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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Automation of closed environments in space for human comfort and safety

The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the Space Station Freedom and future colonization of the Moon and Mars presents new challenges for present technologies. Current plans call for a crew of 8 to live in a safe, shirt-sleeve environment for 90 days without ground support. Because of these requirements, all life support systems must be self-sufficient and reliable. The ECLSS is composed of six subsystems. The temperature and humidity control (THC) subsystem maintains the cabin temperature and humidity at a comfortable level. The atmosphere control and supply (ACS) subsystem insures proper cabin pressure and partial pressures of oxygen and nitrogen. To protect the space station from fire damage, the fire detection and suppression (FDS) subsystem provides fire sensing alarms and extinguishers. The waste management (WM) subsystem compacts solid wastes for return to Earth, and collects urine for water recovery. Because it is impractical, if not impossible, to supply the station with enough fresh air and water for the duration of the space station's extended mission, these elements are recycled. The atmosphere revitalization (AR) subsystem removes CO2 and other dangerous contaminants from the air. The water recovery and management (WRM) subsystem collects and filters condensate from the cabin to replenish potable water supplies, and processes urine and other waste waters to replenish hygiene water supplies. These subsystems are not fully automated at this time. Furthermore, the control of these subsystems is not presently integrated; they are largely independent of one another. A fully integrated and automated ECLSS would increase astronauts' productivity and contribute to their safety and comfort. The Kansas State University Advanced Design Team is in the process of researching and designing controls for the automation of the ECLSS for Space Station Freedom and beyond. The approach chosen to solve this problem is to divide the design into three phases. The first phase is to research the ECLSS as a whole system and then concentrate efforts on the automation of a single subsystem. The AR subsystem was chosen for our focus. During the second phase, the system control process will then be applied to the AR subsystem.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1990

Development of nickel hydrogen battery expert system

The Hubble Telescope Battery Testbed employs the nickel-cadmium battery expert system (NICBES-2) which supports the evaluation of performances of Hubble Telescope spacecraft batteries and provides alarm diagnosis and action advice. NICBES-2 also provides a reasoning system along with a battery domain knowledge base to achieve this battery health management function. An effort to modify NICBES-2 to accommodate nickel-hydrogen battery environment in testbed is described.

Shiva, Sajjan G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A proven knowledge-based approach to prioritizing process information

Many space-related processes are highly complex systems subject to sudden, major transients. In any complex process control system, a critical aspect is rapid analysis of the changing process information. During a disturbance, this task can overwhelm humans as well as computers. Humans deal with this by applying heuristics in determining significant information. A simple, knowledge-based approach to prioritizing information is described. The approach models those heuristics that humans would use in similar circumstances. The approach described has received two patents and was implemented in the Alarm Filtering System (AFS) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). AFS was first developed for application in a nuclear reactor control room. It has since been used in chemical processing applications, where it has had a significant impact on control room environments. The approach uses knowledge-based heuristics to analyze data from process instrumentation and respond to that data according to knowledge encapsulated in objects and rules. While AFS cannot perform the complete diagnosis and control task, it has proven to be extremely effective at filtering and prioritizing information. AFS was used for over two years as a first level of analysis for human diagnosticians. Given the approach's proven track record in a wide variety of practical applications, it should be useful in both ground- and space-based systems.

Corsberg, Daniel R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Virtual acoustics displays

The real time acoustic display capabilities are described which were developed for the Virtual Environment Workstation (VIEW) Project at NASA-Ames. The acoustic display is capable of generating localized acoustic cues in real time over headphones. An auditory symbology, a related collection of representational auditory 'objects' or 'icons', can be designed using ACE (Auditory Cue Editor), which links both discrete and continuously varying acoustic parameters with information or events in the display. During a given display scenario, the symbology can be dynamically coordinated in real time with 3-D visual objects, speech, and gestural displays. The types of displays feasible with the system range from simple warnings and alarms to the acoustic representation of multidimensional data or events.

Wenzel, Elizabeth M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Direction discriminating hearing aid system

A visual display was developed for people with substantial hearing loss in either one or both ears. The system consists of three discreet units; an eyeglass assembly for the visual display of the origin or direction of sounds; a stationary general purpose noise alarm; and a noise seeker wand.

Jhabvala, M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Saberliner flight test for airborne wind shear forward looking detection and avoidance radar systems

Westinghouse conducted a flight test with its Sabreliner AN/APG-68 instrumented radar to assess the urban discrete/ground moving vehicle clutter environment. Glideslope approaches were flown into Washington National, BWI, and Georgetown, Delaware, airports employing radar mode timing, waveform, and processing configurations plausible for microburst windshear avoidance. The perceptions, both general and specific, of the clutter environment furnish an empirical foundation for beginning low false alarm detection algorithm development.

Mathews, Bruce D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Integration of the TDWR and LLWAS wind shear detection system

Operational demonstrations of a prototype TDWR/LLWAS (Terminal Doppler Weather Radar/Low Level Wind shear Alarm System) integrated wind shear detection system were conducted. The integration of wind shear detection systems is needed to provide end-users with a single, consensus source of information. A properly implemented integrated system provides wind shear warnings of a higher quality than stand-alone LLWAS or TDWR systems. The algorithmic concept used to generate the TDWR/LLWAS integrated products and several case studies are discussed, indicating the viability and potential of integrated wind shear detection systems. Implications for integrating ground and airborne wind shear detection systems are briefly examined.

Cornman, Larry↗
NASA NTRS1990

Development of an adaptive failure detection and identification system for detecting aircraft control element failures

A methodology for designing a failure detection and identification (FDI) system to detect and isolate control element failures in aircraft control systems is reviewed. An FDI system design for a modified B-737 aircraft resulting from this methodology is also reviewed, and the results of evaluating this system via simulation are presented. The FDI system performed well in a no-turbulence environment, but it experienced an unacceptable number of false alarms in atmospheric turbulence. An adaptive FDI system, which adjusts thresholds and other system parameters based on the estimated turbulence level, was developed and evaluated. The adaptive system performed well over all turbulence levels simulated, reliably detecting all but the smallest magnitude partially-missing-surface failures.

Bundick, W. Thomas↗
NASA NTRS1991

NSI operations center

The NASA Science Internet (NSI) Network Operations Staff is responsible for providing reliable communication connectivity for the NASA science community. As the NSI user community expands, so does the demand for greater interoperability with users and resources on other networks (e.g., NSFnet, ESnet), both nationally and internationally. Coupled with the science community's demand for greater access to other resources is the demand for more reliable communication connectivity. Recognizing this, the NASA Science Internet Project Office (NSIPO) expands its Operations activities. By January 1990, Network Operations was equipped with a telephone hotline, and its staff was expanded to six Network Operations Analysts. These six analysts provide 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week coverage to assist site managers with problem determination and resolution. The NSI Operations staff monitors network circuits and their associated routers. In most instances, NSI Operations diagnoses and reports problems before users realize a problem exists. Monitoring of the NSI TCP/IP Network is currently being done with Proteon's Overview monitoring system. The Overview monitoring system displays a map of the NSI network utilizing various colors to indicate the conditions of the components being monitored. Each node or site is polled via the Simple Network Monitoring Protocol (SNMP). If a circuit goes down, Overview alerts the Network Operations staff with an audible alarm and changes the color of the component. When an alert is received, Network Operations personnel immediately verify and diagnose the problem, coordinate repair with other networking service groups, track problems, and document problem and resolution into a trouble ticket data base. NSI Operations offers the NSI science community reliable connectivity by exercising prompt assessment and resolution of network problems.

Zanley, Nancy L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Process for detecting the likelihood of ice formation, ice warning system for carrying out the process, and utilization thereof

An ice warning system comprising a diaphragm set into vibration at one of its frequencies of resonance by a piezoelectric cell. The diaphragm is coupled thermally to a metallic plate alternately cooled and heated respectively below and above the ambient temperature by Peltier elements connected to a reversible DC current generator. A microprocessor measures any variation of the resonance frequency caused by a deposit of ice on the diaphragm during the cooling or heating periods and delivers an alarm signal if this variation of frequency reaches and/ or exceeds a predetermined value. The microprocessor controls the period, intensity and direction of the current delivered by the DC current generator as a function of the ambient temperature and the temperature of the diaphragm. The ice warning system is preferably utilized in the aeronautical field for indicating the likelihood of natural ice formation on the engines and the wings of aircraft.

Martin Lustenberger↗
NASA NTRS1990

Echo size and asymmetry - Impact on NEXRAD storm identification

The effects of echo shape and radar viewing angle on detecting small thunderstorms with the NEXRAD storm identification algorithms are examined. The amorphous low-level echo shapes are modeled as ellipses with major axes ranging from 5-15 km and minor axes varying between 2-5 km. The model echoes are then used to create a 'probability of detection' chart that demonstrates the impact of storm asymmetry on cell identification. The algorithm performance on small thunderstorms observed near Huntsville, Alabama and Kennedy Space Center, Florida is examined. A new algorithm based on the analysis of 15 storms observed in Florida, Alabama, and New Mexico is proposed that would identify storms as having lightning if 40 dBZ reflectivity is present at the -10 C level and the echo top exceeds 9 km. This algorithm would have a 100 percent probability of detecting lightning producing storms 4-33 min before the first flash, a 7 percent false alarm rate and a critical success index of 93 percent.

Buechler, Dennis E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Performance evaluation of a Doppler radar system for wind shear detection

Nonlinear stochastic differential equations are used to model wind shear, and extended Kalman filters are used to generate state estimates from measurements received from a Doppler radar onboard an aircraft. Likelihood-ratio tests are then used to detect the presence of wind shear. The performance of the system is evaluated by deriving theoretical expressions for the false alarm and miss error probabiilties. The approach uses a Fokker-Planck equation. The overall methodology is general and should be of interest in other applications.

Khalaf, Camille S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Calculation of aerosol backscatter from airborne continuous wave focused CO2 Doppler lidar measurements. II - Algorithm performance

This paper examines the performance of the Rothermel et al. (1991) algorithm for calculating aerosol backscatter coefficients from measurements by an airborne continuous wave focused CO2 Doppler lidar by using the algorithm to analyze measurements by the Laser True Airspeed System. The results show that, under optimum signal conditions, backscatter signals are detected unambiguously and the aerosol backscatter coefficients are determined accurately. However, under marginal or subthreshold conditions under which the system sensitivity is degraded, noise can be mistaken for signals. As determined from parametric studies, the 'false-alarm' rate under these conditions depends on the size of the search window and the SNR threshold for valid signals.

Rothermel, Jeffry↗
NASA NTRS1990

Real-time reasoning - The monitoring and control of spacecraft systems

Research concerned with automating the monitoring and control of spacecraft systems is discussed. In particular, the application the Procedural Reasoning System (PRS) to the handling of malfunctions in the Reaction Control System (RCS) of NASAs space shuttle is studied. Unlike traditional monitoring and control systems, PRS is able to reason about and perform complex tasks in a very flexible and robust manner, somewhat in the manner of a human assistant. Using various RCS malfunctions as examples (including sensor faults, leaking components, multiple alarms, and regulator and jet failures), it is shown how PRS manages to combine both goal-directed reasoning and the ability to react rapidly to unanticipated changes in its environment. Some important issues in the design of PRS are reviewed, and future enhancements are indicated.

Georgeff, Michael P.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Coincidence probabilities for spacecraft gravitational wave experiments - Massive coalescing binaries

Massive coalescing binary systems are candidate sources of gravitational radiation in the millihertz frequency band accessible to spacecraft Doppler tracking experiments. This paper discusses signal processing and detection probability for waves from coalescing binaries in the regime where the signal frequency increases linearly with time, i.e., 'chirp' signals. Using known noise statistics, thresholds with given false alarm probabilities are established for one- and two-spacecraft experiments. Given the threshold, the detection probability is calculated as a function of gravitational wave amplitude for both one- and two-spacecraft experiments, assuming random polarization states and under various assumptions about wave directions. This allows quantitative statements about the detection efficiency of these experiments and the utility of coincidence experiments. In particular, coincidence probabilities for two-spacecraft experiments are insensitive to the angle between the directions to the two spacecraft, indicating that near-optical experiments can be done without constraints on spacecraft trajectories.

Tinto, Massimo↗
NASA NTRS1992

Predictive Monitoring With Many Sensors

Proposed method of predictive monitoring that prevents large number of sensor data from overwhelming human operator or electronic monitor is subject of continuing research. Predictive-monitoring system concentrates limited monitoring resources on few of many sensor outputs that are most important. Casual importance serves as basis for selection of sensors to verify expected behavior of system. Alarms raised where discrepancies between predicted and actual values are significant.

Doyle, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Tables of square-law signal detection statistics for Hann spectra with 50 percent overlap

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, currently being planned by NASA, will require that an enormous amount of data be analyzed in real time by special purpose hardware. It is expected that overlapped Hann data windows will play an important role in this analysis. In order to understand the statistical implication of this approach, it has been necessary to compute detection statistics for overlapped Hann spectra. Tables of signal detection statistics are given for false alarm rates from 10(exp -14) to 10(exp -1) and signal detection probabilities from 0.50 to 0.99; the number of computed spectra ranges from 4 to 2000.

Deans, Stanley R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Criticality of Be-7 concentration in LDEF

Heretofore, a number of papers reported the detection of high Be-7 concentration in the LDEF. It sounded alarming for space flight in the LDEF orbit, since Be-7 has a half life of 54 days and emits gamma rays of 0.48 MeV which is ionizing radiation. Two concerns are raised: the high concentration of harmful rays to spacecraft crews; and the concentration damage to spacecraft electronic components. A need was established to estimate the dosage of this concentration and compare the value of the allowed limits. As a result, the dosage was calculated of 0.03 rad. When this is compared with the human limit of 25 rads and the susceptibility requirement of 800 rads, the Be-7 amount should not be considered critical. The calculation of Be-7 dosage is detailed.

Young, Poh Shien↗