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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 145 records · Page 8

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NASA NTRS2018

Guideline for Single-Event Effect (SEE) Testing of System on a Chip (SOC) Devices

The use of complex single and multicore processors with significant cache memory, on-chip peripherals, memory controllers, and high speed input/output (IO) that integrate many of the parts of a traditional computer system is becoming more common in space applications. Such devices are often referred to as system on a chip devices (SOCs), even though the term is used somewhat inaccurately due to the lack of analog and mixed signal subcircuits. These devices are complex combinations of single- or multi-core processors with memory controllers, high-speed input/output (IO), and other peripheral structures that formerly would have been handled by off-chip resources. In the past the processors were tested for single event effects (SEE) separately, and the peripherals were often put into custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) along with other resources required by the user. Performance and cost pressures have pushed commercial devices to incorporate many of the functional blocks into a single chip, an SOC. The NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program (NEPP) has been examining ways to perform SEE radiation hardness assurance (RHA) testing of these processor-centric SOCs to achieve reasonable understanding of their performance in space missions.

Guertin, Steven M.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Space shuttle engineering and operations support. Avionics system engineering

The shuttle avionics integration laboratory (SAIL) requirements for supporting the Spacelab/orbiter avionics verification process are defined. The principal topics are a Spacelab avionics hardware assessment, test operations center/electronic systems test laboratory (TOC/ESL) data processing requirements definition, SAIL (Building 16) payload accommodations study, and projected funding and test scheduling. Because of the complex nature of the Spacelab/orbiter computer systems, the PCM data link, and the high rate digital data system hardware/software relationships, early avionics interface verification is required. The SAIL is a prime candidate test location to accomplish this early avionics verification.

Broome, P. A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A knowledge-based flight status monitor for real-time application in digital avionics systems

The Dryden Flight Research Facility of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (Ames-Dryden) is the principal NASA facility for the flight testing and evaluation of new and complex avionics systems. To aid in the interpretation of system health and status data, a knowledge-based flight status monitor was designed. The monitor was designed to use fault indicators from the onboard system which are telemetered to the ground and processed by a rule-based model of the aircraft failure management system to give timely advice and recommendations in the mission control room. One of the important constraints on the flight status monitor is the need to operate in real time, and to pursue this aspect, a joint research activity between NASA Ames-Dryden and the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE) on real-time knowledge-based systems was established. Under this agreement, the original LISP knowledge base for the flight status monitor was reimplemented using the intelligent knowledge-based system toolkit, MUSE, which was developed under RAE sponsorship. Details of the flight status monitor and the MUSE implementation are presented.

Duke, E. L.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Accelerated testing of space mechanisms

This report contains a review of various existing life prediction techniques used for a wide range of space mechanisms. Life prediction techniques utilized in other non-space fields such as turbine engine design are also reviewed for applicability to many space mechanism issues. The development of new concepts on how various tribological processes are involved in the life of the complex mechanisms used for space applications are examined. A 'roadmap' for the complete implementation of a tribological prediction approach for complex mechanical systems including standard procedures for test planning, analytical models for life prediction and experimental verification of the life prediction and accelerated testing techniques are discussed. A plan is presented to demonstrate a method for predicting the life and/or performance of a selected space mechanism mechanical component.

Murray, S. Frank↗

NASA NTRS2024

Tiltrotor Test Rig Wind-Tunnel Test Data Catalog

The Tiltrotor Test Rig (TTR) is a large-scale proprotor test system for the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC). The first wind-tunnel entry was completed in November 2018 with a modern, 26-ft diameter proprotor. The rotor tested was the Bell Model 699, an AW609 rotor modified specifically for wind-tunnel testing. The primary purpose was to complete the development of the TTR, including systems integration with the NFAC. Testing included axial flow up to 273 knots, conversion mode from 30 to 100 deg nacelle angle, and hover/vertical climb conditions. Additional testing included aerodynamic tares, motor tests, thermal tests, modal vibration tests, and other checkout activities. This report lists the test conditions achieved and the types of data acquired and saved in the database.

NFAC↗

NASA NTRS2024

Discrete Event Simulation-Based Timeline Validation Using R2U2

The Gateway Vehicle Systems Manager (VSM), the top-level software control system in a distributed, hierarchical Autonomous System Management Architecture is, like most modern spacecraft software control systems, heavily data-driven. For example, schedules (timelines) will be developed on the ground and, due to the high degree of autonomy, contain complex procedures involving conditional branching, variable timing, and resource contention resolution. In order to verify that an uploaded timeline will function correctly, it is necessary to explore the feasible set of possible executions. While it is possible to test a timeline using a mission simulation, the complexity of the system and duration of a timeline limits the number of trials and therefore the test coverage. To address this problem, the VSM team is using a discrete event system model that can rapidly generate from a timeline sets of event sequences using Monte Carlo techniques. To achieve rapid and trustworthy checking of the event sequences, we use an offline version of the runtime model checking tool R2U2. This presentation describes the approach the VSM team is using to implement the discrete event simulation and evaluate event sequences using R2U2. The presentation will discuss: 1. Description of the timelines by VSM in the context of VSM operations 2. Expansion of a timeline into a sequence of atomic events 3. Adjustment, in the Monte Carlo environment, of an event sequence to account for uncertainty, external events, and failures 4. Definition of R2U2 input and mission-time linear temporal logic files 5. Generation and use of R2U2 verdict sequences 6. Lessons learned and future work

Verification↗

DOE OSTI2025

Control System Upgrade for Battery State-of-Charge Indications

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Complex at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) relies on Battery Backed Power (BBP) systems and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) to ensure continuous power supply to critical components. This project aims to enhance the reliability and functionality of the battery monitoring and control systems by updating the State-of-Charge (SOC) system, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for the nuclear safety-related battery banks. The current system, while functional, has areas for improvement, particularly in recharging calculations and alarm functions. The project objectives include developing flow charts, programming the new PLC and HMI, conducting bench tests, and updating design documentation. Additionally, the project ensures compliance with safety standards, develops training materials, creates comprehensive documentation, and integrates seamlessly with existing ATR infrastructure. The new SOC system is designed to be scalable for future upgrades, improve efficiency, enhance data accuracy, implement redundancy features, and achieve project goals within budget constraints while considering environmental impact. The methodology involved familiarizing with BBP and UPS systems, collecting current readings, rescaling signals, learning ladder logic, and updating the HMI. The transition from SLC 5/03 PLC using RS Logix 500 to CompactLogix 5380 using Studio 5000 was a key step. Despite challenges in transferring outdated PLC ladder logic and HMI code, starting from scratch led to a more accurate and efficient monitoring system, contributing to improved safety and operational efficiency. The project is currently awaiting approval of the Engineering Calculation and Analysis Report (ECAR) before implementation.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2012

Practical Applications of Cosmic Ray Science: Spacecraft, Aircraft, Ground-Based Computation and Control Systems, and Human Health and Safety

Three twentieth century technological developments, 1) high altitude commercial and military aircraft; 2) manned and unmanned spacecraft; and 3) increasingly complex and sensitive solid state micro-electronics systems, have driven an ongoing evolution of basic cosmic ray science into a set of practical engineering tools needed to design, test, and verify the safety and reliability of modern complex technological systems. The effects of primary cosmic ray particles and secondary particle showers produced by nuclear reactions with the atmosphere, can determine the design and verification processes (as well as the total dollar cost) for manned and unmanned spacecraft avionics systems. Similar considerations apply to commercial and military aircraft operating at high latitudes and altitudes near the atmospheric Pfotzer maximum. Even ground based computational and controls systems can be negatively affected by secondary particle showers at the Earth s surface, especially if the net target area of the sensitive electronic system components is large. Finally, accumulation of both primary cosmic ray and secondary cosmic ray induced particle shower radiation dose is an important health and safety consideration for commercial or military air crews operating at high altitude/latitude and is also one of the most important factors presently limiting manned space flight operations beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). In this paper we review the discovery of cosmic ray effects on the performance and reliability of microelectronic systems as well as human health and the development of the engineering and health science tools used to evaluate and mitigate cosmic ray effects in ground-based atmospheric flight, and space flight environments. Ground test methods applied to microelectronic components and systems are used in combinations with radiation transport and reaction codes to predict the performance of microelectronic systems in their operating environments. Similar radiation transport codes are used to evaluate possible human health effects of cosmic ray exposure, however, the health effects are based on worst-case analysis and extrapolation of a very limited human exposure data base combined with some limited experimental animal data. Finally, the limitations on human space operations beyond low-Earth orbit imposed by long term exposure to galactic cosmic rays are discussed.

Atwell, William↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Full-Scale Burst Testing for Inflatable Softgoods

Inflatable softgoods are complex, multi-material system in which each layer performs a specific function. NASA is supporting the private sector in development and testing of inflatable softgoods architectures through public-private partnerships. Inflatable softgoods represent one structural material option for future habitation platforms.

habitation↗

NASA NTRS2010

Thermal Performance of Cryogenic Multilayer Insulation at Various Layer Spacings

Multilayer insulation (MLI) has been shown to be the best performing cryogenic insulation system at high vacuum (less that 10 (exp 3) torr), and is widely used on spaceflight vehicles. Over the past 50 years, many investigations into MLI have yielded a general understanding of the many variables that are associated with MLI. MLI has been shown to be a function of variables such as warm boundary temperature, the number of reflector layers, and the spacer material in between reflectors, the interstitial gas pressure and the interstitial gas. Since the conduction between reflectors increases with the thickness of the spacer material, yet the radiation heat transfer is inversely proportional to the number of layers, it stands to reason that the thermal performance of MLI is a function of the number of layers per thickness, or layer density. Empirical equations that were derived based on some of the early tests showed that the conduction term was proportional to the layer density to a power. This power depended on the material combination and was determined by empirical test data. Many authors have graphically shown such optimal layer density, but none have provided any data at such low densities, or any method of determining this density. Keller, Cunnington, and Glassford showed MLI thermal performance as a function of layer density of high layer densities, but they didn't show a minimal layer density or any data below the supposed optimal layer density. However, it was recently discovered that by manipulating the derived empirical equations and taking a derivative with respect to layer density yields a solution for on optimal layer density. Various manufacturers have begun manufacturing MLI at densities below the optimal density. They began this based on the theory that increasing the distance between layers lowered the conductive heat transfer and they had no limitations on volume. By modifying the circumference of these blankets, the layer density can easily be varied. The simplest method of determining the thermal performance of MLI at cryogenic temperature is by boil-off calorimetry. Several blankets were procured and tested at various layer densities at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. The densities that the blankets were tested over covered a wide range of layer densities including the analytical minimum. Several of the blankets were tested at the same insulation thickness while changing the layer density (thus a different number of reflector layers). Optimizing the layer density of multilayer insulation systems for heat transfer would remove a layer density from the complex method of designing such insulation systems. Additional testing was performed at various warm boundary temperatures and pressures. The testing and analysis was performed to simplify the analysis of cryogenic thermal insulation systems. This research was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Exploration Technology Development Program's Cryogenic Fluid Management Project

Johnson, Wesley Louis↗

NASA NTRS1995

On automating domain connectivity for overset grids

An alternative method for domain connectivity among systems of overset grids is presented. Reference uniform Cartesian systems of points are used to achieve highly efficient domain connectivity, and form the basis for a future fully automated system. The Cartesian systems are used to approximate body surfaces and to map the computational space of component grids. By exploiting the characteristics of Cartesian systems, Chimera type hole-cutting and identification of donor elements for intergrid boundary points can be carried out very efficiently. The method is tested for a range of geometrically complex multiple-body overset grid systems. A dynamic hole expansion/contraction algorithm is also implemented to obtain optimum domain connectivity; however, it is tested only for geometry of generic shapes.

Chiu, Ing-Tsau↗

DOE OSTI2025

2025 Continuing Incubator Final Report: Active Hybrid Mooring

This project advanced the development of an active hybrid mooring system integrating experimental testing with numerical simulation to capture complex mooring dynamics not feasible in existing wave basins, including deep-water and shared mooring interactions. Verification testing of the complete hybrid system yielded good agreement in mooring tension and platform translation responses, though discrepancies in platform pitch response indicate that further refinement may be needed in future work.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗

NASA NTRS2012

Requirements-Driven Log Analysis Extended Abstract

Imagine that you are tasked to help a project improve their testing effort. In a realistic scenario it will quickly become clear, that having an impact is diffcult. First of all, it will likely be a challenge to suggest an alternative approach which is significantly more automated and/or more effective than current practice. The reality is that an average software system has a complex input/output behavior. An automated testing approach will have to auto-generate test cases, each being a pair (i; o) consisting of a test input i and an oracle o. The test input i has to be somewhat meaningful, and the oracle o can be very complicated to compute. Second, even in case where some testing technology has been developed that might improve current practice, it is then likely difficult to completely change the current behavior of the testing team unless the technique is obviously superior and does everything already done by existing technology. So is there an easier way to incorporate formal methods-based approaches than the full edged test revolution? Fortunately the answer is affirmative. A relatively simple approach is to benefit from possibly already existing logging infrastructure, which after all is part of most systems put in production. A log is a sequence of events, generated by special log recording statements, most often manually inserted in the code by the programmers. An event can be considered as a data record: a mapping from field names to values. We can analyze such a log using formal methods, for example checking it against a formal specification. This separates running the system for analyzing its behavior. It is not meant as an alternative to testing since it does not address the important in- put generation problem. However, it offers a solution which testing teams might accept since it has low impact on the existing process. A single person might be assigned to perform such log analysis, compared to the entire testing team changing behavior.

log analysis↗

NASA NTRS2021

The Use of High Energy Heavy Ion Facilities for Single Event Effects (SEE) Testing: A Perspective on Return on Investment (ROI)

With challenges related to testing highly complex integrated circuits as well as entire systems continuing to grow, the use of higher energy heavy ions for single-event effects (SEE) testing becomes a critical technical need. This presentation, however, focuses only partially on the technical side with the main emphasis on the economics of using a high-energy heavy ion beam and comparing via notional cost models for testing.

Kenneth A. LaBel↗

DOE OSTI2025

Handbook for Performing Hydrocarbon Fuel Fires in XTF For Fast-Heat System Level Tests

This document serves to provide information on all aspects of a system level thermal qualification test including a description of the setup and conduct of a full system fuel fire test in the Thermal Test Complex (TTC) Crosswind Test Facility (XTF). This might be referred to as a “handbook” for future tests. This information is intended to assist technologists and test directors in performing these types of tests in the future.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Digital Droplet PCR and Mesocosm-Based Methods to Evaluate Biocontainment Strategies in a Native Soil Ecosystem

Genetically modified industrial production microbes and their associated bioproducts have emerged as an integral component of a sustainable bioeconomy. However, the rapid development of these innovative technologies raises biosecurity concerns, namely, the risk of environmental escape. Thus, the realization of a bioeconomy hinges not only on the development and deployment of microbial production hosts, but also on the development of secure biosystems and biocontainment designs. Current laboratory-based biocontainment testing systems do not accurately reflect the complexities found in natural environments, necessitating an environmentally relevant analysis pipeline that allows for the detection of rare escapees within a complex soil microbiome and differentiation between closely related strains. To this end, we have developed an approach that utilizes soil mesocosms and integrated digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) system to evaluate the efficacy of novel biocontainment strategies. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by modeling contamination with industrial microbial chasses versus their biocontained counterparts. Here we demonstrate the broad utility of this system by highlighting findings from strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are contained with an inducible toxin anti-toxin system, strains of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 contained via gene knockout or toxin anti-toxin system, and strains of Escherichia coli that are contained via genomic recoding. We also show that ddPCR can be used to detect gene copies from E. coli equal to those counted by traditional spot plating assays. The resultant data demonstrates that this system has broad utility across diverse microbial chassis and biocontainment strategies and enables researchers to track the fate of our contaminating microbe with high sensitivity in the soil. The findings presented here support the use of this mesocosm-based approach to assess the environmental impact of industrial microbes and to validate biocontainment strategies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRS1985

Structural analysis model validation using modal test data

The design of a structure which can survive a prescribed dynamic environment is generally based on the use of an analytical model of the structure. The modal test is employed to verify the analytical model. This paper is concerned with the involved validation process, taking into account modal test results from realistic complex spacecraft structural systems as examples to demonstrate the proposed validation procedure. Attention is given to a load analysis model definition, a pretest analysis and test/analysis model, and the correlation parameters. Coordinate transformation is considered along with mode identification, frequency orthogonality, effective mass, mode shape, local kinetic energy, modal force, strain energy, and modal forces by acceleration measurements. Two examples are used to illustrate the procedure.

Chen, J.-C.↗

NASA NTRS2011

NASA Applications for Computational Electromagnetic Analysis

Computational Electromagnetic Software is used by NASA to analyze the compatibility of systems too large or too complex for testing. Recent advances in software packages and computer capabilities have made it possible to determine the effects of a transmitter inside a launch vehicle fairing, better analyze the environment threats, and perform on-orbit replacements with assured electromagnetic compatibility.

Lewis, Catherine C.↗