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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Solar Decathlon Education Partner: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon (DOE/SD) is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. Solar Decathlon is comprised of two Challenges - Design Challenge (annual) and Build Challenge (biennial). The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides competition management for Solar Decathlon. NREL and Participant establish this CRADA to enable the success of the Solar Decathlon program in managing sponsorship funds and creating a K12 education program. Participant is to act as an Education Partner to Solar Decathlon, which includes: 1) accepting and dispersing sponsorship funds for DOE/SD; and 2) providing K12 education program to support Solar Decathlon Competition Events in April each year.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

CABLE Stage 3 – Ultra‐High Strength/Highly Conductive Al Alloys

This work is to be conducted in support of the CABLE Conductor Manufacturing Prize Program awarded by NREL. The intent is to connect competitor teams with national laboratories that can help accelerate the development of innovative solutions and products. Teams who receive CABLE Prize awards are eligible to utilize vouchers at national laboratories to advance their ideas. NanoAL LLC has been awarded a voucher to utilize at Ames National Laboratory. Ames National Laboratory will perform a scale‐up trial of Nano 6000‐T9 to evaluate and optimize the heat treatment and other processing variables to validate the lab‐scale work done at NanoAL. The final processing schedule will be used to fabricate the submission samples for the Stage 3 contest. All work will be supported by mechanical and electrical conductivity testing be performed by Ames.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

National Energy Education Development Project (NEED Project) (CRADA Final Report)

The U.S. Department of Energy Building Technologies Office (BTO) funds student competitions that introduce students to careers in the building sciences and increase public awareness around high-performance buildings to support the goal of developing, demonstrating, and accelerating the adoption of cost-effective technologies, techniques, tools, and services that enable high-performing, energy-efficient and demand-flexible residential and commercial buildings in both the new and existing buildings markets. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® (DOE/SD) is a flagship, high-visibility international competition started in 2002 that advances the goals of BTO by introducing students to building science careers; educating students and the public about the latest technologies and materials in high-performance buildings; encouraging student-led projects and research centered around building science; and demonstrating to the public the comfort and savings of homes that combine energy-efficient construction, home systems, appliances and innovative design with onsite renewable energy production. SD is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. Solar Decathlon is comprised of two Challenges – Design Challenge (annual) and Build Challenge (biennial). The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) provides competition management for Solar Decathlon. NREL and Participant establish this CRADA to enable the success of the overall Solar Decathlon program by managing sponsorship funds and creating a K12 education program. Participant is to act as an Education Partner to Solar Decathlon, which includes: 1) accepting and dispersing sponsorship funds for DOE/SD; and 2) providing K12 education program to support Solar Decathlon Competition Events in April each year.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simultaneous Celestial Navigation

GPS technology is used in a multitude of applications around the world for navigation. However, GPS can be contested or denied and thus alternatives to GPS are needed for positioning in high-consequence systems. This project investigates a non-RF based method to produce an estimated geolocation using stellar/celestial measurements in combination with measurements from inclinometers and a real time clock. The initial iteration of this method, developed in FY20/21, achieved an estimated location accuracy within approximately 3 kilometers of the true location with a 3-sigma bound of about 8 kilometers. The next iteration aims to enhance this technology further, targeting an estimation accuracy within 100 meters of the true location, representing a 30-fold improvement over the initial method.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Solar Forecasting, Net Load Forecasting, and Data-Driven Distributed Solar Visibility Prizes (Final Technical Report)

The American-Made Solar Forecasting Prize, Net Load Forecasting Prize, and Data-Driven Distribution (3D) Solar Visibility Prize is a multimillion-dollar prize competition designed to energize U.S. solar innovation through a series of contests that accelerate the entrepreneurial process from years to months. The activities incentivized by these three prizes will support the governmentwide approach to increase American energy dominance by promoting innovation and early deployment of energy technologies, resulting in wider adoption, which is critical for secure, affordable, and reliable solar energy.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Multiplexed Toxin Activity Detection

There is a need for field forward biothreat detection methods for highly lethal marine toxins, such as conotoxins, to protect the warfighter and civilians in contested environments. These toxins arise from harmful algal blooms which impact the warfighter, pets, and civilians. The need for detection platforms that can be fielded on drones or unmanned vehicles is paramount to successful biothreat detection to serve as an early warning system for those impacted in these environments.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Risks to the DOW Mission From Global Advanced Energy Adoption

Advanced energy technologies have the potential to enhance energy security and resilience; however, they can introduce new vulnerabilities even as they mitigate existing ones. This dichotomy highlights that both action and inaction carry strategic risks in a contested and logistically complex operating environment. Regardless of U.S. civilian or military adoption of such technologies, key allies and adversaries are on adoption paths that will impact the U.S. military at the tactical, operational, and strategic level. The global adoption of advanced energy technologies presents the potential for both positive and negative consequences for U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) missions in the next 10-20 years. Three categories of risk drivers are presented in this analysis: infrastructure-related, adoption-related, and response-related. Each risk type can generate consequences for DOD, including power disruptions, suboptimal DOD mission performance and operational effectiveness, higher costs and shortages for both legacy and advanced energy technologies, and loss of U.S. influence and strategic deterrent value. Specific impacts could include tactical impacts, operational impacts, and strategic impacts. Mitigation strategies could include energy resource and technology planning, cybersecurity, supply chain resilience, workforce development, exercises and simulations, investments in commercialized technology, operational testing and pilot programs, research into emerging technologies, partnerships and working groups, common standards, budget planning, and repurposing infrastructure.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

PermitTEC v0.1: Standardized Metadata Corpus of NEPA Litigation Documents

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), mandates that federal agencies assess and document potential environmental impacts before deciding on proposed actions. While significant progress has been made in cataloging and standardizing NEPA documents themselves, the legal challenges that frequently arise from these decisions remain poorly cataloged and largely inaccessible for systematic analysis. Litigation challenging NEPA compliance can substantially delay project timelines, reshape agency decision-making, and establish precedents that influence future environmental reviews — yet no standardized, machine-readable corpus exists that links litigation records to the NEPA projects they contest.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Higrad/Firetec Wildfire Simulations

Wildfire behavior is a result of complex nonlinear interactions between a variety of physical processes and chemical reactions. Understanding the coupling between these components and the ways in which their interactions are influenced by their surrounding environment (e.g. winds, fuels, and topography) is a challenging undertaking. The IEEE SciVis 2022 Contest is focused on the visualization and analysis of simulations of wildfires.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Improving Land Cover Classification Using Extended Multi-Attribute Profiles (EMAP) Enhanced Color, Near Infrared, and LiDAR Data

Hyperspectral (HS) data have found a wide range of applications in recent years. Researchers observed that more spectral information helps land cover classification performance in many cases. However, in some practical applications, HS data may not be available, due to cost, data storage, or bandwidth issues. Instead, users may only have RGB and near infrared (NIR) bands available for land cover classification. Sometimes, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data may also be available to assist land cover classification. A natural research problem is to investigate how well land cover classification can be achieved under the aforementioned data constraints. In this paper, we investigate the performance of land cover classification while only using four bands (RGB+NIR) or five bands (RGB+NIR+LiDAR). A number of algorithms have been applied to a well-known dataset (2013 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Data Fusion Contest). One key observation is that some algorithms can achieve better land cover classification performance by using only four bands as compared to that of using all 144 bands in the original hyperspectral data with the help of synthetic bands generated by Extended Multi-attribute Profiles (EMAP). Moreover, LiDAR data do improve the land cover classification performance even further.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Deep Learning for Land Cover Classification Using Only a Few Bands

There is an emerging interest in using hyperspectral data for land cover classification. The motivation behind using hyperspectral data is the notion that increasing the number of narrowband spectral channels would provide richer spectral information and thus help improve the land cover classification performance. Although hyperspectral data with hundreds of channels provide detailed spectral signatures, the curse of dimensionality might lead to degradation in the land cover classification performance. Moreover, in some practical applications, hyperspectral data may not be available due to cost, data storage, or bandwidth issues, and RGB and near infrared (NIR) could be the only image bands available for land cover classification. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data is another type of data to assist land cover classification especially if the land covers of interest have different heights. In this paper, we examined the performance of two Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based deep learning algorithms for land cover classification using only four bands (RGB+NIR) and five bands (RGB+NIR+LiDAR), where these limited number of image bands were augmented using Extended Multi-attribute Profiles (EMAP). The deep learning algorithms were applied to a well-known dataset used in the 2013 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Data Fusion Contest. With EMAP augmentation, the two deep learning algorithms were observed to achieve better land cover classification performance using only four bands as compared to that using all 144 hyperspectral bands.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey. I. New, Diverse Local Lyman Continuum Emitters

The origins of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons responsible for the reionization of the universe are as of yet unknown and highly contested. Detecting LyC photons from the Epoch of Reionization is not possible due to absorption by the intergalactic medium, which has prompted the development of several indirect diagnostics to infer the rate at which galaxies contribute LyC photons to reionize the universe by studying lower-redshift analogs. We present the Low-redshift Lyman Continuum Survey (LzLCS) comprising measurements made with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph for a z = 0.2–0.4 sample of 66 galaxies. After careful processing of the far-UV spectra, we obtain a total of 35 Lyman continuum emitters (LCEs) detected with 97.725% confidence, nearly tripling the number of known local LCEs. We estimate escape fractions from the detected LyC flux and upper limits on the undetected LyC flux, finding a range of LyC escape fractions up to 50%. Of the 35 LzLCS LCEs, 12 have LyC escape fractions greater than 5%, more than doubling the number of known local LCEs with cosmologically relevant LyC escape.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Competition Guide: 2022 Design Challenge and 2023 Build Challenge

The Solar Decathlon offers a unique experience that enables collegiate teams to develop critical career skills, learn from both national experts and peers, and gain valuable insights from world class thought leaders and mentors. Specifically, student teams are challenged to design and (if part of the Solar Decathlon Build Challenge) build highly energy-efficient buildings powered by renewable energy. Teams are evaluated on 10 measured contests, and the winning teams are those that best blend the topics of architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, smart energy production, and environmental justice.

Build Challenge↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Future of Building Science Education with the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon: Preprint

Experience the future of Building Science Education with the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, from community-focused designs to real-life innovative zero energy buildings constructed by students. In this paper, we will introduce the Solar Decathlon programs and a reimagined Building Science Education curriculum that is transforming education to inspire future building design professionals and bring sustainable, equitable design and construction strategies to the real world. The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate-level building design competition that challenges students in 10 Contests, from embodied environmental impact to affordability and resilience. We will cover the structure of the competition and its two Challenges - the Build Challenge and the Design Challenge - as well as additional programs that impact all aspects of the buildings industry. These programs include the Solar Decathlon Building Science Education course, a free online video series that provides students and working professionals with building science fundamentals; the Design Partners Program, which connects innovative student design teams and local building owners seeking low-risk, low-cost opportunities to incorporate sustainable design alternatives into their building portfolio; and Solar Decathlon Pro, a program piloted in 2021 that brings Solar Decathlon resources to design professionals. The Solar Decathlon's effective approach to bringing real-world solutions to building science empowers future professionals to do impactful work.

buildings↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between National Energy Technology Laboratory and West Virginia University Research Corporation (Abstract)

The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and West Virginia University Research Corporation (Participant) will collaborate on the testing of a 3D printed sparger in a temperature and pressure chamber, for the purpose of supporting the “American-Made Geothermal Prize” competition, designed to catalyze manufacturing innovation in the American geothermal industry by harnessing the rapid advances additive manufacturing can provide in improving design, fabrication, and functionality, which is accomplished through a series of prize competitions and the development of a diverse and powerful support network that leverages national laboratories, energy incubators, and other resources from across the United States. The intent is to connect competitor teams with national laboratories that can help accelerate the development of innovative solutions and products. Teams who have won the Set!, Go!, Make! Contests are eligible to utilize vouchers at national laboratories to advance their ideas.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

2.2.5.401 - Ocean Observing Prize

The Powering the Blue Economy: Ocean Observing Prize is a $2.4M contest that challenges innovators to develop solutions that integrate marine renewable energy with ocean observation platforms to revolutionize our ability to monitor, manage, and understand the ocean. Competitors are challenged to design, build, and test novel, wave-powered, self-charging autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) systems that could be suitable for a 6-month deployment in the Atlantic Ocean to monitor hurricane formation. Through engagement with the end user ocean observing community, the team identified challenges in a lack of data on storm intensity, endangering coastal communities. This challenge could be addressed by collecting data before, during, and after a hurricane develops and strengthens at sea. Amassing this data, however, requires an ocean observing system that can be deployed at sea for long periods, waiting for approaching storms. To help solve this problem, competitors are working to integrate wave energy capture with AUV systems to collect this data, helping to better protect coastal communities from oncoming storms. Solutions developed through this prize aim to enable long-term collection of data before, during, and after a hurricane that will help better forecast storm intensity. The prize mechanism provides an environment to accelerate technology development for innovators and helps to improve awareness of marine energy and its ability to provide power to blue economy applications.

coastal communities↗
DOE OSTI2022

1.4.1.401 - Fish Protection Prize

The Fish Protection Prize sought new solutions, designs, and strategies to prevent fish from swimming into water infrastructure, such as water diversions and pipes and intakes at hydropower dams. Participants submitted innovative ideas to advance fish exclusion technology. WPTO collaborated with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Fish Protection Prize to inspire innovators to compete for $700,000 of combined cash prizes and voucher support to help protect fish from these threats. Five experts in fish passage and protection served as reviewers in the Pitch Contest, and represented a number of Federal and State agencies, including NOAA, USGS, ORNL, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and AFS. Three finalists were selected as Grand Prize winners.

fish passage↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sub-nanosecond RF synchronization for MIMO software defined radio sensor networks

This disclosure presents distributed and decentralized synchronization for wireless transceivers. The disclosed system, device, and method achieve sub-nanosecond synchronization using low-cost commercial off the shelf software defined radios. By providing a decentralized mechanism that does not rely on a hierarchical master-slave structure, networks constructed as disclosed are robust to sensor drop-out in contested or harsh environments. Such networks may be used to create phased array radars and communication systems without requiring wired connections to distribute a common clock or local oscillator reference.

Moghaddam, Mahta↗