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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

CYVET: A Cyber-Physical Assurance Framework Based on a Semi-Supervised Vetting Approach

The project is designed to directly address the needs described in the Topic Area 4 (“Cybersecurity Verification and Validation”) of the CEDS’19 Research Call. The proposed CYVET system directly addresses the need to elevate the current industry capabilities to verify and validate OT cybersecurity and associated control system infrastructure. Currently, there is a significant gap in the energy sector’s capability in that regard during infrastructure improvement, equipment procurement, and compliance certification. CYVET provides that needed capability. CYVET is device and architecture agnostic and thus broadly applicable across the energy sector. The goal of this project is to develop and deliver a cybersecurity verification and validation framework testing capability to verify and validate OT equipment, software, and the underlying control system architecture. The primary project objectives are (i) Verification: the synthesis and reconciliation of standards and vendor supplied features, (ii) Validation: the generation, execution, and presentation of testing scripts of verified security features, and (3) Demonstration: apply the developed technology capabilities for verification and validation at a relevant end-user facility in the energy sector.

Lopez Jr, Juan↗

Proactive Frequency Stability Scheme: A Distributed Framework Based on Particle Filters and Synchrophasors

The reactive nature of traditional under-frequency load shedding schemes can lead to delayed response and unnecessary loss of load. This work presents a proactive framework for power system frequency stability. Bayesian filters and synchrophasors are leveraged to produce predictions after disturbances are detected. By being able to estimate the future state of frequency corrective actions can be taken before the system reaches a critical condition. This proactive approach makes it possible to optimize the response to a disturbance, which results in a decrease in the amount of compensation utilized. The framework is tested via Matlab simulations based on Kundur’s Two-Area System, and the IEEE 14-Bus System. Performance metrics are provided and evaluated against other contemporary solutions found in literature. During testing this framework outperformed other solutions by drastically reducing the amount of load dropped during compensation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

PVDeg: Enhancing Usability and AI-Driven Multi-Mechanism Degradation Modeling

PVDeg version 0.7.0, released in December 2025, introduced major enhancements to improve usability and performance. This update reorganized tutorials and tool notebooks to create a more intuitive experience, enabling users to easily follow and adapt workflows for their specific analyses. In addition to structural improvements, both the notebooks and core logic underwent significant optimization for efficiency, robustness, and style. These refinements were supported by new testing frameworks built on nbval and pytest, adherence to PEP8 standards, and extensive code refactoring, which collectively simplify onboarding for new developers. Looking ahead, version 0.8.0 will deliver advanced AI-driven capabilities. The primary focus is to further develop and automate the degradation workflow, designed to analyze PV module degradation across diverse locations and system configurations. By integrating large language models (LLMs) to scan literature and compile a comprehensive database of materials and degradation rates, this feature will enable modeling of multiple materials and mechanisms within a single, streamlined workflow. Users will be able to evaluate degradation impacts on different system architectures under varying environmental conditions, facilitating informed decisions on bill-of-materials optimization for specific deployment scenarios. These advancements position PVDeg as a powerful, user-friendly tool for accelerating PV reliability research and system design.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Draco,Version 6.x.x

Draco is an object-oriented component library geared towards numerically intensive, radiation (particle) transport applications built for parallel computing hardware. It consists of semi-independent packages and a robust build system. The packages in Draco provide a set of components that can be used by multiple clients to build transport codes. The build system can also be extracted for use in clients. Software includes smart pointers, Design-by-Contract assertions, unit test framework, wrapped MPI functions, a file parser, unstructured mesh data structures, a random number generator, root finders and an angular quadrature component.

Thompson, Kelly↗

Pronghorn: A Porous Media Thermal-Hydraulics Core Simulator and its Validation with the SANA Experiments

Pebble bed High Temperature Reactors (HTRs) are characterized by many advantageous design features, such as excellent passive heat removal in accidents, large margins to fuel failure, and online refueling potential. However, a significant challenge in the core modeling of pebble bed reactors is the complex fuel-coolant structure. This paper presents a new porous media simulation code, Pronghorn, that aims to alleviate modeling challenges for pebble bed reactors by providing a fast-running, medium- fidelity core simulator. Pronghorn is intended to accelerate the design and analysis cycle for pebble bed and prismatic HTRs by permitting fast scoping studies and providing boundary conditions for systems-level analysis. Pronghorn is built on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) using modern software practices and a thorough testing framework. This paper describes the physical models used in Pronghorn and demonstrates Pronghorn’s capability for modeling gas-cooled pebble bed HTRs by presenting simulation results obtained for the German SANA pebble bed decay heat experiments. Within the limitations of the porous media approximation and existing available closure relationships, Pronghorn predicts the SANA experimental pebble temperatures well, expanding the code’s validation base. A brief code-to-code comparison shows a similar level of accuracy with other porous media simulation tools; this enhances Pronghorn’s advantages of an arbitrary equation of state, unstructured mesh capabilities, compressible flow models, high coupling potential to MOOSE fuels performance and systems-level thermal-hydraulics codes, and modern software design.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Semantic Interoperability to Enable Smart, Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

Achieving a widespread transition to grid-interactive, efficient buildings (GEBs) depends critically on there being sufficient interoperability among connected building systems. While many critical elements already exist at the technical interoperability level (TCP/IP, BACnet, etc.), a lack of interoperability in the semantic level hinders streamlined integration of interdependent applications. Semantics refers to expressing information about “things” in a way that can be consistently understood by applications. Key components of formalized semantics include identifying what a “thing” is (its “type”), defining general information about that “thing” (its characteristics or properties), and defining the appropriate relationships of that “thing” to other “things” (its function or role in a larger system). Although this might seem initially trivial, the success of smart building applications is highly dependent on maintaining consistent self-descriptive notions of the “things”. Without semantic interoperability, it is technically difficult, labor-intensive, and cost-prohibitive to enable three key objectives of GEBs: optimizing performance, automatically identifying and diagnosing faults, and delivering grid services. Industry, academia, and standards bodies have invested effort in developing information models to facilitate semantic interoperability, however, they have not been widely adopted across the U.S. commercial building portfolio. This paper will present a pathway to drive semantic interoperability through a three-pronged approach to be led by the DOE Building Technologies Office in partnership with NIST and multiple national laboratories comprising: 1) industry engagement and coordination across existing efforts; 2) a semantic interoperability standard that empowers building owners to identify and require interoperable attributes when procuring equipment and applications; 3) tools to assist in implementation and a test framework to verify compliance of products with semantic interoperability specifications. This approach is designed to accelerate the timeline for adoption of semantic interoperability specifications. The intent is to reduce soft costs associated with implementing advanced controls, fault detection and diagnostics, and other smart building technologies and use cases as a necessary step in achieving an energy efficient smart grid future.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Semantic Interoperability to Enable Smart, Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

Achieving a widespread transition to grid-interactive, efficient buildings (GEBs) depends critically on there being sufficient interoperability among connected building systems. While many critical elements already exist at the technical interoperability level (TCP/IP, BACnet, etc.), a lack of interoperability in the semantic level hinders streamlined integration of interdependent applications. Semantics refers to expressing information about “things” in a way that can be consistently understood by applications. Key components of formalized semantics include identifying what a “thing” is (its “type”), defining general information about that “thing” (its characteristics or properties), and defining the appropriate relationships of that “thing” to other “things” (its function or role in a larger system). Although this might seem initially trivial, the success of smart building applications is highly dependent on maintaining consistent notions of the “things” being self-descriptive. Without semantic interoperability, it is technically difficult, labor-intensive, and cost-prohibitive to enable three key objectives of GEBs: optimizing performance, identifying faults, and delivering grid services. Industry, academia, and standards bodies have invested effort in developing information models to facilitate semantic interoperability, however, they have not been widely adopted across the U.S. commercial building portfolio. This paper will present a pathway to drive semantic interoperability through a three-pronged approach to be led by the DOE Building Technologies Office in partnership with NIST and multiple national laboratories comprising: 1) industry engagement and coordination across existing efforts; 2) a semantic interoperability standard that empowers building owners to identify and require interoperable attributes when procuring equipment and applications; 3) tools to assist in implementation and a test framework that can verify compliance of products with semantic interoperability specifications. This strategic approach is designed to accelerate the timeline for adoption of semantic interoperability standards. The intent is to reduce soft costs associated with implementing advanced controls, fault detection and diagnostics, and other smart building technologies as a necessary step in achieving an energy efficient smart grid future.

semantic interoperability, Semantic modeling, inte↗

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation for Potential High Limit Estimation-Based PV Plant Active Control: Preprint

This paper validates the effectiveness of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven PV plant control and optimization approach, namely, the Automated Learner for Intermittency Control by Extrapolation (ALICE), in empowering PV plant as a dependable grid reliability service provider. The validation is performed in a realistic laboratory controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) environment, leveraging accurate PV plant modeling and standard industrial communication protocol. Simulation results, considering both varying weather conditions and active control scenarios, demonstrate the superior performance of ALICE in improving the grid service delivery precision and reducing the over-curtailment compared to a state-of-the-art approach, i.e., reference-control grouping based approach. Such a work could help mitigate risks and provide practical guidance during the field deployment of ALICE, while establishing a standardized testing framework for evaluating various PV active control strategies.

hardware-in-the-loop↗

An Accelerated Testing and Analysis Framework for Qualification of Battery Materials Part I: A Case Study with LFP Cathodes

The growing demand for batteries used within automotive, aviation, and grid applications has exacerbated the need to supplement critical battery material feedstocks, such as those for anode and cathode active materials. New or supplementary material sources, however, universally comprise unique properties that can affect the lifetime and performance of resultant batteries. Even minor differences between new sources and established supplies can delay qualification, making it difficult for new suppliers to commercialize and resulting in a less resilient supply chain. Accordingly, the influence of composition, microstructure, and morphology on electrochemical performance should be characterized quickly and accurately to accelerate commercialization of new sources. This work introduces a tiered framework to assess new material viability and understand the influence of physicochemical properties on battery performance. The Tier 1 testing described here is rapid and low-effort to recognize materials with fundamental flaws and potentially disqualify them. Later testing would require more effort but provide higher-fidelity information with a goal of application-based validation. A case study examining commercial sources of LiFePO4 (LFP) is presented, using Tier 1 of the protocol to identify rapid electrochemical and physicochemical signals that correlate with performance and provide early go/no-go decisions for LFP materials without requiring long-term cycling.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

An Accelerated Testing and Analysis Framework for Qualification of Battery Materials

The continuously growing demand for batteries used within automotive, aviation, and grid applications has exacerbated the need to supplement critical battery material feedstocks, such as those for anode and cathode active materials. New or supplementary material sources, however, universally comprise unique material properties that can significantly affect the lifetime and performance of resultant batteries. As such, the influence of composition, microstructure, and morphology on electrochemical performance should be characterized quickly and accurately to accelerate commercialization of new material sources. This work introduces a tiered framework to quickly assess new material viability and understand the influence of physicochemical properties on battery performance. The Tier 1 testing described here is rapid and lower-effort to quickly recognize materials with fundamental flaws and potentially disqualify them. Later testing would require more time and effort but provide higher fidelity information with a goal of validating materials for specific applications. A case study examining various commercial sources of LiFePO4 (LFP) is presented, using Tier 1 of the protocol to identify rapid electrochemical and physicochemical signals that correlate with performance and to provide early go/no-go decisions on LFP materials without the need for long-term cycling data.

25 - ENERGY STORAGE↗

Predictive Data Analytics Framework Using Advanced Test Reactor Acoustic Data

Although a nuclear reactor is a hostile environment for sensing and electrical communications, the reactor core is amenable to acoustic communication. An acoustic measurement infrastructure (AMI) has been installed at the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) nozzle trench area to record acoustic signals that has the ability to capture different operating regime of the reactor. This AMI includes ATR in-pile structural components, coolant, acoustic receivers, primary coolant pumps (PCP) as signal sources, a data acquisition system, and signal-processing algorithms, enabling real-time. This report will discusses development of recursive Fast Fourier Transform approach to process in real-time acoustic signals, application of short time Fast Fourier Transform to the ATR brush data to understand the vibration level and to develop spectrograms for different primary coolant pump combinations. The combination of primary coolant pumps for normal and power axial locator mechanism of ATR are different and generates different signatures. These acoustic signatures were used to develop machine learning approaches to automatically classify different operating regimes. This lay the foundation for predictive analytic framework that can be leverage by ATR to optimize their operation and maintenance. The path forward involves continued engagement with ATR and expanded implementation of AMI and predictive framework at ATR and other facilities within INL and at other experimental reactors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Co-simulation of transactive energy markets: A framework for market testing and evaluation

The proliferation of distributed energy resources (DER)—and the ability to intelligently control these assets—is re-defining the electrical distribution system. As the number of controllable devices rapidly expands, grid operators must determine how to incorporate these assets while delivering reliable, equitable, and affordable electricity. One possible approach is to establish distribution-level electricity markets and allow devices/aggregations of devices to participate in price establishment. While this approach purports some of the same benefits as the highly successful wholesale electricity markets (i.e., open competition, efficient price discovery, reduced communication overhead), this needs to be researched and quantified via an analysis platform that models distribution-level markets at the appropriate fidelity. Specifically, the simultaneous evaluation of market performance, DER performance, DER bidding approaches, and distribution feeder power quality requires modeling that spans multiple technical areas. Co-simulation has emerged as a powerful tool in addressing this type of problem, where outputs depend on a range of underlying areas of expertise and associated models. In this paper we describe a solution, as implemented in the HELICS co-simulation platform, where we include (1) high fidelity house models, (2) intelligent bidding agents, (3) a modular market integration/design, and (4) a distribution feeder model. We then present a case study where we test two different market designs: (1) a pseudo-wholesale double-blind auction, and (2) an asynchronous matching market. In this work, the markets are run under two DER penetration levels and economic results are compared to full retail net energy metering and avoided cost net metering scenarios that bookend current approaches to remuneration of DER participation. We show the potential for transactive markets to provide increased value for most customers relative to net metering (and all customers relative to avoided cost scenarios) while decreasing costs for the utility.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

OpenCGRA: An Open-Source Unified Framework for Modeling,Testing, and Evaluating CGRAs

Coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays (CGRAs),loosely defined as arrays of functional units (e.g, adder, sub-tractor, multiplier, divider, or larger multi-operation units, butsmaller than a general-purpose core) interconnected through aNetwork-on-Chip, provide higher flexibility than domain-specificASIC accelerators while offering increased hardware efficiencywith respect to fine-grained reconfigurable devices, such as FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The fast evolving fieldsof machine learning and edge computing, which are seeing acontinuous flow of novel algorithms and larger models, makeCGRAs ideal target architectures to allow domain specializationwithout loosing too much generality. They also generally offerquicker and more effective reconfigurability than FPGAs, po-tentially allowing adaptation during actual algorithm execution,and implement a dataflow programming paradigm that adaptswell to these emerging workloads. Designing and generating aCGRA, however, still requires to define the type and number ofthe specific functional units, implement their interconnect andthe network topology, and perform its simulation and validation,given a variety of workloads of interest.In this paper, we propose OpenCGRA, a Python-based unifiedframework that integrates generation, modeling, testing and eval-uation for CGRAs. OpenCGRA is the first open-source integratedframework able to support the full top-to-bottom design flow forspecializing and implementing CGRAs: modeling at different ab-straction levels (functional level, cycle level, register-transfer level),generation, simulation, testing at different granularities (unit test-ing, integration testing, property-based testing), and characteriza-tion (area, power, and timing). OpenCGRAs will be made availableon GitHub.

CGRA, synthesis↗

A Multi-Instance learning Framework for Seismic Detectors

In this report, we construct and test a framework for fusing the predictions of a ensemble of seismic wave detectors. The framework is drawn from multi-instance learning and is meant to improve the predictive skill of the ensemble beyond that of the individual detectors. We show how the framework allows the use of multiple features derived from the seismogram to detect seismic wave arrivals, as well as how it allows only the most informative features to be retained in the ensemble. The computational cost of the "ensembling" method is linear in the size of the ensemble, allowing a scalable method for monitoring multiple features/transformations of a seismogram. The framework is tested on teleseismic and regional p-wave arrivals at the IMS (International Monitoring System) station in Warramunga, NT, Australia and the PNSU station in University of Utah's monitoring network.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Prototyping the BOPTEST Framework for Simulation-Based Testing of Advanced Control Strategies in Buildings

Advanced control strategies are becoming increasingly necessary in buildings in order to meet and balance requirements for energy efficiency, demand flexibility, and occupant comfort. Additional development and widespread adoption of emerging control strategies, however, ultimately require low implementation costs to reduce payback period and verified performance to gain control vendor, building owner, and operator trust. This is difficult in an already first-cost driven and risk-averse industry. Recent innovations in building simulation can significantly aid in meeting these requirements and spurring innovation at early stages of development by evaluating performance, comparing state-of-the-art to new strategies, providing installation experience, and testing controller implementations. This paper presents the development of a simulation framework consisting of test cases and software platform for the testing of advanced control strategies (BOPTEST - Building Optimization Performance Test). The objectives and requirements of the framework, components of a test case, and proposed software platform architecture are described, and the framework is demonstrated with a prototype implementation and example test case.

Blum, David↗

Resolve the Clear-Sky Continuous Diurnal Cycle of High-Resolution ECOSTRESS Evapotranspiration and Land Surface Temperature

Although numerous evapotranspiration (ET) estimates have been developed from remote sensing measurements, a diurnally resolved product with high spatial resolution (<100 m) is still lacking, which is critically needed for agricultural and ecological monitoring. The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) provides, for the first time, ET at 70 m resolution with diurnal samplings, enabling a step toward filling this data gap. This study developed the first framework to resolve the full diurnal cycle of ET and Land Surface Temperature (LST) from sporadic ECOSTRESS measurements. We first constructed 70 m diurnal LST utilizing a diurnal temperature cycle (DTC) model that fused ECOSTRESS and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) LST. Next, we derived 70 m diurnal ET from the diurnally resolved LST, along with ancillary meteorological and reflectance data sets, using the Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL) algorithm. This framework was tested in two regions: A relatively homogeneous semiarid grassland landscape (centered at the US-Seg Ameriflux site) and a heterogeneous humid cropland landscape (centered at US-ARM). Our diurnally resolved LST and ET successfully reproduced the spatial patterns in the native ECOSTRESS measurements during overpasses for both landscapes (LST: r > 0.97, RMSE ~2°C; ET: r > 0.99, and RMSE = 1–7 W m -2 ). The constructed time series also well captured the temporal variability of the in situ measurements (especially under clear-sky conditions) at both US-Seg and US-ARM, albeit performance varying with availability and quality of ECOSTRESS samples. This study sets the stage for testing and applying our framework to broader climates, biomes, and landscapes toward eventually generating diurnally resolved 70 m global operational LST/ET products to enhance ecological/agricultural applications.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗