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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
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2010

En Route Air Traffic Control Input Devices for the Next Generation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of different input device configurations when trial planning new routes for aircraft in an advanced simulation of the en route workstation. The task of trial planning is one of the futuristic tools that is performed by the graphical manipulation of an aircraft's trajectory to reroute the aircraft without voice communication. In this study with two input devices, the FAA's current trackball and a basic optical computer mouse were evaluated with "pick" button in a click-and-hold state and a click-and-release state while the participant dragged the trial plan line. The trial plan was used for three different conflict types: Aircraft Conflicts, Weather Conflicts, and Aircraft + Weather Conflicts. Speed and accuracy were the primary dependent variables. Results indicate that the mouse conditions were significantly faster than the trackball conditions overall with no significant loss of accuracy. Several performance ratings and preference ratings were analyzed from post-run and post-simulation questionnaires. The release conditions were significantly more useful and likable than the hold conditions. The results suggest that the mouse in the release button state was the fastest and most well liked device configuration for trial planning in the en route workstation. Keywords-input devices, en route, controller, workstation, mouse, trackball, NextGen

Mainini, Matthew J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

MUTCD 11th Edition - What's New in Signage for Electric Vehicle Charging and Parking

This handout summarizes key changes to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD) with respect to signage for electric vehicle (EV) charging and parking. The final rule for the 11th edition of the MUTCD was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 19, 2023, and became effective Jan. 18, 2024. The previous edition was issued in 2009. Going forward, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law requires updates every four years. Visit the MUTCD 11th Edition for full details.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

Industrial control system device classification using network traffic features and neural network embeddings

Characterization of modern cyber–physical Industrial Control System (ICS) devices is critical to the evaluation of their security posture and an understanding of the underlying industrial processes with which they interact. In this work, we address two related ICS device identification tasks: (1) separating ICS from non-ICS devices and (2) identifying specific ICS device types. We propose two distinct methods (one based on the existing IP2Vec method, and a novel traffic-features-based method) for achieving the first task. For transferability of the first task between two datasets, the traffic-features-based method performs significantly better (75% overall accuracy) compared to IP2Vec (22.5% overall accuracy). We further propose a novel method called DNP2Vec to address the second task. DNP2Vec is evaluated on two different datasets and achieves perfect multi-class classification accuracy (100%) for both datasets.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhanced Lighting Signals for Safety and Efficiency - Experiments With Addressable LEDs

For enhanced roadway safety, clear and immediate visual cues are essential for preventing accidents between drivers and pedestrians. At intersections, however, the line of sight to other roadway users may be obstructed by vehicles and infrastructure. Additionally, adverse conditions, including low visibility, poor weather, or inadequate lighting can increase the potential for collisions. Distracted drivers and pedestrians can further exacerbate the risk of accidents, particularly when using a smartphone, rather than focusing on roadway surroundings. These issues demonstrate the need for infrastructure upgrades that enhance visibility and awareness at crosswalks. A potential solution is through enhanced lighting signals integrated into the roadway infrastructure. One such example is the use of addressable LEDs, individually controllable lights that can change color and brightness instantaneously through programmable microcontrollers. They can be installed and integrated into crosswalks to maintain visibility in conditions where pedestrians may be difficult to see, while also offering peripheral cues to pedestrians who may be distracted by their phones or other objects rather than the road. Such a system (as one example) that is integrated into a traffic intersection digital twin that tracks all roadway users accurately, has the potential to enhance visibility of vulnerable road users, and thus enhance safety. This paper examines the potential implementation and feasibility of this technology, as well as the safety benefits it could provide. Laboratory experiments with addressable LEDs reveal the capabilities and challenges of this technology for roadway infrastructure safety. These findings could pave the way for more integrated lighting in infrastructure for vehicles and pedestrians at intersections, merge and diverge locations, and other areas where complex interactions present safety hazards. Such lighting solutions, enabled by modern computation and communications, could enhance safety and efficiency in our transportation system and improve overall mobility.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enhanced Lighting Signals for Safety and Efficiency - Experiments with Addressable LEDs

For enhanced roadway safety, clear and immediate visual cues are essential for preventing accidents between drivers and pedestrians. At intersections, however, the line of sight to other roadway users may be obstructed by vehicles and infrastructure. Additionally, adverse conditions, including low visibility, poor weather, or inadequate lighting can increase the potential for collisions. Distracted drivers and pedestrians can further exacerbate the risk of accidents, particularly when using a smartphone, rather than focusing on roadway surroundings. These issues demonstrate the need for infrastructure upgrades that enhance visibility and awareness at crosswalks. A potential solution is through enhanced lighting signals integrated into the roadway infrastructure. One such example is the use of addressable LEDs, individually controllable lights that can change color and brightness instantaneously through programmable microcontrollers. They can be installed and integrated into crosswalks to maintain visibility in conditions where pedestrians may be difficult to see, while also offering peripheral cues to pedestrians who may be distracted by their phones or other objects rather than the road. Such a system (as one example) that is integrated into a traffic intersection digital twin that tracks all roadway users accurately, has the potential to enhance visibility of vulnerable road users, and thus enhance safety. This paper examines the potential implementation and feasibility of this technology, as well as the safety benefits it could provide. Laboratory experiments with addressable LEDs reveal the capabilities and challenges of this technology for roadway infrastructure safety. These findings could pave the way for more integrated lighting in infrastructure for vehicles and pedestrians at intersections, merge and diverge locations, and other areas where complex interactions present safety hazards. Such lighting solutions, enabled by modern computation and communications, could enhance safety and efficiency in our transportation system and improve overall mobility.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Device Classification for Industrial Control Systems Using Predicted Traffic Features

To achieve a secure interconnected Industrial Control System (ICS) architecture, security practitioners depend on accurate identification of network host behavior. However, accurate machine learning based host identification methods depends on the availability of significant quantities of network traffic data, which can be difficult to obtain due to system constraints such as network security, data confidentiality, and physical location. In this work, we propose a network traffic feature prediction method based on a generative model, which achieves high host identification accuracy. Furthermore, we develop a joint training algorithm to improve host identification performance compared to separate training of the generative model and the classifier responsible for host identification.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS2005

Chapter 19B - Antenna Radiation Patterns

Modern civil and military aircraft are equipped with a variety of communication devices, radio navigation equipment, and air traffic control systems. For all of these devices appropriate antennas must be available to transmit and receive the signals. As a result, as many as 30 antennas, and sometimes even more, are mounted around today's aircraft. For this reason, it is necessary to know the capabilities of the receiving/transmitting equipment on board. These capabilities are driven by the antenna characteristics. Therefore, coverage, shading, and beam pointing pattern data are necessary for optimum electronic coverage. The aircraft antenna has to convert the available power density of the electromagnetic field to an electric voltage at its connector. This voltage level must be sufficiently high to operate the connected equipment. The reciprocity principle states that it makes no difference if the antenna is receiving or transmitting. For the certification of the aircraft antennas it must be proven that the antennas are at least generating the minimum receiver input voltage which is required for each radio service. The prime condition is, of course, that the specified field power densities of the different radio navigation and communication services are available. An important property of a radio frequency link is the electro-magnetic field intensity at every point in space for a given output power of the antenna. As the propagation of radio frequency waves in free space is well known, the spatial distribution of the field intensity needs only be measured at one spatial sphere around the antenna. The information is usually given as distributions along the circumference of flat sections through this sphere: each of these is called an ARP. Several ARPs are usually required to describe the complete spatial antenna pattern of an antenna. In addition to mathematical modeling, measurements on sub-scale models, and static measurements on full size models or aircraft on the ground, dynamic measurements on aircraft in flight play the most important role in the aircraft antenna testing and certification. [19B-1] The shape of an ARP, for one given frequency, is determined by the shape of the antenna and the shape and material of the surface it is mounted on. As the directly transmitted waves interfere with waves reflected by the aircraft skin with its complex geometry, and the surface material parameters are only roughly known, it is not possible to predict the ARP with the required accuracy. In ground measurements the earth's surface also acts as a reflector thereby causing the ground ARP to be different from the in-flight ARP. As the in-flight ARP is the ARP we are actually interested in it becomes clear that it is necessary to conduct in-flight ARP measurements. The Flight Test Engineer must be aware of the needs of the specialists who are establishing the test program for measuring antenna patterns and radar cross sections. These tests will require special test equipment and dedicated flights to obtain the data that they require. This Section provides an introduction to the principles of determining antenna patterns and the flight techniques for determining both antenna patterns and radar cross section. Reference 19B-1 provides detailed information.

Helmut Bothe↗
DOE OSTI2021

Attacking the IEC-61131 Logic Engine in Programmable Logic Controllers in Industrial Control Systems

In industrial control systems (ICS), programmable logic controllers (PLCs) directly monitor and control a physical process such as nuclear power plants, gas pipelines, and water treatment. They are equipped with a control logic written in IEC-61131 languages (e.g., ladder logic and structured text) that defines how a PLC should control a physical process. A PLC's control logic is a usual target of a cyberattack to sabotage a physical process. For instance, Stuxnet targets a control logic of a Siemens S7-300 PLC to damage a nuclear facility's centrifuges. The existing attacks in the literature generally focus only on injecting malicious control logic into a PLC. This paper presents a new dimension of control logic attacks that target the control logic engine (responsible for running a control logic) of a PLC. It demonstrates that a cyberattack can disable the control logic engine successfully by exploiting inherent PLC features such as program mode and starting/stopping engine. We develop two novel case studies on control logic engine attacks by employing the MITRE ATT\&CK knowledge base on the real-world PLCs used in industry settings, i.e., 1) Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory (SEL)'s Real-Time Automation Controller (SEL-3505 RTAC) equipped with security features such as encrypted traffic and device-level access control, and 2) traditional PLCs, i.e., Schneider Electric's Modicon M221, Allen-Bradley's MicroLogix 1400 and 1100 that do not have security features. The case studies present the internals of the logic engine attacks and facilitate the ICS research community and industry to understand the attack vectors on the control logic engine. We evaluate the effectiveness of the control engine attacks on a power substation, a 4-floor elevator, and a conveyor belt to demonstrate their real-world impact of halting a physical process.

Ali qasim, Syed↗
DOE OSTI2020

Systems and methods for monitoring traffic on industrial control and building automation system networks

Technologies relating to monitoring communications traffic to detect potential attacks on industrial control system networks and building automation system networks are described herein. In an embodiment, a monitoring device receives a plurality of communications from a control network. The monitoring device transmits the communications to a computing device. Based on the communications, the computing device generates a listing of devices that communicated by way of the control network over a period of time, and computes a volume of traffic between each pair of devices in the listing of devices. The computing device then outputs a graphical user interface (GUI) by way of display, the GUI comprising data indicative of the computed volumes of traffic, which may be indicative of a potential attack on the control network.

Jenkins, Chris↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Cyber-Physical System for Freeway Ramp Meter Signal Control Using Deep Reinforcement Learning in a Connected Environment

Freeway bottlenecks such as on-ramp merging areas account for about 40% of recurring freeway congestion. It is generally agreed that building more roads and adding more lanes to existing infrastructure does not solve the congestion problem, and so dynamic traffic control measures offer a more cost-effective alternative. Ramp meters, traffic signal devices that regulate traffic flow entering freeways, are among the most effective measures to mitigate congestion at on-ramp merging areas on freeways. The confluence of deep reinforcement learning (RL) and connectivity provides a possible solution to advance ramp meter signal control. Deep RL is a group of machine-learning methods that enables an agent learning from the environment to improve its performance. In this study, three deep RL methods-proximal policy optimization (PPO), Ape-X deep Q-network (DQN), and asynchronous advantage actor-critic agents (A3C)-are explored for ramp meter signal control to maximize vehicle speed and traffic throughput, as well as to minimize energy consumption and emissions at freeway on-ramp merging areas in a connected environment. The low computational requirement and scalability of deep RL for deployment make it a powerful optimization tool for time-sensitive applications such as ramp meter signal control. The results of this study show that deep RL methods yield superior performance to both a fixed-time controller and ALINE A, a state-of-the-art feedback controller.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,MATHEMATICS AND COMPUT↗
NASA NTRS1990

Investigation of air transportation technology at Princeton University, 1988-1989

The Air Transportation Technology Program at Princeton University, a program emphasizing graduate and undergraduate student research, proceeded along several avenues during the past year. A study of optimal trajectories for penetration of microbursts when encounter is unavoidable was conducted. The emphasis of current wind shear research is on developing an expert system for wind shear avoidance. A knowledge-based reconfigurable flight control system that is implemented with the Pascal programming language using parallel microprocessors was developed. This expert system could be considered a prototype for a failure-tolerant control system that can be constructed using existing hardware. Development of a real-time cockpit simulator continued during the year. The simulator provides a single-person crew station with both conventional and advanced control devices; it currently is programmed to simulate the Navion single-engine general aviation airplane. Alternatives for the air traffic control system giving particular attention to the institutional structure of the FAA are analyzed. A simple numerical procedure for estimating the stochastic robustness of control systems is being investigated. The revitalization of the general aviation industry is also discussed.

Stengel, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Considerations for the design of an onboard air traffic situation display

The basic concept of remoting information to the cockpit is used to design and develop a computerized airborne traffic situation display device that automatically selects and presents segments of a controller's scope to the aircraft pilot via a narrow band digital data link. These data are integrated with aircraft heading and navigation information to provide a display useful in congested air space. The display can include alphanumerical symbols, air route maps, and controller instructions.

Anderson, R. E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Gateway Command and Data Handling Network Implementation and Validation

As initial Lunar Gateway modules approach design maturity, the Artemis Network Validation and Integration Lab (ANVIL) has begun demonstrations to validate avionics network dataflows. The flight architecture design includes utilizing Time-Triggered Ethernet (TTE) and layer-3 switching capabilities to enable greater automation and flexibility of critical and best effort traffic. Critical traffic is considered as Time-Triggered (TT), Rate Constrained (RC) and prioritized Best Effort (BE) traffic classes. End systems, such as mission computers, power control, and robotics, use three planes and all traffic classes while other devices interface via Best Effort. Typical best effort devices include video, laptops, wireless access points, and payloads. Other devices have a various hybrid approach of interfaces including alarms, telemetry/logging, and communication units. In the paper, we will present an update of the Gateway network architecture and how the system will operate nominally and during a stack topology reconfiguration. We will also discuss the network risks, and trade-offs of performance, flexibility, and redundancy. Finally, we will show the process for validation, demonstration, and verification approaches to the vehicle network.

Gateway↗
NASA NTRS2011

Research Of Airborne Precision Spacing to Improve Airport Arrival Operations

In September 2004, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL) and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to mutually develop, modify, test, and evaluate systems, procedures, facilities, and devices to meet the need for safe and efficient air navigation and air traffic control in the future. In the United States and Europe, these efforts are defined within the architectures of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Program and Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) Program respectively. Both programs have identified Airborne Spacing as a critical component, with Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) as a key enabler. Increased interest in reducing airport community noise and the escalating cost of aviation fuel has led to the use of Continuous Descent Arrival (CDA) procedures to reduce noise, emissions, and fuel usage compared to current procedures. To provide these operational enhancements, arrival flight paths into terminal areas are planned around continuous vertical descents that are closer to an optimum trajectory than those in use today. The profiles are designed to be near-idle descents from cruise altitude to the Final Approach Fix (FAF) and are typically without any level segments. By staying higher and faster than conventional arrivals, CDAs also save flight time for the aircraft operator. The drawback is that the variation of optimized trajectories for different types and weights of aircraft requires the Air Traffic Controller to provide more airspace around an aircraft on a CDA than on a conventional arrival procedure. This additional space decreases the throughput rate of the destination airport. Airborne self-spacing concepts have been developed to increase the throughput at high-demand airports by managing the inter-arrival spacing to be more precise and consistent using on-board guidance. It has been proposed that the additional space needed around an aircraft performing a CDA could be reduced or eliminated when using airborne spacing techniques.

Barmore, Bryan E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

User Acceptability of Physiological and Other Measures of Hazardous States of Awareness

Two studies explored user acceptance of devices that measure hazardous states of awareness. In the first study, critical incident data were collected in two workshops from 11 operators working as air traffic controllers or commercial pilots. These critical incident data were used to develop a survey of the acceptability of awareness measures. In the second study, the survey was administered to 100 people also working as air traffic controllers or commercial pilots. Results show that operators are open to the inclusion of technology to measure HSAs even if that technology is somewhat invasive as long as feedback about the HSAs is considered to be useful and helpful. Nonetheless, a major concern is the legal complications associated with being recorded, particularly for older and more experienced operators. Air traffic controllers emphasized the importance of sharing technology information with supervisors in order to receive backup or assistance under conditions of task overload, whereas pilots emphasized the influence of work schedules on problems with awareness. Recommendations are offered concerning the implementation of devices to measure hazardous states of awareness.

Dickinson, Terry L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Portable Integrated Wireless Device Threat Assessment to Aircraft Radio Systems

An assessment was conducted on multiple wireless local area network (WLAN) devices using the three wireless standards for spurious radiated emissions to determine their threat to aircraft radio navigation systems. The measurement process, data and analysis are provided for devices tested using IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, and Bluetooth as well as data from portable laptops/tablet PCs and PDAs (grouping known as PEDs). A comparison was made between wireless LAN devices and portable electronic devices. Spurious radiated emissions were investigated in the radio frequency bands for the following aircraft systems: Instrument Landing System Localizer and Glideslope, Very High Frequency (VHF) Communication, VHF Omnidirectional Range, Traffic Collision Avoidance System, Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System, Microwave Landing System and Global Positioning System. Since several of the contiguous navigation systems were grouped under one encompassing measurement frequency band, there were five measurement frequency bands where spurious radiated emissions data were collected for the PEDs and WLAN devices. The report also provides a comparison between emissions data and regulatory emission limit.

Salud, Maria Theresa P.↗