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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 OSTI2023

Minimizing Ground Risk in Cellular-Connected Drone Corridors With mmWave Links

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) have been receiving significant interest and support from academia, industry, and regulatory bodies over the past decade due to their various use cases. To safely integrate UAS operations into the national airspace, particularly overpopulated regions, the risk posed to ground users, buildings, and vehicles due to unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight should be minimized. This risk can be represented by a numerical metric, which we refer to in this article as the “ground risk.” Many UAS applications also depend on the presence of a reliable wireless communication link between the UAV and a control station for the transmission of UAV position, surveillance video, UAV payload commands, and other mission-related data. Such wireless communication requirements also need to be considered in the design of UAS operations. In this article, we consider both these aspects and study the design of nonintersecting trajectories for UAS operations to minimize ground risk, subject to constraints on the wireless signal strength and geometry of the trajectory, specified in terms of: 1) an enclosing cylinder within which the trajectory must lie and 2) an integrated angular change along the UAV's trajectory. The performance of a computationally expensive optimal algorithm is compared with that of a computationally faster heuristic approach within the dense urban environment of Manhattan, NY, USA. Performance evaluation using ray-tracing simulations shows that the heuristic approach performs close to the optimal algorithm at a reduced computation cost. In conclusion, this research can be utilized to make UAS operations safe and reliable and accelerate their adoption.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operational Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Development for Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Field Campaign Report

The overarching goal of the project is to develop integrated small, unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) capabilities for enhanced atmospheric physics measurements. This team included atmospheric scientists, meteorologists, engineers, computer scientists, geographers, and chemists necessary to evaluate the needs and develop the advanced sensing and imaging, robust autonomous navigation, enhanced data communication, and data management capabilities required to use SUAS in atmospheric physics. The flight campaigns at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) observatory were an integrated evaluation of the systems in coordinated field tests. This enabled sensor testing, and validation of SUAS technology and integration of unmanned aircraft into the airspace. The set of experiments enabled evaluation and progression of remote UAS deployment operations with observing atmospheric sensors. Each flight test endeavor was notable for the significant lessons learned during every deployment event. Team size and roles, equipment use, aircraft instruments, meteorological instruments, and deployment logistics, were all evaluated and improved at every flight-testing day. The details of these are further discussed in the Results section.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Atmospheric Modeling to Enable Prediction of Golden Eagle Interactions with Wind Power Plants

This panel will explore the use of technologies and methods that enhance our understanding of eagle behavior in and near wind energy facilities. The decreasing costs of tracking technologies and substantial computational capabilities are allowing for finer resolution and confidence of eagle observations and the modeling of such datasets increase our understanding of their movements and use of airspace and underlying landscapes. Behavior ecologists' intrinsic knowledge of eagle behavior can augment and further enhance inferences from technology-derived information alone, e.g., GPS, camera, radar, etc. The panel will discuss the state of science and, given the cost-effective tools available, what research objectives are emerging to better assess and reduce wind-eagle risk. The discussion will focus on the following areas: Integrating Behavioral and Quantitative Ecologist perspectives of bald eagle and golden eagle behavior and wind energy risk; Regional-scale vs. facility-scale investigations of bald eagle and golden eagle use of airspace. For example, avoidance behavior to assess risk at facility-scale, and eagle use of landscapes, e.g., territories, nesting, and life-cycle behavior; Bald eagle and golden eagle use of airspace and nexus with atmospheric flow dynamics of wind energy generation; GPS, biomonitoring, tracking camera, radar, and other tools/techniques for deepening the knowledge of eagle behavior in and around wind farms.

49 EE - Wind and Water Power Program - Wind (EE-4W↗
DOE OSTI2022

A scale-wise analysis of intermittent momentum transport in dense canopy flows

We investigate the intermittent dynamics of momentum transport and its underlying time scales in the near-wall region of the neutrally stratified atmospheric boundary layer in the presence of a vegetation canopy. This is achieved through an empirical analysis of the persistence time scales (periods between successive zero-crossings) of momentum flux events, and their connection to the ejection–sweep cycle. Using high-frequency measurements from the GoAmazon campaign, spanning multiple heights within and above a dense canopy, the analysis suggests that, when the persistence time scales ( $t_p$ ) of momentum flux events from four different quadrants are separately normalized by $\varGamma _{w}$ (integral time scale of the vertical velocity), their distributions $P(t_p/\varGamma _{w})$ remain height-invariant. This result points to a persistent memory imposed by canopy-induced coherent structures, and to their role as an efficient momentum-transporting mechanism between the canopy airspace and the region immediately above. Moreover, $P(t_p/\varGamma _{w})$ exhibits a power-law scaling at times $t_{p}<\varGamma _{w}$ , with an exponential tail appearing for $t_{p} \geq \varGamma _{w}$ . By separating the flux events based on $t_p$ , we discover that around 80 % of the momentum is transported through the long-lived events ( $t_{p} \geq \varGamma _{w}$ ) at heights immediately above the canopy, while the short-lived ones ( $t_{p} < \varGamma _{w}$ ) only contribute marginally ( $\approx 20\,\%$ ). To explain the role of instantaneous flux amplitudes in momentum transport, we compare the measurements with newly developed surrogate data and establish that the range of time scales involved with amplitude variations in the fluxes tends to increase as one transitions from within to above the canopy.

Mechanics↗
DOE OSTI2026

Preparing For Advanced Air Mobility: A System-Level Framework For Infrastructure, Investment, and Deployment

Advanced air mobility (AAM) is moving from demonstration toward early deployment, supported by a growing national strategy that outlines how these systems may evolve across airspace, infrastructure, and operations. As this transition takes shape, a more practical question comes into focus: what does it mean to be ready? This paper introduces a Capability Maturity Model (CMM) as a structured way to think about that challenge. Rather than treating readiness as a fixed condition, it frames it as a progression - one that develops across multiple, interdependent domains over time.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗