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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enabling a Voice Management System for Space Applications

The sustainable missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) envisioned for NASA’s Artemis program will require autonomous capabilities. Moreover, Artemis mission crews will need a means to efficiently interact with a spacecraft’s autonomous systems. This interaction can be facilitated by voice and speech communications because voice-based controls enable users to interact hands- and eyes-free, allowing the user to better focus on critical tasks. The goal of our project was to explore the knowledge and technology needed to successfully design effective Voice User Interfaces (VUIs) for autonomous systems utilizing Human Centered Design (HCD) principles. The focus of the human factors’ aspect of engineering, pays close attention to psychological and physiological principles in the development of autonomous crew operation systems. A main objective was to understand how a crew member, through voice interaction, could efficiently and intuitively communicate with a notional autonomous vehicle system manager. This project was a part of the NASA Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) 2020 Academic Innovation Challenge. The work from the BLiSS Team, at the University of Michigan, resulted in the design of a system persona, Diego, to which an astronaut may quickly build trust with autonomous systems, to alleviate known stressors on mental health expected during long duration space missions. Optimal software to facilitate integration of the system persona into a reference Lunar orbiting Gateway station was defined. Additionally, a Speech to Text (STT) system and a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that could be implemented in future missions was developed on an Internet of Things (IOT) platform. The Voice User Interface (VUI) design for the M2M X-Hab 2020 project leveraged previous technology developed by the BLiSS team to incorporate a voice-based interface into NASA’s Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS) software. This required technologies to convert voice to text, conduct semantic interpretations, and convert responses from the autonomous system to text and to speech; additionally, the spacecraft background noise environment was assessed, a noise mitigation technique was developed, and a relatable personality for the autonomous system was developed in order to facilitate human-like conversations. The success of our effort was largely due to the diversity of the team that included expertise in Space Systems Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Applied Physics. The diverse perspectives fostered elaborate discussions, resulting in the conception of three main subsystems: (1) User-System, (2) NPAS-System, and (3) Environment-System. The VUI was unique and had to be efficient and intuitive. For this project, 5 subteams were formed, each with a separate objective, Voice Design team, Background Noise Mitigation team, Software Integration team and Graphical User Interface team. The BLiSS team crafted a personality for the VUI to enable human-like conversation and drive user adoption and trust. User surveys were completed and used to help determine the required VUI system personality traits by capturing perspectives and expectations of prospective “Artemis Generation Astronauts”. To further simulate human-like conversations, the system had to be able to quickly interpret user speech and be able to integrate with NASA’s NPAS platform for quick and reliable information transfer. The outcomes of our research were: (1) a working prototype user interface, that is compatible with NASA’s NPAS platform; (2) software that demonstrates the ability of the VUI system to interpret user requests and respond appropriately; (3) the capability to implement fully expanded conversations between user and system using intuitive communication in four request categories; and (4) software and hardware recommendations that optimize the system’s ability to operate in a noisy environment. Our research has laid the foundation for the development of VUI’s for autonomy, and provides a baseline for future VUI developments.

Voice user interface↗

NASA NTRS2008

Sensor Selection and Data Validation for Reliable Integrated System Health Management

For new access to space systems with challenging mission requirements, effective implementation of integrated system health management (ISHM) must be available early in the program to support the design of systems that are safe, reliable, highly autonomous. Early ISHM availability is also needed to promote design for affordable operations; increased knowledge of functional health provided by ISHM supports construction of more efficient operations infrastructure. Lack of early ISHM inclusion in the system design process could result in retrofitting health management systems to augment and expand operational and safety requirements; thereby increasing program cost and risk due to increased instrumentation and computational complexity. Having the right sensors generating the required data to perform condition assessment, such as fault detection and isolation, with a high degree of confidence is critical to reliable operation of ISHM. Also, the data being generated by the sensors needs to be qualified to ensure that the assessments made by the ISHM is not based on faulty data. NASA Glenn Research Center has been developing technologies for sensor selection and data validation as part of the FDDR (Fault Detection, Diagnosis, and Response) element of the Upper Stage project of the Ares 1 launch vehicle development. This presentation will provide an overview of the GRC approach to sensor selection and data quality validation and will present recent results from applications that are representative of the complexity of propulsion systems for access to space vehicles. A brief overview of the sensor selection and data quality validation approaches is provided below. The NASA GRC developed Systematic Sensor Selection Strategy (S4) is a model-based procedure for systematically and quantitatively selecting an optimal sensor suite to provide overall health assessment of a host system. S4 can be logically partitioned into three major subdivisions: the knowledge base, the down-select iteration, and the final selection analysis. The knowledge base required for productive use of S4 consists of system design information and heritage experience together with a focus on components with health implications. The sensor suite down-selection is an iterative process for identifying a group of sensors that provide good fault detection and isolation for targeted fault scenarios. In the final selection analysis, a statistical evaluation algorithm provides the final robustness test for each down-selected sensor suite. NASA GRC has developed an approach to sensor data qualification that applies empirical relationships, threshold detection techniques, and Bayesian belief theory to a network of sensors related by physics (i.e., analytical redundancy) in order to identify the failure of a given sensor within the network. This data quality validation approach extends the state-of-the-art, from red-lines and reasonableness checks that flag a sensor after it fails, to include analytical redundancy-based methods that can identify a sensor in the process of failing. The focus of this effort is on understanding the proper application of analytical redundancy-based data qualification methods for onboard use in monitoring Upper Stage sensors.

Garg, Sanjay↗

NASA NTRS2021

Trust in Collaborative Automation in High Stakes Software Engineering Work

The amount of autonomy in software engineering tools is increasing as developers build increasingly complex systems. Research in other domains shows that too much or too little trust in autonomous tools can have negative consequences, but we are not aware of any study that has investigated trust in autonomous tools in the highly interactive context of a software engineering workplace. We present the results of a ten week ethnographic case study of engineers collaborating with autonomous tools to write flight software at a large national space exploration organization to support high stakes missions. We find that trust in an autonomous software engineering tool in this setting was influenced by four main factors: the tool’s transparency, social context, an organization’s associated processes, and its usability. We outline theoretical implications for future research into trust in autonomous software engineering tools, and practical implications for tool designers and organizations conducting high stakes work with autonomous tools.

Davidoff, Scott↗

NASA NTRS1990

Project WISH: The Emerald City

The preliminary design of a permanently manned autonomous space oasis (PEMASO), including its pertinent subsystems, was performed during the 1990 Winter and Spring quarters. The purpose for the space oasis was defined and the preliminary design work was started with emphasis placed on the study of orbital mechanics, power systems and propulsion systems. A rotating torus was selected as the preliminary configuration, and overall size, mass and location of some subsystems within the station were addressed. Computer software packages were utilized to determine station transfer parameters and thus the preliminary propulsion requirements. Power and propulsion systems were researched to determine feasible configurations and many conventional schemes were ruled out. Vehicle dynamics and control, mechanical and life support systems were also studied. For each subsystem studied, the next step in the design process to be performed during the continuation of the project was also addressed.

Oz, Hayrani↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

SOLL-E: A Module Transport and Placement Robot for Autonomous Assembly of Discrete Lattice Structures

This paper presents the design and development of a transport and placement robot that demonstrates autonomous assembly of structural building blocks. The robots are intended to serve as a critical component of automated structural assembly and maintenance systems. The Scaling Omni-directional Lattice Locomoting Explorer (SOLL-E) uses a 5-DoF bipedal inchworm locomotion architecture with locking foot and cargo grippers. The locomotion system employs large magnet gap diameter BLDC motors with moderate timing belt gearing for primary joints, and DC planetary gearmotors for turning. Foot and cargo grippers are identical, with servo-actuated locking mechanisms. Three modular controller boards are used to control these actuators in real-time, with command and telemetry data transferred between the server and each controller board via WiFi. Functionality and performance were evaluated in a ground demonstration.

robotics↗

DOE OSTI2025

Development of a Multi-Robot System for Autonomous Inspection of Nuclear Waste Tank Pits

This paper introduces the overall design plan, development timeline, and preliminary progress of the Autonomous Pit Exploration System project. This project aims to develop an advanced multi-robot system for the efficient inspection of nuclear waste-storage tank pits. The project is structured into three phases: Phase 1 involves data collection and interface definition in collaboration with Hanford Site experts and university partners, focusing on tank riser geometry and hardware solutions. Phase 2 includes the selection of sensors and robot components, detailed mechanical design, and prototyping. Phase 3 integrates all components into a cohesive system managed by a master control package which also incorporates digital twin and surrogate models, and culminates in comprehensive testing and validation at a simulated tank pit at the Idaho National Laboratory. Additionally, the system’s communication design ensures coordinated operation through shared data, power, and control signals. For transportation and deployment, an electric vehicle (EV) is chosen to support the system for a full 10 h shift with better regulatory compliance for field deployment. A telescopic arm design is selected for its simple configuration and superior reach capability and controllability. Preliminary testing utilizes an educational robot to demonstrate the feasibility of splitting computational tasks between edge and cloud computers. Successful simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) tasks validate our distributed computing approach. More design considerations are also discussed, including radiation hardness assurance, SLAM performance, software transferability, and digital twinning strategies.

Nuclear waste management↗

NASA NTRS2008

An Autonomous Sensor System Architecture for Active Flow and Noise Control Feedback

Multi-channel sensor fusion represents a powerful technique to simply and efficiently extract information from complex phenomena. While the technique has traditionally been used for military target tracking and situational awareness, a study has been successfully completed that demonstrates that sensor fusion can be applied equally well to aerodynamic applications. A prototype autonomous hardware processor was successfully designed and used to detect in real-time the two-dimensional flow reattachment location generated by a simple separated-flow wind tunnel model. The success of this demonstration illustrates the feasibility of using autonomous sensor processing architectures to enhance flow control feedback signal generation.

Humphreys, William M, Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Autonomous Inverter Controls for Resilient and Secure Grid Operation: Vector Control Design for Grid Forming

The project addresses both fundamental and practical challenges of GFM/GFL inverter control for the power grids with high inverter based resources (IBRs) penetration. A data- driven modeling technique is applied to accurately model dynamics of PWM inverters, including electromagnetic-transient (EMT). Systematic and integrative designs of grid- forming (GFM) and grid-following (GFL) primary controls are developed to guarantee system performance under either normal or abnormal operating conditions without violating constraints. This modeling and control framework provides black-start capability in case of an outage without relying on rotating generators, and its secondary control is also shown to enhance resilience against cyber-physical attacks.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRS2004

Validating the autonomous EO-1 science agent

This paper describes the validation process for the Autonomous Science Agent, a software agent that is currently flying onboard NASA EO-1 spacecraft. The agent autonomously collects, analyzes, and reacts to onboard science data. The Autonomous Science Agent has been designed using a layered architectural approach with specific redundant safeguards to reduce the risk of an agent malfunction to the EO-1 spacecraft. This safe design has been thoroughly validated by informal validation methods supplemented by sub-system and system-level testing. This paper describes the analysis used to define agent safety, elements of the design that increase the safety of the agent, and the process used to validate agent safety.

software↗

NASA NTRS2002

Results of NASA's First Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment: Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)

NASA's first autonomous formation flying mission completed its primary goal of demonstrating an advanced technology called enhanced formation flying. To enable this technology, the Flight Dynamics Analysis Branch at the Goddard Space Flight Center implemented a universal 3-axis formation flying algorithm in an autonomous executive flight code onboard the New Millennium Program's (NMP) Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. This paper describes the mathematical background of the autonomous formation flying algorithm, the onboard flight design and the validation results of this unique system. Results from fully autonomous maneuver control are presented as comparisons between the onboard EO-1 operational autonomous control system called AutoCon, its ground-based predecessor used in operations, and the original standalone algorithm. Maneuvers discussed encompass reactionary, routine formation maintenance, and inclination control. Orbital data is also examined to verify that all formation flying requirements were met.

Folta, David↗

NASA NTRS2002

Results Of NASA's First Autonomous Formation Flying Experiment: Earth Observing-1 (EO-1)

NASA's first autonomous formation flying mission completed its primary goal of demonstrating an advanced technology called Enhanced Formation Flying. To enable this technology, a team at the Goddard Space Flight Center implemented a universal 3-axis formation flying algorithm in an autonomous executive flight code onboard the New Millennium Program's (NMP) Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft. This paper describes the mathematical background of the autonomous formation flying algorithm, the onboard flight design and the validation results of this unique system. Results from fully autonomous maneuver control are presented as comparisons between the onboard EO-1 operational autonomous control system called AutoCon(trademark), its ground-based predecessor used in operations, and the original standalone algorithm. Maneuvers discussed encompass reactionary, routine formation maintenance, and inclination control. Orbital data is also examined to verify that all formation flying requirements were met.

Folta, David↗

NASA NTRS2010

Lunabotics Mining Competition

This slide presentation describes a competition to design a lunar robot (lunabot) that can be controlled either remotely or autonomously, isolated from the operator, and is designed to mine a lunar aggregate simulant. The competition is part of a systems engineering curriculum. The 2010 competition winners in five areas of the competition were acknowledged, and the 2011 competition was announced.

Mueller, Rob↗

NASA NTRS1980

Autonomous satellite orbit determination during the development phases of the global positioning system

An onboard navigation system was developed to aid the design and evaluation of algorithms used in autonomous satellite navigation with Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The performance of the algorithms designed for a GPS Receiver/Processor Assembly (R/PA) intended for LANDSAT-D was investigated during the development phases of the GPS (four to six satellites in the constellation). This evaluation emphasized the effects on the orbit determination accuracy of the expected user clock errors, GPS satellite visibility, force model approximations, and state and covariance propagation approximations. Results are presented giving the sensitivity of orbit determination accuracy to these constraints.

Dunham, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Fuzzy logic control system to provide autonomous collision avoidance for Mars rover vehicle

NASA is currently involved with planning unmanned missions to Mars to investigate the terrain and process soil samples in advance of a manned mission. A key issue involved in unmanned surface exploration on Mars is that of supporting autonomous maneuvering since radio communication involves lengthy delays. It is anticipated that specific target locations will be designated for sample gathering. In maneuvering autonomously from a starting position to a target position, the rover will need to avoid a variety of obstacles such as boulders or troughs that may block the shortest path to the target. The physical integrity of the rover needs to be maintained while minimizing the time and distance required to attain the target position. Fuzzy logic lends itself well to building reliable control systems that function in the presence of uncertainty or ambiguity. The following major issues are discussed: (1) the nature of fuzzy logic control systems and software tools to implement them; (2) collision avoidance in the presence of fuzzy parameters; and (3) techniques for adaptation in fuzzy logic control systems.

Murphy, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Model-based Executive Control through Reactive Planning for Autonomous Rovers

This paper reports on the design and implementation of a real-time executive for a mobile rover that uses a model-based, declarative approach. The control system is based on the Intelligent Distributed Execution Architecture (IDEA), an approach to planning and execution that provides a unified representational and computational framework for an autonomous agent. The basic hypothesis of IDEA is that a large control system can be structured as a collection of interacting agents, each with the same fundamental structure. We show that planning and real-time response are compatible if the executive minimizes the size of the planning problem. We detail the implementation of this approach on an exploration rover (Gromit an RWI ATRV Junior at NASA Ames) presenting different IDEA controllers of the same domain and comparing them with more classical approaches. We demonstrate that the approach is scalable to complex coordination of functional modules needed for autonomous navigation and exploration.

Finzi, Alberto↗

NASA NTRS1992

Fault tolerant capabilities of the Cosmic Background Explorer attitude control system

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), which was launched November 18, 1989 from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Delta rocket, has been classified by the scientific community as a major success with regards to the field of cosmology theory. Despite a number of anomalies which have occurred during the mission, the attitude control system (ACS) has performed remarkably well. This is due in large part to the fault tolerant capabilities that were designed into the ACS. A unique triaxial control system orientated in the spacecraft's transverse plane provides the ACS the ability to safely survive various sensor and actuator failures. Features that help to achieve this fail-operational system include component cross-strapping and autonomous control electronics switching. This design philosophy was of utmost importance because of the constraint placed upon the ACS to keep the spinning observatory and its cryogen-cooled science instruments pointing away from the sun. Even though the liquid helium was depleted within the expected twelve months from launch, it is still very much desirable to avoid any thermal disturbances upon the remaining functional instruments.

Placanica, Samuel J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Robotic Lunar Lander Development Project Status

This slide presentation reviews the status of the development of a robotic lunar lander. The goal of the project is to perform engineering tests and risk reduction activities to support the development of a small lunar lander for lunar surface science. This includes: (1) risk reduction for the flight of the robotic lander, (i.e., testing and analyzing various phase of the project); (2) the incremental development for the design of the robotic lander, which is to demonstrate autonomous, controlled descent and landing on airless bodies, and design of thruster configuration for 1/6th of the gravity of earth; (3) cold gas test article in flight demonstration testing; (4) warm gas testing of the robotic lander design; (5) develop and test landing algorithms; (6) validate the algorithms through analysis and test; and (7) tests of the flight propulsion system.

Hammond, Monica↗

NASA NTRS2019

Evaluation of Technology Concepts for Traffic Data Management and Relevant Audio for Datalink in Commercial Airline Flight Decks

Datalink is currently operational for departure clearances and in oceanic environments and is currently being tested in high altitude domestic enroute airspace. Interaction with even simple datalink clearances may create more workload for flight crews than the voice system they replace if not carefully designed. Datalink may also introduce additional complexity for flight crews with hundreds of uplink messages now defined for use. Finally, flight crews may lose airspace awareness and operationally relevant information that they normally pickup from Air Traffic Control (ATC) voice communications with other aircraft (i.e., “party-line” transmissions). Once again, automation may be poised to increase workload on the flight deck for incremental benefit. Datalink implementation to support future air traffic management concepts needs to be carefully considered, understanding human communication norms and especially, the change from voice- to text-based communications modality and its effect on pilot workload and situation awareness. Increasingly autonomous systems, where autonomy is designed to support human-autonomy teaming, may be suited to solve these issues. NASA is conducting research and development of increasingly autonomous systems, utilizing machine-learning algorithms seamlessly integrated with humans whereby task performance of the combined system is significantly greater than the individual components. Increasingly autonomous systems offer the potential for significantly improved levels of performance and safety that are superior to either human or automation alone. Two increasingly autonomous systems concepts - a traffic data manager and a conversational co-pilot - were developed to intelligently address the datalink issues in a complex, future state environment with significant levels of traffic. The system was tested for suitability of datalink usage for terminal airspace. The traffic data manager allowed for automated declutter of the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) display. The system determined relevant traffic for display based on machine learning algorithms trained by experienced human pilot behaviors. The conversational co-pilot provided relevant audio air traffic control messages based on context and proximity to ownship. Both systems made use of the connected aircraft concepts to provide intelligent context to determine relevancy above and beyond proximity to ownship. A human-in-the-loop test was conducted in NASA Langley Research Center’s Integration Flight Deck B-737-800 simulator to evaluate the traffic data manager and the conversational co-pilot. Twelve airline crews flew various normal and non-normal procedures and their actions and performance were recorded in response to the procedural events. This paper details the flight crew performance and evaluation during the events.

Etherington, Timothy↗