Results for “smart communities” — Page 2

NASA NTRS2015

Shadow Mode Assessment Using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART NAS) Test Bed Development

This paper is devoted to describing the development of a new NASA air traffic management simulation and testing system called the Shadow Mode Assessment using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART NAS) test bed. The test bed is a major activity of NASA’s air traffic management research portfolio and fills important gaps in the air traffic community’s simulation and testing needs for allowing more efficient acceleration and acceptance of NextGen and far-term concepts and technologies. The test bed will allow testing and validation in a realistic environment and provide rapid near-real-time “what-if” capability for air traffic management and airline decision support based on comprehensive real-time data feeds. The vision, requirements of the SMART NAS test bed and the effort for developing the test bed architecture are discussed. Finally, the five-year development plan is outlined.

simulation platform↗

NASA NTRS2010

Kennedy Space Center's Partnership with Graftel Incorporated

NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has recently partnered with Graftel Incorporated under an exclusive license agreement for the manufacture and sale of the Smart Current Signature Sensor. The Smart Current Signature Sensor and software were designed and developed to be utilized on any application using solenoid valves. The system monitors the electrical and mechanical health of solenoids by comparing the electrical current profile of each solenoid actuation to a typical current profile and reporting deviation from its learned behavior. The objective of this partnership with Graftel is for them to develop the technology into a hand-held testing device for their customer base in the Nuclear Power Industry. The device will be used to perform diagnostic testing on electromechanical valves used in Nuclear Power plants. Initially, Graftel plans to have working units within the first year of license in order to show customers and allow them to put purchase requests into their next year's budget. The subject technology under discussion was commercialized by the Kennedy Space Center Technology Programs and Partnerships Office, which patented the technology and licensed it to Graftel, Inc., a company providing support, instrumentation, and calibration services to the nuclear community and private sector for over 10 years. For the nuclear power industry, Graftel designs, manufacturers, and calibrates a full line of testing instrumentation. Grafters smart sensors have been in use in the United States since 1993 and have proved to decrease set-up time and test durations. The project was funded by Non-Destructive Engineering, and it is felt that this technology will have more emphasis on future vehicles. Graftel plans to market the Current Signature Sensor to the Electric Utility industry. Graftel currently supplies product and services to the Nuclear Power Industry in the United States as well as internationally. Product and services sold are used in non-destructive testing for valves, penetrations and other applications. Graftel also supplies testing services to an industrial customer base. The customer base includes 90 percent of the U.S. Nuclear plants and plants in Brazil, Europe, and Asia. Graftel works internationally with two representative groups and employees and has ten people at the principle location and a group of contract engineers around the country.

Dunn, Carol Anne↗

NASA NTRS2024

Enterprise Digital Transformation: Transforming NASA's Workplace

NASA has a long history of serving the Nation and the world, by reaching for new heights and revealing the unknown for the benefit of all humankind. To ensure the agency will deliver on its mission in a hyper-connected, technology-enabled, globally-partnered, and rapidly-changing world, NASA launched a Digital Transformation initiative in late 2020 to modernize the way it works, the experience of its workforce and the agility of its workplace. At the core of its workplace transformation strategy, NASA is on a journey to leverage smart operational technologies, weaving together IoT, AI, intelligent automation, extended reality, and digital twins to build a network of reliable, adaptable and sustainable “Smart Centers” to execute its mission… on planet Earth and beyond. Come hear NASA’s digital strategy, the exciting progress being made, lessons learned from their journey, and how the AIMST community can enable NASA and its partners to serve humanity in a digital future.

Jill Marlowe↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Vulcan Reuse

This is an exciting time in the space launch market. We have providers developing various reuse concepts to help drive continued cost reductions in access to space. At the same time visions of a future marketplace in space are emerging that have energized the community to move toward economically viable space-based ventures. This paper explores the intersection of these two developments. Specifically, we focus on the underlying technologies developed for ULA’s Sensible, Modular, Autonomous Return Technology (SMART) approach to reuse and the intersection with needs in the cislunar marketplace. ULA has been working with NASA Langley Research Center on maturing their Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology into the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) technology demonstration mission scheduled to fly with the JPSS-2 Launch in 2022, and have honed in on a 6m diameter HIAD for that application. These efforts, under the NASA Space Act Agreements (SAA), have helped identify elements requiring further development for SMART Reuse, which could also benefit other potential mission infusion opportunities. This has proved to be a very fruitful collaboration as these aspects have evolved. The paper further delves into applications across commercial space and NASA’s Space Exploration mandate, in addition to the reusable launch vehicle applications.

John G Reed↗

NASA NTRS2009

Proceedings of the Airframe Icing Workshop

The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has a long history of working with its partners towards the understanding of ice accretion formation and its associated degradation of aerodynamic performance. The June 9, 2009, Airframe Icing Workshop held at GRC provided an opportunity to examine the current NASA airframe icing research program and to dialogue on remaining and emerging airframe icing issues and research with the external community. Some of the airframe icing gaps identified included, but are not limited to, ice accretion simulation enhancements, three-dimensional benchmark icing database development, three-dimensional iced aerodynamics modeling, and technology development for a smart icing system.

Colantonio, Ron O.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Increasing Flight Software Reuse with OpenSatKit

In January 2015 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) released the Core Flight System (cFS) as open source under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) license. The cFS is based on flight software (FSW) developed for 12 spacecraft spanning nearly two decades of effort and it can provide about a third of the FSW functionality for a low-earth orbiting scientific spacecraft. The cFS is a FSW framework that is portable, configurable, and extendable using a product line deployment model. However, the components are maintained separately so the user must configure, integrate, and deploy them as a cohesive functional system. This can be very challenging especially for organizations such as universities building cubesats that have minimal experience developing FSW. Supporting universities was one of the primary motivators for releasing the cFS under NOSA. This paper describes the OpenSatKit that was developed to address the cFS deployment challenges and to serve as a cFS training platform for new users. It provides a fully functional out-of-the box software system that includes NASA's cFS, Ball Aerospaceâ€"TM"s command and control system COSMOS, and a NASA dynamic simulator called 42. The kit is freely available since all of the components have been released as open source. The kit runs on a Linux platform, includes 8 cFS applications, several kit-specific applications, and built in demos illustrating how to use key application features. It also includes the software necessary to port the cFS to a Raspberry Pi and instructions for configuring COSMOS to communicate with the target. All of the demos and test scripts can be rerun unchanged with the cFS running on the Raspberry Pi. The cFS uses a 3-tiered layered architecture including a platform abstraction layer, a Core Flight Executive (cFE) middle layer, and an application layer. Similar to smart phones, the cFS application layer is the key architectural feature for userâ€"TM"s to extend the FSW functionality to meet their mission-specific requirements. The platform abstraction layer and the cFE layers go a step further than smart phones by providing a platform-agnostic Application Programmer Interface (API) that allows applications to run unchanged on different platforms. OpenSatKit can serve two significant architectural roles that will further help the adoption of the cFS and help create a community of users that can share assets. First, the kit is being enhanced to automate the integration of applications with the goal of creating a virtual cFS 'App Store'. Second, a platform certification test suite can be developed that would allow users to verify the port of the cFS to a new platform. This paper will describe the current state of these efforts and future plans.

McComas, David↗

NASA NTRS2018

Increasing Flight Software Reuse with OpenSatKit

In January 2015 the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) released the Core Flight System (cFS) as open source under the NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA) license. The cFS is based on flight software (FSW) developed for 12 spacecraft spanning nearly two decades of effort and it can provide about a third of the FSW functionality for a low-earth orbiting scientific spacecraft. The cFS is a FSW framework that is portable, configurable, and extendable using a product line deployment model. However, the components are maintained separately so the user must configure, integrate, and deploy them as a cohesive functional system. This can be very challenging especially for organizations such as universities building cubesats that have minimal experience developing FSW. Supporting universities was one of the primary motivators for releasing the cFS under NOSA. This paper describes the OpenSatKit that was developed to address the cFS deployment challenges and to serve as a cFS training platform for new users. It provides a fully functional out-of-the box software system that includes NASA's cFS, Ball Aerospace's command and control system COSMOS, and a NASA dynamic simulator called 42. The kit is freely available since all of the components have been released as open source. The kit runs on a Linux platform, includes 8 cFS applications, several kit-specific applications, and built in demos illustrating how to use key application features. It also includes the software necessary to port the cFS to a Raspberry Pi and instructions for configuring COSMOS to communicate with the target. All of the demos and test scripts can be rerun unchanged with the cFS running on the Raspberry Pi. The cFS uses a 3-tiered layered architecture including a platform abstraction layer, a Core Flight Executive (cFE) middle layer, and an application layer. Similar to smart phones, the cFS application layer is the key architectural feature for users to extend the FSW functionality to meet their mission-specific requirements. The platform abstraction layer and the cFE layers go a step further than smart phones by providing a platform-agnostic Application Programmer Interface (API) that allows applications to run unchanged on different platforms. OpenSatKit can serve two significant architectural roles that will further help the adoption of the cFS and help create a community of users that can share assets. First, the kit is being enhanced to automate the integration of applications with the goal of creating a virtual cFS "App Store".. Second, a platform certification test suite can be developed that would allow users to verify the port of the cFS to a new platform. This paper will describe the current state of these efforts and future plans.

Computer Programming and Software↗

NASA NTRS1984

Summary of workshop on the application of VLSI for robotic sensing

It was one of the objectives of the considered workshop to identify near, mid, and far-term applications of VLSI for robotic sensing and sensor data preprocessing. The workshop was also to indicate areas in which VLSI technology can provide immediate and future payoffs. A third objective is related to the promotion of dialog and collaborative efforts between research communities, industry, and government. The workshop was held on March 24-25, 1983. Conclusions and recommendations are discussed. Attention is given to the need for a pixel correction chip, an image sensor with 10,000 dynamic range, VLSI enhanced architectures, the need for a high-density serpentine memory, an LSI-tactile sensing program, an analog-signal preprocessor chip, a smart strain gage, a protective proximity envelope, a VLSI-proximity sensor program, a robot-net chip, and aspects of silicon micromechanics.

Brooks, T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Maximizing Spaceflight Biological Data with Omics Analytics: The NASA GeneLab Database

NASA’s GeneLab includes an open-access repository of some 250+ omics datasets generated by biological experiments relevant to spaceflight including simulated cosmic radiation and microgravity. In order to maximize the intelligibility of these data, particularly for users with limited bioinformatics background, GeneLab has become a knowledgebase platform converting raw genetic and proteomic signatures found in flight samples into biological and physiological meanings. A large community of more than 100 scientists has rallied behind GeneLab and organized into four Analysis Working Groups (AWGs: Animal, Plant, Microbe, and Multi-Omics). Together, the AWGs have gained scientific recognition worldwide by establishing a consortium in charge of adopting new complex standards for data analysis workflows and omics sample processing in a rapidly evolving field. We will demonstrate the usage of the repository with smart search capability, an online controlled-access toolshed "Galaxy" to process user data with vetted standard workflows, a workspace for data sharing and a data submission portal with ontology control for better metadata curation. The GeneLab visualization portal will also be demonstrated, showing how anyone without formal training in bioinformatics can now browse the space biology omics data to discover new biology and potential solutions to improve life in space.

Sylvain Vincent Costes↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

GeneLab: The NASA System Biology Platform for Space Omics Repository, Analysis and Visualization

NASA’s GeneLab includes an open-access repository of some 250+ omics datasets generated by biological experiments relevant to spaceflight including simulated cosmic radiation and microgravity. In order to maximize the intelligibility of these data, particularly for users with limited bioinformatics background, GeneLab has become a knowledgebase platform converting raw genetic and proteomic signatures found in flight samples into biological and physiological meanings. A large community of more than 100 scientists has rallied behind GeneLab and organized into four Analysis Working Groups (AWGs: Animal, Plant, Microbe, and Multi-Omics). Together, the AWGs have gained scientific recognition worldwide by establishing a consortium in charge of adopting new complex standards for data analysis workflows and omics sample processing in a rapidly evolving field. We will demonstrate the usage of the repository with smart search capability, an online controlled-access toolshed "Galaxy" to process user data with vetted standard workflows, a workspace for data sharing and a data submission portal with ontology control for better metadata curation. The GeneLab visualization portal will also be demonstrated, showing how anyone without formal training in bioinformatics can now browse the space biology omics data to discover new biology and potential solutions to improve life in space.

GeneLab↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Critical Ablative TPS Capabilities Sustainment - An Approach to Playing the Long Game

Historically, we have been pound foolish and penny wise for decades, and it is time to reverse this. We present an approach that will maintain critical NASA ablative TPS capabilities through small, sustained, smart and targeted investment. NASA’s ablative TPS history is one of developing new capabilities and letting them atrophy. When needed, there are two options: (1) revive the capability at considerable cost impact or (2) develop an alternate capability with considerable schedule impact. Either of these options have had considerable mission impact. The third alternate is to maintain proven capabilities in a cost effective manner to allow the science community to propose missions with confidence. NASA and DoD have had a working group to periodically assess and make recommendations on at-risk items. This working group typically focuses on raw materials availability. While we agree that at-risk raw materials are an important and necessary part of the overall capability, focus solely on them is not sufficient. Instead, we advocate for a broader focus on the critical “technology capability” that includes not only raw material but also industrial manufacturing and processing capabilities and in-house expertise in design, testing and flight hardware certification. In this proposed presentation, we will highlight a case study related to PICA capability. We will present the rationale for sustaining PICA and HEEET as two minimum essential ablative TPS capabilities for future NASA missions. We will present an approach for how small investment could lead to maintaining mission critical capabilities over a longer period. While HEEET and PICA are NASA unique, the raw material and some of the vendor capabilities involved also support DoD TPS. Hence a partnership between NASA and DoD is recommended for broader benefit.

Ethiraj Venkatapathy↗

NASA NTRS2006

Sensor Management for Applied Research Technologies (SMART)-On Demand Modeling (ODM) Project

NASA requires timely on-demand data and analysis capabilities to enable practical benefits of Earth science observations. However, a significant challenge exists in accessing and integrating data from multiple sensors or platforms to address Earth science problems because of the large data volumes, varying sensor scan characteristics, unique orbital coverage, and the steep learning curve associated with each sensor and data type. The development of sensor web capabilities to autonomously process these data streams (whether real-time or archived) provides an opportunity to overcome these obstacles and facilitate the integration and synthesis of Earth science data and weather model output. A three year project, entitled Sensor Management for Applied Research Technologies (SMART) - On Demand Modeling (ODM), will develop and demonstrate the readiness of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) capabilities that integrate both Earth observations and forecast model output into new data acquisition and assimilation strategies. The advancement of SWE-enabled systems (i.e., use of SensorML, sensor planning services - SPS, sensor observation services - SOS, sensor alert services - SAS and common observation model protocols) will have practical and efficient uses in the Earth science community for enhanced data set generation, real-time data assimilation with operational applications, and for autonomous sensor tasking for unique data collection.

Goodman, M.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Smart Objects, Dumb Archives: A User-Centric, Layered Digital Library Framework

Currently, there exist a large number of superb digital libraries, all of which are, unfortunately, vertically integrated and all presenting a monolithic interface to their users. Ideally, a user would want to locate resources from a variety of digital libraries dealing only with one interface. A number of approaches exist to this interoperability issue exist including: defining a universal protocol for all libraries to adhere to; or developing mechanisms to translate between protocols. The approach we illustrate in this paper is to push down the level of universal protocols to one for digital object communication and for communication for simple archives. This approach creates the opportunity for digital library service providers to create digital libraries tailored to the needs of user communities drawing from available archives and individual publishers who adhere to this standard. We have created a reference implementation based on the hyper text transfer protocol (http) with the protocols being derived from the Dienst protocol. We have created a special class of digital objects called buckets and a number of archives based on a NASA collection and NSF funded projects. Starting from NCSTRL we have developed a set of digital library services called NCSTRL+ and have created digital libraries for researchers, educators and students that can each draw on all the archives and individually created buckets.

Maly, Kurt↗

NASA NTRS1997

Reduction of Helicopter Blade-Vortex Interaction Noise by Active Rotor Control Technology

Helicopter blade-vortex interaction noise is one of the most severe noise sources and is very important both in community annoyance and military detection. Research over the decades has substantially improved basic physical understanding of the mechanisms generating rotor blade-vortex interaction noise and also of controlling techniques, particularly using active rotor control technology. This paper reviews active rotor control techniques currently available for rotor blade vortex interaction noise reduction, including higher harmonic pitch control, individual blade control, and on-blade control technologies. Basic physical mechanisms of each active control technique are reviewed in terms of noise reduction mechanism and controlling aerodynamic or structural parameters of a blade. Active rotor control techniques using smart structures/materials are discussed, including distributed smart actuators to induce local torsional or flapping deformations, Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Yu, Yung H.↗

NASA NTRS2012

JPL Innovation Foundry

NASA supports the community of mission principal investigators by helping them ideate, mature, and propose concepts for new missions. As NASA's Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC), JPL is a primary resource for providing this service. The environmental context for the formulation lifecycle evolves continuously. Contemporary trends include: more competitors; more-complex mission ideas; scarcer formulation resources; and higher standards for technical evaluation. Derived requirements for formulation support include: stable, clear, reliable methods tailored for each stage of the formulation lifecycle; on-demand access to standout technical and programmatic subject-matter experts; optimized, outfitted facilities; smart access to learning embodied in a vast oeuvre of prior formulation work; hands-on method coaching. JPL has retooled its provision of integrated formulation lifecycle support to PIs, teams, and program offices in response to this need. This mission formulation enterprise is the JPL Innovation Foundry.

foundry↗

NASA NTRS2022

Review of Solar Energetic Particle Models

Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events are interesting from a scientific perspective as they are the product of a broad set of physical processes from the corona out through the extent of the heliosphere, and provide insight into processes of particle acceleration and transport that are widely applicable in astrophysics. From the operations perspective, SEP events pose a radiation hazard for aviation, electronics in space, and human space exploration, in particular for missions outside of the Earth’s protective magnetosphere including to the Moon and Mars. Thus, it is critical to improve the scientific understanding of SEP events and use this understanding to develop and improve SEP forecasting capabilities to support operations. Many SEP models exist or are in development using a wide variety of approaches and with differing goals. These include computationally intensive physics-based models, fast and light empirical models, machine learning-based models, and mixed-model approaches. The aim of this paper is to summarize all of the SEP models currently developed in the scientific community, including a description of model approach, inputs and outputs, free parameters, and any published validations or comparisons with data.

Kathryn Whitman↗

NASA NTRS2022

Coordinating Innovative Technology Development at NASA

Innovation requires continually using and coordinating new knowledge on the current, anticipated, and even unanticipated developments in a given area. You do not want to simply repeat what others are doing, so you must remain aware of other activities in your area of interest. You also have to maintain awareness of where the cutting edge is, because the limit of what’s possible is continually pushed and redefined. Finally, “smart” innovation involves not only seeking innovative solutions to anticipated problems but also being prepared to respond to unanticipated problems or even unanticipated solutions. As the leading U.S. agency for aeronautics development, cutting-edge scientific discovery, and human space exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must remain at the forefront of innovation. NASA enables innovation in technology development through a coordinated effort among its internal mission directorates and its partners in government, commercial, and academic sectors. As an independent office, NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) provides the coordination effort necessary to ensure innovation. OTPS uses and coordinates inputs from a broad community of experts. With these inputs, OTPS identifies and communicates shared needs and opportunities for partnership. OTPS provides strategic advice to synergize and ultimately facilitate innovative technology development both within and outside NASA. This paper summarizes NASA’s approach to ensuring innovation through a deliberately coordinated effort. In this paper, we first provide examples of how this coordination has enabled innovative technology development. We then describe how NASA’s mission directorates use input from a broad community of experts to inform innovative technology development. Finally, we describe OTPS’s role in coordinating inputs from both internal and external experts, including standardizing communication about technology developments, facilitating conversations with external partners on shared technology needs and solutions, and advising on strategies and policies to ensure innovative technology development. This paper can help members of the aerospace community understand their role in NASA’s innovation efforts and how to engage OTPS in conversations about potential partnership.

Erica Rodgers↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Coordinating Innovative Technology Development at NASA

Innovation requires continually using and coordinating new knowledge on the current, anticipated, and even unanticipated developments in a given area. You do not want to simply repeat what others are doing, so you must remain aware of other activities in your area of interest. You also have to maintain awareness of where the cutting edge is, because the limit of what’s possible is continually pushed and redefined. Finally, “smart” innovation involves not only seeking innovative solutions to anticipated problems but also being prepared to respond to unanticipated problems or even unanticipated solutions. As the leading U.S. agency for aeronautics development, cutting-edge scientific discovery, and human space exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) must remain at the forefront of innovation. NASA enables innovation in technology development through a coordinated effort among its internal mission directorates and its partners in government, commercial, and academic sectors. As an independent office, NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) provides the coordination effort necessary to ensure innovation. OTPS uses and coordinates inputs from a broad community of experts. With these inputs, OTPS identifies and communicates shared needs and opportunities for partnership. OTPS provides strategic advice to synergize and ultimately facilitate innovative technology development both within and outside NASA. This paper summarizes NASA’s approach to ensuring innovation through a deliberately coordinated effort. In this paper, we first provide examples of how this coordination has enabled innovative technology development. We then describe how NASA’s mission directorates use input from a broad community of experts to inform innovative technology development. Finally, we describe OTPS’s role in coordinating inputs from both internal and external experts, including standardizing communication about technology developments, facilitating conversations with external partners on shared technology needs and solutions, and advising on strategies and policies to ensure innovative technology development. This paper can help members of the aerospace community understand their role in NASA’s innovation efforts and how to engage OTPS in conversations about potential partnership.

Erica Rodgers↗