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A Coordinated Initialization Process for the Distributed Space Exploration Simulation (DSES)

This document describes the federate initialization process that was developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center with the HIIA Transfer Vehicle Flight Controller Trainer (HTV FCT) simulations and refined in the Distributed Space Exploration Simulation (DSES). These simulations use the High Level Architecture (HLA) IEEE 1516 to provide the communication and coordination between the distributed parts of the simulation. The purpose of the paper is to describe a generic initialization sequence that can be used to create a federate that can: 1. Properly initialize all HLA objects, object instances, interactions, and time management 2. Check for the presence of all federates 3. Coordinate startup with other federates 4. Robustly initialize and share initial object instance data with other federates.

Phillips, Robert

Message Latency Characterization of a Distributed Live, Virtual, Constructive Simulation Environment

A distributed test environment incorporating Live, Virtual, Constructive, (LVC) concepts was developed to execute standalone and integrated simulations and flight-tests that support unmanned aircraft research for NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. The LVC components form the core infrastructure that supports simulation of UAS operations by integrating live and virtual aircraft in a realistic air traffic environment. This LVC infrastructure enables efficient testing by leveraging the use of existing distributed assets. The LVC concepts used for the UAS in the NAS project include live aircraft, flight simulators, and virtual air traffic control assets operating at facilities distributed across multiple NASA Centers. With a distributed network, however, there is a concern that message latency could impact the realism of a simulation and its data. The latencies associated with sending data among these distributed facilities were, therefore, measured to ensure that they fall within acceptable parameters. Several live and virtual test assets were integrated into the LVC infrastructure including NASA Armstrong’s Ikhana MQ-9 unmanned aircraft, NASA Glenn’s S3-B manned aircraft, and the B747 flight simulator at NASA Ames. Average latencies from 100 to 150 milliseconds were observed between the LVC System running at NASA Ames and each of the participating NASA Centers under a light-to-moderate (fifty aircraft) traffic sample.

Murphy, James R.

A Java-Enabled Interactive Graphical Gas Turbine Propulsion System Simulator

This paper describes a gas turbine simulation system which utilizes the newly developed Java language environment software system. The system provides an interactive graphical environment which allows the quick and efficient construction and analysis of arbitrary gas turbine propulsion systems. The simulation system couples a graphical user interface, developed using the Java Abstract Window Toolkit, and a transient, space- averaged, aero-thermodynamic gas turbine analysis method, both entirely coded in the Java language. The combined package provides analytical, graphical and data management tools which allow the user to construct and control engine simulations by manipulating graphical objects on the computer display screen. Distributed simulations, including parallel processing and distributed database access across the Internet and World-Wide Web (WWW), are made possible through services provided by the Java environment.

Reed, John A.

An Internet Protocol-Based Software System for Real-Time, Closed-Loop, Multi-Spacecraft Mission Simulation Applications

The paper will provide an overview of the web-based distributed simulation software system developed for end-to-end, multi-spacecraft mission design, analysis, and test at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This software system was developed for an internal research and development (IR&D) activity at GSFC called the Distributed Space Systems (DSS) Distributed Synthesis Environment (DSE). The long-term goal of the DSS-DSE is to integrate existing GSFC stand-alone test beds, models, and simulation systems to create a "hands on", end-to-end simulation environment for mission design, trade studies and simulations. The short-term goal of the DSE was therefore to develop the system architecture, and then to prototype the core software simulation capability based on a distributed computing approach, with demonstrations of some key capabilities by the end of Fiscal Year 2002 (FY02). To achieve the DSS-DSE IR&D objective, the team adopted a reference model and mission upon which FY02 capabilities were developed. The software was prototyped according to the reference model, and demonstrations were conducted for the reference mission to validate interfaces, concepts, etc. The reference model, illustrated in Fig. 1, included both space and ground elements, with functional capabilities such as spacecraft dynamics and control, science data collection, space-to-space and space-to-ground communications, mission operations, science operations, and data processing, archival and distribution addressed.

Davis, George

Ring Asymmetry and Spin in M87*

Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) images of the supermassive black hole M87* depict an asymmetric ring of emission. General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) models of M87* and its accretion disk predict that the amplitude and location of the ring’s peak brightness asymmetry should fluctuate due to turbulence in the source plasma. We compare the observed distribution of brightness asymmetry amplitudes to the simulated distribution in GRMHD models, across varying black hole spin a * . We show that, for strongly magnetized (MAD) models, three epochs of EHT data marginally disfavor ∣a * ∣ ≲ 0.2. This is consistent with the Blandford–Znajek model for M87’s jet, which predicts that M87* should have nonzero spin. We show quantitatively how future observations could improve spin constraints and discuss how improved spin constraints could distinguish between differing jet-launching mechanisms and black hole growth scenarios.

Bernshteyn, Vadim [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Cha

Dynamics modeling of molten salt reactor with reduced and expanded representations of delayed neutron precursors

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) present unique challenges in dynamic behavior due to the mobility of their fuel. In these reactors, delayed neutron precursors (DNPs) drift with the fuel circulation through the primary loop. As a result, a fraction of DNPs decays outside the core, effectively reducing the available delayed neutron population for reactivity control. Consequently, precise modeling of the distribution and behavior of DNPs is critical for accurate reactor dynamics simulations. In this study, the System Dynamics Analysis Tool (SDAT) was used to simulate a thermal-spectrum MSR under steady-state conditions and following transients. The effects of using reduced and expanded representations of DNPs with fewer or more groups than the conventional 6-group model were investigated. Their impact on the simulated distribution of precursors in the primary loop, reactivity loss value, and reactor response to transients was analyzed. Simulation results showed that reduced models lead to the loss of the actual DNPs distribution data, resulting in less accurate estimates of reactivity loss. Reactor power predictions using these reduced models showed significant deviations compared to those using the conventional 6-group model in transient simulations. Expanded models offered a more accurate representation of the distribution of DNPs and reactivity loss estimates. Reactor power predictions using expanded models showed minimal deviation from the conventional 6-group model during the simulated transients.

analysis

SpaceFOM: An Interoperability Standard for Space Systems Simulations

There is a long history of simulation supporting space systems development. This includes relatively simple parametric simulations to more complex trajectory simulations to large scale integrated vehicle simulation. One area of relatively recent development is in the area of distributed or interoperable simulation. Distributed simulation has been in wide use by the US military for years but is being used more widely in the aerospace community. To support large scale distributed simulation, the military community has developed a number of standards to support a priori interoperability between large collections of disparate simulation. For example, the IEEE 1516 High Level Architecture (HLA) and the Real-time Platform Reference Federation Object Model (RPR FOM). While HLA is suitable for space systems, there are a number of design decisions made in the development of the RPR FOM that prevent it from working well for space applications. In order to address these deficiencies, the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) developed a new HLS-compatible interoperability standard to support the needs of complex space systems. This standard is the Space Reference Federation Object Model (SpaceFOM). This paper presents on overview of the SpaceFOM including the fundamentals of the SpaceFOM, the key features of the SpaceFOM, and how the SpaceFOM supports large scale distributed simulation of complex space systems.

SISO

Use of Radon for Evaluation of Atmospheric Transport Models: Sensitivity to Emissions

This paper presents comparative analyses of atmospheric radon (Rn) distributions simulated using different emission scenarios and the observations. Results indicate that the model generally reproduces observed distributions of Rn but there are some biases in the model related to differences in large-scale and convective transport. Simulations presented here use an off-line three-dimensional chemical transport model driven by assimilated winds and two scenarios of Rn fluxes (atom/cm s) from ice-free land surfaces: (A) globally uniform flux of 1.0, and (B) uniform flux of 1.0 between 60 deg. S and 30 deg. N followed by a sharp linear decrease to 0.2 at 70 deg. N. We considered an additional scenario (C) where Rn emissions for case A were uniformly reduced by 28%. Results show that case A overpredicts observed Rn distributions in both hemispheres. Simulated northern hemispheric (NH) Rn distributions from cases B and C compare better with the observations, but are not discernible from each other. In the southern hemisphere, surface Rn distributions from case C compare better with the observations. We performed a synoptic scale source-receptor analysis for surface Rn to locate regions with ratios B/A and B/C less than 0.5. Considering an uncertainty in regional Rn emissions of a factor of two, our analysis indicates that additional measurements of surface Rn particularly during April-October and north of 50 deg. N over the Pacific as well as Atlantic regions would make it possible to determine if the proposed latitude gradient in Rn emissions is superior to a uniform flux scenario.

Gupta, Mohan L.

Designing a Distributed Space Systems Simulation in Accordance with the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO)

Simulations are essential for engineering design. These virtual realities provide characteristic data to scientists and engineers in order to understand the details and complications of the desired mission. A standard development simulation package known as Trick is used in developing a source code to model a component (federate in HLA terms). The runtime executive is integrated into an HLA based distributed simulation. TrickHLA is used to extend a Trick simulation for a federation execution, develop a source code for communication between federates, as well as foster data input and output. The project incorporates international cooperation along with team collaboration. Interactions among federates occur throughout the simulation, thereby relying on simulation interoperability. Communication through the semester went on between participants to figure out how to create this data exchange. The NASA intern team is designing a Lunar Rover federate and a Lunar Shuttle federate. The Lunar Rover federate supports transportation across the lunar surface and is essential for fostering interactions with other federates on the lunar surface (Lunar Shuttle, Lunar Base Supply Depot and Mobile ISRU Plant) as well as transporting materials to the desired locations. The Lunar Shuttle federate transports materials to and from lunar orbit. Materials that it takes to the supply depot include fuel and cargo necessary to continue moon-base operations. This project analyzes modeling and simulation technologies as well as simulation interoperability. Each team from participating universities will work on and engineer their own federate(s) to participate in the SISO Spring 2011 Workshop SIW Smackdown in Boston, Massachusetts. This paper will focus on the Lunar Rover federate.

Cowen, Benjamin

Climate of Earth-Like Planets With and Without Ocean Heat Transport Orbiting a Range of M and K Stars

The mean surface temperature of a planet is now acknowledged as insufficient to surmise its full potential habitability. Advancing our understanding requires exploration with 3D general circulation models (GCMs), which can take into account how gradients and fluxes across a planet's surface influence the distribution of heat, clouds, and the potential for heterogeneous distribution of liquid water. Here we present 3D GCM simulations of the effects of alternative stellar spectra, instellation, model resolution, and ocean heat transport, on the simulated distribution of heat and moisture of an Earth-like planet (ELP).

Planets

Mapping a battlefield simulation onto message-passing parallel architectures

Perhaps the most critical problem in distributed simulation is that of mapping: without an effective mapping of workload to processors the speedup potential of parallel processing cannot be realized. Mapping a simulation onto a message-passing architecture is especially difficult when the computational workload dynamically changes as a function of time and space; this is exactly the situation faced by battlefield simulations. This paper studies an approach where the simulated battlefield domain is first partitioned into many regions of equal size; typically there are more regions than processors. The regions are then assigned to processors; a processor is responsible for performing all simulation activity associated with the regions. The assignment algorithm is quite simple and attempts to balance load by exploiting locality of workload intensity. The performance of this technique is studied on a simple battlefield simulation implemented on the Flex/32 multiprocessor. Measurements show that the proposed method achieves reasonable processor efficiencies. Furthermore, the method shows promise for use in dynamic remapping of the simulation.

Nicol, David M.

Wave-Particle Interactions Associated with Nongyrotropic Distribution Functions: A Hybrid Simulation Study

Nongyrotropic plasma distribution functions can be formed in regions of space where guiding center motion breaks down as a result of strongly curved and weak ambient magnetic fields. Such are the conditions near the current sheet in the Earth's middle and distant magnetotail, where observations of nongyrotropic ion distributions have been made. Here a systematic parameter study of nongyrotropic proton distributions using electromagnetic hybrid simulations is made. We model the observed nongyrotropic distributions by removing a number of arc length segments from a cold ring distribution and find significant differences with the results of simulations that initially have a gyrotropic ring distribution. Model nongyrotropic distributions with initially small perpendicular thermalization produce growing fluctuations that diffuse the ions into a stable Maxwellian-like distribution within a few proton gyro periods. The growing waves produced by nongyrotropic distributions are similar to the electromagnetic proton cyclotron waves produced by a gyrotropic proton ring distribution in that they propagate parallel to the background magnetic field and occur at frequencies on the order of the proton gyrofrequency, The maximum energy of the fluctuating magnetic field increases as the initial proton distribution is made more nongyrotropic, that is, more highly bunched in perpendicular velocity space. This increase can be as much as twice the energy produced in the gyrotropic case.

Convery, P. D.

SpaceFOM: An Interoperability Standard for Space Systems Simulations

There is a long history of simulation supporting space systems development. This includes relatively simple parametric simulations to more complex trajectory simulations to large scale integrated vehicle simulation. One area of relatively recent development is in the area of distributed or interoperable simulation. Distributed simulation has been in wide use by the US military for years but is being used more broadly in the aerospace community. To support large scale distributed simulation, the military community has developed a number of standards to support a-priori interoperability between large collections of disparate simulations. For example, the IEEE 1516 High Level Architecture (HLA) and the Real-time Platform Reference Federation Object Model (RPR FOM). While HLA is suitable for space systems, there are a number of design decisions made in the development of the RPR FOM that prevent it from working well for space applications. In order to address these deficiencies, the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO) developed a new HLA-based interoperability standard to support the needs of complex space systems. This standard is the Space Reference Federation Object Model (SpaceFOM). This paper presents an overview of the SpaceFOM including the fundamentals of the SpaceFOM, the key features of the SpaceFOM, and how the SpaceFOM supports large scale distributed simulation of complex space systems.

SpaceFOM

A Scalable Multi-Modal Framework for High-Fidelity Distributed Human Mobility Simulations

The development of data-driven models for human mobility in urban settings requires access to substantial and diverse real-world data. However, existing historical data often presents challenges such as limited volume, variety, and veracity, as well as missing data and privacy preservation concerns. Also, urban mobility modeling is inherently time-variant, complex, and multi-modal, encompassing everything from individual walking and running to private road travel and large-scale public transportation. These challenges call for innovative solutions to overcome data limitations and compute needs to model mobility behaviors accurately. To address these challenges, we propose a distributed, co-simulation-based architecture DURMOSim that integrates real-world data with scalable, high-fidelity simulations, demonstrating distributed co-simulation feasibility with existing mobility models. DURMOSim underpins a modular integration that would enable using any available mobility simulators for greater extensibility and scalability in performing various urban scenarios. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and performance evaluation of DURMOSim, highlighting its capability to model population-scale mobility patterns. Our initial results show its ability to dynamically synchronize multiple simulation models at runtime with negligible computational overhead. We believe DURMOSim could be a robust tool for advancing urban mobility research and intelligent transportation systems.

Yoginath, Srikanth [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000184236050)

Bimodality in simulated precipitation frequency distributions and its relationship with convective parameterizations

Abstract Bimodality in precipitation frequency distributions is often evident in atmospheric models, but rarely in observations. This study i) proposes a metric to objectively quantify the bimodality in precipitation distributions, ii) evaluates model simulations contributed to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) phase 5 (CMIP5), phase 6 (CMIP6), and the DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled On Non-hydrostatic Domains (DYAMOND) project by comparing them to satellite-based and reanalysis precipitation products, and iii) investigates possible origins of bimodal precipitation distributions. Our results reveal that about 83% (20 out of 24) of CMIP5 and 70% (21 out of 30) of CMIP6 models used in this study exhibit bimodal distributions. The few DYAMOND models that use a deep convective parameterization also show bimodal distributions, while most DYAMOND models do not. Predictably, the bimodality originates from the separation of precipitation process between resolved grid-scale and parameterized subgrid-scale. However, in a larger number of models bimodality arises from the parameterized subgrid-scale convective precipitation alone.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

A Study of Quality of Service Communication for High-Speed Packet-Switching Computer Sub-Networks

With the development of high-speed networking technology, computer networks, including local-area networks (LANs), wide-area networks (WANs) and the Internet, are extending their traditional roles of carrying computer data. They are being used for Internet telephony, multimedia applications such as conferencing and video on demand, distributed simulations, and other real-time applications. LANs are even used for distributed real-time process control and computing as a cost-effective approach. Differing from traditional data transfer, these new classes of high-speed network applications (video, audio, real-time process control, and others) are delay sensitive. The usefulness of data depends not only on the correctness of received data, but also the time that data are received. In other words, these new classes of applications require networks to provide guaranteed services or quality of service (QoS). Quality of service can be defined by a set of parameters and reflects a user's expectation about the underlying network's behavior. Traditionally, distinct services are provided by different kinds of networks. Voice services are provided by telephone networks, video services are provided by cable networks, and data transfer services are provided by computer networks. A single network providing different services is called an integrated-services network.

Cui, Zhenqian

Preliminary Evaluation of GEOS-5 Aerosol and CO Distributions Forecast During TC4

The NASA Tropical Composition, Cloud, and Climate Coupling (TC4) Mission was based out San Jose, Costa Rica during July and August 2007. During TC4 the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) ran twice-daily 0.5 x 0.666 global 5-day forecasts of the Goddard Earth Observing System atmospheric general circulation model and data assimilation system (GEOS-5). This implementation of GEOS-5 contained an aerosol and carbon monoxide (CO) model to provide online forecast tropospheric distributions of dust, sea salt, sulfate, and carbonaceous aerosols and CO for both the planning of flights and for science. Here we provide a description of the aerosol and CO modeling system and give a preliminary evaluation of forecast tracer distributions. Our comparisons to satellite observations of aerosol and CO show qualitatively similar simulated distributions of tracers to those observed. During TC4 copious amounts of dust were observed in the Caribbean. The model generally reproduced the observations of the timing of dust events and the vertical structure in the lower atmosphere. However, the model simulations had too much aerosol at high altitudes relative to airborne Cloud Physics Lidar observations. The results were similar for biomass burning aerosol and CO tracers, where the model showed higher simulated concentrations of these tracers at aircraft flight altitude than observations.

Colarco, Peter R.