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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 19 records

A survey and taxonomy on energy efficient resource allocation techniques for cloud computing systems

In a cloud computing paradigm, energy efficient allocation of different virtualized ICT resources (servers, storage disks, and networks, and the like) is a complex problem due to the presence of heterogeneous application (e.g., content delivery networks, MapReduce, web applications, and the like) workloads having contentious allocation requirements in terms of ICT resource capacities (e.g., network bandwidth, processing speed, response time, etc.). Several recent papers have tried to address the issue of improving energy efficiency in allocating cloud resources to applications with varying degree of success. However, to the best of our knowledge there is no published literature on this subject that clearly articulates the research problem and provides research taxonomy for succinct classification of existing techniques. Hence, the main aim of this paper is to identify open challenges associated with energy efficient resource allocation. In this regard, the study, first, outlines the problem and existing hardware and software-based techniques available for this purpose. Furthermore, available techniques already presented in the literature are summarized based on the energy-efficient research dimension taxonomy. The advantages and disadvantages of the existing techniques are comprehensively analyzed against the proposed research dimension taxonomy namely: resource adaption policy, objective function, allocation method, allocation operation, and interoperability.

Cloud computing↗

SharP Unified Memory Allocator: An Intent-Based Memory Allocator for Extreme-Scale Systems

The pre-exascale systems will soon be deployed with a deep, complex memory hierarchy composed of many heterogeneous memories. This presents multiple challenges for users including: how to allocate data objects with locality between memories and devices for the various memories in these systems, which includes DRAM, High-bandwidth Memory (HBM), and non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM), and how to perform these allocations while providing portability for their application. Currently, the user can make use of multiple, disjoint libraries to allocate data objects on these memories. However, it is difficult to obtain locality between memories and devices when using libraries that are unaware of each other. This paper presents the Unified Memory Allocator (UMA) of the SHARed data-structure centric Programming abstraction (SharP) library, which provides a unified interface for memory allocations across DRAM, HBM, and NVRAM and is extensible to support future memory types. In addition, the SharP UMA allows for portability between systems by supporting both explicit and implicit, intent-based memory allocations. To demonstrate the ease of use of the SharP UMA, we have extended both Open MPIand OpenSHMEM-Xto support SharP. We validate this work by evaluating the performance implications and intent-based approach with synthetic benchmarks as well as adaptations of the Graph500 benchmark.

Aderholdt, William↗

I/O-aware bandwidth allocation for petascale computing systems

In the Big Data era, the gap between the storage performance and an appli- cation's I/O requirement is increasing. I/O congestion caused by concurrent storage accesses from multiple applications is inevitable and severely harms the performance. Conventional approaches either focus on optimizing an ap- plication's access pattern individually or handle I/O requests on a low-level storage layer without any knowledge from the upper-level applications. In this paper, we present a novel I/O-aware bandwidth allocation framework to coordinate ongoing I/O requests on petascale computing systems. The motivation behind this innovation is that the resource management system has a holistic view of both the system state and jobs' activities and can dy- namically control the jobs' status or allocate resource on the y during their execution. We treat a job's I/O requests as periodical subjobs within its lifecycle and transform the I/O congestion issue into a classical scheduling problem. Based on this model, we propose a bandwidth management mech- anism as an extension to the existing scheduling system. We design several bandwidth allocation policies with different optimization objectives either on user-oriented metrics or system performance. We conduct extensive trace- based simulations using real job traces and I/O traces from a production IBM Blue Gene/Q system at Argonne National Laboratory. Experimental results demonstrate that our new design can improve job performance by more than 30%, as well as increasing system performance.

I/O congestion↗

An Algorithm of an X-ray Hit Allocation to a Single Pixel in a Cluster and Its Test-Circuit Implementation

An on-chip implementable algorithm for allocation of an X-ray photon imprint, called a hit, to a single pixel in the presence of charge sharing in a highly segmented pixel detector is described. Its proof-of-principle implementation is also given supported by the results of tests using a highly collimated X-ray photon beam from a synchrotron source. The algorithm handles asynchronous arrivals of X-ray photons. Activation of groups of pixels, comparisons of peak amplitudes of pulses within an active neighborhood and finally latching of the results of these comparisons constitute the three procedural steps of the algorithm. A grouping of pixels to one virtual pixel, that recovers composite signals and event driven strobes, to control comparisons of fractional signals between neighboring pixels are the actuators of the algorithm. The circuitry necessary to implement the algorithm requires an extensive inter-pixel connection grid of analog and digital signals, that are exchanged between pixels. A test-circuit implementation of the algorithm was achieved with a small array of 32 × 32 pixels and the device was exposed to an 8 keV highly collimated to a diameter of 3-μm X-ray beam. Furthermore, the results of these tests are given in this paper assessing physical implementation of the algorithm.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Allocation and Operation of A Hydropneumatic Energy Storage with Building Microgrid

Behind-meter application for a recently invented hydropneumatic Ground-Level Integrated Diverse Energy Storage (GLIDES) is focused in this research. Considering possible uncertainties from solar radiation and electricity load in a building microgrid, two-stage stochastic programming is adopted for 15-min operation and a mixed-integer nonlinear stochastic model is built with integrated energy systems of GLIDES, solar panel and power generating unit. In order to make the model computationally tractable, we use sample average approximate method to decrease associated complexity with sample size and improve solving efficiency. The experimental results in deterministic and stochastic operation indicate that best candidate solution from SAA are superior to the solution from expected value problem in terms of optimality gap and variance.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

A Performance Model for Allocating the Parallelism in a Multigrid-in-Time Solver

The traditional way to numerically solve time-dependent problems is to sequentially march through time, solving for one time step and then the next. The parallelism in this approach is limited to the spatial dimension, which is quickly exhausted, causing the gain from using more processors to solve a problem to diminish. One approach to overcome this barrier is to use methods that are parallel in time. These methods have the potential to achieve dramatically better performance compared to time-stepping approaches, but achieving this performance requires carefully choosing the amount of parallelism devoted to space versus the amount devoted to time. Here, we present a performance model that, for a multigrid-in-time solver, makes the decision on when to switch to parallel-in-time and on how much parallelism to devote to space vs. time. In our experiments, the model selects the best parallel configuration in most of our test cases and a configuration close to the best one in all other cases.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Methodologies for optimal resource allocation to the national space program and new space utilizations. Volume 2: Resource allocation and smoothing model, programmer's manual

Appendixes are presented that provide model input requirements, a sample case, flow charts, and a program listing. At the beginning of each appendix, descriptive details and technical comments are provided to indicate any special instructions applicable to the use of that appendix. In addition, the program listing includes comment cards that state the purpose of each subroutine in the complete program and describe operations performed within that subroutine. The input requirements includes details on the many options that adapt the program to the specific needs of the analyst for a particular problem.

Source record↗

Human-Automation Allocations for Current Robotic Space Operations

Within the Human Research Program, one risk delineates the uncertainty surrounding crew working with automation and robotics in spaceflight. The Risk of Inadequate Design of Human and Automation/Robotic Integration (HARI) is concerned with the detrimental effects on crew performance due to ineffective user interfaces, system designs and/or functional task allocation, potentially compromising mission success and safety. Risk arises because we have limited experience with complex automation and robotics. One key gap within HARI, is the gap related to functional allocation. The gap states: We need to evaluate, develop, and validate methods and guidelines for identifying human-automation/robot task information needs, function allocation, and team composition for future long duration, long distance space missions. Allocations determine the human-system performance as it identifies the functions and performance levels required by the automation/robotic system, and in turn, what work the crew is expected to perform and the necessary human performance requirements. Allocations must take into account each of the human, automation, and robotic systems capabilities and limitations. Some functions may be intuitively assigned to the human versus the robot, but to optimize efficiency and effectiveness, purposeful role assignments will be required. The role of automation and robotics will significantly change in future exploration missions, particularly as crew becomes more autonomous from ground controllers. Thus, we must understand the suitability of existing function allocation methods within NASA as well as the existing allocations established by the few robotic systems that are operational in spaceflight. In order to evaluate future methods of robotic allocations, we must first benchmark the allocations and allocation methods that have been used. We will present 1) documentation of human-automation-robotic allocations in existing, operational spaceflight systems; and 2) To gather existing lessons learned and best practices in these role assignments, from spaceflight operational experience of crew and ground teams that may be used to guide development for future systems. NASA and other space agencies have operational spaceflight experience with two key Human-Automation-Robotic (HAR) systems: heavy lift robotic arms and planetary robotic explorers. Additionally, NASA has invested in high-fidelity rover systems that can carry crew, building beyond Apollo's lunar rover. The heavy lift robotic arms reviewed are: Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), Japanese Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), and the European Robotic Arm (ERA, designed but not deployed in space). The robotic rover systems reviewed are: Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory rover, and the high-fidelity K10 rovers. Much of the design and operational feedback for these systems have been communicated to flight controllers and robotic design teams. As part of the mitigating the HARI risk for future human spaceflight operations, we must document function allocations between robots and humans that have worked well in practice.

robotic allocation↗

Evaluating the effect of alternative carbon allocation schemes in a land surface model (CLM4.5) on carbon fluxes, pools, and turnover in temperate forests

Abstract. How carbon (C) is allocated to different plant tissues (leaves, stem, and roots) determines how long C remains in plant biomass and thus remains a central challenge for understanding the global C cycle. We used a diverse set of observations (AmeriFlux eddy covariance tower observations, biomass estimates from tree-ring data, and leaf area index (LAI) measurements) to compare C fluxes, pools, and LAI data with those predicted by a land surface model (LSM), the Community Land Model (CLM4.5). We ran CLM4.5 for nine temperate (including evergreen and deciduous) forests in North America between 1980 and 2013 using four different C allocation schemes: i. dynamic C allocation scheme (named "D-CLM4.5") with one dynamic allometric parameter, which allocates C to the stem and leaves to vary in time as a function of annual net primary production (NPP); ii. an alternative dynamic C allocation scheme (named "D-Litton"), where, similar to (i), C allocation is a dynamic function of annual NPP, but unlike (i) includes two dynamic allometric parameters involving allocation to leaves, stem, and coarse roots; iii.–iv. a fixed C allocation scheme with two variants, one representative of observations in evergreen (named "F-Evergreen") and the other of observations in deciduous forests (named "F-Deciduous"). D-CLM4.5 generally overestimated gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration, and underestimated net ecosystem exchange (NEE). In D-CLM4.5, initial aboveground biomass in 1980 was largely overestimated (between 10 527 and 12 897 g C m −2 ) for deciduous forests, whereas aboveground biomass accumulation through time (between 1980 and 2011) was highly underestimated (between 1222 and 7557 g C m −2 ) for both evergreen and deciduous sites due to a lower stem turnover rate in the sites than the one used in the model. D-CLM4.5 overestimated LAI in both evergreen and deciduous sites because the leaf C–LAI relationship in the model did not match the observed leaf C–LAI relationship at our sites. Although the four C allocation schemes gave similar results for aggregated C fluxes, they translated to important differences in long-term aboveground biomass accumulation and aboveground NPP. For deciduous forests, D-Litton gave more realistic C stem ∕ C leaf ratios and strongly reduced the overestimation of initial aboveground biomass and aboveground NPP for deciduous forests by D-CLM4.5. We identified key structural and parameterization deficits that need refinement to improve the accuracy of LSMs in the near future. These include changing how C is allocated in fixed and dynamic schemes based on data from current forest syntheses and different parameterization of allocation schemes for different forest types. Our results highlight the utility of using measurements of aboveground biomass to evaluate and constrain the C allocation scheme in LSMs, and suggest that stem turnover is overestimated by CLM4.5 for these AmeriFlux sites. Understanding the controls of turnover will be critical to improving long-term C processes in LSMs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Applicability and Limitations of Reliability Allocation Methods

Reliability allocation process may be described as the process of assigning reliability requirements to individual components within a system to attain the specified system reliability. For large systems, the allocation process is often performed at different stages of system design. The allocation process often begins at the conceptual stage. As the system design develops, more information about components and the operating environment becomes available, different allocation methods can be considered. Reliability allocation methods are usually divided into two categories: weighting factors and optimal reliability allocation. When properly applied, these methods can produce reasonable approximations. Reliability allocation techniques have limitations and implied assumptions that need to be understood by system engineers. Applying reliability allocation techniques without understanding their limitations and assumptions can produce unrealistic results. This report addresses weighting factors, optimal reliability allocation techniques, and identifies the applicability and limitations of each reliability allocation technique.

Reliability allocation↗

Evolutionary Game and Simulation Research of Blockchain-Based Co-Governance of Emergency Supply Allocation

Recently, with the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, emergency supply allocation system is drawing more and more social attention. Emergency supply allocation system is an important part of emergency governance system. It reflects social organizations’ credibility, public safety, and the modernization level of social governance. However, emergency supply allocation system still has some problems, such as information asymmetry, different desires of participants, unreasonable allocation, and so on. At present, it is widely accepted that the advantage of blockchain in co-governance could be of great help in solving above problems. And in order to distinguish the effect of blockchain to the emergency supply allocation, the paper builds a tripartite evolutionary game model among the government, social organizations, and the public to analyse the impact of blockchain platform on emergency supply allocation. The simulation analysis shows the following: (1) The strategy choices of the government have a crucial impact on the evolution and stability of social organizations’ strategies. It needs a long-term process to guide social organizations practicing active allocation, and the government should accelerate to build the blockchain platform to promote this process. (2) With the help of blockchain platform, the increment of penalty intensity of the government is conductive to increasing the probabilities that social organizations practice active allocation and the government practices strict supervision. (3) Blockchain platform has a significant impact on social organizations’ choice for active allocation in many aspects, such as the positive and negative effects of social organizations, effect’s increasing multiple, and the cost of the public informing. In the end, some suggestions are presented to improve the co-governance of emergency supply allocation.

Zhao, Huawei↗

Nonlinear burn control in ITER using adaptive allocation of actuators with uncertain dynamics

Abstract ITER will be the first tokamak to sustain a fusion-producing, or burning, plasma. If the plasma temperature were to inadvertently rise in this burning regime, the positive correlation between temperature and the fusion reaction rate would establish a destabilizing positive feedback loop. Careful regulation of the plasma’s temperature and density, or burn control, is required to prevent these potentially reactor-damaging thermal excursions, neutralize disturbances and improve performance. In this work, a Lyapunov-based burn controller is designed using a full zero-dimensional nonlinear model. An adaptive estimator manages destabilizing uncertainties in the plasma confinement properties and the particle recycling conditions (caused by plasma–wall interactions). The controller regulates the plasma density with requests for deuterium and tritium particle injections. In ITER-like plasmas, the fusion-born alpha particles will primarily heat the plasma electrons, resulting in different electron and ion temperatures in the core. By considering separate response models for the electron and ion energies, the proposed controller can independently regulate the electron and ion temperatures by requesting that different amounts of auxiliary power be delivered to the electrons and ions. These two commands for a specific control effort (electron and ion heating) are sent to an actuator allocation module that optimally maps them to the heating actuators available to ITER: an electron cyclotron heating system (20 MW), an ion cyclotron heating system (20 MW), and two neutral beam injectors (16.5 MW each). Two different actuator allocators are presented in this work. The first actuator allocator finds the optimal mapping by solving a convex quadratic program that includes actuator saturation and rate limits. It is nonadaptive and assumes that the mapping between the commanded control efforts and the allocated actuators (i.e. the effector model) contains no uncertainties. The second actuator allocation module has an adaptive estimator to handle uncertainties in the effector model. This uncertainty includes actuator efficiencies, the fractions of neutral beam heating that are deposited into the plasma electrons and ions, and the tritium concentration of the fueling pellets. Furthermore, the adaptive allocator considers actuator dynamics (actuation lag) that contain uncertainty. This adaptive allocation algorithm is more computationally efficient than the aforementioned nonadaptive allocator because it is computed using dynamic update laws so that finding the solution to a static optimization problem is not required at every time step. A simulation study assesses the performance of the proposed adaptive burn controller augmented with each of the actuator allocation modules.

Physics↗