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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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Digital image processing of bone - Problems and potentials

The development of a digital image processing system for bone histomorphometry and fluorescent marker monitoring is discussed. The system in question is capable of making measurements of UV or light microscope features on a video screen with either video or computer-generated images, and comprises a microscope, low-light-level video camera, video digitizer and display terminal, color monitor, and PDP 11/34 computer. Capabilities demonstrated in the analysis of an undecalcified rat tibia include the measurement of perimeter and total bone area, and the generation of microscope images, false color images, digitized images and contoured images for further analysis. Software development will be based on an existing software library, specifically the mini-VICAR system developed at JPL. It is noted that the potentials of the system in terms of speed and reliability far exceed any problems associated with hardware and software development.

Morey, E. R.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Parallel Multiscale Algorithms for Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics Simulations

Our goal is to develop software libraries and applications for astrophysical fluid dynamics simulations in multidimensions that will enable us to resolve the large spatial and temporal variations that inevitably arise due to gravity, fronts and microphysical phenomena. The software must run efficiently on parallel computers and be general enough to allow the incorporation of a wide variety of physics. Cosmological structure formation with realistic gas physics is the primary application driver in this work. Accurate simulations of e.g. galaxy formation require a spatial dynamic range (i.e., ratio of system scale to smallest resolved feature) of 104 or more in three dimensions in arbitrary topologies. We take this as our technical requirement. We have achieved, and in fact, surpassed these goals.

Norman, Michael L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Evaluation of Incremental Releases of ECS User Interfaces and the Development of HDF/HDF-EOS Tutorials

During the reporting period, the PI has continued to serve on numerous review panels, task forces, and committees with the goal of providing input and guidance for the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) program at NASA Headquarters and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). In addition, the PI has worked together with personnel at Simpson Weather Associates (SWA) to help create an on-line HDF/HDF-EOS tutorial for beginning and non-expert users of both the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) and HDF-EOS data format and software libraries. Finally, the PI has worked together with personnel at SWA and the Information Technology and Systems Center (ITSC) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) on a feasibility study regarding the use of data mining software to ascertain features from the gridded output from numerical meteorological forecast models. A summary of these activities is provided.

Emmitt, G. D.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Analyzing Dynamics of Cooperating Spacecraft

A software library has been developed to enable high-fidelity computational simulation of the dynamics of multiple spacecraft distributed over a region of outer space and acting with a common purpose. All of the modeling capabilities afforded by this software are available independently in other, separate software systems, but have not previously been brought together in a single system. A user can choose among several dynamical models, many high-fidelity environment models, and several numerical-integration schemes. The user can select whether to use models that assume weak coupling between spacecraft, or strong coupling in the case of feedback control or tethering of spacecraft to each other. For weak coupling, spacecraft orbits are propagated independently, and are synchronized in time by controlling the step size of the integration. For strong coupling, the orbits are integrated simultaneously. Among the integration schemes that the user can choose are Runge-Kutta Verner, Prince-Dormand, Adams-Bashforth-Moulton, and Bulirsh- Stoer. Comparisons of performance are included for both the weak- and strongcoupling dynamical models for all of the numerical integrators.

Hughes, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRS2012

LEGION: Lightweight Expandable Group of Independently Operating Nodes

LEGION is a lightweight C-language software library that enables distributed asynchronous data processing with a loosely coupled set of compute nodes. Loosely coupled means that a node can offer itself in service to a larger task at any time and can withdraw itself from service at any time, provided it is not actively engaged in an assignment. The main program, i.e., the one attempting to solve the larger task, does not need to know up front which nodes will be available, how many nodes will be available, or at what times the nodes will be available, which is normally the case in a "volunteer computing" framework. The LEGION software accomplishes its goals by providing message-based, inter-process communication similar to MPI (message passing interface), but without the tight coupling requirements. The software is lightweight and easy to install as it is written in standard C with no exotic library dependencies. LEGION has been demonstrated in a challenging planetary science application in which a machine learning system is used in closed-loop fashion to efficiently explore the input parameter space of a complex numerical simulation. The machine learning system decides which jobs to run through the simulator; then, through LEGION calls, the system farms those jobs out to a collection of compute nodes, retrieves the job results as they become available, and updates a predictive model of how the simulator maps inputs to outputs. The machine learning system decides which new set of jobs would be most informative to run given the results so far; this basic loop is repeated until sufficient insight into the physical system modeled by the simulator is obtained.

Burl, Michael C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

NSSDC provides network access to key data via NDADS

The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is making a growing fraction of its most customer-desirable data electronically accessible via both the local and wide area networks. NSSDC is witnessing a great increase in its data dissemination owing to this network accessibility. To provide its customers the best data accessibility, the NSSDC makes data available from a nearline, mass storage system, the NSSDC Data Archive and Dissemination Service (NDADS). The NDADS, the initial version was made available in January 1992, is a customized system of hardware and software that provides users access to the nearline data via ANONYMOUS FTP, an e-mail interface (ARMS), and a C-based software library. In January 1992, the NDADS registered 416 requests for 1,957 files. By December of 1994, NDADS had been populated with 800 gigabytes of electronically accessible data and had registered 1458 requests for 20,887 files. In this report we describe the NDADS system, both hardware and software. Later in the report, we discuss some of the lessons that were learned as a result of operating NDADS, particularly in the area of ingest and dissemination.

Behnke, Jeanne↗
NASA NTRS2008

Displaying Composite and Archived Soundings in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System

In a previous task, the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) developed spatial and temporal climatologies of lightning occurrence based on eight atmospheric flow regimes. The AMU created climatological, or composite, soundings of wind speed and direction, temperature, and dew point temperature at four rawinsonde observation stations at Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, for each of the eight flow regimes. The composite soundings were delivered to the National Weather Service (NWS) Melbourne (MLB) office for display using the National version of the Skew-T Hodograph analysis and Research Program (NSHARP) software program. The NWS MLB requested the AMU make the composite soundings available for display in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), so they could be overlaid on current observed soundings. This will allow the forecasters to compare the current state of the atmosphere with climatology. This presentation describes how the AMU converted the composite soundings from NSHARP Archive format to Network Common Data Form (NetCDF) format, so that the soundings could be displayed in AWl PS. The NetCDF is a set of data formats, programming interfaces, and software libraries used to read and write scientific data files. In AWIPS, each meteorological data type, such as soundings or surface observations, has a unique NetCDF format. Each format is described by a NetCDF template file. Although NetCDF files are in binary format, they can be converted to a text format called network Common data form Description Language (CDL). A software utility called ncgen is used to create a NetCDF file from a CDL file, while the ncdump utility is used to create a CDL file from a NetCDF file. An AWIPS receives soundings in Binary Universal Form for the Representation of Meteorological data (BUFR) format (http://dss.ucar.edu/docs/formats/bufr/), and then decodes them into NetCDF format. Only two sounding files are generated in AWIPS per day. One file contains all of the soundings received worldwide between 0000 UTC and 1200 UTC, and the other includes all soundings between 1200 UTC and 0000 UTC. In order to add the composite soundings into AWIPS, a procedure was created to configure, or localize, AWIPS. This involved modifying and creating several configuration text files. A unique fourcharacter site identifier was created for each of the 32 soundings so each could be viewed separately. The first three characters were based on the site identifier of the observed sounding, while the last character was based on the flow regime. While researching the localization process for soundings, the AMU discovered a method of archiving soundings so old soundings would not get purged automatically by AWl PS. This method could provide an alternative way of localizing AWl PS for composite soundings. In addition, this would allow forecasters to use archived soundings in AWIPS for case studies. A test sounding file in NetCDF format was written in order to verify the correct format for soundings in AWIPS. After the file was viewed successfully in AWIPS, the AMU wrote a software program in the Tool Command Language/Tool Kit (Tcl/Tk) language to convert the 32 composite soundings from NSHARP Archive to CDL format. The ncgen utility was then used to convert the CDL file to a NetCDF file. The NetCDF file could then be read and displayed in AWIPS.

Barrett, Joe H., III↗
NASA NTRS2009

Flightspeed Integral Image Analysis Toolkit

The Flightspeed Integral Image Analysis Toolkit (FIIAT) is a C library that provides image analysis functions in a single, portable package. It provides basic low-level filtering, texture analysis, and subwindow descriptor for applications dealing with image interpretation and object recognition. Designed with spaceflight in mind, it addresses: Ease of integration (minimal external dependencies) Fast, real-time operation using integer arithmetic where possible (useful for platforms lacking a dedicated floatingpoint processor) Written entirely in C (easily modified) Mostly static memory allocation 8-bit image data The basic goal of the FIIAT library is to compute meaningful numerical descriptors for images or rectangular image regions. These n-vectors can then be used directly for novelty detection or pattern recognition, or as a feature space for higher-level pattern recognition tasks. The library provides routines for leveraging training data to derive descriptors that are most useful for a specific data set. Its runtime algorithms exploit a structure known as the "integral image." This is a caching method that permits fast summation of values within rectangular regions of an image. This integral frame facilitates a wide range of fast image-processing functions. This toolkit has applicability to a wide range of autonomous image analysis tasks in the space-flight domain, including novelty detection, object and scene classification, target detection for autonomous instrument placement, and science analysis of geomorphology. It makes real-time texture and pattern recognition possible for platforms with severe computational restraints. The software provides an order of magnitude speed increase over alternative software libraries currently in use by the research community. FIIAT can commercially support intelligent video cameras used in intelligent surveillance. It is also useful for object recognition by robots or other autonomous vehicles

Thompson, David R.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Pattern Matcher for Trees Constructed from Lists

A software library has been developed that takes a high-level description of a pattern to be satisfied and applies it to a target. If the two match, it returns success; otherwise, it indicates a failure. The target is semantically a tree that is constructed from elements of terminal and non-terminal nodes represented through lists and symbols. Additionally, functionality is provided for finding the element in a set that satisfies a given pattern and doing a tree search, finding all occurrences of leaf nodes that match a given pattern. This process is valuable because it is a new algorithmic approach that significantly improves the productivity of the programmers and has the potential of making their resulting code more efficient by the introduction of a novel semantic representation language. This software has been used in many applications delivered to NASA and private industry, and the cost savings that have resulted from it are significant.

James, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1978

Extending reliability: Transformational tailoring of abstract mathematical software

Methods for automatically constructing concrete executable programs from an abstract prototype program by applying transformations based on theorems of matrix algebra and on algebraic properties of programming languages are described. These methods provide a user with highly efficient programs tailored to his environment while maintaining the advantages of high reliability and low cost associated with routines from the best mathematical software libraries. Also, the transformations which produce such programs represent a formal codification of rules for writing linear algebra programs.

Boyle, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A laboratory investigation of the variability of cloud reflected radiance fields

A method to determine the radiative properties of complex cloud fields was developed. A Cloud field optical simulator (CFOS) was constructed to simulate the interaction of cloud fields with visible radiation. The CFOS was verified by comparing experimental results from it with calculations performed with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. A software library was developed to process, reduce, and display CFOS data. The CFSOS was utilized to study the reflected radiane patterns from simulated cloud fields.

Mckee, T. B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

SAGA: A project to automate the management of software production systems

The Software Automation, Generation and Administration (SAGA) project is investigating the design and construction of practical software engineering environments for developing and maintaining aerospace systems and applications software. The research includes the practical organization of the software lifecycle, configuration management, software requirements specifications, executable specifications, design methodologies, programming, verification, validation and testing, version control, maintenance, the reuse of software, software libraries, documentation, and automated management.

Campbell, Roy H.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Application of optimization techniques to spacecaft fuel usage minimization in deep space navigation

Mathematical analysis of the minimization of spacecraft fuel usage for both impulsive and finite motor burns is presented. A high precision integrated trajectory search program (SEPV) and several optimization software libraries are used to solve minimum fuel usage problems. The SEPV program has the capacity to vary either the initial spacecraft state or the finite burn parameters to acquire a specified set of target values. Several test examples for the Voyager 2 Uranus Encounter and the Galileo Jupiter Orbiter are presented to show that spacecraft fuel consumption can be minimized in targeting maneuver strategies. The fuel savings achieved by the optimum solution can be significant.

Wang, Tseng-Chan↗
NASA NTRS1988

Survey of optimization techniques for nonlinear spacecraft trajectory searches

Mathematical analysis of the optimal search of a nonlinear spacecraft trajectory to arrive at a set of desired targets is presented. A high precision integrated trajectory program and several optimization software libraries are used to search for a converged nonlinear spacecraft trajectory. Several examples for the Galileo Jupiter Orbiter and the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX) are presented that illustrate a variety of the optimization methods used in nonlinear spacecraft trajectory searches.

Wang, Tseng-Chan↗
NASA NTRS1989

Automated reuseable components system study results

The Automated Reusable Components System (ARCS) was developed under a Phase 1 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract for the U.S. Army CECOM. The objectives of the ARCS program were: (1) to investigate issues associated with automated reuse of software components, identify alternative approaches, and select promising technologies, and (2) to develop tools that support component classification and retrieval. The approach followed was to research emerging techniques and experimental applications associated with reusable software libraries, to investigate the more mature information retrieval technologies for applicability, and to investigate the applicability of specialized technologies to improve the effectiveness of a reusable component library. Various classification schemes and retrieval techniques were identified and evaluated for potential application in an automated library system for reusable components. Strategies for library organization and management, component submittal and storage, and component search and retrieval were developed. A prototype ARCS was built to demonstrate the feasibility of automating the reuse process. The prototype was created using a subset of the classification and retrieval techniques that were investigated. The demonstration system was exercised and evaluated using reusable Ada components selected from the public domain. A requirements specification for a production-quality ARCS was also developed.

Gilroy, Kathy↗
NASA NTRS1989

Direct adaptive control of a PUMA 560 industrial robot

The implementation and experimental validation of a new direct adaptive control scheme on a PUMA 560 industrial robot is described. The testbed facility consists of a Unimation PUMA 560 six-jointed robot and controller, and a DEC MicroVAX II computer which hosts the Robot Control C Library software. The control algorithm is implemented on the MicroVAX which acts as a digital controller for the PUMA robot, and the Unimation controller is effectively bypassed and used merely as an I/O device to interface the MicroVAX to the joint motors. The control algorithm for each robot joint consists of an auxiliary signal generated by a constant-gain Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) controller, and an adaptive position-velocity (PD) feedback controller with adjustable gains. The adaptive independent joint controllers compensate for the inter-joint couplings and achieve accurate trajectory tracking without the need for the complex dynamic model and parameter values of the robot. Extensive experimental results on PUMA joint control are presented to confirm the feasibility of the proposed scheme, in spite of strong interactions between joint motions. Experimental results validate the capabilities of the proposed control scheme. The control scheme is extremely simple and computationally very fast for concurrent processing with high sampling rates.

Seraji, Homayoun↗
NASA NTRS1991

Advanced data acquisition and display techniques for laser velocimetry

The Basic Aerodynamics Research Tunnel (BART) has been equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for acquiring the data needed for code validation. This paper describes the three-component LDV and the workstation-based data-acquisition system (DAS) which has been developed for the BART. The DAS allows the use of automation and the quick integration of advanced instrumentation, while minimizing the software development time required between investigations. The paper also includes a description of a graphics software library developed to support the windowing environment of the DAS. The real-time displays generated using the graphics library help the researcher ensure the test is proceeding properly. The graphics library also supports the requirements of posttest data analysis. The use of the DAS and graphics libraries is illustrated by presenting examples of the real-time and postprocessing display graphics for LDV investigations.

Kjelgaard, Scott O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Advanced data visualization and sensor fusion: Conversion of techniques from medical imaging to Earth science

Hughes Aircraft Company and the University of Chicago propose to transfer existing medical imaging registration algorithms to the area of multi-sensor data fusion. The University of Chicago's algorithms have been successfully demonstrated to provide pixel by pixel comparison capability for medical sensors with different characteristics. The research will attempt to fuse GOES, AVHRR, and SSM/I sensor data which will benefit a wide range of researchers. The algorithms will utilize data visualization and algorithm development tools created by Hughes in its EOSDIS prototyping. This will maximize the work on the fusion algorithms since support software (e.g. input/output routines) will already exist. The research will produce a portable software library with documentation for use by other researchers.

Savage, Richard C.↗