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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 271 records · Page 15
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NASA NTRS1991

Measuring uncertainty by extracting fuzzy rules using rough sets

Despite the advancements in the computer industry in the past 30 years, there is still one major deficiency. Computers are not designed to handle terms where uncertainty is present. To deal with uncertainty, techniques other than classical logic must be developed. The methods are examined of statistical analysis, the Dempster-Shafer theory, rough set theory, and fuzzy set theory to solve this problem. The fundamentals of these theories are combined to possibly provide the optimal solution. By incorporating principles from these theories, a decision making process may be simulated by extracting two sets of fuzzy rules: certain rules and possible rules. From these rules a corresponding measure of how much these rules is believed is constructed. From this, the idea of how much a fuzzy diagnosis is definable in terms of a set of fuzzy attributes is studied.

Worm, Jeffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Measuring uncertainty by extracting fuzzy rules using rough sets and extracting fuzzy rules under uncertainty and measuring definability using rough sets

Computers are not designed to handle terms where uncertainty is present. To deal with uncertainty, techniques other than classical logic must be developed. This paper examines the concepts of statistical analysis, the Dempster-Shafer theory, rough set theory, and fuzzy set theory to solve this problem. The fundamentals of these theories are combined to provide the possible optimal solution. By incorporating principles from these theories, a decision-making process may be simulated by extracting two sets of fuzzy rules: certain rules and possible rules. From these rules a corresponding measure of how much we believe these rules is constructed. From this, the idea of how much a fuzzy diagnosis is definable in terms of its fuzzy attributes is studied.

Worm, Jeffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Electronic neural network for dynamic resource allocation

A VLSI implementable neural network architecture for dynamic assignment is presented. The resource allocation problems involve assigning members of one set (e.g. resources) to those of another (e.g. consumers) such that the global 'cost' of the associations is minimized. The network consists of a matrix of sigmoidal processing elements (neurons), where the rows of the matrix represent resources and columns represent consumers. Unlike previous neural implementations, however, association costs are applied directly to the neurons, reducing connectivity of the network to VLSI-compatible 0 (number of neurons). Each row (and column) has an additional neuron associated with it to independently oversee activations of all the neurons in each row (and each column), providing a programmable 'k-winner-take-all' function. This function simultaneously enforces blocking (excitatory/inhibitory) constraints during convergence to control the number of active elements in each row and column within desired boundary conditions. Simulations show that the network, when implemented in fully parallel VLSI hardware, offers optimal (or near-optimal) solutions within only a fraction of a millisecond, for problems up to 128 resources and 128 consumers, orders of magnitude faster than conventional computing or heuristic search methods.

Thakoor, A. P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A study of equation solvers for linear and non-linear finite element analysis on parallel processing computers

Concurrent computing environments provide the means to achieve very high performance for finite element analysis of systems, provided the algorithms take advantage of multiple processors. The authors have examined several algorithms for both linear and nonlinear finite element analysis. The performance of these algorithms on an Alliant FX/80 parallel supercomputer has been studied. For single load case linear analysis, the optimal solution algorithm is strongly problem dependent. For multiple load cases or nonlinear analysis through a modified Newton-Raphson method, decomposition algorithms are shown to have a decided advantage over element-by-element preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithms.

Watson, Brian C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Achieving a balance - Science and human exploration

The linkage between science and human exploration is close. Currently, proponents of science and human presence themes identified by the Synthesis Group as the most important themes of Mars exploration, tend to have reservations about the other camp. Mechanisms that integrate the program themes are essential, to gain the advocacies of the exploration communities and find optimal solutions to the technical problems. Without such mechanisms, it will be difficult to gain widespread acceptance of the SEI as the strategic horizon for the U.S. civilian space program.

Duke, Michael B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Countermeasures against space flight related bone loss

A general review is presented of data on bone loss with references to countermeasures for use during spaceflight and bedrest. The two primary countermeasures against skeletal atrophy are skeletal loading such as centrifugation and exercise and/or the administration of drugs designed to alter the rate of bone remodeling. Bone loss is argued to be unavoidable in long-duration spaceflight in spite of countermeasures utilized, but a combination of exercise, biochemical treatments, and post-flight therapy is considered the optimal solution.

Leblanc, Adrian↗
NASA NTRS1991

Concurrent optimization of airframe and engine design parameters

An integrated system for the multidisciplinary analysis and optimization of airframe and propulsion design parameters is being developed. This system is known as IPAS, the Integrated Propulsion/Airframe Analysis System. The traditional method of analysis is one in which the propulsion system analysis is loosely coupled to the overall mission performance analysis. This results in a time consuming iterative process. First, the engine is designed and analyzed. Then, the results from this analysis are used in a mission analysis to determine the overall aircraft performance. The results from the mission analysis are used as a guide as the engine is redesigned and the entire process repeated. In IPAS, the propulsion system, airframe, and mission are closely coupled. The propulsion system analysis code is directly integrated into the mission analysis code. This allows the propulsion design parameters to be optimized along with the airframe and mission design parameters, significantly reducing the time required to obtain an optimized solution.

Lavelle, Thomas M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

An intelligent decomposition approach for efficient design of non-hierarchic systems

The design process associated with large engineering systems requires an initial decomposition of the complex systems into subsystem modules which are coupled through transference of output data. The implementation of such a decomposition approach assumes the ability exists to determine what subsystems and interactions exist and what order of execution will be imposed during the analysis process. Unfortunately, this is quite often an extremely complex task which may be beyond human ability to efficiently achieve. Further, in optimizing such a coupled system, it is essential to be able to determine which interactions figure prominently enough to significantly affect the accuracy of the optimal solution. The ability to determine 'weak' versus 'strong' coupling strengths would aid the designer in deciding which couplings could be permanently removed from consideration or which could be temporarily suspended so as to achieve computational savings with minimal loss in solution accuracy. An approach that uses normalized sensitivities to quantify coupling strengths is presented. The approach is applied to a coupled system composed of analysis equations for verification purposes.

Bloebaum, Christina L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Active impedance matching of complex structural systems

Viewgraphs on active impedance matching of complex structural systems are presented. Topics covered include: traveling wave model; dereverberated mobility model; computation of dereverberated mobility; control problem: optimal impedance matching; H2 optimal solution; statistical energy analysis (SEA) solution; experimental transfer functions; interferometer actuator and sensor locations; active strut configurations; power dual variables; dereverberation of complex structure; dereverberated transfer function; compensators; and relative power flow.

Macmartin, Douglas G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Aircraft concept optimization using the global sensitivity approach and parametric multiobjective figures of merit

An extension of our parametric multidisciplinary optimization method to include design results connecting multiple objective functions is presented. New insight into the effect of the figure of merit (objective function) on aircraft configuration size and shape is demonstrated using this technique. An aircraft concept, subject to performance and aerodynamic constraints, is optimized using the global sensitivity equation method for a wide range of objective functions. These figures of merit are described parametrically such that a series of multiobjective optimal solutions can be obtained. Computational speed is facilitated by use of algebraic representations of the system technologies. Using this method, the evolution of an optimum design from one objective function to another is demonstrated. Specifically, combinations of minimum takeoff gross weight, fuel weight, and maximum cruise performance and productivity parameters are used as objective functions.

Malone, Brett↗
NASA NTRS1992

Concurrent optimization of airframe and engine design parameters

An integrated system for the multidisciplinary analysis and optimization of airframe and propulsion design parameters is being developed. This system is known as IPAS, the Integrated Propulsion/Airframe Analysis System. The traditional method of analysis is one in which the propulsion system analysis is loosely coupled to the overall mission performance analysis. This results in a time consuming iterative process. First, the engine is designed and analyzed. Then, the results from this analysis are used in a mission analysis to determine the overall aircraft performance. The results from the mission analysis are used as a guide as the engine redesigned and the entire process repeated. In IPAS, the propulsion system, airframe, and mission are closely coupled. The propulsion system analysis code is directly integrated into the mission analysis code. This allows the propulsion design parameters to be optimized along with the airframe and mission design parameters, significantly reducing the time required to obtain an optimized solution.

Lavelle, Thomas M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Neural networks in structural analysis and design - An overview

The present paper provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in the application of neural networks in problems of structural analysis and design, including a survey of published applications in structural engineering. Such applications have included, among others, the use of neural networks in modeling nonlinear analysis of structures, as a rapid reanalysis capability in optimal design, and in developing problem parameter sensitivity of optimal solutions for use in multilevel decomposition based design. While most of the applications reported in the literature have been restricted to the use of the multilayer perceptron architecture and minor variations thereof, other network architectures have also been successfully explored, including the ART network, the counterpropagation network and the Hopfield-Tank model.

Hajela, P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Adjustment of footprint correction for airborne flux mapping over the FIFE site

A meaningful interpretation of airborne flux estimates over nonuniform terrain must consider local advection from nonhomogeneous source distributions (footprint correction). An empirical procedure for footprint correction of airborne flux data obtained in the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) 1989 is presented, based on simple analytical solutions of the diffusion equation which have been adjusted to approximate more realistic solutions. Optimized estimates of surface flux 'maps' derived from airborne observations are then constructed for maximum correlation between flux estimates and independently observed surface characteristics. This paper also includes an analysis of resolution for the given procedure, in terms of amplitude recovery of hypothetical square-wave distributions of surface flux density, and discusses its implications for the interpretation of the optimized estimates of FIFE surface flux maps. Results show that corrected spatial sink distributions are obtained by the current empirical procedure at the cost of considerable reduction in amplitude recovery of small-scale variations in surface flux density. The high spatial correlation observed between corrected flux maps and surface characteristics such as greenness or surface temperature excess is ascribed to the approximately correct positioning of the main flux gradients across the site, which can be expected to have been reproduced with amplitude recovery equal to or greater than 60 percent.

Schuepp, P. H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Principled halftoning based on human vision models

When models of human vision adequately measure the relative quality of candidate halftonings of an image, the problem of halftoning the image becomes equivalent to the search problem of finding a halftone that optimizes the quality metric. Because of the vast number of possible halftones, and the complexity of image quality measures, this principled approach has usually been put aside in favor of fast algorithms that seem to perform well. We find that the principled approach can lead to a range of useful halftoning algorithms, as we trade off speed for quality by varying the complexity of the quality measure and the thoroughness of the search. High quality halftones can be obtained reasonably quickly, for example, by using as a measure the vector length of the error image filtered by a contrast sensitivity function, and, as the search procedure, the sequential adjustment of individual pixels to improve the quality measure. If computational resources permit, simulated annealing can find nearly optimal solutions.

Mulligan, Jeffrey B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Goddard problem in presence of a dynamic pressure limit

The Goddard problem is that of maximizing the final altitude for a vertically ascending, rocket-powered vehicle under the influence of an inverse square gravitational field and atmospheric drag. The present paper deals with the effects of two additional constraints, namely, a dynamic pressure limit and specified final time. Nine different switching structures involving zero-thrust arcs, full-thrust arcs, singular-thrust arcs, and state-constrained arcs are obtained when the value of the dynamic pressure limit is varied between zero and infinity and the final time is specified between the minimum possible time within which all of the fuel can be burned and the natural final time that emerges for the problem with final time unspecified. For all points in the aforementioned domain of dynamic pressure limit and prescribed final time, the associated optimal switching structure is clearly identified. Finally, a simple intuitive feedback law is presented for the free time problem. For all values of prescribed dynamic pressure limit, this strategy yields a loss in final altitude of less than 3 percent with respect to the associated optimal solution.

Seywald, Hans↗
NASA NTRS1992

An extended-source spatial acquisition process based on maximum likelihood criterion for planetary optical communications

This paper describes an extended-source spatial acquisition process based on the maximum likelihood criterion for interplanetary optical communications. The objective is to use the sun-lit Earth image as a receiver beacon and point the transmitter laser to the Earth-based receiver to establish a communication path. The process assumes the existence of a reference image. The uncertainties between the reference image and the received image are modeled as additive white Gaussian disturbances. It has been shown that the optimal spatial acquisition requires solving two nonlinear equations to estimate the coordinates of the transceiver from the received camera image in the transformed domain. The optimal solution can be obtained iteratively by solving two linear equations. Numerical results using a sample sun-lit Earth as a reference image demonstrate that sub-pixel resolutions can be achieved in a high disturbance environment. Spatial resolution is quantified by Cramer-Rao lower bounds.

Yan, Tsun-Yee↗
NASA NTRS1989

Linear quadratic tracking problems in Hilbert space - Application to optimal active noise suppression

A unified treatment of the linear quadratic tracking (LQT) problem, in which a control system's dynamics are modeled by a linear evolution equation with a nonhomogeneous component that is linearly dependent on the control function u, is presented; the treatment proceeds from the theoretical formulation to a numerical approximation framework. Attention is given to two categories of LQT problems in an infinite time interval: the finite energy and the finite average energy. The behavior of the optimal solution for finite time-interval problems as the length of the interval tends to infinity is discussed. Also presented are the formulations and properties of LQT problems in a finite time interval.

Banks, H. T.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Program Aids Analysis And Optimization Of Design

NETS/ PROSSS (NETS Coupled With Programming System for Structural Synthesis) computer program developed to provide system for combining NETS (MSC-21588), neural-network application program and CONMIN (Constrained Function Minimization, ARC-10836), optimization program. Enables user to reach nearly optimal design. Design then used as starting point in normal optimization process, possibly enabling user to converge to optimal solution in significantly fewer iterations. NEWT/PROSSS written in C language and FORTRAN 77.

Rogers, James L., Jr.↗