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NASA NTRS2010

Telescience Support Center Data System Software

The Telescience Support Center (TSC) team has developed a databasedriven, increment-specific Data Require - ment Document (DRD) generation tool that automates much of the work required for generating and formatting the DRD. It creates a database to load the required changes to configure the TSC data system, thus eliminating a substantial amount of labor in database entry and formatting. The TSC database contains the TSC systems configuration, along with the experimental data, in which human physiological data must be de-commutated in real time. The data for each experiment also must be cataloged and archived for future retrieval. TSC software provides tools and resources for ground operation and data distribution to remote users consisting of PIs (principal investigators), bio-medical engineers, scientists, engineers, payload specialists, and computer scientists. Operations support is provided for computer systems access, detailed networking, and mathematical and computational problems of the International Space Station telemetry data. User training is provided for on-site staff and biomedical researchers and other remote personnel in the usage of the space-bound services via the Internet, which enables significant resource savings for the physical facility along with the time savings versus traveling to NASA sites. The software used in support of the TSC could easily be adapted to other Control Center applications. This would include not only other NASA payload monitoring facilities, but also other types of control activities, such as monitoring and control of the electric grid, chemical, or nuclear plant processes, air traffic control, and the like.

Rahman, Hasan↗

NASA NTRS2005

Distributed network scheduling

We investigate missions where communications resources are limited, requiring autonomous planning and execution. Unlike typical networks, spacecraft networks are also suited to automated planning and scheduling because many communications can be planned in advance.

scheduling↗

NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Lunar Volatiles Prospecting, Sample Acquisition and Processing

Lunar Crater↗

NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Instrumentation for Lunar Volatiles Prospecting, Sample Acquisition and Processing

Data gathered from lunar missions within the last two decades have significantly enhanced our understanding of the volatile resources available on the lunar surface, specifically focusing on the polar regions. Several orbiting missions such as Clementine and Lunar Prospector have suggested the presence of volatile ices and enhanced hydrogen concentrations in the permanently shadowed regions of the moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission was the first to provide direct measurement of water ice in a permanently shadowed region. These missions with other orbiting assets have laid the groundwork for the next step in the exploration of the lunar surface; providing ground truth data of the volatiles by mapping the distribution and processing lunar regolith for resource extraction. This next step is the robotic mission Resource Prospector (RP). Resource Prospector is a lunar mission to investigate 'strategic knowledge gaps' (SKGs) for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). The mission is proposed to land in the lunar south pole near a permanently shadowed crater. The landing site will be determined by the science team with input from broader international community as being near traversable landscape that has a high potential of containing elevated concentrations of volatiles such as water while maximizing mission duration. A rover will host the Regolith & Environment Science and Oxygen & Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE) payload for resource mapping and processing. The science instruments on the payload include a 1-meter drill, neutron spectrometer, a near infrared spectrometer, an operations camera, and a reactor with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer for volatile analysis. After the RP lander safely delivers the rover to the lunar surface, the science team will guide the rover team on the first traverse plan. The neutron spectrometer (NS) and near infrared (NIR) spectrometer instruments will be used as prospecting tools to guide the traverse path. The NS will map the water-equivalent hydrogen concentration as low as 0.5% by weight to an 80 centimeter depth as the rover traverses the lunar landscape. The NIR spectrometer will measure surficial H2O/OH as well as general mineralogy. When the prospecting instruments identify a potential volatile-rich area during the course of a traverse, the prospect is then mapped out and the most promising location identified. An augering drill capable of sampling to a depth of 100 centimeters will excavate regolith for analysis. A quick assay of the drill cuttings will be made using an operations camera and NIR spectrometer. With the water depth confirmed by this first auguring activity, a regolith sample may be extracted for processing. The drill will deliver the regolith sample to a crucible that will be sealed and heated. Evolved volatiles will be measured by a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and the water will be captured and photographed. RP is a solar powered mission, which given the polar location translates to a relatively short mission duration on the order of 4-15 days. This short mission duration drives the concept of operations, instrumentation, and data analysis towards critical real time analysis and decision support. Previous payload field tests have increased the fidelity of the hardware, software, and mission operations. Current activities include a mission level field test to optimize interfaces between the payload and rover as well as better understand the interaction of the science and rover teams during the mission timeline. This paper will include the current status of the science instruments on the payload as well as the integrated field test occurring in fall of 2015. The concept of operations will be discussed, including the real time science and engineering decision-making process based on the critical data from the instrumentation. The path to flight will be discussed with the approach to this ambitious low cost mission.

ISRU↗

NASA NTRS1981

Distributing structural optimization software between a mainframe and a minicomputer

This paper describes a distributed software system for solving large-scale structural optimization problems. Distributing the software between a mainframe computer and a minicomputer takes advantage of some of the best features available on each computer. The described software system consists of a finite element structural analysis computer program, a general purpose optimizer program, and several small user-supplied problem dependent programs. Comparison with a similar system executing entirely on the mainframe computer reveals that the distributed system costs less, uses computer resources more efficiently and improves production through faster turnaround and improved user control. The system interfaces with interactive graphics software for generating models and displaying the intermediate and final results

Rogers, J. L., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Investigation of the applicability of a functional programming model to fault-tolerant parallel processing for knowledge-based systems

In a fault-tolerant parallel computer, a functional programming model can facilitate distributed checkpointing, error recovery, load balancing, and graceful degradation. Such a model has been implemented on the Draper Fault-Tolerant Parallel Processor (FTPP). When used in conjunction with the FTPP's fault detection and masking capabilities, this implementation results in a graceful degradation of system performance after faults. Three graceful degradation algorithms have been implemented and are presented. A user interface has been implemented which requires minimal cognitive overhead by the application programmer, masking such complexities as the system's redundancy, distributed nature, variable complement of processing resources, load balancing, fault occurrence and recovery. This user interface is described and its use demonstrated. The applicability of the functional programming style to the Activation Framework, a paradigm for intelligent systems, is then briefly described.

Harper, Richard↗

NASA NTRS1990

Satellite remote sensing of water resources in the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China based on infrared imagery of cloud distributions

Although the two largest rivers in China originate in the same region, separated only by the Bayanhar Mountains as a watershed, the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers behave in quite different ways. Most of the warm and humid air currents from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are blocked by the Bayanhar Mountains. As a result, the amount of water in the Yellow River is only 5 percent of that in the Yangtze River. Based on the cloud coverage area and the cloud volumetric distributions, and also the thickness above 9.4 kms of the cumulus clouds located north and south of the Bayanhar Mountains, from GEO satellite IR imagery, the results suggest that a more detailed investigation is warranted in the hope that the proper modification of cumuli north of the Bayanhar Mountains would enhance the rainfall over the fountainhead of the Yellow River.

Hung, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Task-level control for autonomous robots

Task-level control refers to the integration and coordination of planning, perception, and real-time control to achieve given high-level goals. Autonomous mobile robots need task-level control to effectively achieve complex tasks in uncertain, dynamic environments. This paper describes the Task Control Architecture (TCA), an implemented system that provides commonly needed constructs for task-level control. Facilities provided by TCA include distributed communication, task decomposition and sequencing, resource management, monitoring and exception handling. TCA supports a design methodology in which robot systems are developed incrementally, starting first with deliberative plans that work in nominal situations, and then layering them with reactive behaviors that monitor plan execution and handle exceptions. To further support this approach, design and analysis tools are under development to provide ways of graphically viewing the system and validating its behavior.

Simmons, Reid↗

NASA NTRS1999

Space Adaptation of Active Mirror Segment Concepts

This report summarizes the results of a three year effort by Blue Line Engineering Co. to advance the state of segmented mirror systems in several separate but related areas. The initial set of tasks were designed to address the issues of system level architecture, digital processing system, cluster level support structures, and advanced mirror fabrication concepts. Later in the project new tasks were added to provide support to the existing segmented mirror testbed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in the form of upgrades to the 36 subaperture wavefront sensor. Still later, tasks were added to build and install a new system processor based on the results of the new system architecture. The project was successful in achieving a number of important results. These include the following most notable accomplishments: 1) The creation of a new modular digital processing system that is extremely capable and may be applied to a wide range of segmented mirror systems as well as many classes of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) control systems such as active structures or industrial automation. 2) A new graphical user interface was created for operation of segmented mirror systems. 3) The development of a high bit rate serial data loop that permits bi-directional flow of data to and from as many as 39 segments daisy-chained to form a single cluster of segments. 4) Upgrade of the 36 subaperture Hartmann type Wave Front Sensor (WFS) of the Phased Array Mirror, Extendible Large Aperture (PAMELA) testbed at MSFC resulting in a 40 to 5OX improvement in SNR which in turn enabled NASA personnel to achieve many significant strides in improved closed-loop system operation in 1998. 5) A new system level processor was built and delivered to MSFC for use with the PAMELA testbed. This new system featured a new graphical user interface to replace the obsolete and non-supported menu system originally delivered with the PAMELA system. The hardware featured Blue Line's new stackable processing system which included fiber optic data links, a WFS digital interface, and a very compact and reliable electronics package. The project also resulted in substantial advances in the evolution of concepts for integrated structures to be used to support clusters of segments while also serving as the means to distribute power, timing, and data communications resources. A prototype cluster base was built and delivered that would support a small array of 7 cm mirror segments. Another conceptual design effort led to substantial progress in the area of laminated silicon mirror segments. While finished mirrors were never successfully produced in this exploratory effort, the basic feasibility of the concept was established through a significant amount of experimental development in microelectronics processing laboratories at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Ultimately lightweighted aluminum mirrors with replicated front surfaces were produced and delivered as part of a separate contract to develop integrated segmented mirror assemblies. Overall the project was very successful in advancing segmented mirror system architectures on several fronts. In fact, the results of this work have already served as the basic foundation for the system architectures of several projects proposed by Blue Line for different missions and customers. These include the NMSD and AMSD procurements for NASA's Next Generation Space Telescope, the HET figure maintenance system, and the 1 meter FAST telescope project.

Ames, Gregory H.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Toward a Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing and Communication System for Small Spacecraft

Future science missions will require the use of multiple spacecraft with multiple sensor nodes autonomously responding and adapting to a dynamically changing space environment. The acquisition of random scientific events will require rapidly changing network topologies, distributed processing power, and a dynamic resource management strategy. Optimum utilization and configuration of spacecraft communications and navigation resources will be critical in meeting the demand of these stringent mission requirements. There are two important trends to follow with respect to NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) future scientific missions: the use of multiple satellite systems and the development of an integrated space communications network. Reconfigurable computing and communication systems may enable versatile adaptation of a spacecraft system's resources by dynamic allocation of the processor hardware to perform new operations or to maintain functionality due to malfunctions or hardware faults. Advancements in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) technology make it possible to incorporate major communication and network functionalities in FPGA chips and provide the basis for a dynamically reconfigurable communication system. Advantages of higher computation speeds and accuracy are envisioned with tremendous hardware flexibility to ensure maximum survivability of future science mission spacecraft. This paper discusses the requirements, enabling technologies, and challenges associated with dynamically reconfigurable space communications systems.

Kifle, Muli↗

NASA NTRS2004

Estimation of Fire Emissions from Satellite-Based Measurements

Biomass burning is a worldwide phenomenon affecting many vegetated parts of the globe regularly. Fires emit large quantities of aerosol and trace gases into the atmosphere, thus influencing the atmospheric chemistry and climate. Traditional methods of fire emissions estimation achieved only limited success, because they were based on peripheral information such as rainfall patterns, vegetation types and changes, agricultural practices, and surface ozone concentrations. During the last several years, rapid developments in satellite remote sensing has allowed more direct estimation of smoke emissions using remotely-sensed fire data. However, current methods use fire pixel counts or burned areas, thereby depending on the accuracy of independent estimations of the biomass fuel loadings, combustion efficiency, and emission factors. With the enhanced radiometric range of its 4-micron fire channel, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor, which flies aboard both of the Earth Observing System EOS) Terra and Aqua Satellites, is able to measure the rate of release of fire radiative energy (FRE) in MJ/s (something that older sensors could not do). MODIS also measures aerosol distribution. Taking advantage of these new resources, we have developed a procedure combining MODIS fire and aerosol products to derive FRE-based smoke emission coefficients (C(e), in kg/MJ) for different regions of the globe. These coefficients are simply used to multiply FRE from MODIS to derive the emitted smoke aerosol mass. Results from this novel methodology are very encouraging. For instance, it was found that the smoke total particulate mass emission coefficient for the Brazilian Cerrado ecosystem (approximately 0.022 kg/MJ) is about twice the value for North America, Western Europe, or Australia, but about 50% lower than the value for southern Africa.

Ichoku, Charles↗

NASA NTRS2005

Summary of Tactile User Interfaces Techniques and Systems

Mental workload can be de.ned as the ratio of demand to allocated resources. Multiple-resource theory stresses the importance of distribution of tasks and information across various human sensory channels to reduce mental workload. One sensory channel that has been of interest since the late 1800s is touch. Unlike the more typical displays that target vision or hearing, tactile displays present information to the user s sense of touch. We present a summary of different methods for tactile display, historic and more recent systems that incorporate tactile display for information presentation, advantages and disadvantages of targeting the tactile channel, and future directions in tactile display research.

Spirkovska, Lilly↗

NASA NTRS2004

Summary of Tactile User Interfaces Techniques and Systems

Mental workload can be defined as the ratio of demand to allocated resources. Multiple- resource theory stresses the importance of distribution of tasks and information across various sensory channels of the human to reduce mental workload. One sensory channel that has been of interest since the late 1800s is touch. Unlike the more typical displays that target vision or hearing, tactile displays present information to the user s sense of touch. We present a summary of different methods for tactile display; historic and more recent systems that incorporate tactile display for information presentation; advantages and disadvantages of targeting the tactile channel; and future directions in tactile display research.

Spirkovska, Lilly↗

NASA NTRS2006

Conflict-Aware Scheduling Algorithm

conflict-aware scheduling algorithm is being developed to help automate the allocation of NASA s Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas and equipment that are used to communicate with interplanetary scientific spacecraft. The current approach for scheduling DSN ground resources seeks to provide an equitable distribution of tracking services among the multiple scientific missions and is very labor intensive. Due to the large (and increasing) number of mission requests for DSN services, combined with technical and geometric constraints, the DSN is highly oversubscribed. To help automate the process, and reduce the DSN and spaceflight project labor effort required for initiating, maintaining, and negotiating schedules, a new scheduling algorithm is being developed. The scheduling algorithm generates a "conflict-aware" schedule, where all requests are scheduled based on a dynamic priority scheme. The conflict-aware scheduling algorithm allocates all requests for DSN tracking services while identifying and maintaining the conflicts to facilitate collaboration and negotiation between spaceflight missions. These contrast with traditional "conflict-free" scheduling algorithms that assign tracks that are not in conflict and mark the remainder as unscheduled. In the case where full schedule automation is desired (based on mission/event priorities, fairness, allocation rules, geometric constraints, and ground system capabilities/ constraints), a conflict-free schedule can easily be created from the conflict-aware schedule by removing lower priority items that are in conflict.

Wang, Yeou-Fang↗

NASA NTRS2019

CRICKET: Cryogenic Reservoir Inventory by Cost-Effective Kinetically Enhanced Technology

NASA PROGRAMMATIC CHALLENGE: Locate hidden water ice in the darkest, coldest places on the moon using dozens of simple, autonomous robots. CONCEPTUAL SOLUTION: Use multiple small, autonomous bots to search for hidden water ice in permanently shadowed regions of the surface of the moon. Bots will locate and tag hidden water ice for follow up missions.Technical Basis for proposed solution: use of emerging and maturing technologies - MEMS, Cubesats, Sensor nets, integrated devices â€“ will minimize cost risk and maximize return. Benefits: Cricket will enable human exploration through in-situ resource utilization: Cricket will demonstrate a distributed constellation to achieve a key NASA goal of novel uses of commercially available technologies. Cricket will reignite public interest in lunar exploration through a sustained human, and robotic, presence on the moon. Technical Approach: The cricket constellation has three members: the "queen"; the "hive" and the "cricket" foragers. The queen transports the hive an its crickets to the moon. The hive lands on the surface and disperses the crickets (there may be more than one species of cricket). The crickets then use the hive as a communications and recharging hub. Each cricket hosts algorithms that allow it to explore its surroundings and monitor its power state - something like a lunar Roomba - and return for recharging. If they are lost due to power or surface condition problems, replacements can carry out the hive tasks. The two most successful types of bio-inspired algorithms (BIAs) are evolutionary algorithms and swarm-based algorithms which are inspired by the natural evolution and collective behavior in animals.The evolution of the idea is summarized in Table 1 and Figure 1. NIAC context: This system integrates key elements from other NIAC efforts; it uses them and extends them into a meaningful whole

Cryogenics↗

NASA NTRS2017

Distributed Fast Motion Planning for Spacecraft Swarms in Cluttered Environments using Spherical Expansions and Sequence of Convex Optimization Problems

This paper presents a novel guidance algorithm for spacecraft swarms in an environment cluttered with many obstacles like a debris field or the asteroid belt. The objective of this algorithm is to reconfigure the swarm to a desired formation in a distributed manner while minimizing fuel and avoiding collisions among themselves and with the obstacles. The agents first use a spherical-expansion-based sampling algorithm to cooperatively explore the workspace and find paths to the desired terminal positions. Using a distributed assignment algorithm, the agents converge on an optimal assignment of the target locations in the desired formation. Then each agent generates a locally optimal trajectory from its current location to its terminal position by solving a sequence of convex optimization problems. As the agent moves along this trajectory, it receives the position of other agents and updates its trajectory to avoid collisions with other agents and the obstacles. Thus the swarm achieves the desired formation in a distributed manner while avoiding collisions. Moreover, this algorithm is computationally efficient, therefore it can be implemented onboard resource-constrained spacecraft. Simulations results show that the proposed distributed algorithm can be used by a spacecraft swarm to reconfigure a desired formation around an asteroid in a collision-free manner.

Bandyopadhyay, Saptarshi↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Common Habitat Base Camp for Moon and Mars Surface Operations

The Common Habitat uses the SLS Core Stage Liquid Oxygen tank as the primary structure (similar to Skylab) and has an internal architecture compatible with microgravity, lunar gravity, and Mars gravity, such that identical versions of the same design can be used in all three environments. Applying the large dimensions and eight-person crew size of the Common Habitat to a surface architecture leads to a unique base camp configuration. A notional such base camp is described in this analysis. The base camp includes four distributed zones – habitation, landing, power, and resource production. The base camp is deployed and assembled in three phases: site preparation, element staging, and habitat delivery, each of which are briefly discussed. Crew arrival and departure is discussed, including variations caused by orbital mechanics-induced differences between the Moon and Mars base camps. Trash and logistics operations are described. Finally, crew operations within the base camp are described.

Lunar Outpost↗

NASA NTRS2003

Collectives for Multiple Resource Job Scheduling Across Heterogeneous Servers

Efficient management of large-scale, distributed data storage and processing systems is a major challenge for many computational applications. Many of these systems are characterized by multi-resource tasks processed across a heterogeneous network. Conventional approaches, such as load balancing, work well for centralized, single resource problems, but breakdown in the more general case. In addition, most approaches are often based on heuristics which do not directly attempt to optimize the world utility. In this paper, we propose an agent based control system using the theory of collectives. We configure the servers of our network with agents who make local job scheduling decisions. These decisions are based on local goals which are constructed to be aligned with the objective of optimizing the overall efficiency of the system. We demonstrate that multi-agent systems in which all the agents attempt to optimize the same global utility function (team game) only marginally outperform conventional load balancing. On the other hand, agents configured using collectives outperform both team games and load balancing (by up to four times for the latter), despite their distributed nature and their limited access to information.

Tumer, K.↗