SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “reconfigurable design”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2006

Implementing Scientific Simulation Codes Highly Tailored for Vector Architectures Using Custom Configurable Computing Machines

The motivation for this work comes from an observation that amidst the push for Massively Parallel (MP) solutions to high-end computing problems such as numerical physical simulations, large amounts of legacy code exist that are highly optimized for vector supercomputers. Because re-hosting legacy code often requires a complete re-write of the original code, which can be a very long and expensive effort, this work examines the potential to exploit reconfigurable computing machines in place of a vector supercomputer to implement an essentially unmodified legacy source code. Custom and reconfigurable computing resources could be used to emulate an original application's target platform to the extent required to achieve high performance. To arrive at an architecture that delivers the desired performance subject to limited resources involves solving a multi-variable optimization problem with constraints. Prior research in the area of reconfigurable computing has demonstrated that designing an optimum hardware implementation of a given application under hardware resource constraints is an NP-complete problem. The premise of the approach is that the general issue of applying reconfigurable computing resources to the implementation of an application, maximizing the performance of the computation subject to physical resource constraints, can be made a tractable problem by assuming a computational paradigm, such as vector processing. This research contributes a formulation of the problem and a methodology to design a reconfigurable vector processing implementation of a given application that satisfies a performance metric. A generic, parametric, architectural framework for vector processing implemented in reconfigurable logic is developed as a target for a scheduling/mapping algorithm that maps an input computation to a given instance of the architecture. This algorithm is integrated with an optimization framework to arrive at a specification of the architecture parameters that attempts to minimize execution time, while staying within resource constraints. The flexibility of using a custom reconfigurable implementation is exploited in a unique manner to leverage the lessons learned in vector supercomputer development. The vector processing framework is tailored to the application, with variable parameters that are fixed in traditional vector processing. Benchmark data that demonstrates the functionality and utility of the approach is presented. The benchmark data includes an identified bottleneck in a real case study example vector code, the NASA Langley Terminal Area Simulation System (TASS) application.

Rutishauser, David↗

NASA NTRS2005

Reconfiguration of Analog Electronics for Extreme Environments: Problem or Solution?

This paper argues in favor of adaptive reconfiguration as a technique to expand the operational envelope of analog electronics for extreme environments (EE). In addition to hardening-by-process and hardening-by-design, "hardening-by-reconfiguration", when applicable, could be used to mitigate drifts, degradation, or damage on electronic devices (chips) in EE, by using re-configurable devices and an adaptive self-reconfiguration of their circuit topology. Conventional circuit design exploits device characteristics within a certain temperature/radiation range; when that is exceeded, the circuit function degrades. On a reconfigurable device, although component parameters change in EE, as long as devices still operate, albeit degraded, a new circuit design, suitable for new parameter values, may be mapped into the reconfigurable structure to recover the initial circuit function. Partly degraded resources are still used, while completely damaged resources are bypassed. Designs suitable for various environmental conditions can be determined prior to operation or can be determined in-situ, by adaptive reconfiguration algorithms running on built-in digital controllers. Laboratory demonstrations of this technique were performed by JPL in several independent experiments in which bulk CMOS reconfigurable devices were exposed to, and degraded by, low temperatures (approx. 196 C), high temperatures (approx.300 C) or radiation (300kRad TID), and then recovered by adaptive reconfiguration using evolutionary search algorithms. Taking this technology from Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 to TRL 5 is the target of a current NASA project.

Field Programmable Transistor Array (FPTA)↗

NASA NTRS2003

ASRC Aerospace Corporation Selects Dynamically Reconfigurable Anadigm(Registered Trademark) FPAA For Advanced Data Acquisition System

Anadigm(registered trademark) today announced that ASRC Aerospace Corporation has designed Anadigm's dynamically reconfigurable Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) technology into an advanced data acquisition system developed under contract for NASA. ASRC Aerospace designed in the Anadigm(registered trademark) FPAA to provide complex analog signal conditioning in its intelligent, self-calibrating, and self-healing advanced data acquisition system (ADAS). The ADAS has potential applications in industrial, manufacturing, and aerospace markets. This system offers highly reliable operation while reducing the need for user interaction. Anadigm(registered trademark)'s dynamically reconfigurable FPAAs can be reconfigured in-system by the designer or on the fly by a microprocessor. A single device can thus be programmed to implement multiple analog functions and/or to adapt on-the-fly to maintain precision operation despite system degradation and aging. In the case of the ASRC advanced data acquisition system, the FPAA helps ensure that the system will continue to operating at 100% functionality despite changes in the environment, component degradation, and/or component failures.

Mata, Carlos T.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Evolvable, reconfigurable hardware for future space systems

This paper overviews Evolvable Hardware (EHW) technology, examining its potential for enhancing survivability and flexibility of future space systems. EHW refers to selfconfiguration of electronic hardware by evolutionary/genetic search mechanisms. Evolvable Hardware can maintain existing functionality in the presence of faults and degradations due to aging, temperature and radiation. It can also configure itself for new functionality when required for mission changes or encountered opportunities. The paper illustrates hardware evolution in silicon using a JPL-designed programmable device reconfigurable at transistor level as the platform and a genetic algorithm running on a DSP as the reconfiguration mechanism. Rapid reconfiguration allows convergence to circuit solutions in the order of seconds. The experiments demonstrate functional recovery from faults as well as from degradation at extreme temperatures indicating the possibility of expanding the operational range of extreme electronics through evolved circuit solutions.

Evolvable Hardware EHW↗

DOE OSTI2025

Networked Microgrid Topology Reconfiguration to Promote Fairness in Proactive Load Shedding

Increasing occurrences of natural disasters and grid emergency events consistently challenge the safe and reliable operations of power systems. During such emergency situations, system operators may proactively shed load to mitigate risks. However, uncoordinated implementation of load shedding may disrupt electricity supply and even lead to cascading failures. Meanwhile, it is crucial to address potential biases affecting different customers when executing load shedding. This paper addresses the dynamic topology reconfiguration problem for networked microgrids with distributed energy resources under emergency conditions. Specifically, we propose a novel rolling-horizon optimization model that integrates fairness-aware constraints into the networked microgrid topology reconfiguration. Unlike existing approaches that focus solely on efficiency or apply fairness considerations in static settings, our method explicitly incorporates temporal fairness constraints to restrict repeated or excessive load curtailment for load blocks. Moreover, the fairness-aware constraints are specifically developed for the context of dynamic networked microgrid topology reconfiguration, and are designed to be convex or amenable to linear reformulations, which offers a more tractable alternative to traditional models with non-convex formulations. Numerical studies on a modified IEEE 13-bus system and a larger-sized SMART-DS networked microgrid system demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm towards more fairness-aware networked microgrid topology reconfiguration decision-making.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2024

A Tale of Two Simulators—A Comparative Human-in-the-Loop Nuclear Power Plant Operations Study on Thermal Power Dispatch for Hydrogen Production

A study was designed for a reconfigurable, full-scale, full-scope nuclear power plant control room simulator to compare two different thermal power dispatch systems, on separate simulator platforms, demonstrating a TPD concept of operation. A TPD system can provide a desirable alternative revenue source for utilities but requires addressing new and unique operational issues. The selection of representative scenarios and the scenario-based experimental design are presented as key elements to capture evidence for validating the developed TPD concept of operations overcome these operational issues.

Ulrich, Thomas A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Optimal integral controller with sensor failure accommodation

An Optimal Integral Controller that readily accommodates Sensor Failure - without resorting to (Kalman) filter or observer generation - has been designed. The system is based on Navy-sponsored research for the control of high performance aircraft. In conjunction with a NASA developed Numerical Optimization Code, the Integral Feedback Controller will provide optimal system response even in the case of incomplete state feedback. Hence, the need for costly replication of plant sensors is avoided since failure accommodation is effected by system software reconfiguration. The control design has been applied to a particularly ill-behaved, third-order system. Dominant-root design in the classical sense produced an almost 100 percent overshoot for the third-order system response. An application of the newly-developed Optimal Integral Controller - assuming all state information available - produces a response with no overshoot. A further application of the controller design - assuming a one-third sensor failure scenario - produced a slight overshoot response that still preserved the steady state time-point of the full-state feedback response. The control design should have wide application in space systems.

Alberts, T.↗

DOE OSTI2025

5G integrated edge computing platform for efficient component monitoring in coal-fired power plants

This project developed a cutting-edge 5G-integrated edge computing framework to enhance operational efficiency and reliability in coal-fired power plants through real-time component monitoring and anomaly detection. The initiative focused on leveraging distributed machine learning, federated learning, and 5G-based dynamic network slicing to support scalable, fault-tolerant monitoring environments to meet the operational requirements in industrial control systems. With a Distributed Edge Computing Service (DECS) orchestration, this project enabled federated learning at edge for condition monitoring and introduced adaptive client selection strategies to minimize communication overhead. Scalable distributed training was achieved using the Horovod framework, thus enhancing performance across edge nodes. In the realm of 5G networking, the project designed and deployed reconfigurable, QoS-aware network slicing tailored for operational technology (OT) environments, integrating software-defined networks to bolster cyber-resilience and enabling dynamic slicing for federated learning workloads. A significant milestone was the development of a virtualized ICS environment with 5G core integration—which allowed elastic and fault tolerant distributed training on real-world datasets such as NASA Bearings, Hydraulic Systems, and TEP. To broaden the impact of the project, a TRL-3 virtualized ICS testbed for research and education was designed. This project engaged several graduate and undergraduate students to conduct research on the cutting-edge technology, and it resulted in one PhD dissertation, one MS thesis, and over 14 peer-reviewed publications. With the support of this project students also participated in national cybersecurity competitions to improve their professional development skills.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Reversible Electron-Beam Patterning of Colloidal Nanoparticles at Fluid Interfaces

The directed self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) using external fields guides the formation of sophisticated hierarchical materials but becomes less effective with decreasing particle size. As an alternative, electron-beam-driven assembly offers a potential avenue for targeted nanoscale manipulation, yet remains poorly controlled due to the variety and complexity of beam interaction mechanisms. Here, we investigate the beam–particle interaction of silica NPs pinned to the fluid–vacuum interface of ionic liquid droplets. In these experiments, scanning electron microscopy of the droplet surface resolves NP trajectories over space and time while simultaneously driving their reorganization. With this platform, we demonstrate the ability to direct particle transport and create transient, reversible colloidal patterns on the droplet surface. By tuning the beam voltage, we achieve precise control over both the strength and sign of the beam–particle interaction, with low voltages repelling particles and high voltages attracting them. This response stems from the formation of well-defined solvent flow fields generated from trace radiolysis of the ionic liquid, as determined through statistical analysis of single-particle trajectories under varying solvent composition. Altogether, electron-beam-guided assembly introduces a versatile strategy for nanoscale colloidal manipulation, offering new possibilities for the design of dynamic, reconfigurable systems with applications in adaptive photonics and catalysis.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2020

Polar coupling enabled nonlinear optical filtering at MoS 2 /ferroelectric heterointerfaces

Complex oxide heterointerfaces and van der Waals heterostructures present two versatile but intrinsically different platforms for exploring emergent quantum phenomena and designing new functionalities. The rich opportunity offered by the synergy between these two classes of materials, however, is yet to be charted. Here, we report an unconventional nonlinear optical filtering effect resulting from the interfacial polar alignment between monolayer MoS 2 and a neighboring ferroelectric oxide thin film. The second harmonic generation response at the heterointerface is either substantially enhanced or almost entirely quenched by an underlying ferroelectric domain wall depending on its chirality, and can be further tailored by the polar domains. Unlike the extensively studied coupling mechanisms driven by charge, spin, and lattice, the interfacial tailoring effect is solely mediated by the polar symmetry, as well explained via our density functional theory calculations, pointing to a new material strategy for the functional design of nanoscale reconfigurable optical applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2023

VecPAC: A Vectorizable and Precision-Aware CGRA

This paper proposes VecPAC -- a vectorizable and precision-aware coarse-grained reconfigurable array (CGRA) design. VecPAC integrates CGRA tiles with scalar functional units and specialized tiles with vector functional units that can trade off the number of vector lanes for the accuracy of the computation. We discuss the architecture design and present the related compilation framework. The experimental evaluation on a set of applications from three different domains (embedded, machine learning, and high-performance computing) shows that the hybrid design of VecPAC outperforms CGRAs with only scalar functional units by 1.48x, while providing higher scalability.

Tan, Cheng↗

DOE OSTI2024

Scalability of Real-time Distribution Models

This work will focus on developing the capabilities and validating the models for a sub transmission network with multiple feeders and microgrids. To achieve this scale of Hardware-in-the-loop (HitL) simulation, it is necessary to federate and collaborate. The work aims to design the large-scale feeder models to allow federation with complementary testbeds in the future. The feeder would be designed to be reconfigurable to put the system into a variety of modes. Aggregators models will be included in each distribution network’s federate to take control actions and interact with the management systems. Lastly, the feeder model will support large scale resilience studies involving complex Distributed Energy Resources (DER) controls, microgrid studies and emulation of complex data flows in future grid architectures.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS1972

Design of a modular digital computer system, DRL 4

The design is reported of an advanced modular computer system designated the Automatically Reconfigurable Modular Multiprocessor System, which anticipates requirements for higher computing capacity and reliability for future spaceborne computers. Subjects discussed include: an overview of the architecture, mission analysis, synchronous and nonsynchronous scheduling control, reliability, and data transmission.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1988

A visual programming environment for the Navier-Stokes computer

The Navier-Stokes computer is a high-performance, reconfigurable, pipelined machine designed to solve large computational fluid dynamics problems. Due to the complexity of the architecture, development of effective, high-level language compilers for the system appears to be a very difficult task. Consequently, a visual programming methodology has been developed which allows users to program the system at an architectural level by constructing diagrams of the pipeline configuration. These schematic program representations can then be checked for validity and automatically translated into machine code. The visual environment is illustrated by using a prototype graphical editor to program an example problem.

Tomboulian, Sherryl↗

NASA NTRS2000

Towards Evolving Electronic Circuits for Autonomous Space Applications

The relatively new field of Evolvable Hardware studies how simulated evolution can reconfigure, adapt, and design hardware structures in an automated manner. Space applications, especially those requiring autonomy, are potential beneficiaries of evolvable hardware. For example, robotic drilling from a mobile platform requires high-bandwidth controller circuits that are difficult to design. In this paper, we present automated design techniques based on evolutionary search that could potentially be used in such applications. First, we present a method of automatically generating analog circuit designs using evolutionary search and a circuit construction language. Our system allows circuit size (number of devices), circuit topology, and device values to be evolved. Using a parallel genetic algorithm, we present experimental results for five design tasks. Second, we investigate the use of coevolution in automated circuit design. We examine fitness evaluation by comparing the effectiveness of four fitness schedules. The results indicate that solution quality is highest with static and co-evolving fitness schedules as compared to the other two dynamic schedules. We discuss these results and offer two possible explanations for the observed behavior: retention of useful information, and alignment of problem difficulty with circuit proficiency.

Lohn, Jason D.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Design of an unmanned lunar cargo lander that reconfigures into a shelter for a habitation module or disassembles into parts useful to a permanent manned lunar base

NASA plans to establish a permanent manned lunar base by the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is extremely expensive to transport material from earth to the moon. Therefore, expense would be reduced if the vehicle that lands cargo on the moon could itself meet some of the material needs of establishing the lunar base. The design of a multi-functional lander that is entirely useful to the base after landing is described. Alternate designs of the overall lander configuration and possible uses of the lander and its components after landing are contained. The design solution is a lander employing the Saddlebagged Fuel Tank Configuration. After landing, its structure will be converted into a habitation module shelter that supports a protective layer of regolith. The fuel tanks will be cleaned and used as storage tanks for the lunar base. The engines and instrumentation will be saved as stock parts. Recommendations for further research and technology development to enhance future lander designs are given.

Davanay, Lisa↗

DOE OSTI2022

A spatial superstructure approach to the optimal design of modular processes and supply chains

Modularity is a design principle that aims to provide flexibility for spatio-temporal assembly/disassembly and reconfiguration of systems. This design principle can be applied to multiscale (hierarchical) manufacturing systems that connect units, processes, facilities, and entire supply chains. Designing modular systems is challenging because of the need to capture spatial interdependencies that arise between system components due to product exchange/transport between components and due to product transformation in such components. In this work, we propose an optimization framework to facilitate the design of modular manufacturing systems. Central to our approach is the concept of a spatial superstructure, which is a graph that captures all possible system configurations and interdependencies between components. The spatial superstructure is a generalization of the notion of a superstructure and of a p-graph used in process design, in that it encodes spatial (geographical) context of the system components. Here, we show that this generalization facilitates the simultaneous design and analysis of processes, facilities, and of supply chains. Our framework aims to select the system topology from the spatial superstructure that minimizes design cost and that maximizes design modularity. We show that this design problem can be cast as a mixed-integer, multi-objective optimization formulation. We demonstrate these capabilities using a case study arising in the design of a plastic waste upcycling supply chain.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRS2005

Evolvable hardware system at extreme low temperatures

This paper describes circuit evolutionary experiments at extreme low temperatures, including the test of all system components at this extreme environment (EE). In addition to hardening-by-process and hardening-by-design, 'hardening-by-reconfiguration ', when applicable, could be used to mitigate drifts, degradation, or damage on electronic devices (chips) in EE, by using re-configurable devices and an adaptive selfreconfiguration of their circuit topology. Conventional circuit design exploits device characteristics within a certain temperature/radiation range; when that is exceeded, the circuit function degrades. On a reconfigurable device, although component parameters change in EE, a new circuit design, suitable for new parameter values, may be mapped into the reconfigurable structure to recover the initial circuit function. This paper demonstrates this technique for circuit evolution and recovery at liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196.6 (deg)C). In addition, preliminary tests are performed to assess the survivability limitations of the evolutionary processor at extreme low temperatures.

evolvable harware↗