2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy

This document is an update (new photos used) of the PDF version of the 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy that will be available to download on the OCT Public Website. The updated 2020 NASA Technology Taxonomy, or "technology dictionary", uses a technology discipline based approach that realigns like-technologies independent of their application within the NASA mission portfolio. This tool is meant to serve as a common technology discipline-based communication tool across the agency and with its partners in other government agencies, academia, industry, and across the world

Adaptive Multi-Functional Space Systems for Micro-Climate Control

This report summarizes the work done during the Adaptive Multifunctional Systems for Microclimate Control Study held at the Caltech Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS) in 2014-2015. Dr. Marco Quadrelli (JPL), Dr. James Lyke (AFRL), and Prof. Sergio Pellegrino (Caltech) led the Study, which included two workshops: the first in May of 2014, and another in February of 2015. The Final Report of the Study presented here describes the potential relevance of adaptive multifunctional systems for microclimate control to the missions outlined in the 2010 NRC Decadal Survey. The objective of the Study was to adapt the most recent advances in multifunctional reconfigurable and adaptive structures to enable a microenvironment control to support space exploration in extreme environments (EE). The technical goal was to identify the most efficient materials, architectures, structures and means of deployment/reconfiguration, system autonomy and energy management solutions needed to optimally project/generate a micro-environment around space assets. For example, compact packed thin-layer reflective structures unfolding to large areas can reflect solar energy, warming and illuminating assets such as exploration rovers on Mars or human habitats on the Moon. This novel solution is called an energy-projecting multifunctional system (EPMFS), which are composed of Multifunctional Systems (MFS) and Energy-Projecting Systems (EPS)

Managing Distributed Information: Implications for Energy Infrastructure Co-production

abstract: The Internet and climate change are two forces that are poised to both cause and enable changes in how we provide our energy infrastructure. The Internet has catalyzed enormous changes across many sectors by shifting the feedback and organizational structure of systems towards more decentralized users. Today’s energy systems require colossal shifts toward a more sustainable future. However, energy systems face enormous socio-technical lock-in and, thus far, have been largely unaffected by these destabilizing forces. More distributed information offers not only the ability to craft new markets, but to accelerate learning processes that respond to emerging user or prosumer centered design needs. This may include values and needs such as local reliability, transparency and accountability, integration into the built environment, and reduction of local pollution challenges. The same institutions (rules, norms and strategies) that dominated with the hierarchical infrastructure system of the twentieth century are unlikely to be good fit if a more distributed infrastructure increases in dominance. As information is produced at more distributed points, it is more difficult to coordinate and manage as an interconnected system. This research examines several aspects of these, historically dominant, infrastructure provisioning strategies to understand the implications of managing more distributed information. The first chapter experimentally examines information search and sharing strategies under different information protection rules. The second and third chapters focus on strategies to model and compare distributed energy production effects on shared electricity grid infrastructure. Finally, the fourth chapter dives into the literature of co-production, and explores connections between concepts in co-production and modularity (an engineering approach to information encapsulation) using the distributed energy resource regulations for San Diego, CA. Each of these sections highlights different aspects of how information rules offer a design space to enable a more adaptive, innovative and sustainable energy system that can more easily react to the shocks of the twenty-first century.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Sustainability 201

A Fully Decentralized Hierarchical Transactive Energy Framework for Charging EVs with Local DERs in Power Distribution Systems

The penetration rates of both electric vehicles (EVs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) have been increasing rapidly as appealing options to address the global problems of carbon emissions and fuel supply issues. However, uncoordinated EV charging activities and DER generation result in operational challenges for power distribution systems. Therefore, this article has developed a hierarchical transactive energy (TE) framework to locally induce and coordinate EV charging demand and DER generation in electric distribution networks. Based on a modified version of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMMs), two fully decentralized (DEC) peer-to-peer (P2P) trading models are presented, that is, an hour-ahead market and a 5-min-ahead real-time market. Compared to existing P2P electricity markets, this research represents the first attempt to comprehensively incorporate alternating current (ac) power network constraints into P2P electricity trading. The proposed TE framework not only contributes to mitigating operational challenges of distribution systems, but also benefits both EV owners and DER investors through secured local energy transactions. The privacy of market participants is well preserved since the bid data of each participant are not exposed to others. Comprehensive simulations based on the IEEE 33-node distribution system are conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method

ReSCon '12, Research Student Conference: Book of Abstracts

The fifth SED Research Student Conference (ReSCon2012) was hosted over three days, 18-20 June 2012, in the Hamilton Centre at Brunel University. The conference consisted of 130 oral and 70 poster presentations, based on the high quality and diverse research being conducted within the School of Engineering and Design by postgraduate research students. The conference is held annually, and ReSCon plays a key role in contributing to research and innovations within the School

Idaho National Laboratory LDRD Annual Report FY 2012

This report provides a glimpse into our diverse research and development portfolio, wwhich encompasses both advanced nuclear science and technology and underlying technologies. IN keeping with the mission, INL's LDRD program fosters technical capabilities necessary to support current and future DOE-Office of Nuclear Energy research and development needs