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At least 847 records · Page 47

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NASA NTRS1987

Calibration of neural networks using genetic algorithms, with application to optimal path planning

Genetic algorithms (GA) are used to search the synaptic weight space of artificial neural systems (ANS) for weight vectors that optimize some network performance function. GAs do not suffer from some of the architectural constraints involved with other techniques and it is straightforward to incorporate terms into the performance function concerning the metastructure of the ANS. Hence GAs offer a remarkably general approach to calibrating ANS. GAs are applied to the problem of calibrating an ANS that finds optimal paths over a given surface. This problem involves training an ANS on a relatively small set of paths and then examining whether the calibrated ANS is able to find good paths between arbitrary start and end points on the surface.

Smith, Terence R.↗

DOE OSTI2018

Computing the Properties of Hadrons, Nuclei, and Nuclear Matter from Quantum Chromodynamics, UNC-CH Final Report.

This is the final technical report for the UNC-CH component of a SciDAC3 project. This project served to coordinate the software development effort which the nuclear physics lattice QCD community is developing to ensure that lattice calculations can make optimal use of forthcoming leadership-class and dedicated hardware, including those of the national laboratories, and prepares for the exploitation of future computational resources in the exascale era. The project developed and optimized simulation software for lattice QCD calculations on leadership class computers and on GPUaccelerated heterogeneous architectures. The participating team at multiple instritutions improved and extended software libraries (Chroma, CPS, MILC, QLUA, QPhiX, QDP++, QDP-jit) by providing interfaces for heterogeneous computing environments and through the optimization of gauge field evolution algorithms and sparse matrix inverters. The former includes the development of new multi-time scale integrators and the latter focused on the development of new multi-grid and domain decomposition inverters for several QCD fermion discretization schemes. The sub-project at the University of North Carolina worked towards the development a domain specific language for lattice QCD computations with the express purpose of generating code with uncompromised performance.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Model-Based Study of On-Board Data Processing Architecture for Balloon-Borne Aurora Observation

This paper discusses an application of ISAAC design methodology to a balloon-borne payload electronic system for aurora observation. The methodology is composed of two phases, high level design and low level implementation, the focus of this paper is on the high level design. This paper puts the system architecture in the context of a balloon based application but it can be generalized to any airborne/space-borne application. The system architecture includes a front-end detector, its corresponding data processing unit, and a controller. VisualSim has been used to perform modeling and simulations to explore the entire design space, finding optimal solutions that meet system requirements.

modeling↗

NASA NTRS1993

Design for an integrated discipline operations control center for Space Station Freedom

This paper presents selected features of a human factors oriented plan for a Space Station Freedom (SSF) ground Discipline Operations Center (DOC) that is integrated with other work areas used by multidisciplinary life scientists. This combined facility is referred to as an integrated DOC or IDOC. This plan is based upon the assumption that there will be a constantly changing array of specialized equipment and procedures used by life sciences principal investigators (PI) on the ground which must be linked to SSF through various DOC systems. Other sites will also be able to communicate with SSF (Anon., 1992). It is also assumed that cost reduction will be a major design consideration and that one integrated structure will be less expensive to build and operate than two separate ones. Since both the DOC personnel and PIs will need to communicate with the flight crew aboard SSF, the general interconnect architecture of the PIs' communication linkage is considered here. Key human factor design elements of this plan include: a candidate facility layout which accommodates three (3), multipurpose, rapidly reconfigurable work areas (suites) and consequent user traffic flow considerations, a multimedia telecommunications support capability, functional (human) traffic flow, optimized internal illumination and acoustics requirements, selected volumetric and safety requirements, and other architectural design parameters.

Haines, Richard F.↗

NASA NTRS2010

System Architectural Considerations on Reliable Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN and C) for Constellation Program (CxP) Spacecraft

This final report summarizes the results of a comparative assessment of the fault tolerance and reliability of different Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) architectural approaches. This study was proactively performed by a combined Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Draper Laboratory team as a GN&C "Discipline-Advancing" activity sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). This systematic comparative assessment of GN&C system architectural approaches was undertaken as a fundamental step towards understanding the opportunities for, and limitations of, architecting highly reliable and fault tolerant GN&C systems composed of common avionic components. The primary goal of this study was to obtain architectural 'rules of thumb' that could positively influence future designs in the direction of an optimized (i.e., most reliable and cost-efficient) GN&C system. A secondary goal was to demonstrate the application and the utility of a systematic modeling approach that maps the entire possible architecture solution space.

Dennehy, Cornelius J.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Tech-X contributions to the Center for Tokamak Transients (CTTS) Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) project (Final Report)

The Center for Tokamak Transients Simulations (CTTS) consists of computational plasma physicists, computer scientists, and applied mathematicians who are together developing and applying simulation software to improve our understanding of and ability to predict and control transient events in tokamak discharges, particularly those that lead to violent disruptions. We have major simulation activities concerning disruptions that are caused by violating ideal MHD stability criteria, vertical displacement events, resistive wall modes, and tearing modes. We are performing comprehensive modeling of disruption mitigation techniques, particularly by shattered pellet injection (SPI). The Center is built around two mature extended MHD codes: NIMROD and M3D-C1. These codes are being extended in a number of ways as required by the demands of disruption modeling, and are being optimized to work well for larger problem size and modern computer architectures as required to model tokamak plasmas with realistic parameters over the required timescales. The codes will be coupled to the FronTier code for state-of-the-art modeling of SPI. Validation with experimental data on DIII-D, NSTX, and JET is being facilitated by rigorous uncertainty quantification (UQ). The high-level objectives of the center are to: (1) Develop better understanding and improved predictive capability of when crossing a linear stability boundary will likely lead to a disruption, (2) Provide a tool for calculating vessel forces, both axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric, for worst case VDE and other disruptions in tokamaks, (3) Develop increased understanding and improved predictive capability for locked mode disruptions and how best to avoid them, (4) Develop, verify, and validate 3D models for disruption mitigation by shattered pellets that can be used to design and optimize a system for future tokamaks, and (5) Increase the efficiency and scalability of the M3D-C1 and NIMROD codes so that they can model disruptions in ITER scale devices using the most powerful DOE HPC hardware, and (6) Demonstrate code-coupling via FronTier coupling with NIMROD and M3D-C1 and by interfacing these codes within a WDM framework.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2020

Enhanced NO, CO and C 3 H 6 conversion on Pt/Pd catalysts: Impact of oxygen storage material and catalyst architecture

Simultaneous conversion of NO, CO and C 3 H 6 under stoichiometric conditions was carried out on washcoated monoliths containing oxygen storage material (OSM)-promoted mixed Platinum group metals (PGM: Pt(95 %)/Pd(5 %)), to evaluate OSM promotion and to identify the best architecture. The studied OSMs include ceria-zirconia (Ce 0.3 Zr 0.7 O 2 ; CZO) and mixed metal oxide spinel (Mn 0.5 Fe 2.5 O 4 ; MFO). PGM supported directly on the OSM was found to be the best design for CZO, leading to a ~70 °C simultaneous decrease in the light-off temperature (T 80 ; feed temperature giving 80 % conversion) for NO, CO and C 3 H 6 conversion compared to the alumina-supported PGM. Close coupling between the PGM and CZO is responsible for the activity promotion. In contrast, a dual-layer architecture (top PGM layer, bottom MFO layer) outperformed the MFO-supported PGM catalyst. The dual-layer PGM-MFO catalyst decreased the T 80 by ~50 °C for NO, CO and C 3 H 6 conversion compared to the PGM-only catalyst. Enhancement obtained with the dual-layer PGM-MFO architecture relies on a direct catalytic contribution from the spinel. During lean/rich modulation the addition of CZO or spinel helps to mitigate the detrimental impact of modulation on NO, CO and C 3 H 6 conversion above 400 °C. The data suggest that both CZO and MFO can buffer lean/rich modulation but exhibit preference to different reductants; CZO-supported PGM and dual-layer PGM-MFO show no conversion decrease during modulation for CO or C 3 H 6 modulation, respectively. Dynamic oxygen storage capacity (DOSC) measurements show that the spinel exhibits ~10 times higher DOSC than CZO for both CO and C 3 H 6 reductants. Both CO and C 3 H 6 are equally effective reductants for the MFO but CO is better for CZO and PGM-deposited CZO. The study provides useful insight into benefits of OSM and provides guidance for optimization of the multi-component PGM + OSM catalyst composition and architecture.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Toward Performance Portable Programming for Heterogeneous System-on-Chips: Case Study with Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC

Future heterogeneous Domain-Specific System-on-Chips (DSSoC) will be extraordinarily complex in terms of processors, memory hierarchies, and interconnection networks.To manage this complexity, architects, system software designers, and application developers need programming technologies that are flexible, accurate, efficient, and productive. These technologies will need to be as independent of any one specific architecture as is practical, because the sheer dimensionality and scale of the complexity will not allow porting and optimizing applications foreach given DSSoC. To address these issues, we are developing Cosmic Castle, a performance portable programming toolchain for streaming applications on heterogeneous architectures. The primary focus of Cosmic Castle is on enabling efficient and performant code generation through the smart compiler and intelligent runtime system. This paper presents the preliminary evaluation of our ongoing work toward Cosmic Castle. Specifically, we detail our code porting efforts and evaluate various benchmarks on the Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC using tools developed through Cosmic Castle.

Cabrera, Anthony↗

DOE OSTI2024

"Traffic Control via Connected and Automated Vehicles: An Open-Road Field Experiment with 100 CAVs"

The CIRCLES project aims to reduce instabilities in traffic flow, which are naturally occurring phenomena due to human driving behavior. These "phantom jams" or "stop-and-go waves,"are a significant source of wasted energy. Toward this goal, the CIRCLES project designed a control system referred to as the MegaController by the CIRCLES team, that could be deployed in real traffic. Our field experiment leveraged a heterogeneous fleet of 100 longitudinally-controlled vehicles as Lagrangian traffic actuators, each of which ran a controller with the architecture described in this paper. The MegaController is a hierarchical control architecture, which consists of two main layers. The upper layer is called Speed Planner, and is a centralized optimal control algorithm. It assigns speed targets to the vehicles, conveyed through the LTE cellular network. The lower layer is a control layer, running on each vehicle. It performs local actuation by overriding the stock adaptive cruise controller, using the stock on-board sensors. The Speed Planner ingests live data feeds provided by third parties, as well as data from our own control vehicles, and uses both to perform the speed assignment. The architecture of the speed planner allows for modular use of standard control techniques, such as optimal control, model predictive control, kernel methods and others, including Deep RL, model predictive control and explicit controllers. Depending on the vehicle architecture, all onboard sensing data can be accessed by the local controllers, or only some. Control inputs vary across different automakers, with inputs ranging from torque or acceleration requests for some cars, and electronic selection of ACC set points in others. The proposed architecture allows for the combination of all possible settings proposed above. Most configurations were tested throughout the ramp up to the MegaVandertest.

Lee, Jonathan↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mission Design Considerations for a Low-Thrust Spacecraft

Developing an executable low-thrust trajectory for use in a spaceflight mission requires the design and optimization of a deterministic trajectory as well as the validation that the selected architecture is robust to some set of uncertainties, execution errors, and potential contingencies. Uncertainty in the ability of the spacecraft and its launch vehicle to execute a trajectory as well as potential deviations such as in-flight anomalies combine with design-to constraints and requirements to complicate the optimization problem. The approach by which robust mission design was accomplished for the initial capability of NASA’s Gateway is presented as well as associated results.

NRHO↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Mission Design Considerations for a Low-Thrust Spacecraft

mission design↗

DOE OSTI2026

The Cascade Effectiveness of 3-Terminal Tandem Photocathode Architectures as Applied to CO 2 Reduction

Cascade catalysis for photoelectrochemical CO 2 reduction (CO 2 R) decouples the overall reaction into sequential steps occurring on separately optimized catalysts (for example, Ag and Cu) between which an intermediate species such as CO is transferred. A 3-terminal tandem (3TT) photovoltaic architecture advantageously holds two different catalytic regions at different potentials under a single illumination source, but its overall efficiency is low. Using a stochastic reaction-diffusion model, we have examined 3TT photocathode design principles, focusing on the coupling of surface chemistry and transport of CO both inside the boundary layer and outward, into the bulk electrolyte. We find that ensuring that the lateral diffusion distance within the boundary layer is short compared to the boundary layer thickness and controlling bulk flow are key, with interdigitated designs showing an overall conversion efficiency improvement by 2 orders of magnitude compared to the side-by-side case without flow. These findings can be adapted for other cascaded architectures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2025

DeepHyper: A Python Package for Massively Parallel Hyperparameter Optimization in Machine Learning

Machine learning models are increasingly applied across scientific disciplines, yet their effectiveness often hinges on heuristic decisions—such as data transformations, training strategies, and model architectures—that are not learned by the models themselves. Automating the selection of these heuristics and analyzing their sensitivity is crucial for building robust and efficient learning workflows. DeepHyper addresses this challenge by democratizing hyperparameter optimization, providing accessible tools to streamline and enhance machine learning workflows from a laptop to the largest supercomputer in the world. Building on top of hyperparameter optimization, it unlocks new capabilities around ensembles of models for improved accuracy and uncertainty quantification. All of these organized around efficient parallel computing.

ensemble↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluating Lunar Water Processing System Model Configurations for Small Scale Oxygen and Hydrogen Production Within JAXA’s ISRU Technology Demonstration Plant

In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) refers to novel methods of extracting and processing local resources for use in life support and propulsion systems, reducing or eliminating the required consumables to be transferred from Earth. Current estimates of water-ice availability embedded in regolith within the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions (PSR’s)range between 1-5% by weight. However, the composition and characteristics of the “wet” regolith is unknown. Alternate ISRU excavation techniques and Concept of Operations (ConOps) must be explored to optimize surface system operations based on these factors. To assess the feasibility of different ISRU subsystem technologies and compare system architecture configurations, an interchangeable system model was generated to incorporate technologies spanning excavation of raw materials to storage of products and determine optimal arrangement of total system processing needs. Total Mass, Volume, and Power (M/V/P) requirements were computed for 168 design iterations of this water processing plant.

ISRU↗

NASA NTRS1992

Neural networks for structural design - An integrated system implementation

The development of powerful automated procedures to aid the creative designer is becoming increasingly critical for complex design tasks. In the work described here Artificial Neural Nets are applied to acquire structural analysis and optimization domain expertise. Based on initial instructions from the user an automated procedure generates random instances of structural analysis and/or optimization 'experiences' that cover a desired domain. It extracts training patterns from the created instances, constructs and trains an appropriate network architecture and checks the accuracy of net predictions. The final product is a trained neural net that can estimate analysis and/or optimization results instantaneously.

Berke, Laszlo↗

DOE OSTI2024

Comparative Study on the Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Production from the Layout Optimization in a Unit Cell

Solar-driven water splitting is achieved by connecting photovoltaics with electrolysis. Recently, integrated approaches of the two configurations for photoelectrochemical reactions have shown great potential in a combined unit, but strategies to address further material and cell development face significant scientific challenges. Here, in this work, we present an experimental demonstration of photoelectrochemical (PEC) unit-cells with efficient separate dual compartments for oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions. The design and fabrication of cell architectures with various degrees of integration are investigated efficient and sustainable PEC processes. The effect of the nanostructured silicon (Si) photoelectrodes, including the adoption of layer architectures, surface protection layer deposition, and membrane electrode assembly is further studied to optimize the design parameters of the PEC unit-cells. This developed PEC cell with the Si photocathode achieved a photocurrent density of -4.8 mA cm –2 at -2.0 V cell and -2.87 mA cm –2 at -1.6 V cell . It clearly provides a critical milestone for unbiased solar water splitting. Practical solar to hydrogen (STH) can be directly estimated in investigating PEC performance in this unit-cell as assembled with a solar cell. It is a significantly meaningful step forward in practical solar fuel production.

08 HYDROGEN↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Hybrid Power Management (HPM) Based Vehicle Architecture

Society desires vehicles with reduced fuel consumption and reduced emissions. This presents a challenge and an opportunity for industry and the government. The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a Hybrid Power Management (HPM) based vehicle architecture for space and terrestrial vehicles. GRC's Electrical and Electromagnetics Branch of the Avionics and Electrical Systems Division initiated the HPM Program for the GRC Technology Transfer and Partnership Office. HPM is the innovative integration of diverse, state-of-the-art power devices in an optimal configuration for space and terrestrial applications. The appropriate application and control of the various power devices significantly improves overall system performance and efficiency. The basic vehicle architecture consists of a primary power source, and possibly other power sources, providing all power to a common energy storage system, which is used to power the drive motors and vehicle accessory systems, as well as provide power as an emergency power system. Each component is independent, permitting it to be optimized for its intended purpose. This flexible vehicle architecture can be applied to all vehicles to considerably improve system efficiency, reliability, safety, security, and performance. This unique vehicle architecture has the potential to alleviate global energy concerns, improve the environment, stimulate the economy, and enable new missions.

Eichenberg, Dennis J.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Grid-Connected Modular Soft-Switching Solid State Transformers (M-S4T)

The objective of this project is to develop and verify the concept of a flexible and modular soft-switching solid-state transformer (M-S4T) for direct grid-connected applications. The ability to directly connect power electronics converters to the medium voltage grid (4 kV – 13 kV), and to potentially replace the passive and bulky, but ubiquitous 60 hertz service transformer in the 25 kVA to 100 kVA range, with a more flexible and controllable device, has been regarded as the ‘holy grail’ in grid control. However, this has proven to be extremely difficult. This project has developed the solutions to several key challenges of the direct grid-connected power electronics and realized a 7.2 kV M-S4T prototype. First, a protection method to protect the M-S4T from the high voltages (110 kV for the 13 kV system) that occur on the grid due to transients and lightning strikes have been developed and experimentally verified. Second, the realization and the operation of the M-S4T based on high-voltage SiC devices (>3.3 kV) and a medium-frequency medium-voltage low-leakage transformer in a single-stage solid-state transformer with zero-voltage switching, low dv/dt, and low electromagnetic interference has been successfully demonstrated up to 7.5 kV peak. Third, an oil-cooling system and stable communication and distributed control system for converter module voltage sharing have been developed and experimentally verified. The developed M-S4T has realized a modular universal high-performance power conversion system. This conversion system is scalable to different voltage and power levels and adaptable to four-quadrant bidirectional operation. Moreover, the use of passive cooling techniques meets the equipment life requirements, and the lightning protection scheme fulfills the basic insulation level specifications for direct grid connection. Such power conversion system opens up near-term opportunities, including energy storage, solar PV, or electric vehicle charging with significant cost and footprint savings. In the longer term, the possibility of replacing the utility distribution transformer with an M-S4T will be transformative for future distribution grids with a compact footprint and full controllability to enable high renewable energy and storage penetration. In addition to the main project, this report expands on the Plus-Up projected including as part of the main award. This project developed and demonstrated the technology for autonomous collaborative inverters that can be connected in an ad hoc manner to the grid. The aim of the project was to: (1) evaluate the existing techniques for grid-connected inverters and find their limitations; (2) develop detailed requirements for grid-connected inverters in the modern grid with millions of active nodes; (3) design a unified control strategy that brings more autonomy and intelligence to grid-connected inverters, and addresses parts of the issues with the existing techniques. The proposed technique, called UniCon, enables inverters to 1) connect/disconnect to/from the grid in an ad hoc manner; (2) work based on local sensing. Slow communication could be used for a more optimized behavior; (3) work automatically in both grid-forming/grid-following mode; (4) handle large disturbances, e.g., big load step and fault, in an oscillation-free manner; (5) work collaboratively with other inverters in steady-state and during transients. UniCon can be implemented in the middle-level control; hence it is agnostic to the vendor and to the implementation of the inner voltage/current and protection loops. Furthermore, a new synchronization scheme, based on deep learning, was developed that can extract the grid voltage phase and amplitude in a stable manner. The method is cheap to implement can improve the dynamic performance of the grid-connected inverters during fast transients, e.g., fault. The proposed control scheme was validated by (1) MATLAB/Simulink; (2) hardware-in-the-loop results, and; (3) experimental results using three inverters that form a microgrid in a down-scaled feeder. Lastly, both the M-S4T and UniCon have achieved promising tangible paths to markets. In the case of the M-S4T, the underlying technology — the Soft Switching Solid State Transformer (S4T) developed at the Georgia Tech Center for Distributed Energy (GT-CDE) has been licensed by GridBlock from the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, and GridBlock has been working with manufacturing partner Jabil (one of the largest US-based contract manufacturers) and system integrator Power Secure (largest deployer of microgrids in the US with 4.7 GW under management), to meet the strong initial demand. Similarly, GridBlock has an exclusive license to the UniCon technology, developed under this award by GT-CDE. The UniCon provides an intermediate control layer that enables the implementation of the higher-level ‘transactive’ control commands for the system. The architecture of the system - slow communications with the cloud for system optimization and setpoints, and the use of locally measured quantities for real-time control, provide a very robust and secure way of implementing a real-time must-run grid that is also secure and stable. This is a brand-new functionality that is critical for the future grid and key to GridBlock’s business model.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗