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At least 199 records · Page 11

Mission planning for space based satellite surveillance experiments with the MSX

The Midcourse Space Experiment is a BMDO-sponsored scientific satellite set for launch within the year. The satellite will collect phenomenology data on missile targets, plumes, earth limb backgrounds and deep space backgrounds in the LWIR, visible and ultra-violet spectral bands. It will also conduct functional demonstrations for space-based space surveillance. The Space-Based Visible sensor, built by Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the primary sensor on board the MSX for demonstration of space surveillance. The SBV Processing, Operations and Control Center (SPOCC) is the mission planning and commanding center for all space surveillance experiments using the SBV and other MSX instruments. The guiding principle in the SPOCC Mission Planning System was that all routine functions be automated. Manual analyst input should be minimal. Major concepts are: (I) A high level language, called SLED, for user interface to the system; (2) A group of independent software processes which would generally be run in a pipe-line mode for experiment commanding but can be run independently for analyst assessment; (3) An integrated experiment cost computation function that permits assessment of the feasibility of the experiment. This paper will report on the design, implementation and testing of the Mission Planning System.

Sridharan, R.↗

Inspection and Verification of Domain Models with PlanWorks and Aver

When developing a domain model, it seems natural to bring the traditional informal tools of inspection and verification, debuggers and automated test suites, to bear upon the problems that will inevitably arise. Debuggers that allow inspection of registers and memory and stepwise execution have been a staple of software development of all sorts from the very beginning. Automated testing has repeatedly proven its considerable worth, to the extent that an entire design philosophy (Test Driven Development) has been developed around the writing of tests. Unfortunately, while not entirely without their uses, the limitations of these tools and the nature of the complexity of models and the underlying planning systems make the diagnosis of certain classes of problems and the verification of their solutions difficult or impossible. Debuggers provide a good local view of executing code, allowing a fine-grained look at algorithms and data. This view is, however, usually only at the level of the current scope in the implementation language, and the data-inspection capabilities of most debuggers usually consist of on-line print statements. More modem graphical debuggers offer a sort of tree view of data structures, but even this is too low-level and is often inappropriate for the kinds of structures created by planning systems. For instance, god or constraint networks are at best awkward when visualized as trees. Any any non-structural link between data structures, as through a lookup table, isn't captured at all. Further, while debuggers have powerful breakpointing facilities that are suitable for finding specific algorithmic errors, they have little use in the diagnosis of modeling errors.

Bedrax-Weiss, Tania↗

Intelligent Tools for Planning Knowledge base Development and Verification

A key obstacle hampering fielding of AI planning applications is the considerable expense of developing, verifying, updating, and maintaining the planning knowledge base (KB). Planning systems must be able to compare favorably in terms of software lifecycle costs to other means of automation such as scripts or rule-based expert systems.

errors↗

Guidance system operations plan for manned CM earth orbital missions using program Skylark 1. Section 2: Data links

A computer program to define the digital uplink and downlink for use in manned command module orbital missions is presented. The subjects discussed are: (1) digital uplink to command module, (2) CMC digital downlink, (3) downlist formats, (4) description of telemetered qualities, (5) flagbits, and (6) effects of Fresh Start (V36) and Hardware Restart on flagword and channel bits.

Hamilton, M. H.↗

Apollo guidance, navigation and control: Guidance system operations plans for manned LM earth orbital and lunar missions using Program COLOSSUS 3. Section 7: Erasable memory programs

Erasable-memory programs (EMPs) designed for the guidance computers used in the command (CMC) and lunar modules (LGC) are described. CMC programs are designated COLOSSUS 3, and the associated EMPs are identified by a three-digit number beginning with 5. LGC programs are designated LUMINARY 1E, and the associated EMPs are identified, with one exception, by a three-digit number beginning with 1. The exception is EMP 99. The EMPs vary in complexity from a simple flagbit setting to a long and intricate logical structure. They all, however, cause the computer to behave in a way not intended in the original design of the programs; they accomplish this off-nominal behavior by some alteration of erasable memory to interface with existing fixed-memory programs to effect a desired result.

Hamilton, M. H.↗

System safety plan for the ultraviolet spectrometer experiment S169

Comprehensive safety program requirements are defined and a methodology for implementing the defined safety tasks in support of the design, development, manufacturing, testing and flight phases of the ultraviolet spectrometer experiment is presented.

Heidelbach, R. G.↗

Louisiana comprehensive planning information system

A statewide computerized land use mapping system is reported that uses polygons to identify inventories from aerial photography by employing the USGS classification system. In addition, the system provides soil, population, and housing census data as well as economic indicators that can be useful in relating to the overall system.

Ryan, P. W.↗

State/federal interaction of LANDSAT system and related technical assistance

The history of state involvement in LANDSAT systems planning and related efforts is described. Currently 16 states have visual LANDSAT capabilities and 10 others are planning on developing such capabilities. The federal government's future plans for the LANDSAT system, the impacts of recent budget decisions on the systems, and the FY 82 budget process are examined.

Tesser, P. A.↗

Servicers system demonstration plan and capability development

A plan for the demonstration of the exchange of Multi-Mission Modular Spacecraft (MMS) modules using the servicer mechanism Engineering Test Unit (ETU) was prepared and executed. The plan included: establishment of requirements, conceptual design, selection of MMS spacecraft mockup configuration, selection of MMS module mockup configuration, evaluation of adequacy of ETU load capability, and selection of a stowage rack arrangement. The MMS module exchange demonstration mockup equipment was designed, fabricated, checked out, shipped, installed, and demonstrated.

Bulboaca, M. A.↗

Satellite services system program plan

The purpose is to determine the potential for servicing from the Space Shuttle Orbiter and to assess NASA's role as the catalyst in bringing about routine on-orbit servicing. Specifically this study seeks to determine what requirements, in terms of both funds and time, are needed to make the Shuttle Orbiter not only a transporter of spacecraft but a servicing vehicle for those spacecraft as well. The scope of this effort is to focus on the near term development of a generic servicing capability. To make this capability truly generic and attractive requires that the customer's point of veiw be taken and transformed into a widely usable set of hardware. And to maintain a near term advent of this capability requires that a minimal reliance be made on advanced technology. With this background and scope, this study will proceed through three general phases to arrive at the desired program costs and schedule. The first step will be to determine the servicing requirements of the user community. This will provide the basis for the second phase which is to develop hardware concepts to meet these needs. Finally, a cost estimate will be made for each of the new hardware concepts and a phased hardware development plan will be established for the acquisition of these items based on the inputs obtained from the user community.

Hoffman, Stephen J.↗

Intersatellite link application to commercial communications satellites

The fundamental characteristics of intersatellite link (ISL) systems, and their application to domestic, regional, and global satellite communications, are described. The quantitative advantages of using ISLs to improve orbit utilization, spectrum occupancy, transmission delay (compared to multi-hop links), coverage, and connectivity, and to reduce the number of earth station antennas, are also presented. Cost-effectiveness and other systems benefits of using ISLs are identified, and the technical and systems planning aspects of ISL systems implementation are addressed.

Lee, Young S.↗

A modular telerobotic task execution system

A telerobot task execution system is proposed to provide a general parametrizable task execution capability. The system includes communication with the calling system, e.g., a task planning system, and single- and dual-arm sensor-based task execution with monitoring and reflexing. A specific task is described by specifying the parameters to various available task execution modules including trajectory generation, compliance control, teleoperation, monitoring, and sensor fusion. Reflex action is achieved by finding the corresponding reflex action in a reflex table when an execution event has been detected with a monitor.

Backes, Paul G.↗

Adaptive planning for applications with dynamic objectives

We devise a qualitative control layer to be integrated into a real-time multi-agent reactive planner. The reactive planning system consists of distributed planning agents attending to various perspectives of the task environment. Each perspective corresponds to an objective. The set of objectives considered are sometimes in conflict with each other. Each agent receives information about events as they occur, and a set of actions based on heuristics can be taken by the agents. Within the qualitative control scheme, we use a set of qualitative feature vectors to describe the effects of applying actions. A qualitative transition vector is used to denote the qualitative distance between the current state and the target state. We will then apply on-line learning at the qualitative control level to achieve adaptive planning. Our goal is to design a mechanism to refine the heuristics used by the reactive planner every time an action is taken toward achieving the objectives, using feedback from the results of the actions. When the outcome is compared with expectations, our prior objectives may be modified and a new set of objectives (or a new assessment of the relative importance of the different objectives) can be introduced. Because we are able to obtain better estimates of the time-varying objectives, the reactive strategies can be improved and better prediction can be achieved.

Hadavi, Khosrow↗

Agent-independent planning

Viewgraphs and discussion on agent-independent planning are presented. Topics covered include: definitions; Space Station Freedom robotics environment; transition from crewmember to robots; agent-independent planning system flow; independence between plans and agents; existing testbed; benefits of approach; and directions of future research.

Davis, William S.↗

Propagation data at 20/40 GHz and the propagation needs of Milstar

There are a number of propagation issues that need further investigation for efficient system planning for EHF communication systems. Especially needed are better cloud and rain characterizations. A method for estimating one of the rain induced effects of interest, outage duration, is presented.

Shimabukuro, Fred I.↗