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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 307 records · Page 17

Prediction of Aerodynamic Coefficients using Neural Networks for Sparse Data

Basic aerodynamic coefficients are modeled as functions of angles of attack and sideslip with vehicle lateral symmetry and compressibility effects. Most of the aerodynamic parameters can be well-fitted using polynomial functions. In this paper a fast, reliable way of predicting aerodynamic coefficients is produced using a neural network. The training data for the neural network is derived from wind tunnel test and numerical simulations. The coefficients of lift, drag, pitching moment are expressed as a function of alpha (angle of attack) and Mach number. The results produced from preliminary neural network analysis are very good.

Rajkumar, T.↗

SSME Condition Monitoring Using Neural Networks and Plume Spectral Signatures

For a variety of reasons, condition monitoring of the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) has become an important concern for both ground tests and in-flight operation. The complexities of the SSME suggest that active, real-time condition monitoring should be performed to avoid large-scale or catastrophic failure of the engine. In 1986, the SSME became the subject of a plume emission spectroscopy project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Since then, plume emission spectroscopy has recorded many nominal tests and the qualitative spectral features of the SSME plume are now well established. Significant discoveries made with both wide-band and narrow-band plume emission spectroscopy systems led MSFC to develop the Optical Plume Anomaly Detection (OPAD) system. The OPAD system is designed to provide condition monitoring of the SSME during ground-level testing. The operational health of the engine is achieved through the acquisition of spectrally resolved plume emissions and the subsequent identification of abnormal emission levels in the plume indicative of engine erosion or component failure. Eventually, OPAD, or a derivative of the technology, could find its way on to an actual space vehicle and provide in-flight engine condition monitoring. This technology step, however, will require miniaturized hardware capable of processing plume spectral data in real-time. An objective of OPAD condition monitoring is to determine how much of an element is present in the SSME plume. The basic premise is that by knowing the element and its concentration, this could be related back to the health of components within the engine. For example, an abnormal amount of silver in the plume might signify increased wear or deterioration of a particular bearing in the engine. Once an anomaly is identified, the engine could be shut down before catastrophic failure occurs. Currently, element concentrations in the plume are determined iteratively with the help of a non-linear computer code called SPECTRA, developed at the USAF Arnold Engineering Development Center. Ostensibly, the code produces intensity versus wavelength plots (i.e., spectra) when inputs such as element concentrations, reaction temperature, and reaction pressure are provided. However, in order to provide a higher-level analysis, element concentration is not specified explicitly as an input. Instead, two quantum variables, number density and broadening parameter, are used. Past experience with OPAD data analysis has revealed that the region of primary interest in any SSME plume spectrum lies in the wavelength band of 3300 A to 4330 A. Experience has also revealed that some elements, such as iron, cobalt and nickel, cause multiple peaks over the chosen wavelength range whereas other elements (magnesium, for example) have a few, relatively isolated peaks in the chosen wavelength range. Iteration with SPECTRA as a part of OPAD data analysis is an incredibly labor intensive task and not one to be performed by hand. What is really needed is the "inverse" of the computer code but the mathematical model for the inverse mapping is tenuous at best. However, building generalized models based upon known input/output mappings while ignoring details of the governing physical model is possible using neural networks. Thus the objective of the research project described herein was to quickly and accurately predict combustion temperature and element concentrations (i.e., number density and broadening parameter) from a given spectrum using a neural network. In other words, a neural network had to be developed that would provide a generalized "inverse" of the computer code SPECTRA.

Hopkins, Randall↗

Adaptive Filtering Using Recurrent Neural Networks

A method for adaptive (or, optionally, nonadaptive) filtering has been developed for estimating the states of complex process systems (e.g., chemical plants, factories, or manufacturing processes at some level of abstraction) from time series of measurements of system inputs and outputs. The method is based partly on the fundamental principles of the Kalman filter and partly on the use of recurrent neural networks. The standard Kalman filter involves an assumption of linearity of the mathematical model used to describe a process system. The extended Kalman filter accommodates a nonlinear process model but still requires linearization about the state estimate. Both the standard and extended Kalman filters involve the often unrealistic assumption that process and measurement noise are zero-mean, Gaussian, and white. In contrast, the present method does not involve any assumptions of linearity of process models or of the nature of process noise; on the contrary, few (if any) assumptions are made about process models, noise models, or the parameters of such models. In this regard, the method can be characterized as one of nonlinear, nonparametric filtering. The method exploits the unique ability of neural networks to approximate nonlinear functions. In a given case, the process model is limited mainly by limitations of the approximation ability of the neural networks chosen for that case. Moreover, despite the lack of assumptions regarding process noise, the method yields minimum- variance filters. In that they do not require statistical models of noise, the neural- network-based state filters of this method are comparable to conventional nonlinear least-squares estimators.

Parlos, Alexander G.↗

Connectionist model-based stereo vision for telerobotics

Autonomous stereo vision for range measurement could greatly enhance the performance of telerobotic systems. Stereo vision could be a key component for autonomous object recognition and localization, thus enabling the system to perform low-level tasks, and allowing a human operator to perform a supervisory role. The central difficulty in stereo vision is the ambiguity in matching corresponding points in the left and right images. However, if one has a priori knowledge of the characteristics of the objects in the scene, as is often the case in telerobotics, a model-based approach can be taken. Researchers describe how matching ambiguities can be resolved by ensuring that the resulting three-dimensional points are consistent with surface models of the expected objects. A four-layer neural network hierarchy is used in which surface models of increasing complexity are represented in successive layers. These models are represented using a connectionist scheme called parameter networks, in which a parametrized object (for example, a planar patch p=f(h,m sub x, m sub y) is represented by a collection of processing units, each of which corresponds to a distinct combination of parameter values. The activity level of each unit in the parameter network can be thought of as representing the confidence with which the hypothesis represented by that unit is believed. Weights in the network are set so as to implement gradient descent in an energy function.

Hoff, William↗

Neural networks for aircraft system identification

Artificial neural networks offer some interesting possibilities for use in control. Our current research is on the use of neural networks on an aircraft model. The model can then be used in a nonlinear control scheme. The effectiveness of network training is demonstrated.

Linse, Dennis J.↗

Human Interfaces In Teleoperations And Virtual Environments

Conference report contains compilation of papers relating to interactions between humans and machines from perspectives of telepresence and sensorimotor adaptation, measurement and evaluation of performance, and design principles and predictive models. Topics discussed include neural networks, sensory technology, display, and feedback controls. Covers state of art of remote sensing and control by humans for space or other operations.

Durlach, Nathaniel I.↗

An Acoustic Emission and Acousto-Ultrasonic Analysis of Impact Damaged Composite Pressure Vessels

The research presented herein summarizes the development of acoustic emission (AE) and acousto-ultrasonic (AU) techniques for the nondestructive evaluation of filament wound composite pressure vessels. Vessels fabricated from both graphite and kevlar fibers with an epoxy matrix were examined prior to hydroburst using AU and during hydroburst using AE. A dead weight drop apparatus featuring both blunt and sharp impactor tips was utilized to produce a single known energy 'damage' level in each of the vessels so that the degree to which the effects of impact damage could be measured. The damage levels ranged from barely visible to obvious fiber breakage and delamination. Independent neural network burst pressure prediction models were developed from a sample of each fiber/resin material system. Here, the cumulative AE amplitude distribution data collected from low level proof test (25% of the expected burst for undamaged vessels) were used to measure the effects of the impact on the residual burst pressure of the vessels. The results of the AE/neural network model for the inert propellant filled graphite/epoxy vessels 'IM7/3501-6, IM7/977-2 and IM7/8553-45' demonstrated that burst pressures can be predicted from low level AE proof test data, yielding an average error of 5.0%. The trained network for the IM7/977-2 class vessels was also able to predict the expected burst pressure of taller vessels (three times longer hoop region length) constructed of the same material and using the same manufacturing technique, with an average error of 4.9%. To a lesser extent, the burst pressure prediction models could also measure the effects of impact damage to the kevlar/epoxy 'Kevlar 49/ DPL862' vessels. Here though, due to the higher attenuation of the material, an insufficient amount of AE amplitude information was collected to generate robust network models. Although, the worst case trial errors were less than 6%, when additional blind predictions were attempted, errors as high as 50% were produced. An acousto-ultrasonic robotic evaluation system (AURES) was developed for mapping the effects of damage on filament wound pressure vessels prior to hydroproof testing. The AURES injects a single broadband ultrasonic pulse into each vessel at preprogrammed positions and records the effects of the interaction of that pulse on the material volume with a broadband receiver. A stress wave factor in the form of the energy associated with the 750 to 1000 kHz and 1000 to 1250 kHz frequency bands were used to map the potential failure sites for each vessel. The energy map associated with the graphite/epoxy vessels was found to decrease in the region of the impact damage. The kevlar vessels showed the opposite trend, with the energy values increasing around the damage/failure sites.

Walker, James L.↗

Biological Life Support Systems

Session MP2 includes short reports on: (1) Crew Regenerative Life Support in Long Duration Space Missions; (2) Bioconversion Systems for Food and Water on Long Term Space Missions; (3) Novel Laboratory Approaches to Multi-purpose Aquatic Biogenerative Closed-Loop Food Production Systems; and (4) Artificial Neural Network Derived Plant Growth Models.

Source record↗

Multiobjective Aerodynamic Shape Optimization Using Pareto Differential Evolution and Generalized Response Surface Metamodels

Differential Evolution (DE) is a simple, fast, and robust evolutionary algorithm that has proven effective in determining the global optimum for several difficult single-objective optimization problems. The DE algorithm has been recently extended to multiobjective optimization problem by using a Pareto-based approach. In this paper, a Pareto DE algorithm is applied to multiobjective aerodynamic shape optimization problems that are characterized by computationally expensive objective function evaluations. To improve computational expensive the algorithm is coupled with generalized response surface meta-models based on artificial neural networks. Results are presented for some test optimization problems from the literature to demonstrate the capabilities of the method.

Madavan, Nateri K.↗

Automated Escape Guidance Algorithms for An Escape Vehicle

An escape vehicle was designed to provide an emergency evacuation for crew members living on a space station. For maximum escape capability, the escape vehicle needs to have the ability to safely evacuate a station in a contingency scenario such as an uncontrolled (e.g., tumbling) station. This emergency escape sequence will typically be divided into three events: The fust separation event (SEP1), the navigation reconstruction event, and the second separation event (SEP2). SEP1 is responsible for taking the spacecraft from its docking port to a distance greater than the maximum radius of the rotating station. The navigation reconstruction event takes place prior to the SEP2 event and establishes the orbital state to within the tolerance limits necessary for SEP2. The SEP2 event calculates and performs an avoidance burn to prevent station recontact during the next several orbits. This paper presents the tools and results for the whole separation sequence with an emphasis on the two separation events. The fust challenge includes collision avoidance during the escape sequence while the station is in an uncontrolled rotational state, with rotation rates of up to 2 degrees per second. The task of avoiding a collision may require the use of the Vehicle's de-orbit propulsion system for maximum thrust and minimum dwell time within the vicinity of the station vicinity. The thrust of the propulsion system is in a single direction, and can be controlled only by the attitude of the spacecraft. Escape algorithms based on a look-up table or analytical guidance can be implemented since the rotation rate and the angular momentum vector can be sensed onboard and a-priori knowledge of the position and relative orientation are available. In addition, crew intervention has been provided for in the event of unforeseen obstacles in the escape path. The purpose of the SEP2 burn is to avoid re-contact with the station over an extended period of time. Performing this maneuver properly requires knowledge of the orbital state, which is obtained during the navigation state reconstruction event. Since the direction of the delta-v of the SEPI maneuver is a random variable with respect to the Local Vertical Local Horizontal (LVLH) coordinate system, calculating the required SEP2 burn is a challenge. This problem was solved using a neural network as a model-free function approximation technique.

Flanary, Ronald↗

Vector-Ordering Filter Procedure for Data Reduction

The vector-ordering filter (VOF) technique involves a procedure for sampling a large population of data vectors to select a subset of data vectors that fully characterize the state space of the large population. The VOF technique enables a large reduction of the volume of data that must be handled in the automated monitoring system and method discussed in the two immediately preceding articles. In so doing, the VOF technique enables the development of data-driven mathematical models of a monitored asset from sets of data that would otherwise exceed the memory capacities of conventional engineering computers. Data-driven mathematical models have been shown to offer high fidelity for purposes of control and monitoring of assets. In practice, a collection of asset-operating observations is acquired with the intention that the collection contain observations characteristic of the full dynamic range of operation of the asset. Often, such a collection contains an extremely large number of observations, many of which are redundant. The VOF technique fills the need for a means to extract, from the original collection of observational data, a reduced data matrix that excludes redundant data while maintaining the full statistical character and dynamic range of the original data. The reduced data matrix can then be used as the input data for development of a mathematical model of the monitored asset, or as training data for a neural-network substitute for an explicit mathematical model of the asset. Alternatively, the reduced data matrix can, itself, be used directly as a mathematical model of the monitored asset, as is commonly done in multivariate state-estimation techniques. The original data are collected from the asset over a range of operating states and are put in matrix form. Each column vector in the original data matrix represents the signal values acquired at a particular operational state of the asset. Thus, the number of columns of the original data matrix equals the number of observed states and the number of rows in this matrix equals the number of signals acquired at each observation. In the VOF technique, one extracts the reduced data matrix from the original data matrix through the selection of a representative subset of the column (state) vectors.

Bickford, Randall L.↗

Optimal Estimation Framework for Ocean Color Atmospheric Correction and Pixel-level Uncertainty Quantification

Ocean color remote sensing requires compensation for atmospheric scattering and absorption (aerosol, Rayleigh, and trace gases), referred to as atmospheric correction (AC). AC allows inference of parameters such as spectrally resolved remote sensing reflectance ( R rs )(λ) ; sr 1 ) at the ocean surface from the top-of-atmosphere reflectance. Often, the uncertainty of this process is not fully explored. Bayesian inference techniques provide a simultaneous AC and uncertainty assessment via a full posterior distribution of the relevant variables, given the prior distribution of those variables and the radiative transfer (RT) likelihood function. Given uncertainties in the algorithm inputs, the Bayesian framework enables better constraints on the AC process by using the complete spectral information compared to traditional approaches that use only a subset of bands for AC. This paper investigates a Bayesian inference research method (Optimal Estimation, OE) for ocean color AC by simultaneously retrieving atmospheric and ocean properties using all visible and near-infrared spectral bands. The OE algorithm analytically approximates the posterior distribution of parameters based on normality assumptions and provides a potentially viable operational algorithm with a reduced computational expense. We developed a Neural Network (NN) RT forward model look-up-table-based emulator to increase algorithm efficiency further and thus speed up the likelihood computations. We then applied the OE algorithm to synthetic data and observations from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft. We compared the R rs )(λ) retrieval and its uncertainty estimates from the OE method with in-situ validation data from the SeaWiFS Bio-optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) and Aerosol Robotic Network Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) datasets. The OE algorithm improved R rs )(λ) estimates relative to the NASA standard operational algorithm by improving all statistical metrics at 443, 555, and 667 nm. Unphysical negative R rs )(λ) , which often appear in complex water conditions, was reduced by a factor of 3. The OE-derived pixel-level R rs )(λ) uncertainty estimates were also assessed relative to in-situ data and were shown to have skill.

Atmospheric correction↗

Soil Salinity Level Assessment and Prediction Integrating UAV-borne Hyperspectral Imaging and Machine Learning Algorithms to Combat Desertification

In response to the ongoing global food crisis, the United Nations has identified “Zero Hunger” as one of its Sustainable Development Goals. A central contributor to the crisis is the process in which agricultural lands go through desertification. Research has shown a direct correlation between soil salinity and desertification - increased salinity levels indicate a higher risk for desertification. Furthermore, researchers have explored various techniques to map soil salinity, but these methods are oftentimes inefficient and don’t address future salinity predictions. To improve desertification monitoring, soil salinity can be observed via hyperspectral imaging on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to predict the risk of agricultural desertification using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques. A significant gap exists in past research that applies ML and imaging techniques to soil salinity: convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and regression models are rarely leveraged together, despite the efficiency and accuracy of these models. To compensate for this gap, the proposed system leverages the use of these AI and ML models to improve soil assessment and prediction techniques. This approach involves three steps - data collection, image analysis, and future prediction. Using hyperspectral cameras on UAVs to collect the data from the region, a trained CNN model will output estimated soil salinity levels at a specific time. The estimations will then be analyzed by a regression model to assess the accuracy of future soil salinity predictions. The proposed system will identify regions at risk of desertification to help farmers mitigate agricultural loss, in turn helping alleviate the food crisis.

UAV systems↗

Fault Diagnosis of Power Components with Reliability Assessment in Extraterrestrial Microgrids

This research investigates the possible failures caused by aging and other environmental and external factors that could significantly impact the performance of extraterrestrial power systems. Additionally, it presents a reliability assessment model for the space microgrid based on fault tree analysis (FTA). The reliability assessment model developed in this paper represents a tool that can be used by engineers to harden the system design for operational and economic benefits. To improve the reliability of the system, this work provides a broad review of the different fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) algorithms used for power microgrids and space applications. Using data sets from the Habitat Simulator developed through the NASA-funded Resilient Extraterrestrial Habitat Institute, this paper compares the applicability and accuracy of the different FDD methods. The primary FDD approach proposed and assessed in this work is based on the Markov reliability model. It predicts and detects future faults in the space microgrids by using past data samples and categorizing them into different classes. Data-driven-based models such as artificial neural networks are also investigated, tested, and evaluated using simulation data sets. According to the simulation results and the broad FDD algorithm comparison, this study provides the crew or maintenance engineers with a clear methodology to detect and localize power system failures.

Leila Chebbo↗

Reconfigurable Flight Control Design using a Robust Servo LQR and Radial Basis Function Neural Networks

This viewgraph presentation reviews the use of a Robust Servo Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and a Radial Basis Function (RBF) Neural Network in reconfigurable flight control designs in adaptation to a aircraft part failure. The method uses a robust LQR servomechanism design with model Reference adaptive control, and RBF neural networks. During the failure the LQR servomechanism behaved well, and using the neural networks improved the tracking.

Burken, John J.↗