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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 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Assembly of a Full-Scale External Tank Barrel Section Using Friction Stir Welding

A full-scale pathfinder barrel section of the External Tank for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Transport System (Space Shuttle) has been assembled at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) via a collaborative effort between NASA/MSFC and Lockheed Martin Michoud Space Systems. The barrel section is 27.5 feet in diameter and 15 feet in height. The barrel was assembled using Super-Light-Weight (SLWT), orthogrid, Al-Li 2195 panel sections and a single longeron panel. A vertical weld tool at MSFC was modified to accommodate FSW and used to assemble the barrel. These modifications included the addition of a FSW weld head and new controller hardware and software, the addition of a backing anvil and the replacement of the clamping system with individually actuated clamps. Weld process 4evelopment was initially conducted to optimize the process for the welds required for completing the assembly. The variable thickness welds in the longeron section were conducted via both two-sided welds and with the use of a retractable pin tool. The barrel assembly was completed in October 1998. Details of the vertical weld tool modifications and the assembly process are presented.

Jones, Chip↗
NASA NTRS2005

NASA Intelligent Systems Project: Results, Accomplishments and Impact on Science Missions

The Intelligent Systems Project was responsible for much of NASA's programmatic investment in artificial intelligence and advanced information technologies. IS has completed three major project milestones which demonstrated increased capabilities in autonomy, human centered computing, and intelligent data understanding. Autonomy involves the ability of a robot to place an instrument on a remote surface with a single command cycle. Human centered computing supported a collaborative, mission centric data and planning system for the Mars Exploration Rovers and data understanding has produced key components of a terrestrial satellite observation system with automated modeling and data analysis capabilities. This paper summarizes the technology demonstrations and metrics which quantify and summarize these new technologies which are now available for future Nasa missions.

Coughlan, Joseph C.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Air Revitalization System Enables Excursions to the Stratosphere

Paragon Space Development Corporation, based in Tucson, Arizona has had a long history of collaboration with NASA, including developing a modular air purification system under the Commercial Crew Development Program, designed to support the commercial space sector. Using that device and other NASA technology, startup company World View is now gearing up to take customers on helium balloon rides to the stratosphere.

Source record↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ETM Industry: Tabletop Defining Notions for Cooperative Operating Practices

This tabletop plans to cover 3 main topics in regards to the research that NASA has conducted for High-E Traffic Management (ETM), as well as implementing it to stand up an ETM system in the Airspace Operations Lab to invite industry participants to join us in a collaborative evaluation at the end of 2023. (Or earlier for system architectural connectivity). Working to define the notions that go into Cooperative Operating Practices for a collaborative traffic management process, we will be showing and training to some of our early prototype concepts and discussing: 1. Operational Intent: We have built an OI generation tool and would like to discuss specifics to the requirements of OI size, update rates, and duration. 2. Strategic Conflict Detection: We have built a concept to detect overlapping OI’s and would like to discuss the output information; time horizon, geometry and confidence level of intersection. In addition we are looking at a service that would provide all users with additional information in regards to the probability of your actual flight intent getting within a specified separation envelope. 3. Cooperative Operating Practices (COPS): Specifically looking at COPs for strategic deconfliction, we are looking to industry to build the actual COPS based on various criteria; vehicle-to-vehicle interactions, or company to company agreements. What is the strategy when OIs intersect; wait and see, take a pre-negotiated COPS action, or ad-hoc negotiation and discuss what that looks like.

High-E Traffic Management (ETM)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Collaborative Research: Improved Efficiency and Coupling of the Radiation Code in the ACME Earth System Model (Final Report)

The complexity of radiative transfer, its importance to the exchange of energy in the climate system, and its high computational cost establishes importance of an accurate and efficient radiative transfer parameterization for climate simulation. Previous work by the proposing team at AER led to the development of the radiation code, RRTMG, which has been widely accepted by the global modeling community as a fast and accurate advancement over the previous generation of radiation codes. It has been in use in the NCAR CESM for many years, and it has been implemented in the initial version the DOE E3SM model. However, its computational cost remains high relative to other components in part due to its complexity and to its inefficient use of modern optimization strategies, and this project helped address this limitation for the code’s application in E3SM. Under other funding, the Investigators of this project led an effort to develop a high-performance broadband radiation code, called RTE+RRTMGP, which is a completely restructured code that will take advantage of modern computational capabilities to enhance its performance while retaining the strengths and accuracy of the original code. Designed to perform over a range of computer architectures, RTE+RRTMGP makes extensive use of Fortran 2003 features to improve both its efficiency and its use of memory. RTE+RRTMGP is expected to be adopted in the next generation of RTE+RRTMGP. This project allowed for advancements to the code’s computational capabilities and adding new and enhanced features. This included revising RTE+RRTMGP to run on GPU processors, analysis of and improvements to the code’s timing, modifying the gas optics in RRTMGP to increase the code’s accuracy, extensive validation of computed fluxes, heating rates and forcings, generating a cloud optical property and vertical sampling capabilities for RTE+RRTMGP, implementing a fast and accurate longwave scattering capability, and groundwork for the inclusion of a capability to specify solar variability. Many of the accomplishment in this project necessitated significant collaboration with the E3SM development team. The result of this project was optimization of a key physical component (radiative transfer calculations) of E3SM, directly supporting E3SM’s overarching global modeling objectives. More broadly, this project provided overall advancements in the use of radiative transfer calculations in atmospheric modeling and simulation, particularly for climate.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Risk-Reduction Autonomy Implementation to Enable NASA Artemis Missions

To achieve NASA’s Artemis program mission objectives a high level of autonomy and ubiquitous autonomy throughout the systems that are being developed will be necessary. The autonomous systems of Artemis will require a distributed autonomy capability, with autonomous systems organized functionally in a hierarchical architecture, where systems at higher levels of the hierarchy have authority over systems at lower levels. The challenge of developing autonomy technologies and concepts of operations for Artemis has been undertaken by the NASA Gateway Working Group. This group has developed requirements, architectures, concepts of operations, and interface control documents, in the context of a hierarchical distributed architecture that includes the following: a Vehicle System Manager (VSM) that autonomously manages the entire Gateway; Module System Managers (MSMs) that autonomously manage each module; and System Managers (SMs) that autonomously manage systems within a module(i.e. ECLSS).A substantially high level of autonomy needs to be achieved by each element of the hierarchy (VSM, MSM, SM)to meet requirements for uncrewed operations; this includes conditions that will have minimal and/or delayed ground intervention (i.e. requirements for sustainability for months of operation without crew or ground support). To advance an implementation of this autonomy design (Gateway Autonomy Design –GAD), a collaboration was established between the Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) at NASA Stennis Space Center and Lockheed Martin. The objectives of this partnership were the following: (1)to implement autonomy at the VSM, MSM, and SM levels;(2) to implement communications among a VSM, 2 MSMs, ORION (a visiting vehicle somewhat equivalent to a module) and 1 SM (a power system), and (3) test autonomous operations with representative use cases. A SM backed by a high-fidelity simulation was created to facilitate demonstrations of use cases that originated in a system of a module. Communication between the VSM and MSMs was implemented according to Concepts of Operations and Interface Control Documents (ICDs). Demonstrations were conducted to address nominal and off-nominal operations and multi-module interactions with VSM. Additionally, user interfaces were created to provide awareness about ongoing processes and results while enhancing the demonstration. Demonstrations included the following use cases: (1)Orion as visiting vehicle registers with VSM;(2) VSM reschedules a module’s timelines when another module’s MSM task fails; and (3) a module’s Power System Manager (PSM) standalone demonstration that included component failure diagnostics, tracing component failure to effected components, which in turn, reports failure information up to the VSM for acknowledgement and display. This paper will describe the detailed technology and autonomous systems developed, and the integrated multi-module demonstrations conducted. Also, challenges that must be met to fully implement the GAD defined by Gateway will be addressed.

Autonomous Systems↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Risk-Reduction Autonomy Implementation to Enable NASA Artemis Missions

To achieve NASA’s Artemis program mission objectives a high level of autonomy that is ubiquitous throughout the systems that are being developed will be necessary. The autonomous systems of Artemis will require a distributed autonomy capability, with autonomous systems organized functionally in a hierarchical architecture, where systems at higher levels of the hierarchy have authority over systems at lower levels. The challenge of developing autonomy technologies and Concepts of Operations (ConOps) for Artemis has been undertaken by the NASA Gateway Working Group. This group has developed requirements, architectures, ConOps, and interface control documents (ICDs), in the context of a hierarchical distributed architecture that includes the following: a Vehicle System Manager (VSM) that autonomously manages the entire Gateway; Module System Managers (MSMs) that autonomously manage each module; and System Managers (SMs) that autonomously manage systems within a module (i.e. ECLSS). A substantially high level of autonomy needs to be achieved by each element of the hierarchy (VSM, MSM, SM) to meet requirements for uncrewed operations; this includes conditions that will have minimal and/or delayed ground intervention (i.e. requirements for sustainability for months of operation without crew or ground support). To advance an implementation of this autonomy design (Gateway Autonomy Design – GAD), a collaboration was established between the Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) at NASA Stennis Space Center and Lockheed Martin. The objectives of this partnership were the following: (1) to implement autonomy at the VSM, MSM, and SM levels; (2) to implement communications among a VSM, 2 MSMs, ORION (a visiting vehicle somewhat equivalent to a module) and 1 SM (a power system), and (3) test autonomous operations with representative use cases. A SM backed by a high-fidelity simulation was created to facilitate demonstrations of use cases that originated in a system of a module. Communication between the VSM and MSMs was implemented according to Concepts of Operations and Interface Control Documents (ICDs). Demonstrations were conducted to address nominal and off-nominal operations and multi-module interactions with the VSM. Additionally, user interfaces were created to provide awareness about ongoing processes and results while enhancing the demonstration. Demonstrations included the following use cases: (1) Orion as visiting vehicle registers with VSM; (2) VSM reschedules a module’s timelines when another module’s MSM task fails; and (3) a module’s Power System Manager (PSM) demonstration that included component failure diagnostics, tracing component failure to effected components, which in turn, reports failure information up to the VSM for acknowledgement and display. This paper will describe the detailed technology and autonomous systems developed, and the integrated multi-module demonstrations conducted. Also, challenges that must be met to fully implement the GAD defined by Gateway will be addressed.

Fernando Figueroa↗
DOE OSTI2023

A Collaboration Website for Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Muon Beam Production

This research initiative establishes a dynamic online platform geared towards supporting the burgeoning Muon Catalyzed Fusion collaboration, focusing on the concurrent development of particle accelerators and transport beamlines for muon beams. The central feature of this endeavor is the creation of a multifaceted website comprising both public facing and private sections to cater to diverse user needs. The public segment is meticulously designed to serve as an educational hub, featuring information pages targeted at the general public alongside private pages exclusively accessible to collaboration members. These pages will host an array of multimedia elements, ranging from images and text animations to video lectures, covering an extensive spectrum of topics integral to the science of Muon Catalyzed Fusion. Encompassing areas such as Acceleration, Applications, Instrumentation, Beamline Design, and beam dynamics design codes, the educational content aims to make complex scientific concepts more accessible to a broader audience. Ensuring seamless accessibility across various devices and operating systems, the website incorporates integration with collaborative tools such as Google Docs for document collaboration, GitHub for code repository management, and WordPress for blogging with interactive commenting features. The bifurcation between public and private sections is a strategic approach to maintaining transparency while safeguarding proprietary research and works in progress. The public pages are strategically crafted to disseminate information, showcasing the latest endeavors and achievements within the NK Labs collaboration, including lectures, published papers, and regular blog posts open to public comments. On the other hand, the private section provides collaboration members with a secure space to share unpublished or nonpublic research, fostering collaborative efforts through integrated Google Docs and Python Plotty for shared graphing work. In essence, this ambitious project endeavors to bridge the gap between complex scientific knowledge and public understanding, enhance collaboration among researchers, and serve as a dynamic and inclusive platform for sharing and advancing the state-of-the-art in Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Accelerators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evaluating the effectiveness of a camera-based detection system to support informed curtailment and minimize eagle fatalities at wind energy facilities

The American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI – now Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute, REWI) – was appointed prime awardee of DOE award number DE-EE0007880 to lead a team of scientists, wind developers, and technology manufacturers in a collaborative evaluation of the effectiveness of a technology intended to help reduce eagle collisions with wind turbines. IdentiFlight, developed by Renewable Energy Systems (RES) in collaboration with Boulder Imaging, is an autonomous aerial monitoring and detection system. REWI partnered with ecological consultants, Western Ecosystems Technology, Inc. (WEST), to independently evaluate the performance of IdentiFlight reducing eagle collision risk under a suite of environmental conditions relative to the performance of a Biomonitor (human observer-based) Program. The project objectives were to 1) evaluate how IdentiFlight compared to biomonitors in detecting and identifying eagles under a suite of environmental conditions and 2) use the observation data to model how IdentiFlight and biomonitors reduced the eagle fatality prediction through informed curtailment. Field testing was to take place at two geographically distinct wind farms over two field seasons at each wind farm with a study design appropriate for meta-analyses across sites and years.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

First SELAP Algorithm Operational Experience of the New LLRF 3.0 RF Control System

The JLAB LLRF 3.0 system has been developed and is replacing the 30-year-old LLRF systems in the CEBAF accelerator. The LLRF system builds upon 25 years of design and operational RF control experience (digital and analog), and our recent collaboration in the design of the LCLSII LLRF system. The new system also incorporates a cavity control algorithm using a fully functional phase and amplitude locked Self Exciting Loop (SELAP). The first system (controlling 8 cavities) was installed and commissioned in August of 2021. Since then the new LLRF system has been operating with cavity gradients up to 20 MV/m, and electron beam currents up to 350 uA. This paper discusses the operational experience of the LLRF 3.0 SELAP algorithm along with other software and firmware tools like cavity and klystron characterization and quench detection.

Plawski, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS2019

"Sensor Web Evolution - Webs of Webs for NASA Science - Focus on small Uninhabited Aerial Systems (sUAS)"

This paper will describe the evolution of information collection, derivation and delivery mechanisms in webs of NASA sensor webs, with a focus on recent advancements in small Uninhabited Aerial Systems (sUAS). I will discuss the movement to "Fog Computing", also known as Edge Computing. Fog Computing facilitates the distribution of common operations and networking between edge devices and cloud computing facilities, optimizing the production of actionable intelligence. Initially, sUASs utilized onboard data collection as standard, with minimal data downloaded directly. Information products were derived in conventional computational environments, generally desk top computers, and information products made available to the Science Community in weeks or months. With the increased availability, and increasingly lower costs, of beyond line of sight (BLOS) satellite based communication, transmission rates and data volumes increased, and processing migrated to Cloud based services. Contemporary sUASs are moving some of that information product derivation to on vehicle services, and are creating a distributed Cloud/Fog environment. I will describe the technological advances that have made this possible, including low power multi-core Central Processing Units (CPU), and, more recently, the availability of high end Graphical Processing Units (GPU) that consume only a few watts. Intelligent system software, leveraging these hardware advances, finally allows for information product generation on-board, rather than simple data collection. Additionally, intelligent flight control systems now support mutual vehicle to vehicle collaboration, allowing sUASs to create ad-hoc sensor webs on demand, as required. Also discussed will be the lessons learned by the Authors' development of data systems for NASA's large High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UASs like Predator and Global Hawk, and how those lessons are being applied to sUAS development. This paper will focus on application, rather a deep dive into the technology, and will highlight improving data management through these new technologies.

Sensor Web↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

UASs in the VOG/Edge/FOG Sensor Web Environment

This paper will describe the evolution of information collection, derivation and delivery mechanisms in sensor webs utilizing Uninhabited Aerial Systems (UAS).We will discuss the movement to "Fog Computing", also known as Edge Computing. Fog Computing facilitates the distribution of common operations and networking between edge devices and cloud computing facilities, optimizing the production of actionable intelligence. Initially, UASs utilized onboard data collection as standard, with minimal data downloaded directly. Information products were derived in conventional computational environments, generally desk top computers, and information products made available to the Science Community in weeks or months. With the increased availability, and increasingly lower costs, of beyond line of sight (BLOS) satellite based communication, transmission rates and data volumes increased, and processing migrated to Cloud based services. Contemporary UASs are moving some of that information product derivation to on vehicle services, and are creating a distributed Cloud/Fog environment. The Author will describe the technological advances that have made this possible, including low power multi-core Central Processing Units (CPU), and, more recently, the availability of high end Graphical Processing Units (GPU) that consume only a few watts. Intelligent system software, leveraging these hardware advances, finally allows for information product generation on-board, rather than simple data collection. Additionally, intelligent flight control systems now support mutual vehicle to vehicle collaboration, allowing UASs to create ad-hoc sensor webs on demand, as required. Also discussed will be the lessons learned by the Authors' development of data systems for NASA's large High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UASs like Predator and Global Hawk, and how those lessons are being applied to other UAS development This paper will focus on applications, rather a deep dive into the technology, and will highlight improving data management through these new technologies.

UAS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT)

I will present an overview (in French) of the AIST Program with a particular emphasis on Earth system Digital Twins (ESDT) and on the collaborative work the AIST Program is currently conducting with CNES.

Earth Science Remote Sensing; Information Systems↗
NASA NTRS2003

PAIRS, The GIS-Based Incident Response System for Pennsylvania, and NASA

Over the past several years the Pennsylvania Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP), Health (DOH), and Agriculture (PDA) built the GIs-based Pennsylvania West Nile Surveillance System. That system has become a model for collecting data that has a field component, laboratory component, reporting and mapping component, and a public information component. Given the success of the West Nile Virus System and the events of September 11, 2001, DEP then embarked on the development of the Pennsylvania Incident Response System, or PAIRS. PAIRS is an effective GIs-based approach to providing a system for response to incidents of any kind, including terrorism because it is building upon the existing experience, infrastructure and databases that were successfully developed to respond to the West Nile Virus by DEP, DOH, and PDA. The proposed system can be described as one that supports data acquisition, laboratory forensics, decision making/response, and communications. Decision makers will have tools to view and analyze data from various sources and, at the same time, to communicate with the large numbers of people responding to the same incident. Recent collaborations with NASA partners are creating mechanisms for the PAIRS system to incorporate space-based and other remote sensing geophysical parameters relevant to public health assessment and management, such as surface temperatures, precipitation, land cover/land use change, and humidity. This presentation will describe the PAIRS system and outline the Pennsylvania-NASA collaboration for integration of space-based data into the PAIRS system.

Conrad, Eric↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Grassroots Network and Community Roadmap for Interconnected Autonomous Science Laboratories for Accelerated Discovery

Scientific discovery is being revolutionized by AI and autonomous systems, yet current autonomous laboratories remain isolated islands unable to collaborate across institutions. We present the Autonomous Interconnected Science Lab Ecosystem (AISLE), a grassroots network transforming fragmented capabilities into a unified system that shorten the path from ideation to innovation to impact and accelerates discovery from decades to months. AISLE addresses five critical dimensions: (1) cross-institutional equipment orchestration, (2) intelligent data management with FAIR compliance, (3) AI-agent driven orchestration grounded in scientific principles, (4) interoperable agent communication interfaces, and (5) AI/ML-integrated scientific education. By connecting autonomous agents across institutional boundaries, autonomous science can unlock research spaces inaccessible to traditional approaches while democratizing cutting-edge technologies. This paradigm shift toward collaborative autonomous science promises breakthroughs in sustainable energy, materials development, and public health.

Ferreira da Silva, Rafael [Oak Ridge National Labo↗
NASA NTRS2013

Doppler Lidar System Design via Interdisciplinary Design Concept at NASA Langley Research Center - Part I

Optimized designs of the Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) instrument for Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) were accomplished via Interdisciplinary Design Concept (IDEC) at NASA Langley Research Center during the summer of 2013. Three branches in the Engineering Directorate and three students were involved in this joint task through the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) Program. The Laser Remote Sensing Branch (LRSB), Mechanical Systems Branch (MSB), and Structural and Thermal Systems Branch (STSB) were engaged to achieve optimal designs through iterative and interactive collaborative design processes. A preliminary design iteration was able to reduce the power consumption, mass, and footprint by removing redundant components and replacing inefficient components with more efficient ones. A second design iteration reduced volume and mass by replacing bulky components with excessive performance with smaller components custom-designed for the power system. Mechanical placement collaboration reduced potential electromagnetic interference (EMI). Through application of newly selected electrical components and thermal analysis data, a total electronic chassis redesign was accomplished. Use of an innovative forced convection tunnel heat sink was employed to meet and exceed project requirements for cooling, mass reduction, and volume reduction. Functionality was a key concern to make efficient use of airflow, and accessibility was also imperative to allow for servicing of chassis internals. The collaborative process provided for accelerated design maturation with substantiated function.

Boyer, Charles M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Collaboration to Enable Higher Penetrations of Solar Power Generation Using the Natural Gas Pipeline System for Energy Storage (CRADA CRD-14-00567)

This unique project explored one possible solution for photovoltaic (PV) generation to become a reliable and dispatchable energy resource similar to conventional baseload fossil fuel electricity generation. Solar power generation is a renewable resource that varies naturally from day-to-day as well as seasonally. To use solar power as a baseload generation asset requires a flexible storage system that can recover power on both a daily and seasonal basis. Converting solar power to natural gas (i.e., first to hydrogen and then to methane) and having access to utility-scale storage in the natural gas network has the potential to make solar power generation a baseload asset. This will: 1) Increase the net energy yield from solar resources by increasing the effective capacity factor and maximize the energy produced during the assets’ lifetimes. 2) Improve the economics of energy storage for solar project developers, thereby accelerating the deployment of new solar generation. 3) Reduce the impact of increasing solar penetration on congestion of the electrical transmission system by shifting power delivery in time using the gas pipeline network for long-duration storage. 4) Reduce the impact of increasing solar generation on electrical distribution system control. 5) Offer alternative revenue sources for solar power generation beyond electricity including: hydrogen (H 2 ) production for stationary fuel cells and fuel cell electric vehicles, conversion of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to methane (CH 4 ) as a direct drop-in replacement for fossil natural gas use, and transmission as high volumetrically-dense CH 4 for use in transportation, heating, power generation, chemical production or conversion back to H2 at the point of use. Additional work was added to this CRADA in modification 4 having a primary objective to characterize the performance of the electrolyzer, Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) bioreactor and balance of plant to demonstrate production of renewable natural gas (RNG) from renewable H 2 and CO 2 using single-cell, self-replicating organisms. The additional scope of work allowed researchers to ramp up gas flowrates and pressure of the system over the designed range to grow the cells and begin to show the load-following capabilities of this anaerobic gas fermentation process. These activities enabled the research team to predict system performance at much greater scales; namely 10’s of mega-watts (MWs) of electrolyzer nameplate capacity.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1996

Development of Collaborative Research Initiatives to Advance the Aerospace Sciences-via the Communications, Electronics, Information Systems Focus Group

The primary goal of the Adaptive Vision Laboratory Research project was to develop advanced computer vision systems for automatic target recognition. The approach used in this effort combined several machine learning paradigms including evolutionary learning algorithms, neural networks, and adaptive clustering techniques to develop the E-MOR.PH system. This system is capable of generating pattern recognition systems to solve a wide variety of complex recognition tasks. A series of simulation experiments were conducted using E-MORPH to solve problems in OCR, military target recognition, industrial inspection, and medical image analysis. The bulk of the funds provided through this grant were used to purchase computer hardware and software to support these computationally intensive simulations. The payoff from this effort is the reduced need for human involvement in the design and implementation of recognition systems. We have shown that the techniques used in E-MORPH are generic and readily transition to other problem domains. Specifically, E-MORPH is multi-phase evolutionary leaming system that evolves cooperative sets of features detectors and combines their response using an adaptive classifier to form a complete pattern recognition system. The system can operate on binary or grayscale images. In our most recent experiments, we used multi-resolution images that are formed by applying a Gabor wavelet transform to a set of grayscale input images. To begin the leaming process, candidate chips are extracted from the multi-resolution images to form a training set and a test set. A population of detector sets is randomly initialized to start the evolutionary process. Using a combination of evolutionary programming and genetic algorithms, the feature detectors are enhanced to solve a recognition problem. The design of E-MORPH and recognition results for a complex problem in medical image analysis are described at the end of this report. The specific task involves the identification of vertebrae in x-ray images of human spinal columns. This problem is extremely challenging because the individual vertebra exhibit variation in shape, scale, orientation, and contrast. E-MORPH generated several accurate recognition systems to solve this task. This dual use of this ATR technology clearly demonstrates the flexibility and power of our approach.

Knasel, T. Michael↗