Engineering Commons^™

Dripline: A Distributed Experiment Control System, Eric Gonzalez, Ben Laroque, Noah Oblath

STAR Program Research Presentations

Project 8 is a nuclear physics experiment which seeks to measure the mass of neutrinos. The experiment requires the use of various pieces of hardware which need to be controlled, and from this need, a software system named Dripline is being developed. Because most researchers have some knowledge in Python and it is easier to understand the syntax of Python as opposed to C++, a Python application programming interface (API) is being created to allow any researcher working with Dripline ease of use. As development progresses, features may be added or removed as needed which requires constant testing, debugging, and …

A Prototype Microwave Cavity Control Circuit For Use In Next Generation Free Electron Laser, Josh Thompson, Peter Neal Barrina, Jiayi Jiang, Joe Frisch, Steve Smith, Daniel Van Winkle

STAR Program Research Presentations

One of the current programs at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is the Linac Coherent Light Source, or LCLS. Using the existing hardware of the last third of their linear accelerator (or “linac”), SLAC has created one of the most energetic X-ray free electron lasers (or “FEL”). Since 2009, LCLS has used this FEL to perform a wide range of experiments across all sciences, most notably ultrafast filming at the molecular scale. As requests for beam-time with this laser increases, SLAC is purposing a linac upgrade to better match this demand. This upgrade, named LCLS-II, will replace existing copper radio frequency …

Foss Big Data Storage Solution, Nurdeen Salami

STAR Program Research Presentations

NASA projects require a reliable approach to store large volumes of data. Accordingly, it is crucial to adopt a lightweight, reliable, and scalable database. Current NASA databases bear costly license fees with undesirable speed and flexibility. The purpose of utilizing the AERO Institute as an IT test bed, or “Sandbox,” is to design, build, test, and implement software solutions prior to transfer to NASA projects. Cassandra coupled with the Astyanax API is a viable solution for storing big data. Store a minimum of 2GB of C-FOSS data in multiple file formats (.csv, .log, .xml, and .jpg). Use benchmark tests to …

Space Race: Capturing An Orbiting Sample And A Nation’S Imagination, Stephanie La Liberte, Andrew Chavarin, Shubham Gogna, C. Daniel Thomas, Vy Phung, Gabriel Udomkesmalee

STAR Program Research Presentations

A proposed architecture for future planetary sample return missions would consist of capturing on-orbit a sample container (collected from the surface of a planetary body and launched into space) and transferring the sample container into an earth return/reentry capsule. A challenge to this proposed architecture is integrating space applicable sensor technologies with sufficient capturing devices. While useful technologies on Earth, Earth-related rendezvous/capture technologies, such as magnetic field sensors, sound-based sensors, and Earth orbit-based radios like GPS, are not applicable to space. Inspired by the in-orbit sample capture challenge, NASA JPL has designed the Space Rendezvous And Capture Experiment (Space RACE). …

Tools And Methods To Optimize The Analysis Of Telescopic Performance Metrics On Sofia, Steven R. Wilson, Holger Jakob, Stefan Teufel, Zaheer Ali, Jeffrey Van Cleve, Brian Eney, Greg Perryman

STAR Program Research Presentations

SOFIA is an infrared observatory mounted on a modified 747 engineered to do infrared astronomy at 45000 feet. The telescope equipment contains a number of sensors and stabilizers that allow the telescope to capture images while mounted in a moving plane. We have developed methods to analyze the performance of the telescope assembly that will help improve the stabilization and image capturing performance of the observatory. Here we present reusable methods to analyze telescope performance data that will enable improvements in the quality of the scientific data that is produced by the SOFIA. This poster focuses on the multi-flight performance …

Feedback Stabilization At Spear3, Daniel Kelley, Jeff Corbett

STAR Program Research Presentations

The SPEAR3 synchrotron lightsource at SLAC relies on a sophisticated radio frequency (RF) timing system to maintain current – electrons – in the storage ring. One problem SPEAR3 operators have dealt with is the thermal expansion of one of the cables supporting this RF timing system. As the cable expands and contracts with the diurnal rise and fall of the sun, the phase of the RF in the cable shifts. This shifting phase affects the timing accuracy of electron injections into the storage ring.

A common feedback control algorithm PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) has countless applications in engineering. PID feedback …

Technology Portal For Energy Efficient Buildings, Larry D. Hermanson, Daniel Studer, Annie Mroz

STAR Program Research Presentations

Project: Technology Portal for Energy Efficient Buildings

Date: August 2, 2012

Author: Larry Hermanson

Mentor: Daniel Studer

Cohort: Annie Mroz

Lab site: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Buildings account for 71% of the electricity demand and 39% of the primary energy consumption in the United States. The Commercial Buildings Group at NREL provides builders, designers and building owners accurate information to significantly improve the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings. The Technology Portal for Energy Efficient Buildings will increase the accessibility of standardized and credible energy performance data for all building systems, thereby allowing building owners to better evaluate …

Commissioning Of The Asta Laser Lab With Uv Pulse Length Characterization, Daniel Kelley, Jeff Corbett

STAR Program Research Presentations

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC depends on a photocathode electron gun to provide the linear accelerator with the raw material – electrons – used for making X-ray laser pulses. The photocathode used in the LCLS Injector is a clean copper plate in high vacuum. When the cathode is struck with high energy UV light, electrons are liberated from its surface and then accelerated down the linac with radio-frequency electric fields. These fast-moving bunches of electrons are directed through an undulator magnet to radiate X-ray light.

Although scientists have been using photocathode techniques at SLAC for 25 years, …

Freeing Space For Nasa: Incorporating A Lossless Compression Algorithm Into Nasa's Fiber Optic Strain Sensing System, Kaitlyn Fiechtner, Allen Parker

STAR Program Research Presentations

NASA’s Fiber Optic Strain Sensing (FOSS) system can gather and store up to 1,536,000 bytes (1.46 megabytes) per second. Since the FOSS system typically acquires hours—or even days—of data, the system can gather hundreds of gigabytes of data for a given test event. To store such large quantities of data more effectively, NASA is modifying a Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO) lossless data compression program to compress data as it is being acquired in real time. After proving that the algorithm is capable of compressing the data from the FOSS system, the LZO program will be modified and incorporated into the FOSS system. …