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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Research summary

The final report for progress during the period from 15 Nov. 1988 to 14 Nov. 1991 is presented. Research on methods for analysis of sound propagation through the atmosphere and on results obtained from application of our methods are summarized. Ten written documents of NASA research are listed, and these include publications, manuscripts accepted, submitted, or in preparation for publication, and reports. Twelve presentations of results, either at scientific conferences or at research or technical organizations, since the start of the grant period are indicated. Names of organizations to which software produced under the grant was distributed are provided, and the current arrangement whereby the software is being distributed to the scientific community is also described. Finally, the names of seven graduate students who worked on NASA research and received Rensselaer degrees during the grant period, along with their current employers are given.

Siegmann, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Systems aspects of COBE science data compression

A general approach to compression of diverse data from large scientific projects has been developed and this paper addresses the appropriate system and scientific constraints together with the algorithm development and test strategy. This framework has been implemented for the COsmic Background Explorer spacecraft (COBE) by retrofitting the existing VAS-based data management system with high-performance compression software permitting random access to the data. Algorithms which incorporate scientific knowledge and consume relatively few system resources are preferred over ad hoc methods. COBE exceeded its planned storage by a large and growing factor and the retrieval of data significantly affects the processing, delaying the availability of data for scientific usage and software test. Embedded compression software is planned to make the project tractable by reducing the data storage volume to an acceptable level during normal processing.

Freedman, I.↗
NASA NTRS2006

Integrated System for Autonomous Science

The New Millennium Program Space Technology 6 Project Autonomous Sciencecraft software implements an integrated system for autonomous planning and execution of scientific, engineering, and spacecraft-coordination actions. A prior version of this software was reported in "The TechSat 21 Autonomous Sciencecraft Experiment" (NPO-30784), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 3 (March 2004), page 33. This software is now in continuous use aboard the Earth Orbiter 1 (EO-1) spacecraft mission and is being adapted for use in the Mars Odyssey and Mars Exploration Rovers missions. This software enables EO-1 to detect and respond to such events of scientific interest as volcanic activity, flooding, and freezing and thawing of water. It uses classification algorithms to analyze imagery onboard to detect changes, including events of scientific interest. Detection of such events triggers acquisition of follow-up imagery. The mission-planning component of the software develops a response plan that accounts for visibility of targets and operational constraints. The plan is then executed under control by a task-execution component of the software that is capable of responding to anomalies.

Chien, Steve↗
NASA NTRS1984

Characterizing the scientific potential of satellite sensors

Algorithms and software were developed for the correction of coherent noise, scan correlated shift, and the bright target saturation effect in Thematic Mapper imagery. In addition, a package of LANDSAT Assessment System programs was developed to demonstrate the results from TM radiometric characterization and calibration work.

Lee, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Automated Reuse of Scientific Subroutine Libraries through Deductive Synthesis

Systematic software construction offers the potential of elevating software engineering from an art-form to an engineering discipline. The desired result is more predictable software development leading to better quality and more maintainable software. However, the overhead costs associated with the formalisms, mathematics, and methods of systematic software construction have largely precluded their adoption in real-world software development. In fact, many mainstream software development organizations, such as Microsoft, still maintain a predominantly oral culture for software development projects; which is far removed from a formalism-based culture for software development. An exception is the limited domain of safety-critical software, where the high-assuiance inherent in systematic software construction justifies the additional cost. We believe that systematic software construction will only be adopted by mainstream software development organization when the overhead costs have been greatly reduced. Two approaches to cost mitigation are reuse (amortizing costs over many applications) and automation. For the last four years, NASA Ames has funded the Amphion project, whose objective is to automate software reuse through techniques from systematic software construction. In particular, deductive program synthesis (i.e., program extraction from proofs) is used to derive a composition of software components (e.g., subroutines) that correctly implements a specification. The construction of reuse libraries of software components is the standard software engineering solution for improving software development productivity and quality.

Lowry, Michael R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

NASA's Software Bank (Cassegrain Feed System)

When Scientific-Atlanta had to design a new Cassegrain antenna, they found that the COSMIC program, "Machine Design of Cassegrain Feed System" allowed for computer simulation of the antenna's performance enabling pre-construction changes to be made. Significant cost savings were effected by the program.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2013

Towards Efficient Scientific Data Management Using Cloud Storage

A software prototype allows users to backup and restore data to/from both public and private cloud storage such as Amazon's S3 and NASA's Nebula. Unlike other off-the-shelf tools, this software ensures user data security in the cloud (through encryption), and minimizes users operating costs by using space- and bandwidth-efficient compression and incremental backup. Parallel data processing utilities have also been developed by using massively scalable cloud computing in conjunction with cloud storage. One of the innovations in this software is using modified open source components to work with a private cloud like NASA Nebula. Another innovation is porting the complex backup to- cloud software to embedded Linux, running on the home networking devices, in order to benefit more users.

He, Qiming↗
NASA NTRS1997

An Assessmant of a Beofulf System for a Wide Class of Analysis and Design Software

This paper discusses Beowulf systems, focusing on Hyglac, the Beowulf system installed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The purpose of the paper is to assess how a system of this type will perform while running a variety of scientific and engineering analysis and design software.

communications measurement parallel performance me↗
NASA NTRS1992

ROSAT data analysis with EXSAS

For the x-ray observatory ROSAT, data from survey and pointed mission phases taken with different focal plane instruments and according to a complex mission timeline have to be handled. Data analysis therefore puts high demands on appropriate software tools. With EXSAS - the Extended Scientific Analysis System developed with an effort of 20 man years by the German ROSAT Scientific Data Center - a comfortable system for the reduction of data from the ROSAT x-ray and XUV instruments has been made available. EXSAS comprises a large collection of application modules as typically required in analyzing data of this wavelength regime and runs as a specific context in the wide-spread ESO-MIDAS environment. EXSAS, completely written in FORTRAN 77, takes full advantage of all the standards used in MIDAS and therefore, reflects the same portability (different UNIX installations and VMS). If required, the FORTRAN code also enables users to adapt the software in an easy way to their specific needs. To maintain independence from the specifics of different operating systems also on the data input side, all ROSAT data redistributed in the widely accepted FITS format. Although EXSAS has been developed specifically for data analysis of the ROSAT instruments, its structural design is sufficiently general to serve equally well also data from other X-ray and XUV instruments. EXSAS analysis modules are grouped into 4 application packages dealing with Data Preparation and Instrument Correction, Spatial Analysis, Spectral Analysis and Timing Analysis. A special EXSAS header, read and updated by each application, maintains the general information transfer on the origin, the history and the parameter space of the data stored in tables and images. About 100 genuine commands (most of which offer several additional options) allow to interactively explore the functionality of the system. Up to now 40 institutes all over the world have requested the EXSAS software. Maintenance and regular updates of the software and the comprehensive documentation are provided by the ROSAT Scientific Data Center at Garching.

Zimmermann, H. U.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Trajectory, atmosphere, and wind reconstruction from Viking entry measurements

During Mars entry, each Viking Lander will collect and send to earth large quantities of measurement data, both scientific and engineering in nature. Software has been developed to statistically process this and other data in order to reconstruct, for mission support purposes, the entry trajectory, an 'engineering' atmosphere, and a wind profile. Procedures are described for processing limited amounts of the available data in such a manner that the maximum amount of information can be extracted therefrom, consistent with program design, response requirements, and mission operations constraints. Results of observability studies and simulations indicate that accuracy requirements will be met.

Hopper, F. W.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Statistical analysis of trigonometric parallaxes

The present project was initiated with two specific medium-term goals: first, to develop a novel approach, based on global modeling and maximum likelihood, to the study of databases of stellar data, with specific attention to the results to be obtained by the Hipparcos mission; and second, to apply and test the methodology developed to existing ground-based data. The long-term goal was of course to integrate the methodology and the ground-based data into a global study of the results of the Hipparcos mission, which were expected to be made available in 1995 or 1996. The closing of the project is due to the recent change of home institution of the PI, who has moved from the University of Illinois to Johns Hopkins University. As a consequence of this move, the three scientists involved in this project will be in close proximity, thereby hopefully improving their ability to collaborate and increasing the productivity of the project. Continued funding for the project has been requested from Johns Hopkins University. This report describes briefly the results obtained so far both on the technical aspect of software development and on the scientific side of applications to existing ground-based data. Significant progress has been made on both counts, with several papers published in (or submitted to) refereed journals and in conference proceedings. Because it is hoped that the project can be successfully continued with NASA support, the report of the progress in each area includes also an assessment of how the current results fit in the expected continuation of the project. Our results to date include: code development (essentially completed); a detailed study of the kinematics and dynamics of stars escaping from the Hyades cluster, relevant to the question of membership in the Hyades; a study of the kinematics and luminosity calibration of nearby dwarfs; an assessment of the quality of the photometry included in the Hipparcos Input Catalog; and two studies of properties of nearby clusters, including a moving-cluster determination of the distance to Praesepe. The bibliography includes three papers submitted to refereed journals, two of which have already been published, and four contributions to conference proceedings. Finally, the work so far has also provided a very good introduction to stellar dynamics and astrometry for an undergraduate student, with educational benefits that had not been foreseen in the original proposal.

Casertano, Stefano↗
NASA NTRS1997

Environmental Assessment and Monitoring with ICAMS (Image Characterization and Modeling System) Using Multiscale Remote-Sensing Data

With the rapid increase in spatial data, especially in the NASA-EOS (Earth Observing System) era, it is necessary to develop efficient and innovative tools to handle and analyze these data so that environmental conditions can be assessed and monitored. A main difficulty facing geographers and environmental scientists in environmental assessment and measurement is that spatial analytical tools are not easily accessible. We have recently developed a remote sensing/GIS software module called Image Characterization and Modeling System (ICAMS) to provide specialized spatial analytical tools for the measurement and characterization of satellite and other forms of spatial data. ICAMS runs on both the Intergraph-MGE and Arc/info UNIX and Windows-NT platforms. The main techniques in ICAMS include fractal measurement methods, variogram analysis, spatial autocorrelation statistics, textural measures, aggregation techniques, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and delineation of land/water and vegetated/non-vegetated boundaries. In this paper, we demonstrate the main applications of ICAMS on the Intergraph-MGE platform using Landsat Thematic Mapper images from the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana. While the utilities of ICAMS' spatial measurement methods (e.g., fractal indices) in assessing environmental conditions remain to be researched, making the software available to a wider scientific community can permit the techniques in ICAMS to be evaluated and used for a diversity of applications. The findings from these various studies should lead to improved algorithms and more reliable models for environmental assessment and monitoring.

Lam, N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

User Interface Technology for Formal Specification Development

Formal specification development and modification are an essential component of the knowledge-based software life cycle. User interface technology is needed to empower end-users to create their own formal specifications. This paper describes the advanced user interface for AMPHION1 a knowledge-based software engineering system that targets scientific subroutine libraries. AMPHION is a generic, domain-independent architecture that is specialized to an application domain through a declarative domain theory. Formal specification development and reuse is made accessible to end-users through an intuitive graphical interface that provides semantic guidance in creating diagrams denoting formal specifications in an application domain. The diagrams also serve to document the specifications. Automatic deductive program synthesis ensures that end-user specifications are correctly implemented. The tables that drive AMPHION's user interface are automatically compiled from a domain theory; portions of the interface can be customized by the end-user. The user interface facilitates formal specification development by hiding syntactic details, such as logical notation. It also turns some of the barriers for end-user specification development associated with strongly typed formal languages into active sources of guidance, without restricting advanced users. The interface is especially suited for specification modification. AMPHION has been applied to the domain of solar system kinematics through the development of a declarative domain theory. Testing over six months with planetary scientists indicates that AMPHION's interactive specification acquisition paradigm enables users to develop, modify, and reuse specifications at least an order of magnitude more rapidly than manual program development.

Lowry, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2008

Transformation of OODT CAS to Perform Larger Tasks

A computer program denoted OODT CAS has been transformed to enable performance of larger tasks that involve greatly increased data volumes and increasingly intensive processing of data on heterogeneous, geographically dispersed computers. Prior to the transformation, OODT CAS (also alternatively denoted, simply, 'CAS') [wherein 'OODT' signifies 'Object-Oriented Data Technology' and 'CAS' signifies 'Catalog and Archive Service'] was a proven software component used to manage scientific data from spaceflight missions. In the transformation, CAS was split into two separate components representing its canonical capabilities: file management and workflow management. In addition, CAS was augmented by addition of a resource-management component. This third component enables CAS to manage heterogeneous computing by use of diverse resources, including high-performance clusters of computers, commodity computing hardware, and grid computing infrastructures. CAS is now more easily maintainable, evolvable, and reusable. These components can be used separately or, taking advantage of synergies, can be used together. Other elements of the transformation included addition of a separate Web presentation layer that supports distribution of data products via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, and provision for full Resource Description Framework (RDF) exports of metadata.

Mattmann, Chris↗
NASA NTRS2017

Extravehicular Activity Operations Concepts Under Communication Latency and Bandwidth Constraints

The Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT) project is a multi-year program dedicated to iteratively develop, implement, and evaluate concepts of operations (ConOps) and supporting capabilities intended to enable and enhance human scientific exploration of Mars. This pa-per describes the planning, execution, and initial results from the first field deployment, referred to as BASALT-1, which consisted of a series of 10 simulated extravehicular activities (EVAs) on volcanic flows in Idaho's Craters of the Moon (COTM) National Monument. The ConOps and capabilities deployed and tested during BASALT-1 were based on previous NASA trade studies and analog testing. Our primary research question was whether those ConOps and capabilities work acceptably when performing real (non-simulated) biological and geological scientific exploration under 4 different Mars-to-Earth communication conditions: 5 and 15 min one-way light time (OWLT) communication latencies and low (0.512 Mb/s uplink, 1.54 Mb/s downlink) and high (5.0 Mb/s uplink, 10.0 Mb/s downlink) bandwidth conditions representing the lower and higher limits of technical communication capabilities currently proposed for future human exploration missions. The synthesized results of BASALT-1 with respect to the ConOps and capabilities assessment were derived from a variety of sources, including EVA task timing data, network analytic data, and subjective ratings and comments regarding the scientific and operational acceptability of the ConOp and the extent to which specific capabilities were enabling and enhancing, and are presented here. BASALT-1 established preliminary findings that baseline ConOp, software systems, and communication protocols were scientifically and operationally acceptable with minor improvements desired by the "Mars" extravehicular (EV) and intravehicular (IV) crewmembers, but unacceptable with improvements required by the "Earth" Mission Support Center. These data will provide a basis for guiding and prioritizing capability development for future BASALT deployments and, ultimately, future human exploration missions.

Beaton, Kara H.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Refactoring and Componentizing Legacy Codes: GMI Case Study

As Earth science applications grow increasingly complex over time, maintenance of such software becomes a significant challenge. In general, the software subsystems were designed, implemented and integrated (over an extended period of time) by different groups that did not follow the same software design standard. The objective was understandably to obtain scientific results quickly, but this goal was often achieved at the expense of good software practices. With that pattern of development, the cost of incremental changes to the applications grow ominously large. This increase in effort, tends to squeeze development resources and largely prevent any systematic attempt to reintroduce better software practices and thereby enhance the maintainability of the software. In this paper, we present the process we used to incrementally refactor and componentize the Global Modeling Initiative code to make it more understandable, maintainable, flexible and extensible. The resulting product not only preserves the scientific integrity of the original code but also extends the capabilities of the code for several applications.

Kouatchou, Jules↗
NASA NTRS1995

SAVS: A Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science system

The research environment faced by space and atmospheric scientists in the 1990s is characterized by unprecedented volumes of new data, by ever-increasing repositories of unexploited mission files, and by the widespread use of empirical and large-scale computational models needed for the synthesis of understanding across data sets and discipline boundaries. The effective analysis and interpretation of such massive amounts of information have become the subjects of legitimate concern. With SAVS (a Space and Atmospheric Visualization Science System), we address these issues by creating a 'push-button' software environment that mimics the logical scientific processes in data acquisition, reduction, and analysis without requiring a detailed understanding of the methods, networks, and modules that link the tools and effectively execute the functions. SAVS provides (1) a customizable framework for accessing a powerful set of visualization tools based on the popular AVS visualization software with hooks to PV-Wave and access to Khoros modules, (2) a set of mathematical and statistical tools, (3) an extensible library of discipline-specific functions and models (e.g., MSIS, IRI, Feldstein Oval, IGRF, satellite tracking with CADRE-3, etc.), and (4) capabilities for local and remote data base access. The system treats scalar, vector, and image data, and runs on most common Unix workstations. We present a description of SAVS and its components, followed by several applications based on generic research interests in interplanetary and magnetospheric physics (IMP/ISTP), active experiments in space (CRRES), and mission planning focused on the Earth's thermospheric, ionospheric, and mesospheric domains (TIMED).

Szuszczewicz, E. P.↗