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NASA NTRS2014

Emerging Needs for Pervasive Passive Wireless Sensor Networks on Aerospace Vehicles

NASA is investigating passive wireless sensor technology to reduce instrumentation mass and volume in ground testing, air flight, and space exploration applications. Vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS) are desired on all aerospace programs to ensure the safety of the crew and the vehicles. Pervasive passive wireless sensor networks facilitate VHMS on aerospace vehicles. Future wireless sensor networks on board aerospace vehicles will be heterogeneous and will require active and passive network systems. Since much has been published on active wireless sensor networks, this work will focus on the need for passive wireless sensor networks on aerospace vehicles. Several passive wireless technologies such as microelectromechanical systems MEMS, SAW, backscatter, and chipless RFID techniques, have all shown potential to meet the pervasive sensing needs for aerospace VHMS applications. A SAW VHMS application will be presented. In addition, application areas including ground testing, hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft will be explored along with some of the harsh environments found in aerospace applications.

Wilson, William C.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Modeling Forest Biomass and Growth: Coupling Long-Term Inventory and Lidar Data

Combining spatially-explicit long-term forest inventory and remotely sensed information from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets through statistical models can be a powerful tool for predicting and mapping above-ground biomass (AGB) at a range of geographic scales. We present and examine a novel modeling approach to improve prediction of AGB and estimate AGB growth using LiDAR data. The proposed model accommodates temporal misalignment between field measurements and remotely sensed data-a problem pervasive in such settings-by including multiple time-indexed measurements at plot locations to estimate AGB growth. We pursue a Bayesian modeling framework that allows for appropriately complex parameter associations and uncertainty propagation through to prediction. Specifically, we identify a space-varying coefficients model to predict and map AGB and its associated growth simultaneously. The proposed model is assessed using LiDAR data acquired from NASA Goddard's LiDAR, Hyper-spectral & Thermal imager and field inventory data from the Penobscot Experimental Forest in Bradley, Maine. The proposed model outperformed the time-invariant counterpart models in predictive performance as indicated by a substantial reduction in root mean squared error. The proposed model adequately accounts for temporal misalignment through the estimation of forest AGB growth and accommodates residual spatial dependence. Results from this analysis suggest that future AGB models informed using remotely sensed data, such as LiDAR, may be improved by adapting traditional modeling frameworks to account for temporal misalignment and spatial dependence using random effects.

Babcock, Chad↗

NASA NTRS2004

Mapping Rock and Soil Units in the MPF IMP SuperPan Using a Kohonen Self Organizing Map

The 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission provided information on a site in the Ares Vallis floodplain. Initial analysis of multispectral data from the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) indicated the presence of only a single rock type, the 'gray rock' spectral class and various coated variants thereof (e.g., 'maroon rock'). Continued analysis of the IMP 'SuperPan' mosaic has confirmed multiple examples of a second 'black rock' spectral class existing as small cobbles in the near field and as boulders in the far field. These results are consistent with recent analysis of MGS Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data which indicates that there is likely a mix of both 'Surface Type 1' (ST1) and 'Surface Type 2' (ST2) spectral classes at the MPF landing site. Nominally, the black rock spectral class would correspond to ST1 (basalts) and 'gray rock' would correspond to ST2 (andesites). Orbital remote sensing has also revealed the pervasive presence of layering on Mars. Recently it was suggested that there are extensive outcrops of the black rock spectral class in the SuperPan far field on the flanks of the Twin Peaks and on the rim of Big Crater. These authors suggested that these exposures represented outcrops of black rock from beneath a surficial, flood deposited layer. In this work, we have reexamined the MPF IMP SuperPan mosaic using an artificial neural network self organizing map (SOM) processing architecture in order to classify the distribution of spectral classes within the SuperPan. In this paper, we present initial results from that work and draw specific attention to a subset of the identified spectral classes in order to address questions relating to whether there are extensive exposures of black rock in the IMP far field, what other materials might be exposed in the far field, and what evidence there is for subsurface layering at the MPF landing site.

Farrand, W.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Object-oriented structures supporting remote sensing databases

Object-oriented databases show promise for modeling the complex interrelationships pervasive in scientific domains. To examine the utility of this approach, we have developed an Intelligent Information Fusion System based on this technology, and applied it to the problem of managing an active repository of remotely-sensed satellite scenes. The design and implementation of the system is compared and contrasted with conventional relational database techniques, followed by a presentation of the underlying object-oriented data structures used to enable fast indexing into the data holdings.

Wichmann, Keith↗

NASA NTRS2012

Remote Sensing and Modeling of Landslides: Detection, Monitoring and Risk Evaluation

Landslides are one of the most pervasive hazards in the world, resulting in more fatalities and economic damage than is generally recognized_ Occurring over an extensive range of lithologies, morphologies, hydrologies, and climates, mass movements can be triggered by intense or prolonged rainfall, seismicity, freeze/thaw processes, and antbropogertic activities, among other factors. The location, size, and timing of these processes are characteristically difficult to predict and assess because of their localized spatial scales, distribution, and complex interactions between rainfall infiltration, hydromechanical properties of the soil, and the underlying surface composition. However, the increased availability, accessibility, and resolution of remote sensing data offer a new opportunity to explore issues of landslide susceptibility, hazard, and risk over a variety of spatial scales. This special issue presents a series of papers that investigate the sources, behavior, and impacts of different mass movement types using a diverse set of data sources and evaluation methodologies.

Kirschbaum, Dalia↗

NASA NTRS2009

Satellite-Respondent Buoys Identify Ocean Debris

NASA operates a series of Earth-observing satellites, which help scientists learn more about our home planet. Through partnerships with universities and other government agencies, like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Space Agency helps scientists around the world capture precise movements of the Earth s crust to learn more about the underground processes related to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, create accurate assessments of wind resources for future energy use, and preserve endangered species by generating much-needed data about their environments. This work, done primarily from space with satellites using a variety of complex instruments to take readings of the surface below, generates leagues of valuable data that aid scientists on the ground - or in some cases on the water. As much of the Earth is covered in water liquid, frozen, saltwater, or fresh much of NASA s remote sensing work focuses on the oceans and their health. This valuable, mammoth (yet fragile) resource provides insight into the overall health of our planet, as water, in addition to being abundant, is a key ingredient to all known life on Earth. As part of its ocean-observing work, NASA partnered with NOAA and private industry to develop remote sensing technologies for protecting the seas of the North Pacific from a nefarious and pervasive problem: derelict fishing gear.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2011

Network-Capable Application Process and Wireless Intelligent Sensors for ISHM

Intelligent sensor technology and systems are increasingly becoming attractive means to serve as frameworks for intelligent rocket test facilities with embedded intelligent sensor elements, distributed data acquisition elements, and onboard data acquisition elements. Networked intelligent processors enable users and systems integrators to automatically configure their measurement automation systems for analog sensors. NASA and leading sensor vendors are working together to apply the IEEE 1451 standard for adding plug-and-play capabilities for wireless analog transducers through the use of a Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) in order to simplify sensor setup, use, and maintenance, to automatically obtain calibration data, and to eliminate manual data entry and error. A TEDS contains the critical information needed by an instrument or measurement system to identify, characterize, interface, and properly use the signal from an analog sensor. A TEDS is deployed for a sensor in one of two ways. First, the TEDS can reside in embedded, nonvolatile memory (typically flash memory) within the intelligent processor. Second, a virtual TEDS can exist as a separate file, downloadable from the Internet. This concept of virtual TEDS extends the benefits of the standardized TEDS to legacy sensors and applications where the embedded memory is not available. An HTML-based user interface provides a visual tool to interface with those distributed sensors that a TEDS is associated with, to automate the sensor management process. Implementing and deploying the IEEE 1451.1-based Network-Capable Application Process (NCAP) can achieve support for intelligent process in Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) for the purpose of monitoring, detection of anomalies, diagnosis of causes of anomalies, prediction of future anomalies, mitigation to maintain operability, and integrated awareness of system health by the operator. It can also support local data collection and storage. This invention enables wide-area sensing and employs numerous globally distributed sensing devices that observe the physical world through the existing sensor network. This innovation enables distributed storage, distributed processing, distributed intelligence, and the availability of DiaK (Data, Information, and Knowledge) to any element as needed. It also enables the simultaneous execution of multiple processes, and represents models that contribute to the determination of the condition and health of each element in the system. The NCAP (intelligent process) can configure data-collection and filtering processes in reaction to sensed data, allowing it to decide when and how to adapt collection and processing with regard to sophisticated analysis of data derived from multiple sensors. The user will be able to view the sensing device network as a single unit that supports a high-level query language. Each query would be able to operate over data collected from across the global sensor network just as a search query encompasses millions of Web pages. The sensor web can preserve ubiquitous information access between the querier and the queried data. Pervasive monitoring of the physical world raises significant data and privacy concerns. This innovation enables different authorities to control portions of the sensing infrastructure, and sensor service authors may wish to compose services across authority boundaries.

Figueroa, Fernando↗

NASA NTRS2023

In Situ Geologic Context Mapping Transect on the Floor of Jezero Crater From Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Observations

In situ geologic context mapping based on rover and helicopter observations provides documentation of a nearly continuous record of geology and exposed surface structure over a 120 m-wide corridor along the traverse of the Mars 2020/Perseverance rover. The results record the geologic context of Mars 2020 campaign sites and sample sites, including the local extent of bedrock outcrops, stratigraphy, attitude, and structure from imaging and rover-based remote sensing, and outcrop lithology based on in situ proximity science. Mapping identifies a sequence of igneous lithologies including (a) early mafic, possibly intrusive, rocks; (b) pervasively fractured and deeply altered massive bedrock of undetermined protolith; (c) buried and exhumed lava flows with pahoehoe and aa textures; (d) several varieties of regolith; and (e) small impact craters.

Mars 2020↗

NASA NTRS1991

Martian surface materials

A semiquantitative appreciation for the physical properties of the Mars surface materials and their global variations can be gained from the Viking Lander and remote sensing observations. Analyses of Lander data yields estimates of the mechanical properties of the soil-like surface materials and best guess estimates can be made for the remote sensing signatures of the soil-like materials at the landing sites. Results show that significant thickness of powderlike surface materials with physical properties similar to drift material are present on Mars and probably pervasive in the Tharsis region. It also appears likely that soil-like materials similar to crusty to cloddy material are typical for Mars, and that soil-like material similar to blocky material are common on Mars.

Moore, H. J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Evaluating the Utility of Satellite Soil Moisture Retrievals over Irrigated Areas and the Ability of Land Data Assimilation Methods to Correct for Unmodeled Processes

Earth's land surface is characterized by tremendous natural heterogeneity and human-engineered modifications, both of which are challenging to represent in land surface models. Satellite remote sensing is often the most practical and effective method to observe the land surface over large geographical areas. Agricultural irrigation is an important human-induced modification to natural land surface processes, as it is pervasive across the world and because of its significant influence on the regional and global water budgets. In this article, irrigation is used as an example of a human-engineered, often unmodeled land surface process, and the utility of satellite soil moisture retrievals over irrigated areas in the continental US is examined. Such retrievals are based on passive or active microwave observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System (AMSR-E), the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, WindSat and the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT). The analysis suggests that the skill of these retrievals for representing irrigation effects is mixed, with ASCAT-based products somewhat more skillful than SMOS and AMSR2 products. The article then examines the suitability of typical bias correction strategies in current land data assimilation systems when unmodeled processes dominate the bias between the model and the observations. Using a suite of synthetic experiments that includes bias correction strategies such as quantile mapping and trained forward modeling, it is demonstrated that the bias correction practices lead to the exclusion of the signals from unmodeled processes, if these processes are the major source of the biases. It is further shown that new methods are needed to preserve the observational information about unmodeled processes during data assimilation.

land data↗

NASA NTRS2000

Criteria for Remote Sensing Detection of Sulfate Cemented Soils on Mars

Spectral measurements of loose and cemented mixtures of palagonitic soil and sulfates were made to determine whether cemented soils could be identified on Mars. Cemented MgSO4 mixtures exhibit an enhanced 9 micron sulfate fundamental compared to gypsum mixtures due to more diffuse and pervasive cementing.

Cooper, Christopher D.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Multi-Decadal Nitrogen Dioxide and Derived Products from Satellites (MINDS) Datasets Released by NASA GES DISC and Their Applications for Air Quality

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a pervasive air pollutant, comes from vehicles, power plants, industrial emissions, and off-road sources such as construction or lawn and gardening equipment. The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) curates many remote sensing datasets with NO2 retrievals, which have been utilized for air quality research and applications. The remotely-sensed datasets include those generated by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite, the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P), and the Ozone Mapping and Profiling Suite (OMPS) Nadir-Mapper (NM) instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S- NPP). In collaboration with the NASA Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs) Multi-Decadal Nitrogen Dioxide and Derived Products from Satellites (MINDS) project, the GES DISC recently released MINDS datasets. The NASA MEaSUREs MINDS project aims to develop long-term NO2 global data records by adapting a consistent retrieval algorithm to multiple instrument measurements. Long-term data records will be achieved by applying consistent retrieval approaches to multiple satellite instruments, including OMI (2004 - ); the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME, 1995-2011) onboard the second European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS-2); the Scanning Imaging Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY, 2002-2012) onboard the ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT); GOME-2 on the Meteorological Operational satellites (MetOp-A and MetOp-B, 2006 - ); and TROPOMI onboard the Copernicus S5P (2017 - ). The long-term record (1995 to present) of MINDS datasets makes them very useful for air quality trend studies. Some MINDS datasets with high spatial resolution of only a few kilometers can be used for air quality research and applications at regional scales. In this presentation, we will introduce all of the MINDS products and services, and demonstrate use cases of MINDS data for studying air quality. We will also present a few other NO2 datasets acquired from NASA’s Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (HAQAST), to be archived and distributed by the GES DISC, and highlight some of their applications for air quality and health.

Feng Ding↗

NASA NTRS2005

Pervasive Layering in the Lunar Highland Crust: Evidence from Apollos 15, 16,and 17

This paper presents results of a photogeologic reconnaissance of 70 mm photographs taken on the lunar surface during the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions, whose primary objective was to investigate the lunar highland crust. Photographs at all three sites, notably the Apennine Front, show pervasive layered structure. These layers are easily distinguished from lighting artifacts, and are considered genuine crustal structures. Their number, thickness, and extent implies that they are lava flows, not ejecta blankets or intrusive features. They appear to be the upper part of the earliest lunar crust, possibly forming a layer tens of kilometers thick. Remote sensing studies (X-ray fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy), indicate that the highland crust is dominantly a feldspathic basalt. It is concluded that the highland layers represent a global crust formed by eruptions of high-alumina basalt in the first few hundred million years of the Moon's history.

Lowman, Paul D., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Magnetization of the ionospheres of Venus and Mars - Results from radio occultation measurements

Remote sensing radio occultation measurements are used here to study magnetization of the ionospheres of Venus and Mars. For Venus, the measurements yield results on frequency of occurrence of magnetization during solar maximum that are similar to those obtained from Pioneer Venus in situ magnetic field measurements. During solar minimum, magnetization of the Venus ionosphere is more pervasive than at solar maximum. Magnetization extends to higher solar zenith angles and appears stronger than at solar maximum. These results confirm that during solar minimum the high solar wind dynamic pressure state is more prevalent at Venus because the ionospheric plasma pressure is weaker than at solar maximum. Comparison of a large number of electron density profiles of Mars with those of Venus shows an absence of the ledge and disturbed topside plasma observed in the Venus profiles. These results do not constitute evidence against magnetization of the ionosphere of Mars.

Woo, Richard↗

NASA NTRS1988

Reflectance spectra of subarctic lichens

Lichens constitute a major portion of the ground cover of high latitude environments, but little has been reported concerning their in situ solar spectral reflectance properties. Knowledge of these properties is important for the interpretation of remotely sensed observations from high latitude regions, as well as in studies of high latitude ecology and energy balance climatology. The spectral reflectance of common boreal vascular plants is similar to that of vascular plants of the midlatitudes. The dominant lichens, in contrast, display variable reflectance patterns in visible wavelengths. The relative reflectance peak at 0.55 microns, common to green vegetation, is absent or indistinct in spectra of pervasive boreal forest and tundra lichens, despite the presence of chlorophyll in the inner algal cells. Lichens of the dominant genus, Cladina, display strong absorption of ultraviolet energy and short-wavelength blue light relative to their absorption in other visible wavelengths. Since the Cladinae dominate both the surface vegetation in open woodlands of the boreal forest and the low arctic tundra, their unusual spectral reflectance patterns will enable accurate monitoring of the boreal forest-tundra ecotone and detection of its vigor and movement in the future.

Petzold, Donald E.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Applications of aerospace technology in the public interest: Pollution measurement

This study of selected NASA contributions to the improvement of pollution measurement examines the pervasiveness and complexity of the economic, political, and social issues in the environmental field; provides a perspective on the relationship between the conduct of aerospace R and D and specific improvements in on site air pollution monitoring equipment now in use; describes the basic relationship between the development of satellite-based monitoring systems and their influence on long-term progress in improving environmental quality; and comments on how both instrumentation and satellite remote sensing are contributing to an improved environment. Examples of specific gains that have been made in applying aerospace R and D to environmental problem-solving are included.

Heins, C. F.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Sampling the Old and the New: Landing Site Proposals for the Dichotomy Boundary (6 S,210 W) and the Ares Vallis Headlands (2 S,18 W)

One of the goals of the Mars Pathfinder mission was to sample a diversity of rocks deposited by the Ares and Tiu Vallis floods. It was hoped that ancient highlands and younger lowlands material could be studied, as well as a diversity of rocks within these regions. Although Pathfinder found rocks that exhibited a number of textures and morphologies, several factors precluded the identification of a petrologic suite of rocks, if it was present. Namely among these were 1) The lack of geologic context for the rocks examined, 2) instrument limitations, and 3) pervasive dust and possible weathering finds. Based on the Pathfinder experience and incorporating recent results from Mars Global Surveyor and previous missions, two landing sites are proposed that can potentially overcome this problem and offer samples of ancient and recent Martian rock. The first site is at the dichotomy boundary, where ancient highlands and more recent lowlands meet. The second site is at the Ares Vallis headlands, where some of the source materials for the Pathfinder landing site may have been derived. Both of these sites meet the remote sensing and elevation constraints of the 2001 Lander mission but exhibit significant slopes and potential hazards in places. However, a properly placed ellipse can alleviate much of the concern, thereby offering two exciting sites that otherwise would not be chosen.

Bridges, N. T.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Stress patterns in an interplate shear zone - An effective anisotropic model and implications for the Transverse Ranges, California

The pervasive Quaternary strike-slip (or wrench) structure that occurs in southern California is analyzed by solving a series of planar, linear elastic boundary value problems of tractional type that assume pure shear forces at infinity. It is concluded that the cross-cutting tectonic fabric of the Transverse Ranges in southern California causes the Ranges to act as a stress concentrator. In addition, it is found that rigid rotation of the Transverse Ranges is mechanically supported by an asymmetric distribution of stress and elastic strain encircling it. It is noted that for Quaternary tectonic orientation, a clockwise sense to this rotation is expected.

Ivins, E. R.↗