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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 973 records · Page 54
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1996

The Integrated Mode Management Interface

Mode management is the processes of understanding the character and consequences of autoflight modes, planning and selecting the engagement, disengagement and transitions between modes, and anticipating automatic mode transitions made by the autoflight system itself. The state of the art is represented by the latest designs produced by each of the major airframe manufacturers, the Boeing 747-400, the Boeing 777, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, and the Airbus A320/A340 family of airplanes. In these airplanes autoflight modes are selected by manipulating switches on the control panel. The state of the autoflight system is displayed on the flight mode annunciators. The integrated mode management interface (IMMI) is a graphical interface to autoflight mode management systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The interface consists of a vertical mode manager and a lateral mode manager. Autoflight modes are depicted by icons on a graphical display. Mode selection is accomplished by touching (or mousing) the appropriate icon. The IMMI provides flight crews with an integrated interface to autoflight systems for aircraft equipped with flight management computer systems (FMCS). The current version is modeled on the Boeing glass-cockpit airplanes (747-400, 757/767). It runs on the SGI Indigo workstation. A working prototype of this graphics-based crew interface to the autoflight mode management tasks of glass cockpit airplanes has been installed in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator of the CSSRF of NASA Ames Research Center. This IMMI replaces the devices in FMCS equipped airplanes currently known as mode control panel (Boeing), flight guidance control panel (McDonnell Douglas), and flight control unit (Airbus). It also augments the functions of the flight mode annunciators. All glass cockpit airplanes are sufficiently similar that the IMMI could be tailored to the mode management system of any modern cockpit. The IMMI does not replace the functions of the FMCS control and display unit. The purpose of the INMI is to provide flight crews with a shared medium in which they can assess the state of the autoflight system, take control actions on it, reason about its behavior, and communicate with each other about its behavior. The design is intended to increase mode awareness and provide a better interface to autoflight mode management. This report describes the IMMI, the methods that were used in designing and developing it, and the theory underlying the design and development processes.

Hutchins, Edwin↗
NASA NTRS1990

Development of multiple source data processing for structural analysis at a regional scale

Various image processing techniques developed for enhancement and extraction of linear features, of interest to the structural geologist, from digital remote sensing, geologic, and gravity data, are presented. These techniques include: (1) automatic detection of linear features and construction of rose diagrams from Landsat MSS data; (2) enhancement of principal structural directions using selective filters on Landsat MSS, Spacelab panchromatic, and HCMM NIR data; (3) directional filtering of Spacelab panchromatic data using Fast Fourier Transform; (4) detection of linear/elongated zones of high thermal gradient from thermal infrared data; and (5) extraction of strong gravimetric gradients from digitized Bouguer anomaly maps. Processing results can be compared to each other through the use of a geocoded database to evaluate the structural importance of each lineament according to its depth: superficial structures in the sedimentary cover, or deeper ones affecting the basement. These image processing techniques were successfully applied to achieve a better understanding of the transition between Provence and the Pyrenees structural blocks, in southeastern France, for an improved structural interpretation of the Mediterranean region.

Carrere, Veronique↗
NASA NTRS1991

An intelligent advisory system for pre-launch processing

The shuttle system of interest in this paper is the shuttle's data processing system (DPS). The DPS is composed of the following: (1) general purpose computers (GPC); (2) a multifunction CRT display system (MCDS); (3) mass memory units (MMU); and (4) a multiplexer/demultiplexer (MDM) and related software. In order to ensure the correct functioning of shuttle systems, some level of automatic error detection has been incorporated into all shuttle systems. For the DPS, error detection equipment has been incorporated into all of its subsystems. The automated diagnostic system, (MCDS) diagnostic tool, that aids in a more efficient processing of the DPS is described.

Engrand, Peter A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Automation of Structural Sizing of Aircraft Concepts Under Static Aeroelastic Constraints

This paper presents an automation process for structural sizing of subsonic and supersonic aircraft concepts under static aeroelastic constraints. The automation process starts with an OpenVSP geometry and ends with a PATRAN plot of a NASTRAN solution for static aeroelastic analysis or optimization. ModelCenter is used to integrate all analysis codes with easy-to-use interfaces. Automation tools are developed to streamline the setup process and avoid user errors. Fuel is distributed by solving an optimization problem to match the center of gravity of aircraft at a specified flight condition. Fuel weights are also automatically attached to the structural model as point masses. All other weights used in FLOPS mission analysis (excluding fuselage and wing structural weights) are automatically attached to or smeared on the structural model. For any given OpenVSP geometry and FLOPS analysis data, a static aeroelastic sizing model for NASTRAN analysis can be generated in a couple of hours. The empirical fuselage and wing structural weights from FLOPS are replaced by structural panel weights from the sized finite-element model. Three supersonic and two subsonic aircraft concepts are used to demonstrate the automation process as a physics-based weight estimation tool for aircraft conceptual design.

Li, Wu↗
NASA NTRS1975

Heat pipes

The development and use of heat pipes are described, including space requirements and contributions. Controllable heat pipes, and designs for automatically maintaining a selected constant temperature, are discussed which would add to the versatility and usefulness of heat pipes in industrial processing, manufacture of integrated circuits, and in temperature stabilization of electronics.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1975

An automated atmospheric sampling system operating on 747 airliners

An air sampling system that automatically measures the temporal and spatial distribution of selected particulate and gaseous constituents of the atmosphere has been installed on a number of commercial airliners and is collecting data on commercial air routes covering the world. Measurements of constituents related to aircraft engine emissions and other pollutants are made in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (6 to 12 km) in support of the Global Air Sampling Program (GASP). Aircraft operated by different airlines sample air at latitudes from the Arctic to Australia. This system includes specialized instrumentation for measuring carbon monoxide, ozone, water vapor, and particulates, a special air inlet probe for sampling outside air, a computerized automatic control, and a data acquisition system. Air constituents and related flight data are tape recorded in flight for later computer processing on the ground.

Perkins, P.↗
NASA NTRS1976

An automated atmospheric sampling system operating on 747 airliners

An air sampling system that automatically measures the temporal and spatial distribution of particulate and gaseous constituents of the atmosphere is collecting data on commercial air routes covering the world. Measurements are made in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (6 to 12 km) of constituents related to aircraft engine emissions and other pollutants. Aircraft operated by different airlines sample air at latitudes from the Arctic to Australia. This unique system includes specialized instrumentation, a special air inlet probe for sampling outside air, a computerized automatic control, and a data acquisition system. Air constituent and related flight data are tape recorded in flight for later computer processing on the ground.

Perkins, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Linear dimension establishes weld integrity

Study finds that when automatic in-place tube-welding head is used to butt-weld two stainless-steel tubes together, welding process can be made so reliable that when weld exceeds a certain minimum dimension, penetration of weld can be assumed to be complete. Detailed procedure for tube welding considers effects of arc gap, shielding gas, welding speed, and other parameters related to weld reliability.

Lewis, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Failure detection by pilots during automatic landing - Models and experiments

A model is proposed to describe the pilot as a monitor of automatic landing systems. The failures treated are equivalent to the addition of a dynamic change in the mean of the observation process. The failure detection model of the pilot consists of two stages: a linear estimator (Kalman filter) and a decision mechanism based on sequential analysis. The filter equations are derived from a simplified version of the linearized dynamics of the airplane and the control loop. The perceptual observation noise is modified to include the effects of allocation of attention among the several instruments. The final result is a simple model consisting of a high-pass filter to produce the observation residuals and a decision function which is a pure integration of the residuals minus a bias term. The dynamics of a Boeing 707 were used to simulate the fully coupled final approach in a fixed-base simulator. Observers monitored the approaches and detected the failures; their performance was compared with the predictions of the model.

Gai, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Application of digital image processing techniques to astronomical imagery 1978

Techniques for using image processing in astronomy are identified and developed for the following: (1) geometric and radiometric decalibration of vidicon-acquired spectra, (2) automatic identification and segregation of stars from galaxies; and (3) display of multiband radio maps in compact and meaningful formats. Examples are presented of these techniques applied to a variety of objects.

Lorre, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Feasibility of automated dropsize distributions from holographic data using digital image processing techniques

An automated technique for measuring particle diameters and their spatial coordinates from holographic reconstructions is being developed. Preliminary tests on actual cold-flow holograms of impinging jets indicate that a suitable discriminant algorithm consists of a Fourier-Gaussian noise filter and a contour thresholding technique. This process identifies circular as well as noncircular objects. The desired objects (in this case, circular or possibly ellipsoidal) are then selected automatically from the above set and stored with their parametric representations. From this data, dropsize distributions as a function of spatial coordinates can be generated and combustion effects due to hardware and/or physical variables studied.

Feinstein, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Recent improvements and enhancements to NASTRAN

Several improvements and enhancements recently made to NASTRAN are described. Some of the more important features are: streamlined rigid formats; improved rigid formats; changes related to plotting; checking of required PARAM bulk data cards; checkpoint/restart capability; unsorted and sorted bulk data deck echo; automatic output of the DMAP source listing; elimination of link switching caused by use of utility modules; paging the NASTRAN output; processing of mixed record data blocks by INPUT2/OUTPUT2 modules; module execute flag included in the OSCAR listing; and use of the multiple XDMAP cards in the DMAP. It is concluded that these changes increase the usefulness of the program.

Pamidi, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Statistical methods and neural network approaches for classification of data from multiple sources

Statistical methods for classification of data from multiple data sources are investigated and compared to neural network models. A problem with using conventional multivariate statistical approaches for classification of data of multiple types is in general that a multivariate distribution cannot be assumed for the classes in the data sources. Another common problem with statistical classification methods is that the data sources are not equally reliable. This means that the data sources need to be weighted according to their reliability but most statistical classification methods do not have a mechanism for this. This research focuses on statistical methods which can overcome these problems: a method of statistical multisource analysis and consensus theory. Reliability measures for weighting the data sources in these methods are suggested and investigated. Secondly, this research focuses on neural network models. The neural networks are distribution free since no prior knowledge of the statistical distribution of the data is needed. This is an obvious advantage over most statistical classification methods. The neural networks also automatically take care of the problem involving how much weight each data source should have. On the other hand, their training process is iterative and can take a very long time. Methods to speed up the training procedure are introduced and investigated. Experimental results of classification using both neural network models and statistical methods are given, and the approaches are compared based on these results.

Benediktsson, Jon Atli↗
NASA NTRS1992

ACTS T1-VSAT - The intelligent earth station

The functional design of the software for NASA's Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS) T1-VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) is described. The design provides a flexible interface to allow customized control of a satellite network and to provide external processes with access to network capabilities without requiring modification to the network hardware or software. Some of the envisioned features are: automatic number location; dynamic reconfiguration of the number plan tables; security features of call priority, call preemption, and remote verification; automatic reconfiguration of least cost routing tables; circuit availability verification prior to call setup; audio and video conferencing; on demand broadband dial-up service; on demand dial-up broadband broadcast service; and ISDN. A brief review is also given of the ACTS satellite and network, the network management, and the ACTS T1-VSAT earth station.

Manning, John R.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Modifications to Axially Symmetric Simulations Using New DSMC (2007) Algorithms

Several modifications aimed at improving physical accuracy are proposed for solving axially symmetric problems building on the DSMC (2007) algorithms introduced by Bird. Originally developed to solve nonequilibrium, rarefied flows, the DSMC method is now regularly used to solve complex problems over a wide range of Knudsen numbers. These new algorithms include features such as nearest neighbor collisions excluding the previous collision partners, separate collision and sampling cells, automatically adaptive variable time steps, a modified no-time counter procedure for collisions, and discontinuous and event-driven physical processes. Axially symmetric solutions require radial weighting for the simulated molecules since the molecules near the axis represent fewer real molecules than those farther away from the axis due to the difference in volume of the cells. In the present methodology, these radial weighting factors are continuous, linear functions that vary with the radial position of each simulated molecule. It is shown that how one defines the number of tentative collisions greatly influences the mean collision time near the axis. The method by which the grid is treated for axially symmetric problems also plays an important role near the axis, especially for scalar pressure. A new method to treat how the molecules are traced through the grid is proposed to alleviate the decrease in scalar pressure at the axis near the surface. Also, a modification to the duplication buffer is proposed to vary the duplicated molecular velocities while retaining the molecular kinetic energy and axially symmetric nature of the problem.

Liechty, Derek S.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Decision Engines for Software Analysis Using Satisfiability Modulo Theories Solvers

The area of software analysis, testing and verification is now undergoing a revolution thanks to the use of automated and scalable support for logical methods. A well-recognized premise is that at the core of software analysis engines is invariably a component using logical formulas for describing states and transformations between system states. The process of using this information for discovering and checking program properties (including such important properties as safety and security) amounts to automatic theorem proving. In particular, theorem provers that directly support common software constructs offer a compelling basis. Such provers are commonly called satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers. Z3 is a state-of-the-art SMT solver. It is developed at Microsoft Research. It can be used to check the satisfiability of logical formulas over one or more theories such as arithmetic, bit-vectors, lists, records and arrays. The talk describes some of the technology behind modern SMT solvers, including the solver Z3. Z3 is currently mainly targeted at solving problems that arise in software analysis and verification. It has been applied to various contexts, such as systems for dynamic symbolic simulation (Pex, SAGE, Vigilante), for program verification and extended static checking (Spec#/Boggie, VCC, HAVOC), for software model checking (Yogi, SLAM), model-based design (FORMULA), security protocol code (F7), program run-time analysis and invariant generation (VS3). We will describe how it integrates support for a variety of theories that arise naturally in the context of the applications. There are several new promising avenues and the talk will touch on some of these and the challenges related to SMT solvers. Proceedings

Bjorner, Nikolaj↗
NASA NTRS2010

Browser-Based Application for Telemetry Monitoring of Robotic Assets

AEGSE Virtuoso Charting is an application that enables animated, real-time charting of telemetry streams of data from a rover. These automatically scaled charts are completely interactive, and allow users to choose the variables that they want to monitor. The charts can process data from streams with many variables. This application allows for the simultaneous viewing of up to four individually configured charts on a small touch-screen laptop. The charting application has been tested and found to be extremely robust during long operations. It was left running overnight, with incoming telemetry at 100 Hz, and it did not experience any signs of lost functionality or memory leaks. This robustness is critical for an application that will be used to support vital tests for the Mars Science Laboratory rover. The charting component also provides an interactive interface that allows the engineers to decide how many charts they want on their screen, and which attributes should be plotted on each chart. The application is optimized to make the charts on display take up as much of the available space as possible to maximize the use of the screen real estate. Engineers are also able to plot multiple attributes on the same chart, which enables them to observe the correlation between various attributes.

Breed, Kelly S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Analysis and Testing of a LIDAR-Based Approach to Terrain Relative Navigation for Precise Lunar Landing

To increase safety and land near pre-deployed resources, future NASA missions to the moon will require precision landing. A LIDAR-based terrain relative navigation (TRN) approach can achieve precision landing under any lighting conditions. This paper presents results from processing flash lidar and laser altimeter field test data that show LIDAR TRN can obtain position estimates less than 90m while automatically detecting and eliminating incorrect measurements using internal metrics on terrain relief and data correlation. Sensitivity studies show that the algorithm has no degradation in matching performance with initial position uncertainties up to 1.6 km

ion propulsion↗