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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 1,567 records · Page 87
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NASA NTRS1992

Overview of NASA human response to sonic boom program

For some routes the ability to fly at supersonic speeds over land as well as over water would greatly enhance the time benefit to the passenger. It would also increase the productivity and economic viability of the aircraft. There are no reliable guidelines which can be used to determine a sonic boom exposure which would be acceptable for overland supersonic flight. In addition to the peak pressure of the sonic boom, the detailed shape of the signature will also influence the perception, and therefore the community response, to sonic boom exposures. Initially, the program aims to develop the capability to predict human response to individual sonic booms. This will enable a quantitative assessment of the benefit of 'low boom' aircraft configurations and will also serve to guide the design of the aircraft and its operating conditions. This capability will form the foundation of studies to determine the relationship between sonic boom exposure and community response. Only then will it be possible to assess the feasibility of acceptable overland supersonic flight.

Shepherd, Kevin P.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Virtual reality as a human factors design analysis tool: Macro-ergonomic application validation and assessment of the Space Station Freedom payload control area

A virtual reality (VR) Applications Program has been under development at MSFC since 1989. Its objectives are to develop, assess, validate, and utilize VR in hardware development, operations development and support, missions operations training, and science training. A variety of activities are under way within many of these areas. One ongoing macro-ergonomic application of VR relates to the design of the Space Station Freedom Payload Control Area (PCA), the control room from which onboard payload operations are managed. Several preliminary conceptual PCA layouts have been developed and modeled in VR. Various managers and potential end users have virtually 'entered' these rooms and provided valuable feedback. Before VR can be used with confidence in a particular application, it must be validated, or calibrated, for that class of applications. Two associated validation studies for macro-ergonomic applications are under way to help characterize possible distortions of filtering of relevant perceptions in a virtual world. In both studies, existing control rooms and their 'virtual counterparts will be empirically compared using distance and heading estimations to objects and subjective assessments. Approaches and findings of the PCA activities and details of the studies are presented.

Hale, Joseph P.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The United States digital recording industry

The recording industry resembles the semiconductor industry in several aspects. Both are large (greater than $60 Billion/year revenues); both are considered critical technologies supporting national objectives; both are experiencing increased competition from foreign suppliers; they recognize significant opportunities for both technological and market growth in the decade to come; and both realize that a key to this future growth lies in alliances among industry, academia, and government. The semiconductor industry has made significant investments in alliances relating to manufacturing technologies (SEMATECH) and to joint long-term technology research centered in universities (SRC). The federal government has provided funding support of these efforts in recognition of the critical roles semiconductor technologies play in national interests. The recording industry is now also forming critical alliances, but has been slower in starting and in gaining broad recognition by government agencies and legislators that the industry needs federal support. Traditionally, the recording industry has been viewed as mature, stable, and, while critical to national interests, able to chart and fund its own course toward future national needs. That perception is fortunately changing.

Simonds, John L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

National facilities study. Volume 5: Space research and development facilities task group

With the beginnings of the U.S. space program, there was a pressing need to develop facilities that could support the technology research and development, testing, and operations of evolving space systems. Redundancy in facilities that was once and advantage in providing flexibility and schedule accommodation is instead fast becoming a burden on scarce resources. As a result, there is a clear perception in many sectors that the U.S. has many space R&D facilities that are under-utilized and which are no longer cost-effective to maintain. At the same time, it is clear that the U.S. continues to possess many space R&D facilities which are the best -- or among the best -- in the world. In order to remain world class in key areas, careful assessment of current capabilities and planning for new facilities is needed. The National Facility Study (NFS) was initiated in 1992 to develop a comprehensive and integrated long-term plan for future aerospace facilities that meets current and projected government and commercial needs. In order to assess the nation's capability to support space research and development (R&D), a Space R&D Task Group was formed. The Task Group was co-chaired by NASA and DOD. The Task Group formed four major, technologically- and functionally- oriented working groups: Human and Machine Operations; Information and Communications; Propulsion and Power; and Materials, Structures, and Flight Dynamics. In addition to these groups, three supporting working groups were formed: Systems Engineering and Requirements; Strategy and Policy; and Costing Analysis. The Space R&D Task Group examined several hundred facilities against the template of a baseline mission and requirements model (developed in common with the Space Operations Task Group) and a set of excursions from the baseline. The model and excursions are described in Volume 3 of the NFS final report. In addition, as a part of the effort, the group examined key strategic issues associated with space R&D facilities planning for the U.S., and these are discussed in Section 4 of this volume.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1994

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 40: Technical communications in aerospace education: A study of AIAA student members

This paper describes the preliminary analysis of a survey of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) student members. In the paper we examine (1) the demographic characteristics of the students, (2) factors that affected their career decisions, (3) their career goals and aspirations, and (4) their training in technical communication and techniques for finding and using aerospace scientific and technical information (STI). We determine that aerospace engineering students receive training in technical communication skills and the use of STI. While those in the aerospace industry think that more training is needed, we believe the students receive the appropriate amount of training. We think that the differences between the amount of training students receive and the perception of training needs is related partially to the characteristics of the students and partially to the structure of the aerospace STI dissemination system. Overall, we conclude that the students' technical communication training and knowledge of STI, while limited by external forces, makes it difficult for students to achieve their career goals.

Kennedy, John M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Aerospace applications of magnetic bearings

Magnetic bearings have traditionally been considered for use in aerospace applications only where performance advantages have been the primary, if not only, consideration. Conventional wisdom has been that magnetic bearings have certain performance advantages which must be traded off against increased weight, volume, electric power consumption, and system complexity. These perceptions have hampered the use of magnetic bearings in many aerospace applications because weight, volume, and power are almost always primary considerations. This paper will review progress on several active aerospace magnetic bearings programs at SatCon Technology Corporation. The magnetic bearing programs at SatCon cover a broad spectrum of applications including: a magnetically-suspended spacecraft integrated power and attitude control system (IPACS), a magnetically-suspended momentum wheel, magnetic bearings for the gas generator rotor of a turboshaft engine, a vibration-attenuating magnetic bearing system for an airborne telescope, and magnetic bearings for the compressor of a space-rated heat pump system. The emphasis of these programs is to develop magnetic bearing technologies to the point where magnetic bearings can be truly useful, reliable, and well tested components for the aerospace community.

Downer, James↗
NASA NTRS1992

Mach number effects on free and wall turbulent structures in light of instability flow interactions

Our perception of fluid instabilities and turbulence is largely based on properties of incompressible vorticity distributions, omega, and the Biot-Savart Law of 'instantaneous' induction at distance. In high-speed shear layers it is the distribution of local angular momentum rho-omega that matters; modified interaction-induction between vortical elements is likely to take place only within relative Mach cones of influence, with acoustic time delay. This and the large mean density stratifications influence strongly instability vortex roll-ups, vortex mergings, and large-scale turbulent structures. Consequences of these observations on transition to turbulence and turbulence energetics are discussed in physical terms. Free shear layers and wall layers may require distinct M modeling.

Morkovin, Mark V.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Extended cooperative control synthesis

This paper reports on research for extending the Cooperative Control Synthesis methodology to include a more accurate modeling of the pilot's controller dynamics. Cooperative Control Synthesis (CCS) is a methodology that addresses the problem of how to design control laws for piloted, high-order, multivariate systems and/or non-conventional dynamic configurations in the absence of flying qualities specifications. This is accomplished by emphasizing the parallel structure inherent in any pilot-controlled, augmented vehicle. The original CCS methodology is extended to include the Modified Optimal Control Model (MOCM), which is based upon the optimal control model of the human operator developed by Kleinman, Baron, and Levison in 1970. This model provides a modeling of the pilot's compensation dynamics that is more accurate than the simplified pilot dynamic representation currently in the CCS methodology. Inclusion of the MOCM into the CCS also enables the modeling of pilot-observation perception thresholds and pilot-observation attention allocation affects. This Extended Cooperative Control Synthesis (ECCS) allows for the direct calculation of pilot and system open- and closed-loop transfer functions in pole/zero form and is readily implemented in current software capable of analysis and design for dynamic systems. Example results based upon synthesizing an augmentation control law for an acceleration command system in a compensatory tracking task using the ECCS are compared with a similar synthesis performed by using the original CCS methodology. The ECCS is shown to provide augmentation control laws that yield more favorable, predicted closed-loop flying qualities and tracking performance than those synthesized using the original CCS methodology.

Davidson, John B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Method for optimizing resource allocation in a government organization

The managers in Federal agencies are challenged to control the extensive activities in government and still provide high-quality products and services to the American taxpayers. Considering today's complex social and economic environment and the $3.8 billion daily cost of operating the Federal Government, it is evident that there is a need to develop decision-making tools for accurate resource allocation and total quality management. The goal of this thesis is to provide a methodical process that will aid managers in Federal Government to make budgetary decisions based on the cost of services, the agency's objectives, and the customers' perception of the agency's product. A general resource allocation procedure was developed in this study that can be applied to any government organization. A government organization, hereafter the 'organization,' is assumed to be a multidivision enterprise. This procedure was applied to a small organization for the proof of the concept. This organization is the Technical Services Directorate (TSD) at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. As part of the procedure, a nonlinear programming model was developed to account for the resources of the organization, the outputs produced by the organization, the decision-maker's views, and the customers' satisfaction with the organization. The information on the resources of the organization was acquired from current budget levels of the organization and the human resources assigned to the divisions. The outputs of the organization were defined and measured by identifying metrics that assess the outputs, the most challenging task in this study. The decision-maker's views are represented in the model as weights assigned to the various outputs and were quantified by using the analytic hierarchy process. The customer's opinions regarding the outputs of the organization were collected through questionnaires that were designed for each division individually. Following the philosophy of total quality management, information on customers' satisfaction is presented in the model as the quality of output. The model is a nonlinear one whose objective is to maximize customers' satisfaction such that the total cost of operation does not exceed the organization's budget. This model represents a structured approach or policy mechanism, at the agency level, to make capital investment decisions based on the priorities of the agency and the quality of outputs. This procedure applied to TSD resulted in a resources allocation scheme that was reasonable and acceptable to the decision-makers and, as expected, dependent on the assumptions and accuracy of the data used in the model.

Afarin, James↗
NASA NTRS1994

The Impact of Educational Interventions on Organizational Culture at an Urban Federal Agency

This study on the impact of educational interventions on organizational culture is an evaluation of a major educational initiative undertaken by an urban federal agency, namely the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC). The design of this educational evaluation captures the essence of NASA-LaRC's efforts to continue its distinguished and international stature in the aeronautical research community following the Challenger tragedy. More specifically, this study is an evaluation of the educational initiative designed to ameliorate organizational culture via educational interventions, with emphasis on communications, rewards and recognition, and career development. After completing a review of the related literature, chronicling the educational initiative, interviewing senior managers and employees, and critically examining thousands of free responses on employee perceptions of organizational culture, it is found that previous definitions of organizational culture are more accurately classified as manifestations of organizational culture. This research has endeared to redefine 'organizational culture' by offering a more accurate and diagnostic perspective.

Mckenzie, Janet Myrick↗
NASA NTRS1994

Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service and Space (CIRFFSS 1994), Volume 2

The AIAA/NASA Conference on Intelligent Robotics in Field, Factory, Service, and Space (CIRFFSS '94) was originally proposed because of the strong belief that America's problems of global economic competitiveness and job creation and preservations can partly be solved by the use of intelligent robotics, which are also required for human space exploration missions. Individual sessions addressed the following topics: (1) vision systems integration and architecture; (2) selective perception and human robot interaction; (3) robotic systems technology; (4) military and other field applications; (5) dual-use precommercial robotic technology; (6) building operations; (7) planetary exploration applications; (8) planning; (9) new directions in robotics; and (10) commercialization.

Erickson, Jon D.↗
NASA NTRS1994

SAVA 3: A testbed for integration and control of visual processes

The development of an experimental test-bed to investigate the integration and control of perception in a continuously operating vision system is described. The test-bed integrates a 12 axis robotic stereo camera head mounted on a mobile robot, dedicated computer boards for real-time image acquisition and processing, and a distributed system for image description. The architecture was designed to: (1) be continuously operating, (2) integrate software contributions from geographically dispersed laboratories, (3) integrate description of the environment with 2D measurements, 3D models, and recognition of objects, (4) capable of supporting diverse experiments in gaze control, visual servoing, navigation, and object surveillance, and (5) dynamically reconfiguarable.

Crowley, James L.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Intersensory coordination

The dependence of body orientation and body configuration perception on multiple sources of afferent and efferent information about the spatial configuration of the body and its relationship to the support and force characteristics of the surroundings is discussed.

Lackner, James R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Active localization of virtual sounds

We describe a virtual sound display built around a 12 MHz 80286 microcomputer and special purpose analog hardware. The display implements most of the primary cues for sound localization in the ear-level plane. Static information about direction is conveyed by interaural time differences and, for frequencies above 1800 Hz, by head sound shadow (interaural intensity differences) and pinna sound shadow. Static information about distance is conveyed by variation in sound pressure (first power law) for all frequencies, by additional attenuation in the higher frequencies (simulating atmospheric absorption), and by the proportion of direct to reverberant sound. When the user actively locomotes, the changing angular position of the source occasioned by head rotations provides further information about direction and the changing angular velocity produced by head translations (motion parallax) provides further information about distance. Judging both from informal observations by users and from objective data obtained in an experiment on homing to virtual and real sounds, we conclude that simple displays such as this are effective in creating the perception of external sounds to which subjects can home with accuracy and ease.

Loomis, Jack M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Unique life sciences research facilities at NASA Ames Research Center

The Life Science Division at NASA's Ames Research Center has a suite of specialized facilities that enable scientists to study the effects of gravity on living systems. This paper describes some of these facilities and their use in research. Seven centrifuges, each with its own unique abilities, allow testing of a variety of parameters on test subjects ranging from single cells through hardware to humans. The Vestibular Research Facility allows the study of both centrifugation and linear acceleration on animals and humans. The Biocomputation Center uses computers for 3D reconstruction of physiological systems, and interactive research tools for virtual reality modeling. Psycophysiological, cardiovascular, exercise physiology, and biomechanical studies are conducted in the 12 bed Human Research Facility and samples are analyzed in the certified Central Clinical Laboratory and other laboratories at Ames. Human bedrest, water immersion and lower body negative pressure equipment are also available to study physiological changes associated with weightlessness. These and other weightlessness models are used in specialized laboratories for the study of basic physiological mechanisms, metabolism and cell biology. Visual-motor performance, perception, and adaptation are studied using ground-based models as well as short term weightlessness experiments (parabolic flights). The unique combination of Life Science research facilities, laboratories, and equipment at Ames Research Center are described in detail in relation to their research contributions.

Mulenburg, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

ISMCR 1994: Topical Workshop on Virtual Reality. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Measurement and Control in Robotics

This symposium on measurement and control in robotics included sessions on: (1) rendering, including tactile perception and applied virtual reality; (2) applications in simulated medical procedures and telerobotics; (3) tracking sensors in a virtual environment; (4) displays for virtual reality applications; (5) sensory feedback including a virtual environment application with partial gravity simulation; and (6) applications in education, entertainment, technical writing, and animation.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1992

Human performance in the modern cockpit

This panel was organized by the Aerospace Human Factors Committee to illustrate behavioral research on the perceptual, cognitive, and group processes that determine crew effectiveness in modern cockpits. Crew reactions to the introduction of highly automated systems in the cockpit will be reported on. Automation can improve operational capabilities and efficiency and can reduce some types of human error, but may also introduce entirely new opportunities for error. The problem solving and decision making strategies used by crews led by captains with various personality profiles will be discussed. Also presented will be computational approaches to modeling the cognitive demands of cockpit operations and the cognitive capabilities and limitations of crew members. Factors contributing to aircrew deviations from standard operating procedures and misuse of checklist, often leading to violations, incidents, or accidents will be examined. The mechanisms of visual perception pilots use in aircraft control and the implications of these mechanisms for effective design of visual displays will be discussed.

Dismukes, R. K.↗