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At least 307 records · Page 17

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NASA NTRS2008

Thin, nearly wireless adaptive optical device

A thin, nearly wireless adaptive optical device capable of dynamically modulating the shape of a mirror in real time to compensate for atmospheric distortions and/or variations along an optical material is provided. The device includes an optical layer, a substrate, at least one electronic circuit layer with nearly wireless architecture, an array of actuators, power electronic switches, a reactive force element, and a digital controller. Actuators are aligned so that each axis of expansion and contraction intersects both substrate and reactive force element. Electronics layer with nearly wireless architecture, power electronic switches, and digital controller are provided within a thin-film substrate. The size and weight of the adaptive optical device is solely dominated by the size of the actuator elements rather than by the power distribution system.

Knowles, Gareth↗

NASA NTRS2009

Thin nearly wireless adaptive optical device

A thin nearly wireless adaptive optical device capable of dynamically modulating the shape of a mirror in real time to compensate for atmospheric distortions and/or variations along an optical material is provided. The device includes an optical layer, a substrate, at least one electronic circuit layer with nearly wireless architecture, an array of actuators, power electronic switches, a reactive force element, and a digital controller. Actuators are aligned so that each axis of expansion and contraction intersects both substrate and reactive force element. Electronics layer with nearly wireless architecture, power electronic switches, and digital controller are provided within a thin-film substrate. The size and weight of the adaptive optical device is solely dominated by the size of the actuator elements rather than by the power distribution system.

Knowles, Gareth J.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Using Piezoelectric Devices to Transmit Power through Walls

A method denoted wireless acoustic-electric feed-through (WAEF) has been conceived for transmitting power and/or data signals through walls or other solid objects made of a variety of elastic materials that could be electrically conductive or nonconductive. WAEF would make it unnecessary to use wires, optical fibers, tubes, or other discrete wall-penetrating signal-transmitting components, thereby eliminating the potential for structural weakening or leakage at such penetrations. Avoidance of such penetrations could be essential in some applications in which maintenance of pressure, vacuum, or chemical or biological isolation is required. In a basic WAEF setup, a transmitting piezoelectric transducer on one side of a wall would be driven at resonance to excite ultrasonic vibrations in the wall. A receiving piezoelectric transducer on the opposite side of the wall would convert the vibrations back to an ultrasonic AC electric signal, which would then be detected and otherwise processed in a manner that would depend on the modulation (if any) applied to the signal and whether the signal was used to transmit power, data, or both. An electromechanical-network model has been derived as a computationally efficient means of analyzing and designing a WAEF system. This model is a variant of a prior model, known in the piezoelectric-transducer art as Mason's equivalent-circuit model, in which the electrical and mechanical dynamics, including electromechanical couplings, are expressed as electrical circuit elements that can include inductors, capacitors, and lumped-parameter complex impedances. The real parts of the complex impedances are used to account for dielectric, mechanical, and coupling losses in all components (including all piezoelectric-transducer, wall, and intermediate material layers). In an application to a three-layer piezoelectric structure, this model was shown to yield the same results as do solutions of the wave equations of piezoelectricity and acoustic propagation in their full complexity.

Sherrit, Stewart↗

NASA NTRS2011

Wireless acoustic-electric feed-through for power and signal transmission

An embodiment provides electrical energy from a source on one side of a medium to a load on the other side of the medium, the embodiment including a first piezoelectric to generate acoustic energy in response to electrical energy from the source, and a second piezoelectric to convert the received acoustic energy to electrical energy used by the load. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Sherrit, Stewart↗

DOE OSTI2023

Experimental Evaluation of Interference in 2.4 GHz Wireless Network

To attain automation across different applications, nuclear power plants are beginning to leverage advancements in wireless communication technologies. A “one-size-fits-all” solution cannot be applied since wireless technologies are selected according to application needs, quality of service requirements, and economic restrictions. To balance the trade-off between technical and economic requirements, a multi-band heterogeneous wireless network architecture is needed. Numerous wireless technologies including Wi-Fi, Zigbee, and Bluetooth share the 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. However, due to different channel access mechanisms and transmit power levels, and very importantly, uncoordinated use, coexistence of these devices in the same vicinity can cause interference and degradation in performance. This report provides the technical basis for understanding the coexistence of these wireless technologies through an experimental evaluation of their performance. This report investigates interactions encompassing variables such as transmission power level, distance between the devices, data rates, and the utilization of co-channel or adjacent channels. The results show that the operation of both Zigbee and Bluetooth is severely compromised when coexisting with Wi-Fi within the same frequency spectrum. On the other hand, the performance of Bluetooth is not impaired by Zigbee and vice versa unless there exists any external interference from Wi-Fi.

2.4 GHz↗

DOE OSTI2022

Distributed Real-time Plume Monitoring for Deep Sea Mineral Extraction

In the emerging industry of deep-sea mining for minerals and deposits (e.g. polymetallic nodules for nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese), more data is required to understand the effects of sediment plume generation and predict the distribution of disturbed sediment. There are two main sources of plume generation, the first being at the active mining site where the “collector” directly removes the top layer of the sea floor. The other is the “midwater plume” consisting of unwanted sediment that was collected during extraction that is pumped back into the aphotic zone. The vast majority of plume generation is caused by the collector, causing detrimental and long-lasting impacts on seafloor ecosystems due to the lack of wave activity or strong currents at the sea floor. Therefore, it is crucial to invest in the infrastructure to support the study and constant monitoring over a large area of the sea floor where plume generation is present. Due to the limited number of usable channels and power requirements, current subsea wireless communications technologies are not well suited to instrumenting the large areas of the sea floor needed to monitor plume migration. The scope of this effort is to transition experimental demonstrations of high-bandwidth, full-duplex scalable underwater laser communications to the seafloor in an open ocean environment. Specifically tackling challenges associated with the dynamic nature of the subsea world, including but not limited to, deployment logistics, sustainability, and range. The goal is to enable the internet of underwater things for deep sea industries by broadening the capabilities of subsea communications. By using high-precision laser transmitters, many of the challenges current subsea optical systems face can be circumvented, such as power consumption, interference, and bandwidth limitations. This approach lends itself to wireless interlinking multi-node networks, in series or parallel, facilitating the implementation of a wide array of sensor types. This interlinking allows all the data gathered from the network to be processed through a single hardline uplink to the surface, lowering the complexity required for near real-time data processing. Additionally, the laser control systems produce metadata that can be used to help characterize the water column between the nodes. Combining data from various sensors such as turbidity, temperature, current velocity with metadata such as beam attenuation and deflection can produce a high-resolution model of sea floor conditions around an active mining zone. The resulting near real-time model can be used to optimize location and flow rate of the mining operation to minimize and quantify the environmental impact.

Mons, Ishan↗

DOE OSTI2024

Empowering Critical Infrastructure Communication with Secure 5G Private Networks

With the transformational New Radio- Unlicensed (NR-U), 5G network can be operated with unlicensed and shared spectrum. Private 5G networks without any licensed bands, which are both highly expensive and usually available to only large commercial wireless providers, can now be used for a whole range of new applications including smart factories, warehouses, connected cars and drones. 5G’s support of a) massive machine type communication (mMTC) for a large number of connected devices with b) ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) capability when needed, and c) up to 20 times higher data rate with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) than previously available, enables new and powerful capabilities in a wireless network. While these capabilities are transformational, necessary security and reliability requirements have to be satisfied when used in critical infrastructure such as factories, power plants, water systems, ports, and other industrial facilities. 5G standards have introduced significant security improvement over 4G/LTE as well as mitigations for new attack surfaces created by changes in the 5G network. This talk will discuss these security improvements and whether they meet the security properties required for mission critical communication over wireless.

5G↗

DOE OSTI2020

In-Sodium Testing of a Prototype Thermoacoustic Power Sensor for Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors

The ultimate goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate a thermoacoustic power sensor (TAPS) for Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs), with potential application also envisioned to other nuclear technologies such as Lead-Cooled Fast Reactors (LFRs), Molten Salt Reactors (MSRs), in addition to Light Water Reactors (LWRs). The project was led by Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC (Westinghouse) and carried out in collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and the University of Pittsburgh. A TAPS is a passive (self-powered), non-invasive (wireless) sensor envisioned for measuring key parameters, such as local temperature and neutron flux, in a nuclear reactor core. The sensor generates pressure waves (i.e., sound waves) with a frequency and amplitude dependent upon nuclear operating conditions (coolant temperature or power changes). The acoustic waves are able to travel through the core and associated structures, and reach to the sensor network placed outside and/or inside of the reactor vessel. These sensors require a very small amount of power which, during loss of power events, can be provided, for example, by harvesting gamma radiation energy, thus resulting in a monitoring system that can function both during normal operation and during loss of power events. Westinghouse and the University of Pittsburgh designed and fabricated TAPS prototypes for Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to carry out in-sodium testing to evaluate the effects of sodium on the TAPS and the performance of the TAPS technique in sodium. Argonne received a TAPS prototype from Westinghouse, and the prototype was modified such that it can be installed into a test vessel and function in sodium at elevated temperature without potentially leaking. A water mockup test apparatus was constructed to validate proper working of the prototype. An instrumentation and control (I&C) system, running on the National Instruments (NI) LabView platform, was developed to: 1) operate both the water mockup test and the in-sodium test facility; and 2) process and analyze the received acoustic signals from an array of accelerometers and the Argonne sodium-submersible high-temperature acoustic sensor. The prototype was successfully tested in a water bath at different temperatures. Water mockup tests demonstrated that the TAPS prototype is working properly and its resonance frequency changes linearly with the coolant (water) temperature. A TAPS test apparatus was constructed and integrated with the upgraded Under-Sodium Viewing (USV) sodium test facility. The integrated USV-TAPS sodium test facility has been operational. The TAPS prototype and a high-temperature sodium-submersible acoustic sensor (SSAS) developed by Argonne were both installed inside the TAPS test vessel. Being operated within argon cover gas under ambient conditions, the TAPS prototype demonstrated that it was functioning properly with a resonance frequency at 1407.2 Hz, which was successfully detected by the accelerometers mounted on the external wall of the vessel and the high-temperature SSAS installed inside the vessel. After successfully transferring sodium into the vessel, in-sodium tests of the prototype were conducted. Tests of the TAPS prototype demonstrated that the resonance frequency of the TAPS changes linearly with respect to the temperature difference between the interior of the TAPS and bulk sodium. The early tests showed that the TAPS prototype could not establish a continuous and consistent resonance in sodium. The resonance diminished before the prototype reached its operating temperature. A signal postprocessor was added to the DAQ module latterly to isolate interferences, enhance signal conditioning, improve peak detection, and generate resonance frequency versus temperature plots. After testing in molten sodium and immersion at higher temperature for several weeks, the TAPS prototype was able to establish a continuous resonance. Performance evaluation of the TAPS prototype was then conducted in sodium. The tests included the investigation of 1) the effects of the temperature difference between the TAPS and bulk sodium, 2) the effects of sodium flowrate; and 3) the performance of the different sensor-receiver systems positioned inside or outside the vessel. Results of a test demonstrated that, with limited sodium circulation, a continuous and consistent resonance of the TAPS prototype was established occasionally. The tests also demonstrated that, because of the nature of detection principles and mounting methods, the high temperature SSAS is more affected by acoustic noise, while accelerometers are more affected by vibrations, in the test environment. It is unknown why the TAPS prototype only occasionally established a continuous and consistent resonance when the TAPS temperature reached its operating temperature in molten sodium, and why it ultimately failed to resonate at all. A failure modes assessment was conducted and a few potential causes of failure were identified. Different post in-sodium tests were conducted to obtain additional information potentially relevant to the cause of the failure. Nondestructive evaluation techniques are suggested to examine the internal integrity as well as the gas mixture of the prototype. If they prove inconclusive, the prototype should be cut open to conduct a thorough inspection of its internal integrity and determine the state of the gas mixture.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS2007

Applications of Time-Reversal Processing for Planetary Surface Communications

Due to the power constraints imposed on wireless sensor and communication networks deployed on a planetary surface during exploration, energy efficient transfer of data becomes a critical issue. In situations where groups of nodes within a network are located in relatively close proximity, cooperative communication techniques can be utilized to improve the range, data rate, power efficiency, and lifetime of the network. In particular, if the point-to-point communication channels on the network are well modeled as frequency non-selective, distributed or cooperative beamforming can employed. For frequency-selective channels, beamforming itself is not generally appropriate, but a natural generalization of it, time-reversal communication (TRC), can still be effective. Time-reversal processing has been proposed and studied previously for other applications, including acoustical imaging, electromagnetic imaging, underwater acoustic communication, and wireless communication channels. In this paper, we study both the theoretical advantages and the experimental performance of cooperative TRC for wireless communication on planetary surfaces. We give a brief introduction to TRC and present several scenarios where TRC could be profitably employed during planetary exploration. We also present simulation results illustrating the performance of cooperative TRC employed in a complex multipath environment and discuss the optimality of cooperative TRC for data aggregation in wireless sensor networks

Barton, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Open-source Wireless Sensor Network (Wi-Se Net) for Flexible Deployment

Wireless sensors, especially if battery powered, have a number of advantages over wired sensors for flexible or temporary diagnostic deployment in a field or lab setting. Recent advances in wireless technology and microprocessor boards have produced a variety of inexpensive off-the shelf chips which can communicate wirelessly with simple protocols. This paper describes the design and implementation of a highly customizable wireless sensor network (called WiSe Net) using inexpensive open-source hardware components as wireless nodes. These wireless sensor nodes can transmit data at a rate <250 Hz, can be battery powered, and have a small footprint (2x5 cm). In addition, a preliminary over-the-air programming system was developed to allow for simple wireless configuration when active. The network performance was demonstrated by taking distributed and electrically isolated temperature measurements on a high-voltage lab apparatus. Although this test case is in a laboratory setting, this network architecture could be easily repurposed for various other forms of monitoring

Wireless Sensor Network↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Open-source Wireless Sensor Network (Wi-Se Net) for Flexible Deployment

Wireless sensors, especially if battery powered, have a number of advantages over wired sensors for flexible or temporary diagnostic deployment in a field or lab setting. Recent advances in wireless technology and microprocessor boards have produced a variety of inexpensive off-the shelf chips which can communicate wirelessly with simple protocols. This paper describes the design and implementation of a highly customizable wireless sensor network (called Wi-Se Net) using inexpensive open-source hardware components as wireless nodes. These wireless sensor nodes can transmit data at a rate <250 Hz, can be battery powered, and have a small footprint (2x5 cm). In addition, a preliminary over-the-air programming system was developed to allow for simple wireless configuration when active. The network performance was demonstrated by taking distributed and electrically isolated temperature measurements on a high-voltage lab apparatus. Although this test case is in a laboratory setting, this network architecture could be easily repurposed for various other forms of monitoring.

Wireless Sensor Network↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Open-source Wireless Sensor Network (Wi-Se Net) for Flexible Deployment

Wireless Sensor Network↗

DOE OSTI2019

Planning Optimization for Inductively Charged On-demand Automated Electric Shuttles Project at Greenville, South Carolina

Wireless charging technology presents an ideal fit for autonomous electric vehicles for realizing a fully automated system (vehicle and charger). This paper presents a planning optimization analysis for a pilot project of in-route wireless charging infrastructure serving fixed-route on-demand shared automated electric shuttles (SAESs) at Greenville, South Carolina, USA. A single-objective non-linear mixed integer system planning optimization problem is formulated. A comprehensive cost model representing the overall inductively charged SAESs system is developed, considering road construction, power electronics and materials, traction battery, and installation costs. The optimization problem is solved to determine the best combination of the system key design parameters (number and allocations of wireless chargers, charging power level, track length and on-board battery capacity) that show the most cost-effective solution and allow the SAESs to achieve charge-sustaining operation. The planning platform incorporates representative simulated traffic data (driving speed and routes) for four SAESs in the Greenville using the Simulation of Urban Mobility tool. These data are fed to a vehicle powertrain model and a wireless charger power model to predict the battery power, energy and state-of-charge profiles, which are provided to the search algorithm to assess the design objectives under specific constraints. Finally, the results indicate that implementing high-power (100 kW) wireless charger at a few designated stops for fixed-route SAESs with the proper track length allows the vehicles to realize charge-sustaining operation, infinite range, and zero recharge downtime, with a significant reduction in the on-board battery (36%) and road coverage (69%), at minimum cost.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Enabling The Next Generation of Smart Sensors in Coal Fired Power Plants using Cellular 5G Technology

Ohio University (OHIO), West Virginia University (WVU), and American Electric Power (AEP) proposed to study and report on the benefits of 5G wireless cellular technologies for coal-fired power plants. The significant advantages, cost savings, and potential of 5G wireless data communications based sensors promised to usher in a new era of reliable, inexpensive, and powerful embedded systems that had not previously been available for coal-fired power plants. The team built upon existing experience with cellular-based systems, power plant water quality sensing, and high temperature sensors developed during past projects. Principal Investigator Wilhelm had been developing cellular-based sensor data systems with a commercial partner for 10 years, pioneering innovative solar-powered devices that began with 2G technology. The lessons and knowledge gained served as a foundation to demonstrate innovations and potential impacts specific to coal fired power plants enabled by 5G technology, along with integration with existing sensors and systems.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Review of Current Research Trends in Power-Electronic Innovations in Cyber–Physical Systems

Here, in this article, a broad overview of the current research trends in power-electronic innovations in cyber–physical systems (CPSs) is presented. The recent advances in semiconductor device technologies, control architectures, and communication methodologies have enabled researchers to develop integrated smart CPSs that can cater to the emerging requirements of smart grids, renewable energy, electric vehicles, trains, ships, the Internet of Things (IoT), and so on. The topics presented in this article include novel power-distribution architectures, protection techniques considering large renewable integration in smart grids, wireless charging in electric vehicles, simultaneous power and information transmission, multihop network-based coordination, power technologies for renewable energy and smart transformer, CPS reliability, transactive smart railway grid, and real-time simulation of shipboard power systems. It is anticipated that the research trends presented in this article will provide a timely and useful overview to the power-electronics researchers with broad applications in CPSs.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

HELIOCOMM: Wireless Controls State-of-the-Art Report

This report introduces the concept of wireless controls in heliostat-based concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) systems. Specifically, the need for wireless communications to be implemented within the heliostat-based CSP systems is identified versus the existing approaches that follow wireline connections which suffer from high installation, operation, and maintenance cost. Furthermore, this report analyzes the most recent advances in the field of developing wireless controls in heliostat-based CSP systems, which are highlighted to be in their infancy given the primitive wireless networking solutions that they currently utilize and test. The main contribution of this report is the introduction of a novel HELIOCOMM system that supports the wireless controls in heliostat-based CSP systems by exploiting the next generation networking technology of integrated access and backhaul. Furthermore, the proposed HELIOCOMM system performs an artificial intelligent clustering approach of the heliostats and clusterhead selection and develops an entropy-based routing model to enable the heliostats to communicate with the central station by considering their energy availability and network traffic. Also, towards efficiently exploiting the limited resources in the developed wireless communication system, a resource allocation module is introduced that performs the maximization of the energy efficiency of each heliostat by minimizing its corresponding experienced end-to-end latency to communicate with the central station, while performing an intelligent bandwidth splitting in the access and backhaul wireless links. The overall architecture is presented, and its individual building components are discussed in detail.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

The global energy footprint of information and communication technology electronics in connected Internet-of-Things devices

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been critical to the emergence of a new Internet-of-Things (IoT) era, as a rapidly increasing number and variety of IoT electronic devices in a wide range of end-use sectors require massive data communication in terms of volume, velocity/speed, and variety. Additionally, semiconductor technology advancements have played a key role in ICT and unlike the past ICT energy footprint analysis, which focused on the final electronic product, an attempt has been made to examine the global energy impacts for the period 2016–2025 based on the market forecasts of three major IoT IC types, i.e., sensors and actuators, connectivity, and processor ICs distributed among four major IoT device components.Total global IoT semiconductor primary energy demand is projected to increase from 2 EJ in 2016 to 35 EJ by 2025, resulting mainly from a substantial projected increase energy needed in the manufacturing of ICs, with growth in the use of sensors and energy-intensive next fab generation manufacturing. Unlike the trend in manufacturing energy, total global operational energy use is projected to decrease significantly with the development of smaller transistor size, low-power devices, and faster wireless data communication technology. Total operational energy is projected to significantly decrease from 118 TWh/year (1,2 EJ/year) to less than 1 TWh/year (0.003 EJ/year) in spite of a significantly higher anticipated growth in its market size during the 2016–2025 forecast period. Its annual share of total primary energy use is projected to reach an insignificant level of 0.01% by the end of 2025, consistent with the past limited electronic product life cycle analyses besides the analysis focus here limited to ICs in IoT devices.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2023

Encapsulation Residual Stress and Ferrite Loss in Inductive Coil Assemblies

As inductive wireless charging reaches higher power levels, thermal management and mechanical durability become more critical. To address these concerns, past works have demonstrated the benefit of encapsulating coil assemblies in thermally conductive materials. However, due to the sensitivity of the MnZn ferrites commonly used in coil assemblies to mechanical stress, care must be taken to avoid creating large stresses in the ferrite that cause higher hysteresis loss. The stress formation in the encapsulant curing process is overviewed and modeled and an experiment is performed to demonstrate the effect in a small-scale coil assembly. Finally, the effect is shown in the reduced coil-coil efficiency of a first generation high power inductive power transfer prototype using a stiff epoxy compared to better performance in a second prototype using a softer thermally-conductive silicone encapsulant.

Foote, Andrew↗