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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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At least 37 records · Page 2

Application and Evaluation of Control Modes for Risk-Based Engine Performance Enhancements

The engine control system for civil transport aircraft imposes operational limits on the propulsion system to ensure compliance with safety standards. However, during certain emergency situations, aircraft survivability may benefit from engine performance beyond its normal limits despite the increased risk of failure. Accordingly, control modes were developed to improve the maximum thrust output and responsiveness of a generic high-bypass turbofan engine. The algorithms were designed such that the enhanced performance would always constitute an elevation in failure risk to a consistent predefined likelihood. This paper presents an application of these risk-based control modes to a combined engine/aircraft model. Through computer and piloted simulation tests, the aim is to present a notional implementation of these modes, evaluate their effects on a generic airframe, and demonstrate their usefulness during emergency flight situations. Results show that minimal control effort is required to compensate for the changes in flight dynamics due to control mode activation. The benefits gained from enhanced engine performance for various runway incursion scenarios are investigated. Finally, the control modes are shown to protect against potential instabilities during propulsion-only flight where all aircraft control surfaces are inoperable.

aircraft engine performance↗

Application and Evaluation of Control Modes for Risk-Based Engine Performance Enhancements

The engine control system for civil transport aircraft imposes operational limits on the propulsion system to ensure compliance with safety standards. However, during certain emergency situations, aircraft survivability may benefit from engine performance beyond its normal limits despite the increased risk of failure. Accordingly, control modes were developed to improve the maximum thrust output and responsiveness of a generic high-bypass turbofan engine. The algorithms were designed such that the enhanced performance would always constitute an elevation in failure risk to a consistent predefined likelihood. This paper presents an application of these risk-based control modes to a combined engine/aircraft model. Through computer and piloted simulation tests, the aim is to present a notional implementation of these modes, evaluate their effects on a generic airframe, and demonstrate their usefulness during emergency flight situations. Results show that minimal control effort is required to compensate for the changes in flight dynamics due to control mode activation. The benefits gained from enhanced engine performance for various runway incursion scenarios are investigated. Finally, the control modes are shown to protect against potential instabilities during propulsion-only flight where all aircraft control surfaces are inoperable.

emergency operation↗

SAFEGUARD: An Assured Safety Net Technology for UAS

As demands increase to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for a broad spectrum of commercial applications, regulatory authorities are examining how to safely integrate them without loss of safety or major disruption to existing airspace operations. This work addresses the development of the Safeguard system as an assured safety net technology for UAS. The Safeguard system monitors and enforces conformance to a set of rules defined prior to flight (e.g., geospatial stay-out or stay-in regions, speed limits, altitude limits). Safeguard operates independently of the UAS autopilot and is strategically designed in a way that can be realized by a small set of verifiable functions to simplify compliance with regulatory standards for commercial aircraft. A framework is described that decouples the system from any other devices on the UAS as well as introduces complementary positioning source(s) for applications that require integrity and availability beyond what the Global Positioning System (GPS) can provide. Additionally, the high level logic embedded within the software is presented, as well as the steps being taken toward verification and validation (V&V) of proper functionality. Next, an initial prototype implementation of the described system is disclosed. Lastly, future work including development, testing, and system V&V is summarized.

Dill, Evan T.↗

Safeguard: Progress and Test Results for a Reliable Independent On-Board Safety Net for UAS

As demands increase to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for a broad spectrum of commercial applications, regulatory authorities are examining how to safely integrate them without compromising safety or disrupting traditional airspace operations. For small UAS, several operational rules have been established; e.g., do not operate beyond visual line-of-sight, do not fly within five miles of a commercial airport, do not fly above 400 feet above ground level. Enforcing these rules is challenging for UAS, as evidenced by the number of incident reports received by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This paper reviews the development of an onboard system - Safeguard - designed to monitor and enforce conformance to a set of operational rules defined prior to flight (e.g., geospatial stay-out or stay-in regions, speed limits, and altitude constraints). Unlike typical geofencing or geo-limitation functions, Safeguard operates independently of the off-the-shelf UAS autopilot and is designed in a way that can be realized by a small set of verifiable functions to simplify compliance with existing standards for safety-critical systems (e.g. for spacecraft and manned commercial transportation aircraft systems). A framework is described that decouples the system from any other devices on the UAS as well as introduces complementary positioning source(s) for applications that require integrity and availability beyond what can be provided by the Global Positioning System (GPS). This paper summarizes the progress and test results for Safeguard research and development since presentation of the design concept at the 35th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC '16). Significant accomplishments include completion of software verification and validation in accordance with NASA standards for spacecraft systems (to Class B), development of improved hardware prototypes, development of a simulation platform that allows for hardware-in-the-loop testing and fast-time Monte Carlo evaluations, and flight testing on multiple air vehicles. Integration testing with NASA's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) service-oriented architecture was also demonstrated.

Young, Steven D.↗

Tailoring of NASA-STD-3001 to Lunar Gateway Program Requirements

The Gateway Program must meet NASA's Agency-level human rating requirements, which are intended to accommodate human capabilities and limitations while protecting the safety of the crew, and providing to the maximum extent practical, the capability to safely recover the crew from hazardous situations. Human systems integration represents a key human rating component of Moon to Mars systems to support the execution of Artemis missions, including compliance with mandatory standards for Health and Medical, Safety and Mission Assurance, and Engineering. The human system requirements, together with the human systems integration plan, medical operations requirements, and Gateway sub-system specifications, represent the flow-down of NASA Health and Medical Standards (NASA-STD-3001, Volumes 1 and 2) into the Gateway system. This paper discusses how these documents and other human systems integration activities provide full consideration of human capabilities and limitations as part of the total system design trade space, serving as an example on how the human must be effectively integrated as part of the system in order to achieve mission success. At a bigger scale, the paper con-tributes to the application of systems engineering standards to cutting-edge space exploration initiatives and to the dialogue on how systems engineering can continue to evolve to meet the needs of such ambitious projects.

Systems engineering↗

Higher Surface Ozone Concentrations Over the Chesapeake Bay than Over the Adjacent Land: Observations and Models from the DISCOVER-AQ and CBODAQ Campaigns

Air quality models, such as the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, indicate decidedly higher ozone near the surface of large interior water bodies, such as the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. In order to test the validity of the model output, we performed surface measurements of ozone (O3) and total reactive nitrogen (NOy) on the 26-m Delaware II NOAA Small Research Vessel experimental (SRVx), deployed in the Chesapeake Bay for 10 daytime cruises in July 2011 as part of NASA's GEO-CAPE CBODAQ oceanographic field campaign in conjunction with NASA's DISCOVER-AQ air quality field campaign. During this 10-day period, the EPA O3 regulatory standard of 75 ppbv averaged over an 8-h period was exceeded four times over water while ground stations in the area only exceeded the standard at most twice. This suggests that on days when the Baltimore/Washington region is in compliance with the EPA standard, air quality over the Chesapeake Bay might exceed the EPA standard. Ozone observations over the bay during the afternoon were consistently 10-20% higher than the closest upwind ground sites during the 10-day campaign; this pattern persisted during good and poor air quality days. A lower boundary layer, reduced cloud cover, slower dry deposition rates, and other lesser mechanisms, contribute to the local maximum of ozone over the Chesapeake Bay. Observations from this campaign were compared to a CMAQ simulation at 1.33 km resolution. The model is able to predict the regional maximum of ozone over the Chesapeake Bay accurately, but NOy concentrations are significantly overestimated. Explanations for the overestimation of NOy in the model simulations are also explored

boundary layer↗

Steady-State Cycle Deck Launcher Developed for Numerical Propulsion System Simulation

One of the objectives of NASA's High Performance Computing and Communications Program's (HPCCP) Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) is to reduce the time and cost of generating aerothermal numerical representations of engines, called customer decks. These customer decks, which are delivered to airframe companies by various U.S. engine companies, numerically characterize an engine's performance as defined by the particular U.S. airframe manufacturer. Until recently, all numerical models were provided with a Fortran-compatible interface in compliance with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) document AS681F, and data communication was performed via a standard, labeled common structure in compliance with AS681F. Recently, the SAE committee began to develop a new standard: AS681G. AS681G addresses multiple language requirements for customer decks along with alternative data communication techniques. Along with the SAE committee, the NPSS Steady-State Cycle Deck project team developed a standard Application Program Interface (API) supported by a graphical user interface. This work will result in Aerospace Recommended Practice 4868 (ARP4868). The Steady-State Cycle Deck work was validated against the Energy Efficient Engine customer deck, which is publicly available. The Energy Efficient Engine wrapper was used not only to validate ARP4868 but also to demonstrate how to wrap an existing customer deck. The graphical user interface for the Steady-State Cycle Deck facilitates the use of the new standard and makes it easier to design and analyze a customer deck. This software was developed following I. Jacobson's Object-Oriented Design methodology and is implemented in C++. The AS681G standard will establish a common generic interface for U.S. engine companies and airframe manufacturers. This will lead to more accurate cycle models, quicker model generation, and faster validation leading to specifications. The standard will facilitate cooperative work between industry and NASA. The NPSS Steady-State Cycle Deck team released a batch version of the Steady-State Cycle Deck in March 1996. Version 1.1 was released in June 1996. During fiscal 1997, NPSS accepted enhancements and modifications to the Steady-State Cycle Deck launcher. Consistent with NPSS' commercialization plan, these modifications will be done by a third party that can provide long-term software support.

VanDrei, Donald E.↗

Chemical Hygiene Program

The Chemical Management Team is responsible for ensuring compliance with the OSHA Laboratory Standard. The program at Lewis Research Center (LeRC) evolved over many years to include training, developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) for each laboratory process, coordinating with other safety and health organizations and teams at the Center, and issuing an SOP binder. The Chemical Hygiene Policy was first established for the Center. The Chemical Hygiene Plan was established and reviewed by technical, laboratory and management for viability and applicability to the Center. A risk assessment was conducted for each laboratory. The laboratories were prioritized by order of risk, higher risk taking priority. A Chemical Management Team staff member interviewed the lead researcher for each laboratory process to gather the information needed to develop the SOP for the process. A binder containing the Chemical Hygiene Plan, the SOP, a map of the laboratory identifying the personal protective equipment and best egress, and glove guides, as well as other guides for safety and health. Each laboratory process has been captured in the form of an SOP. The chemicals used in the procedure have been identified and the information is used to reduce the number of chemicals in the lab. The Chemical Hygiene Plan binder is used as a training tool for new employees. LeRC is in compliance with the OSHA Standard. The program was designed to comply with the OSHA standard. In the process, we have been able to assess the usage of chemicals in the laboratories, as well as reduce or relocate the chemicals being stored in the laboratory. Our researchers are trained on the hazards of the materials they work with and have a better understanding of the hazards of the process and what is needed to prevent any incident. From the SOP process, we have been able to reduce our chemical inventory, determine and implement better hygiene procedures and equipment in the laboratories, and provide specific training to our employees. As a result of this program, we are adding labeling to the laboratories for emergency responders and initiating a certified chemical user program.

Mayor, Antoinette C.↗

Orbital Debris Mitigation and CubeSats

The 2019 update to the U. S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) included CubeSats as a special class of space operations for the first time. This is the first governmental-level policy document that calls for CubeSats to follow quantitative recommendations for orbital debris mitigation. While CubeSats were never exempt from such recommendations, mission designers often “under assess” CubeSats due to their small size and historically low level of stored energy. Qualitative assessments of debris potential are less applicable as miniaturized energy systems (propulsive and electrical) become more available and as the “CubeSat” label is applied to larger payloads. Of particular interest to the long-term evolution of the debris environment is the likelihood of accidental explosion or collision; we must also consider the risk to the human population from reentering spacecraft. We discuss the on-orbit history of CubeSats and present guidance to assist in designing for future compliance with the new standard practices.

Chris L. Ostrom↗

Orbital Debris Mitigation and CubeSats

The 2019 Update to the United States Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) included CubeSats for the first time as a special class of space operations. This is the first governmental-level policy document that calls for CubeSats to follow quantitative recommendations for orbital debris mitigation. While CubeSats were never exempt from such recommendations, mission designers often under assess CubeSats due to their small size and historically low level of stored energy. Qualitative assessments of debris potential are less applicable as miniaturized energy systems (propulsive and electrical) become more available and as the “CubeSat” label is applied to larger payloads. Of particular interest to the long-term evolution of the debris environment is the likelihood of accidental explosion or collision; we must also consider the risk to the human population from reentering spacecraft. We discuss the on-orbit history of CubeSats and present guidance to assist in designing for future compliance with the new standard practices.

Chris L Ostrom↗

Development of a New Departure Aversion Standard for Light Aircraft

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have recently established new light aircraft certification rules that introduce significant changes to the current regulations. The changes include moving from prescriptive design requirements to performance-based standards, transferring many of the acceptable means of compliance out of the rules and into consensus standards. In addition, the FAA/EASA rules change the performance requirements associated with some of the more salient safety issues regarding light aircraft. One significant change is the elimination of spin recovery demonstration. The new rules now call for enhanced stall warning and aircraft handling characteristics that demonstrate resistance to inadvertent departure from controlled flight. The means of compliance with these changes in a safe, cost-effective manner is a challenging problem. This paper discusses existing approaches to reducing the likelihood of departure from controlled flight and introduces a new approach, dubbed Departure Aversion, which allows applicants to tailor the amount of departure resistance, stall warning, and enhanced safety equipment to meet the new proposed rules. The Departure Aversion approach gives applicants the freedom to select the most cost-effective portfolio for their design, while meeting the safety intent of the new rules, by ensuring that any combination of the selected approaches will be at a higher equivalent level of safety than today's status quo.

Borer, Nicholas K.↗

Certification of the concentrating solar collector

Report describes procedures and results of extensive testing of concentrating solar collector performed for certification of systems compliance with government performance standards. Test includes operational, electrical, mechanical, and thermal checks, as well as structural integrity.

Source record↗

Payload IVA training and simulation

The development of a training program for the intravehicular operation of space shuttle payloads is discussed. The priorities for the program are compliance with established training standards, and accommodating changes. Simulation devices are also reviewed.

Monsees, J. H.↗

Automating a human factors evaluation of graphical user interfaces for NASA applications: An update on CHIMES

Capturing human factors knowledge about the design of graphical user interfaces (GUI's) and applying this knowledge on-line are the primary objectives of the Computer-Human Interaction Models (CHIMES) project. The current CHIMES prototype is designed to check a GUI's compliance with industry-standard guidelines, general human factors guidelines, and human factors recommendations on color usage. Following the evaluation, CHIMES presents human factors feedback and advice to the GUI designer. The paper describes the approach to modeling human factors guidelines, the system architecture, a new method developed to convert quantitative RGB primaries into qualitative color representations, and the potential for integrating CHIMES with user interface management systems (UIMS). Both the conceptual approach and its implementation are discussed. This paper updates the presentation on CHIMES at the first International Symposium on Ground Data Systems for Spacecraft Control.

Jiang, Jian-Ping↗

Hardware independence checkout software

ACSI has developed a program utilizing CLIPS to assess compliance with various programming standards. Essentially the program parses C code to extract the names of all function calls. These are asserted as CLIPS facts which also include information about line numbers, source file names, and called functions. Rules have been devised to establish functions called that have not been defined in any of the source parsed. These are compared against lists of standards (represented as facts) using rules that check intersections and/or unions of these. By piping the output into other processes the source is appropriately commented by generating and executing parsed scripts.

Cameron, Barry W.↗

Trends and Options in the Disposal of Launch Vehicle Orbital Stages

An increasing number of agencies and organizations around the world provide guidelines for the disposal of launch vehicle stages placed in Earth orbit. The limitation of orbital lifetime following the satellite delivery mission, particularly in low Earth orbit, is viewed as one of the most important space debris mitigation measures. For higher altitude missions, orbital stages may be maneuvered into more rapidly decaying orbits or may be left in longer-term disposal orbits. This paper summarizes the recent disposal practices of all launch vehicle types and evaluates their compliance with existing national standards. Although the owners and operators of some satellite systems, e.g., Iridium and Globalstar, have levied orbital stage disposal requirements on launch service providers, in general, insufficient attention and communication is given to this topic. Sunsynchronous and geosynchronous missions may pose some of the most difficult challenges for the responsible disposal of orbital stages. A variety of disposal options are normally available, some of which may even influence the design of the spacecraft to be deployed. Also at issue is whether normal launch vehicle propellant reserves can be relied upon for post-mission disposal of orbital stages.

Johnson, Nicholas L.↗

Haptic-Multimodal Flight Control System Update

The rapidly advancing capabilities of autonomous aircraft suggest a future where many of the responsibilities of today s pilot transition to the vehicle, transforming the pilot s job into something akin to driving a car or simply being a passenger. Notionally, this transition will reduce the specialized skills, training, and attention required of the human user while improving safety and performance. However, our experience with highly automated aircraft highlights many challenges to this transition including: lack of automation resilience; adverse human-automation interaction under stress; and the difficulty of developing certification standards and methods of compliance for complex systems performing critical functions traditionally performed by the pilot (e.g., sense and avoid vs. see and avoid). Recognizing these opportunities and realities, researchers at NASA Langley are developing a haptic-multimodal flight control (HFC) system concept that can serve as a bridge between today s state of the art aircraft that are highly automated but have little autonomy and can only be operated safely by highly trained experts (i.e., pilots) to a future in which non-experts (e.g., drivers) can safely and reliably use autonomous aircraft to perform a variety of missions. This paper reviews the motivation and theoretical basis of the HFC system, describes its current state of development, and presents results from two pilot-in-the-loop simulation studies. These preliminary studies suggest the HFC reshapes human-automation interaction in a way well-suited to revolutionary ease-of-use.

Goodrich, Kenneth H.↗

Exploration Clinical Decision Support System: Medical Data Architecture

The Exploration Clinical Decision Support (ECDS) System project is intended to enhance the Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element for extended duration, deep-space mission planning in HRP. A major development guideline is the Risk of "Adverse Health Outcomes & Decrements in Performance due to Limitations of In-flight Medical Conditions". ECDS attempts to mitigate that Risk by providing crew-specific health information, actionable insight, crew guidance and advice based on computational algorithmic analysis. The availability of inflight health diagnostic computational methods has been identified as an essential capability for human exploration missions. Inflight electronic health data sources are often heterogeneous, and thus may be isolated or not examined as an aggregate whole. The ECDS System objective provides both a data architecture that collects and manages disparate health data, and an active knowledge system that analyzes health evidence to deliver case-specific advice. A single, cohesive space-ready decision support capability that considers all exploration clinical measurements is not commercially available at present. Hence, this Task is a newly coordinated development effort by which ECDS and its supporting data infrastructure will demonstrate the feasibility of intelligent data mining and predictive modeling as a biomedical diagnostic support mechanism on manned exploration missions. The initial step towards ground and flight demonstrations has been the research and development of both image and clinical text-based computer-aided patient diagnosis. Human anatomical images displaying abnormal/pathological features have been annotated using controlled terminology templates, marked-up, and then stored in compliance with the AIM standard. These images have been filtered and disease characterized based on machine learning of semantic and quantitative feature vectors. The next phase will evaluate disease treatment response via quantitative linear dimension biomarkers that enable image content-based retrieval and criteria assessment. In addition, a data mining engine (DME) is applied to cross-sectional adult surveys for predicting occurrence of renal calculi, ranked by statistical significance of demographics and specific food ingestion. In addition to this precursor space flight algorithm training, the DME will utilize a feature-engineering capability for unstructured clinical text classification health discovery. The ECDS backbone is a proposed multi-tier modular architecture providing data messaging protocols, storage, management and real-time patient data access. Technology demonstrations and success metrics will be finalized in FY16.

Biomedical support↗