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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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NASA NTRS2024

Usage of ChatGPT for Engineering Design and Analysis Tool Development

ChatGPT, a generative AI large language model, has recently captured significant attention in both the computer science community and the broader public domain. It has demonstrated a wide range of capabilities, from answering simple questions to writing fully functional computer code. This study spotlights both the capabilities and limitations of ChatGPT when addressing engineering problems. The model's capacity to generate practical engineering tools is highlighted through an example of a prompt that leads to an interactive plotting tool, enabling the examination of the fluid boundary layer around a fan blade. Subsequently, the paper also uncovers potential pitfalls in ChatGPT’s application, shown through an unsuccessful attempt to use ChatGPT to automate a process in Ansys Workbench through scripting. The research further investigates ChatGPT's proficiency in addressing inquiries and providing explanations about the functionalities of OpenMDAO, an open-source, multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization tool developed at NASA Glenn Research Center. Finally, an optimization methodology, developed with ChatGPT’s help, is applied to the structural optimization of a fan blade. The developed optimization method utilizes T-Blade3 for geometry generation, Ansys Mechanical for meshing and finite element analysis, and sci-kit learn’s MLPRegressor method to generate a trained neural network model of the design space. OpenMDAO is then used to find the optimal point within the design space. The outcome is a significant reduction in stress in the optimized model—less than one-fifth of the stress value in the baseline model.

Design↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Usage of ChatGPT for Engineering Design and Analysis Tool Development

Design↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Technology Transfer Plan: LuNaMaps Project

The main contribution of this project is the combined knowledge of terrain relative navigation experts and lunar scientists who are familiar with both the lunar orbital imagery and the instruments that collected the data as well as how a TRN system utilizes map data. This knowledge comes in the form of published technical papers, benchmark map data sets, and software tools that can help others automate the process of creating the necessary maps for their own landing sites in the future. This document represents the project's plans to share all the lessons learned, processes developed, and applicable software tools with the public.

optical navigation↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Tutorial on LuNaMaps Developed Tools andProcesses for Mapping the Lunar Surface

The main contribution of this project is the combined knowledge of terrain relative navigation experts and lunar scientists who are familiar with both the lunar orbital imagery and the instruments that collected the data as well as how a TRN system utilizes map data. This knowledge comes in the form of published technical papers, benchmark map data sets, and software tools that can help others automate the process of creating the necessary maps for their own landing sites in the future. This presentation provides a brief overview of the tools and processes developed by the project.

optical navigation↗

DOE OSTI2024

Maximizing Efficiency and Quality: Leveraging Automated Testing for Laboratory Commissioning

The traditional commissioning process uses sampling to select equipment for functional acceptance testing when large quantities of equipment are present. Although this approach is generally effective in identifying wide-spread issues, it has several shortcomings: it fails to evaluate equipment not included in the sample, provides only a one-time validation of equipment operation, and the standard documentation is a simple checklist of pass/fail questions. During the construction and commissioning process of the new Research and Innovation Laboratory (RAIL) in Golden, CO, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory team engaged Group14 Engineering to implement a Connected Commissioning process using fault detection and diagnostic software for automated functional acceptance testing. This presentation highlights the advantages offered by automated functional testing in this critical laboratory setting: (1) sampling 100% of BAS-connected equipment during functional testing, (2) testing results backed by data beyond the traditional pass/fail checklist, and (3) an automated test process that can be regularly executed by the building management team for ongoing commissioning throughout the life of the building. The presentation will also cover technical challenges associated with Connected Commissioning and the important conversations with key stakeholders that need to occur well before functional acceptance testing in order to successfully implement the automated testing processes.

automated testing↗

NASA NTRS1989

Quantitative computer simulations of extraterrestrial processing operations

The automation of a small, solid propellant mixer was studied. Temperature control is under investigation. A numerical simulation of the system is under development and will be tested using different control options. Control system hardware is currently being put into place. The construction of mathematical models and simulation techniques for understanding various engineering processes is also studied. Computer graphics packages were utilized for better visualization of the simulation results. The mechanical mixing of propellants is examined. Simulation of the mixing process is being done to study how one can control for chaotic behavior to meet specified mixing requirements. An experimental mixing chamber is also being built. It will allow visual tracking of particles under mixing. The experimental unit will be used to test ideas from chaos theory, as well as to verify simulation results. This project has applications to extraterrestrial propellant quality and reliability.

Vincent, T. L.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Software and Algorithms for Biomedical Image Data Processing and Visualization

A new software equipped with novel image processing algorithms and graphical-user-interface (GUI) tools has been designed for automated analysis and processing of large amounts of biomedical image data. The software, called PlaqTrak, has been specifically used for analysis of plaque on teeth of patients. New algorithms have been developed and implemented to segment teeth of interest from surrounding gum, and a real-time image-based morphing procedure is used to automatically overlay a grid onto each segmented tooth. Pattern recognition methods are used to classify plaque from surrounding gum and enamel, while ignoring glare effects due to the reflection of camera light and ambient light from enamel regions. The PlaqTrak system integrates these components into a single software suite with an easy-to-use GUI (see Figure 1) that allows users to do an end-to-end run of a patient s record, including tooth segmentation of all teeth, grid morphing of each segmented tooth, and plaque classification of each tooth image. The automated and accurate processing of the captured images to segment each tooth [see Figure 2(a)] and then detect plaque on a tooth-by-tooth basis is a critical component of the PlaqTrak system to do clinical trials and analysis with minimal human intervention. These features offer distinct advantages over other competing systems that analyze groups of teeth or synthetic teeth. PlaqTrak divides each segmented tooth into eight regions using an advanced graphics morphing procedure [see results on a chipped tooth in Figure 2(b)], and a pattern recognition classifier is then used to locate plaque [red regions in Figure 2(d)] and enamel regions. The morphing allows analysis within regions of teeth, thereby facilitating detailed statistical analysis such as the amount of plaque present on the biting surfaces on teeth. This software system is applicable to a host of biomedical applications, such as cell analysis and life detection, or robotic applications, such as product inspection or assembly of parts in space and industry.

Talukder, Ashit↗

NASA NTRS1994

Stochastic decision analysis

Small space flight project design at NASA Langley Research Center goes through a multi-phase process from preliminary analysis to flight operations. The process insures that each system achieves its technical objectives with demonstrated quality and within planned budgets and schedules. A key technical component of early phases is decision analysis, which is a structure procedure for determining the best of a number of feasible concepts based upon project objectives. Feasible system concepts are generated by the designers and analyzed for schedule, cost, risk, and technical measures. Each performance measure value is normalized between the best and worst values and a weighted average score of all measures is calculated for each concept. The concept(s) with the highest scores are retained, while others are eliminated from further analysis. This project automated and enhanced the decision analysis process. Automation of the decision analysis process was done by creating a user-friendly, menu-driven, spreadsheet macro based decision analysis software program. The program contains data entry dialog boxes, automated data and output report generation, and automated output chart generation. The enhancements to the decision analysis process permit stochastic data entry and analysis. Rather than enter single measure values, the designers enter the range and most likely value for each measure and concept. The data can be entered at the system or subsystem level. System level data can be calculated as either sum, maximum, or product functions of the subsystem data. For each concept, the probability distributions are approximated for each measure and the total score for each concept as either constant, triangular, normal, or log-normal distributions. Based on these distributions, formulas are derived for the probability that the concept meets any given constraint, the probability that the concept meets all constraints, and the probability that the concept is within a given amount of the best score. Formulas are also derived for the probability that one concept's total score is within a given amount of a second concept's total score. These probabilistic calculations provide more realistic data entry and output information for designers, enabling designers to better determine which concepts to eliminate and which concepts to retain at the decision points of each design phase.

Lacksonen, Thomas A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Using Automation to Improve the Flight Software Testing Process

One of the critical phases in the development of a spacecraft attitude control system (ACS) is the testing of its flight software. The testing (and test verification) of ACS flight software requires a mix of skills involving software, attitude control, data manipulation, and analysis. The process of analyzing and verifying flight software test results often creates a bottleneck which dictates the speed at which flight software verification can be conducted. In the development of the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) spacecraft ACS subsystem, an integrated design environment was used that included a MAP high fidelity (HiFi) simulation, a central database of spacecraft parameters, a script language for numeric and string processing, and plotting capability. In this integrated environment, it was possible to automate many of the steps involved in flight software testing, making the entire process more efficient and thorough than on previous missions. In this paper, we will compare the testing process used on MAP to that used on previous missions. The software tools that were developed to automate testing and test verification will be discussed, including the ability to import and process test data, synchronize test data and automatically generate HiFi script files used for test verification, and an automated capability for generating comparison plots. A summary of the perceived benefits of applying these test methods on MAP will be given. Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion of re-use of the tools and techniques presented, and the ongoing effort to apply them to flight software testing of the Triana spacecraft ACS subsystem.

ODonnell, James R., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Using Automation to Improve the Flight Software Testing Process

One of the critical phases in the development of a spacecraft attitude control system (ACS) is the testing of its flight software. The testing (and test verification) of ACS flight software requires a mix of skills involving software, knowledge of attitude control, and attitude control hardware, data manipulation, and analysis. The process of analyzing and verifying flight software test results often creates a bottleneck which dictates the speed at which flight software verification can be conducted. In the development of the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) spacecraft ACS subsystem, an integrated design environment was used that included a MAP high fidelity (HiFi) simulation, a central database of spacecraft parameters, a script language for numeric and string processing, and plotting capability. In this integrated environment, it was possible to automate many of the steps involved in flight software testing, making the entire process more efficient and thorough than on previous missions. In this paper, we will compare the testing process used on MAP to that used on other missions. The software tools that were developed to automate testing and test verification will be discussed, including the ability to import and process test data, synchronize test data and automatically generate HiFi script files used for test verification, and an automated capability for generating comparison plots. A summary of the benefits of applying these test methods on MAP will be given. Finally, the paper will conclude with a discussion of re-use of the tools and techniques presented, and the ongoing effort to apply them to flight software testing of the Triana spacecraft ACS subsystem.

ODonnell, James R., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Demonstration of the feasibility of automated silicon solar cell fabrication

A study effort was undertaken to determine the process, steps and design requirements of an automated silicon solar cell production facility. Identification of the key process steps was made and a laboratory model was conceptually designed to demonstrate the feasibility of automating the silicon solar cell fabrication process. A detailed laboratory model was designed to demonstrate those functions most critical to the question of solar cell fabrication process automating feasibility. The study and conceptual design have established the technical feasibility of automating the solar cell manufacturing process to produce low cost solar cells with improved performance. Estimates predict an automated process throughput of 21,973 kilograms of silicon a year on a three shift 49-week basis, producing 4,747,000 hexagonal cells (38mm/side), a total of 3,373 kilowatts at an estimated manufacturing cost of $0.866 per cell or $1.22 per watt.

Taylor, W. E.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Advanced tow placement of composite fuselage structure

The Hercules NASA ACT program was established to demonstrate and validate the low cost potential of the automated tow placement process for fabrication of aircraft primary structures. The program is currently being conducted as a cooperative program in collaboration with the Boeing ATCAS Program. The Hercules advanced tow placement process has been in development since 1982 and was developed specifically for composite aircraft structures. The second generation machine, now in operation at Hercules, is a production-ready machine that uses a low cost prepreg tow material form to produce structures with laminate properties equivalent to prepreg tape layup. Current program activities are focused on demonstration of the automated tow placement process for fabrication of subsonic transport aircraft fuselage crown quadrants. We are working with Boeing Commercial Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft during this phase of the program. The Douglas demonstration panels has co-cured skin/stringers, and the Boeing demonstration panel is an intricately bonded part with co-cured skin/stringers and co-bonded frames. Other aircraft structures that were evaluated for the automated tow placement process include engine nacelle components, fuselage pressure bulkheads, and fuselage tail cones. Because of the cylindrical shape of these structures, multiple parts can be fabricated on one two placement tool, thus reducing the cost per pound of the finished part.

Anderson, Robert L.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Automated Euler and Navier-Stokes Database Generation for a Glide-Back Booster

The past two decades have seen a sustained increase in the use of high fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in basic research, aircraft design, and the analysis of post-design issues. As the fidelity of a CFD method increases, the number of cases that can be readily and affordably computed greatly diminishes. However, computer speeds now exceed 2 GHz, hundreds of processors are currently available and more affordable, and advances in parallel CFD algorithms scale more readily with large numbers of processors. All of these factors make it feasible to compute thousands of high fidelity cases. However, there still remains the overwhelming task of monitoring the solution process. This paper presents an approach to automate the CFD solution process. A new software tool, AeroDB, is used to compute thousands of Euler and Navier-Stokes solutions for a 2nd generation glide-back booster in one week. The solution process exploits a common job-submission grid environment, the NASA Information Power Grid (IPG), using 13 computers located at 4 different geographical sites. Process automation and web-based access to a MySql database greatly reduces the user workload, removing much of the tedium and tendency for user input errors. The AeroDB framework is shown. The user submits/deletes jobs, monitors AeroDB's progress, and retrieves data and plots via a web portal. Once a job is in the database, a job launcher uses an IPG resource broker to decide which computers are best suited to run the job. Job/code requirements, the number of CPUs free on a remote system, and queue lengths are some of the parameters the broker takes into account. The Globus software provides secure services for user authentication, remote shell execution, and secure file transfers over an open network. AeroDB automatically decides when a job is completed. Currently, the Cart3D unstructured flow solver is used for the Euler equations, and the Overflow structured overset flow solver is used for the Navier-Stokes equations. Other codes can be readily included into the AeroDB framework.

Chaderjian, Neal M.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Automating symbolic analysis with CLIPS

Symbolic Analysis is a methodology first applied as an aid in selecting and generating test cases for 'white box' type testing of computer software programs. The feasibility of automating this analysis process has recently been demonstrated through the development of a CLIPS-based prototype tool. Symbolic analysis is based on separating the logic flow diagram of a computer program into its basic elements, and then systematically examining those elements and their relationships to provide a detailed static analysis of the process that those diagrams represent. The basic logic flow diagram elements are flow structure (connections), predicates (decisions), and computations (actions). The symbolic analysis approach supplies a disciplined step-by-step process to identify all executable program paths and produce a truth table that defines the input and output domains for each path identified. The resulting truth table is the tool that allows software test cases to be generated in a comprehensive manner to achieve total program path, input domain, and output domain coverage. Since the manual application of symbolic analysis is extremely labor intensive and is itself error prone, automation of the process is highly desirable. Earlier attempts at automation, utilizing conventional software approaches, had only limited success. This paper briefly describes the automation problems, the symbolic analysis expert's problem solving heuristics, and the implementation of those heuristics as a CLIPS based prototype, and the manual augmentation required. A simple application example is also provided for illustration purposes. The paper concludes with a discussion of implementation experiences, automation limitations, usage experiences, and future development suggestions.

Morris, Keith E.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Development of a Design for Manufacturing Tool for Automated Fiber Placement Structures

Existing design processes for laminates constructed with automated fiber placement lack significant integration between the various software tools that compose the process. Tools for finite element analysis, computer aided drafting, stress analysis, tool path simulation, and manufacturing defect prediction are all critical parts of the design process. With traditional hand-layup laminates, the analysis performed with each of these tools could be fairly well decoupled from one another. However, for laminates generated by automated fiber placement, the disciplines can become significantly coupled, especially on structures with curvature. This gives rise to a need for integrated “design for manufacturing” software tools that are able to balance the competing objectives from each discipline. This paper describes the preliminary development of such a tool.

Noevere, August T.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Computer Aided Modeling and Post Processing with NASTRAN Analysis

Computer aided engineering systems are invaluable tools in performing NASTRAN finite element analysis. These techniques are implemented in both the pre-processing and post-processing phases of the NASTRAN analysis. The finite element model development, or pre-processing phase, was automated with a computer aided modeling program called Supertabl, and the review and interpretation of the results of the NASTRAN analysis, or post-processing phase, was automated with a computer aided plotting program called Output Display. An intermediate program, Nasplot, which was developed in-house, has also helped to cut down on the model checkout time and reduce errors in the model. An interface has been established between the finite element computer aided engineering system and the Learjet computer aided design system whereby data can be transferred back and forth between the two. These systems have significantly improved productivity and the ability to perform NASTRAN analysis in response to product development requests.

Boroughs, R. R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Lunar surface mining for automated acquisition of helium-3: Methods, processes, and equipment

In this paper, several techniques considered for mining and processing the regolith on the lunar surface are presented. These techniques have been proposed and evaluated based primarily on the following criteria: (1) mining operations should be relatively simple; (2) procedures of mineral processing should be few and relatively easy; (3) transferring tonnages of regolith on the Moon should be minimized; (4) operations outside the lunar base should be readily automated; (5) all equipment should be maintainable; and (6) economic benefit should be sufficient for commercial exploitation. The economic benefits are not addressed in this paper; however, the energy benefits have been estimated to be between 250 and 350 times the mining energy. A mobile mining scheme is proposed that meets most of the mining objectives. This concept uses a bucket-wheel excavator for excavating the regolith, several mechanical electrostatic separators for beneficiation of the regolith, a fast-moving fluidized bed reactor to heat the particles, and a palladium diffuser to separate H2 from the other solar wind gases. At the final stage of the miner, the regolith 'tailings' are deposited directly into the ditch behind the miner and cylinders of the valuable solar wind gases are transported to a central gas processing facility. During the production of He-3, large quantities of valuable H2, H2O, CO, CO2, and N2 are produced for utilization at the lunar base. For larger production of He-3 the utilization of multiple-miners is recommended rather than increasing their size. Multiple miners permit operations at more sites and provide redundancy in case of equipment failure.

Li, Y. T.↗

NASA NTRS2001

The Standard Autonomous File Server, a Customized, Off-the-Shelf Success Story

The Standard Autonomous File Server (SAFS), which includes both off-the-shelf hardware and software, uses an improved automated file transfer process to provide a quicker, more reliable, prioritized file distribution for customers of near real-time data without interfering with the assets involved in the acquisition and processing of the data. It operates as a stand-alone solution, monitoring itself, and providing an automated fail-over process to enhance reliability. This paper will describe the unique problems and lessons learned both during the COTS selection and integration into SAFS, and the system's first year of operation in support of NASA's satellite ground network. COTS was the key factor in allowing the two-person development team to deploy systems in less than a year, meeting the required launch schedule. The SAFS system his been so successful, it is becoming a NASA standard resource, leading to its nomination for NASA's Software or the Year Award in 1999.

Semancik, Susan K.↗