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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 775 records · Page 43

Method for Generating Expert Derived Confidence Scores

We executed a pilot demonstration of a methodology for developing a new confidence metric to help operators calibrate their trust in ML event classifiers. This confidence metric was derived from domain expert judgment and was accompanied with a qualitative description describing the reason for each confidence rating. After learning the boundaries of an ML’s performance by studying a subset of events an SME rated his confidence in the ML’s ability to classify similar events and provided an explanation for his ratings. To demonstrate this methodology, we developed our expert driven confidence scores for the ML event classifier within the ESAMS. Next, we assessed the accuracy of the human expert confidence scores relative to the ML’s uncertainty quantification scores. This report includes a description of our methodology, summary of our findings and future directions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Challenges, Industry Practice, and Research Opportunities for Protection of IBR-Rich Systems

The objective of this technical report is to outline the challenges of protection design for power systems rich in inverter-based resources (IBRs), synthesize current industrial practices, review new approaches from recent literature, and explore future opportunities in protection. IBRs are experiencing widespread adoption across both transmission and distribution systems. When present in significant quantities, IBRs challenge the performance of many traditional protection functions. To address these issues, the industry has developed sophisticated protection schemes that involve advanced relaying techniques in highly engineered pilot projects. However, these schemes are expensive and time-consuming to develop, build, and test. Researchers have proposed a number of new approaches for protection in IBR-rich distribution systems. Despite their potential, these new approaches do not address some major shortcomings of industry approaches stemming from complexity, practical requirements, and reliability.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Hybrid Powered Command Trailers Cost-Benefit Analysis Tool: User Guide and Examples

U.S. Forest Service (USFS) wildfire base camps use portable power for electrical needs, including yurts and trailers from which logistics staff work during the incident. These yurts and trailers are conventionally powered by portable diesel generators. Hybrid portable power systems consisting of a combination of solar photovoltaics (PV), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and/or backup diesel generators have been used in recent years and were piloted by the National Technology and Development Program (NTDP) on incidents in fall 2024 as part of NTDP's Portable Power Project. As part of that project, this work included the development of two Excel-based tools and two reports explaining the tools. The first tool, the Incident Energy Systems Model, is an Excel-based tool that models the power output of hybrid portable power systems powering yurts and/or trailers at fire camps over a typical day. The associated report (published separately) outlines a user guide for the model and walks through two scenarios. The two scenarios are 1) trailers powered by rooftop solar PV, batteries, and a back-up diesel generator, and 2) trailers powered by ground mount solar PV, batteries, and a back-up diesel generator. The second tool is a high-level cost-benefit analysis of the same two types of portable power systems, and is location independent.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Incident Energy Systems Model: User Guide and Examples

U.S. Forest Service (USFS) wildfire base camps use portable power for electrical needs, including yurts and trailers from which logistics staff work during the incident. These yurts and trailers are conventionally powered by portable diesel generators. Hybrid portable power systems consisting of a combination of solar photovoltaics (PV), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and/or backup diesel generators have been used in recent years and were piloted by the National Technology and Development Program (NTDP) on incidents in fall 2024 as part of NTDP's Portable Power Project. As part of that project, this work included the development of two Excel-based tools and two reports explaining the tools. The first tool, the Incident Energy Systems Model, is an Excel-based tool that models the power output of hybrid portable power systems powering yurts and/or trailers at fire camps over a typical day.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Space Shuttle flight crew/computer interface simulation studies.

An approach to achieving an optimized set of crew/computer interface requirements on the Space Shuttle program is described. It consists of defining the mission phases and crew timelines, developing a functional description of the crew/computer interface displays and controls software, conducting real-time simulations using pilot evaluation of the interface displays and controls, and developing a set of crew/computer functional requirements specifications. The simulator is a two-man crew station which includes three CRTs with keyboards for simulating the crew/computer interface. The programs simulate the mission phases and the flight hardware, including the flight computer and CRT displays.

Callihan, J. C.↗

A practical concept for powered or tethered weight-lifting LTA vehicles

A concept for a multi-hull weightlifting airship is presented. The concept is based upon experience in the design and handling of gas-filled balloons for commercial purposes, it was first tested in April, 1972. In the flight test, two barrage balloons were joined side-by-side, with an intermediate frame, and launched in captive flight. The success of this flight test led to plans for a development program calling for a powered, piloted prototype, a follow-on 40 ton model, and a 400 ton transport model. All of these airships utilize a tetrehedric three-line tethering method for loading and unloading phases of flight, which bypasses many of the difficulties inherent in the handling of a conventional airship near the ground. Both initial and operating costs per ton of lift capability are significantly less for the subject design than for either helicopters or airships of conventional mono-hull design.

Balleyguier, M. A.↗

UTSI atmospheric science program

Two areas of research were carried out concerned with meteorological and environmental inputs to aviation systems. One effort dealt with the investigation of wind fields about bluff geometries typical of buildings or other man made obstructions to the surface wind and the behavior of craft flying through these disturbed wind fields. The second effort was the definition and mathematical models of atmospheric wind shear associated with thunderstorms, stable boundary layers, and synoptic fronts. These mathematical models can be utilized in flight simulators to train pilots and flight crews and to develop instrumentation for landing in adverse wind shear conditions.

Frost, W.↗

Expansion of flight simulator capability for study and solution of aircraft directional control problems on runways

The development, evaluation, and evaluation results of a DC-9-10 runway directional control simulator are described. An existing wide bodied flight simulator was modified to this aircraft configuration. The simulator was structured to use either two of antiskid simulations; (1) an analog mechanization that used aircraft hardware; or (2) a digital software simulation. After the simulation was developed it was evaluated by 14 pilots who made 818 simulated flights. These evaluations involved landings, rejected takeoffs, and various ground maneuvers. Qualitatively most pilots evaluated the simulator as realistic with good potential especially for pilot training for adverse runway conditions.

Kibbee, G. W.↗

Simulation development and evaluation of an improved longitudinal velocity vector control wheel steering mode and electronic display format

Using simulation, an improved longitudinal velocity vector control wheel steering mode and an improved electronic display format for an advanced flight system were developed and tested. Guidelines for the development phase were provided by test pilot critique summaries of the previous system. The results include performances from computer generated step column inputs across the full airplane speed and configuration envelope, as well as piloted performance results taken from a reference line tracking task and an approach to landing task conducted under various environmental conditions. The analysis of the results for the reference line tracking and approach to landing tasks indicates clearly detectable improvement in pilot tracking accuracy with a reduction in physical workload. The original objectives of upgrading the longitudinal axis of the velocity vector control wheel steering mode were successfully met when measured against the test pilot critique summaries and the original purpose outlined for this type of augment control mode.

Steinmetz, G. G.↗

Pilot climate data system: A state-of-the-art capability in scientific data management

The Pilot Climate Data System (PCDS) was developed by the Information Management Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to manage a large collection of climate-related data of interest to the research community. The PCDS now provides uniform data catalogs, inventories, access methods, graphical displays and statistical calculations for selected NASA and non-NASA data sets. Data manipulation capabilities were developed to permit researchers to easily combine or compare data. The current capabilities of the PCDS include many tools for the statistical survey of climate data. A climate researcher can examine any data set of interest via flexible utilities to create a variety of two- and three-dimensional displays, including vector plots, scatter diagrams, histograms, contour plots, surface diagrams and pseudo-color images. The graphics and statistics subsystems employ an intermediate data storage format which is data-set independent. Outside of the graphics system there exist other utilities to select, filter, list, compress, and calculate time-averages and variances for any data of interest. The PCDS now fully supports approximately twenty different data sets and is being used on a trial basis by several different in-house research grounds.

Smith, P. H.↗

A general scientific information system to support the study of climate-related data

The development and use of NASA's Pilot Climate Data System (PCDS) are discussed. The PCDS is used as a focal point for managing and providing access to a large collection of actively used data for the Earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences. The PCDS provides uniform data catalogs, inventories, and access methods for selected NASA and non-NASA data sets. Scientific users can preview the data sets using graphical and statistical methods. The system has evolved from its original purpose as a climate data base management system in response to a national climate program, into an extensive package of capabilities to support many types of data sets from both spaceborne and surface based measurements with flexible data selection and analysis functions.

Treinish, L. A.↗

SSG-4 - An automated spring small grains proportion estimator

In connection with an implementation of the classification procedures employed in the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE), a human analyst had to provide labeled samples. The present investigation is concerned with an automated proportion estimation procedure which has been derived from the early field-labeling procedures used in LACIE. This procedure was developed for the U.S./Canada Spring Small Grains Pilot Experiment. It is demonstrated that the considered spatial/color-based proportion estimation procedure provides the agricultural remote-sensing community with the basic tools to develop unbiased and highly efficient procedures for obtaining crop area estimates at the end of the season.

Dennis, T. B.↗

Determining soil moisture from geosynchronous satellite infrared data - A feasibility study

Numerical modelling results are reported from a pilot study investigating the feasibility of developing a technique for daily soil moisture measurement throughout the world, based on GOES infrared data. A detailed one-dimensional boundary layer-surface-soil model was used in order to determine which physical parameters observable from GOES are most sensitive to soil moisture, and which are most effected by seasonal changes, atmospheric effects and vegetation cover. The results of the sensitivity test show that the mid-morning differential of surface temperature with respect to absorbed solar radiation is optimally sensitive to soil moisture. A case study comparing model results with GOES infrared data confirms the sensitivity of this parameter to soil moisture and also confirms the applicability of the model to predicting area-averaged surface temperature changes. Model measurements of soil moisture are expected to be most accurate for dry or marginal agricultural areas where drought is common. Sources of error, including the advection of clouds, are examined and methods of minimizing error are discussed.

Wetzel, P. J.↗

Rotor systems research aircraft airplane configuration flight-test results

The rotor systems research aircraft (RSRA) has undergone ground and flight tests, primarily as a compound aircraft. The purpose was to train pilots and to check out and develop the design flight envelope. The preparation and flight test of the RSRA in the airplane, or fixed-wind, configuration are reviewed and the test results are discussed.

Painter, W. D.↗

Operation and maintenance requirements of the Army Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV)

The Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) system is being developed to provide the Army with a target acquistion, target location, and laser designation capability that will significantly enhance the effectiveness of the artillery. Iterative analyses of the manpower, personnel, and training (MPT) requirements for an RPV system configured to accommodate both a daylight television and a forward looking infrared (FLIR) mission payload subsystem (FMPS) and related support subsystems are examined. Additionally, this analysis incorporates a 24 hour-a-day operational scenario. Therefore, the information presented was developed with a view towards delineating the differences (or deltas) imposed by the new requirements resulting from FMPS/24 hour operating day functions.

Source record↗

Rotor systems research aircraft airplane configuration flight-test results

The Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA) has been undergoing ground and flight tests by Ames Research Center since late 1979, primarily as a compound aircraft. The purpose was to train pilots and to check out and develop the design flight envelope established by the Sikorsky Aircraft Company. This paper reviews the preparation and flight test of the RSRA in the airplane, or fixed-wing, configuration and discusses the results of that test.

Painter, W. D.↗

Rotorcraft simulation at Ames

Attention is given to rotorcraft simulation experience at NASA's Ames research facility, which has involved complex mathematical modeling, high computational capability requirements, and strong influences from pilot motion and visual cues. A development history and performance assessment is presented for the rotorcraft simulation hardware, together with projections of near term development improvements of capabilities. Greater demand is anticipated for the simulation of all-digital helicopter flight control systems.

Alderete, T. S.↗