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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Comparison of open and closed multimegawatt space power systems

One of the major questions that is being addressed at present by SDI Multimegawatt Space Power Project is whether or not space weapon power systems must be closed, i.e., whether effluents from the systems are tolerable. If they are not tolerable, the major penalty that must be paid to close space systems is increased mass. Open systems remove waste heat by producing effluents, e.g., hot hydrogen gas. Closed systems require radiators, thermal storage masses, effluent storage, or refrigeration to remove waste heat. The mass penalty incurred by addition of these devices is so severe that the option of closing space power systems should be avoided if at all possible. The mass penalty is even more severe if the weapon system itself must also be closed.

Gallup, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Weapons to widgets: Organic systems and public policy for tech transfer

Large cuts in defense spending cause serious repercussions throughout the American economy. One means to counter the negative effects of defense reductions is to redirect federal dollars to temporarily prop up defense industries and, over the longer-term, stimulate growth of new nondefense industries. The creation of non-defense products and industries by channeling ideas from public laboratories into the private sector manufacturing facilities, known as technology transfer, is being undertaken in a massive program that has high visibility, large amounts of money, and broad federal agency involvement. How effectively federal money can be directed toward stimulating the creation of non-defense products will define the strength of the economy, (i.e., tax base, employment level, trade balance, capital investments, etc.), over the next decade. Key functions of the tech transfer process are technology and market assessment, capital formation, manufacturing feasibility, sales and distribution, and business organization creation. Those, however, are not functions typically associated with the federal government. Is the government prepared to provide leadership in those areas? This paper suggests organic systems theory as a means to structure the public sector's actions to provide leadership in functional areas normally outside their scope of expertise. By applying new ideas in organization theory, can we design government action to efficiently and effectively transfer technologies?

Cargo, Russell A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Facilities and capabilities catalog for landing and escape systems

This catalog serves as a single source reference for designers of landing and escape systems for spacecraft, aircraft, weapons, and airdrop system. It includes those facilities which may be required by a system designer in planning a development test program for many applications. The primary objective of this catalog is to provide a means for identifying critical facilities with the U.S. which can be used for the development of landing and escape systems. A secondary objective is to provide a useful tool to the system designer for picking and choosing facilities and capabilities. The six chapters in this volume include wind tunnels, drop zones, test aircraft, fabrication facilities, design tools, and other miscellaneous facilities. A different data sheet format is used for each of the chapters which provides information on performance, location, special capabilities, and a local point of contact. All inputs were solicited from the individual facilities and have not been independently verified for accuracy.

Meyerson, Robert E.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Human supervision and microprocessor control of an optical tracking system

Gunners using small calibre anti-aircraft systems have not been able to track high-speed air targets effectively. Substantial improvement in the accuracy of surface fire against attacking aircraft has been realized through the design of a director-type weapon control system. This system concept frees the gunner to exercise a supervisory/monitoring role while the computer takes over continuous target tracking. This change capitalizes on a key consideration of human factors engineering while increasing system accuracy. The advanced system design, which uses distributed microprocessor control, is discussed at the block diagram level and is contrasted with the previous implementation.

Bigley, W. J.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Structured analysis and modeling of complex systems

The Aircrew Evaluation Sustained Operations Performance (AESOP) facility at Brooks AFB, Texas, combines the realism of an operational environment with the control of a research laboratory. In recent studies we collected extensive data from the Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) Weapons Directors subjected to high and low workload Defensive Counter Air Scenarios. A critical and complex task in this environment involves committing a friendly fighter against a hostile fighter. Structured Analysis and Design techniques and computer modeling systems were applied to this task as tools for analyzing subject performance and workload. This technology is being transferred to the Man-Systems Division of NASA Johnson Space Center for application to complex mission related tasks, such as manipulating the Shuttle grappler arm.

Strome, David R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Emerging Space Nuclear Power Needs

Growing interest in new classes of military and civil space systems which demand substantial increases in power over current satellites is generating a renewed interest in space qualified nuclear power systems. Indeed, one can say that power is a limiting technology to the achievement of many future goals in space. The speed of nuclear power system development is currently limited by the lack of a clear distinct definition of system requirements. Emerging system requirements are discussed for the following fields: robust surveillance systems, survivable communication systems with anti-jam capabilities, electric propulsion systems, and weapons applications.

Redd, F. J.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Yaw and spin effects on high intensity sound generation and on drag of training projectiles with ring cavities

Projectiles containing axisymmetric ring cavities constitute aeroacoustic sources. These produce high intensity tones which are used for coding in the SAWE (Simulation of Area Weapons Effects) system. Experimental data obtained in a free jet facility are presented describing the effects of yaw, spin and geometric projectile parameters on sound pressure and drag. In general, the sound pressure decreases with increasing yaw angle whereas the drag increases. Spin tends to increase sound pressure levels because of a reduction in asymmetry of flow. Drag increases at zero yaw approximately as the 1.5 power of sound wavelength. A significant part of the drag increase appears to be due to energy loss by sound radiation.

Parthasarathy, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Performance assessment in complex individual and team tasks

Described here is an eclectic, performance based approach to assessing cognitive performance from multiple perspectives. The experience gained from assessing the effects of antihistamines and scenario difficulty on C (exp 2) decision making performance in Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) weapons director (WD) teams can serve as a model for realistic simulations in space operations. Emphasis is placed on the flexibility of measurement, hierarchical organization of measurement levels, data collection from multiple perspectives, and the difficulty of managing large amounts of data.

Eddy, Douglas R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Passive IFF: Autonomous Nonintrusive Rapid Identification of Friendly Assets

A proposed optoelectronic instrument would identify targets rapidly, without need to radiate an interrogating signal, apply identifying marks to the targets, or equip the targets with transponders. The instrument was conceived as an identification, friend or foe (IFF) system in a battlefield setting, where it would be part of a targeting system for weapons, by providing rapid identification for aimed weapons to help in deciding whether and when to trigger them. The instrument could also be adapted to law-enforcement and industrial applications in which it is necessary to rapidly identify objects in view. The instrument would comprise mainly an optical correlator and a neural processor (see figure). The inherent parallel-processing speed and capability of the optical correlator would be exploited to obtain rapid identification of a set of probable targets within a scene of interest and to define regions within the scene for the neural processor to analyze. The neural processor would then concentrate on each region selected by the optical correlator in an effort to identify the target. Depending on whether or not a target was recognized by comparison of its image data with data in an internal database on which the neural processor was trained, the processor would generate an identifying signal (typically, friend or foe ). The time taken for this identification process would be less than the time needed by a human or robotic gunner to acquire a view of, and aim at, a target. An optical correlator that has been under development for several years and that has been demonstrated to be capable of tracking a cruise missile might be considered a prototype of the optical correlator in the proposed IFF instrument. This optical correlator features a 512-by-512-pixel input image frame and operates at an input frame rate of 60 Hz. It includes a spatial light modulator (SLM) for video-to-optical image conversion, a pair of precise lenses to effect Fourier transforms, a filter SLM for digital-to-optical correlation-filter data conversion, and a charge-coupled device (CCD) for detection of correlation peaks. In operation, the input scene grabbed by a video sensor is streamed into the input SLM. Precomputed correlation-filter data files representative of known targets are then downloaded and sequenced into the filter SLM at a rate of 1,000 Hz. When there occurs a match between the input target data and one of the known-target data files, the CCD detects a correlation peak at the location of the target. Distortion- invariant correlation filters from a bank of such filters are then sequenced through the optical correlator for each input frame. The net result is the rapid preliminary recognition of one or a few targets.

Moynihan, Philip↗
NASA NTRS2009

T/R Multi-Chip MMIC Modules for 150 GHz

Modules containing multiple monolithic microwave integrated-circuit (MMIC) chips have been built as prototypes of transmitting/receiving (T/R) modules for millimeter-wavelength radar systems, including phased-array radar systems to be used for diverse purposes that could include guidance and avoidance of hazards for landing spacecraft, imaging systems for detecting hidden weapons, and hazard-avoidance systems for automobiles. Whereas prior landing radar systems have operated at frequencies around 35 GHz, the integrated circuits in this module operate in a frequency band centered at about 150 GHz. The higher frequency (and, hence, shorter wavelength), is expected to make it possible to obtain finer spatial resolution while also using smaller antennas and thereby reducing the sizes and masses of the affected systems.

Samoska, Lorene A.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Demonstration of a Submillimeter-Wave HEMT Oscillator Module at 330 GHz

In this work, radial transitions have been successfully mated with a HEMT-based MMIC (high-electron-mobility-transistor-based monolithic microwave integrated circuit) oscillator circuit. The chip has been assembled into a WR2.2 waveguide module for the basic implementation with radial E-plane probe transitions to convert the waveguide mode to the MMIC coplanar waveguide mode. The E-plane transitions have been directly integrated onto the InP substrate to couple the submillimeter-wave energy directly to the waveguides, thus avoiding wire-bonds in the RF path. The oscillator demonstrates a measured 1.7 percent DC-RF efficiency at the module level. The oscillator chip uses 35-nm-gate-length HEMT devices, which enable the high frequency of oscillation, creating the first demonstration of a packaged waveguide oscillator that operates over 300 GHz and is based on InP HEMT technology. The oscillator chip is extremely compact, with dimensions of only 1.085 x 320 sq mm for a total die size of 0.35 sq mm. This fully integrated, waveguide oscillator module, with an output power of 0.27 mW at 330 GHz, can provide low-mass, low DC-power-consumption alternatives to existing local oscillator schemes, which require high DC power consumption and large mass. This oscillator module can be easily integrated with mixers, multipliers, and amplifiers for building high-frequency transmit and receive systems at submillimeter wave frequencies. Because it requires only a DC bias to enable submillimeter wave output power, it is a simple and reliable technique for generating power at these frequencies. Future work will be directed to further improving the applicability of HEMT transistors to submillimeter wave and terahertz applications. Commercial applications include submillimeter-wave imaging systems for hidden weapons detection, airport security, homeland security, and portable low-mass, low-power imaging systems

Radisic, Vesna↗
NASA NTRS1997

Head-Mounted and Head-Up Display Glossary

One of the problems in head-up and helmet-mounted display (HMD) literature has been a lack of standardization of words and abbreviations. Several different words have been used for the same concept; for example, flight path angle, flight path marker, velocity vector, and total velocity vector all refer to the same thing. In other cases, the same term has been used with two different meanings, such as binocular field-of-view which means the field-of-view visible to both left and right eyes according to some or the field-of-view visible to either the left or right eye or both according to others. Many of the terms used in HMD studies have not been well-defined. We need to have a common language to ensure that system descriptions are communicated. As an example, the term 'stabilized' has been widely used with two meanings. 'Roll-stabilized' has been used to mean a symbol which rotates to indicate the roll or bank of the aircraft. 'World-stabilized' and 'head-stabilized' have both been used to indicate symbols which move to remain fixed with respect to external objects. HMDs present unique symbology problems not found in HUDs. Foremost among these is the issue of maintaining spatial orientation of the symbols. All previous flight displays, round dial instruments, HDDs, and HUDs have been fixed in the cockpit. With the HMD, the flight display can move through a large angle. The coordinates use in transforming from the real-world to the aircraft to the HMD have not been consistently defined. This glossary contains terms relating to optics and vision, displays, and flight information, weapons and aircraft systems. Some definitions, such as Navigation Display, have been added to clarify the definitions for Primary Flight Display and Primary Flight Reference. A list of HUD/HMD related abbreviations is also included.

Newman, Richard L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A technique for lowering risks during contract negotiations

In this day and age of sophisticated weapon and space system procurements, negotiations of the statement of work, technical requirements, and schedule may be as protracted as the negotiation of costs and profit. A major problem facing the program manager during contract negotiations is what affect changes in schedule, technical requirements, and contract terms have on the price. In many instances, after the statement of work has been redrafted, the contractor will be obliged to reprice the work, either on the spot or after a short recess in the negotiations. In this paper, a method for organizing the negotiation process is presented to reduce the risks incurred by the seller. The method is built upon regression analysis and two illustrative examples of its use are provided.

Lehman, D. H.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Joint Optics Structures Experiment (JOSE)

The objectives of the JOSE program is to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate active vibration suppression techniques for Directed Energy Weapons (DEW). DEW system performance is highly influenced by the line-of-sight (LOS) stability and in some cases by the wave front quality. The missions envisioned for DEW systems by the Strategic Defense Initiative require LOS stability and wave front quality to be significantly improved over any current demonstrated capability. The Active Control of Space Structures (ACOSS) program led to the development of a number of promising structural control techniques. DEW structures are vastly more complex than any structures controlled to date. They will be subject to disturbances with significantly higher magnitudes and wider bandwidths, while holding higher tolerances on allowable motions and deformations. Meeting the performance requirements of the JOSE program requires upgrading the ACOSS techniques to meet new more stringent requirements, the development of requisite sensors and acturators, improved control processors, highly accurate system identification methods, and the integration of hardware and methodologies into a successful demonstration.

Founds, David↗
NASA NTRS2010

Effects of Secondary Task Modality and Processing Code on Automation Trust and Utilization During Simulated Airline Luggage Screening

The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of environmental distractions on human trust and utilization of automation during the process of visual search. Participants performed a computer-simulated airline luggage screening task with the assistance of a 70% reliable automated decision aid (called DETECTOR) both with and without environmental distractions. The distraction was implemented as a secondary task in either a competing modality (visual) or non-competing modality (auditory). The secondary task processing code either competed with the luggage screening task (spatial code) or with the automation's textual directives (verbal code). We measured participants' system trust, perceived reliability of the system (when a target weapon was present and absent), compliance, reliance, and confidence when agreeing and disagreeing with the system under both distracted and undistracted conditions. Results revealed that system trust was lower in the visual-spatial and auditory-verbal conditions than in the visual-verbal and auditory-spatial conditions. Perceived reliability of the system (when the target was present) was significantly higher when the secondary task was visual rather than auditory. Compliance with the aid increased in all conditions except for the auditory-verbal condition, where it decreased. Similar to the pattern for trust, reliance on the automation was lower in the visual-spatial and auditory-verbal conditions than in the visual-verbal and auditory-spatial conditions. Confidence when agreeing with the system decreased with the addition of any kind of distraction; however, confidence when disagreeing increased with the addition of an auditory secondary task but decreased with the addition of a visual task. A model was developed to represent the research findings and demonstrate the relationship between secondary task modality, processing code, and automation use. Results suggest that the nature of environmental distractions influence interaction with automation via significant effects on trust and system utilization. These findings have implications for both automation design and operator training.

Phillips, Rachel↗
NASA NTRS1993

Laser-based firing systems for prompt initiation of secondary explosives

Motivated by issues of weapon safety and security, laser based firing systems for promptly initiating secondary explosives have been under active development at Sandia National Laboratories for more than four years. Such a firing system consists of miniaturized, Q-switched, solid-state laser, optical detonators, optical safety switches, and elements for splitting, coupling, and transmitting the laser output. Potential system applications pose significant challenges in terms of server mechanical and thermal environments and packaging constraints, while requiring clear demonstration of safety enhancements. The Direct Optical Initiation (DOI) Program at Sandia is addressing these challenges through progress development phases during which the design, fabrication, and testing of prototype hardware is aimed at more difficult application requirements. A brief history of the development program, and a summary of current and planned activities, will be presented.

Meeks, Kent D.↗