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At least 73 records · Page 4

DARHT Multi-intelligence Seismic and Acoustic Data Analysis

The purpose of this report is to document the analysis of seismic and acoustic data collected at the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory for robust, multi-intelligence decision making. The data utilized herein is obtained from two tri-axial seismic sensors and three acoustic sensors, resulting in a total of nine data channels. The goal of this analysis is to develop a generalized, automated framework to determine internal operations at DARHT using informative features extracted from measurements collected external of the facility. Our framework involves four components: (1) feature extraction, (2) data fusion, (3) classification, and finally (4) robustness analysis. Two approaches are taken for extracting features from the data. The first of these, generic feature extraction, involves extraction of statistical features from the nine data channels. The second approach, event detection, identifies specific events relevant to traffic entering and leaving the facility as well as explosive activities at DARHT and nearby explosive testing sites. Event detection is completed using a two stage method, first utilizing signatures in the frequency domain to identify outliers and second extracting short duration events of interest among these outliers by evaluating residuals of an autoregressive exogenous time series model. Features extracted from each data set are then fused to perform analysis with a multi-intelligence paradigm, where information from multiple data sets are combined to generate more information than available through analysis of each independently. The fused feature set is used to train a statistical classifier and predict the state of operations to inform a decision maker. We demonstrate this classification using both generic statistical features and event detection and provide a comparison of the two methods. Finally, the concept of decision robustness is presented through a preliminary analysis where uncertainty is added to the system through noise in the measurements.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Intelligent Patching of Conceptual Geometry for CFD Analysis

The iPatch computer code for intelligently patching surface grids was developed to convert conceptual geometry to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) geometry (see figure). It automatically uses bicubic B-splines to extrapolate (if necessary) each surface in a conceptual geometry so that all the independently defined geometric components (such as wing and fuselage) can be intersected to form a watertight CFD geometry. The software also computes the intersection curves of surface patches at any resolution (up to 10.4 accuracy) specified by the user, and it writes the B-spline surface patches, and the corresponding boundary points, for the watertight CFD geometry in the format that can be directly used by the grid generation tool VGRID. iPatch requires that input geometry be in PLOT3D format where each component surface is defined by a rectangular grid {(x(i,j), y(i,j), z(i,j)):1less than or equal to i less than or equal to m, 1 less than or equal to j less than or equal to n} that represents a smooth B-spline surface. All surfaces in the PLOT3D file conceptually represent a watertight geometry of components of an aircraft on the half-space y greater than or equal to 0. Overlapping surfaces are not allowed, but could be fixed by a utility code "fixp3d". The fixp3d utility code first finds the two grid lines on the two surface grids that are closest to each other in Hausdorff distance (a metric to measure the discrepancies of two sets); then uses one of the grid lines as the transition line, extending grid lines on one grid to the other grid to form a merged grid. Any two connecting surfaces shall have a "visually" common boundary curve, or can be described by an intersection relationship defined in a geometry specification file. The intersection of two surfaces can be at a conceptual level. However, the intersection is directional (along either i or j index direction), and each intersecting grid line (or its spine extrapolation) on the first surface should intersect the second surface. No two intersection relationships will result in a common intersection point of three surfaces. The output files of iPatch are IGES, d3m, and mapbc files that define the CFD geometry in VGRID format. The IGES file gives the NURBS definition of the outer mold line in the geometry. The d3m file defines how the outer mold line is broken into surface patches whose boundary curves are defined by points. The mapbc file specifies what the boundary condition is on each patch and the corresponding NURBS surface definition of each non-planar patch in the IGES file.

Li, Wu↗

Dynamic analysis environment for nuclear forensic analyses

We report a Dynamic Analysis Environment (DAE) software package is introduced to facilitate group inclusion/exclusion method testing, evaluation and comparison for pre-detonation nuclear forensics applications. Employing DAE, the multivariate signatures of a questioned material can be compared to the signatures for different, known groups, enabling the linking of the questioned material to its potential process, location, or fabrication facility. Advantages of using DAE for group inclusion/exclusion include built-in query tools for retrieving data of interest from a database, the recording and documentation of all analysis steps, a clear visualization of the analysis steps intelligible to a non-expert, and the ability to integrate analysis tools developed in different programming languages. Two group inclusion/exclusion methods are implemented in DAE: principal component analysis, a parametric feature extraction method, and k nearest neighbors, a nonparametric pattern recognition method. Spent Fuel Isotopic Composition (SFCOMPO), an open source international database of isotopic compositions for spent nuclear fuels (SNF) from 14 reactors, is used to construct PCA and KNN models for known reactor groups, and 20 simulated SNF samples are utilized in evaluating the performance of these group inclusion/exclusion models. For all 20 simulated samples, PCA in conjunction with the Q statistic correctly excludes a large percentage of reactor groups and correctly includes the true reactor of origination. As a result, employing KNN, 14 of the 20 simulated samples are classified to their true reactor of origination.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Radiology and Enterprise Medical Imaging Extensions (REMIX)

Radiology and Enterprise Medical Imaging Extensions (REMIX) is a platform originally designed to both support the medical imaging-driven clinical and clinical research operational needs of Department of Radiology of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. REMIX accommodates the storage and handling of “big imaging data,” as needed for large multi-disciplinary cancer-focused programs. The evolving REMIX platform contains an array of integrated tools/software packages for the following: (1) server and storage management; (2) image reconstruction; (3) digital pathology; (4) de-identification; (5) business intelligence; (6) texture analysis; and (7) artificial intelligence. These capabilities, along with documentation and guidance, explaining how to interact with a commercial system (e.g., PACS, EHR, commercial database) that currently exists in clinical environments, are to be made freely available.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

ParaView Catalyst: Enabling In Situ Data Analysis and Visualization

Computer simulations are growing in sophistication and producing results of ever greater fidelity. This trend has been enabled by advances in numerical methods and increasing computing power. However these advances come with several costs including massive increases in data size, difficulties examining output data, challenges in configuring simulation runs, and difficulty debugging running codes. Interactive visualization tools, like ParaView, have been used for post-processing of simulation results. However, the increasing data sizes, and limited storage and bandwidth make high fidelity post-processing impractical. In situ analysis is recognized as one of the ways to address these challenges. In situ analysis moves some of the post-processing tasks in line with the simulation code thus short circuiting the need to communicate the data between the simulation and analysis via storage. ParaView Catalyst is a data processing and visualization library that enables in situ analysis and visualization. Built on and designed to interoperate with the standard visualization toolkit VTK and the ParaView application, Catalyst enables simulations to intelligently perform analysis, generate relevant output data, and visualize results concurrent with a running simulation. Here, we provide an overview of the Catalyst framework and some of the success stories.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Artificial intelligence applied to process signal analysis

Many space station processes are highly complex systems subject to sudden, major transients. In any complex process control system, a critical aspect of the human/machine interface is the analysis and display of process information. Human operators can be overwhelmed by large clusters of alarms that inhibit their ability to diagnose and respond to a disturbance. Using artificial intelligence techniques and a knowledge base approach to this problem, the power of the computer can be used to filter and analyze plant sensor data. This will provide operators with a better description of the process state. Once a process state is recognized, automatic action could be initiated and proper system response monitored.

Corsberg, Dan↗

A Program in Air Transportation Technology (Joint University Program)

The Joint University Program on Air Transportation Technology was conducted at Princeton University from 1971 to 1995. Our vision was to further understanding of the design and operation of transport aircraft, of the effects of atmospheric environment on aircraft flight, and of the development and utilization of the National Airspace System. As an adjunct, the program emphasized the independent research of both graduate and undergraduate students. Recent principal goals were to develop and verify new methods for design and analysis of intelligent flight control systems, aircraft guidance logic for recovery from wake vortex encounter, and robust flight control systems. Our research scope subsumed problems associated with multidisciplinary aircraft design synthesis and analysis based on flight physics, providing a theoretical basis for developing innovative control concepts that enhance aircraft performance and safety. Our research focus was of direct interest not only to NASA but to manufacturers of aircraft and their associated systems. Our approach, metrics, and future directions described in the remainder of the report.

Stengel, Robert F.↗

Advances and trends in structural and solid mechanics; Proceedings of the Symposium, Washington, DC, October 4-7, 1982

The mechanics of materials and material characterization are considered, taking into account micromechanics, the behavior of steel structures at elevated temperatures, and an anisotropic plasticity model for inelastic multiaxial cyclic deformation. Other topics explored are related to advances and trends in finite element technology, classical analytical techniques and their computer implementation, interactive computing and computational strategies for nonlinear problems, advances and trends in numerical analysis, database management systems and CAD/CAM, space structures and vehicle crashworthiness, beams, plates and fibrous composite structures, design-oriented analysis, artificial intelligence and optimization, contact problems, random waves, and lifetime prediction. Earthquake-resistant structures and other advanced structural applications are also discussed, giving attention to cumulative damage in steel structures subjected to earthquake ground motions, and a mixed domain analysis of nuclear containment structures using impulse functions.

Noor, A. K.↗

Roundtable on Producing and Managing Large Scientific Data with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (Brochure)

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) twelve Basic Energy Sciences (BES) scientific user facilities provide access to the world’s most advanced research instruments, annually serving over 16,000 users with impact reported in nearly 7,000 publications and producing unprecedented quantities of scientific data. While impressive, reaching the full potential of these rapidly growing facilities will require new innovations to solve a variety of technical challenges in data acquisition, control, modeling, and analysis. Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) have opened corresponding new avenues in optimization, efficient surrogate models, data analytics, and inverse problems. These intriguing capabilities suggest that AI/ML can greatly accelerate the quest to probe and understand fundamental phenomena across a vast range of lengths and timescales, potentially leading to transformative advances across scientific disciplines.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Merging Intelligent Systems Technologies with CFD Analysis Strategies: Prototype Development at NASA Ames

A collaborative team of researchers from fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), fluid physics, computer architectures, and computer science and knowledge engineering have begun work on a prototype system that addresses several of industry's concerns in using NASA-developed CFD codes as part of the design cycle. A major problem exists in the application of CFD technologies within the aeronautics design cycle due primarily to misunderstandings in the ranges of applicability of the various solver codes or turbulence models. Features that arise during the CFD solution process need to be discriminated and recognized as actual flow features with physical support in the geometry and flow conditions of the problem being solved, or as numerical or non-physical errors arising from mis-application of solver code and its parameters, gridding strategies, or discretization. interpolations. The fundamental concept is to develop an intelligent computational system that can accept the engineer's definition of the problem and construct an optimal CFD solution. To do this requires capturing both the knowledge of how to apply the various CFD tools and how to adapt the application of those tools to flow structures as they evolve during the flow simulation. Embedded within this adaptive system approach is the additional desire to automatically identify and quantify the quality of resolution of the pertinent flow structures, be they genuine or error-induced, and then to adjust the solution strategy accordingly. This paper discusses the status of that prototyping effort.

Thompson, David E.↗

A New Generation of Intelligent Trainable Tools for Analyzing Large Scientific Image Databases

In a variety of scientific disciplines two-dimensional digital image data is now relied on as a basic component of routine scientific investigation. The proliferation of image acquisition hardware such as multi-spectral remote-sensing platforms, medical imaging sensors, and high-resolution cameras have led to the widespread use of image data in fields such as atmospheric studies, planetary geology, ecology, agriculture, glacielogy, forestry, astronomy, diagnostic medicine, to name but a few.

machine↗

User-Centered Evaluation of Visual Analytics

Visual analytics systems are becoming very popular. More domains now use interactive visualizations to analyze the ever-increasing amount and heterogeneity of data. More novel visualizations are being developed for more tasks and users. We need to ensure that these systems can be evaluated to determine that they are both useful and usable. A user-centered evaluation for visual analytics needs to be developed for these systems. While many of the typical human-computer interaction (HCI) evaluation methodologies can be applied as is, others will need modification. Additionally, new functionality in visual analytics systems needs new evaluation methodologies. There is a difference between usability evaluations and user-centered evaluations. Usability looks at the efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of users carrying out tasks with software applications. User-centered evaluation looks more specifically at the utility provided to the users by the software. This is reflected in the evaluations done and in the metrics used. In the visual analytics domain this is very challenging as users are most likely experts in a particular domain, the tasks they do are often not well defined, the software they use needs to support large amounts of different kinds of data, and often the tasks last for months. These difficulties are discussed more in the section on User-centered Evaluation. Our goal is to provide a discussion of user-centered evaluation practices for visual analytics, including existing practices that can be carried out and new methodologies and metrics that need to be developed and agreed upon by the visual analytics community. The material provided here should be of use for both researchers and practitioners in the field of visual analytics. Researchers and practitioners in HCI and interested in visual analytics will find this information useful as well as a discussion on changes that need to be made to current HCI practices to make them more suitable to visual analytics. A history of analysis and analysis techniques and problems is provided as well as an introduction to user-centered evaluation and various evaluation techniques for readers from different disciplines. The understanding of these techniques is imperative if we wish to support analysis in the visual analytics software we develop. Currently the evaluations that are conducted and published for visual analytics software are very informal and consist mainly of comments from users or potential users. Our goal is to help researchers in visual analytics to conduct more formal user-centered evaluations. While these are time-consuming and expensive to carryout, the outcomes of these studies will have a defining impact on the field of visual analytics and help point the direction for future features and visualizations to incorporate. While many researchers view work in user-centered evaluation as a less-than-exciting area to work, the opposite is true. First of all, the goal is user-centered evaluation is to help visual analytics software developers, researchers, and designers improve their solutions and discover creative ways to better accommodate their users. Working with the users is extremely rewarding as well. While we use the term “users” in almost all situations there are a wide variety of users that all need to be accommodated. Moreover, the domains that use visual analytics are varied and expanding. Just understanding the complexities of a number of these domains is exciting. Researchers are trying out different visualizations and interactions as well. And of course, the size and variety of data are expanding rapidly. User-centered evaluation in this context is rapidly changing. There are no standard processes and metrics and thus those of us working on user-centered evaluation must be creative in our work with both the users and with the researchers and developers.

intelligence analysis↗

Operando microscopy for neuromorphic hardware

Microscopy techniques can uncover the physical properties and dynamic behaviours of materials, driving the discovery of emergent phenomena and guiding the design of next-generation computing hardware. As artificial intelligence becomes pervasive, the demand for high-performance materials to support sustainable information technologies is growing. Here, this Review highlights state-of-the-art imaging from electron and X-ray to optical techniques to probe the dynamics of neuromorphic materials, including operando characterization of devices. We examine design principles for neuromorphic materials, along with obstacles that hinder their development. Emphasis is placed on spatially and temporally resolved approaches that capture state changes including phase transitions, ferroic switching and spin-wave propagation that emulate biological components such as neurons, synapses and their connectivity. We discuss challenges in operando characterization and the integration of artificial intelligence-driven analysis for feedback-guided material discovery. Finally, we outline opportunities for real-time imaging of neuromorphic systems, paving the way towards adaptive, brain-inspired hardware.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Reconfigurable Framework for Resilient Semantic Segmentation for Space Applications

Deep learning (DL) presents new opportunities for enabling spacecraft autonomy, onboard analysis, and intelligent applications for space missions. However, DL applications are computationally intensive and often infeasible to deploy on radiation-hardened (rad-hard) processors, which traditionally harness a fraction of the computational capability of their commercial-off-the-shelf counterparts. Commercial FPGAs and system-on-chips present numerous architectural advantages and provide the computation capabilities to enable onboard DL applications; however, these devices are highly susceptible to radiation-induced single-event effects (SEEs) that can degrade the dependability of DL applications. In this article, we propose Reconfigurable ConvNet (RECON), a reconfigurable acceleration framework for dependable, high-performance semantic segmentation for space applications. In RECON, we propose both selective and adaptive approaches to enable efficient SEE mitigation. In our selective approach, control-flow parts are selectively protected by triple-modular redundancy to minimize SEE-induced hangs, and in our adaptive approach, partial reconfiguration is used to adapt the mitigation of dataflow parts in response to a dynamic radiation environment. Combined, both approaches enable RECON to maximize system performability subject to mission availability constraints. We perform fault injection and neutron irradiation to observe the susceptibility of RECON and use dependability modeling to evaluate RECON in various orbital case studies to demonstrate a 1.5–3.0× performability improvement in both performance and energy efficiency compared to static approaches.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Upgrading the free flying rendezvous and docking simulator and the orbital servicer system

Recommendations are made for upgrading two teleoperator/robotics test and simulation systems based upon a review of latest technology advances in the involved disciplines. A second generation Free Flying Mobility Unit is recommended which adds a sixth degree of freedom and incorporates other improvements which greatly expand the center's capability to perform evaluation tests and demonstrations of advanced systems concepts for rendezvous and docking in support of the Teleoperator Maneuvering System (TMS) Program. The Orbital Servicer System provides the capability for testing and demonstrating concepts for on orbit servicing of compatibly designed satellites/payloads. The TMS is to be the transporting vehicle for the servicer. The manipulator arm of the Orbital service System is presently computer controlled in the trajectory portion of the module transfer operation. The ultimate objective is to fully automte its operation requiring additional capabilities in sensors, artificial intelligence, image analysis, communications, computer programming, pattern recognition, kinematics, and manipulator design. It is recommended that the Electronics and Control Laboratory move to acquire the basic competencies in robotics necessary to achieve full automation.

Eastman, R. M.↗

Expert system technologies for Space Shuttle decision support: Two case studies

This paper addresses the issue of integrating the C Language Integrated Production System (CLIPS) into distributed data acquisition environments. In particular, it presents preliminary results of some ongoing software development projects aimed at exploiting CLIPS technology in the new mission control center (MCC) being built at NASA Johnson Space Center. One interesting aspect of the control center is its distributed architecture; it consists of networked workstations which acquire and share data through the NASA/JSC-developed information sharing protocol (ISP). This paper outlines some approaches taken to integrate CLIPS and ISP in order to permit the development of intelligent data analysis applications which can be used in the MCC. Three approaches to CLIPS/IPS integration are discussed. The initial approach involves clearly separating CLIPS from ISP using user-defined functions for gathering and sending data to and from a local storage buffer. Memory and performance drawbacks of this design are summarized. The second approach involves taking full advantage of CLIPS and the CLIPS Object-Oriented Language (COOL) by using objects to directly transmit data and state changes from ISP to COOL. Any changes within the object slots eliminate the need for both a data structure and external function call thus taking advantage of the object matching capabilities within CLIPS 6.0. The final approach is to treat CLIPS and ISP as peer toolkits. Neither is embedded in the other; rather the application interweaves calls to each directly in the application source code.

Ortiz, Christopher J.↗

Advanced Environmental Monitoring and Control Program: Strategic Plan

Human missions in space, from short-duration shuttle missions lasting no more than several days to the medium-to-long-duration missions planned for the International Space Station, face a number of hazards that must be understood and mitigated for the mission to be carried out safely. Among these hazards are those posed by the internal environment of the spacecraft itself; through outgassing of toxic vapors from plastics and other items, failures or off-nominal operations of spacecraft environmental control systems, accidental exposure to hazardous compounds used in experiments: all present potential hazards that while small, may accumulate and pose a danger to crew health. The first step toward mitigating the dangers of these hazards is understanding the internal environment of the spacecraft and the compounds contained within it. Future spacecraft will have integrated networks of redundant sensors which will not only inform the crew of hazards, but will pinpoint the problem location and, through analysis by intelligent systems, recommend and even implement a course of action to stop the problem. This strategic plan details strategies to determine NASA's requirements for environmental monitoring and control systems for future spacecraft, and goals and objectives for a program to answer these needs.

Schmidt, Gregory↗