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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA POWER: Providing Analysis-Ready, Cloud-Optimized Data for AI /ML Training and Applications in Earth Science

As global demand for sustainable development grows, the integration of Earth Observation (EO) data into decision making frameworks has become a primary objective for the scientific community. The NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) project serves as a bridge between NASA EO data and the specialized needs of the renewable energy, sustainable infrastructure and agroclimatology communities. In this poster presentation we will present an overview of POWER data products and services along with its use in diverse research to decision-making workflows. By providing over 40 years of high-resolution historical, hourly and daily solar and meteorological data, POWER transforms satellite observations and global model reanalysis into actionable, Analysis-Ready Dataset (ARD). Currently, the project delivers over 250 industry-friendly parameters to the users from different NASA datasets like CERES SYN1Deg, MERRA-2, and IMERG alongside downscaled CMIP6 climate model data, fulfilling over 16 million requests from 50,000 unique users monthly. To ensure data quality and traceability, these parameters are rigorously validated against the ground-based observations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and the Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD) – these results will be discussed in the presentation. A newly introduced web-based PaRameter Uncertainty ViEwer (PRUVE) tool will be presented that provides an online validation platform to the users that benchmarks satellite-based and assimilation data products against these surface measurements. To reduce technical barriers to data adoption, POWER data is accessible through RESTful APIs, ESRI ArcGIS Image Services, a web-based Data Access Viewer tool, allowing users to visualize, validate and apply the dataset. For efficient data delivery POWER data is cloud-optimized into Zarr datastore accessible through NASA managed Amazon S3 ensures high-performance allowing users to integrate EO directly into operational pipelines. These customized services will be presented. Use cases from application will be presented from the energy sector - such as for design of generation systems, performance monitoring of solar power plants, in infrastructure sector- optimizing building energy efficiency and thermal comfort, in agriculture – such as driving crop simulation and yield forecasting models to enable climate resilient farming. Furthermore, the shift toward machine learning (ML) in EO research that has positioned POWER as a key provider for training datasets which will be discussed. Use-cases will be presented to showcase how NASA data is enabling the development of predictive tools for climate variability and resource management. The poster will present POWER’s future plans including technology development to enhance data traceability and reproducibility and improving I/O performance to support the rapid integration of new EO products, ensuring that POWER remains a robust scalable backend for the evolving landscape of AI-driven Earth Science. Additionally, POWER is developing an AI Agent and an MCP-Server to enable industry AI-Agentic workflows.

Neha Khadka↗
NASA NTRS2014

Evolution of the JPSS Ground Project Calibration and Validation System

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) next-generation operational Earth observation Program that acquires and distributes global environmental data from multiple polar-orbiting satellites. The JPSS Program plays a critical role to NOAAs mission to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, coasts, and space environments, which supports the Nation’s economy and protection of lives and property. The National Aerospace and Atmospheric Administration (NASA) is acquiring and implementing the JPSS, comprised of flight and ground systems on behalf of NOAA. The JPSS satellites are planned to fly in the afternoon orbit and will provide operational continuity of satellite-based observations and products for NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. To support the JPSS Calibration and Validation (CalVal) node Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) services facilitate: Algorithm Integration and Checkout, Algorithm and Product Operational Tuning, Instrument Calibration, Product Validation, Algorithm Investigation, and Data Quality Support and Monitoring. GRAVITE is a mature, deployed system that currently supports the SNPP Mission and has been in operations since SNPP launch. This paper discusses the major re-architecture for Block 2.0 that incorporates SNPP lessons learned, architecture of the system, and demonstrates how GRAVITE has evolved as a system with increased performance. It is now a robust, stable, reliable, maintainable, scalable, and secure system that supports development, test, and production strings, replaces proprietary and custom software, uses open source software, and is compliant with NASA and NOAA standards.

Data Processing↗
NASA NTRS2016

Evolution of the JPSS Ground Project Calibration and Validation System

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) next-generation operational Earth observation Program that acquires and distributes global environmental data from multiple polar-orbiting satellites. The JPSS Program plays a critical role to NOAA's mission to understand and predict changes in weather, climate, oceans, coasts, and space environments, which supports the Nation's economy and protection of lives and property. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is acquiring and implementing the JPSS, comprised of flight and ground systems, on behalf of NOAA. The JPSS satellites are planned to fly in the afternoon orbit and will provide operational continuity of satellite-based observations and products for NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. To support the JPSS Calibration and Validation (CalVal) node Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) services facilitate: Algorithm Integration and Checkout, Algorithm and Product Operational Tuning, Instrument Calibration, Product Validation, Algorithm Investigation, and Data Quality Support and Monitoring. GRAVITE is a mature, deployed system that currently supports the SNPP Mission and has been in operations since SNPP launch. This paper discusses the major re-architecture for Block 2.0 that incorporates SNPP lessons learned, architecture of the system, and demonstrates how GRAVITE has evolved as a system with increased performance. It is now a robust, stable, reliable, maintainable, scalable, and secure system that supports development, test, and production strings, replaces proprietary and custom software, uses open source software, and is compliant with NASA and NOAA standards.

Next-Generation↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fabrication of Solid-State Li-S Battery Components for Electric Aviation

The development of high-energy, high-safety, and high-power batteries beyond electric automobile requirements is vital for future electric aviation applications. The transition to non-volatile solid-state electrolytes (SSE) promises many advantages over traditional flammable liquid electrolytes, and may also be an enabling technology for next generation chemistries. However, significant manufacturing challenges must be overcome before the adoption of such technology. Electrolytes developed in this study were produced as sulfide-polymer composites with densified thicknesses between 20-30 microns using several processing techniques [1]. Ionic conductivity and lithium metal compatibility for the composites were compared and shown to retain reasonable ionic conductivity with improved flexibility and scalability which identifies a critical path for the production of practical solid-state batteries. Films were produced 10-15 times thinner than comparable bulk cold pressed powder electrolytes and achieved thicknesses comparable to commercial polyolefin separators (25 micron) used in commercial liquid containing lithium-ion cells. Composite conductivities were maintained above 0.2mS/cm, which holds promise for future electric aviation applications. Processing techniques are investigated to further improve electrochemical performance.

battery↗
NASA NTRS2018

Northern Hemisphere Surface Freeze-Thaw Product from Aquarius L-Band Radiometers

In the Northern Hemisphere, seasonal changes in surface freeze–thaw (FT) cycles are an important component of surface energy, hydrological and eco-biogeochemical processes that must be accurately monitored. This paper presents the weekly polar-gridded Aquarius passive L-band surface freeze–thaw product (FT-AP) distributed on the Equal-Area Scalable Earth Grid version 2.0, above the parallel 50 N, with a spatial resolution of 36 km36 km. The FT-AP classification algorithm is based on a seasonal threshold approach using the normalized polarization ratio, references for frozen and thawed conditions and optimized thresholds. To evaluate the uncertainties of the product, we compared it with another satellite FT product also derived from passive microwave observations but at higher frequency: the resampled 37 GHz FT Earth Science Data Record (FTESDR). The assessment was carried out during the overlapping period between 2011 and 2014. Results show that 77.1% of their common grid cells have an agreement better than 80 %. Their differences vary with land cover type (tundra, forest and open land) and freezing and thawing periods. The best agreement is obtained during the thawing transition and over forest areas, with differences between product mean freeze or thaw onsets of under 0.4 weeks. Over tundra, FT-AP tends to detect freeze onset 2–5 weeks earlier than FT-ESDR, likely due to FT sensitivity to the different frequencies used. Analysis with mean surface air temperature time series from six in situ meteorological stations shows that the main discrepancies between FT-AP and FT-ESDR are related to false frozen retrievals in summer for some regions with FT-AP. The Aquarius product is distributed by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at https://nsidc.org/data/aq3_ft/versions/5 with the DOI https://doi.org/10.5067/OV4R18NL3BQR.

Prince, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2009

Reconfigurable, Bi-Directional Flexfet Level Shifter for Low-Power, Rad-Hard Integration

Two prototype Reconfigurable, Bi-directional Flexfet Level Shifters (ReBiLS) have been developed, where one version is a stand-alone component designed to interface between external low voltage and high voltage, and the other version is an embedded integrated circuit (IC) for interface between internal low-voltage logic and external high-voltage components. Targeting stand-alone and embedded circuits separately allows optimization for these distinct applications. Both ReBiLS designs use the commercially available 180-nm Flex fet Independently Double-Gated (IDG) SOI CMOS (silicon on insulator, complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology. Embedded ReBiLS circuits were integrated with a Reed-Solomon (RS) encoder using CMOS Ultra-Low-Power Radiation Tolerant (CULPRiT) double-gated digital logic circuits. The scope of the project includes: creation of a new high-voltage process, development of ReBiLS circuit designs, and adjustment of the designs to maximize performance through simulation, layout, and manufacture of prototypes. The primary technical objectives were to develop a high-voltage, thick oxide option for the 180-nm Flexfet process, and to develop a stand-alone ReBiLS IC with two 8-channel I/O busses, 1.8 2.5 I/O on the low-voltage pins, 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O on the high-voltage pins, and 100-MHz minimum operation with 10-pF external loads. Another objective was to develop an embedded, rad-hard ReBiLS I/O cell with 0.5-V low-voltage operation for interface with core logic, 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O pins, and 100-MHz minimum operation with 10- pF external loads. A third objective was to develop a 0.5- V Reed-Solomon Encoder with embedded ReBilS I/O: Transfer the existing CULPRiT RS encoder from a 0.35-micron bulk-CMOS process to the ASI 180-nm Flexfet, rad-hard SOI Process. 0.5-V low-voltage core logic. 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O pins. 100-MHz minimum operation with 10- pF external loads. The stand-alone ReBiLS chip will allow system designers to provide efficient bi-directional communication between components operating at different voltages. Embedding the ReBiLS cells into the proven Reed-Solomon encoder will demonstrate the ability to support new product development in a commercially viable, rad-hard, scalable 180-nm SOI CMOS process.

DeGregorio, Kelly↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Updates in Developing a Prototype Science Pipeline and Full-Volume, Global Hyperspectral Synthetic Data Sets for NASA’s Earth System Observatory’s Upcoming Surface, Biology and Geology Mission

The Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission recently passed mission confirmation review and has entered phase A – design and development. SBG will acquire high resolution solar-reflected spectroscopy and thermal infrared observations at a data rate of ~2.5 TB/day and generate products at ~40 TB/day. Given that the per-day volume is greater than NASA’s total extant airborne hyperspectral data collection, collecting, processing, disseminating, and exploiting the SBG data present new challenges. To meet these challenges, we have developed a prototype science pipeline and a full-volume global hyperspectral synthetic data set to help prepare for SBG’s flight (see poster GC42D-0730). Our science pipeline is based on the science processing technology developed for NASA’s Kepler and TESS planet-hunting missions. The pipeline infrastructure, Ziggy, provides a scalable architecture for robust, repeatable, and replicable science and application products that can be run on a range of systems from a laptop to the cloud or a supercomputer. Ziggy is compliant with NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) 7150.2C, is at a technical readiness level (TRL) of 7 and has been released to github.com/nasa/ziggy. We integrated Ziggy with EO-1/Hyperion workflows to build a prototype pipeline and ingested the 17-year mission archive that provides globally sampled visible through shortwave infrared spectra that are representative of SBG data types and volumes. We fully implemented the first stage and processed the entire 55 TB Hyperion data set from the raw data (Level 0) to top-of-the-atmosphere radiance (Level 1R). We are currently evaluating the ISOFIT atmospheric correction module to convert the L1R data to surface reflectance (Level 2) before reprocessing the full data set to L2. Crosschecks are being performed with RadCalNet as well as with coincident observations by AVIRIS. We are also investigating modern methods for georectifying the Hyperion scenes. Finally, we describe an analysis of the cost to conduct forward processing and reprocessing campaigns for SBG on HECC with dedicated compute and storage resources using the resurrected Hyperion pipeline as a proxy for full-volume SBG data. The analysis demonstrates that SBG L0 data can be processed to L2 on HECC with full reprocessing campaigns every two years for ~$2.6M over a 7-year lifespan. Moreover, 69% of the system capacity would be available for other activities, possibly enabling future open-source science activities, including algorithm development, L3+ processing, .etc.

ESD↗
NASA NTRS2000

A Cost Effective System Design Approach for Critical Space Systems

NASA-JSC required an avionics platform capable of serving a wide range of applications in a cost-effective manner. In part, making the avionics platform cost effective means adhering to open standards and supporting the integration of COTS products with custom products. Inherently, operation in space requires low power, mass, and volume while retaining high performance, reconfigurability, scalability, and upgradability. The Universal Mini-Controller project is based on a modified PC/104-Plus architecture while maintaining full compatibility with standard COTS PC/104 products. The architecture consists of a library of building block modules, which can be mixed and matched to meet a specific application. A set of NASA developed core building blocks, processor card, analog input/output card, and a Mil-Std-1553 card, have been constructed to meet critical functions and unique interfaces. The design for the processor card is based on the PowerPC architecture. This architecture provides an excellent balance between power consumption and performance, and has an upgrade path to the forthcoming radiation hardened PowerPC processor. The processor card, which makes extensive use of surface mount technology, has a 166 MHz PowerPC 603e processor, 32 Mbytes of error detected and corrected RAM, 8 Mbytes of Flash, and I Mbytes of EPROM, on a single PC/104-Plus card. Similar densities have been achieved with the quad channel Mil-Std-1553 card and the analog input/output cards. The power management built into the processor and its peripheral chip allows the power and performance of the system to be adjusted to meet the requirements of the application, allowing another dimension to the flexibility of the Universal Mini-Controller. Unique mechanical packaging allows the Universal Mini-Controller to accommodate standard COTS and custom oversized PC/104-Plus cards. This mechanical packaging also provides thermal management via conductive cooling of COTS boards, which are typically designed for convection cooling methods.

Abbott, Larry Wayne↗
NASA NTRS2009

Work Coordination Engine

The Work Coordination Engine (WCE) is a Java application integrated into the Service Management Database (SMDB), which coordinates the dispatching and monitoring of a work order system. WCE de-queues work orders from SMDB and orchestrates the dispatching of work to a registered set of software worker applications distributed over a set of local, or remote, heterogeneous computing systems. WCE monitors the execution of work orders once dispatched, and accepts the results of the work order by storing to the SMDB persistent store. The software leverages the use of a relational database, Java Messaging System (JMS), and Web Services using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technologies to implement an efficient work-order dispatching mechanism capable of coordinating the work of multiple computer servers on various platforms working concurrently on different, or similar, types of data or algorithmic processing. Existing (legacy) applications can be wrapped with a proxy object so that no changes to the application are needed to make them available for integration into the work order system as "workers." WCE automatically reschedules work orders that fail to be executed by one server to a different server if available. From initiation to completion, the system manages the execution state of work orders and workers via a well-defined set of events, states, and actions. It allows for configurable work-order execution timeouts by work-order type. This innovation eliminates a current processing bottleneck by providing a highly scalable, distributed work-order system used to quickly generate products needed by the Deep Space Network (DSN) to support space flight operations. WCE is driven by asynchronous messages delivered via JMS indicating the availability of new work or workers. It runs completely unattended in support of the lights-out operations concept in the DSN.

Zendejas, Silvino↗
NASA NTRS2019

Surface Biology & Geology Pathfinder Data Analysis Pipeline

NASA's future global orbital mission, currently in development as the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Designated Observable study, will acquire relatively high resolution solar-reflected spectroscopy and thermal infrared observations. Innovative processes must be utilized for handling the high volume of data anticipated to be collected, which is anticipated to exceed 100 terabytes/day, greater than NASA's total extant airborne hyperspectral data collection. Collecting, processing/re-processing, disseminating, and exploiting this volume of data presents new challenges. To begin addressing them, NASA is drawing upon the expertise developed from its astrophysics programs to address Earth science and applications. Specifically, NASA is adapting the science processing operations technology developed for the Kepler and TESS planet-hunting missions for imaging spectroscopy data processing. This technology development has been the foundation for the remarkable scientific successes of Kepler and TESS. The Kepler/TESS data processing technology provides a scalable architecture for robust, repeatable, and replicable science and application products while enabling the Earth science community to develop, test, and implement new algorithms. Our effort to leverage this existing capability has begun by ingesting data and applying workflows from the EO-1/Hyperion 17-year mission archive that provides globally sampled visible through shortwave infrared spectra that are representative of SBG data types and volumes. This pathfinding data processing system will help define the solutions to processing SBG data volumes and will enable the scientific community to interact with the data and processing pipeline to create new science products.

Jenkins, Jon↗
NASA NTRS2022

Charging Experiments and Filtration Testing on Facemask Materials: Towards Goals of Full Performance Restoration of Used N95 Masks and Enhancement of Common-Fabric Facemasks

Different techniques have been developed for sanitizing N95 masks while retaining whatever charge remains on them. However, these sanitizing methods do not address the fact that the electrical charge, filtration efficacy, and breathability of such masks may be expected to degrade during long-term use based on mechanisms known in the literature. In this study, approaches to electrically (re)charging facemask filter materials were explored in response to the COVID-19 induced shortage of N95 masks. The effort consisted of charging experiments followed by filtration testing conducted at the coupon level during a month-long period (May 2020). The main focus of the work was to develop a recharging technique which could eventually be adapted and used as part of a broader full-performance restoration process for used N95 masks, e.g., which might employ simple washing by alcohol or soapy water as a preceding step for sanitization and declogging. Most tested coupons were therefore nonwoven meltblown fibrous polypropylene (PP) filter media extracted from decades old N95 masks. Keeping in mind commonly used cloth facemasks, limited trials were also performed with some commercially available fabrics. Charging was done at elevated temperature and was followed by cooling to freeze in the applied charges produced from corona discharges using different electrode configurations and parameter combinations, or from triboelectric rubbing. Charging was also focused on using potentially scalable equipment, e.g., Van de Graaff generators or consumer ionic hair products. Some degree of success was achieved with one of the fabrics and the PP filter media which was first purposefully discharged to have typical filtration efficiency (FE) of ~35%. Numerous attempts at corona charging discharged media resulted in filtration efficiency (FE) ≥ 80 – 85%. Some measure of charge robustness was also established via stable performance during loading testing. However, results where FE ≥ 90% were not reliably repeatable and no results met the FE ≥ 95% goal due to shortcomings of the charging process. The best three trials for PP media statistically met the FE ≥ 90% criteria, amounted to a small percentage of the trials relying on an ionic hair dryer, and are attributed to good embedding of charges via aerodynamic force. Triboelectric charging significantly enhanced the viability of one of the polyester fabrics –measured FE increased from 19% up to 46% while maintaining a reasonably low pressure drop.

N95↗
NASA NTRS2005

Fabrication end Deployment Testing of Meter Solar Sail Quadrants for a Scaleable Square Solar Sail Ground Test System

In order for solar sail propulsion technologies to be considered as a viable option for a wide range of near term practical missions a predictable, stable, reliable, manufactureable, scaleable, and cost effective system must be developed and tested first on earth and then on orbit. The design and development of a Scaleable Square Solar Sail System (S^4) is well underway a t AEC-Able Engineering Co. Inc., and the design and production of the Solar Sails for this system is being carried out by SRS Technologies. In April and May of 2004 a single quadrant 10-meter system was tested at NASA LARC's vacuum chamber and a four quadrant 20-meter system has been designed and built for deployment and testing in the Spring of 2005 at NASA/Glenn Research Center's Plumb Brook Facility. SRS has developed an effective and efficient design for triangular sail quadrants that are supported are three points and provide a flat reflective surface with a high fill factor. This sail design is robust enough for deployments in a one atmosphere, one gravity environment and incorporates several advanced features including adhesiveless seaming of membrane strips, compliant edge borders to allow for film membrane cord strain mismatch without causing wrinkling and low mass (3% of total sail mass) ripstop. This paper will outline the sail design and fabrication process, the lessons learned and the resulting mature production, packaging and deployment processes that have been developed. It will also highlight the scalability of the equipment and processes that were developed to fabricate and package the sails. Based on recent experience, SRS is confidant that flight worthy solar sails in the 40-120-meter size range with areal density in the 4-5g/sq m (sail minus structure) range can be produced with existing technology. Additional film production research will lead to further reductions in film thickness to less than 1 micron enabling production of sails with areal densities as low as 20 g/sq m using the current design resulting in a system areal density of as low as 5.3g/sq m. These areal densities are low enough to allow nearly all of the Solar Sail missions that have been proposed by the scientific community and the fundamental technology required to produce these sails has been demonstrated on the ground test sails that have recently been built. These demonstrations have shown that the technology is mature enough to build sails needed to support critical science missions. Solar Sails will be an enabling technology for NASA's Vision for Space Exploration by allowing communication satellite orbits that can maintain continuous communication with the polar regions of the Moon and Mars and to support solar weather monitoring to provide early warning of solar flares and storms that could threaten the safety of astronauts and other spacecraft.

Laue, Greg↗
NASA NTRS1999

Large-scale Parallel Unstructured Mesh Computations for 3D High-lift Analysis

A complete "geometry to drag-polar" analysis capability for the three-dimensional high-lift configurations is described. The approach is based on the use of unstructured meshes in order to enable rapid turnaround for complicated geometries that arise in high-lift configurations. Special attention is devoted to creating a capability for enabling analyses on highly resolved grids. Unstructured meshes of several million vertices are initially generated on a work-station, and subsequently refined on a supercomputer. The flow is solved on these refined meshes on large parallel computers using an unstructured agglomeration multigrid algorithm. Good prediction of lift and drag throughout the range of incidences is demonstrated on a transport take-off configuration using up to 24.7 million grid points. The feasibility of using this approach in a production environment on existing parallel machines is demonstrated, as well as the scalability of the solver on machines using up to 1450 processors.

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Large-Scale Parallel Unstructured Mesh Computations for 3D High-Lift Analysis

A complete "geometry to drag-polar" analysis capability for three-dimensional high-lift configurations is described. The approach is based on the use of unstructured meshes in order to enable rapid turnaround for complicated geometries which arise in high-lift configurations. Special attention is devoted to creating a capability for enabling analyses on highly resolved grids. Unstructured meshes of several million vertices are initially generated on a work-station, and subsequently refined on a supercomputer. The flow is solved on these refined meshes on large parallel computers using an unstructured agglomeration multigrid algorithm. Good prediction of lift and drag throughout the range of incidences is demonstrated on a transport take-off configuration using up to 24.7 million grid points. The feasibility of using this approach in a production environment on existing parallel machines is demonstrated, as well as the scalability of the solver on machines using up to 1450 processors.

Mavriplis, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Scaling NASA Applications to 1024 CPUs on Origin 3K

The long and highly successful joint SGI-NASA research effort in ever larger SSI systems was to a large degree the result of the successful development of the MLP scalable parallel programming paradigm developed at ARC: 1) MLP scaling in real production codes justified ever larger systems at NAS; 2) MLP scaling on 256p Origin 2000 gave SGl impetus to productize 256p; 3) MLP scaling on 512 gave SGI courage to build 1024p O3K; and 4) History of MLP success resulted in IBM Star Cluster based MLP effort.

Taft, Jim↗
NASA NTRS1999

Large-Scale Parallel Unstructured Mesh Computations for 3D High-Lift Analysis

A complete "geometry to drag-polar" analysis capability for three-dimensional high-lift configurations is described. The approach is based on the use of unstructured meshes in order to enable rapid turnaround for complicated geometries which arise in high-lift con gurations. Special attention is devoted to creating a capability for enabling analyses on highly resolved grids. Unstructured meshes of several million vertices are initially generated on a work-station, and subsequently refined on a supercomputer. The flow is solved on these refined meshes on large parallel computers using an unstructured agglomeration multigrid algorithm. Good prediction of lift and drag throughout the range of incidences is demonstrated on a transport take-off configuration using up to 24.7 million grid points. The feasibility of using this approach in a production environment on existing parallel machines is demonstrated, as well as the scalability of the solver on machines using up to 1450 processors.

Mavriplis, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Ethernet for Aerospace Applications - Ethernet Heads for the Skies

One of the goals of aerospace applications is to reduce the cost and complexity of avionic systems. Ethernet is a highly scalable, flexible, and popular protocol. The aerospace market is large, with a forecasted production of over 50,000 turbine-powered aircraft valued at $1.7 trillion between 2012 and 2022. Boeing estimates demand for commercial aircraft by 2033 to total over 36,000 with a value of over $5 trillion. In 2014 US airlines served over 750 million passengers and this is growing over 2% yearly. Electronic fly-by-wire is now used for all airliners and high performance aircraft. Although Ethernet has been widely used for four decades, its use in aerospace applications is just beginning to become common. Ethernet is the universal solution in commercial networks because of its high bandwidths, lower cost, openness, reliability, maintainability, flexibility, and interoperability. However, when Ethernet was designed applications with time-critical, safety relevant and deterministic requirements were not given much consideration. Many aerospace applications use a variety of communication architectures that add cost and complexity. Some of them are SpaceWire, MIL-STD-1553, Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet (AFDX), and Time-Triggered Ethernet (TTE). Aerospace network designers desire to decrease the number of networks to reduce cost and effort while improving scalability, flexibility, openness, maintainability, and reliability. AFDX and TTE are being considered more for critical aerospace systems because they provide redundancy, failover protection, guaranteed timing, and frame priority and are based on Ethernet IEEE 802.3. This paper explores the use of AFDX and TTE for aerospace applications.

Ethernet↗
NASA NTRS2014

Optical Multi-Gas Monitor Technology Demonstration on the International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) employs a suite of portable and permanently located gas monitors to insure crew health and safety. These sensors are tasked with functions ranging from fixed mass spectrometer based major constituents analysis to portable electrochemical sensor based combustion product monitoring. An all optical multigas sensor is being developed that can provide the specificity of a mass spectrometer with the portability of an electrochemical cell. The technology, developed under the Small Business Innovation Research program, allows for an architecture that is rugged, compact and low power. A four gas version called the Multi-Gas Monitor was launched to ISS in November 2013 aboard Soyuz and activated in February 2014. The portable instrument is comprised of a major constituents analyzer (water vapor, carbon dioxide, oxygen) and high dynamic range real-time ammonia sensor. All species are sensed inside the same enhanced path length optical cell with a separate vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) targeted at each species. The prototype is controlled digitally with a field-programmable gate array/microcontroller architecture. The optical and electronic approaches are designed for scalability and future versions could add three important acid gases and carbon monoxide combustion product gases to the four species already sensed. Results obtained to date from the technology demonstration on ISS are presented and discussed.

Pilgrim, Jeffrey S.↗