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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

Electron heating by ion acoustic turbulence in simulated low Mach number shocks

Explicit and fully electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations of perpendicular, collisionless, and nominally subcritical shocks are performed in one and two spatial dimensions using the code wave. Shock parameters are chosen to maximixe the growth rates of the current-driven ion acoustic instability in the shock. Electron heating by ion acoustic turbulence is observed at the shocks, at rates in agreement with second-order Vlasov theory predictions. However, the amount of resistive electron heating is small and ion reflection provides the major source of dissipation. Strictly resistive shocks do not exist for the parameters suitable for explicit particle codes running on today's supercomputers, because the plasma convects through these shocks so quickly that current-driven instabilities have little time to be amplified and to heat the electrons resistively. This effect is primarily a result of the relatively small values of omega(pe)/omega(ce) that can be analyzed.

Tokar, Robert L.↗

Flows over wings with leading-edge vortex separation

The unsteady cross flow analogy reduces the steady three dimensional separation flow problem into an unsteady two dimensional flow problem in which the section shape changes with time. The two dimensional VORSEP code is extended to the case of arbitrary body growth rates in order to generate the initial vortex structures for the three dimensional free vortex sheet (FVS) code. Automatic procedures to reduce the wing geometry definition to a set of cross flow plane sections corresponding to the locations of the time step solutions and to generate the effective source distribution on each cross flow section to represent the section normal growth across the following steps are incorporated in the VORSEP code. Also, the wake shedding model is improved by adopting a redistribution scheme which improves the stability of the free sheet development with time. The improved wake shedding model combined with the redistribution scheme alleviated the numerical instabilities associated with the vortex rollup.

Rao, B. M.↗

Simpler Adaptive Selection of Golomb Power-of-Two Codes

An alternative method of adaptive selection of Golomb power-of-two (GPO2) codes has been devised for use in efficient, lossless encoding of sequences of non-negative integers from discrete sources. The method is intended especially for use in compression of digital image data. This method is somewhat suboptimal, but offers the advantage in that it involves significantly less computation than does a prior method of adaptive selection of optimum codes through brute force application of all code options to every block of samples.

Kiely, Aaron↗

Accelerator test of the coded aperture mask technique for gamma-ray astronomy

A prototype gamma-ray telescope employing the coded aperture mask technique has been constructed and its response to a point source of 20 MeV gamma-rays has been measured. The point spread function is approximately a Gaussian with a standard deviation of 12 arc minutes. This resolution is consistent with the cell size of the mask used and the spatial resolution of the detector. In the context of the present experiment, the error radius of the source position (90 percent confidence level) is 6.1 arc minutes.

Jenkins, T. L.↗

Total-dose radiation effects data for semiconductor devices, volume 3

Volume 3 of this three-volume set provides a detailed analysis of the data in Volumes 1 and 2, most of which was generated for the Galileo Orbiter Program in support of NASA space programs. Volume 1 includes total ionizing dose radiation test data on diodes, bipolar transistors, field effect transistors, and miscellaneous discrete solid-state devices. Volume 2 includes similar data on integrated circuits and a few large-scale integrated circuits. The data of Volumes 1 and 2 are combined in graphic format in Volume 3 to provide a comparison of radiation sensitivities of devices of a given type and different manufacturer, a comparison of multiple tests for a single data code, a comparison of multiple tests for a single lot, and a comparison of radiation sensitivities vs time (date codes). All data were generated using a steady-state 2.5-MeV electron source (Dynamitron) or a Cobalt-60 gamma ray source. The data that compose Volume 3 represent 26 different device types, 224 tests, and a total of 1040 devices. A comparison of the effects of steady-state electrons and Cobat-60 gamma rays is also presented.

Price, W. E.↗

Operating characteristics of a prototype high energy gamma-ray telescope

The field of gamma-ray astronomy in the energy range from ten to several hundred MeV is severely limited by the angular resolution that can be achieved by present instruments. The identification of some of the point sources found by the COS-B mission and the resolution of detailed structure existing in those sources may depend on the development of a new class of instrument. The coded aperture mask telescope, used successfully at X-ray energies hold the promise of being such an instrument. A prototype coded aperture telescope was operated in a tagged photon beam ranging in energy from 23 to 123 MeV. The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate the feasibility of operating a coded aperture mask telescope in this energy region. Some preliminary results and conclusions drawn from some of the data resulting from this experiment are presented.

Jenkins, T. L.↗

A programmable image compression system

A programmable image compression system which has the necessary flexibility to address diverse imaging needs is described. It can compress and expand single frame video images (monochrome or color) as well as documents and graphics (black and white or color) for archival or transmission applications. Through software control, the compression mode can be set for lossless or controlled quality coding; the image size and bit depth can be varied; and the image source and destination devices can be readily changed. Despite the large combination of image data types, image sources, and algorithms, the system provides a simple consistent interface to the programmer. This system (OPTIPAC) is based on the TITMS320C25 digital signal processing (DSP) chip and has been implemented as a co-processor board for an IBM PC-AT compatible computer. The underlying philosophy can readily be applied to different hardware platforms. By using multiple DSP chips or incorporating algorithm specific chips, the compression and expansion times can be significantly reduced to meet performance requirements.

Farrelle, Paul M.↗

A very high speed lossless compression/decompression chip set

A chip is described that will perform lossless compression and decompression using the Rice Algorithm. The chip set is designed to compress and decompress source data in real time for many applications. The encoder is designed to code at 20 M samples/second at MIL specifications. That corresponds to 280 Mbits/second at maximum quantization or approximately 500 Mbits/second under nominal conditions. The decoder is designed to decode at 10 M samples/second at industrial specifications. A wide range of quantization levels is allowed (4...14 bits) and both nearest neighbor prediction and external prediction are supported. When the pre and post processors are bypassed, the chip set performs high speed entropy coding and decoding. This frees the chip set from being tied to one modeling technique or specific application. Both the encoder and decoder are being fabricated in a 1.0 micron CMOS process that has been tested to survive 1 megarad of total radiation dosage. The CMOS chips are small, only 5 mm on a side, and both are estimated to consume less than 1/4 of a Watt of power while operating at maximum frequency.

Venbrux, Jack↗

Interactive solution-adaptive grid generation procedure

TURBO-AD is a two dimensional interactive solution adaptive grid generation program. The code uniquely combines a grid adaptation technique that uses parametric mapping with control sources and an algebraic grid generation that uses control points into a single software package. The grid adaptation is achieved by first adapting the control points to a numerical solution in the parametric domain using the control sources obtained from flow properties. Then a new grid is generated from the adapted control net using the control point formulation. The new adapted grid in the parametric domain is then mapped back to the physical domain. This solution adaptive grid generation process is efficient because the number of control points is much less than the number of grid points and the grid generation from the adapted control net is an efficient algebraic process.

Choo, Yung K.↗

Hybrid simulations of whistler waves generation and current closure by a pulsed tether in the ionosphere

The dynamic response of a magnetized collisionless plasma to an externally driven, finite size, sudden switch-on current source across the magnetic field has been studied using a two dimensional hybrid code. It was found that the predominant plasma response was the excitation of whistler waves and the formation of current closure by induced currents in the plasma. The results show that the current closure path consists of: (a) two antiparallel field-aligned current channels at the end of the imposed current sheet; and (b) a cross-field current region connecting these channels. The formation of the current closure path occured in the whistler timescale much shorter than that of MHD and the closure region expanded continuously in time. The current closure process was accompanied by significant energy loss due to whistler radiation.

Chang, C. L.↗

The LXeCAT instrument for gamma-ray astrophysics

The Liquid Xenon Coded Aperture Telescope (LXeCAT) and its capability to image astrophysical gamma-ray sources in the MeV region is described. The gamma-ray detector is a Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber (LXeTPC) triggered by the primary scintillation light. Effective background rejection is a direct consequence of the intrinsic three-dimensional imaging capability of the LXeTPC. Initial results with a 10 liter prototype confirm an energy resolution of 6% FWHM, a position resolution of 1 mm RMS and a light triggering efficiency higher than 90% for 1 MeV gamma-rays.

Aprile, E.↗

Viscous Analysis of Ref. H Based Wing/Bodies

Computations have been performed on the baseline Reference H wing/body configuration, as well as the Wing 704 configuration, an optimized wing and fuselage combination derived from Ref. H through automated optimization. The parabolized Navier-Stokes solver UPS was employed with viscous terms in two directions in an effort to understand the source and level of potential viscous/inviscid interactions. The paper briefly describes the UPS code and the grids used to obtain the solutions before the discussion of results. Results of these computations indicate that viscous/inviscid interaction can contribute increments to both the pressure- and friction-related drag. Computations were performed for wind tunnel conditions-1.675% scale models at a Reynolds number of 4 million per foot. Turbulent flow results were obtained using the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model and were compared with laminar flow results. The laminar flow fields were used to obtain upper bounds on potential interaction effects.

Lawrence, Scott L.↗

Further Development and Implementation of Implicit Time Marching in the CAA Code

The fellowship research project continued last-year work on implementing implicit time marching concepts in the Broadband Aeroacoustic System Simulator (BASS) code. This code is being developed at NASA Glenn for analysis of unsteady flow and sources of noise in propulsion systems, including jet noise and fan noise.

Golubev, Vladimir V.↗

Memory-efficient decoding of LDPC codes

We present a low-complexity quantization scheme for the implementation of regular (3,6) LDPC codes. The quantization parameters are optimized to maximize the mutual information between the source and the quantized messages. Using this non-uniform quantized belief propagation algorithm, we have simulated that an optimized 3-bit quantizer operates with 0.2dB implementation loss relative to a floating point decoder, and an optimized 4-bit quantizer operates less than 0.1dB quantization loss.

Low-Density-Parity-Check (LDPC)↗

Free-Space Optical Communication for CubeSats in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO)

The NASA ARTEMIS Program will include LunaNet, a highly extensible, open architecture, lunar communications and navigation network. A constellation of CubeSats in Low Lunar Orbit (LLO), 100 km, could form an optical communications and navigation network as part of LunaNet, with terminals on the lunar surface, including mobile ones such as with astronauts and rovers. The proposed CubeSat nodes should provide data relay and navigational aid services. The proposed effort herein is to develop a fine pointing capability for laser beam pointing to augment body pointing by CubeSats. Body pointing was used by Aerospace Corporation for the CubeSats in LEO in NASA’s Optical Communications and Sensors Demonstration (OCSD) program [1]. Previously, this fine pointing capability was computer simulated for the OCSD program [2,3]. With fine pointing, the spot size on the Earth was reduced by a factor of eight with a reduction in laser output power by a factor of sixty-four, thereby mitigating the thermal load challenge on the CubeSats. The same reductions in spot size and laser output power can be achieved for CubeSats in LLO. A new method is described for optical data transmissions from satellites, which uses laser arrays for laser beam pointing. It combines a lens system and an array of vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers and photodetectors, an VCSEL/Photodetector Array, (both mature technologies), in a novel way. This system is applied to CubeSats in low lunar orbit, (LLO), which use body pointing. Also, It may be able to replace current architectures which use dynamical systems, (i.e., moving parts) to point the laser, and which may also use vibration isolation platforms. The computer simulations used the optics code, OpticStudio, from Zemax, LLC, which has the capabilities to model the laser source and diffraction effects from wave optics. These capabilities make it possible to model laser beam propagation over long space communication distances.

Goorjian, P. M.↗

Automating Test Consistency

Creating and controlling incredibly complex vehicles such as a rocket requires an unfathomable number of tests. Such tests are necessary to ensure a successful mission and that any issues are caught immediately. Once human lives become involved, the importance of such tests cannot be understated. Often times, however, tests may not be written in a consistent manner and such inconsistencies can lead to slowing down the test-writing process and may even create concerns with the test itself. Because of this, NASA has standards that should be followed by all test writers, but the list of standards is quite long and ensuring that tests follow this perfectly can be challenging. Older tests or tests written by individuals who are unfamiliar with this guide may not be following it which can lead to inconsistencies. To fix this issue, I have taken these human-readable rules and implemented them into an open-source linting program. Linting software is used to automatically check the style of code, and in this case, the tests. In doing so, any rules that the test developer may not have followed will be flagged upon running the software and they can quickly and accurately keep their test consistent with the rules that they are expected to follow.

Software↗

Sources of helicopter rotor hub inplane shears

Sources of helicopter rotor hub inplane shears are identified using simplified equations and the full aeroelastic analysis code, CAMRAD/JA (Johnson, 1988). Analytical results are obtained for an articulated rotor operating at moderate thrust and high airspeed. It is found that the blade chordwise inplane shear, which includes the aerodynamic component, the Coriolis contribution, and the inertial component, and the hub inplane shears are strongly dependent on the out-of-plane response. The sources of helicopter rotor hub inplane shears lie not only in the inplane response but depend on the flap and elastic flatwise responses/modes.

Kottapalli, Sesi↗

Application of MORSE to radiation analysis of nuclear flight propulsion modules

Several modifications and additions were made to the multigroup Monte Carlo code (MORSE) to implement its use in a computational procedure for performing radiation analyses of NERVA nuclear flight propulsion modules. These changes include the incorporation of a new general geometry module; the inclusion of an expectation tracklength estimator; and the option to obtain source information from two-dimensional discrete ordinates calculations. Computations comparing MORSE and a point cross section Monte Carlo code, COHORT, were made in which a coupled discrete ordinates/Monte Carlo procedure was used to calculate the gamma dose rate at tank top locations of a typical propulsion module. The dose rates obtained from the MORSE computation agreed with the dose rates obtained from the COHORT computation to within the limits of the statistical accuracy of the calculations.

Woolson, W. A.↗