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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 865 records · Page 48
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1972

Measurement of operator workload in an information processing task

This was an experimental study to develop an improved methodology for measuring workload in an information processing task and to assess the effects of shift length and communication density (rate of information flow) on the ability to process and classify verbal messages. Each of twelve subjects was exposed to combinations of three shift lengths and two communication densities in a counterbalanced, repeated measurements experimental design. Results indicated no systematic variation in task performance measures or in other dependent measures as a function of shift length or communication density. This is attributed to the absence of a secondary loading task, an insufficiently taxing work schedule, and the lack of psychological stress. Subjective magnitude estimates of workload showed fatigue (and to a lesser degree, tension) to be a power function of shift length. Estimates of task difficulty and fatigue were initially lower but increased more sharply over time under low density than under high density conditions. An interpretation of findings and recommedations for furture research are included. This research has major implications to human workload problems in information processing of air traffic control verbal data.

Jenney, L. L.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Monitoring devices and systems for monitoring frequency hopping wireless communications, and related methods

Monitoring devices and systems comprise a plurality of data channel modules coupled to processing circuitry. Each data channel module of the plurality of data channel modules is configured to capture wireless communications for a selected frequency channel. The processing circuitry is configured to receive captured wireless communications from the plurality of data channel modules and to organize received wireless communications according to at least one parameter. Related methods of monitoring wireless communications are also disclosed.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2013

The significance of structural power in Strategic Environmental Assessment

This article presents a study of how power dynamics enables and constrains the influence of actors upon decision-making and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Based on structuration theory, a model for studying power dynamics in strategic decision-making processes is developed. The model is used to map and analyse key decision arenas in the decision process of aluminium production in Greenland. The analysis shows that communication lines are an important resource through which actors exercise power and influence decision-making on the location of the aluminium production. The SEA process involved not only reproduction of formal communication and decision competence but also production of alternative informal communication structures in which the SEA had capability to influence. It is concluded, that actors influence strategic decision making, and attention needs to be on not only the formal interactions between SEA process and strategic decision-making process but also on informal interaction and communication between actors as the informal structures, which can be crucial to the outcome of the decision-making process. This article is meant as a supplement to the understanding of power dynamics influence in IA processes and as a contribution to the IA research field with a method to analyse power dynamics in strategic decision-making processes. The article also brings reflections of strengths and weaknesses of using the structuration theory as an approach to power analysis. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Informal interaction influenced process despite the presence of formalised rules. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Interdependence of actors influenced SEA effectiveness. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SEA practitioners successfully exercised power to influence decision-making. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Power dynamics are properties of actors' interactions in decision-making. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Power structures can be enabling and not solely limiting.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cross-Layered Distributed Data-Driven Framework for Enhanced Smart Grid Cyber-Physical Security

Smart Grid (SG) research and development has drawn much attention from academia, industry and government due to the great impact it will have on society, economics and the environment. Securing the SG is a considerably significant challenge due the increased dependency on communication networks to assist in physical process control, exposing them to various cyber-threats. In addition to attacks that change measurement values using False Data Injection (FDI) techniques, attacks on the communication network may disrupt the power system's real-time operation by intercepting messages, or by flooding the communication channels with unnecessary data. Addressing these attacks requires a cross-layer approach. In this paper a cross-layered strategy is presented, called Cross-Layer Ensemble CorrDet with Adaptive Statistics(CECD-AS), which integrates the detection of faulty SG measurement data as well as inconsistent network inter-arrival times and transmission delays for more reliable and accurate anomaly detection and attack interpretation. Numerical results show that CECD-AS can detect multiple False Data Injections, Denial of Service (DoS) and Man In The Middle (MITM) attacks with a high F1-score compared to current approaches that only use SG measurement data for detection such as the traditional physics-based State Estimation, Ensemble CorrDet with Adaptive Statistics strategy and other machine learning classification-based detection schemes.

cyber-physical security↗
DOE OSTI2023

Large-Signal Stability Improvement of Parallel Grid-Forming Inverter-Driven Black Start: Preprint

With the rapid increase of inverter-based resources in modern grids, advanced grid-forming (GFM) inverter capa- bilities, such as system restoration and operation under faults, are urgently needed to realize power electronics-dominant grids at scale. One such capability is inverter-driven black start using GFM inverters. This paper analyzes the ability of two recently proposed advanced GFM controls to help GFM inverters sustain system-wide, off-nominal conditions and remain synchronized until they can overcome the momentary overloading as more GFMs join the process without generator sequence coordination or communications and finally stabilize the grid. Through an extensive set of 1,200 full-order electromagnetic transient simu- lations, we evaluate the black-start process while employing the various GFM inverter controls. The results show that the GFM current limiter and primary control have a significant impact on the stability of the system during dynamic operating conditions and thus impact the success of inverter-driven system restoration.

current limit↗
NASA NTRS1995

Mechanotransduction and the functional response of bone to mechanical strain

Mechanotransduction plays a crucial role in the physiology of many tissues including bone. Mechanical loading can inhibit bone resorption and increase bone formation in vivo. In bone, the process of mechanotransduction can be divided into four distinct steps: (1) mechanocoupling, (2) biochemical coupling, (3) transmission of signal, and (4) effector cell response. In mechanocoupling, mechanical loads in vivo cause deformations in bone that stretch bone cells within and lining the bone matrix and create fluid movement within the canaliculae of bone. Dynamic loading, which is associated with extracellular fluid flow and the creation of streaming potentials within bone, is most effective for stimulating new bone formation in vivo. Bone cells in vitro are stimulated to produce second messengers when exposed to fluid flow or mechanical stretch. In biochemical coupling, the possible mechanisms for the coupling of cell-level mechanical signals into intracellular biochemical signals include force transduction through the integrin-cytoskeleton-nuclear matrix structure, stretch-activated cation channels within the cell membrane, G protein-dependent pathways, and linkage between the cytoskeleton and the phospholipase C or phospholipase A pathways. The tight interaction of each of these pathways would suggest that the entire cell is a mechanosensor and there are many different pathways available for the transduction of a mechanical signal. In the transmission of signal, osteoblasts, osteocytes, and bone lining cells may act as sensors of mechanical signals and may communicate the signal through cell processes connected by gap junctions. These cells also produce paracrine factors that may signal osteoprogenitors to differentiate into osteoblasts and attach to the bone surface. Insulin-like growth factors and prostaglandins are possible candidates for intermediaries in signal transduction. In the effector cell response, the effects of mechanical loading are dependent upon the magnitude, duration, and rate of the applied load. Longer duration, lower amplitude loading has the same effect on bone formation as loads with short duration and high amplitude. Loading must be cyclic to stimulate new bone formation. Aging greatly reduces the osteogenic effects of mechanical loading in vivo. Also, some hormones may interact with local mechanical signals to change the sensitivity of the sensor or effector cells to mechanical load.

Non-NASA Center↗
DOE OSTI2017

Memory Compression Techniques for Network Address Management in MPI

MPI allows applications to treat processes as a logical collection of integer ranks for each MPI communicator, while internally translating these logical ranks into actual network addresses. In current MPI implementations the management and lookup of such network addresses use memory sizes that are proportional to the number of processes in each communicator. In this paper, we propose a new mechanism, called AV-Rankmap, for managing such translation. AV-Rankmap takes advantage of logical patterns in rank-address mapping that most applications naturally tend to have, and it exploits the fact that some parts of network address structures are naturally more performance critical than others. It uses this information to compress the memory used for network address management. We demonstrate that AV-Rankmap can achieve performance similar to or better than that of other MPI implementations while using significantly less memory.

Guo, Yanfei↗
NASA NTRS1996

A revisit to the requirements methodologies for services provided by the Office of Space Communications

The methodologies of the NASA requirements processing system, originally designed to enhance NASA's customer interface and response time, are reviewed. The response of NASA to the problems associated with the system is presented, and it is shown what was done to facilitate the process and to improve customer relations. The requirements generation system (RGS), a computer-supported client-server system, adopted by NASA is presented. The RGS system is configurable on a per-mission basis and can be structured to allow levels of requirements. The details provided concerning the RGS include the recommended configuration, information on becoming an RGS user and network connectivity worksheets for computer users.

Fishkind, Stanley↗
NASA NTRS1993

HP upgrade operational streamlining

New computer technology and resources must be successfully integrated into CDSLR station operations to manage new complex operational tracking requirements, support the on site production of new data products, support ongoing station performance improvements, and to support new station communication requirements. The NASA CDSLR Network is in the process of upgrading station computer resources with HP UNIX workstations, designed to automate a wide range of operational station requirements. The primary HP upgrade objective was to relocate computer intensive data system tasks from the controller computer to a new advanced computer environment designed to meet the new data system requirements. The HP UNIX environment supports fully automated real time data communications, data management, data processing, and data quality control. Automated data compression procedures are used to improve the efficiency of station data communications. In addition, the UNIX environment supports a number of semi-automated technical and administrative operational station tasks. The x window user interface generates multiple simultaneous color graphics displays, providing direct operator visibility and control over a wide range of operational station functions.

Edge, David R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Reactive system verification case study: Fault-tolerant transputer communication

A reactive program is one which engages in an ongoing interaction with its environment. A system which is controlled by an embedded reactive program is called a reactive system. Examples of reactive systems are aircraft flight management systems, bank automatic teller machine (ATM) networks, airline reservation systems, and computer operating systems. Reactive systems are often naturally modeled (for logical design purposes) as a composition of autonomous processes which progress concurrently and which communicate to share information and/or to coordinate activities. Formal (i.e., mathematical) frameworks for system verification are tools used to increase the users' confidence that a system design satisfies its specification. A framework for reactive system verification includes formal languages for system modeling and for behavior specification and decision procedures and/or proof-systems for verifying that the system model satisfies the system specifications. Using the Ostroff framework for reactive system verification, an approach to achieving fault-tolerant communication between transputers was shown to be effective. The key components of the design, the decoupler processes, may be viewed as discrete-event-controllers introduced to constrain system behavior such that system specifications are satisfied. The Ostroff framework was also effective. The expressiveness of the modeling language permitted construction of a faithful model of the transputer network. The relevant specifications were readily expressed in the specification language. The set of decision procedures provided was adequate to verify the specifications of interest. The need for improved support for system behavior visualization is emphasized.

Crane, D. Francis↗
NASA NTRS2000

Lessons from Communicating Space Science Over the Web

The Science Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center uses the web in an aggressive manner to expand communications beyond the traditional "public affairs" or "media relations" routines. The key to success has been developing a balanced process that A) involves laboratory personnel and the NASA center community through a weekly Science Communications Roundtable, B) vests ownership and development of the product (i.e., the story) in the scientist a writer resident in the laboratory, and C) seeks taps the talents of the outside communications community through the Research/Roadmap Communications activity. The process is flexible and responsive, allowing Science@NASA to provide daily coverage for events, such as two materials science missions managed by NASA/Marshall. In addition to developing materials for the web, Science@NASA has conducted extensive research to determine what subjects people seek on the web, and the best methods to position stories so they will be found and read.

Dooling, David, Jr.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Mini-Ckpts: Surviving OS Failures in Persistent Memory

Concern is growing in the high-performance computing (HPC) community on the reliability of future extreme-scale systems. Current efforts have focused on application fault-tolerance rather than the operating system (OS), despite the fact that recent studies have suggested that failures in OS memory are more likely. The OS is critical to a system's correct and efficient operation of the node and processes it governs -- and in HPC also for any other nodes a parallelized application runs on and communicates with: Any single node failure generally forces all processes of this application to terminate due to tight communication in HPC. Therefore, the OS itself must be capable of tolerating failures. In this work, we introduce mini-ckpts, a framework which enables application survival despite the occurrence of a fatal OS failure or crash. Mini-ckpts achieves this tolerance by ensuring that the critical data describing a process is preserved in persistent memory prior to the failure. Following the failure, the OS is rejuvenated via a warm reboot and the application continues execution effectively making the failure and restart transparent. The mini-ckpts rejuvenation and recovery process is measured to take between three to six seconds and has a failure-free overhead of between 3-5% for a number of key HPC workloads. In contrast to current fault-tolerance methods, this work ensures that the operating and runtime system can continue in the presence of faults. This is a much finer-grained and dynamic method of fault-tolerance than the current, coarse-grained, application-centric methods. Handling faults at this level has the potential to greatly reduce overheads and enables mitigation of additional fault scenarios.

Fiala, David↗
NASA NTRS1993

Virtually-synchronous communication based on a weak failure suspector

Failure detectors (or, more accurately Failure Suspectors (FS)) appear to be a fundamental service upon which to build fault-tolerant, distributed applications. This paper shows that a FS with very weak semantics (i.e., that delivers failure and recovery information in no specific order) suffices to implement virtually-synchronous communication (VSC) in an asynchronous system subject to process crash failures and network partitions. The VSC paradigm is particularly useful in asynchronous systems and greatly simplifies building fault-tolerant applications that mask failures by replicating processes. We suggest a three-component architecture to implement virtually-synchronous communication: (1) at the lowest level, the FS component; (2) on top of it, a component (2a) that defines new views; and (3) a component (2b) that reliably multicasts messages within a view. The issues covered in this paper also lead to a better understanding of the various membership service semantics proposed in recent literature.

Schiper, Andre↗
NASA NTRS2010

Onboard Processing of Multispectral and Hyperspectral Data of Volcanic Activity for Future Earth-Orbiting and Planetary Missions

Autonomous onboard processing of data allows rapid response to detections of dynamic, changing processes. Software that can detect volcanic eruptions from thermal emission has been used to retask the Earth Observing 1 spacecraft to obtain additional data of the eruption. Rapid transmission of these data to the ground, and the automatic processing of the data to generated images, estimates of eruption parameters and maps of thermal structure, has allowed these products to be delivered rapidly to volcanologists to aid them in assessing eruption risk and hazard. Such applications will enhance science return from future Earth-orbiting spacecraft and also from spacecraft exploring the Solar System, or beyond, which hope to image dynamic processes. Especially in the latter case, long communication times between the spacecraft and Earth exclude a rapid response to what may be a transient process - only using onboard autonomy can the spacecraft react quickly to such an event.

Jupiter↗
NASA NTRS2014

Communications Technology Assessment for the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Control and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) Link

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is performing communications systems research for the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. One of the goals of the communications element is to select and test a communications technology for the UAS Control and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) link. The GRC UAS Modeling and Simulation (M/S) Sub Team will evaluate the performance of several potential technologies for the CNPC link through detailed software simulations. In parallel, an industry partner will implement a technology in hardware to be used for flight testing. The task necessitated a technical assessment of existing Radio Frequency (RF) communications technologies to identify the best candidate systems for use as the UAS CNPC link. The assessment provides a basis for selecting the technologies for the M/S effort and the hardware radio design. The process developed for the technical assessments for the Future Communications Study1 (FCS) was used as an initial starting point for this assessment. The FCS is a joint Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Eurocontrol study on technologies for use as a future aeronautical communications link. The FCS technology assessment process methodology can be applied to the UAS CNPC link; however the findings of the FCS are not directly applicable because of different requirements between a CNPC link and a general aeronautical data link. Additional technologies were added to the potential technologies list from the State of the Art Unmanned Aircraft System Communication Assessment developed by NASA GRC2. This document investigates the state of the art of communications as related to UAS. A portion of the document examines potential communications systems for a UAS communication architecture. Like the FCS, the state of the art assessment surveyed existing communications technologies. It did not, however, perform a detailed assessment of the technology necessary to recommend a technology for the UAS CNPC link. The technical assessment process, as shown in Figure 1, consists of the following steps. First, candidate RF communications technologies are identified. An initial review of each of these technologies is then performed to determine if the technology appears to be a good candidate and requires further review. Any technology that can be shown to be inadequate at that point is removed from consideration to allow for more detailed analysis of the remaining technologies. Criteria for the detailed assessments are defined and a scoring methodology is devised. This is followed by the detailed review and scoring of each technology. The least favorable technologies are removed during the process until only the few best candidates remain.

Aircraft Command and Control↗
NASA NTRS2000

Numerical Propulsion System Simulation: An Overview

The cost of implementing new technology in aerospace propulsion systems is becoming prohibitively expensive and time consuming. One of the main contributors to the high cost and lengthy time is the need to perform many large-scale hardware tests and the inability to integrate all appropriate subsystems early in the design process. The NASA Glenn Research Center is developing the technologies required to enable simulations of full aerospace propulsion systems in sufficient detail to resolve critical design issues early in the design process before hardware is built. This concept, called the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS), is focused on the integration of multiple disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures and heat transfer with computing and communication technologies to capture complex physical processes in a timely and cost-effective manner. The vision for NPSS, as illustrated, is to be a "numerical test cell" that enables full engine simulation overnight on cost-effective computing platforms. There are several key elements within NPSS that are required to achieve this capability: 1) clear data interfaces through the development and/or use of data exchange standards, 2) modular and flexible program construction through the use of object-oriented programming, 3) integrated multiple fidelity analysis (zooming) techniques that capture the appropriate physics at the appropriate fidelity for the engine systems, 4) multidisciplinary coupling techniques and finally 5) high performance parallel and distributed computing. The current state of development in these five area focuses on air breathing gas turbine engines and is reported in this paper. However, many of the technologies are generic and can be readily applied to rocket based systems and combined cycles currently being considered for low-cost access-to-space applications. Recent accomplishments include: (1) the development of an industry-standard engine cycle analysis program and plug 'n play architecture, called NPSS Version 1, (2) A full engine simulation that combines a 3D low-pressure subsystem with a 0D high pressure core simulation. This demonstrates the ability to integrate analyses at different levels of detail and to aerodynamically couple components, the fan/booster and low-pressure turbine, through a 3D computational fluid dynamics simulation. (3) Simulation of all of the turbomachinery in a modern turbofan engine on parallel computing platform for rapid and cost-effective execution. This capability can also be used to generate full compressor map, requiring both design and off-design simulation. (4) Three levels of coupling characterize the multidisciplinary analysis under NPSS: loosely coupled, process coupled and tightly coupled. The loosely coupled and process coupled approaches require a common geometry definition to link CAD to analysis tools. The tightly coupled approach is currently validating the use of arbitrary Lagrangian/Eulerian formulation for rotating turbomachinery. The validation includes both centrifugal and axial compression systems. The results of the validation will be reported in the paper. (5) The demonstration of significant computing cost/performance reduction for turbine engine applications using PC clusters. The NPSS Project is supported under the NASA High Performance Computing and Communications Program.

Lytle, John K.↗