Long binary frame sync words
Prefixes of pseudonoise sequences for frame-synchronization of binary PSK telemetry require only small portion of sync words to be stored in memory.
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Prefixes of pseudonoise sequences for frame-synchronization of binary PSK telemetry require only small portion of sync words to be stored in memory.
Lightweight, deployable antennas for a variety of outer-space and terrestrial applications would be designed and fabricated according to the concept of cold hibernated elastic memory (CHEM) structures, according to a proposal. Mechanically deployable antennas now in use are heavy, complex, and unreliable, and they utilize packaging volume inefficiently. The proposed CHEM antenna structures would be simple and would deploy themselves without need for any mechanisms and, therefore, would be more reliable. The proposed CHEM antenna structures would also weigh less, could be packaged in smaller volumes, and would cost less, relative to mechanically deployable antennas. The CHEM concept was described in two prior NASA Tech Briefs articles: "Cold Hibernated Elastic Memory (CHEM) Expandable Structures" (NPO-20394), Vol. 23, No. 2 (February 1999), page 56; and "Solar Heating for Deployment of Foam Structures" (NPO-20961), Vol. 25, No. 10 (October 2001), page 36. To recapitulate from the cited prior articles: The CHEM concept is one of utilizing opencell foams of shape-memory polymers (SMPs) to make lightweight, reliable, simple, and inexpensive structures that can be alternately (1) compressed and stowed compactly or (2) expanded, then rigidified for use. A CHEM structure is fabricated at full size from a block of SMP foam in its glassy state [at a temperature below the glass-transition temperature (Tg) of the SMP]. The structure is heated to the rubbery state of the SMP (that is, to a temperature above Tg) and compacted to a small volume. After compaction, the structure is cooled to the glassy state of the SMP. The compacting force can then be released and the structure remains compact as long as the temperature is kept below Tg. Upon subsequent heating of the structure above Tg, the simultaneous elastic recovery of the foam and its shape-memory effect cause the structure to expand to its original size and shape. Once thus deployed, the structure can be rigidified by cooling below Tg. Once deployed and rigidified, the structure could be heated and recompacted. In principle, there should be no limit on the achievable number of compaction/deployment/ rigidification cycles. Thus far, several different designs of a 3.5-m-long CHEM conical corrugated horn antenna have been analyzed (see figure). A small CHEM structural antenna model was fabricated and a thin, electrically conductive layer of aluminum was deposited on the inner surface of the model. This structural model was then subjected to the compaction and deployment treatments described above to demonstrate the feasibility of a CHEM corrugated horn antenna.
Among the key features for next-generation memory devices is the need for high-contrast switching between metallic and insulating states with fast switching speed and long lifetime. However, materials exhibiting such properties are rare, and their electronic structure is often poorly understood. Here, by combining state-of-the-art devices with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we study the emergence of a metastable metallic state from the insulating ground state in the charge-density wave (CDW) material 1T-TaS 2 after applying short current pulses. Analysis of the electronic structure suggests a picture in which 1T-TaS 2 transforms from a band insulator in the commensurate CDW ground state to a correlated metal in the metastable state. Moreover, the optically induced metastable state reveals a strong similarity to the current-induced one. This work provides an extensive characterization of metastable order in 1T-TaS 2 and proves how studying electronic properties under in-operando conditions is a critical step for next-generation devices.
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This final report, which is for DOE Award Number DE-FE0032160 (Direct Air Capture Combined with dedicated Long-Term Carbon Storage, Coupled to Existing Low-Carbon Energy), covers the Nuclear Direct Air Capture with Carbon Storage (NuDACCS) project period of performance from 03/31/2022 to 12/27/2024. Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle) partnered with Aircapture LLC (Aircapture), Southern Company (Southern), Carbonvert, the University of Alabama, and Sargent & Lundy (S&L) to develop a front end engineering design (FEED) study for a direct air capture (DAC) system co-located with Southern Company's Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant (Plant Farley) in Columbia, Alabama. The DAC system was designed to capture at least 5,000 net tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year from ambient air in a form suitable for long duration carbon storage (e.g., geologic storage). To complement and support the FEED study, additional analyses were completed, including a Technology Maturation Plan (TMP); Workforce Readiness Plan; Project Cost Estimate; Business Case Analysis (BCA); Life Cycle Analysis (LCA); Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Assessment; and Environmental Justice (EJ) Analysis and Economic Revitalization and Job Creation Outcomes Analysis.
Transporting and assembling large, complex structures poses significant challenges due to their size, geometry, and cost. Additionally, the installation sites are often inaccessible or hazardous for humans, necessitating self-assembling capabilities in these structures. To mitigate these challenges, we propose using 3D printing materials with shape memory effect (SME) for both transport and construction. This approach involves developing 3D modular components into flat sheets for easier transportation, and then self-assembling into 3D structures on-site using solar energy. To gain a deeper understanding of the factors influencing material memory performance, we have chosen a composite PLA/WF, which is polylactic acid (PLA) with 20 wt% wood flour (WF) for this purpose, leveraging its high tensile modulus at 0.966 GPa, low cost, and sustainability. Printed shapes with this material can maintain a recovery ratio over 90% after 3 cycles. While traditional composites fillers (e.g. glass or carbon fiber) are added to enhance mechanical and thermal properties, the addition of bio-based fillers like WF accomplish similar goals without compromising sustainability. We conducted multiple experiments to demonstrate how environmental conditions (i.e. temperature) maximize the material’s SME. Although still at an early stage, this study provides initial insights into bridging the gap between the small-scale nature of shape memory polymers (SMPs) and their potential for large-scale additive manufacturing, addressing a critical need for efficient and sustainable construction. In the long term, we hope our study contributes to the design vision of utilizing SMPs for transportation, assembly, and deployment of complex structures, providing a new pathway for sustainable construction and transportation of large-scale structures to hard-to-access locations such as disaster-affected areas and remote deserts, etc.
This paper argues for the use of cognitive modeling to gain a detailed and dynamic look into user experience during game play. Applying cognitive models to game play data can help researchers understand a player's attentional focus, memory status, learning state, and decision strategies (among other things) as these cognitive processes occurred throughout game play. This is a stark contrast to the common approach of trying to assess the long-term impact of games on cognitive functioning after game play has ended. We describe what cognitive models are, what they can be used for and how game researchers could benefit by adopting these methods. We also provide details of a single model - based on decision field theory - that has been successfUlly applied to data sets from memory, perception, and decision making experiments, and has recently found application in real world scenarios. We examine possibilities for applying this model to game-play data.
Electro-optic holographic recording systems were developed. The spaceworthiness of electro-optic crystals for use in ultrahigh capacity space data storage and retrieval systems are examined. The crystals for this experiment are included with the various electro-optical components of LDEF experiment. The effects of long-duration exposure on active optical system components is investigated. The concept of data storage in an optical-phase holographic memory is illustrated.
Ferroelectricity was long considered incompatible with the wurtzite structure, but the recent discovery of switchable polarization in wurtzite alloys has renewed interest in these materials for integrated electronic and memory applications. The development of wurtzite ferroelectrics faces significant technological challenges, which can be addressed through a fundamental physical understanding of their dielectric and ferroelectric properties. This article focuses on the physics that govern the polarization switching behavior, emphasizing the atomic- and meso-scale (domain) mechanisms involved in the transition between polarization states. A distinguishing feature of this article is a deep dive into the role of intrinsic and extrinsic defects—an area that has received limited attention in prior reviews, but is increasingly recognized as central to polarization switching, coercive fields, leakage, and fatigue. We highlight how defect behavior evolves during processing and electrical cycling, often contributing to long-term degradation. We also introduce powerful first-principles defect calculations, common in semiconductors but not yet widespread in ferroelectrics, as tools to understand and design materials. By integrating recent theoretical and experimental insights, we aim to provide a framework for advancing wurtzite ferroelectrics.
The well-known classification of glass-forming melts into fragile and strong liquids has several notable exceptions, including water, silica, and certain phase-change materials (PCMs). These exceptional fluid systems exhibit a fragile-to-strong transition (FST) upon cooling: a transformation from a high-temperature liquid with fast atomic dynamics, low viscosity, and low flow activation energy, to a viscous supercooled melt with high energy barriers near the glass transition temperature T g . This behavior is critically important for non-volatile memories, photonic tensor cores, reconfigurable metamaterials, and other devices, that use PCMs, enabling nanosecond-scale crystallization in the fragile regime and long data retention in the strong regime near or below T g . A significant structural transformation is expected between these two viscosity regimes, along with a semiconductor-metal (SC-M) transition upon heating, driven by high internal pressure and associated density increase. By applying high external pressure to the canonical low-conducting chalcogenide melt As 2 S 3 , we observed both the FST and the SC-M transition, occurring simultaneously within the same domain of the P, T−phase space. These findings suggest that the FST is not limited to a few exceptional liquids but is a common phenomenon, at least in systems that exhibit melt metallization within specific regions of their P, T−phase diagrams.
The problems of review and revocation of access privileges are presented in the context of the systems that use capabilities for the long-term distribution of access privileges. The approach to solve these two problems requires that a capability propagation graph be maintained in memory spaces associated with subjects (e.g., domains, processes, etc.) that make copies of the respective capability; the graph remains inaccessible to those subjects, however. Parallel processes of the operating system update the graph as the system runs. It is noted that the most important application of the above mechanisms may prove to be the possibility of implementing a capability-based system in which the capability representation is short.
A low-power nonvolatile data memory unit was developed for free floating balloons in the TWERL experiment. By means of multiple identification codes data records, several hours long, could be transferred in compressed form to the Nimbus-6 satellite for retransmission to ground stations. Eight of these units were flown on constant density balloons to investigate atmospheric wave motions throughout the Southern Hemisphere. One returned valid data for ten months. Similar techniques could be used with other types of observing platforms.
Lithium-ion battery systems offer several advantages: intrinsically safe; long cycle life; environmentally friendly; high energy density; wide operating temperature range; good discharge rate capability; low self-discharge; and no memory effect.
This exploratory study initiated our inquiry into algorithms and applications that would benefit by latency tolerant approach to algorithm building, including the construction of new algorithms where appropriate. In a multithreaded execution, when a processor reaches a point where remote memory access is necessary, the request is sent out on the network and a context--switch occurs to a new thread of computation. This effectively masks a long and unpredictable latency due to remote loads, thereby providing tolerance to remote access latency. We began to develop standards to profile various algorithm and application parameters, such as the degree of parallelism, granularity, precision, instruction set mix, interprocessor communication, latency etc. These tools will continue to develop and evolve as the Information Power Grid environment matures. To provide a richer context for this research, the project also focused on issues of fault-tolerance and computation migration of numerical algorithms and software. During the initial phase we tried to increase our understanding of the bottlenecks in single processor performance. Our work began by developing an approach for the automatic generation and optimization of numerical software for processors with deep memory hierarchies and pipelined functional units. Based on the results we achieved in this study we are planning to study other architectures of interest, including development of cost models, and developing code generators appropriate to these architectures.
The report summarizes the accomplishments made during the 4-year duration of the project. Here, the major emphasis is placed on the different tasks performed by the two research teams; i.e., the modeling activities by the University of Akron (UA) team and the experimental and neutron diffraction studies conducted by the University of Central Florida (UCF) team, during this 4-year period. Further technical details are given in the upcoming sections by UA and UCF for each of the milestones/years (together with the corresponding figures and captions).The project majorly involved the development, validation, and application of a general theoretical model that is capable of capturing the nonlinear hysteretic responses, including pseudoelasticity, shape memory effect, rate-dependency, multi-axiality, asymmetry in tension versus compression response of shape memory alloys. Among the targeted goals for the SMA model was its ability to account for the evolutionary character response (including transient and long term behavior under sustained cycles) for both conventional and high temperature (HT) SMAs, as well as being able to simulate some of the devices which exploit these unique material systems. This required extensive (uniaxial and multi-axial) experiments needed to guide us in calibrating and characterizing the model. Moreover, since the model is formulated on the theoretical notion of internal state variables (ISVs), neutron diffraction experiments were needed to establish the linkage between the micromechanical changes and these ISVs. In addition, the design of the model should allow easy implementation in large scale finite element application to study the behavior of devices making use of these SMA materials under different loading controls. Summary of the activities, progress/achievements made during this period is given below in details for the University of Akron and the University (Section 2.0) of Central Florida (Section 3.0).
INTRODUCTION: Astronauts on future long duration space exploration will be required to execute complex tasks in which even minor errors could have devastating consequences. Intact cognition is critical to maintain exceptional performance standards and it is possible that variability even at the highest ends of the performance spectrum will impact operational tasks. Exposure to spaceflight hazards could compromise cognitive performance, and decrements have been documented under conditions of altered gravity and radiation exposure. The cognitive impacts of prolonged isolation and confinement remain relatively unknown. Traditional neuropsychological assessments cannot support earth independent monitoring, do not have normative comparisons for high functioning individuals, and most are not sensitive enough to detect small performance decrements. The Cognition Battery was developed to address these limitations but currently lacks comprehensive normative data. In this project, we aimed to 1) develop a preliminary normative database for astronauts and astronaut surrogates using the Cognition Battery, and 2) characterize differences in cognitive performance after short and long duration analog missions. PARTICIPANTS & METHODS: We assessed baseline cognitive performance by administering the Cognition Battery to 97 astronaut and astronaut surrogates recruited to approximate astronaut demographics (mean age: 39.38, SD=7.62; 35.1% female; 91.7% advanced degrees). For aim 1, we calculated speed and accuracy outcomes for each subtest and summarized the data with descriptive statistics. We examined the relationship between age and performance with Pearsons’s correlations and the relationship between gender and performance with independent samples t-tests. A subset of individuals on short duration (n=48; mean age: 38.18, SD=7.14; 37.5% female; 91.7% advanced degrees) missions of 45 days and long duration (n=34; mean age: 42.12, SD=8.39; 38.2% female; 94.1% advanced degrees) missions ranging from 4-8 months were administered the Cognition Battery during and after their respective missions. For aim 2, we accounted for practice effects using published corrections, and z-transformed post-mission scores using the full sample’s baseline scores. One-way analysis of covariance tests determined the main effect of analog duration on post-mission performance, after accounting for age and gender. The False Discovery Rate method was applied to adjust for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: In the full normative sample, older age was associated with slower reaction times on a processing speed task (r=.39, p=.02), and men were more accurate on processing speed (t=-2.19, p=.03) and faster on sustained attention (t=2.02, p=.049) and risk-taking tasks (t=2.49, p=.02). We observed a main effect of duration on performance on tasks of visual memory (f(1)=5.62, p=.04), processing speed (f(1)=5.48, p=.03), and sensorimotor functioning (f(1)=39.52, p < .001), such that slower performance was observed after long duration missions relative to short. Only sensorimotor functioning was significant after adjustments for multiple comparisons (adjusted p<.001). DISCUSSION: The full sample represents the largest dataset of cognitive performance assessed by the Cognition Battery available and can be used for further research in spaceflight and high-performance populations. Relationships between performance and key demographic variables suggest future research that include age and gender stratification is needed. Our results also show minimal changes in cognitive performance between longer and shorter periods of isolation and confinement.
Quantum sensing promises to revolutionize sensing applications by employing quantum states of light or matter as sensing probes. Photons are the clear choice as quantum probes for remote sensing because they can travel to and interact with a distant target. Existing schemes are mainly based on the quantum illumination framework, which requires quantum memory to store a single photon of an initially entangled pair until its twin reflects off a target and returns for final correlation measurements. Existing demonstrations are limited to tabletop experiments, and expanding the sensing range faces various roadblocks, including long-time quantum storage and photon loss and noise when transmitting quantum signals over long distances. We propose a novel quantum sensing framework that addresses these challenges using quantum frequency combs with path identity for remote sensing of signatures (“qCOMBPASS”). The combination of one key quantum phenomenon and two quantum resources—namely, quantum-induced coherence by path identity, quantum frequency combs, and two-mode squeezed light—allows for quantum remote sensing without requiring quantum memory. The proposed scheme is akin to a quantum radar based on entangled frequency-comb pairs that uses path identity to detect, range, or sense a remote target of interest by measuring pulses of one comb in the pair that never traveled to the target but that contains target information “teleported” by quantum-induced coherence by path identity from the other comb in the pair that traveled to the target but is not detected. We develop the basic qCOMBPASS theory, analyze the properties of the qCOMBPASS transceiver, and introduce the qCOMBPASS equation—a quantum analog of the well-known LIDAR equation in classical remote sensing. We also describe an experimental scheme to demonstrate the concept using two-mode squeezed quantum combs. qCOMBPASS can strongly impact various applications in remote quantum sensing, imaging, metrology, and communications. These applications include detection and ranging of low-reflectivity objects, measurement of small displacements of a remote target with precision beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL), standoff hyperspectral quantum imaging, discreet surveillance from space with low detection probability (detect without being detected), very-long-baseline interferometry, quantum Doppler sensing, quantum clock synchronization, and networks of distributed quantum sensors. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
In this era of downsizing and deficit reduction, the preservation of institutional memory is a widespread concern for U.S. companies and governmental agencies. The National Aeronautical and Space Administration faces the pending retirement of many of the agency's long-term, senior engineers. NASA has a marvelous long-term history of success, but the agency faces a recurring problem caused by the loss of these engineers' unique knowledge and perspectives on NASA's role in aeronautics and space exploration. The current work describes a knowledge elicitation effort aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of preserving the more personal, heuristic knowledge accumulated over the years by NASA engineers, as contrasted with the "textbook" knowledge of launch vehicles. Work on this project was performed at NASA Glenn Research Center and elsewhere, and focused on launch vehicle systems integration. The initial effort was directed toward an historic view of the Centaur upper stage which is powered by two RL-10 engines. Various experts were consulted, employing a variety of knowledge elicitation techniques, regarding the Centaur and RL-10. Their knowledge is represented in searchable Web-based multimedia presentations. This paper discusses the various approaches to knowledge elicitation and knowledge representation employed, and assesses successes and challenges in trying to perform large-scale knowledge preservation of institutional memory. It is anticipated that strategies for knowledge elicitation and representation that have been developed in this grant will be utilized to elicit knowledge in a variety of domains including the complex heuristics that underly use of simulation software packages such as that being explored in the Expert System Architecture for Rocket Engine Numerical Simulators.