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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 433 records · Page 24
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

SURE (Science User Resource Expert): A science planning and scheduling assistant for a resource based environment

SURE (Science User Resource Expert) is one of three components that compose the SURPASS (Science User Resource Planning and Scheduling System). This system is a planning and scheduling tool which supports distributed planning and scheduling, based on resource allocation and optimization. Currently SURE is being used within the SURPASS by the UARS (Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite) SOLSTICE instrument to build a daily science plan and activity schedule and in a prototyping effort with NASA GSFC to demonstrate distributed planning and scheduling for the SOLSTICE II instrument on the EOS platform. For the SOLSTICE application the SURE utilizes a rule-based system. Development of a rule-based program using Ada CLIPS as opposed to using conventional programming, allows for capture of the science planning and scheduling heuristics in rules and provides flexibility in inserting or removing rules as the scientific objectives and mission constraints change. The SURE system's role as a component in the SURPASS, the purpose of the SURE planning and scheduling tool, the SURE knowledge base, and the software architecture of the SURE component are described.

Thalman, Nancy E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Beam rider for an Articulated Robot Manipulator (ARM) accurate positioning of long flexible manipulators

Laser beam positioning and beam rider modules were incorporated into the long hollow flexible segment of an articulated robot manipulator (ARM). Using a single laser beam, the system determined the position of the distal ARM endtip, with millimetric precision, in six degrees of freedom, at distances of up to 10 meters. Preliminary designs, using space rated technology for the critical systems, of a two segmented physical ARM, with a single and a dual degree of freedom articulation, were developed, prototyped, and tested. To control the positioning of the physical ARM, an indirect adaptive controller, which used the mismatch between the position of the laser beam under static and dynamic conditions, was devised. To predict the behavior of the system and test the concept, a computer simulation model was constructed. A hierarchical artificially intelligent real time ADA operating system program structure was created. The software was designed for implementation on a dedicated VME bus based Intel 80386 administered parallel processing multi-tasking computer system.

Malachowski, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) and Maintenance and Diagnostic System (MDS): A maintenance and diagnostic system for Space Station Freedom

The Maintenance and Diagnostic System (MDS) that is being developed at Honeywell to enhance the Fault Detection Isolation and Recovery system (FDIR) for the Attitude Determination and Control System on Space Station Freedom is described. The MDS demonstrates ways that AI-based techniques can be used to improve the maintainability and safety of the Station by helping to resolve fault anomalies that cannot be fully determined by built-in-test, by providing predictive maintenance capabilities, and by providing expert maintenance assistance. The MDS will address the problems associated with reasoning about dynamic, continuous information versus only about static data, the concerns of porting software based on AI techniques to embedded targets, and the difficulties associated with real-time response. An initial prototype was built of the MDS. The prototype executes on Sun and IBM PS/2 hardware and is implemented in the Common Lisp; further work will evaluate its functionality and develop mechanisms to port the code to Ada.

Toms, David↗
NASA NTRS1990

Automated unit-level testing with heuristic rules

Software testing plays a significant role in the development of complex software systems. Current testing methods generally require significant effort to generate meaningful test cases. The QUEST/Ada system is a prototype system designed using CLIPS to experiment with expert system based test case generation. The prototype is designed to test for condition coverage, and attempts to generate test cases to cover all feasible branches contained in an Ada program. This paper reports on heuristics sued by the system. These heuristics vary according to the amount of knowledge obtained by preprocessing and execution of the boolean conditions in the program.

Carlisle, W. Homer↗
NASA NTRS1989

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) robotics technology testbed

Much of the technology planned for use in NASA's Flight Telerobotic Servicer (FTS) and the Demonstration Test Flight (DTF) is relatively new and untested. To provide the answers needed to design safe, reliable, and fully functional robotics for flight, NASA/GSFC is developing a robotics technology testbed for research of issues such as zero-g robot control, dual arm teleoperation, simulations, and hierarchical control using a high level programming language. The testbed will be used to investigate these high risk technologies required for the FTS and DTF projects. The robotics technology testbed is centered around the dual arm teleoperation of a pair of 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) manipulators, each with their own 6-DOF mini-master hand controllers. Several levels of safety are implemented using the control processor, a separate watchdog computer, and other low level features. High speed input/output ports allow the control processor to interface to a simulation workstation: all or part of the testbed hardware can be used in real time dynamic simulation of the testbed operations, allowing a quick and safe means for testing new control strategies. The NASA/National Bureau of Standards Standard Reference Model for Telerobot Control System Architecture (NASREM) hierarchical control scheme, is being used as the reference standard for system design. All software developed for the testbed, excluding some of simulation workstation software, is being developed in Ada. The testbed is being developed in phases. The first phase, which is nearing completion, and highlights future developments is described.

Schnurr, Rick↗
NASA NTRS1989

A spatial operator algebra for manipulator modeling and control

A recently developed spatial operator algebra, useful for modeling, control, and trajectory design of manipulators is discussed. The elements of this algebra are linear operators whose domain and range spaces consist of forces, moments, velocities, and accelerations. The effect of these operators is equivalent to a spatial recursion along the span of a manipulator. Inversion of operators can be efficiently obtained via techniques of recursive filtering and smoothing. The operator algebra provides a high level framework for describing the dynamic and kinematic behavior of a manipulator and control and trajectory design algorithms. The interpretation of expressions within the algebraic framework leads to enhanced conceptual and physical understanding of manipulator dynamics and kinematics. Furthermore, implementable recursive algorithms can be immediately derived from the abstract operator expressions by inspection. Thus, the transition from an abstract problem formulation and solution to the detailed mechanizaton of specific algorithms is greatly simplified. The analytical formulation of the operator algebra, as well as its implementation in the Ada programming language are discussed.

Rodriguez, G.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A spatial operator algebra for manipulator modeling and control

A powerful new spatial operator algebra for modeling, control, and trajectory design of manipulators is discussed along with its implementation in the Ada programming language. Applications of this algebra to robotics include an operator representation of the manipulator Jacobian matrix; the robot dynamical equations formulated in terms of the spatial algebra, showing the complete equivalence between the recursive Newton-Euler formulations to robot dynamics; the operator factorization and inversion of the manipulator mass matrix which immediately results in O(N) recursive forward dynamics algorithms; the joint accelerations of a manipulator due to a tip contact force; the recursive computation of the equivalent mass matrix as seen at the tip of a manipulator; and recursive forward dynamics of a closed chain system. Finally, additional applications and current research involving the use of the spatial operator algebra are discussed in general terms.

Rodriguez, G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Improving the on-board computing capability of the NASA Multimission Modular Spacecraft

This paper presents the development of onboard computing improvements for NASA's Multimission Modular Spacecraft. The first MMS spacecraft being enhanced by an additional flight computer is the Explorer Platform. The selection process for both the flight hardware (MIL-STD-1750A Co-Processor) and flight software (Ada high level language) are discussed, followed by the lessons learned during the last three years.

Scott, Barbara↗
NASA NTRS1991

Spatial-Operator Algebra For Robotic Manipulators

Report discusses spatial-operator algebra developed in recent studies of mathematical modeling, control, and design of trajectories of robotic manipulators. Provides succinct representation of mathematically complicated interactions among multiple joints and links of manipulator, thereby relieving analyst of most of tedium of detailed algebraic manipulations. Presents analytical formulation of spatial-operator algebra, describes some specific applications, summarizes current research, and discusses implementation of spatial-operator algebra in the Ada programming language.

Rodriguez, Guillermo↗
NASA NTRS1990

Remote voice training: A case study on space shuttle applications, appendix C

The Tile Automation System includes applications of automation and robotics technology to all aspects of the Shuttle tile processing and inspection system. An integrated set of rapid prototyping testbeds was developed which include speech recognition and synthesis, laser imaging systems, distributed Ada programming environments, distributed relational data base architectures, distributed computer network architectures, multi-media workbenches, and human factors considerations. Remote voice training in the Tile Automation System is discussed. The user is prompted over a headset by synthesized speech for the training sequences. The voice recognition units and the voice output units are remote from the user and are connected by Ethernet to the main computer system. A supervisory channel is used to monitor the training sequences. Discussions include the training approaches as well as the human factors problems and solutions for this system utilizing remote training techniques.

Mollakarimi, Cindy↗
NASA NTRS1988

AdaNET research project

The components necessary for the success of the commercialization of an Ada Technology Transition Network are reported in detail. The organizational plan presents the planned structure for services development and technical transition of AdaNET services to potential user communities. The Business Plan is the operational plan for the AdaNET service as a commercial venture. The Technical Plan is the plan from which the AdaNET can be designed including detailed requirements analysis. Also contained is an analysis of user fees and charges, and a proposed user fee schedule.

Digman, R. Michael↗
NASA NTRS1987

A study of System Interface Sets (SIS) for the host, target and integration environments of the Space Station Program (SSP)

System interface sets (SIS) for large, complex, non-stop, distributed systems are examined. The SIS of the Space Station Program (SSP) was selected as the focus of this study because an appropriate virtual interface specification of the SIS is believed to have the most potential to free the project from four life cycle tyrannies which are rooted in a dependance on either a proprietary or particular instance of: operating systems, data management systems, communications systems, and instruction set architectures. The static perspective of the common Ada programming support environment interface set (CAIS) and the portable common execution environment (PCEE) activities are discussed. Also, the dynamic perspective of the PCEE is addressed.

Mckay, Charles↗
NASA NTRS1990

AdaNET research plan

The mission of the AdaNET research effort is to determine how to increase the availability of reusable Ada components and associated software engineering technology to both private and Federal sectors. The effort is structured to define the requirements for transfer of Federally developed software technology, study feasible approaches to meeting the requirements, and to gain experience in applying various technologies and practices. The overall approach to the development of the AdaNET System Specification is presented. A work breakdown structure is presented with each research activity described in detail. The deliverables for each work area are summarized. The overall organization and responsibilities for each research area are described. The schedule and necessary resources are presented for each research activity. The estimated cost is summarized for each activity. The project plan is fully described in the Super Project Expert data file contained on the floppy disk attached to the back cover of this plan.

Mcbride, John G.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Annotated bibliography of software engineering laboratory literature

An annotated bibliography of technical papers, documents, and memorandums produced by or related to the Software Engineering Laboratory is given. More than 100 publications are summarized. These publications cover many areas of software engineering and range from research reports to software documentation. This document has been updated and reorganized substantially since the original version (SEL-82-006, November 1982). All materials have been grouped into eight general subject areas for easy reference: the Software Engineering Laboratory; the Software Engineering Laboratory-software development documents; software tools; software models; software measurement; technology evaluations; Ada technology; and data collection. Subject and author indexes further classify these documents by specific topic and individual author.

Groves, Paula↗
NASA NTRS1990

Collected software engineering papers, volume 8

A collection of selected technical papers produced by participants in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) during the period November 1989 through October 1990 is presented. The purpose of the document is to make available, in one reference, some results of SEL research that originally appeared in a number of different forums. Although these papers cover several topics related to software engineering, they do not encompass the entire scope of SEL activities and interests. Additional information about the SEL and its research efforts may be obtained from the sources listed in the bibliography. The seven presented papers are grouped into four major categories: (1) experimental research and evaluation of software measurement; (2) studies on models for software reuse; (3) a software tool evaluation; and (4) Ada technology and studies in the areas of reuse and specification.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

The role of software engineering in the space station program

Software engineering applications snapshots within the Space Station Freedom Program; software engineering and Ada training; software reuse; hierarchial command and control; program characteristics; integrated, international environments; software production, integration, and management; and integrated simulation environment are outlined in viewgraph format.

Hall, Dana↗
NASA NTRS1991

A framework for building real-time expert systems

The Space Station Freedom is an example of complex systems that require both traditional and artificial intelligence (AI) real-time methodologies. It was mandated that Ada should be used for all new software development projects. The station also requires distributed processing. Catastrophic failures on the station can cause the transmission system to malfunction for a long period of time, during which ground-based expert systems cannot provide any assistance to the crisis situation on the station. This is even more critical for other NASA projects that would have longer transmission delays (e.g., the lunar base, Mars missions, etc.). To address these issues, a distributed agent architecture (DAA) is proposed that can support a variety of paradigms based on both traditional real-time computing and AI. The proposed testbed for DAA is an autonomous power expert (APEX) which is a real-time monitoring and diagnosis expert system for the electrical power distribution system of the space station.

Lee, S. Daniel↗
NASA NTRS1990

A conceptual model for megaprogramming

Megaprogramming is component-based software engineering and life-cycle management. Magaprogramming and its relationship to other research initiatives (common prototyping system/common prototyping language, domain specific software architectures, and software understanding) are analyzed. The desirable attributes of megaprogramming software components are identified and a software development model and resulting prototype megaprogramming system (library interconnection language extended by annotated Ada) are described.

Tracz, Will↗