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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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Research in computer science

Synopses are given for NASA supported work in computer science at the University of Virginia. Some areas of research include: error seeding as a testing method; knowledge representation for engineering design; analysis of faults in a multi-version software experiment; implementation of a parallel programming environment; two computer graphics systems for visualization of pressure distribution and convective density particles; task decomposition for multiple robot arms; vectorized incomplete conjugate gradient; and iterative methods for solving linear equations on the Flex/32.

Ortega, J. M.↗

Research Reports: 1986 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

For the 22th consecutive year, a NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program was conducted for the summer of 1986 by the University of Alabama and Marshall Space Flight Center. The basic objectives of the program are: (1)to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2)to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; (3)to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of the participants' institution; and (4)to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA center. The Faculty Fellows spent ten weeks at MSFC engaged in a research project compatible with their interest and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague. This is a compilation of Fellows' reports on their research.

Freeman, L. Michael↗

Research Reports: 1988 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

The basic objectives are to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA: to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of the participants' institutions; and to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA centers. Topics addressed include: cryogenics; thunderstorm simulation; computer techniques; computer assisted instruction; system analysis weather forecasting; rocket engine design; crystal growth; control systems design; turbine pumps for the Space Shuttle Main engine; electron mobility; heat transfer predictions; rotor dynamics; mathematical models; computational fluid dynamics; and structural analysis.

Freeman, L. Michael↗

Research Reports: 1989 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

For the twenty-fifth consecutive year, a NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program was conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The basic objectives of the programs are: (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of the participants' institutions; and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA Centers. The Faculty Fellows spent ten weeks at MSFC engaged in a research project compatible with their interests and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague.

Karr, Gerald R.↗

Advanced technologies for Mission Control Centers

Advance technologies for Mission Control Centers are presented in the form of the viewgraphs. The following subject areas are covered: technology needs; current technology efforts at GSFC (human-machine interface development, object oriented software development, expert systems, knowledge-based software engineering environments, and high performance VLSI telemetry systems); and test beds.

Dalton, John T.↗

Research reports: 1991 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

The basic objectives of the programs, which are in the 28th year of operation nationally, are: (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of the participants' institutions; and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA Centers. The faculty fellows spent 10 weeks at MSFC engaged in a research project compatible with their interests and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague. This is a compilation of their research reports for summer 1991.

Karr, Gerald R.↗

Model-based diagnostics for Space Station Freedom

An innovative approach to fault management was recently demonstrated for the NASA LeRC Space Station Freedom (SSF) power system testbed. This project capitalized on research in model-based reasoning, which uses knowledge of a system's behavior to monitor its health. The fault management system (FMS) can isolate failures online, or in a post analysis mode, and requires no knowledge of failure symptoms to perform its diagnostics. An in-house tool called MARPLE was used to develop and run the FMS. MARPLE's capabilities are similar to those available from commercial expert system shells, although MARPLE is designed to build model-based as opposed to rule-based systems. These capabilities include functions for capturing behavioral knowledge, a reasoning engine that implements a model-based technique known as constraint suspension, and a tool for quickly generating new user interfaces. The prototype produced by applying MARPLE to SSF not only demonstrated that model-based reasoning is a valuable diagnostic approach, but it also suggested several new applications of MARPLE, including an integration and testing aid, and a complement to state estimation.

Fesq, Lorraine M.↗

NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

This document is a collection of technical reports on research conducted by the participants in the 1993 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program at KSC. The basic common objectives of the Program are: to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants' institutions; and to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA centers. 1993 topics include wide band fiber optic communications, a prototype expert/information system for examining environmental risks of KSC activities, alternatives to premise wiring using ATM and microcellular technologies, rack insertion end effector (RIEE) automation, FTIR quantification of industrial hydraulic fluids in perchloroethylene, switch configuration for migration to optical fiber network, and more.

Hosler, E. Ramon↗

Research reports: 1994 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

For the 30th consecutive year, a NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program was conducted at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The basic objectives of the programs, which are in the 31st year of operation nationally, are (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty members; (2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between participants and NASA; (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants' institutions; and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of the NASA centers. The Faculty Fellows spent 10 weeks at MSFC engaged in a research project compatible with their interests and background and worked in collaboration with a NASA/MSFC colleague. This document is a compilation of Fellows' reports on their research during the summer of 1994.

Freeman, L. Michael↗

AMPHION: Specification-based programming for scientific subroutine libraries

AMPHION is a knowledge-based software engineering (KBSE) system that guides a user in developing a diagram representing a formal problem specification. It then automatically implements a solution to this specification as a program consisting of calls to subroutines from a library. The diagram provides an intuitive domain oriented notation for creating a specification that also facilitates reuse and modification. AMPHION'S architecture is domain independent. AMPHION is specialized to an application domain by developing a declarative domain theory. Creating a domain theory is an iterative process that currently requires the joint expertise of domain experts and experts in automated formal methods for software development.

Lowry, Michael↗

Proceedings of the 1993 Conference on Intelligent Computer-Aided Training and Virtual Environment Technology

The volume 2 proceedings from the 1993 Conference on Intelligent Computer-Aided Training and Virtual Environment Technology are presented. Topics discussed include intelligent computer assisted training (ICAT) systems architectures, ICAT educational and medical applications, virtual environment (VE) training and assessment, human factors engineering and VE, ICAT theory and natural language processing, ICAT military applications, VE engineering applications, ICAT knowledge acquisition processes and applications, and ICAT aerospace applications.

Hyde, Patricia R.↗

Transition From NASA Space Communication Systems to Commerical Communication Products

Transitioning from twenty-five years of space communication system architecting, engineering and development to creating and marketing of commercial communication system hardware and software products is no simple task for small, high-tech system engineering companies whose major source of revenue has been the U.S. Government. Yet, many small businesses are faced with this onerous and perplexing task. The purpose of this talk/paper is to present one small business (LinCom) approach to taking advantage of the systems engineering expertise and knowledge captured in physical neural networks and simulation software by supporting numerous National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) projects, e.g., Space Shuttle, TDRSS, Space Station, DCSC, Milstar, etc. The innovative ingredients needed for a systems house to transition to a wireless communication system products house that supports personal communication services and networks (PCS and PCN) development in a global economy will be discussed. Efficient methods for using past government sponsored space system research and development to transition to VLSI communication chip set products will be presented along with notions of how synergy between government and industry can be maintained to benefit both parties.

Ghazvinian, Farzad↗

User Interface Technology for Formal Specification Development

Formal specification development and modification are an essential component of the knowledge-based software life cycle. User interface technology is needed to empower end-users to create their own formal specifications. This paper describes the advanced user interface for AMPHION1 a knowledge-based software engineering system that targets scientific subroutine libraries. AMPHION is a generic, domain-independent architecture that is specialized to an application domain through a declarative domain theory. Formal specification development and reuse is made accessible to end-users through an intuitive graphical interface that provides semantic guidance in creating diagrams denoting formal specifications in an application domain. The diagrams also serve to document the specifications. Automatic deductive program synthesis ensures that end-user specifications are correctly implemented. The tables that drive AMPHION's user interface are automatically compiled from a domain theory; portions of the interface can be customized by the end-user. The user interface facilitates formal specification development by hiding syntactic details, such as logical notation. It also turns some of the barriers for end-user specification development associated with strongly typed formal languages into active sources of guidance, without restricting advanced users. The interface is especially suited for specification modification. AMPHION has been applied to the domain of solar system kinematics through the development of a declarative domain theory. Testing over six months with planetary scientists indicates that AMPHION's interactive specification acquisition paradigm enables users to develop, modify, and reuse specifications at least an order of magnitude more rapidly than manual program development.

Lowry, Michael↗

A Foreign Object Damage Event Detector Data Fusion System for Turbofan Engines

A Data Fusion System designed to provide a reliable assessment of the occurrence of Foreign Object Damage (FOD) in a turbofan engine is presented. The FOD-event feature level fusion scheme combines knowledge of shifts in engine gas path performance obtained using a Kalman filter, with bearing accelerometer signal features extracted via wavelet analysis, to positively identify a FOD event. A fuzzy inference system provides basic probability assignments (bpa) based on features extracted from the gas path analysis and bearing accelerometers to a fusion algorithm based on the Dempster-Shafer-Yager Theory of Evidence. Details are provided on the wavelet transforms used to extract the foreign object strike features from the noisy data and on the Kalman filter-based gas path analysis. The system is demonstrated using a turbofan engine combined-effects model (CEM), providing both gas path and rotor dynamic structural response, and is suitable for rapid-prototyping of control and diagnostic systems. The fusion of the disparate data can provide significantly more reliable detection of a FOD event than the use of either method alone. The use of fuzzy inference techniques combined with Dempster-Shafer-Yager Theory of Evidence provides a theoretical justification for drawing conclusions based on imprecise or incomplete data.

Turso, James A.↗

NASA-OAI Collaborative Aerospace Research and Fellowship Program

During the summer of 2003, a IO-week activity for university faculty entitled the NASA-OAI Collaborative Aerospace Research and Fellowship Program (CFP) was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center in collaboration with the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI). The objectives of CFP are: (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty, (2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between teaching participants and employees of NASA, (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants' institutions, and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of Glenn. This report is intended primarily to summarize the research activities comprising the 2003 CFP Program at Glenn.

Heyward, Ann O.↗

Collaborative Aerospace Research and Fellowship Program at NASA Glenn Research Center

During the summer of 2004, a 10-week activity for university faculty entitled the NASA-OAI Collaborative Aerospace Research and Fellowship Program (CFP) was conducted at the NASA Glenn Research Center in collaboration with the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI). This is a companion program to the highly successful NASA Faculty Fellowship Program and its predecessor, the NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program that operated for 38 years at Glenn. The objectives of CFP parallel those of its companion, viz., (1) to further the professional knowledge of qualified engineering and science faculty,(2) to stimulate an exchange of ideas between teaching participants and employees of NASA, (3) to enrich and refresh the research and teaching activities of participants institutions, and (4) to contribute to the research objectives of Glenn. However, CFP, unlike the NASA program, permits faculty to be in residence for more than two summers and does not limit participation to United States citizens. Selected fellows spend 10 weeks at Glenn working on research problems in collaboration with NASA colleagues and participating in related activities of the NASA-ASEE program. This year's program began officially on June 1, 2004 and continued through August 7, 2004. Several fellows had program dates that differed from the official dates because university schedules vary and because some of the summer research projects warranted a time extension beyond the 10 weeks for satisfactory completion of the work. The stipend paid to the fellows was $1200 per week and a relocation allowance of $1000 was paid to those living outside a 50-mile radius of the Center. In post-program surveys from this and previous years, the faculty cited numerous instances where participation in the program has led to new courses, new research projects, new laboratory experiments, and grants from NASA to continue the work initiated during the summer. Many of the fellows mentioned amplifying material, both in undergraduate and graduate courses, on the basis of the summer s experience at Glenn. A number of 2004 fellows indicated that proposals to NASA will grow out of their summer research projects. In addition, some journal articles and NASA publications will result from this past summer s activities. Fellows from past summers continue to send reprints of articles that resulted from work initiated at Glenn. This report is intended primarily to summarize the research activities comprising the 2004 CFP Program at Glenn. Particular research studies include: 1) Development of an Imaging-Based, Computational Fluid Dynamics Tool to Assess Fluid Mechanics in Experimental Models that Simulate Blood Vessels; 2) Analysis of Nanomaterials Produced from Precursors; and 3) LEO Propagation Analysis Tool.

Heyward, Ann O.↗

The Influence of Microbiology on Spacecraft Design and Controls: A Historical Perspective of the Shuttle and International Space Station Programs

For over 40 years, NASA has been putting humans safely into space in part by minimizing microbial risks to crew members. Success of the program to minimize such risks has resulted from a combination of engineering and design controls as well as active monitoring of the crew, food, water, hardware, and spacecraft interior. The evolution of engineering and design controls is exemplified by the implementation of HEPA filters for air treatment, antimicrobial surface materials, and the disinfection regimen currently used on board the International Space Station. Data from spaceflight missions confirm the effectiveness of current measures; however, fluctuations in microbial concentrations and trends in contamination events suggest the need for continued diligence in monitoring and evaluation as well as further improvements in engineering systems. The knowledge of microbial controls and monitoring from assessments of past missions will be critical in driving the design of future spacecraft.

Castro, Victoria A.↗

FuzzObserver

Fuzzy Feature Observation Planner for Small Body Proximity Observations (FuzzObserver) is a developmental computer program, to be used along with other software, for autonomous planning of maneuvers of a spacecraft near an asteroid, comet, or other small astronomical body. Selection of terrain features and estimation of the position of the spacecraft relative to these features is an essential part of such planning. FuzzObserver contributes to the selection and estimation by generating recommendations for spacecraft trajectory adjustments to maintain the spacecraft's ability to observe sufficient terrain features for estimating position. The input to FuzzObserver consists of data from terrain images, including sets of data on features acquired during descent toward, or traversal of, a body of interest. The name of this program reflects its use of fuzzy logic to reason about the terrain features represented by the data and extract corresponding trajectory-adjustment rules. Linguistic fuzzy sets and conditional statements enable fuzzy systems to make decisions based on heuristic rule-based knowledge derived by engineering experts. A major advantage of using fuzzy logic is that it involves simple arithmetic calculations that can be performed rapidly enough to be useful for planning within the short times typically available for spacecraft maneuvers.

Howard, Ayanna↗