Automated and Autonomous Experiments in Electron and Scanning Probe Microscopy
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37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
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A Comparison of a Brain-Based Adaptive System and a Manual Adaptable System for Invoking Automation
Two experiments are presented that examine alternative methods for invoking automation. In each experiment, participants were asked to perform simultaneously a monitoring task and a resource management task as well as a tracking task that changed between automatic and manual modes. The monitoring task required participants to detect failures of an automated system to correct aberrant conditions under either high or low system reliability. Performance on each task was assessed as well as situation awareness and subjective workload. In the first experiment, half of the participants worked with a brain-based system that used their EEG signals to switch the tracking task between automatic and manual modes. The remaining participants were yoked to participants from the adaptive condition and received the same schedule of mode switches, but their EEG had no effect on the automation. Within each group, half of the participants were assigned to either the low or high reliability monitoring task. In addition, within each combination of automation invocation and system reliability, participants were separated into high and low complacency potential groups. The results revealed no significant effects of automation invocation on the performance measures; however, the high complacency individuals demonstrated better situation awareness when working with the adaptive automation system. The second experiment was the same as the first with one important exception. Automation was invoked manually. Thus, half of the participants pressed a button to invoke automation for 10 s. The remaining participants were yoked to participants from the adaptable condition and received the same schedule of mode switches, but they had no control over the automation. The results showed that participants who could invoke automation performed more poorly on the resource management task and reported higher levels of subjective workload. Further, those who invoked automation more frequently performed more poorly on the tracking task and reported higher levels of subjective workload. and the adaptable condition in the second experiment revealed only one significant difference: the subjective workload was higher in the adaptable condition. Overall, the results show that a brain-based, adaptive automation system may facilitate situation awareness for those individuals who are more complacent toward automation. By contrast, requiring operators to invoke automation manually may have some detrimental impact on performance but does appear to increases subjective workload relative to an adaptive system.
Bailey, Nathan R.↗
Biosatellite II experiment environment.
Automated laboratory in Biosatellite 2 reentry vehicle, discussing experiments
Look, B. C.↗
APGEN Scheduling: 15 Years of Experience in Planning Automation
In this paper, we discuss the scheduling capability of APGEN (Activity Plan Generator), a multi-mission planning application that is part of the NASA AMMOS (Advanced Multi- Mission Operations System), and how APGEN scheduling evolved over its applications to specific Space Missions. Our analysis identifies two major reasons for the successful application of APGEN scheduling to real problems: an expressive DSL (Domain-Specific Language) for formulating scheduling algorithms, and a well-defined process for enlisting the help of auxiliary modeling tools in providing high-fidelity, system-level simulations of the combined spacecraft and ground support system.
sequencing↗
Automation of satellite operations: Experiences and future directions at NASA GSFC
The current state of satellite operation automation at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), MD, is described, discussing the short term future and presenting a vision of how automation should be used in future systems. The automation practices currently applied in several current programs are surveyed. The rapidly evolving level of spacecraft autonomy is considered, reviewing how future onboard capabilities will affect ground based automation efforts. The optimum role of automation is discussed and automation principles are presented that can be used to identify favorable opportunities for simplifying and reducing the operating cost of spaceborne science missions.
Hartley, Jonathan B.↗
High pressure, high flow rate batch mixing apparatus for high throughput experiments
An automated, high pressure, high flow rate batch mixing apparatus has been designed and constructed for rapid, stable, and repeatable mixing of multiple gases and vapors. The apparatus operates as an intermittent batch mixer with cycles of topping off fresh mixture to maintain pressure in an accumulator tank until consumed in an experimental apparatus. At high duty cycles, the apparatus can also function at steady state. This style of mixing is suitable for experiments such as high repetition rate shock tubes and other devices with intermittent flow demands. It is compact and portable, facilitating use in locations such as synchrotron light sources. The entire apparatus is heated to permit the mixing of vapors from species with low volatilities. The apparatus is fully automated and runs for extended periods with the only intervention being to refresh reagent supplies. Here, the accuracy and repeatability of the apparatus were verified by periodic gas sampling and analysis with gas chromatography. Multi-component mixtures spanning a wide range of complexity, dilution, and volatility of constituents have been prepared. The compositions of the majority of the mixture were found to be stable over several filling cycles, repeatable, and with the proper calibration of set-point conditions, accurate. Challenges were encountered preparing a mixture from multi-component liquids, and potential solutions are discussed.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
Automated life-detection experiments for the Viking mission to Mars
As part of the Viking mission to Mars in 1975, an automated set of instruments is being built to test for the presence of metabolizing organisms on that planet. Three separate modules are combined in this instrument so that samples of the Martian surface can be subjected to a broad array of experimental conditions so as to measure biological activity. The first, the Pyrolytic Release Module, will expose surface samples to a mixture of C-14O and C-14O2 in the presence of Martian atmosphere and a light source that simulates the Martian visible spectrum. The assay system is designed to determine the extent of assimilation of CO or CO2 into organic compounds. The Gas Exchange Module will incubate surface samples in a humidified CO2 atmosphere. At specified times, portions of the incubation atmosphere will be analyzed by gas chromatography to detect the release or uptake of CO2 and several additional gases. The Label Release Module will incubate surface samples with a dilute aqueous solution of simple radioactive organic substrates in Martian atmosphere, and the gas phase will be monitored continuously for the release of labeled CO2.
Klein, H. P.↗
The digital control of an experiment to size particles using a laser
Efforts to automate an experiment for sizing particles using a laser is described. The objective of the experiment was to rotate a photomultiplier detector at various angles and to record data associated with how light interacted with a particle. The light source was a laser which was fixed in space. The design consisted of a step motor with a fabricated electromechanical system to rotate the photomultiplier. The use of an 8080 microprocessor based microcomputer to control the step motor and to log data is described.
Cross, J. E.↗
Advancing Rare-Earth (4 f ) and Actinide (5 f ) Separation through Machine Learning and Automated High-Throughput Experiments
Not Available
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Automated Design of HED Experiments on the Z Machine: a Metrics-Based Approach
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Porwitzky, Andrew James↗
Automated support for experience-based software management
To effectively manage a software development project, the software manager must have access to key information concerning a project's status. This information includes not only data relating to the project of interest, but also, the experience of past development efforts within the environment. This paper describes the concepts and functionality of a software management tool designed to provide this information. This tool, called the Software Management Environment (SME), enables the software manager to compare an ongoing development effort with previous efforts and with models of the 'typical' project within the environment, to predict future project status, to analyze a project's strengths and weaknesses, and to assess the project's quality. In order to provide these functions the tool utilizes a vast corporate memory that includes a data base of software metrics, a set of models and relationships that describe the software development environment, and a set of rules that capture other knowledge and experience of software managers within the environment. Integrating these major concepts into one software management tool, the SME is a model of the type of management tool needed for all software development organizations.
Valett, Jon D.↗
Line Pilots' Attitudes about and Experience with Flight Deck Automation: Results of an International Survey and Proposed Guidelines
A survey of line pilots' attitudes about flight deck automation was conducted by the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine (RAF IAM, Farnborough, UK) under the sponsorship of the United Kingdom s Civil Aviation Authority and in cooperation with IATA (the International Air Transport Association). Survey freehand comments given by pilots operating 13 types of commercial transports across five manufacturers (Airbus, Boeing, British Aerospace, Lockheed, and McDonnell-Douglas) and 57 air carriers/organizations were analyzed by NASA. These data provide a "lessons learned" knowledge base which may be used for the definition of guidelines for flight deck automation and its associated crew interface within the High Speed Research Program. The aircraft chosen for analysis represented a progression of levels of automation sophistication and complexity, from "Basic" types (e.g., B727, DC9), through "Transition" types (e.g., A300, Concorde), to two levels of glass cockpits (e.g., Glass 1: e.g., A310; Glass 2: e.g., B747-400). This paper reports the results of analyses of comments from pilots flying commercial transport types having the highest level of automation sophistication (B757/B767, B747-400, and A320). Comments were decomposed into five categories relating to: (1) general observations with regard to flight deck automation; comments concerning the (2) design and (3) crew understanding of automation and the crew interface; (4) crew operations with automation; and (5) personal factors affecting crew/automation interaction. The goal of these analyses is to contribute to the definition of guidelines which may be used during design of future aircraft flight decks.
Rudisill, Marianne↗
Solar Automation in the Homebuying Experience
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Comparing Control Performance Between Simulation and Experiment using the Microreactor Automated Control System Testbed
In the advanced reactor domain, a flexible and scalable software/hardware infrastructure is crucial for integrating and validating various control technologies. This study used the Microreactor Automated Control System (MACS) hardware platform as a testbed. MACS was originally designed to mirror Idaho National Laboratory (INL)'s Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL), a 85-kW thermal fission microreactor. It features control drums for simulated reactivity control; lights that function as a surrogate reactor core, with the brightness being proportional to the reactor power; and light sensors that emulate neutron detectors. To transform MACS into a physical twin of MARVEL for evaluating control methods, the Control and Optimization Modular Modeling Application for Nuclear Deployment (COMMAND) software was employed. This software integrated the hardware with two models of the MARVEL core, based on Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program (RELAP5-3D) and Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) models. The study aimed to demonstrate the gap between control theory and actual practice—a gap that often necessitates empirical adjustments such as control gain retuning, filters, time discretization, and integrator anti-windup measures. Controllers were developed based on increasingly complex simulations without hardware, starting from the base MARVEL model and then introducing actuator saturation constraints and sensor noise. The final control strategy was then tested using MACS, and a comparative performance analysis was conducted.
46 - INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AN↗
Automated microbial metabolism laboratory.
Experiments integrated into single automated laboratory to detect extraterrestrial life through measuring metabolism and growth in planetary surface material
Levin, G. V.↗
Pilot and Controller Evaluations of Separation Function Allocation in Air Traffic Management
Two human-in-the-loop simulation experiments were conducted in coordinated fashion to investigate the allocation of separation assurance functions between ground and air and between humans and automation. The experiments modeled a mixed-operations concept in which aircraft receiving ground-based separation services shared the airspace with aircraft providing their own separation service (i.e., self-separation). Ground-based separation was provided by air traffic controllers without automation tools, with tools, or by ground-based automation with controllers in a managing role. Airborne self-separation was provided by airline pilots using self-separation automation enabled by airborne surveillance technology. The two experiments, one pilot-focused and the other controller-focused, addressed selected key issues of mixed operations, assuming the starting point of current-day operations and modeling an emergence of NextGen technologies and procedures. In the controller-focused experiment, the impact of mixed operations on controller performance was assessed at four stages of NextGen implementation. In the pilot-focused experiment, the limits to which pilots with automation tools could take full responsibility for separation from ground-controlled aircraft were tested. Results indicate that the presence of self-separating aircraft had little impact on the controllers' ability to provide separation services for ground-controlled aircraft. Overall performance was best in the most automated environment in which all aircraft were data communications equipped, ground-based separation was highly automated, and self-separating aircraft had access to trajectory intent information for all aircraft. In this environment, safe, efficient, and highly acceptable operations could be achieved for twice today's peak airspace throughput. In less automated environments, reduced trajectory intent exchange and manual air traffic control limited the safely achievable airspace throughput and negatively impacted the maneuver efficiency of self-separating aircraft through high-density airspace. In a test of scripted conflicts with ground-managed aircraft, flight crews of self-separating aircraft prevented separation loss in all conflicts with detection time greater than one minute. In debrief, pilots indicated a preference for at least five minute's alerting notice and trajectory intent information on all aircraft. When intent information on ground-managed aircraft was available, self-separating aircraft benefited from fewer conflict alerts and fewer required deviations from trajectory-based operations.
Wing, David↗
Fabrication of Thermoplastic Composite Laminates Having Film Interleaves By Automated Fiber Placement
Experiments were carried out at the NASA Langley Research Center automated Fiber placement facility to determine an optimal process for the fabrication of composite materials having polymer film interleaves. A series of experiments was conducted to determine an optimal process for the composite prior to investigation of a process to fabricate laminates with polymer films. The results of the composite tests indicated that a well-consolidated, void-free laminate could be attained. Preliminary interleaf processing trials were then conducted to establish some broad guidelines for film processing. The primary finding of these initial studies was that a two-stage process was necessary in order to process these materials adequately. A screening experiment was then performed to determine the relative influence of the process variables on the quality of the film interface as determined by the wedge peel test method. Parameters that were found to be of minor influence on specimen quality were subsequently held at fixed values enabling a more rapid determination of an optimal process. Optimization studies were then performed by varying the remaining parameters at three film melt processing rates. The resulting peel data were fitted with quadratic response surfaces. Additional specimens were fabricated at levels of high peel strength as predicted by the regression models in an attempt to gage the accuracy of the predicted response and to assess the repeatability of the process. The overall results indicate that quality laminates having film interleaves can be successfully and repeatably fabricated by automated fiber placement.
Hulcher, A. B.↗