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At least 163 records · Page 9

Wireless Temperature-Monitoring System

A relatively inexpensive instrumentation system that includes units that are connected to thermocouples and that are parts of a radio-communication network has been developed to enable monitoring of temperatures at multiple locations. Because there is no need to string wires or cables for communication, the system is well suited for monitoring temperatures at remote locations and for applications in which frequent changes of monitored or monitoring locations are needed. The system can also be adapted to monitoring of slowly varying physical quantities, other than temperature, that can be transduced by solid-state electronic sensors. electronic sensors. The system comprises any number of transmitting units and a single receiving unit. Each transmitting unit includes connections for as many as four external thermocouples, a signal-conditioning module, a control module, and a radio-communication module. The signal-conditioning module acts as an interface between the thermocouples and the rest of the transmitting unit and includes a built-in solid ambient temperature sensor that is in addition to the external thermocouples. The control module is a system-on-chip embedded processor that includes analog-to-digital converters, serial and parallel data ports, and an interface for local connection to an analog meter that is used during installation to verify correct operation. The radio-communication module contains a commercial spread-spectrum transceiver that operates in the 900-MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band. This transceiver transmits data to the receiving unit at a rate of 19,200 baud. The receiving unit includes a transceiver like that of a transmitting unit, plus a control module that contains a system-on-chip processor that includes serial data port for output to a computer that runs monitoring and/or control software, a parallel data port for output to a printer, and a seven-segment light-emitting-diode display. Each transmitting unit is battery-powered and can operate for at least seven days continuously while reporting temperatures every half hour. The receiving unit is powered by a wall-mounted transformer source. The receiving unit responds to each transmitting unit and reports the readings of each of the four thermocouples and of the ambient-temperature sensor of the transmitting unit. The end-to-end accuracy of the system is plus or minus 0.2 C over the temperature range from 0 to 100 C. The radio-communication range between the receiving and transmitting units is approximately equal to 0.5 mile (approximately equal to 0.8 km).

Solano, Wanda↗

Wireless Temperature-Monitoring System

A relatively inexpensive instrumentation system that includes units that are connected to thermocouples and that are parts of a radio-communication network has been developed to enable monitoring of temperatures at multiple locations. Because there is no need to string wires or cables for communication, the system is well suited for monitoring temperatures at remote locations and for applications in which frequent changes of monitored or monitoring locations are needed. The system can also be adapted to monitoring of slowly varying physical quantities, other than temperature, that can be transduced by solid-state electronic sensors. The system comprises any number of transmitting units and a single receiving unit (see figure). Each transmitting unit includes connections for as many as four external thermocouples, a signal-conditioning module, a control module, and a radio-communication module. The signal- conditioning module acts as an interface between the thermocouples and the rest of the transmitting unit and includes a built-in solid ambient-temperature sensor that is in addition to the external thermocouples. The control module is a "system-on-chip" embedded processor that includes analog-to-digital converters, serial and parallel data ports, and an interface for local connection to an analog meter that is used during installation to verify correct operation. The radio-communication module contains a commercial spread-spectrum transceiver that operates in the 900-MHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency band. This transceiver transmits data to the receiving unit at a rate of 19,200 baud. The receiving unit includes a transceiver like that of a transmitting unit, plus a control module that contains a system-on-chip processor that includes serial data port for output to a computer that runs monitoring and/or control software, a parallel data port for output to a printer, and a seven-segment light-emitting-diode display.

Solano, Wanda↗

Arctic Sea Ice Freeboard from Icebridge Acquisitions in 2009: Estimates and Comparisons with ICEsat

During the spring of 2009, the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) system on the IceBridge mission acquired cross-basin surveys of surface elevations of Arctic sea ice. In this paper, the total freeboard derived from four 2000 km transects are examined and compared with those from the 2009 ICESat campaign. Total freeboard, the sum of the snow and ice freeboards, is the elevation of the air-snow interface above the local sea surface. Prior to freeboard retrieval, signal dependent range biases are corrected. With data from a near co-incident outbound and return track on 21 April, we show that our estimates of the freeboard are repeatable to within 4 cm but dependent locally on the density and quality of sea surface references. Overall difference between the ATM and ICESat freeboards for the four transects is 0.7 (8.5) cm (quantity in bracket is standard deviation), with a correlation of 0.78 between the data sets of one hundred seventy-eight 50 km averages. This establishes a level of confidence in the use of ATM freeboards to provide regional samplings that are consistent with ICESat. In early April, mean freeboards are 41 cm and 55 cm over first year and multiyear sea ice (MYI), respectively. Regionally, the lowest mean ice freeboard (28 cm) is seen on 5 April where the flight track sampled the large expanse of seasonal ice in the western Arctic. The highest mean freeboard (71 cm) is seen in the multiyear ice just west of Ellesmere Island from 21 April. The relatively large unmodeled variability of the residual sea surface resolved by ATM elevations is discussed.

Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM)↗

Cockpit Interfaces, Displays, and Alerting Messages for the Interval Management Alternative Clearances (IMAC) Experiment

This document describes the IM cockpit interfaces, displays, and alerting capabilities that were developed for and used in the IMAC experiment, which was conducted at NASA Langley in the summer of 2015. Specifically, this document includes: (1) screen layouts for each page of the interface; (2) step-by-step instructions for data entry, data verification and input error correction; (3) algorithm state messages and error condition alerting messages; (4) aircraft speed guidance and deviation indications; and (5) graphical display of the spatial relationships between the Ownship aircraft and the Target aircraft. The controller displays for IM will be described in a separate document.

Baxley, Brian T.↗

FIM Avionics Operations Manual

This document describes the operation and use of the Flight Interval Management (FIM) Application installed on an electronic flight bag (EFB). Specifically, this document includes: 1) screen layouts for each page of the interface; 2) step-by-step instructions for data entry, data verification, and input error correction; 3) algorithm state messages and error condition alerting messages; 4) aircraft speed guidance and deviation indications; and 5) graphical display of the spatial relationships between the Ownship aircraft and the Target aircraft.

Alves, Erin E.↗

VerifyIO: Ensuring Correctness of Consistency Semantics in Parallel I/O

Abstract—High-performance computing (HPC) applications generate and consume substantial amounts of data, typically managed by parallel file systems. These applications access file systems either through the POSIX interface or by using highlevel I/O libraries. While the POSIX consistency model remains dominant in HPC, emerging file systems and popular I/O libraries increasingly adopt alternative consistency models that relax semantics in various ways, creating significant challenges for correctness and portability. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a trace-driven I/O consistency verification workflow, implemented in our open-source tool, VerifyIO, which collects execution traces, detects data conflicts, and verifies proper synchronization against specified consistency models. Our extensive evaluation of 91 test case executions across three widely used I/O libraries with four I/O consistency models reveals critical consistency issues at both application and implementation levels.

Consistency Semantics↗

Halogen Thermochemistry Assessed with Density Functional Theory: Systematic Errors, Swift Corrections and Effects on Electrochemistry

Abstract Despite its sizable errors, density functional theory (DFT) is extensively used to evaluate thermochemical properties of gases, liquids and their interfaces with solids. As numerous halogen‐containing compounds appear as reactants, products and/or electrolytes in electrochemical reactions, and ionic effects are currently an active area of research, it is important to evaluate the accuracy of DFT for halogen thermochemistry. Herein, we assess the formation energies of interhalogens, hydrogen halides, diatomic and atomic halogens and their ions using six widespread functionals at the GGA, meta‐GGA and hybrid levels. We observe that DFT errors with respect to experiments are correlated with the electronegativity of the species and there are systematic trends across functionals, such that swift corrections were devised. Specifically, the average of the mean absolute errors for the six functionals decreased from 0.19 eV before the corrections to 0.08 eV after them. Besides, the overall maximum absolute error (MAX) decreased from 0.76 to 0.44 eV and the average of the MAXs decreased from 0.51 to 0.24 eV. Finally, we illustrate the qualitative and quantitative impact of gas‐phase errors on the predictions of surface Pourbaix diagrams.

Chemistry↗

Overview of Graphical User Interface for ARRBOD (Acute Radiation Risk and BRYNTRN Organ Dose Projection)

Solar particle events (SPEs) pose the risk of acute radiation sickness (ARS) to astronauts, because organ doses from large SPEs may reach critical levels during extra vehicular activities (EVAs) or lightly shielded spacecraft. NASA has developed an organ dose projection model of Baryon transport code (BRYNTRN) with an output data processing module of SUMDOSE, and a probabilistic model of acute radiation risk (ARR). BRYNTRN code operation requires extensive input preparation, and the risk projection models of organ doses and ARR take the output from BRYNTRN as an input to their calculations. With a graphical user interface (GUI) to handle input and output for BRYNTRN, these response models can be connected easily and correctly to BRYNTRN in a user friendly way. The GUI for the Acute Radiation Risk and BRYNTRN Organ Dose (ARRBOD) projection code provides seamless integration of input and output manipulations required for operations of the ARRBOD modules: BRYNTRN, SUMDOSE, and the ARR probabilistic response model. The ARRBOD GUI is intended for mission planners, radiation shield designers, space operations in the mission operations directorate (MOD), and space biophysics researchers. Assessment of astronauts organ doses and ARS from the exposure to historically large SPEs is in support of mission design and operation planning to avoid ARS and stay within the current NASA short-term dose limits. The ARRBOD GUI will serve as a proof-of-concept for future integration of other risk projection models for human space applications. We present an overview of the ARRBOD GUI product, which is a new self-contained product, for the major components of the overall system, subsystem interconnections, and external interfaces.

Kim, Myung-Hee Y.↗

Development of Graphical User Interface for ARRBOD (Acute Radiation Risk and BRYNTRN Organ Dose Projection)

The space radiation environment, particularly solar particle events (SPEs), poses the risk of acute radiation sickness (ARS) to humans; and organ doses from SPE exposure may reach critical levels during extra vehicular activities (EVAs) or within lightly shielded spacecraft. NASA has developed an organ dose projection model using the BRYNTRN with SUMDOSE computer codes, and a probabilistic model of Acute Radiation Risk (ARR). The codes BRYNTRN and SUMDOSE, written in FORTRAN, are a Baryon transport code and an output data processing code, respectively. The ARR code is written in C. The risk projection models of organ doses and ARR take the output from BRYNTRN as an input to their calculations. BRYNTRN code operation requires extensive input preparation. With a graphical user interface (GUI) to handle input and output for BRYNTRN, the response models can be connected easily and correctly to BRYNTRN in friendly way. A GUI for the Acute Radiation Risk and BRYNTRN Organ Dose (ARRBOD) projection code provides seamless integration of input and output manipulations, which are required for operations of the ARRBOD modules: BRYNTRN, SUMDOSE, and the ARR probabilistic response model. The ARRBOD GUI is intended for mission planners, radiation shield designers, space operations in the mission operations directorate (MOD), and space biophysics researchers. The ARRBOD GUI will serve as a proof-of-concept example for future integration of other human space applications risk projection models. The current version of the ARRBOD GUI is a new self-contained product and will have follow-on versions, as options are added: 1) human geometries of MAX/FAX in addition to CAM/CAF; 2) shielding distributions for spacecraft, Mars surface and atmosphere; 3) various space environmental and biophysical models; and 4) other response models to be connected to the BRYNTRN. The major components of the overall system, the subsystem interconnections, and external interfaces are described in this report; and the ARRBOD GUI product is explained step by step in order to serve as a tutorial.

Kim, Myung-Hee↗

Mars Science Laboratory Interplanetary Navigation Analysis

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a NASA rover mission that will be launched in late 2011 and will land on Mars in August of 2012. This paper describes the analyses performed to validate the navigation system for launch, interplanetary cruise, and approach. MSL will use guidance during its descent into Mars in order to minimize landing dispersions, and therefore will be able to use smaller landing zones that are closer to terrain of high scientific interest. This will require a more accurate delivery of the spacecraft to the atmospheric entry interface, and a late update of the state of the spacecraft at entry. During cruise and approach the spacecraft may perform up to six trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs), to target to the desired landing site with the required flight path angle at entry. Approach orbit determination covariance analyses have been performed to evaluate the accuracy that can be achieved in delivering the spacecraft to the entry interface point, and to determine how accurately the state of the spacecraft can be predicted to initialize the guidance algorithm. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to evaluate which factors most contribute to the improvement or degradation of the navigation performance, for both entry flight path angle delivery and entry state knowledge.

orbit determination↗

Mars Science Laboratory interplanetary navigaton analysis

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a NASA rover mission that will be launched in late 2011 and will land on Mars in August of 2012. This paper describes the analyses performed to validate the navigation system for launch, interplanetary cruise, and approach. MSL will use guidance during its descent into Mars in order to minimize landing dispersions, and therefore will be able to use smaller landing zones that are closer to terrain of high scientific interest. This will require a more accurate delivery of the spacecraft to the atmospheric entry interface, and a late update of the state of the spacecraft at entry. During cruise and approach the spacecraft may perform up to six trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs), to target to the desired landing site with the required flight path angle at entry. Approach orbit determination covariance analyses have been performed to evaluate the accuracy that can be achieved in delivering the spacecraft to the entry interface point, and to determine how accurately the state of the spacecraft can be predicted to initialize the guidance algorithm. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been performed to evaluate which factors most contribute to the improvement or degradation of the navigation performance, for both entry flight path angle delivery and entry state knowledge.

Wong, Mau C.↗

Integration of the Remote Agent for the NASA Deep Space One Autonomy Experiment

This paper describes the integration of the Remote Agent (RA), a spacecraft autonomy system which is scheduled to control the Deep Space 1 spacecraft during a flight experiment in 1999. The RA is a reusable, model-based autonomy system that is quite different from software typically used to control an aerospace system. We describe the integration challenges we faced, how we addressed them, and the lessons learned. We focus on those aspects of integrating the RA that were either easier or more difficult than integrating a more traditional large software application because the RA is a model-based autonomous system. A number of characteristics of the RA made integration process easier. One example is the model-based nature of RA. Since the RA is model-based, most of its behavior is not hard coded into procedural program code. Instead, engineers specify high level models of the spacecraft's components from which the Remote Agent automatically derives correct system-wide behavior on the fly. This high level, modular, and declarative software description allowed some interfaces between RA components and between RA and the flight software to be automatically generated and tested for completeness against the Remote Agent's models. In addition, the Remote Agent's model-based diagnosis system automatically diagnoses when the RA models are not consistent with the behavior of the spacecraft. In flight, this feature is used to diagnose failures in the spacecraft hardware. During integration, it proved valuable in finding problems in the spacecraft simulator or flight software. In addition, when modifications are made to the spacecraft hardware or flight software, the RA models are easily changed because they only capture a description of the spacecraft. one does not have to maintain procedural code that implements the correct behavior for every expected situation. On the other hand, several features of the RA made it more difficult to integrate than typical flight software. For example, the definition of correct behavior is more difficult to specify for a system that is expected to reason about and flexibly react to its environment than for a traditional flight software system. Consequently, whenever a change is made to the RA it is more time consuming to determine if the resulting behavior is correct. We conclude the paper with a discussion of future work on the Remote Agent as well as recommendations to ease integration of similar autonomy projects.

Dorais, Gregory A.↗

OMEGA timing receiver, design and system test

The design of a two frequency OMEGA Timing Receiver is discussed. The receiver tracks the arrival time of the signals by precise phase matching at the receiving antenna. Provision is made for inserting a propagation delay correction for each signal path. Time is measured as the difference between the zero crossing coincidence of the corrected signals and the local time. This number is displayed on the front panel in microseconds. The receiver can also function as a precise phase tracking receiver for collection of propagation data essential to augmenting the propagation corrections. All phase and time information is made available in a BCD format for flexibility in interfacing with other equipment. Results of preliminary tests using experimental transmissions are given. Preliminary results indicate time may be transferred by this technique to an accuracy of a few microseconds.

Wilson, J. J.↗

Advanced instrumentation concepts for environmental control subsystems

Design, evaluation and demonstration of advanced instrumentation concepts for improving performance of manned spacecraft environmental control and life support systems were successfully completed. Concepts to aid maintenance following fault detection and isolation were defined. A computer-guided fault correction instruction program was developed and demonstrated in a packaged unit which also contains the operator/system interface.

Yang, P. Y.↗

Integration of a computerized two-finger gripper for robot workstation safety

A microprocessor-based controller has been developed that continuously monitors and adjusts the gripping force applied by a special two-finger gripper. This computerized force sensing gripper system enables the endeffector gripping action to be independently detected and corrected. The gripping force applied to a manipulated object is real-time monitored for problem situations, situations which can occur during both planned and errant robot arm manipulation. When unspecified force conditions occur at the gripper, the gripping force controller initiates specific reactions to cause dynamic corrections to the continuously variable gripping action. The force controller for this intelligent gripper has been interfaced to the controller of an industrial robot. The gripper and robot controllers communicate to accomplish the successful completion of normal gripper operations as well as unexpected hazardous situations. An example of an unexpected gripping condition would be the sudden deformation of the object being manipulated by the robot. The capabilities of the interfaced gripper-robot system to apply workstation safety measures (e.g., stop the robot) when these unexpected gripping effects occur have been assessed.

Sneckenberger, John E.↗

A methodology for modeling the mechanical interaction between a reaction wheel and a flexible structure

This paper presents a modeling methodology used to predict the performance of a flexible structure, such as a space telescope, in the presence of an on-board vibrational disturbance source, such as a reaction wheel assembly (RWA). Both decoupled and coupled analysis methods are presented. The decoupled method relies on blocked RWA disturbances, measured with the RWA hardmounted to a rigid surface. The coupled method corrects the blocked RWA disturbance boundary conditions using "force filters," which depend on estimates of the interface accelerances of the RWA and space-craft. Both methods were validated on the Micro-Precision Interferometer testbed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Experimental results are encouraging, indicating that both methods provide sufficient accuracy compared to measured values; however, the coupled method provides the best results when the gyroscopic nature of the spinning RWA is captured in the RWA accelerance model. Additionally, the RWA disturbance cross spectral density terms are found to be influential.

vibration↗

Copernicus-LinCov (COPCOV) Software Integration in Support of Robust Trajectory Optimization

Robust trajectory optimization is the process of optimizing a trajectory while accounting for system uncertainty due to a variety of potential error sources. This work highlights the development and features of a novel tool known as CopCov to support robust trajectory optimization efforts. CopCov acts as an interface between Copernicus, a generalized trajectory design and optimization tool, and LinCov, a linear covariance analysis tool. By having a direct interface between these two software packages, Copernicus can receive covariance information from LinCov through a direct feedback loop, thus enabling optimization of a trajectory that is robust to trajectory dispersions and navigation errors. This paper details the architecture of CopCov and its flexibility to operate under varying configurations, including with both tools running locally or alternatively with the tools communicating via a remote connection. Additionally, the CopCov tool is demonstrated on a simple Hohmann transfer reference trajectory with varying numbers of Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TCMs) and varying problem formulations. This example scenario is used to highlight how the inclusion of the CopCov interface affects burn placement of both major burns and minor burns (i.e., TCMs) in the optimized solution. Results are compared against analytical solutions and against a Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimizer for independent verification and validation.

Copernicus↗

Hybrid Verification of an Interface for an Automatic Landing

Modern commercial aircraft have extensive automation which helps the pilot by performing computations, obtaining data, and completing procedural tasks. The pilot display must contain enough information so that the pilot can correctly predict the aircraft's behavior, while not overloading the pilot with unnecessary information. Human-automation interaction is currently evaluated through extensive simulation. In this paper, using both hybrid and discrete-event system techniques, we show how one could mathematically verify that an interface contains enough information for the pilot to safely and unambiguously complete a desired maneuver. We first develop a nonlinear, hybrid model for the longitudinal dynamics of a large civil jet aircraft in an autoland/go-around maneuver. We find the largest controlled subset of the aircraft's flight envelope for which we can guarantee both safe landing and safe go-around. We abstract a discrete procedural model using this result, and verify a discrete formulation of the pilot display against it. An interface which fails this verification could result in nondeterministic or unpredictable behavior from the pilot's point of view.

Oishi, Meeko↗