Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “wireless power”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20

Modeling a Wireless Network for International Space Station

This paper describes the application of wireless local area network (LAN) simulation modeling methods to the hybrid LAN architecture designed for supporting crew-computing tools aboard the International Space Station (ISS). These crew-computing tools, such as wearable computers and portable advisory systems, will provide crew members with real-time vehicle and payload status information and access to digital technical and scientific libraries, significantly enhancing human capabilities in space. A wireless network, therefore, will provide wearable computer and remote instruments with the high performance computational power needed by next-generation 'intelligent' software applications. Wireless network performance in such simulated environments is characterized by the sustainable throughput of data under different traffic conditions. This data will be used to help plan the addition of more access points supporting new modules and more nodes for increased network capacity as the ISS grows.

Alena, Richard↗

Space Solar Power: Satellite Concepts

Space Solar Power (SSP) applies broadly to the use of solar power for space related applications. The thrust of the NASA SSP initiative is to develop concepts and demonstrate technology for applying space solar power to NASA missions. Providing power from satellites in space via wireless transmission to a receiving station either on earth, another celestial body or a second satellite is one goal of the SSP initiative. The sandwich design is a satellite design in which the microwave transmitting array is the front face of a thin disk and the back of the disk is populated with solar cells, with the microwave electronics in between. The transmitter remains aimed at the earth in geostationary orbit while a system of mirrors directs sunlight to the photovoltaic cells, regardless of the satellite's orientation to the sun. The primary advantage of the sandwich design is it eliminates the need for a massive and complex electric power management and distribution system for the satellite. However, it requires a complex system for focusing sunlight onto the photovoltaic cells. In addition, positioning the photovoltaic array directly behind the transmitting array power conversion electronics will create a thermal management challenge. This project focused on developing designs and finding emerging technology to meet the challenges of solar tracking, a concentrating mirror system including materials and coatings, improved photovoltaic materials and thermal management.

Little, Frank E.↗

Progress in Acoustic Transmission of Power through Walls

A document presents updated information on implementation of the wireless acoustic-electric feed-through (WAEF) concept, which was reported in Using Piezoelectric Devices To Transmit Power Through Walls (NPO-41157), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 6 (June 2008), page 70. To recapitulate: In a basic WAEF setup, a transmitting piezoelectric transducer on one side of a wall is driven at resonance to excite ultrasonic vibrations in the wall. A receiving piezoelectric transducer on the opposite side of the wall converts the vibrations back to an ultrasonic AC electric signal, which is then detected and otherwise processed in a manner that depends on the modulation (if any) applied to the signal and whether the signal is used to transmit power, data, or both. The present document expands upon the previous information concerning underlying physical principles, advantages, and potential applications of WAEF. It discusses the design and construction of breadboard prototype piezoelectric transducers for WAEF. It goes on to present results of computational simulations of performance and results of laboratory tests of the prototypes. In one notable test, a 100-W light bulb was lit by WAEF to demonstrate the feasibility of powering a realistic load.

Sherrit,Stewart↗

Seamless Wireless Communication Platform for Internet of Things Applications

The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices resulted in the proliferation of wireless technologies to cater to their increasing data rate requirements and support multiple applications. However, such ever-increasing wireless technologies present numerous challenges such as incompatible wireless standards, increased energy consumption, and insecure communication. The traditional gateways proposed in the literature suffers from limitations such as computational complexity, resource requirements, increased cost, and device size. We vision an era of seamless wireless communication to alleviate the aforementioned challenges in IoT applications. through three inter-dependent functionalities namely detection and identification of wireless technologies, energy-efficient transmit power control, and secure end-to-end communication. To prove the concept, a new gateway is proposed to achieve these three functionalities with only physical layer measurements so that the different communication protocols in the higher layers can be avoided. Novel schemes are conceptualized for resource-limited seamless IoT applications. Moreover, the conceptual seamless IoT platform is validated through software-based computer simulation and software-defined radio-based testbed implementation. Finally, the preliminary analysis demonstrates that the proposed platform has great potential in advancing seamless IoT applications.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Methodology Report of Cost Benefit Analysis of Space Based Solar Power

Space-based solar power (SBSP) is the concept of gathering power in space and transmitting it wirelessly to users on Earth or elsewhere in space. SBSP has seen renewed interest from governments, businesses, and universities for reasons including persistent operations in space, achieving carbon neutrality targets, and more. Several major government agencies in Europe, Asia, and the Americas have renewed their SBSP investigations, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated to universities to advance the technical state of the art. Given the renewed interest, this study will identify and update some key system parameters to current performance levels. This paper presents the methodology and approach to identify the fiscal and environmental costs and benefits of SBSP when compared to other sustainable and grid-scale energy sources. From these divergent angles the models evaluate fiscal and environmental impacts, identify the state of the most sensitive parameters of the designs, and seek to provide context to leadership on the relative value of pursuing SBSP related technologies.

Space-based solar power↗

A Low Cost Traveling Wave Tube for Wireless Communications

Demand for high data rate wireless communications is pushing up amplifier power, bandwidth and frequency requirements. Some systems are using vacuum electron devices again because solid-state power amplifiers are not able to efficiently meet the new requirements. The traveling wave tube is the VED of choice because of its excellent broadband capability as well as high power efficiency and frequency. But TWTs are very expensive on a per watt basis below about 200 watts of output power. We propose a new traveling wave tube that utilizes cathode ray tube construction technology and electrostatic focusing. We believe the tube can be built in quantity for under $1,000 each. We discuss several traveling wave tube slow wave circuits that lend themselves to the new construction. We will present modeling results and data on prototype devices.

Vancil, Bernard Kenneth↗

Wireless Network Simulation in Aircraft Cabins

An electromagnetic propagation prediction tool was used to predict electromagnetic field strength inside airplane cabins. A commercial software package, Wireless Insite, was used to predict power levels inside aircraft cabins and the data was compared with previously collected experimental data. It was concluded that the software could qualitatively predict electromagnetic propagation inside the aircraft cabin environment.

Beggs, John H.↗

Thermoelectric Devices Cool, Power Electronics

Nextreme Thermal Solutions Inc., based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, licensed thermoelectric technology from NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This has allowed the company to develop cutting edge, thin-film thermoelectric coolers that effective remove heat generated by increasingly powerful and tightly packed microchip components. These solid-state coolers are ideal solutions for applications like microprocessors, laser diodes, LEDs, and even potentially for cooling the human body. Nextreme s NASA technology has also enabled the invention of thermoelectric generators capable of powering technologies like medical implants and wireless sensor networks.

Source record↗

Emergent Adaptive Noise Reduction from Communal Cooperation of Sensor Grid

In the last decade, the realization of small, inexpensive, and powerful devices with sensors, computers, and wireless communication has promised the development of massive sized sensor networks with dense deployments over large areas capable of high fidelity situational assessments. However, most management models have been based on centralized control and research has concentrated on methods for passing data from sensor devices to the central controller. Most implementations have been small but, as it is not scalable, this methodology is insufficient for massive deployments. Here, a specific application of a large sensor network for adaptive noise reduction demonstrates a new paradigm where communities of sensor/computer devices assess local conditions and make local decisions from which emerges a global behaviour. This approach obviates many of the problems of centralized control as it is not prone to single point of failure and is more scalable, efficient, robust, and fault tolerant

Jones, Kennie H.↗

CubeSub - A CubeSat Based Submersible Testbed for Space Technology

This report is a Master's Thesis in Aerospace Engineering, performed at the NASA Ames Research Center. It describes the development of the CubeSub, a submersible testbed compatible with the CubeSat form factor. The CubeSub will be used to mature technology and operational procedures to be used in space exploration, and possibly also as a tool for exploration of Earthly environments. CubeSats are carried as payloads, either containing technology to be tested or experiments and sensors for scientific use. The CubeSub is designed to be built up by modules, which can be assembled in different configurations to fulfill different needs. Each module is powered individually and intermodular communication is wireless, reducing the need for wiring. The inside of the hull is flooded with ambient water to simplify the interaction between payloads and surrounding environment. The overall shape is similar to that of a conventional AUV, slender and smooth. This is to make for a low drag, reduce the risk of snagging on surrounding objects and make it possible to deploy through an ice sheet via a narrow borehole. Rapid prototyping is utilized to a large extent, with full-scale prototypes being constructed through 3D-printing and with COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) components. Arduino boards are used for control and internal communication. Modules required for basic operation have been designed, manufactured and tested. Each module is described with regards to its function, design and manufacturability. By performing tests in a pool it was found that the basic concept is sound and that future improvements include better controllability, course stability and waterproofing of electrical components. Further development is needed to make the CubeSub usable for its intended purposes. The largest gains are expected to be found by developing the software and improving controllability.

Europa↗

Secure Intra-Body Wireless Communications (SIWiC) System Project

SIWiC System is a project to investigate, design and implement future wireless networks of implantable sensors in the body. This futuristic project is designed to make use of the emerging and yet-to-emerge technologies, including ultra-wide band (UWB) for wireless communications, smart implantable sensors, ultra low power networking protocols, security and privacy for bandwidth and power deficient devices and quantum computing. Progress in each of these fronts is hindered by the needs of breakthrough. But, as we will see in this paper, these major challenges are being met or will be met in near future. SIWiC system is a network of in-situ wireless devices that are implanted to coordinate sensed data inside the body, such as symptoms monitoring collected internally, or biometric data collected of an outside object from within the intra-body network. One node has the capability of communicating outside the body to send data or alarm to a relevant authority, e.g., a remote physician.

Ahmad, Aftab↗

Development of Operando Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Capabilities for Solid-State Battery Research

Mechanistic information regarding solid-solid interfaces in solid-state batteries remains elusive as its observation requires a non-destructive operando technique. Such a technique does not currently exist. Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is uniquely suited to address this challenge as it is sensitive to chemistry, structure, and dynamics and can measure buried interfaces. However solid-state NMR requires high speed spinning of the sample at the ‘magic angle’ (MAS) to obtain adequate resolution. The metallic current collectors in a battery are detrimental to spinning in magnetic fields as they generate eddy currents which prevent spinning and dampen the NMR signal. Furthermore, the spinning nature of the MAS NMR experiment requires a wireless means of charging for operando capabilities. These challenges were addressed in this research and operando MAS NMR enabled by optical wireless charging was demonstrated. By limiting the size of the metallic components, we were able to spin a sample holder with electrical leads and a solid-state battery up to a few kilohertz, fast enough for high-resolution NMR. We achieved wireless charging by attaching a photovoltaic cell to the head of the NMR rotor and used a laser to transmit power to the photovoltaic cell. Demonstration of the optical wireless charging was performed by polarizing a liquid electrolyte during an operando MAS NMR measurement. This novel capability is a transformative technique for investigating the mechanistic electrochemical processes in solid-state samples.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Autonomous Wireless Technology Detection in Seamless IoT Applications

The ever-increasing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices results in the implementation of multiple wireless technologies that would not only cater their data rate requirements but also support various applications. To optimize the energy efficiency and security of the wireless transmission, it is imperative to identify the wireless technologies in various IoT implementations. Many of the existing approaches are based on measuring only the receiving signal strength indicator (RSSI). However, such approaches may not work well because of transmit power control and complex channel variations among different wireless technologies. In this article, we propose an autonomous wireless detection scheme that considers multiple distinguishable physical (PHY)-layer settings for real-time identification of wireless technologies for real-time applications. Specifically, the proposed scheme relies on the PHY-layer measurements of the targeted spectrum. Transmission settings, such as bandwidth, carrier frequency, and RSSI are estimated from the raw in-phase and quadrature-phase (I/Q) measurements. In addition, a symbol-level extraction scheme is implemented to extract unique features of modulation settings. These aforementioned features are applied to a machine learning process to identify the received wireless technologies. Compared with raw I/Q measurements, the extracted features are much simplified and, thus, the machine learning classifier can be designed with a simple structure for fast processing on IoT nodes. Finally, the proposed schemes are primarily evaluated theoretically, followed by implementing them on a USRP software-defined radio (SDR)-based hardware testbed. The evaluation results demonstrate high accuracy in the real-time detection of different wireless technologies for seamless IoT applications.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Extreme-Environment Silicon-Carbide (SiC) Wireless Sensor Suite

Phase II objectives: Develop an integrated silicon-carbide wireless sensor suite capable of in situ measurements of critical characteristics of NTP engine; Compose silicon-carbide wireless sensor suite of: Extreme-environment sensors center, Dedicated high-temperature (450 deg C) silicon-carbide electronics that provide power and signal conditioning capabilities as well as radio frequency modulation and wireless data transmission capabilities center, An onboard energy harvesting system as a power source.

Yang, Jie↗

A Study on Co-existing Heterogeneous Wireless Networks for Data Transmission within a Nuclear Facility

Deployment of wireless technologies is a salient need for modernization, automation and improved operation of nuclear power plants (NPPs). As a single technology cannot support the ever-changing needs, it is required to have a heterogeneous wireless network architecture to address the different technical and economic challenges. However, the coexistence of these multiband heterogeneous wireless networks brings numerous challenges due to the factors including dissimilarity in their channel access mechanism, distance between nodes, transmit power level and many more. This paper develops real-world experiments and simulations of wireless coexistence for Wi-Fi, Fifth generation cellular (5G) and Zigbee in the unlicensed band to understand the challenges and opportunities. The experiments were conducted over the Platform for Open Wireless Data-driven Experimental Research (POWDER) testbed at the university of Utah. In addition, this paper is the first to propose a novel packet rate control technique at the network layer to create temporary opportunities for 5G or Zigbee signal transmissions focusing its application in a nuclear facility while using the shared band. The performance of the proposed coexistence solution is validated with experimental results and simulation.

5G↗

EVSE Characterization

NextGen Profiles' EVSE characterization efforts explored performance variability in production EVSE through the use of EV emulation equipment and assessed how different operational conditions influence charging behavior. Data were collected at a frequency of 10 Hz from both the EV emulator and EVSE during each charge session and stored in a time-series database for further analysis. As part of the NextGen Profiles project, characterization of high-power EVSE was performed on both conductive and wireless charging infrastructure; however, only conductive charging data are currently included in this repository. This EVSE characterization was performed over a range of DC output currents and voltages, covering both nominal and off-nominal test conditions. This EVSE characterization dataset includes high-power charging data from two types of 350-kW-capable EVSE using liquid-cooled Combined Charging System-1 (CCS1, North American version) cables and connectors. To protect confidentiality, all EVSE metadata are anonymized, and the publicly released datasets are metered at 10-Hz frequency.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗