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At least 325 records · Page 18

A Modular Framework for Integrating and Visualizing Telemetry for Mars 2020 Rover Mechanism Operations

The analysis of mechanism telemetry requires a wide variety of tools to quickly and effectively assess spacecraft state, capture long-term trends in system performance, and identify and track anomalous events. Such analysis often requires spacecraft telemetry to first be transformed into derived fields and aggregated statistics before operators can begin their analysis. In past missions, aspects of this process have been automated, but operators were expected to use their own tools and procedures to understand and visualize the data, which led to redundant and inconsistent tools and processes. The Mech Data Tools Python library (MDT) was developed to provide a flexible, unified tool set for operators to extract and analyze mechanism telemetry over the life of the Mars 2020 surface mission. MDT consists of a set of configurable components that implement standard interfaces for ingesting input and producing output. Components can be chained together to form a data processing pipeline. Data are ingested from several sources within the greater Mars 2020 cloud infrastructure and stored in pandas DataFrames, which allows users to leverage the data manipulation capabilities present within the widely-used pandas library. Visualization capabilities are provided through the Plotly library, which generates interactive plots for users to interpret. Following the beginning of Mars 2020 surface operations, usage of MDT has spread to all mechanism-focused subsystems and has demonstrated great utility in analyzing early surface activities. This paper describes MDT’s evolution from heritage mechanism telemetry tools, the critical architecture decisions and challenges faced over MDT’s two years of development, and current applications of MDT in support of mechanism operations.

Wolsieffer, Ben↗

Biogeochemistry of DMS in Surface Waters

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is important in influencing the formation of aerosols in the troposphere over large areas of the world's oceans. Understanding the dynamics of aerosols is important to understanding the earth's radiation balance. In evaluating the factors controlling DMS in the troposphere it is vital to understand the dynamics of DMS in the surface ocean. The biogeochemical processes controlling DMS concentration in seawater are myriad; modeling and theoretical estimation are problematic. At the beginning of this project we believed that we were on the verge of simplifying the ship-track measurement of DMS, and we proposed to deploy such a system to develop a database relating high frequency DMS measurements to biological and physicochemical and optical properties of surface water that can be quantified by remote sensing techniques. We designed a system to measure DMS concomitantly with other basic chemical and biological data in a flow-through system. The project was collaborative between Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR). The project on which we are reporting was budgeted for only one year with a one year no-cost extension. At WHOI our effort was directed towards designing traps which would be used to concentrate DMS from seawater and allow storage for subsequent analysis. At that time, GC systems were too large for easy long-term deployment on a research vessel like R/V Weatherbird, so we focused on simplifying the shipboard sampling procedure. Initial studies of sample recovery with high levels of DMS suggested that Carboxen 1000, a relatively new carbon molecular sieve, could be used as a stable storage medium. The affinity of Carboxen for DMS is several orders of magnitude higher than gold wool (another adsorbent used for DMS collection) on a weight or volume basis. Furthermore, Carboxen's affinity for DMS is also far less susceptible to humidity than gold wool. Unfortunately, further experiments with low level DMS indicated that recovery of DMS after storage was not quantitative. The material has proven to be completely acceptable for short term storage and has been incorporated into a micro-GC system. Since working on this project, we have collaborated with RVM Scientific in Santa Barbara in the design and construction of small portable micro-GC's that will make feasible at-sea measurement in moving ships, making rapid gas analysis and quantification feasible in a ship-track mode. Throughout this period at both WHOI and BBSR, we continued to analyze field data to understand that patterns of time and space variability in DMS and the processes that govern it. These insights will be crucial to determining the specifications for our automated sampling program. The data from this, the longest continuous sampling program for ocean DMS, provided insights into year to year and short-term variability.

Dacey, J. W. H.↗

The NASA SETI Program - Objectives of the R&D activity

The current activity in NASA's SETI Program is a research and development program jointly carried out by the NASA Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The purpose of this R&D phase is to develop all prerequisites for a well defined microwave observing program. The specific objectives include the development of a prototype search system which will ultimately be capable of processing data rates up to 10 gigabytes/second. Specialized signal detection algorithms and automated search procedures will be developed and tested with the prototype hardware. A series of field tests will be carried out with the NASA Deep Space Network facilities at Goldstone, CA and with the 305-m radio telescope at the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory in Puerto Rico.

Klein, M. J.↗

MCC flight operations automation of STS orbiter systems monitoring

The integration of new capabilities into the Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas in order to improve the data monitoring and analysis of the STS is discussed. User interface application software and systems, such as the flight data file Shuttle mission simulator and failure analysis program, to be utilized for flight operations automation are examined. Consideration is given to task automation, the trend monitoring system, the data retrieval system, and the launch processing system. The development and functions of the Shuttle data analysis system, which is to operate in real time, are described.

Bates, William V., Jr.↗

Artificial intelligence for geologic mapping with imaging spectrometers

This project was a three year study at the Center for the Study of Earth from Space (CSES) within the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The goal of this research was to develop an expert system to allow automated identification of geologic materials based on their spectral characteristics in imaging spectrometer data such as the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). This requirement was dictated by the volume of data produced by imaging spectrometers, which prohibits manual analysis. The research described is based on the development of automated techniques for analysis of imaging spectrometer data that emulate the analytical processes used by a human observer. The research tested the feasibility of such an approach, implemented an operational system, and tested the validity of the results for selected imaging spectrometer data sets.

Kruse, F. A.↗

TACT: A Set of MSC/PATRAN- and MSC/NASTRAN- based Modal Correlation Tools

This paper describes the functionality and demonstrates the utility of the Test Analysis Correlation Tools (TACT), a suite of MSC/PATRAN Command Language (PCL) tools which automate the process of correlating finite element models to modal survey test data. The initial release of TACT provides a basic yet complete set of tools for performing correlation totally inside the PATRAN/NASTRAN environment. Features include a step-by-step menu structure, pre-test accelerometer set evaluation and selection, analysis and test result export/import in Universal File Format, calculation of frequency percent difference and cross-orthogonality correlation results using NASTRAN, creation and manipulation of mode pairs, and five different ways of viewing synchronized animations of analysis and test modal results. For the PATRAN-based analyst, TACT eliminates the repetitive, time-consuming and error-prone steps associated with transferring finite element data to a third-party modal correlation package, which allows the analyst to spend more time on the more challenging task of model updating. The usefulness of this software is presented using a case history, the correlation for a NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) low aspect ratio research wind tunnel model. To demonstrate the improvements that TACT offers the MSC/PATRAN- and MSC/DIASTRAN- based structural analysis community, a comparison of the modal correlation process using TACT within PATRAN versus external third-party modal correlation packages is presented.

Marlowe, Jill M.↗

NASA Tech Briefs, May 2009

Topics covered include: Valve-"Health"-Monitoring System; Microstrip Antenna for Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture and Sea Surface Salinity; Biomedical Wireless Ambulatory Crew Monitor; Wireless Avionics Packet to Support Fault Tolerance for Flight Applications; Aerobot Autonomy Architecture; Submillimeter Confocal Imaging Active Module; Traveling-Wave Maser for 32 GHz; System Synchronizes Recordings from Separated Video Cameras; Piecewise-Planar Parabolic Reflectarray Antenna; Reducing Interference in ATC Voice Communication; EOS MLS Level 1B Data Processing, Version 2.2; Auto-Generated Semantic Processing Services; Geospatial Authentication; Maneuver Automation Software; Event Driven Messaging with Role-Based Subscriptions; Estimating Relative Positions of Outer-Space Structures; Fabricating PFPE Membranes for Capillary Electrophoresis; Linear Actuator Has Long Stroke and High Resolution; Installing a Test Tap on a Metal Battery Case; Fabricating PFPE Membranes for Microfluidic Valves and Pumps; Room-Temperature-Cured Copolymers for Lithium Battery Gel Electrolytes; Catalysts for Efficient Production of Carbon Nanotubes; Amorphous Silk Fibroin Membranes for Separation of CO2; "Zero-Mass" Noninvasive Pressure Transducers; Radial-Electric-Field Piezoelectric Diaphragm Pumps; Ejector-Enhanced, Pulsed, Pressure-Gain Combustor; Suppressing Ghost Diffraction in E-Beam-Written Gratings; Target-Tracking Camera for a Metrology System; Polarimetric Imaging using Two Photoelastic Modulators; Miniature Wide-Angle Lens for Small-Pixel Electronic Camera; Modal Filters for Infrared Interferometry; Mo(3)Sb(7-x)Te(x) for Thermoelectric Power Generation; Two-Dimensional Quantum Model of a Nanotransistor; Scanning Miniature Microscopes without Lenses; Manipulating Neutral Atoms in Chip-Based Magnetic Traps; Expansion Compression Contacts for Thermoelectric Legs; Processing Electromyographic Signals to Recognize Words; Physical Principle for Generation of Randomness; DSN Beowulf Cluster-Based VLBI Correlator; Hybrid NN/SVM Computational System for Optimizing Designs; Criteria for Modeling in LES of Multicomponent Fuel Flow; Computerized Machine for Cutting Space Shuttle Thermal Tiles; Orbiting Depot and Reusable Lander for Lunar Transportation; FPGA-Based Networked Phasemeter for a Heterodyne Interferometer; Aquarius Digital Processing Unit; Three-Dimensional Optical Coherence Tomography; Benchtop Antigen Detection Technique using Nanofiltration and Fluorescent Dyes; Isolation of Precursor Cells from Waste Solid Fat Tissue; Identification of Bacteria and Determination of Biological Indicators; Further Development of Scaffolds for Regeneration of Nerves; Chemically Assisted Photocatalytic Oxidation System; Use of Atomic Oxygen for Increased Water Contact Angles of Various Polymers for Biomedical Applications; Crashworthy Seats Would Afford Superior Protection; Open-Access, Low-Magnetic-Field MRI System for Lung Research; Microfluidic Mixing Technology for a Universal Health Sensor; Microfluidic Extraction of Biomarkers using Water as Solvent; Microwell Arrays for Studying Many Individual Cells; Droplet-Based Production of Liposomes; and Identifying and Inactivating Bacterial Spores

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From Science to e-Science to Semantic e-Science: A Heliosphysics Case Study

The past few years have witnessed unparalleled efforts to make scientific data web accessible. The Semantic Web has proven invaluable in this effort; however, much of the literature is devoted to system design, ontology creation, and trials and tribulations of current technologies. In order to fully develop the nascent field of Semantic e-Science we must also evaluate systems in real-world settings. We describe a case study within the field of Heliophysics and provide a comparison of the evolutionary stages of data discovery, from manual to semantically enable. We describe the socio-technical implications of moving toward automated and intelligent data discovery. In doing so, we highlight how this process enhances what is currently being done manually in various scientific disciplines. Our case study illustrates that Semantic e-Science is more than just semantic search. The integration of search with web services, relational databases, and other cyberinfrastructure is a central tenet of our case study and one that we believe has applicability as a generalized research area within Semantic e-Science. This case study illustrates a specific example of the benefits, and limitations, of semantically replicating data discovery. We show examples of significant reductions in time and effort enable by Semantic e-Science; yet, we argue that a "complete" solution requires integrating semantic search with other research areas such as data provenance and web services.

Narock, Thomas↗

Classifying Agnostic Biosignatures using Raman, VNIR, and Elemental Data

How can we use our current wealth of terrestrial data, encompassing biogenic and abiogenic systems, to determine the distinguishing properties of life? SCOBI (Statistical Classification of Biosignature Information) uses machine learning techniques to algorithmically identify combinations of measurements that are “indicative of life”. A set of ~1000 observations, comprising elemental abundance, isotopic fractionation, VNIR reflectance, and (in progress) Raman spectra, have been assembled from existing literature and databases. The observations cover systems classified as “indicative alive” (e.g., cells, vegetation), “indicative non-alive” (e.g., fossils, teeth), “mixed indicative” (e.g., soil, pond water), or “non-indicative” (e.g., rocks, meteorites). VNIR data was preprocessed by linear interpolation from 400-2100 nm and smoothed with a Savitzky-Golay filter. To limit the amount of Earth-biochemistry-specific (non-agnostic) information included, the first five spectral features extracted were number of peaks, number of troughs, mean reflectance, mean peak width, and broadest peak width. To help further emphasize agnostic biosignatures, Earth-specific features such as chlorophylls have been manually flagged so that feature importance with and without them can be compared. Classifiers including k-nearest neighbors (KNN), Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM) were implemented, as was a combination voting classifier. Performance metrics included false positive rates, false negative rates, and AUC with 50-50 test/train splits (Monte Carlo simulations). Key takeaways from this stage, prior to the inclusion of Raman spectra, are (1) the overall success rate of 0.933 AUC was most heavily influenced by the elemental abundance data; and (2) VNIR reflectance had the lowest classification performance with 0.52 AUC (58% of objects correctly classified). The next steps are to complete integration of Raman spectral data and to improve the approach to pre-processing and feature extraction for both types of spectral data, such as automated baseline removal, whole spectrum matching, and dimensionality reduction.

Biosignatures↗

Operability on the Europa Clipper Mission: Challenges and Opportunities

Flight and ground system operability has been a focus area on the Europa Clipper Project since early in its formulation phase. This has given the operations team the opportunity to influence the design, with a goal of increasing overall system operability. This paper presents example operability challenges, opportunities, and solutions arising from the pre-Critical Design Review (CDR) system design. The integrated wing assembly design directly couples a scientific instrument (the REASON sounding radar) to the spacecraft’s power source (solar array wing panels). Impacts to mission operations of this design include: increased slew durations; solar array pointing constraints during inner cruise, Europa flybys, and orbit trim maneuvers; and stray light intrusions into the stellar reference units’ keep out zones. The use of CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) Class-2 for reliable downlink of the large volume of Europa Clipper science data is described, along with nominal and off-nominal use cases. The effort to improve post-launch spacecraft visibility by adding a third low-gain antenna to the spacecraft is detailed. The design of the bulk data store has necessitated the implementation of accountable data products (ADPs), accountability identifiers (AIDs), and metadata packets to provide end-to-end science data accountability. To streamline and automate the flight rules generation and checking process, a first order and temporal logic-based solution of expressing flight rules without ambiguity, and whose programmatic implementation can be automated, is proposed. The focus on operability has had a positive influence on Europa Clipper design decisions, although cost, schedule, budget, heritage, and other technical concerns have many times outweighed operability concerns. However, experience to date demonstrates that this approach to operability results in more thorough, balanced consideration of the effect of early design trades and decisions on the operations phase of a mission than seen in many previous missions, and provides operations development insight into prioritizing work to go.

Signorelli, Joel↗

Operability on the Europa Clipper Mission: Challenges and Opportunities

Flight and ground system operability has been a focus area on the Europa Clipper Project since early in its formulation phase. This has given the operations team the opportunity to influence the design, with a goal of increasing overall system operability. This paper presents example operability challenges, opportunities, and solutions arising from the Critical Design Review (CDR) system design. The integrated wing assembly design directly couples a scientific instrument (the REASON sounding radar) to the spacecraft’s power source (solar array wing panels). Impacts to mission operations of this design include: increased slew durations; solar array pointing constraints during inner cruise, Europa flybys, and orbit trim maneuvers; and stray light intrusions into the stellar reference units’ keep out zones. The use of CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP) Class-2 for reliable downlink of the large volume of Europa Clipper science data is described, along with nominal and off-nominal use cases. The effort to improve post-launch spacecraft visibility by adding a third low-gain antenna to the spacecraft is detailed. The design of the bulk data store has necessitated the implementation of accountable data products (ADPs), accountability identifiers (AIDs), and metadata packets to provide end-to-end science data accountability. To streamline and automate the flight rules generation and checking process, a first order and temporal logic-based solution of expressing flight rules without ambiguity, and whose programmatic implementation can be automated, is proposed. The focus on operability has had a positive influence on Europa Clipper design decisions, although cost, schedule, budget, heritage, and other technical concerns have many times outweighed operability concerns. However, experience to date demonstrates that this approach to operability results in more thorough, balanced consideration of the effect of early design trades and decisions on the operations phase of a mission than seen in many previous missions, and provides operations development insight into prioritizing work to go.

Kumar, Meghana↗

Automated Space Processing Payloads Study. Volume 1: Executive Summary

An investigation is described which examined the extent to which the experiment hardware and operational requirements can be met by automatic control and material handling devices; payload and system concepts are defined which make extensive use of automation technology. Topics covered include experiment requirements and hardware data, capabilities and characteristics of industrial automation equipment and controls, payload grouping, automated payload conceptual design, space processing payload preliminary design, automated space processing payloads for early shuttle missions, and cost and scheduling.

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Three-axis electron-beam test facility

An electron beam test facility, which consists of a precision multidimensional manipulator built into an ultra-high-vacuum bell jar, was designed, fabricated, and operated at Lewis Research Center. The position within the bell jar of a Faraday cup which samples current in the electron beam under test, is controlled by the manipulator. Three orthogonal axes of motion are controlled by stepping motors driven by digital indexers, and the positions are displayed on electronic totalizers. In the transverse directions, the limits of travel are approximately + or - 2.5 cm from the center with a precision of 2.54 micron (0.0001 in.); in the axial direction, approximately 15.0 cm of travel are permitted with an accuracy of 12.7 micron (0.0005 in.). In addition, two manually operated motions are provided, the pitch and yaw of the Faraday cup with respect to the electron beam can be adjusted to within a few degrees. The current is sensed by pulse transformers and the data are processed by a dual channel box car averager with a digital output. The beam tester can be operated manually or it can be programmed for automated operation. In the automated mode, the beam tester is controlled by a microcomputer (installed at the test site) which communicates with a minicomputer at the central computing facility. The data are recorded and later processed by computer to obtain the desired graphical presentations.

Dayton, J. A., Jr.↗

Geonex: A NASA-NOAA Collaboration for Producing Land Surface Products from Geostationary Sensors Using Cloud Computing

The latest generation of geostationary satellites carry sensors such as the Advanced Baseline Imager (GOES-16/17) and the Advanced Himawari Imager (Himawari-8/9) that closely mimic the spatial and spectral characteristics of MODIS and VIIRS, useful for monitoring land surface conditions. The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) team at Ames Research Center has embarked on a collaborative effort among scientists from NASA and NOAA exploring the feasibility of producing operational land surface products similar to those from MODIS/VIIRS. The team built a processing pipeline called GEONEX that is capable of converting raw geostationary data into routine products of Fires, surface reflectances, vegetation indices, LAI/FPAR, ET and GPP/NPP using algorithms adapted from both NASA/EOS and NOAA/GOES-R programs. The GEONEX pipeline has been deployed on Amazon Web Services cloud platform and it currently leverages near-realtime geostationary data hosted in AWS public datasets under a NOAA-AWS agreement.Initial analyses of various products from ABI/AHI sensors suggest that they are comparable to those from MODIS in representing the spatio-temporal dynamics of land conditions. Cloud computing offers a variety of options for deploying the GEONEX pipeline including choice CPUs, storage media, and automation. We estimate the cost of deploying GEONEX to be $400 - 750 a month for processing data (every 30 minutes) and producing products over the conterminous US. For products such as Fire, latency can be as little as 10 minutes from the time of data acquisition.

Geostationary↗

Horizon Detection for Mars Surface Operations

A new image processing method for automated horizon detection is presented in this paper. This method was developed for the Mars Exploration Rovers mission’s surface operations to aid in determining orbiter visibility periods for downlink data, and is now being considered for all Mars surface missions and for a variety of applications. Starting with images received from Mars rovers or landers, the horizon pixel location is found by (1) obtaining the gradient images using the Sobel operator, (2) calculating the preliminary horizon locations by optimizing the maximum difference between sky and ground regions in the gradient domain, and (3) applying a multi-variable thresholding method. The results are analyzed using a variety of images from the Mars rovers, as an example one dataset’s results were categorized as 94.2% Good, 4.11% Okay, and 1.65% Poor. The pixel location corresponding to the found horizon in an image is converted to azimuth and elevation values using the camera model. The elevation of the terrain surrounding the rover or lander directly affects the duration orbiters are visible for downlink data volume, and when the sun is visible for image quality or solar energy consumption. Having an automated process to detect the elevation of the terrain allows the operation team to better predict the outcome of the plan, reducing heath and safety risks and allowing new operational limits to be defined.

Oij, Stephanie Lynn↗

Automation of the CFD Process on Distributed Computing Systems

A script system was developed to automate and streamline portions of the CFD process. The system was designed to facilitate the use of CFD flow solvers on supercomputer and workstation platforms within a parametric design event. Integrating solver pre- and postprocessing phases, the fully automated ADTT script system marshalled the required input data, submitted the jobs to available computational resources, and processed the resulting output data. A number of codes were incorporated into the script system, which itself was part of a larger integrated design environment software package. The IDE and scripts were used in a design event involving a wind tunnel test. This experience highlighted the need for efficient data and resource management in all parts of the CFD process. To facilitate the use of CFD methods to perform parametric design studies, the script system was developed using UNIX shell and Perl languages. The goal of the work was to minimize the user interaction required to generate the data necessary to fill a parametric design space. The scripts wrote out the required input files for the user-specified flow solver, transferred all necessary input files to the computational resource, submitted and tracked the jobs using the resource queuing structure, and retrieved and post-processed the resulting dataset. For computational resources that did not run queueing software, the script system established its own simple first-in-first-out queueing structure to manage the workload. A variety of flow solvers were incorporated in the script system, including INS2D, PMARC, TIGER and GASP. Adapting the script system to a new flow solver was made easier through the use of object-oriented programming methods. The script system was incorporated into an ADTT integrated design environment and evaluated as part of a wind tunnel experiment. The system successfully generated the data required to fill the desired parametric design space. This stressed the computational resources required to compute and store the information. The scripts were continually modified to improve the utilization of the computational resources and reduce the likelihood of data loss due to failures. An ad-hoc file server was created to manage the large amount of data being generated as part of the design event. Files were stored and retrieved as needed to create new jobs and analyze the results. Additional information is contained in the original.

Tejnil, Ed↗

Design and specification of a centralized manufacturing data management and scheduling system

As was revealed in a previous study, the Materials and Processes Laboratory's Productivity Enhancement Complex (PEC) has a number of automated production areas/cells that are not effectively integrated, limiting the ability of users to readily share data. The recent decision to utilize the PEC for the fabrication of flight hardware has focused new attention on the problem and brought to light the need for an integrated data management and scheduling system. This report addresses this need by developing preliminary designs specifications for a centralized manufacturing data management and scheduling system for managing flight hardware fabrication in the PEC. This prototype system will be developed under the auspices of the Integrated Engineering Environment (IEE) Oversight team and the IEE Committee. At their recommendation the system specifications were based on the fabrication requirements of the AXAF-S Optical Bench.

Farrington, Phillip A.↗

Achieving Fast Operational Intelligence in NASA's Deep Space Network Through Complex Event Processing

NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) is a complex, global project, in which the expertise of human operators remain crucial for its successful operation. To find ways to save costs in operations and to improve its services, a number of modernization efforts are underway in the DSN. One such effort is a research and technology development task at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that is investigating the use of complex event processing (CEP) for intelligent assessment of situations, trend analysis, and advanced automation. The technology leverages the significant business intelligence (BI) and data science advancements made in the enterprise industries over the last several years. The open source big data processing engine Apache SparkTM and the high-throughput, distributed messaging system Apache Kafka form the core of the DSN Complex Event Processing (DCEP) framework. This paper discusses the system engineering perspective of why achieving efficient, lower-cost operations in the DSN is a challenging problem, how the DCEP system handles the use cases that help realize intelligent operations, and how this solution fits into the overall model of the planned DSN Follow-the- Sun Operations (FtSO).

Choi, Joshua S.↗