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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

Determining Usability Versus Cost and Yields of a Regional Transport

Regional transports are designed to operate on air networks having the basic characteristics of short trip distances and low density passengers/cargo, i.e. small numbers of passengers per flight. Regional transports passenger capacity is from 10 to 100 seats and operate on routes from 350 to 1000 nautical miles (nm). An air network operated by regional transports has the following characteristics: (1) connecting regional centers; (2) operating on low density passengers/cargo flow services with minimum two frequencies per day; (3) operating on high density passengers/cargo flow with more than two frequencies per day; and (4) operating supplemental services whenever market demands in order to help bigger capacity aircraft already operating the same routes. In order to meet passenger requirements providing low fares and high or required number of frequencies, airlines must constantly monitor operational costs and keep them low. It is obvious that costs of operating aircraft must be lower than yield obtained by transporting passengers and cargo. The requirement to achieve favorable yield/cost ratio must provide the answer to the question of which aircraft will best meet a specific air network. An air network is defined by the number of services, the trip distance of each service, and the number of flights (frequencies) per day and week.

Gvozdenovic, Slobodan↗
NASA NTRS2005

Large Scale Data Mining to Improve Usability of Data: An Intelligent Archive Testbed

Research in certain scientific disciplines - including Earth science, particle physics, and astrophysics - continually faces the challenge that the volume of data needed to perform valid scientific research can at times overwhelm even a sizable research community. The desire to improve utilization of this data gave rise to the Intelligent Archives project, which seeks to make data archives active participants in a knowledge building system capable of discovering events or patterns that represent new information or knowledge. Data mining can automatically discover patterns and events, but it is generally viewed as unsuited for large-scale use in disciplines like Earth science that routinely involve very high data volumes. Dozens of research projects have shown promising uses of data mining in Earth science, but all of these are based on experiments with data subsets of a few gigabytes or less, rather than the terabytes or petabytes typically encountered in operational systems. To bridge this gap, the Intelligent Archives project is establishing a testbed with the goal of demonstrating the use of data mining techniques in an operationally-relevant environment. This paper discusses the goals of the testbed and the design choices surrounding critical issues that arose during testbed implementation.

Ramapriyan, Hampapuram↗
NASA NTRS2006

Leveraging Existing Mission Tools in a Re-Usable, Component-Based Software Environment

Emerging methods in component-based software development offer significant advantages but may seem incompatible with existing mission operations applications. In this paper we relate our positive experiences integrating existing mission applications into component-based tools we are delivering to three missions. In most operations environments, a number of software applications have been integrated together to form the mission operations software. In contrast, with component-based software development chunks of related functionality and data structures, referred to as components, can be individually delivered, integrated and re-used. With the advent of powerful tools for managing component-based development, complex software systems can potentially see significant benefits in ease of integration, testability and reusability from these techniques. These benefits motivate us to ask how component-based development techniques can be relevant in a mission operations environment, where there is significant investment in software tools that are not component-based and may not be written in languages for which component-based tools even exist. Trusted and complex software tools for sequencing, validation, navigation, and other vital functions cannot simply be re-written or abandoned in order to gain the advantages offered by emerging component-based software techniques. Thus some middle ground must be found. We have faced exactly this issue, and have found several solutions. Ensemble is an open platform for development, integration, and deployment of mission operations software that we are developing. Ensemble itself is an extension of an open source, component-based software development platform called Eclipse. Due to the advantages of component-based development, we have been able to vary rapidly develop mission operations tools for three surface missions by mixing and matching from a common set of mission operation components. We have also had to determine how to integrate existing mission applications for sequence development, sequence validation, and high level activity planning, and other functions into a component-based environment. For each of these, we used a somewhat different technique based upon the structure and usage of the existing application.

Greene, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2004

Increasing Access and Usability of Remote Sensing Data: The NASA Protected Area Archive

Although remote sensing data are now widely available, much of it at low or no-cost, many managers of protected conservation areas do not have the expertise or tools to view or analyze it. Thus access to it by the protected area management community is effectively blocked. The Protected Area Archive will increase access to remote sensing data by creating collections of satellite images of protected areas and packaging them with simple-to-use visualization and analytical tools. The user can easily locate the area and image of interest on a map, then display, roam, and zoom the image. A set of simple tools will be provided so the user can explore the data and employ it to assist in management and monitoring of their area. The 'Phase 1 ' version requires only a Windows-based computer and basic computer skills, and may be of particular help to protected area managers in developing countries.

remote sensing↗
NASA NTRS2001

Circumferentially-segmented collector usable with a TWT

A TWT collector has axially-positioned collector stages in which at least one of the stages includes a plurality of annularly-arranged stage segments. The collector enhances electron beam velocity sorting by facilitating a combination of (a) selecting axial electric field distributions with application of selected voltages to the axially-positioned collector stages and (b) selecting radial electric field distributions with application of selected voltages to the annularly-arranged stage segments.

Brown, II, Richard A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

JSC Search System Usability Case Study

The advanced nature of "search" has facilitated the movement from keyword match to the delivery of every conceivable information topic from career, commerce, entertainment, learning... the list is infinite. At NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC ) the Search interface is an important means of knowledge transfer. By indexing multiple sources between directorates and organizations, the system's potential is culture changing in that through search, knowledge of the unique accomplishments in engineering and science can be seamlessly passed between generations. This paper reports the findings of an initial survey, the first of a four part study to help determine user sentiment on the intranet, or local (JSC) enterprise search environment as well as the larger NASA enterprise. The survey is a means through which end users provide direction on the development and transfer of knowledge by way of the search experience. The ideal is to identify what is working and what needs to be improved from the users' vantage point by documenting: (1) Where users are satisfied/dissatisfied (2) Perceived value of interface components (3) Gaps which cause any disappointment in search experience. The near term goal is it to inform JSC search in order to improve users' ability to utilize existing services and infrastructure to perform tasks with a shortened life cycle. Continuing steps include an agency based focus with modified questions to accomplish a similar purpose

Meza, David↗
NASA NTRS2015

Exercise Equipment Usability Assessment for a Deep Space Concept Vehicle

With international aspirations to send astronauts to deep space, the world is now faced with the complex problem of keeping astronauts healthy in unexplored hostile environments for durations of time never before attempted by humans. The great physical demands imparted by space exploration compound the problem of astronaut health, as the astronauts must not only be healthy, but physically fit upon destination arrival in order to perform the scientific tasks required of them. Additionally, future deep space exploration necessitates the development of environments conducive to long-duration habitation that would supplement propulsive vehicles. Space Launch System (SLS) core stage barrel sections present large volumes of robust structure that can be recycled and used for long duration habitation. This assessment will focus on one such conceptual craft, referred to as the SLS Derived Habitat (SLS-DH). Marshall Space Flight Center's (MSFC) Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) has formulated a high-level layout of this SLS-DH with parameters such as floor number and orientation, floor designations, grid dimensions, wall placement, etc. Yet to be determined, however, is the layout of the exercise area. Currently the SLS-DH features three floors laid out longitudinally, leaving 2m of height between the floor and ceilings. This short distance between levels introduces challenges for proper placement of exercise equipment such as treadmills and stationary bicycles, as the dynamic envelope for the 95th percentile male astronauts is greater than 2m. This study aims to assess the optimal equipment layout and sizing for the exercise area of this habitat. Figure 1 illustrates the layout of the DSH concept demonstrator located at MSFC. The exercise area is located on the lower level, seen here as the front half of the level occupied by a crew member. This small volume does not allow for numerous or bulky exercise machines, so the conceptual equipment has been limited to a treadmill and stationary bicycle. With the most current treadmill aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT), being located in an International Standard Payload Rack (ISPR), the bottom of the conceptual treadmill features a height of 38in. Making the treadmill flush with the floor would be impossible in this rack configuration, as the distance from the outer wall of the spacecraft to the bottom floor would be too shallow. From preliminary sizing, the 38in required for the bottom of the treadmill combined with a 78in operational envelope for a 95th percentile may not be accommodated in the exercise area in a vertical orientation. Figure 2 demonstrates the volume required (in maroon) for an ISPR-bound treadmill in the concept demonstrator. Early indications as seen in this figure indicate that the crew members would contact the ceiling in such an arrangement. An assessment will be conducted to evaluate various orientations of exercise equipment in the concept demonstrator. Orientations to be tested include putting the bottom of the treadmill on the wall, having the treadmill at an angle in the floor both horizontally and vertically, and having a shorter (non-rack bound) treadmill in a vertical orientation on the floor. This assessment will yield findings regarding sizing of the area and how well participants feel they could exercise in such an environment. Due to the restrictions of assessing a microgravity vehicle in a normal-gravity environment, simulations in MSFC's Virtual Environments Lab (VEL) may be necessary. Final deliverables will include recommendations regarding the location and size of possible exercise equipment aboard the SLS-Derived DSH.

Rhodes, Brooke M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Usable Translational Hand Controllers for NASA's Habitability Design Center

This summer I was given the opportunity to work at the Habitability Design Center (HDC). NASA Johnson Space Center's HDC is currently developing Cislunar and Mars spacecraft mockups. I contributed to this effort by designing from scratch low cost, functional translational hand controllers (THCs) that will be used in spacecraft mission simulation in low to medium fidelity exploration spacecraft mockups. This project fell under the category of mechatronics, a combination of mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. Being an aerospace engineering student, I was out of my comfort zone. And that was a wonderful thing. The autonomy that my mentor, Dr. Robert Howard, allowed me gave me the opportunity to learn by trying, failing, and trying again. This project was not only a professional success for me, but a significant learning experience. I appreciated the freedom that I had to take the time to learn new things for myself rather than blindly follow instructions. I was the sole person working on this project, and was required to work independently to solve the many hardware and software challenges that the project entailed. I researched THCs that have been used on the ISS, the Space Shuttle, and the Orion MPVC and based my design off of these. I worked through many redesigns before finding an optimal configuration of the necessary mechanisms and electrical components for the THC. Once I had a functional hardware design, I dove into the challenge of getting an Arduino Uno, an extremely low cost and easily programmable microcontroller, to behave as a human interface device. The THCs I built needed to be able to integrate to a mission simulation designed by NASA's Graphics and Visualization Lab. This proved to be the most challenging aspect of the project. To accomplish this I learned how to change the firmware of the USB serial converter microcontroller. The process was very complicated as it involved multiple software programs and manual flashing of pins on the Arduino itself. When I successfully achieved the goal I wrote an instructions manual for the process so that the HDC will be able to do this easily in the future for any human interface device they may want to create. I also created a detailed CAD model of my THC design with construction instructions. My THC utilizes three ultrasonic sensors, one for each axis of motion. I wrote a code that stimulates these sensors continuously and feeds back values from each axis ranging from -%100 to %100 of the min/max position in relation to the neutral position of each axis. This was the data that the Graphics and Visualization Lab required to interface with their simulation. I truly enjoyed working in the HDC surrounded by passionate, proactive, and brilliantly creative people. I felt valued and respected as a part of their team. I was given the time and support of my mentor whenever I asked for it. Beyond my positive project experience, I was fortunate enough to be able to take advantage of many of the extra activities that JSC has to offer. I took Russian Phase One during my lunch break every day and can now read Russian and accomplish basic verbal communication. I was heavily involved with the co-tern music video, which led to numerous incredible experiences and friendships. I saw every facility, attended every lecture, and met everyone that I could. I had coffee with Lauri Hansen. I played on an intern volleyball team at the Gilruth. I traveled to Michoud, Stennis, NOLA, and Big Bend National Park. I had the time of my life and I fell in love with JSC. In the next month I will return to Maryland and start my senior year of my undergraduate degree. As I work through it I will remember that all of the studying I do, all of the concentration I give, and all of the sacrifices that I make for school are so that I can work at a place like JSC where I am proud and excited to go into work every day. This internship was an invaluable experience for me, both professionally and personally.

Westbrook, Kimberly↗
NASA NTRS2016

The EOSDIS Products Usability for Disaster Response

The focus of the study is to categorize both NRT and standard data products based on applicability to the SDR-defined disaster types. This will identify which datasets from current NASA satellite missions instruments are best suited for disaster response. The distribution metrics of the products that have been used for studying various selected disasters that have occurred over last 5 years will be analyzed that include volume, number of files, number of users, user domains, user country, etc. This data usage analysis will provide information to the data centers staff that can help them develop the functionality and allocate the resources needed for enhanced access and timely availability of the data products that are critical for the time-sensitive analyses.

LANCE↗
NASA NTRS2016

Optimal Reorganization of NASA Earth Science Data for Enhanced Accessibility and Usability for the Hydrology Community

A long-standing "Digital Divide" in data representation exists between the preferred way of data access by the hydrology community and the common way of data archival by earth science data centers. Typically, in hydrology, earth surface features are expressed as discrete spatial objects (e.g., watersheds), and time-varying data are contained in associated time series. Data in earth science archives, although stored as discrete values (of satellite swath pixels or geographical grids), represent continuous spatial fields, one file per time step. This Divide has been an obstacle, specifically, between the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. and NASA earth science data systems. In essence, the way data are archived is conceptually orthogonal to the desired method of access. Our recent work has shown an optimal method of bridging the Divide, by enabling operational access to long-time series (e.g., 36 years of hourly data) of selected NASA datasets. These time series, which we have termed "data rods," are pre-generated or generated on-the-fly. This optimal solution was arrived at after extensive investigations of various approaches, including one based on "data curtains." The on-the-fly generation of data rods uses "data cubes," NASA Giovanni, and parallel processing. The optimal reorganization of NASA earth science data has significantly enhanced the access to and use of the data for the hydrology user community.

data rods↗
NASA NTRS2018

FAIRness and Usability for Open-Access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is especially crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the "FAIRness" of NASA's GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. 14 metrics. The range of Pass ratings was 29-79% of the 14 metrics, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 5-12 (out of 14). The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. We propose two new principles that Big Data systems, in particular, should consider for increasing data accessibility. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from several systems for the federated querying and retrieval functions of the GLDS, given the shortcomings in data interoperability of these systems.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Addressing Usability for Discrete User Goals When Adding New Features to the Worldview Application

The Worldview (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/) application from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provides a low friction solution for users of different scientific backgrounds to access near real-time satellite imagery and data products. Worldview credits its successful growth by displaying new imagery from the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), which has an increasing archive of 700+ products serving full-resolution satellite imagery from NASA's Earth observing fleet. NASA promotes the open sharing of all data with researchers, private industry, academia, and the general public. Worldview encourages this open data policy. Numerous general news publications feature Worldview for its unique imagery. Worldview also helps scholarly research in identifying field research locations, mapping thermal hotspots of active burning fires, and visualizing theoretical models of weather storm systems.

web application↗
NASA NTRS2018

FAIRness and Usability for Open-access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the "FAIRness" of NASA's GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 6-12 (out of 14), average 10.1, and standard deviation 2.4. The range of Pass ratings for the metrics was 29-79%, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. Reusability of metadata, in particular, was frequently not well supported. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from some of the assessed systems for federated querying and retrieval functions, given their shortcomings in data interoperability. Finally, we propose two new principles that Big Data system developers, in particular, should consider for maximizing data accessibility.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗
NASA NTRS2018

FAIRness and Usability for Open-access Omics Data Systems

Omics data sharing is crucial to the biological research community, and the last decade or two has seen a huge rise in collaborative analysis systems, databases, and knowledge bases for omics and other systems biology data. We assessed the “FAIRness” of NASA’s GeneLab Data Systems (GLDS) along with four similar kinds of systems in the research omics data domain, using 14 FAIRness metrics. The range of overall FAIRness scores was 6-12 (out of 14), average 10.1, and standard deviation 2.4. The range of Pass ratings for the metrics was 29-79%, Partial Pass 0-21%, and Fail 7-50%. The systems we evaluated performed the best in the areas of data findability and accessibility, and worst in the area of data interoperability. Reusability of metadata, in particular, was frequently not well supported. We relate our experiences implementing semantic integration of omics data from some of the assessed systems for federated querying and retrieval functions, given their shortcomings in data interoperability. Finally, we propose two new principles that Big Data system developers, in particular, should consider for maximizing data accessibility.

Berrios, Daniel C.↗