Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “avoidance”

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 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

Microburst avoidance simulation tests

Implementation issues for uplinked microburst alerts are presented in the form of view-graphs. The following topics are covered: evaluation, transmission, and presentation of ground-based Doppler weather radar derived information through a limited bandwidth digital data link; electronic cockpit presentation of uplinked wind shear alerts (pilot opinion survey, part-task simulation experiment); presentation modes (verbal, textual, and graphical); and ground evaluation of ground-measures wind shear data.

Hansman, John↗
NASA NTRS1990

Sun-earth libration point trajectories that avoid the solar exclusion zone

Three-dimensional orbits in the restricted three-body problem have been the subject of a number of recent studies. One type of three-dimensional, quasi-periodic orbit that emanates from the general vicinity of the collinear libration points is known as a 'Lissajous' trajectory. Future mission plans include trajectories near the interior libration point. (L1) in the sun-earth system and may consider Lissajous orbits as part of the trajectory design. Such orbits may be constrained, however, to remain beyond the region of the solar disk as viewed from earth. This effort involves the numerical determination of Lissajous trajectories of arbitrary, but predetermined, length that never violate such a constraint as a result of maneuvers directed, in general, perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.

Howell, K. C.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Flight data acquisition methodology for validation of passive ranging algorithms for obstacle avoidance

An account is given of the methodology used to develop a data base containing low altitude imagery, augmented with the rotorcraft and sensor parameters required for passive-range estimation. The bata base is predicated on flight test data encompassing imagery, rotorcraft and sensor parameters, and ground truth range measurements. Data preparation was conducted by means of a novel technique for obtaining the sensor-calibration parameters. The data-base thus obtained will facilitate further development of computer vision-based obstacle-detection and passive range-estimation algorithms, as well as furnish a benchmark for verification of range estimates against ground-truth estimates.

Smith, Phillip N.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Collision avoidance of a redundant manipulator operating through a window

The problem of collision-free operation of a redundant robot manipulator through a window is addressed. The window is modeled by a polygon with the sides representing the edges of the window. A performance criterion is defined to maximize the shortest distances between the arm link axes and the edges of the window. An efficient gradient projection optimization scheme for the kinematic control of manipulators with multiple degrees of redundancy is developed and used. The effectiveness of this scheme and the validity of the performance criterion are verified through simulations of the seven-degree-of-freedom NASA Laboratory Telerobotic Manipulator (LTM), where controlling only the position of the end-effector provides three degrees of redundancy.

Zghal, H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Reflexive Avoidance Of Obstacles By Robots

Array of sensors at elbow of robotic manipulator detects obstacles. Outputs of sensors processed into synthetic "force field" around each obstacle. Algorithm controlling manipulator uses "force field" to maneuver manipulator arm around each obstacle.

Vold, Havard I.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Avoiding space robot collisions utilizing the NASA/GSFC tri-mode skin sensor

Sensor based robot motion planning research has primarily focused on mobile robots. Consider, however, the case of a robot manipulator expected to operate autonomously in a dynamic environment where unexpected collisions can occur with many parts of the robot. Only a sensor based system capable of generating collision free paths would be acceptable in such situations. Recently, work in this area has been reported in which a deterministic solution for 2DOF systems has been generated. The arm was sensitized with 'skin' of infra-red sensors. We have proposed a heuristic (potential field based) methodology for redundant robots with large DOF's. The key concepts are solving the path planning problem by cooperating global and local planning modules, the use of complete information from the sensors and partial (but appropriate) information from a world model, representation of objects with hyper-ellipsoids in the world model, and the use of variational planning. We intend to sensitize the robot arm with a 'skin' of capacitive proximity sensors. These sensors were developed at NASA, and are exceptionally suited for the space application. In the first part of the report, we discuss the development and modeling of the capacitive proximity sensor. In the second part we discuss the motion planning algorithm.

Prinz, F. B.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Software reliability through fault-avoidance and fault-tolerance

Accomplishments in the following research areas are summarized: structure based testing, reliability growth, and design testability with risk evaluation; reliability growth models and software risk management; and evaluation of consensus voting, consensus recovery block, and acceptance voting. Four papers generated during the reporting period are included as appendices.

Vouk, Mladen A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Rendezvous strategy impacts on CTV avionics design, system reliability requirements, and available collision avoidance maneuvers

Rockwell International is conducting an ongoing program to develop avionics architectures that provide high intrinsic value while meeting all mission objectives. Studies are being conducted to determine alternative configurations that have low life-cycle cost and minimum development risk, and that minimize launch delays while providing the reliability level to assure a successful mission. This effort is based on four decades of providing ballistic missile avionics to the United States Air Force and has focused on the requirements of the NASA Cargo Transfer Vehicle (CTV) program in 1991. During the development of architectural concepts it became apparent that rendezvous strategy issues have an impact on the architecture of the avionics system. This is in addition to the expected impact on propulsion and electrical power duration, flight profiles, and trajectory during approach.

Donovan, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Collision avoidance of a multiple degree of redundancy manipulator operating through a window

The problem of collision-free operation of a multiple-degree-of-redundancy manipulator operating through a window is addressed. An efficient gradient projection optimization scheme is presented for the kinematic control of manipulators with multiple degrees of redundancy. This scheme was developed for dextrous robotic and telerobotic applications in space station construction as well as in congested shop floor environment. A performance criterion is defined to maximize the shortest distances between the manipulator links and the edges of the window. Effectiveness of this scheme and the validity of the performance criterion are verified through simulations of the seven-degree-of-freedom NASA Laboratory Telerobotic Manipulator.

Zghal, H.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The use of CMAC neural architectures in obstacle avoidance

In this paper, CMAC neural architectures are used in conjunction with a hierarchical planning approach to find collision free paths over two dimensional analog valued obstacle fields. The method constructs a coarse resolution version of the original problem and then finds the corresponding coarse optimal path using multipass dynamic programming. CMAC artificial neural architectures are used to estimate the analog transition costs that dynamic programming requires. The coarse optimal path is then used as a baseline for the construction of a fine scale optimal path through the original obstacle array.

Peterson, James K.↗
NASA NTRS1939

A comparison of several tapered wings designed to avoid tip stalling

Optimum proportions of tapered wings were investigated by a method that involved a comparison of wings designed to be aerodynamically equal. The conditions of aerodynamic equality were equality in stalling speed, in induced drag at a low speed, and in the total drag at cruising speed. After the wings were adjusted to aerodynamic equivalence, the weights of the wings were calculated as a convenient method of indicating the optimum wing. The aerodynamic characteristics were calculated from wing theory and test data for the airfoil sections. Various combinations of washout, camber increase in the airfoil sections from the center to the tips, and sharp leading edges at the center were used to bring about the desired equivalence of maximum lift and center-stalling characteristics. In the calculation of the weights of the wings, a simple type of spar structure was assumed that permitted an integration across the span to determine the web and the flange weights. The covering and the remaining weight were taken in proportion to the wing area. The total weights showed the wings with camber and washout to have the lowest weights and indicated the minimum for wings with a taper ratio between 1/2 and 1/3.

Anderson, Raymond F↗
NASA NTRS1993

Performance of traffic-alert collision avoidance (TCAS) antennas in the presence of scatterers

The performance of two TCAS systems is studied in the presence of electromagnetic scatterers. TCAS is an aircraft mounted angle of arrival (AOA) system, which estimates the bearing of a signal transmitted from a mode-S transponder on another nearby aircraft (intruder). Two systems are studied: (1) Comparison of Relative Amplitude system (CRA), and (2) Spiral Phase Antenna (SPA). The CRA antenna receives the reply via four switched beams. The bearing is estimated by comparing the amplitudes of the received signal. The SPA is based on the phase interferometer, which utilizes the received phase via sum and difference beams. The AOA is computed by comparing the reply with similar values on a calibration table, which is generated by modeling the TCAS antenna on the bare fuselage of a Boeing 727-200. The antenna patterns for the TCAS are found via high frequency methods based on the Uniform Geometric theory of Diffraction (UTD). By minimizing the standard deviation of the bearing error in a specified angular sector, optimal locations for top and bottom mounted TCAS antennas are found on the Boeing 727-200, 737-300 and 747-200 airframes. It will be shown that the overall bearing errors of the amplitude system are consistently smaller than the spiral phase TCAS. The effect of two types of nearby scatterers--antennas, and engine inlets--is studied. The AT741 L-band blade, DMC60-1 VHF Communication antenna were chosen as being representative antenna interference examples. Models are derived for the blades via a moment method analysis followed by a least squares procedure to synthesize the scattering patterns. Studies were conducted to estimate the minimum separation between the two antennas for acceptable operation. It will be shown that the spiral phase TCAS is adversely affected by the presence of a blade antenna. The amplitude system does not suffer from this limitation, especially for the forward look angles which are of most interest here. A model to represent the inlet scattering is based on the multiple scattering method and UTD. The engine on top of the B727-200 fuselage is modeled by a terminated circular waveguide. Then, the effect of moving the antenna forward on the fuselage is studied. It is again shown that the performance of the amplitude system is superior.

Sampath, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Software reliability through fault-avoidance and fault-tolerance

Strategies and tools for the testing, risk assessment and risk control of dependable software-based systems were developed. Part of this project consists of studies to enable the transfer of technology to industry, for example the risk management techniques for safety-concious systems. Theoretical investigations of Boolean and Relational Operator (BRO) testing strategy were conducted for condition-based testing. The Basic Graph Generation and Analysis tool (BGG) was extended to fully incorporate several variants of the BRO metric. Single- and multi-phase risk, coverage and time-based models are being developed to provide additional theoretical and empirical basis for estimation of the reliability and availability of large, highly dependable software. A model for software process and risk management was developed. The use of cause-effect graphing for software specification and validation was investigated. Lastly, advanced software fault-tolerance models were studied to provide alternatives and improvements in situations where simple software fault-tolerance strategies break down.

Vouk, Mladen A.↗