Starcraft, Jaynes, and Bayesian UQ

Interesting content covered on Nuite Blanche of a recent Paris Machine Learning meetup. The work on applying Bayesian Programming and Learning for Multi-Player Video Games was really neat. It's about developing a bot for playing Starcraft. Some additional related presentations:

• A Bayesian Model for Plan Recognition in RTS Games applied to StarCraft
  
• A Bayesian Model for RTS Units Control applied to StarCraft
  

This problem is real enough to be interesting, and simple enough to tackle. I really liked how this work dealt with the separation of strategic/tactical level decision making.

11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM XI)

The 11th World Congress on Computational Mechanics (WCCM XI) is coming up in July in Barcelona. Dates: abstracts due 29 Nov 2013, and full papers due 28 Feb 2014. The deadline for mini-symposium proposals has passed. There are some interesting looking ones (ECCM, ECFD),

• Uncertainty Quantification Techniques for Fluid-flow Problems
  
• Verification & Validation
  
• Frontiers of Numerical Uncertainty Quantification in Computational Mechanics
  
• New Trends in Topology Optimization
  

BRLCAD: Archer Alpha

Archer is an interface update to the graphical geometry editor for BRLCAD. The BRLCAD developers have done a significant refactoring of the code for this release:

A lot of work has gone into refactoring and restructuring MGED code into library form so that we could develop new interfaces on top without losing functionality. We now have a newly developed GED "geometry editing" library that contains the majority of our commands in reusable form. Archer was built on top of GED and the interface has been significantly extended.

It is nice having everything in one window. There's a tree view for the shapes, regions, and combinations in the database on the left, a command window at the bottom, and the main visualization window in the middle.

Drone Swarm Photogrammetry of the Matterhorn

senseFly mapped the Matterhorn with a bunch of little UAVs. Pretty impressive photogrammetric point cloud: 300 million points!

Commercial Model Aircraft Use

22nd IMR Meshing Contest Model

There are some interesting commercial uses of model aircraft listed in Pirker's motion to dismiss an FAA civil penalty for commercial drone use. The motion provides examples in four broad categories: Cinema and Television, The Model Aircraft Industry, Model Airplane Operators Who Are “Sponsored” or Compensated at Competitions, and Media Coverage and Entertainment.

Fedora OpenMDAO Install

OpenMDAO is "an open-source MDAO framework written in Python." It is an easy install (though not packaged for Fedora yet as far as I can tell). The only odd thing in the system requirements is the Chrome web browser for the GUI. They say things should work with Firefox (not Internet Explorer), but who cares? GUIs are for quiche-eaters anyway ; - ) The other requirements (Python, Scipy, Numpy, Matplotlib) are commonly packaged for a wide range of operating systems.

OpenMDAO features,

• Library of Built-in Solvers and Optimizers
  
• Tools for Meta-Modeling
  
• Data Recording Capabilities
  
• Support for Analytic Derivatives
  
• Support for High-Performance Compute Clusters and Distributed Computing
  
• Extensible Plugin Library
  

CFD V&V Case Resources

This list is from a discussion on the CFD group on LinkedIn.

• CFDOnline Validation and Test Cases: wiki with problem descriptions and some calculation results but not case files / grids (on the handful that I checked)
  
• ERCOFTAC Classic Collection: "The database has undergone some re-structuring and expansion to include, amongst other things, more details of the test cases, computational results, and results and conclusions drawn from the ERCOFTAC Workshops on Refined Turbulence Modelling. At the moment, each case should contain at least a brief description, some data to download, and references to published work. Some cases contain significantly more information than this." Registration required.
  
• LaRC Turbulence Modeling Resource: " The objective is to provide a resource for CFD developers to obtain accurate and up-to-date information on widely-used RANS turbulence models, and verify that models are implemented correctly. This latter capability is made possible through "verification" cases. This site provides simple test cases and grids, along with sample results (including grid convergence studies) from one or more previously-verified codes for some of the turbulence models. Furthermore, by listing various published variants of models, this site establishes naming conventions in order to help avoid confusion when comparing results from different codes."
  
• CFD and Coffee: a list of resources focused on compressible RANS V&V.
  
• cfd-benchmarks: benchmarks focused on room air distribution
  
• Saturne Test Cases: a list of test cases for Code Saturne, which also links the Working Group 21 AGARD database among others
  
• NPARC Alliance Verification and Validation Archive: grids available, but not much grid convergence info
  
• Vassberg's NACA 0012 Grids: Hegedus Aero code-to-code calcs based on 2009 AIAA paper / grids for NACA 0012
  

I added the link to a Hegedus Aero page detailing his code-to-code and grid convergence results based on a previous AIAA paper and those same grids. The AIAA paper that page is based on is worth a read.

SU2 and OpenMDAO Joint Workshop

Here's an announcement for an exciting workshop combining the open source computational fluid dynamics code SU2 with the open source optimization framework OpenMDAO.

Dear Colleagues,

This is a friendly reminder about the OpenMDAO and SU2 joint workshop on Sept.30 - Oct.1 in Durand 450 (Stanford University). So far, we have had great interest for both in-person, and virtual attendance to the event and we are looking forward to a great workshop. There is still room for more participants and we encourage you to join us for as much workshop as you can. As a reminder, no experience with the software is necessary.

If you plan on attending in-person or virtually, all participants should register at the SU2 homepage:
http://su2.stanford.edu

For virtual attendance, you must additionally register for the online webinar at the following locations:
Day 1: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7114168239445654785
Day 2: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/208563415407826177

OpenMDAO is an open-source framework for Multidisciplinary Design, Analysis and Optimization (MDAO). Written in Python, it functions to integrate analysis tools into a single design environment allowing for the investigation of engineering designs and optimization of designs subject to user requirements.

SU2 is an open-source numerical PDE solver that can be used to solve the equations of fluid motion. SU2 has been used to simulate a range of fluid including wind turbines, supersonic business jets, and hypersonic re-entry vehicles.

These powerful codes are suitable for general purpose applications. They have been downloaded more than ten-thousand times and have a continually growing footprint in a growing field of research. Because these codes are freely available and can be modified to suit specific needs, they can be used as part of countless research problems.

If you’re interested in multi-physics simulations applied to design, this is the workshop for you!

Each day will have a morning session to introduce the software packages and an afternoon session to give hands-on experience working with the codes. These sessions will focus on linking OpenMDAO and SU2 for specific multi-disciplinary problems. The best utilization of the two packages will be awarded an iPad!. The deadline for the competition (only on-site workshop attendees) will be on Thursday afternoon (October 3rd) and the winner will be announced on October 4th in the SU2 website.

The agenda for the workshop is attached. Food will be provided both days.

We hope you are able to join us for this exciting and engaging event!

Cheers,
The SU2 and OpenMDAO development teams

I wish I could spare the two days to participate virtually; looks like a really good event.

Update: Workshop Materials

• OpenMDAO Introduction, Installation, and Quick Start
  
• SU2 Introduction and Installation
  
• SU2 Advanced Analysis Topics (presentation)
  
• SU2 Advanced Analysis Topics (mesh and configuration example files)
  
• Shape optimization using SU2 (presentation)
  
• Shape optimization using SU2 (ONERA M6 files)
  

Update: videos and more from the workshop.

SCRAMSPACE: Launch Anomaly

Tough day at Andoya Rocket Range for University of Queensland SCRAMSPACE team. My heart goes out to these guys; they put a lot of good time, effort and smarts into their experiment.

Here's the official statement:

“The rocket carrying the scramjet launched at 3pm (Norwegian time, 11pm Brisbane time), however the payload failed to achieve the correct altitude to begin the scientific experiment as planned.

“The SCRAMSPACE payload, according to our data, was operating perfectly and performed extremely well before and during the launch, and we received telemetry data all the way into the water.

“Unfortunately the failed launch meant we could not carry out the experiment as planned.”

“The team is very disappointed. The project represents a lot of time, effort and money by a committed consortium of partners and sponsors.”
University of Queensland Hypersonics Chair Professor Russell Boyce