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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

Model-based orientation-independent 3-D machine vision techniques

Orientation-dependent techniques for the identification of a three-dimensional object by a machine vision system are represented in parts. In the first part, the data consist of intensity images of polyhedral objects obtained by a single camera, while in the second part, the data consist of range images of curved objects obtained by a laser scanner. In both cases, the attributed graphic representation of the object surface is used to drive the respective algorithm. In this representation, a graph node represents a surface patch and a link represents the adjacency between two patches. The attributes assigned to nodes are moment invariants of the corresponding face for polyhedral objects. For range images, the Gaussian curvature is used as a segmentation criterion for providing symbolic shape attributes. Identification is achieved by an efficient graph-matching algorithm used to match the graph obtained from the data to a subgraph of one of the model graphs stored in the commputer memory.

De Figueiredo, R. J. P.↗

A graph theoretic approach to scene matching

The ability to match two scenes is a fundamental requirement in a variety of computer vision tasks. A graph theoretic approach to inexact scene matching is presented which is useful in dealing with problems due to imperfect image segmentation. A scene is described by a set of graphs, with nodes representing objects and arcs representing relationships between objects. Each node has a set of values representing the relations between pairs of objects, such as angle, adjacency, or distance. With this method of scene representation, the task in scene matching is to match two sets of graphs. Because of segmentation errors, variations in camera angle, illumination, and other conditions, an exact match between the sets of observed and stored graphs is usually not possible. In the developed approach, the problem is represented as an association graph, in which each node represents a possible mapping of an observed region to a stored object, and each arc represents the compatibility of two mappings. Nodes and arcs have weights indicating the merit or a region-object mapping and the degree of compatibility between two mappings. A match between the two graphs corresponds to a clique, or fully connected subgraph, in the association graph. The task is to find the clique that represents the best match. Fuzzy relaxation is used to update the node weights using the contextual information contained in the arcs and neighboring nodes. This simplifies the evaluation of cliques. A method of handling oversegmentation and undersegmentation problems is also presented. The approach is tested with a set of realistic images which exhibit many types of sementation errors.

Ranganath, Heggere S.↗

A machine vision identification technique from range images

An orientation-independent identification technique from three-dimensional surface maps or range images is developed. Given the range image of an object, it is decomposed into orientation-independent patches using the sign of Gaussian curvature. A relational graph is then set up such that a node represents a patch and an edge represents the adjacency of two patches. The identification of the object is achieved by matching its graph representation to a number of model graphs. The matching is performed by employing the best-first search strategy. Examples of real range images show the merit of the technique.

Kehtarnavaz, N.↗

Space Shuttle Main Engine component assembly, assignment, and scheduling expert system

The SSME's Component Assembly and Life Management Expert System (CALMES) assists the engine assembly and scheduling process, ensuring that these activities utilize available resources with the greatest possible efficiency. On the basis of parts inventories and a proposed flight schedule, CALMES (1) determined how components may be optimally assembled from the parts inventory, (2) assigns components to flights, (3) schedules component testing, and (4) schedules component assembly. A graph-theoretical optimal matching algorithm, based on a modified simplex method, is applied to the major functions required by the SSME component assembly and scheduling processes.

Dietz, W. E.↗

Exploring and Visualizing A-Train Instrument Data

The succession of US and international satellites that follow each other in close succession, known as the A-Train, affords an opportunity to atmospheric researchers that no single platform could provide: Increasing the number of observations at any given geographic location.. . a more complete "virtual science platform". However, vertically and horizontally, co-registering and regridding datasets from independently developed missions, Aqua, Calipso, Cloudsat, Parasol, and Aura, so that they can be inter-compared can be daunting to some, and may be repeated by many. Scientists will individually spend much of their time and resources acquiring A-Train datasets of interest residing at various locations, developing algorithms to match up and graph datasets along the A-Train track, and search through large amounts of data for areas and/or phenomena of interest. The aggregate amount of effort that can be expended on repeating pre-science tasks could climb into the tens of millions of dollars. The goal of the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD) is to enable free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) is accomplished by through the ATDDs Giovanni data analysis and visualization tool. Giovanni brings together data from Aqua (MODIS, AIRS, AMSR-E), Cloudsat (cloud profiling radar) and Calipso (CALIOP, IIR), as well as the Aura (OMI, MLS, HIRDLS, TES) to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. This easy to learn and use exploration tool will allow users to create vertical profiles of any desired A-Train dataset, for any given time of choice. This presentation shows the power of Giovanni by describing and illustrating how this tool facilitates and aids A-Train science and research. A web based display system Giovanni provides users with the capability of creating co-located profile images of temperature and humidity data from the MODIS, MLS and AIRS instruments for a user specified time and spatial area. In addition, Cloud and Aerosol profiles may also be displayed for the Cloudsat and Caliop instruments. The ability to modify horizontal and vertical axis range, data range and dynamic color range is also provided. Two dimensional strip plots of MODIS, AIRS, OM1 and POLDER parameters, co-located along the Cloudsat reference track, can also be plotted along with the Cloudsat cloud profiling data. Center swath pixels for the same parameters can also be shown as line plots overlaying the Cloudsat or Calipso profile images. Images and subsetted data produced in each analysis run may be downloaded. Users truly can explore and discover data specific to their needs prior to ever transferring data to their analysis tools.

Kempler, S.↗

Expert system validation in prolog

An overview of the Expert System Validation Assistant (EVA) is being implemented in Prolog at the Lockheed AI Center. Prolog was chosen to facilitate rapid prototyping of the structure and logic checkers and since February 1987, we have implemented code to check for irrelevance, subsumption, duplication, deadends, unreachability, and cycles. The architecture chosen is extremely flexible and expansible, yet concise and complementary with the normal interactive style of Prolog. The foundation of the system is in the connection graph representation. Rules and facts are modeled as nodes in the graph and arcs indicate common patterns between rules. The basic activity of the validation system is then a traversal of the connection graph, searching for various patterns the system recognizes as erroneous. To aid in specifying these patterns, a metalanguage is developed, providing the user with the basic facilities required to reason about the expert system. Using the metalanguage, the user can, for example, give the Prolog inference engine the goal of finding inconsistent conclusions among the rules, and Prolog will search the graph intantiations which can match the definition of inconsistency. Examples of code for some of the checkers are provided and the algorithms explained. Technical highlights include automatic construction of a connection graph, demonstration of the use of metalanguage, the A* algorithm modified to detect all unique cycles, general-purpose stacks in Prolog, and a general-purpose database browser with pattern completion.

Stock, Todd↗

Structural stereopsis - Potential for automatic stereo camera calibration

The paper describes the use of extended edge features as a source of primitives for structural stereopsis and considers the design of a system for autonomous camera calibration. It is shown that the structural approach permits greater use of spatial relational constraints, eliminating the coarse-to-fine tracking of point-based algorithms. Experimental results concerning matching and calibration on real images using Laplacian-of-Gaussian contour fragments as primitives in structural stereopsis are presented, and results in graph-theoretic representation and inexact matches, analytical photogrammetry, and other computer vision and image analysis problem domains are examined. Such a system might be used in aerial photogrammetry and cartography, and robotic vision systems; however, the system is still very much under development.

Boyer, Kim L.↗

Deciding Termination for Ancestor Match- Bounded String Rewriting Systems

Termination of a string rewriting system can be characterized by termination on suitable recursively defined languages. This kind of termination criteria has been criticized for its lack of automation. In an earlier paper we have shown how to construct an automated termination criterion if the recursion is aligned with the rewrite relation. We have demonstrated the technique with Dershowitz's forward closure criterion. In this paper we show that a different approach is suitable when the recursion is aligned with the inverse of the rewrite relation. We apply this idea to Kurth's ancestor graphs and obtain ancestor match-bounded string rewriting systems. Termination is shown to be decidable for this class. The resulting method improves upon those based on match-boundedness or inverse match-boundedness.

Geser, Alfons↗

Automated Multi-Robot Assembly of Compliance Optimized Structures

Autonomous assembly of large structures is one of the fundamental challenges on the way towards NASA’s objectives of deep space exploration. In this work, we propose an algorithmic framework to optimize the assembly process of a prescribed target structure by constraining the assembly effort as well as maintaining structural soundness throughout the process. This framework uses structural topology optimization with assembly effort metrics to generate checkpoints for robotic traversal algorithms. Assembly effort is quantified by the Wasserstein metric between consecutive structural configurations during the assembly process. The robotic assembly task is split into two subtasks, where we first optimize for a set of key frames, then perform reconfiguration between consecutive frames. Key frames are optimized by adopting topology optimization techniques to reduce assembly effort and maintain structural integrity during the assembly process, while reconfiguration between key frames is performed using a path planning algorithm with a minimum weight maximum matching approach on a bipartite graph. We employ a Crystalline robot model in which each structural element is capable of locomotion through the structure and locking into place with neighboring elements after reaching its destination. An example assembly of a two-dimensional cantilever beam under volume constraints and structural compliance considerations is presented to demonstrate the approach. Finally, we conclude by discussing possible future extensions to this work, including adoption of better metrics, extension to three-dimensional large-scale problems, and exacting finer control of structural integrity during the path-planning phase.

robotic assembly↗

Quantum-accelerated Global Constraint Filtering

Motivated by recent advances in quantum algorithms and gate-model quantum computation, we introduce quantum-accelerated filtering algorithms for global constraints in constraint programming. We adapt recent work in quantum algorithms for graph problems and identify quantum subroutines that accelerate the main domain consistency algorithms for the all different constraint and the global cardinality constraint (gcc). The subroutines are based on quantum algorithms for finding maximum matchings and strongly connected components in graphs, and provide speedups over the best classical algorithms. We detail both complete and bounded-probability frameworks for quantum-accelerated global constraint filtering algorithms within backtracking search.

Quantum algorithms↗

High-gain backup antenna design for Pioneer Venus Orbiter spacecraft

The development and performance is described of a high-gain antenna designed to serve on the Pioneer Venus Orbiter spacecraft as a backup to the principal high-gain antenna unit in the unlikely event the mechanically despun antenna mechanism malfunctioned. The final design, a center-fed standing wave array of six sleeve dipoles enclosed in a fiber glass radome, performed successfully, as did all the antennas, on the Pioneer Orbiter spacecraft which was launched on May 20, 1978, as part of the Pioneer Venus mission. Photographs of experimental models giving details of design and construction are included, as well as graphs showing measured pattern and impedance matching characteristics of the subject antenna.

Glaser, J. I.↗

Implications of the light curve of the A-type W UMa binary V566 Ophiuchi

Broadband (2585-3200-A) IUE photometric observations of V566 Oph obtained in three 8-h shifts on July 17-19, 1984 are reported and solved simultaneously with the ground-based optical observations of Bookmyer (1976). The observed light curves are fit to theoretical Roche-model light curves using the computer program described by Eaton (1986). The data and solutions are presented in tables and graphs, and the modifications required to match the solutions to data for 1965 (Bookmyer, 1969) and 1957 (Binnendjik, 1959) are considered. The lower-than-expected darkening observed is attributed to a reduced common-radiative-envelope temperature gradient, probably a result of circulation related to energy transfer between the components of V566 Oph.

Eaton, Joel A.↗

Browsing schematics: Query-filtered graphs with context nodes

The early results of a research project to create tools for building interfaces to intelligent systems on the NASA Space Station are reported. One such tool is the Schematic Browser which helps users engaged in engineering problem solving find and select schematics from among a large set. Users query for schematics with certain components, and the Schematic Browser presents a graph whose nodes represent the schematics with those components. The query greatly reduces the number of choices presented to the user, filtering the graph to a manageable size. Users can reformulate and refine the query serially until they locate the schematics of interest. To help users maintain orientation as they navigate a large body of data, the graph also includes nodes that are not matches but provide global and local context for the matching nodes. Context nodes include landmarks, ancestors, siblings, children and previous matches.

Ciccarelli, Eugene C.↗

Nature of the stratospheric haze on Uranus - Evidence for condensed hydrocarbons

The characteristics and origin of lower-stratosphere haze on Uranus are investigated on the basis of high-phase-angle images obtained at 430-600 nm with the wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras of Voyager 2 during its encounter with Uranus in January 1986. The data-reduction and model-fitting procedures are explained in detail, and the results are presented in extensive tables and graphs. The data are found to be best matched by a haze consisting of particles of modal radius 130 + or - 20 nm and number density 2 + or - 1 per cu cm at the 44-mbar level; such aerosols could be formed by the stratospheric condensation of photochemically produced hydrocarbon gases (locally formed diacetylene and ethane, acetylene, and diacetylene formed at higher altitudes). A total aerosol production rate of (2-15) x 10 to the -17th g/sq cm sec is estimated.

Pollack, James B.↗

Backward-facing step measurements at low Reynolds number, Re(sub h)=5000

An experimental study of the flow over a backward-facing step at low Reynolds number was performed for the purpose of validating a direct numerical simulation (DNS) which was performed by the Stanford/NASA Center for Turbulence Research. Previous experimental data on back step flows were conducted at Reynolds numbers and/or expansion ratios which were significantly different from that of the DNS. The geometry of the experiment and the simulation were duplicated precisely, in an effort to perform a rigorous validation of the DNS. The Reynolds number used in the DNS was Re(sub h)=5100 based on step height, h. This was the maximum possible Reynolds number that could be economically simulated. The boundary layer thickness, d, was approximately 1.0 h in the simulation and the expansion ratio was 1.2. The Reynolds number based on the momentum thickness, Re(sub theta), upstream of the step was 610. All of these parameters were matched experimentally. Experimental results are presented in the form of tables, graphs and a floppy disk (for easy access to the data). An LDV instrument was used to measure mean velocity components and three Reynolds stresses components. In addition, surface pressure and skin friction coefficients were measured. LDV measurements were acquired in a measuring domain which included the recirculating flow region.

Jovic, Srba↗

Partitioning sparse matrices with eigenvectors of graphs

The problem of computing a small vertex separator in a graph arises in the context of computing a good ordering for the parallel factorization of sparse, symmetric matrices. An algebraic approach for computing vertex separators is considered in this paper. It is shown that lower bounds on separator sizes can be obtained in terms of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix associated with a graph. The Laplacian eigenvectors of grid graphs can be computed from Kronecker products involving the eigenvectors of path graphs, and these eigenvectors can be used to compute good separators in grid graphs. A heuristic algorithm is designed to compute a vertex separator in a general graph by first computing an edge separator in the graph from an eigenvector of the Laplacian matrix, and then using a maximum matching in a subgraph to compute the vertex separator. Results on the quality of the separators computed by the spectral algorithm are presented, and these are compared with separators obtained from other algorithms for computing separators. Finally, the time required to compute the Laplacian eigenvector is reported, and the accuracy with which the eigenvector must be computed to obtain good separators is considered. The spectral algorithm has the advantage that it can be implemented on a medium-size multiprocessor in a straightforward manner.

Pothen, Alex↗

Wavelet Methods Developed to Detect and Control Compressor Stall

A "wavelet" is, by definition, an amplitude-varying, short waveform with a finite bandwidth (e.g., that shown in the first two graphs). Naturally, wavelets are more effective than the sinusoids of Fourier analysis for matching and reconstructing signal features. In wavelet transformation and inversion, all transient or periodic data features (as in compressor-inlet pressures) can be detected and reconstructed by stretching or contracting a single wavelet to generate the matching building blocks. Consequently, wavelet analysis provides many flexible and effective ways to reduce noise and extract signals which surpass classical techniques - making it very attractive for data analysis, modeling, and active control of stall and surge in high-speed turbojet compressors. Therefore, fast and practical wavelet methods are being developed in-house at the NASA Lewis Research Center to assist in these tasks. This includes establishing user-friendly links between some fundamental wavelet analysis ideas and the classical theories (or practices) of system identification, data analysis, and processing.

Le, Dzu K.↗