SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “localization”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

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

At least 433 records · Page 24

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2021

LiDAR-Based Map Relative Localization Performance Analysis for Landing on Europa

This paper presents preliminary simulations andanalyses done to assess the feasibility of performing Map RelativeLocalization (MRL) with the Europa Lander LiDAR beingdeveloped for the Europa Lander Pre-Phase A concept. MapRelative Localization is the process of determining the horizontalposition of a lander with respect to an onboard, a-priori map,by comparing the map to sensor observations of the terrain duringdeorbit, descent, and landing (DDL). Although kilometerscaleposition knowledge is commonly available during DDL,landing in hazard-rich environments requires position errors of100 m or less. Prior knowledge in the case of Europa Landerwill be visual and topographic maps collected by the upcomingEuropa Clipper mission. The Mars 2020 Lander Vision System(LVS) uses images from a camera to localize with respect tovisual maps. This technology, as well as a 3D imaging LiDAR indevelopment for hazard detection, is currently baselined for theEuropa Lander Pre-Phase A concept. This paper investigatesthe potential use of the hazard detection LiDAR to performMRL with respect to a 3D digital elevation model (DEM)provided by the Europa Clipper mission, as an alternative orbackup solution to passive optical MRL. Compared to passiveoptical MRL, one advantage of LiDAR-based localization isthat it is insensitive to lighting conditions, potentially relaxingrequirements on synchronizing map acquisition and landingtime of day. To analyze LiDAR based MRL performance,six representative terrains are synthetically up-sampled fromGalileo-derived maps of Europa to a resolution of 0.5 m/pxand covering an area of 4 km by 4 km. These maps are usedas ground-truth to generate simulated noisy a-priori onboardtopographic maps expected from Europa Clipper as well assimulated LiDAR DEMs generated at an altitude of 5 km duringEuropa Lander DDL. The simulated LiDAR DEM is matchedagainst the simulated map via 2D normalized cross-correlation,exploiting the accurately known spacecraft attitude to avoidthe need for more computationally intensive algorithms such asIterative Closest Point (ICP). Two sources of measurement errorare identified for analysis: 1) additive Gaussian noise in therange measurements from the Europa Lander LiDAR and theEuropa Clipper derived maps and 2) errors in the LiDAR DEMinduced by errors in the Europa Lander state estimate which isused to de-warp the LiDAR scan data into a DEM format. Weassess the effect of each of these types of errors independently onmatching performance as well as the overall performance whenall types of error are introduced. Additionally, we present theresult of a sensitivity study to terrain frequency content.

Trawny, Nikolas↗

NASA NTRS2021

Spring Dust in Western North America and its Interannual Variability – Understanding the Role of Local and Transported Dust

Mineral dust over western North America is an important aerosol type contributing up to one half of surface aerosol concentrations in spring. In the present study, we use data from in-situ and remote-sensing observations and the NASA Unified WRF (NU-WRF) model to investigate the sources and interannual variations of the springtime fine-mode dust over western North America. The horizontal distribution, seasonality, and interannual variability of the springtime dust over the region are characterized with observations of fine dust concentrations at the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) sites and dust optical depth (DOD) from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) measurements. We have conducted detailed modeling and analysis for April in selected years of 2005, 2008, and 2009, to understand the causes of interannual variabilities of the springtime dust with model experiments that separate the dust generated from local deserts with that transported across the Pacific Ocean. The results suggest that although several permanent deserts and semi-arid regions in the western North America are the major source of surface fine dust concentrations in the immediate vicinity, long-range transpacific transported dust is a dominant dust source in springtime, especially over the coastal regions and areas remote from the local deserts. Interannual variability of fine dust over western North America is explained with both local dust emission and long-range transported dust.

North America spring dust↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Localizing Earth Science: The NASA DEVELOP Model of Community Science & Engagement

NASA’s DEVELOP Program conducts rapid feasibility studies that apply Earth observations to address community priorities and needs and enable informed decision making. Part of NASA’s Applied Sciences’ Capacity Building Program, DEVELOP builds skills in both participants (students, recent graduates, and early/transitioning career professionals) who conduct projects on small teams, and partner organizations (state and local governments, federal agencies, non-profit and for-profit organizations, and international organizations) that work closely with DEVELOP to design the project. While only a subset of DEVELOP partner organizations are local municipalities or community-led non-profits, the DEVELOP model is an effective engagement tool and often used by NASA as an introduction for communities to engage in Earth science research and familiarization with satellite remote sensing. This presentation will highlight the DEVELOP model of co-production and community collaboration, lessons learned in partnering with local communities, and evaluation activities that look at the program’s reach and efforts.

Robert Cecil Byles↗

NASA NTRS2019

Local frustration around enzyme active sites

Conflicting biological goals often meet in the specification of protein sequences for structure and function. Overall, strong energetic conflicts are minimized in folded native states according to the principle of minimal frustration, so that a sequence can spontaneously fold, but local violations of this principle open up the possibility to encode the complex energy landscapes that are required for active biological functions. We survey the local energetic frustration patterns of all protein enzymes with known structures and experimentally annotated catalytic residues. In agreement with previous hypotheses, the catalytic sites themselves are often highly frustrated regardless of the protein oligomeric state, overall topology, and enzymatic class. At the same time a secondary shell of more weakly frustrated interactions surrounds the catalytic site itself. We evaluate the conservation of these energetic signatures in various family members of major enzyme classes, showing that local frustration is evolutionarily more conserved than the primary structure itself.

Maria I. Freiberger↗

NASA NTRS2019

Using Gaia Data 2 to Constrain Local Dark Matter Density and Thin Dark Disk

We use stellar kinematics from the latest Gaia data release (DR2) to measure the local dark matter (DM) density ρDM in a heliocentric cylinder of radius R = 150 pc and half-height z = 200 pc. We also explore the prospect of using our analysis to estimate the DM density in local substructure by setting constraints on the surface density and scale height of a thin dark disk aligned with the baryonic disk and formed due to dissipative dark matter self-interactions. Performing the statistical analysis within a Bayesian framework for three types of tracers, we obtain ρDM = 0.016 ± 0.010 Mꙩ/p c 3 for A stars; early G stars give a similar result, while F stars yield a significantly higher value. For a thin dark disk, A stars set the strongest constraint: excluding surface densities (5–12) Mꙩ/pc 2 for scale heights below 100 pc with 95% confidence. The upper bound of this constraint implies . 1% of the Milky Way DM mass is present in a dissipative dark sector. Comparing our results with those derived using Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) data, we find that the uncertainty in our measurements of the local DM content is dominated by systematic errors that arise from assumptions of our dynamical analysis in the low z region. Furthermore, there will only be a marginal reduction in these uncertainties with more data in the Gaia era. We comment on the robustness of our method and discuss potential improvements for future work.

dark matter theory↗

NASA NTRS2022

On-board Absolute Localization Based on Orbital Imagery for a Future Mars Science Helicopter

Future Mars Rotorcraft require advanced navigationcapabilities to enable all terrain access over long distance flightsthat are executed fully autonomously. A critical component toenable precision navigation during long traverses is the abilityto perform on-board absolute localization to eliminate drift inposition estimates of the on-board odometry algorithm. Inthis paper, we present an approach for on-board map-basedlocalization to provide global reference position based on orbitalor aerial image maps. Our approach builds on a vision-basedlocalization method to localize against a map derived fromHiRISE image products – an ortho-projected image (orthoimage) and a corresponding digital elevation map. The mapis pre-computed using a feature-based approach. Features arestored with their 3D world coordinates, and a descriptor to codethe local image intensity information in the vicinity of the featurelocation. An on-board matching algorithm uses this informationto match visual features in a query image acquired during flight,guided by a pose prior from the on-board range-visual-inertialstate estimator (Range-VIO). Valid matches are then used bya perspective-n-point (PnP) algorithm to estimate the absolutepose of the vehicle in a global frame. We demonstrate andevaluate our approach on simulated data, and data from UASflights.

Balaram, J. Bob↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The NASA DEVELOP Model of Community Science & Engagement: Localizing Earth Science Information

The NASA DEVELOP Program conducts 10 week feasibility studies that apply Earth observation data to address community priorities and support informed decision making. Part of NASA’s Earth Action Capacity Building Program, DEVELOP builds skills in both participants ( recent graduates, and early/transitioning career professionals), who work on small interdisciplinary project teams, and partner organizations (state and local governments, federal agencies, non profit and for profit organizations, universities, and international organizations) that work closely with DEVELOP to design the project. Projects address a wide variety of environmental issues, such as disaster risk and resilience, air pollution, and the impact of urban development, with a growing number of projects exploring how satellite data can help inform decision making around environmental injustices. A subset of DEVELOP partner organizations are local municipalities or community led non profits, with the co production model serving as an effective engagement tool and an introduction for communities to engage in Earth science research and become familiar with satellite remote sensing. This presentation will highlight the DEVELOP co production model, community project use cases, and lessons learned in partnering with local communities.

Michael Pazmino↗

NASA NTRS2024

Analytical Simulation of Effects of Local Mechanisms and Microstructure on Creep Response of Unidirectional Ceramic Matrix Composites

A micromechanics-based method has been developed to analyze the creep response of uncoated ceramic matrix minicomposites. Although the global stress level at which the creep response is analyzed is lower than the composite proportional limit, local stresses are assumed to be high enough that localized damage is present in the composite in the form of matrix microcracks. To model the composite creep response, including the effects of matrix cracking, a fiber shear lag-based methodology is employed. In this approach, stresses are assumed to vary in the fiber as a function of time and distance from the crack plane. The varying stresses are then used to compute the overall creep strain for the composite. Various assumptions regarding the level of matrix microcracking in the composite and the level of creep in the fiber and matrix in various portions of the composite unit cell are also examined. The creep response of the fiber is modeled using a linear Burgers model. The model is applied to a SiCf/SiC unidirectional minicomposite system. The computed creep results are compared to experimentally obtained values. The effects of the local fiber volume fraction on the overall creep response of the composite are also studied. This work will allow increased understanding of the key material damage mechanisms and load sharing that take place during creep conditions and can be expanded to provide improved analysis methods for full macrocomposites.

Micromechanics↗

NASA NTRS2023

Direct Observation of Electron Temperature Anisotropy Localized to One Separatrix during Electron-Only Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Anisotropic electron heating, Te∥/Te⊥ > 1 (relative to the local magnetic field) during electron-only magnetic reconnection with a large guide field is directly measured in a laboratory plasma through multi-dimensional incoherent Thomson scattering measurements of the electron velocity distribution function. The preferentially parallel electron heating is localized to one separatrix in the reconnection plane and anisotropies of 1.5 are observed. The localization of the heating to one separatrix and the anisotropy are reproduced with a 2D particle-in-cell simulation. The characteristics of the anisotropic heating are consistent with predictions for electron energization by the parallel reconnection electric field under strong guide field. The effective electron temperature is found to increase throughout the outflow region, a possible indication of the effects of collisions and the fully 3D nature of magnetic reconnection in the experiment.

Peiyun Shi↗

NASA NTRS2024

Analytical Simulation of the Effects of Local Mechanisms and Microstructure on the Creep Response of Unidirectional Ceramic Matrix Composites

A micromechanics-based method has been developed to analyze the creep response of uncoated ceramic matrix minicomposites. Although the global stress level at which the creep response is analyzed is lower than the composite proportional limit, local stresses are assumed to be high enough that localized damage is present in the composite in the form of matrix microcracks. To model the composite creep response including the effects of matrix cracking, a fiber shear lag-based methodology is employed. In this approach, stresses are assumed to vary in the fiber as a function of time and distance from the crack plane. The varying stresses are then used to compute the overall creep strain for the composite. Various assumptions regarding the level of matrix microcracking in the composite, and the level of creep in the fiber and matrix in various portions of the composite unit cell, are also examined. The creep response of the fiber is modeled using a linear Burgers model. The model is applied to a SiC f /SiC unidirectional minicomposite system. The computed creep results are compared to experimentally obtained values. The effects of the local fiber volume fraction on the overall creep response of the composite are also studied. This work will allow increased understanding of the key material damage mechanisms and load sharing that take place during creep conditions and can be expanded to provide improved analysis methods for full macrocomposites.

Micromechanics↗

DOE OSTI2025

Effect of local environment on Ly$Î±$ line profile in DESI/ODIN LAEs

Lyman-Alpha Emitters (LAEs) are star-forming galaxies with significant Ly$Î±$ emission and are often used as tracers of large-scale structure at high redshift. We explore the relationship between the Ly$Î±$ line profile and environmental density with spectroscopy from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) of LAEs selected with narrow-band photometry through the One-hundred-deg$^2$ DECam Imaging in Narrowbands (ODIN) survey. We use LAE surface density maps in the N419 (z $\sim$ 2.45) and N501 (z $\sim$ 3.12) narrow bands to probe the relationship between local environmental density and the Ly$Î±$ line profile. In both narrow bands, we stack the LAE spectra in bins of environmental density and inside and outside of protocluster regions. The N501 data shows $\sim$15% higher Ly$Î±$ line luminosity for galaxies in protoclusters, suggesting increased star formation in these regions. However, the line luminosity is not appreciably greater in protocluster galaxies in the N419 band, suggesting a potential redshift evolution of this effect. The shape of the line profile itself does not vary with environmental density, suggesting that line shape changes are caused by local effects independent of a galaxy's environment. These data indicate a potential relationship between LAE local environmental density, ionized gas distribution, and Ly$Î±$ line luminosity.

Uzsoy, Ana M. [Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Deconstructing Chirality: Probing Local and Nonlocal Effects in Azobenzene Derivatives with X-ray Circular Dichroism

Resolving molecular chirality on the atomic scale remains a critical challenge in chemistry. Conventional Optical Circular Dichroism spectroscopy often overlooks subtle and localized structural features. Here, we computationally investigate site-specific X-ray circular dichroism (XCD) across a series of trans-azobenzene derivatives to deconstruct and interpret chiroptical signals at the atomic level. Our modeling reveals that XCD is capable of distinguishing dichroic contributions arising from both a local chiral center and a global molecular twist, revealing their intricate interplay and potential for constructive or destructive interference. We show that sterically induced global distortions can dominate the XCD signal in some cases, even suppressing the response from the chiral center itself. This insight suggests a new molecular design principle for tuning the chiroptical activity, which we extend by proposing strategies to achieve unidirectional photoisomerization through steric gearing. Altogether, this work establishes a quantitative framework for engineering chiroptical responses, laying the foundation for the design of functional chiral systems utilizing principles of unidirectional molecular motor-like conformational dynamics.

X-ray spectroscopy↗

DOE OSTI2024

Exploratory Studies of Mechanical Properties, Residual Stress, and Grain Evolution at the Local Regions near Pores in Additively Manufactured Metals

Directed energy deposition (DED) is gaining widespread acceptance in various industrial applications since its unique manufacturing features allow the DED to print metallic parts with very complex geometries. However, DED inevitably generates a lot of internal pores which can limit the widespread applications of the DED technique. The current studies on DED porosity are mostly focused on analyzing pores’ bulk-scale influences on mechanical properties and performances. Since DED pores have a micro-scale existence, with dimensions ranging from a few microns to several hundred microns, it is fundamental to explore the pores’ influences on the micro-scale, including local mechanical properties, residual stress, and grains near pores. However, this important research direction has been neglected. The objective of this work is to fill the above gap in DED porosity research and acquire a fundamental understanding of the role of porosity on a microscopic scale. The authors used nanoindentation approaches to investigate internal pores’ effects on mechanical properties and residual stress in local regions surrounding the pores. In addition, the grains near pores were observed through EBSD, and simulated with the Kinetic Monte Carlo model. The research findings can be provided for DED researchers and industrial practitioners as technical guidance. Most importantly, the research results can work as a good reference for tracing the source of bulk-scale mechanical performances and properties of DED parts with internal pores.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2023

Thermal Disorder‐Induced Strain and Carrier Localization Activate Reverse Halide Segregation

The reversal of halide ions is studied under various conditions. However, the underlying mechanism of heat-induced reversal remains unclear. This work finds that dynamic disorder-induced localization of self-trapped polarons and thermal disorder-induced strain (TDIS) can be co-acting drivers of reverse segregation. Localization of polarons results in an order of magnitude decrease in excess carrier density (polaron population), causing a reduced impact of the light-induced strain (LIS – responsible for segregation) on the perovskite framework. Meanwhile, exposing the lattice to TDIS exceeding the LIS can eliminate the photoexcitation-induced strain gradient, as thermal fluctuations of the lattice can mask the LIS strain. Under continuous 0.1 W cm -2 illumination (upon segregation), the strain disorder is estimated to be 0.14%, while at 80 °C under dark conditions, the strain is 0.23%. However, in situ heating of the segregated film to 80 °C under continuous illumination (upon reversal) increases the total strain disorder to 0.25%, where TDIS is likely to have a dominant contribution. Therefore, the contribution of entropy to the system's free energy is likely to dominate, respectively. Various temperature-dependent in situ measurements and simulations further support the results. These findings highlight the importance of strain homogenization for designing stable perovskites under real-world operating conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2026

Commuting embeddings for parallel strategies in non-local games

Non-local games provide a versatile framework for probing quantum correlations and for benchmarking the power of entanglement. In finite dimensions, the standard method for playing several games in parallel requires a tensor product of the local Hilbert spaces, which scales additively in the number of qubits. In this work, we show that this additive cost can be reduced by exploiting algebraic embeddings. We introduce two forms of compressions. First, when a referee selects one game from a finite collection of games at random, the game quantum strategy can be implemented using a maximally entangled state of dimension equal to the largest individual game, thereby eliminating the need for repeated state preparations. Second, we establish conditions under which several games can be played simultaneously in parallel on fewer qubits than the tensor product baseline. These conditions are expressed in terms of commuting embeddings of the game algebras. Moreover, we provide a constructive framework for building such embeddings. Using tools from Lie theory, we show that aligning the various game algebras into a common Cartan decomposition enables such a qubit reduction. Beyond the theoretical contribution, our framework casts NLGs as algebraic primitives for distributed and resource-constrained quantum computations and suggested NLGs as a comparable device-independent dimension witness.

Commuting embeddings↗

DOE OSTI2024

Chapter 7: Learning Stable Local Volt/Var Controllers in Distribution Grids

This chapter describes a framework to synthesize provably stable local Volt/Var controllers for distributed energy resources (DERs) in power distribution grids (DGs). The goal is to control the reactive power injections of DERs to improve the system performance as quantified by a generic optimal reactive power flow (ORPF) problem. To achieve this, we jointly design for each DER the control function, which prescribes the reactive power update rule, and the equilibrium function, which approximates the ORPF solutions from local measurements of voltages and powers. We provide conditions on the equilibrium functions and the control parameters ensuring the stability of the closed-loop system. In particular, we discuss the trade-offs between each set of conditions accounting for practical considerations, like fully exploiting the DERs' generation capabilities and reducing the optimality gap. These conditions are then translated into learning constraints on the neural networks' parameters that are enforced in the training phase. We validate our framework with numerical simulations on the IEEE 37-bus network and through a comparison with an optimized version of standard piece wise linear control rules.

closed-loop asymptotic stability↗

DOE OSTI2026

Time-dependent-bases with local CUR decomposition method for accelerating turbulent combustion simulations

Here, this study presents a novel reduced-order modeling framework, Time-Dependent Bases with Local CUR decomposition (TDB-L-CUR), designed to efficiently and accurately approximate the species transport equations in reacting flow simulations. The method extends the existing TDB-CUR approach for chemically reacting flows (Jung et al. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg. 437 (2025) 117758), which leverages matrix decomposition techniques to form a global-in-space, time-dependent low-dimensional manifold. While TDB-CUR performs well in homogeneous systems, it may be less well-suited to spatially heterogeneous systems such as turbulent flames, where higher-rank approximations are typically required. The proposed TDB-L-CUR framework introduces two methodological extensions to the baseline approach. First, it applies unsupervised clustering to partition the physical domain into distinct regions, enabling spatially localized manifold construction, thereby reducing the rank required for the reduced-order representation. Second, it incorporates a computational singular perturbation (CSP)-based scheme for identifying and penalizing fast species, allowing for spatio-temporally adaptive mitigation of chemical stiffness. The proposed framework is validated on a hierarchy of test cases, including a one-dimensional premixed flame, a two-dimensional nonpremixed ignition case with vortex interaction, and a three-dimensional turbulent premixed flame. TDB-L-CUR significantly improves accuracy over TDB-CUR while further reducing computational cost. The fully on-the-fly formulation of TDB-L-CUR (i.e., requiring no offline training or prior knowledge) makes it a robust and scalable tool for reduced-order modeling of reactive flows.

Local manifold↗

DOE OSTI2024

Hydrogen effects on the deformation and slip localization in a single crystal austenitic stainless steel

Hydrogen is known to embrittle austenitic stainless steels, which are widely used in high-pressure hydrogen storage and delivery systems, but the mechanisms that lead to such material degradation are still being elucidated. The current work investigates the deformation behavior of single crystal austenitic stainless steel 316L through combined uniaxial tensile testing, characterization and atomistic simulations. Thermally precharged hydrogen is shown to increase the critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) without previously reported deviations from Schmid’s law. Molecular dynamics simulations further expose the statistical nature of the hydrogen and vacancy contributions to the CRSS in the presence of alloying. Slip distribution quantification over large in-plane distances (> 1 mm), achieved via atomic force microscopy (AFM), highlights the role of hydrogen increasing the degree of slip localization in both single and multiple slip configurations. The most active slip bands accumulate significantly more deformation in hydrogen precharged specimens, with potential implications for damage nucleation. For $\langle$110$\rangle$ tensile loading, slip localization further enhances the activity of secondary slip, increases the density of geometrically necessary dislocations and leads to a distinct lattice rotation behavior compared to hydrogen-free specimens, as evidenced by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) maps. Finally, the results of this study provide a more comprehensive picture of the deformation aspect of hydrogen embrittlement in austenitic stainless steels.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗