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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

Verifying the Computational Integrity of Power Grid Controls with Zero-Knowledge Proof

The control of future power grids is migrating from a centralized to a distributed/decentralized scheme to enable a massive penetration of distributed energy resources with rising dependence on communication infrastructure. A common assumption made for most existing distributed/decentralized controllers is that local controllers would faithfully follow the designated controller dynamics based on the data received from communication channels. However, with increased probability of cyberattacks on Operational Technology infrastructure, such an assumption could be risky because proper execution of the controller dynamics is then built on trust in secure communication and computation. In this work, we leverage a cryptography technology known as zero-knowledge scalable transparent arguments of knowledge (zk-STARK) to verify the computational integrity of power grid control algorithms, with projected linear dynamics-based control schemes as the initial proof-of-concept test case. The method presented here converts the cybersecurity challenge of data integrity for grid control into a subset of computational integrity.

computational integrity↗

High-Performance Accelerator Modeling: Toward Improving Controls and Diagnostics for High-Brightness Beams in Experiment

One of the main charges of beam physics is to improve the overall beam quality delivered to experiments and applications, which is generally quantified by the beam brightness. High brightness beams have numerous applications, including x-ray free electron lasers and ultrafast electron diffraction (UED). To these ends, this thesis details efforts to use high-performance models --- high-fidelity models that execute quickly --- for controls and diagnostics. To demonstrate the generality of these techniques, this thesis focuses on three of the most successful photoinjector designs currently used worldwide: the UCLA/SLAC/BNL-type high-gradient S-band gun, the continuous-wave high-repetition rate VHF APEX gun and the L-band DESY-PITZ-type gun. Work will be shown from Pegasus (UCLA), HiRES (LBNL) and FAST (FNAL).Specifically, data-driven models for online virtual diagnostics are presented, in this case, in the context of UED at HiRES, leading to a temporal resolution improvement. Methods for improving the fidelity of physics-based models are discussed, with examples at HiRES, Pegasus and FAST. Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis is applied to match simulations, in the context of photocathode studies at HiRES and Pegasus. Lastly, the augmentation of online model-based predictions with model-independent optimization is explored in a fluctuating environment at Pegasus and HiRES. A central theme of this dissertation is working with parameter fluctuations when modeling an accelerator beamline. Long-term drifts and shot-to-shot jitter exist in every accelerator to a varying degree and therefore play an important role in every chapter of this dissertation. This thesis attempts to address the issues associated with these fluctuations when trying to develop faithful model representations of the system.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Reimagining Disassembly Interfaces With Visualization: Combining Instruction Tracing and Control Flow With DisViz

In applications where efficiency is critical, developers may examine their compiled binaries, seeking to understand how the compiler transformed their source code and what performance implications that transformation may have. This analysis is challenging due to the vast number of disassembled binary instructions and the many-to-many mappings between them and the source code. These problems are exacerbated as source code size increases, giving the compiler more freedom to map and disperse binary instructions across the disassembly space. Interfaces for disassembly typically display instructions as an unstructured listing or sacrifice the order of execution. Here, we design a new visual interface for disassembly code that combines execution order with control flow structure, enabling analysts to both trace through code and identify familiar aspects of the computation. Central to our approach is a novel layout of instructions grouped into basic blocks that displays a looping structure in an intuitive way. We add to this disassembly representation a unique block-based mini-map that leverages our layout and shows context across thousands of disassembly instructions. Finally, we embed our disassembly visualization in a web-based tool, DisViz, which adds dynamic linking with source code across the entire application. DizViz was developed in collaboration with program analysis experts following design study methodology and was validated through evaluation sessions with ten participants from four institutions. Participants successfully completed the evaluation tasks, hypothesized about compiler optimizations, and noted the utility of our new disassembly view. Our evaluation suggests that our new integrated view helps application developers in understanding and navigating disassembly code.

Computer science↗

Method and apparatus for virtualizing the micro-op cache

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for virtualizing a micro-operation cache are disclosed. A processor includes at least a micro-operation cache, a conventional cache subsystem, a decode unit, and control logic. The decode unit decodes instructions into micro-operations which are then stored in the micro-operation cache. The micro-operation cache has limited capacity for storing micro-operations. When new micro-operations are decoded from pending instructions, existing micro-operations are evicted from the micro-operation cache to make room for the new micro-operations. Rather than being discarded, micro-operations evicted from the micro-operation cache are stored in the conventional cache subsystem. This prevents the original instruction from having to be decoded again on subsequent executions. When the control logic determines that micro-operations for one or more fetched instructions are stored in either the micro-operation cache or the conventional cache subsystem, the control logic causes the decode unit to transition to a reduced-power state.

Kalamatianos, John↗

Method and apparatus for virtualizing the micro-op cache

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for virtualizing a micro-operation cache are disclosed. A processor includes at least a micro-operation cache, a conventional cache subsystem, a decode unit, and control logic. The decode unit decodes instructions into micro-operations which are then stored in the micro-operation cache. The micro-operation cache has limited capacity for storing micro-operations. When new micro-operations are decoded from pending instructions, existing micro-operations are evicted from the micro-operation cache to make room for the new micro-operations. Rather than being discarded, micro-operations evicted from the micro-operation cache are stored in the conventional cache subsystem. This prevents the original instruction from having to be decoded again on subsequent executions. When the control logic determines that micro-operations for one or more fetched instructions are stored in either the micro-operation cache or the conventional cache subsystem, the control logic causes the decode unit to transition to a reduced-power state.

Kalamatianos, John↗

A Deep Learning Approach for In-Network Synchrophasor Missing Data Recovery Using Programmable Network Switches

Phasor measurement unit (PMU) networks deliver accurate and timely measurements, which is essential for managing today’s electric power systems. To ensure data quality and enhance the cyber-resilience of PMU networks against malicious attacks and data errors, this study presents an online PMU missing data recovery scheme by leveraging P4 programmable switches. The data plane incorporates a customized PMU protocol parser that abstracts the necessary payload data for recovery. Recovery processes are executed in the control plane using a pre-trained machine learning model. Both traditional and advanced ML models, such as transformer and TimeGPT, are explicitly employed for data prediction. This approach ensures rapid and precise data recovery. Performance evaluations focus on recovery speed and accuracy, using a real dataset from a campus microgrid. With 20% missing PMU data, the mean absolute percentage error for voltage magnitude is 0.0384%, and the phase angle error discrepancy is approximately 0.4064%.

Phasor Measurement Unit, Machine Learning, Program↗

Noise-Resilient and Reduced Depth Approximate Adders for NISQ Quantum Computing

The "Noisy intermediate-scale quantum" NISQ machine era primarily focuses on mitigating noise, controlling errors, and executing high-fidelity operations, hence requiring shallow circuit depth and noise robustness. Approximate computing is a novel computing paradigm that produces imprecise results by relaxing the need for fully precise output for error-tolerant applications including multimedia, data mining, and image processing. We investigate how approximate computing can improve the noise resilience of quantum adder circuits in NISQ quantum computing. We propose five designs of approximate quantum adders to reduce depth while making them noise-resilient, in which three designs are with carryout, while two are without carryout. We have used novel design approaches that include approximating the Sum only from the inputs (pass-through designs) and having zero depth, as they need no quantum gates. The second design style uses a single CNOT gate to approximate the SUM with a constant depth of O(1). We performed our experimentation on IBM Qiskit on noise models including thermal, depolarizing, amplitude damping, phase damping, and bitflip: (i) Compared to exact quantum ripple carry adder without carryout the proposed approximate adders without carryout have improved fidelity ranging from 8.34% to 219.22%, and (ii) Compared to exact quantum ripple carry adder with carryout the proposed approximate adders with carryout have improved fidelity ranging from 8.23% to 371%. Further, the proposed approximate quantum adders are evaluated in terms of various error metrics.

Gaur, Bhaskar↗

GlideinBenchmark: collecting resource information to optimize provisioning

Choosing the right resource can speedup jobs completion, better utilize the available hardware and visibly reduce costs, especially when renting computers on the cloud. This was demonstrated in earlier studies on HEPCloud. But the benchmarking of the resources proved to be a laborious and time-consuming process. This paper presents GlideinBenchmark, a new Web application leveraging the pilot infrastructure of GlideinWMS to benchmark resources, and shows how to use the data collected and published by GlideinBenchmark to automate the optimal selection of resources. An experiment can select the benchmark or the set of benchmarks that most closely evaluate the performance of its workflows. With GlideinBenchmark and the help of the GldieinWMS Factory it controls the benchmark execution. Finally, a scheduler like HEPCloud’s Decision Engine can use the results to optimize resource provisioning.

Mambelli, Marco↗

GlideinBenchmark: collecting resource information to optimize provisioning

Choosing the right resource can speed up job completion, better utilize the available hardware, and visibly reduce costs, especially when renting computers in the cloud. This was demonstrated in earlier studies on HEPCloud. However, the benchmarking of the resources proved to be a laborious and time-consuming process. This paper presents GlideinBenchmark, a new Web application leveraging the pilot infrastructure of GlideinWMS to benchmark resources, and it shows how to use the data collected and published by GlideinBenchmark to automate the optimal selection of resources. An experiment can select the benchmark or the set of benchmarks that most closely evaluate the performance of its workflows. GlideinBenchmark, with the help of the GlideinWMS Factory, controls the benchmark execution. Finally, a scheduler like HEPCloud's Decision Engine can use the results to optimize resource provisioning.

Mambelli, Marco [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000294892681↗

WRF-ELM v1.0: a regional climate model to study land–atmosphere interactions over heterogeneous land use regions

Abstract. The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model (ELM) is a state-of-the-art land surface model that simulates the intricate interactions between the terrestrial land surface and other components of the Earth system. Originating from the Community Land Model (CLM) version 4.5, ELM has been under active development, with added new features and functionality, including plant hydraulics, radiation–topography interaction, subsurface multiphase flow, and more explicit land use and management practices. This study integrates ELM v2.1 with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF; WRF-ELM) model through a modified Lightweight Infrastructure for Land Atmosphere Coupling (LILAC) framework, enabling affordable high-resolution regional modeling by leveraging ELM's innovative features alongside WRF's diverse atmospheric parameterization options. This framework includes a top-level driver for variable communication between WRF and ELM and Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) caps for the WRF atmospheric component and ELM workflow control, encompassing initialization, execution, and finalization. Importantly, this LILAC–ESMF framework demonstrates a more modular approach compared to previous coupling efforts between WRF and land surface models. It maintains the integrity of ELM's source code structure and facilitates the transfer of future developments in ELM to WRF-ELM. To test the ability of the coupled model to capture land–atmosphere interactions over regions with a variety of land uses and land covers, we conducted high-resolution (4 km) WRF-ELM ensemble simulations over the Great Lakes region (GLR) in the summer of 2018 and systematically compared the results against observations, reanalysis data, and WRF-CTSM (WRF coupled with the Community Terrestrial Systems Model). In general, the coupled WRF-ELM model has reasonably captured the spatial distribution of surface state variables and fluxes across the GLR, particularly over the natural vegetation areas. The evaluation results provide a baseline reference for further improvements in ELM in the regional application of high-resolution weather and climate predictions. Our work serves as an example to the model development community for expanding an advanced land surface model's capability to represent fully-coupled land–atmosphere interactions at fine spatial scales. The development and release of WRF-ELM marks a significant advancement for the ELM user community, providing opportunities for fine-scale regional representation, parameter calibration in coupled mode, and examination of new schemes with atmospheric feedback.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Method and apparatus for evaluating superconducting tunnel junction detector noise versus bias voltage

A technique for characterizing the noise behavior of a superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) detector as a function of its applied bias voltage Vb by stepping the STJ's bias voltage across a predetermined range and, at each applied bias, making multiple measurements of the detector's current, calculating their mean and their standard deviation from their mean, and using this standard deviation as a measure of the STJ detector's noise at that applied bias. Because the method is readily executed under computer control, it is particularly useful when large numbers of STJ detectors require biasing, as in STJ detector arrays In a preferred implementation, the STJ is measured under computer control by attaching it to a digital spectrometer comprising a digital x-ray processor (DXP) coupled to a preamplifier that can set the STJ's bias voltage Vb using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) controlled by the DXP.

Warburton, William K.↗

A Multiagent Deep Reinforcement Learning-Enabled Dual-Branch Damping Controller for Multimode Oscillation

Here, this study develops a multiagent deep reinforcement learning (MADRL)-enabled framework for the decentralized cooperative control of a novel dual-branch (DB) damping controller for both low-frequency oscillation (LFO) and ultralow-frequency oscillation (ULFO). It has two branches, each of which consists of a proportional resonance (PR) and a second-order polynomial that is designed to handle target oscillation modes. To improve the robustness of the controller to system uncertainties, MADRL is developed, where multiagents are centrally trained to obtain the coordinated adaptive control policy while being executed in a decentralized manner to provide the optimal parameter setting for each controller with only local states. Comparisons with the IEEE 10-machine 39-bus system demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better robustness to uncertainties, lower communication delay, and single-point failure, as well as damping control performances for both LFO and ULFO.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

"Designing, simulating, and performing the 100-AV field test for the CIRCLES consortium: Methodology and Implementation of the Largest mobile traffic control experiment to date"

Previous controlled experiments on single-lane ring roads have shown that a single partially autonomous vehicle (AV) can effectively mitigate traffic waves. This naturally prompts the question of how these findings can be generalized to field operational, high-density traffic conditions. To address this question, the Congestion Impacts Reduction via CAV-in-the-loop Lagrangian Energy Smoothing (CIRCLES) Consortium conducted MegaVanderTest (MVT), a live traffic control experiment involving 100 vehicles near Nashville, TN, USA. This article is a tutorial for developing analytical and simulation-based tools essential for designing and executing a live traffic control experiment like the MVT. It presents an overview of the proposed roadmap and various procedures used in designing, monitoring, and conducting the MVT, which is the largest mobile traffic control experiment at the time. The design process is aimed at evaluating the impact of the CIRCLES AVs on surrounding traffic. The article discusses the agent-based traffic simulation framework created for this evaluation. A novel methodological framework is introduced to calibrate this microsimulation, aiming to accurately capture traffic dynamics and assess the impact of adding 100 vehicles to existing traffic. The calibration model's effectiveness is verified using data from a six-mile section of Nashville's I-24 highway. The results indicate that the proposed model establishes an effective feedback loop between the optimizer and the simulator, thereby calibrating flow and speed with different spatiotemporal characteristics to minimize the error between simulated and real-world data. Finally, We simulate AVs in multiple scenarios to assess their effect on traffic congestion. This evaluation validates the AV routes, thereby contributing to the execution of a safe and successful live traffic control experiment via AVs.

Ameli, Mostafa↗

3D Modeling of Safety-Related Upgrade Pilot Project

Constellation Energy and the United States Department of Energy (DOE) have established a public/private partnership to implement a pilot digital upgrade to replace legacy analog, safety-related reactor protection and emergency safety feature actuation systems (RPS/ESFAS) with modern digital systems. This effort is occurring at Constellation’s Limerick Generating Station. This project is being performed in accordance with industry processes that have been adapted to better support digital upgrades. These processes include IP-ENG-001, Standard Design Process, NISP-EN-04, Standard Digital Engineering Process and Electric Power Research Institute Report 3002011816, Digital Engineering Guide. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been supporting this effort. Latest INL HFE efforts in support of this project have focused on definition and implementation of the Human Factors Engineering (HFE) Program in support of Constellation design and related licensing efforts. This paper will present the development of the HFE 3D modeling execution of the Main Control Room safety upgrades. New equipment and modifications are planned for upgrading the new safety systems. 3D modeling allows for visualization of the new equipment and modifications to be shared with engineering and design teams for evaluation and review. Anthropometric considerations such as sight lines and functional reach can be evaluated directly using the 3D model. This effort has helped to provide visualizations for additional review with operations personnel and project stakeholders.

3D Modeling↗

Cyber Physical Grid-Interactive Distributed Energy Resources Control for VPP Dispatch and Regulation: Preprint

This paper presents a cyber-physical algorithm for grid interactive DER control to enable two features of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) dispatch and grid voltage regulation, considering the communication and security impacts. We first formulate the DER dispatch problem as a real-time, iterative, and grid-interactive DER control problem. Thereafter, we consider a probabilistic traffic model to characterize packet delays and loss in a communication network, and study how the delays enter the process of information exchange among the grid measurement units, local DER controllers and the grid control center that coordinately execute this dispatch algorithm. Finally, we propose a cyber-physical grid-interactive DER control algorithm using the previous message strategy. The tracking and regulation capabilities of this proposed algorithm can be made immune to the asynchrony resulting from the communications network traffic. We carry out simulations to show possible numerical instabilities and sensitivities of the tracking and regulation capabilities on the proposed strategy. Our results exhibit that the uncertainties of the underlying communications infrastructure must be considered in the control algorithm for the VPP tracking and regulation capabilities of any DER in a generic Cyber-Physical System (CPS).

co-simulation↗

Technologies for providing secure emergency power control of high voltage direct current transmission system

Technologies for providing secure emergency power control of a high voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) system include a controller. The controller includes circuitry configured to receive status data indicative of a present physical status of a power system. The circuitry is also configured to obtain an emergency power control command triggered by a remote source. The emergency power control command is to be executed by an HVDC transmission system of the power system. Further, the circuitry is configured to determine, as a function of the status data, whether the emergency power control command is consistent with the present physical status of the power system and block, in response to a determination that the emergency power control command is not consistent with the present physical status of the power system, execution of the emergency power control command by the HVDC transmission system.

Pan, Jiuping↗

Strengthening Cybersecurity for Industrial Control Systems: Innovations in Protecting PLC-Based Infrastructure

In this paper, we propose two new approaches aimed at enhancing the security of industrial control systems (ICS) that utilize programmable logic controllers (PLCs) for the control of critical processes. The first approach involves the addition of a unique digital watermark to the PWM control that adjusts the motor speed to control the critical process. This enables efficient detection and identification of any unauthorized modifications to the sensor signals responsible for controlling the plant. The second approach focuses on monitoring the input current (i.e power) drawn by the PLC during the execution of critical process control tasks. Malicious intrusions to change the PLC parameters and/or unauthorized firmware updates can be rapidly detected. Both approaches demonstrate a substantial improvement in the security of ICS, effectively safeguarding against potential cyber-attacks. Experimental results from a laboratory scale water tank level controlled via PLC showcases rapid intrusion detection capabilities.

Huang, Peng-Hao↗

"Enabling Mixed Autonomy Traffic Control"

We demonstrate a new capability of automated vehicles: mixed autonomy traffic control. With this new capability, automated vehicles can shape the traffic flows composed of other non-automated vehicles, which has the promise to improve safety, efficiency, and energy outcomes in transportation systems at a societal scale. Investigating mixed autonomy mobile traffic control must be done in situ given that the complex dynamics of other drivers and their response to a team of automated vehicles cannot be effectively modeled. This capability has been blocked because there is no existing scalable and affordable platform for experimental control. This paper introduces an extensible open-source hardware and software platform, enabling a team of 100 vehicles to execute several different vehicular control algorithms as a collaborative fleet, composed of three different makes and models, which drove 22752 miles in a combined 1022 hours, over 5 days in Nashville, TN in November 2022.

Nice, Matthew↗