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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

HYBRID NEURAL NETWORK AND SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE METHOD FOR OPTIMIZATION

System and method for optimization of a design associated with a response function, using a hybrid neural net and support vector machine (NN/SVM) analysis to minimize or maximize an objective function, optionally subject to one or more constraints. As a first example, the NN/SVM analysis is applied iteratively to design of an aerodynamic component, such as an airfoil shape, where the objective function measures deviation from a target pressure distribution on the perimeter of the aerodynamic component. As a second example, the NN/SVM analysis is applied to data classification of a sequence of data points in a multidimensional space. The NN/SVM analysis is also applied to data regression.

Rai, Man Mohan↗

Hybrid Neural Network and Support Vector Machine Method for Optimization

System and method for optimization of a design associated with a response function, using a hybrid neural net and support vector machine (NN/SVM) analysis to minimize or maximize an objective function, optionally subject to one or more constraints. As a first example, the NN/SVM analysis is applied iteratively to design of an aerodynamic component, such as an airfoil shape, where the objective function measures deviation from a target pressure distribution on the perimeter of the aerodynamic component. As a second example, the NN/SVM analysis is applied to data classification of a sequence of data points in a multidimensional space. The NN/SVM analysis is also applied to data regression.

Rai, Man Mohan↗

Function generation subprograms for use in digital simulations

Function generation subprograms were developed for handling functions of one variable and two types of functions of two variables. These subprograms can be used in any digital or hybrid simulation requiring function generation. Use of these programs can often lower overall program execution time.

Hart, C. E.↗

Development of a Solid State Power Switch for the Cassini Spacecraft

The Cassini spacecraft uses a new hybrid device to replace the load switching relays used on previous missions. These hybrid devices provide additional functions such as circuit breaking, controlled voltage turn-on and current limiting features. The current limiting function makes an uninterruptible power system possible. This hybrid, the Solid State Power Switch (SSPS), performs the function of connecting the 192 Cassini loads to the spacecraft power bus in response to commands from the Command and Data subsystem.

Cassini↗

Four-Channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 Circuit Board

The mini bus interface card (miniBIC) is the first four-channel electronic circuit board that conforms to MIL-STD-1553 and to the electrical-footprint portion of PC/104. [MIL-STD-1553 is a military standard that encompasses a method of communication and electrical- interface requirements for digital electronic subsystems connected to a data bus. PC/104 is an industry standard for compact, stackable modules that are fully compatible (in architecture, hardware, and software) with personal-computer data- and power-bus circuitry.] Prior to the development of the miniBIC, only one- and two-channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 boards were available. To obtain four channels, it was necessary to include at least two boards in a PC/104 stack. In comparison with such a two-board stack, the miniBIC takes up less space, consumes less power, and is more reliable. In addition, the miniBIC includes 32 digital input/output channels. The miniBIC (see figure) contains four MIL-STD-1553B hybrid integrated circuits (ICs), four transformers, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) interface. Each hybrid IC includes a MILSTD-1553 dual transceiver, memory-management circuitry, processor interface logic circuitry, and 64Kx16 bits of shared static random access memory. The memory is used to configure message and data blocks. In addition, 23 16-bit registers are available for (1) configuring the hybrid IC for, and starting it in, various modes of operation; (2) reading the status of the functionality of the hybrid IC; and (3) resetting the hybrid IC to a known state. The miniBIC can operate as a remote terminal, bus controller, or bus monitor. The FPGA provides the chip-select and data-strobe signals needed for operation of the hybrid ICs. The FPGA also receives interruption signals and forwards them to the ISA bus. The ISA interface connects the address, data, and control interfaces of the hybrid ICs to the ISA backplane. Each channel is, in effect, a MIL-STD-1553 interface that can operate either independently of the others or else as a redundant version of one of the others. The transformer in each channel provides electrical isolation between the rest of the miniBIC circuitry and the bus to which that channel is connected.

Cox, Gary L.↗

Computerized optimal control system design for reusable and expendable boost vehicles.

An optimization technique has been developed which combines the practical features of hybrid simulation of the dynamic system under study with the systematic approach of modern control theory where a mathematically formulated design criterion is optimized by functional minimization. Standard hybrid computer optimization methods using high-speed repetitive simulations and gradient minimization schemes have been extended to obtain time-varying optimal gain schedules and reduce the sensitivity of the optimized system to parameter and disturbance uncertainties. In this approach the performance index is expressed in meaningful engineering terms that reflect the interactions among all major disciplines, structures, control/actuation system design, aerodynamics and performance. The basic optimization technique is developed and its application to current aerospace control problems including the space shuttle is presented in detail. In the discussion of the application, the controllers resulting from the technique are compared with controllers developed by conventional methods. The paper concludes with a review of the advantages and disadvantages of the technique and plans for future applications.

Connor, C. L.↗

Conceptual design optimization study

The feasibility of applying multilevel functional decomposition and optimization techniques to conceptual design of advanced fighter aircraft was investigated. Applying the functional decomposition techniques to the conceptual design phase appears to be feasible. The initial implementation of the modified design process will optimize wing design variables. A hybrid approach, combining functional decomposition techniques for generation of aerodynamic and mass properties linear sensitivity derivatives with existing techniques for sizing mission performance and optimization, is proposed.

Hollowell, S. J.↗

Entanglement in Quantum-Classical Hybrid

It is noted that the phenomenon of entanglement is not a prerogative of quantum systems, but also occurs in other, non-classical systems such as quantum-classical hybrids, and covers the concept of entanglement as a special type of global constraint imposed upon a broad class of dynamical systems. Application of hybrid systems for physics of life, as well as for quantum-inspired computing, has been outlined. In representing the Schroedinger equation in the Madelung form, there is feedback from the Liouville equation to the Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the form of the quantum potential. Preserving the same topology, the innovators replaced the quantum potential with other types of feedback, and investigated the property of these hybrid systems. A function of probability density has been introduced. Non-locality associated with a global geometrical constraint that leads to an entanglement effect was demonstrated. Despite such a quantum like characteristic, the hybrid can be of classical scale and all the measurements can be performed classically. This new emergence of entanglement sheds light on the concept of non-locality in physics.

Zak, Michail↗

From Competence to Efficiency: A Tale of GA Progress

Genetic algorithms (GAs) - search procedures based on the mechanics of natural selection and genetics - have grown in popularity for the solution of difficult optimization problems. Concomitant with this growth has been a rising cacaphony of complaint asserting that too much time must be spent by the GA practitioner diddling with codes, operators, and GA parameters; and even then these GA cassandras continue, and the user is still unsure that the effort will meet with success. At the same time, there has been a rising interest in GA theory by a growing community - a theorocracy - of mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists, and these individuals have turned their efforts increasingly toward elegant abstract theorems and proofs that seem to the practitioner to offer little in the way of answers for GA design or practice. What both groups seem to have missed is the largely unheralded 1993 assembly of integrated, applicable theory and its experimental confirmation. This theory has done two key things. First, it has predicted that simple GAs are severely limited in the difficulty of problems they can solve, and these limitations have been confirmed experimentally. Second, it has shown the path to circumventing these limitations in nontraditional GA designs such as the fast messy GA. This talk surveys the history, methodology, and accomplishment of the 1993 applicable theory revolution. After arguing that these accomplishments open the door to universal GA competence, the paper shifts the discussion to the possibility of universal GA efficiency in the utilization of time and real estate through effective parallelization, temporal decomposition, hybridization, and relaxed function evaluation. The presentation concludes by suggesting that these research directions are quickly taking us to a golden age of adaptation.

Goldberg, David E.↗

Indium Hybridization of Large Format TES Bolometer Arrays to Readout Multiplexers for Far-Infrared Astronomy

The advance of new detector technologies combined with enhanced fabrication methods has resulted in an increase in development of large format arrays. The next generation of scientific instruments will utilize detectors containing hundreds to thousands of elements providing a more efficient means to conduct large area sky surveys. Some notable detectors include a 32x32 x-ray microcalorimeter for Constellation-X, an infrared bolometer called SAFIRE to fly on the airborne observatory SOFIA, and the sub-millimeter bolometer SCUBA-2 to be deployed at the JCMT which will use more than 10,000 elements for two colors, each color using four 32x40 arrays. Of these detectors, SCUBA-2 is farthest along in development and uses indium hybridization to multiplexers for readout of the large number of elements, a technology that will be required to enable the next generation of large format arrays. Our current efforts in working toward large format arrays have produced GISMO, the Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter observer. GISMO is a far infrared instrument to be field tested later this year at the IRAM 30 meter telescope in Spain. GISMO utilizes transition edge sensor (TES) technology in an 8x16 filled array format that allows for typical fan-out wiring and wire-bonding to four 1x32 NIST multiplexers. GISMO'S electrical wiring is routed along the tops of 30 micron walls which also serve as the mechanical framework for the array. This architecture works well for the 128 element array, but is approaching the limit for routing the necessary wires along the surface while maintaining a high fill factor. Larger format arrays will benefit greatly from making electrical connections through the wafer to the backside, where they can be hybridized to a read-out substrate tailored to handling the wiring scheme. The next generation array we are developing is a 32x40 element array on a pitch of 1135 microns that conforms to the NIST multiplexer, already developed for the SCUBA-2 instrument This architecture will utilize electrical connections that route from the TES to the support frame and through the wafer. The detector chip will then be hybridized to the NIST multiplexer via indium bump bonding. In our development scheme we are using substrates that allow for diagnostic testing of electrical continuity across the entire array and we are testing our process to minimize or eliminate any contact resistance at metal interfaces. Our goal is hybridizing a fully functional 32x40 array of TES bolometers to a NIST multiplexer. The following work presents our current progress toward enabling this technology.

Miller, Timothy M.↗

Characterization of in-Space Propulsion Trade Space to Support Initial Human Mars Segment

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate has been developing architecture concepts for human missions to Mars in alignment with the agency’s Moon to Mars blueprint objectives. The focus of the Architecture Development Office has been to decompose the blueprint objectives into the characteristics and needs for both lunar and Mars missions and develop functional needs to enable an integrated end-to-end mission architecture. One of the key components of a human Mars mission is the in-space transportation system that delivers crew and cargo to Mars vicinity and return crew safely back to Earth. The Mars Architecture Team has been evaluating four in-space transportation options to satisfy this functional need: 1) Hybrid Nuclear Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, 2) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, 3) Hybrid Solar Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, and 4) All-Chemical propulsion. To answer the question “which transportation option is best?” decision makers will need to understand the performance characteristics—and limitations—for each architecture in the context of their preferred metric. Each option could be considered “better” than the others, depending on whether the primary selection criteria is fast, cheap, maximum cross-government applicability, maximizes commercial capabilities, and/or any other desired metrics. The Mars Architecture Team has completed considerable analysis on the Hybrid Nuclear Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept over the past three years. The Space Nuclear Propulsion program has also conducted significant work on the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion concept. The Hybrid Solar Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept, derived from technology planned for the Gateway program, was originally configurated for minimum vehicle stack mass (and, hence, minimum Earth-launched mass/cost), leveraging a highly efficient propulsion system on a minimum energy Conjunction Class trajectory. Historically, All-Chemical concepts were considered impractical due to the enormous propellant mass required, even for minimum energy Conjunction Class/long stay mission opportunities. However, considering the emerging commercial heavy-lift capabilities, the concept must be reevaluated across a range of concepts that leverage reusable launch vehicle capabilities to reduce the cost of launching large quantities of transportation elements needed for missions of various duration. This paper aims to provide an overview of the in-space transportation assessment work that is on-going within NASA.

Mars↗

Characterization of in-Space Propulsion Trade Space to Support Initial Human Mars Segment

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate has been developing architecture concepts for human missions to Mars in alignment with the agency’s Moon to Mars blueprint objectives. The focus of the Architecture Development Office has been to decompose the blueprint objectives into the characteristics and needs for both lunar and Mars missions and develop functional needs to enable an integrated end-to-end mission architecture. One of the key components of a human Mars mission is the in-space transportation system that delivers crew and cargo to Mars vicinity and return crew safely back to Earth. The Mars Architecture Team has been evaluating four in-space transportation options to satisfy this functional need: 1) Hybrid Nuclear Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, 2) Nuclear Thermal Propulsion, 3) Hybrid Solar Electric/ Chemical Propulsion, and 4) All-Chemical propulsion. To answer the question “which transportation option is best?” decision makers will need to understand the performance characteristics—and limitations—for each architecture in the context of their preferred metric. Each option could be considered “better” than the others, depending on whether the primary selection criteria is fast, cheap, maximum cross-government applicability, maximizes commercial capabilities, and/or any other desired metrics. The Mars Architecture Team has completed considerable analysis on the Hybrid Nuclear Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept over the past three years. The Space Nuclear Propulsion program has also conducted significant work on the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion concept. The Hybrid Solar Electric/Chemical Propulsion concept, derived from technology planned for the Gateway program, was originally configurated for minimum vehicle stack mass (and, hence, minimum Earth-launched mass/cost), leveraging a highly efficient propulsion system on a minimum energy Conjunction Class trajectory. Historically, All-Chemical concepts were considered impractical due to the enormous propellant mass required, even for minimum energy Conjunction Class/long stay mission opportunities. However, considering the emerging commercial heavy-lift capabilities, the concept must be reevaluated across a range of concepts that leverage reusable launch vehicle capabilities to reduce the cost of launching large quantities of transportation elements needed for missions of various duration. This paper aims to provide an overview of the in-space transportation assessment work that is on-going within NASA.

Mars↗

Development and Function of the Mouse Vestibular System in the Absence of Gravity Perception

The hypothesis that was tested in this research was that the absence of gravity perception, such as would occur in space, would affect the development and function of the vestibular and central nervous systems. Further, we postulated that these effects would be more significant at specific stages of post-natal development of the animal. We also proposed the use of molecular genetic approaches that would provide important information as to the hierarchy of gene function during the development and subsequent function of the vestibular system. The tilted (tlt) mutant mouse has been characterized as lacking the ability to provide sensory input to the gravity receptors. The tlt/tlt mutant mice were a particularly attractive model for the study of vestibular function since the primary defect was limited to the receptor part of the vestibular system, and there were no detectable abnormal phenotypes in other organ systems. The goal of the proposed studies was to assess immediate and delayed effects of the lack of gravity perception on the vestibular system. Particular attention was paid to characterizing primarily affected periods of vestibular morphogenesis, and to identifying downstream genetic pathways that are altered in the CNS of the tlt/tlt mutant mouse. The specific aims were: (1) to characterize the postnatal morphogenesis of the CNS in the tlt mutant mouse, using detailed morphometric analysis of isolated vestibular ganglia and brain tissue at different stages of postnatal development and assessment of apoptotic cell death; (2) to examine the expression of selected genes implicated by mutational analysis to be important in vestibular development or function by in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry in the mutant mice; and (3) to identify other genes involved in vestibular development and function, using differential cloning strategies to isolate genes whose expression is changed in the mutant versus normal vestibular system.

Wolgemuth, Debra J.↗

Efficient Development of High Fidelity Structured Volume Grids for Hypersonic Flow Simulations

A new technique for the control of grid line spacing and intersection angles of a structured volume grid, using elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs) is presented. Existing structured grid generation algorithms make use of source term hybridization to provide control of grid lines, imposing orthogonality implicitly at the boundary and explicitly on the interior of the domain. A bridging function between the two types of grid line control is typically used to blend the different orthogonality formulations. It is shown that utilizing such a bridging function with source term hybridization can result in the excessive use of computational resources and diminishes robustness. A new approach, Anisotropic Lagrange Based Trans-Finite Interpolation (ALBTFI), is offered as a replacement to source term hybridization. The ALBTFI technique captures the essence of the desired grid controls while improving the convergence rate of the elliptic PDEs when compared with source term hybridization. Grid generation on a blunt cone and a Shuttle Orbiter is used to demonstrate and assess the ALBTFI technique, which is shown to be as much as 50% faster, more robust, and produces higher quality grids than source term hybridization.

Alter, Stephen J.↗

A functional description of the advanced receiver

The breadboard Advanced Receiver 2 (ARX 2) that is currently being built for future use in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) is described. The hybrid analog/digital receiver performs multiple functions including carrier, subcarrier, and symbol synchronization. Tracking can be achieved for residual, suppressed, or hybrid carriers and for both sinusoidal and square-wave subcarriers. Other functions such as time-tagged Doppler extraction and monitor/control are also discussed, including acquisition algorithms and lock-detection schemes. System requirements are specified and a functional description of the ARX 2 is presented. The various digital signal-processing algorithms used are also discussed and illustrated with block diagrams.

Hinedi, S.↗

NASA's next generation all-digital deep space network breadboard receiver

This paper describes the breadboard advanced receiver (ARX) that is currently being built for future use in NASA's deep space network (DSN). This receiver has unique requirements in having to operate with very weak signals from deep space probes and provide high quality telemetry and tracking data. The hybrid analog/digital receiver performs multiple functions including carrier, subcarrier and symbol synchronization. Tracking can be achieved for either residual, suppressed or hybrid carriers and for both sinusoidal and square wave subcarriers. System requirements are specified and a functional description of the ARX is presented. The various digital signal processing algorithms used are also discussed and illustrated with block diagrams. Other functions such as time tagged Doppler extraction and monitor/control are also discussed including acquisition algorithms and lock detection schemes.

Hinedi, Sami↗