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At least 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

An Architecture to Enable Autonomous Control of Spacecraft

Autonomy is required for manned spacecraft missions distant enough that light-time communication delays make ground-based mission control infeasible. Presently, ground controllers develop a complete schedule of power modes for all spacecraft components based on a large number of factors. The proposed architecture is an early attempt to formalize and automate this process using on-vehicle computation resources. In order to demonstrate this architecture, an autonomous electrical power system controller and vehicle Mission Manager are constructed. These two components are designed to work together in order to plan upcoming load use as well as respond to unanticipated deviations from the plan. The communication protocol was developed using "paper" simulations prior to formally encoding the messages and developing software to implement the required functionality. These software routines exchange data via TCP/IP sockets with the Mission Manager operating at NASA Ames Research Center and the autonomous power controller running at NASA Glenn Research Center. The interconnected systems are tested and shown to be effective at planning the operation of a simulated quasi-steady state spacecraft power system and responding to unexpected disturbances.

space power systems↗
NASA NTRS2013

MISL SDK Public Release

The Modular Integrated Stackable Layers (MISL) is a compact space-related computer system that is modular, scalable and reconfigurable. The original goal was to design a space environment capable instrumentation system with a flexible design so that as subsets of requirements changed, it minimized the need for new designs and maximized the reusability of the hardware and software modules. The result is a flexible, economical and small computer system that can be adapted to uses in space environment instrumentation and control. Current applications include habitat system instruments and control, dynamic flight instrumentation in rugged environments, in vehicle communication protocol converters and remote control unit for thruster jets. Future applications are limited only by the imagination!

Delaune, Paul↗
NASA NTRS2015

Physics Simulation Software for Autonomous Propellant Loading and Gas House Autonomous System Monitoring

1. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is developing a mobile launching system with autonomous propellant loading capabilities for liquid-fueled rockets. An autonomous system will be responsible for monitoring and controlling the storage, loading and transferring of cryogenic propellants. The Physics Simulation Software will reproduce the sensor data seen during the delivery of cryogenic fluids including valve positions, pressures, temperatures and flow rates. The simulator will provide insight into the functionality of the propellant systems and demonstrate the effects of potential faults. This will provide verification of the communications protocols and the autonomous system control. 2. The High Pressure Gas Facility (HPGF) stores and distributes hydrogen, nitrogen, helium and high pressure air. The hydrogen and nitrogen are stored in cryogenic liquid state. The cryogenic fluids pose several hazards to operators and the storage and transfer equipment. Constant monitoring of pressures, temperatures and flow rates are required in order to maintain the safety of personnel and equipment during the handling and storage of these commodities. The Gas House Autonomous System Monitoring software will be responsible for constantly observing and recording sensor data, identifying and predicting faults and relaying hazard and operational information to the operators.

Regalado Reyes, Bjorn Constant↗
NASA NTRS2017

Extravehicular Activity Operations Concepts Under Communication Latency and Bandwidth Constraints

The Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains (BASALT) project is a multi-year program dedicated to iteratively develop, implement, and evaluate concepts of operations (ConOps) and supporting capabilities intended to enable and enhance human scientific exploration of Mars. This pa-per describes the planning, execution, and initial results from the first field deployment, referred to as BASALT-1, which consisted of a series of 10 simulated extravehicular activities (EVAs) on volcanic flows in Idaho's Craters of the Moon (COTM) National Monument. The ConOps and capabilities deployed and tested during BASALT-1 were based on previous NASA trade studies and analog testing. Our primary research question was whether those ConOps and capabilities work acceptably when performing real (non-simulated) biological and geological scientific exploration under 4 different Mars-to-Earth communication conditions: 5 and 15 min one-way light time (OWLT) communication latencies and low (0.512 Mb/s uplink, 1.54 Mb/s downlink) and high (5.0 Mb/s uplink, 10.0 Mb/s downlink) bandwidth conditions representing the lower and higher limits of technical communication capabilities currently proposed for future human exploration missions. The synthesized results of BASALT-1 with respect to the ConOps and capabilities assessment were derived from a variety of sources, including EVA task timing data, network analytic data, and subjective ratings and comments regarding the scientific and operational acceptability of the ConOp and the extent to which specific capabilities were enabling and enhancing, and are presented here. BASALT-1 established preliminary findings that baseline ConOp, software systems, and communication protocols were scientifically and operationally acceptable with minor improvements desired by the "Mars" extravehicular (EV) and intravehicular (IV) crewmembers, but unacceptable with improvements required by the "Earth" Mission Support Center. These data will provide a basis for guiding and prioritizing capability development for future BASALT deployments and, ultimately, future human exploration missions.

Beaton, Kara H.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Enabling Wireless Avionics Intra-Communications

The Electromagnetics and Sensors Branch of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) is investigating the potential of an all-wireless aircraft as part of the ECON (Efficient Reconfigurable Cockpit Design and Fleet Operations using Software Intensive, Networked and Wireless Enabled Architecture) seedling proposal, which is funded by the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) project, Transformative Aeronautics Concepts (TAC) program, and NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI). The project consists of a brief effort carried out by a small team in the Electromagnetic Environment Effects (E3) laboratory with the intention of exposing some of the challenges faced by a wireless communication system inside the reflective cavity of an aircraft and to explore potential solutions that take advantage of that environment for constructive gain. The research effort was named EWAIC for "Enabling Wireless Aircraft Intra-communications." The E3 laboratory is a research facility that includes three electromagnetic reverberation chambers and equipment that allow testing and generation of test data for the investigation of wireless systems in reflective environments. Using these chambers, the EWAIC team developed a set of tests and setups that allow the intentional variation of intensity of a multipath field to reproduce the environment of the various bays and cabins of large transport aircraft. This setup, in essence, simulates an aircraft environment that allows the investigation and testing of wireless communication protocols that can effectively be used as a tool to mitigate some of the risks inherent to an aircraft wireless system for critical functions. In addition, the EWAIC team initiated the development of a computational modeling tool to illustrate the propagation of EM waves inside the reflective cabins and bays of aircraft and to obtain quantifiable information regarding the degradation of signals in aircraft subassemblies. The nose landing gear of a UAV CAD model was used to model the propagation of a system in a "deployed" configuration versus a "stowed" configuration. The differences in relative field strength provide valuable information about the distribution of the field that can be used to engineer RF links with optimal radiated power and antenna configuration that accomplish the intended system reliability. Such modeling will be necessary in subsequent studies for managing multipath propagation characteristics inside a main cabin and to understand more complex environments, such as the inside wings, landing gear bays, cargo bays, avionics bays, etc. The results of the short research effort are described in the present document. The team puts forth a set of recommendations with the intention of informing the project and program leadership of the future work that, in the opinion of the EWAIC team, would assist the ECON team reach the intended goal of developing an all-wireless aircraft.

Torres, Omar↗
NASA NTRS2017

Lighting Automation - Flying an Earthlike Habit Project

Our proposal will enable the development of automated spacecraft habitats for long duration missions. Majority of spacecraft lighting systems employ lamps or zone specific switches and dimmers. Automation is not in the "picture". If we are to build long duration environments, which provide earth-like habitats, minimize crew time, and optimize spacecraft power reserves, innovation in lighting automation is a must. To transform how spacecraft lighting environments are automated, we will provide performance data on a standard lighting communication protocol. We will investigate utilization and application of an industry accepted lighting control protocol, DMX512. We will demonstrate how lighting automation can conserve power, assist with lighting countermeasures, and utilize spatial body tracking. By using DMX512 we will prove the "wheel" does not need to be reinvented in terms of smart lighting and future spacecraft can use a standard lighting protocol to produce an effective, optimized and potentially earthlike habitat.

Falker, Jay↗
NASA NTRS2017

Pointing System Simulation Toolbox with Application to a Balloon Mission Simulator

The development of attitude estimation and pointing-control algorithms is necessary in order to achieve high-fidelity modeling for a Balloon Mission Simulator (BMS). A pointing system simulation toolbox was developed to enable this. The toolbox consists of a star-tracker (ST) and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) signal generator, a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) communication le (bridge), and an indirect-multiplicative extended Kalman filter (imEKF). This document describes the Python toolbox developed and the results of its implementation in the imEKF.

Maringolo Baldraco, Rosana M.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Field Programmable Gate Array Failure Rate Estimation Guidelines for Launch Vehicle Fault Tree Models

Today's launch vehicles complex electronic and avionics systems heavily utilize Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) integrated circuits (IC) for their superb speed and reconfiguration capabilities. Consequently, FPGAs are prevalent ICs in communication protocols such as MILSTD- 1553B and in control signal commands such as in solenoid valve actuations. This paper will identify reliability concerns and high level guidelines to estimate FPGA total failure rates in a launch vehicle application. The paper will discuss hardware, hardware description language, and radiation induced failures. The hardware contribution of the approach accounts for physical failures of the IC. The hardware description language portion will discuss the high level FPGA programming languages and software/code reliability growth. The radiation portion will discuss FPGA susceptibility to space environment radiation.

Al Hassan, Mohammad↗
NASA NTRS2017

Field Programmable Gate Array Failure Rate Estimation Guidelines for Launch Vehicle Fault Tree Models

Today's launch vehicles complex electronic and avionic systems heavily utilize the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) integrated circuit (IC). FPGAs are prevalent ICs in communication protocols such as MIL-STD-1553B, and in control signal commands such as in solenoid/servo valves actuations. This paper will demonstrate guidelines to estimate FPGA failure rates for a launch vehicle, the guidelines will account for hardware, firmware, and radiation induced failures. The hardware contribution of the approach accounts for physical failures of the IC, FPGA memory and clock. The firmware portion will provide guidelines on the high level FPGA programming language and ways to account for software/code reliability growth. The radiation portion will provide guidelines on environment susceptibility as well as guidelines on tailoring other launch vehicle programs historical data to a specific launch vehicle.

Al Hassan, Mohammad↗
NASA NTRS2017

Field Programmable Gate Array Reliability Analysis Guidelines for Launch Vehicle Reliability Block Diagrams

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) integrated circuits (IC) are one of the key electronic components in today's sophisticated launch and space vehicle complex avionic systems, largely due to their superb reprogrammable and reconfigurable capabilities combined with relatively low non-recurring engineering costs (NRE) and short design cycle. Consequently, FPGAs are prevalent ICs in communication protocols and control signal commands. This paper will identify reliability concerns and high level guidelines to estimate FPGA total failure rates in a launch vehicle application. The paper will discuss hardware, hardware description language, and radiation induced failures. The hardware contribution of the approach accounts for physical failures of the IC. The hardware description language portion will discuss the high level FPGA programming languages and software/code reliability growth. The radiation portion will discuss FPGA susceptibility to space environment radiation.

Al Hassan, Mohammad↗
NASA NTRS2018

FPGA Reliability and Failure Rate Analysis for Launch and Space Vehicles Environments

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) integrated circuits (IC) are one of the key electronic components in today's sophisticated launch and space vehicle complex avionic systems, largely due to their superb reprogrammable and reconfigurable capabilities combined with relatively low non-recurring engineering costs (NRE) and short design cycle. Consequently, FPGAs are prevalent ICs in communication protocols and control signal commands. This paper will demonstrate guidelines to estimate FPGA failure rates for ascent and in space operations. The guidelines will account for hardware and radiation-induced failures, as well as Bayesian updates to failure rates. The hardware contribution of the approach accounts for physical failures of the FPGA IC. The radiation portion will expand on FPGA susceptibility to different space radiation environments.

Al Hassan, Mohammad↗
NASA NTRS2018

Initial Results of the Software-Driven Navigation for Station Experiment

To enable the next generation of robotic and human exploration of the solar system, improvements are needed to enable robust and accurate autonomous navigation. The purpose of this work is to take advantage of the growth in and use of software-defined platforms to incorporate additional navigation capability on existing assets, while also incorporating with new vehicle designs. The Software-driven Navigation for Station Experiment focuses on implementing two soft solutions to this: transmitting pseudolite signals to perform ranging and Doppler measurements as part of the signal coding (similar to underlying Global Navigation Satellite System approaches), and the Multi-spacecraft Autonomous Positioning System, which uses existing communication protocols to embed navigation and timing information to be shared among all assets in a peer-to-peer network. These technologies were implemented on the SCaN Testbed onboard the International Space Station and exercised over the course of mid-June and late-July 2018. This paper will discuss the operational architecture, experiment plan, and initial results from the data collected. One of the key conclusions of this work is the strong need for stable accurate clock synchronization across the dispersed space network.

Anzalone, Evan J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 (ATD-1) Avionics Phase 2 Flight Test Training for Interval Management

Prior to the successful flight test validation of a new avionics prototype, participants from Boeing, Honeywell, and United Airlines underwent group training at NASA Langley Research Center. New prototype software for an algorithm which enables greater efficiency in high-density airspace, called Interval Management, was to be incorporated into Electronic Flight Bags and placed in the cockpit for pilot usage. The goals of the training were to teach the flight test pilots how to operate the new software, establish techniques to simultaneously position three aircraft prior to each test scenario, and ensure a common communication protocol among team members when coordinating the position of aircraft for the next scenario. The multi-tiered interactive training regimen consisted of a process that continually built upon previous foundational material. The primary learning elements were 1) a portable computer-based trainer that was provided to the pilots prior to classroom training sessions, 2) classroom learning, 3) full mock-up simulator training, and 4) refresher training just prior to the flight test. Each part of the regimen was designed to repeat and build upon the previous element. The purpose of this Technical Memorandum is to inform the aviation industry how flight training for Interval Management was conducted at Langley Research Center in order to reduce overall development costs of future Interval Management training programs. Secondly, the paper provides insight regarding the decision-making process when attempting to conduct a flight test.

Roper, Roy D.↗
NASA NTRS2017

YADA: Yet Another Distributed Architecture for Real-Time Robotic Control Systems

This paper presents YADA, a new software architecture for real-time robotic control systems that is minimal, modular, and fully transparent. YADA divides control software into decoupled behavior, user-interface, and hardware-level bus modules. This decoupling at the module level is accomplished by auto-generating human-readable message types that are tailored to the hardware topology oft he current system. These message types provide modules with a common framework for exchanging state information and relaying commands to devices while being agnostic to the communication protocol itself. We also detail how to structure behavior and bus modules to facilitate modularity and flexibility with third party software. YADA has been used with success on several technology development testbeds at JPL, an example of which is given in this paper, and has proven to provide developers a light-weight and highly reconfigurable system for efficient debugging and practical code sharing

Godart, Peter↗
NASA NTRS2019

Medical System Concept of Operations for Mars Exploration Mission-11: Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element - Human Research Program

NASA’s exploration missions to Mars will have durations of 2-3 years and will take humans farther away from Earth than ever before. This will result in a paradigm shift for mission planning, spacecraft design, human systems integration, and in-flight medical care. Constraints on real-time communication, resupply, and medical evacuation are major architectural drivers. These constraints require medical system development to be tightly integrated with mission and vehicle design to provide crew autonomy and enable mission success. This concept of operations provides a common vision of medical care for developing a medical system for Mars exploration missions. It documents an overview of the stakeholder needs and goals of a medical system and provides examples of the types of activities the system will be used for during the mission. Development of the concept of operations considers mission variables such as distance from Earth, duration of mission, time to definitive medical care, communication protocols between crewmembers and ground support, personnel capabilities and skill sets, medical hardware and software, and medical data management. The information provided in this document informs the ExMC Systems Engineering effort to define the functions to be provided by the medical system. In addition, this concept of operations will inform the subsequent systems engineering process of developing technical requirements, system architectures, interfaces, and verification and validation approaches for the medical system. This document supports the closure of ExMC Gap Med01: We do not have a concept of operations for medical care during exploration missions, corresponding to the ExMC-managed human system risk: Risk of Adverse Health Outcomes & Decrements in Performance due to Inflight Medical Conditions. This document is applicable to the ExMC Element Systems Engineering process and may be used for collaboration within the Human Research Program.

Urbina, Michelle↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) Lunar Surface Construction Activity at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Introduction: The goal of the Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology (MMPACT) Project at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is to develop, deliver, and demonstrate on-demand capabilities to protect astronauts and create infrastructure elements on the lunar surface via construction of landing pads, habitats, shelters, roadways, berms, and blast shields using lunar regolith-based materials. MSFC has strong collaborations with industry, academia, and other NASA Centers to accomplish this goal. The MMPACT project consists of three elements. The first focuses on the development of an autonomous construction system. The second focuses on construction feedstock materials development. The third element focuses on the development of a microwave sintering construction capability. The team plans to demonstrate construction on a small Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) lander in the 2025 timeframe, with a future goal of constructing a subscale landing pad in 2028-2029.The MMPACT project is funded through the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, which is part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate. Technology Development: The MMPACT team will evaluate multiple autonomous construction and microwave construction technologies, materials, and construction element forms. Selected technologies will be matured; processes and operations will be defined for the two flight missions. Evaluations of materials, as well as the technology itself, will be demonstrated in simulated lunar environments as part of the technology maturation process. The team is keenly aware of the properties of the lunar environment. Its temperature swings, negligible exosphere, and unprepared site foundations factor into the materials for both construction and hardware, the concept of operations, and the technology’s interdependencies. Materials: The team is looking at materials that can be produced from in-situ resources in an effort to make lunar construction cost-effective. The particular focus of the materials team is cementitious materials, metals, and sintered and melted regolith. These materials will be studied for tensile, compressive, and flexural strength. They will also be tested for their ability to handle thermal swings and vacuum. They will be fully characterized using various microscopy techniques to examine micro-structures, chemistry, and crystal formation. Interdependencies: There are many interdependencies that MMPACT has already identified. These include: •Excavation interface •Regolith feedstock beneficiation •Regolith feedstock storage and provision •Requirements for structures •Site-to-site mobility systems •Availability of lunar simulant •Lander off-loading capabilities •Navigation systems •Power •Regolith composition and mineralogy •Lander specifications •Communication protocols Technology developments in these additional areas would be beneficial to MMPACT.

Moon to Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Tec↗
NASA NTRS2010

FPGA NEPP : FY09 summary report

This report documents the activities and results of the fiscal year 2009 (FY09) funding for the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) program for re-programmable field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The FY09 task was divided into three efforts: 1. Device physics-based design modifications 2. Contention study of Xilinx Virtex-4 3. IDDQ study of Actel A54SX The FY09 NEPP FPGA study was organized into these three sections in recognition of the continued and increasing importance of FPGAs to NASA. FPGAs represent the state of the art in electronic components with millions and millions of transistors integrated into a single device. Modern NASA spacecraft design has dozens and dozens of FPGAs implemented onboard. FPGAs are used in critical command and data handling, instrument control and monitoring, and communications protocols, to name just a few. The reliability of FPGAs is fundamental to mission success for NASA.

Sheldon, Douglas↗
NASA NTRS2017

Networking in Interstellar Dimensions: Communicating with TRAPPIST-1

The recent discovery of potentially habitable planets orbiting the TRAPPIST-1 system intensified interest in interstellar exploration. In these challenging mission concepts, communication protocols would need to cope with unprecedented signal propagation delays. In this work, we propose and explore Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) technologies and analyze in a case study based on the TRAPPIST-1. Results suggests that DTN protocols features could become a valuable means to achieve data delivery in future interstellar networks.

Burleigh, Scott C.↗