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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Packages of Distributed Energy Technologies Demonstrating Demand Flexibility at Community Scale

The combination of increased electric load growth across all sectors, deferred electrical infrastructure investment, and other factors resulting in variable electric power supply, has created technical challenges to maintaining a resilient and reliable grid. Many federal, regional, and local efforts are in play to modernize the electric grid, including advancing building technologies and distributed energy resources (DERs) that are utilizing smarter controls to become responsive to both occupant and grid needs. This report reviews ten pilot projects demonstrating how groups of buildings combined with behind-the-meter (BTM) DERs such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, battery storage, flexible HVAC and domestic hot water systems, and photovoltaic systems can reliably and cost effectively provide grid services. Each of the ten pilot projects aim to deliver both energy efficiency and demand flexibility (DF) while supporting load growth. The ten demonstration teams are piloting flexible DER packages across diverse communities of residential and commercial buildings to address a variety of regional grid needs. The outcomes of these pilot projects will be used to inform future scaling through utility program development. This paper characterizes the ten teams, showcasing the decision-making process used by each group to develop their packages (Section 2), the grid services they plan to deliver (Section 3), the types of DER packages selected for deployment within building sectors (Section 4) and trends between building sector, DER types, and grid services In order to achieve community scale benefits, the pilot projects must utilize aggregated control mechanisms for coordinating buildings and DERs together. Several types of coordinated control architectures have evolved amongst the teams, influenced by use type, existing market conditions, and integration type. Three coordinated controls architectures have been characterized, highlighting their use cases, benefits, challenges, and tradeoffs in their design. These insights can aid utilities, control vendors, and developers in scaling community-level energy systems (Paul, 2024). Ultimately, the technology packages selected by the ten teams will be coordinated to provide power system services, also known as grid services. Insights from these demonstrations will be useful for grid operators, regulators, aggregators and other stakeholders as they look to deploy demand flexible resources as grid services in the future. The grid services that each team is targeting for demonstration are described in Section 3 and Section 4. Methods for evaluating the grid services have been described in the paper Metrics for Evaluating Grid Service Provision from Communities of Grid-interactive and Efficient Buildings and other DER (MacDonald, 2023). To identify technology packages for demonstration, Section 2 shows that project teams used a range of analysis approaches, including building energy modeling, AMI data analysis, cost-benefit frameworks, and utility pilot data. Some teams emphasized technical modeling to quantify grid impacts and demand reduction potential, while others prioritized economic evaluations, stakeholder input, or exploratory pilots to inform deployment decisions. This diversity reflects the need to tailor selection methods to project goals, available data, and organizational context. Section 5 discusses trends between the DER technologies deployed and the grid service provisions from each team. Residential buildings (multifamily and single family) lean towards technologies that enhance energy efficiency (e.g. weatherization upgrades, smart thermostats) and onsite power generation integration (e.g. solar PV). Commercial building demonstrations prioritize technologies that ensure operational reliability (e.g. battery storage) and centralized energy management systems and optimization solutions. Teams that are deploying controllable storage-based technologies are more likely to provide grid services that require a near real-time response. Teams incorporating load shifting technologies like smart thermostats with HEMs are likely to include energy markets participation and customer bill management offerings. Campus demonstrations are adopting diverse sets of DERs to emphasize renewable generation, paired with centralized control. This section also describes technologies that were considered during project planning but ultimately excluded from final deployment. These demonstrations reveal that effective DER package design should be tailored to building type, customer segment, and construction vintage. Multifamily buildings benefit from centralized HVAC upgrades and supervisory controls, while single-family homes are well-suited for individualized technologies like solar, storage, and smart home energy monitors. Commercial and campus settings prioritize EMIS integration and load optimization. New construction enables cost-effective integration of DER-ready infrastructure, whereas retrofits require deployments aligned with owner and tenant value streams. For utility program planners, early coordination with developers and building owners, paired with segmented and modular program offerings, can improve adoption, scalability, and grid impact.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2026

Drone Fleet Summary: NNLEMS UxS Rolodex entry for Sandia

Sandia’s UAS Aviation Operations Unit (UAOU) was established in 2019 to be the single entity at Sandia conducting UAS Ops in support the labs Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) activities. The UAOU currently consists of >330 FAA Registered UAS with a large variety of primarily Class 1&2 UAS: fixed wing (>90), multi-rotor (>230), hybrids, VTOLs, jets, and balloons. Many of these are threat vehicles presented as targets to Counter-UAS (CUAS) systems as part of performance tests, with the remainder in support of other projects across Sandia often with custom payload needs. The UAOU has ~15 primary pilots and reach back to another ~45 FAA Certified Remote Pilots across Sandia. The team conducts flight and CUAS operations at many test locations, including OCONUS. Sandia was awarded the 2024 DOE Federal Aviation Safety Program Award.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1998

Methodology for Examining the Operator and the System Concurrently: Pilot Interaction with Automation

Complex system description is problematic when considering operator task activities interacting with system dynamics. Engineering languages have matured sufficiently to allow machine system description at various levels of depth and breadth but without operator synergy. Concurrently, Task Analysis methods have evolved along diverse lines enabling a description of the operator in the system from various paradigms but not describing the system. A void exists when attempting to view the system and the operator in the same plane. We propose a methodology employing descriptive languages from different domains viewed in a single dimension. Finite Automata (FA) languages describe the machine system in the proposed approach. Operator task specifications, a form of task analysis output, examine the operator activities within the system. Operator task specifications were then selected for discrete task activities and overlaid on the system description to examine operator inputs and subsequently view system responses. Unexpected (surprise) and undesirable system behavior was expected to emerge from this analysis. In this paper we shall first describe the methodology and show how the two perspectives, machine model and operator task specifications are integrated. Following we describe the process of doing such analysis using an example from cockpit automation. The methodology was employed in the analysis of a new function that was added to an existing automatic flight control system. We begin by defining a flight scenario involving all aspects of pilot interaction with the new function. Then, we proceed to develop a basic model of the machine behavior, in the context of pilot actions. Finally we superimpose the operator task specification on the machine model and perform the analysis. The proposed methodology may have broad appeal to system designers and human factors specialists. A common language for engineers of diverse domains is a strong point of this approach. Systems engineers may not fully understand operational considerations and human limitations, and human factors specialists may not be exposed to the full extent of system behavior. We hope the proposed methodology is adopted by both disciplines and in the process each assimilates a common language to address potential shortcomings of either approach separately.

Austin, David↗
NASA NTRS2017

DANTi: Detect and Avoid iN The Cockpit

Mid-air collision risk continues to be a concern for manned aircraft operations, especially near busy non-towered airports. The use of Detect and Avoid (DAA) technologies and draft standards developed for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), either alone or in combination with other collision avoidance technologies, may be useful in mitigating this collision risk for manned aircraft. This paper describes a NASA research effort known as DANTi (DAA iN The Cockpit), including the initial development of the concept of use, a software prototype, and results from initial flight tests conducted with this prototype. The prototype used a single Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) traffic sensor and the own aircraft's position, track, heading and air data information, along with NASA-developed DAA software to display traffic alerts and maneuver guidance to manned aircraft pilots on a portable tablet device. Initial flight tests with the prototype showed a successful DANTi proof-of-concept, but also demonstrated that the traffic separation parameter set specified in the RTCA SC-228 Phase I DAA MOPS may generate excessive false alerts during traffic pattern operations. Several parameter sets with smaller separation values were also tested in flight, one of which yielded more timely alerts for the maneuvers tested. Results from this study may further inform future DANTi efforts as well as Phase II DAA MOPS development.

Chamberlain, James↗
NASA NTRS1988

Legislated emergency locating transmitters and emergency position indicating radio beacons

An emergency locating transmitting (ELT) system comprising a legislated ELT modified with an interface unit and connected by a multiwire cable to a remote control monitor (RCM), typically located at the pilot position. The RCM can remotely (1) test the ELT by disabling the legislated swept tone and allowing transmission of a single tone, (2) turn the ELT "on" for the legislated ELT transmission, and (3) reset the ELT to an "armed" condition. The RCM also provides visual and audio indications for transmitter operating condition as well as ELT battery condition. Removing the RCM or shorting or opening the interface input connections will not affect traditional ELT operation.

William R Wade↗
NASA NTRS2001

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

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

Sugden, Paul P.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Real-Time Onboard Global Nonlinear Aerodynamic Modeling from Flight Data

Flight test and modeling techniques were developed to accurately identify global nonlinear aerodynamic models onboard an aircraft. The techniques were developed and demonstrated during piloted flight testing of an Aermacchi MB-326M Impala jet aircraft. Advanced piloting techniques and nonlinear modeling techniques based on fuzzy logic and multivariate orthogonal function methods were implemented with efficient onboard calculations and flight operations to achieve real-time maneuver monitoring and analysis, and near-real-time global nonlinear aerodynamic modeling and prediction validation testing in flight. Results demonstrated that global nonlinear aerodynamic models for a large portion of the flight envelope were identified rapidly and accurately using piloted flight test maneuvers during a single flight, with the final identified and validated models available before the aircraft landed.

Brandon, Jay M.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Optical Investigation of Catalyst Heating Operation in a Light-Duty Compression-Ignition Engine

It is well known that cold start engine operation contributes a majority of tail-pipe emissions during a vehicle drive cycle. Aftertreatment catalysts have poor conversion efficiency during this period due to low conversion efficiency at temperatures less than their light-off temperature. A late post injection strategy, with a delayed injection to increase exhaust enthalpy, can help decrease the time required to heat-up the catalyst. However, late injections into conditions with decreasing temperature and density can result in high emissions and combustion instability. In this study a three-injection strategy with a late-post injection was investigated in an optically-accessible engine. For the first two injections (pilot and main) timing and duration were held constant as the post injection timing was swept and duration varied to hold load constant, at a relevant light-load catalyst heating operating condition. Simultaneous double-pass schlieren and OH chemiluminescence data were acquired in an optically-accessible 0.4 L single-cylinder engine to understand spray characteristics and combustion behavior for #2 diesel fuel. Optical images analysis revealed higher liquid penetration and lower vaporization of the liquid fuel jet as post injection is retarded. It is also observed that retarding post injection timing to +25 CAD resulted in lower observed soot concentration in the piston bowl.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
NASA NTRS1997

Single-Lever Power Control for General Aviation Aircraft Promises Improved Efficiency and Simplified Pilot Controls

General aviation research is leading to major advances in internal combustion engine control systems for single-engine, single-pilot aircraft. These advances promise to increase engine performance and fuel efficiency while substantially reducing pilot workload and increasing flight safety. One such advance is a single-lever power control (SLPC) system, a welcome departure from older, less user-friendly, multilever engine control systems. The benefits of using single-lever power controls for general aviation aircraft are improved flight safety through advanced engine diagnostics, simplified powerplant operations, increased time between overhauls, and cost-effective technology (extends fuel burn and reduces overhaul costs). The single-lever concept has proven to be so effective in preliminary studies that general aviation manufacturers are making plans to retrofit current aircraft with the technology and are incorporating it in designs for future aircraft.

Musgrave, Jeffrey L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A head up display format for application to V/STOL aircraft approach and landing

A head up display (HUD) format developed at NASA Ames Research Center to provide pilots of V/STOL aircraft with complete flight guidance and control information for category-3C terminal-area flight operations, is described in detail. These flight operations cover a large spectrum, from STOL operations on land-based runways to VTOL operations on small ships in high seas. Included in this description is a complete geometrical specification of the HUD elements and their drive laws. The principal features of this display format are the integration of the flightpath and pursuit guidance information into a narrow field of view, easily assimilated by the pilot with a single glance, and the superposition of vertical and horizontal situation information. The display is a derivative of a successful design developed for conventional transport aircraft. The design is the outcome of many piloted simulations conducted over a four-year period. Whereas the concepts on which the display format rests could not be fully exploited because of field-of-view restrictions, and some reservations remain about the acceptability of superimposing vertical and horizontal situation information, the design successfully fulfilled its intended objectives.

Merrick, Vernon K.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Fully automatic guidance for rotorcraft nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight following planned profiles

Developing a single-pilot, all-weather nap-of-the-earth (NOE) capability requires fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are being investigated in a fourfold research effort that will culminate in the real-time piloted simulation of promising alternatives for automatic guidance and control of rotorcraft in NOE operations, thereby providing a practical demonstration for evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts.

Gorder, Peter J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Human Lunar Mission Capabilities Using SSTO, ISRU and LOX-Augmented NTR Technologies: A Preliminary Assessment

The feasibility of conducting human missions to the Moon is examined assuming the use of three 'high leverage' technologies: (1) a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launch vehicle, (2) 'in-situ' resource utilization (ISRU)--specifically 'lunar-derived' liquid oxygen (LUNOX), and (3) LOX-augmented nuclear thermal rocket (LANTR) propulsion. Lunar transportation system elements consisting of a LANTR-powered lunar transfer vehicle (LTV) and a chemical propulsion lunar landing/Earth return vehicle (LERV) are configured to fit within the 'compact' dimensions of the SSTO cargo bay (diameter: 4.6 m/length: 9.0 m) while satisfying an initial mass in low Earth orbit (IMLEO) limit of approximately 60 t (3 SSTO launches). Using approximately 8 t of LUNOX to 'reoxidize' the LERV for a 'direct return' flight to Earth reduces its size and mass allowing delivery to LEO on a single 20 t SSTO launch. Similarly, the LANTR engine's ability to operate at any oxygen/ hydrogen mixture ratio from 0 to 7 with high specific impulse (approximately 940 to 515 s) is exploited to reduce hydrogen tank volume, thereby improving packaging of the LANTR LTV's 'propulsion' and 'propellant modules'. Expendable and reusable, piloted and cargo missions and vehicle designs are presented along with estimates of LUNOX production required to support the different mission modes. Concluding remarks address the issue of lunar transportation system costs from the launch vehicle perspective.

Borowski, Stanley K.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Flight Control System Design with Rate Saturating Actuators

Actuator rate saturation is an important factor adversely affecting the stability and performance of aircraft flight control systems. It has been identified as a catalyst in pilot-induced oscillations, some of which have been catastrophic. A simple design technique is described that utilizes software rate limiters to improve the performance of control systems operating in the presence of actuator rate saturation. As described, the technique requires control effectors to be ganged such that any effector is driven by only a single compensated error signal. Using an analysis of the steady-state behavior of the system, requirements are placed upon the type of the loop transmissions and compensators in the proposed technique. Application of the technique to the design of a multi-input/multi-output, lateral-directional control system for a simple model of a high-performance fighter is demonstrated as are the stability and performance improvements that can accrue with the technique.

Hess, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Real-time Enhanced Vision System

Flying in poor visibility conditions, such as rain, snow, fog or haze, is inherently dangerous. However these conditions can occur at nearly any location, so inevitably pilots must successfully navigate through them. At NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), under support of the Aviation Safety and Security Program Office and the Systems Engineering Directorate, we are developing an Enhanced Vision System (EVS) that combines image enhancement and synthetic vision elements to assist pilots flying through adverse weather conditions. This system uses a combination of forward-looking infrared and visible sensors for data acquisition. A core function of the system is to enhance and fuse the sensor data in order to increase the information content and quality of the captured imagery. These operations must be performed in real-time for the pilot to use while flying. For image enhancement, we are using the LaRC patented Retinex algorithm since it performs exceptionally well for improving low-contrast range imagery typically seen during poor visibility conditions. In general, real-time operation of the Retinex requires specialized hardware. To date, we have successfully implemented a single-sensor real-time version of the Retinex on several different Digital Signal Processor (DSP) platforms. In this paper we give an overview of the EVS and its performance requirements for real-time enhancement and fusion and we discuss our current real-time Retinex implementations on DSPs.

Hines, Glenn D.↗
NASA NTRS2008

2D/3D Synthetic Vision Navigation Display

Flight-deck display software was designed and developed at NASA Langley Research Center to provide two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) terrain, obstacle, and flight-path perspectives on a single navigation display. The objective was to optimize the presentation of synthetic vision (SV) system technology that permits pilots to view multiple perspectives of flight-deck display symbology and 3D terrain information. Research was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the concept. The concept has numerous unique implementation features that would permit enhanced operational concepts and efficiencies in both current and future aircraft.

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III↗
NASA NTRS1993

Atmospheric entry of Mars-return nuclear-powered vehicles due to accidental termination of operations

The entry of nuclear reactors into Earth's atmosphere resulting from an accidental or inadvertent abort of a space vehicle powered by nuclear-thermal rockets is investigated. The study is made for a typical piloted Mars mission vehicle incapacitated by an accident or malfunction during the Earth-arrival phase of the Mars-return journey due to simultaneous, multiple failures of its component systems. A single accident/abort scenario resulting in three entry possibilities is considered for a nominal hyperbolic in-bound approach velocity of 8 km/sec. The most severe case involving a direct entry is then analyzed over a broad range of approach velocities extending to 12 km/sec to include sprint-type missions. The results indicate that the severe surface heating, stagnation pressures, and g-loads are greater than 150 kW/sq cm, 300 atm, and 800-g, respectively. The wall heat transfer rate exceeds the value that can be accommodated by a carbon heatshield through radiation equilibrium prior to sublimation at 5500 K. These conditions are beyond our previous experience in crew safety, structural design, and thermal protection.

Menees, Gene P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The development and flight test evaluation of an integrated propulsion control system for the HiMAT research airplane

The Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology airplane is a .44-scale version of an advanced fighter design. It is remotely piloted from a ground cockpit and is powered by a J85-GE-21 turbojet engine. The engine is electronically controlled by a digital computer onboard the airplane to operate at selected engine operation modes. The HiMAT design and development philosophy emphasized high-risk, low-cost and minimum testing, and also required that no single failure would cause loss of the vehicle. This philosophy generated unique requirements for design, computer simulation methods, specialized test techniques, and support systems which are discussed in this paper.

Baer-Riedhart, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Method and system for monitoring and displaying engine performance parameters

The invention is believed a major improvement that will have a broad application in governmental and commercial aviation. It provides a dynamic method and system for monitoring and simultaneously displaying in easily scanned form the available, predicted, and actual thrust of a jet aircraft engine under actual operating conditions. The available and predicted thrusts are based on the performance of a functional model of the aircraft engine under the same operating conditions. Other critical performance parameters of the aircraft engine and functional model are generated and compared, the differences in value being simultaneously displayed in conjunction with the displayed thrust values. Thus, the displayed information permits the pilot to make power adjustments directly while keeping him aware of total performance at a glance of a single display panel.

Abbott, Terence S.↗