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The purpose of the Institutional Computing Urban EMP project is to simulate NUDET (nuclear detonation) in an urban environment, and determine what forensic information can be obtained from the resulting EMP (electromagnetic pulse) produced by the detonation. The effect of EMP on telecommunications and power infrastructure is also being studied.
The goal of this project was to study robust connectivity and flow patterns of complex multi-scale systems modeled as networks. Networks provide effective ways to study global, system level properties, as well as local, multi-scale interactions at a component level. Numerous applications from power systems, telecommunication, transportation, biology, social science, and other areas have benefited from novel network-based models and their analysis. Modeling and optimization techniques that employ appropriate measures of risk for identifying robust clusters and resilient network designs in networks subject to uncertain failures were investigated in this collaborative multi-university project. In many practical situations one has to deal with uncertainties associated with possible failures of network components, thereby affecting the overall efficiency and performance of the system (e.g., every node/connection has a probability of partial or complete failure). Some extreme examples include power grid component failures, airline hub failures due to weather, or freeway closures due to emergencies. These are also situations in which people, materials, or other resources need to be managed efficiently. Important practical examples include rerouting flow through power grids, adjusting flight plans, and identifying routes for emergency services and supplies, in the event network elements fail unexpectedly. Solutions that are robust under uncertainty, in addition to being economically efficient, are needed. This project has led to the development of novel models and methodologies that can tackle the optimization problems arising in such situations. A number of new concepts, which have not been previously applied in this setting, were investigated in the framework of the project. The results can potentially help decision-makers to better control and identify robust or risk-averse decisions in such situations. Formulations and optimal solutions of the considered problems need to capture uncertainty and risk using appropriate probabilistic, statistical and optimization concepts. The main difficulty arising in addressing these issues is the dramatic increase in the computational complexity of the resulting optimization problems. This project studied novel models and methodologies for risk-averse network optimization- specifically, network design, network flows and cluster detection problems under uncertainty. The approach taken was to incorporate a quantitative risk measure known as conditional value-at-risk that is widely used in financial applications. This approach presents a viable alternate modeling and optimization framework to chance-constrained optimization and mean-variance optimization, one that also facilitates the detection of risk-averse solutions.
Highly segmented, position-sensitive germanium detector systems are being developed for nuclear physics research where traditional electronic signal processing with mixed analog and digital function blocks would be enormously complex and costly. Future systems will be constructed using pipelined processing of high-speed digitized signals as is done in the telecommunications industry. Techniques which provide rapid algorithm and system development for future systems are desirable. This project has used digital signal processing concepts and existing graphical system design tools to develop a set of re-usable modular functions and libraries targeted for the nuclear physics community. Researchers working with complex nuclear detector arrays such as the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA) have been able to construct advanced data processing algorithms for implementation in field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) through application of these library functions using intuitive graphical interfaces.
The Hydrogen Safety Panel brings a broad cross-section of expertise from the industrial, government, and academic sectors to help advise the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office through its work in hydrogen safety, codes, and standards. The Panel’s initiatives in reviewing safety plans, conducting safety evaluations, identifying safety-related technical data gaps, and supporting safety knowledge tools and databases cover the gamut from research and development to demonstration and deployment. The Panel’s recent work has focused on the safe deployment of hydrogen and fuel cell systems in support of DOE efforts to accelerate fuel cell commercialization in early market applications: vehicle refueling, material handling equipment, backup power for warehouses and telecommunication sites, and portable power devices. This paper resulted from observations and considerations stemming from the Panel’s work on early market applications. This paper focuses on hydrogen system components that are installed in outdoor enclosures. These enclosures might alternatively be called “cabinets,” but for simplicity, they are all referred to as “enclosures” in this paper. These enclosures can provide a space where a flammable mixture of hydrogen and air might accumulate, creating the potential for a fire or explosion should an ignition occur. If the enclosure is large enough for a person to enter, and ventilation is inadequate, the hydrogen concentration could be high enough to asphyxiate a person who entered the space. Manufacturers, users, and government authorities rely on requirements described in codes to guide safe design and installation of such systems. Except for small enclosures used for hydrogen gas cylinders (gas cabinets), fuel cell power systems, and the enclosures that most people would describe as buildings, there are no hydrogen safety requirements for these enclosures, leaving gaps that must be addressed. This paper proposes that a technical basis be developed to enable code bodies to write requirements for the range of enclosures from the smallest to the largest.
Demand for electricity is rapidly increasing thereby applying pressure to expand generation and distribution capacity worldwide. The expansion of traditional services not only imposes burdens on financial resources but also encounters many challenges from community residents who oppose the construction of new power generation plants or transmission facilities in their backyard. From the integrated resource planning point of view, a feasible and economical remedy is, therefore, to utilize existing dispersed generation capacity known as distributed generation (DG) and/or renewable energy resources that may exist in the vicinity of the load centers. The main criteria for selecting the type of fuel source for a DG is its local availability, conversion system technological advancement, impact on the environment, and operating cost. DG’s have existed in the market for many years. Large diesel or gas powered generation sets are used in stand-by mode to power up vital services such as hospitals, financial and commercial compounds, telecommunication centers and industrial premises. Wind turbines, photovoltaic energy sources, and fuel cells are new comers that are now competing in size and efficiency with many standard generating sets. With this in mind, they are being used in many places not only as stand-by units but as the prime source of power particularly when the $\$$/kWhr rate is high.
At Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico (SNL/NM), the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities is guided by industry standards, a graded approach, and the systematic analysis of life cycle benefits received for costs incurred. The design of the physical plant must ensure that the facilities are "fit for use," and provide conditions that effectively, efficiently, and safely support current and future mission needs. In addition, SNL/NM applies sustainable design principles, using an integrated whole-building design approach, from site planning to facility design, construction, and operation to ensure building resource efficiency and the health and productivity of occupants. The safety and health of the workforce and the public, any possible effects on the environment, and compliance with building codes take precedence over project issues, such as performance, cost, and schedule. These design standards generally apply to all disciplines on all SNL/NM projects. Architectural and engineering design must be both functional and cost-effective. Facility design must be tailored to fit its intended function, while emphasizing low-maintenance, energy-efficient, and energy-conscious design. Design facilities that can be maintained easily, with readily accessible equipment areas, low maintenance, and quality systems. To promote an orderly and efficient appearance, architectural features of new facilities must complement and enhance the existing architecture at the site. As an Architectural and Engineering (A/E) professional, you must advise the Project Manager when this approach is prohibitively expensive. You are encouraged to use professional judgment and ingenuity to produce a coordinated interdisciplinary design that is cost-effective, easily contractible or buildable, high-performing, aesthetically pleasing, and compliant with applicable building codes. Close coordination and development of civil, landscape, structural, architectural, fire protection, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, and security features is expected to ensure compatibility with planned functional equipment and to facilitate constructability. If portions of the design are subcontracted to specialists, delivery of the finished design documents must not be considered complete until the subcontracted portions are also submitted for review. You must, along with support consultants, perform functional analyses and programming in developing design solutions. These solutions must reflect coordination of the competing functional, budgetary, and physical requirements for the project. During design phases, meetings between you and the SNL/NM Project Team to discuss and resolve design issues are required. These meetings are a normal part of the design process. For specific design-review requirements, see the project-specific Design Criteria. In addition to the design requirements described in this manual, instructive information is provided to explain the sustainable building practice goals for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of SNL/NM facilities. Please notify SNL/NM personnel of design best practices not included in this manual, so they can be incorporated in future updates.
Car ownership in India is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades, strongly driven by rising incomes. This phenomenon provides unprecedented opportunities for automakers and equally unprecedented social and environmental challenges. Policymakers, urban planners and civil society see this car boom leading to an explosion in problems related to congestion, infrastructure, air pollution, safety, higher oil imports and climate change. For all these stakeholders to take effective action, good data on how people use their cars, their demand for mobility and their behavior in mobility is essential. Unfortunately, there is very little data on the Indian transport sector as a whole and virtually none on real-world vehicle performance and use. The rapid development of high quality mobile telecommunications infrastructure provides India with the opportunity to leapfrog the West in cheaply collecting vast amounts of useful data from transportation. In this paper, we describe a pilot project in which we use commercial smart phone apps to collect per second car driving data from the city of Pune, instantly upload it through 3G and prepare it for analysis using advanced noise filtering algorithms for less than $1 per day per car. We then use our data in an Autonomie simulation to show that India’s currently planned fuel economy test procedures will result in over-estimates of fuel economy of approximately 35% for a typical Indian car when it is operated in real world conditions. Supporting better driving cycle development is just one of many applications for smart phone derived data in Indian transportation.
This final technical report details research works performed supported by a Department of Energy grant (DE-FE0003859), which was awarded under the University Coal Research Program administrated by National Energy Technology Laboratory. This research program studied high temperature fiber sensor for harsh environment applications. It developed two fiber optical sensor platform technology including regenerative fiber Bragg grating sensors and distributed fiber optical sensing based on Rayleigh backscattering optical frequency domain reflectometry. Through the studies of chemical and thermal regenerative techniques for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) fabrication, high-temperature stable FBG sensors were successfully developed and fabricated in air-hole microstructured fibers, high-attenuation fibers, rare-earth doped fibers, and standard telecommunication fibers. By optimizing the laser processing and thermal annealing procedures, fiber grating sensors with stable performance up to 1100°C have been developed. Using these temperature-stable FBG gratings as sensor platform, fiber optical flow, temperature, pressure, and chemical sensors have been developed to operate at high temperatures up to 800°C. Through the integration of on-fiber functional coating, the use of application-specific air-hole microstructural fiber, and application of active fiber sensing scheme, distributed fiber sensor for temperature, pressure, flow, liquid level, and chemical sensing have been demonstrated with high spatial resolution (1-cm or better) with wide temperature ranges. These include the demonstration of 1) liquid level sensing from 77K to the room temperature, pressure/temperature sensing from the room temperature to 800C and from the 15psi to 2000 psi, and hydrogen concentration measurement from 0.2% to 10% with temperature ranges from the room temperature to 700°C. Optical sensors developed by this program has broken several technical records including flow sensors with the highest operation temperature up to 750°C, first distributed chemical measurements at the record high temperature up to 700°C, first distributed pressure measurement at the record high temperature up to 800°C, and the fiber laser sensors with the record high operation temperature up to 700°C. The research performed by this program dramatically expand the functionality, adaptability, and applicability of distributed fiber optical sensors with potential applications in a number of high-temperature energy systems such as fossil-fuel power generation, high-temperature fuel cell applications, and potential for nuclear energy systems.
At Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico (SNL/NM), the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities is guided by industry standards, a graded approach, and the systematic analysis of life cycle benefits received for costs incurred. The design of the physical plant must ensure that the facilities are "fit for use," and provide conditions that effectively, efficiently, and safely support current and future mission needs. In addition, SNL/NM applies sustainable design principles, using an integrated whole-building design approach, from site planning to facility design, construction, and operation to ensure building resource efficiency and the health and productivity of occupants. The safety and health of the workforce and the public, any possible effects on the environment, and compliance with building codes take precedence over project issues, such as performance, cost, and schedule. These design standards generally apply to all disciplines on all SNL/NM projects. Architectural and engineering design must be both functional and cost-effective. Facility design must be tailored to fit its intended function, while emphasizing low-maintenance, energy-efficient, and energy-conscious design. Design facilities that can be maintained easily, with readily accessible equipment areas, low maintenance, and quality systems. To promote an orderly and efficient appearance, architectural features of new facilities must complement and enhance the existing architecture at the site. As an Architectural and Engineering (A/E) professional, you must advise the Project Manager when this approach is prohibitively expensive. You are encouraged to use professional judgment and ingenuity to produce a coordinated interdisciplinary design that is cost-effective, easily contractible or buildable, high-performing, aesthetically pleasing, and compliant with applicable building codes. Close coordination and development of civil, landscape, structural, architectural, fire protection, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, and security features is expected to ensure compatibility with planned functional equipment and to facilitate constructability. If portions of the design are subcontracted to specialists, delivery of the finished design documents must not be considered complete until the subcontracted portions are also submitted for review. You must, along with support consultants, perform functional analyses and programming in developing design solutions. These solutions must reflect coordination of the competing functional, budgetary, and physical requirements for the project. During design phases, meetings between you and the SNL/NM Project Team to discuss and resolve design issues are required. These meetings are a normal part of the design process. For specific design-review requirements, see the project-specific Design Criteria. In addition to the design requirements described in this manual, instructive information is provided to explain the sustainable building practice goals for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of SNL/NM facilities. Please notify SNL/NM personnel of design best practices not included in this manual, so they can be incorporated in future updates. You must convey all documents describing work to the SNL/NM Project Manager in both hard copy and in an electronic format compatible with the SNL/NM-prescribed CADD and other software packages, and in accordance with a SNL/NM approved standard format. Print all hard copy versions of submitted documents (excluding drawings and renderings) double-sided when practical.
The single greatest threat to U.S. homeland security remains the proliferation of nuclear weapons, especially among terrorists and other non-state actors who are not governed by the Non-Proliferation Treaty. One of the most important tools for combating terrorism among such rogue actors is counter-financing. Without funding, terrorists cannot acquire, maintain, or deploy nuclear weapons. According to the official report of the 9/11 Commission, counter-financing could have prevented the attacks of September 11, 2001. Unfortunately, no single country can defeat global terrorism. Successful counter-financing requires significant international cooperation. Since 2001, the United States and the European Union, despite vastly different approaches to intelligence gathering, have shared information through the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP). That shared information allows authorities to trace suspicious transactions, identify culprits, and map out global terrorist networks. The TFTP successfully thwarted a 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. and multiple threats during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London; it also aided in the investigation of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. That program is necessary but not sufficient. To strengthen our ability to detect and disrupt terrorist plotting and prevent nuclear proliferation, we must expand and coordinate two additional transnational measures: (1) the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), a standardized global messaging network for financial institutions to quickly, accurately, and securely send and receive money transfer instructions, and (2) International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN) to identify individual accounts involved in international transactions. Both initiatives were incompletely adopted in the wake of 9/11, but most global banks use one or neither. More fully implementing and coordinating these two systems would allow for coherent information sharing, an essential tool for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, verifying sanctions against rogue nations and non-state actors, tracking nuclear proliferation networks, and protecting dual-use materials. These steps can save lives without interfering with state sovereignty or individual rights. The specter of nuclear threat is real and constant. This paper will provide forensic analysis of the most effective financial tools and policies to combat that threat, placing special emphasis on multinational and public-private cooperation.
Sprint is one of the telecommunications industry leaders in the deployment of hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) systems to provide backup power for their mission critical wireless network facilities. With several hundred fuel cells commissioned in California, states in the gulf coast region, and along the upper eastern seaboard. A strong incentive for advancing the integration of fuel cells into the Sprint network came through the award of a Department of Energy (DOE) grant focused on Market Transformation activities for project (EE0000486). This grant was funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The funding provided by DOE ($7.295M) was allocated to support the installation of 260 new HFC systems, equipped with an on-site refillable Medium Pressure Hydrogen Storage Solution (MPHSS), as well as for the conversion of 21 low pressure hydrogen systems to the MPHSS, in hopes of reducing barriers to market acceptance.
New generations of high-temperature (HT) sensors and electronics are enabling increased measurement speed and accuracy allowing collection of more accurate and relevant data by downhole tools. Unfortunately, this increased capability is often not realized due to the bottleneck in the uplink data transmission rates due to poor signal characteristics of HT wireline. The objective of this project is to enable the high transmission rate of raw data from downhole tools such as acoustic logging tools and seismic measurement devices to minimize the need for downhole signal processing. To achieve this objective, Sandia has undertaken the effort to develop an asymmetric high-temperature (HT), highspeed data link system for downhole tools capable of operating at temperatures of 210°C while taking advantage of existing wireline transmission channels. Current data rates over HT single-conductor wireline are limited to approximately 200 kbps. The goal system will be capable of transmitting data from the tool to the surface (uplink) at rates of > 1Mbps over 5,000 feet of single-conductor wireline as well as automatically adapt the data rate to the longer wirelines by adapting modern telecommunications techniques to operate on high temperature electronics. The data rate from the surface to the tool (downlink) will be significantly smaller but sufficient for command and control functions. While 5,000 feet of cable is the benchmark for this effort, improvements apply to all lengths of cable.
This report summarizes technical progress during the program “Investigation of High Temperature Silica Based Fiber Optic Materials”, performed by the Center for Photonics Technology of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. The objective of this program was to investigate and characterize the performance of commercially available optical fibers at elevated temperatures in replicated fuel gas streams. It also includes performing a comprehensive study of the interactions with the chemical constituents with respect to structural, optical, and mechanical stability and developing design strategies to assure reliable performance of deployed optical fibers and sensors. In the eight quarters of the project, work was done to complete the database of test results and findings for the creation of an optical fiber selection guide for high temperature applications. It is anticipated that this design tool will provide the scientific community with the information necessary to deploy sensing systems with the most robust and reliable fused silica optical fibers. Standard telecommunications grade germanium doped single and multimode fibers have been shown to perform reliably up to temperatures of 1100°C in non-hydrogen environments and/or properly designed sensor applications. Pure silica core single mode and low OH, large core step index multimode fibers, which have also shown to perform reliability up to temperatures of 1000ºC, are recommended for hydrogen and moist environments.
PUMA is a proposal for an ultra-wideband, low-resolution and transit interferometric radio telescope operating at $200-1100\,\mathrm{MHz}$. Its design is driven by six science goals which span three science themes: the physics of dark energy (measuring the expansion history and growth of the universe up to $z=6$), the physics of inflation (constraining primordial non-Gaussianity and primordial features) and the transient radio sky (detecting one million fast radio bursts and following up SKA-discovered pulsars). We propose two array configurations composed of hexagonally close-packed 6m dish arrangements with 50% fill factor. The initial 5,000 element 'petite array' is scientifically compelling, and can act as a demonstrator and a stepping stone to the full 32,000 element 'full array'. Viewed as a 21cm intensity mapping telescope, the program has the noise equivalent of a traditional spectroscopic galaxy survey comprised of 0.6 and 2.5 billion galaxies at a comoving wavenumber of $k=0.5\,h\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ spanning the redshift range $z = 0.3 - 6$ for the petite and full configurations, respectively. At redshifts beyond $z=2$, the 21cm technique is a uniquely powerful way of mapping the universe, while the low-redshift range will allow for numerous cross-correlations with existing and upcoming surveys. This program is enabled by the development of ultra-wideband radio feeds, cost-effective dish construction methods, commodity radio-frequency electronics driven by the telecommunication industry and the emergence of sufficient computing power to facilitate real-time signal processing that exploits the full potential of massive radio arrays. The project has an estimated construction cost of 55 and 330 million FY19 USD for the petite and full array configurations. Including R&D, design, operations and science analysis, the cost rises to 125 and 600 million FY19 USD, respectively.
The TA-III / Remote Areas Sub-Area Plan is currently under development. Planning concepts being considered are: (1) Continue to use and preserve large tracts of land for large-scale mission-related testing, associated buffers, waste management, and open space; (2) Identify investments to protect, sustain, and recapitalize these specialized assets; (3) Identify opportunities to consolidate common functions in order to reduce operating costs; (4) Explore the potential to enhance employee support facilities and services for those who work in remote areas; and (5) Extend / fill critical gaps in telecommunication infrastructure to TA-III and remote areas.
Color centers (defect complexes such as SiV) in diamond have shown potential in fields ranging from metrology, cybersecurity to quantum computation. Demonstrations in these fields have pushed the envelope of state-of-the-art operations – for example, single photon sources (SPS) making use of SiV centers in diamond for quantum key distribution have demonstrated all the requirements for SPS operation including: (1) stable operation with second correlation function <<1, (2) electrically driven single photon emission and (3) compatibility with frequenc y conversion to telecommunication frequencies. To-date, however, all these demonstrations have been on lab-scale one-off devices. The key question behind how to deterministically fabricate these devices, namely activation yield has been overlooked. For context, Si based semiconductor devices are hugely successful because we have a high activation yield for implanted dopants. This is not yet true for diamond color centers. As currently understood, the color center yield is dominated by a lack of vacancies in the immediate area of the implantation. We propose to optimize the activation yield of color center using a combination of (1) focused single ion implantation with in-situ detection to count the number of implanted Si ions and (2) localized point defect (vacancy) creation using a focused Li ion beam to improve the yield. These experiments build on the unique capabilities of the SNL nanoImplanter (nI) to produce focused ion beam with spatial resolution of < 10 nm of both Si and Li ions. This work will also leverage our world-leading single ion implantation and detection capabilities.
Ferrite (N87) core materials are an oxide made from Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), and Zn (zinc), which are commonly referred to as manganese zinc ferrites. They exhibit good magnetic properties (high permeability and saturation induction) below the Curie temperature and have a rather high electrical resistivity. These materials can be used up to very high frequencies (up to 3 MHz) without laminating, as is the normal requirement for magnetic materials to reduce eddy current losses. Because of their comparatively low losses at high frequencies, they form an essential part of inductors and transformers used in today’s main application areas of telecommunications, power conversion, and interference suppression. They are produced in a variety of shapes, including toroids, E-cores, U-cores, I-cores, and pot cores.
Several studies have identified rare earths as critical materials. Although reasonably abundant in the Earth’s crust, rare earths typically occur in low concentrations of mined ores. Processes for recovering rare earth concentrates from these ores are complex and capital intensive. Further, lead times for deposit development, licensing, and construction are long, with reports of 10- 15 years. China is a major player in the rare earths supply chain, both in production capacity and technology innovation. In 2017, China supplied more than 80% of global rare earth oxide demand. Rare earth elements (REEs) have unique magnetic, catalytic, and phosphorescent properties that significantly improve performance of a wide range of technologies. These technologies span aerospace, energy, telecommunications, electronics, transportation, defense, and other diverse applications. Consequently, disruptions in rare earth supply can have a significant societal impact. Estimating that impact requires understanding of the dynamics across the supply chain, from rare earth oxide extraction to end use application. This report documents Argonne’s Global Critical Materials model (GCMat), first described by Riddle et al. 2015. GCMat provides capabilities to explore supply chain dynamics and uncertainty under scenarios of demand growth or shrinkage, technology adoption, supply disruptions, and trade policies and mitigation strategies of new supply sources, product substitution, consumer thrifting, and stockpiling. Supply chain participants from rare earth mining through final demand are modeled as interacting agents who make market decisions independently as time progresses. Since the version documented in Riddle et al. 2015, GCMat has been expanded to cover additional REEs, derived products and supply chains that use these REEs, and includes new agent behaviors and modeling capabilities. Section 2 provides a summary of the GCMat model design, including the structure of the model and key assumptions, section 3 summarizes methods used for model calibration and sensitivity analysis, and section 4 provides examples of model results.