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At least 829 records · Page 46

Demonstrating High-Accuracy Orbital Access Using Open-Source Tools

Orbit propagation is fundamental to almost every space-based analysis. Currently, many system analysts use commercial software to predict the future positions of orbiting satellites. This is one of many capabilities that can replicated, with great accuracy, without using expensive, proprietary software. NASAs SCaN (Space Communication and Navigation) Center for Engineering, Networks, Integration, and Communications (SCENIC) project plans to provide its analysis capabilities using a combination of internal and open-source software, allowing for a much greater measure of customization and flexibility, while reducing recurring software license costs. MATLAB and the open-source Orbit Determination Toolbox created by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) were utilized to develop tools with the capability to propagate orbits, perform line-of-sight (LOS) availability analyses, and visualize the results. The developed programs are modular and can be applied for mission planning and viability analysis in a variety of Solar System applications. The tools can perform 2 and N-body orbit propagation, find inter-satellite and satellite to ground station LOS access (accounting for intermediate oblate spheroid body blocking, geometric restrictions of the antenna field-of-view (FOV), and relativistic corrections), and create animations of planetary movement, satellite orbits, and LOS accesses. The code is the basis for SCENICs broad analysis capabilities including dynamic link analysis, dilution-of-precision navigation analysis, and orbital availability calculations.

propagation↗

Tracking Magnetic Perturbations, dB/dt and Geomagnetic Indices for Geospace Storms on a Routine Basis at the CCMC

The first comprehensive assessment of geospace model skill to specify magnetic perturbations (delta-B) on the ground and their time derivative (dB/dt) was performed at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center starting in 2010. This study resulted in the addition of the Space Weather Modling Framework to the suite of operational models run by the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). Since then, magnetic pertubations have been made available on a larger scale for Run-on-Request simulations in geospace at the CCMC. We will demonstrate recent additions to the suite of analysis tools and model results including magnetic perturbations at more stations and on a grid of positions from both, original model outputs (SWMF using preset run configurations) and post-processed calculations using CalcDeltaB and their analysis and visualization using the open-source Kamodo data access and analysis suite and the Comprehensive Assessment of Models and Events using Library tools (CAMEL) application.

Lutz Rastaetter↗

Compositions of near-Earth asteroids

Observational studies of near-earth asteroids and development of techniques for determining their composition were continued. The analysis techniques were applied to the spectra of several bodies in preparation for their application of near-earth asteroids. In mid-November 1989, near-IR observations of three near-earth atseroids, 1865 Cerberus, 1989 VA, and 1989 VB, were made. These asteroids were observed in six broadband visual and near-IR filters (0.4 to 2.5 microns), and a few narrowband measurements in the IR were obtained, but the asteroids were too faint to measure beyond 2.5 microns. Simultaneous, high-resolution visual CCD spectra were measured for these objects, but the data were not yet reduced to determine their quality. Narrowband spectra of the Martian satellite Deimos in the 1 to 3 micron spectral region were obtained. Simultaneous with the observing project, laboratory studies of meteorites and meteorite analogs which are used in spectral analysis of the telescopic data are continuing to be performed. Extensive work was performed in developing applications of Hapke reflectance theory to compositional analysis. Hapke theory is an adaptation of radiative reflectance theory to particulate surfaces.

Lebofsky, Larry A.↗

Re-Design and Beat Testing of the Man-Machine Integration Design and Analysis System: MIDAS

The Man-machine Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) is a human factors design and analysis system that combines human cognitive models with 3D CAD models and rapid prototyping and simulation techniques. MIDAS allows designers to ask 'what if' types of questions early in concept exploration and development prior to actual hardware development. The system outputs predictions of operator workload, situational awareness and system performance as well as graphical visualization of the cockpit designs interacting with models of the human in a mission scenario. Recently, MIDAS was re-designed to enhance functionality and usability. The goals driving the redesign include more efficient processing, GUI interface, advances in the memory structures, implementation of external vision models and audition. These changes were detailed in an earlier paper. Two Beta test sites with diverse applications have been chosen. One Beta test site is investigating the development of a new airframe and its interaction with the air traffic management system. The second Beta test effort will investigate 3D auditory cueing in conjunction with traditional visual cueing strategies including panel-mounted and heads-up displays. The progress and lessons learned on each of these projects will be discussed.

Shively, R. Jay↗

Air Traffic Management TestBed: Weather Visualization using Map Tiles

Running realistic simulations and developing algorithms for decision support tools usually require weather data access. This document describes the weather data service capability implemented in the Air Traffic Management (ATM) TestBed. The capability provides ways for querying weather data from the weather products provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Sherlock ATM Data Warehouse. Depending on use cases, weather data can be queried using a Java application programming interface, web data access, and map tile image access. Map tile images are generated using triangular meshes obtained using the Matching Squares contour algorithm. An analysis determines a grid size that will produce both high image quality and fast image rendering. In addition, the visualization of weather data as map tiles on a TestBed visualization tool called Traffic Viewer is presented.

Chok Fung Lai↗

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2012

Topics covered include: iGlobe Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Spatial Data; Broad-Bandwidth FPGA-Based Digital Polyphase Spectrometer; Small Aircraft Data Distribution System; Earth Science Datacasting v2.0; Algorithm for Compressing Time-Series Data; Onboard Science and Applications Algorithm for Hyperspectral Data Reduction; Sampling Technique for Robust Odorant Detection Based on MIT RealNose Data; Security Data Warehouse Application; Integrated Laser Characterization, Data Acquisition, and Command and Control Test System; Radiation-Hard SpaceWire/Gigabit Ethernet-Compatible Transponder; Hardware Implementation of Lossless Adaptive Compression of Data From a Hyperspectral Imager; High-Voltage, Low-Power BNC Feedthrough Terminator; SpaceCube Mini; Dichroic Filter for Separating W-Band and Ka-Band; Active Mirror Predictive and Requirement Verification Software (AMP-ReVS); Navigation/Prop Software Suite; Personal Computer Transport Analysis Program; Pressure Ratio to Thermal Environments; Probabilistic Fatigue Damage Program (FATIG); ASCENT Program; JPL Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) Portal; Data::Downloader; Fault Tolerance Middleware for a Multi-Core System; DspaceOgreTerrain 3D Terrain Visualization Tool; Trick Simulation Environment 07; Geometric Reasoning for Automated Planning; Water Detection Based on Color Variation; Single-Layer, All-Metal Patch Antenna Element with Wide Bandwidth; Scanning Laser Infrared Molecular Spectrometer (SLIMS); Next-Generation Microshutter Arrays for Large-Format Imaging and Spectroscopy; Detection of Carbon Monoxide Using Polymer-Composite Films with a Porphyrin-Functionalized Polypyrrole; Enhanced-Adhesion Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes on Titanium Substrates for Stray Light Control; Three-Dimensional Porous Particles Composed of Curved, Two-Dimensional, Nano-Sized Layers for Li-Ion Batteries 23 Ultra-Lightweight; and Ultra-Lightweight Nanocomposite Foams and Sandwich Structures for Space Structure Applications.

Source record↗

Development of a Multi-Disciplinary Computing Environment (MDICE)

The growing need for and importance of multi-component and multi-disciplinary engineering analysis has been understood for many years. For many applications, loose (or semi-implicit) coupling is optimal, and allows the use of various legacy codes without requiring major modifications. For this purpose, CFDRC and NASA LeRC have developed a computational environment to enable coupling between various flow analysis codes at several levels of fidelity. This has been referred to as the Visual Computing Environment (VCE), and is being successfully applied to the analysis of several aircraft engine components. Recently, CFDRC and AFRL/VAAC (WL) have extended the framework and scope of VCE to enable complex multi-disciplinary simulations. The chosen initial focus is on aeroelastic aircraft applications. The developed software is referred to as MDICE-AE, an extensible system suitable for integration of several engineering analysis disciplines. This paper describes the methodology, basic architecture, chosen software technologies, salient library modules, and the current status of and plans for MDICE. A fluid-structure interaction application is described in a separate companion paper.

Kingsley, Gerry↗

NASA Giovanni Tool for Visualization and Analysis Support for the YOTC Program

The fundamental challenges to overcoming our shortcomings in understanding and modeling/predicting tropical convection have been two folds: I) the need to represent the broad range of scales applicable to the tropical organization problem (i.e. cumulus to planetary), and II) the lack of observations that adequately and simultaneously characterize this broad range of scales and that also provide three-dimensional information on thermodynamic, radiative and dynamical interactions, including cloud microphysical processes. Because the goal of Overview of Year Of Tropical Convection (YOTC) involves examining a scientifically complex, multi-scale "process", rather than documenting the characteristics of a single parameter (e.g., SST, cloud cover), YOTC has an IOP perspective that targets a period, May 2008 - April 2010, long enough to encompass many cases of tropical convection activity in many of its most challenging yet influential forms. This includes mesoscale and synoptic variability, easterly waves and hurricanes, convectively coupled waves, the MJO, and the culmination of these in terms of the monsoon, their interactions with the extra-tropics, and mean characteristics such as tropical-to-subtropical transitions. The YOTC time period and length are driven in part by the following: 1) keeping the multi-sensor/multi-platform and model-analyses data sets and associated infrastructure manageable, 2) facilitating a focused effort by the research and operational communities on a specific scientific problem, and 3) capitalizing on the recent key additions to the armada of satellites (e.g., CloudSat and CALIPSO).

Ostrenga, Dana↗

Virtual Reality and Oceanography: Overview, Applications, and Perspective

With the ongoing, exponential increase in ocean data from autonomous platforms, satellites, models, and in particular, the growing field of quantitative imaging, there arises a need for scalable and cost-efficient visualization tools to interpret these large volumes of data. With the recent proliferation of consumer grade head-mounted displays, the emerging field of virtual reality (VR) has demonstrated its benefit in numerous disciplines, ranging frommedicine to archeology. However, these benefits have not received asmuch attention in the ocean sciences. Here, we summarize some of the ways that virtual reality has been applied to this field. We highlight a few examples in which we (the authors) demonstrate the utility of VR as a tool for ocean scientists. For oceanic datasets that are well-suited for three-dimensional visualization, virtual reality has the potential to enhance the practice of ocean science.

Noah L Walcutt↗

A phenomenological approach to multisource data integration: Analysing infrared and visible data

A new method is described for combining multisensory data for remote sensing applications. The approach uses phenomenological models which allow the specification of discriminatory features that are based on intrinsic physical properties of imaged surfaces. Thermal and visual images of scenes are analyzed to estimate surface heat fluxes. Such analysis makes available a discriminatory feature that is closely related to the thermal capacitance of the imaged objects. This feature provides a method for labelling image regions based on physical properties of imaged objects. This approach is different from existing approaches which use the signal intensities in each channel (or an arbitrary linear or nonlinear combination of signal intensities) as features - which are then classified by a statistical or evident approach.

Nandhakumar, N.↗

A non-invasive measure of minerals and electrolytes in tissue

A system for collecting epithelial cells from the oral mucosa for the determination of ion concentration is discussed with application to the study of man's adaptation to microgravity. A number of characteristics of these cells influenced the choice for clinical testing. They are non-cornified epithelial cells located on the inferior aspect of the tongue; therefore, they are well protected from trauma. They have the capability of reflecting relatively recent physiologic changes since they are renewed every three days and have aerobic metabolism. Most importantly, they are easily accessible and can be removed by a wooden applicator stick with minimum discomfort. Smears of cells removed in this manner show predominantly individual cells rather than sheets of contiuous cells. This facilitates the visual isolation of single cells with the electron microscope for analysis. NASA's principle effort in the development of a test to measure the ion concentration in sublingual cells has been research by the biomedical program carried out by scientists with expertise in skeletal metabolism. These efforts were directed toward determining the biological meaning and deviations in interacellular ions in nonhuman primates and in male volunteers for experiments in a model for weightlessness. A brief one page summary of the experiments and results are presented.

Arnaud, Sara B.↗

The use of a tactile interface to convey position and motion perceptions

Under normal terrestrial conditions, perception of position and motion is determined by central nervous system integration of concordant and redundant information from multiple sensory channels (somatosensory, vestibular, visual), which collectively yield vertical perceptions. In the acceleration environment experienced by the pilots, the somatosensory and vestibular sensors frequently present false information concerning the direction of gravity. When presented with conflicting sensory information, it is normal for pilots to experience episodes of disorientation. We have developed a tactile interface that obtains vertical roll and pitch information from a gyro-stabilized attitude indicator and maps this information in a one-to-one correspondence onto the torso of the body using a matrix of vibrotactors. This enables the pilot to continuously maintain an awareness of aircraft attitude without reference to visual cues, utilizing a sensory channel that normally operates at the subconscious level. Although initially developed to improve pilot spatial awareness, this device has obvious applications to 1) simulation and training, 2) nonvisual tracking of targets, which can reduce the need for pilots to make head movements in the high-G environment of aerial combat, and 3) orientation in environments with minimal somatosensory cues (e.g., underwater) or gravitational cues (e.g., space).

Rupert, A. H.↗

Free Flight and Self-Separation from the Flight Deck Perspective

The concept of "free flight", while still being developed, is intended to emphasize more, flexibility for operators in the National Airspace System (NAS) by providing more separation responsibility to pilots, New technologies, procedures, and concepts have been suggested by the aviation community to enable this task; however, much work needs to be accomplished to help define and evaluate the concept feasibility. The purpose of this simulation was to begin examining some of the communication and procedural issues associated with self-separation in the enroute environment. A simulation demonstration was conducted in the Boeing 747-400 simulator at NASA Ames Research Center. Commercial pilots (from a U.S. domestic carrier) current on the B747-400 aircraft were the participants. Ten flight crews (10 captains, 10 first officers) flew in the Denver enroute airspace environment. A new alerting logic designed to allow for airborne self-separation was created for this demonstration. This logic assumes automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) capability and represented aircraft up to 120 nautical miles on the display. The new flight deck display features were designed and incorporated on the existing navigational display in the simulator to allow for increased traffic and maneuvering information to the flight crew. New tools were also provided to allow the crews to assess conflicts and potential maneuvers before implementing them. Each of the flight crews flew eight different scenarios in the Denver enroute airspace. The scenarios included eight to ten other aircraft, and each scenario was created with the intent of having one of the other aircraft become an operational conflict for our simulator aircraft. Different types of conflict geometries were represented across the eight scenarios. Also, some scenarios allowed for more time to detect a potential clearance, while others allowed for less time for'detection. Additionally, the crews were asked to a ply the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) right of way rules when determining who should maneuver in a conflict situation; therefore, the scenarios were designed to test different applications of those recommendations, Data analyses include an evaluation of crew procedures and communication. The application of the VFR right-of-way rules are being explored. Timing variables are being examined to determine potential efficiency differences between scenarios and conflict types. Proximity of aircraft will be assessed as one indication of the operational safety. The intent of these evaluations is to help provide definitions and guidelines of negotiation procedures in a self-separation environment assuming automated data link technology (ADS-B). Also, definitions of likely flight crew maneuvers and application to current VFR right-of-way rules may be obtained, along with guidelines for negotiation procedures between flight crews.

Lozito, Sandra↗

Visual Alert System

A visual alert system resulted from circuitry developed by Applied Cybernetics Systems for Langley as part of a space related telemetry system. James Campman, Applied Cybernetics president, left the company and founded Grace Industries, Inc. to manufacture security devices based on the Langley technology. His visual alert system combines visual and audible alerts for hearing impaired people. The company also manufactures an arson detection device called the electronic nose, and is currently researching additional applications of the NASA technology.

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Picturing Data With Uncertainty

NASA is in the business of creating maps for scientific purposes to represent important biophysical or geophysical quantities over space and time. For example, maps of surface temperature over the globe tell scientists where and when the Earth is heating up; regional maps of the greenness of vegetation tell scientists where and when plants are photosynthesizing. There is always uncertainty associated with each value in any such map due to various factors. When uncertainty is fully modeled, instead of a single value at each map location, there is a distribution expressing a set of possible outcomes at each location. We consider such distribution data as multi-valued data since it consists of a collection of values about a single variable. Thus, a multi-valued data represents both the map and its uncertainty. We have been working on ways to visualize spatial multi-valued data sets effectively for fields with regularly spaced units or grid cells such as those in NASA's Earth science applications. A new way to display distributions at multiple grid locations is to project the distributions from an individual row, column or other user-selectable straight transect from the 2D domain. First at each grid cell in a given slice (row, column or transect), we compute a smooth density estimate from the underlying data. Such a density estimate for the probability density function (PDF) is generally more useful than a histogram, which is a classic density estimate. Then, the collection of PDFs along a given slice are presented vertically above the slice and form a wall. To minimize occlusion of intersecting slices, the corresponding walls are positioned at the far edges of the boundary. The PDF wall depicts the shapes of the distributions very dearly since peaks represent the modes (or bumps) in the PDFs. We've defined roughness as the number of peaks in the distribution. Roughness is another useful summary information for multimodal distributions. The uncertainty of the multi-valued data can also be interpreted by the number of peaks and the widths of the peaks as shown by the PDF walls.

Kao, David↗

Optimal Configuration of Human Motion Tracking Systems: A Systems Engineering Approach

Human motion tracking systems represent a crucial technology in the area of modeling and simulation. These systems, which allow engineers to capture human motion for study or replication in virtual environments, have broad applications in several research disciplines including human engineering, robotics, and psychology. These systems are based on several sensing paradigms, including electro-magnetic, infrared, and visual recognition. Each of these paradigms requires specialized environments and hardware configurations to optimize performance of the human motion tracking system. Ideally, these systems are used in a laboratory or other facility that was designed to accommodate the particular sensing technology. For example, electromagnetic systems are highly vulnerable to interference from metallic objects, and should be used in a specialized lab free of metal components.

Henderson, Steve↗

Community-Based Services that Facilitate Interoperability and Intercomparison of Precipitation Datasets from Multiple Sources

Over the past 12 years, large volumes of precipitation data have been generated from space-based observatories (e.g., TRMM), merging of data products (e.g., gridded 3B42), models (e.g., GMAO), climatologies (e.g., Chang SSM/I derived rain indices), field campaigns, and ground-based measuring stations. The science research, applications, and education communities have greatly benefited from the unrestricted availability of these data from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) and, in particular, the services tailored toward precipitation data access and usability. In addition, tools and services that are responsive to the expressed evolving needs of the precipitation data user communities have been developed at the Precipitation Data and Information Services Center (PDISC) (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/precipitation or google NASA PDISC), located at the GES DISC, to provide users with quick data exploration and access capabilities. In recent years, data management and access services have become increasingly sophisticated, such that they now afford researchers, particularly those interested in multi-data set science analysis and/or data validation, the ability to homogenize data sets, in order to apply multi-variant, comparison, and evaluation functions. Included in these services is the ability to capture data quality and data provenance. These interoperability services can be directly applied to future data sets, such as those from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. This presentation describes the data sets and services at the PDISC that are currently used by precipitation science and applications researchers, and which will be enhanced in preparation for GPM and associated multi-sensor data research. Specifically, the GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) will be illustrated. Giovanni enables scientific exploration of Earth science data without researchers having to perform the complicated data access and match-up processes. In addition, PDISC tool and service capabilities being adapted for GPM data will be described, including the Google-like Mirador data search and access engine; semantic technology to help manage large amounts of multi-sensor data and their relationships; data access through various Web services (e.g., OPeNDAP, GDS, WMS, WCS); conversion to various formats (e.g., netCDF, HDF, KML (for Google Earth)); visualization and analysis of Level 2 data profiles and maps; parameter and spatial subsetting; time and temporal aggregation; regridding; data version control and provenance; continuous archive verification; and expertise in data-related standards and interoperability. The goal of providing these services is to further the progress towards a common framework by which data analysis/validation can be more easily accomplished.

Liu, Zhong↗

The Effects of Impactor Shape on the Compression After Impact Strength of Carbon/Epoxy Face Sheet Aluminum Honeycomb Core Sandwich Structure

This study presents experimental results of compression after impact (CAI) strength testing of aluminum core sandwich structure with carbon/epoxy face sheets impacted at three different energies with either a 12.7 mm hemispherical, 24.5 mm hemispherical or sharp tip impactor. This study was undertaken to verify whether design allowables typically generated by blunt (hemispherical) impactors may be valid in ‘real world” applications where an impact may not be by a blunt object of a specific size. Results of practical interest in this study were that the visual damage was much easier to see for the sharp impactor, the damage size as detected by thermography was smaller for the sharp impactor for a given impact energy and dent depth was greater for the sharp impactor. The CAI strength results showed that the sharp impactor gave about the same CAI strength values at all three impact energy levels used. The larger hemispherical impactor gave slightly higher CAI results than the smaller blunt impactor. Overall it was deemed difficult to develop a CAI allowable that would cover all impactor shapes with any fidelity and thus using a lower bound strain allowable is suggested.

compression after impact (CAI)↗