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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 sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2016

Task Demand Variation in Air Traffic Control: Implications for Workload, Fatigue, and Performance

In air traffic control, task demand and workload have important implications for the safety and efficiency of air traffic, and remain dominant considerations. Within air traffic control, task demand is dynamic. However, research on demand transitions and subsequent controller perception and performance is limited. This research uses an air traffic control simulation to investigate the effect of task demand transitions, and the direction of those transitions, on workload and fatigue and one efficiency performance measure. Results indicate that a change in task demand appears to affect both workload and fatigue ratings, although not necessarily performance. In addition, participants' workload and fatigue ratings in equivalent task demand periods appear to change depending on the demand period preceding the time of the current ratings. Further research is needed to enhance understanding of demand transition and workload history effects on operator experience and performance, in both air traffic control and other safety-critical domains.

workload history↗

NASA NTRS2016

Task Demand Variation in Air Traffic Control: Implications for Controller Workload, Fatigue, and Performance

In air traffic control, task demand and workload have important implications for the safety and efficiency of air traffic, and remain dominant considerations. Within air traffic control, task demand is dynamic. However, research on demand transitions and subsequent controller perception and performance is limited. This research uses an air traffic control simulation to investigate the effect of task demand transitions, and the direction of those transitions, on workload and fatigue and one efficiency performance measure. Results indicate that a change in task demand appears to affect both workload and fatigue ratings, although not necessarily performance. In addition, participants workload and fatigue ratings in equivalent task demand periods appear to change depending on the demand period preceding the time of the current ratings. Further research is needed to enhance understanding of demand transition and workload history effects on operator experience and performance, in both air traffic control and other safety-critical domains.

workload history↗

NASA NTRS2017

The Relationship Between Workload and Performance in Air Traffic Control: Exploring the Influence of Levels of Automation and Variation in Task Demand

In an air traffic environment, task demand is dynamic. However, previous research has largely considered the association of task demand and controller performance using conditions of stable task demand. Further, there is a comparatively restricted understanding of the influence of task demand transitions on workload and performance in association with different types and levels of automation that are available to controllers. This study used an air traffic control simulation to investigate the influence of task demand transitions, and two conditions of automation, on workload and efficiency-related performance. Findings showed that both the direction of the task demand variation and the amount of automation influenced the relationship between workload and performance. Findings are discussed in relation to capacity and arousal theories. Further research is needed to enhance understanding of demand transition and workload history effects on operator experience and performance, in both air traffic control and other safety-critical domains.

function allocation↗

NASA NTRS2017

Workload and Performance in Air Traffic Control: Exploring the Influence of Levels of Automation and Variation in Task Demand

In air traffic control, task demand and workload have important implications for the safety and efficiency of air traffic. Task demand is dynamic, however, research on demand transitions and associated controller perception and performance is limited. In addition, there is a comparatively restricted understanding of the influence of task demand transitions on workload and performance, in association with automation. This study used an air traffic control simulation to investigate the influence of task demand transitions and two conditions of varying automation, on workload and efficiency-related performance. Findings showed that a both the direction of the task demand variation, and the amount of automation, influenced the relationship between workload and performance. Further research is needed to enhance understanding of demand transition and workload history effects on operator experience and performance, in both air traffic control and other safety-critical domains.

air traffic control↗

NASA NTRS1992

Scheduling revisited workstations in integrated-circuit fabrication

The cost of building new semiconductor wafer fabrication factories has grown rapidly, and a state-of-the-art fab may cost 250 million dollars or more. Obtaining an acceptable return on this investment requires high productivity from the fabrication facilities. This paper describes the Photo Dispatcher system which was developed to make machine-loading recommendations on a set of key fab machines. Dispatching policies that generally perform well in job shops (e.g., Shortest Remaining Processing Time) perform poorly for workstations such as photolithography which are visited several times by the same lot of silicon wafers. The Photo Dispatcher evaluates the history of workloads throughout the fab and identifies bottleneck areas. The scheduler then assigns priorities to lots depending on where they are headed after photolithography. These priorities are designed to avoid starving bottleneck workstations and to give preference to lots that are headed to areas where they can be processed with minimal waiting. Other factors considered by the scheduler to establish priorities are the nearness of a lot to the end of its process flow and the time that the lot has already been waiting in queue. Simulations that model the equipment and products in one of Texas Instrument's wafer fabs show the Photo Dispatcher can produce a 10 percent improvement in the time required to fabricate integrated circuits.

Kline, Paul J.↗

NASA NTRS2024

Humans to Mars, But How Many? A Historical Review of Crew Size Determinations for Mars Missions

Three-quarters of a century have passed since the first engineering study of a human mission to Mars in 1948. During that time, dozens of study teams at NASA, its contractors, and other organizations in the U.S. and abroad have confronted what NASA mission architect John Connolly and his colleagues have called “the ultimate systems challenge.” This historical review of those studies focuses on the question of crew size and its relationship to crew workload.

Human Mars Missions↗

DOE OSTI2026

How Cloud is Accelerating Research at NREL

This presentation coincides with AWS's announcement of their new Parallel Computing Service (PCS) which allows for easy creation of HPC-style clusters in their AWS cloud computing platform. I helped them beta test this service before it was made generally available in August. AWS asked if we would be interested in discussing our experience with the PCS service, and our experience with HPC workloads in the cloud in general, so this slideshow discusses a brief history of scientific computing at NREL and shares a bit of our experiences and approach to utilizing cloud services for HPC-style workloads.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

NASA NTRS2007

Observations on Cost Modeling and Performance Measurement of Long Term Archives

This paper describes a prototype suite of Excel-based tools that could be used for estimating lifecycle costs for newly planned or modified long-term archival facilities. These tools may also prove valuable for monitoring the long-term performance of such facilities once operational. Cost estimation is by analogy, using statistical curve-fitting techniques across a database of comparable data activities. The database currently includes 29 operational data centers ranging from small (2 FTEs) to large (66 FTEs), and is readily expandable to include additional activities specifically involving data preservation and added value. Each comparable data center is described in terms of its staffing, throughput workload, archival and distribution requirements, levels of user service, overall complexity, degree of automation, and other data, comprising 94 distinct descriptors in all. The descriptors were developed by normalizing heterogeneous data from the various centers and mapping them into an Excel framework consistent with the OAIS reference model. A user-friendly tool is provided for generating input to and updating the comparables database. This tool can also be used to benchmark the performance (in terms of cost versus throughput) of an operational data center, and to update the staffing, cost and workload data on a periodic basis. The comparables database could thus provide a history of staffing and throughput over time, as a means of performance monitoring and providing feedback for continuous improvement. Ancillary tools are also provided for performing "what-if' cost exercises for planning purposes, and for graphical display of data and results. We provide a high-level description of the tools; present our experiences and observations on gathering the information and maintaining the database; and discuss how this tool set might be applied to long term archives.

Fontaine, Kathy↗

NASA NTRS2009

A Brief History of Airborne Self-Spacing Concepts

This paper presents a history of seven of the more significant airborne and airborne-assisted aircraft spacing concepts that have been developed and evaluated during the past 40 years. The primary focus of the earlier concepts was on enhancing airport terminal area productivity and reducing air traffic controller workload. The more recent efforts were designed to increase runway throughput through improved aircraft spacing precision at landing. The latest concepts are aimed at supporting more fuel efficient and lower community noise operations while maintaining or increasing runway throughput efficiency.

Air traffic control↗

NASA NTRS1979

Visual performance modeling in the human operator simulator

A brief description of the history of the development of the human operator simulator (HOS) model is presented. Features of the HOS micromodels that impact on the obtainment of visual performance data are discussed along with preliminary details on a HOS pilot model designed to predict the results of visual performance workload data obtained through oculometer studies on pilots in real and simulated approaches and landings.

Strieb, M. I.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Helicopter human factors

The state-of-the-art helicopter and its pilot are examined using the tools of human-factors analysis. The significant role of human error in helicopter accidents is discussed; the history of human-factors research on helicopters is briefly traced; the typical flight tasks are described; and the noise, vibration, and temperature conditions typical of modern military helicopters are characterized. Also considered are helicopter controls, cockpit instruments and displays, and the impact of cockpit design on pilot workload. Particular attention is given to possible advanced-technology improvements, such as control stabilization and augmentation, FBW and fly-by-light systems, multifunction displays, night-vision goggles, pilot night-vision systems, night-vision displays with superimposed symbols, target acquisition and designation systems, and aural displays. Diagrams, drawings, and photographs are provided.

Hart, Sandra G.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Scaling neural simulations in STACS

Abstract As modern neuroscience tools acquire more details about the brain, the need to move towards biological-scale neural simulations continues to grow. However, effective simulations at scale remain a challenge. Beyond just the tooling required to enable parallel execution, there is also the unique structure of the synaptic interconnectivity, which is globally sparse but has relatively high connection density and non-local interactions per neuron. There are also various practicalities to consider in high performance computing applications, such as the need for serializing neural networks to support potentially long-running simulations that require checkpoint-restart. Although acceleration on neuromorphic hardware is also a possibility, development in this space can be difficult as hardware support tends to vary between platforms and software support for larger scale models also tends to be limited. In this paper, we focus our attention on Simulation Tool for Asynchronous Cortical Streams (STACS), a spiking neural network simulator that leverages the Charm++ parallel programming framework, with the goal of supporting biological-scale simulations as well as interoperability between platforms. Central to these goals is the implementation of scalable data structures suitable for efficiently distributing a network across parallel partitions. Here, we discuss a straightforward extension of a parallel data format with a history of use in graph partitioners, which also serves as a portable intermediate representation for different neuromorphic backends. We perform scaling studies on the Summit supercomputer, examining the capabilities of STACS in terms of network build and storage, partitioning, and execution. We highlight how a suitably partitioned, spatially dependent synaptic structure introduces a communication workload well-suited to the multicast communication supported by Charm++. We evaluate the strong and weak scaling behavior for networks on the order of millions of neurons and billions of synapses, and show that STACS achieves competitive levels of parallel efficiency.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Deploying and Tracking Software with NCCS Software Provisioning

The National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has a long history of deploying ground-breaking leadership-class supercomputers for the U.S. Department of Energy. The latest in this line of supercomputers is Frontier, the first supercomputer to break the exascale barrier (1018 floating-point operations per second) on the TOP500 list. Frontier serves a wide array of scientific domains, from traditional simulation-based workloads to newer AI and Machine Learning workloads. To best serve the NCCS user community, NCCS uses Spack to deploy a comprehensive software stack of scientific software packages, providing straightforward access to these packages through Lmod Environment Modules. Maintaining a large software stack while also including multiple new compiler releases each year is a very time-consuming task. Additionally, it is not straightforward to provide a software stack alongside existing vendor-provided software such as the HPE/Cray Programming Environment (CPE), and existing CPE, Spack, and Lmod integration does not allow for multiple versions of GPU libraries such as AMD’s ROCm to be used. To address these challenges and shortcomings, NCCS has developed the NCCS Software Provisioning tool (NSP)1, a tool for deploying and monitoring software stacks on HPC systems. NSP allows NCCS to quickly and effectively provision software stacks from the ground up using template-driven recipes and configuration files. NSP is successfully deployed on Frontier and several other NCCS clusters, enabling the NCCS software team to quickly deploy software stacks for newly-released compilers, expand current software offerings, better support GPU-based software, and monitor Lmod module usage to identify unused software packages that can be removed from the software stack. In this work, we discuss the shortcomings of the previous CPE, Spack, and Lmod usage at NCCS, provide further details on the implementation and structure of NSP, then discuss the benefits that NSP provides.

Rentschler, Asa [ORNL] (ORCID:0009000597694743)↗

NASA NTRS2017

The Evolution of Exercise Hardware on ISS: Past, Present, and Future

During 16 years in low-Earth orbit, the suite of exercise hardware aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has matured significantly. Today, the countermeasure system supports an array of physical-training protocols and serves as an extensive research platform. Future hardware designs are required to have smaller operational envelopes and must also mitigate known physiologic issues observed in long-duration spaceflight. Taking lessons learned from the long history of space exercise will be important to successful development and implementation of future, compact exercise hardware. The evolution of exercise hardware as deployed on the ISS has implications for future exercise hardware and operations. Key lessons learned from the early days of ISS have helped to: 1. Enhance hardware performance (increased speed and loads). 2. Mature software interfaces. 3. Compare inflight exercise workloads to pre-, in-, and post-flight musculoskeletal and aerobic conditions. 4. Improve exercise comfort. 5. Develop complimentary hardware for research and operations. Current ISS exercise hardware includes both custom and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Benefits and challenges to this approach have prepared engineering teams to take a hybrid approach when designing and implementing future exercise hardware. Significant effort has gone into consideration of hardware instrumentation and wearable devices that provide important data to monitor crew health and performance.

Buxton, R. E.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Cockpit displays of traffic information: Airline pilots opinions about content, symbology, and format

A number of candidate computer-generated cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTI) displays and display options were simulated statically and were shown to 23 airline pilots who were asked to respond to more than 250 questions about them. The pilots indicated that the amount and complexity of navigation information displayed should increase with altitude and map scale. Terrain information should appear automatically if a pilot's own aircraft descends below the minimum safe altitude and should include only those obstruction within 2,000 ft or less. Few pilots that weather information should be displayed on a CDTI, but if it was, it should be at pilot request only. A chevron-shaped symbol, located so that the majority of the map area was ahead was preferred. The position, altitude, ground speed, ground track, weight class, and flightpath history of other aircraft should be presented graphically by coding the shape of the symbol for other aircraft or presented digitally in data tags displayed at pilot request. All pilots thought that color coding was necessary to recognize different categories of information quickly and accurately. The majority of pilots felt that a CDTI would provide useful information even though its presence might increase their workload somewhat particularly during its introductory stages.

Hart, S. G.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Autonomous Payload Operations Onboard the International Space Station

Operating the International Space Station (ISS) involves many complex crew tended, ground operated and combined systems. Over the life of the ISS program, it has become evident that by having automated and autonomous systems on board, more can be accomplished and at the same time reduce the workload of the crew and ground operators. Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville Alabama, working in collaboration with The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory have developed an autonomous software system that uses the Timeliner User Interface Language and expert logic to continuously monitor ISS payload systems, issue commands and signal ground operators as required. This paper describes the development history of the system, its concept of operation and components. The paper also discusses the testing process as well as the facilities used to develop the system. The paper concludes with a description of future enhancement plans for use on the ISS as well as potential applications to Lunar and Mars exploration systems.

Stetson, Howard K.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Wetware, Hardware, or Software Incapacitation: Observational Methods to Determine When Autonomy Should Assume Control

Control-theoretic modeling of human operator's dynamic behavior in manual control tasks has a long, rich history. There has been significant work on techniques used to identify the pilot model of a given structure. This research attempts to go beyond pilot identification based on experimental data to develop a predictor of pilot behavior. Two methods for pre-dicting pilot stick input during changing aircraft dynamics and deducing changes in pilot behavior are presented This approach may also have the capability to detect a change in a subject due to workload, engagement, etc., or the effects of changes in vehicle dynamics on the pilot. With this ability to detect changes in piloting behavior, the possibility now exists to mediate human adverse behaviors, hardware failures, and software anomalies with autono-my that may ameliorate these undesirable effects. However, appropriate timing of when au-tonomy should assume control is dependent on criticality of actions to safety, sensitivity of methods to accurately detect these adverse changes, and effects of changes in levels of auto-mation of the system as a whole.

Trujillo, Anna C.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Evolution of International Space Station Program Safety Review Processes and Tools

The International Space Station Program at NASA is constantly seeking to improve the processes and systems that support safe space operations. To that end, the ISS Program decided to upgrade their Safety and Hazard data systems with 3 goals: make safety and hazard data more accessible; better support the interconnection of different types of safety data; and increase the efficiency (and compliance) of safety-related processes. These goals are accomplished by moving data into a web-based structured data system that includes strong process support and supports integration with other information systems. Along with the data systems, ISS is evolving its submission requirements and safety process requirements to support the improved model. In contrast to existing operations (where paper processes and electronic file repositories are used for safety data management) the web-based solution provides the program with dramatically faster access to records, the ability to search for and reference specific data within records, reduced workload for hazard updates and approval, and process support including digital signatures and controlled record workflow. In addition, integration with other key data systems provides assistance with assessments of flight readiness, more efficient review and approval of operational controls and better tracking of international safety certifications. This approach will also provide new opportunities to streamline the sharing of data with ISS international partners while maintaining compliance with applicable laws and respecting restrictions on proprietary data. One goal of this paper is to outline the approach taken by the ISS Progrm to determine requirements for the new system and to devise a practical and efficient implementation strategy. From conception through implementation, ISS and NASA partners utilized a user-centered software development approach focused on user research and iterative design methods. The user-centered approach used on the new ISS hazard system utilized focused user research and iterative design methods employed by the Human Computer Interaction Group at NASA Ames Research Center. Particularly, the approach emphasized the reduction of workload associated with document and data management activities so more resources can be allocated to the operational use of data in problem solving, safety analysis, and recurrence control. The methods and techniques used to understand existing processes and systems, to recognize opportunities for improvement, and to design and review improvements are described with the intent that similar techniques can be employed elsewhere in safety operations. A second goal of this paper is to provide and overview of the web-based data system implemented by ISS. The software selected for the ISS hazard systemMission Assurance System (MAS)is a NASA-customized vairant of the open source software project Bugzilla. The origin and history of MAS as a NASA software project and the rationale for (and advantages of) using open-source software are documented elsewhere (Green, et al., 2009).

Ratterman, Christian D.↗