer capabilities (such as adaptive science planning) are enabled by earlier lower-layer services (such as automated routing of object-based messages). In practice, there is also a mind shift needed from an engineering culture raised on point-to-point single-function communications (command uplink, telemetry downlink), to one in which assets are only indirectly accessed, via well-defined interfaces. We are aiming to foster a 'community of access' both among space assets and the humans who control them. This enables appropriate (perhaps eventually optimized) sharing of services and resources to the greater benefit of all participants. We envision such usage to be as automated in the future as using a cell phone is today - with all the steps in creating the real-time link being automated.

interplanetary network (IPN)↗

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) Final Report

After takeoff, aircraft must merge into en route (Center) airspace traffic flows that may be subject to constraints that create localized demand/capacity imbalances. When demand exceeds capacity, Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) and Frontline Managers (FLMs) often use tactical departure scheduling to manage the flow of departures into the constrained Center traffic flow. Tactical departure scheduling usually involves a Call for Release (CFR) procedure wherein the Tower must call the Center to coordinate a release time prior to allowing the flight to depart. In present-day operations release times are computed by the Center Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) decision support tool, based upon manual estimates of aircraft ready time verbally communicated from the Tower to the Center. The TMA-computed release time is verbally communicated from the Center back to the Tower where it is relayed to the Local controller as a release window that is typically three minutes wide. The Local controller will manage the departure to meet the coordinated release time window. Manual ready time prediction and verbal release time coordination are labor intensive and prone to inaccuracy. Also, use of release time windows adds uncertainty to the tactical departure process. Analysis of more than one million flights from January 2011 indicates that a significant number of tactically scheduled aircraft missed their en route slot due to ready time prediction uncertainty. Uncertainty in ready time estimates may result in missed opportunities to merge into constrained en route flows and lead to lost throughput. Next Generation Air Transportation System plans call for development of Tower automation systems capable of computing surface trajectory-based ready time estimates. NASA has developed the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) concept that improves tactical departure scheduling by automatically communicating surface trajectory-based ready time predictions and departure runway assignments to the Center scheduling tool. The PDRC concept also incorporates earlier NASA and FAA research into automation-assisted CFR coordination. The PDRC concept reduces uncertainty by automatically communicating coordinated release times with seconds-level precision enabling TMCs and FLMs to work with target times rather than windows. NASA has developed a PDRC prototype system that integrates the Center's TMA system with a research prototype Tower decision support tool. A two-phase field evaluation was conducted at NASA's North Texas Research Station in Dallas/Fort Worth. The field evaluation validated the PDRC concept and demonstrated reduced release time uncertainty while being used for tactical departure scheduling of more than 230 operational flights over 29 weeks of operations. This paper presents research results from the PDRC research activity. Companion papers present the Concept of Operations and a Technology Description.

tactical departure scheduling↗

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC): NASA to FAA Research Transition

After takeoff, aircraft must merge into en route (Center) airspace traffic flows which may be subject to constraints that create localized demand-capacity imbalances. When demand exceeds capacity, Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) and Frontline Managers (FLMs) often use tactical departure scheduling to manage the flow of departures into the constrained Center traffic flow. Tactical departure scheduling usually involves use of a Call for Release (CFR) procedure wherein the Tower must call the Center to coordinate a release time prior to allowing the flight to depart. In present-day operations release times are computed by the Center Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) decision support tool based upon manual estimates of aircraft ready time verbally communicated from the Tower to the Center. The TMA-computed release time is verbally communicated from the Center back to the Tower where it is relayed to the Local controller as a release window that is typically three minutes wide. The Local controller will manage the departure to meet the coordinated release time window. Manual ready time prediction and verbal release time coordination are labor intensive and prone to inaccuracy. Also, use of release time windows adds uncertainty to the tactical departure process. Analysis of more than one million flights from January 2011 indicates that a significant number of tactically scheduled aircraft missed their en route slot due to ready time prediction uncertainty. Uncertainty in ready time estimates may result in missed opportunities to merge into constrained en route flows and lead to lost throughput. Next Generation Air Transportation System plans call for development of Tower automation systems capable of computing surface trajectory-based ready time estimates. NASA has developed the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) concept that improves tactical departure scheduling by automatically communicating surface trajectory-based ready time predictions and departure runway assignments to the Center scheduling tool. The PDRC concept also incorporates earlier NASA and FAA research into automation-assisted CFR coordination. The PDRC concept reduces uncertainty by automatically communicating coordinated release times with seconds-level precision enabling TMCs and FLMs to work with target times rather than windows. NASA has developed a PDRC prototype system that integrates the Center's TMA system with a research prototype Tower decision support tool. A two-phase field evaluation was conducted at NASA's North Texas Research Station in Dallas-Fort Worth. The field evaluation validated the PDRC concept and demonstrated reduced release time uncertainty while being used for tactical departure scheduling of more than 230 operational flights over 29 weeks of operations.

ATM↗

Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study

The Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study (AOSWTS) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to understand and facilitate the transmission of electricity from wind in the Atlantic Ocean. It was informed by the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis (Bothwell et al. 2021) and the convening workshops hosted in 2022-2023 by DOE and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The study results help to inform An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the U.S. Atlantic Region (Baker et al. 2023). DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office funded AOSWTS. The AOSWTS identifies and evaluates pathways to enable offshore wind energy deployment in the Atlantic Ocean through coordinated offshore transmission solutions in the near term (by 2030) and long term (by 2050). The study fills gaps in prior analyses by providing a multiregional planning perspective that evaluates offshore wind generation development with transmission planning. It incorporates environmental, ocean co-use, and other siting considerations into defining potential offshore transmission routes. The study also compares different multiregional offshore transmission topologies and their associated costs (using potential cable routes) and benefits (in terms of production cost savings and enhanced resource adequacy). In addition, the AOSWTS analyzes reliability impacts from a multiregional perspective. The study provides guidance for policymakers and transmission stakeholders on possible outcomes resulting from a proactive, coordinated, and interregional approach to transmission planning for offshore wind energy development in the Atlantic. While this study presents possibilities, additional work following system operator methods and procedures can help build on this analysis.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study: Executive Summary

The Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Study (AOSWTS) is part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to understand and facilitate the transmission of electricity from wind in the Atlantic Ocean. It was informed by the Atlantic Offshore Wind Transmission Literature Review and Gaps Analysis (Bothwell et al. 2021) and the convening workshops hosted in 2022-2023 by DOE and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The study results help to inform An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the U.S. Atlantic Region (Baker et al. 2023). DOE's Wind Energy Technologies Office funded AOSWTS. The AOSWTS identifies and evaluates pathways to enable offshore wind energy deployment in the Atlantic Ocean through coordinated offshore transmission solutions in the near term (by 2030) and long term (by 2050). The study fills gaps in prior analyses by providing a multiregional planning perspective that evaluates offshore wind generation development with transmission planning. It incorporates environmental, ocean co-use, and other siting considerations into defining potential offshore transmission routes. The study also compares different multiregional offshore transmission topologies and their associated costs (using potential cable routes) and benefits (in terms of production cost savings and enhanced resource adequacy). In addition, the AOSWTS analyzes reliability impacts from a multiregional perspective. The study provides guidance for policymakers and transmission stakeholders on possible outcomes resulting from a proactive, coordinated, and interregional approach to transmission planning for offshore wind energy development in the Atlantic. While this study presents possibilities, additional work following system operator methods and procedures can help build on this analysis.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Create your own science planning tool in 3 days with SOA

Scientific discovery and advancement of knowledge has been, and continues to be, the goal for space missions at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scientist must plan their observation/experiments to get the maximum data return in order to make those discoveries. However, each mission has different science objectives, a different spacecraft and different instrument payloads, as well as, different routes to different destinations with different spacecraft restrictions and characteristics. In the current reduced cost environment, manageable cost for mission planning software is a must. Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA), a planning tool for scientists and mission planners, utilizes a simple approach to reduce cost and promote reusability.

Science Opportunity Analyzer (SOA).↗

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) Technology Description

After takeoff, aircraft must merge into en route (Center) airspace traffic flows which may be subject to constraints that create localized demand-capacity imbalances. When demand exceeds capacity, Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) often use tactical departure scheduling to manage the flow of departures into the constrained Center traffic flow. Tactical departure scheduling usually involves use of a Call for Release (CFR) procedure wherein the Tower must call the Center TMC to coordinate a release time prior to allowing the flight to depart. In present-day operations release times are computed by the Center Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) decision support tool based upon manual estimates of aircraft ready time verbally communicated from the Tower to the Center. The TMA-computed release is verbally communicated from the Center back to the Tower where it is relayed to the Local controller as a release window that is typically three minutes wide. The Local controller will manage the departure to meet the coordinated release time window. Manual ready time prediction and verbal release time coordination are labor intensive and prone to inaccuracy. Also, use of release time windows adds uncertainty to the tactical departure process. Analysis of more than one million flights from January 2011 indicates that a significant number of tactically scheduled aircraft missed their en route slot due to ready time prediction uncertainty. Uncertainty in ready time estimates may result in missed opportunities to merge into constrained en route flows and lead to lost throughput. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) plans call for development of Tower automation systems capable of computing surface trajectory-based ready time estimates. NASA has developed the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) concept that uses this technology to improve tactical departure scheduling by automatically communicating surface trajectory-based ready time predictions to the Center scheduling tool. The PDRC concept also incorporates earlier NASA and FAA research into automation-assisted CFR coordination. The PDRC concept helps reduce uncertainty by automatically communicating coordinated release times with seconds-level precision enabling TMCs to work with target times rather than windows. NASA has developed a PDRC prototype system that integrates the Center's TMA system with a research prototype Tower decision support tool. A two-phase field evaluation was conducted at NASA's North Texas Research Station (NTX) in Dallas-Fort Worth. The field evaluation validated the PDRC concept and demonstrated reduced release time uncertainty while being used for tactical departure scheduling of more than 230 operational flights over 29 weeks of operations. This paper presents the Technology Description. Companion papers include the Final Report and a Concept of Operations.

tactical departure scheduling↗

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) Concept of Operations

After takeoff, aircraft must merge into en route (Center) airspace traffic flows which may be subject to constraints that create localized demandcapacity imbalances. When demand exceeds capacity Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) often use tactical departure scheduling to manage the flow of departures into the constrained Center traffic flow. Tactical departure scheduling usually involves use of a Call for Release (CFR) procedure wherein the Tower must call the Center TMC to coordinate a release time prior to allowing the flight to depart. In present-day operations release times are computed by the Center Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) decision support tool based upon manual estimates of aircraft ready time verbally communicated from the Tower to the Center. The TMA-computed release is verbally communicated from the Center back to the Tower where it is relayed to the Local controller as a release window that is typically three minutes wide. The Local controller will manage the departure to meet the coordinated release time window. Manual ready time prediction and verbal release time coordination are labor intensive and prone to inaccuracy. Also, use of release time windows adds uncertainty to the tactical departure process. Analysis of more than one million flights from January 2011 indicates that a significant number of tactically scheduled aircraft missed their en route slot due to ready time prediction uncertainty. Uncertainty in ready time estimates may result in missed opportunities to merge into constrained en route flows and lead to lost throughput. Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) plans call for development of Tower automation systems capable of computing surface trajectory-based ready time estimates. NASA has developed the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) concept that uses this technology to improve tactical departure scheduling by automatically communicating surface trajectory-based ready time predictions to the Center scheduling tool. The PDRC concept also incorporates earlier NASA and FAA research into automation-assisted CFR coordination. The PDRC concept helps reduce uncertainty by automatically communicating coordinated release times with seconds-level precision enabling TMCs to work with target times rather than windows. NASA has developed a PDRC prototype system that integrates the Center's TMA system with a research prototype Tower decision support tool. A two-phase field evaluation was conducted at NASA's North Texas Research Station (NTX) in DallasFort Worth. The field evaluation validated the PDRC concept and demonstrated reduced release time uncertainty while being used for tactical departure scheduling of more than 230 operational flights over 29 weeks of operations. This paper presents the Concept of Operations. Companion papers include the Final Report and a Technology Description. ? SUBJECT:

tactical departure scheduling↗

Computationally-Efficient Minimum-Time Aircraft Routes in the Presence of Winds

A computationally efficient algorithm for minimizing the flight time of an aircraft in a variable wind field has been invented. The algorithm, referred to as Neighboring Optimal Wind Routing (NOWR), is based upon neighboring-optimal-control (NOC) concepts and achieves minimum-time paths by adjusting aircraft heading according to wind conditions at an arbitrary number of wind measurement points along the flight route. The NOWR algorithm may either be used in a fast-time mode to compute minimum- time routes prior to flight, or may be used in a feedback mode to adjust aircraft heading in real-time. By traveling minimum-time routes instead of direct great-circle (direct) routes, flights across the United States can save an average of about 7 minutes, and as much as one hour of flight time during periods of strong jet-stream winds. The neighboring optimal routes computed via the NOWR technique have been shown to be within 1.5 percent of the absolute minimum-time routes for flights across the continental United States. On a typical 450-MHz Sun Ultra workstation, the NOWR algorithm produces complete minimum-time routes in less than 40 milliseconds. This corresponds to a rate of 25 optimal routes per second. The closest comparable optimization technique runs approximately 10 times slower. Airlines currently use various trial-and-error search techniques to determine which of a set of commonly traveled routes will minimize flight time. These algorithms are too computationally expensive for use in real-time systems, or in systems where many optimal routes need to be computed in a short amount of time. Instead of operating in real-time, airlines will typically plan a trajectory several hours in advance using wind forecasts. If winds change significantly from forecasts, the resulting flights will no longer be minimum-time. The need for a computationally efficient wind-optimal routing algorithm is even greater in the case of new air-traffic-control automation concepts. For air-traffic-control automation, thousands of wind-optimal routes may need to be computed and checked for conflicts in just a few minutes. These factors motivated the need for a more efficient wind-optimal routing algorithm.

Jardin, Matthew R.↗

The Future of Air Traffic Management

A system for the control of terminal area traffic to improve productivity, referred to as the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), is being developed at NASA's Ames Research Center under a joint program with the FAA. CTAS consists of a set of integrated tools that provide computer-generated advisories for en-route and terminal area controllers. The premise behind the design of CTAS has been that successful planning of traffic requires accurate trajectory prediction. Data bases consisting of representative aircraft performance models, airline preferred operational procedures and a three dimensional wind model support the trajectory prediction. The research effort has been the design of a set of automation tools that make use of this trajectory prediction capability to assist controllers in overall management of traffic. The first tool, the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), provides the overall flow management between the en route and terminal areas. A second tool, the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST) provides terminal area controllers with sequence and runway advisories to allow optimal use of the runways. The TMA and FAST are now being used in daily operations at Dallas/Ft. Worth airport. Additional activities include the development of several other tools. These include: 1) the En Route Descent Advisor that assist the en route controller in issuing conflict free descents and ascents; 2) the extension of FAST to include speed and heading advisories and the Expedite Departure Path (EDP) that assists the terminal controller in management of departures; and 3) the Collaborative Arrival Planner (CAP) that will assist the airlines in operational decision making. The purpose of this presentation is to review the CTAS concept and to present the results of recent field tests. The paper will first discuss the overall concept and then discuss the status of the individual tools.

Denery, Dallas G.↗

Weight and structural analysis of four structural concepts for a land mobile satellite system

The present study is concerned with a Land Mobile Satellite System (LMSS) which can provide mobile communications for commercial and government applications in nonmetropolitan areas of the continental U.S. and Canada as an augmentation to existing and planned terrestrial systems. The satellite system would provide 'narrow band' telecommunications services, thin-route fixed telephone and data services in the 806-890 MHz band, and continuous emergency beacon monitoring in the 406-406.1 MHz band. It is pointed out that a satellite system operating in concert with terrestrial cellular systems could provide truly ubiquitous mobile communications services in the U.S. and Canada. A single shuttle shuttle launch could place the LMSS spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit over the continental U.S. in 1995 with a 10-year lifetime. Attention is given to the structural concepts, a weight analysis, and a structural analysis.

Ferebee, M. J.↗