Synthesis of the unmanned aerial vehicle remote control augmentation system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tomczyk, Andrzej, E-mail: A.Tomczyk@prz.edu.pl

Medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usually flies as an autonomous aircraft including automatic take-off and landing phases. However in the case of the on-board control system failure, the remote steering is using as an emergency procedure. In this reason, remote manual control of unmanned aerial vehicle is used more often during take-of and landing phases. Depends on UAV take-off mass and speed (total energy) the potential crash can be very danger for airplane and environment. So, handling qualities of UAV is important from pilot-operator point of view. In many cases the dynamic properties of remote controlling UAV are notmore » suitable for obtaining the desired properties of the handling qualities. In this case the control augmentation system (CAS) should be applied. Because the potential failure of the on-board control system, the better solution is that the CAS algorithms are placed on the ground station computers. The method of UAV handling qualities shaping in the case of basic control system failure is presented in this paper. The main idea of this method is that UAV reaction on the operator steering signals should be similar - almost the same - as reaction of the 'ideal' remote control aircraft. The model following method was used for controller parameters calculations. The numerical example concerns the medium size MP-02A UAV applied as an aerial observer system.« less

Device for remote operation of electrical disconnect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coleman, Jody Rustyn; Bobbitt, III, John Thomas

Provided is a device for remote operation of an electrical disconnect. The device can include a handle clamp configured to be secured to an extending member of the electrical disconnect. The device can further include a case clamp configured to be secured to a rigid portion of the electrical disconnect. The device can further include a cable having an exterior sheath coaxially surrounding an inner cable. The inner cable can be coaxially slidable with respect to the exterior sheath. The inner cable can extend through an opening of the case clamp and be secured to the handle clamp. The devicemore » can further include an actuator configured to coaxially slide the inner cable such that the handle clamp is actuated towards the case clamp.« less

46 CFR 32.50-35 - Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels-TB/ALL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine... for Cargo Handling § 32.50-35 Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels—TB/ALL. (a) Any tank vessel which is equipped with an internal combustion engine...

46 CFR 32.50-35 - Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels-TB/ALL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine... for Cargo Handling § 32.50-35 Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels—TB/ALL. (a) Any tank vessel which is equipped with an internal combustion engine...

46 CFR 32.50-35 - Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels-TB/ALL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine... for Cargo Handling § 32.50-35 Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels—TB/ALL. (a) Any tank vessel which is equipped with an internal combustion engine...

46 CFR 32.50-35 - Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels-TB/ALL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine... for Cargo Handling § 32.50-35 Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels—TB/ALL. (a) Any tank vessel which is equipped with an internal combustion engine...

46 CFR 32.50-35 - Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels-TB/ALL.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine... for Cargo Handling § 32.50-35 Remote manual shutdown for internal combustion engine driven cargo pump on tank vessels—TB/ALL. (a) Any tank vessel which is equipped with an internal combustion engine...

Integrating remote sensing, geographic information systems and global positioning system techniques with hydrological modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thakur, Jay Krishna; Singh, Sudhir Kumar; Ekanthalu, Vicky Shettigondahalli

2017-07-01

Integration of remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) are emerging research areas in the field of groundwater hydrology, resource management, environmental monitoring and during emergency response. Recent advancements in the fields of RS, GIS, GPS and higher level of computation will help in providing and handling a range of data simultaneously in a time- and cost-efficient manner. This review paper deals with hydrological modeling, uses of remote sensing and GIS in hydrological modeling, models of integrations and their need and in last the conclusion. After dealing with these issues conceptually and technically, we can develop better methods and novel approaches to handle large data sets and in a better way to communicate information related with rapidly decreasing societal resources, i.e. groundwater.

Concept Design of the Payload Handling Manipulator System. [space shuttle orbiters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The design, requirements, and interface definition of a remote manipulator system developed to handle orbiter payloads are presented. End effector design, control system concepts, and man-machine engineering are considered along with crew station requirements and closed circuit television system performance requirements.

System for handling and storing radioactive waste

DOEpatents

Anderson, J.K.; Lindemann, P.E.

1982-07-19

A system and method are claimed for handling and storing spent reactor fuel and other solid radioactive waste, including canisters to contain the elements of solid waste, storage racks to hold a plurality of such canisters, storage bays to store these racks in isolation by means of shielded doors in the bays. This system also includes means for remotely positioning the racks in the bays and an access tunnel within which the remotely operated means is located to position a rack in a selected bay. The modular type of these bays will facilitate the construction of additional bays and access tunnel extension.

System for handling and storing radioactive waste

DOEpatents

Anderson, John K.; Lindemann, Paul E.

1984-01-01

A system and method for handling and storing spent reactor fuel and other solid radioactive waste, including canisters to contain the elements of solid waste, storage racks to hold a plurality of such canisters, storage bays to store these racks in isolation by means of shielded doors in the bays. This system also includes means for remotely positioning the racks in the bays and an access tunnel within which the remotely operated means is located to position a rack in a selected bay. The modular type of these bays will facilitate the construction of additional bays and access tunnel extension.

CARRIER PREPARATION BUILDING MATERIALS HANDLING SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

E.F. Loros

2000-06-28

The Carrier Preparation Building Materials Handling System receives rail and truck shipping casks from the Carrier/Cask Transport System, and inspects and prepares the shipping casks for return to the Carrier/Cask Transport System. Carrier preparation operations for carriers/casks received at the surface repository include performing a radiation survey of the carrier and cask, removing/retracting the personnel barrier, measuring the cask temperature, removing/retracting the impact limiters, removing the cask tie-downs (if any), and installing the cask trunnions (if any). The shipping operations for carriers/casks leaving the surface repository include removing the cask trunnions (if any), installing the cask tie-downs (if any), installingmore » the impact limiters, performing a radiation survey of the cask, and installing the personnel barrier. There are four parallel carrier/cask preparation lines installed in the Carrier Preparation Building with two preparation bays in each line, each of which can accommodate carrier/cask shipping and receiving. The lines are operated concurrently to handle the waste shipping throughputs and to allow system maintenance operations. One remotely operated overhead bridge crane and one remotely operated manipulator is provided for each pair of carrier/cask preparation lines servicing four preparation bays. Remotely operated support equipment includes a manipulator and tooling and fixtures for removing and installing personnel barriers, impact limiters, cask trunnions, and cask tie-downs. Remote handling equipment is designed to facilitate maintenance, dose reduction, and replacement of interchangeable components where appropriate. Semi-automatic, manual, and backup control methods support normal, abnormal, and recovery operations. Laydown areas and equipment are included as required for transportation system components (e.g., personnel barriers and impact limiters), fixtures, and tooling to support abnormal and recovery operations. The Carrier Preparation Building Materials Handling System interfaces with the Cask/Carrier Transport System to move the carriers to and from the system. The Carrier Preparation Building System houses the equipment and provides the facility, utility, safety, communications, and auxiliary systems supporting operations and protecting personnel.« less

Experiences with real-time teleconsultation in neuroradiology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stahl, Johannes N.; Zhang, Jianguo; Zhou, Xiaoqiang; Lou, Shyhliang A.; Huang, H. K.

1999-07-01

Real-time teleconsultation can be a useful tool for the handling of neuroradiological emergency case in remote locations. Unlike with teleradiology, which describes a mere transmission of images for remote review. Teleconsultation allows physicians to interactively discuss images and findings by means of image transmission, bi-directional remote manipulation and audiovisual communication. This paper describes the communication model, implementation and clinical evaluation of such a Teleconsultation system.

Process technology and effects of spallation products: Circuit components, maintenance, and handling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sigg, B.; Haines, S.J.; Dressler, R.

1996-06-01

Working Session D included an assessment of the status of the technology and components required to: (1) remove impurities from the liquid metal (mercury or Pb-Bi) target flow loop including the effects of spallation products, (2) provide the flow parameters necessary for target operations, and (3) maintain the target system. A series of brief presentations were made to focus the discussion on these issues. The subjects of these presentations, and presenters were: (1) Spallation products and solubilities - R. Dressler; (2) Spallation products for Pb-Bi - Y. Orlov; (3) Clean/up/impurity removal components - B. Sigg; (4) {open_quotes}Road-Map{close_quotes} and remote handlingmore » needs - T. McManamy; (5) Remote handling issues and development - M. Holding. The overall conclusion of this session was that, with the exception of (i) spallation product related processing issues, (ii) helium injection and clean-up, and (iii) specialized remote handling equipment, the technology for all other circuit components (excluding the target itself) exists. Operating systems at the Institute of Physics in Riga, Latvia (O. Lielausis) and at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Shiva, Israel (S. Lesin) have demonstrated that other liquid metal circuit components including pumps, heat exchangers, valves, seals, and piping are readily available and have been reliably used for many years. In the three areas listed above, the designs and analysis are not judged to be mature enough to determine whether and what types of technology development are required. Further design and analysis of the liquid metal target system is therefore needed to define flow circuit processing and remote handling equipment requirements and thereby identify any development needs.« less

Reactor Decommissioning - Balancing Remote and Manual Activities - 12159

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cole, Matt

2012-07-01

Nuclear reactors come in a wide variety of styles, size, and ages. However, during decommissioned one issue they all share is the balancing of remotely and manually activities. For the majority of tasks there is a desire to use manual methods because remote working can be slower, more expensive, and less reliable. However, because of the unique hazards of nuclear reactors some level of remote activity will be necessary to provide adequate safety to workers and properly managed and designed it does not need to be difficult nor expensive. The balance of remote versus manual work can also affect themore » amount and types of waste that is generated. S.A.Technology (SAT) has worked on a number of reactor decommissioning projects over the last two decades and has a range of experience with projects using remote methods to those relying primarily on manual activities. This has created a set of lessons learned and best practices on how to balance the need for remote handling and manual operations. Finding a balance between remote and manual operations on reactor decommissioning can be difficult but by following certain broad guidelines it is possible to have a very successfully decommissioning. It is important to have an integrated team that includes remote handling experts and that this team plans the work using characterization efforts that are efficient and realistic. The equipment need to be simple, robust and flexible and supported by an on-site team committed to adapting to day-to-day challenges. Also, the waste strategy needs to incorporate the challenges of remote activities in its planning. (authors)« less

Improved head-controlled TV system produces high-quality remote image

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goertz, R.; Lindberg, J.; Mingesz, D.; Potts, C.

1967-01-01

Manipulator operator uses an improved resolution tv camera/monitor positioning system to view the remote handling and processing of reactive, flammable, explosive, or contaminated materials. The pan and tilt motions of the camera and monitor are slaved to follow the corresponding motions of the operators head.

Final Environmental Impact Statement for Treating Transuranic (TRU)/Alpha Low-level Waste at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, Tennessee

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

N /A

2000-06-30

The DOE proposes to construct, operate, and decontaminate/decommission a TRU Waste Treatment Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The four waste types that would be treated at the proposed facility would be remote-handled TRU mixed waste sludge, liquid low-level waste associated with the sludge, contact-handled TRU/alpha low-level waste solids, and remote-handled TRU/alpha low-level waste solids. The mixed waste sludge and some of the solid waste contain metals regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and may be classified as mixed waste. This document analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with five alternatives--No Action, the Low-Temperature Drying Alternative (Preferred Alternative), themore » Vitrification Alternative, the Cementation Alternative, and the Treatment and Waste Storage at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Alternative.« less

Robotic Surgery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Childress, Vincent W.

2007-01-01

The medical field has many uses for automated and remote-controlled technology. For example, if a tissue sample is only handled in the laboratory by a robotic handling system, then it will never come into contact with a human. Such a system not only helps to automate the medical testing process, but it also helps to reduce the chances of…

Video movie making using remote procedure calls and 4BSD Unix sockets on Unix, UNICOS, and MS-DOS systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robertson, D.W.; Johnston, W.E.; Hall, D.E.

1990-03-01

We describe the use of the Sun Remote Procedure Call and Unix socket interprocess communication mechanisms to provide the network transport for a distributed, client-server based, image handling system. Clients run under Unix or UNICOS and servers run under Unix or MS-DOS. The use of remote procedure calls across local or wide-area networks to make video movies is addressed.

Development of analysis techniques for remote sensing of vegetation resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draeger, W. C.

1972-01-01

Various data handling and analysis techniques are summarized for evaluation of ERTS-A and supporting high flight imagery. These evaluations are concerned with remote sensors applied to wildland and agricultural vegetation resource inventory problems. Monitoring California's annual grassland, automatic texture analysis, agricultural ground data collection techniques, and spectral measurements are included.

Aspects of remote maintenance in an FRG reprocessing plant from the manufacturer's viewpoint

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zeitzchel, G.; Tennie, M.; Saal, G.

In April 1986 a consortium led by Kraftwerk Union AG was commissioned by the German society for nuclear fuel reprocessing (DWK) to build the first West German commercial reprocessing plant for spent fuel assemblies. The main result of the planning efforts regarding remote maintenance operations inside the main process building was the introduction of FEMO technology (FEMO is an acronym based on German for remote handling modular technique). According to this technology the two cells in which the actual reprocessing (which is based on the PUREX technique) takes place are provided with frames to accommodate the process components (tanks, pumps,more » agitators, etc.), each frame together with the components which it supports forming one module. The two cells are inaccessible and windowless. For handling operations each cell is equipped with an overhead crane and a crane-like manipulator carrier system (MTS) with power manipulator. Viewing of the operations from outside the cells is made possible by television (TV) cameras installed at the crane, the MTS, and the manipulator. This paper addresses some examples of problems that still need to be solved in connection with FEMO handling. In particular, the need for close cooperation between the equipment operator, the component designer, the process engineer, the planning engineer, and the licensing authorities will be demonstrated.« less

Description of European Space Agency (ESA) Remote Manipulator (RM) System Breadboard Currently Under Development for Demonstration of Critical Technology Foreseen to be Used in the Mars Sample Receiving Facility (MSRF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vrublevskis, J.; Duncan, S.; Berthoud, L.; Bowman, P.; Hills, R.; McCulloch, Y.; Pisla, D.; Vaida, C.; Gherman, B.; Hofbaur, M.; Dieber, B.; Neythalath, N.; Smith, C.; van Winnendael, M.; Duvet, L.

2018-04-01

In order to avoid the use of 'double walled' gloves, a haptic feedback Remote Manipulation (RM) system rather than a gloved isolator is needed inside a Double Walled Isolator (DWI) to handle a sample returned from Mars.

Design Knowledge Management System (DKMS) Beta Test Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-11-01

design process. These problems, which include knowledge representation, constraint propagation, model design, and information integration, are...effective delivery of life-cycle engineering knowledge assistance and information to the design/engineering activities. It does not matter whether these...platfomi. 4. Reuse - existing data, information , and knowledge can be reused. 5. Remote Execution -- automatically handles remote execution without

IEEE 1393 Spaceborne Fiber Optic Data Bus: A Standard Approach to On-Board Payload Data Handling Networks for the AIAA Space Technology Conference and Exposition "Partnering in the 21th Century"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Andrucyk, Dennis J.; Orlando, Fred J.; Chalfant, Charles H.

1999-01-01

The Spaceborne Fiber Optic Data Bus (SFODB) is the next generation in on-board data handling networks. It will do for high speed payloads what SAE 1773 has done for on-board command and telemetry systems. That is, it will significantly reduce the cost of payload development, integration and test through interface standardization. As defined in IEEE 1393, SFODB is a 1 Gb/s, fiber optic network specifically designed to support the real-time, on-board data handling requirements of remote sensing spacecraft. The network is highly reliable, fault tolerant, and capable of withstanding the rigors of launch and the harsh space environment. SFODB achieves this operational and environmental performance while maintaining the small size, light weight, and low power necessary for spaceborne applications. SFODB was developed jointly by DoD and NASA GSFC to meet the on-board data handling needs of Remote Sensing satellites. This jointly funded project produced a complete set of flight transmitters, receivers and protocol ASICS; a complete Development & Evaluation System; and, the IEEE 1393 standard.

Enhancement of Capabilities in Hyperspectral and Radar Remote Sensing for Environmental Assessment and Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hepner, George F.

1999-01-01

The University of Utah, Department of Geography has developed a research and instructional program in satellite remote sensing and image processing. The University requested funds for the purchase of software licenses, mass storage for massive hyperspectral imager data sets, upgrades for the central data server to handle the additional storage capacity, a spectroradiometer for field data collection. These purchases have been made. This equipment will support research in one of the newest and most rapidly expanding areas of remote sensing.

How to Handle a Satellite Change in an Operational TWSTFT Network?

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-11-01

42 nd Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Meeting 285 HOW TO HANDLE A SATELLITE CHANGE IN AN OPERATIONAL TWSTFT NETWORK...way satellite time and frequency transfer ( TWSTFT ) is a powerful technique because of its real-time capabilities. In principle, the time difference...between remote clocks is almost instantaneously known after a measurement session. Long-term TWSTFT operations have required changes between

Complications Associated with Long-Term Disposition of Newly-Generated Transuranic Waste: A National Laboratory Perspective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

B.J. Orchard; L.A. Harvego; T.L. Carlson

The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is a multipurpose national laboratory delivering specialized science and engineering solutions for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Sponsorship of INL was formally transferred to the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology (NE) by Secretary Spencer Abraham in July 2002. The move to NE, and designation as the DOE lead nuclear energy laboratory for reactor technology, supports the nation’s expanding nuclear energy initiatives, placing INL at the center of work to develop advanced Generation IV nuclear energy systems; nuclear energy/hydrogen coproduction technology; advanced nuclear energy fuel cycle technologies; and providing national security answersmore » to national infrastructure needs. As a result of the Laboratory’s NE mission, INL generates both contact-handled and remote-handled transuranic (TRU) waste from ongoing operations. Generation rates are relatively small and fluctuate based on specific programs and project activities being conducted; however, the Laboratory will continue to generate TRU waste well into the future in association with the NE mission. Currently, plans and capabilities are being established to transfer INL’s contact-handled TRU waste to the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant (AMWTP) for certification and disposal to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Remote-handled TRU waste is currently placed in storage at the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC). In an effort to minimize future liabilities associated with the INL NE mission, INL is evaluating and assessing options for the management and disposition of all its TRU waste on a real-time basis at time of generation. This paper summarizes near-term activities to minimize future re handling of INL’s TRU waste, as well as, potential complications associated with the long-term disposition of newly-generated TRU waste. Potential complications impacting the disposition of INL newly-generated TRU waste include, but are not limited to: 1) required remote-handled TRU packaging configuration(s) vs. current facility capabilities, 2) long-term NE mission activities, 3) WIPP certification requirements, and 4) budget considerations.« less

Robust telerobotics - an integrated system for waste handling, characterization and sorting

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Couture, S.A.; Hurd, R.L.; Wilhelmsen, K.C.

The Mixed Waste Management Facility (MWMF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was designed to serve as a national testbed to demonstrate integrated technologies for the treatment of low-level organic mixed waste at a pilot-plant scale. Pilot-scale demonstration serves to bridge the gap between mature, bench-scale proven technologies and full-scale treatment facilities by providing the infrastructure needed to evaluate technologies in an integrated, front-end to back-end facility. Consistent with the intent to focus on technologies that are ready for pilot scale deployment, the front-end handling and feed preparation of incoming waste material has been designed to demonstrate the application ofmore » emerging robotic and remotely operated handling systems. The selection of telerobotics for remote handling in MWMF was made based on a number of factors - personnel protection, waste generation, maturity, cost, flexibility and extendibility. Telerobotics, or shared control of a manipulator by an operator and a computer, provides the flexibility needed to vary the amount of automation or operator intervention according to task complexity. As part of the telerobotics design effort, the technical risk of deploying the technology was reduced through focused developments and demonstrations. The work involved integrating key tools (1) to make a robust telerobotic system that operates at speeds and reliability levels acceptable to waste handling operators and, (2) to demonstrate an efficient operator interface that minimizes the amount of special training and skills needed by the operator. This paper describes the design and operation of the prototype telerobotic waste handling and sorting system that was developed for MWMF.« less

Sample Acquisition and Handling System from a Remote Platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badescu, Mircea; Sherrit, Stewart; Jones, Jack A.

2011-01-01

A system has been developed to acquire and handle samples from a suspended remote platform. The system includes a penetrator, a penetrator deployment mechanism, and a sample handler. A gravity-driven harpoon sampler was used for the system, but other solutions can be used to supply the penetration energy, such as pyrotechnic, pressurized gas, or springs. The deployment mechanism includes a line that is attached to the penetrator, a spool for reeling in the line, and a line engagement control mechanism. The penetrator has removable tips that can collect liquid, ice, or solid samples. The handling mechanism consists of a carousel that can store a series of identical or different tips, assist in penetrator reconfiguration for multiple sample acquisition, and deliver the sample to a series of instruments for analysis. The carousel sample handling system was combined with a brassboard reeling mechanism and a penetrator with removable tips. It can attach the removable tip to the penetrator, release and retrieve the penetrator, remove the tip, and present it to multiple instrument stations. The penetrator can be remotely deployed from an aerobot, penetrate and collect the sample, and be retrieved with the sample to the aerobot. The penetrator with removable tips includes sample interrogation windows and a sample retainment spring for unconsolidated samples. The line engagement motor can be used to control the penetrator release and reeling engagement, and to evenly distribute the line on the spool by rocking between left and right ends of the spool. When the arm with the guiding ring is aligned with the spool axis, the line is free to unwind from the spool without rotating the spool. When the arm is perpendicular to the spool axis, the line can move only if the spool rotates.

Wireless "Jump" Starts for Partly Disabled Equipment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castle, K. D.

1986-01-01

Equipment activated when normal remote starting does not work Beam from nearby station first carries raw energy and then subsystemactivating signals to equipment crippled by discharged storage batteries. Operators start up equipment without approaching it under hazardous conditions. Potential terrestrial applications for scheme include starting of robots on such remotely-controlled hazardous tasks as handling of explosives or retrieval or deposition of objects in hostile environments.

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY LAND REMOTE SENSING ACTIVITIES.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Frederick, Doyle G.

1983-01-01

USGS uses all types of remotely sensed data, in combination with other sources of data, to support geologic analyses, hydrologic assessments, land cover mapping, image mapping, and applications research. Survey scientists use all types of remotely sensed data with ground verifications and digital topographic and cartographic data. A considerable amount of research is being done by Survey scientists on developing automated geographic information systems that can handle a wide variety of digital data. The Survey is also investigating the use of microprocessor computer systems for accessing, displaying, and analyzing digital data.

A sampling device with a capped body and detachable handle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jezek, Gerd-Rainer

1997-12-01

The present invention relates to a device for sampling radioactive waste and more particularly to a device for sampling radioactive waste which prevents contamination of a sampled material and the environment surrounding the sampled material. During vitrification of nuclear wastes, it is necessary to remove contamination from the surfaces of canisters filled with radioactive glass. After removal of contamination, a sampling device is used to test the surface of the canister. The one piece sampling device currently in use creates a potential for spreading contamination during vitrification operations. During operations, the one piece sampling device is transferred into and outmore » of the vitrification cell through a transfer drawer. Inside the cell, a remote control device handles the sampling device to wipe the surface of the canister. A one piece sampling device can be contaminated by the remote control device prior to use. Further, the sample device can also contaminate the transfer drawer producing false readings for radioactive material. The present invention overcomes this problem by enclosing the sampling pad in a cap. The removable handle is reused which reduces the amount of waste material.« less

EXPERIMENTS IN LITHOGRAPHY FROM REMOTE SENSOR IMAGERY.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kidwell, R. H.; McSweeney, J.; Warren, A.; Zang, E.; Vickers, E.

1983-01-01

Imagery from remote sensing systems such as the Landsat multispectral scanner and return beam vidicon, as well as synthetic aperture radar and conventional optical camera systems, contains information at resolutions far in excess of that which can be reproduced by the lithographic printing process. The data often require special handling to produce both standard and special map products. Some conclusions have been drawn regarding processing techniques, procedures for production, and printing limitations.

Active vibration damping of the Space Shuttle remote manipulator system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, Michael A.; Gilbert, Michael G.; Demeo, Martha E.

1991-01-01

The feasibility of providing active damping augmentation of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) following normal payload handling operations is investigated. The approach used in the analysis is described, and the results for both linear and nonlinear performance analysis of candidate laws are presented, demonstrating that significant improvement in the RMS dynamic response can be achieved through active control using measured RMS tip acceleration data for feedback.

Experience with procuring, deploying and maintaining hardware at remote co-location centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bärring, O.; Bonfillou, E.; Clement, B.; Coelho Dos Santos, M.; Dore, V.; Gentit, A.; Grossir, A.; Salter, W.; Valsan, L.; Xafi, A.

2014-05-01

In May 2012 CERN signed a contract with the Wigner Data Centre in Budapest for an extension to CERN's central computing facility beyond its current boundaries set by electrical power and cooling available for computing. The centre is operated as a remote co-location site providing rack-space, electrical power and cooling for server, storage and networking equipment acquired by CERN. The contract includes a 'remote-hands' services for physical handling of hardware (rack mounting, cabling, pushing power buttons, ...) and maintenance repairs (swapping disks, memory modules, ...). However, only CERN personnel have network and console access to the equipment for system administration. This report gives an insight to adaptations of hardware architecture, procurement and delivery procedures undertaken enabling remote physical handling of the hardware. We will also describe tools and procedures developed for automating the registration, burn-in testing, acceptance and maintenance of the equipment as well as an independent but important change to the IT assets management (ITAM) developed in parallel as part of the CERN IT Agile Infrastructure project. Finally, we will report on experience from the first large delivery of 400 servers and 80 SAS JBOD expansion units (24 drive bays) to Wigner in March 2013. Changes were made to the abstract file on 13/06/2014 to correct errors, the pdf file was unchanged.

Remote site-selective C–H activation directed by a catalytic bifunctional template

PubMed Central

Zhang, Zhipeng; Tanaka, Keita; Yu, Jin-Quan

2017-01-01

Converting C–H bonds directly into carbon-carbon and carbon-heteroatom bonds can significantly improve step-economy in synthesis by providing alternative disconnections to traditional functional group manipulations. In this context, directed C–H activation reactions have been extensively explored for regioselective functionalization1-5. Though applicability can be severely curtailed by distance from the directing group and the shape of the molecule, a number of approaches have been developed to overcome this limitation6-12. For instance, recognition of the distal and geometric relationship between an existing functional group and multiple C–H bonds has recently been exploited to achieve meta-selective C–H activation by use of a covalently attached U-shaped template13-17. However, stoichiometric installation of the template is not feasible in the absence of an appropriate functional group handle. Here we report the design of a catalytic, bifunctional template that binds heterocyclic substrate via reversible coordination instead of covalent linkage, allowing remote site-selective C–H olefination of heterocycles. The two metal centers coordinated to this template play different roles; anchoring substrates to the proximity of catalyst and cleaving the remote C–H bonds respectively. Using this strategy, we demonstrate remote site-selective C–H olefination of heterocyclic substrates which do not have functional group handles for covalently attaching templates. PMID:28273068

WASTE PACKAGE REMEDIATION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

N.D. Sudan

2000-06-22

The Waste Package Remediation System remediates waste packages (WPs) and disposal containers (DCs) in one of two ways: preparation of rejected DC closure welds for repair or opening of the DC/WP. DCs are brought to the Waste Package Remediation System for preparation of rejected closure welds if testing of the closure weld by the Disposal Container Handling System indicates an unacceptable, but repairable, welding flaw. DC preparation of rejected closure welds will require removal of the weld in such a way that the Disposal Container Handling System may resume and complete the closure welding process. DCs/WPs are brought to themore » Waste Package Remediation System for opening if the Disposal Container Handling System testing of the DC closure weld indicates an unrepairable welding flaw, or if a WP is recovered from the subsurface repository because suspected damage to the WP or failure of the WP has occurred. DC/WP opening will require cutting of the DC/WP such that a temporary seal may be installed and the waste inside the DC/WP removed by another system. The system operates in a Waste Package Remediation System hot cell located in the Waste Handling Building that has direct access to the Disposal Container Handling System. One DC/WP at a time can be handled in the hot cell. The DC/WP arrives on a transfer cart, is positioned within the cell for system operations, and exits the cell without being removed from the cart. The system includes a wide variety of remotely operated components including a manipulator with hoist and/or jib crane, viewing systems, machine tools for opening WPs, and equipment used to perform pressure and gas composition sampling. Remotely operated equipment is designed to facilitate DC/WP decontamination and hot cell equipment maintenance, and interchangeable components are provided where appropriate. The Waste Package Remediation System interfaces with the Disposal Container Handling System for the receipt and transport of WPs and DCs. The Waste Handling Building System houses the system, and provides the facility, safety, and auxiliary systems required to support operations. The system receives power from the Waste Handling Building Electrical System. The system also interfaces with the various DC systems.« less

A comparison of the Shuttle remote manipulator system and the Space Station Freedom mobile servicing center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, Edith C.; Ross, Michael

1989-01-01

The Shuttle Remote Manipulator System is a mature system which has successfully completed 18 flights. Its primary functional design driver was the capability to deploy and retrieve payloads from the Orbiter cargo bay. The Space Station Freedom Mobile Servicing Center is still in the requirements definition and early design stage. Its primary function design drivers are the capabilities: to support Space Station construction and assembly tasks; to provide external transportation about the Space Station; to provide handling capabilities for the Orbiter, free flyers, and payloads; to support attached payload servicing in the extravehicular environment; and to perform scheduled and un-scheduled maintenance on the Space Station. The differences between the two systems in the area of geometric configuration, mobility, sensor capabilities, control stations, control algorithms, handling performance, end effector dexterity, and fault tolerance are discussed.

Considerations and techniques for incorporating remotely sensed imagery into the land resource management process.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooner, W. G.; Nichols, D. A.

1972-01-01

Development of a scheme for utilizing remote sensing technology in an operational program for regional land use planning and land resource management program applications. The scheme utilizes remote sensing imagery as one of several potential inputs to derive desired and necessary data, and considers several alternative approaches to the expansion and/or reduction and analysis of data, using automated data handling techniques. Within this scheme is a five-stage program development which includes: (1) preliminary coordination, (2) interpretation and encoding, (3) creation of data base files, (4) data analysis and generation of desired products, and (5) applications.

Object recognition for autonomous robot utilizing distributed knowledge database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takatori, Jiro; Suzuki, Kenji; Hartono, Pitoyo; Hashimoto, Shuji

2003-10-01

In this paper we present a novel method of object recognition utilizing a remote knowledge database for an autonomous robot. The developed robot has three robot arms with different sensors; two CCD cameras and haptic sensors. It can see, touch and move the target object from different directions. Referring to remote knowledge database of geometry and material, the robot observes and handles the objects to understand them including their physical characteristics.

High Level Waste Remote Handling Equipment in the Melter Cave Support Handling System at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bardal, M.A.; Darwen, N.J.

2008-07-01

Cold war plutonium production led to extensive amounts of radioactive waste stored in tanks at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford site. Bechtel National, Inc. is building the largest nuclear Waste Treatment Plant in the world located at the Department of Energy's Hanford site to immobilize the millions of gallons of radioactive waste. The site comprises five main facilities; Pretreatment, High Level Waste vitrification, Low Active Waste vitrification, an Analytical Lab and the Balance of Facilities. The pretreatment facilities will separate the high and low level waste. The high level waste will then proceed to the HLW facility for vitrification.more » Vitrification is a process of utilizing a melter to mix molten glass with radioactive waste to form a stable product for storage. The melter cave is designated as the High Level Waste Melter Cave Support Handling System (HSH). There are several key processes that occur in the HSH cell that are necessary for vitrification and include: feed preparation, mixing, pouring, cooling and all maintenance and repair of the process equipment. Due to the cell's high level radiation, remote handling equipment provided by PaR Systems, Inc. is required to install and remove all equipment in the HSH cell. The remote handling crane is composed of a bridge and trolley. The trolley supports a telescoping tube set that rigidly deploys a TR 4350 manipulator arm with seven degrees of freedom. A rotating, extending, and retracting slewing hoist is mounted to the bottom of the trolley and is centered about the telescoping tube set. Both the manipulator and slewer are unique to this cell. The slewer can reach into corners and the manipulator's cross pivoting wrist provides better operational dexterity and camera viewing angles at the end of the arm. Since the crane functions will be operated remotely, the entire cell and crane have been modeled with 3-D software. Model simulations have been used to confirm operational and maintenance functional and timing studies throughout the design process. Since no humans can go in or out of the cell, there are several recovery options that have been designed into the system including jack-down wheels for the bridge and trolley, recovery drums for the manipulator hoist, and a wire rope cable cutter for the slewer jib hoist. If the entire crane fails in cell, the large diameter cable reel that provides power, signal, and control to the crane can be used to retrieve the crane from the cell into the crane maintenance area. (authors)« less

Data handling and analysis for the 1971 corn blight watch experiment.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anuta, P. E.; Phillips, T. L.; Landgrebe, D. A.

1972-01-01

Review of the data handling and analysis methods used in the near-operational test of remote sensing systems provided by the 1971 corn blight watch experiment. The general data analysis techniques and, particularly, the statistical multispectral pattern recognition methods for automatic computer analysis of aircraft scanner data are described. Some of the results obtained are examined, and the implications of the experiment for future data communication requirements of earth resource survey systems are discussed.

33 CFR 19.15 - Permits for commercial vessels handling explosives at military installations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... no quantitative restrictions, based on considerations of isolation and remoteness, shall be required... from the Coast Guard for such operations with respect to quantitative or other restrictions imposed by...

33 CFR 19.15 - Permits for commercial vessels handling explosives at military installations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... no quantitative restrictions, based on considerations of isolation and remoteness, shall be required... from the Coast Guard for such operations with respect to quantitative or other restrictions imposed by...

33 CFR 19.15 - Permits for commercial vessels handling explosives at military installations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... no quantitative restrictions, based on considerations of isolation and remoteness, shall be required... from the Coast Guard for such operations with respect to quantitative or other restrictions imposed by...

33 CFR 19.15 - Permits for commercial vessels handling explosives at military installations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... no quantitative restrictions, based on considerations of isolation and remoteness, shall be required... from the Coast Guard for such operations with respect to quantitative or other restrictions imposed by...

33 CFR 19.15 - Permits for commercial vessels handling explosives at military installations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... no quantitative restrictions, based on considerations of isolation and remoteness, shall be required... from the Coast Guard for such operations with respect to quantitative or other restrictions imposed by...

Efficiency Evaluation of Handling of Geologic-Geophysical Information by Means of Computer Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nuriyahmetova, S. M.; Demyanova, O. V.; Zabirova, L. M.; Gataullin, I. I.; Fathutdinova, O. A.; Kaptelinina, E. A.

2018-05-01

Development of oil and gas resources, considering difficult geological, geographical and economic conditions, requires considerable finance costs; therefore their careful reasons, application of the most perspective directions and modern technologies from the point of view of cost efficiency of planned activities are necessary. For ensuring high precision of regional and local forecasts and modeling of reservoirs of fields of hydrocarbonic raw materials, it is necessary to analyze huge arrays of the distributed information which is constantly changing spatial. The solution of this task requires application of modern remote methods of a research of the perspective oil-and-gas territories, complex use of materials remote, nondestructive the environment of geologic-geophysical and space methods of sounding of Earth and the most perfect technologies of their handling. In the article, the authors considered experience of handling of geologic-geophysical information by means of computer systems by the Russian and foreign companies. Conclusions that the multidimensional analysis of geologicgeophysical information space, effective planning and monitoring of exploration works requires broad use of geoinformation technologies as one of the most perspective directions in achievement of high profitability of an oil and gas industry are drawn.

Studies to design and develop improved remote manipulator systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, J. W.; Sword, A. J.

1973-01-01

Remote manipulator control considered is based on several levels of automatic supervision which derives manipulator commands from an analysis of sensor states and task requirements. Principle sensors are manipulator joint position, tactile, and currents. The tactile sensor states can be displayed visually in perspective or replicated in the operator's control handle of perceived by the automatic supervisor. Studies are reported on control organization, operator performance and system performance measures. Unusual hardware and software details are described.

Dose rate prediction methodology for remote handled transuranic waste workers at the waste isolation pilot plant.

PubMed

Hayes, Robert

2002-10-01

An approach is described for estimating future dose rates to Waste Isolation Pilot Plant workers processing remote handled transuranic waste. The waste streams will come from the entire U.S. Department of Energy complex and can take on virtually any form found from the processing sequences for defense-related production, radiochemistry, activation and related work. For this reason, the average waste matrix from all generator sites is used to estimate the average radiation fields over the facility lifetime. Innovative new techniques were applied to estimate expected radiation fields. Non-linear curve fitting techniques were used to predict exposure rate profiles from cylindrical sources using closed form equations for lines and disks. This information becomes the basis for Safety Analysis Report dose rate estimates and for present and future ALARA design reviews when attempts are made to reduce worker doses.

openSE: a Systems Engineering Framework Particularly Suited to Particle Accelerator Studies and Development Projects

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bonnal, P.; Féral, B.; Kershaw, K.

Particle accelerator projects share many characteristics with industrial projects. However, experience has shown that best practice of industrial project management is not always well suited to particle accelerator projects. Major differences include the number and complexity of technologies involved, the importance of collaborative work, development phases that can last more than a decade, and the importance of telerobotics and remote handling to address future preventive and corrective maintenance requirements due to induced radioactivity, to cite just a few. The openSE framework it is a systems engineering and project management framework specifically designed for scientific facilities’ systems and equipment studies andmore » development projects. Best practices in project management, in systems and requirements engineering, in telerobotics and remote handling and in radiation safety management were used as sources of inspiration, together with analysis of current practices surveyed at CERN, GSI and ESS.« less

Apparatus for remote handling of materials. [mixing or analyzing dangerous chemicals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kimball, R. B.; Hodder, D. T.; Wrinkle, W. W. (Inventor)

1974-01-01

Apparatus for remote handling of materials are described. A closed housing is provided with first and second containers and first and second reservoirs for holding materials to be mixed. The materials are transferable from the reservoirs to the first container where they are mixed. The mixed materials are then conveyed from the first container to the second container preferably by dumping the mixed materials into a funnel positioned over the second container. The second container is then moved to a second position for analysis of the mixed materials. For example, the materials may be ignited and the flame analyzed. Access, such as a sight port, is provided in the housing at the analysis position. The device provides a simple and inexpensive apparatus for safely mixing a pyrophoric material and an oxidizer which together form a thermite type mixture that burns to produce a large quantity of heat and light.

Remote control for anode-cathode adjustment

DOEpatents

Roose, Lars D.

1991-01-01

An apparatus for remotely adjusting the anode-cathode gap in a pulse power machine has an electric motor located within a hollow cathode inside the vacuum chamber of the pulse power machine. Input information for controlling the motor for adjusting the anode-cathode gap is fed into the apparatus using optical waveguides. The motor, controlled by the input information, drives a worm gear that moves a cathode tip. When the motor drives in one rotational direction, the cathode is moved toward the anode and the size of the anode-cathode gap is diminished. When the motor drives in the other direction, the cathode is moved away from the anode and the size of the anode-cathode gap is increased. The motor is powered by batteries housed in the hollow cathode. The batteries may be rechargeable, and they may be recharged by a photovoltaic cell in combination with an optical waveguide that receives recharging energy from outside the hollow cathode. Alternatively, the anode-cathode gap can be remotely adjusted by a manually-turned handle connected to mechanical linkage which is connected to a jack assembly. The jack assembly converts rotational motion of the handle and mechanical linkage to linear motion of the cathode moving toward or away from the anode.

Secure open cloud in data transmission using reference pattern and identity with enhanced remote privacy checking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijay Singh, Ran; Agilandeeswari, L.

2017-11-01

To handle the large amount of client’s data in open cloud lots of security issues need to be address. Client’s privacy should not be known to other group members without data owner’s valid permission. Sometime clients are fended to have accessing with open cloud servers due to some restrictions. To overcome the security issues and these restrictions related to storing, data sharing in an inter domain network and privacy checking, we propose a model in this paper which is based on an identity based cryptography in data transmission and intermediate entity which have client’s reference with identity that will take control handling of data transmission in an open cloud environment and an extended remote privacy checking technique which will work at admin side. On behalf of data owner’s authority this proposed model will give best options to have secure cryptography in data transmission and remote privacy checking either as private or public or instructed. The hardness of Computational Diffie-Hellman assumption algorithm for key exchange makes this proposed model more secure than existing models which are being used for public cloud environment.

46 CFR Appendix B to Subpart C of... - Substance Technical Guidelines, Benzene

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

...) Extinguishing media: Carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or foam. (5) Special fire fighting procedures: Do not use a... ignited by open flames or sparks at locations remote from the site at which benzene is handled. (7...

46 CFR Appendix B to Subpart C to... - Substance Technical Guidelines, Benzene

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

...) Extinguishing media: Carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or foam. (5) Special fire fighting procedures: Do not use a... ignited by open flames or sparks at locations remote from the site at which benzene is handled. (7...

46 CFR Appendix B to Subpart C of... - Substance Technical Guidelines, Benzene

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...) Extinguishing media: Carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or foam. (5) Special fire fighting procedures: Do not use a... ignited by open flames or sparks at locations remote from the site at which benzene is handled. (7...

On multidisciplinary research on the application of remote sensing to water resources problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

This research is directed toward development of a practical, operational remote sensing water quality monitoring system. To accomplish this, five fundamental aspects of the problem have been under investigation during the past three years. These are: (1) development of practical and economical methods of obtaining, handling and analyzing remote sensing data; (2) determination of the correlation between remote sensed imagery and actual water quality parameters; (3) determination of the optimum technique for monitoring specific water pollution parameters and for evaluating the reliability with which this can be accomplished; (4) determination of the extent of masking due to depth of penetration, bottom effects, film development effects, and angle falloff, and development of techniques to eliminate or minimize them; and (5) development of operational procedures which might be employed by a municipal, state or federal agency for the application of remote sensing to water quality monitoring, including space-generated data.

Uncertainty Management in Remote Sensing of Climate Data. Summary of A Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McConnell, M.; Weidman, S.

2009-01-01

Great advances have been made in our understanding of the climate system over the past few decades, and remotely sensed data have played a key role in supporting many of these advances. Improvements in satellites and in computational and data-handling techniques have yielded high quality, readily accessible data. However, rapid increases in data volume have also led to large and complex datasets that pose significant challenges in data analysis (NRC, 2007). Uncertainty characterization is needed for every satellite mission and scientists continue to be challenged by the need to reduce the uncertainty in remotely sensed climate records and projections. The approaches currently used to quantify the uncertainty in remotely sensed data, including statistical methods used to calibrate and validate satellite instruments, lack an overall mathematically based framework.

A near-real-time full-parallax holographic display for remote operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iavecchia, Helene P.; Huff, Lloyd; Marzwell, Neville I.

1991-01-01

A near real-time, full parallax holographic display system was developed that has the potential to provide a 3-D display for remote handling operations in hazardous environments. The major components of the system consist of a stack of three spatial light modulators which serves as the object source of the hologram; a near real-time holographic recording material (such as thermoplastic and photopolymer); and an optical system for relaying SLM images to the holographic recording material and to the observer for viewing.

Technical preventive measures in Japan.

PubMed

Yonekawa, Y

1994-05-01

Technical preventive measures against vibration syndrome in the field of industrial health are reviewed in the present paper. The first technical prevention measure is to reduce vibration transmission from the tools to the operators. This measure employs vibration isolators between the handles and vibration sources of machine tools. Handles of tools using Neidhalt dampers, shear type rubber mounts and springs have reduced frequency-weighted acceleration levels (Lh,w) from 2 dB to 10 dB (Lh,w (dB) = 20 log a/ao; a: frequency-weighted acceleration (rms), ao = 10(-5) m/s2) in Z direction, while no reduction was found in X, Y directions. The second measure is to reduce vibration at the source; New chain saws have been developed to reduce vibration with twin cylinder instead of a single cylinder engines. This cancels unbalanced movements inside the internal combustion engine. Such chain saws reduced Lh,w values more than 10 dB in both front and rear handles except in Z direction of the front handle. A new type of impact wrench has been devised with an oil pulse device to avoid direct metal contact inside the power source. This new impact wrench lowered Lh,w values more than 10 dB in three directions. The third measure is to use a remote control system or to substitute another machine generating less vibration. Vibration reduction at the handle lever of the remote control chain saw was more than 20 dB. A more effective means is to substitute other machines for conventional tools: a hydraulic wheel jumbo instead of a leg-type rock drill; a hydraulic breaker instead of a hand-held breaker. However, these heavy machines produce whole-body vibration which might give rise to other problems such as back pain.

TDRSS data handling and management system study. Ground station systems for data handling and relay satellite control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1973-01-01

Results of a two-phase study of the (Data Handling and Management System DHMS) are presented. An original baseline DHMS is described. Its estimated costs are presented in detail. The DHMS automates the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) ground station's functions and handles both the forward and return link user and relay satellite data passing through the station. Direction of the DHMS is effected via a TDRSS Operations Control Central (OCC) that is remotely located. A composite ground station system, a modified DHMS (MDHMS), was conceptually developed. The MDHMS performs both the DHMS and OCC functions. Configurations and costs are presented for systems using minicomputers and midicomputers. It is concluded that a MDHMS should be configured with a combination of the two computer types. The midicomputers provide the system's organizational direction and computational power, and the minicomputers (or interface processors) perform repetitive data handling functions that relieve the midicomputers of these burdensome tasks.

Operational LANDSAT remote sensing system development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotter, D. J.

1981-01-01

The reduction of $121.6 million dollars from NOAA's LANDSAT development program for FY 1982, and the shortened time period for transferring remote sensing technology to the private sector resulted in changes in the Agency's plans for managing the operational system. Proposed legislation for congressional consideration or enactment to establish conditions under which this private sector transfer will occur, and the expected gradual rise in the price of data products are discussed. No money exists for capital investment and none is projected for investing in an operational data handling system for the LANDSAT D satellite. Candidates knowledgeable of various aspects of the needs and uses of remote sensing are urged to consider participation in NOAA's advisory committee.

Users report for the Northern Great Plains.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waltz, F. A.; Myers, V. I.; Heinemann, L. R.

1973-01-01

The applications of remote-sensing techniques offer new approaches to many of the present-day problems encountered by various state agencies in South Dakota. The study was completed in three phases. The first report presented the information needs of the state agencies and educational efforts; the second defined the data handling procedures for fulfilling the applications; and the third phase was a development of a dynamic information dissemination plan on a state-wide basis. Aircraft data, satellite imagery, and other remotely sensed information are valuable for decision-making processes. A design for an organization to acquire for the state the advantages of remote-sensing systems for resources research and management has been developed.

A performance analysis method for distributed real-time robotic systems: A case study of remote teleoperation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lefebvre, D. R.; Sanderson, A. C.

1994-01-01

Robot coordination and control systems for remote teleoperation applications are by necessity implemented on distributed computers. Modeling and performance analysis of these distributed robotic systems is difficult, but important for economic system design. Performance analysis methods originally developed for conventional distributed computer systems are often unsatisfactory for evaluating real-time systems. The paper introduces a formal model of distributed robotic control systems; and a performance analysis method, based on scheduling theory, which can handle concurrent hard-real-time response specifications. Use of the method is illustrated by a case of remote teleoperation which assesses the effect of communication delays and the allocation of robot control functions on control system hardware requirements.

Acceleration environment of payloads while being handled by the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turnbull, J. F.

1983-01-01

Described in this paper is the method used in the Draper Remote Manipulator System (RMS) Simulation to compute linear accelerations at the point on the SPAS01 payload where its accelerometers are mounted. Simulated accelerometer output for representative on-orbit activities is presented. The objectives of post-flight analysis of SPAS01 data are discussed. Finally, the point is made that designers of acceleration-dependent payloads may have an interest in the capability of simulating the acceleration environment of payloads while under the control of the overall Payload Deployment and retrieval System (PDRS) that includes the Orbiter and its attitude control system as well as the Remote Manipulator Arm.

A remote condition monitoring system for wind-turbine based DG systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, X.; Wang, G.; Cross, P.; Zhang, X.

2012-05-01

In this paper, a remote condition monitoring system is proposed, which fundamentally consists of real-time monitoring modules on the plant side, a remote support centre and the communications between them. The paper addresses some of the key issues related on the monitoring system, including i) the implementation and configuration of a VPN connection, ii) an effective database system to be able to handle huge amount of monitoring data, and iii) efficient data mining techniques to convert raw data into useful information for plant assessment. The preliminary results have demonstrated that the proposed system is practically feasible and can be deployed to monitor the emerging new energy generation systems.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) conceptual design report. Part I: executive summary. Part II: facilities and system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1977-06-01

The pilot plant is developed for ERDA low-level contact-handled transuranic waste, ERDA remote-handled intermediate-level transuranic waste, and for high-level waste experiments. All wastes placed in the WIPP arrive at the site processed and packaged; no waste processing is done at the WIPP. All wastes placed into the WIPP are retrievable. The proposed site for WIPP lies 26 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. This document includes the executive summary and a detailed description of the facilities and systems. (DLC)

High-powered automatic latching device

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cobin, J. C.; Rhodes, L. L.

1970-01-01

Latches automatically lock together two remotely controlled bodies when their triggers are engaged by the docking ring of the lesser body. Latches are disengaged by manual actuation of the handle of each latch through two complete cycles. Emergency locking by manual actuation is also provided.

Translations on USSR Resources, Number 763

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-01-06

supplying gas pumping units, pipes, and other equipment. 33 Shatlyk . Complex Gas Preparation Unit i 1 * Medvezhe. Gas Prepara- tion Block. Thus...handled satisfactorily. . Shatlyk . Turkmengazprom. Central Control Station Combine with Head Facilities Operating Room. By means of the Impul’s-2 remote

75 FR 43158 - Amended Record of Decision for the Decommissioning of Eight Surplus Production Reactors at the...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-23

... would be exposed would be controlled by such means as remote handling, use of robotics, and the use of... and deployment of robotics in an array of field applications), data collection and validation, worker...

Live transference of surgical subspecialty skills using telerobotic proctoring to remote general surgeons.

PubMed

Ereso, Alexander Q; Garcia, Pablo; Tseng, Elaine; Gauger, Grant; Kim, Hubert; Dua, Monica M; Victorino, Gregory P; Guy, T Sloane

2010-09-01

Certain clinical environments, including military field hospitals or rural medical centers, lack readily available surgical subspecialists. We hypothesized that telementoring by a surgical subspecialist using a robotic platform is feasible and can convey subspecialty knowledge and skill to a remotely located general surgeon. Eight general surgery residents evaluated the effect of remote surgical telementoring by performing 3 operative procedures, first unproctored and then again when teleproctored by a surgical subspecialist. The clinical scenarios consisted of a penetrating right ventricular injury requiring suture repair, an open tibial fracture requiring external fixation, and a traumatic subdural hematoma requiring craniectomy. A robotic platform consisting of a pan-and-tilt camera with laser pointer attached to an overhead surgical light with integrated audio allowed surgical subspecialists the ability to remotely teleproctor residents. Performance was evaluated using an Operative Performance Scale. Satisfaction surveys were given after performing the scenario unproctored and again after proctoring. Overall mean performance scores were superior in all scenarios when residents were proctored than when they were not (4.30 +/- 0.25 versus 2.43 +/- 0.20; p < 0.001). Mean performance scores for individual metrics, including tissue handling, instrument handling, speed of completion, and knowledge of anatomy, were all superior when residents were proctored (p < 0.001). Satisfaction surveys showed greater satisfaction and comfort among residents when proctored. Proctored residents believed the robotic platform facilitated learning and would be feasible if used clinically. This study supports the use of surgical teleproctoring in guiding remote general surgeons by a surgical subspecialist in the care of a wounded patient in need of an emergency subspecialty operation. Copyright 2010. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Real-time, interactive, visually updated simulator system for telepresence

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schebor, Frederick S.; Turney, Jerry L.; Marzwell, Neville I.

1991-01-01

Time delays and limited sensory feedback of remote telerobotic systems tend to disorient teleoperators and dramatically decrease the operator's performance. To remove the effects of time delays, key components were designed and developed of a prototype forward simulation subsystem, the Global-Local Environment Telerobotic Simulator (GLETS) that buffers the operator from the remote task. GLETS totally immerses an operator in a real-time, interactive, simulated, visually updated artificial environment of the remote telerobotic site. Using GLETS, the operator will, in effect, enter into a telerobotic virtual reality and can easily form a gestalt of the virtual 'local site' that matches the operator's normal interactions with the remote site. In addition to use in space based telerobotics, GLETS, due to its extendable architecture, can also be used in other teleoperational environments such as toxic material handling, construction, and undersea exploration.

33 Shafts Category of Transuranic Waste Stored Below Ground within Area G

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hargis, Kenneth Marshall; Monk, Thomas H

This report compiles information to support the evaluation of alternatives and analysis of regulatory paths forward for the 33 shafts. The historical information includes a form completed by waste generators for each waste package (Reference 6) that included a waste description, estimates of Pu-239 and uranium-235 (U-235) based on an accounting technique, and calculations of mixed fission products (MFP) based on radiation measurements. A 1979 letter and questionnaire (Reference 7) provides information on waste packaging of hot cell waste and the configuration of disposal shafts as storage in the 33 Shafts was initiated. Tables of data by waste package weremore » developed during a review of historical documents that was performed in 2005 (Reference 8). Radiological data was coupled with material-type data to estimate the initial isotopic content of each waste package and an Oak Ridge National Laboratory computer code was used to calculate 2009 decay levels. Other sources of information include a waste disposal logbook for the 33 shafts (Reference 9), reports that summarize remote-handled waste generated at the CMR facility (Reference 10) and placement of waste in the 33 shafts (Reference 11), a report on decommissioning of the LAMPRE reactor (Reference 12), interviews with an employee and manager involved in placing waste in the 33 shafts (References 13 and 14), an interview with a long-time LANL employee involved in waste operations (Reference 15), a 2002 plan for disposition of remote-handled TRU waste (Reference 16), and photographs obtained during field surveys of several shafts in 2007. The WIPP Central Characterization Project (CCP) completed an Acceptable Knowledge (AK) summary report for 16 canisters of remote-handled waste from the CMR Facility that contains information relevant to the 33 Shafts on hot-cell operations and timeline (Reference 17).« less

Impaired Ca2+ cycling of nonischemic myocytes contributes to sarcomere dysfunction early after myocardial infarction.

PubMed

Kronenbitter, Annette; Funk, Florian; Hackert, Katarzyna; Gorreßen, Simone; Glaser, Dennis; Boknik, Peter; Poschmann, Gereon; Stühler, Kai; Isić, Malgorzata; Krüger, Martina; Schmitt, Joachim P

2018-06-01

Changes in the nonischemic remote myocardium of the heart contribute to left ventricular dysfunction after ischemia and reperfusion (I/R). Understanding the underlying mechanisms early after I/R is crucial to improve the adaptation of the viable myocardium to increased mechanical demands. Here, we investigated the role of myocyte Ca 2+ handling in the remote myocardium 24 h after 60 min LAD occlusion. Cardiomyocytes isolated from the basal noninfarct-related parts of wild type mouse hearts demonstrated depressed beat-to-beat Ca 2+ handling. The amplitude of the Ca 2+ transients as well as the kinetics of Ca 2+ transport were reduced by up to 25%. These changes were associated with impaired sarcomere contraction. While expression levels of Ca 2+ regulatory proteins were unchanged in remote myocardium compared to the corresponding regions of sham-operated hearts, mobility shift analyses of phosphorylated protein showed 2.9 ± 0.4-fold more unphosphorylated phospholamban (PLN) monomers, the PLN species that inhibits the Ca 2+ ATPase SERCA2a (P ≤ 0.001). Phospho-specific antibodies revealed normal phosphorylation of PLN at T17 in remote myocardium, but markedly reduced phosphorylation at its PKA-dependent phosphorylation site, S16 (P ≤ 0.01). The underlying cause involved enhanced activity of protein phosphatases, particularly PP2A (P ≤ 0.01). In contrast, overall PKA activity was normal. The PLN interactome, as determined by co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry, and the phosphorylation state of PKA targets other than PLN were also unchanged. Isoproterenol enhanced cellular Ca 2+ cycling much stronger in remote myocytes than in healthy controls and improved sarcomere function. We conclude that the reduced phosphorylation state of PLN at S16 impairs myocyte Ca 2+ cycling in the remote myocardium 24 h after I/R and contributes to contractile dysfunction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Marking Ground Targets With Radio Transmitters Dropped From Aircraft

Treesearch

Thomas H. Nichols; Michael E. Ostry; Mark R. Fuller

1981-01-01

Reports development and use of a radio transmitter device that can be dropped from aircraft into target areas in remote habitats. Such a device could be a valuable tool for studying and managing forests and wildlife, for controlling forest fires, and for handling emergencies.

Prototype smart phone application to report water quality conditions.

EPA Science Inventory

The EPA Pathfinder Innovation Project has identified that environmental managers are typically limited in their time and ability to use and handle satellite remote sensing data due to the file size and complexity in the data structures. Therefore this project developed the Mobil...

Flight Testing the X-36: The Test Pilots Perspective

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, Laurence A.

1997-01-01

The X-36 is a 28% scale, remotely piloted research aircraft, designed to demonstrate tailless fighter agility. Powered by a modified Williams International F-112 jet engine, the X-36 uses thrust vectoring and a fly-by-wire control system. Although too small for an onboard pilot, a full-sized remote cockpit was designed to virtually place the test pilot into the aircraft using a variety of innovative techniques. To date, 22 flights have been flown, successfully completing the second phase of testing. Handling qualities have been matching predictions; the test operation is flown similarly to that for full sized manned aircraft. All takeoffs, test maneuvers and landings are flown by the test pilot, affording a greater degree of flexibility and the ability to handle the inevitable unknowns which may occur during highly experimental test programs. The cockpit environment, cues, and display techniques used in this effort have proven to enhance the 'virtual' test pilot's awareness and have helped ensure a successful RPV test program.

Establishing Physical and Engineering Science Base to Bridge from ITER to Demo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Y.-K. Martin; Abdou, M.; Gates, D.; Hegna, C.; Hill, D.; Najmabadi, F.; Navratil, G.; Parker, R.

2007-11-01

A Nuclear Component Testing (NCT) Discussion Group emerged recently to clarify how ``a lowered-risk, reduced-cost approach can provide a progressive fusion environment beyond the ITER level to explore, discover, and help establish the remaining, critically needed physical and engineering sciences knowledge base for Demo.'' The group, assuming success of ITER and other contemporary projects, identified critical ``gap-filling'' investigations: plasma startup, tritium self-sufficiency, plasma facing surface performance and maintainability, first wall/blanket/divertor materials defect control and lifetime management, and remote handling. Only standard or spherical tokamak plasma conditions below the advanced regime are assumed to lower the anticipated physics risk to continuous operation (˜2 weeks). Modular designs and remote handling capabilities are included to mitigate the risk of component failure and ease replacement. Aspect ratio should be varied to lower the cost, accounting for the contending physics risks and the near-term R&D. Cost and time-effective staging from H-H, D-D, to D-T will also be considered. *Work supported by USDOE.

Cultural Resource Protection Plan for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pace, Brenda Ringe; Gilbert, Hollie Kae

2015-05-01

This plan addresses cultural resource protection procedures to be implemented during construction of the Remote Handled Low Level Waste project at the Idaho National Laboratory. The plan proposes pre-construction review of proposed ground disturbing activities to confirm avoidance of cultural resources. Depending on the final project footprint, cultural resource protection strategies might also include additional survey, protective fencing, cultural resource mapping and relocation of surface artifacts, collection of surface artifacts for permanent curation, confirmation of undisturbed historic canal segments outside the area of potential effects for construction, and/or archaeological test excavations to assess potential subsurface cultural deposits at known culturalmore » resource locations. Additionally, all initial ground disturbing activities will be monitored for subsurface cultural resource finds, cultural resource sensitivity training will be conducted for all construction field personnel, and a stop work procedure will be implemented to guide assessment and protection of any unanticipated discoveries after initial monitoring of ground disturbance.« less

Modeling of scattering from ice surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlberg, Michael Ross

Theoretical research is proposed to study electromagnetic wave scattering from ice surfaces. A mathematical formulation that is more representative of the electromagnetic scattering from ice, with volume mechanisms included, and capable of handling multiple scattering effects is developed. This research is essential to advancing the field of environmental science and engineering by enabling more accurate inversion of remote sensing data. The results of this research contributed towards a more accurate representation of the scattering from ice surfaces, that is computationally more efficient and that can be applied to many remote-sensing applications.

Local governments LANDSAT applications program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1983-01-01

The approach used to develop the internal capabilities of local governments to handle and evaluate LANDSAT data included remote sensing training, development of a low-cost digital image processing system, and technical assistance. Cost sharing, program management and coordination, and networking were also employed to address problems related to land use, water resources, environmental assessment, and air quality as experienced by urban planners. Local experiences gained in Atlanta, Georgia; Henrico County, Virginia; Oklahoma City; Oklahoma; and San Jose, California are described. Policy recommendations formulated for transferring remote sensing technologies to local governments are included.

Research on the Use of Robotics in Hazardous Environments at Sandia National Laboratories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kwok, Kwan S.

Many hazardous material handling needs exist in remote unstructured environments. Currently these operations are accomplished using personnel in direct contact with the hazards. A safe and cost effective alternative to this approach is the use of intelligent robotic systems for safe handling, packaging, transport, and even excavation of hazardous materials. The Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center of Sandia National Laboratories has developed and deployed robotic technologies for use in hazardous environments, three of which have been deployed in DOE production facilities for handling of special nuclear materials. Other systems are currently under development for packaging special nuclear materials. This papermore » presents an overview of the research activities, including five delivered systems, at %ndia National Laboratories on the use of robotics in hazardous environments.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alnajjar, Mikhail S.; Quigley, David; Kuntamukkula, Murty

Due to the inherent nature of pyrophoric substances to ignite spontaneously upon exposure to air, special precautions must be taken to ensure their safe handling and use. Pyrophoric gases (such as diborane, dichloroborane, phosphine, etc.) are typically the easiest class of pyrophoric substances to handle since the gas can be plumbed directly to the application and used remotely. Pyrophoric solids and liquids, however, require the user to physically manipulate them when transferring them from one container to another. Failure to follow proper safety precautions could result in serious injury or unintended consequences to laboratory personnel.12 Because of this danger, pyrophoricsmore » should be handled only by experienced personnel. Users with limited experience must be trained on how to handle pyrophoric reagents and consult with a knowledgeable staff member prior to performing the experimental task. The purpose of this article is three fold: 1) to provide guidelines and general safety precautions to avoid accidents, 2) describe proper techniques on how to successfully handle, store, and dispose of pyrophoric liquids and solids, and 3) illustrate best practices for working with this class of reactants in a laboratory environment.« less

Spacelab mission development tests

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dalton, B. P.

1978-01-01

The paper describes Spacelab Mission Development Test III (SMD III) whose principal scientific objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting biological research in the Life Sciences Spacelab. The test also provided an opportunity to try out several items of Common Operational Research Equipment (CORE) hardware being developed for operational use in Shuttle/Spacelab, such as rodent and primate handling, transportation units, and a 'zero-g' surgical bench. Operational concepts planned for Spacelab were subjected to evaluation, including animal handling procedures, animal logistics, crew selection and training, and a 'remote' ground station concept. It is noted that all the objectives originally proposed for SMD III were accomplished

Technical Standards for Command and Control Information Systems (CCISs)

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-01-01

initiation, Conformance Testing 149 management, scheduling, resource allocation , logical and IEEE P1 003 146 physical device access, interrupt handling...70 5.2.3 Remote Data Access (RDA) ........................................... 72 5.2.4 Information Resource Dictionary...146 7.2.1.2 POSIX Conformance Testing .............................. 149 7.2.2 Consortia Recommendations

Managing Construction Operations Visually: 3-D Techniques for Complex Topography and Restricted Visibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Walter; Opdenbosh, Augusto; Santamaria, Juan Carlos

2006-01-01

Visual information is vital in planning and managing construction operations, particularly, where there is complex terrain topography and salvage operations with limited accessibility and visibility. From visually-assessing site operations and preventing equipment collisions to simulating material handling activities to supervising remotes sites…

An underwater work systems package. [remote handling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Estabrook, N. B.

1975-01-01

A modular unit which is adaptable to several existing deep sea submersibles was developed to extend their working abilities and acquire knowledge of components and techniques for working in the deep sea environment. This work systems package is composed of an aluminum pipe structure on which are mounted two six-function grabber arms, a seven function manipulator, tool suit, 1,000/lb. capacity winch, electrohydraulic power supply, electronics housing, lights, and television. The unit is designed to be operated by itself either remotely or with divers, attached to manned submersibles, or mounted on unmanned cable-controlled submersibles.

Development of Japanese experiment module remote manipulator system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matsueda, Tatsuo; Kuwao, Fumihiro; Motohasi, Shoichi; Okamura, Ryo

1994-01-01

National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) is developing the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), as its contribution to the International Space Station. The JEM consists of the pressurized module (PM), the exposed facility (EF), the experiment logistics module pressurized section (ELM-PS), the experiment logistics module exposed section (ELM-ES) and the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The JEMRMS services for the JEM EF, which is a space experiment platform, consists of the Main Arm (MA), the Small Fine Arm (SFA) and the RMS console. The MA handles the JEM EF payloads, the SFA and the JEM element, such as ELM-ES.

High level radioactive waste vitrification process equipment component testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siemens, D. H.; Health, W. C.; Larson, D. E.; Craig, S. N.; Berger, D. N.; Goles, R. W.

1985-04-01

Remote operability and maintainability of vitrification equipment were assessment under shielded cell conditions. The equipment tested will be applied to immobilize high level and transuranic liquid waste slurries that resulted from plutonium production for defense weapons. Equipment tested included: a turntable for handling waste canisters under the melter; a removable discharge cone in the melter overflow section; a thermocouple jumper that extends into a shielded cell; remote instrument and electrical connectors; remote, mechanical, and heat transfer aspects of the melter glass overflow section; a reamer to clean out plugged nozzles in the melter top; a closed circuit camera to view the melter interior; and a device to retrieve samples of the glass product. A test was also conduucted to evaluate liquid metals for use in a liquid metal sealing system.

Natural Resource Information System. Volume I. Overall Description.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boeing Computer Services, Inc., Seattle, WA.

Recognizing the need for the development of a computer based information system which would handle remote sensing as well as conventional mapping data, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management contracted with Boeing Computer Services for the design and construction of a prototype Natural Resource Information System. The…

A MGy radiation-hardened sensor instrumentation link for nuclear reactor monitoring and remote handling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Verbeeck, Jens; Cao, Ying; Van Uffelen, Marco

Decommissioning, dismantling and remote handling applications in nuclear facilities all require robotic solutions that are able to survive in radiation environments. Recently raised safety, radiation hardness and cost efficiency demands from both the nuclear regulatory and the society impose severe challenges in traditional methods. For example, in case of the dismantling of the Fukushima sites, solutions that survive accumulated doses higher than 1 MGy are mandatory. To allow remote operation of these tools in nuclear environments, electronics were used to be shielded with several centimeters of lead or even completely banned in these solutions. However, shielding electronics always leads tomore » bulky and heavy solutions, which reduces the flexibility of robotic tools. It also requires longer repair time and produces extra waste further in a dismantling or decommissioning cycle. In addition, often in current reactor designs, due to size restrictions and the need to inspect very tight areas there are limitations to the use of shielding. A MGy radiation-hardened sensor instrumentation link developed by MAGyICS provides a solution to build a flexible, easy removable and small I and C module with MGy radiation tolerance without any shielding. Hereby it removes all these pains to implement electronics in robotic tools. The demonstrated solution in this poster is developed for ITER Remote Handling equipments operating in high radiation environments (>1 MGy) in and around the Tokamak. In order to obtain adequately accurate instrumentation and control information, as well as to ease the umbilical management, there is a need of front-end electronics that will have to be located close to those actuators and sensors on the remote handling tool. In particular, for diverter remote handling, it is estimated that these components will face gamma radiation up to 300 Gy/h (in-vessel) and a total dose of 1 MGy. The radiation-hardened sensor instrumentation link presented here, consists of multiple in-house developed, state-of-the-art building blocks. They have all been assessed and characterized up to a dose higher than 1 MGy. The first block in the signal chain is a smaller than 1 uV offset, low noise instrumentation amplifier that has a programmable gain between 8 and 256. This amplifier is followed by a high precision 16 bit ADC. Its main function is to digitize the amplified signal coming from the amplifier. The output of the ADC is a serial digital data stream. The next block is a 8 channel digital multiplexer. It converts the 8 digital data streams into 1 digital data stream. Hereby the instrumentation solution reduces the number of cables from 16 to 1 (8* 2 analogue differential signals). In addition, the multiplexer modules can be combined with other modules to reduce even further the number of cables. Every instrumentation solution requires a stable high precision voltage reference. Therefore also a bandgap reference has been developed and assessed under gamma irradiation. A low jitter, 10 MHz clock generator has been developed and qualified to clock the ADC and the multiplexer with high accuracy. Finally, an on-chip radiation-hard temperature sensor is also included. A complete remote, real-time test setup was prepared by MAGyICS in cooperation with Fusion for Energy to qualify the sensor instrumentation link at SCK-CEN. It is qualified by closely following the ESCC22900 space standard for electronics used in a radiation environment. The main benefit of the sensor instrumentation solution discussed here is that it can be directly employed in a MGy-level accumulated dose radiation environment, therefore it can digitize and multiplex sensor readout values early in the signal chain. Hereby the sensor values are not distorted by external interferences on the long transmission cable. Moreover it allows readout and digitize multiple low-bandwidth sensors ( pressure and temperature sensors, thermocouples, angular resolvers and LVDTs). Hence these instrumentation modules can be used to follow the trend of the digitalization in the nuclear industry. (authors)« less

Remote operation: a selective review of research into visual depth perception.

PubMed

Reinhardt-Rutland, A H

1996-07-01

Some perceptual motor operations are performed remotely; examples include the handling of life-threatening materials and surgical procedures. A camera conveys the site of operation to a TV monitor, so depth perception relies mainly on pictorial information, perhaps with enhancement of the occlusion cue by motion. However, motion information such as motion parallax is not likely to be important. The effectiveness of pictorial information is diminished by monocular and binocular information conveying flatness of the screen and by difficulties in scaling: Only a degree of relative depth can be conveyed. Furthermore, pictorial information can mislead. Depth perception is probably adequate in remote operation, if target objects are well separated, with well-defined edges and familiar shapes. Stereoscopic viewing systems are being developed to introduce binocular information to remote operation. However, stereoscopic viewing is problematic because binocular disparity conflicts with convergence and monocular information. An alternative strategy to improve precision in remote operation may be to rely on individuals who lack binocular function: There is redundancy in depth information, and such individuals seem to compensate for the lack of binocular function.

Comparative Evaluation of Background Subtraction Algorithms in Remote Scene Videos Captured by MWIR Sensors

PubMed Central

Yao, Guangle; Lei, Tao; Zhong, Jiandan; Jiang, Ping; Jia, Wenwu

2017-01-01

Background subtraction (BS) is one of the most commonly encountered tasks in video analysis and tracking systems. It distinguishes the foreground (moving objects) from the video sequences captured by static imaging sensors. Background subtraction in remote scene infrared (IR) video is important and common to lots of fields. This paper provides a Remote Scene IR Dataset captured by our designed medium-wave infrared (MWIR) sensor. Each video sequence in this dataset is identified with specific BS challenges and the pixel-wise ground truth of foreground (FG) for each frame is also provided. A series of experiments were conducted to evaluate BS algorithms on this proposed dataset. The overall performance of BS algorithms and the processor/memory requirements were compared. Proper evaluation metrics or criteria were employed to evaluate the capability of each BS algorithm to handle different kinds of BS challenges represented in this dataset. The results and conclusions in this paper provide valid references to develop new BS algorithm for remote scene IR video sequence, and some of them are not only limited to remote scene or IR video sequence but also generic for background subtraction. The Remote Scene IR dataset and the foreground masks detected by each evaluated BS algorithm are available online: https://github.com/JerryYaoGl/BSEvaluationRemoteSceneIR. PMID:28837112

Development of analytical cell support for vitrification at the West Valley Demonstration Project. Topical report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barber, F.H.; Borek, T.T.; Christopher, J.Z.

1997-12-01

Analytical and Process Chemistry (A&PC) support is essential to the high-level waste vitrification campaign at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP). A&PC characterizes the waste, providing information necessary to formulate the recipe for the target radioactive glass product. High-level waste (HLW) samples are prepared and analyzed in the analytical cells (ACs) and Sample Storage Cell (SSC) on the third floor of the main plant. The high levels of radioactivity in the samples require handling them in the shielded cells with remote manipulators. The analytical hot cells and third floor laboratories were refurbished to ensure optimal uninterrupted operation during the vitrificationmore » campaign. New and modified instrumentation, tools, sample preparation and analysis techniques, and equipment and training were required for A&PC to support vitrification. Analytical Cell Mockup Units (ACMUs) were designed to facilitate method development, scientist and technician training, and planning for analytical process flow. The ACMUs were fabricated and installed to simulate the analytical cell environment and dimensions. New techniques, equipment, and tools could be evaluated m in the ACMUs without the consequences of generating or handling radioactive waste. Tools were fabricated, handling and disposal of wastes was addressed, and spatial arrangements for equipment were refined. As a result of the work at the ACMUs the remote preparation and analysis methods and the equipment and tools were ready for installation into the ACs and SSC m in July 1995. Before use m in the hot cells, all remote methods had been validated and four to eight technicians were trained on each. Fine tuning of the procedures has been ongoing at the ACs based on input from A&PC technicians. Working at the ACs presents greater challenges than had development at the ACMUs. The ACMU work and further refinements m in the ACs have resulted m in a reduction m in analysis turnaround time (TAT).« less

Balloonborne lidar payloads for remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shepherd, O.; Aurilio, G.; Hurd, A. G.; Rappaport, S. A.; Reidy, W. P.; Rieder, R. J.; Bedo, D. E.; Swirbalus, R. A.

1994-02-01

A series of lidar experiments has been conducted using the Atmospheric Balloonborne Lidar Experiment payload (ABLE). These experiments included the measurement of atmospheric Rayleigh and Mie backscatter from near space (approximately 30 km) and Raman backscatter measurements of atmospheric constituents as a function of altitude. The ABLE payload consisted of a frequency-tripled Nd:YAG laser transmitter, a 50 cm receiver telescope, and filtered photodetectors in various focal plane configurations. The payload for lidar pointing, thermal control, data handling, and remote control of the lidar system. Comparison of ABLE performance with that of a space lidar shows significant performance advantages and cost effectiveness for balloonborne lidar systems.

Twelfth Annual Conference on Manual Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wempe, T. E.

1976-01-01

Main topics discussed cover multi-task decision making, attention allocation and workload measurement, displays and controls, nonvisual displays, tracking and other psychomotor tasks, automobile driving, handling qualities and pilot ratings, remote manipulation, system identification, control models, and motion and visual cues. Sixty-five papers are included with presentations on results of analytical studies to develop and evaluate human operator models for a range of control task, vehicle dynamics and display situations; results of tests of physiological control systems and applications to medical problems; and on results of simulator and flight tests to determine display, control and dynamics effects on operator performance and workload for aircraft, automobile, and remote control systems.

STARPAHC - Operational findings. [Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belasco, N.; Pool, S. L.

1976-01-01

Delivery of quality health care to passengers of extended-mission spacecraft and to remote populations on earth (a major national problem) requires extending the knowledge and skills of the physician many kilometers distant from his physical location. The STARPAHC telemedicine system accomplishes this by using physician's assistants complemented with space technology in communications, data handling, and systems engineering. It is presently in operation and undergoing a 2-year evaluation on the Papago Indian Reservation, Arizona. Results have established its feasibility as a solution for remote area health care on earth, while providing information useful to the planners of advanced manned spacecraft missions.

MEANS FOR DETERMINING CENTRIFUGE ALIGNMENT

DOEpatents

Smith, W.Q.

1958-08-26

An apparatus is presented for remotely determining the alignment of a centrifuge. The centrifage shaft is provided with a shoulder, upon which two followers ride, one for detecting radial movements, and one upon the shoulder face for determining the axial motion. The followers are attached to separate liquid filled bellows, and a tube connects each bellows to its respective indicating gage at a remote location. Vibrations produced by misalignment of the centrifuge shaft are transmitted to the bellows, and tbence through the tubing to the indicator gage. This apparatus is particularly useful for operation in a hot cell where the materials handled are dangerous to the operating personnel.

Potential Pitfalls Related to Space-Based Lidar Remote Sensing of the Earth With an Emphasis on Wind Measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kavaya, Michael J.; Spiers, Gary D.; Frehlich, Rod G.

2000-01-01

A collection of issues is discussed that are potential pitfalls, if handled incorrectly, for earth-orbiting lidar remote sensing instruments. These issues arise due to the long target ranges, high lidar-to-target relative velocities, low signal levels, use of laser scanners, and other unique aspects of using lasers in earth orbit. Consequences of misunderstanding these topics range from minor inconvenience to improper calibration to total failure. We will focus on wind measurement using coherent detection Doppler lidar, but many of the potential pitfalls apply also to noncoherent lidar wind measurement, and to measurement of parameters other than wind.

Processing for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lybanon, M.

1973-01-01

The data handling and processing in using synthetic aperture radar as a satellite-borne earth resources remote sensor is considered. The discussion covers the nature of the problem, the theory, both conventional and potential advanced processing techniques, and a complete computer simulation. It is shown that digital processing is a real possibility and suggests some future directions for research.

Robotics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popov, E. P.; Iurevich, E. I.

The history and the current status of robotics are reviewed, as are the design, operation, and principal applications of industrial robots. Attention is given to programmable robots, robots with adaptive control and elements of artificial intelligence, and remotely controlled robots. The applications of robots discussed include mechanical engineering, cargo handling during transportation and storage, mining, and metallurgy. The future prospects of robotics are briefly outlined.

Preparation of high temperature gas-cooled reactor fuel element

DOEpatents

Bradley, Ronnie A.; Sease, John D.

1976-01-01

This invention relates to a method for the preparation of high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) fuel elements wherein uncarbonized fuel rods are inserted in appropriate channels of an HTGR fuel element block and the entire block is inserted in an autoclave for in situ carbonization under high pressure. The method is particularly applicable to remote handling techniques.

Enclosure (from letter from EPA to DOE sent 3/26/04) - Technical and Regulatory Support Document: EPA's Remote Handled Waste Characterization Determination

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Based on the requirements presented in 40 CFR 194.24(c )(2) to (4) and 194.22(a)(1) and using experience gained as part of the CH waste characterization program, EPA examined the DOE's RH Waste Characterization Proposal as presented in the WCPIP.

Command and data handling of science signals on Spacelab

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccain, H. G.

1975-01-01

The Orbiter Avionics and the Spacelab Command and Data Management System (CDMS) combine to provide a relatively complete command, control, and data handling service to the instrument complement during a Shuttle Sortie Mission. The Spacelab CDMS services the instruments and the Orbiter in turn services the Spacelab. The CDMS computer system includes three computers, two I/O units, a mass memory, and a variable number of remote acquisition units. Attention is given to the CDMS high rate multiplexer, CDMS tape recorders, closed circuit television for the visual monitoring of payload bay and cabin area activities, methods of science data acquisition, questions of transmission and recording, CDMS experiment computer usage, and experiment electronics.

Remote sensing terminology: past experience and recent needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kancheva, Rumiana

2013-10-01

Terminology is a key issue for a better understanding among people using various languages. Terminology accuracy is essential during all phases of international cooperation. It is crucial to keep up with the latest quantitative and qualitative developments and novelties of the terminology in advanced technology fields such as aerospace science and industry. This is especially true in remote sensing and geoinformatics which develop rapidly and have wide and ever extending applications in various domains of human activity. The importance of the correct use of remote sensing terms refers not only to people working in this field but also to experts in many disciplines who handle remote sensing data and information products. The paper is devoted to terminology issues that refer to all aspects of remote sensing research and application areas. The attention is drawn on the recent needs and peculiarities of compiling specialized dictionaries in the subject area of remote sensing. Details are presented about the work in progress on the preparation of an English-Bulgarian dictionary of remote sensing terms focusing on Earth observations and geoinformation science. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. Any interest in cooperation and initiating of suchlike collaborative multilingual projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

Healthcare Blockchain System Using Smart Contracts for Secure Automated Remote Patient Monitoring.

PubMed

Griggs, Kristen N; Ossipova, Olya; Kohlios, Christopher P; Baccarini, Alessandro N; Howson, Emily A; Hayajneh, Thaier

2018-06-06

As Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other remote patient monitoring systems increase in popularity, security concerns about the transfer and logging of data transactions arise. In order to handle the protected health information (PHI) generated by these devices, we propose utilizing blockchain-based smart contracts to facilitate secure analysis and management of medical sensors. Using a private blockchain based on the Ethereum protocol, we created a system where the sensors communicate with a smart device that calls smart contracts and writes records of all events on the blockchain. This smart contract system would support real-time patient monitoring and medical interventions by sending notifications to patients and medical professionals, while also maintaining a secure record of who has initiated these activities. This would resolve many security vulnerabilities associated with remote patient monitoring and automate the delivery of notifications to all involved parties in a HIPAA compliant manner.

Analysis of remote operating systems for space-based servicing operations. Volume 2: Study results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The developments in automation and robotics have increased the importance of applications for space based servicing using remotely operated systems. A study on three basic remote operating systems (teleoperation, telepresence and robotics) was performed in two phases. In phase one, requirements development, which consisted of one three-month task, a group of ten missions were selected. These included the servicing of user equipment on the station and the servicing of the station itself. In phase two, concepts development, which consisted of three tasks, overall system concepts were developed for the selected missions. These concepts, which include worksite servicing equipment, a carrier system, and payload handling equipment, were evaluated relative to the configurations of the overall worksite. It is found that the robotic/teleoperator concepts are appropriate for relatively simple structured tasks, while the telepresence/teleoperator concepts are applicable for missions that are complex, unstructured tasks.

The acquisition, storage, and dissemination of LANDSAT and other LACIE support data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abbotts, L. F.; Nelson, R. M. (Principal Investigator)

1979-01-01

Activities performed at the LACIE physical data library are described. These include the researching, acquisition, indexing, maintenance, distribution, tracking, and control of LACIE operational data and documents. Much of the data available can be incorporated into an Earth resources data base. Elements of the data collection that can support future remote sensing programs include: (1) the LANDSAT full-frame image files; (2) the microfilm file of aerial and space photographic and multispectral maps and charts that encompasses a large portion of the Earth's surface; (3) the map/chart collection that includes various scale maps and charts for a good portion of the U.S. and the LACIE area in foreign countries; (4) computer-compatible tapes of good quality LANDSAT scenes; (5) basic remote sensing data, project data, reference material, and associated publications; (6) visual aids to support presentation on remote sensing projects; and (7) research acquisition and handling procedures for managing data.

Systems and methods for retaining and removing irradiation targets in a nuclear reactor

DOEpatents

Runkle, Gary A.; Matsumoto, Jack T.; Dayal, Yogeshwar; Heinold, Mark R.

2015-12-08

A retainer is placed on a conduit to control movement of objects within the conduit in access-restricted areas. Retainers can prevent or allow movement in the conduit in a discriminatory fashion. A fork with variable-spacing between prongs can be a retainer and be extended or collapsed with respect to the conduit to change the size of the conduit. Different objects of different sizes may thus react to the fork differently, some passing and some being blocked. Retainers can be installed in inaccessible areas and allow selective movement in remote portions of conduit where users cannot directly interface, including below nuclear reactors. Position detectors can monitor the movement of objects through the conduit remotely as well, permitting engagement of a desired level of restriction and object movement. Retainers are useable in a variety of nuclear power plants and with irradiation target delivery, harvesting, driving, and other remote handling or robotic systems.

Developing custom fire behavior fuel models from ecologically complex fuel structures for upper Atlantic Coastal Plain forests

Treesearch

Bernard R. Parresol; Joe H. Scott; Anne Andreu; Susan Prichard; Laurie Kurth

2012-01-01

Currently geospatial fire behavior analyses are performed with an array of fire behavior modeling systems such as FARSITE, FlamMap, and the Large Fire Simulation System. These systems currently require standard or customized surface fire behavior fuel models as inputs that are often assigned through remote sensing information. The ability to handle hundreds or...

Explosive simulants for testing explosive detection systems

DOEpatents

Kury, John W.; Anderson, Brian L.

1999-09-28

Explosives simulants that include non-explosive components are disclosed that facilitate testing of equipment designed to remotely detect explosives. The simulants are non-explosive, non-hazardous materials that can be safely handled without any significant precautions. The simulants imitate real explosives in terms of mass density, effective atomic number, x-ray transmission properties, and physical form, including moldable plastics and emulsions/gels.

Computer User's Guide to the Protection of Information Resources. NIST Special Publication 500-171.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helsing, Cheryl; And Others

Computers have changed the way information resources are handled. Large amounts of information are stored in one central place and can be accessed from remote locations. Users have a personal responsibility for the security of the system and the data stored in it. This document outlines the user's responsibilities and provides security and control…

Analysis and design of a capsule landing system and surface vehicle control system for Mars exploration. [performance tests of remote control equipment for roving vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gisser, D. G.; Frederick, D. K.; Sandor, G. N.; Shen, C. N.; Yerazunis, S. W.

1976-01-01

Problems related to the design and control of an autonomous rover for the purpose of unmanned exploration of the planets were considered. Building on the basis of prior studies, a four wheeled rover of unusual mobility and maneuverability was further refined and tested under both laboratory and field conditions. A second major effort was made to develop autonomous guidance. Path selection systems capable of dealing with relatively formidable hazard and terrains involving various short range (1.0-3.0 meters), hazard detection systems using a triangulation detection concept were simulated and evaluated. The mechanical/electronic systems required to implement such a scheme were constructed and tested. These systems include: laser transmitter, photodetectors, the necessary data handling/controlling systems and a scanning mast. In addition, a telemetry system to interface the vehicle, the off-board computer and a remote control module for operator intervention were developed. Software for the autonomous control concept was written. All of the systems required for complete autonomous control were shown to be satisfactory except for that portion of the software relating to the handling of interrupt commands.

The National Spallation Neutron Source Target Station.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabriel, T. A.

1997-05-01

The technologies that are being utilized to design and build a state-of-the-art high powered (>= 1 MW), short pulsed (<= 1 μsec), and reliable spallation neutron source target station are discussed. The protons which directly and indirectly produce the neutrons will be obtained from a 1 GeV proton accelerator composed of an ion gun, rfq, linac, and storage ring. Many scientific and technical disciplines are required to produce a successful target station. These disciplines include engineering, remote handling, neutronics, materials, thermal hydraulics, shock analysis, etc. In the areas of engineering and remote handling special emphasis is being given to rapid and efficient assembly and disassembly of critical parts of the target station. In the neutronics area, emphasis is being given to neutron yield and pulse optimization from the moderators, and heating and activation rates throughout the station. Development of structural materials to withstand aggressive radiation environments and that are compatible with other materials is also an important area. Thermal hydraulics and shock analysis are being closely studied since large amounts of energy are being deposited in small volumes in relatively short time periods (< 1 μsec). These areas will be expanded upon in the paper.

Study of working experience in remote rural areas after medical graduation.

PubMed

Thapa, K R; Shrestha, B K; Bhattarai, M D

2014-01-01

Posting of doctors in remote rural areas has always been a priority for Government; however data are scarce in the country about experience of doctors of working in remote areas after medical graduation. A questionnaire survey of doctors was planned to analyze their experience of working after graduation in remote rural areas in various parts of the country. The cross-sectional survey was done by convenience sampling method. A one-page questionnaire with one partially closed-end and five open-end type questions was distributed to the doctors who had worked in remote rural areas after graduation under various governments' postings. Two-third of participants had their home in urban areas and 89.8% had stayed for 1 to 5 years. About half of the participants had difficulty in getting the posting in the remote areas of their choice. Most participants indicated provision of opportunities for Residential (postgraduate) Training as their reasons of going to remote areas as well as their suggestions to encourage young graduates to go there. Similarly most also suggested appropriate career, salary and incentives to encourage doctors to go to work in remote areas. About 85% of participants pointed out the major problem faced while posted in remote areas as difficulty in handling varied situations with no guidance or seniors available around. The notable points indicated by the participants are centered on the opportunity for Residential Training and difficulties faced without such training. Residential Training is a priority to be considered while planning the health policy for optimum health care of people.

Classification of Large-Scale Remote Sensing Images for Automatic Identification of Health Hazards: Smoke Detection Using an Autologistic Regression Classifier.

PubMed

Wolters, Mark A; Dean, C B

2017-01-01

Remote sensing images from Earth-orbiting satellites are a potentially rich data source for monitoring and cataloguing atmospheric health hazards that cover large geographic regions. A method is proposed for classifying such images into hazard and nonhazard regions using the autologistic regression model, which may be viewed as a spatial extension of logistic regression. The method includes a novel and simple approach to parameter estimation that makes it well suited to handling the large and high-dimensional datasets arising from satellite-borne instruments. The methodology is demonstrated on both simulated images and a real application to the identification of forest fire smoke.

Potential Pitfalls Related to Space-Based Lidar Remote Sensing of the Earth with an Emphasis on Wind Measurement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kavaya, Michael J.; Spiers, Gary D.; Frehlich, Rod G.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

A collection of issues is discussed that are potential pitfalls, if handled incorrectly, for earth-orbiting lidar remote sensing instruments. These issues arise due to the long target ranges, high lidar-to-target relative velocities, low signal levels, use of laser scanners, and other unique aspects of using lasers in earth orbit. Consequences of misunderstanding these topics range from minor inconvenience to improper calibration to total failure. We will focus on wind measurement using coherent detection Doppler lidar, but many of the potential pitfalls apply also to noncoherent lidar wind measurement, and to measurement of parameters other than wind. Each area will be identified as to its applicability.

Robotic positioning of standard electrophysiology catheters: a novel approach to catheter robotics.

PubMed

Knight, Bradley; Ayers, Gregory M; Cohen, Todd J

2008-05-01

Robotic systems have been developed to manipulate and position electrophysiology (EP) catheters remotely. One limitation of existing systems is their requirement for specialized catheters or sheaths. We evaluated a system (Catheter Robotics Remote Catheter Manipulation System [RCMS], Catheter Robotics, Inc., Budd Lake, New Jersey) that manipulates conventional EP catheters placed through standard introducer sheaths. The remote controller functions much like the EP catheter handle, and the system permits repeated catheter disengagement for manual manipulation without requiring removal of the catheter from the body. This study tested the hypothesis that the RCMS would be able to safely and effectively position catheters at various intracardiac sites and obtain thresholds and electrograms similar to those obtained with manual catheter manipulation. Two identical 7 Fr catheters (Blazer II; Boston Scientific Corp., Natick, Massachusetts) were inserted into the right femoral veins of 6 mongrel dogs through separate, standard 7 Fr sheaths. The first catheter was manually placed at a right ventricular endocardial site. The second catheter handle was placed in the mating holder of the RCMS and moved to approximately the same site as the first catheter using the Catheter Robotics RCMS. The pacing threshold was determined for each catheter. This sequence was performed at 2 right atrial and 2 right ventricular sites. The distance between the manually and robotically placed catheters tips was measured, and pacing thresholds and His-bundle recordings were compared. The heart was inspected at necropsy for signs of cardiac perforation or injury. Compared to manual positioning, remote catheter placement produced the same pacing threshold at 7/24 sites, a lower threshold at 11/24 sites, and a higher threshold at only 6/24 sites (p > 0.05). The average distance between catheter tips was 0.46 +/- 0.32 cm (median 0.32, range 0.13-1.16 cm). There was no difference between right atrial and right ventricular sites (p > 0.05). His-bundle electrograms were equal in amplitude and timing. Further, the remote navigation catheter was able to be disengaged, manually manipulated, then reengaged in the robot without issue. There was no evidence of perforation. The Catheter Robotics remote catheter manipulation system, which uses conventional EP catheters and introducer sheaths, appears to be safe and effective at directing EP catheters to intracardiac sites and achieving pacing thresholds and electrograms equivalent to manually placed catheters. Further clinical studies are needed to confirm these observations.

Safe Operation of Mobile Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-13

vehicle could go during uncommanded movement and full throttle acceleration. 4. TEST PROCEDURES. 4.1 Vehicle Subsystem Tests. These tests identify...time required to go from straight ahead to full deflection in one direction. (sec) i. Observations on ability of the remote operator to maintain...were well below the lateral acceleration limits of the vehicle resulting in very predictable handling traits. The primary concern , albeit subjective

SAMPLE CAN HANDLING MECHANISM

DOEpatents

Egnor, W.D.; Romine, G.L.

1963-05-21

A remotely operated turntable is described for moving containers in succession from station to station and holding the containers in position at each station while a desired operation is performed. The assembly is capable of both vertical and rotational movements and is equipped with means that limit the rotational movements to predetermined angular increments and means that prevent rotation of the turntable while the container is at a work station. (AEC)

Enclosed Cutting-And-Polishing Apparatus

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rossier, R. N.; Bicknell, B.

1989-01-01

Proposed apparatus cuts and polishes specimens while preventing contamination of outside environment or of subsequent specimens processed in it. Designed for use in zero gravity but also includes features useful in cutting and polishing of toxic or otherwise hazardous materials on Earth. Includes remote manipulator for handling specimens, cutting and polishing wire, inlets for gas and liquid, and outlets for waste liquid and gas. Replaceable plastic liner surrounds working space.

Development of a new bench for puncturing of irradiated fuel rods in STAR hot laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petitprez, B.; Silvestre, P.; Valenza, P.; Boulore, A.; David, T.

2018-01-01

A new device for puncturing of irradiated fuel rods in commercial power plants has been designed by Fuel Research Department of CEA Cadarache in order to provide experimental data of high precision on fuel pins with various designs. It will replace the current set-up that has been used since 1998 in hot cell 2 of STAR facility with more than 200 rod puncturing experiments. Based on this consistent experimental feedback, the heavy-duty technique of rod perforation by clad punching has been preserved for the new bench. The method of double expansion of rod gases is also retained since it allows upgrading the confidence interval of volumetric results obtained from rod puncturing. Furthermore, many evolutions have been introduced in the new design in order to improve its reliability, to make the maintenance easier by remote handling and to reduce experimental uncertainties. Tightness components have been studied with Sealing Laboratory Maestral at Pierrelatte so as to make them able to work under mixed pressure conditions (from vacuum at 10-5 mbar up to pressure at 50 bars) and to lengthen their lifetime under permanent gamma irradiation in hot cell. Bench ergonomics has been optimized to make its operating by remote handling easier and to secure the critical phases of a puncturing experiment. A high pressure gas line equipped with high precision pressure sensors out of cell can be connected to the bench in cell for calibration purposes. Uncertainty analyses using Monte Carlo calculations have been performed in order to optimize capacity of the different volumes of the apparatus according to volumetric characteristics of the rod to be punctured. At last this device is composed of independent modules which allow puncturing fuel pins out of different geometries (PWR, BWR, VVER). After leak tests of the device and remote handling simulation in a mock-up cell, several punctures of calibrated specimens have been performed in 2016. The bench will be implemented soon in hot cell 2 of STAR facility for final qualification tests. PWR rod punctures are already planned for 2018.

Command and data handling for Atmosphere Explorer satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fuldner, W. V.

1974-01-01

The command and data-handling subsystem of the Atmosphere Explorer satellite provides the necessary controls for the instrumentation and telemetry, and also controls the satellite attitude and trajectory. The subsystem executes all command information within the spacecraft, either in real time (as received over the S-band command transmission link) or remote from the command site (as required by the orbit operations schedule). Power consumption in the spacecraft is optimized by suitable application and removal of power to various instruments; additional functions include control of magnetic torquers and of the orbit-adjust propulsion subsystem. Telemetry data from instruments and the spacecraft equipment are formatted into a single serial bit stream. Attention is given to command types, command formats, decoder operation, and command processing functions.

Sectional device handling tool

DOEpatents

Candee, Clark B.

1988-07-12

Apparatus for remotely handling a device in an irradiated underwater environment includes a plurality of tubular sections interconnected end-to-end to form a handling structure, the bottom section being adapted for connection to the device. A support section is connected to the top tubular section and is adapted to be suspended from an overhead crane. Each section is flanged at its opposite ends. Axially retractable bolts in each bottom flange are threadedly engageable with holes in the top flange of an adjacent section, each bolt being biased to its retracted position and retained in place on the bottom flange. Guide pins on each top flange cooperate with mating holes on adjacent bottom flanges to guide movement of the parts to the proper interconnection orientation. Each section carries two hydraulic line segments provided with quick-connect/disconnect fittings at their opposite ends for connection to the segments of adjacent tubular sections upon interconnection thereof to form control lines which are connectable to the device and to an associated control console.

Remote Supervision and Control of Air Conditioning Systems in Different Modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rafeeq, Mohammed; Afzal, Asif; Rajendra, Sree

2018-01-01

In the era of automation, most of the application of engineering and science are interrelated with system for optimal operation. To get the efficient result of an operation and desired response, interconnected systems should be controlled by directing, regulating and commanding. Here, air conditioning (AC) system is considered for experimentation, to supervise and control its functioning in both, automated and manual mode. This paper reports the work intended to design and develop an automated and manual AC system working in remote and local mode, to increase the level of comfort, easy operation, reducing human intervention and faults occurring in the system. The Programmable Logical Controller (PLC) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system were used for remote supervision and monitoring of AC systems using series ninety protocol and remote terminal unit modbus protocol as communication module to operate in remote mode. PLC was used as remote terminal for continuous supervision and control of AC system. SCADA software was used as a tool for designing user friendly graphical user interface. The proposed SCADA AC system successfully monitors and controls in accordance within the parameter limits like temperature, pressure, humidity and voltage. With all the features, this designed system is capable of efficient handling of the resources like the compressor, humidifier etc., with all the levels of safety and durability. This system also maintains the temperature and controls the humidity of the remote location and also looks after the health of the compressor.

Upgrade to the control system of the reflectometry diagnostic of ASDEX upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graça, S.; Santos, J.; Manso, M. E.

2004-10-01

The broadband frequency modulation-continuous wave microwave/millimeter wave reflectometer of ASDEX upgrade tokamak (Institut für Plasma Physik (IPP), Garching, Germany) developed by Centro de Fusão Nuclear (Lisboa, Portugal) with the collaboration of IPP, is a complex system with 13 channels (O and X modes) and two types of operation modes (swept and fixed frequency). The control system that ensures remote operation of the diagnostic incorporates VME and CAMAC bus based acquisition/timing systems. Microprocessor input/output boards are used to control and monitor the microwave circuitry and associated electronic devices. The implementation of the control system is based on an object-oriented client/server model: a centralized server manages the hardware and receives input from remote clients. Communication is handled through transmission control protocol/internet protocol sockets. Here we describe recent upgrades of the control system aiming to: (i) accommodate new channels; (ii) adapt to the heterogeneity of computing platforms and operating systems; and (iii) overcome remote access restrictions. Platform and operating system independence was achieved by redesigning the graphical user interface in JAVA. As secure shell is the standard remote access protocol adopted in major fusion laboratories, secure shell tunneling was implemented to allow remote operation of the diagnostic through the existing firewalls.

High-definition television evaluation for remote handling task performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujita, Y.; Omori, E.; Hayashi, S.; Draper, J. V.; Herndon, J. N.

Described are experiments designed to evaluate the impact of HDTV (High-Definition Television) on the performance of typical remote tasks. The experiments described in this paper compared the performance of four operators using HDTV with their performance while using other television systems. The experiments included four television systems: (1) high-definition color television, (2) high-definition monochromatic television, (3) standard-resolution monochromatic television, and (4) standard-resolution stereoscopic monochromatic television. The stereo system accomplished stereoscopy by displaying two cross-polarized images, one reflected by a half-silvered mirror and one seen through the mirror. Observers wore spectacles with cross-polarized lenses so that the left eye received only the view from the left camera and the right eye received only the view from the right camera.

Research and development plan for the Slagging Pyrolysis Incinerator. [For TRU waste

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hedahl, T.G.; McCormack, M.D.

1979-01-01

Objective is to develop an incinerator for processing disposed transuranium waste. This R and D plan describes the R and D efforts required to begin conceptual design of the Slagging Pyrolysis Incinerator (Andco-Torrax). The program includes: incinerator, off-gas treatment, waste handling, instrumentation, immobilization analyses, migration studies, regulations, Belgium R and D test plan, Disney World test plan, and remote operation and maintenance. (DLC)

Landsat: A Global Land-Observing Program

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2003-01-01

Landsat represents the world's longest continuously acquired collection of space-based land remote sensing data. The Landsat Project is a joint initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed to gather Earth resource data from space. NASA developed and launched the spacecrafts, while the USGS handles the operations, maintenance, and management of all ground data reception, processing, archiving, product generation, and distribution.

Test Bed For Telerobots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matijevic, Jacob R.; Zimmerman, Wayne F.; Dolinsky, Shlomo

1990-01-01

Assembly of electromechanical and electronic equipment (including computers) constitutes test bed for development of advanced robotic systems for remote manipulation. Combines features not found in commercial systems. Its architecture allows easy growth in complexity and level of automation. System national resource for validation of new telerobotic technology. Intended primarily for robots used in outer space, test bed adapted to development of advanced terrestrial telerobotic systems for handling radioactive materials, dangerous chemicals, and explosives.

Evaluating OpenSHMEM Explicit Remote Memory Access Operations and Merged Requests

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Boehm, Swen; Pophale, Swaroop S; Gorentla Venkata, Manjunath

The OpenSHMEM Library Specification has evolved consid- erably since version 1.0. Recently, non-blocking implicit Remote Memory Access (RMA) operations were introduced in OpenSHMEM 1.3. These provide a way to achieve better overlap between communication and computation. However, the implicit non-blocking operations do not pro- vide a separate handle to track and complete the individual RMA opera- tions. They are guaranteed to be completed after either a shmem quiet(), shmem barrier() or a shmem barrier all() is called. These are global com- pletion and synchronization operations. Though this semantic is expected to achieve a higher message rate for the applications, themore » drawback is that it does not allow fine-grained control over the completion of RMA operations. In this paper, first, we introduce non-blocking RMA operations with requests, where each operation has an explicit request to track and com- plete the operation. Second, we introduce interfaces to merge multiple requests into a single request handle. The merged request tracks multiple user-selected RMA operations, which provides the flexibility of tracking related communication operations with one request handle. Lastly, we explore the implications in terms of performance, productivity, usability and the possibility of defining different patterns of communication via merging of requests. Our experimental results show that a well designed and implemented OpenSHMEM stack can hide the overhead of allocating and managing the requests. The latency of RMA operations with requests is similar to blocking and implicit non-blocking RMA operations. We test our implementation with the Scalable Synthetic Compact Applications (SSCA #1) benchmark and observe that using RMA operations with requests and merging of these requests outperform the implementation using blocking RMA operations and implicit non-blocking operations by 49% and 74% respectively.« less

Defense Remote Handled Transuranic Waste Cost/Schedule Optimization Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pierce, G.D.; Beaulieu, D.H.; Wolaver, R.W.

1986-11-01

The purpose of this study is to provide the DOE information with which it can establish the most efficient program for the long management and disposal, in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), of remote handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) waste. To fulfill this purpose, a comprehensive review of waste characteristics, existing and projected waste inventories, processing and transportation options, and WIPP requirements was made. Cost differences between waste management alternatives were analyzed and compared to an established baseline. The result of this study is an information package that DOE can use as the basis for policy decisions. As part ofmore » this study, a comprehensive list of alternatives for each element of the baseline was developed and reviewed with the sites. The principle conclusions of the study follow. A single processing facility for RH TRU waste is both necessary and sufficient. The RH TRU processing facility should be located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Shielding of RH TRU to contact handled levels is not an economic alternative in general, but is an acceptable alternative for specific waste streams. Compaction is only cost effective at the ORNL processing facility, with a possible exception at Hanford for small compaction of paint cans of newly generated glovebox waste. It is more cost effective to ship certified waste to WIPP in 55-gal drums than in canisters, assuming a suitable drum cask becomes available. Some waste forms cannot be packaged in drums, a canister/shielded cask capability is also required. To achieve the desired disposal rate, the ORNL processing facility must be operational by 1996. Implementing the conclusions of this study can save approximately $110 million, compared to the baseline, in facility, transportation, and interim storage costs through the year 2013. 10 figs., 28 tabs.« less

CANISTER TRANSFER SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

B. Gorpani

2000-06-23

The Canister Transfer System receives transportation casks containing large and small disposable canisters, unloads the canisters from the casks, stores the canisters as required, loads them into disposal containers (DCs), and prepares the empty casks for re-shipment. Cask unloading begins with cask inspection, sampling, and lid bolt removal operations. The cask lids are removed and the canisters are unloaded. Small canisters are loaded directly into a DC, or are stored until enough canisters are available to fill a DC. Large canisters are loaded directly into a DC. Transportation casks and related components are decontaminated as required, and empty casks aremore » prepared for re-shipment. One independent, remotely operated canister transfer line is provided in the Waste Handling Building System. The canister transfer line consists of a Cask Transport System, Cask Preparation System, Canister Handling System, Disposal Container Transport System, an off-normal canister handling cell with a transfer tunnel connecting the two cells, and Control and Tracking System. The Canister Transfer System operating sequence begins with moving transportation casks to the cask preparation area with the Cask Transport System. The Cask Preparation System prepares the cask for unloading and consists of cask preparation manipulator, cask inspection and sampling equipment, and decontamination equipment. The Canister Handling System unloads the canister(s) and places them into a DC. Handling equipment consists of a bridge crane hoist, DC loading manipulator, lifting fixtures, and small canister staging racks. Once the cask has been unloaded, the Cask Preparation System decontaminates the cask exterior and returns it to the Carrier/Cask Handling System via the Cask Transport System. After the DC is fully loaded, the Disposal Container Transport System moves the DC to the Disposal Container Handling System for welding. To handle off-normal canisters, a separate off-normal canister handling cell is located adjacent to the canister transfer cell and is interconnected to the transfer cell by means of the off-normal canister transfer tunnel. All canister transfer operations are controlled by the Control and Tracking System. The system interfaces with the Carrier/Cask Handling System for incoming and outgoing transportation casks. The system also interfaces with the Disposal Container Handling System, which prepares the DC for loading and subsequently seals the loaded DC. The system support interfaces are the Waste Handling Building System and other internal Waste Handling Building (WHB) support systems.« less

Information management system breadboard data acquisition and control system.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mallary, W. E.

1972-01-01

Description of a breadboard configuration of an advanced information management system based on requirements for high data rates and local and centralized computation for subsystems and experiments to be housed on a space station. The system is to contain a 10-megabit-per-second digital data bus, remote terminals with preprocessor capabilities, and a central multiprocessor. A concept definition is presented for the data acquisition and control system breadboard, and a detailed account is given of the operation of the bus control unit, the bus itself, and the remote acquisition and control unit. The data bus control unit is capable of operating under control of both its own test panel and the test processor. In either mode it is capable of both single- and multiple-message operation in that it can accept a block of data requests or update commands for transmission to the remote acquisition and control unit, which in turn is capable of three levels of data-handling complexity.

Activation Levels, Handling, and Storage of Activated Components in the Target Hall at FRIB

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgobiani, D.; Bennett, R.; Bollen, G.; Kostin, M.; Ronningen, R.

2018-06-01

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is a major new scientific user facility under construction in the United States for nuclear science research with beams of rare isotopes. 400 kW beam operations with heavy ions ranging from oxygen to uranium will create a high radiation environment for many components, particularly for the beam line components located in the target hall, where approximately 100 kW of beam power are dissipated in the target and another 300 kW are dissipated in the beam dump. Detailed studies of the component activation, their remote handling, storage, and transport, have been performed to ensure safe operation levels in this environment. Levels of activation are calculated for the beam line components within the FRIB target hall.

Dynamic biosignal management and transmission during telemedicine incidents handled by Mobile Units over diverse network types.

PubMed

Mandellos, George J; Koutelakis, George V; Panagiotakopoulos, Theodor C; Koukias, Andreas M; Koukias, Mixalis N; Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios K

2008-01-01

Early and specialized pre-hospital patient treatment improves outcome in terms of mortality and morbidity, in emergency cases. This paper focuses on the design and implementation of a telemedicine system that supports diverse types of endpoints including moving transports (MT) (ambulances, ships, planes, etc.), handheld devices and fixed units, using diverse communication networks. Target of the above telemedicine system is the pre-hospital patient treatment. While vital sign transmission is prior to other services provided by the telemedicine system (videoconference, remote management, voice calls etc.), a predefined algorithm controls provision and quality of the other services. A distributed database system controlled by a central server, aims to manage patient attributes, exams and incidents handled by different Telemedicine Coordination Centers (TCC).

Tubing and cable cutting tool

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcsmith, D. D.; Richardson, J. I. (Inventor)

1984-01-01

A hand held hydraulic cutting tool was developed which is particularly useful in deactivating ejection seats in military aircraft rescue operations. The tool consists primarily of a hydraulic system composed of a fluid reservoir, a pumping piston, and an actuator piston. Mechanical cutting jaws are attached to the actuator piston rod. The hydraulic system is controlled by a pump handle. As the pump handle is operated the actuator piston rod is forced outward and thus the cutting jaws are forced together. The frame of the device is a flexible metal tubing which permits easy positioning of the tool cutting jaws in remote and normally inaccessible locations. Bifurcated cutting edges ensure removal of a section of the tubing or cable to thereby reduce the possibility of accidental reactivation of the tubing or cable being severed.

The Organic Anion Transporter (OAT) Family: A Systems Biology Perspective

PubMed Central

Nigam, Sanjay K.; Bush, Kevin T.; Martovetsky, Gleb; Ahn, Sun-Young; Liu, Henry C.; Richard, Erin; Bhatnagar, Vibha; Wu, Wei

2015-01-01

The organic anion transporter (OAT) subfamily, which constitutes roughly half of the SLC22 (solute carrier 22) transporter family, has received a great deal of attention because of its role in handling of common drugs (antibiotics, antivirals, diuretics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), toxins (mercury, aristolochic acid), and nutrients (vitamins, flavonoids). Oats are expressed in many tissues, including kidney, liver, choroid plexus, olfactory mucosa, brain, retina, and placenta. Recent metabolomics and microarray data from Oat1 [Slc22a6, originally identified as NKT (novel kidney transporter)] and Oat3 (Slc22a8) knockouts, as well as systems biology studies, indicate that this pathway plays a central role in the metabolism and handling of gut microbiome metabolites as well as putative uremic toxins of kidney disease. Nuclear receptors and other transcription factors, such as Hnf4α and Hnf1α, appear to regulate the expression of certain Oats in conjunction with phase I and phase II drug metabolizing enzymes. Some Oats have a strong selectivity for particular signaling molecules, including cyclic nucleotides, conjugated sex steroids, odorants, uric acid, and prostaglandins and/or their metabolites. According to the “Remote Sensing and Signaling Hypothesis,” which is elaborated in detail here, Oats may function in remote interorgan communication by regulating levels of signaling molecules and key metabolites in tissues and body fluids. Oats may also play a major role in interorganismal communication (via movement of small molecules across the intestine, placental barrier, into breast milk, and volatile odorants into the urine). The role of various Oat isoforms in systems physiology appears quite complex, and their ramifications are discussed in the context of remote sensing and signaling. PMID:25540139

Remote Handled WIPP Canisters at Los Alamos National Laboratory Characterized for Retrieval

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Griffin, J.; Gonzales, W.

2007-07-01

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is pursuing retrieval, transportation, and disposal of 16 remote handled transuranic waste canisters stored below ground in shafts since 1994. These canisters were retrievably stored in the shafts to await Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification of the Model Number RH-TRU 72B transportation cask and authorization of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) to accept the canisters for disposal. Retrieval planning included radiological characterization and visual inspection of the canisters to confirm historical records, verify container integrity, determine proper personnel protection for the retrieval operations, provide radiological dose and exposure rate data for retrieval operations, andmore » to provide exterior radiological contamination data. The radiological characterization and visual inspection of the canisters was performed in May 2006. The effort required the development of remote techniques and equipment due to the potential for personnel exposure to radiological doses approaching 300 R/hr. Innovations included the use of two nested 1.5 meter (m) (5-feet [ft]) long concrete culvert pipes (1.1-m [42 inch (in.)] and 1.5-m [60-in] diameter, respectively) as radiological shielding and collapsible electrostatic dusting wands to collect radiological swipe samples from the annular space between the canister and shaft wall. Visual inspection indicated that the canisters are in good condition with little or no rust, the welded seams are intact, and ten of the canisters include hydrogen gas sampling equipment on the pintle that will have to be removed prior to retrieval. The visual inspection also provided six canister identification numbers that matched historical storage records. The exterior radiological data indicated alpha and beta contamination below LANL release criteria and radiological dose and exposure rates lower than expected based upon historical data and modeling of the canister contents. (authors)« less

HTTP-based remote operational options for the Vacuum Tower Telescope, Tenerife

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Staiger, J.

2012-09-01

We are currently developing network based tools for the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT), Tenerife which will allow to operate the telescope together with the newly developed 2D-spectrometer HELLRIDE under remote control conditions. The computational configuration can be viewed as a distributed system linking hardware components of various functionality from different locations. We have developed a communication protocol which is basically an extension of the HTTP standard. It will serve as a carrier for command- and data-transfers. The server-client software is based on Berkley-Unix sockets in a C++ programming environment. A customized CMS will allow to create browser accessible information on-the-fly. Java-based applet pages have been tested as optional user access GUI's. An access tool has been implemented to download near-realtime, web-based target information from NASA/SDO. Latency tests have been carried out at the VTT and the Swedish STT at La Palma for concept verification. Short response times indicate that under favorable network conditions remote interactive telescope handling may be possible. The scientific focus of possible future remote operations will be set on the helioseismology of the solar atmosphere, the monitoring of flares and the footpoint analysis of coronal loops and chromospheric events.

A stereo remote sensing feature selection method based on artificial bee colony algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Yiming; Liu, Pigang; Zhang, Ye; Su, Nan; Tian, Shu; Gao, Fengjiao; Shen, Yi

2014-05-01

To improve the efficiency of stereo information for remote sensing classification, a stereo remote sensing feature selection method is proposed in this paper presents, which is based on artificial bee colony algorithm. Remote sensing stereo information could be described by digital surface model (DSM) and optical image, which contain information of the three-dimensional structure and optical characteristics, respectively. Firstly, three-dimensional structure characteristic could be analyzed by 3D-Zernike descriptors (3DZD). However, different parameters of 3DZD could descript different complexity of three-dimensional structure, and it needs to be better optimized selected for various objects on the ground. Secondly, features for representing optical characteristic also need to be optimized. If not properly handled, when a stereo feature vector composed of 3DZD and image features, that would be a lot of redundant information, and the redundant information may not improve the classification accuracy, even cause adverse effects. To reduce information redundancy while maintaining or improving the classification accuracy, an optimized frame for this stereo feature selection problem is created, and artificial bee colony algorithm is introduced for solving this optimization problem. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the computational efficiency, improve the classification accuracy.

A Lightweight Remote Parallel Visualization Platform for Interactive Massive Time-varying Climate Data Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, J.; Zhang, T.; Huang, Q.; Liu, Q.

2014-12-01

Today's climate datasets are featured with large volume, high degree of spatiotemporal complexity and evolving fast overtime. As visualizing large volume distributed climate datasets is computationally intensive, traditional desktop based visualization applications fail to handle the computational intensity. Recently, scientists have developed remote visualization techniques to address the computational issue. Remote visualization techniques usually leverage server-side parallel computing capabilities to perform visualization tasks and deliver visualization results to clients through network. In this research, we aim to build a remote parallel visualization platform for visualizing and analyzing massive climate data. Our visualization platform was built based on Paraview, which is one of the most popular open source remote visualization and analysis applications. To further enhance the scalability and stability of the platform, we have employed cloud computing techniques to support the deployment of the platform. In this platform, all climate datasets are regular grid data which are stored in NetCDF format. Three types of data access methods are supported in the platform: accessing remote datasets provided by OpenDAP servers, accessing datasets hosted on the web visualization server and accessing local datasets. Despite different data access methods, all visualization tasks are completed at the server side to reduce the workload of clients. As a proof of concept, we have implemented a set of scientific visualization methods to show the feasibility of the platform. Preliminary results indicate that the framework can address the computation limitation of desktop based visualization applications.

Satellite services system analysis study. Volume 4: Service equipment concepts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Payload deployment equipment is discussed, including payload separation, retention structures, the remote manipulator system, tilt tables, the payload installation and deployment aid, the handling and positioning aid, and spin tables. Close proximity retrieval, and on-orbit servicing equipment is discussed. Backup and contingency equipment is also discussed. Delivery and retrieval of high-energy payloads are considered. Earth return equipment, the aft flight deck, optional, and advanced equipment are also discussed.

Hierarchy of on-orbit servicing interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moe, Rud V.

1989-01-01

A series of equipment interfaces is involved in on-orbit servicing operations. The end-to-end hierarchy of servicing interfaces is presented. The interface concepts presented include structure and handling, and formats for transfer of resources (power, data, fluids, etc.). Consequences on cost, performance, and service ability of the use of standard designs or unique designs with interface adapters are discussed. Implications of the interface designs compatibility with remote servicing using telerobotic servicers are discussed.

Electromechanical actuator for the tongs of a servomanipulator

DOEpatents

Martin, H. Lee; Killough, Stephen M.

1986-01-01

Computer-augmented electromechanical system is provided for controlling the tongs of a servomanipulator. The mechanical tongs are motor-driven through the remote slave arm of the manipulator, and the motor control current is supplied by a position sensor which senses the position of a spring-loaded trigger in the master arm handle on the manipulator. The actuator for the tongs provides the operator with artificial force reflection in a unilateral force-force control loop.

Computer interface for mechanical arm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Derocher, W. L.; Zermuehlen, R. O.

1978-01-01

Man/machine interface commands computer-controlled mechanical arm. Remotely-controlled arm has six degrees of freedom and is controlled through "supervisory-control" mode, in which all motions of arm follow set of preprogramed sequences. For simplicity, few prescribed commands are required to accomplish entire operation. Applications include operating computer-controlled arm to handle radioactive of explosive materials or commanding arm to perform functions in hostile environments. Modified version using displays may be applied in medicine.

Covering and Reimbursing Telehealth Services.

PubMed

Blackman, Kate

2016-01-01

Policymakers who are striving to achieve better health care, improved health outcomes and lower costs are considering new strategies and technologies. Telehealth is a tool that uses technology to provide health services remotely, and state leaders are looking to it now more than ever as a way to address workforce gaps and reach underserved patients. Among the challenges facing state lawmakers who are working to introduce or expand telehealth is how to handle covering patients and reimbursing providers.

Cybernetic group method of data handling (GMDH) statistical learning for hyperspectral remote sensing inverse problems in coastal ocean optics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filippi, Anthony Matthew

For complex systems, sufficient a priori knowledge is often lacking about the mathematical or empirical relationship between cause and effect or between inputs and outputs of a given system. Automated machine learning may offer a useful solution in such cases. Coastal marine optical environments represent such a case, as the optical remote sensing inverse problem remains largely unsolved. A self-organizing, cybernetic mathematical modeling approach known as the group method of data handling (GMDH), a type of statistical learning network (SLN), was used to generate explicit spectral inversion models for optically shallow coastal waters. Optically shallow water light fields represent a particularly difficult challenge in oceanographic remote sensing. Several algorithm-input data treatment combinations were utilized in multiple experiments to automatically generate inverse solutions for various inherent optical property (IOP), bottom optical property (BOP), constituent concentration, and bottom depth estimations. The objective was to identify the optimal remote-sensing reflectance Rrs(lambda) inversion algorithm. The GMDH also has the potential of inductive discovery of physical hydro-optical laws. Simulated data were used to develop generalized, quasi-universal relationships. The Hydrolight numerical forward model, based on radiative transfer theory, was used to compute simulated above-water remote-sensing reflectance Rrs(lambda) psuedodata, matching the spectral channels and resolution of the experimental Naval Research Laboratory Ocean PHILLS (Portable Hyperspectral Imager for Low-Light Spectroscopy) sensor. The input-output pairs were for GMDH and artificial neural network (ANN) model development, the latter of which was used as a baseline, or control, algorithm. Both types of models were applied to in situ and aircraft data. Also, in situ spectroradiometer-derived Rrs(lambda) were used as input to an optimization-based inversion procedure. Target variables included bottom depth z b, chlorophyll a concentration [chl- a], spectral bottom irradiance reflectance Rb(lambda), and spectral total absorption a(lambda) and spectral total backscattering bb(lambda) coefficients. When applying the cybernetic and neural models to in situ HyperTSRB-derived Rrs, the difference in the means of the absolute error of the inversion estimates for zb was significant (alpha = 0.05). GMDH yielded significantly better zb than the ANN. The ANN model posted a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.62214 m, compared with 0.55161 m for GMDH.

String Theory - Using Kites for Introducing Remote Sensing and In-Situ Measurement Concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bland, G.; Bydlowski, D.; Henry, A.

2016-12-01

Kites are often overlooked as a practical and accessible tool for gaining an aerial perspective. This perspective can be used as a proxy for the vantage points of space and aircraft, particularly when introducing the concepts of remote sensing and in-situ measurements that form the foundation of much of NASA's Earth science research. Kites combined with miniature cameras and instrumentation, can easily and affordably be used in formal and informal learning environments to demonstrate techniques and develop skills related to gathering information from above. Additionally, collaborative team work can play an important role, particularly in the form of synthesizing flight operations. Hands-on technology exploration can be a component as well, as there are numerous possibilities for creating sensor systems, line-handling techniques, and understanding kite flight itself.

Remote manual operator for space station intermodule ventilation valve

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guyaux, James R.

1996-01-01

The Remote Manual Operator (RMO) is a mechanism used for manual operation of the Space Station Intermodule Ventilation (IMV) valve and for visual indication of valve position. The IMV is a butterfly-type valve, located in the ventilation or air circulation ducts of the Space Station, and is used to interconnect or isolate the various compartments. The IMV valve is normally operated by an electric motor-driven actuator under computer or astronaut control, but it can also be operated manually with the RMO. The IMV valve RMO consists of a handle with a deployment linkage, a gear-driven flexible shaft, and a linkage to disengage the electric motor actuator during manual operation. It also provides visual indication of valve position. The IMV valve RMO is currently being prepared for qualification testing.

A Wearable Wireless Sensor Network for Indoor Smart Environment Monitoring in Safety Applications

PubMed Central

Antolín, Diego; Medrano, Nicolás; Calvo, Belén; Pérez, Francisco

2017-01-01

This paper presents the implementation of a wearable wireless sensor network aimed at monitoring harmful gases in industrial environments. The proposed solution is based on a customized wearable sensor node using a low-power low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) communications protocol, which as a first approach measures CO2 concentration, and employs different low power strategies for appropriate energy handling which is essential to achieving long battery life. These wearables nodes are connected to a deployed static network and a web-based application allows data storage, remote control and monitoring of the complete network. Therefore, a complete and versatile remote web application with a locally implemented decision-making system is accomplished, which allows early detection of hazardous situations for exposed workers. PMID:28216556

A Wearable Wireless Sensor Network for Indoor Smart Environment Monitoring in Safety Applications.

PubMed

Antolín, Diego; Medrano, Nicolás; Calvo, Belén; Pérez, Francisco

2017-02-14

This paper presents the implementation of a wearable wireless sensor network aimed at monitoring harmful gases in industrial environments. The proposed solution is based on a customized wearable sensor node using a low-power low-rate wireless personal area network (LR-WPAN) communications protocol, which as a first approach measures CO₂ concentration, and employs different low power strategies for appropriate energy handling which is essential to achieving long battery life. These wearables nodes are connected to a deployed static network and a web-based application allows data storage, remote control and monitoring of the complete network. Therefore, a complete and versatile remote web application with a locally implemented decision-making system is accomplished, which allows early detection of hazardous situations for exposed workers.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HANDLING RADIOACTIVE PRODUCTS

DOEpatents

Nicoll, D.

1959-02-24

A device is described for handling fuel elements being discharged from a nuclear reactor. The device is adapted to be disposed beneath a reactor within the storage canal for spent fuel elements. The device is comprised essentially of a cylinder pivotally mounted to a base for rotational motion between a vertical position. where the mouth of the cylinder is in the top portion of the container for receiving a fuel element discharged from a reactor into the cylinder, and a horizontal position where the mouth of the cylinder is remote from the top portion of the container and the fuel element is discharged from the cylinder into the storage canal. The device is operated by hydraulic pressure means and is provided with a means to prevent contaminated primary liquid coolant in the reactor system from entering the storage canal with the spent fuel element.

An Interactive Web-Based Analysis Framework for Remote Sensing Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, X. Z.; Zhang, H. M.; Zhao, J. H.; Lin, Q. H.; Zhou, Y. C.; Li, J. H.

2015-07-01

Spatiotemporal data, especially remote sensing data, are widely used in ecological, geographical, agriculture, and military research and applications. With the development of remote sensing technology, more and more remote sensing data are accumulated and stored in the cloud. An effective way for cloud users to access and analyse these massive spatiotemporal data in the web clients becomes an urgent issue. In this paper, we proposed a new scalable, interactive and web-based cloud computing solution for massive remote sensing data analysis. We build a spatiotemporal analysis platform to provide the end-user with a safe and convenient way to access massive remote sensing data stored in the cloud. The lightweight cloud storage system used to store public data and users' private data is constructed based on open source distributed file system. In it, massive remote sensing data are stored as public data, while the intermediate and input data are stored as private data. The elastic, scalable, and flexible cloud computing environment is built using Docker, which is a technology of open-source lightweight cloud computing container in the Linux operating system. In the Docker container, open-source software such as IPython, NumPy, GDAL, and Grass GIS etc., are deployed. Users can write scripts in the IPython Notebook web page through the web browser to process data, and the scripts will be submitted to IPython kernel to be executed. By comparing the performance of remote sensing data analysis tasks executed in Docker container, KVM virtual machines and physical machines respectively, we can conclude that the cloud computing environment built by Docker makes the greatest use of the host system resources, and can handle more concurrent spatial-temporal computing tasks. Docker technology provides resource isolation mechanism in aspects of IO, CPU, and memory etc., which offers security guarantee when processing remote sensing data in the IPython Notebook. Users can write complex data processing code on the web directly, so they can design their own data processing algorithm.

Radio Interoperability: Addressing the Real Reasons We Don’t Communicate Well During Emergencies

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

remoteness or traffic load on the network , and dead batteries. Public safety first responders experience many of the same things as they use their radio...provider may hold thousands of frequency licenses nationwide, but deploys only a handful at each tower site . The limitation of the phone network to handle...support players off- site (still responding , or at alternate locations, such as Emergency Operations Centers). 9. Listening to recordings after an

NESSUS/NASTRAN Interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Millwater, Harry; Riha, David

1996-01-01

The NESSUS and NASTRAN computer codes were successfully integrated. The enhanced NESSUS code will use NASTRAN for the structural Analysis and NESSUS for the probabilistic analysis. Any quantities in the NASTRAN bulk data input can be random variables. Any NASTRAN result that is written to the output2 file can be returned to NESSUS as the finite element result. The interfacing between NESSUS and NASTRAN is handled automatically by NESSUS. NESSUS and NASTRAN can be run on different machines using the remote host option.

Monitoring and control requirement definition study for Dispersed Storage and Generation (DSG). Volume 2, appendix A: Selected DSG technologies and their general control requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

A consistent approach was sought for both hardware and software which will handle the monitoring and control necessary to integrate a number of different DSG technologies into a common distribution dispatch network. It appears that the control of each of the DSG technologies is compatible with a supervisory control method of operation that lends itself to remote control from a distribution dispatch center.

Status of the JWST Science Instrument Payload

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenhouse, Matt

2016-01-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) system consists of five sensors (4 science): Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS), Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), Near InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec); and nine instrument support systems: Optical metering structure system, Electrical Harness System; Harness Radiator System, ISIM Electronics Compartment, ISIM Remote Services Unit, Cryogenic Thermal Control System, Command and Data Handling System, Flight Software System, Operations Scripts System.

New medical workstation for multimodality communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotsopoulos, Stavros A.; Lymberopoulos, Dimitris C.

1993-07-01

The introduction of special teleworking and advanced remote expert consultation procedures in the modern multimodality medical communication systems, has an effective result in the way of confronting synchronous and asynchronous patient cases, by the physicians. The common denominator in developing the above procedures is to use special designated Medical Workstations (MWS). The present paper deals with the implementation of a MWS which facilitates the doctors of medicine to handle efficiently multimedia data in an ISDN communication environment.

Centers for the commercial development of space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, Susan E. (Editor)

1989-01-01

In 1985, NASA initiated an innovative effort called Centers for the Commercial Development of Space (CCDS). The CCDS program was designed to increase private-sector interest and investment in space-related activities, while encouraging U.S. economic leadership and stimulating advances in promising areas of research and development. Research conducted in the Centers handling the following areas is summarized: materials processing; life sciences; remote sensing; automation and robotics; space propulsion; space structures and materials; and space power.

Integration of land-use data and soil survey data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cox, T. L.

1977-01-01

Approaches are discussed for increasing the utility of remotely sensed interpretations through the use of a computer-assisted process which provides capabilities for merging several types of data of varying formats. The resulting maps and summary data are used for planning and zoning in a rapidly developing area (34,000 ha) adjacent to the Black Hills in South Dakota. Attention is given to the data source, data digitization, and aspects of data handling and analysis.

The 14th Annual Conference on Manual Control. [digital simulation of human operator dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

Human operator dynamics during actual manual control or while monitoring the automatic control systems involved in air-to-air tracking, automobile driving, the operator of undersea vehicles, and remote handling are examined. Optimal control models and the use of mathematical theory in representing man behavior in complex man machine system tasks are discussed with emphasis on eye/head tracking and scanning; perception and attention allocation; decision making; and motion simulation and effects.

Serial Interface through Stream Protocol on EPICS Platform for Distributed Control and Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Das Gupta, Arnab; Srivastava, Amit K.; Sunil, S.; Khan, Ziauddin

2017-04-01

Remote operation of any equipment or device is implemented in distributed systems in order to control and proper monitoring of process values. For such remote operations, Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) is used as one of the important software tool for control and monitoring of a wide range of scientific parameters. A hardware interface is developed for implementation of EPICS software so that different equipment such as data converters, power supplies, pump controllers etc. could be remotely operated through stream protocol. EPICS base was setup on windows as well as Linux operating system for control and monitoring while EPICS modules such as asyn and stream device were used to interface the equipment with standard RS-232/RS-485 protocol. Stream Device protocol communicates with the serial line with an interface to asyn drivers. Graphical user interface and alarm handling were implemented with Motif Editor and Display Manager (MEDM) and Alarm Handler (ALH) command line channel access utility tools. This paper will describe the developed application which was tested with different equipment and devices serially interfaced to the PCs on a distributed network.

Human machine interface to manually drive rhombic like vehicles in remote handling operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lopes, Pedro; Vale, Alberto; Ventura, Rodrigo

2015-07-01

In the thermonuclear experimental reactor ITER, a vehicle named CTS is designed to transport a container with activated components inside the buildings. In nominal operations, the CTS is autonomously guided under supervision. However, in some unexpected situations, such as in rescue and recovery operations, the autonomous mode must be overridden and the CTS must be remotely guided by an operator. The CTS is a rhombic-like vehicle, with two drivable and steerable wheels along its longitudinal axis, providing omni-directional capabilities. The rhombic kinematics correspond to four control variables, which are difficult to manage in manual mode operation. This paper proposes amore » Human Machine Interface (HMI) to remotely guide the vehicle in manual mode. The proposed solution is implemented using a HMI with an encoder connected to a micro-controller and an analog 2-axis joystick. Experimental results were obtained comparing the proposed solution with other controller devices in different scenarios and using a software platform that simulates the kinematics and dynamics of the vehicle. (authors)« less

DAFNE: A Matlab toolbox for Bayesian multi-source remote sensing and ancillary data fusion, with application to flood mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Addabbo, Annarita; Refice, Alberto; Lovergine, Francesco P.; Pasquariello, Guido

2018-03-01

High-resolution, remotely sensed images of the Earth surface have been proven to be of help in producing detailed flood maps, thanks to their synoptic overview of the flooded area and frequent revisits. However, flood scenarios can be complex situations, requiring the integration of different data in order to provide accurate and robust flood information. Several processing approaches have been recently proposed to efficiently combine and integrate heterogeneous information sources. In this paper, we introduce DAFNE, a Matlab®-based, open source toolbox, conceived to produce flood maps from remotely sensed and other ancillary information, through a data fusion approach. DAFNE is based on Bayesian Networks, and is composed of several independent modules, each one performing a different task. Multi-temporal and multi-sensor data can be easily handled, with the possibility of following the evolution of an event through multi-temporal output flood maps. Each DAFNE module can be easily modified or upgraded to meet different user needs. The DAFNE suite is presented together with an example of its application.

LV software support for supersonic flow analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, W. A.; Lepicovsky, J.

1992-01-01

The software for configuring an LV counter processor system has been developed using structured design. The LV system includes up to three counter processors and a rotary encoder. The software for configuring and testing the LV system has been developed, tested, and included in an overall software package for data acquisition, analysis, and reduction. Error handling routines respond to both operator and instrument errors which often arise in the course of measuring complex, high-speed flows. The use of networking capabilities greatly facilitates the software development process by allowing software development and testing from a remote site. In addition, high-speed transfers allow graphics files or commands to provide viewing of the data from a remote site. Further advances in data analysis require corresponding advances in procedures for statistical and time series analysis of nonuniformly sampled data.

LV software support for supersonic flow analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, William A.

1992-01-01

The software for configuring a Laser Velocimeter (LV) counter processor system was developed using structured design. The LV system includes up to three counter processors and a rotary encoder. The software for configuring and testing the LV system was developed, tested, and included in an overall software package for data acquisition, analysis, and reduction. Error handling routines respond to both operator and instrument errors which often arise in the course of measuring complex, high-speed flows. The use of networking capabilities greatly facilitates the software development process by allowing software development and testing from a remote site. In addition, high-speed transfers allow graphics files or commands to provide viewing of the data from a remote site. Further advances in data analysis require corresponding advances in procedures for statistical and time series analysis of nonuniformly sampled data.

Reaction control system/remote manipulator system automation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hiers, Harry K.

1990-01-01

The objectives of this project is to evaluate the capability of the Procedural Reasoning System (PRS) in a typical real-time space shuttle application and to assess its potential for use in the Space Station Freedom. PRS, developed by SRI International, is a result of research in automating the monitoring and control of spacecraft systems. The particular application selected for the present work is the automation of malfunction handling procedures for the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). The SRMS malfunction procedures will be encoded within the PRS framework, a crew interface appropriate to the RMS application will be developed, and the real-time data interface software developed. The resulting PRS will then be integrated with the high-fidelity On-orbit Simulation of the NASA Johnson Space Center's System Engineering Simulator, and tests under various SRMS fault scenarios will be conducted.

New mass-spectrometric facility for the analysis of highly radioactive samples

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Warmack, R.J.; Landau, L.; Christie, W.H.

A new facility has been completed for the analysis of highly radioactive, gamma-emitting solid samples. A commercial spark-source mass spectrometer was adapted for remote handling and loading. Electrodes are prepared in a hot cell and transported to the adjacent lead-shielded source for analysis. The source was redesigned for ease of shielding, loading, and maintenance. Both solutions and residues from irradiated nuclear fuel dissolutions have been analyzed for elemental concentrations to < 1 ppM; isotopic data have also been obtained.

The Oklahoma Geographic Information Retrieval System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blanchard, W. A.

1982-01-01

The Oklahoma Geographic Information Retrieval System (OGIRS) is a highly interactive data entry, storage, manipulation, and display software system for use with geographically referenced data. Although originally developed for a project concerned with coal strip mine reclamation, OGIRS is capable of handling any geographically referenced data for a variety of natural resource management applications. A special effort has been made to integrate remotely sensed data into the information system. The timeliness and synoptic coverage of satellite data are particularly useful attributes for inclusion into the geographic information system.

An ion source module for the Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facility

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cui, B., E-mail: cui@ciae.ac.cn; Huang, Q.; Tang, B.

2014-02-15

An ion source module is developed for Beijing Radioactive Ion-beam Facility. The ion source module is designed to meet the requirements of remote handling. The connection and disconnection of the electricity, cooling and vacuum between the module and peripheral units can be executed without on-site manual work. The primary test of the target ion source has been carried out and a Li{sup +} beam has been extracted. Details of the ion source module and its primary test results are described.

The Factory of the Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Byman, J. E.

1985-01-01

A brief history of aircraft production techniques is given. A flexible machining cell is then described. It is a computer controlled system capable of performing 4-axis machining part cleaning, dimensional inspection and materials handling functions in an unmanned environment. The cell was designed to: allow processing of similar and dissimilar parts in random order without disrupting production; allow serial (one-shipset-at-a-time) manufacturing; reduce work-in-process inventory; maximize machine utilization through remote set-up; maximize throughput and minimize labor.

Proceedings of the Third Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanzyl, Jakob J. (Editor)

1991-01-01

The Third Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) Workshop was held on 23-24 May 1991 at JPL. Thirty oral presentations were made and 18 poster papers displayed during the workshop. Papers from these 25 presentations are presented which include analyses of AIRSAR operations and studies in SAR remote sensing, ecology, hydrology, soil science, geology, oceanography, volcanology, and SAR mapping and data handling. Results from these studies indicate the direction and emphasis of future orbital radar-sensor missions that will be launched during the 1990's.

Intelligible machine learning with malibu.

PubMed

Langlois, Robert E; Lu, Hui

2008-01-01

malibu is an open-source machine learning work-bench developed in C/C++ for high-performance real-world applications, namely bioinformatics and medical informatics. It leverages third-party machine learning implementations for more robust bug-free software. This workbench handles several well-studied supervised machine learning problems including classification, regression, importance-weighted classification and multiple-instance learning. The malibu interface was designed to create reproducible experiments ideally run in a remote and/or command line environment. The software can be found at: http://proteomics.bioengr. uic.edu/malibu/index.html.

Telemetric Sensors for the Space Life Sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hines, John W.; Somps, Chris J.; Madou, Marc; Jeutter, Dean C.; Singh, Avtar; Connolly, John P. (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

Telemetric sensors for monitoring physiological changes in animal models in space are being developed by NASA's Sensors 2000! program. The sensors measure a variety of physiological measurands, including temperature, biopotentials, pressure, flow, acceleration, and chemical levels, and transmit these signals from the animals to a remote receiver via a wireless link. Thus physiologic information can be obtained continuously and automatically without animal handling, tethers, or percutaneous leads. We report here on NASA's development and testing of advanced wireless sensor systems for space life sciences research.

NEUTRON SOURCE

DOEpatents

Reardon, W.A.; Lennox, D.H.; Nobles, R.G.

1959-01-13

A neutron source of the antimony--beryllium type is presented. The source is comprised of a solid mass of beryllium having a cylindrical recess extending therein and a cylinder containing antimony-124 slidably disposed within the cylindrical recess. The antimony cylinder is encased in aluminum. A berylliunn plug is removably inserted in the open end of the cylindrical recess to completely enclose the antimony cylinder in bsryllium. The plug and antimony cylinder are each provided with a stud on their upper ends to facilitate handling remotely.

Flexible Decision Support in Device-Saturated Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-10-01

also output tuples to a remote MySQL or Postgres database. 3.3 GUI The GUI allows the user to pose queries using SQL and to display query...DatabaseConnection.java – handles connections to an external database (such as MySQL or Postgres ). • Debug.java – contains the code for printing out Debug messages...also provided. It is possible to output the results of queries to a MySQL or Postgres database for archival and the GUI can query those results

Control and applications of cooperating disparate robotic manipulators relevant to nuclear waste management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lew, Jae Young; Book, Wayne J.

1991-01-01

Remote handling in nuclear waste management requires a robotic system with precise motion as well as a large workspace. The concept of a small arm mounted on the end of a large arm may satisfy such needs. However, the performance of such a serial configuration lacks payload capacity which is a crucial factor for handling a massive object. Also, this configuration induces more flexibility on the structure. To overcome these problems, the topology of bracing the tip of the small arm (not the large arm) and having an end effector in the middle of the chain is proposed in this paper. Also, control of these cooperating disparate manipulators is accomplished in computer simulations. Thus, this robotic system can have the accuracy of the small arm, and at the same time, it can have the payload capacity and large workspace of the large arm.

Highly integrated system solutions for air conditioning.

PubMed

Bartz, Horst

2002-08-01

Starting with the air handling unit, new features concerning energy efficient air treatment in combination with optimisation of required space were presented. Strategic concepts for the supply of one or more operating suites with a modular based air handling system were discussed. The operating theatre ceiling itself, as a major part of the whole integrated system, is no longer a simple air outlet: additional functions have been added in so-called media-bridges, so that it has changed towards a medical apparatus serving as a daily tool for the physicians and the operating staff. Last and not least, the servicing of the whole system has become an integral part of the facility management with remote access to the main functions and controls. The results are understood to be the basis for a discussion with specialists from medical and hygienic disciplines as well as with technically orientated people representing the hospital and building-engineering.

A manipulator arm for zero-g simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brodie, S. B.; Grant, C.; Lazar, J. J.

1975-01-01

A 12-ft counterbalanced Slave Manipulator Arm (SMA) was designed and fabricated to be used for resolving the questions of operational applications, capabilities, and limitations for such remote manned systems as the Payload Deployment and Retrieval Mechanism (PDRM) for the shuttle, the Free-Flying Teleoperator System, the Advanced Space Tug, and Planetary Rovers. As a developmental tool for the shuttle manipulator system (or PDRM), the SMA represents an approximate one-quarter scale working model for simulating and demonstrating payload handling, docking assistance, and satellite servicing. For the Free-Flying Teleoperator System and the Advanced Tug, the SMA provides a near full-scale developmental tool for satellite servicing, docking, and deployment/retrieval procedures, techniques, and support equipment requirements. For the Planetary Rovers, it provides an oversize developmental tool for sample handling and soil mechanics investigations. The design of the SMA was based on concepts developed for a 40-ft NASA technology arm to be used for zero-g shuttle manipulator simulations.

A New Flying Wire System for the Tevatron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blokland, Willem; Dey, Joseph; Vogel, Greg

1997-05-01

A new Flying Wires system replaces the old system to enhance the analysis of the beam emittance, improve the reliability, and handle the upcoming upgrades of the Tevatron. New VME data acquisition modules and timing modules allow for more bunches to be sampled more precisely. The programming language LabVIEW, running on a Macintosh computer, controls the VME modules and the nuLogic motion board that flies the wires. LabVIEW also analyzes and stores the data, and handles local and remote commands. The new system flies three wires and fits profiles of 72 bunches to a gaussian function within two seconds. A new console application operates the flying wires from any control console. This paper discusses the hardware and software setup, the capabilities and measurement results of the new Flying Wires system.

Green Propellant Landing Demonstration at U.S. Range

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulkey, Henry W.; Miller, Joseph T.; Bacha, Caitlin E.

2016-01-01

The Green Propellant Loading Demonstration (GPLD) was conducted December 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), leveraging work performed over recent years to bring lower toxicity hydrazine replacement green propellants to flight missions. The objective of this collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), WFF, the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), and Ecological Advanced Propulsion Systems (ECAPS) was to successfully accept LMP-103S propellant at a U.S. Range, store the propellant, and perform a simulated flight vehicle propellant loading. NASA GSFC Propulsion (Code 597) managed all aspects of the operation, handling logistics, preparing the procedures, and implementing the demonstration. In addition to the partnership described above, Moog Inc. developed an LMP-103S propellant-compatible titanium rolling diaphragm flight development tank and loaned it to GSFC to act as the GPLD flight vessel. The flight development tank offered the GPLD an additional level of flight-like propellant handling process and procedures. Moog Inc. also provided a compatible latching isolation valve for remote propellant expulsion. The GPLD operation, in concert with Moog Inc. executed a flight development tank expulsion efficiency performance test using LMP-103S propellant. As part of the demonstration work, GSFC and WFF documented Range safety analyses and practices including all elements of shipping, storage, handling, operations, decontamination, and disposal. LMP-103S has not been previously handled at a U.S. Launch Range. Requisite for this activity was an LMP-103S Risk Analysis Report and Ground Safety Plan. GSFC and WFF safety offices jointly developed safety documentation for application into the GPLD operation. The GPLD along with the GSFC Propulsion historical hydrazine loading experiences offer direct comparison between handling green propellant versus safety intensive, highly toxic hydrazine propellant. These described motives initiated the GPLD operation in order to investigate the handling and process safety variances in project resources between LMP-103S and typical in-space propellants. The GPLD risk reduction operation proved successful for many reasons including handling the green propellant at a U.S. Range, loading and pressurizing a flight-like tank, expelling the propellant, measuring the tank expulsion efficiency, and most significantly, GSFC propulsion personnel's new insight into the LMP-103S propellant handling details.

Green Propellant Loading Demonstration at U.S. Range

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulkey, Henry W.; Miller, Joseph T.; Bacha, Caitlin E.

2016-01-01

The Green Propellant Loading Demonstration (GPLD) was conducted December 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), leveraging work performed over recent years to bring lower toxicity hydrazine replacement green propellants to flight missions. The objective of this collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), WFF, the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), and Ecological Advanced Propulsion Systems (ECAPS) was to successfully accept LMP-103S propellant at a U.S. Range, store the propellant, and perform a simulated flight vehicle propellant loading. NASA GSFC Propulsion (Code 597) managed all aspects of the operation, handling logistics, preparing the procedures, and implementing the demonstration. In addition to the partnership described above, Moog Inc. developed an LMP-103S propellant-compatible titanium rolling diaphragm flight development tank and loaned it to GSFC to act as the GPLD flight vessel. The flight development tank offered the GPLD an additional level of flight-like propellant handling process and procedures. Moog Inc. also provided a compatible latching isolation valve for remote propellant expulsion. The GPLD operation, in concert with Moog Inc. executed a flight development tank expulsion efficiency performance test using LMP-103S propellant. As part of the demonstration work, GSFC and WFF documented Range safety analyses and practices including all elements of shipping, storage, handling, operations, decontamination, and disposal. LMP-103S has not been previously handled at a U.S. Launch Range. Requisite for this activity was an LMP-103S Risk Analysis Report and Ground Safety Plan. GSFC and WFF safety offices jointly developed safety documentation for application into the GPLD operation. The GPLD along with the GSFC Propulsion historical hydrazine loading experiences offer direct comparison between handling green propellant versus safety intensive, highly toxic hydrazine propellant. These described motives initiated the GPLD operation in order to investigate the handling and process safety variances in project resources between LMP-103S and typical in-space propellants. The GPLD risk reduction operation proved successful for many reasons including handling the green propellant at a U.S. Range, loading and pressurizing a flight-like tank, expelling the propellant, measuring the tank expulsion efficiency, and most significantly, GSFC propulsion personnel's new insight into the LMP-103S propellant handling details.

Remote Sensing Terminology in a Global and Knowledge-Based World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kancheva, Rumiana

The paper is devoted to terminology issues related to all aspects of remote sensing research and applications. Terminology is the basis for a better understanding among people. It is crucial to keep up with the latest developments and novelties of the terminology in advanced technology fields such as aerospace science and industry. This is especially true in remote sensing and geoinformatics which develop rapidly and have ever extending applications in various domains of science and human activities. Remote sensing terminology issues are directly relevant to the contemporary worldwide policies on information accessibility, dissemination and utilization of research results in support of solutions to global environmental challenges and sustainable development goals. Remote sensing and spatial information technologies are an integral part of the international strategies for cooperation in scientific, research and application areas with a particular accent on environmental monitoring, ecological problems natural resources management, climate modeling, weather forecasts, disaster mitigation and many others to which remote sensing data can be put. Remote sensing researchers, professionals, students and decision makers of different counties and nationalities should fully understand, interpret and translate into their native language any term, definition or acronym found in papers, books, proceedings, specifications, documentation, and etc. The importance of the correct use, precise definition and unification of remote sensing terms refers not only to people working in this field but also to experts in a variety of disciplines who handle remote sensing data and information products. In this paper, we draw the attention on the specifics, peculiarities and recent needs of compiling specialized dictionaries in the area of remote sensing focusing on Earth observations and the integration of remote sensing with other geoinformation technologies such as photogrammetry, geodesy, GIS, etc. Our belief is that the elaboration of bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries in this spreading, most technically advanced and promising field of human expertise is of great practical importance. The work on an English-Bulgarian Dictionary of Remote Sensing Terms is described including considerations on its scope, structure, information content, sellection of terms, and etc. The vision builds upon previous national and international experience and makes use of ongoing activities on the subject. Any interest in cooperation and initiating suchlike collaborative projects is welcome and highly appreciated.

Advanced Curation Protocols for Mars Returned Sample Handling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, M.; Mickelson, E.; Lindstrom, D.; Allton, J.

Introduction: Johnson Space Center has over 30 years experience handling precious samples which include Lunar rocks and Antarctic meteorites. However, we recognize that future curation of samples from such missions as Genesis, Stardust, and Mars S mple Return, will require a high degree of biosafety combined witha extremely low levels of inorganic, organic, and biological contamination. To satisfy these requirements, research in the JSC Advanced Curation Lab is currently focused toward two major areas: preliminary examination techniques and cleaning and verification techniques . Preliminary Examination Techniques : In order to minimize the number of paths for contamination we are exploring the synergy between human &robotic sample handling in a controlled environment to help determine the limits of clean curation. Within the Advanced Curation Laboratory is a prototype, next-generation glovebox, which contains a robotic micromanipulator. The remotely operated manipulator has six degrees-of- freedom and can be programmed to perform repetitive sample handling tasks. Protocols are being tested and developed to perform curation tasks such as rock splitting, weighing, imaging, and storing. Techniques for sample transfer enabling more detailed remote examination without compromising the integrity of sample science are also being developed . The glovebox is equipped with a rapid transfer port through which samples can be passed without exposure. The transfer is accomplished by using a unique seal and engagement system which allows passage between containers while maintaining a first seal to the outside environment and a second seal to prevent the outside of the container cover and port door from becoming contaminated by the material being transferred. Cleaning and Verification Techniques: As part of the contamination control effort, innovative cleaning techniques are being identified and evaluated in conjunction with sensitive cleanliness verification methods. Towards this end, cleaning techniques such as ultrasonication in ultra -pure water (UPW), oxygen (O2) plasma, and carbon dioxide (CO2) "snow" are being used to clean a variety of different contaminants on a variety of different surfaces. Additionally, once cleaned, techniques to directly verify the s rface cleanliness are being developed. Theseu include X ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) quantification, and screening with- contact angle measure ments , which can be correlated with XPS standards. Methods developed in the Advanced Curation Laboratory will determine the extent to which inorganic and biological contamination can be controlled and minimized.

Fuzzy ontologies for semantic interpretation of remotely sensed images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djerriri, Khelifa; Malki, Mimoun

2015-10-01

Object-based image classification consists in the assignment of object that share similar attributes to object categories. To perform such a task the remote sensing expert uses its personal knowledge, which is rarely formalized. Ontologies have been proposed as solution to represent domain knowledge agreed by domain experts in a formal and machine readable language. Classical ontology languages are not appropriate to deal with imprecision or vagueness in knowledge. Fortunately, Description Logics for the semantic web has been enhanced by various approaches to handle such knowledge. This paper presents the extension of the traditional ontology-based interpretation with fuzzy ontology of main land-cover classes in Landsat8-OLI scenes (vegetation, built-up areas, water bodies, shadow, clouds, forests) objects. A good classification of image objects was obtained and the results highlight the potential of the method to be replicated over time and space in the perspective of transferability of the procedure.

The distributed production system of the SuperB project: description and results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, D.; Corvo, M.; Di Simone, A.; Fella, A.; Luppi, E.; Paoloni, E.; Stroili, R.; Tomassetti, L.

2011-12-01

The SuperB experiment needs large samples of MonteCarlo simulated events in order to finalize the detector design and to estimate the data analysis performances. The requirements are beyond the capabilities of a single computing farm, so a distributed production model capable of exploiting the existing HEP worldwide distributed computing infrastructure is needed. In this paper we describe the set of tools that have been developed to manage the production of the required simulated events. The production of events follows three main phases: distribution of input data files to the remote site Storage Elements (SE); job submission, via SuperB GANGA interface, to all available remote sites; output files transfer to CNAF repository. The job workflow includes procedures for consistency checking, monitoring, data handling and bookkeeping. A replication mechanism allows storing the job output on the local site SE. Results from 2010 official productions are reported.

Dual benefit robotics programs at Sandia National Laboratories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jones, A.T.

Sandia National Laboratories has one of the largest integrated robotics laboratories in the United States. Projects include research, development, and application of one-of-a-kind systems, primarily for the Department of Energy (DOE) complex. This work has been underway for more than 10 years. It began with on-site activities that required remote operation, such as reactor and nuclear waste handling. Special purpose robot systems were developed using existing commercial manipulators and fixtures and programs designed in-house. These systems were used in applications such as servicing the Sandia pulsed reactor and inspecting remote roof bolts in an underground radioactive waste disposal facility. Inmore » the beginning, robotics was a small effort, but with increasing attention to the use of robots for hazardous operations, efforts now involve a staff of more than 100 people working in a broad robotics research, development, and applications program that has access to more than 30 robotics systems.« less

ARACHNE: A neural-neuroglial network builder with remotely controlled parallel computing

PubMed Central

Rusakov, Dmitri A.; Savtchenko, Leonid P.

2017-01-01

Creating and running realistic models of neural networks has hitherto been a task for computing professionals rather than experimental neuroscientists. This is mainly because such networks usually engage substantial computational resources, the handling of which requires specific programing skills. Here we put forward a newly developed simulation environment ARACHNE: it enables an investigator to build and explore cellular networks of arbitrary biophysical and architectural complexity using the logic of NEURON and a simple interface on a local computer or a mobile device. The interface can control, through the internet, an optimized computational kernel installed on a remote computer cluster. ARACHNE can combine neuronal (wired) and astroglial (extracellular volume-transmission driven) network types and adopt realistic cell models from the NEURON library. The program and documentation (current version) are available at GitHub repository https://github.com/LeonidSavtchenko/Arachne under the MIT License (MIT). PMID:28362877

Sampling Simulations for Assessing the Accuracy of U.S. Agricultural Crop Mapping from Remotely Sensed Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwyer, Linnea; Yadav, Kamini; Congalton, Russell G.

2017-04-01

Providing adequate food and water for a growing, global population continues to be a major challenge. Mapping and monitoring crops are useful tools for estimating the extent of crop productivity. GFSAD30 (Global Food Security Analysis Data at 30m) is a program, funded by NASA, that is producing global cropland maps by using field measurements and remote sensing images. This program studies 8 major crop types, and includes information on cropland area/extent, if crops are irrigated or rainfed, and the cropping intensities. Using results from the US and the extensive reference data available, CDL (USDA Crop Data Layer), we will experiment with various sampling simulations to determine optimal sampling for thematic map accuracy assessment. These simulations will include varying the sampling unit, the sampling strategy, and the sample number. Results of these simulations will allow us to recommend assessment approaches to handle different cropping scenarios.

A review of recent developments in flight test techniques at the Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Layton, G. P.

1984-01-01

New flight test techniques in use at Ames Dryden are reviewed. The use of the pilot in combination with ground and airborne computational capabilities to maximize data return is discussed, including the remotely piloted research vehicle technique for high-risk testing, the remotely augmented vehicle technique for handling qualities research, and use of ground computed flight director information to fly unique profiles such as constant Reynolds number profiles through the transonic flight regime. Techniques used for checkout and design verification of systems-oriented aircraft are discussed, including descriptions of the various simulations, iron bird setups, and vehicle tests. Some newly developed techniques to support the aeronautical research disciplines are discussed, including a new approach to position-error determination, and the use of a large skin friction balance for the measurement of drag caused by various excrescencies.

Apparatus for remotely handling components

DOEpatents

Szkrybalo, Gregory A.; Griffin, Donald L.

1994-01-01

The inventive apparatus for remotely handling bar-like components which define a longitudinal direction includes a gripper mechanism for gripping the component including first and second gripper members longitudinally fixedly spaced from each other and oriented parallel to each other in planes transverse to the longitudinal direction. Each gripper member includes a jaw having at least one V-groove with opposing surfaces intersecting at a base and extending radially relative to the longitudinal direction for receiving the component in an open end between the opposing surfaces. The V-grooves on the jaw plate of the first and second gripper members are aligned in the longitudinal direction to support the component in the first and second gripper members. A jaw is rotatably mounted on and a part of each of the first and second gripper members for selectively assuming a retracted mode in which the open end of the V-groove is unobstructed and active mode in which the jaw spans the open end of the V-groove in the first and second gripper members. The jaw has a locking surface for contacting the component in the active mode to secure the component between the locking surface of the jaw and the opposing surfaces of the V-groove. The locking surface has a plurality of stepped portions, each defining a progressively decreasing radial distance between the base of the V-groove and the stepped portion opposing the base to accommodate varying sizes of components.

KNET - DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING AND/OR DATA TRANSFER PROGRAM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hui, J.

1994-01-01

KNET facilitates distributed computing between a UNIX compatible local host and a remote host which may or may not be UNIX compatible. It is capable of automatic remote login. That is, it performs on the user's behalf the chore of handling host selection, user name, and password to the designated host. Once the login has been successfully completed, the user may interactively communicate with the remote host. Data output from the remote host may be directed to the local screen, to a local file, and/or to a local process. Conversely, data input from the keyboard, a local file, or a local process may be directed to the remote host. KNET takes advantage of the multitasking and terminal mode control features of the UNIX operating system. A parent process is used as the upper layer for interfacing with the local user. A child process is used for a lower layer for interfacing with the remote host computer, and optionally one or more child processes can be used for the remote data output. Output may be directed to the screen and/or to the local processes under the control of a data pipe switch. In order for KNET to operate, the local and remote hosts must observe a common communications protocol. KNET is written in ANSI standard C-language for computers running UNIX. It has been successfully implemented on several Sun series computers and a DECstation 3100 and used to run programs remotely on VAX VMS and UNIX based computers. It requires 100K of RAM under SunOS and 120K of RAM under DEC RISC ULTRIX. An electronic copy of the documentation is provided on the distribution medium. The standard distribution medium for KNET is a .25 inch streaming magnetic tape cartridge in UNIX tar format. It is also available on a 3.5 inch diskette in UNIX tar format. KNET was developed in 1991 and is a copyrighted work with all copyright vested in NASA. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories. Sun and SunOS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. DECstation, VAX, VMS, and ULTRIX are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation.

Classification of permafrost active layer depth from remotely sensed and topographic evidence

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peddle, D.R.; Franklin, S.E.

1993-04-01

The remote detection of permafrost (perennially frozen ground) has important implications to environmental resource development, engineering studies, natural hazard prediction, and climate change research. In this study, the authors present results from two experiments into the classification of permafrost active layer depth within the zone of discontinuous permafrost in northern Canada. A new software system based on evidential reasoning was implemented to permit the integrated classification of multisource data consisting of landcover, terrain aspect, and equivalent latitude, each of which possessed different formats, data types, or statistical properties that could not be handled by conventional classification algorithms available to thismore » study. In the first experiment, four active layer depth classes were classified using ground based measurements of the three variables with an accuracy of 83% compared to in situ soil probe determination of permafrost active layer depth at over 500 field sites. This confirmed the environmental significance of the variables selected, and provided a baseline result to which a remote sensing classification could be compared. In the second experiment, evidence for each input variable was obtained from image processing of digital SPOT imagery and a photogrammetric digital elevation model, and used to classify active layer depth with an accuracy of 79%. These results suggest the classification of evidence from remotely sensed measures of spectral response and topography may provide suitable indicators of permafrost active layer depth.« less

PIMS sequencing extension: a laboratory information management system for DNA sequencing facilities.

PubMed

Troshin, Peter V; Postis, Vincent Lg; Ashworth, Denise; Baldwin, Stephen A; McPherson, Michael J; Barton, Geoffrey J

2011-03-07

Facilities that provide a service for DNA sequencing typically support large numbers of users and experiment types. The cost of services is often reduced by the use of liquid handling robots but the efficiency of such facilities is hampered because the software for such robots does not usually integrate well with the systems that run the sequencing machines. Accordingly, there is a need for software systems capable of integrating different robotic systems and managing sample information for DNA sequencing services. In this paper, we describe an extension to the Protein Information Management System (PIMS) that is designed for DNA sequencing facilities. The new version of PIMS has a user-friendly web interface and integrates all aspects of the sequencing process, including sample submission, handling and tracking, together with capture and management of the data. The PIMS sequencing extension has been in production since July 2009 at the University of Leeds DNA Sequencing Facility. It has completely replaced manual data handling and simplified the tasks of data management and user communication. Samples from 45 groups have been processed with an average throughput of 10000 samples per month. The current version of the PIMS sequencing extension works with Applied Biosystems 3130XL 96-well plate sequencer and MWG 4204 or Aviso Theonyx liquid handling robots, but is readily adaptable for use with other combinations of robots. PIMS has been extended to provide a user-friendly and integrated data management solution for DNA sequencing facilities that is accessed through a normal web browser and allows simultaneous access by multiple users as well as facility managers. The system integrates sequencing and liquid handling robots, manages the data flow, and provides remote access to the sequencing results. The software is freely available, for academic users, from http://www.pims-lims.org/.

Development of wireless vehicle remote control for fuel lid operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulaiman, N.; Jadin, M. S.; Najib, M. S.; Mustafa, M.; Azmi, S. N. F.

2018-04-01

Nowadays, the evolution of the vehicle technology had made the vehicle especially car to be equipped with a remote control to control the operation of the locking and unlocking system of the car’s door and rear’s bonnet. However, for the fuel or petrol lid, it merely can be opened from inside the car’s cabin by handling the fuel level inside the car’s cabin to open the fuel lid. The petrol lid can be closed by pushing the lid by hand. Due to the high usage of using fuel lever to open the fuel lid when refilling the fuel, the car driver might encounter the malfunction of fuel lid (fail to open) when pushing or pulling the fuel lever. Thus, the main aim of the research is to enhance the operation of an existing car remote control where the car fuel lid can be controlled using two techniques; remote control-based and smartphone-based. The remote control is constructed using Arduino microcontroller, wireless sensors and XCTU software to set the transmitting and receiving parameters. Meanwhile, the smartphone can control the operation of the fuel lid by communicating with Arduino microcontroller which is attached to the fuel lid using Bluetooth sensor to open the petrol lid. In order to avoid the conflict of instruction between wireless systems with the existing mechanical-based system, the servo motor will be employed to release the fuel lid merely after receiving the instruction from Arduino microcontroller and smartphone. As a conclusion, the prototype of the multipurpose vehicle remote control is successfully invented, constructed and tested. The car fuel lid can be opened either using remote control or smartphone in a sequential manner. Therefore, the outcome of the project can be used to serve as an alternative solution to solve the car fuel lid problem even though the problem rarely occurred.

Data Quality Screening Service

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strub, Richard; Lynnes, Christopher; Hearty, Thomas; Won, Young-In; Fox, Peter; Zednik, Stephan

2013-01-01

A report describes the Data Quality Screening Service (DQSS), which is designed to help automate the filtering of remote sensing data on behalf of science users. Whereas this process often involves much research through quality documents followed by laborious coding, the DQSS is a Web Service that provides data users with data pre-filtered to their particular criteria, while at the same time guiding the user with filtering recommendations of the cognizant data experts. The DQSS design is based on a formal semantic Web ontology that describes data fields and the quality fields for applying quality control within a data product. The accompanying code base handles several remote sensing datasets and quality control schemes for data products stored in Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), a common format for NASA remote sensing data. Together, the ontology and code support a variety of quality control schemes through the implementation of the Boolean expression with simple, reusable conditional expressions as operands. Additional datasets are added to the DQSS simply by registering instances in the ontology if they follow a quality scheme that is already modeled in the ontology. New quality schemes are added by extending the ontology and adding code for each new scheme.

Basics of robotics and manipulators in endoscopic surgery.

PubMed

Rininsland, H H

1993-06-01

The experience with sophisticated remote handling systems for nuclear operations in inaccessible rooms can to a large extent be transferred to the development of robotics and telemanipulators for endoscopic surgery. A telemanipulator system is described consisting of manipulator, endeffector and tools, 3-D video-endoscope, sensors, intelligent control system, modeling and graphic simulation and man-machine interfaces as the main components or subsystems. Such a telemanipulator seems to be medically worthwhile and technically feasible, but needs a lot of effort from different scientific disciplines to become a safe and reliable instrument for future endoscopic surgery.

EVA 1 activity on Flight Day 4 to service the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Image and Video Library

1997-02-14

STS082-730-090 (11-21 Feb. 1997) --- Astronaut Steven L. Smith handles one of the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) boxes, changed out on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on Flight Day 4. Astronauts Smith and Mark C. Lee were participating in the first of five eventual days of Extravehicular Activity (EVA) to service the giant orbital observatory. Smith is standing on the end of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, which was controlled by astronaut Steven A. Hawley inside the Space Shuttle Discovery's crew cabin.

Remote Advanced Payload Test Rig (RAPTR) Portable Payload Test System for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

De La Cruz, Melinda; Henderson, Steve

2016-01-01

The RAPTR was developed to test ISS payloads for NASA. RAPTR is a simulation of the Command and Data Handling (C&DH) interfaces of the ISS (MIL-STD1553B, Ethernet and TAXI) and is designed for rapid testing and deployment of payload experiments to the ISS. The ISS's goal is to reduce the amount of time it takes for a payload developer to build, test and fly a payload, including payload software. The RAPTR meets this need with its user oriented, visually rich interface.

Turning a remotely controllable observatory into a fully autonomous system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swindell, Scott; Johnson, Chris; Gabor, Paul; Zareba, Grzegorz; Kubánek, Petr; Prouza, Michael

2014-08-01

We describe a complex process needed to turn an existing, old, operational observatory - The Steward Observatory's 61" Kuiper Telescope - into a fully autonomous system, which observers without an observer. For this purpose, we employed RTS2,1 an open sourced, Linux based observatory control system, together with other open sourced programs and tools (GNU compilers, Python language for scripting, JQuery UI for Web user interface). This presentation provides a guide with time estimates needed for a newcomers to the field to handle such challenging tasks, as fully autonomous observatory operations.

The SMART MIL-STD-1553 bus adapter hardware manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ton, T. T.

1981-01-01

The SMART Multiplexer Interface Adapter, (SMIA) a complete system interface for message structure of the MIL-STD-1553, is described. It provides buffering and storage for transmitted and received data and handles all the necessary handshaking to interface between parallel 8-bit data bus and a MIL-STD serial bit stream. The bus adapter is configured as either a bus controller of a remote terminal interface. It is coupled directly to the multiplex bus, or stub coupled through an additional isolation transformer located at the connection point. Fault isolation resistors provide short circuit protection.

Computer-implemented remote sensing techniques for measuring coastal productivity and nutrient transport systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butera, M. K.

1981-01-01

An automatic technique has been developed to measure marsh plant production by inference from a species classification derived from Landsat MSS data. A separate computer technique has been developed to calculate the transport path length of detritus and nutrients from their point of origin in the marsh to the shoreline from Landsat data. A nutrient availability indicator, the ratio of production to transport path length, was derived for each marsh-identified Landsat cell. The use of a data base compatible with the Landsat format facilitated data handling and computations.

Analysis of soil moisture extraction algorithm using data from aircraft experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burke, H. H. K.; Ho, J. H.

1981-01-01

A soil moisture extraction algorithm is developed using a statistical parameter inversion method. Data sets from two aircraft experiments are utilized for the test. Multifrequency microwave radiometric data surface temperature, and soil moisture information are contained in the data sets. The surface and near surface ( or = 5 cm) soil moisture content can be extracted with accuracy of approximately 5% to 6% for bare fields and fields with grass cover by using L, C, and X band radiometer data. This technique is used for handling large amounts of remote sensing data from space.

Stabilizing Wheels For Rover Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collins, Earl R., Jr.

1990-01-01

Proposed articulated, normally-four-wheeled vehicle holds extra pair of wheels in reserve. Deployed to lengthen wheelbase on slopes, thereby making vehicle more stable, and to aid vehicle in negotiating ledge or to right vehicle if turned upside down. Extra wheels are drive wheels mounted on arms so they pivot on axis of forward drive wheels. Both extra wheels and arms driven by chains, hydraulic motors, or electric motors. Concept promises to make remotely controlled vehicles more stable and maneuverable in such applications as firefighting, handling hazardous materials, and carrying out operations in dangerous locations.

Business Case for Fuel Cells 2016

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curtin, Sandra; Gangi, Jennifer; Benjamin, Thomas G.

The report provides an overview of recent private sector fuel cell installations at U.S. businesses as of December 31, 2016. This list is by no means exhaustive. Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of fuel cells have been installed around the world, for primary or backup power, as well as in various other applications including portable and emergency backup power. Fuel cells have also been deployed in other applications such as heat and electricity for homes and apartments, material handling, passenger vehicles, buses, and remote, off-grid sites.

Power Extension Package (PEP) system definition extension, orbital service module systems analysis study. Volume 3: PEP analysis and tradeoffs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The objectives, conclusions, and approaches for accomplishing 19 specific design and analysis activities related to the installation of the power extension package (PEP) into the Orbiter cargo bay are described as well as those related to its deployment, extension, and retraction. The proposed cable handling system designed to transmit power from PEP to the Orbiter by way of the shuttle remote manipulator system is described and a preliminary specification for the gimbal assembly, solar array drive is included.

VEHICLE FOR SLAVE ROBOT

DOEpatents

Goertz, R.C.; Lindberg, J.F.

1962-01-30

A reeling device is designed for an electrical cable supplying power to the slave slde of a remote control manipulator mounted on a movable vehicle. As the vehicle carries the slave side about in a closed room, the device reels the cable in and out to maintain a variable length of the cable between the vehicle and a cable inlet in the wall of the room. The device also handles a fixed length of cable between the slave side and the vehicle, in spite of angular movement of the slave side with respect to the vehicle. (AEC)

Model-Based Verification and Validation of Spacecraft Avionics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khan, Mohammed Omair

2012-01-01

Our simulation was able to mimic the results of 30 tests on the actual hardware. This shows that simulations have the potential to enable early design validation - well before actual hardware exists. Although simulations focused around data processing procedures at subsystem and device level, they can also be applied to system level analysis to simulate mission scenarios and consumable tracking (e.g. power, propellant, etc.). Simulation engine plug-in developments are continually improving the product, but handling time for time-sensitive operations (like those of the remote engineering unit and bus controller) can be cumbersome.

POOL WATER TREATMENT AND COOLING SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

V. King

2000-06-19

The Pool Water Treatment and Cooling System is located in the Waste Handling Building (WHB), and is comprised of various process subsystems designed to support waste handling operations. This system maintains the pool water temperature within an acceptable range, maintains water quality standards that support remote underwater operations and prevent corrosion, detects leakage from the pool liner, provides the capability to remove debris from the pool, controls the pool water level, and helps limit radiological exposure to personnel. The pool structure and liner, pool lighting, and the fuel staging racks in the pool are not within the scope of themore » Pool Water Treatment and Cooling System. Pool water temperature control is accomplished by circulating the pool water through heat exchangers. Adequate circulation and mixing of the pool water is provided to prevent localized thermal hotspots in the pool. Treatment of the pool water is accomplished by a water treatment system that circulates the pool water through filters, and ion exchange units. These water treatment units remove radioactive and non-radioactive particulate and dissolved solids from the water, thereby providing the water clarity needed to conduct waste handling operations. The system also controls pool water chemistry to prevent advanced corrosion of the pool liner, pool components, and fuel assemblies. Removal of radioactivity from the pool water contributes to the project ALARA (as low as is reasonably achievable) goals. A leak detection system is provided to detect and alarm leaks through the pool liner. The pool level control system monitors the water level to ensure that the minimum water level required for adequate radiological shielding is maintained. Through interface with a demineralized water system, adequate makeup is provided to compensate for loss of water inventory through evaporation and waste handling operations. Interface with the Site Radiological Monitoring System provides continuous radiological monitoring of the pool water. The Pool Water Treatment and Cooling System interfaces with the Waste Handling Building System, Site-Generated Radiological Waste Handling System, Site Radiological Monitoring System, Waste Handling Building Electrical System, Site Water System, and the Monitored Geologic Repository Operations Monitoring and Control System.« less

First Applications of DoD Iridium RUDICS in the NSF Polar Programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentic, T.; Stehle, R.

2008-12-01

We will present the first deployment and application of the new Iridium RUDICS service to remote instrumentation projects within the National Science Foundation's polar programs. The rise of automated observing networks has increased the demand for real-time connectivity to remote instruments, not only for immediate access to data, but to also interrogate health and status. Communicating with field sites in the polar regions is complicated by the remoteness from existing infrastructure, low temperatures and limited connection options. Sites located above 78° latitude are not able to see geostationary satellites, leaving the Iridium constellation as the only one that provide a direct connection. Some others, such as Orbcomm, only provide a store-and-forward service. Iridium is often used as a dial up modem to establish a PPP connection to the Internet with data files transferred via FTP. On low-bandwidth, high-latency networks like Iridium (2400bps with ping times of seconds), this approach is time consuming and inefficient. The dial up time alone takes upwards of a minute, and standard TCP/IP and FTP protocols are hampered by the long latencies. Minimizing transmission time is important for reducing battery usage and connection costs. The new Iridium RUDICS service can be used for more efficient transfers. RUDICS is an acronym for "Router-based Unstructured Digital Inter-working Connectivity Solution" and provides a direct connection between an instrument in the field and a server on the Internet. After dialing into the Iridium gateway, a socket connection is opened to a registered port on a user's server. Bytes sent to or from the modem appear at the server's socket. The connection time is reduced to about 10 seconds because the modem training and PPP negotiation stages are eliminated. The remote device does not need to have a full TCP/IP stack, allowing smaller instruments such as data loggers to directly handle the data transmission. Alternative protocols can be deployed that better exploit the characteristics of the Iridium channel. In addition, the setup naturally scales to handle hundreds of remote devices, an important aspect for larger sensor networks. As part of the NSF's Arctic Research Support and Logistics Services, we have deployed RUDICS systems with three different research projects. These are the first NSF RUDICS deployments for projects using the Department of Defense Iridium gateway, which allows for unlimited connection time at a flat monthly rate for US government users. The first project is O-Buoy, an IPY-OASIS project for self-contained, autonomous observations of atmospheric chemical species in the polar marine boundary layer. The second project is collection of low-power instrument towers on Alaska's North Slope at Imnavait Creek, part of the Arctic Observation Network (AON). Lastly, the autonomous instrument platform at Ivotuk, Alaska, uses RUDICS to provide telemetry about the renewable energy systems. A set of real-time web displays allow researchers for each project to monitor their remote sites and access real-time data.

Simulation Platform: a cloud-based online simulation environment.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Tadashi; Ikeno, Hidetoshi; Okumura, Yoshihiro; Satoh, Shunji; Kamiyama, Yoshimi; Hirata, Yutaka; Inagaki, Keiichiro; Ishihara, Akito; Kannon, Takayuki; Usui, Shiro

2011-09-01

For multi-scale and multi-modal neural modeling, it is needed to handle multiple neural models described at different levels seamlessly. Database technology will become more important for these studies, specifically for downloading and handling the neural models seamlessly and effortlessly. To date, conventional neuroinformatics databases have solely been designed to archive model files, but the databases should provide a chance for users to validate the models before downloading them. In this paper, we report our on-going project to develop a cloud-based web service for online simulation called "Simulation Platform". Simulation Platform is a cloud of virtual machines running GNU/Linux. On a virtual machine, various software including developer tools such as compilers and libraries, popular neural simulators such as GENESIS, NEURON and NEST, and scientific software such as Gnuplot, R and Octave, are pre-installed. When a user posts a request, a virtual machine is assigned to the user, and the simulation starts on that machine. The user remotely accesses to the machine through a web browser and carries out the simulation, without the need to install any software but a web browser on the user's own computer. Therefore, Simulation Platform is expected to eliminate impediments to handle multiple neural models that require multiple software. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reprint of: Simulation Platform: a cloud-based online simulation environment.

PubMed

Yamazaki, Tadashi; Ikeno, Hidetoshi; Okumura, Yoshihiro; Satoh, Shunji; Kamiyama, Yoshimi; Hirata, Yutaka; Inagaki, Keiichiro; Ishihara, Akito; Kannon, Takayuki; Usui, Shiro

2011-11-01

For multi-scale and multi-modal neural modeling, it is needed to handle multiple neural models described at different levels seamlessly. Database technology will become more important for these studies, specifically for downloading and handling the neural models seamlessly and effortlessly. To date, conventional neuroinformatics databases have solely been designed to archive model files, but the databases should provide a chance for users to validate the models before downloading them. In this paper, we report our on-going project to develop a cloud-based web service for online simulation called "Simulation Platform". Simulation Platform is a cloud of virtual machines running GNU/Linux. On a virtual machine, various software including developer tools such as compilers and libraries, popular neural simulators such as GENESIS, NEURON and NEST, and scientific software such as Gnuplot, R and Octave, are pre-installed. When a user posts a request, a virtual machine is assigned to the user, and the simulation starts on that machine. The user remotely accesses to the machine through a web browser and carries out the simulation, without the need to install any software but a web browser on the user's own computer. Therefore, Simulation Platform is expected to eliminate impediments to handle multiple neural models that require multiple software. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fiber-handling robot and optical connection mechanisms for automatic cross-connection of multiple optical connectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mizukami, Masato; Makihara, Mitsuhiro

2013-07-01

Conventionally, in intelligent buildings in a metropolitan area network and in small-scale facilities in the optical access network, optical connectors are joined manually using an optical connection board and a patch panel. In this manual connection approach, mistakes occur due to discrepancies between the actual physical settings of the connections and their management because these processes are independent. Moreover, manual cross-connection is time-consuming and expensive because maintenance personnel must be dispatched to remote places to correct mistakes. We have developed a fiber-handling robot and optical connection mechanisms for automatic cross-connection of multiple optical connectors, which are the key elements of automatic optical fiber cross-connect equipment. We evaluate the performance of the equipment, such as its optical characteristics and environmental specifications. We also devise new optical connection mechanisms that enable the automated optical fiber cross-connect module to handle and connect angled physical contact (APC) optical connector plugs. We evaluate the performance of the equipment, such as its optical characteristics. The evaluation results confirm that the automated optical fiber cross-connect equipment can connect APC connectors with low loss and high return loss, indicating that the automated optical fiber cross-connect equipment is suitable for practical use in intelligent buildings and optical access networks.

Teletesting at IABG - Technical Features and Security Issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goerner, E.

2004-08-01

In the space simulation department at IABG data handling systems are used to collect, evaluate and present all data gathered from different test chambers during thermal vacuum tests. In the year 2000 a redesign of the existing data handling systems gave us the opportunity to add some features like ethernet- based client / server systems and internet protocol TCP / IP. The results were state of the art internet-ready data handling systems. Based on this we started mid 2002 with a new project called teletesting to give our customers remote access to test data. For the realisation TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), QoS (Quality of Service), data confidentiality, restrictive access to test data and a plain and simple user interface with standard components, i.e. normal PC hardware and software, were mandatory. As a result of this project, our customers have now online access to their test data in CSV/EXCEL format, in display mode either in numerical or graphical form and through DynaWorks. ISDN teletesting is already used by our customers, internet teletesting is in test mode but some parts have already been approved and used. Although an extension to teleoperation is implemented in the control systems (WIN CC) of our test chambers, it is not yet in use.

Final Inventory Work-Off Plan for ORNL transuranic wastes (1986 version)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dickerson, L.S.

1988-05-01

The Final Inventory Work-Off Plan (IWOP) for ORNL Transuranic Wastes addresses ORNL's strategy for retrieval, certification, and shipment of its stored and newly generated contact-handled (CH) and remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) wastes to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the proposed geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. This document considers certification compliance with the WIPP waste acceptance criteria (WAC) and is consistent with the US Department of Energy's Long-Range Master Plan for Defense Transuranic Waste Management. This document characterizes Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) TRU waste by type and estimates the number of shipments required to dispose of it; describesmore » the methods, facilities, and systems required for its certification and shipment; presents work-off strategies and schedules for retrieval, certification, and transportation; discusses the resource needs and additions that will be required for the effort and forecasts costs for the long-term TRU waste management program; and lists public documentation required to support certification facilities and strategies. 22 refs., 6 figs., 10 tabs.« less

Seismic Characterization of Basalt Topography at Two Candidate Sites for the INL Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste Disposal Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jeff Sondrup; Gail Heath; Trent Armstrong

2011-04-01

This report presents the seismic refraction results from the depth to bed rock surveys for two areas being considered for the Remote-Handled Low-Level Waste (RH-LLW) disposal facility at the Idaho National Laboratory. The first area (Site 5) surveyed is located southwest of the Advanced Test Reactor Complex and the second (Site 34) is located west of Lincoln Boulevard near the southwest corner of the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC). At Site 5, large area and smaller-scale detailed surveys were performed. At Site 34, a large area survey was performed. The purpose of the surveys was to define themore » topography of the interface between the surficial alluvium and underlying basalt. Seismic data were first collected and processed using seismic refraction tomographic inversion. Three-dimensional images for both sites were rendered from the data to image the depth and velocities of the subsurface layers. Based on the interpreted top of basalt data at Site 5, a more detailed survey was conducted to refine depth to basalt. This report briefly covers relevant issues in the collection, processing and inversion of the seismic refraction data and in the imaging process. Included are the parameters for inversion and result rendering and visualization such as the inclusion of physical features. Results from the processing effort presented in this report include fence diagrams of the earth model, for the large area surveys and iso-velocity surfaces and cross sections from the detailed survey.« less

Recent Developments in the Design, Capabilities and Autonomous Operations of a Lightweight Surface Manipulation System and Test-bed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dorsey, John T.; Jones, Thomas C.; Doggett, W. R.; Brady, Jeffrey S.; Berry, Felecia C.; Ganoe, George G.; Anderson, Eric; King, Bruce D.; Mercer, David C.

2011-01-01

The first generation of a versatile high performance device for performing payload handling and assembly operations on planetary surfaces, the Lightweight Surface Manipulation System (LSMS), has been designed and built. Over the course of its development, conventional crane type payload handling configurations and operations have been successfully demonstrated and the range of motion, types of operations and the versatility greatly expanded. This enhanced set of 1st generation LSMS hardware is now serving as a laboratory test-bed allowing the continuing development of end effectors, operational techniques and remotely controlled and automated operations. This paper describes the most recent LSMS and test-bed development activities, that have focused on two major efforts. The first effort was to complete a preliminary design of the 2nd generation LSMS that has the capability for limited mobility and can reposition itself between lander decks, mobility chassis, and fixed base locations. A major portion of this effort involved conducting a study to establish the feasibility of, and define, the specifications for a lightweight cable-drive waist joint. The second effort was to continue expanding the versatility and autonomy of large planetary surface manipulators using the 1st generation LSMS as a test-bed. This has been accomplished by increasing manipulator capabilities and efficiencies through both design changes and tool and end effector development. A software development effort has expanded the operational capabilities of the LSMS test-bed to include; autonomous operations based on stored paths, use of a vision system for target acquisition and tracking, and remote command and control over a communications bridge.

Fractals and Spatial Methods for Mining Remote Sensing Imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lam, Nina; Emerson, Charles; Quattrochi, Dale

2003-01-01

The rapid increase in digital remote sensing and GIS data raises a critical problem -- how can such an enormous amount of data be handled and analyzed so that useful information can be derived quickly? Efficient handling and analysis of large spatial data sets is central to environmental research, particularly in global change studies that employ time series. Advances in large-scale environmental monitoring and modeling require not only high-quality data, but also reliable tools to analyze the various types of data. A major difficulty facing geographers and environmental scientists in environmental assessment and monitoring is that spatial analytical tools are not easily accessible. Although many spatial techniques have been described recently in the literature, they are typically presented in an analytical form and are difficult to transform to a numerical algorithm. Moreover, these spatial techniques are not necessarily designed for remote sensing and GIS applications, and research must be conducted to examine their applicability and effectiveness in different types of environmental applications. This poses a chicken-and-egg problem: on one hand we need more research to examine the usability of the newer techniques and tools, yet on the other hand, this type of research is difficult to conduct if the tools to be explored are not accessible. Another problem that is fundamental to environmental research are issues related to spatial scale. The scale issue is especially acute in the context of global change studies because of the need to integrate remote-sensing and other spatial data that are collected at different scales and resolutions. Extrapolation of results across broad spatial scales remains the most difficult problem in global environmental research. There is a need for basic characterization of the effects of scale on image data, and the techniques used to measure these effects must be developed and implemented to allow for a multiple scale assessment of the data before any useful process-oriented modeling involving scale-dependent data can be conducted. Through the support of research grants from NASA, we have developed a software module called ICAMS (Image Characterization And Modeling System) to address the need to develop innovative spatial techniques and make them available to the broader scientific communities. ICAMS provides new spatial techniques, such as fractal analysis, geostatistical functions, and multiscale analysis that are not easily available in commercial GIS/image processing software. By bundling newer spatial methods in a user-friendly software module, researchers can begin to test and experiment with the new spatial analysis methods and they can gauge scale effects using a variety of remote sensing imagery. In the following, we describe briefly the development of ICAMS and present application examples.

Contrasting seasonality in optical-biogeochemical properties of the Baltic Sea.

PubMed

Simis, Stefan G H; Ylöstalo, Pasi; Kallio, Kari Y; Spilling, Kristian; Kutser, Tiit

2017-01-01

Optical-biogeochemical relationships of particulate and dissolved organic matter are presented in support of remote sensing of the Baltic Sea pelagic. This system exhibits strong seasonality in phytoplankton community composition and wide gradients of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), properties which are poorly handled by existing remote sensing algorithms. Absorption and scattering properties of particulate matter reflected the seasonality in biological (phytoplankton succession) and physical (thermal stratification) processes. Inherent optical properties showed much wider variability when normalized to the chlorophyll-a concentration compared to normalization to either total suspended matter dry weight or particulate organic carbon. The particle population had the largest optical variability in summer and was dominated by organic matter in both seasons. The geographic variability of CDOM and relationships with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are also presented. CDOM dominated light absorption at blue wavelengths, contributing 81% (median) of the absorption by all water constituents at 400 nm and 63% at 442 nm. Consequentially, 90% of water-leaving radiance at 412 nm originated from a layer (z90) no deeper than approximately 1.0 m. With water increasingly attenuating light at longer wavelengths, a green peak in light penetration and reflectance is always present in these waters, with z90 up to 3.0-3.5 m depth, whereas z90 only exceeds 5 m at biomass < 5 mg Chla m-3. High absorption combined with a weakly scattering particle population (despite median phytoplankton biomass of 14.1 and 4.3 mg Chla m-3 in spring and summer samples, respectively), characterize this sea as a dark water body for which dedicated or exceptionally robust remote sensing techniques are required. Seasonal and regional optical-biogeochemical models, data distributions, and an extensive set of simulated remote-sensing reflectance spectra for testing of remote sensing algorithms are provided as supplementary data.

A Centrifugal Contactor Design to Facilitate Remote Replacement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David H. Meikrantz; Jack. D. Law; Troy G. Garn

2011-03-01

Advanced designs of nuclear fuel recycling and radioactive waste treatment plants are expected to include more ambitious goals for solvent extraction based separations including; higher separations efficiency, high-level waste minimization, and a greater focus on continuous processes to minimize cost and footprint. Therefore, Annular Centrifugal Contactors (ACCs) are destined to play a more important role for such future processing schemes. This work continues the development of remote designs for ACCs that can process the large throughputs needed for future nuclear fuel recycling and radioactive waste treatment plants. A three stage, 12.5 cm diameter rotor module has been constructed and ismore » being evaluated for use in highly radioactive environments. This prototype assembly employs three standard CINC V-05 clean-in-place (CIP) units modified for remote service and replacement via new methods of connection for solution inlets, outlets, drain and CIP. Hydraulic testing and functional checks were successfully conducted and then the prototype was evaluated for remote handling and maintenance. Removal and replacement of the center position V-05R contactor in the three stage assembly was demonstrated using an overhead rail mounted PaR manipulator. Initial evaluation indicates a viable new design for interconnecting and cleaning individual stages while retaining the benefits of commercially reliable ACC equipment. Replacement of a single stage via remote manipulators and tools is estimated to take about 30 minutes, perhaps fast enough to support a contactor change without loss of process equilibrium. The design presented in this work is scalable to commercial ACC models from V-05 to V-20 with total throughput rates ranging from 20 to 650 liters per minute.« less

Remote Sensing Image Classification Applied to the First National Geographical Information Census of China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Xin; Wen, Zongyong; Zhu, Zhaorong; Xia, Qiang; Shun, Lan

2016-06-01

Image classification will still be a long way in the future, although it has gone almost half a century. In fact, researchers have gained many fruits in the image classification domain, but there is still a long distance between theory and practice. However, some new methods in the artificial intelligence domain will be absorbed into the image classification domain and draw on the strength of each to offset the weakness of the other, which will open up a new prospect. Usually, networks play the role of a high-level language, as is seen in Artificial Intelligence and statistics, because networks are used to build complex model from simple components. These years, Bayesian Networks, one of probabilistic networks, are a powerful data mining technique for handling uncertainty in complex domains. In this paper, we apply Tree Augmented Naive Bayesian Networks (TAN) to texture classification of High-resolution remote sensing images and put up a new method to construct the network topology structure in terms of training accuracy based on the training samples. Since 2013, China government has started the first national geographical information census project, which mainly interprets geographical information based on high-resolution remote sensing images. Therefore, this paper tries to apply Bayesian network to remote sensing image classification, in order to improve image interpretation in the first national geographical information census project. In the experiment, we choose some remote sensing images in Beijing. Experimental results demonstrate TAN outperform than Naive Bayesian Classifier (NBC) and Maximum Likelihood Classification Method (MLC) in the overall classification accuracy. In addition, the proposed method can reduce the workload of field workers and improve the work efficiency. Although it is time consuming, it will be an attractive and effective method for assisting office operation of image interpretation.

Detection of MAVs (Micro Aerial Vehicles) based on millimeter wave radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noetel, Denis; Johannes, Winfried; Caris, Michael; Hommes, Alexander; Stanko, Stephan

2016-10-01

In this paper we present two system approaches for perimeter surveillance with radar techniques focused on the detection of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The main task of such radars is to detect movements of targets such as an individual or a vehicle approaching a facility. The systems typically cover a range of several hundred meters up to several kilometers. In particular, the capability of identifying Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), which pose a growing threat on critical infrastructure areas, is of great importance nowadays. The low costs, the ease of handling and a considerable payload make them an excellent tool for unwanted surveillance or attacks. Most platforms can be equipped with all kind of sensors or, in the worst case, with destructive devices. A typical MAV is able to take off and land vertically, to hover, and in many cases to fly forward at high speed. Thus, it can reach all kinds of places in short time while the concealed operator of the MAV resides at a remote and riskless place.

Xi-cam: Flexible High Throughput Data Processing for GISAXS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandolfi, Ronald; Kumar, Dinesh; Venkatakrishnan, Singanallur; Sarje, Abinav; Krishnan, Hari; Pellouchoud, Lenson; Ren, Fang; Fournier, Amanda; Jiang, Zhang; Tassone, Christopher; Mehta, Apurva; Sethian, James; Hexemer, Alexander

With increasing capabilities and data demand for GISAXS beamlines, supporting software is under development to handle larger data rates, volumes, and processing needs. We aim to provide a flexible and extensible approach to GISAXS data treatment as a solution to these rising needs. Xi-cam is the CAMERA platform for data management, analysis, and visualization. The core of Xi-cam is an extensible plugin-based GUI platform which provides users an interactive interface to processing algorithms. Plugins are available for SAXS/GISAXS data and data series visualization, as well as forward modeling and simulation through HipGISAXS. With Xi-cam's advanced mode, data processing steps are designed as a graph-based workflow, which can be executed locally or remotely. Remote execution utilizes HPC or de-localized resources, allowing for effective reduction of high-throughput data. Xi-cam is open-source and cross-platform. The processing algorithms in Xi-cam include parallel cpu and gpu processing optimizations, also taking advantage of external processing packages such as pyFAI. Xi-cam is available for download online.

Leaky coaxial cable signal transmission for remote facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, S. F.; Crutcher, R. I.

To develop reliable communications methods to meet the rigorous requirements for nuclear hot cells and similar environments, including control of cranes, transporters, and advanced servomanipulators, the Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program (CFRP) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has conducted extensive tests of numerous technologies to determine their applicability to remote operations. To alleviate the need for large bundles of cables that must accommodate crane/transporter motion relative to the boundaries of the cell, several transmission techniques are available, including slotted-line radio-frequency couplers, infrared beams, fiber-optic cables, free-space microwave, and inductively coupled leaky coaxial cable. This paper discusses the general characteristics, mode of operation, and proposed implementation of leaky coaxial cable technology in a waste-handling facility scheduled to be built in the near future at ORNL. In addition, specific system hardware based around the use of leaky coaxial cable is described in detail. Finally, data from a series of radiation exposure tests conducted by the CFRP on several samples of the basic leaky coaxial cable and associated connectors are presented.

Science returns of flexible scheduling on UKIRT and the JCMT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamson, Andrew J.; Tilanus, Remo P.; Buckle, Jane; Davis, Gary R.; Economou, Frossie; Jenness, Tim; Delorey, K.

2004-09-01

The Joint Astronomy Centre operates two telescopes at the Mauna Kea Observatory: the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, operating in the submillimetre, and the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, operating in the near and thermal infrared. Both wavelength regimes benefit from the ability to schedule observations flexibly according to observing conditions, albeit via somewhat different "site quality" criteria. Both UKIRT and JCMT now operate completely flexible schedules. These operations are based on telescope hardware which can quickly switch between observing modes, and on a comprehensive suite of software (ORAC/OMP) which handles observing preparation by remote PIs, observation submission into the summit database, conditions-based programme selection at the summit, pipeline data reduction for all observing modes, and instant data quality feedback to the PI who may or may not be remote from the telescope. This paper describes the flexible scheduling model and presents science statistics for the first complete year of UKIRT and JCMT observing under the combined system.

In Silico Investigation of a Surgical Interface for Remote Control of Modular Miniature Robots in Minimally Invasive Surgery

PubMed Central

Zygomalas, Apollon; Giokas, Konstantinos; Koutsouris, Dimitrios

2014-01-01

Aim. Modular mini-robots can be used in novel minimally invasive surgery techniques like natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and laparoendoscopic single site (LESS) surgery. The control of these miniature assistants is complicated. The aim of this study is the in silico investigation of a remote controlling interface for modular miniature robots which can be used in minimally invasive surgery. Methods. The conceptual controlling system was developed, programmed, and simulated using professional robotics simulation software. Three different modes of control were programmed. The remote controlling surgical interface was virtually designed as a high scale representation of the respective modular mini-robot, therefore a modular controlling system itself. Results. With the proposed modular controlling system the user could easily identify the conformation of the modular mini-robot and adequately modify it as needed. The arrangement of each module was always known. The in silico investigation gave useful information regarding the controlling mode, the adequate speed of rearrangements, and the number of modules needed for efficient working tasks. Conclusions. The proposed conceptual model may promote the research and development of more sophisticated modular controlling systems. Modular surgical interfaces may improve the handling and the dexterity of modular miniature robots during minimally invasive procedures. PMID:25295187

In silico investigation of a surgical interface for remote control of modular miniature robots in minimally invasive surgery.

PubMed

Zygomalas, Apollon; Giokas, Konstantinos; Koutsouris, Dimitrios

2014-01-01

Aim. Modular mini-robots can be used in novel minimally invasive surgery techniques like natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and laparoendoscopic single site (LESS) surgery. The control of these miniature assistants is complicated. The aim of this study is the in silico investigation of a remote controlling interface for modular miniature robots which can be used in minimally invasive surgery. Methods. The conceptual controlling system was developed, programmed, and simulated using professional robotics simulation software. Three different modes of control were programmed. The remote controlling surgical interface was virtually designed as a high scale representation of the respective modular mini-robot, therefore a modular controlling system itself. Results. With the proposed modular controlling system the user could easily identify the conformation of the modular mini-robot and adequately modify it as needed. The arrangement of each module was always known. The in silico investigation gave useful information regarding the controlling mode, the adequate speed of rearrangements, and the number of modules needed for efficient working tasks. Conclusions. The proposed conceptual model may promote the research and development of more sophisticated modular controlling systems. Modular surgical interfaces may improve the handling and the dexterity of modular miniature robots during minimally invasive procedures.

A streaming-based solution for remote visualization of 3D graphics on mobile devices.

PubMed

Lamberti, Fabrizio; Sanna, Andrea

2007-01-01

Mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants, Tablet PCs, and cellular phones have greatly enhanced user capability to connect to remote resources. Although a large set of applications are now available bridging the gap between desktop and mobile devices, visualization of complex 3D models is still a task hard to accomplish without specialized hardware. This paper proposes a system where a cluster of PCs, equipped with accelerated graphics cards managed by the Chromium software, is able to handle remote visualization sessions based on MPEG video streaming involving complex 3D models. The proposed framework allows mobile devices such as smart phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and Tablet PCs to visualize objects consisting of millions of textured polygons and voxels at a frame rate of 30 fps or more depending on hardware resources at the server side and on multimedia capabilities at the client side. The server is able to concurrently manage multiple clients computing a video stream for each one; resolution and quality of each stream is tailored according to screen resolution and bandwidth of the client. The paper investigates in depth issues related to latency time, bit rate and quality of the generated stream, screen resolutions, as well as frames per second displayed.

The Simple Concurrent Online Processing System (SCOPS) - An open-source interface for remotely sensed data processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warren, M. A.; Goult, S.; Clewley, D.

2018-06-01

Advances in technology allow remotely sensed data to be acquired with increasingly higher spatial and spectral resolutions. These data may then be used to influence government decision making and solve a number of research and application driven questions. However, such large volumes of data can be difficult to handle on a single personal computer or on older machines with slower components. Often the software required to process data is varied and can be highly technical and too advanced for the novice user to fully understand. This paper describes an open-source tool, the Simple Concurrent Online Processing System (SCOPS), which forms part of an airborne hyperspectral data processing chain that allows users accessing the tool over a web interface to submit jobs and process data remotely. It is demonstrated using Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research Facility (NERC-ARF) instruments together with other free- and open-source tools to take radiometrically corrected data from sensor geometry into geocorrected form and to generate simple or complex band ratio products. The final processed data products are acquired via an HTTP download. SCOPS can cut data processing times and introduce complex processing software to novice users by distributing jobs across a network using a simple to use web interface.

Object-Based Random Forest Classification of Land Cover from Remotely Sensed Imagery for Industrial and Mining Reclamation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y.; Luo, M.; Xu, L.; Zhou, X.; Ren, J.; Zhou, J.

2018-04-01

The RF method based on grid-search parameter optimization could achieve a classification accuracy of 88.16 % in the classification of images with multiple feature variables. This classification accuracy was higher than that of SVM and ANN under the same feature variables. In terms of efficiency, the RF classification method performs better than SVM and ANN, it is more capable of handling multidimensional feature variables. The RF method combined with object-based analysis approach could highlight the classification accuracy further. The multiresolution segmentation approach on the basis of ESP scale parameter optimization was used for obtaining six scales to execute image segmentation, when the segmentation scale was 49, the classification accuracy reached the highest value of 89.58 %. The classification accuracy of object-based RF classification was 1.42 % higher than that of pixel-based classification (88.16 %), and the classification accuracy was further improved. Therefore, the RF classification method combined with object-based analysis approach could achieve relatively high accuracy in the classification and extraction of land use information for industrial and mining reclamation areas. Moreover, the interpretation of remotely sensed imagery using the proposed method could provide technical support and theoretical reference for remotely sensed monitoring land reclamation.

STS-31 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pre-deployment procedures aboard OV-103

NASA Image and Video Library

1990-04-24

During STS-31, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) grappled by the remote manipulator system (RMS) end effector is held in appendage deploy position above Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103. The solar array (SA) bistem cassette has been released from its latch fittings. The bistem spreader bars begin to unfurl the SA wing. The secondary deployment mechanism (SDM) handle is visible at the SA end. Stowed against either side of the HST System Support Module (SSM) forward shell are the high-gain antennae (HGA). Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic are recognizable at the left of the frame.

GelScape: a web-based server for interactively annotating, manipulating, comparing and archiving 1D and 2D gel images.

PubMed

Young, Nelson; Chang, Zhan; Wishart, David S

2004-04-12

GelScape is a web-based tool that permits facile, interactive annotation, comparison, manipulation and storage of protein gel images. It uses Java applet-servlet technology to allow rapid, remote image handling and image processing in a platform-independent manner. It supports many of the features found in commercial, stand-alone gel analysis software including spot annotation, spot integration, gel warping, image resizing, HTML image mapping, image overlaying as well as the storage of gel image and gel annotation data in compliance with Federated Gel Database requirements.

Design of Intelligent Power Supply System for Expressway Tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Li; Li, Yutong; Lin, Zimian

2018-01-01

Tunnel lighting program is one of the key points of tunnel infrastructure construction. As tunnels tend to handle remote locations, power supply line construction generally has been having the distance, investment, high cost characteristics. To solve this problem, we propose a green, environmentally friendly, energy-efficient lighting system. This program uses the piston-wind which cars within tunnel produce as the power and combines with solar energy, physical lighting to achieve it, which solves the problem of difficult and high cost of highway tunnel section, and provides new ideas for the future construction of tunnel power supply.

Verification techniques for x-ray and mammography applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotsopoulos, Stavros A.; Lymberopoulos, Dimitris C.

1993-07-01

The integration of Medical Information Environment demands the study and development of high speed data communication systems with special designed 'endsystems' (MWS, etc.) for flexible and reliable data transmission/reception, handling and manipulation. An important parameter which affects the overall system's performance is the 'quality factor' of the communicated medical data produced by a wide range of modern modalities. The present paper describes a set of tests, done in a medical communication network based on a teleworking platform, in order to optimize the sensitivity parameters of the modalities by remote fine re-adjustments guided by experts.

System Would Acquire Core and Powder Samples of Rocks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bar-Cohen, Yoseph; Randolph, James; Bao, Xiaoqi; Sherrit, Stewart; Ritz, Chuck; Cook, Greg

2006-01-01

A system for automated sampling of rocks, ice, and similar hard materials at and immediately below the surface of the ground is undergoing development. The system, denoted a sample preparation, acquisition, handling, and delivery (SPAHD) device, would be mounted on a robotic exploratory vehicle that would traverse the terrain of interest on the Earth or on a remote planet. The SPAHD device would probe the ground to obtain data for optimization of sampling, prepare the surface, acquire samples in the form(s) of cores and/or powdered cuttings, and deliver the samples to a selected location for analysis and/or storage.

A system analysis of the 13.3 GHz scatterometer. [antenna patterns and signal transmission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. R.

1977-01-01

The performance of the 13.3 GHz airborne scatterometer system which is used as a microwave remote sensor to detect moisture content of soil is analyzed with respect to its antenna pattern, the signal flow in the receiver data channels, and the errors in the signal outputs. The operational principle and the sensitivity of the system, as well as data handling are also described. The dielectric property of the terrain surface, as far as the scatterometer is concerned, is contained in the assumed forms of the functional dependence of the backscattering coefficient of the incident angle.

STS-96 EVA view of Tamara Jernigan

NASA Image and Video Library

1999-05-30

STS096-330-004 (30 May 1999) --- Astronaut Tamara E. Jernigan, mission specialist, is backdropped over the Aegean Sea as she handles the American-built crane which she helped to install on the International Space Station (ISS) during the May 30th space walk. Jernigan's feet are anchored to a mobile foot restraint connected to the Space Shuttle Discovery's Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS). Jernigan was joined by astronaut Daniel T. Barry, mission specialist, for the lengthy extravehicular activity (EVA). Parts of Greece, Turkey and the Dardenelles are visible some 171 nautical miles below the docked tandem of Discovery and the ISS.

Two-way cable television project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkens, H.; Guenther, P.; Kiel, F.; Kraus, F.; Mahnkopf, P.; Schnee, R.

1982-02-01

The market demand for a multiuser computer system with interactive services was studied. Mean system work load at peak use hours was estimated and the complexity of dialog with a central computer was determined. Man machine communication by broadband cable television transmission, using digital techniques, was assumed. The end to end system is described. It is user friendly, able to handle 10,000 subscribers, and provides color television display. The central computer system architecture with remote audiovisual terminals is depicted and software is explained. Signal transmission requirements are dealt with. International availability of the test system, including sample programs, is indicated.

Astronaut Susan Helms on aft flight deck with RMS controls

NASA Image and Video Library

1994-09-12

STS064-05-028 (9-20 Sept. 1994) --- On the space shuttle Discovery's aft flight deck, astronaut Susan J. Helms handles controls for the Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The robot arm operated by Helms, who remained inside the cabin, was used to support several tasks performed by the crew during the almost 11-day mission. Those tasks included the release and retrieval of the free-flying Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool For Astronomy 201 (SPARTAN 201), a six-hour spacewalk and the Shuttle Plume Impingement Flight Experiment (SPIFEX). Photo credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

ASF: Facing the Challenges for 15 Years and Counting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Belle-Hamer, N.; Nicoll, J.; Atwood, D.; Arko, S.

2006-12-01

The Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) of the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, has just celebrated its 15th year of experience in satellite remote sensing. ASF is involved in a wide range of activities - - from downlinking satellite data to developing data analysis tools, value-added products, and training for Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) users. Satellite remote sensing data are acquired, processed, analyzed, and archived by ASF from several satellites; ASF has built expertise in handling and manipulating the data, SAR in particular. SAR is the only satellite imagery in the world today that can be acquired at any time of the day or night and during adverse weather conditions. It can be used to develop value-added products to aid in global climate change research. Examples include the SAR-derived coastal winds in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea; monitoring of the major ice shelves in the Arctic and Antarctic; and examining the impact on sea level from the Greenland ice sheets and glaciers. The challenges facing the use of remote-sensing data in climate change research can be divided into three major categories: economical, political, and technical. The expense of designing, building, and launching a satellite is substantial. The costs of the ground segment including data management can be substantial and should not be neglected. The US agency funding climate often has the research community pushing for new missions against declining federal budgets in direct competition with ongoing missions. On the political front, data policy, data ownership, and cost recovery are issues often perceived as insurmountable by the user community. The technical issues, while challenging, are often the easiest to solve. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, with the successful launch of the Advanced Land Observing System (ALOS), has embarked on a new way of handling the ground segment with the introduction of international data nodes. ASF will serve with NOAA as the Americas ALOS Data Node. With the success of the ALOS data node structure, it may well be that international cooperation will become the standard method for overcoming the challenges of global climate change research.

PIMS sequencing extension: a laboratory information management system for DNA sequencing facilities

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Facilities that provide a service for DNA sequencing typically support large numbers of users and experiment types. The cost of services is often reduced by the use of liquid handling robots but the efficiency of such facilities is hampered because the software for such robots does not usually integrate well with the systems that run the sequencing machines. Accordingly, there is a need for software systems capable of integrating different robotic systems and managing sample information for DNA sequencing services. In this paper, we describe an extension to the Protein Information Management System (PIMS) that is designed for DNA sequencing facilities. The new version of PIMS has a user-friendly web interface and integrates all aspects of the sequencing process, including sample submission, handling and tracking, together with capture and management of the data. Results The PIMS sequencing extension has been in production since July 2009 at the University of Leeds DNA Sequencing Facility. It has completely replaced manual data handling and simplified the tasks of data management and user communication. Samples from 45 groups have been processed with an average throughput of 10000 samples per month. The current version of the PIMS sequencing extension works with Applied Biosystems 3130XL 96-well plate sequencer and MWG 4204 or Aviso Theonyx liquid handling robots, but is readily adaptable for use with other combinations of robots. Conclusions PIMS has been extended to provide a user-friendly and integrated data management solution for DNA sequencing facilities that is accessed through a normal web browser and allows simultaneous access by multiple users as well as facility managers. The system integrates sequencing and liquid handling robots, manages the data flow, and provides remote access to the sequencing results. The software is freely available, for academic users, from http://www.pims-lims.org/. PMID:21385349

Voxel-Based LIDAR Analysis and Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagstrom, Shea T.

One of the greatest recent changes in the field of remote sensing is the addition of high-quality Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) instruments. In particular, the past few decades have been greatly beneficial to these systems because of increases in data collection speed and accuracy, as well as a reduction in the costs of components. These improvements allow modern airborne instruments to resolve sub-meter details, making them ideal for a wide variety of applications. Because LIDAR uses active illumination to capture 3D information, its output is fundamentally different from other modalities. Despite this difference, LIDAR datasets are often processed using methods appropriate for 2D images and that do not take advantage of its primary virtue of 3-dimensional data. It is this problem we explore by using volumetric voxel modeling. Voxel-based analysis has been used in many applications, especially medical imaging, but rarely in traditional remote sensing. In part this is because the memory requirements are substantial when handling large areas, but with modern computing and storage this is no longer a significant impediment. Our reason for using voxels to model scenes from LIDAR data is that there are several advantages over standard triangle-based models, including better handling of overlapping surfaces and complex shapes. We show how incorporating system position information from early in the LIDAR point cloud generation process allows radiometrically-correct transmission and other novel voxel properties to be recovered. This voxelization technique is validated on simulated data using the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) software, a first-principles based ray-tracer developed at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Voxel-based modeling of LIDAR can be useful on its own, but we believe its primary advantage is when applied to problems where simpler surface-based 3D models conflict with the requirement of realistic geometry. To show the voxel model's advantage, we apply it to several outstanding problems in remote sensing: LIDAR quality metrics, line-of-sight mapping, and multi-model fusion. Each of these applications is derived, validated, and examined in detail, and our results compared with other state-of-the-art methods. In most cases the voxel-based methods demonstrate superior results and are able to derive information not available to existing methods. Realizing these improvements requires only a shift away from traditional 3D model generation, and our results give a small indicator of what is possible. Many examples of possible areas for future improvement and expansion of algorithms beyond the scope of our work are also noted.

Effective System for Automatic Bundle Block Adjustment and Ortho Image Generation from Multi Sensor Satellite Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akilan, A.; Nagasubramanian, V.; Chaudhry, A.; Reddy, D. Rajesh; Sudheer Reddy, D.; Usha Devi, R.; Tirupati, T.; Radhadevi, P. V.; Varadan, G.

2014-11-01

Block Adjustment is a technique for large area mapping for images obtained from different remote sensingsatellites.The challenge in this process is to handle huge number of satellite imageries from different sources with different resolution and accuracies at the system level. This paper explains a system with various tools and techniques to effectively handle the end-to-end chain in large area mapping and production with good level of automation and the provisions for intuitive analysis of final results in 3D and 2D environment. In addition, the interface for using open source ortho and DEM references viz., ETM, SRTM etc. and displaying ESRI shapes for the image foot-prints are explained. Rigorous theory, mathematical modelling, workflow automation and sophisticated software engineering tools are included to ensure high photogrammetric accuracy and productivity. Major building blocks like Georeferencing, Geo-capturing and Geo-Modelling tools included in the block adjustment solution are explained in this paper. To provide optimal bundle block adjustment solution with high precision results, the system has been optimized in many stages to exploit the full utilization of hardware resources. The robustness of the system is ensured by handling failure in automatic procedure and saving the process state in every stage for subsequent restoration from the point of interruption. The results obtained from various stages of the system are presented in the paper.

SpaceWire Data Handling Demonstration System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mills, S.; Parkes, S. M.; O'Gribin, N.

2007-08-01

The SpaceWire standard was published in 2003 with the aim of providing a standard for onboard communications, defining the physical and data link layers of an interconnection, in order to improve reusability, reliability and to reduce the cost of mission development. The many benefits which it provides mean that it has already been used in a number of missions, both in Europe and throughout the world. Recent work by the SpaceWire community has included the development of higher level protocols for SpaceWire, such as the Remote Memory Access Protocol (RMAP) which can be used for many purposes, including the configuration of SpaceWire devices. Although SpaceWire has become very popular, the various ways in which it can be used are still being discovered, as are the most efficient ways to use it. At the same time, some in the space industry are not even aware of SpaceWire's existence. This paper describes the SpaceWire Data Handling Demonstration System that has been developed by the University of Dundee. This system simulates an onboard data handling network based on SpaceWire. It uses RMAP for all communication, and so demonstrates how SpaceWire and standardised higher level protocols can be used onboard a spacecraft. The system is not only a good advert for those who are unfamiliar with the benefits of SpaceWire, it is also a useful tool for those using SpaceWire to test ideas.

ASSEMBLY TRANSFER SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

B. Gorpani

2000-06-26

The Assembly Transfer System (ATS) receives, cools, and opens rail and truck transportation casks from the Carrier/Cask Handling System (CCHS). The system unloads transportation casks consisting of bare Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) assemblies, single element canisters, and Dual Purpose Canisters (DPCs). For casks containing DPCs, the system opens the DPCs and unloads the SNF. The system stages the assemblies, transfer assemblies to and from fuel-blending inventory pools, loads them into Disposal Containers (DCs), temporarily seals and inerts the DC, decontaminates the DC and transfers it to the Disposal Container Handling System. The system also prepares empty casks and DPCs formore » off-site shipment. Two identical Assembly Transfer System lines are provided in the Waste Handling Building (WHB). Each line operates independently to handle the waste transfer throughput and to support maintenance operations. Each system line primarily consists of wet and dry handling areas. The wet handling area includes a cask transport system, cask and DPC preparation system, and a wet assembly handling system. The basket transport system forms the transition between the wet and dry handling areas. The dry handling area includes the dry assembly handling system, assembly drying system, DC preparation system, and DC transport system. Both the wet and dry handling areas are controlled by the control and tracking system. The system operating sequence begins with moving transportation casks to the cask preparation area. The cask preparation operations consist of cask cavity gas sampling, cask venting, cask cool-down, outer lid removal, and inner shield plug lifting fixture attachment. Casks containing bare SNF (no DPC) are filled with water and placed in the cask unloading pool. The inner shield plugs are removed underwater. For casks containing a DPC, the cask lid(s) is removed, and the DPC is penetrated, sampled, vented, and cooled. A DPC lifting fixture is attached and the cask is placed into the cask unloading pool. In the cask unloading pool the DPC is removed from the cask and placed in an overpack and the DPC lid is severed and removed. Assemblies are removed from either an open cask or DPC and loaded into assembly baskets positioned in the basket staging rack in the assembly unloading pool. A method called ''blending'' is utilized to load DCs with a heat output of less than 11.8 kW. This involves combining hotter and cooler assemblies from different baskets. Blending requires storing some of the hotter fuel assemblies in fuel-blending inventory pools until cooler assemblies are available. The assembly baskets are then transferred from the basket staging rack to the assembly handling cell and loaded into the assembly drying vessels. After drying, the assemblies are removed from the assembly drying vessels and loaded into a DC positioned below the DC load port. After installation of a DC inner lid and temporary sealing device, the DC is transferred to the DC decontamination cell where the top area of the DC, the DC lifting collar, and the DC inner lid and temporary sealing device are decontaminated, and the DC is evacuated and backfilled with inert gas to prevent prolonged clad exposure to air. The DC is then transferred to the Disposal Container Handling System for lid welding. In another cask preparation and decontamination area, lids are replaced on the empty transportation casks and DPC overpacks, the casks and DPC overpacks are decontaminated, inspected, and transferred to the Carrier/Cask Handling System for shipment off-site. All system equipment is designed to facilitate manual or remote operation, decontamination, and maintenance. The system interfaces with the Carrier/Cask Handling System for incoming and outgoing transportation casks and DPCs. The system also interfaces with the Disposal Container Handling System, which prepares the DC for loading and subsequently seals the loaded DC. The system support interfaces are the Waste Handling Building System and other internal WHB support systems.« less

Validation of adipose lipid content as a body condition index for polar bears

USGS Publications Warehouse

McKinney, Melissa A.; Atwood, Todd C.; Dietz, Rune; Sonne, Christian; Iverson, Sara J.; Peacock, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Body condition is a key indicator of individual and population health. Yet, there is little consensus as to the most appropriate condition index (CI), and most of the currently used CIs have not been thoroughly validated and are logistically challenging. Adipose samples from large datasets of capture biopsied, remote biopsied, and harvested polar bears were used to validate adipose lipid content as a CI via tests of accuracy, precision, sensitivity, biopsy depth, and storage conditions and comparisons to established CIs, to measures of health and to demographic and ecological parameters. The lipid content analyses of even very small biopsy samples were highly accurate and precise, but results were influenced by tissue depth at which the sample was taken. Lipid content of capture biopsies and samples from harvested adult females was correlated with established CIs and/or conformed to expected biological variation and ecological changes. However, lipid content of remote biopsies was lower than capture biopsies and harvested samples, possibly due to lipid loss during dart retrieval. Lipid content CI is a biologically relevant, relatively inexpensive and rapidly assessed CI and can be determined routinely for individuals and populations in order to infer large-scale spatial and long-term temporal trends. As it is possible to collect samples during routine harvesting or remotely using biopsy darts, monitoring and assessment of body condition can be accomplished without capture and handling procedures or noninvasively, which are methods that are preferred by local communities. However, further work is needed to apply the method to remote biopsies.

Local Competition-Based Superpixel Segmentation Algorithm in Remote Sensing

PubMed Central

Liu, Jiayin; Tang, Zhenmin; Cui, Ying; Wu, Guoxing

2017-01-01

Remote sensing technologies have been widely applied in urban environments’ monitoring, synthesis and modeling. Incorporating spatial information in perceptually coherent regions, superpixel-based approaches can effectively eliminate the “salt and pepper” phenomenon which is common in pixel-wise approaches. Compared with fixed-size windows, superpixels have adaptive sizes and shapes for different spatial structures. Moreover, superpixel-based algorithms can significantly improve computational efficiency owing to the greatly reduced number of image primitives. Hence, the superpixel algorithm, as a preprocessing technique, is more and more popularly used in remote sensing and many other fields. In this paper, we propose a superpixel segmentation algorithm called Superpixel Segmentation with Local Competition (SSLC), which utilizes a local competition mechanism to construct energy terms and label pixels. The local competition mechanism leads to energy terms locality and relativity, and thus, the proposed algorithm is less sensitive to the diversity of image content and scene layout. Consequently, SSLC could achieve consistent performance in different image regions. In addition, the Probability Density Function (PDF), which is estimated by Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with the Gaussian kernel, is introduced to describe the color distribution of superpixels as a more sophisticated and accurate measure. To reduce computational complexity, a boundary optimization framework is introduced to only handle boundary pixels instead of the whole image. We conduct experiments to benchmark the proposed algorithm with the other state-of-the-art ones on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset (BSD) and remote sensing images. Results demonstrate that the SSLC algorithm yields the best overall performance, while the computation time-efficiency is still competitive. PMID:28604641

Semi-autonomous remote sensing time series generation tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babu, Dinesh Kumar; Kaufmann, Christof; Schmidt, Marco; Dhams, Thorsten; Conrad, Christopher

2017-10-01

High spatial and temporal resolution data is vital for crop monitoring and phenology change detection. Due to the lack of satellite architecture and frequent cloud cover issues, availability of daily high spatial data is still far from reality. Remote sensing time series generation of high spatial and temporal data by data fusion seems to be a practical alternative. However, it is not an easy process, since it involves multiple steps and also requires multiple tools. In this paper, a framework of Geo Information System (GIS) based tool is presented for semi-autonomous time series generation. This tool will eliminate the difficulties by automating all the steps and enable the users to generate synthetic time series data with ease. Firstly, all the steps required for the time series generation process are identified and grouped into blocks based on their functionalities. Later two main frameworks are created, one to perform all the pre-processing steps on various satellite data and the other one to perform data fusion to generate time series. The two frameworks can be used individually to perform specific tasks or they could be combined to perform both the processes in one go. This tool can handle most of the known geo data formats currently available which makes it a generic tool for time series generation of various remote sensing satellite data. This tool is developed as a common platform with good interface which provides lot of functionalities to enable further development of more remote sensing applications. A detailed description on the capabilities and the advantages of the frameworks are given in this paper.

Local Competition-Based Superpixel Segmentation Algorithm in Remote Sensing.

PubMed

Liu, Jiayin; Tang, Zhenmin; Cui, Ying; Wu, Guoxing

2017-06-12

Remote sensing technologies have been widely applied in urban environments' monitoring, synthesis and modeling. Incorporating spatial information in perceptually coherent regions, superpixel-based approaches can effectively eliminate the "salt and pepper" phenomenon which is common in pixel-wise approaches. Compared with fixed-size windows, superpixels have adaptive sizes and shapes for different spatial structures. Moreover, superpixel-based algorithms can significantly improve computational efficiency owing to the greatly reduced number of image primitives. Hence, the superpixel algorithm, as a preprocessing technique, is more and more popularly used in remote sensing and many other fields. In this paper, we propose a superpixel segmentation algorithm called Superpixel Segmentation with Local Competition (SSLC), which utilizes a local competition mechanism to construct energy terms and label pixels. The local competition mechanism leads to energy terms locality and relativity, and thus, the proposed algorithm is less sensitive to the diversity of image content and scene layout. Consequently, SSLC could achieve consistent performance in different image regions. In addition, the Probability Density Function (PDF), which is estimated by Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with the Gaussian kernel, is introduced to describe the color distribution of superpixels as a more sophisticated and accurate measure. To reduce computational complexity, a boundary optimization framework is introduced to only handle boundary pixels instead of the whole image. We conduct experiments to benchmark the proposed algorithm with the other state-of-the-art ones on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset (BSD) and remote sensing images. Results demonstrate that the SSLC algorithm yields the best overall performance, while the computation time-efficiency is still competitive.

Validation of adipose lipid content as a body condition index for polar bears

PubMed Central

McKinney, Melissa A; Atwood, Todd; Dietz, Rune; Sonne, Christian; Iverson, Sara J; Peacock, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Body condition is a key indicator of individual and population health. Yet, there is little consensus as to the most appropriate condition index (CI), and most of the currently used CIs have not been thoroughly validated and are logistically challenging. Adipose samples from large datasets of capture biopsied, remote biopsied, and harvested polar bears were used to validate adipose lipid content as a CI via tests of accuracy, precision, sensitivity, biopsy depth, and storage conditions and comparisons to established CIs, to measures of health and to demographic and ecological parameters. The lipid content analyses of even very small biopsy samples were highly accurate and precise, but results were influenced by tissue depth at which the sample was taken. Lipid content of capture biopsies and samples from harvested adult females was correlated with established CIs and/or conformed to expected biological variation and ecological changes. However, lipid content of remote biopsies was lower than capture biopsies and harvested samples, possibly due to lipid loss during dart retrieval. Lipid content CI is a biologically relevant, relatively inexpensive and rapidly assessed CI and can be determined routinely for individuals and populations in order to infer large-scale spatial and long-term temporal trends. As it is possible to collect samples during routine harvesting or remotely using biopsy darts, monitoring and assessment of body condition can be accomplished without capture and handling procedures or noninvasively, which are methods that are preferred by local communities. However, further work is needed to apply the method to remote biopsies. PMID:24634735

Facility Concepts for Mars Returned Sample Handling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, Marc M.; Briggs, Geoff (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Samples returned from Mars must be held in quarantine until their biological safety has been determined. A significant challenge, unique to NASA's needs, is how to contain the samples (to protect the blaspheme) while simultaneously protecting their pristine nature. This paper presents a comparative analysis of several quarantine facility concepts for handling and analyzing these samples. The considerations in this design analysis include: modes of manipulation; capability for destructive as well as non-destructive testing; avoidance of cross-contamination; linear versus recursive processing; and sample storage and retrieval within a closed system. The ability to rigorously contain biologically hazardous materials has been amply demonstrated by facilities that meet the specifications of the Center for Disease Control Biosafety Level 4. The newly defined Planetary Protection Level Alpha must provide comparable containment while assuring that the samples remain pristine; the latter requirement is based on the need to avoid compromising science analyses by instrumentation of the highest possible sensitivity (among other things this will assure that there is no false positive detection of organisms or organic molecules - a situation that would delay or prevent the release of the samples from quarantine). Protection of the samples against contamination by terrestrial organisms and organic molecules makes a considerable impact upon the sample handling facility. The use of glove boxes appears to be impractical because of their tendency to leak and to surges. As a result, a returned sample quarantine facility must consider the use of automation and remote manipulation to carry out the various functions of sample handling and transfer within the system. The problem of maintaining sensitive and bulky instrumentation under the constraints of simultaneous sample containment and contamination protection also places demands on the architectural configuration of the facility that houses it.

Autonomous control systems: applications to remote sensing and image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamshidi, Mohammad

2001-11-01

One of the main challenges of any control (or image processing) paradigm is being able to handle complex systems under unforeseen uncertainties. A system may be called complex here if its dimension (order) is too high and its model (if available) is nonlinear, interconnected, and information on the system is uncertain such that classical techniques cannot easily handle the problem. Examples of complex systems are power networks, space robotic colonies, national air traffic control system, and integrated manufacturing plant, the Hubble Telescope, the International Space Station, etc. Soft computing, a consortia of methodologies such as fuzzy logic, neuro-computing, genetic algorithms and genetic programming, has proven to be powerful tools for adding autonomy and semi-autonomy to many complex systems. For such systems the size of soft computing control architecture will be nearly infinite. In this paper new paradigms using soft computing approaches are utilized to design autonomous controllers and image enhancers for a number of application areas. These applications are satellite array formations for synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) and enhancement of analog and digital images.

Study on real-time force feedback for a master-slave interventional surgical robotic system.

PubMed

Guo, Shuxiang; Wang, Yuan; Xiao, Nan; Li, Youxiang; Jiang, Yuhua

2018-04-13

In robot-assisted catheterization, haptic feedback is important, but is currently lacking. In addition, conventional interventional surgical robotic systems typically employ a master-slave architecture with an open-loop force feedback, which results in inaccurate control. We develop herein a novel real-time master-slave (RTMS) interventional surgical robotic system with a closed-loop force feedback that allows a surgeon to sense the true force during remote operation, provide adequate haptic feedback, and improve control accuracy in robot-assisted catheterization. As part of this system, we also design a unique master control handle that measures the true force felt by a surgeon, providing the basis for the closed-loop control of the entire system. We use theoretical and empirical methods to demonstrate that the proposed RTMS system provides a surgeon (using the master control handle) with a more accurate and realistic force sensation, which subsequently improves the precision of the master-slave manipulation. The experimental results show a substantial increase in the control accuracy of the force feedback and an increase in operational efficiency during surgery.

ISBDD Model for Classification of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery

PubMed Central

Li, Na; Xu, Zhaopeng; Zhao, Huijie; Huang, Xinchen; Drummond, Jane; Wang, Daming

2018-01-01

The diverse density (DD) algorithm was proposed to handle the problem of low classification accuracy when training samples contain interference such as mixed pixels. The DD algorithm can learn a feature vector from training bags, which comprise instances (pixels). However, the feature vector learned by the DD algorithm cannot always effectively represent one type of ground cover. To handle this problem, an instance space-based diverse density (ISBDD) model that employs a novel training strategy is proposed in this paper. In the ISBDD model, DD values of each pixel are computed instead of learning a feature vector, and as a result, the pixel can be classified according to its DD values. Airborne hyperspectral data collected by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) sensor and the Push-broom Hyperspectral Imager (PHI) are applied to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Results show that the overall classification accuracy of ISBDD model on the AVIRIS and PHI images is up to 97.65% and 89.02%, respectively, while the kappa coefficient is up to 0.97 and 0.88, respectively. PMID:29510547

UNIX-based operating systems robustness evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chang, Yu-Ming

1996-01-01

Robust operating systems are required for reliable computing. Techniques for robustness evaluation of operating systems not only enhance the understanding of the reliability of computer systems, but also provide valuable feed- back to system designers. This thesis presents results from robustness evaluation experiments on five UNIX-based operating systems, which include Digital Equipment's OSF/l, Hewlett Packard's HP-UX, Sun Microsystems' Solaris and SunOS, and Silicon Graphics' IRIX. Three sets of experiments were performed. The methodology for evaluation tested (1) the exception handling mechanism, (2) system resource management, and (3) system capacity under high workload stress. An exception generator was used to evaluate the exception handling mechanism of the operating systems. Results included exit status of the exception generator and the system state. Resource management techniques used by individual operating systems were tested using programs designed to usurp system resources such as physical memory and process slots. Finally, the workload stress testing evaluated the effect of the workload on system performance by running a synthetic workload and recording the response time of local and remote user requests. Moderate to severe performance degradations were observed on the systems under stress.

Cubic map algebra functions for spatio-temporal analysis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mennis, J.; Viger, R.; Tomlin, C.D.

2005-01-01

We propose an extension of map algebra to three dimensions for spatio-temporal data handling. This approach yields a new class of map algebra functions that we call "cube functions." Whereas conventional map algebra functions operate on data layers representing two-dimensional space, cube functions operate on data cubes representing two-dimensional space over a third-dimensional period of time. We describe the prototype implementation of a spatio-temporal data structure and selected cube function versions of conventional local, focal, and zonal map algebra functions. The utility of cube functions is demonstrated through a case study analyzing the spatio-temporal variability of remotely sensed, southeastern U.S. vegetation character over various land covers and during different El Nin??o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phases. Like conventional map algebra, the application of cube functions may demand significant data preprocessing when integrating diverse data sets, and are subject to limitations related to data storage and algorithm performance. Solutions to these issues include extending data compression and computing strategies for calculations on very large data volumes to spatio-temporal data handling.

Big Data breaking barriers - first steps on a long trail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schade, S.

2015-04-01

Most data sets and streams have a geospatial component. Some people even claim that about 80% of all data is related to location. In the era of Big Data this number might even be underestimated, as data sets interrelate and initially non-spatial data becomes indirectly geo-referenced. The optimal treatment of Big Data thus requires advanced methods and technologies for handling the geospatial aspects in data storage, processing, pattern recognition, prediction, visualisation and exploration. On the one hand, our work exploits earth and environmental sciences for existing interoperability standards, and the foundational data structures, algorithms and software that are required to meet these geospatial information handling tasks. On the other hand, we are concerned with the arising needs to combine human analysis capacities (intelligence augmentation) with machine power (artificial intelligence). This paper provides an overview of the emerging landscape and outlines our (Digital Earth) vision for addressing the upcoming issues. We particularly request the projection and re-use of the existing environmental, earth observation and remote sensing expertise in other sectors, i.e. to break the barriers of all of these silos by investigating integrated applications.

A data base of geologic field spectra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kahle, A. B.; Goetz, A. F. H.; Paley, H. N.; Alley, R. E.; Abbott, E. A.

1981-01-01

It is noted that field samples measured in the laboratory do not always present an accurate picture of the ground surface sensed by airborne or spaceborne instruments because of the heterogeneous nature of most surfaces and because samples are disturbed and surface characteristics changed by collection and handling. The development of new remote sensing instruments relies on the analysis of surface materials in their natural state. The existence of thousands of Portable Field Reflectance Spectrometer (PFRS) spectra has necessitated a single, all-inclusive data base that permits greatly simplified searching and sorting procedures and facilitates further statistical analyses. The data base developed at JPL for cataloging geologic field spectra is discussed.

Managing the cryogenic systems of SCUBA-2 for long term operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cookson, Jamie L.; Bintley, Dan

2016-07-01

SCUBA-2 has been operational on JCMT producing excellent science for almost 5 years. We describe the strategy and methods that we have evolved to keep one of the world's first "dry dilution refrigerators" and the other cryogenic systems working effectively at the summit of Mauna Kea, keeping the instrument functioning at peak efficiency for extended periods (over 12 months at a time), with minimum downtime. We discuss new plans to reduce day-to-day operational costs and to add remote management of the gas handling systems, as we look to the future and envisage another ten years of SCUBA-2 science.

Non-contact Doppler radar monitoring of cardiorespiratory motion for Siberian sturgeon.

PubMed

Hafner, Noah; Massagram, Wansuree; Lubecke, Victor

2012-01-01

This paper presents the first reported use of Doppler radar to remotely sense heart and ventilation rates of fish. The Radar reported 35 to 40 BPM heart rate and 115 to 145 BPM ventilation rates for Siberian Sturgeon, with agreement from a video reference. Conventional fish vital signs measurements require invasive surgery and human handling--these are problematic for large scale monitoring, for measuring deep sea fish, and other situations which preclude human interaction with each individual subject. These results show a useful application of radar to augment existing cardiovascular and ventilatory activity sensing techniques and enable monitoring in a wider range of situations.

EVMS Self-Surveillance of Remote Handled Low Level Waste (RHLLW) Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nelson, Michael L.; Case, Kimberly; Hergesheimer, Linda

2013-07-01

DOE G 413.3-10A, Section 3.a states: “The Contractor has primary responsibility for implementing and maintaining a surveillance program to ensure continued compliance of the system with ANSI/EIA-748B. DOE O 413.3B requires the FPD to ensure the contractor conducts a Self-Surveillance annually. This annual Self-Surveillance,…should cover all 32 guidelines of the ANSI/EIA748B. Documentation of the Self-Surveillance is sent to the CO and the PMSO (copy to OECM) confirming the continued compliance of their EVMS ANSI/EIA748B...” This review, and the associated report, is deemed to satisfy this requirement.

Process and equipment development for hot isostatic pressing treatability study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bateman, Ken; Wahlquist, Dennis; Malewitz, Tim

2015-03-01

Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), LLC, has developed processes and equipment for a pilot-scale hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatability study to stabilize and volume reduce radioactive calcine stored at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). In 2009, the U. S. Department of Energy signed a Record of Decision with the state of Idaho selecting HIP technology as the method to treat 5,800 yd^3 (4,400 m^3) of granular zirconia and alumina calcine produced between 1953 and 1992 as a waste byproduct of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing. Since the 1990s, a variety of radioactive and hazardous waste forms have been remotely treated using HIP withinmore » INL hot cells. To execute the remote process at INL, waste is loaded into a stainless-steel or aluminum can, which is evacuated, sealed, and placed into a HIP furnace. The HIP simultaneously heats and pressurizes the waste, reducing its volume and increasing its durability. Two 1 gal cans of calcine waste currently stored in a shielded cask were identified as candidate materials for a treatability study involving the HIP process. Equipment and materials for cask-handling and calcine transfer into INL hot cells, as well as remotely operated equipment for waste can opening, particle sizing, material blending, and HIP can loading have been designed and successfully tested. These results demonstrate BEA’s readiness for treatment of INL calcine.« less

Continuous Remote Measurements of Atmospheric O2 Concentrations in Relation to Interannual Variations in Biological Production and Carbon Cycling in the Oceans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keeling, Ralph F.; Campbell, J. A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

We successfully initiated a program to obtain continuous time series of atmospheric O2 concentrations at a semi-remote coastal site, in Trinidad, California. The installation, which was completed in September 1999, consists of a commercially-available O2 and CO2 analyzers interfaced to a custom gas handling system and housed in a dedicated building at the Trinidad site. Ultimately, the data from this site are expected to provide constraints, complementing satellite data, on variations in ocean productivity and carbon exchange on annual and interannual time scales, in the context of human-induced changes in global climate and other perturbations. The existing time-series, of limited duration, have been used in support of studies of the O2/CO2 exchange from a wild fire (which fortuitously occurred nearby in October 1999) and to quantify air-sea N2O and O2 exchanges related to coastal upwelling events. More generally, the project demonstrates the feasibility of obtaining semi-continuous O2 time series at moderate cost from strategic locations globally.

Web-based visualization of very large scientific astronomy imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertin, E.; Pillay, R.; Marmo, C.

2015-04-01

Visualizing and navigating through large astronomy images from a remote location with current astronomy display tools can be a frustrating experience in terms of speed and ergonomics, especially on mobile devices. In this paper, we present a high performance, versatile and robust client-server system for remote visualization and analysis of extremely large scientific images. Applications of this work include survey image quality control, interactive data query and exploration, citizen science, as well as public outreach. The proposed software is entirely open source and is designed to be generic and applicable to a variety of datasets. It provides access to floating point data at terabyte scales, with the ability to precisely adjust image settings in real-time. The proposed clients are light-weight, platform-independent web applications built on standard HTML5 web technologies and compatible with both touch and mouse-based devices. We put the system to the test and assess the performance of the system and show that a single server can comfortably handle more than a hundred simultaneous users accessing full precision 32 bit astronomy data.

Gynecologic electrical impedance tomograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korjenevsky, A.; Cherepenin, V.; Trokhanova, O.; Tuykin, T.

2010-04-01

Electrical impedance tomography extends to the new and new areas of the medical diagnostics: lungs, breast, prostate, etc. The feedback from the doctors who use our breast EIT diagnostic system has induced us to develop the 3D electrical impedance imaging device for diagnostics of the cervix of the uterus - gynecologic impedance tomograph (GIT). The device uses the same measuring approach as the breast imaging system: 2D flat array of the electrodes arranged on the probe with handle is placed against the body. Each of the 32 electrodes of the array is connected in turn to the current source while the rest electrodes acquire the potentials on the surface. The current flows through the electrode of the array and returns through the remote electrode placed on the patient's limb. The voltages are measured relative to another remote electrode. The 3D backprojection along equipotential surfaces is used to reconstruct conductivity distribution up to approximately 1 cm in depth. Small number of electrodes enables us to implement real time imaging with a few frames per sec. rate. The device is under initial testing and evaluation of the imaging capabilities and suitability of usage.

Deriving aerosol parameters from in-situ spectrometer measurements for validation of remote sensing products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riedel, Sebastian; Janas, Joanna; Gege, Peter; Oppelt, Natascha

2017-10-01

Uncertainties of aerosol parameters are the limiting factor for atmospheric correction over inland and coastal waters. For validating remote sensing products from these optically complex and spatially inhomogeneous waters the spatial resolution of automated sun photometer networks like AERONET is too coarse and additional measurements on the test site are required. We have developed a method which allows the derivation of aerosol parameters from measurements with any spectrometer with suitable spectral range and resolution. This method uses a pair of downwelling irradiance and sky radiance measurements for the extraction of the turbidity coefficient and aerosol Ångström exponent. The data can be acquired fast and reliable at almost any place during a wide range of weather conditions. A comparison to aerosol parameters measured with a Cimel sun photometer provided by AERONET shows a reasonable agreement for the Ångström exponent. The turbidity coefficient did not agree well with AERONET values due to fit ambiguities, indicating that future research should focus on methods to handle parameter correlations within the underlying model.

A model of the 1.6 GHz scatterometer. [performance of airborne scatterometer used as microwave remote sensor of soil moisture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, J. R.

1977-01-01

The performance was studied of the 1.6 GHz airborne scatterometer system which is used as one of several Johnson Space Center (JSC) microwave remote sensors to detect moisture content of soil. The system is analyzed with respect to its antenna pattern and coupling, the signal flow in the receiver data channels, and the errors in the signal outputs. The operational principle and the sensitivity of the system, as well as data handling are also described. The finite cross-polarized gains of all four 1.6 GHz scatterometer antennae are found to have profound influence on the cross-polarized backscattered signal returns. If these signals are not analyzed properly, large errors could result in the estimate of the cross-polarized coefficient. It is also found necessary to make corrections to the variations of the aircraft parameters during data reduction in order to minimize the error in the coefficient estimate. Finally, a few recommendations are made to improve the overall performance of the scatterometer system.

Developments for the Automation and Remote Control of the Radio Telescopes of the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neidhardt, Alexander; Schönberger, Matthias; Plötz, Christian; Kronschnabl, Gerhard

2014-12-01

VGOS is a challenge for all fields of a new radio telescope. For the future software and hardware control mechanisms, it also requires new developments and solutions. More experiments, more data, high-speed data transfers through the Internet, and a real-time monitoring of current system status information must be handled. Additionally, an optimization of the observation shifts is required to reduce work load and costs. Within the framework of the development of the new 13.2-m Twin radio Telescopes Wettzell (TTW) and in combination with upgrades of the 20-m Radio Telescope Wettzell (RTW), some new technical realizations are under development and testing. Besides the activities for the realization of remote control, mainly supported during the project ``Novel EXploration Pushing Robust e-VLBI Services (NEXPReS)'' of the European VLBI Network (EVN), autonomous, automated, and unattended observations are also planned. A basic infrastructure should enable these, e.g., independent monitoring and security systems or additional, local high-speed transfer networks to ship data directly from a telescope to the main control room.

Integrating Time-Synchronized Video with Other Geospatial and Temporal Data for Remote Science Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, Tamar E.; Lees, David S.; Deans, Matthew C.; Lim, Darlene S. S.; Lee, Yeon Jin Grace

2018-01-01

Exploration Ground Data Systems (xGDS) supports rapid scientific decision making by synchronizing video in context with map, instrument data visualization, geo-located notes and any other collected data. xGDS is an open source web-based software suite developed at NASA Ames Research Center to support remote science operations in analog missions and prototype solutions for remote planetary exploration. (See Appendix B) Typical video systems are designed to play or stream video only, independent of other data collected in the context of the video. Providing customizable displays for monitoring live video and data as well as replaying recorded video and data helps end users build up a rich situational awareness. xGDS was designed to support remote field exploration with unreliable networks. Commercial digital recording systems operate under the assumption that there is a stable and reliable network between the source of the video and the recording system. In many field deployments and space exploration scenarios, this is not the case - there are both anticipated and unexpected network losses. xGDS' Video Module handles these interruptions, storing the available video, organizing and characterizing the dropouts, and presenting the video for streaming or replay to the end user including visualization of the dropouts. Scientific instruments often require custom or expensive software to analyze and visualize collected data. This limits the speed at which the data can be visualized and limits access to the data to those users with the software. xGDS' Instrument Module integrates with instruments that collect and broadcast data in a single snapshot or that continually collect and broadcast a stream of data. While seeing a visualization of collected instrument data is informative, showing the context for the collected data, other data collected nearby along with events indicating current status helps remote science teams build a better understanding of the environment. Further, sharing geo-located, tagged notes recorded by the scientists and others on the team spurs deeper analysis of the data.

Information mining in remote sensing imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiang

The volume of remotely sensed imagery continues to grow at an enormous rate due to the advances in sensor technology, and our capability for collecting and storing images has greatly outpaced our ability to analyze and retrieve information from the images. This motivates us to develop image information mining techniques, which is very much an interdisciplinary endeavor drawing upon expertise in image processing, databases, information retrieval, machine learning, and software design. This dissertation proposes and implements an extensive remote sensing image information mining (ReSIM) system prototype for mining useful information implicitly stored in remote sensing imagery. The system consists of three modules: image processing subsystem, database subsystem, and visualization and graphical user interface (GUI) subsystem. Land cover and land use (LCLU) information corresponding to spectral characteristics is identified by supervised classification based on support vector machines (SVM) with automatic model selection, while textural features that characterize spatial information are extracted using Gabor wavelet coefficients. Within LCLU categories, textural features are clustered using an optimized k-means clustering approach to acquire search efficient space. The clusters are stored in an object-oriented database (OODB) with associated images indexed in an image database (IDB). A k-nearest neighbor search is performed using a query-by-example (QBE) approach. Furthermore, an automatic parametric contour tracing algorithm and an O(n) time piecewise linear polygonal approximation (PLPA) algorithm are developed for shape information mining of interesting objects within the image. A fuzzy object-oriented database based on the fuzzy object-oriented data (FOOD) model is developed to handle the fuzziness and uncertainty. Three specific applications are presented: integrated land cover and texture pattern mining, shape information mining for change detection of lakes, and fuzzy normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) pattern mining. The study results show the effectiveness of the proposed system prototype and the potentials for other applications in remote sensing.

Contrasting seasonality in optical-biogeochemical properties of the Baltic Sea

PubMed Central

Ylöstalo, Pasi; Kallio, Kari Y.; Spilling, Kristian; Kutser, Tiit

2017-01-01

Optical-biogeochemical relationships of particulate and dissolved organic matter are presented in support of remote sensing of the Baltic Sea pelagic. This system exhibits strong seasonality in phytoplankton community composition and wide gradients of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), properties which are poorly handled by existing remote sensing algorithms. Absorption and scattering properties of particulate matter reflected the seasonality in biological (phytoplankton succession) and physical (thermal stratification) processes. Inherent optical properties showed much wider variability when normalized to the chlorophyll-a concentration compared to normalization to either total suspended matter dry weight or particulate organic carbon. The particle population had the largest optical variability in summer and was dominated by organic matter in both seasons. The geographic variability of CDOM and relationships with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) are also presented. CDOM dominated light absorption at blue wavelengths, contributing 81% (median) of the absorption by all water constituents at 400 nm and 63% at 442 nm. Consequentially, 90% of water-leaving radiance at 412 nm originated from a layer (z90) no deeper than approximately 1.0 m. With water increasingly attenuating light at longer wavelengths, a green peak in light penetration and reflectance is always present in these waters, with z90 up to 3.0–3.5 m depth, whereas z90 only exceeds 5 m at biomass < 5 mg Chla m-3. High absorption combined with a weakly scattering particle population (despite median phytoplankton biomass of 14.1 and 4.3 mg Chla m-3 in spring and summer samples, respectively), characterize this sea as a dark water body for which dedicated or exceptionally robust remote sensing techniques are required. Seasonal and regional optical-biogeochemical models, data distributions, and an extensive set of simulated remote-sensing reflectance spectra for testing of remote sensing algorithms are provided as supplementary data. PMID:28384157

RH-TRU Waste Inventory Characterization by AK and Proposed WIPP RH-TRU Waste Characterization Objectives

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Most, W. A.; Kehrman, R.; Gist, C.

2002-02-26

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) has developed draft documentation to present the proposed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) remote-handled (RH-) transuranic (TRU) waste characterization program to its regulators, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department. Compliance with Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Parts 191 and 194; the WIPP Land Withdrawal Act (PL 102-579); and the WIPP Hazardous Waste Facility Permit, as well as the Certificates of Compliance for the 72-B and 10-160B Casks, requires that specific waste parameter limits be imposed on DOE sites disposing of TRU waste at WIPP. Themore » DOE-CBFO must control the sites' compliance with the limits by specifying allowable characterization methods. As with the established WIPP contact handled TRU waste characterization program, the DOE-CBFO has proposed a Remote-Handled TRU Waste Acceptance Criteria (RH-WAC) document consolidating the requirements from various regulatory drivers and proposed allowable characterization methods. These criteria are consistent with the recommendation of a recent National Academy Sciences/National Research Council to develop an RH-TRU waste characterization approach that removes current self imposed requirements that lack a legal or safety basis. As proposed in the draft RH-WAC and other preliminary documents, the DOE-CBFO RH-TRU waste characterization program proposes the use of acceptable knowledge (AK) as the primary method for obtaining required characterization information. The use of AK involves applying knowledge of the waste in light of the materials or processes used to generate the waste. Documentation, records, or processes providing information about various attributes of a waste stream, such as chemical, physical, and radiological properties, may be used as AK and may be applied to individual waste containers either independently or in conjunction with radiography, visual examination, assay, and other sampling and analytical data. RH-TRU waste cannot be shipped to WIPP on the basis of AK alone if documentation demonstrating that all of the prescribed limits in the RH-WAC are met is not available, discrepancies exist among AK source documents describing the same waste stream and the most conservative assumptions regarding those documents indicates that a limit will not be met, or all required data are not available for a given waste stream.« less

Wireless Sensor Network Handles Image Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

To relay data from remote locations for NASA s Earth sciences research, Goddard Space Flight Center contributed to the development of "microservers" (wireless sensor network nodes), which are now used commercially as a quick and affordable means to capture and distribute geographical information, including rich sets of aerial and street-level imagery. NASA began this work out of a necessity for real-time recovery of remote sensor data. These microservers work much like a wireless office network, relaying information between devices. The key difference, however, is that instead of linking workstations within one office, the interconnected microservers operate miles away from one another. This attribute traces back to the technology s original use: The microservers were originally designed for seismology on remote glaciers and ice streams in Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica-acquiring, storing, and relaying data wirelessly between ground sensors. The microservers boast three key attributes. First, a researcher in the field can establish a "managed network" of microservers and rapidly see the data streams (recovered wirelessly) on a field computer. This rapid feedback permits the researcher to reconfigure the network for different purposes over the course of a field campaign. Second, through careful power management, the microservers can dwell unsupervised in the field for up to 2 years, collecting tremendous amounts of data at a research location. The third attribute is the exciting potential to deploy a microserver network that works in synchrony with robotic explorers (e.g., providing ground truth validation for satellites, supporting rovers as they traverse the local environment). Managed networks of remote microservers that relay data unsupervised for up to 2 years can drastically reduce the costs of field instrumentation and data rec

The systems biology of uric acid transporters: the role of remote sensing and signaling.

PubMed

Nigam, Sanjay K; Bhatnagar, Vibha

2018-07-01

Uric acid homeostasis in the body is mediated by a number of SLC and ABC transporters in the kidney and intestine, including several multispecific 'drug' transporters (e.g., OAT1, OAT3, and ABCG2). Optimization of uric acid levels can be viewed as a 'systems biology' problem. Here, we consider uric acid transporters from a systems physiology perspective using the framework of the 'Remote Sensing and Signaling Hypothesis.' This hypothesis explains how SLC and ABC 'drug' and other transporters mediate interorgan and interorganismal communication (e.g., gut microbiome and host) via small molecules (e.g., metabolites, antioxidants signaling molecules) through transporters expressed in tissues lining body fluid compartments (e.g., blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid). The list of uric acid transporters includes: SLC2A9, ABCG2, URAT1 (SLC22A12), OAT1 (SLC22A6), OAT3 (SLC22A8), OAT4 (SLC22A11), OAT10 (SLC22A13), NPT1 (SLC17A1), NPT4 (SLC17A3), MRP2 (ABCC2), MRP4 (ABCC4). Normally, SLC2A9, - along with URAT1, OAT1 and OAT3, - appear to be the main transporters regulating renal urate handling, while ABCG2 appears to regulate intestinal transport. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), intestinal ABCG2 becomes much more important, suggesting remote organ communication between the injured kidney and the intestine. The remote sensing and signaling hypothesis provides a useful systems-level framework for understanding the complex interplay of uric acid transporters expressed in different tissues involved in optimizing uric acid levels under normal and diseased (e.g., CKD, gut microflora dysbiosis) conditions.

Designing A Robust Command, Communications and Data Acquisition System For Autonomous Sensor Platforms Using The Data Transport Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentic, T. A.

2012-12-01

The Data Transport Network is designed for the delivery of data from scientific instruments located at remote field sites with limited or unreliable communications. Originally deployed at the Sondrestrom Research Facility in Greenland over a decade ago, the system supports the real-time collection and processing of data from large instruments such as incoherent scatter radars and lidars. In recent years, the Data Transport Network has been adapted to small, low-power embedded systems controlling remote instrumentation platforms deployed throughout the Arctic. These projects include multiple buoys from the O-Buoy, IceLander and IceGoat programs, renewable energy monitoring at the Imnavait Creek and Ivotuk field sites in Alaska and remote weather observation stations in Alaska and Greenland. This presentation will discuss the common communications controller developed for these projects. Although varied in their application, each of these systems share a number of common features. Multiple instruments are attached, each of which needs to be power controlled, data sampled and files transmitted offsite. In addition, the power usage of the overall system must be minimized to handle the limited energy available from sources such as solar, wind and fuel cells. The communications links are satellite based. The buoys and weather stations utilize Iridium, necessitating the need to handle the common drop outs and high-latency, low-bandwidth nature of the link. The communications controller is an off-the-shelf, low-power, single board computer running a customized version of the Linux operating system. The Data Transport Network provides a Python-based software framework for writing individual data collection programs and supplies a number of common services for configuration, scheduling, logging, data transmission and resource management. Adding a new instrument involves writing only the necessary code for interfacing to the hardware. Individual programs communicate with the system services using XML-RPC. The scheduling algorithms have access the current position and power levels, allowing for instruments such as cameras to only be run during daylight hours or when sufficient power is available. The resource manager monitors the use of common devices such as the USB bus or Ethernet ports, and can power them down when they are not being used. This management lets us drop the power consumption from an average of 1W to 250mW.

A study of airborne chrysotile concentrations associated with handling, unpacking, and repacking boxes of automobile clutch discs.

PubMed

Jiang, George C T; Madl, Amy K; Ingmundson, Kelsey J; Murbach, Dana M; Fehling, Kurt A; Paustenbach, Dennis J; Finley, Brent L

2008-06-01

Although automotive friction products (brakes and manual clutches) historically contained chrysotile asbestos, industrial hygiene surveys and epidemiologic studies of auto mechanics have consistently shown that these workers are not at an increased risk of developing asbestos-related diseases. Airborne asbestos levels during brake repair and brake parts handling have been well-characterized, but the potential exposure to airborne asbestos fibers during the handling of clutch parts has not been examined. In this study, breathing zone samples on the lapel of a volunteer worker (n=100) and area samples at bystander (n=50), remote area (n=25), and ambient (n=9) locations collected during the stacking, unpacking, and repacking of boxes of asbestos-containing clutches, and the subsequent cleanup and clothes handling, were analyzed by phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, fiber morphology and size distribution was evaluated using X-ray diffraction, polarized light microscopy, and ISO analytical methods. It was observed that the (1) airborne asbestos concentrations increased with the number of boxes unpacked and repacked, (2) repetitive stacking of unopened boxes of clutches resulted in higher asbestos concentrations than unpacking and repacking the boxes of clutches, (3) cleanup and clothes handling tasks yielded very low asbestos concentrations. Fiber size and morphology analyses showed that amphibole fibers were not detected in the clutches and that the vast majority (>95%) of the airborne chrysotile fibers were less than 20 microm in length. Applying the ratio of asbestos fibers:total fibers (including non-asbestos) as determined by TEM to the PCM results, it was found that 30-min average airborne chrysotile concentrations (PCM adjusted) were 0.026+/-0.004 f/cc or 0.100+/-0.017 f/cc for a worker unpacking and repacking 1 or 2 boxes of clutches, respectively. The 30-min PCM adjusted average airborne asbestos concentrations at bystander locations ranged from 0.002+/-0.001 f/cc and 0.004+/-0.002 f/cc when 1 or 2 boxes of clutches were handled, respectively. Estimated 8-h TWA asbestos exposures for a worker handling 1 or 2 boxes of clutches over a workday ranged from 0.002 to 0.006 f/cc. The 30-min PCM adjusted average airborne asbestos concentration for a worker continuously stacking unopened boxes of clutches was 0.212+/-0.014 f/cc; the 8-h TWA was 0.013 f/cc. Additionally, 30-min PCM adjusted average airborne asbestos concentrations following cleanup and clothing handling were 0.002+/-0.001 f/cc and 0.002+/-0.002 f/cc, respectively, both resulting in estimated 8-h TWA asbestos exposures of 0.0001 f/cc. The results of this study indicate that the handling, unpacking, and repacking of clutches, and the subsequent cleanup and clothes handling by a worker within a short-term period or over the entire workday, result in exposures below the historical and current short-term and 8-h occupational exposure limits for asbestos.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simmons, F.; Kuntamukkula, M.; Alnajjar, M.

Pyrophoric reagents represent an important class of reactants because they can participate in many different types of reactions. They are very useful in organic synthesis and in industrial applications. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) define Pyrophorics as substances that will self-ignite in air at temperatures of 130 F (54.4 C) or less. However, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) uses criteria different from the auto-ignition temperature criterion. The DOT defines a pyrophoric material as a liquid or solid that, even in small quantities and without an external ignition source, can ignitemore » within five minutes after coming in contact with air when tested according to the United Nations Manual of Tests and Criteria. The Environmental Protection Agency has adopted the DOT definition. Regardless of which definition is used, oxidation of the pyrophoric reagents by oxygen or exothermic reactions with moisture in the air (resulting in the generation of a flammable gas such as hydrogen) is so rapid that ignition occurs spontaneously. Due to the inherent nature of pyrophoric substances to ignite spontaneously upon exposure to air, special precautions must be taken to ensure their safe handling and use. Pyrophoric gases (such as diborane, dichloroborane, phosphine, etc.) are typically the easiest class of pyrophoric substances to handle since the gas can be plumbed directly to the application and used remotely. Pyrophoric solids and liquids, however, require the user to physically manipulate them when transferring them from one container to another. Failure to follow proper safety precautions could result in serious injury or unintended consequences to laboratory personnel. Because of this danger, pyrophorics should be handled only by experienced personnel. Users with limited experience must be trained on how to handle pyrophoric reagents and consult with a knowledgeable staff member prior to performing the experimental task. The purpose of this article is three fold: (1) to provide guidelines and general safety precautions to avoid accidents, (2) describe proper techniques on how to successfully handle, store, and dispose of pyrophoric liquids and solids, and (3) illustrate best practices for working with this class of reactants in a laboratory environment.« less

Processing techniques for digital sonar images from GLORIA.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chavez, P.S.

1986-01-01

Image processing techniques have been developed to handle data from one of the newest members of the remote sensing family of digital imaging systems. This paper discusses software to process data collected by the GLORIA (Geological Long Range Inclined Asdic) sonar imaging system, designed and built by the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS) in England, to correct for both geometric and radiometric distortions that exist in the original 'raw' data. Preprocessing algorithms that are GLORIA-specific include corrections for slant-range geometry, water column offset, aspect ratio distortion, changes in the ship's velocity, speckle noise, and shading problems caused by the power drop-off which occurs as a function of range.-from Author

Advanced Communication Architectures and Technologies for Missions to the Outer Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhasin, K.; Hayden, J. L.

2001-01-01

Missions to the outer planets would be considerably enhanced by the implementation of a future space communication infrastructure that utilizes relay stations placed at strategic locations in the solar system. These relay stations would operate autonomously and handle remote mission command and data traffic on a prioritized demand access basis. Such a system would enhance communications from that of the current direct communications between the planet and Earth. The system would also provide high rate data communications to outer planet missions, clear communications paths during times when the sun occults the mission spacecraft as viewed from Earth, and navigational "lighthouses" for missions utilizing onboard autonomous operations. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

An Approach to Integrate a Space-Time GIS Data Model with High Performance Computers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Dali; Zhao, Ziliang; Shaw, Shih-Lung

2011-01-01

In this paper, we describe an approach to integrate a Space-Time GIS data model on a high performance computing platform. The Space-Time GIS data model has been developed on a desktop computing environment. We use the Space-Time GIS data model to generate GIS module, which organizes a series of remote sensing data. We are in the process of porting the GIS module into an HPC environment, in which the GIS modules handle large dataset directly via parallel file system. Although it is an ongoing project, authors hope this effort can inspire further discussions on the integration of GIS on highmore » performance computing platforms.« less

ED15-0104-78

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-04-09

The X-56A Multi-Utility Technology Testbed (MUTT) is greeted on an Edwards Air Force Base runway by a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) team member. NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center and the AFRL, along with participants from Langley Research Center and Glenn Research Center, and support from Lockheed Martin, are using the second X-56A (dubbed “Buckeye”) to check out aircraft systems, evaluate handling qualities, characterize and expand the airplane’s performance envelope, and verify pre-flight predictions regarding aircraft behavior. The 20-minute flight marked the beginning of a research effort designed to yield significant advances in aeroservoelastic technology using a low-cost, modular, remotely piloted aerial vehicle.

Evaluation of the Likelihood for Thermal Runaway for Nitrate Salt Containers in Storage at Los Alamos National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heatwole, Eric Mann; Gunderson, Jake Alfred; Parker, Gary Robert

2016-03-25

In order to handle and process the existing Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Nitrate Salt drums it is necessary to quantify the risk. One of the most obvious dangers is a repeat of the original violent reaction (2015), which would endanger nearby workers, not only with radioactive contamination, but also with large amounts of heat, dangerous corrosive gases and the physical dangers associated with a bursting drum. If there still existed a high probability of violent reaction, then these drums should only be accessed remotely. The objective of the work reported herein is to determine the likelihood of a similarmore » violent event occurring.« less

Gas Fuelling System for SST-1Tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhanani, Kalpesh; Raval, D. C.; Khan, Ziauddin; Semwal, Pratibha; George, Siju; Paravastu, Yuvakiran; Thankey, Prashant; Khan, M. S.; Pradhan, Subrata

2017-04-01

SST-1 Tokamak, the first Indian Steady-state Superconducting experimental device is at present under operation in the Institute for Plasma Research. For plasma break down & initiation, piezoelectric valve based gas feed system is implemented as a primary requirement due to its precise control, easy handling, low construction and maintenance cost and its flexibility in the selection of the working gas. Hydrogen gas feeding with piezoelectric valve is used in the SST-1 plasma experiments. The piezoelectric valves used in SST-1 are remotely driven by a PXI based platform and are calibrated before each SST-1 plasma operation with precise control. This paper will present the technical development and the results of the gas fuelling system of SST-1.

Some practical aspects of lossless and nearly-lossless compression of AVHRR imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hogan, David B.; Miller, Chris X.; Christensen, Than Lee; Moorti, Raj

1994-01-01

Compression of Advanced Very high Resolution Radiometers (AVHRR) imagery operating in a lossless or nearly-lossless mode is evaluated. Several practical issues are analyzed including: variability of compression over time and among channels, rate-smoothing buffer size, multi-spectral preprocessing of data, day/night handling, and impact on key operational data applications. This analysis is based on a DPCM algorithm employing the Universal Noiseless Coder, which is a candidate for inclusion in many future remote sensing systems. It is shown that compression rates of about 2:1 (daytime) can be achieved with modest buffer sizes (less than or equal to 2.5 Mbytes) and a relatively simple multi-spectral preprocessing step.

The Business Case for Fuel Cells: Delivering Sustainable Value

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curtin, Sandra; Gangi, Jennifer

This report, written and compiled by Argonne National Laboratory and the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association with support from the Fuel Cell Technologies Office, provides an overview of private sector fuel cell installations at U.S. businesses as of December 31, 2016. Over the past few decades, hundreds of thousands of fuel cells have been installed around the world, for primary or backup power, as well as in various other applications including portable and emergency backup power. Fuel cells have also been deployed in other applications such as heat and electricity for homes and apartments, material handling, passenger vehicles, buses,more » and remote, off-grid sites.« less

Space robotic experiment in JEM flight demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nagatomo, Masanori; Tanaka, Masaki; Nakamura, Kazuyuki; Tsuda, Shinichi

1994-01-01

Japan is collaborating on the multinational space station program. The JEM, Japanese Experiment Module, has both a pressurized module and an Exposed Facility (EF). JEM Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS) will play a dominant role in handling/servicing payloads and the maintenance of the EF, and consists of two robotic arms, a main arm and a small fine arm. JEM Flight Demonstration (JFD) is a space robotics experiment using the prototype small fine arm to demonstrate its capability, prior to the Space Station operation. The small fine arm will be installed in the Space Shuttle cargo bay and operated by a crew from a dedicated workstation in the Aft Flight Deck of the orbiter.

Consolidation of long-term memory: evidence and alternatives.

PubMed

Meeter, Martijn; Murre, Jaap M J

2004-11-01

Memory loss in retrograde amnesia has long been held to be larger for recent periods than for remote periods, a pattern usually referred to as the Ribot gradient. One explanation for this gradient is consolidation of long-term memories. Several computational models of such a process have shown how consolidation can explain characteristics of amnesia, but they have not elucidated how consolidation must be envisaged. Here findings are reviewed that shed light on how consolidation may be implemented in the brain. Moreover, consolidation is contrasted with alternative theories of the Ribot gradient. Consolidation theory, multiple trace theory, and semantization can all handle some findings well but not others. Conclusive evidence for or against consolidation thus remains to be found.

Evaluation of COSTAR mass handling characteristics in an environment. A simulation of the Hubble Space Telescope service mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rajulu, Sudhakar L.; Klute, Glenn K.; Fletcher, Lauren

1994-01-01

The STS-61 Shuttle mission, which took place in December 1993, was solely aimed at servicing the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Successful completion of this mission was critical to NASA since it was necessary to rectify a flaw in the HST mirror. In addition, NASA had never scheduled a mission with such a high quantity of complex extravehicular activity. To meet the challenge of this mission, the STS-61 crew trained extensively in the Weightless Environment Test Facility at the Johnson Space Center and in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Marshall Space Flight Center. However, it was suspected that neutral buoyancy training might induce negative training by virtue of the viscous damping effect present in water. The mockups built for this training also did not have the mass properties of the actual orbital replacement units (ORUs). It was felt that the crew should be further trained on mockups with similar mass characteristics. A comprehensive study was designed to address these issues. The study was quantitative, and instrumentation was set up to measure and quantify the forces and moments experienced during ORU mass handling and remote manipulator system run conditions.

Toward a virtual reconstruction of an antique three-dimensional marble puzzle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benamar, Fatima Zahra; Fauvet, Eric; Hostein, Antony; Laligant, Olivier; Truchetet, Frederic

2017-01-01

The reconstruction of broken objects is an important field of research for many applications, such as art restoration, surgery, forensics, and solving puzzles. In archaeology, the reconstruction of broken artifacts is a very time-consuming task due to the handling of fractured objects, which are generally fragile. However, it can now be supported by three-dimensional (3-D) data acquisition devices and computer processing. Those techniques are very useful in this domain because they allow the remote handling of very accurate models of fragile parts, they permit the extensive testing of reconstruction solutions, and they provide access to the parts for the entire research community. An interesting problem has recently been proposed by archaeologists in the form of a huge puzzle composed of a thousand fragments of Pentelic marble of different sizes found in Autun (France), and all attempts to reconstruct the puzzle during the last two centuries have failed. Archaeologists are sure that some fragments are missing and that some of the ones we have come from different slabs. We propose an inexpensive transportable system for 3-D acquisition setup and a 3-D reconstruction method that is applied to this Roman inscription but is also relevant to other applications.

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision.

PubMed

Urbano, Ferdinando; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calenge, Clément; Dettki, Holger; Cameron, Alison; Neteler, Markus

2010-07-27

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling.

High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filter Generation, Characterization, and Disposal Experiences at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coffey, D. E.

2002-02-28

High Efficiency Particulate Air filtration is an essential component of the containment and ventilation systems supporting the research and development activities at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. High Efficiency Particulate Air filters range in size from 7.6cm (3 inch) by 10.2 cm (4 inch) cylindrical shape filters to filter array assemblies up to 2.1 m (7 feet) high by 1.5 m (5 feet) wide. Spent filters are grouped by contaminates trapped in the filter media and become one of the components in the respective waste stream. Waste minimization and pollution prevention efforts are applied for both radiological and non-radiological applications.more » Radiological applications include laboratory hoods, glove boxes, and hot cells. High Efficiency Particulate Air filters also are generated from intake or pre-filtering applications, decontamination activities, and asbestos abatement applications. The disposal avenues include sanitary/industrial waste, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Toxic Substance Control Act, regulated waste, solid low-level waste, contact handled transuranic, and remote handled transuranic waste. This paper discusses characterization and operational experiences associated with the disposal of the spent filters across multiple applications.« less

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision

PubMed Central

Urbano, Ferdinando; Cagnacci, Francesca; Calenge, Clément; Dettki, Holger; Cameron, Alison; Neteler, Markus

2010-01-01

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling. PMID:20566495

A high reliability battery management system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moody, M. H.

1986-01-01

Over a period of some 5 years Canadian Astronautics Limited (CAL) has developed a system to autonomously manage, and thus prolong the life of, secondary storage batteries. During the development, the system was aimed at the space vehicle application using nickel cadmium batteries, but is expected to be able to enhance the life and performance of any rechargeable electrochemical couple. The system handles the cells of a battery individually and thus avoids the problems of over, and under, drive that inevitably occur in a battery of cells managed by an averaging system. This individual handling also allow cells to be totally bypassed in the event of failure, thus avoiding the losses associated with low capacity, partial short circuit, and the catastrophe of open circuit. The system has an optional capability of managing redundant batteries simultaneously, adding the advantage of on line reconditioning of one battery, while the other maintains the energy storage capability of the overall system. As developed, the system contains a dedicated, redundant, microprocessor, but the capability exists to have this computing capability time shared, or remote, and operating through a data link. As adjuncts to the basic management system CAL has developed high efficiency, polyphase, power regulators for charge and discharge power conditioning.

[Surgical robotics, short state of the art and prospects].

PubMed

Gravez, P

2003-11-01

State-of-the-art robotized systems developed for surgery are either remotely controlled manipulators that duplicate gestures made by the surgeon (endoscopic surgery applications), or automated robots that execute trajectories defined relatively to pre-operative medical imaging (neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery). This generation of systems primarily applies existing robotics technologies (the remote handling systems and the so-called "industrial robots") to current surgical practices. It has contributed to validate the huge potential of surgical robotics, but it suffers from several drawbacks, mainly high costs, excessive dimensions and some lack of user-friendliness. Nevertheless, technological progress let us anticipate the appearance in the near future of miniaturised surgical robots able to assist the gesture of the surgeon and to enhance his perception of the operation at hand. Due to many in-the-body articulated links, these systems will have the capability to perform complex minimally invasive gestures without obstructing the operating theatre. They will also combine the facility of manual piloting with the accuracy and increased safety of computer control, guiding the gestures of the human without offending to his freedom of action. Lastly, they will allow the surgeon to feel the mechanical properties of the tissues he is operating through a genuine "remote palpation" function. Most probably, such technological evolutions will lead the way to redesigned surgical procedures taking place inside new operating rooms featuring a better integration of all equipments and favouring cooperative work from multidisciplinary and sometimes geographically distributed medical staff.

Remote volume rendering pipeline for mHealth applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gutenko, Ievgeniia; Petkov, Kaloian; Papadopoulos, Charilaos; Zhao, Xin; Park, Ji Hwan; Kaufman, Arie; Cha, Ronald

2014-03-01

We introduce a novel remote volume rendering pipeline for medical visualization targeted for mHealth (mobile health) applications. The necessity of such a pipeline stems from the large size of the medical imaging data produced by current CT and MRI scanners with respect to the complexity of the volumetric rendering algorithms. For example, the resolution of typical CT Angiography (CTA) data easily reaches 512^3 voxels and can exceed 6 gigabytes in size by spanning over the time domain while capturing a beating heart. This explosion in data size makes data transfers to mobile devices challenging, and even when the transfer problem is resolved the rendering performance of the device still remains a bottleneck. To deal with this issue, we propose a thin-client architecture, where the entirety of the data resides on a remote server where the image is rendered and then streamed to the client mobile device. We utilize the display and interaction capabilities of the mobile device, while performing interactive volume rendering on a server capable of handling large datasets. Specifically, upon user interaction the volume is rendered on the server and encoded into an H.264 video stream. H.264 is ubiquitously hardware accelerated, resulting in faster compression and lower power requirements. The choice of low-latency CPU- and GPU-based encoders is particularly important in enabling the interactive nature of our system. We demonstrate a prototype of our framework using various medical datasets on commodity tablet devices.

Antennas Lower Cost of Satellite Access

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2009-01-01

Whether for scientific inquiry, weather forecasting, or public safety, the world relies upon the data gathered by satellite remote sensing. Some of NASA s most valuable work is in its remote sensing capabilities - the ability to retrieve data acquired at great distances - affording a height and scope not available from the ground. NASA satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) monitor ocean health by taking large-scale pictures of phytoplankton blooms and measuring surface temperatures; snap photographs of full hurricanes from above, teaching researchers about how these giant storms form; and capture images of cloud formation and air pollution, all allowing researchers to further develop understanding of the planet s health. NASA remote sensing satellites also monitor shifts in the Earth s crust, analyze wind patterns around the world to develop efficient wind energy, help people around the world recover from natural disasters, and monitor diminishing sea ice levels. Just as researchers are more heavily relying on this data from space to conduct their work, the instruments carried on satellites are getting more sophisticated and capable of capturing increasingly complex and accurate measurements. The satellites are covering larger areas, from farther away, and generating more and more valuable data. The ground-based receivers for this wealth of satellite data have grown increasingly capable of handling greater bandwidth and higher power levels. They have also become less expensive, through a NASA research partnership, with the creation of a high-rate X-band data receiver system that is now in widespread use around the globe.

Using a crowdsourced approach for monitoring water level in a remote Kenyan catchment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weeser, Björn; Jacobs, Suzanne; Rufino, Mariana; Breuer, Lutz

2017-04-01

Hydrological models or effective water management strategies only succeed if they are based on reliable data. Decreasing costs of technical equipment lower the barrier to create comprehensive monitoring networks and allow both spatial and temporal high-resolution measurements. However, these networks depend on specialised equipment, supervision, and maintenance producing high running expenses. This becomes particularly challenging for remote areas. Low income countries often do not have the capacity to run such networks. Delegating simple measurements to citizens living close to relevant monitoring points may reduce costs and increase the public awareness. Here we present our experiences of using a crowdsourced approach for monitoring water levels in remote catchments in Kenya. We established a low-cost system consisting of thirteen simple water level gauges and a Raspberry Pi based SMS-Server for data handling. Volunteers determine the water level and transmit their records using a simple text message. These messages are automatically processed and real-time feedback on the data quality is given. During the first year, more than 1200 valid records with high quality have been collected. In summary, the simple techniques for data collecting, transmitting and processing created an open platform that has the potential for reaching volunteers without the need for special equipment. Even though the temporal resolution of measurements cannot be controlled and peak flows might be missed, this data can still be considered as a valuable enhancement for developing management strategies or for hydrological modelling.

Robotic long-distance telementoring in neurosurgery.

PubMed

Mendez, Ivar; Hill, Ron; Clarke, David; Kolyvas, George; Walling, Simon

2005-03-01

To test the feasibility of long-distance telementoring in neurosurgery by providing subspecialized expertise in real time to another neurosurgeon performing a surgical procedure in a remote location. A robotic telecollaboration system (Socrates; Computer Motion, Inc., Santa Barbara, CA) capable of controlling the movements of a robotic arm, of handling two-way video, and of audio communication as well as transmission of neuronavigational data from the remote operating room was used for the telementoring procedures. Four integrated services digital network lines with a total speed of transmission of 512 kilobytes per second provided telecommunications between a large academic center (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and a community-based center (Saint John, New Brunswick) located 400 km away. Long-distance telementoring was used in three craniotomies for brain tumors, a craniotomy for an arteriovenous malformation, a carotid endarterectomy, and a lumbar laminectomy. There were no surgical complications during the procedures, and all patients had uneventful outcomes. The neurosurgeons in the remote location believed that the input from the mentors was useful in all of the cases and was crucial in the removal of a mesial temporal lobe glioma and resection of an occipital arteriovenous malformation. Our initial experience with long-distance robotic-assisted telementoring in six cases indicates that telementoring is feasible, reliable, and safe. Although still in its infancy, telementoring has the potential to improve surgical care, to enhance neurosurgical training, and to have a major impact on the delivery of neurosurgical services throughout the world.

Hyperspectral Image Classification for Land Cover Based on an Improved Interval Type-II Fuzzy C-Means Approach

PubMed Central

Li, Zhao-Liang

2018-01-01

Few studies have examined hyperspectral remote-sensing image classification with type-II fuzzy sets. This paper addresses image classification based on a hyperspectral remote-sensing technique using an improved interval type-II fuzzy c-means (IT2FCM*) approach. In this study, in contrast to other traditional fuzzy c-means-based approaches, the IT2FCM* algorithm considers the ranking of interval numbers and the spectral uncertainty. The classification results based on a hyperspectral dataset using the FCM, IT2FCM, and the proposed improved IT2FCM* algorithms show that the IT2FCM* method plays the best performance according to the clustering accuracy. In this paper, in order to validate and demonstrate the separability of the IT2FCM*, four type-I fuzzy validity indexes are employed, and a comparative analysis of these fuzzy validity indexes also applied in FCM and IT2FCM methods are made. These four indexes are also applied into different spatial and spectral resolution datasets to analyze the effects of spectral and spatial scaling factors on the separability of FCM, IT2FCM, and IT2FCM* methods. The results of these validity indexes from the hyperspectral datasets show that the improved IT2FCM* algorithm have the best values among these three algorithms in general. The results demonstrate that the IT2FCM* exhibits good performance in hyperspectral remote-sensing image classification because of its ability to handle hyperspectral uncertainty. PMID:29373548

Lessons Over a Decade of Writing About Scientific Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beitler, J.; Collins, S. R.; Naranjo, L.

2006-12-01

For eleven years, the NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) have sponsored writing about research and applications using NASA remote sensing data. The publication, NASA: Supporting Earth System Science, is premised on stimulating scientific curiosity and leading a broad audience carefully into the challenging puzzles that researchers address with the help of remote-sensing data. The National Snow and Ice Data Center, one of the NASA DAACs, has handled the challenge of telling these stories across multiple science disciplines, researching and writing ten to twelve articles each year. Our approach centers on quality science. We preserve its complexity, and attract and stimulate audience interest by placing scientific endeavor at center stage. We propose to share our experiences, successes, and strategies with others who are interested in telling stories that highlight the essential nature of data in the scientific enterprise. We have learned how to write engagingly about abstract, long-term research projects involving a lot of math and physics, in ways that appeal to both scientific and lay readers. We will also talk about the skills and resources that we consider necessary to write informative data stories. We welcome leads on scientific research topics that use NASA remote sensing data. Talk to us at the conference, or write us at nasadaacs@nsidc.org. View our eleventh annual publication as well as past stories online at http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/index.html, or stop by the NASA booth to pick up a color copy.

Meteorological contribution to the mitigation and adaptation of the 'extreme water events' of Hungarian Great Plain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunkel, Z.; Vincze, E.; Moring, A.

2012-04-01

The lack of water is a traditional problem of Hungarian agriculture. Two big rivers cross the territory of Hungary and times to times they produce huge floods. In the Carpathian basin a flood and a drought can occur in the same year. The general problem of Hungarian agriculture is the 'water' in two contexts, in lack of water and in surplus. Not only of the next year but of the next decades the basic question of the Hungarian planning is how the national economy can handle the increasing numbers of unexpected negative events of climate change because the growing numbers of sometimes catastrophic floods and droughts seems to be connected with global warming. Beside the 'normal floods' in the last few years the numbers of so called flash floods show increasing tendency too. The presentation summarises the 'extreme water events' of Hungarian Great Plain, and the forecast problems of Hungarian meteorology together with the National strategy in mitigation and adaptation in connection with climate change. From meteorological point of view the handling of flood and drought problem is totally different. In case of flood the stress is on the forecast, in case of drought mainly of the evaluation of the historical data mainly the short and long term evaluation of drought indices. Drought indices seem to be the simplest tools in drought analysis. The more or less well known and popular indices have been collected and compared not only with the well known simple but more complicated water balance and so called 'recursive' indices beside few ones use remotely sensed data, mainly satellite born information. The indices are classified into five groups, namely 'precipitation', 'water balance', 'soil moisture', 'recursive' and 'remote sensing' indices. For every group typical expressions are given and the possible use in the decision making and hazard risk evaluation and compensation of the farmers after the events. The meteorological elements of new Hungarian agricultural risk strategy will be shown.

Achieving Effective Risk Management Reduction Throughout Decommissioning at the Columbus Closure Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Anderson, K.D.

2006-07-01

Nuclear facility decontamination, dismantlement, and demolition activities provide a myriad of challenges along the path to reaching a safe, effective, and compliant decommissioning. Among the challenges faced during decommissioning, is the constant management and technical effort to eliminate, mitigate, or minimize the potential of risks of radiation exposures and other hazards to the worker, the surrounding community, and the environment. Management strategies to eliminate, mitigate, or minimize risks include incorporating strong safety and As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) principles into an integrated work planning process. Technical and operational strategies may include utilizing predictive risk analysis tools to establish contaminationmore » limits for demolition and using remote handling equipment to reduce occupational and radiation exposures to workers. ECC and E2 Closure Services, LLC (Closure Services) have effectively utilized these management and technical tools to eliminate, mitigate, and reduce radiation exposures under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the decontamination and decommissioning Columbus Closure Project (CCP). In particular, Closure Services achieved significant dose reduction during the dismantling, decontamination, and demolition activities for Building JN-1. Management strategies during the interior dismantlement, decontamination, and demolition of the facility demanded an integrated work planning processes that involved project disciplines. Integrated planning processes identified multiple opportunities to incorporate the use of remote handling equipment during the interior dismantling and demolition activities within areas of high radiation. Technical strategies employed predictive risk analysis tools to set upper bounding contamination limits, allowed for the radiological demolition of the building without exceeding administrative dose limits to the worker, general public, and the environment. Adhering to management and technical strategies during the dismantlement, decontamination, and demolition of Building JN-1 enabled Closure Services to achieve strong ALARA performance, maintain absolute compliance under the regulatory requirements and meeting licensing conditions for decommissioning. (authors)« less

Waste Generator Instructions: Key to Successful Implementation of the US DOE's 435.1 for Transuranic Waste Packaging Instructions (LA-UR-12-24155) - 13218

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

French, David M.; Hayes, Timothy A.; Pope, Howard L.

In times of continuing fiscal constraints, a management and operation tool that is straightforward to implement, works as advertised, and virtually ensures compliant waste packaging should be carefully considered and employed wherever practicable. In the near future, the Department of Energy (DOE) will issue the first major update to DOE Order 435.1, Radioactive Waste Management. This update will contain a requirement for sites that do not have a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) waste certification program to use two newly developed technical standards: Contact-Handled Defense Transuranic Waste Packaging Instructions and Remote-Handled Defense Transuranic Waste Packaging Instructions. The technical standards aremore » being developed from the DOE O 435.1 Notice, Contact-Handled and Remote-Handled Transuranic Waste Packaging, approved August 2011. The packaging instructions will provide detailed information and instruction for packaging almost every conceivable type of transuranic (TRU) waste for disposal at WIPP. While providing specificity, the packaging instructions leave to each site's own discretion the actual mechanics of how those Instructions will be functionally implemented at the floor level. While the Technical Standards are designed to provide precise information for compliant packaging, the density of the information in the packaging instructions necessitates a type of Rosetta Stone that translates the requirements into concise, clear, easy to use and operationally practical recipes that are waste stream and facility specific for use by both first line management and hands-on operations personnel. The Waste Generator Instructions provide the operator with step-by-step instructions that will integrate the sites' various operational requirements (e.g., health and safety limits, radiological limits or dose limits) and result in a WIPP certifiable waste and package that can be transported to and emplaced at WIPP. These little known but widely productive Waste Generator Instructions (WGIs) have been used occasionally in the past at large sites for treatment and packaging of TRU waste. The WGIs have resulted in highly efficient waste treatment, packaging and certification for disposal of TRU waste at WIPP. For example, a single WGI at LANL, combined with an increase in gram loading, resulted in a mind boggling 6,400% increase in waste loading for {sup 238}Pu heat source waste. In fact, the WGI combined with a new Contact Handled (CH) TRU Waste Content (TRUCON) Code provided a massive increase in shippable wattage per Transuranic Package Transporter-II (TRUPACT-II) over the previously used and more restrictive TRUCON Code that have been used previously for the heat source waste. In fact, the use of the WGI process at LANL's TA-55 facility reduced non-compliant drums for WIPP certification and disposal from a 13% failure rate down to a 0.5% failure rate and is expected to further reduce the failure rate to zero drums per year. The inherent value of the WGI is that it can be implemented in a site's current procedure issuance process and it provides documented proof of what actions were taken for each waste stream packaged. The WGI protocol provides a key floor-level operational component to achieve goal alignment between actual site operations, the WIPP TRU waste packaging instructions, and DOE O 435.1. (authors)« less

Use of film digitizers to assist radiology image management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Honeyman-Buck, Janice C.; Frost, Meryll M.; Staab, Edward V.

1996-05-01

The purpose of this development effort was to evaluate the possibility of using digital technologies to solve image management problems in the Department of Radiology at the University of Florida. The three problem areas investigated were local interpretation of images produced in remote locations, distribution of images to areas outside of radiology, and film handling. In all cases the use of a laser film digitizer interfaced to an existing Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) was investigated as a solution to the problem. In each case the volume of studies involved were evaluated to estimate the impact of the solution on the network, archive, and workstations. Communications were stressed in the analysis of the needs for all image transmission. The operational aspects of the solution were examined to determine the needs for training, service, and maintenance. The remote sites requiring local interpretation included were a rural hospital needing coverage for after hours studies, the University of Florida student infirmary, and the emergency room. Distribution of images to the intensive care units was studied to improve image access and patient care. Handling of films originating from remote sites and those requiring urgent reporting were evaluated to improve management functions. The results of our analysis and the decisions that were made based on the analysis are described below. In the cases where systems were installed, a description of the system and its integration into the PACS system is included. For all three problem areas, although we could move images via a digitizer to the archive and a workstation, there was no way to inform the radiologist that a study needed attention. In the case of outside films, the patient did not always have a medical record number that matched one in our Radiology Information Systems (RIS). In order to incorporate all studies for a patient, we needed common locations for orders, reports, and images. RIS orders were generated for each outside study to be interpreted and a medical record number assigned if none existed. All digitized outside films were archived in the PACS archive for later review or comparison use. The request generated by the RIS requesting a diagnostic interpretation was placed at the PACS workstation to alert the radiologists that unread images had arrived and a box was added to the workstation user interface that could be checked by the radiologist to indicate that a report had been dictated. The digitizer system solved several problems, unavailable films in the emergency room, teleradiology, and archiving of outside studies that had been read by University of Florida radiologists. In addition to saving time for outside film management, we now store the studies for comparison purposes, no longer lose emergency room films, generate diagnostic reports on emergency room films in a timely manner (important for billing and reimbursement), and can handle the distributed nature of our business. As changes in health care drive management changes, existing tools can be used in new ways to help make the transition easier. In this case, adding digitizers to an existing PACS network helped solve several image management problems.

A flexible home monitoring platform for patients affected by chronic heart failure directly integrated with the remote Hospital Information System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donati, Massimiliano; Bacchillone, Tony; Saponara, Sergio; Fanucci, Luca

2011-05-01

Today Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) represents one of leading cause of hospitalization among chronic disease, especially for elderly citizens, with a consequent considerable impact on patient quality of life, resources congestion and healthcare costs for the National Sanitary System. The current healthcare model is mostly in-hospital based and consists of periodic visits, but unfortunately it does not allow to promptly detect exacerbations resulting in a large number of rehospitalization. Recently physicians and administrators identify telemonitoring systems as a strategy able to provide effective and cost efficient healthcare services for CHF patients, ensuring early diagnosis and treatments in case of necessity. This work presents a complete and integrated ICT solution to improve the management of chronic heart failure through the remote monitoring of vital signs at patient home, able to connect in-hospital care of acute syndrome with out-of-hospital follow-up. The proposed platform represents the patient's interface, acting as link between biomedical sensors and the data collection point at the Hospital Information System (HIS) in order to handle in transparent way the reception, analysis and forwarding of the main physiological parameters.

Advances in remote sensing of the daytime ionosphere with EUV airglow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephan, Andrew W.

2016-09-01

This paper summarizes recent progress in developing a method for characterizing the daytime ionosphere from limb profile measurements of the OII 83.4 nm emission. This extreme ultraviolet emission is created by solar photoionization of atomic oxygen in the lower thermosphere and is resonantly scattered by O+ in the ionosphere. The brightness and shape of the measured altitude profile thus depend on both the photoionization source in the lower thermosphere and the ionospheric densities that determine the resonant scattering contribution. This technique has greatly matured over the past decade due to measurements by the series of Naval Research Laboratory Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb Imager (SSULI) instruments flown on Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) missions and the Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System (RAIDS) on the International Space Station. The volume of data from these missions has enabled a better approach to handling specific biases and uncertainties in both the measurement and retrieval process that affect the accuracy of the result. This paper identifies the key measurement and data quality factors that will enable the continued evolution of this technique into an advanced method for characterization of the daytime ionosphere.

Ground-Based Correction of Remote-Sensing Spectral Imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alder-Golden, Steven M.; Rochford, Peter; Matthew, Michael; Berk, Alexander

2007-01-01

Software has been developed for an improved method of correcting for the atmospheric optical effects (primarily, effects of aerosols and water vapor) in spectral images of the surface of the Earth acquired by airborne and spaceborne remote-sensing instruments. In this method, the variables needed for the corrections are extracted from the readings of a radiometer located on the ground in the vicinity of the scene of interest. The software includes algorithms that analyze measurement data acquired from a shadow-band radiometer. These algorithms are based on a prior radiation transport software model, called MODTRAN, that has been developed through several versions up to what are now known as MODTRAN4 and MODTRAN5 . These components have been integrated with a user-friendly Interactive Data Language (IDL) front end and an advanced version of MODTRAN4. Software tools for handling general data formats, performing a Langley-type calibration, and generating an output file of retrieved atmospheric parameters for use in another atmospheric-correction computer program known as FLAASH have also been incorporated into the present soft-ware. Concomitantly with the soft-ware described thus far, there has been developed a version of FLAASH that utilizes the retrieved atmospheric parameters to process spectral image data.

INTRAOPERATIVE IMAGE NAVIGATION: EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE FEASIBILITY AND SURGEON PREFERENCE BETWEEN A STERILE ENCASED NINTENDO WIITM REMOTE AND STANDARD WIRELESS COMPUTER MOUSE.

PubMed

Appleby, Ryan; Zur Linden, Alex; Sears, William

2017-05-01

Diagnostic imaging plays an important role in the operating room, providing surgeons with a reference and surgical plan. Surgeon autonomy in the operating room has been suggested to decrease errors that stem from communication mistakes. A standard computer mouse was compared to a wireless remote-control style controller for computer game consoles (Wiimote) for the navigation of diagnostic imaging studies by sterile personnel in this prospective survey study. Participants were recruited from a cohort of residents and faculty that use the surgical suites at our institution. Outcome assessments were based on survey data completed by study participants following each use of either the mouse or Wiimote, and compared using an analysis of variance. The mouse was significantly preferred by the study participants in the categories of handling, accuracy and efficiency, and overall satisfaction (P <0.05). The mouse was preferred to both the Wiimote and to no device, when participants were asked to rank options for image navigation. This indicates the need for the implementation of intraoperative image navigation devices, to increase surgeon autonomy in the operating room. © 2017 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Remote hardware-reconfigurable robotic camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arias-Estrada, Miguel; Torres-Huitzil, Cesar; Maya-Rueda, Selene E.

2001-10-01

In this work, a camera with integrated image processing capabilities is discussed. The camera is based on an imager coupled to an FPGA device (Field Programmable Gate Array) which contains an architecture for real-time computer vision low-level processing. The architecture can be reprogrammed remotely for application specific purposes. The system is intended for rapid modification and adaptation for inspection and recognition applications, with the flexibility of hardware and software reprogrammability. FPGA reconfiguration allows the same ease of upgrade in hardware as a software upgrade process. The camera is composed of a digital imager coupled to an FPGA device, two memory banks, and a microcontroller. The microcontroller is used for communication tasks and FPGA programming. The system implements a software architecture to handle multiple FPGA architectures in the device, and the possibility to download a software/hardware object from the host computer into its internal context memory. System advantages are: small size, low power consumption, and a library of hardware/software functionalities that can be exchanged during run time. The system has been validated with an edge detection and a motion processing architecture, which will be presented in the paper. Applications targeted are in robotics, mobile robotics, and vision based quality control.

A Wireless Implantable Micropump for Chronic Drug Infusion Against Cancer

PubMed Central

Cobo, Angelica; Sheybani, Roya; Tu, Heidi; Meng, Ellis

2016-01-01

We present an implantable micropump with a miniature form factor and completely wireless operation that enables chronic drug administration intended for evaluation and development of cancer therapies in freely moving small research animals such as rodents. The low power electrolysis actuator avoids the need for heavy implantable batteries. The infusion system features a class E inductive powering system that provides on-demand activation of the pump as well as remote adjustment of the delivery regimen without animal handling. Micropump performance was demonstrated using a model anti-cancer application in which daily doses of 30 μL were supplied for several weeks with less than 6% variation in flow rate within a single pump and less than 8% variation across different pumps. Pumping under different back pressure, viscosity, and temperature conditions were investigated; parameters were chosen so as to mimic in vivo conditions. In benchtop tests under simulated in vivo conditions, micropumps provided consistent and reliable performance over a period of 30 days with less than 4% flow rate variation. The demonstrated prototype has potential to provide a practical solution for remote chronic administration of drugs to ambulatory small animals for research as well as drug discovery and development applications. PMID:26855476

Guide to making time-lapse graphics using the facilities of the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computing Center

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Munro, J.K. Jr.

1980-05-01

The advent of large, fast computers has opened the way to modeling more complex physical processes and to handling very large quantities of experimental data. The amount of information that can be processed in a short period of time is so great that use of graphical displays assumes greater importance as a means of displaying this information. Information from dynamical processes can be displayed conveniently by use of animated graphics. This guide presents the basic techniques for generating black and white animated graphics, with consideration of aesthetic, mechanical, and computational problems. The guide is intended for use by someone whomore » wants to make movies on the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computing Center (NMFECC) CDC-7600. Problems encountered by a geographically remote user are given particular attention. Detailed information is given that will allow a remote user to do some file checking and diagnosis before giving graphics files to the system for processing into film in order to spot problems without having to wait for film to be delivered. Source listings of some useful software are given in appendices along with descriptions of how to use it. 3 figures, 5 tables.« less

From Ions to Bits - Developing the IT infrastructure around the CAMECA IMS 1280-HR SIMS lab at GFZ Potsdam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galkin, A.; Klump, J.; Wiedenbeck, M.

2012-04-01

Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometers (SIMS) is an highly sensitive technique for analyzing the surfaces of solids and thin film samples, but has the major drawback that such instruments are both rare and expensive. The Virtual SIMS project aims to design, develop and operate the IT infrastructure around the CAMECA IMS 1280-HR SIMS at GFZ Potsdam. The system will cover the whole spectrum of the procedures in the lab - from the online application for measurement time, to the remote access to the instrument and finally the maintenance of the data for publishing and future re-use. A virtual lab infrastructure around the IMS 1280 will enable remote access to the instrument and make measurement time available to the broadest possible user community. Envisioned is that the IT infrastructure would consist of the following: web portal, data repository, sample repository, project management software, communication arrangements between the lab staff and distant researcher and remote access to the instruments. The web portal will handle online applications for the measurement time. The data from the experiments, the monitoring sensor logs and the lab logbook entries are to be stored and archived. Researchers will be able to access their data remotely in real time, thus imposing a user rights management strucuture. Also planned is that all samples and the standards will be assigned a unique International GeoSample Number (IGSN) and that the images of the samples will be stored and made accessible in addition to any additional documents which might be uploaded by the researcher. The project management application will schedule the application process, the measurements times, notifications and alerts. A video conference capability is forseen for communication between the Potsdam staff and the remote researcher. The remote access to the instruments requires a sophisticated client-server solution. This highly sensitive instrument has to be controlled in real-time with latencies diminished to a minimum. Also, failures and shortages of the internet connection, as well as possible outages on the client side, have to be considered and safe fallbacks for such events must be provided. The level of skills of the researcher remotely operating the instrument will define the scope of control given during an operating session. An important aspect of the project is the design of the virtual lab system in collaboration with the laboratory operators and the researchers who will use the instrument and its peripherals. Different approaches for the IT solutions will be tested and evaluated, so imporved guidelines can evolve from obsperved operating performance.

A new passive system for contamination-free long-distance cryo-transfer of biological tissues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Tian; Plane, Florent; Søgaard Jensen, Louise Helene; van den Brandt, Ben; Comment, Arnaud; Meibom, Anders

2017-12-01

Several new analytical techniques require long-distance cryogenic transfer of samples that need to be kept at stable temperatures for long time periods, but also to be additionally contamination-free. In this study we developed a passive transfer system to fulfil those requirements. With 125mL of liquid nitrogen stored, one cryo-sectioned sample was maintained around 120±1 K and a pressure of about 3x10-7 mbar for at least 2 hours. With a total transfer weight of 5 Kg this system can be easily handled and carried by any transportation means so that the same sample can be used for different imaging centres located remotely permitting correlative studies.

In-vessel calibration of the imaging diagnostics for the real-time protection of the JET ITER-like wall.

PubMed

Huber, V; Huber, A; Kinna, D; Balboa, I; Collins, S; Conway, N; Drewelow, P; Maggi, C F; Matthews, G F; Meigs, A G; Mertens, Ph; Price, M; Sergienko, G; Silburn, S; Wynn, A; Zastrow, K-D

2016-11-01

The in situ absolute calibration of the JET real-time protection imaging system has been performed for the first time by means of radiometric light source placed inside the JET vessel and operated by remote handling. High accuracy of the calibration is confirmed by cross-validation of the near infrared (NIR) cameras against each other, with thermal IR cameras, and with the beryllium evaporator, which lead to successful protection of the JET first wall during the last campaign. The operation temperature ranges of NIR protection cameras for the materials used on JET are Be 650-1600 °C, W coating 600-1320 °C, and W 650-1500 °C.

Marginal Loss Calculations for the DCOPF

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Eldridge, Brent; O'Neill, Richard P.; Castillo, Andrea R.

2016-12-05

The purpose of this paper is to explain some aspects of including a marginal line loss approximation in the DCOPF. The DCOPF optimizes electric generator dispatch using simplified power flow physics. Since the standard assumptions in the DCOPF include a lossless network, a number of modifications have to be added to the model. Calculating marginal losses allows the DCOPF to optimize the location of power generation, so that generators that are closer to demand centers are relatively cheaper than remote generation. The problem formulations discussed in this paper will simplify many aspects of practical electric dispatch implementations in use today,more » but will include sufficient detail to demonstrate a few points with regard to the handling of losses.« less

The use of historical imagery in the remediation of an urban hazardous waste site

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slonecker, E.T.

2011-01-01

The information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs is perhaps the most basic multitemporal application of remote-sensing data. Aerial photographs dating back to the early 20th century can be extremely valuable sources of historical landscape activity. In this application, imagery from 1918 to 1927 provided a wealth of information about chemical weapons testing, storage, handling, and disposal of these hazardous materials. When analyzed by a trained photo-analyst, the 1918 aerial photographs resulted in 42 features of potential interest. When compared with current remedial activities and known areas of contamination, 33 of 42 or 78.5% of the features were spatially correlated with areas of known contamination or other remedial hazardous waste cleanup activity. ?? 2010 IEEE.

The use of historical imagery in the remediation of an urban hazardous waste site

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slonecker, E.T.

2011-01-01

The information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs is perhaps the most basic multitemporal application of remote-sensing data. Aerial photographs dating back to the early 20th century can be extremely valuable sources of historical landscape activity. In this application, imagery from 1918 to 1927 provided a wealth of information about chemical weapons testing, storage, handling, and disposal of these hazardous materials. When analyzed by a trained photo-analyst, the 1918 aerial photographs resulted in 42 features of potential interest. When compared with current remedial activities and known areas of contamination, 33 of 42 or 78.5% of the features were spatially correlated with areas of known contamination or other remedial hazardous waste cleanup activity.

In-vessel calibration of the imaging diagnostics for the real-time protection of the JET ITER-like wall

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huber, V., E-mail: V.Huber@fz-juelich.de; Huber, A.; Mertens, Ph.

The in situ absolute calibration of the JET real-time protection imaging system has been performed for the first time by means of radiometric light source placed inside the JET vessel and operated by remote handling. High accuracy of the calibration is confirmed by cross-validation of the near infrared (NIR) cameras against each other, with thermal IR cameras, and with the beryllium evaporator, which lead to successful protection of the JET first wall during the last campaign. The operation temperature ranges of NIR protection cameras for the materials used on JET are Be 650-1600 °C, W coating 600-1320 °C, and W 650-1500 °C.

Pediatric digital chest imaging.

PubMed

Tarver, R D; Cohen, M; Broderick, N J; Conces, D J

1990-01-01

The Philips Computed Radiography system performs well with pediatric portable chest radiographs, handling the throughout of a busy intensive care service 24 hours a day. Images are excellent and routinely provide a conventional (unenhanced) image and an edge-enhanced image. Radiation dose is decreased by the lowered frequency of repeat examinations and the ability of the plates to respond to a much lower dose and still provide an adequate image. The high quality and uniform density of serial PCR portable radiographs greatly enhances diagnostic content of the films. Decreased resolution has not been a problem clinically. Image manipulation and electronic transfer to remote viewing stations appear to be helpful and are currently being evaluated further. The PCR system provides a marked improvement in pediatric portable chest radiology.

Methods and systems for detection of radionuclides

DOEpatents

Coates, Jr., John T.; DeVol, Timothy A.

2010-05-25

Disclosed are materials and systems useful in determining the existence of radionuclides in an aqueous sample. The materials provide the dual function of both extraction and scintillation to the systems. The systems can be both portable and simple to use, and as such can beneficially be utilized to determine presence and optionally concentration of radionuclide contamination in an aqueous sample at any desired location and according to a relatively simple process without the necessity of complicated sample handling techniques. The disclosed systems include a one-step process, providing simultaneous extraction and detection capability, and a two-step process, providing a first extraction step that can be carried out in a remote field location, followed by a second detection step that can be carried out in a different location.

Integrated Launch Operations Applications Remote Display Developer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flemming, Cedric M., II

2014-01-01

This internship provides the opportunity to support the creation and use of Firing Room Displays and Firing Room Applications that use an abstraction layer called the Application Control Language (ACL). Required training included video watching, reading assignments, face-to-face instruction and job shadowing other Firing Room software developers as they completed their daily duties. During the training period various computer and access rights needed for creating the applications were obtained. The specific ground subsystems supported are the Cryogenics Subsystems, Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) and Liquid Oxygen (LO2). The cryogenics team is given the task of finding the best way to handle these very volatile liquids that are used to fuel the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion flight vehicles safely.

[How to establish the hospital information system security policies].

PubMed

Gong, Qing-Yue; Shi, Cheng

2008-03-01

It is important to establish the hospital information system security policies. While these security policies are being established, a comprehensive consideration should be given to the acceptable levels of users, IT supporters and hospital managers. We should have a formal policy designing process that is consistently followed by all security policies. Reasons for establishing the security policies and their coverage and applicable objects should be stated clearly. Besides, each policy should define user's responsibilities and penalties of violation. Every organization will need some key policies, such as of information sources usage, remote access, information protection, perimeter security, and baseline host/device security. Security managing procedures are the mechanisms to enforce the policies. An incident-handling procedure is the most important security managing procedure for all organizations.

Rapid diagnosis of avian influenza virus in wild birds: Use of a portable rRT-PCR and freeze-dried reagents in the field

USGS Publications Warehouse

Takekawa, John Y.; Hill, N.J.; Schultz, A.K.; Iverson, S.A.; Cardona, C.J.; Boyce, W.M.; Dudley, J.P.

2011-01-01

Wild birds have been implicated in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the H5N1 subtype, prompting surveillance along migratory flyways. Sampling of wild birds for avian influenza virus (AIV) is often conducted in remote regions, but results are often delayed because of the need to transport samples to a laboratory equipped for molecular testing. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) is a molecular technique that offers one of the most accurate and sensitive methods for diagnosis of AIV. The previously strict lab protocols needed for rRT-PCR are now being adapted for the field. Development of freeze-dried (lyophilized) reagents that do not require cold chain, with sensitivity at the level of wet reagents has brought on-site remote testing to a practical goal. Here we present a method for the rapid diagnosis of AIV in wild birds using an rRT-PCR unit (Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device or RAPID, Idaho Technologies, Salt Lake City, UT) that employs lyophilized reagents (Influenza A Target 1 Taqman; ASAY-ASY-0109, Idaho Technologies). The reagents contain all of the necessary components for testing at appropriate concentrations in a single tube: primers, probes, enzymes, buffers and internal positive controls, eliminating errors associated with improper storage or handling of wet reagents. The portable unit performs a screen for Influenza A by targeting the matrix gene and yields results in 2-3 hours. Genetic subtyping is also possible with H5 and H7 primer sets that target the hemagglutinin gene. The system is suitable for use on cloacal and oropharyngeal samples collected from wild birds, as demonstrated here on the migratory shorebird species, the western sandpiper (Calidrus mauri) captured in Northern California. Animal handling followed protocols approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center and permits of the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory. The primary advantage of this technique is to expedite diagnosis of wild birds, increasing the chances of containing an outbreak in a remote location. On-site diagnosis would also prove useful for identifying and studying infected individuals in wild populations. The opportunity to collect information on host biology (immunological and physiological response to infection) and spatial ecology (migratory performance of infected birds) will provide insights into the extent to which wild birds can act as vectors for AIV over long distances.

Rapid Diagnosis of Avian Influenza Virus in Wild Birds: Use of a Portable rRT-PCR and Freeze-dried Reagents in the Field

PubMed Central

Takekawa, John Y.; Hill, Nichola J.; Schultz, Annie K.; Iverson, Samuel A.; Cardona, Carol J.; Boyce, Walter M.; Dudley, Joseph P.

2011-01-01

Wild birds have been implicated in the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) of the H5N1 subtype, prompting surveillance along migratory flyways. Sampling of wild birds for avian influenza virus (AIV) is often conducted in remote regions, but results are often delayed because of the need to transport samples to a laboratory equipped for molecular testing. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) is a molecular technique that offers one of the most accurate and sensitive methods for diagnosis of AIV. The previously strict lab protocols needed for rRT-PCR are now being adapted for the field. Development of freeze-dried (lyophilized) reagents that do not require cold chain, with sensitivity at the level of wet reagents has brought on-site remote testing to a practical goal. Here we present a method for the rapid diagnosis of AIV in wild birds using an rRT-PCR unit (Ruggedized Advanced Pathogen Identification Device or RAPID, Idaho Technologies, Salt Lake City, UT) that employs lyophilized reagents (Influenza A Target 1 Taqman; ASAY-ASY-0109, Idaho Technologies). The reagents contain all of the necessary components for testing at appropriate concentrations in a single tube: primers, probes, enzymes, buffers and internal positive controls, eliminating errors associated with improper storage or handling of wet reagents. The portable unit performs a screen for Influenza A by targeting the matrix gene and yields results in 2-3 hours. Genetic subtyping is also possible with H5 and H7 primer sets that target the hemagglutinin gene. The system is suitable for use on cloacal and oropharyngeal samples collected from wild birds, as demonstrated here on the migratory shorebird species, the western sandpiper (Calidrus mauri) captured in Northern California. Animal handling followed protocols approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center and permits of the U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Laboratory. The primary advantage of this technique is to expedite diagnosis of wild birds, increasing the chances of containing an outbreak in a remote location. On-site diagnosis would also prove useful for identifying and studying infected individuals in wild populations. The opportunity to collect information on host biology (immunological and physiological response to infection) and spatial ecology (migratory performance of infected birds) will provide insights into the extent to which wild birds can act as vectors for AIV over long distances. PMID:21847073

The use of assistive technology in the everyday lives of young people living with dementia and their caregivers. Can a simple remote control make a difference?

PubMed

Jentoft, Rita; Holthe, Torhild; Arntzen, Cathrine

2014-12-01

This study was a part of a larger study exploring the impact of assistive technology on the lives of young people living with dementia (YPD). This paper focuses on one of the most useful devices, the simple remote control (SRC). The objective was to explore the reason why the SRC is significant and beneficial in the everyday lives of YPD and their caregivers. This qualitative longitudinal study had a participatory design. Eight participants received an SRC. The range for using it was 0-15 months. In-depth interviews and observations were conducted at baseline and repeated every third month up to 18 months. A situated learning approach was used in the analysis to provide a deeper understanding of the significance and use of SRC. Young people having dementia spend a substantial amount of time alone. Watching television was reported to be important, but handling remote controls was challenging and created a variety of problems. YPD learned to use SRC, which made important differences in the everyday lives of all family members. Comprehensive support from caregivers and professionals was important for YPD in the learning process. The SRC was deemed a success because it solved challenges regarding the use of television in everyday lives of families. The design was recognizable and user-friendly, thus allowing YPD to learn its operation. Access to professional support and advice regarding assistive technology is vital for establishing a system for follow-up and continued collaboration to make future adaptations and adjustments.

Evaluation of Remote Delivery of Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) Technology to Mark Large Mammals

PubMed Central

Walter, W. David; Anderson, Charles W.; VerCauteren, Kurt C.

2012-01-01

Methods to individually mark and identify free-ranging wildlife without trapping and handling would be useful for a variety of research and management purposes. The use of Passive Integrated Transponder technology could be an efficient method for collecting data for mark-recapture analysis and other strategies for assessing characteristics about populations of various wildlife species. Passive Integrated Transponder tags (PIT) have unique numbered frequencies and have been used to successfully mark and identify mammals. We tested for successful injection of PIT and subsequent functioning of PIT into gelatin blocks using 4 variations of a prototype dart. We then selected the prototype dart that resulted in the least depth of penetration in the gelatin block to assess the ability of PIT to be successfully implanted into muscle tissue of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) post-mortem and long-term in live, captive Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus). The prototype dart with a 12.7 mm (0.5 inch) needle length and no powder charge resulted in the shallowest mean (± SD) penetration depth into gelatin blocks of 27.0 mm (±5.6 mm) with 2.0 psi setting on the Dan-Inject CO2-pressured rifle. Eighty percent of PIT were successfully injected in the muscle mass of white-tailed deer post-mortem with a mean (± SD) penetration depth of 22.2 mm (±3.8 mm; n = 6). We injected PIT successfully into 13 live, captive elk by remote delivery at about 20 m that remained functional for 7 months. We successfully demonstrated that PIT could be remotely delivered in darts into muscle mass of large mammals and remain functional for >6 months. Although further research is warranted to fully develop the technique, remote delivery of PIT technology to large mammals is possible using prototype implant darts. PMID:22984572

Avian influenza prevalence among hunter-harvested birds in a remote Canadian First Nation community.

PubMed

Liberda, Eric N; Meldrum, Richard; Charania, Nadia A; Davey, Robert; Tsuji, Leonard Js

2017-01-01

Avian influenza virus (AIV) prevalence has been associated with wild game and other bird species. The contamination of these birds may pose a greater risk to those who regularly hunt and consumed infected species. Due to resident concerns communicated by local Band Council, hunter-harvested birds from a remote First Nation community in subArctic Ontario, Canada were assessed for AIV. Hunters, and especially those who live a subsistence lifestyle, are at higher risk of AIV exposure due to their increased contact with wild birds, which represent an important part of their diet. Cloacal swabs from 304 harvested game birds representing several species of wild birds commonly hunted and consumed in this First Nation community were analyzed for AIV using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Subtyping was performed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Sequences were assembled using Lasergene, and the sequences were compared to Genbank. In total, 16 of the 304 cloacal swab samples were positive for AIV. Of the 16 positive samples, 12 were found in mallard ducks, 3 were found in snow geese (wavies), and 1 positive sample was found in partridge. The AIV samples were subtyped, when possible, and found to be positive for the low pathogenic avian influenza virus subtypes H3 and H4. No samples were positive for subtypes of human concern, namely H5 and H7. This work represents the first AIV monitoring program results of hunter-harvested birds in a remote subsistence First Nation community. Community-level surveillance of AIV in remote subsistence hunting communities may help to identify future risks, while educating those who may have the highest exposure about proper handling of hunted birds. Ultimately, only low pathogenic strains of AIV were found, but monitoring should be continued and expanded to safeguard those with the highest exposure risk to AIV.

Development and Applications of Portable Biosensors.

PubMed

Srinivasan, Balaji; Tung, Steve

2015-08-01

The significance of microfluidics-based and microelectromechanical systems-based biosensors has been widely acknowledged, and many reviews have explored their potential applications in clinical diagnostics, personalized medicine, global health, drug discovery, food safety, and forensics. Because health care costs are increasing, there is an increasing need to remotely monitor the health condition of patients by point-of-care-testing. The demand for biosensors for detection of biological warfare agents has increased, and research is focused on ways of producing small portable devices that would allow fast, accurate, and on-site detection. In the past decade, the demand for rapid and accurate on-site detection of plant disease diagnosis has increased due to emerging pathogens with resistance to pesticides, increased human mobility, and regulations limiting the application of toxic chemicals to prevent spread of diseases. The portability of biosensors for on-site diagnosis is limited due to various issues, including sample preparation techniques, fluid-handling techniques, the limited lifetime of biological reagents, device packaging, integrating electronics for data collection/analysis, and the requirement of external accessories and power. Many microfluidic, electronic, and biological design strategies, such as handling liquids in biosensors without pumps/valves, the application of droplet-based microfluidics, paper-based microfluidic devices, and wireless networking capabilities for data transmission, are being explored. © 2015 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Mobile locally operated detachable end-effector manipulator for endoscopic surgery.

PubMed

Kawai, Toshikazu; Shin, Myongyu; Nishizawa, Yuji; Horise, Yuki; Nishikawa, Atsushi; Nakamura, Tatsuo

2015-02-01

Local surgery is safer than remote surgery because emergencies can be more easily addressed. Although many locally operated surgical robots and devices have been developed, none can safely grasp organs and provide traction. A new manipulator with a detachable commercial forceps was developed that can act as a third arm for a surgeon situated in a sterile area near the patient. This mechanism can be disassembled into compact parts that enable mobile use. A mobile locally operated detachable end-effector manipulator (LODEM) was developed and tested. This device uses crank-slider and cable-rod mechanisms to achieve 5 degrees of freedom and an acting force of more than 5 N. The total mass is less than 15 kg. The positional accuracy and speed of the prototype device were evaluated while performing simulated in vivo surgery. The accuracy of the mobile LODEM was 0.4 mm, sufficient for handling organs. The manipulator could be assembled and disassembled in 8 min, making it highly mobile. The manipulator could successfully handle the target organs with the required level of dexterity during an in vivo laparoscopic surgical procedure. A mobile LODEM was designed that allows minimally invasive robotically assisted endoscopic surgery by a surgeon working near the patient. This device is highly promising for robotic surgery applications.

[Spatial scale effect of urban land use landscape pattern in Shanghai City].

PubMed

Xu, Li-Hua; Yue, Wen Ze; Cao, Yu

2007-12-01

Based on geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) techniques, the landscape classes of urban land use in Shanghai City were extracted from SPOT images with 5 m spatial resolution in 2002, and then, the classified data were applied to quantitatively explore the change patterns of several basic landscape metrics at different scales. The results indicated that landscape metrics were sensitive to grain- and extent variance. Urban landscape pattern was spatially dependent. In other words, different landscape metrics showed different responses to scale. The resolution of 40 m was an intrinsic observing scale for urban landscape in Shanghai City since landscape metrics showed random characteristics while the grain was less than 40 m. The extent of 24 km was a symbol scale in a series of extents, which was consistent with the boundary between urban built-up area and suburban area in Shanghai City. As a result, the extent of 12 km away from urban center would be an intrinsic handle scale for urban landscape in Shanghai City. However, due to the complexity of urban structure and asymmetry of urban spatial expansion, the intrinsic handle scale was not regular extent, and the square with size of 24 km was just an approximate intrinsic extent for Shanghai City.

Basic repository environmental assessment design basis, Lavender Canyon site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1988-01-01

This study examines the engineering factors and costs associated with the construction, operation, and decommissioning of a high-level nuclear waste repository in salt in the Paradox Basin in Lavender Canyon, Utah. The study assumes a repository capacity of 36,000 metric tons of heavy metal (MTHM) of unreprocessed spent fuel and 36,000 MTHM of commercial high-level reprocessing waste, along with 7020 canisters of defense high-level reprocessing waste and associated quantities of remote- and contact-handled transuranic waste (TRU). With the exception of TRU, all the waste forms are placed in 300- to 1000-year-life carbon-steel waste packages in a collocated waste handling andmore » packaging facility (WHPF), which is also described. The construction, operation, and decommissioning of the proposed repository is estimated to cost approximately $5.51 billion. Costs include those for the collocated WHPP, engineering, and contingency, but exclude waste form assembly and shipment to the site and waste package fabrication and shipment to the site. These costs reflect the relative average wage rates of the region and the relatively sound nature of the salt at this site. Construction would require an estimated 7.75 years. Engineering factors and costs are not strongly influenced by environmental considerations. 51 refs., 24 figs., 20 tabs.« less

Mississippi State Axion Search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madsen, Kris; Mississippi State Axion Search Collaboration

2013-10-01

Ever since the Peccei-Quinn Theory was proposed in 1977 as a possible solution to the strong CP problem, the therein postulated Axion, a weakly interacting boson, has been much sought after. The Mississippi State Axion Search is an attempt to improve the limit in the mass-coupling parameter space by using a variation of the Light Shining Through a Wall (LSW) technique. A vacuum sealed and RF shielded cavity is partitioned by a lead wall. EM waves at a frequency between 420 and 430 MHz are amplified by SR-550 and SR-510 amplifiers, broadcast from an antenna on one side of the lead wall and pass through an intense magnetic field. Theory predicts that in the presence of such a magnetic field, axions can be produced from photons via the Primakoff effect. Any axions generated will pass unimpeded to the other half of the cavity, regenerate into photons, and be detected as an excess in the signal picked up by the antenna on the far side. The Data Acquisition is handled by LABView based software running Measurement Computing drivers for two PCI DAQ cards: the DAS-08 handles the analog signals from the receiving antenna and monitors vital statistics in the cavity, while the DIO-24 provides the 1 kHz timing TTL pulse and allows remote control of the experiment's systems.

A New Control System Software for SANS BATAN Spectrometer in Serpong, Indonesia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bharoto; Putra, Edy Giri Rachman

2010-06-22

The original main control system of the 36 meter small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) BATAN Spectrometer (SMARTer) has been replaced with the new ones due to the malfunction of the main computer. For that reason, a new control system software for handling all the control systems was also developed in order to put the spectrometer back in operation. The developed software is able to control the system such as rotation movement of six pinholes system, vertical movement of four neutron guide system with the total length of 16.5 m, two-directional movement of a neutron beam stopper, forward-backward movement of a 2Dmore » position sensitive detector (2D-PSD) along 16.7 m, etc. A Visual Basic language program running on Windows operating system was employed to develop the software and it can be operated by other remote computers in the local area network. All device positions and command menu are displayed graphically in the main monitor or window and each device control can be executed by clicking the control button. Those advantages are necessary required for developing a new user-friendly control system software. Finally, the new software has been tested for handling a complete SANS experiment and it works properly.« less

A New Control System Software for SANS BATAN Spectrometer in Serpong, Indonesia

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bharoto,; Putra, Edy Giri Rachman

2010-06-22

The original main control system of the 36 meter small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) BATAN Spectrometer (SMARTer) has been replaced with the new ones due to the malfunction of the main computer. For that reason, a new control system software for handling all the control systems was also developed in order to put the spectrometer back in operation. The developed software is able to control the system such as rotation movement of six pinholes system, vertical movement of four neutron guide system with the total length of 16.5 m, two‐directional movement of a neutron beam stopper, forward‐backward movement of a 2Dmore » position sensitive detector (2D‐PSD) along 16.7 m, etc. A Visual Basic language program running on Windows operating system was employed to develop the software and it can be operated by other remote computers in the local area network. All device positions and command menu are displayed graphically in the main monitor or window and each device control can be executed by clicking the control button. Those advantages are necessary required for developing a new user‐friendly control system software. Finally, the new software has been tested for handling a complete SANS experiment and it works properly.« less

Evaluation of cooling concepts and specimen geometries for high heat flux tests on neutron irradiated divertor elements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Linke, J.; Bolt. H.; Breitbach, G.

1994-12-31

To assess the lifetime and the long term heat removal capabilities of plasma facing components in future thermonuclear fusion reactors such as ITER, neutron irradiation and subsequent high heat flux tests will be most essential. The effect of neutron damage will be simulated in material test reactors (such as the HFR-Petten) in a fission neutron environment. To investigate the heat loads during normal and off-normal operation scenarios a 60 kW electron beam test stand (Juelich Divertor Test Facility in Hot Cells, JUDITH) has been installed in a hot cell which can be operated by remote handling techniques. In this facilitymore » inertially cooled test coupons can be handled as well as small actively cooled divertor mock-ups. A special clamping mechanism for small test coupons (25 mm x 25 mm x 35 mm) with an integrated coolant channel within a copper or TZM heat sink has been developed and tested in an electron beam test bed. This method is an attractive alternative to costly large scale tests on complete divertor modules. The temperature and stress fields in individual CFC or beryllium tiles brazed to metallic heat sink (e.g. copper or TZM) can be investigated before and after neutron irradiation with moderate efforts.« less

Internet Technology in Magnetic Resonance: A Common Gateway Interface Program for the World-Wide Web NMR Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buszko, Marian L.; Buszko, Dominik; Wang, Daniel C.

1998-04-01

A custom-written Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program for remote control of an NMR spectrometer using a World Wide Web browser has been described. The program, running on a UNIX workstation, uses multiple processes to handle concurrent tasks of interacting with the user and with the spectrometer. The program's parent process communicates with the browser and sends out commands to the spectrometer; the child process is mainly responsible for data acquisition. Communication between the processes is via the shared memory mechanism. The WWW pages that have been developed for the system make use of the frames feature of web browsers. The CGI program provides an intuitive user interface to the NMR spectrometer, making, in effect, a complex system an easy-to-use Web appliance.

Design of An 18 MW Beam Dump for 500 GeV Electron/Positron Beams at An ILC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amann, John; /SLAC; Arnold, Ray

This article presents a report on the progress made in designing 18 MW water based Beam Dumps for electrons or positrons for an International Linear Collider (ILC). Multi-dimensional technology issues have to be addressed for the successful design of the Beam Dump. They include calculations of power deposition by the high energy electron/positron beam bunch trains, computational fluid dynamic analysis of turbulent water flow, mechanical design, process flow analysis, hydrogen/oxygen recombiners, handling of radioactive 7Be and 3H, design of auxiliary equipment, provisions for accident scenarios, remote window exchanger, radiation shielding, etc. The progress made to date is summarized, the currentmore » status, and also the issues still to be addressed.« less

Process for reducing beta activity in uranium

DOEpatents

Briggs, Gifford G.; Kato, Takeo R.; Schonegg, Edward

1986-10-07

This invention is a method for lowering the beta radiation hazards associated with the casting of uranium. The method reduces the beta radiation emitted from the as-cast surfaces of uranium ingots. The method also reduces the amount of beta radiation emitters retained on the interiors of the crucibles that have been used to melt the uranium charges and which have undergone cleaning in a remote handling facility. The lowering of the radioactivity is done by scavenging the beta emitters from the molten uranium with a molten mixture containing the fluorides of magnesium and calcium. The method provides a means of collection and disposal of the beta emitters in a manner that reduces radiation exposure to operating personnel in the work area where the ingots are cast and processed.

The Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment /LACIE/ - An assessment after one year of operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macdonald, R. B.; Hall, F. G.; Erb, R. B.

1975-01-01

A Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) has been undertaken jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the Department of Commerce and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to prove out an economically important application of remote sensing from space. The first phase of the Experiment, which focused upon determinations of wheat area in the U.S. Great Plains and upon the development and testing of yield models, is now nearing completion. The system implemented to handle and analyze the Landsat and meteorological data has generally worked well and met operational goals. A very preliminary assessment of results to date indicates that the accuracy goals of the experiment can be met.

Process for reducing beta activity in uranium

DOEpatents

Briggs, Gifford G.; Kato, Takeo R.; Schonegg, Edward

1986-01-01

This invention is a method for lowering the beta radiation hazards associated with the casting of uranium. The method reduces the beta radiation emitted from the as-cast surfaces of uranium ingots. The method also reduces the amount of beta radiation emitters retained on the interiors of the crucibles that have been used to melt the uranium charges and which have undergone cleaning in a remote handling facility. The lowering of the radioactivity is done by scavenging the beta emitters from the molten uranium with a molten mixture containing the fluorides of magnesium and calcium. The method provides a means of collection and disposal of the beta emitters in a manner that reduces radiation exposure to operating personnel in the work area where the ingots are cast and processed.

Process for reducing beta activity in uranium

DOEpatents

Briggs, G.G.; Kato, T.R.; Schonegg, E.

1985-04-11

This invention is a method for lowering the beta radiation hazards associated with the casting of uranium. The method reduces the beta radiation emitted from the as-cast surfaces of uranium ingots. The method also reduces the amount of beta radiation emitters retained on the interiors of the crucibles that have been used to melt the uranium charges and which undergone cleaning in a remote handling facility. The lowering of the radioactivity is done by scavenging the beta emitters from the molten uranium with a molten mixture containing the fluorides of magnesium and calcium. The method provides a means of collection and disposal of the beta emitters in a manner that reduces radiation exposure to operating personnel in the work area where the ingots are cast and processed. 5 tabs.

Infrared sensor for hot spot recognition for a small satellite mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skrbek, W.; Bachmann, K.; Lorenz, E.; Neidhardt, M.; Peschel, M.; Walter, I.; Zender, B.

1996-11-01

High temperature events strongly influence the environmental processes. Therefore, their observation is an important constituent of the global monitoring network. Unfortunately the current remote sensing systems are not able to deliver the necessary information about the world wide burn out of vegetation and its consequences. For global observations a dedicated system of small satellites is required. The main components of the corresponding instrumentation are the infrared channels. The proposed HSRS (HOT SPOT RECOGNITION SENSOR) has to demonstrate the possibilities of an such instrumentation and its feasibility for small satellites. The main drawbacks of the HSRS design are the handling of the hot spot recognition in the subpixel area and of the saturation in the case of larger hot areas by a suitable signal processing hardware.

KSC-08pd1151

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-05-06

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After their arrival at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, the crew of space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission gather for a group photo. The crew is at Kennedy to take part in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, or TCDT. From left are Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff, Pilot Ken Ham, Mission Specialist Karen Nyberg, Commander Mark Kelly and Mission Specialists Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Akihiko Hoshide, who represents the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA. TCDT is a rehearsal for launch that includes practicing emergency procedures, handling on-orbit equipment, and simulating a launch countdown. On the STS-124 mission, the crew will deliver and install the Japanese Experiment Module – Pressurized Module and Japanese Remote Manipulator System. Discovery's launch is targeted for May 31. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Towards operational multisensor registration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rignot, Eric J. M.; Kwok, Ronald; Curlander, John C.

1991-01-01

To use data from a number of different remote sensors in a synergistic manner, a multidimensional analysis of the data is necessary. However, prior to this analysis, processing to correct for the systematic geometric distortion characteristic of each sensor is required. Furthermore, the registration process must be fully automated to handle a large volume of data and high data rates. A conceptual approach towards an operational multisensor registration algorithm is presented. The performance requirements of the algorithm are first formulated given the spatially, temporally, and spectrally varying factors that influence the image characteristics and the science requirements of various applications. Several registration techniques that fit within the structure of this algorithm are also presented. Their performance was evaluated using a multisensor test data set assembled from LANDSAT TM, SEASAT, SIR-B, Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS), and SPOT sensors.

Improvement of tritium accountancy technology for ITER fuel cycle safety enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'hira, S.; Hayashi, T.; Nakamura, H.; Kobayashi, K.; Tadokoro, T.; Nakamura, H.; Itoh, T.; Yamanishi, T.; Kawamura, Y.; Iwai, Y.; Arita, T.; Maruyama, T.; Kakuta, T.; Konishi, S.; Enoeda, M.; Yamada, M.; Suzuki, T.; Nishi, M.; Nagashima, T.; Ohta, M.

2000-03-01

In order to improve the safe handling and control of tritium for the ITER fuel cycle, effective in situ tritium accounting methods have been developed at the Tritium Process Laboratory in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute under one of the ITER-EDA R&D tasks. The remote and multilocation analysis of process gases by an application of laser Raman spectroscopy developed and tested could provide a measurement of hydrogen isotope gases with a detection limit of 0.3 kPa analytical periods of 120 s. An in situ tritium inventory measurement by application of a `self-assaying' storage bed with 25 g tritium capacity could provide a measurement with the required detection limit of less than 1% and a design proof of a bed with 100 g tritium capacity.

New horizons in remote sensing for forest range resource management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lauer, D.T.

1985-01-01

Forest and range resource scientists were among the first to recognize the potential of aircraft and satellite remote sensing for management of timber, forage, water, and wildlife resource. Today, data from a variety of sensor systems are being put to practical use for inventorying, monitoring, and assessing forest and range resources. In the future, improved sensor systems providing new kinds of data will be available. Likewise, new types of data handling and processing systems can be anticipated. Among the new or anticipated aircraft and satellite systems and/or data are National High-Altitude Photograph II, U. S. Geological Survey-acquired Side-Looking Airborne Radar, the Landsat thematic mapper, the National Oceanic Resolution Radiometer, the French Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellite, the European Space Agency Earth Resources Satellite, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Large Format Camera and Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-A, -B, and -C), and a variety of other systems in existence or planned by the Soviets, Japanese, Canadians, Chinese, Brazilians, Indonesians, and other. Application examples are presented that illustrate uses of 1-kilometer-resolution AVHRR data, 80-meter Landsat multispectral scanner data, 30-meter Landsat thematic mapper data, and 10-meter SPOT-simulator data. These examples address fire fuel monitoring, land cover mapping, rangeland assessment, and soils landscape mapping.

The accomplishments of lithium target and test facility validation activities in the IFMIF/EVEDA phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arbeiter, Frederik; Baluc, Nadine; Favuzza, Paolo; Gröschel, Friedrich; Heidinger, Roland; Ibarra, Angel; Knaster, Juan; Kanemura, Takuji; Kondo, Hiroo; Massaut, Vincent; Saverio Nitti, Francesco; Miccichè, Gioacchino; O'hira, Shigeru; Rapisarda, David; Sugimoto, Masayoshi; Wakai, Eiichi; Yokomine, Takehiko

2018-01-01

As part of the engineering validation and engineering design activities (EVEDA) phase for the international fusion materials irradiation facility IFMIF, major elements of a lithium target facility and the test facility were designed, prototyped and validated. For the lithium target facility, the EVEDA lithium test loop was built at JAEA and used to test the stability (waves and long term) of the lithium flow in the target, work out the startup procedures, and test lithium purification and analysis. It was confirmed by experiments in the Lifus 6 plant at ENEA that lithium corrosion on ferritic martensitic steels is acceptably low. Furthermore, complex remote handling procedures for the remote maintenance of the target in the test cell environment were successfully practiced. For the test facility, two variants of a high flux test module were prototyped and tested in helium loops, demonstrating their good capabilities of maintaining the material specimens at the desired temperature with a low temperature spread. Irradiation tests were performed for heated specimen capsules and irradiation instrumentation in the BR2 reactor at SCK-CEN. The small specimen test technique, essential for obtaining material test results with limited irradiation volume, was advanced by evaluating specimen shape and test technique influences.

Integrating fuzzy object based image analysis and ant colony optimization for road extraction from remotely sensed images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maboudi, Mehdi; Amini, Jalal; Malihi, Shirin; Hahn, Michael

2018-04-01

Updated road network as a crucial part of the transportation database plays an important role in various applications. Thus, increasing the automation of the road extraction approaches from remote sensing images has been the subject of extensive research. In this paper, we propose an object based road extraction approach from very high resolution satellite images. Based on the object based image analysis, our approach incorporates various spatial, spectral, and textural objects' descriptors, the capabilities of the fuzzy logic system for handling the uncertainties in road modelling, and the effectiveness and suitability of ant colony algorithm for optimization of network related problems. Four VHR optical satellite images which are acquired by Worldview-2 and IKONOS satellites are used in order to evaluate the proposed approach. Evaluation of the extracted road networks shows that the average completeness, correctness, and quality of the results can reach 89%, 93% and 83% respectively, indicating that the proposed approach is applicable for urban road extraction. We also analyzed the sensitivity of our algorithm to different ant colony optimization parameter values. Comparison of the achieved results with the results of four state-of-the-art algorithms and quantifying the robustness of the fuzzy rule set demonstrate that the proposed approach is both efficient and transferable to other comparable images.

Object-based task-level control: A hierarchical control architecture for remote operation of space robots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stevens, H. D.; Miles, E. S.; Rock, S. J.; Cannon, R. H.

1994-01-01

Expanding man's presence in space requires capable, dexterous robots capable of being controlled from the Earth. Traditional 'hand-in-glove' control paradigms require the human operator to directly control virtually every aspect of the robot's operation. While the human provides excellent judgment and perception, human interaction is limited by low bandwidth, delayed communications. These delays make 'hand-in-glove' operation from Earth impractical. In order to alleviate many of the problems inherent to remote operation, Stanford University's Aerospace Robotics Laboratory (ARL) has developed the Object-Based Task-Level Control architecture. Object-Based Task-Level Control (OBTLC) removes the burden of teleoperation from the human operator and enables execution of tasks not possible with current techniques. OBTLC is a hierarchical approach to control where the human operator is able to specify high-level, object-related tasks through an intuitive graphical user interface. Infrequent task-level command replace constant joystick operations, eliminating communications bandwidth and time delay problems. The details of robot control and task execution are handled entirely by the robot and computer control system. The ARL has implemented the OBTLC architecture on a set of Free-Flying Space Robots. The capability of the OBTLC architecture has been demonstrated by controlling the ARL Free-Flying Space Robots from NASA Ames Research Center.

A vibration model for frequency analysis of arterial tubes with tissue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaoming; Fatemi, Mostafa; Greenleaf, James F.

2003-04-01

Vibro-acoustography is a new noncontact imaging method based on the radiation force of ultrasound. We extend this technique for tissue characterization of arterial tubes by vibration techniques. The arterial tube can be excited remotely by ultrasound at its resonant frequencies where the vibration and acoustic emission of the tube can be measurable. From these resonant frequencies, the material properties of the arterial tube can be found. A theory for a tube with tissue is formulated using first-order shear deformation theory to include the effects of transverse shear deformation and rotary inertia. A wave propagation approach is applied for easy handling of the boundary conditions. Experimental studies were carried out on a silicone tube embedded in a cylindrical gel phantom. A confocal transducer is used to produce the radiation force of ultrasound for exciting the tube-phantom structure. The vibration of the tube and the phantom are measured with a laser vibrometry system. The fundamental mode of a tube-phantom structure is well excited by the radiation force of ultrasound, and was measured to be 81.8 Hz, which is close to the theoretical prediction of 83.3 Hz. Both excitation and measurement are remote and noncontact, important attributes for future study of arteries.

ISSARS Aerosol Database : an Incorporation of Atmospheric Particles into a Universal Tool to Simulate Remote Sensing Instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goetz, Michael B.

2011-01-01

The Instrument Simulator Suite for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (ISSARS) entered its third and final year of development with an overall goal of providing a unified tool to simulate active and passive space borne atmospheric remote sensing instruments. These simulations focus on the atmosphere ranging from UV to microwaves. ISSARS handles all assumptions and uses various models on scattering and microphysics to fill the gaps left unspecified by the atmospheric models to create each instrument's measurements. This will help benefit mission design and reduce mission cost, create efficient implementation of multi-instrument/platform Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE), and improve existing models as well as new advanced models in development. In this effort, various aerosol particles are incorporated into the system, and a simulation of input wavelength and spectral refractive indices related to each spherical test particle(s) generate its scattering properties and phase functions. These atmospheric particles being integrated into the system comprise the ones observed by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer(MISR) and by the Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager(MSPI). In addition, a complex scattering database generated by Prof. Ping Yang (Texas A&M) is also incorporated into this aerosol database. Future development with a radiative transfer code will generate a series of results that can be validated with results obtained by the MISR and MSPI instruments; nevertheless, test cases are simulated to determine the validity of various plugin libraries used to determine or gather the scattering properties of particles studied by MISR and MSPI, or within the Single-scattering properties of tri-axial ellipsoidal mineral dust particles database created by Prof. Ping Yang.

Fully automated synthesis of 4-[18F]fluorobenzylamine based on borohydride/NiCl2 reduction.

PubMed

Way, Jenilee; Wuest, Frank

2013-04-01

4-[(18)F]Fluorobenzylamine ([(18)F]FBA) is an important building block for the synthesis of (18)F-labeled compounds. Synthesis of [(18)F]FBA usually involves application of strong reducing agents like LiAlH4 which is challenging to handle in automated synthesis units (ASUs). Therefore, alternative methods for the preparation of [(18)F]FBA compatible with remotely-controlled syntheses in ASUs are needed. (18)F]FBA was prepared in a remotely-controlled synthesis unit (GE TRACERlab™ FX) based on Ni(II)-mediated borohydride exchange resin (BER) reduction of 4-[(18)F]fluorobenzonitrile ([(18)F]FBN). [(18)F]FBA was used for the synthesis of novel thiol-reactive prosthetic group 4-[(18)F]fluorobenzyl)maleimide [(18)F]FBM and Hsp90 inhibitor 17-(4-[(18)F]fluorobenzylamino)-17-demethoxy-geldanamycin [(18)F] GA. [(18)F]FBA could be prepared in high radiochemical yield greater than 80% (decay-corrected) within 60min. In a typical experiment, 7.4GBq of [(18)F]FBA could be obtained in high radiochemical purity of greater than 95% starting from 10GBq of cyclotron-produced n.c.a. [(18)F]fluoride. [(18)F]FBA was used for the preparation of 4-[(18)F]fluorobenzyl)maleimide as a novel prosthetic group for labeling of thiol groups as demonstrated with tripeptide glutathione. [(18)F]FBA was also used as building block for the syntheses of small molecules as exemplified by the preparation of Hsp90 inhibitor 17-(4-[(18)F]fluorobenzylamino)-17-demethoxy-geldanamycin. The described remotely-controlled synthesis of [(18)F]FBA will significantly improve the availability of [(18)F]FBA as an important and versatile building block for the development of novel (18)F-labeled compounds containing a fluorobenzylamine moiety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developing a Curriculum for Remote Research Mentoring of Virginia High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dirienzo, William J.; Corby, J.; Beaton, R.; Barcos-Munoz, L. D.; Jones, K. M.; Pennucci, T.

2014-01-01

Graduate students at the University of Virginia (UVa) are volunteering as research advisors on astronomy projects for Virginia's science and technology high schools. Over five years, we have worked with more than a dozen students through a research class at Central Virginia Governor's School for Science and Technology in Lynchburg and two students last year at Roanoke Valley Governor's School in Roanoke to develop an astronomy research curriculum that teaches background concepts and terminology, guides students in data analysis, and prepares them to present material in poster and oral forums. Because both schools are far from UVa in Charlottesville, the program operates remotely; graduate advisors and high school students interact through "virtual" means, establishing a successful framework for meaningful remote mentoring. In the current year, four students will complete projects on astrophysical topics including megamasers and astrochemistry using data taken by the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Previous topics also include pulsar searches, extended green object (EGO) searches, and the X-ray properties of YSOs in the Carina complex. All four students this year will receive hands-on experience in handling GBT data. The current projects are components of larger research efforts by graduate student and professional level researchers, so that the projects contribute to high-level projects only possible with the GBT. This stands as a rare outreach program that uses the principle of “deliberative practice” to train high school students in the development of skills that are crucial to success in science. Furthermore, it provides graduate students with an opportunity to plan and advise research projects, developing a skill set that is required in more advanced academic positions. Our poster discusses the implementation of our online curriculum in two distinct class settings and highlights the students' research contributions.

Integrated Sustainable Planning for Industrial Region Using Geospatial Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiwari, Manish K.; Saxena, Aruna; Katare, Vivek

2012-07-01

The Geospatial techniques and its scope of applications have undergone an order of magnitude change since its advent and now it has been universally accepted as a most important and modern tool for mapping and monitoring of various natural resources as well as amenities and infrastructure. The huge and voluminous spatial database generated from various Remote Sensing platforms needs proper management like storage, retrieval, manipulation and analysis to extract desired information, which is beyond the capability of human brain. This is where the computer aided GIS technology came into existence. A GIS with major input from Remote Sensing satellites for the natural resource management applications must be able to handle the spatiotemporal data, supporting spatiotemporal quarries and other spatial operations. Software and the computer-based tools are designed to make things easier to the user and to improve the efficiency and quality of information processing tasks. The natural resources are a common heritage, which we have shared with the past generations, and our future generation will be inheriting these resources from us. Our greed for resource and our tremendous technological capacity to exploit them at a much larger scale has created a situation where we have started withdrawing from the future stocks. Bhopal capital region had attracted the attention of the planners from the beginning of the five-year plan strategy for Industrial development. However, a number of projects were carried out in the individual Districts (Bhopal, Rajgarh, Shajapur, Raisen, Sehore) which also gave fruitful results, but no serious efforts have been made to involve the entire region. No use of latest Geospatial technique (Remote Sensing, GIS, GPS) to prepare a well structured computerized data base without which it is very different to retrieve, analyze and compare the data for monitoring as well as for planning the developmental activities in future.

Surface and Atmospheric Parameter Retrieval From AVIRIS Data: The Importance of Non-Linear Effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Green Robert O.; Moreno, Jose F.

1996-01-01

AVIRIS data represent a new and important approach for the retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from optical remote sensing data. Not only as a test for future space systems, but also as an operational airborne remote sensing system, the development of algorithms to retrieve information from AVIRIS data is an important step to these new approaches and capabilities. Many things have been learned since AVIRIS became operational, and the successive technical improvements in the hardware and the more sophisticated calibration techniques employed have increased the quality of the data to the point of almost meeting optimum user requirements. However, the potential capabilities of imaging spectrometry over the standard multispectral techniques have still not been fully demonstrated. Reasons for this are the technical difficulties in handling the data, the critical aspect of calibration for advanced retrieval methods, and the lack of proper models with which to invert the measured AVIRIS radiances in all the spectral channels. To achieve the potential of imaging spectrometry, these issues must be addressed. In this paper, an algorithm to retrieve information about both atmospheric and surface parameters from AVIRIS data, by using model inversion techniques, is described. Emphasis is put on the derivation of the model itself as well as proper inversion techniques, robust to noise in the data and an inadequate ability of the model to describe natural variability in the data. The problem of non-linear effects is addressed, as it has been demonstrated to be a major source of error in the numerical values retrieved by more simple, linear-based approaches. Non-linear effects are especially critical for the retrieval of surface parameters where both scattering and absorption effects are coupled, as well as in the cases of significant multiple-scattering contributions. However, sophisticated modeling approaches can handle such non-linear effects, which are especially important over vegetated surfaces. All the data used in this study were acquired during the 1991 Multisensor Airborne Campaign (MAC-Europe), as part of the European Field Experiment on a Desertification-threatened Area (EFEDA), carried out in Spain in June-July 1991.

Project Plan 7930 Cell G PaR Remote Handling System Replacement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kinney, Kathryn A

2009-10-01

For over 40 years the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors have made Californium-252 ({sup 252}Cf) available for a wide range of industries including medical, nuclear fuels, mining, military and national security. The Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC) located within the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) processes irradiated production targets from the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Operations in Building 7930, Cell G provide over 70% of the world's demand for {sup 252}Cf. Building 7930 was constructed and equipped in the mid-1960s. Current operations for {sup 252}Cf processing in Building 7930, Cell G require use of through-the-wall manipulatorsmore » and the PaR Remote Handling System. Maintenance and repairs for the manipulators is readily accomplished by removal of the manipulator and relocation to a repair shop where hands-on work can be performed in glove boxes. Contamination inside cell G does not currently allow manned entry and no provisions were created for a maintenance area inside the cell. There has been no maintenance of the PaR system or upgrades, leaving operations vulnerable should the system have a catastrophic failure. The Cell G PaR system is currently being operated in a run to failure mode. As the manipulator is now 40+ years old there is significant risk in this method of operation. In 2006 an assessment was completed that resulted in recommendations for replacing the manipulator operator control and power centers which are used to control and power the PaR manipulator in Cell G. In mid-2008 the chain for the bridge drive failed and subsequent examinations indicated several damaged links (see Figure 1). To continue operations the PaR manipulator arm is being used to push and pull the bridge as a workaround. A retrieval tool was fabricated, tested and staged inside Cell G that will allow positioning of the bridge and manipulator arm for removal from the cell should the PaR system completely fail. A fully functioning and reliable Par manipulator arm is necessary for uninterrupted {sup 252}Cf operations; a fully-functioning bridge is needed for the system to function as intended.« less

Use of XML and Java for collaborative petroleum reservoir modeling on the Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Victorine, John; Watney, W. Lynn; Bhattacharya, Saibal

2005-11-01

The GEMINI (Geo-Engineering Modeling through INternet Informatics) is a public-domain, web-based freeware that is made up of an integrated suite of 14 Java-based software tools to accomplish on-line, real-time geologic and engineering reservoir modeling. GEMINI facilitates distant collaborations for small company and academic clients, negotiating analyses of both single and multiple wells. The system operates on a single server and an enterprise database. External data sets must be uploaded into this database. Feedback from GEMINI users provided the impetus to develop Stand Alone Web Start Applications of GEMINI modules that reside in and operate from the user's PC. In this version, the GEMINI modules run as applets, which may reside in local user PCs, on the server, or Java Web Start. In this enhanced version, XML-based data handling procedures are used to access data from remote and local databases and save results for later access and analyses. The XML data handling process also integrates different stand-alone GEMINI modules enabling the user(s) to access multiple databases. It provides flexibility to the user to customize analytical approach, database location, and level of collaboration. An example integrated field-study using GEMINI modules and Stand Alone Web Start Applications is provided to demonstrate the versatile applicability of this freeware for cost-effective reservoir modeling.

Pyglidein - A Simple HTCondor Glidein Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, D.; Riedel, B.; Merino, G.

2017-10-01

A major challenge for data processing and analysis at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory presents itself in connecting a large set of individual clusters together to form a computing grid. Most of these clusters do not provide a “standard” grid interface. Using a local account on each submit machine, HTCondor glideins can be submitted to virtually any type of scheduler. The glideins then connect back to a main HTCondor pool, where jobs can run normally with no special syntax. To respond to dynamic load, a simple server advertises the number of idle jobs in the queue and the resources they request. The submit script can query this server to optimize glideins to what is needed, or not submit if there is no demand. Configuring HTCondor dynamic slots in the glideins allows us to efficiently handle varying memory requirements as well as whole-node jobs. One step of the IceCube simulation chain, photon propagation in the ice, heavily relies on GPUs for faster execution. Therefore, one important requirement for any workload management system in IceCube is to handle GPU resources properly. Within the pyglidein system, we have successfully configured HTCondor glideins to use any GPU allocated to it, with jobs using the standard HTCondor GPU syntax to request and use a GPU. This mechanism allows us to seamlessly integrate our local GPU cluster with remote non-Grid GPU clusters, including specially allocated resources at XSEDE supercomputers.

Rapid production of positron emitting labeled compounds for use in cardiology PET studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolomey, Leonard

1985-05-01

Large scale clinical application of positron emission tomography requires a variety of short-lived positron emitting radionuclides to be produced in Curie quantities up to 20 times per day. Rapid routine production of these radiopharmaceuticals requires the collaboration of engineers and chemists to achieve production targetry compatible with high beam current (up to 100 μA) and radionuclide production in a chemical form compatible with the rapid radiochemical synthesis. Chemical processing is further complicated by the need to repeat the procedures several times per day and maintain sterility within the shielded area. At our cyclotron facility primary production targets for 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F (half lives from 2 min to 2 h) are mounted on a vertical gantr that indexes to position the required target on the beam line. Target changes are handled under microprocessor control remotely from the control room such that all valves, cooling, evacuation of target manifold, and testing of interlocks are handled automatically. This system enables us to change targets, energy and particles in less than five minutes. Since the installation of the cyclotron up to fifteen batches of routine radiopharmaceuticals have been produced per day with very low radiation doses to all personnel involved. These radiopharmaceuticals will be used to measure perfusion, metabolism and other biochemical functions in man non invasively with PET.

Use of XML and Java for collaborative petroleum reservoir modeling on the Internet

USGS Publications Warehouse

Victorine, J.; Watney, W.L.; Bhattacharya, S.

2005-01-01

The GEMINI (Geo-Engineering Modeling through INternet Informatics) is a public-domain, web-based freeware that is made up of an integrated suite of 14 Java-based software tools to accomplish on-line, real-time geologic and engineering reservoir modeling. GEMINI facilitates distant collaborations for small company and academic clients, negotiating analyses of both single and multiple wells. The system operates on a single server and an enterprise database. External data sets must be uploaded into this database. Feedback from GEMINI users provided the impetus to develop Stand Alone Web Start Applications of GEMINI modules that reside in and operate from the user's PC. In this version, the GEMINI modules run as applets, which may reside in local user PCs, on the server, or Java Web Start. In this enhanced version, XML-based data handling procedures are used to access data from remote and local databases and save results for later access and analyses. The XML data handling process also integrates different stand-alone GEMINI modules enabling the user(s) to access multiple databases. It provides flexibility to the user to customize analytical approach, database location, and level of collaboration. An example integrated field-study using GEMINI modules and Stand Alone Web Start Applications is provided to demonstrate the versatile applicability of this freeware for cost-effective reservoir modeling. ?? 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Force-reflective teleoperated system with shared and compliant control capabilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Szakaly, Z.; Kim, W. S.; Bejczy, A. K.

1989-01-01

The force-reflecting teleoperator breadboard is described. It is the first system among available Research and Development systems with the following combined capabilities: (1) The master input device is not a replica of the slave arm. It is a general purpose device which can be applied to the control of different robot arms through proper mathematical transformations. (2) Force reflection generated in the master hand controller is referenced to forces and moments measured by a six DOF force-moment sensor at the base of the robot hand. (3) The system permits a smooth spectrum of operations between full manual, shared manual and automatic, and full automatic (called traded) control. (4) The system can be operated with variable compliance or stiffness in force-reflecting control. Some of the key points of the system are the data handling and computing architecture, the communication method, and the handling of mathematical transformations. The architecture is a fully synchronized pipeline. The communication method achieves optimal use of a parallel communication channel between the local and remote computing nodes. A time delay box is also implemented in this communication channel permitting experiments with up to 8 sec time delay. The mathematical transformations are computed faster than 1 msec so that control at each node can be operated at 1 kHz servo rate without interpolation. This results in an overall force-reflecting loop rate of 200 Hz.

HIRIS (High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer: Science opportunities for the 1990s. Earth observing system. Volume 2C: Instrument panel report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

The high-resolution imaging spectrometer (HIRIS) is an Earth Observing System (EOS) sensor developed for high spatial and spectral resolution. It can acquire more information in the 0.4 to 2.5 micrometer spectral region than any other sensor yet envisioned. Its capability for critical sampling at high spatial resolution makes it an ideal complement to the MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer) and HMMR (high-resolution multifrequency microwave radiometer), lower resolution sensors designed for repetitive coverage. With HIRIS it is possible to observe transient processes in a multistage remote sensing strategy for Earth observations on a global scale. The objectives, science requirements, and current sensor design of the HIRIS are discussed along with the synergism of the sensor with other EOS instruments and data handling and processing requirements.

A New Concept: Use of Negotiations in the Hazardous Waste Facility Permitting Process in New Mexico

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, G.J.; Rose, W.M.; Domenici, P.V.

This paper describes a unique negotiation process leading to authorization of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage and dispose remote-handled (RH) transuranic (TRU) mixed wastes at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The negotiation process involved multiple entities and individuals brought together under authority of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) to discuss and resolve technical and facility operational issues flowing from an NMED-issued hazardous waste facility Draft Permit. The novel negotiation process resulted in numerous substantive changes to the Draft Permit, which were ultimately memorialised in a 'Draft Permit as Changed'. This paper discusses various aspects ofmore » the negotiation process, including events leading to the negotiations, regulatory basis for the negotiations, negotiation participants, and benefits of the process. (authors)« less

Wideband infrared heterodyne receiver front-end. [for use in CO2 laser communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peyton, B. J.; Wolczok, J.

1974-01-01

A 10.6 micron infrared heterodyne receiver front end was developed for use in a wideband CO2 laser communications link. The infrared receiver employs an 850 MHz response PV HgCdTe photomixer which is mounted in a space quality housing, a low-noise 5 to 1500 MHz IF preamplifier, and a remote control panel. The receiver was designed to handle + or - 750 MHz of Doppler shift while providing an instantaneous information bandwidth of 400 MHz. The measured receiver sensitivity NEP was 1.0 x 10 to the 19th power W/Hz for a photomixer temperature of T sub m = 77 K and an IF beat frequency of 20 MHz and degraded to 1.75 x 10 to the 19th power W/Hz for T sub m = 130 K.

Macromolecular Crystallization in Microfluidics for the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monaco, Lisa A.; Spearing, Scott

2003-01-01

At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Iterative Biological Crystallization (IBC) project has begun development on scientific hardware for macromolecular crystallization on the International Space Station (ISS). Currently ISS crystallization research is limited to solution recipes that were prepared on the ground prior to launch. The proposed hardware will conduct solution mixing and dispensing on board the ISS, be fully automated, and have imaging functions via remote commanding from the ground. Utilizing microfluidic technology, IBC will allow for on orbit iterations. The microfluidics LabChip(R) devices that have been developed, along with Caliper Technologies, will greatly benefit researchers by allowing for precise fluid handling of nano/pico liter sized volumes. IBC will maximize the amount of science return by utilizing the microfluidic approach and be a valuable tool to structural biologists investigating medically relevant projects.

Plutonium storage criteria

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chung, D.; Ascanio, X.

1996-05-01

The Department of Energy has issued a technical standard for long-term (>50 years) storage and will soon issue a criteria document for interim (<20 years) storage of plutonium materials. The long-term technical standard, {open_quotes}Criteria for Safe Storage of Plutonium Metals and Oxides,{close_quotes} addresses the requirements for storing metals and oxides with greater than 50 wt % plutonium. It calls for a standardized package that meets both off-site transportation requirements, as well as remote handling requirements from future storage facilities. The interim criteria document, {open_quotes}Criteria for Interim Safe Storage of Plutonium-Bearing Solid Materials{close_quotes}, addresses requirements for storing materials with less thanmore » 50 wt% plutonium. The interim criteria document assumes the materials will be stored on existing sites, and existing facilities and equipment will be used for repackaging to improve the margin of safety.« less

Internet Technology in Magnetic Resonance: A Common Gateway Interface Program for the World-Wide Web NMR Spectrometer

PubMed

Buszko; Buszko; Wang

1998-04-01

A custom-written Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program for remote control of an NMR spectrometer using a World Wide Web browser has been described. The program, running on a UNIX workstation, uses multiple processes to handle concurrent tasks of interacting with the user and with the spectrometer. The program's parent process communicates with the browser and sends out commands to the spectrometer; the child process is mainly responsible for data acquisition. Communication between the processes is via the shared memory mechanism. The WWW pages that have been developed for the system make use of the frames feature of web browsers. The CGI program provides an intuitive user interface to the NMR spectrometer, making, in effect, a complex system an easy-to-use Web appliance. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.

Metadata and network API aspects of a framework for storing and retrieving civil infrastructure monitoring data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, John-Michael; Stojadinovic, Bozidar

2005-05-01

A framework has been defined for storing and retrieving civil infrastructure monitoring data over a network. The framework consists of two primary components: metadata and network communications. The metadata component provides the descriptions and data definitions necessary for cataloging and searching monitoring data. The communications component provides Java classes for remotely accessing the data. Packages of Enterprise JavaBeans and data handling utility classes are written to use the underlying metadata information to build real-time monitoring applications. The utility of the framework was evaluated using wireless accelerometers on a shaking table earthquake simulation test of a reinforced concrete bridge column. The NEESgrid data and metadata repository services were used as a backend storage implementation. A web interface was created to demonstrate the utility of the data model and provides an example health monitoring application.

Oblique Wing Research Aircraft on ramp

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

This 1976 photograph of the Oblique Wing Research Aircraft was taken in front of the NASA Flight Research Center hangar, located at Edwards Air Force Base, California. In the photograph the noseboom, pitot-static probe, and angles-of-attack and sideslip flow vanes(covered-up) are attached to the front of the vehicle. The clear nose dome for the television camera, and the shrouded propellor for the 90 horsepower engine are clearly seen. The Oblique Wing Research Aircraft was a small, remotely piloted, research craft designed and flight tested to look at the aerodynamic characteristics of an oblique wing and the control laws necessary to achieve acceptable handling qualities. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and the NASA Ames Research Center conducted research with this aircraft in the mid-1970s to investigate the feasibility of flying an oblique wing aircraft.

A simple humane method to euthanize a sea turtle

USGS Publications Warehouse

Work, Thierry M.; Balazs, George H.

2013-01-01

Increased interconnectedness, communication, and demands of society require that wildlife professionals make every effort to consider animal welfare when handling animals. The challenge can be daunting, particularly when a wild animal needs to be euthanized. In some cases, biologists are in remote areas under conditions that may be less than ideal to properly and swiftly dispatch an animal, either because of a lack of proper supplies or veterinary training. Societal demands for consideration of animal welfare are not limited to wildlife professionals. Native cultures, fishermen and hunters have traditional methods of capturing or killing wildlife that are now under increasing public scrutiny. A current example is in Australia where aborigines were criticized for the practice of dispatching sea turtles by throwing a cement block at the animals’ heads resulting in negative public reaction (Queensland Times 2010).

High Resolution Mapping of Soil Properties Using Remote Sensing Variables in South-Western Burkina Faso: A Comparison of Machine Learning and Multiple Linear Regression Models

PubMed Central

Welp, Gerhard; Thiel, Michael

2017-01-01

Accurate and detailed spatial soil information is essential for environmental modelling, risk assessment and decision making. The use of Remote Sensing data as secondary sources of information in digital soil mapping has been found to be cost effective and less time consuming compared to traditional soil mapping approaches. But the potentials of Remote Sensing data in improving knowledge of local scale soil information in West Africa have not been fully explored. This study investigated the use of high spatial resolution satellite data (RapidEye and Landsat), terrain/climatic data and laboratory analysed soil samples to map the spatial distribution of six soil properties–sand, silt, clay, cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen–in a 580 km2 agricultural watershed in south-western Burkina Faso. Four statistical prediction models–multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest regression (RFR), support vector machine (SVM), stochastic gradient boosting (SGB)–were tested and compared. Internal validation was conducted by cross validation while the predictions were validated against an independent set of soil samples considering the modelling area and an extrapolation area. Model performance statistics revealed that the machine learning techniques performed marginally better than the MLR, with the RFR providing in most cases the highest accuracy. The inability of MLR to handle non-linear relationships between dependent and independent variables was found to be a limitation in accurately predicting soil properties at unsampled locations. Satellite data acquired during ploughing or early crop development stages (e.g. May, June) were found to be the most important spectral predictors while elevation, temperature and precipitation came up as prominent terrain/climatic variables in predicting soil properties. The results further showed that shortwave infrared and near infrared channels of Landsat8 as well as soil specific indices of redness, coloration and saturation were prominent predictors in digital soil mapping. Considering the increased availability of freely available Remote Sensing data (e.g. Landsat, SRTM, Sentinels), soil information at local and regional scales in data poor regions such as West Africa can be improved with relatively little financial and human resources. PMID:28114334

A GeoNode-Based Multiscale Platform For Management, Visualization And Integration Of DInSAR Data With Different Geospatial Information Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buonanno, Sabatino; Fusco, Adele; Zeni, Giovanni; Manunta, Michele; Lanari, Riccardo

2017-04-01

This work describes the implementation of an efficient system for managing, viewing, analyzing and updating remotely sensed data, with special reference to Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) data. The DInSAR products measure Earth surface deformation both in space and time, producing deformation maps and time series[1,2]. The use of these data in research or operational contexts requires tools that have to handle temporal and spatial variability with high efficiency. For this aim we present an implementation based on Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for data integration, management and interchange, by using standard protocols[3]. SDI tools provide access to static datasets that operate only with spatial variability . In this paper we use the open source project GeoNode as framework to extend SDI infrastructure functionalities to ingest very efficiently DInSAR deformation maps and deformation time series. GeoNode allows to realize comprehensive and distributed infrastructure, following the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. - OGC, for remote sensing data management, analysis and integration [4,5]. In the current paper we explain the methodology used for manage the data complexity and data integration using the opens source project GeoNode. The solution presented in this work for the ingestion of DinSAR products is a very promising starting point for future developments of the OGC compliant implementation of a semi-automatic remote sensing data processing chain . [1] Berardino, P., Fornaro, G., Lanari, R., & Sansosti, E. (2002). A new Algorithm for Surface Deformation Monitoring based on Small Baseline Differential SAR Interferograms. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 40, 11, pp. 2375-2383. [2] Lanari R., F. Casu, M. Manzo, G. Zeni,, P. Berardino, M. Manunta and A. Pepe (2007), An overview of the Small Baseline Subset Algorithm: a DInSAR Technique for Surface Deformation Analysis, P. Appl. Geophys., 164, doi: 10.1007/s00024-007-0192-9. [3] Nebert, D.D. (ed). 2000. Developing Spatial data Infrastructures: The SDI Cookbook. [4] Geonode (www.geonode.org) [5] Kolodziej, k. (ed). 2004. OGC OpenGIS Web Map Server Cookbook. Open Geospatial Consortium, 1.0.2 edition.

High Resolution Mapping of Soil Properties Using Remote Sensing Variables in South-Western Burkina Faso: A Comparison of Machine Learning and Multiple Linear Regression Models.

PubMed

Forkuor, Gerald; Hounkpatin, Ozias K L; Welp, Gerhard; Thiel, Michael

2017-01-01

Accurate and detailed spatial soil information is essential for environmental modelling, risk assessment and decision making. The use of Remote Sensing data as secondary sources of information in digital soil mapping has been found to be cost effective and less time consuming compared to traditional soil mapping approaches. But the potentials of Remote Sensing data in improving knowledge of local scale soil information in West Africa have not been fully explored. This study investigated the use of high spatial resolution satellite data (RapidEye and Landsat), terrain/climatic data and laboratory analysed soil samples to map the spatial distribution of six soil properties-sand, silt, clay, cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen-in a 580 km2 agricultural watershed in south-western Burkina Faso. Four statistical prediction models-multiple linear regression (MLR), random forest regression (RFR), support vector machine (SVM), stochastic gradient boosting (SGB)-were tested and compared. Internal validation was conducted by cross validation while the predictions were validated against an independent set of soil samples considering the modelling area and an extrapolation area. Model performance statistics revealed that the machine learning techniques performed marginally better than the MLR, with the RFR providing in most cases the highest accuracy. The inability of MLR to handle non-linear relationships between dependent and independent variables was found to be a limitation in accurately predicting soil properties at unsampled locations. Satellite data acquired during ploughing or early crop development stages (e.g. May, June) were found to be the most important spectral predictors while elevation, temperature and precipitation came up as prominent terrain/climatic variables in predicting soil properties. The results further showed that shortwave infrared and near infrared channels of Landsat8 as well as soil specific indices of redness, coloration and saturation were prominent predictors in digital soil mapping. Considering the increased availability of freely available Remote Sensing data (e.g. Landsat, SRTM, Sentinels), soil information at local and regional scales in data poor regions such as West Africa can be improved with relatively little financial and human resources.

The HUMSAT System: a CubeSat-based Constellation for In-situ and Inexpensive Environmental Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tubío-Pardavila, R.; Vigil, S. A.; Puig-Suari, J.; Aguado Agelet, F.

2014-12-01

There is a requirement for low cost in-situ measurements of environmental parameters such as air quality, meteorological data, and water quality in remote areas. Currently available solutions for such measurements include remote sensing from satellite and aircraft platforms, and in-situ measurements from mobile and aircraft platforms. Fixed systems such as eddy covariance networks, tall towers, and the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) are providing precision greenhouse gas measurements. Within this context, the HUMSAT system designed by the University of Vigo (Spain) will complement existing high-precision measurement systems with low cost in-situ ground based sensors in remote locations using a constellation of CubeSats as a communications relay. The HUMSAT system standardizes radio communications in between deployed sensors and the CubeSats of the constellation, which act as store and forward satellites to ground stations for uploading to the internet. Current ground stations have been established at the University of Vigo (Spain) and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Users of the system may deploy their own environmental sensors to meet local requirements. The sensors will be linked to a low-cost satellite data transceiver using a standard HUMSAT protocol. The transceiver is capable of receiving data from the HUMSAT constellation to remotely reconfigure sensors without the need of physically going to the sensor location. This transceiver uses a UHF channel around 437 MHz to exchange short data messages with the sensors. These data messages can contain up to 32 bytes of useful information and are transmitted at a speed around 300 bps. The protocol designed for this system handles the access to the channel by all these elements and guarantees a correct transmission of the information in such an scenario. The University of Vigo has launched the first satellite of the constellation, the HUMSAT-D CubeSat in November 2013 and has deployed sensors in Spain and Brazil. Sensors will be also deployed by Cal Poly in the near future. In the following months, the SERPENS CubeSAT Mission, a joint project of the University of Brasilia and the University of Vigo will launch the second CubeSat of the constellation.

Consolidated fuel reprossing program: The implications of force reflection for teleoperation in space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draper, John V.; Herndon, Joseph N.; Moore, Wendy E.

1987-01-01

Previous research on teleoperator force feedback is reviewed and results of a testing program which assessed the impact of force reflection on teleoperator task performance are reported. Force relection is a type of force feedback in which the forces acting on the remote portion of the teleoperator are displayed to the operator by back-driving the master controller. The testing program compared three force reflection levels: 4 to 1 (four units of force on the slave produce one unit of force at the master controller), 1 to 1, and infinity to 1 (no force reflection). Time required to complete tasks, rate of occurrence of errors, the maximum force applied to tasks components, and variability in forces applied to components during completion of representative remote handling tasks were used as dependent variables. Operators exhibited lower error rates, lower peak forces, and more consistent application of forces using force relection than they did without it. These data support the hypothesis that force reflection provides useful information for teleoperator users. The earlier literature and the results of the experiment are discussed in terms of their implications for space based teleoperator systems. The discussion described the impact of force reflection on task completion performance and task strategies, as suggested by the literature. It is important to understand the trade-offs involved in using telerobotic systems with and without force reflection.

Development of a triage engine enabling behavior recognition and lethal arrhythmia detection for remote health care system.

PubMed

Sugano, Hiroto; Hara, Shinsuke; Tsujioka, Tetsuo; Inoue, Tadayuki; Nakajima, Shigeyoshi; Kozaki, Takaaki; Namkamura, Hajime; Takeuchi, Kazuhide

2011-01-01

For ubiquitous health care systems which continuously monitor a person's vital signs such as electrocardiogram (ECG), body surface temperature and three-dimensional (3D) acceleration by wireless, it is important to accurately detect the occurrence of an abnormal event in the data and immediately inform a medical doctor of its detail. In this paper, we introduce a remote health care system, which is composed of a wireless vital sensor, multiple receivers and a triage engine installed in a desktop personal computer (PC). The middleware installed in the receiver, which was developed in C++, supports reliable data handling of vital data to the ethernet port. On the other hand, the human interface of the triage engine, which was developed in JAVA, shows graphics on his/her ECG data, 3D acceleration data, body surface temperature data and behavior status in the display of the desktop PC and sends an urgent e-mail containing the display data to a pre-registered medical doctor when it detects the occurrence of an abnormal event. In the triage engine, the lethal arrhythmia detection algorithm based on short time Fourier transform (STFT) analysis can achieve 100 % sensitivity and 99.99 % specificity, and the behavior recognition algorithm based on the combination of the nearest neighbor method and the Naive Bayes method can achieve more than 71 % classification accuracy.

Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation and agricultural crops: knowledge gain and knowledge gap after 40 years of research

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Lyon, John G.; Huete, Alfredo; Edited by Thenkabail, Prasad S.; Lyon, John G.; Huete, Alfredo

2011-01-01

The focus of this chapter was to summarize the advances made over last 40+ years, as reported in various chapters of this book, in understanding, modeling, and mapping terrestrial vegetation using hyperspectral remote sensing (or imaging spectroscopy) using sensors that are ground-based, truck-mounted, airborne, and spaceborne. As we have seen in various chapters of this book and synthesized in this chapter, the advances made include: (a) significantly improved characterization and modeling of a wide array of biophysical and biochemical properties of vegetation, (b) ability to discriminate plant species and vegetation types with high degree of accuracies (c) reducing uncertainties in determining net primary productivity or carbon assessments from terrestrial vegetation, (d) improved crop productivity and water productivity models, (b), (e) ability to access stress resulting from causes such as management practices, pests and disease, water deficit or excess; , and (f) establishing more sensitive wavebands and indices to detect plant water\\moisture content. The advent of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors (e.g., NASA’s Hyperion, ESA’s PROBA, and upcoming NASA’s HyspIRI) and numerous methods and techniques espoused in this book to overcome Hughes phenomenon or data redundancy when handling large volumes of hyperspectral data have generated tremendous interest in advancing our hyperspectral applications knowledge base over larger spatial extent such as region, nation, continent, and globe.

NASA Remote Sensing Data in Earth Sciences: Processing, Archiving, Distribution, Applications at the GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, Gregory G.

2005-01-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is one of the major Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) archiving and distributing remote sensing data from the NASA's Earth Observing System. In addition to providing just data, the GES DISC/DAAC has developed various value-adding processing services. A particularly useful service is data processing a t the DISC (i.e., close to the input data) with the users' algorithms. This can take a number of different forms: as a configuration-managed algorithm within the main processing stream; as a stand-alone program next to the on-line data storage; as build-it-yourself code within the Near-Archive Data Mining (NADM) system; or as an on-the-fly analysis with simple algorithms embedded into the web-based tools (to avoid downloading unnecessary all the data). The existing data management infrastructure at the GES DISC supports a wide spectrum of options: from data subsetting data spatially and/or by parameter to sophisticated on-line analysis tools, producing economies of scale and rapid time-to-deploy. Shifting processing and data management burden from users to the GES DISC, allows scientists to concentrate on science, while the GES DISC handles the data management and data processing at a lower cost. Several examples of successful partnerships with scientists in the area of data processing and mining are presented.

Remote liquid target loading system for LANL two-stage gas gun

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, L. L.; Bartram, B.; Dattelbaum, D. M.; Sheffield, S. A.; Stahl, D. B.

2009-06-01

A Remote Liquid Loading System (RLLS) was designed to load high hazard liquid materials into targets for gas-gun driven impact experiments. These high hazard liquids tend to react with confining materials in a short period of time, degrading target assemblies and potentially building up pressure through the evolution of gas in the reactions. Therefore, the ability to load a gas gun target in place immediately prior to firing the gun, provides the most stable and reliable target fielding approach. We present the design and evaluation of a RLLS built for the LANL two-stage gas gun. Targets for the gun are made of PMMA and assembled to form a liquid containment cell with a volume of approximately 25 cc. The compatibility of materials was a major consideration in the design of the system, particularly for its use with highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide. Teflon and 304-stainless steel were the two most compatible materials with the materials to be tested. Teflon valves and tubing, as well as stainless steel tubing, were used to handle the liquid, along with a stainless steel reservoir. Preliminary testing was done to ensure proper flow rate and safety. The system has been used to successfully load 97.5 percent hydrogen peroxide into a target cell just prior to a successful multiple magnetic gauge experiment. TV cameras on the target verified the bubble-free filling operation.

Multi-Mission System Architecture Platform: Design and Verification of the Remote Engineering Unit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sartori, John

2005-01-01

The Multi-Mission System Architecture Platform (MSAP) represents an effort to bolster efficiency in the spacecraft design process. By incorporating essential spacecraft functionality into a modular, expandable system, the MSAP provides a foundation on which future spacecraft missions can be developed. Once completed, the MSAP will provide support for missions with varying objectives, while maintaining a level of standardization that will minimize redesign of general system components. One subsystem of the MSAP, the Remote Engineering Unit (REU), functions by gathering engineering telemetry from strategic points on the spacecraft and providing these measurements to the spacecraft's Command and Data Handling (C&DH) subsystem. Before the MSAP Project reaches completion, all hardware, including the REU, must be verified. However, the speed and complexity of the REU circuitry rules out the possibility of physical prototyping. Instead, the MSAP hardware is designed and verified using the Verilog Hardware Definition Language (HDL). An increasingly popular means of digital design, HDL programming provides a level of abstraction, which allows the designer to focus on functionality while logic synthesis tools take care of gate-level design and optimization. As verification of the REU proceeds, errors are quickly remedied, preventing costly changes during hardware validation. After undergoing the careful, iterative processes of verification and validation, the REU and MSAP will prove their readiness for use in a multitude of spacecraft missions.

Evaluation and Development of E-Learning Tools and Methods in Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for Non Experts from Academia and Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gülch, E.; Al-Ghorani, N.; Quedenfeldt, B.; Braun, J.

2012-07-01

There does already exist a wide variety of tutorials and on-line courses on Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing very often used in academia. Many of them are still rather static and tedious or target high-knowledge learners. E-learning is, however, increasingly applied by many organizations and companies for life-long learning (like e.g. the EduServ courses of EuroSDR), but also for training of resellers and in order to save the expenses and time of travelling. A new issue of this project when taking into account the ethnic mentality in some countries like Saudi Arabia where it is impossible to mix the females and males at any institution type or for instance to teach ladies by a male teacher face to face, many academic workshops have been done separately twice by foreign organizations to adapt this situation. This paper will focus on these issues and present experiences gathered from a Master Thesis on "E-learning in Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for Non Experts using Moodle" at HFT Stuttgart in co-operation with a software vendor and a reseller and experiences from a current European Tempus IV project GIDEC (Geographic information technology for sustainable development in Eastern neighouring countries). The aim of this research is to provide an overview on available methods and tools and classify and judge their feasibility for the above mentioned scenarios. A more detailed description is given on the development of e-learning applications for Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing using the open source package Moodle as platform. A first item covers the experiences from setting up and handling of Moodle for non-experts. The major emphasis is then on developing and analyzing some few case studies for lectures, exercises, and software training in the fields of Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Feedback from students and company staff will be evaluated and incorporated in an improved design and sample implementation. A further focus is on free software and tools to allow an easy integration of dedicated methods as audio and video flashes, quizzes for self evaluation, dynamic training, web-conference, etc. into the e-learning platform. The overall objective is to evaluate on how far it is currently possibly to allow the non-experts from academic and non academic sectors to get the initial experience and knowledge in Digital Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in a modern, flexible and economic way. The time and the skills required for developing web-based materials will thus be investigated in more detail. Additionally, the quality of the developed e-learning application will be assessed based on a list of quality criteria developed.

Investigation into Cloud Computing for More Robust Automated Bulk Image Geoprocessing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Richard B.; Smoot, James C.; Underwood, Lauren; Armstrong, C. Duane

2012-01-01

Geospatial resource assessments frequently require timely geospatial data processing that involves large multivariate remote sensing data sets. In particular, for disasters, response requires rapid access to large data volumes, substantial storage space and high performance processing capability. The processing and distribution of this data into usable information products requires a processing pipeline that can efficiently manage the required storage, computing utilities, and data handling requirements. In recent years, with the availability of cloud computing technology, cloud processing platforms have made available a powerful new computing infrastructure resource that can meet this need. To assess the utility of this resource, this project investigates cloud computing platforms for bulk, automated geoprocessing capabilities with respect to data handling and application development requirements. This presentation is of work being conducted by Applied Sciences Program Office at NASA-Stennis Space Center. A prototypical set of image manipulation and transformation processes that incorporate sample Unmanned Airborne System data were developed to create value-added products and tested for implementation on the "cloud". This project outlines the steps involved in creating and testing of open source software developed process code on a local prototype platform, and then transitioning this code with associated environment requirements into an analogous, but memory and processor enhanced cloud platform. A data processing cloud was used to store both standard digital camera panchromatic and multi-band image data, which were subsequently subjected to standard image processing functions such as NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDMI (Normalized Difference Moisture Index), band stacking, reprojection, and other similar type data processes. Cloud infrastructure service providers were evaluated by taking these locally tested processing functions, and then applying them to a given cloud-enabled infrastructure to assesses and compare environment setup options and enabled technologies. This project reviews findings that were observed when cloud platforms were evaluated for bulk geoprocessing capabilities based on data handling and application development requirements.

Earth Science Informatics Comes of Age

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jodha, Siri; Khalsa, S.; Ramachandran, Rahul

2014-01-01

The volume and complexity of Earth science data have steadily increased, placing ever-greater demands on researchers, software developers and data managers tasked with handling such data. Additional demands arise from requirements being levied by funding agencies and governments to better manage, preserve and provide open access to data. Fortunately, over the past 10-15 years significant advances in information technology, such as increased processing power, advanced programming languages, more sophisticated and practical standards, and near-ubiquitous internet access have made the jobs of those acquiring, processing, distributing and archiving data easier. These advances have also led to an increasing number of individuals entering the field of informatics as it applies to Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Informatics is the science and technology of applying computers and computational methods to the systematic analysis, management, interchange, and representation of data, information, and knowledge. Informatics also encompasses the use of computers and computational methods to support decisionmaking and other applications for societal benefits.

Robotic conveyance of artillery projectiles for remote ammunition resupply operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ray, T.L.; Glassell, R.L.

1995-07-01

The U.S. Army`s Project Manager, Advanced Field Artillery System/Future Armored Resupply Vehicle has given Oak Ridge National Laboratory the task of developing a robotic conveyance system which will provide automated artillery ammunition transfer. This technology is currently being developed and will be demonstrated in the summer of 1995. This paper describes the development of an ammunition transfer arm to date. The arm consists of three sections and 6 D.F. which will allow the Future Armored Resupply Vehicle to dock and mate with the Advanced Field Artillery System on terrain varying from {+-}10{degrees} in pitch, yaw, and roll and will allowmore » for alignment of the fuel and propellant transfer ports. This arm will deliver the ammunition to the AFAS, where it will be received by an automatic handling and storage system inside the AFAS.« less

Soil conservation applications with C-band SAR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brisco, B.; Brown, R. J.; Naunheimer, J.; Bedard, D.

1992-01-01

Soil conservation programs are becoming more important as the growing human population exerts greater pressure on this non-renewable resource. Indeed, soil degradation affects approximately 10 percent of Canada's agricultural land with an estimated loss of 6,000 hectares of topsoil annually from Ontario farmland alone. Soil loss not only affects agricultural productivity but also decreases water quality and can lead to siltation problems. Thus, there is a growing demand for soil conservation programs and a need to develop an effective monitoring system. Topography and soil type information can easily be handled within a geographic information system (GIS). Information about vegetative cover type and surface roughness, which both experience considerable temporal change, can be obtained from remote sensing techniques. For further development of the technology to produce an operational soil conservation monitoring system, an experiment was conducted in Oxford County, Ontario which investigated the separability of fall surface cover type using C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data.

Implementation and testing of a Neighborhood Office Center (NOC) and integration of the NOC with an administrative correspondence management information system. [for NASA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1977-01-01

The application of telecommunications and telecomputing was investigated as a means of reducing NASA's consumption of natural resources and the proliferation of paper copies of correspondence. The feasibility, operational advantages, and limitations of decentralized (remote) neighborhood offices (NOC) linked through an electronic network are demonstrated. These offices are joined to a management information system for correspondence tracking, and to an administrative office center service based on the use of magnetic medium word processing typewriters which handle the daily typing load. In connection with an augmented teleconference network, a uniform means is provided for creating, storing, and retrieving administrative documents, records, and data, while simultaneously permitting users of the system to track their status. Information will be transferred without using paper - merely through digital electronic communication and display, as a step toward the establishment of an agency-wide electronic mail system.

Regional agriculture surveys using ERTS-1 data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Draeger, W. C.; Nichols, J. D.; Benson, A. S.; Larrabee, D. G.; Jenkus, W. M.; Hay, C. M.

1974-01-01

The Center for Remote Sensing Research has conducted studies designed to evaluate the potential application of ERTS data in performing agricultural inventories, and to develop efficient methods of data handling and analysis useful in the operational context for performing large area surveys. This work has resulted in the development of an integrated system utilizing both human and computer analysis of ground, aerial, and space imagery, which has been shown to be very efficient for regional crop acreage inventories. The technique involves: (1) the delineation of ERTS images into relatively homogeneous strata by human interpreters, (2) the point-by-point classification of the area within each strata on the basis of crop type using a human/machine interactive digital image processing system; and (3) a multistage sampling procedure for the collection of supporting aerial and ground data used in the adjustment and verification of the classification results.

Hyperspectral Imaging and Related Field Methods: Building the Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goetz, Alexander F. H.; Steffen, Konrad; Wessman, Carol

1999-01-01

The proposal requested funds for the computing power to bring hyperspectral image processing into undergraduate and graduate remote sensing courses. This upgrade made it possible to handle more students in these oversubscribed courses and to enhance CSES' summer short course entitled "Hyperspectral Imaging and Data Analysis" provided for government, industry, university and military. Funds were also requested to build field measurement capabilities through the purchase of spectroradiometers, canopy radiation sensors and a differential GPS system. These instruments provided systematic and complete sets of field data for the analysis of hyperspectral data with the appropriate radiometric and wavelength calibration as well as atmospheric data needed for application of radiative transfer models. The proposed field equipment made it possible to team-teach a new field methods course, unique in the country, that took advantage of the expertise of the investigators rostered in three different departments, Geology, Geography and Biology.

The UARS and open data concept and analysis study. [upper atmosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mittal, M.; Nebb, J.; Woodward, H.

1983-01-01

Alternative concepts for a common design for the UARS and OPEN Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF) are offered. Costs for alternative implementations of the UARS designs are presented, showing that the system design does not restrict the implementation to a single manufacturer. Processing demands on the alternative UARS CDHF implementations are then discussed. With this information at hand together with estimates for OPEN processing demands, it is shown that any shortfall in system capability for OPEN support can be remedied by either component upgrades or array processing attachments rather than a system redesign. In addition to a common system design, it is shown that there is significant potential for common software design, especially in the areas of data management software and non-user-unique production software. Archiving the CDHF data are discussed. Following that, cost examples for several modes of communications between the CDHF and Remote User Facilities are presented. Technology application is discussed.

Instruments speak global language

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nudo, L.

1993-07-01

If all goes as planned, companies that use instruments for measurement and control will get more complete, reliable and repeatable information about their processes with advanced digital devices that speak a global language. That language, in technical terms, is known as international fieldbus. But it's not much different from English's role as the international language of business. Companies that use a remote measurement device for environmental applications, such as pH control and fugitive emissions control, are candidates for fieldbus devices, which are much faster and measure more process variables than their counterpart analog devices. With the advent of a globalmore » fieldbus, users will see digital valves, solenoids and multivariable transmitters. Fieldbus technology redefines the roles of the control system and field devices. The control system still serves as a central clearinghouse, but field devices will handle more control and reporting functions and generate data that can be used for trending and preventive maintenance.« less

Concepts for a low-vibration and cryogen-free tabletop dilution refrigerator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uhlig, Kurt

2017-10-01

The purpose of this article is to describe several concepts of how to cool a modern tabletop dilution refrigerator (DR) with a cryogen-free pulse tube cryocooler (PTC). Tabletop DRs have come more and more into the focus of scientists, recently, because they offer easy access to the mixing chamber mounting plate from all directions and because of their very short cooldown times. However, these milli-Kelvin coolers are precooled with LHe which makes their handling inconvenient and often expensive. In the paper it is explained how a cryocooler can be directly coupled to a DR unit making the use of LHe superfluous. Furthermore, concepts are discussed where a tabletop DR is cooled by a remote PTC; PTC and DR are mounted in separate vacuum containers which are connected by a stainless steel bellows tube. This kind of apparatus would offer an extremely low level of vibration at the mixing chamber mounting plate.

SIPT: a seismic refraction inverse modeling program for timeshare terminal computer systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scott, James Henry

1977-01-01

SIPB is an interactive Fortran computer program that was developed for use with a timeshare computer system with program control information submitted from a remote terminal, and output data displayed on the terminal or printed on a line printer. The program is an upgraded version of FSIPI (Scott, Tibbetts, and Burdick, 1972) with several major improvements in addition to .its adaptation to timeshare operation. The most significant improvement was made in the procedure for handling data from in-line offset shotpoints beyond the end shotpoints of the geophone spread. The changes and improvements are described, user's instructions are outlined, examples of input and output data for a test problem are presented, and the Fortran program is listed in this report. An upgraded batch-mode program, SIPB, is available for users who do not have a timeshare computer system available (Scott, 1977).

SIPB: a seismic refraction inverse modeling program for batch computer systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Scott, James Henry

1977-01-01

SIPB is an interactive Fortran computer program that was developed for use with a timeshare computer system with program control information submitted from a remote terminal, and output data displayed on the terminal or printed on a line printer. The program is an upgraded version of FSIPI (Scott, Tibbetts, and Burdick, 1972) with several major improvements in addition to .its adaptation to timeshare operation. The most significant improvement was made in the procedure for handling data from in-line offset shotpoints beyond the end shotpoints of the geophone spread. The changes and improvements are described, user's instructions are outlined, examples of input and output data for a test problem are presented, and the Fortran program is listed in this report. An upgraded batch-mode program, SIPB, is available for users who do not have a timeshare computer system available (Scott, 1977).

Core Vessel Insert Handling Robot for the Spallation Neutron Source

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graves, Van B; Dayton, Michael J

2011-01-01

The Spallation Neutron Source provides the world's most intense pulsed neutron beams for scientific research and industrial development. Its eighteen neutron beam lines will eventually support up to twenty-four simultaneous experiments. Each beam line consists of various optical components which guide the neutrons to a particular instrument. The optical components nearest the neutron moderators are the core vessel inserts. Located approximately 9 m below the high bay floor, these inserts are bolted to the core vessel chamber and are part of the vacuum boundary. They are in a highly radioactive environment and must periodically be replaced. During initial SNS construction,more » four of the beam lines received Core Vessel Insert plugs rather than functional inserts. Remote replacement of the first Core Vessel Insert plug was recently completed using several pieces of custom-designed tooling, including a highly complicated Core Vessel Insert Robot. The design of this tool are discussed.« less

Photonic sensor devices for explosive detection.

PubMed

Willer, Ulrike; Schade, Wolfgang

2009-09-01

For the sensitive online and in situ detection of gaseous species, optical methods are ideally suited. In contrast to chemical analysis, no sample preparation is necessary and therefore spectroscopic methods should be favorable both in respect of a fast signal recovery and economically because no disposal is needed. However, spectroscopic methods are currently not widely used for security applications. We review photonic sensor devices for the detection of explosives in the gas phase as well as the condensed phase and the underlying spectroscopic techniques with respect to their adaptability for security applications, where high sensitivity, high selectivity, and a low false-alarm rate are of importance. The measurements have to be performed under ambient conditions and often remote handling or even operation in standoff configuration is needed. For handheld and portable equipment, special attention is focused on the miniaturization and examples for already-available sensor devices are given.

Mechanical vibrations from tadpoles' flapping tails transform salamander's carnivorous morphology.

PubMed

Michimae, Hirofumi; Nishimura, Kinya; Wakahara, Masami

2005-03-22

Some prey or predator organisms exhibit striking rapid morphological plastic changes with distinct morphology under the condition of predator or prey presence. Remote chemicals propagating from the inducing agents are the prevalent induction cues for most examples of induction of distinct morphs. Sonic and visual cues, as well as chemical cues, are known as triggers for induction of behavioural plasticity. Here we show that hydraulic vibration originating from flapping tails of anuran tadpoles is a key cue in relation to induction of a distinct carnivorous morphology, a broad-headed morph, in larval salamander Hynobius retardatus, which is able to efficiently capture and handle prey. This result was further supported by the fact that simple mechanical vibrations of tail-like vinyl fins were able to induce the morph without any biological cues. Induction of the morph triggered by hydraulic vibration provides a novel concept for understanding the proximate mechanisms of induction of morphological changes.

Architectural development of an advanced EVA Electronic System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lavelle, Joseph

1992-01-01

An advanced electronic system for future EVA missions (including zero gravity, the lunar surface, and the surface of Mars) is under research and development within the Advanced Life Support Division at NASA Ames Research Center. As a first step in the development, an optimum system architecture has been derived from an analysis of the projected requirements for these missions. The open, modular architecture centers around a distributed multiprocessing concept where the major subsystems independently process their own I/O functions and communicate over a common bus. Supervision and coordination of the subsystems is handled by an embedded real-time operating system kernel employing multitasking software techniques. A discussion of how the architecture most efficiently meets the electronic system functional requirements, maximizes flexibility for future development and mission applications, and enhances the reliability and serviceability of the system in these remote, hostile environments is included.

The European project Merlin on multi-gigabit, energy-efficient, ruggedized lightwave engines for advanced on-board digital processors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stampoulidis, L.; Kehayas, E.; Karppinen, M.; Tanskanen, A.; Heikkinen, V.; Westbergh, P.; Gustavsson, J.; Larsson, A.; Grüner-Nielsen, L.; Sotom, M.; Venet, N.; Ko, M.; Micusik, D.; Kissinger, D.; Ulusoy, A. C.; King, R.; Safaisini, R.

2017-11-01

Modern broadband communication networks rely on satellites to complement the terrestrial telecommunication infrastructure. Satellites accommodate global reach and enable world-wide direct broadcasting by facilitating wide access to the backbone network from remote sites or areas where the installation of ground segment infrastructure is not economically viable. At the same time the new broadband applications increase the bandwidth demands in every part of the network - and satellites are no exception. Modern telecom satellites incorporate On-Board Processors (OBP) having analogue-to-digital (ADC) and digital-to-analogue converters (DAC) at their inputs/outputs and making use of digital processing to handle hundreds of signals; as the amount of information exchanged increases, so do the physical size, mass and power consumption of the interconnects required to transfer massive amounts of data through bulk electric wires.

Study of safety implications for shuttle launched spacecraft using fluorinated oxidizers. Volume 1: Complete text

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1975-01-01

The safety implications of space shuttle launched spacecraft using liquid flourine as the oxidizer for spacecraft propulsion were investigated. Feasibility of safe operation was investigated and the equipment and procedures necessary to maximize the chance of success determined. Hazards to the shuttle were found to be similar in kind if not degree to those encountered in use of nitrogen tetroxide (also toxic oxidizer). It was concluded that residual risks from spacecraft using fluorine and nitrogen tetroxide during ground and flight handling may be reduced by isolation of the oxidizer to only its tank. Operation of planetary spacecraft propulsion in the vicinity of the shuttle in earth orbit is not required. The primary hazard to personnel was identified as propellant loading operations, which should be accomplished in an area reasonably remote from personnel and facilities concentrations. Clearing the pad during spacecraft mating with the shuttle orbiter is recommended.

Performance Analysis of an Actor-Based Distributed Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeffler, James D.

1998-01-01

Object-oriented design of simulation programs appears to be very attractive because of the natural association of components in the simulated system with objects. There is great potential in distributing the simulation across several computers for the purpose of parallel computation and its consequent handling of larger problems in less elapsed time. One approach to such a design is to use "actors", that is, active objects with their own thread of control. Because these objects execute concurrently, communication is via messages. This is in contrast to an object-oriented design using passive objects where communication between objects is via method calls (direct calls when they are in the same address space and remote procedure calls when they are in different address spaces or different machines). This paper describes a performance analysis program for the evaluation of a design for distributed simulations based upon actors.

Mobile Autonomous Humanoid Assistant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diftler, M. A.; Ambrose, R. O.; Tyree, K. S.; Goza, S. M.; Huber, E. L.

2004-01-01

A mobile autonomous humanoid robot is assisting human co-workers at the Johnson Space Center with tool handling tasks. This robot combines the upper body of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robonaut system with a Segway(TradeMark) Robotic Mobility Platform yielding a dexterous, maneuverable humanoid perfect for aiding human co-workers in a range of environments. This system uses stereo vision to locate human team mates and tools and a navigation system that uses laser range and vision data to follow humans while avoiding obstacles. Tactile sensors provide information to grasping algorithms for efficient tool exchanges. The autonomous architecture utilizes these pre-programmed skills to form human assistant behaviors. The initial behavior demonstrates a robust capability to assist a human by acquiring a tool from a remotely located individual and then following the human in a cluttered environment with the tool for future use.

Lightweight telescopes for lunar observatories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rozelot, J. P.; Bingham, R.; Walker, D.

1994-06-01

Future optical observatories in space will require telescopes of very high resolution. To satisfy this demand, technology must be developed for large mirrors capable of diffraction-limited imaging. Conventional monolithic glass substrates (light-weight or not) have serious limitations for future development. In particular, glass is susceptible to fracture during ground-handling, transport and launch. An alternative solution is aluminium. It has lower cost, increased strength, easier and safer methods of fixing, amongst other advantages. It is readily lightweighted and can be produced with good polishing quality with nickel coating. We foresee applications for satellite telescope for astronomy, remote sensing, surveys of asteroids and debris in space. Furthermore, this technology is ideally suitable for lunar mounted interferometric experiments - as mirrors can be easily replicate, saving cost - and for telescopes deployed on planetary surfaces. Some results from the European Eureka Large Active Mirrors in Aluminium (LAMA) are here presented, which show the feasibility of such systems.

Security and privacy issues with health care information technology.

PubMed

Meingast, Marci; Roosta, Tanya; Sastry, Shankar

2006-01-01

The face of health care is changing as new technologies are being incorporated into the existing infrastructure. Electronic patient records and sensor networks for in-home patient monitoring are at the current forefront of new technologies. Paper-based patient records are being put in electronic format enabling patients to access their records via the Internet. Remote patient monitoring is becoming more feasible as specialized sensors can be placed inside homes. The combination of these technologies will improve the quality of health care by making it more personalized and reducing costs and medical errors. While there are benefits to technologies, associated privacy and security issues need to be analyzed to make these systems socially acceptable. In this paper we explore the privacy and security implications of these next-generation health care technologies. We describe existing methods for handling issues as well as discussing which issues need further consideration.

BioBlocks: Programming Protocols in Biology Made Easier.

PubMed

Gupta, Vishal; Irimia, Jesús; Pau, Iván; Rodríguez-Patón, Alfonso

2017-07-21

The methods to execute biological experiments are evolving. Affordable fluid handling robots and on-demand biology enterprises are making automating entire experiments a reality. Automation offers the benefit of high-throughput experimentation, rapid prototyping, and improved reproducibility of results. However, learning to automate and codify experiments is a difficult task as it requires programming expertise. Here, we present a web-based visual development environment called BioBlocks for describing experimental protocols in biology. It is based on Google's Blockly and Scratch, and requires little or no experience in computer programming to automate the execution of experiments. The experiments can be specified, saved, modified, and shared between multiple users in an easy manner. BioBlocks is open-source and can be customized to execute protocols on local robotic platforms or remotely, that is, in the cloud. It aims to serve as a de facto open standard for programming protocols in Biology.

Radiological Characterization Methodology for INEEL-Stored Remote-Handled Transuranic (RH TRU) Waste from Argonne National Laboratory-East

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kuan, P.; Bhatt, R.N.

2003-01-14

An Acceptable Knowledge (AK)-based radiological characterization methodology is being developed for RH TRU waste generated from ANL-E hot cell operations performed on fuel elements irradiated in the EBR-II reactor. The methodology relies on AK for composition of the fresh fuel elements, their irradiation history, and the waste generation and collection processes. Radiological characterization of the waste involves the estimates of the quantities of significant fission products and transuranic isotopes in the waste. Methods based on reactor and physics principles are used to achieve these estimates. Because of the availability of AK and the robustness of the calculation methods, the AK-basedmore » characterization methodology offers a superior alternative to traditional waste assay techniques. Using the methodology, it is shown that the radiological parameters of a test batch of ANL-E waste is well within the proposed WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria limits.« less

The Use of Explosive Forming for Fastening and Joining Structural and Pressure Components

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schroeder, J. W.

1985-01-01

Explosive expansion of tubes into tubesheets has been used for over 20 years in the fabrication and repair of shell and tube heat exchangers. The use of explosives to perform these expansions has offered several distinct advantages over other methods. First, the process is fast and economical and can be performed with minimal training of personnel. Secondly, explosive forming does not cause the deleterious metallurgical effects which often result from other forming operations. In addition, the process can be performed remotely without the need for sophisticated handling equipment. The expansion of tubes into tubesheets is only one of many possible fastening and joining applications for which explosive forming can be used to achieve highly successful results. The explosive forming process and where it has been used are described. In addition, some possible adaptations to other joining applications are identified and discussed.

Defect scriber

DOEpatents

Russell, Harold C.

1979-01-01

This disclosure describes a device for repeatably scribing a V-shaped scratch having sharply defined dimensions on the interior surface of a nuclear reactor fuel rod tube. A cutting tool having a V-shaped cutting tip is supported within the fuel rod tube so that the V-shaped cutting tip can be pivoted about an axis and scribe a scratch on the interior surface of the fuel rod tube. Lengthwise the scratch runs parallel to a line drawn through the axis of the fuel rod tube and is in the shape of an arc, and widthwise the scratch is V-shaped. This shape is used because the dimensions of the scratch can be plugged into appropriate formulas to calculate stress intensity of cracks in fuel rod tubes. Since the fuel rod tubes which are to be scribed may be radioactive, the scratching assembly is designed for use in a fixture which allows it to be operated in a cave by remote control handling devices.

Gas dispersion measurements using a mobile Raman lidar system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houston, J. D.; Brown, D. R.

1986-01-01

The exploitation of natural gas resources to supply energy demands has resulted in the need to engineer pipelines and plants capable of handling extremely high pressures and throughputs. Consequently, more attention has been directed to evaluating the consequences of releases of material whether accidental or deliberate in nature. An important aspect of assessing the consequences of a release is an understanding of how gas disperses in the atmosphere over a wide range of release and atmospheric conditions. The most cost effective way of providing such information is through the development and use of reliable theoretical prediction methods. The need for some form of remote sensing device was identified. The various possibilities studied led to the conclusion that LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) offered the most suitable method. The system designed and built is described, and its recent use in monitoring operational ventings from a high pressure transmission system is discussed.

On-line remote monitoring of radioactive waste repositories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calì, Claudio; Cosentino, Luigi; Litrico, Pietro; Pappalardo, Alfio; Scirè, Carlotta; Scirè, Sergio; Vecchio, Gianfranco; Finocchiaro, Paolo; Alfieri, Severino; Mariani, Annamaria

2014-12-01

A low-cost array of modular sensors for online monitoring of radioactive waste was developed at INFN-LNS. We implemented a new kind of gamma counter, based on Silicon PhotoMultipliers and scintillating fibers, that behaves like a cheap scintillating Geiger-Muller counter. It can be placed in shape of a fine grid around each single waste drum in a repository. Front-end electronics and an FPGA-based counting system were developed to handle the field data, also implementing data transmission, a graphical user interface and a data storage system. A test of four sensors in a real radwaste storage site was performed with promising results. Following the tests an agreement was signed between INFN and Sogin for the joint development and installation of a prototype DMNR (Detector Mesh for Nuclear Repository) system inside the Garigliano radwaste repository in Sessa Aurunca (CE, Italy). Such a development is currently under way, with the installation foreseen within 2014.

Overview of the present progress and activities on the CFETR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Yuanxi; Li, Jiangang; Liu, Yong; Wang, Xiaolin; Chan, Vincent; Chen, Changan; Duan, Xuru; Fu, Peng; Gao, Xiang; Feng, Kaiming; Liu, Songlin; Song, Yuntao; Weng, Peide; Wan, Baonian; Wan, Farong; Wang, Heyi; Wu, Songtao; Ye, Minyou; Yang, Qingwei; Zheng, Guoyao; Zhuang, Ge; Li, Qiang; CFETR Team

2017-10-01

The China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) is the next device in the roadmap for the realization of fusion energy in China, which aims to bridge the gaps between the fusion experimental reactor ITER and the demonstration reactor (DEMO). CFETR will be operated in two phases. Steady-state operation and self-sufficiency will be the two key issues for Phase I with a modest fusion power of up to 200 MW. Phase II aims for DEMO validation with a fusion power over 1 GW. Advanced H-mode physics, high magnetic fields up to 7 T, high frequency electron cyclotron resonance heating and lower hybrid current drive together with off-axis negative-ion neutral beam injection will be developed for achieving steady-state advanced operation. The recent detailed design, research and development (R&D) activities including integrated modeling of operation scenarios, high field magnet, material, tritium plant, remote handling and future plans are introduced in this paper.

Applications of artificial intelligence 1993: Knowledge-based systems in aerospace and industry; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 13-15, 1993

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fayyad, Usama M. (Editor); Uthurusamy, Ramasamy (Editor)

1993-01-01

The present volume on applications of artificial intelligence with regard to knowledge-based systems in aerospace and industry discusses machine learning and clustering, expert systems and optimization techniques, monitoring and diagnosis, and automated design and expert systems. Attention is given to the integration of AI reasoning systems and hardware description languages, care-based reasoning, knowledge, retrieval, and training systems, and scheduling and planning. Topics addressed include the preprocessing of remotely sensed data for efficient analysis and classification, autonomous agents as air combat simulation adversaries, intelligent data presentation for real-time spacecraft monitoring, and an integrated reasoner for diagnosis in satellite control. Also discussed are a knowledge-based system for the design of heat exchangers, reuse of design information for model-based diagnosis, automatic compilation of expert systems, and a case-based approach to handling aircraft malfunctions.

Executor Framework for DIRAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casajus Ramo, A.; Graciani Diaz, R.

2012-12-01

DIRAC framework for distributed computing has been designed as a group of collaborating components, agents and servers, with persistent database back-end. Components communicate with each other using DISET, an in-house protocol that provides Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and file transfer capabilities. This approach has provided DIRAC with a modular and stable design by enforcing stable interfaces across releases. But it made complicated to scale further with commodity hardware. To further scale DIRAC, components needed to send more queries between them. Using RPC to do so requires a lot of processing power just to handle the secure handshake required to establish the connection. DISET now provides a way to keep stable connections and send and receive queries between components. Only one handshake is required to send and receive any number of queries. Using this new communication mechanism DIRAC now provides a new type of component called Executor. Executors process any task (such as resolving the input data of a job) sent to them by a task dispatcher. This task dispatcher takes care of persisting the state of the tasks to the storage backend and distributing them among all the Executors based on the requirements of each task. In case of a high load, several Executors can be started to process the extra load and stop them once the tasks have been processed. This new approach of handling tasks in DIRAC makes Executors easy to replace and replicate, thus enabling DIRAC to further scale beyond the current approach based on polling agents.

RH-TRU Waste Characterization by Acceptable Knowledge at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schulz, C.; Givens, C.; Bhatt, R.

2003-02-24

Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is conducting an effort to characterize approximately 620 drums of remote-handled (RH-) transuranic (TRU) waste currently in its inventory that were generated at the Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) Alpha Gamma Hot Cell Facility (AGHCF) between 1971 and 1995. The waste was generated at the AGHCF during the destructive examination of irradiated and unirradiated fuel pins, targets, and other materials from reactor programs at ANL-West (ANL-W) and other Department of Energy (DOE) reactors. In support of this effort, Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure (formerly IT Corporation) developed an acceptable knowledge (AK) collection and management programmore » based on existing contact-handled (CH)-TRU waste program requirements and proposed RH-TRU waste program requirements in effect in July 2001. Consistent with Attachments B-B6 of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Hazardous Waste Facility Permit (HWFP) and th e proposed Class 3 permit modification (Attachment R [RH-WAP] of this permit), the draft AK Summary Report prepared under the AK procedure describes the waste generating process and includes determinations in the following areas based on AK: physical form (currently identified at the Waste Matrix Code level); waste stream delineation; applicability of hazardous waste numbers for hazardous waste constituents; and prohibited items. In addition, the procedure requires and the draft summary report contains information supporting determinations in the areas of defense relationship and radiological characterization.« less

Realization of a single image haze removal system based on DaVinci DM6467T processor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zhuang

2014-10-01

Video monitoring system (VMS) has been extensively applied in domains of target recognition, traffic management, remote sensing, auto navigation and national defence. However the VMS has a strong dependence on the weather, for instance, in foggy weather, the quality of images received by the VMS are distinct degraded and the effective range of VMS is also decreased. All in all, the VMS performs terribly in bad weather. Thus the research of fog degraded images enhancement has very high theoretical and practical application value. A design scheme of a fog degraded images enhancement system based on the TI DaVinci processor is presented in this paper. The main function of the referred system is to extract and digital cameras capture images and execute image enhancement processing to obtain a clear image. The processor used in this system is the dual core TI DaVinci DM6467T - ARM@500MHz+DSP@1GH. A MontaVista Linux operating system is running on the ARM subsystem which handles I/O and application processing. The DSP handles signal processing and the results are available to the ARM subsystem in shared memory.The system benefits from the DaVinci processor so that, with lower power cost and smaller volume, it provides the equivalent image processing capability of a X86 computer. The outcome shows that the system in this paper can process images at 25 frames per second on D1 resolution.

WIPP Remote-Handled TRU Waste Program Update

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Most, W.; Kehrman, B.

2006-07-01

There are two major regulatory approval milestones necessary in order to commence disposal operations for remote-handled transuranic (RH TRU) waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)-the RH TRU hazardous waste permit modification request [1] and the radiological characterization plan [2]. One of those milestones has been achieved. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final decision to approve the Department of Energy's (DOE) RH TRU radiological characterization plan along with the RH TRU Waste Characterization Program Implementation Plan [3], on March 26, 2004. The RH TRU hazardous waste permit modification request still awaits agency approval. In EPA's decisionmore » to approve the DOE's RH TRU radiological characterization plan, the EPA also set forth the process for approving site-specific RH TRU waste characterization programs. Included in the March 29, 2005, RH TRU second Notice of Deficiency [4] (NOD) on the Class 3 Permit Modification Request for RH TRU Waste, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) requested that the Permittees combine their responses for the RH TRU Waste NOD with the Section 311 permit modification request NOD. The Combined Response Document was submitted April 28, 2005 [5]. Another NOD [6] was issued by the NMED on September 1, 2005, to clarify the Permittees' proposal and submit these clarifications to the administrative record. Combining both the chap. 311 [7] and RH TRU waste permit modification requests allows for both the regulator and Permittees to expedite action on the modification requests. The Combined Response Document preserves human resources and costs by having only one administrative process for both modification requests. Facility readiness requirements of the RH TRU waste final permit [8] must be implemented to declare that the WIPP is ready to receive RH TRU waste for storage and disposal. To demonstrate readiness, the WIPP is preparing for an Operational Readiness Review (ORR) of the RH TRU waste management equipment, system, and procedures. Required by DOE Order, the ORR demonstrates the capability of managing RH TRU waste. The Management and Operating Contractor (MOC) for the WIPP must first perform a Line Management Assessment. Upon successful completion of the Line Management Assessment, the MOC performs the Contractor ORR and presents the results to the local DOE office. At that time, the local DOE office performs its own ORR to declare readiness to DOE Headquarters. (authors)« less

Web-GIS visualisation of permafrost-related Remote Sensing products for ESA GlobPermafrost

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haas, A.; Heim, B.; Schaefer-Neth, C.; Laboor, S.; Nitze, I.; Grosse, G.; Bartsch, A.; Kaab, A.; Strozzi, T.; Wiesmann, A.; Seifert, F. M.

2016-12-01

The ESA GlobPermafrost (www.globpermafrost.info) provides a remote sensing service for permafrost research and applications. The service comprises of data product generation for various sites and regions as well as specific infrastructure allowing overview and access to datasets. Based on an online user survey conducted within the project, the user community extensively applies GIS software to handle remote sensing-derived datasets and requires preview functionalities before accessing them. In response, we develop the Permafrost Information System PerSys which is conceptualized as an open access geospatial data dissemination and visualization portal. PerSys will allow visualisation of GlobPermafrost raster and vector products such as land cover classifications, Landsat multispectral index trend datasets, lake and wetland extents, InSAR-based land surface deformation maps, rock glacier velocity fields, spatially distributed permafrost model outputs, and land surface temperature datasets. The datasets will be published as WebGIS services relying on OGC-standardized Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Feature Service (WFS) technologies for data display and visualization. The WebGIS environment will be hosted at the AWI computing centre where a geodata infrastructure has been implemented comprising of ArcGIS for Server 10.4, PostgreSQL 9.2 and a browser-driven data viewer based on Leaflet (http://leafletjs.com). Independently, we will provide an `Access - Restricted Data Dissemination Service', which will be available to registered users for testing frequently updated versions of project datasets. PerSys will become a core project of the Arctic Permafrost Geospatial Centre (APGC) within the ERC-funded PETA-CARB project (www.awi.de/petacarb). The APGC Data Catalogue will contain all final products of GlobPermafrost, allow in-depth dataset search via keywords, spatial and temporal coverage, data type, etc., and will provide DOI-based links to the datasets archived in the long-term, open access PANGAEA data repository.

Remote Research Mentoring of Virginia High School Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corby, Joanna; Dirienzo, W. J.; Beaton, R.; Pennucci, T.; Zasowski, G.

2013-01-01

Graduate students at the University of Virginia (UVa) are volunteering as research advisors on astronomy projects for Virginia's science and technology high schools. In previous years, we have worked with more than a dozen students through a research class at Central Virginia Governor's School in Lynchburg to develop an astronomy research curriculum that teaches background concepts and terminology, guides students in data analysis, and prepares them to present material in poster and oral forums. In our fourth year of operation, we are continuing to work with Central Virginia Governor's School and adapting the research curriculum to an independent course at Roanoke Valley Governor's School in Roanoke. Because both schools are far from UVa in Charlottesville, the program operates remotely; graduate advisors and high school students interact through "virtual" means, establishing a successful framework for meaningful remote mentoring. In the current year, six students will complete projects on astrophysical topics including megamasers, astrochemistry, and pulsars using data taken by the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Students at Roanoke Valley were directly trained on the GBT as part of a separate outreach program called the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, and all six students will receive hands-on experience in handling GBT data. The current projects are components of larger research efforts by graduate student and professional level researchers, so that the projects contribute to high-level projects only possible with the GBT. This stands as a rare outreach program that uses the principle of “deliberative practice” to train high school students in the development of skills that are crucial to success in science. Furthermore, it provides graduate students with an opportunity to plan and advise research projects, developing a skill set that is required in more advanced academic positions. Our poster discusses the implementation of our online curriculum in two distinct class settings and highlights the students' research contributions.

A space weather information service based upon remote and in-situ measurements of coronal mass ejections heading for Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartkorn, O. A.; Ritter, B.; Meskers, A. J. H.; Miles, O.; Russwurm, M.; Scully, S.; Roldan, A.; Juestel, P.; Reville, V.; Lupu, S.; Ruffenach, A.

2014-12-01

The Earth's magnetosphere is formed as a consequence of the interaction between the planet's magnetic field and the solar wind, a continuous plasma stream from the Sun. A number of different solar wind phenomena have been studied over the past forty years with the intention of understandingand forcasting solar behavior and space weather. In particular, Earth-bound interplanetary coronal mass ejections (CMEs) can significantly disturb the Earth's magnetosphere for a short time and cause geomagnetic storms. We present a mission concept consisting of six spacecraft that are equally spaced in a heliocentric orbit at 0.72 AU. These spacecraft will monitor the plasma properties, the magnetic field's orientation and magnitude, and the 3D-propagation trajectory of CMEs heading for Earth. The primary objective of this mission is to increase space weather forecasting time by means of a near real-time information service, that is based upon in-situ and remote measurements of the CME properties. The mission secondary objective is the improvement of scientific space weather models. In-situ measurements are performed using a Solar Wind Analyzer instrumentation package and flux gate magnetometers. For remote measurements, coronagraphs are employed. The proposed instruments originate from other space missions with the intention to reduce mission costs and to streamline the mission design process. Communication with the six identical spacecraft is realized via a deep space network consisting of six ground stations. This network provides an information service that is in uninterrupted contact with the spacecraft, allowing for continuos space weather monitoring. A dedicated data processing center will handle all the data, and forward the processed data to the SSA Space Weather Coordination Center. This organization will inform the general public through a space weather forecast. The data processing center will additionally archive the data for the scientific community. This concept mission allows for major advances in space weather forecasting and the scientific modeling of space weather.

Environmental Assessment and Monitoring with ICAMS (Image Characterization and Modeling System) Using Multiscale Remote-Sensing Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lam, N.; Qiu, H.-I.; Quattrochi, Dale A.; Zhao, Wei

1997-01-01

With the rapid increase in spatial data, especially in the NASA-EOS (Earth Observing System) era, it is necessary to develop efficient and innovative tools to handle and analyze these data so that environmental conditions can be assessed and monitored. A main difficulty facing geographers and environmental scientists in environmental assessment and measurement is that spatial analytical tools are not easily accessible. We have recently developed a remote sensing/GIS software module called Image Characterization and Modeling System (ICAMS) to provide specialized spatial analytical tools for the measurement and characterization of satellite and other forms of spatial data. ICAMS runs on both the Intergraph-MGE and Arc/info UNIX and Windows-NT platforms. The main techniques in ICAMS include fractal measurement methods, variogram analysis, spatial autocorrelation statistics, textural measures, aggregation techniques, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and delineation of land/water and vegetated/non-vegetated boundaries. In this paper, we demonstrate the main applications of ICAMS on the Intergraph-MGE platform using Landsat Thematic Mapper images from the city of Lake Charles, Louisiana. While the utilities of ICAMS' spatial measurement methods (e.g., fractal indices) in assessing environmental conditions remain to be researched, making the software available to a wider scientific community can permit the techniques in ICAMS to be evaluated and used for a diversity of applications. The findings from these various studies should lead to improved algorithms and more reliable models for environmental assessment and monitoring.

Simulation of the Microwave Emission of Multi-layered Snowpacks Using the Dense Media Radiative Transfer Theory: the DMRT-ML Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Picard, G.; Brucker, Ludovic; Roy, A.; Dupont, F.; Fily, M.; Royer, A.; Harlow, C.

2013-01-01

DMRT-ML is a physically based numerical model designed to compute the thermal microwave emission of a given snowpack. Its main application is the simulation of brightness temperatures at frequencies in the range 1-200 GHz similar to those acquired routinely by spacebased microwave radiometers. The model is based on the Dense Media Radiative Transfer (DMRT) theory for the computation of the snow scattering and extinction coefficients and on the Discrete Ordinate Method (DISORT) to numerically solve the radiative transfer equation. The snowpack is modeled as a stack of multiple horizontal snow layers and an optional underlying interface representing the soil or the bottom ice. The model handles both dry and wet snow conditions. Such a general design allows the model to account for a wide range of snow conditions. Hitherto, the model has been used to simulate the thermal emission of the deep firn on ice sheets, shallow snowpacks overlying soil in Arctic and Alpine regions, and overlying ice on the large icesheet margins and glaciers. DMRT-ML has thus been validated in three very different conditions: Antarctica, Barnes Ice Cap (Canada) and Canadian tundra. It has been recently used in conjunction with inverse methods to retrieve snow grain size from remote sensing data. The model is written in Fortran90 and available to the snow remote sensing community as an open-source software. A convenient user interface is provided in Python.

Expansion of Safe Abortion Services in Nepal Through Auxiliary Nurse‐Midwife Provision of Medical Abortion, 2011‐2013

PubMed Central

Basnett, Indira; Shrestha, Dirgha Raj; Shrestha, Meena Kumari; Shah, Mukta; Aryal, Shilu

2016-01-01

Introduction The termination of unwanted pregnancies up to 12 weeks’ gestation became legal in Nepal in 2002. Many interventions have taken place to expand access to comprehensive abortion care services. However, comprehensive abortion care services remain out of reach for women in rural and remote areas. This article describes a training and support strategy to train auxiliary nurse‐midwives (ANMs), already certified as skilled birth attendants, as medical abortion providers and expand geographic access to safe abortion care to the community level in Nepal. Methods This was a descriptive program evaluation. Sites and trainees were selected using standardized assessment tools to determine minimum facility requirements and willingness to provide medical abortion after training. Training was evaluated via posttests and observational checklists. Service statistics were collected through the government's facility logbook for safe abortion services (HMIS‐11). Results By the end of June 2014, medical abortion service had been expanded to 25 districts through 463 listed ANMs at 290 listed primary‐level facilities and served 25,187 women. Providers report a high level of confidence in their medical abortion skills and considerable clinical knowledge and capacity in medical abortion. Discussion The Nepali experience demonstrates that safe induced abortion care can be provided by ANMs, even in remote primary‐level health facilities. Post‐training support for providers is critical in helping ANMs handle potential barriers to medical abortion service provision and build lasting capacity in medical abortion. PMID:26860072

A New Concept of Controller for Accelerators' Magnet Power Supplies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Visintini, Roberto; Cleva, Stefano; Cautero, Marco; Ciesla, Tomasz

2016-04-01

The complexity of a particle accelerator implies the remote control of very large numbers of devices, with many different typologies, either distributed along the accelerator or concentrated in locations, often far away from each other. Local and global control systems handle the devices through dedicated communication channels and interfaces. Each controlled device is practically a “smart node” performing a specific task. In addition, very often, those tasks are managed in real-time mode. The performances required to the control interface has an influence on the cost of the distributed nodes as well as on their hardware and software implementation. In large facilities (e.g. CERN) the “smart nodes” derive from specific in-house developments. Alternatively, it is possible to find on the market commercial devices, whose performances (and prices) are spread over a broad range, and spanning from proprietary design (customizable to the user's needs) to open source/design. In this paper, we will describe some applications of smart nodes in the particle accelerators field, with special focus on the power supplies for magnets. In modern accelerators, in fact, magnets and their associated power supplies constitute systems distributed along the accelerator itself, and strongly interfaced with the remote control system as well as with more specific (and often more demanding) orbit/trajectory feedback systems. We will give examples of actual systems, installed and operational on two light sources, Elettra and FERMI, located in the Elettra Research Center in Trieste, Italy.

Keyboard before Head Tracking Depresses User Success in Remote Camera Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Dingyun; Gedeon, Tom; Taylor, Ken

In remote mining, operators of complex machinery have more tasks or devices to control than they have hands. For example, operating a rock breaker requires two handed joystick control to position and fire the jackhammer, leaving the camera control to either automatic control or require the operator to switch between controls. We modelled such a teleoperated setting by performing experiments using a simple physical game analogue, being a half size table soccer game with two handles. The complex camera angles of the mining application were modelled by obscuring the direct view of the play area and the use of a Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera. The camera control was via either a keyboard or via head tracking using two different sets of head gestures called “head motion” and “head flicking” for turning camera motion on/off. Our results show that the head motion control was able to provide a comparable performance to using a keyboard, while head flicking was significantly worse. In addition, the sequence of use of the three control methods is highly significant. It appears that use of the keyboard first depresses successful use of the head tracking methods, with significantly better results when one of the head tracking methods was used first. Analysis of the qualitative survey data collected supports that the worst (by performance) method was disliked by participants. Surprisingly, use of that worst method as the first control method significantly enhanced performance using the other two control methods.

Efficient Data Assimilation Algorithms for Bathymetry Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghorbanidehno, H.; Kokkinaki, A.; Lee, J. H.; Farthing, M.; Hesser, T.; Kitanidis, P. K.; Darve, E. F.

2016-12-01

Information on the evolving state of the nearshore zone bathymetry is crucial to shoreline management, recreational safety, and naval operations. The high cost and complex logistics of using ship-based surveys for bathymetry estimation have encouraged the use of remote sensing monitoring. Data assimilation methods combine monitoring data and models of nearshore dynamics to estimate the unknown bathymetry and the corresponding uncertainties. Existing applications have been limited to the basic Kalman Filter (KF) and the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). The former can only be applied to low-dimensional problems due to its computational cost; the latter often suffers from ensemble collapse and uncertainty underestimation. This work explores the use of different variants of the Kalman Filter for bathymetry applications. In particular, we compare the performance of the EnKF to the Unscented Kalman Filter and the Hierarchical Kalman Filter, both of which are KF variants for non-linear problems. The objective is to identify which method can better handle the nonlinearities of nearshore physics, while also having a reasonable computational cost. We present two applications; first, the bathymetry of a synthetic one-dimensional cross section normal to the shore is estimated from wave speed measurements. Second, real remote measurements with unknown error statistics are used and compared to in situ bathymetric survey data collected at the USACE Field Research Facility in Duck, NC. We evaluate the information content of different data sets and explore the impact of measurement error and nonlinearities.

Simultaneous Spectral-Spatial Feature Selection and Extraction for Hyperspectral Images.

PubMed

Zhang, Lefei; Zhang, Qian; Du, Bo; Huang, Xin; Tang, Yuan Yan; Tao, Dacheng

2018-01-01

In hyperspectral remote sensing data mining, it is important to take into account of both spectral and spatial information, such as the spectral signature, texture feature, and morphological property, to improve the performances, e.g., the image classification accuracy. In a feature representation point of view, a nature approach to handle this situation is to concatenate the spectral and spatial features into a single but high dimensional vector and then apply a certain dimension reduction technique directly on that concatenated vector before feed it into the subsequent classifier. However, multiple features from various domains definitely have different physical meanings and statistical properties, and thus such concatenation has not efficiently explore the complementary properties among different features, which should benefit for boost the feature discriminability. Furthermore, it is also difficult to interpret the transformed results of the concatenated vector. Consequently, finding a physically meaningful consensus low dimensional feature representation of original multiple features is still a challenging task. In order to address these issues, we propose a novel feature learning framework, i.e., the simultaneous spectral-spatial feature selection and extraction algorithm, for hyperspectral images spectral-spatial feature representation and classification. Specifically, the proposed method learns a latent low dimensional subspace by projecting the spectral-spatial feature into a common feature space, where the complementary information has been effectively exploited, and simultaneously, only the most significant original features have been transformed. Encouraging experimental results on three public available hyperspectral remote sensing datasets confirm that our proposed method is effective and efficient.

A Police and Insurance Joint Management System Based on High Precision BDS/GPS Positioning

PubMed Central

Zuo, Wenwei; Guo, Chi; Liu, Jingnan; Peng, Xuan; Yang, Min

2018-01-01

Car ownership in China reached 194 million vehicles at the end of 2016. The traffic congestion index (TCI) exceeds 2.0 during rush hour in some cities. Inefficient processing for minor traffic accidents is considered to be one of the leading causes for road traffic jams. Meanwhile, the process after an accident is quite troublesome. The main reason is that it is almost always impossible to get the complete chain of evidence when the accident happens. Accordingly, a police and insurance joint management system is developed which is based on high precision BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning to process traffic accidents. First of all, an intelligent vehicle rearview mirror terminal is developed. The terminal applies a commonly used consumer electronic device with single frequency navigation. Based on the high precision BDS/GPS positioning algorithm, its accuracy can reach sub-meter level in the urban areas. More specifically, a kernel driver is built to realize the high precision positioning algorithm in an Android HAL layer. Thus the third-party application developers can call the general location Application Programming Interface (API) of the original standard Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to get high precision positioning results. Therefore, the terminal can provide lane level positioning service for car users. Next, a remote traffic accident processing platform is built to provide big data analysis and management. According to the big data analysis of information collected by BDS high precision intelligent sense service, vehicle behaviors can be obtained. The platform can also automatically match and screen the data that uploads after an accident to achieve accurate reproduction of the scene. Thus, it helps traffic police and insurance personnel to complete remote responsibility identification and survey for the accident. Thirdly, a rapid processing flow is established in this article to meet the requirements to quickly handle traffic accidents. The traffic police can remotely identify accident responsibility and the insurance personnel can remotely survey an accident. Moreover, the police and insurance joint management system has been carried out in Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province, and Wuxi, Eastern China’s Jiangsu Province. In a word, a system is developed to obtain and analyze multisource data including precise positioning and visual information, and a solution is proposed for efficient processing of traffic accidents. PMID:29320406

A Police and Insurance Joint Management System Based on High Precision BDS/GPS Positioning.

PubMed

Zuo, Wenwei; Guo, Chi; Liu, Jingnan; Peng, Xuan; Yang, Min

2018-01-10

Car ownership in China reached 194 million vehicles at the end of 2016. The traffic congestion index (TCI) exceeds 2.0 during rush hour in some cities. Inefficient processing for minor traffic accidents is considered to be one of the leading causes for road traffic jams. Meanwhile, the process after an accident is quite troublesome. The main reason is that it is almost always impossible to get the complete chain of evidence when the accident happens. Accordingly, a police and insurance joint management system is developed which is based on high precision BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning to process traffic accidents. First of all, an intelligent vehicle rearview mirror terminal is developed. The terminal applies a commonly used consumer electronic device with single frequency navigation. Based on the high precision BDS/GPS positioning algorithm, its accuracy can reach sub-meter level in the urban areas. More specifically, a kernel driver is built to realize the high precision positioning algorithm in an Android HAL layer. Thus the third-party application developers can call the general location Application Programming Interface (API) of the original standard Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to get high precision positioning results. Therefore, the terminal can provide lane level positioning service for car users. Next, a remote traffic accident processing platform is built to provide big data analysis and management. According to the big data analysis of information collected by BDS high precision intelligent sense service, vehicle behaviors can be obtained. The platform can also automatically match and screen the data that uploads after an accident to achieve accurate reproduction of the scene. Thus, it helps traffic police and insurance personnel to complete remote responsibility identification and survey for the accident. Thirdly, a rapid processing flow is established in this article to meet the requirements to quickly handle traffic accidents. The traffic police can remotely identify accident responsibility and the insurance personnel can remotely survey an accident. Moreover, the police and insurance joint management system has been carried out in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, and Wuxi, Eastern China's Jiangsu Province. In a word, a system is developed to obtain and analyze multisource data including precise positioning and visual information, and a solution is proposed for efficient processing of traffic accidents.

NASA Tech Briefs, November 2012

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2012-01-01

The topics include: Visual System for Browsing, Analysis, and Retrieval of Data (ViSBARD); Time-Domain Terahertz Computed Axial Tomography NDE System; Adaptive Sampling of Time Series During Remote Exploration; A Tracking Sun Photometer Without Moving Parts; Surface Temperature Data Analysis; Modular, Autonomous Command and Data Handling Software with Built-In Simulation and Test; In-Situ Wire Damage Detection System; Amplifier Module for 260-GHz Band Using Quartz Waveguide Transitions; Wideband Agile Digital Microwave Radiometer; Buckyball Nucleation of HiPco Tubes; FACT, Mega-ROSA, SOLAROSA; An Integrated, Layered-Spinel Composite Cathode for Energy Storage Applications; Engineered Multifunctional Surfaces for Fluid Handling; Polyolefin-Based Aerogels; Adjusting Permittivity by Blending Varying Ratios of SWNTs; Gravity-Assist Mechanical Simulator for Outreach; Concept for Hydrogen-Impregnated Nanofiber/Photovoltaic Cargo Stowage System; DROP: Durable Reconnaissance and Observation Platform; Developing Physiologic Models for Emergency Medical Procedures Under Microgravity; Spectroscopic Chemical Analysis Methods and Apparatus; Low Average Sidelobe Slot Array Antennas for Radiometer Applications; Motion-Corrected 3D Sonic Anemometer for Tethersondes and Other Moving Platforms; Water Treatment Systems for Long Spaceflights; Microchip Non-Aqueous Capillary Electrophoresis (MicronNACE) Method to Analyze Long-Chain Primary Amines; Low-Cost Phased Array Antenna for Sounding Rockets, Missiles, and Expendable Launch Vehicles; Mars Science Laboratory Engineering Cameras; Seismic Imager Space Telescope; Estimating Sea Surface Salinity and Wind Using Combined Passive and Active L-Band Microwave Observations; A Posteriori Study of a DNS Database Describing Super critical Binary-Species Mixing; Scalable SCPPM Decoder; QuakeSim 2.0; HURON (HUman and Robotic Optimization Network) Multi-Agent Temporal Activity Planner/Scheduler; MPST Software: MoonKommand

Navigating the Complexity of Socio-scientific Controversies—How Students Make Multiple Voices Present in Discourse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solli, Anne; Hillman, Thomas; Mäkitalo, Åsa

2017-10-01

In this article, we argue that students' unfolding discourse on socio-scientific issues (SSI) can be fruitfully analyzed by using dialogical theories of language and communication (Bakhtin 1986; Linell 2009). While research in science education often reports on how individual reasoning changes when bringing SSI into the classroom, we argue for the relevance of analyzing how the individual is "in dialogue" with present as well as remote interlocutors and contexts on the internet. We suggest that the analytical approach is particularly sensitized to illuminate how students' handle multiple perspectives. A dialogical perspective takes as its premise that SSI are part of society, where politicians, interest groups, and scientists engage in debates and offer perspectives that are often in conflict. Rather than assuming that the individual student is the primary unit for analysis, a dialogical approach is premised on an analysis that incorporates several perspectives and voices—a multivocality that also resides with the individual. Arguing for the relevance of this analytical approach to studies of SSI in the classroom, we analyze a group of students in upper secondary school as they discuss hydraulic fracturing after having worked with online data. The results illuminate how students discursively manage multivocality and multimodality inherent in the following SSI online. We describe a set of discursive means that the students use to handle the many perspectives involved when communicating about the issue. In addition, we describe and articulate what kind of communicative competences that are involved and, hence, could be cultivated through education, when engaging in public debates.

The future of PanDA in ATLAS distributed computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De, K.; Klimentov, A.; Maeno, T.; Nilsson, P.; Oleynik, D.; Panitkin, S.; Petrosyan, A.; Schovancova, J.; Vaniachine, A.; Wenaus, T.

2015-12-01

Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) face unprecedented computing challenges. Heterogeneous resources are distributed worldwide at hundreds of sites, thousands of physicists analyse the data remotely, the volume of processed data is beyond the exabyte scale, while data processing requires more than a few billion hours of computing usage per year. The PanDA (Production and Distributed Analysis) system was developed to meet the scale and complexity of LHC distributed computing for the ATLAS experiment. In the process, the old batch job paradigm of locally managed computing in HEP was discarded in favour of a far more automated, flexible and scalable model. The success of PanDA in ATLAS is leading to widespread adoption and testing by other experiments. PanDA is the first exascale workload management system in HEP, already operating at more than a million computing jobs per day, and processing over an exabyte of data in 2013. There are many new challenges that PanDA will face in the near future, in addition to new challenges of scale, heterogeneity and increasing user base. PanDA will need to handle rapidly changing computing infrastructure, will require factorization of code for easier deployment, will need to incorporate additional information sources including network metrics in decision making, be able to control network circuits, handle dynamically sized workload processing, provide improved visualization, and face many other challenges. In this talk we will focus on the new features, planned or recently implemented, that are relevant to the next decade of distributed computing workload management using PanDA.

World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (WDC-RSAT)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bittner, Michael; Höppner, Kathrin; Hildenbrand, Beate

Since 2003 the Applied Remote Sensing Cluster of DLR has hosted and operated the World Data Center for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere (WDC-RSAT, http://wdc.dlr.de) under the non-governmental auspices of the International Council of Science (ICSU). WDC-RSAT offers scientists and the general public free access to a continuously growing collection of satellite-based atmosphere-related data sets and services. These data holdings range from raw data collected by remote sensors, to information products derived from the raw data ("value adding"). The current WDC-RSAT data holding contains data and information products addressing atmospheric trace gases, clouds, surface parameters, solar radiation, and special services as near-real time (NRT) information related to e.g. European air quality, UV radiation forecasts, global ozone level maps. In addition to archiving data sets, WDC-RSAT cooperates with other data centers and strives to provide additional services, which include data analysis and value adding, data summaries, campaign planning support, and data set validation and publication. In Germany, three current ICSU World Data Centers, namely WDC-Climate (hosted by the German Climate Computer Center, DKRZ), WDC-MARE (co-hosted by AWI and the University of Bremen), WDC-RSAT (hosted by DLR), and the pending WDC-Terra (to be hosted by GFZ) founded in 2004 the German WDC cluster for "Earth System Research", in order to promote Earth System Science and Research in Germany and abroad. This Cluster is actively pursuing a strategy, using information technology, to make data related to Earth Systems available to an as wide and as interdisciplinary possible audience. In early 2006 a scientific advisory committee for WDC-RSAT was established. External experts representing space agencies, weather services, atmospheric remote sensing technologies, and atmospheric science help to guide WDC-RSAT in setting and reaching its goals. In cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), WDC-RSAT is aiming to become part of a data integration center to be created within the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)-program of the WMO. This center would concern itself with linking different GAW- relevant data sets both with each other and with models. In this context WDC-RSAT will also handle non-satellite based data which is relevant within the context of validation. WDC-RSAT is envisaged to play a major role within the recently established international and global Network for the Detection of Mesopause Change (NDMC) with the mission to promote international cooperation among research groups active in the mesopause region ( 80-100 km height) to enhance the suitability of airglow observations for the detection of long-term trends. WDC-RSAT will serve as a communication and data management platform for this worldwide network of ground-based measurements.

A Search for Life in the Subsurface At Rio Tinto Spain, An Analog To Searching For Life On Mars.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoker, C. R.

2003-12-01

Most familiar life forms on Earth live in the surface biosphere where liquid water, sunlight, and the essential chemical elements for life are abundant. However, such environments are not found on Mars or anywhere else in the solar system. On Mars, the surface environmental conditions of pressure and temperature prevent formation of liquid water. Furthermore, conditions at the Martian surface are unfavorable to life due to intense ultraviolet radiation and strong oxidizing compounds that destroy organic compounds. However, subsurface liquid water on Mars has been predicted on theoretical grounds. The recent discovery of near surface ground ice by the Mars Odyssey mission, and the abundant evidence for recent Gully features observed by the Mars Global Surveyor mission strengthen the case for subsurface liquid water on Mars. Thus, the strategy for searching for life on Mars points to drilling to the depth of liquid water, bringing samples to the surface and analyzing them with instrumentation to detect in situ organisms and biomarker compounds. The MARTE (Mars Astrobiology Research and Technology Experiment) project is a field experiment focused on searching for a hypothesized subsurface anaerobic chemoautotrophic biosphere in the region of the Rio Tinto, a river in southwestern Spain while also demonstrating technology relevant to searching for a subsurface biosphere on Mars. The Tinto river is located in the Iberian Pyrite belt, one of the largest deposits of sulfide minerals in the world. The surface (river) system is an acidic extreme environment produced and maintained by microbes that metabolize sulfide minerals and produce sulfuric acid as a byproduct. Evidence suggests that the river is a surface manifestation of an underground biochemical reactor. Organisms found in the river are capable of chemoautotrophic metabolism using sulfide and ferric iron mineral substrates, suggesting these organisms could thrive in groundwater which is the source of the Rio Tinto. The MARTE project will simulate the search for subsurface life on Mars using a drilling system developed for future Mars flight to accomplish subsurface access. Augmenting the drill are robotic systems for extracting the cores from the drill head and performing analysis using a suite of instruments to understand the composition, mineralogy, presence of organics, and to search for life signatures in subsurface samples. A robotic bore-hole inspection system will characterize borehole properties in situ. A Mars drilling mission simulation including remote operation of the drilling, sample handling, and instruments and interpretation of results by a remote science team will be performed. This simulated mission will be augmented by manual methods of drilling, sample handling, and sample analysis to fully document the subsurface, prevent surface microbial contamination, identify subsurface biota, and compare what can be learned with robotically-operated instruments. The first drilling campaign in the MARTE project takes place in September 2003 and is focused on characterizing the microbiology of the subsurface at Rio Tinto using conventional drilling, sample handling and laboratory analysis techniques. Lessons learned from this "ground truth" drilling campaign will guide the development of robotic systems and instruments needed for searching for life underground on Mars.

Design of affordable and ruggedized biomedical devices using virtual instrumentation.

PubMed

Mathern, Ryan Michael; Schopman, Sarah; Kalchthaler, Kyle; Mehta, Khanjan; Butler, Peter

2013-05-01

Abstract This paper presents the designs of four low-cost and ruggedized biomedical devices, including a blood pressure monitor, thermometer, weighing scale and spirometer, designed for the East African context. The design constraints included a mass-production price point of $10, accuracy and precision comparable to commercial devices and ruggedness to function effectively in the harsh environment of East Africa. The blood pressure device, thermometer and weighing scale were field-tested in Kenya and each recorded data within 6% error of the measurements from commercial devices and withstood the adverse climate and rough handling. The spirometer functioned according to specifications, but a re-design is needed to improve operability and usability by patients. This article demonstrates the feasibility of designing and commercializing virtual instrumentation-based biomedical devices in resource-constrained environments through context-driven design. The next steps for the devices include designing them such that they can be more easily manufactured, use standardized materials, are easily calibrated in the field and have more user-friendly software programs that can be updated remotely.

Research at ITER towards DEMO: Specific reactor diagnostic studies to be carried out on ITER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Krasilnikov, A. V.; Kaschuck, Y. A.; Vershkov, V. A.

2014-08-21

In ITER diagnostics will operate in the very hard radiation environment of fusion reactor. Extensive technology studies are carried out during development of the ITER diagnostics and procedures of their calibration and remote handling. Results of these studies and practical application of the developed diagnostics on ITER will provide the direct input to DEMO diagnostic development. The list of DEMO measurement requirements and diagnostics will be determined during ITER experiments on the bases of ITER plasma physics results and success of particular diagnostic application in reactor-like ITER plasma. Majority of ITER diagnostic already passed the conceptual design phase and representmore » the state of the art in fusion plasma diagnostic development. The number of related to DEMO results of ITER diagnostic studies such as design and prototype manufacture of: neutron and γ–ray diagnostics, neutral particle analyzers, optical spectroscopy including first mirror protection and cleaning technics, reflectometry, refractometry, tritium retention measurements etc. are discussed.« less

Java Tool Framework for Automation of Hardware Commissioning and Maintenance Procedures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ho, J C; Fisher, J M; Gordon, J B

2007-10-02

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192-beam laser system designed to study high energy density physics. Each beam line contains a variety of line replaceable units (LRUs) that contain optics, stepping motors, sensors and other devices to control and diagnose the laser. During commissioning and subsequent maintenance of the laser, LRUs undergo a qualification process using the Integrated Computer Control System (ICCS) to verify and calibrate the equipment. The commissioning processes are both repetitive and tedious when we use remote manual computer controls, making them ideal candidates for software automation. Maintenance and Commissioning Tool (MCT) software was developed tomore » improve the efficiency of the qualification process. The tools are implemented in Java, leveraging ICCS services and CORBA to communicate with the control devices. The framework provides easy-to-use mechanisms for handling configuration data, task execution, task progress reporting, and generation of commissioning test reports. The tool framework design and application examples will be discussed.« less

Shell stability analysis in a computer aided engineering (CAE) environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arbocz, J.; Hol, J. M. A. M.

1993-01-01

The development of 'DISDECO', the Delft Interactive Shell DEsign COde is described. The purpose of this project is to make the accumulated theoretical, numerical and practical knowledge of the last 25 years or so readily accessible to users interested in the analysis of buckling sensitive structures. With this open ended, hierarchical, interactive computer code the user can access from his workstation successively programs of increasing complexity. The computational modules currently operational in DISDECO provide the prospective user with facilities to calculate the critical buckling loads of stiffened anisotropic shells under combined loading, to investigate the effects the various types of boundary conditions will have on the critical load, and to get a complete picture of the degrading effects the different shapes of possible initial imperfections might cause, all in one interactive session. Once a design is finalized, its collapse load can be verified by running a large refined model remotely from behind the workstation with one of the current generation 2-dimensional codes, with advanced capabilities to handle both geometric and material nonlinearities.

A multidisciplinary decision support system for forest fire crisis management.

PubMed

Keramitsoglou, Iphigenia; Kiranoudis, Chris T; Sarimveis, Haralambos; Sifakis, Nicolaos

2004-02-01

A wildland fire is a serious threat for forest ecosystems in Southern Europe affecting severely and irreversibly regions of significant ecological value as well as human communities. To support decision makers during large-scale forest fire incidents, a multidisciplinary system has been developed that provides rational and quantitative information based on the site-specific circumstances and the possible consequences. The system's architecture consists of several distinct supplementary modules of near real-time satellite monitoring and fire forecast using an integrated framework of satellite Remote Sensing, GIS, and RDBMS technologies equipped with interactive communication capabilities. The system may handle multiple fire ignitions and support decisions regarding dispatching of utilities, equipment, and personnel that would appropriately attack the fire front. The operational system was developed for the region of Penteli Mountain in Attika, Greece, one of the mountain areas in the country most hit by fires. Starting from a real fire incident in August 2000, a scenario is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

In situ X-ray data collection and structure phasing of protein crystals at Structural Biology Center 19-ID

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Michalska, Karolina; Tan, Kemin; Chang, Changsoo

A prototype of a 96-well plate scanner forin situdata collection has been developed at the Structural Biology Center (SBC) beamline 19-ID, located at the Advanced Photon Source, USA. The applicability of this instrument for protein crystal diffraction screening and data collection at ambient temperature has been demonstrated. Several different protein crystals, including selenium-labeled, were used for data collection and successful SAD phasing. Without the common procedure of crystal handling and subsequent cryo-cooling for data collection atT= 100 K, crystals in a crystallization buffer show remarkably low mosaicity (<0.1°) until deterioration by radiation damage occurs. Data presented here show that cryo-coolingmore » can cause some unexpected structural changes. Based on the results of this study, the integration of the plate scanner into the 19-ID end-station with automated controls is being prepared. With improvement of hardware and software,in situdata collection will become available for the SBC user program including remote access.« less

Successful collection of stool samples for microbiome analyses from a large community-based population of elderly men.

PubMed

Abrahamson, Melanie; Hooker, Elizabeth; Ajami, Nadim J; Petrosino, Joseph F; Orwoll, Eric S

2017-09-01

The relationship of the gastrointestinal microbiome to health and disease is of major research interest, including the effects of the gut microbiota on age related conditions. Here we report on the outcome of a project to collect stool samples on a large number of community dwelling elderly men using the OMNIgene-GUT stool/feces collection kit (OMR-200, DNA Genotek, Ottawa, Canada). Among 1,328 men who were eligible for stool collection, 982 (74%) agreed to participate and 951 submitted samples. The collection process was reported to be acceptable, almost all samples obtained were adequate, the process of sample handling by mail was uniformly successful. The DNA obtained provided excellent results in microbiome analyses, yielding an abundance of species and a diversity of taxa as would be predicted. Our results suggest that population studies of older participants involving remote stool sample collection are feasible. These approaches would allow large scale research projects of the association of the gut microbiota with important clinical outcomes.

LAHYSTOTRAIN development and evaluation of a complex training system for hysteroscopy.

PubMed

Müller-Wittig, W K; Bisler, A; Bockholt, U; Los Arcos, J L; Oppelt, P; Stähler, J; Voss, G

2001-01-01

Hysteroscopy has already become an irreplaceable method in gynaecoloic diagnosis and therapy. In the diagnostic case the hysteroscope with a 30 degrees optic is insert transvaginally, in the therapeutic case the resectoscope with a 12 degrees optic is used. The endoscopic intervention requires special surgical skills for endoscope handling and remote instrument control. To acquire these skills currently hands-on training in clinical praxis has become standard, which is linked with higher danger for the women. To overcome current drawbacks of traditional training methods the European project LAHYSTOTRAIN was set up, that tries to combine Virtual Reality (VR), Multimedia (MM) technology, and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) to develop an alternative training system for hysteroscopic interventions. The first prototype of the LAHYSTOTRAIN demonstrator has been shown on several European conferences. An evaluation of the system was performed, with the idea, to collect feedback and impressions, that should be considered in further developments. This paper presents the LAHYSTOTRAIN prototype and the results of these evaluations.

Processing large remote sensing image data sets on Beowulf clusters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Steinwand, Daniel R.; Maddox, Brian; Beckmann, Tim; Schmidt, Gail

2003-01-01

High-performance computing is often concerned with the speed at which floating- point calculations can be performed. The architectures of many parallel computers and/or their network topologies are based on these investigations. Often, benchmarks resulting from these investigations are compiled with little regard to how a large dataset would move about in these systems. This part of the Beowulf study addresses that concern by looking at specific applications software and system-level modifications. Applications include an implementation of a smoothing filter for time-series data, a parallel implementation of the decision tree algorithm used in the Landcover Characterization project, a parallel Kriging algorithm used to fit point data collected in the field on invasive species to a regular grid, and modifications to the Beowulf project's resampling algorithm to handle larger, higher resolution datasets at a national scale. Systems-level investigations include a feasibility study on Flat Neighborhood Networks and modifications of that concept with Parallel File Systems.

Research at ITER towards DEMO: Specific reactor diagnostic studies to be carried out on ITER

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krasilnikov, A. V.; Kaschuck, Y. A.; Vershkov, V. A.; Petrov, A. A.; Petrov, V. G.; Tugarinov, S. N.

2014-08-01

In ITER diagnostics will operate in the very hard radiation environment of fusion reactor. Extensive technology studies are carried out during development of the ITER diagnostics and procedures of their calibration and remote handling. Results of these studies and practical application of the developed diagnostics on ITER will provide the direct input to DEMO diagnostic development. The list of DEMO measurement requirements and diagnostics will be determined during ITER experiments on the bases of ITER plasma physics results and success of particular diagnostic application in reactor-like ITER plasma. Majority of ITER diagnostic already passed the conceptual design phase and represent the state of the art in fusion plasma diagnostic development. The number of related to DEMO results of ITER diagnostic studies such as design and prototype manufacture of: neutron and γ-ray diagnostics, neutral particle analyzers, optical spectroscopy including first mirror protection and cleaning technics, reflectometry, refractometry, tritium retention measurements etc. are discussed.

Landsat: A global land-observing program

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2005-01-01

Landsat represents the world’s longest continuously acquired collection of space-based land remote sensing data. The Landsat Project is a joint initiative of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed to gather Earth resource data from space. NASA developed and launched the spacecrafts, while the USGS handles the operations, maintenance, and management of all ground data reception, processing, archiving, product generation, and distribution.Landsat satellites have been collecting images of the Earth’s surface for more than thirty years. Landsat’s Global Survey Mission is to repeatedly capture images of the Earth’s land mass, coastal boundaries, and coral reefs, and to ensure that sufficient data are acquired to support the observation of changes on the Earth’s land surface and surrounding environment. NASA launched the first Landsat satellite in 1972, and the most recent one, Landsat 7, in 1999. Landsats 5 and 7 continue to capture hundreds of additional images of the Earth’s surface each day. These images provide a valuable resource for people who work

New XAFS Facility for In-Situ Measurements at Beamline C at HASYLAB

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rickers, K.; Drube, W.; Schulte-Schrepping, H.

2007-02-02

A XAFS-experiment allowing for in-situ experiments has been set up at DORIS bending magnet beamline C. For that purpose, a new double-crystal, UHV-compatible monochromator with fast scanning capability was designed. This fixed-exit monochromator uses two crystal sets on a common central rotation axis driven by an ex-vacuo goniometer. Bragg angles range from 5 deg. to 55.5 deg. resulting in a total energy range 2.3 - 43.4 keV using Si(111)/(311) crystal sets. Crystal pairs can be remotely selected by translating the vacuum chamber. Energy encoding is performed using an optical encoder system. The standard XAFS sample environment is set-up in vacuomore » and can be adapted for special sample environments. For in-situ experiments, the beamline is equipped with twelve gas lines. An exhaust line allows toxic/reactive gases to be handled. As an initial performance test of the instrument, Ti, Cr, Fe and Cu XAFS and Ce K-shell QEXAFS measurements were performed.« less

User-oriented views in health care information systems.

PubMed

Portoni, Luisa; Combi, Carlo; Pinciroli, Francesco

2002-12-01

In this paper, we present the methodology we adopted in designing and developing an object-oriented database system for the management of medical records. The designed system provides technical solutions to important requirements of most clinical information systems, such as 1) the support of tools to create and manage views on data and view schemas, offering to different users specific perspectives on data tailored to their needs; 2) the capability to handle in a suitable way the temporal aspects related to clinical information; and 3) the effective integration of multimedia data. Remote data access for authorized users is also considered. As clinical application, we describe here the prototype of a user-oriented clinical information system for the archiving and the management of multimedia and temporally oriented clinical data related to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) patients. Suitable view schemas for various user roles (cath-lab physician, ward nurse, general practitioner) have been modeled and implemented on the basis of a detailed analysis of the considered clinical environment, carried out by an object-oriented approach.

Self locking coupling mechanism for engaging and moving a load

DOEpatents

Wood, R.L.; Casamajor, A.B.; Parsons, R.E.

1980-09-12

A coupling mechanism for engaging and lifting a load has a housing with a guide passage for receiving a knob which is secured to the load through a neck of smaller diameter. A hollow ball in the housing has an opening which receives the knob and the ball is then turned to displace the opening from the housing passage and to cause the neck to enter a slot in the ball thereby securing the load to the coupling mechanism as elements of the housing block travel of the neck back into the opening when the ball is turned to the load holding orientation. As engagement of the load and locking of the coupling mechanism are accomplished simultaneously by the same ball motion, operation is simplified and reliability is greatly increased. The ball is preferably turned by a motor through worm gearing and the coupling mechanism may be controlled from a remote location. Among other uses, the coupling mechanism is adaptable to the handling of spent nuclear reactor fuel elements.

A conceptual design for an integrated data base management system for remote sensing data. [user requirements and data processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maresca, P. A.; Lefler, R. M.

1978-01-01

The requirements of potential users were considered in the design of an integrated data base management system, developed to be independent of any specific computer or operating system, and to be used to support investigations in weather and climate. Ultimately, the system would expand to include data from the agriculture, hydrology, and related Earth resources disciplines. An overview of the system and its capabilities is presented. Aspects discussed cover the proposed interactive command language; the application program command language; storage and tabular data maintained by the regional data base management system; the handling of data files and the use of system standard formats; various control structures required to support the internal architecture of the system; and the actual system architecture with the various modules needed to implement the system. The concepts on which the relational data model is based; data integrity, consistency, and quality; and provisions for supporting concurrent access to data within the system are covered in the appendices.

Comparative analysis of data base management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, R.

1983-01-01

A study to determine if the Remote File Inquiry (RFI) system would handle the future requirements of the user community is discussed. RFI is a locally written and locally maintained on-line query/update package. The current and future on-line requirements of the user community were studied. Additional consideration was given to the types of data structuring the users required. The survey indicated the features of greatest benefit were: sort, subtotals, totals, record selection, storage of queries, global updating and the ability to page break. The major deficiencies were: one level of hierarchy, excessive response time, software unreliability, difficult to add, delete and modify records, complicated error messages and the lack of ability to perform interfield comparisons. Missing features users required were: formatted screens, interfield comparions, interfield arithmetic, multiple file access, security and data integrity. The survey team recommended Kennedy Space Center move forward to state-of-the-art software, a Data Base Management System which is thoroughly tested and easy to implement and use.

Programmable control means for providing safe and controlled medication infusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fischell, Robert E. (Inventor)

1988-01-01

An implantable programmable infusion pump (IPIP) is disclosed and generally includes: a fluid reservoir filled with selected medication; a pump for causing a precise volumetric dosage of medication to be withdrawn from the reservoir and delivered to the appropriate site within the body; and, a control means for actuating the pump in a safe and programmable manner. The control means includes a microprocessor, a permanent memory containing a series of fixed software instructions, and a memory for storing prescription schedules, dosage limits and other data. The microprocessor actuates the pump in accordance with programmable prescription parameters and dosage limits stored in the memory. A communication link allows the control means to be remotely programmed. The control means incorporates a running integral dosage limit and other safety features which prevent an inadvertent or intentional medication overdose. The control means also monitors the pump and fluid handling system and provides an alert if any improper or potentially unsafe operation is detected.

Collaboration tools and techniques for large model datasets

USGS Publications Warehouse

Signell, R.P.; Carniel, S.; Chiggiato, J.; Janekovic, I.; Pullen, J.; Sherwood, C.R.

2008-01-01

In MREA and many other marine applications, it is common to have multiple models running with different grids, run by different institutions. Techniques and tools are described for low-bandwidth delivery of data from large multidimensional datasets, such as those from meteorological and oceanographic models, directly into generic analysis and visualization tools. Output is stored using the NetCDF CF Metadata Conventions, and then delivered to collaborators over the web via OPeNDAP. OPeNDAP datasets served by different institutions are then organized via THREDDS catalogs. Tools and procedures are then used which enable scientists to explore data on the original model grids using tools they are familiar with. It is also low-bandwidth, enabling users to extract just the data they require, an important feature for access from ship or remote areas. The entire implementation is simple enough to be handled by modelers working with their webmasters - no advanced programming support is necessary. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motorization of a surgical microscope for intra-operative navigation and intuitive control.

PubMed

Finke, M; Schweikard, A

2010-09-01

During surgical procedures, various medical systems, e.g. microscope or C-arm, are used. Their precise and repeatable manual positioning can be very cumbersome and interrupts the surgeon's work flow. Robotized systems can assist the surgeon but they require suitable kinematics and control. However, positioning must be fast, flexible and intuitive. We describe a fully motorized surgical microscope. Hardware components as well as implemented applications are specified. The kinematic equations are described and a novel control concept is proposed. Our microscope combines fast manual handling with accurate, automatic positioning. Intuitive control is provided by a small remote control mounted to one of the surgical instruments. Positioning accuracy and repeatability are < 1 mm and vibrations caused by automatic movements fade away in about 1 s. The robotic system assists the surgeon, so that he can position the microscope precisely and repeatedly without interrupting the clinical workflow. The combination of manual und automatic control guarantees fast and flexible positioning during surgical procedures. Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Development of Test Article Building Block (TABB) for deployable platform systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenberg, H. S.; Barbour, R. T.

1984-01-01

The concept of a Test Article Building Block (TABB) is described. The TABB is a ground test article that is representative of a future building block that can be used to construct LEO and GEO deployable space platforms for communications and scientific payloads. This building block contains a main housing within which the entire structure, utilities, and deployment/retraction mechanism are stowed during launch. The end adapter secures the foregoing components to the housing during launch. The main housing and adapter provide the necessary building-block-to-building-block attachments for automatically deployable platforms. Removal from the shuttle cargo bay can be accomplished with the remote manipulator system (RMS) and/or the handling and positioning aid (HAPA). In this concept, all the electrical connections are in place prior to launch with automatic latches for payload attachment provided on either the end adapters or housings. The housings also can contain orbiter docking ports for payload installation and maintenance.

Projected role of advanced computational aerodynamic methods at the Lockheed-Georgia company

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lores, M. E.

1978-01-01

Experience with advanced computational methods being used at the Lockheed-Georgia Company to aid in the evaluation and design of new and modified aircraft indicates that large and specialized computers will be needed to make advanced three-dimensional viscous aerodynamic computations practical. The Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Facility should be used to provide a tool for designing better aerospace vehicles while at the same time reducing development costs by performing computations using Navier-Stokes equations solution algorithms and permitting less sophisticated but nevertheless complex calculations to be made efficiently. Configuration definition procedures and data output formats can probably best be defined in cooperation with industry, therefore, the computer should handle many remote terminals efficiently. The capability of transferring data to and from other computers needs to be provided. Because of the significant amount of input and output associated with 3-D viscous flow calculations and because of the exceedingly fast computation speed envisioned for the computer, special attention should be paid to providing rapid, diversified, and efficient input and output.

Development of a stereo 3-D pictorial primary flight display

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nataupsky, Mark; Turner, Timothy L.; Lane, Harold; Crittenden, Lucille

1989-01-01

Computer-generated displays are becoming increasingly popular in aerospace applications. The use of stereo 3-D technology provides an opportunity to present depth perceptions which otherwise might be lacking. In addition, the third dimension could also be used as an additional dimension along which information can be encoded. Historically, the stereo 3-D displays have been used in entertainment, in experimental facilities, and in the handling of hazardous waste. In the last example, the source of the stereo images generally has been remotely controlled television camera pairs. The development of a stereo 3-D pictorial primary flight display used in a flight simulation environment is described. The applicability of stereo 3-D displays for aerospace crew stations to meet the anticipated needs for 2000 to 2020 time frame is investigated. Although, the actual equipment that could be used in an aerospace vehicle is not currently available, the lab research is necessary to determine where stereo 3-D enhances the display of information and how the displays should be formatted.

Tele-auscultation support system with mixed reality navigation.

PubMed

Hori, Kenta; Uchida, Yusuke; Kan, Tsukasa; Minami, Maya; Naito, Chisako; Kuroda, Tomohiro; Takahashi, Hideya; Ando, Masahiko; Kawamura, Takashi; Kume, Naoto; Okamoto, Kazuya; Takemura, Tadamasa; Yoshihara, Hiroyuki

2013-01-01

The aim of this research is to develop an information support system for tele-auscultation. In auscultation, a doctor requires to understand condition of applying a stethoscope, in addition to auscultatory sounds. The proposed system includes intuitive navigation system of stethoscope operation, in addition to conventional audio streaming system of auscultatory sounds and conventional video conferencing system for telecommunication. Mixed reality technology is applied for intuitive navigation of the stethoscope. Information, such as position, contact condition and breath, is overlaid on a view of the patient's chest. The contact condition of the stethoscope is measured by e-textile contact sensors. The breath is measured by a band type breath sensor. In a simulated tele-auscultation experiment, the stethoscope with the contact sensors and the breath sensor were evaluated. The results show that the presentation of the contact condition was not understandable enough for navigating the stethoscope handling. The time series of the breath phases was usable for the remote doctor to understand the breath condition of the patient.

The LANDSAT system operated in Brazil by CNPq/INPE - results obtained in the area of mapping and future perspectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dejesusparada, N. (Principal Investigator); Barbosa, M. N.

1981-01-01

The LANDSAT system, operated in the country by CNPg/INPE since 1973, systematically acquires, produces, and distributes both multispectral and panchromatic images obtained through remote sensing satellites to thousands of researchers and technicians involved in the natural resources survey. To cooperate in the solution of national problems, CNPq/INPE is developing efforts in the area of manipulation of those images with the objective of making them useful as planimetric bases for the simple revision of already published maps or for its utilization as basic material in regions not yet reliability mapped. The results obtained from performed tests are presented and the existing limitations are discussed. The new system purchased to handle data from the next series of LANDSAT as well as from MAPSAT and SPOT which will be in operation within the 80's decade, and are designed not only for natural resources survey but also for the solution of cartographic problems.

The Role of Remotely Sensed and Relayed Data in the Delaware River Basin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paulson, R. W.

1971-01-01

The planned integration of the existing water quality monitoring and data processing systems in the Delaware River Basin with a data relay experiment proposed for the ERTS-1 is discussed. The experiment is designed to use ERTS-1 as a data relay link for a maximum of 20 hydrologic stations in the basin, including stream gaging, reservoir level, ground water level, and water quality monitoring stations. This experiment has the potential for reducing the time lag between data collection and dissemination to less than 12 hours. The experiment will also provide impetus to develop an operational system of real time data processing and dissemination to handle the large quantity of data that will be obtained from the stations in the basin. The results of this experiment will demonstrate the relative merits of satellite relay of data versus conventional means of data telemetry and will provide a basis for the development of operational satellite relay of hydrologic data.

Unmanned air vehicle: autonomous takeoff and landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, K. L.; Gitano-Briggs, Horizon Walker

2010-03-01

UAVs are increasing in popularity and sophistication due to the demonstrated performance which cannot be attained by manned aircraft1. These developments have been made possible by development of sensors, instrumentation, telemetry and controls during the last few decades. UAVs are now common in areas such as aerial observation and as communication relays3. Most UAVs, however, are still flown by a human pilot via remote control from a ground station. Even the existing autonomous UAVs often require a human pilot to handle the most difficult tasks of take off and landing2 (TOL). This is mainly because the navigation of the airplane requires observation, constant situational assessment and hours of experience from the pilot himself4. Therefore, an autonomous takeoff and landing system (TLS) for UAVs using a few practical design rules with various sensors, instrumentation, etc has been developed. This paper details the design and modeling of the UAV TLS. The model indicates that the UAV's TLS shows promising stability.

Unmanned air vehicle: autonomous takeoff and landing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, K. L.; Gitano-Briggs, Horizon Walker

2009-12-01

UAVs are increasing in popularity and sophistication due to the demonstrated performance which cannot be attained by manned aircraft1. These developments have been made possible by development of sensors, instrumentation, telemetry and controls during the last few decades. UAVs are now common in areas such as aerial observation and as communication relays3. Most UAVs, however, are still flown by a human pilot via remote control from a ground station. Even the existing autonomous UAVs often require a human pilot to handle the most difficult tasks of take off and landing2 (TOL). This is mainly because the navigation of the airplane requires observation, constant situational assessment and hours of experience from the pilot himself4. Therefore, an autonomous takeoff and landing system (TLS) for UAVs using a few practical design rules with various sensors, instrumentation, etc has been developed. This paper details the design and modeling of the UAV TLS. The model indicates that the UAV's TLS shows promising stability.

Present status of the liquid lithium target facility in the international fusion materials irradiation facility (IFMIF)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, Hiroo; Riccardi, B.; Loginov, N.; Ara, K.; Burgazzi, L.; Cevolani, S.; Dell'Orco, G.; Fazio, C.; Giusti, D.; Horiike, H.; Ida, M.; Ise, H.; Kakui, H.; Matsui, H.; Micciche, G.; Muroga, T.; Nakamura, Hideo; Shimizu, K.; Sugimoto, M.; Suzuki, A.; Takeuchi, H.; Tanaka, S.; Yoneoka, T.

2004-08-01

During the three year key element technology phase of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) project, completed at the end of 2002, key technologies have been validated. In this paper, these results are summarized. A water jet experiment simulating Li flow validated stable flow up to 20 m/s with a double reducer nozzle. In addition, a small Li loop experiment validated stable Li flow up to 14 m/s. To control the nitrogen content in Li below 10 wppm will require surface area of a V-Ti alloy getter of 135 m 2. Conceptual designs of diagnostics have been carried out. Moreover, the concept of a remote handling system to replace the back wall based on `cut and reweld' and `bayonet' options has been established. Analysis by FMEA showed safe operation of the target system. Recent activities in the transition phase, started in 2003, and plan for the next phase are also described.

Object-based detection of vehicles using combined optical and elevation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schilling, Hendrik; Bulatov, Dimitri; Middelmann, Wolfgang

2018-02-01

The detection of vehicles is an important and challenging topic that is relevant for many applications. In this work, we present a workflow that utilizes optical and elevation data to detect vehicles in remotely sensed urban data. This workflow consists of three consecutive stages: candidate identification, classification, and single vehicle extraction. Unlike in most previous approaches, fusion of both data sources is strongly pursued at all stages. While the first stage utilizes the fact that most man-made objects are rectangular in shape, the second and third stages employ machine learning techniques combined with specific features. The stages are designed to handle multiple sensor input, which results in a significant improvement. A detailed evaluation shows the benefits of our workflow, which includes hand-tailored features; even in comparison with classification approaches based on Convolutional Neural Networks, which are state of the art in computer vision, we could obtain a comparable or superior performance (F1 score of 0.96-0.94).

The natural angle between the hand and handle and the effect of handle orientation on wrist radial/ulnar deviation during maximal push exertions.

PubMed

Young, Justin G; Lin, Jia-Hua; Chang, Chien-Chi; McGorry, Raymond W

2013-01-01

The purpose of this experiment was to quantify the natural angle between the hand and a handle, and to investigate three design factors: handle rotation, handle tilt and between-handle width on the natural angle as well as resultant wrist radial/ulnar deviation ('RUD') for pushing tasks. Photographs taken of the right upper limb of 31 participants (14 women and 17 men) performing maximal seated push exertions on different handles were analysed. Natural hand/handle angle and RUD were assessed. It was found that all of the three design factors significantly affected natural handle angle and wrist RUD, but participant gender did not. The natural angle between the hand and the cylindrical handle was 65 ± 7°. Wrist deviation was reduced for handles that were rotated 0° (horizontal) and at the narrow width (31 cm). Handles that were tilted forward 15° reduced radial deviation consistently (12-13°) across handle conditions. Manual materials handling (MMH) tasks involving pushing have been related to increased risk of musculoskeletal injury. This study shows that handle orientation influences hand and wrist posture during pushing, and suggests that the design of push handles on carts and other MMH aids can be improved by adjusting their orientation to fit the natural interface between the hand and handle.

Design and Execution of make-like, distributed Analyses based on Spotify’s Pipelining Package Luigi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdmann, M.; Fischer, B.; Fischer, R.; Rieger, M.

2017-10-01

In high-energy particle physics, workflow management systems are primarily used as tailored solutions in dedicated areas such as Monte Carlo production. However, physicists performing data analyses are usually required to steer their individual workflows manually which is time-consuming and often leads to undocumented relations between particular workloads. We present a generic analysis design pattern that copes with the sophisticated demands of end-to-end HEP analyses and provides a make-like execution system. It is based on the open-source pipelining package Luigi which was developed at Spotify and enables the definition of arbitrary workloads, so-called Tasks, and the dependencies between them in a lightweight and scalable structure. Further features are multi-user support, automated dependency resolution and error handling, central scheduling, and status visualization in the web. In addition to already built-in features for remote jobs and file systems like Hadoop and HDFS, we added support for WLCG infrastructure such as LSF and CREAM job submission, as well as remote file access through the Grid File Access Library. Furthermore, we implemented automated resubmission functionality, software sandboxing, and a command line interface with auto-completion for a convenient working environment. For the implementation of a t \\overline{{{t}}} H cross section measurement, we created a generic Python interface that provides programmatic access to all external information such as datasets, physics processes, statistical models, and additional files and values. In summary, the setup enables the execution of the entire analysis in a parallelized and distributed fashion with a single command.

KSC-98pc1185

NASA Image and Video Library

1998-09-30

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Inside the Payload Changeout Room (PCR) in the Rotating Service Structure (RSS) at Launch Pad 39-B, technicians in clean suits move the payloads for mission STS-95 to the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery. At the top of the RSS is the Spacehab module; below it are the Spartan solar-observing deployable spacecraft, the Hubble Space Telescope Orbiting Systems Test Platform (HOST), and the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH-3). The PCR is an environmentally controlled facility with seals around the mating surface that fit against the orbiter or payload canister and permit the payload bay or canister doors to be opened and cargo removed without exposing it to outside air and contaminants. Payloads are installed vertically in the orbiter using the extendable payload ground handling mechanism. Fixed and extendable work platforms provide work access in the PCR. The SPACEHAB single module involves experiments on space flight and the aging process. Spartan is a solar physics spacecraft designed to perform remote sensing of the hot outer layers of the sun's atmosphere or corona. HOST carries four experiments to validate components planned for installation during the third Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and to evaluate new technologies in an Earth-orbiting environment. IEH-3 comprises several experiments that will study the Jovian planetary system, hot stars, planetary and reflection nebulae, other stellar objects and their environments through remote observation of EUV/FUV emissions; study spacecraft interactions, Shuttle glow, thruster firings, and contamination; and measure the solar constant and identify variations in the value during a solar cycle. Mission STS-95 is scheduled to launch Oct. 29, 1998

Data Access Services that Make Remote Sensing Data Easier to Use

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lynnes, Christopher

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews some of the processes that NASA uses to make the remote sensing data easy to use over the World Wide Web. This work involves much research into data formats, geolocation structures and quality indicators, often to be followed by coding a preprocessing program. Only then are the data usable within the analysis tool of choice. The Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center is deploying a variety of data access services that are designed to dramatically shorten the time consumed in the data preparation step. On-the-fly conversion to the standard network Common Data Form (netCDF) format with Climate-Forecast (CF) conventions imposes a standard coordinate system framework that makes data instantly readable through several tools, such as the Integrated Data Viewer, Gridded Analysis and Display System, Panoply and Ferret. A similar benefit is achieved by serving data through the Open Source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP), which also provides subsetting. The Data Quality Screening Service goes a step further in filtering out data points based on quality control flags, based on science team recommendations or user-specified criteria. Further still is the Giovanni online analysis system which goes beyond handling formatting and quality to provide visualization and basic statistics of the data. This general approach of automating the preparation steps has the important added benefit of enabling use of the data by non-human users (i.e., computer programs), which often make sub-optimal use of the available data due to the need to hard-code data preparation on the client side.

Onco-STS: a web-based laboratory information management system for sample and analysis tracking in oncogenomic experiments.

PubMed

Gavrielides, Mike; Furney, Simon J; Yates, Tim; Miller, Crispin J; Marais, Richard

2014-01-01

Whole genomes, whole exomes and transcriptomes of tumour samples are sequenced routinely to identify the drivers of cancer. The systematic sequencing and analysis of tumour samples, as well other oncogenomic experiments, necessitates the tracking of relevant sample information throughout the investigative process. These meta-data of the sequencing and analysis procedures include information about the samples and projects as well as the sequencing centres, platforms, data locations, results locations, alignments, analysis specifications and further information relevant to the experiments. The current work presents a sample tracking system for oncogenomic studies (Onco-STS) to store these data and make them easily accessible to the researchers who work with the samples. The system is a web application, which includes a database and a front-end web page that allows the remote access, submission and updating of the sample data in the database. The web application development programming framework Grails was used for the development and implementation of the system. The resulting Onco-STS solution is efficient, secure and easy to use and is intended to replace the manual data handling of text records. Onco-STS allows simultaneous remote access to the system making collaboration among researchers more effective. The system stores both information on the samples in oncogenomic studies and details of the analyses conducted on the resulting data. Onco-STS is based on open-source software, is easy to develop and can be modified according to a research group's needs. Hence it is suitable for laboratories that do not require a commercial system.

Develop virtual joint laboratory for education like distance engineering system for robotic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latinovic, T. S.; Deaconu, S. I.; Latinović, M. T.; Malešević, N.; Barz, C.

2015-06-01

This paper work with a new system that provides distance learning and online training engineers. The purpose of this paper is to develop and provide web-based system for the handling and control of remote devices via the Internet. Remote devices are currently the industry or mobile robots [13]. For future product development machine in the factory will be included in the system. This article also discusses the current use of virtual reality tools in the fields of science and engineering education. One programming tool in particular, virtual reality modeling language (VRML) is presented in the light of its applications and capabilities in the development of computer visualization tool for education. One contribution of this paper is to present the software tools and examples that can encourage educators to develop a virtual reality model to improve teaching in their discipline. [12] This paper aims to introduce a software platform, called VALIP where users can build, share, and manipulate 3D content in cooperation with the interaction processes in a 3D context, while participating hardware and software devices can be physical and / or logical distributed and connected together via the Internet. VALIP the integration of virtual laboratories to appropriate partners; therefore, allowing access to all laboratories in any of the partners in the project. VALIP provides advanced laboratory for training and research within robotics and production engineering, and thus, provides a great laboratory facilities with only having to invest a limited amount of resources at the local level to the partner site.

Moving NASA Remote Sensing Data to the GIS Environment for Health Studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vicente, Gilberto A.; Maynard, Nancy G.

2003-01-01

There has been an increasing demand by the health community for improved data on many different environmental factors relevant to the links between the environment and disease occurrence and transmission. These data are important for GIS-based monitoring, risk mapping, and surveillance of epidemiological parameters on a large number of different spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions. Accordingly, NASA is developing new approaches to data collection and distribution in order to improve access to multiple sources of data streams to increase spatial and temporal coverage. Methods are being developed to incorporate different, scalable capabilities to handle multiple data sources by adding, deleting and replacing components as required as well as associated tools for their management. An approach has been to search for innovative solutions focused on the creation, use and manipulation of data stored in many different archives. These include data transformation and combination as well as data and information tools that can assist the public health and science community to use existing and anticipated products in new and flexible ways. This presentation will provide an inventory of geophysical parameters derived from satellite remote sensing sensors that are useful for GIS-based public health studies. The presentation will also discuss the physical and scientific limitations of access to and use of these data for health applications such as resolution and format differences, lack of software interoperability, data access problems. Finally, there will be a summary of the recent steps the NASA program has taken to bring NASA-generated satellite products to a wider range of users in the GIS community.

Hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation: knowledge gain and knowledge gap after 50 years of research (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thenkabail, Prasad S.

2017-04-01

This presentation summarizes the advances made over 40+ years in understanding, modeling, and mapping terrestrial vegetation as reported in the new book on "Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Vegetation" (Publisher:Taylor and Francis inc.). The advent of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors or imaging spectroscopy (e.g., NASA's Hyperion, ESA's PROBA, and upcoming Italy's ASI's Prisma, Germany's DLR's EnMAP, Japanese HIUSI, NASA's HyspIRI) as well as the advances made in processing when handling large volumes of hyperspectral data have generated tremendous interest in advancing the hyperspectral applications' knowledge base to large areas. Advances made in using hyperspectral data, relative to broadband data, include: (a) significantly improved characterization and modeling of a wide array of biophysical and biochemical properties of vegetation, (b) ability to discriminate plant species and vegetation types with high degree of accuracy, (c) reducing uncertainties in determining net primary productivity or carbon assessments from terrestrial vegetation, (d) improved crop productivity and water productivity models, (e) ability to assess stress resulting from causes such as management practices, pests and disease, water deficit or water excess, and (f) establishing more sensitive wavebands and indices to study vegetation characteristics. The presentation will discuss topics such as: (1) hyperspectral sensors and their characteristics, (2) methods of overcoming the Hughes phenomenon, (3) characterizing biophysical and biochemical properties, (4) advances made in using hyperspectral data in modeling evapotranspiration or actual water use by plants, (5) study of phenology, light use efficiency, and gross primary productivity, (5) improved accuracies in species identification and land cover classifications, and (6) applications in precision farming.

Fog Computing and Edge Computing Architectures for Processing Data From Diabetes Devices Connected to the Medical Internet of Things.

PubMed

Klonoff, David C

2017-07-01

The Internet of Things (IoT) is generating an immense volume of data. With cloud computing, medical sensor and actuator data can be stored and analyzed remotely by distributed servers. The results can then be delivered via the Internet. The number of devices in IoT includes such wireless diabetes devices as blood glucose monitors, continuous glucose monitors, insulin pens, insulin pumps, and closed-loop systems. The cloud model for data storage and analysis is increasingly unable to process the data avalanche, and processing is being pushed out to the edge of the network closer to where the data-generating devices are. Fog computing and edge computing are two architectures for data handling that can offload data from the cloud, process it nearby the patient, and transmit information machine-to-machine or machine-to-human in milliseconds or seconds. Sensor data can be processed near the sensing and actuating devices with fog computing (with local nodes) and with edge computing (within the sensing devices). Compared to cloud computing, fog computing and edge computing offer five advantages: (1) greater data transmission speed, (2) less dependence on limited bandwidths, (3) greater privacy and security, (4) greater control over data generated in foreign countries where laws may limit use or permit unwanted governmental access, and (5) lower costs because more sensor-derived data are used locally and less data are transmitted remotely. Connected diabetes devices almost all use fog computing or edge computing because diabetes patients require a very rapid response to sensor input and cannot tolerate delays for cloud computing.

Redefining climate regions in the United States of America using satellite remote sensing and machine learning for public health applications.

PubMed

Liss, Alexander; Koch, Magaly; Naumova, Elena N

2014-12-01

Existing climate classification has not been designed for an efficient handling of public health scenarios. This work aims to design an objective spatial climate regionalization method for assessing health risks in response to extreme weather. Specific climate regions for the conterminous United States of America (USA) were defined using satellite remote sensing (RS) data and compared with the conventional Köppen-Geiger (KG) divisions. Using the nationwide database of hospitalisations among the elderly (≥65 year olds), we examined the utility of a RS-based climate regionalization to assess public health risk due to extreme weather, by comparing the rate of hospitalisations in response to thermal extremes across climatic regions. Satellite image composites from 2002-2012 were aggregated, masked and compiled into a multi-dimensional dataset. The conterminous USA was classified into 8 distinct regions using a stepwise regionalization approach to limit noise and collinearity (LKN), which exhibited a high degree of consistency with the KG regions and a well-defined regional delineation by annual and seasonal temperature and precipitation values. The most populous was a temperate wet region (10.9 million), while the highest rate of hospitalisations due to exposure to heat and cold (9.6 and 17.7 cases per 100,000 persons at risk, respectively) was observed in the relatively warm and humid south-eastern region. RS-based regionalization demonstrates strong potential for assessing the adverse effects of severe weather on human health and for decision support. Its utility in forecasting and mitigating these effects has to be further explored.

Hookworm Infection and Environmental Factors in Mbeya Region, Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Study

PubMed Central

Riess, Helene; Clowes, Petra; Kroidl, Inge; Kowuor, Dickens O.; Nsojo, Anthony; Mangu, Chacha; Schüle, Steffen A.; Mansmann, Ulrich; Geldmacher, Christof; Mhina, Seif; Maboko, Leonard; Hoelscher, Michael; Saathoff, Elmar

2013-01-01

Background Hookworm disease is one of the most common infections and cause of a high disease burden in the tropics and subtropics. Remotely sensed ecological data and model-based geostatistics have been used recently to identify areas in need for hookworm control. Methodology Cross-sectional interview data and stool samples from 6,375 participants from nine different sites in Mbeya region, south-western Tanzania, were collected as part of a cohort study. Hookworm infection was assessed by microscopy of duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears from one stool sample from each participant. A geographic information system was used to obtain remotely sensed environmental data such as land surface temperature (LST), vegetation cover, rainfall, and elevation, and combine them with hookworm infection data and with socio-demographic and behavioral data. Uni- and multivariable logistic regression was performed on sites separately and on the pooled dataset. Principal Findings Univariable analyses yielded significant associations for all ecological variables. Five ecological variables stayed significant in the final multivariable model: population density (odds ratio (OR) = 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63–0.73), mean annual vegetation density (OR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.06–0.18), mean annual LST during the day (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.75–0.88), mean annual LST during the night (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.44–1.64), and latrine coverage in household surroundings (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01–1.04). Interaction terms revealed substantial differences in associations of hookworm infection with population density, mean annual enhanced vegetation index, and latrine coverage between the two sites with the highest prevalence of infection. Conclusion/Significance This study supports previous findings that remotely sensed data such as vegetation indices, LST, and elevation are strongly associated with hookworm prevalence. However, the results indicate that the influence of environmental conditions can differ substantially within a relatively small geographic area. The use of large-scale associations as a predictive tool on smaller scales is therefore problematic and should be handled with care. PMID:24040430

Remote sensing investigations of fugitive soil arsenic and its effects on vegetation reflectance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slonecker, E. Terrence

2007-12-01

Three different remote sensing technologies were evaluated in support of the remediation of fugitive arsenic and other hazardous waste-related risks to human and ecological health at the Spring Valley Formerly Used Defense Site in northwest Washington D.C., an area of widespread soil arsenic contamination as a result of World War I research and development of chemical weapons. The first evaluation involved the value of information derived from the interpretation of historical aerial photographs. Historical aerial photographs dating back as far as 1918 provided a wealth of information about chemical weapons testing, storage, handling and disposal of these hazardous materials. When analyzed by a trained photo-analyst, the 1918 aerial photographs resulted in 42 features of potential interest. When compared with current remedial activities and known areas of contamination, 33 of 42 or 78.5 % of the features were spatially correlated with current areas of contamination or remedial activity. The second investigation involved the phytoremediation of arsenic through the use of Pteris ferns and the evaluation of the spectral properties of these ferns. Three hundred ferns were grown in controlled laboratory conditions in soils amended with five levels (0, 20, 50, 100 and 200 parts per million) of sodium arsenate. After 20 weeks, the Pteris ferns were shown to have an average uptake concentration of over 4,000 parts per million each. Additionally, statistical analysis of the spectral signature from each fern showed that the frond arsenic concentration could be reasonably predicted with a linear model when the concentration was equal or greater than 500 parts per million. Third, hyperspectral imagery of Spring Valley was obtained and analyzed with a suite of spectral analysis software tools. Results showed the grasses growing in areas of known high soil arsenic could be identified and mapped at an approximate 85% level of accuracy when the hyperspectral image was processed with a linear spectral unmixing algorithm and mapped with a maximum likelihood classifier. The information provided by these various remote sensing technologies presents a non-contact and potentially important alternative to the information needs of the hazardous waste remediation process, and is an important area for future environmental research.

An integrated, open-source set of tools for urban vulnerability monitoring from Earth observation data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Vecchi, Daniele; Harb, Mostapha; Dell'Acqua, Fabio; Aurelio Galeazzo, Daniel

2015-04-01

Aim: The paper introduces an integrated set of open-source tools designed to process medium and high-resolution imagery with the aim to extract vulnerability indicators [1]. Problem: In the context of risk monitoring [2], a series of vulnerability proxies can be defined, such as the extension of a built-up area or buildings regularity [3]. Different open-source C and Python libraries are already available for image processing and geospatial information (e.g. OrfeoToolbox, OpenCV and GDAL). They include basic processing tools but not vulnerability-oriented workflows. Therefore, it is of significant importance to provide end-users with a set of tools capable to return information at a higher level. Solution: The proposed set of python algorithms is a combination of low-level image processing and geospatial information handling tools along with high-level workflows. In particular, two main products are released under the GPL license: source code, developers-oriented, and a QGIS plugin. These tools were produced within the SENSUM project framework (ended December 2014) where the main focus was on earthquake and landslide risk. Further development and maintenance is guaranteed by the decision to include them in the platform designed within the FP 7 RASOR project . Conclusion: With the lack of a unified software suite for vulnerability indicators extraction, the proposed solution can provide inputs for already available models like the Global Earthquake Model. The inclusion of the proposed set of algorithms within the RASOR platforms can guarantee support and enlarge the community of end-users. Keywords: Vulnerability monitoring, remote sensing, optical imagery, open-source software tools References [1] M. Harb, D. De Vecchi, F. Dell'Acqua, "Remote sensing-based vulnerability proxies in the EU FP7 project SENSUM", Symposium on earthquake and landslide risk in Central Asia and Caucasus: exploiting remote sensing and geo-spatial information management, 29-30th January 2014, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic. [2] UNISDR, "Living with Risk", Geneva, Switzerland, 2004. [3] P. Bisch, E. Carvalho, H. Degree, P. Fajfar, M. Fardis, P. Franchin, M. Kreslin, A. Pecker, "Eurocode 8: Seismic Design of Buildings", Lisbon, 2011. (SENSUM: www.sensum-project.eu, grant number: 312972 ) (RASOR: www.rasor-project.eu, grant number: 606888 )

Remote Sensing of Ionosphere by IONOLAB Group

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arikan, Feza

2016-07-01

Ionosphere is a temporally and spatially varying, dispersive, anisotropic and inhomogeneous medium that is characterized primarily by its electron density distribution. Electron density is a complex function of spatial and temporal variations of solar, geomagnetic, and seismic activities. Ionosphere is the main source of error for navigation and positioning systems and satellite communication. Therefore, characterization and constant monitoring of variability of the ionosphere is of utmost importance for the performance improvement of these systems. Since ionospheric electron density is not a directly measurable quantity, an important derivable parameter is the Total Electron Content (TEC), which is used widely to characterize the ionosphere. TEC is proportional to the total number of electrons on a line crossing the atmosphere. IONOLAB is a research group is formed by Hacettepe University, Bilkent University and Kastamonu University, Turkey gathered to handle the challenges of the ionosphere using state-of-the-art remote sensing and signal processing techniques. IONOLAB group provides unique space weather services of IONOLAB-TEC, International Reference Ionosphere extended to Plasmasphere (IRI-Plas) model based IRI-Plas-MAP, IRI-Plas-STEC and Online IRI-Plas-2015 model at www.ionolab.org. IONOLAB group has been working for imaging and monitoring of ionospheric structure for the last 15 years. TEC is estimated from dual frequency GPS receivers as IONOLAB-TEC using IONOLAB-BIAS. For high spatio-temporal resolution 2-D imaging or mapping, IONOLAB-MAP algorithm is developed that uses automated Universal Kriging or Ordinary Kriging in which the experimental semivariogram is fitted to Matern Function with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). For 3-D imaging of ionosphere and 1-D vertical profiles of electron density, state-of-the-art IRI-Plas model based IONOLAB-CIT algorithm is developed for regional reconstruction that employs Kalman Filters for state/temporal transition. IONOLAB group contributes to remote sensing of upper atmosphere, ionosphere and plasmasphere with continuing TUBITAK projects. IONOLAB group is open to joint research and collaboration with researchers from all disciplines that investigate the challenges of ionosphere and space weather. This study is supported by TUBITAK 114E541, 115E915 and Joint TUBITAK 114E092 and AS CR 14/001 projects.

Quantum Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bojowald, Martin

The universe, ultimately, is to be described by quantum theory. Quantum aspects of all there is, including space and time, may not be significant for many purposes, but are crucial for some. And so a quantum description of cosmology is required for a complete and consistent worldview. At any rate, even if we were not directly interested in regimes where quantum cosmology plays a role, a complete physical description could not stop at a stage before the whole universe is reached. Quantum theory is essential in the microphysics of particles, atoms, molecules, solids, white dwarfs and neutron stars. Why should one expect this ladder of scales to end at a certain size? 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CubeSat constellations for disaster management in remote areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santilli, Giancarlo; Vendittozzi, Cristian; Cappelletti, Chantal; Battistini, Simone; Gessini, Paolo

2018-04-01

In recent years, CubeSats have considerably extended their range of possible applications, from a low cost means to train students and young researchers in space related activities up to possible complementary solutions to larger missions. Increasingly popular, whereas CubeSats are still not a solution for all types of missions, they offer the possibility of performing ambitious scientific experiments. Especially worth considering is the possibility of performing Distributed Space Missions, in which CubeSat systems can be used to increase observation sampling rates and resolutions, as well as to perform tasks that a single satellite is unable to handle. The cost of access to space for traditional Earth Observation (EO) missions is still quite high. Efficient architecture design would allow reducing mission costs by employing CubeSat systems, while maintaining a level of performance that, for some applications, could be close to that provided by larger platforms, and decreasing the time needed to design and deploy a fully functional constellation. For these reasons many countries, including developing nations, agencies and organizations are looking to CubeSat platforms to access space cheaply with, potentially, tens of remote sensing satellites. During disaster management, real-time, fast and continuous information broadcast is a fundamental requirement. In this sense, a constellation of small satellites can considerably decrease the revisit time (defined as the time elapsed between two consecutive observations of the same point on Earth by a satellite) over remote areas, by increasing the number of spacecraft properly distributed in orbit. This allows collecting as much data as possible for the use by Disaster Management Centers. This paper describes the characteristics of a constellation of CubeSats built to enable access over the most remote regions of Brazil, supporting an integrated system for mitigating environmental disasters in an attempt to prevent the catastrophic effects of natural events such as heavy rains that cause flooding. In particular, the paper defines the number of CubeSats and the orbital planes required to minimize the revisit time, depending on the application that is the mission objective. Each CubeSat is equipped with the suitable payloads and possesses the autonomy and pointing capabilities needed to meet the mission requirements. Thanks to the orbital features of the constellation, this service could be exploited by other tropical countries. Coverage of other areas of the Earth might be provided by adjusting the number and in-orbit distribution of the spacecraft.

Transportation and handling loads

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostrem, F. E.

1971-01-01

Criteria and recommended practices are presented for the prediction and verification of transportation and handling loads for the space vehicle structure and for monitoring these loads during transportation and handling of the vehicle or major vehicle segments. Elements of the transportation and handling systems, and the forcing functions and associated loads are described. The forcing functions for common carriers and typical handling devices are assessed, and emphasis is given to the assessment of loads at the points where the space vehicle is supported during transportation and handling. Factors which must be considered when predicting the loads include the transportation and handling medium; type of handling fixture; transport vehicle speed; types of terrain; weather (changes in pressure of temperature, wind, etc.); and dynamics of the transportation modes or handling devices (acceleration, deceleration, and rotations of the transporter or handling device).