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At least 577 records · Page 32

Controls and guidance: Space

The Space Controls and Guidance Research and Technology Program is directed toward enabling the next generation of space transportation systems, large future spacecraft, and space systems such as the Space Station to have large communication antennas and high precision segmented reflector astrophysical telescopes. The new generation of transportation vehicles has demanding requirements to provide for an order of magnitude reduction in cost as well as an increase in capability. The future orbital facilities have demanding control requirements for pointing and stabilization, momentum management, build-up and growth accomodation, and disturbance management. To address these advanced requirements, the research and development program is designed to provide the generic technology base to support the implementation of advanced guidance, navigation, and control. The area of computational controls will be stressed in order to develop cost effective, high speed, high fidelity control system simulation and analysis and synthesis tools. The trust of this work will be to develop methods and software to enable analysis and real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulation of complex spacecraft for control design certification. To address future orbital facilities requirements, an advanced technology program is underway in system identification, distributed control, integrated controls/structures design methods, and advanced sensors and actuators. Because the behavior of large, light weight per unit area deployable/assembled spacecraft is greatly influenced by the ground environment, the testing and verification activity is both ground- and space-based.

Dibattista, John D.↗

An integrated and modular digital modeling approach for the Space Station electrical power system development

An electrical power system for the Space Station was designed, developed and built. This system provides for electrical power generation, conditioning, storage, and distribution. The initial configuration uses photovoltaic power generation. The power system control is based on a hierarchical architecture to support the requirements of automation. In the preliminary design and technology development phase of the program, various modeling techniques and software tools were evaluated for the purpose of meeting the Space Station power system modeling requirements. Rocketdyne and LeRC jointly selected the EASY5 simulation software, developed by Boeing Computer Services, as a system level modeling tool. The application of the selected analytical modeling approach to represent the entire power system is described. Typical results of model predictions are also summarized. The equipment modeled includes solar arrays, dc to ac converters, resonant inverters, battery storage system, alternator, transmission line, switch gear, and system level microprocessor controls. During the advanced development phase of this program, several models were developed using this approach.

Gombos, Frank J.↗

Stanford/NASA-Ames Center of Excellence in model-based human performance

The human operator plays a critical role in many aeronautic and astronautic missions. The Stanford/NASA-Ames Center of Excellence in Model-Based Human Performance (COE) was initiated in 1985 to further our understanding of the performance capabilities and performance limits of the human component of aeronautic and astronautic projects. Support from the COE is devoted to those areas of experimental and theoretical work designed to summarize and explain human performance by developing computable performance models. The ultimate goal is to make these computable models available to other scientists for use in design and evaluation of aeronautic and astronautic instrumentation. Within vision science, two topics have received particular attention. First, researchers did extensive work analyzing the human ability to recognize object color relatively independent of the spectral power distribution of the ambient lighting (color constancy). The COE has supported a number of research papers in this area, as well as the development of a substantial data base of surface reflectance functions, ambient illumination functions, and an associated software package for rendering and analyzing image data with respect to these spectral functions. Second, the COE supported new empirical studies on the problem of selecting colors for visual display equipment to enhance human performance in discrimination and recognition tasks.

Wandell, Brian A.↗

Planetary Atmosphere Dynamics and Radiative Transfer

This research program has dealt with two projects in the field of planetary atmosphere dynamics and radiative energy transfer, one theoretical and one experimental. The first project, in radiative energy transfer, incorporated the capability to isolate and quantify the contribution of individual atmospheric components to the Venus radiative balance and thermal structure to greatly improve the current understanding of the radiative processes occurring within the Venus atmosphere. This is possible by varying the mixing ratios of each gas species, and the location, number density and aerosol size distributions of the clouds. This project was a continuation of the work initiated under a 1992 University Consortium Agreement. Under the just completed grant, work has continued on the use of a convolution-based algorithm that provided the capability to calculate the k coefficients of a gas mixture at different temperatures, pressures and spectral intervals from the separate k-distributions of the individual gas species. The second primary goal of this research dealt with the Doppler wind retrieval for the Successful Galileo Jupiter probe mission in December, 1995. In anticipation of the arrival of Galileo at Jupiter, software development continued to read the radioscience and probe/orbiter trajectory data provided by the Galileo project and required for Jupiter zonal wind measurements. Sample experiment radioscience data records and probe/orbiter trajectory data files provided by the Galileo Radioscience and Navigation teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, respectively, were used for the first phase of the software development. The software to read the necessary data records was completed in 1995. The procedure by which the wind retrieval takes place begins with initial consistency checks of the raw data, preliminary data reductions, wind recoveries, iterative reconstruction of the probe descent profile, and refined wind recoveries. At each stage of the wind recovery consistency is checked and maintained between the orbiter navigational data, the radioscience data, and the probe descent profile derived by the Atmospheric Instrument Team. Preliminary results show that the zonal winds at Jupiter increase with depth to approximately 150 m/s.

Atkinson, David H.↗

Development of a Free-Flight Simulation Infrastructure

In anticipation of a projected rise in demand for air transportation, NASA and the FAA are researching new air-traffic-management (ATM) concepts that fall under the paradigm known broadly as ":free flight". This paper documents the software development and engineering efforts in progress by Seagull Technology, to develop a free-flight simulation (FFSIM) that is intended to help NASA researchers test mature-state concepts for free flight, otherwise referred to in this paper as distributed air / ground traffic management (DAG TM). Under development is a distributed, human-in-the-loop simulation tool that is comprehensive in its consideration of current and envisioned communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) components, and will allow evaluation of critical air and ground traffic management technologies from an overall systems perspective. The FFSIM infrastructure is designed to incorporate all three major components of the ATM triad: aircraft flight decks, air traffic control (ATC), and (eventually) airline operational control (AOC) centers.

Miles, Eric S.↗

Methodolgy For Evaluation Of Technology Impacts In Space Electric Power Systems

The Analysis and Management branch of the Power and Propulsion Office at NASA Glenn Research Center is responsible for performing complex analyses of the space power and In-Space propulsion products developed by GRC. This work quantifies the benefits of the advanced technologies to support on-going advocacy efforts. The Power and Propulsion Office is committed to understanding how the advancement in space technologies could benefit future NASA missions. They support many diverse projects and missions throughout NASA as well as industry and academia. The area of work that we are concentrating on is space technology investment strategies. Our goal is to develop a Monte-Carlo based tool to investigate technology impacts in space electric power systems. The framework is being developed at this stage, which will be used to set up a computer simulation of a space electric power system (EPS). The outcome is expected to be a probabilistic assessment of critical technologies and potential development issues. We are developing methods for integrating existing spreadsheet-based tools into the simulation tool. Also, work is being done on defining interface protocols to enable rapid integration of future tools. Monte Carlo-based simulation programs for statistical modeling of the EPS Model. I decided to learn and evaluate Palisade's @Risk and Risk Optimizer software, and utilize it's capabilities for the Electric Power System (EPS) model. I also looked at similar software packages (JMP, SPSS, Crystal Ball, VenSim, Analytica) available from other suppliers and evaluated them. The second task was to develop the framework for the tool, in which we had to define technology characteristics using weighing factors and probability distributions. Also we had to define the simulation space and add hard and soft constraints to the model. The third task is to incorporate (preliminary) cost factors into the model. A final task is developing a cross-platform solution of this framework.

Holda, Julie↗

Processing TES Level-1B Data

TES L1B Subsystem is a computer program that performs several functions for the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES). The term "L1B" (an abbreviation of "level 1B"), refers to data, specific to the TES, on radiometric calibrated spectral radiances and their corresponding noise equivalent spectral radiances (NESRs), plus ancillary geolocation, quality, and engineering data. The functions performed by TES L1B Subsystem include shear analysis, monitoring of signal levels, detection of ice build-up, and phase correction and radiometric and spectral calibration of TES target data. Also, the program computes NESRs for target spectra, writes scientific TES level-1B data to hierarchical- data-format (HDF) files for public distribution, computes brightness temperatures, and quantifies interpixel signal variability for the purpose of first-order cloud and heterogeneous land screening by the level-2 software summarized in the immediately following article. This program uses an in-house-developed algorithm, called "NUSRT," to correct instrument line-shape factors.

DeBaca, Richard C.↗

Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Overview & Current and Recent Projects

"NASA's Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program identifies, develops, and supports adoption of software and information systems, as well as novel computer science technologies expected to be needed by the Earth Science Division in the 5-10-year timeframe. Overall, the AIST Program is focusing on advanced technologies and innovative concepts with three main objectives: O1. Enable new observation measurements and new observing systems design and operations through intelligent, timely, dynamic, and coordinated distributed sensing; O2. Enable agile science analyses that fully utilize the large amount of diverse observations using advanced analytic tools, visualizations, and computing environments, and that interact seamlessly with relevant observing systems; O3. Enable the development of integrated Earth Science frameworks that mirror the Earth with state-of-the-art models (Earth system models and others), timely and relevant observations, and analytic tools. This thrust will provide technology for enabling near- and long-term science and policy decisions (""""science decisions"""" including planning for the acquisition of new measurements; the development of new models or science analysis; the integration of Earth observations in novel ways; applications to inform choices, support decisions, and guide actions for societal benefit; etc.). AIST objectives aim at optimizing Earth Science mission return – NOS from an observation point of view and ACF/ESDT from an information analysis and utilization point of view. The assets and data accessed and utilized in these systems may come from NASA and non-NASA sources. "

Earth Science Remote Sensing; Information Systems↗

Development of land based radar polarimeter processor system

The processing subsystem of a land based radar polarimeter was designed and constructed. This subsystem is labeled the remote data acquisition and distribution system (RDADS). The radar polarimeter, an experimental remote sensor, incorporates the RDADS to control all operations of the sensor. The RDADS uses industrial standard components including an 8-bit microprocessor based single board computer, analog input/output boards, a dynamic random access memory board, and power supplis. A high-speed digital electronics board was specially designed and constructed to control range-gating for the radar. A complete system of software programs was developed to operate the RDADS. The software uses a powerful real time, multi-tasking, executive package as an operating system. The hardware and software used in the RDADS are detailed. Future system improvements are recommended.

Kronke, C. W.↗

Description and planned use of a data distribution evaluation system for fiber optic data buses

A general description of a laboratory data distribution evaluation system (DDES) is given and some plans to use the system. The DDES is a microprocessor-based evaluation system consisting of three identical terminals. The DDES provides the capability for evaluating different system protocols and data word structures by making appropriate software changes, and different transmission medias and modulation schemes by making front-end hardware changes. A data multiplexing standard for fiber optic data transmission which parallels MIL-STD-1553B has proposed four different data modulation schemes. These modulation schemes will be described along with the plans to evaluate each of them. NASA-Langley has also been developing a data distribution approach which utilizes optical wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). A four-port, four-wavelength WDM system will be described along with the planned use of the DDES to evaluate its performance.

Spencer, J. L.↗

User's manual: Subsonic/supersonic advanced panel pilot code

Sufficient instructions for running the subsonic/supersonic advanced panel pilot code were developed. This software was developed as a vehicle for numerical experimentation and it should not be construed to represent a finished production program. The pilot code is based on a higher order panel method using linearly varying source and quadratically varying doublet distributions for computing both linearized supersonic and subsonic flow over arbitrary wings and bodies. This user's manual contains complete input and output descriptions. A brief description of the method is given as well as practical instructions for proper configurations modeling. Computed results are also included to demonstrate some of the capabilities of the pilot code. The computer program is written in FORTRAN IV for the SCOPE 3.4.4 operations system of the Ames CDC 7600 computer. The program uses overlay structure and thirteen disk files, and it requires approximately 132000 (Octal) central memory words.

Moran, J.↗

Domain decomposition for aerodynamic and aeroacoustic analyses, and optimization

The overarching theme was the domain decomposition, which intended to improve the numerical solution technique for the partial differential equations at hand; in the present study, those that governed either the fluid flow, or the aeroacoustic wave propagation, or the sensitivity analysis for a gradient-based optimization. The role of the domain decomposition extended beyond the original impetus of discretizing geometrical complex regions or writing modular software for distributed-hardware computers. It induced function-space decompositions and operator decompositions that offered the valuable property of near independence of operator evaluation tasks. The objectives have gravitated about the extensions and implementations of either the previously developed or concurrently being developed methodologies: (1) aerodynamic sensitivity analysis with domain decomposition (SADD); (2) computational aeroacoustics of cavities; and (3) dynamic, multibody computational fluid dynamics using unstructured meshes.

Baysal, Oktay↗

Explicit and Implicit Resources: A Simplified Approach to User Requirements Modeling

The International Space Station (ISS) program is dependent on the concept of distributed planning, which places a large responsibility in the hands of the science users. The users assume the responsibility in submitting the operations scheduling requirements in the format required by the scheduling software. The concept of explicit and implicit resources, developed to facilitate the operations scheduling of ISS by non-scheduling experts, is presented. The proposed concepts are defined and examples of scheduling requirements, implemented using explicit and implicit resources, are described together with the requirements modeling and scheduler formatting functions. The software developed to support the implicit and explicit resources concept is discussed.

Hagopian, Jeff↗

Session on High Speed Civil Transport Design Capability Using MDO and High Performance Computing

Since the inception of CAS in 1992, NASA Langley has been conducting research into applying multidisciplinary optimization (MDO) and high performance computing toward reducing aircraft design cycle time. The focus of this research has been the development of a series of computational frameworks and associated applications that increased in capability, complexity, and performance over time. The culmination of this effort is an automated high-fidelity analysis capability for a high speed civil transport (HSCT) vehicle installed on a network of heterogeneous computers with a computational framework built using Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) and Java. The main focus of the research in the early years was the development of the Framework for Interdisciplinary Design Optimization (FIDO) and associated HSCT applications. While the FIDO effort was eventually halted, work continued on HSCT applications of ever increasing complexity. The current application, HSCT4.0, employs high fidelity CFD and FEM analysis codes. For each analysis cycle, the vehicle geometry and computational grids are updated using new values for design variables. Processes for aeroelastic trim, loads convergence, displacement transfer, stress and buckling, and performance have been developed. In all, a total of 70 processes are integrated in the analysis framework. Many of the key processes include automatic differentiation capabilities to provide sensitivity information that can be used in optimization. A software engineering process was developed to manage this large project. Defining the interactions among 70 processes turned out to be an enormous, but essential, task. A formal requirements document was prepared that defined data flow among processes and subprocesses. A design document was then developed that translated the requirements into actual software design. A validation program was defined and implemented to ensure that codes integrated into the framework produced the same results as their standalone counterparts. Finally, a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) configuration management system was used to organize the software development. A computational environment, CJOPT, based on the Common Object Request Broker Architecture, CORBA, and the Java programming language has been developed as a framework for multidisciplinary analysis and Optimization. The environment exploits the parallelisms inherent in the application and distributes the constituent disciplines on machines best suited to their needs. In CJOpt, a discipline code is "wrapped" as an object. An interface to the object identifies the functionality (services) provided by the discipline, defined in Interface Definition Language (IDL) and implemented using Java. The results of using the HSCT4.0 capability are described. A summary of lessons learned is also presented. The use of some of the processes, codes, and techniques by industry are highlighted. The application of the methodology developed in this research to other aircraft are described. Finally, we show how the experience gained is being applied to entirely new vehicles, such as the Reusable Space Transportation System. Additional information is contained in the original.

Rehder, Joe↗

STAR (Simple Tool for Automated Reasoning): Tutorial guide and reference manual

STAR is an interactive, interpreted programming language for the development and operation of Artificial Intelligence application systems. The language is intended for use primarily in the development of software application systems which rely on a combination of symbolic processing, central to the vast majority of AI algorithms, with routines and data structures defined in compiled languages such as C, FORTRAN and PASCAL. References to routines and data structures defined in compiled languages are intermixed with symbolic structures in STAR, resulting in a hybrid operating environment in which symbolic and non-symbolic processing and organization of data may interact to a high degree within the execution of particular application systems. The STAR language was developed in the course of a project involving AI techniques in the interpretation of imaging spectrometer data and is derived in part from a previous language called CLIP. The interpreter for STAR is implemented as a program defined in the language C and has been made available for distribution in source code form through NASA's Computer Software Management and Information Center (COSMIC). Contained within this report are the STAR Tutorial Guide, which introduces the language in a step-by-step manner, and the STAR Reference Manual, which provides a detailed summary of the features of STAR.

Borchardt, G. C.↗

Instrumentation complex for Langley Research Center's National Transonic Facility

The instrumentation discussed in the present paper was developed to ensure reliable operation for a 2.5-meter cryogenic high-Reynolds-number fan-driven transonic wind tunnel. It will incorporate four CPU's and associated analog and digital input/output equipment, necessary for acquiring research data, controlling the tunnel parameters, and monitoring the process conditions. Connected in a multipoint distributed network, the CPU's will support data base management and processing; research measurement data acquisition and display; process monitoring; and communication control. The design will allow essential processes to continue, in the case of major hardware failures, by switching input/output equipment to alternate CPU's and by eliminating nonessential functions. It will also permit software modularization by CPU activity and thereby reduce complexity and development time.

Russell, C. H.↗

Field and Model Data Associated with the Manuscript “Drivers of Streamflow Intermittency in Humid Regions: 2. Evaluating Controls on Flow Persistence in an Urbanized Catchment”

This package contains field data, modeling files, and scripts supporting the investigation of the drivers of streamflow intermittency in an urbanized catchment. It includes the field data collected from electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys, distributed temperature sensing (DTS), continuous self-potential (SP) monitoring, groundwater and stilling well. In addition, it contains the data and results of the coupled water- and electrical-flow model developed using the COMSOL Multiphysics and Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS), as well as software files and Jupyter notebooks used to process the data and generate figures in the manuscript submitted for peer review. The data archive is organized in the following directories: 1) Climate Includes hourly precipitation and daily evapotranspiration time series (2024 – 2025) provided as CSV files, alongside a text file detailing dataset units. 2) Coupled_model Field_Application subfolder contains the ATS XML input scripts, data files, output data for the SP site. It also contains the Jupyter notebook (Plot_final_calib.ipynb) to visualize the results of the modeled SP, stream-groundwater exchange and moisture content. The flow model simulation is executed using the ATS XML scripts and the included Python script (generate_data_set.py) to convert ATS output to COMSOL-ready input. COMSOL Multiphysics template (.m can only be used with COMSOL with MATLAB) is executed using the ATS output data to simulate the potential field. 3) Discharge Includes the electrical conductivity (EC) time series (provided as CSV files) from salt slug injections. It also includes the Jupyter notebook (Discharge_process.ipynyb) used to estimate discharge. All discharge measurements collated into rating_curve_processed.csv 4) DTS Contains collated DTS data including raw Stokes and anti-Stokes measurement (provided as .h5 file). It also includes DTS processing.ipynb, a Jupyter notebook for calibrating the DTS data using dts_calibration Python package. cooler_calibration.csv is the DTS calibration CSV used in the calibration sequence. 5) ERT Contains raw resistivity data (provided as CSV files), spatial location of each of the electrodes (provided as CSV files), and files used for the resistivity inversion. 6) Slug_test Includes the slug test data at all the groundwater wells provided as CSV files, as well as the Jupyter notebook (Slug_test.ipynb) for calculating hydraulic conductivity. 7) SP Contains the SP data collected in field at the SP sites (provided as CSV files). 8) Well_data Contains two subfolders: 1) Raw, which provides unprocessed pressure, electrical conductivity and temperature timeseries downloaded from the loggers in all the groundwater and stilling wells, and 2) Processed, which contains sorted, QA/QC timeseries data for each well. The data archive also contains data_process.ipynb, a Jupyter notebook used for field data analysis and generating figures (plotting well, SP, climate, and discharge data, as well as calculating head gradient at sites with nested groundwater wells). Note: Code files (.ipynb, .py, .xml) can be opened in any standard code editor, .exo file can be viewed using Paraview, .h5 files can be opened using HDFView software and h5py Python package, and .resipy file can be opened with the open-source ResIPy software.

ATS↗

Distributed-Computer System Optimizes SRB Joints

Initial calculations of redesign of joint on solid rocket booster (SRB) that failed during Space Shuttle tragedy showed redesign increased weight. Optimization techniques applied to determine whether weight could be reduced while keeping joint closed and limiting stresses. Analysis system developed by use of existing software coupling structural analysis with optimization computations. Software designed executable on network of computer workstations. Took advantage of parallelism offered by finite-difference technique of computing gradients to enable several workstations to contribute simultaneously to solution of problem. Key features, effective use of redundancies in hardware and flexible software, enabling optimization to proceed with minimal delay and decreased overall time to completion.

Rogers, James L., Jr.↗