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At least 1,099 records · Page 61

A distributed programming environment for Ada

Despite considerable commercial exploitation of fault tolerance systems, significant and difficult research problems remain in such areas as fault detection and correction. A research project is described which constructs a distributed computing test bed for loosely coupled computers. The project is constructing a tool kit to support research into distributed control algorithms, including a distributed Ada compiler, distributed debugger, test harnesses, and environment monitors. The Ada compiler is being written in Ada and will implement distributed computing at the subsystem level. The design goal is to provide a variety of control mechanics for distributed programming while retaining total transparency at the code level.

Brennan, Peter↗

Analytical modeling of helicopter static and dynamic induced velocity in GRASP

The methodology used by the General Rotorcraft Aeromechanical Stability Program (GRASP) to model the characteristics of the flow through a helicopter rotor in hovering or axial flight is described. Since the induced flow plays a significant role in determining the aeroelastic properties of rotorcraft, the computation of the induced flow is an important aspect of the program. Because of the combined finite-element/multibody methodology used as the basis for GRASP, the implementation of induced velocity calculations presented an unusual challenge to the developers. To preserve the modelling flexibility and generality of the code, it was necessary to depart from the traditional methods of computing the induced velocity. This is accomplished by calculating the actuator disk contributions to the rotor loads in a separate element called the air mass element, and then performing the calculations of the aerodynamic forces on individual blade elements within the aeroelastic beam element.

Kunz, Donald L.↗

MEDUSA - An overset grid flow solver for network-based parallel computer systems

Continuing improvement in processing speed has made it feasible to solve the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for simple three-dimensional flows on advanced workstations. Combining multiple workstations into a network-based heterogeneous parallel computer allows the application of programming principles learned on MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) distributed memory parallel computers to the solution of larger problems. An overset-grid flow solution code has been developed which uses a cluster of workstations as a network-based parallel computer. Inter-process communication is provided by the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) software. Solution speed equivalent to one-third of a Cray-YMP processor has been achieved from a cluster of nine commonly used engineering workstation processors. Load imbalance and communication overhead are the principal impediments to parallel efficiency in this application.

Smith, Merritt H.↗

Computation of vibration mode elastic-rigid and effective weight coefficients from finite-element computer program output

Post-processing algorithms are given to compute the vibratory elastic-rigid coupling matrices and the modal contributions to the rigid-body mass matrices and to the effective modal inertias and masses. Recomputation of the elastic-rigid coupling matrices for a change in origin is also described. A computational example is included. The algorithms can all be executed by using standard finite-element program eigenvalue analysis output with no changes to existing code or source programs.

Levy, R.↗

Program For Optimization Of Antenna Structures

JPL-ANTOPT computer program designed to help engineers optimize microwave antenna structures by use of path-length- and pointing-error-analysis calculations. Program is package of codes and subroutines added to MSC/NASTRAN program. Written in MSC/NASTRAN's(TM) Direct Matrix Abstraction Programming (DMAP) language.

Strain, Douglas↗

Viscous aerodynamic design using the adjoint variable approach

The use of classical optimal control methods, in particular variational methods, to solve the airfoil optimization problem, by deriving a set of adjoint (costate) equations and boundary conditions has already been done for inviscid (potential and Euler flows) and two dimensional, steady state, incompressible flow governed by the Navier-Stokes equations. The interior and boundary terms of the volume integral have been derived (in this work) for the steady Navier-Stokes equations in three dimensions for a viscous, compressible heat conducting fluid. This can be used to derive the adjoint equations and numerical boundary conditions for general classes of problems and hence paves the way for a solution to the aerodynamic optimization problem for compressible viscous flows. The next steps to the realization of that goal are projected as below. The usual square integral pressure functional as an objective function is being replaced by a more realistic drag functional subject to a lift constraint. The feasibility of attempting the more difficult time dependent problem is being investigated. It remains to get the full system of adjoint equations and boundary conditions with the new functional. The state and adjoint equations must be discretized and coded. An appropriate optimization program must be used (steepest descents seems inadequate) and various known airfoil shapes should be recovered in test cases of the computer program.

DeRise, George↗

Platform-Independence and Scheduling In a Multi-Threaded Real-Time Simulation

Aviation research often relies on real-time, pilot-in-the-loop flight simulation as a means to develop new flight software, flight hardware, or pilot procedures. Often these simulations become so complex that a single processor is incapable of performing the necessary computations within a fixed time-step. Threads are an elegant means to distribute the computational work-load when running on a symmetric multi-processor machine. However, programming with threads often requires operating system specific calls that reduce code portability and maintainability. While a multi-threaded simulation allows a significant increase in the simulation complexity, it also increases the workload of a simulation operator by requiring that the operator determine which models run on which thread. To address these concerns an object-oriented design was implemented in the NASA Langley Standard Real-Time Simulation in C++ (LaSRS++) application framework. The design provides a portable and maintainable means to use threads and also provides a mechanism to automatically load balance the simulation models.

Sugden, Paul P.↗

CAP: A Computer Code for Generating Tabular Thermodynamic Functions from NASA Lewis Coefficients

For several decades the NASA Glenn Research Center has been providing a file of thermodynamic data for use in several computer programs. These data are in the form of least-squares coefficients that have been calculated from tabular thermodynamic data by means of the NASA Properties and Coefficients (PAC) program. The source thermodynamic data are obtained from the literature or from standard compilations. Most gas-phase thermodynamic functions are calculated by the authors from molecular constant data using ideal gas partition functions. The Coefficients and Properties (CAP) program described in this report permits the generation of tabulated thermodynamic functions from the NASA least-squares coefficients. CAP provides considerable flexibility in the output format, the number of temperatures to be tabulated, and the energy units of the calculated properties. This report provides a detailed description of input preparation, examples of input and output for several species, and a listing of all species in the current NASA Glenn thermodynamic data file.

Zehe, Michael J.↗

CAP: A Computer Code for Generating Tabular Thermodynamic Functions from NASA Lewis Coefficients

For several decades the NASA Glenn Research Center has been providing a file of thermodynamic data for use in several computer programs. These data are in the form of least-squares coefficients that have been calculated from tabular thermodynamic data by means of the NASA Properties and Coefficients (PAC) program. The source thermodynamic data are obtained from the literature or from standard compilations. Most gas-phase thermodynamic functions are calculated by the authors from molecular constant data using ideal gas partition functions. The Coefficients and Properties (CAP) program described in this report permits the generation of tabulated thermodynamic functions from the NASA least-squares coefficients. CAP provides considerable flexibility in the output format, the number of temperatures to be tabulated, and the energy units of the calculated properties. This report provides a detailed description of input preparation, examples of input and output for several species, and a listing of all species in the current NASA Glenn thermodynamic data file.

Zehe, Michael J.↗

Development and Implementation of Non-Newtonian Rheology Into the Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP)

One of the goals of this program was to develop the experimental and analytical/computational tools required to predict the flow of non-Newtonian fluids through the various system components of a propulsion system: pipes, valves, pumps etc. To achieve this goal we selected to augment the capabilities of NASA's Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program (GFSSP) software. GFSSP is a general-purpose computer program designed to calculate steady state and transient pressure and flow distributions in a complex fluid network. While the current version of the GFSSP code is able to handle various systems components the implicit assumption in the code is that the fluids in the system are Newtonian. To extend the capability of the code to non-Newtonian fluids, such as silica gelled fuels and oxidizers, modifications to the momentum equations of the code have been performed. We have successfully implemented in GFSSP flow equations for fluids with power law behavior. The implementation of the power law fluid behavior into the GFSSP code depends on knowledge of the two fluid coefficients, n and K. The determination of these parameters for the silica gels used in this program was performed experimentally. The n and K parameters for silica water gels were determined experimentally at CFDRC's Special Projects Laboratory, with a constant shear rate capillary viscometer. Batches of 8:1 (by weight) water-silica gel were mixed using CFDRC s 10-gallon gelled propellant mixer. Prior to testing the gel was allowed to rest in the rheometer tank for at least twelve hours to ensure that the delicate structure of the gel had sufficient time to reform. During the tests silica gel was pressure fed and discharged through stainless steel pipes ranging from 1", to 36", in length and three diameters; 0.0237", 0.032", and 0.047". The data collected in these tests included pressure at tube entrance and volumetric flowrate. From these data the uncorrected shear rate, shear stress, residence time, and viscosity were evaluated using formulae for non-Newtonian, power law fluids. The maximum shear rates (corrected for entrance effects) obtained in the rheometer with the current setup were in the 150,000 to 170,000sec- range. GFSSP simulations were performed with a flow circuit simulating the capillary rheometer and using Power Law gel viscosity coefficients from the experimental data. The agreement between the experimental data and the simulated flow curves was within +/-4% given quality entrance effect data.

DiSalvo, Roberto↗

NIRSS Upgrades: Final Report

This year we were able to further the NIRSS program by re-writing the data ingest and display code from LabVIEW to C++ and Java. This was leveraged by a University of Colorado Computer Science Department Senior Project. The upgrade made the display more portable and upgradeable. Comparisons with research aircraft flights conducted during AIRS-2 were also done and demonstrate reasonable skill in determining cloud altitudes and liquid water distribution. Improvements can still be made to the cloud and liquid logic. The icing hazard index was not evaluated here since that represents work in progress and needs to be made compatible with the new CIP-Severity algorithm. CIP is the Current Icing Potential product that uses a combination decision tree/fuzzy logic algorithm to combine numerical weather model output with operational sensor data (NEXRAD, GOES, METARs and voice pilot reports) to produce an hourly icing diagnosis across the CONUS. The new severity algorithm seeks to diagnose liquid water production through rising, cooling air, and depletion by ice processes. The information used by CIP is very different from that ingested by NIRSS but some common ground does exist. Additionally, the role of NIRSS and the information it both needs and provides needs to be determined in context of the Next Generation Air Traffic System (NGATS). The Weather Integrated Products Team has a plan for an Initial Operating Capability (IOC) to take place in 2012. NIRSS is not explicitly a part of that IOC but should be considered as a follow-on as part of the development path to a 2025 full capability.

Politovich, Marcia K.↗

Programmable Logic Application Notes

This column will be provided each quarter as a source for reliability, radiation results, NASA capabilities, and other information on programmable logic devices and related applications. This quarter will continue a series of notes concentrating on analysis techniques with this issue's section discussing: Digital Timing Analysis Tools and Techniques. Articles in this issue include: SX and SX-A Series Devices Power Sequencing; JTAG and SXISX-AISX-S Series Devices; Analysis Techniques (i.e., notes on digital timing analysis tools and techniques); Status of the Radiation Hard reconfigurable Field Programmable Gate Array Program, Input Transition Times; Apollo Guidance Computer Logic Study; RT54SX32S Prototype Data Sets; A54SX32A - 0.22 micron/UMC Test Results; Ramtron FM1608 FRAM; and Analysis of VHDL Code and Synthesizer Output.

Katz, Richard↗

Relative Debugging of Automatically Parallelized Programs

We describe a system that simplifies the process of debugging programs produced by computer-aided parallelization tools. The system uses relative debugging techniques to compare serial and parallel executions in order to show where the computations begin to differ. If the original serial code is correct, errors due to parallelization will be isolated by the comparison. One of the primary goals of the system is to minimize the effort required of the user. To that end, the debugging system uses information produced by the parallelization tool to drive the comparison process. In particular, the debugging system relies on the parallelization tool to provide information about where variables may have been modified and how arrays are distributed across multiple processes. User effort is also reduced through the use of dynamic instrumentation. This allows us to modify, the program execution with out changing the way the user builds the executable. The use of dynamic instrumentation also permits us to compare the executions in a fine-grained fashion and only involve the debugger when a difference has been detected. This reduces the overhead of executing instrumentation.

Jost, Gabriele↗

Support for Debugging Automatically Parallelized Programs

We describe a system that simplifies the process of debugging programs produced by computer-aided parallelization tools. The system uses relative debugging techniques to compare serial and parallel executions in order to show where the computations begin to differ. If the original serial code is correct, errors due to parallelization will be isolated by the comparison. One of the primary goals of the system is to minimize the effort required of the user. To that end, the debugging system uses information produced by the parallelization tool to drive the comparison process. In particular the debugging system relies on the parallelization tool to provide information about where variables may have been modified and how arrays are distributed across multiple processes. User effort is also reduced through the use of dynamic instrumentation. This allows us to modify the program execution without changing the way the user builds the executable. The use of dynamic instrumentation also permits us to compare the executions in a fine-grained fashion and only involve the debugger when a difference has been detected. This reduces the overhead of executing instrumentation.

Jost, Gabriele↗

A Change Impact Analysis to Characterize Evolving Program Behaviors

Change impact analysis techniques estimate the potential effects of changes made to software. Directed Incremental Symbolic Execution (DiSE) is an intraprocedural technique for characterizing the impact of software changes on program behaviors. DiSE first estimates the impact of the changes on the source code using program slicing techniques, and then uses the impact sets to guide symbolic execution to generate path conditions that characterize impacted program behaviors. DiSE, however, cannot reason about the flow of impact between methods and will fail to generate path conditions for certain impacted program behaviors. In this work, we present iDiSE, an extension to DiSE that performs an interprocedural analysis. iDiSE combines static and dynamic calling context information to efficiently generate impacted program behaviors across calling contexts. Information about impacted program behaviors is useful for testing, verification, and debugging of evolving programs. We present a case-study of our implementation of the iDiSE algorithm to demonstrate its efficiency at computing impacted program behaviors. Traditional notions of coverage are insufficient for characterizing the testing efforts used to validate evolving program behaviors because they do not take into account the impact of changes to the code. In this work we present novel definitions of impacted coverage metrics that are useful for evaluating the testing effort required to test evolving programs. We then describe how the notions of impacted coverage can be used to configure techniques such as DiSE and iDiSE in order to support regression testing related tasks. We also discuss how DiSE and iDiSE can be configured for debugging finding the root cause of errors introduced by changes made to the code. In our empirical evaluation we demonstrate that the configurations of DiSE and iDiSE can be used to support various software maintenance tasks

Rungta, Neha Shyam↗

NERVA mass properties computer methodology

The computer codes are presented that were used for the weight, center of gravity, and mass moment of inertia calculations and documentation for the NERVA. The two programs, E15301 and 12001B, are the basic tools used for weights work on the NERVA program. Used in conjunction with one another, they allow for rapid weights estimates for new concepts or changes while allowing for orderly documentation, which is a necessity in any effective weights effort. Program E15301 requires that each component be resolved into a collection of standard shapes. Separate subroutines then process geometric and material density data for each entry. The master program the performs all calculations necessary to combine these results into a total weight, center of gravity, and moment of inertia for the component. Program 12001B accepts previously calculated weight and center of gravity data for individual components. The program sums weights and calculates center of gravities and moments of inertia for systems of up to four levels of assemblies. The output identifies the engine parts in a format usable directly in a formal report.

Hall, I. K.↗

Code Solves Three-Dimensional Navier-Stokes Equations

Set of computer codes solves three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for flow over nonaxisymmetric nozzles. Codes compute internal and external viscous flowfield about isolated nozzle, so flow characteristics and performance of three-dimensional jet engine exhaust nozzles can be predicted. Programs written in FORTRAN IV and ASSEMBLER.

Thomas, P.↗

Design and implementation of a compliant robot with force feedback and strategy planning software

Force-feedback robotics techniques are being developed for automated precision assembly and servicing of NASA space flight equipment. Design and implementation of a prototype robot which provides compliance and monitors forces is in progress. Computer software to specify assembly steps and makes force feedback adjustments during assembly are coded and tested for three generically different precision mating problems. A model program demonstrates that a suitably autonomous robot can plan its own strategy.

Premack, T.↗