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At least 55 records · Page 3

Experiences From NASA/Langley's DMSS Project

There is a trend in institutions with high performance computing and data management requirements to explore mass storage systems with peripherals directly attached to a high speed network. The Distributed Mass Storage System (DMSS) Project at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has placed such a system into production use. This paper will present the experiences, both good and bad, we have had with this system since putting it into production usage. The system is comprised of: 1) National Storage Laboratory (NSL)/UniTree 2.1, 2) IBM 9570 HIPPI attached disk arrays (both RAID 3 and RAID 5), 3) IBM RS6000 server, 4) HIPPI/IPI3 third party transfers between the disk array systems and the supercomputer clients, a CRAY Y-MP and a CRAY 2, 5) a "warm spare" file server, 6) transition software to convert from CRAY's Data Migration Facility (DMF) based system to DMSS, 7) an NSC PS32 HIPPI switch, and 8) a STK 4490 robotic library accessed from the IBM RS6000 block mux interface. This paper will cover: the performance of the DMSS in the following areas: file transfer rates, migration and recall, and file manipulation (listing, deleting, etc.); the appropriateness of a workstation class of file server for NSL/UniTree with LaRC's present storage requirements in mind the role of the third party transfers between the supercomputers and the DMSS disk array systems in DMSS; a detailed comparison (both in performance and functionality) between the DMF and DMSS systems LaRC's enhancements to the NSL/UniTree system administration environment the mechanism for DMSS to provide file server redundancy the statistics on the availability of DMSS the design and experiences with the locally developed transparent transition software which allowed us to make over 1.5 million DMF files available to NSL/UniTree with minimal system outage

Source record↗

Performance Analysis of the Unitree Central File

This report consists of two parts. The first part briefly comments on the documentation status of two major systems at NASA#s Center for Computational Sciences, specifically the Cray C98 and the Convex C3830. The second part describes the work done on improving the performance of file transfers between the Unitree Mass Storage System running on the Convex file server and the users workstations distributed over a large georgraphic area.

Pentakalos, Odysseas I.↗

A software toolbox for robotics

A system of programs was developed to simulate the concurrent command/response interaction between a parallel jaw end effector and the LISP program controlling it. The overall structure of the simulation system was described in a paper submitted to the IEEE Conference on Automation and Robotics. A user's guide for the system was written. A line numbering program on the VAX (Pascal), a program for aiding in file transfer from the VAX to an LSI11 over the RTNET (FORTRAN), and a file scanning program (a crude SCAN) for the LSI11 (FORTRAN) were also developed.

Bynum, W. L.↗

An Agent-Based Interface to Terrestrial Ecological Forecasting

The latest generation of NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites has brought a new dimension to continuous monitoring of the living part of the Earth System, the biosphere. EOS data can now provide weekly global measures of vegetation productivity and ocean chlorophyll, and many related biophysical factors such as land cover changes or snowmelt rates. However, the highest economic value would come from forecasting impending conditions of the biosphere, to allow decision makers to mitigate dangers or exploit positive trends. NASA's strategic plan for the Earth Science Enterprise i d e n a s ecological forecasting as a focus for research. Ecological forecasting predicts the effects of changes in the physical, chemical and biological environment on ecosystem activity. Possible applications of such a system include predicting shortfalls or bumper crops of agricultural production, populations of threatened or invasive species or wildfire danger in time to allow improves preparation and logistical efficiency. Petabytes of remote sensing data are now available to help measure, understand and forecast changes in the Earth system, but using these data effectively can be surprisingly hard. The volume and variety of data files and formats are daunting. Simple data management activities, such as locating and transferring files, changing file formats, gridding point data, and scaling and reprojecting gridded data, can consume far more personnel time and resources than the actual data analysis. Some scientists commit to a particular data source or resolution just because using anything different would be more effort that it's worth. Better tools can help, but most of the tools developed to date are little more than shell scripts; they lack the flexibility to meet the diverse needs of users and are difficult to extend to handle changes in available data sources.

Golden, Keith↗

Fortran Program for X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy Data Reformatting

A FORTRAN program has been written for use on an IBM PC/XT or AT or compatible microcomputer (personal computer, PC) that converts a column of ASCII-format numbers into a binary-format file suitable for interactive analysis on a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) computer running the VGS-5000 Enhanced Data Processing (EDP) software package. The incompatible floating-point number representations of the two computers were compared, and a subroutine was created to correctly store floating-point numbers on the IBM PC, which can be directly read by the DEC computer. Any file transfer protocol having provision for binary data can be used to transmit the resulting file from the PC to the DEC machine. The data file header required by the EDP programs for an x ray photoelectron spectrum is also written to the file. The user is prompted for the relevant experimental parameters, which are then properly coded into the format used internally by all of the VGS-5000 series EDP packages.

Abel, Phillip B.↗

An Evaluation of TCP with Larger Initial Windows

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP's) slow start algorithm gradually increases the amount of data a sender injects into the network, which prevents the sender from overwhelming the network with an inappropriately large burst of traffic. However, the slow start algorithm can make poor use of the available band-width for transfers which are small compared to the bandwidth-delay product of the link, such as file transfers up to few thousand characters over satellite links or even transfers of several hundred bytes over local area networks. This paper evaluates a proposed performance enhancement that raises the initial window used by TCP from 1 MSS-sized segment to roughly 4 KB. The paper evaluates the impact of using larger initial windows on TCP transfers over both the shared Internet and dialup modem links.

Allman, Mark↗

Autonomous Data Transfer Operations for Missions

Automating the data transfer operation can significantly reduce the cost of moving data from a spacecraft to a location on Earth. Automated data transfer methods have been developed for the terrestrial Internet. However, they often do not apply to the space environment, since in general they are based on assumptions about connectivity that are true on the Internet but not on space links. Automated file transfer protocols have been developed for use over space links that transfer data via store-and-forward of files or segments of files. This paper investigates some of the operational concepts made possible by these protocols.

Repaci, Max↗

Zebra: A striped network file system

The design of Zebra, a striped network file system, is presented. Zebra applies ideas from log-structured file system (LFS) and RAID research to network file systems, resulting in a network file system that has scalable performance, uses its servers efficiently even when its applications are using small files, and provides high availability. Zebra stripes file data across multiple servers, so that the file transfer rate is not limited by the performance of a single server. High availability is achieved by maintaining parity information for the file system. If a server fails its contents can be reconstructed using the contents of the remaining servers and the parity information. Zebra differs from existing striped file systems in the way it stripes file data: Zebra does not stripe on a per-file basis; instead it stripes the stream of bytes written by each client. Clients write to the servers in units called stripe fragments, which are analogous to segments in an LFS. Stripe fragments contain file blocks that were written recently, without regard to which file they belong. This method of striping has numerous advantages over per-file striping, including increased server efficiency, efficient parity computation, and elimination of parity update.

Hartman, John H.↗

Reliable transfer of data from ground to space

This paper describes the problems involved in uplink of data from control centers on the ground to spacecraft, and explores the solutions to those problems, past. present. and future. The evolution of this process, from simple commanding to transfer of large volumes of data and commands is traced. The need for reliable end-to-end protocols for commanding and file transfer is demonstrated, and the shortcomings of both existing telecommand protocols and commercial products to meet this need are discussed. Recent developments in commercial protocols that may be adaptable to the mentioned operations environment are surveyed, and current efforts to develop a suite of protocols for reliable transfer in this environment are presented.

Brosi, Fred↗

Enhancing the IGS Data and Products Infrastructure: A Data Center Perspective

The Data Transfer and Data Centers session will present papers on current data center activities as well as various topics geared towards enhancing the availability and acquisition of International Global Positions System Service (IGS) data and products. These topics include: strategies for reducing data file latency at IGS Data Centers, standardization of data file replacement notification methods, improving the efficiency of data file transfer among IGS Data Centers, and defining a network topology for GPS data files for use in applications.

Scharber, Michael↗

Computer Software Configuration Item-Specific Flight Software Image Transfer Script Generator

A K-shell UNIX script enables the International Space Station (ISS) Flight Control Team (FCT) operators in NASA s Mission Control Center (MCC) in Houston to transfer an entire or partial computer software configuration item (CSCI) from a flight software compact disk (CD) to the onboard Portable Computer System (PCS). The tool is designed to read the content stored on a flight software CD and generate individual CSCI transfer scripts that are capable of transferring the flight software content in a given subdirectory on the CD to the scratch directory on the PCS. The flight control team can then transfer the flight software from the PCS scratch directory to the Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) of an ISS Multiplexer/ Demultiplexer (MDM) via the Indirect File Transfer capability. The individual CSCI scripts and the CSCI Specific Flight Software Image Transfer Script Generator (CFITSG), when executed a second time, will remove all components from their original execution. The tool will identify errors in the transfer process and create logs of the transferred software for the purposes of configuration management.

Bolen, Kenny↗

Cassini-Huygens maneuver automation for navigation

Many times during the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, propulsive maneuvers must be spaced so closely together that there isn't enough time or workforce to execute the maneuver-related software manually, one subsystem at a time. Automation is required. Automating the maneuver design process has involved close cooperation between teams. We present the contribution from the Navigation system. In scope, this includes trajectory propagation and search, generation of ephemerides, general tasks such as email notification and file transfer, and presentation materials. The software has been used to help understand maneuver optimization results, Huygens probe delivery statistics, and Saturn ring-plane crossing geometry. The Maneuver Automation Software (MAS), developed for the Cassini-Huygens program enables frequent maneuvers by handling mundane tasks such as creation of deliverable files, file delivery, generation and transmission of email announcements, generation of presentation material and other supporting documentation. By hand, these tasks took up hours, if not days, of work for each maneuver. Automated, these tasks may be completed in under an hour. During the cruise trajectory the spacing of maneuvers was such that development of a maneuver design could span about a month, involving several other processes in addition to that described, above. Often, about the last five days of this process covered the generation of a final design using an updated orbit-determination estimate. To support the tour trajectory, the orbit determination data cut-off of five days before the maneuver needed to be reduced to approximately one day and the whole maneuver development process needed to be reduced to less than a week..

propulsion maneuvers↗

Simple, Script-Based Science Processing Archive

The Simple, Scalable, Script-based Science Processing (S4P) Archive (S4PA) is a disk-based archival system for remote sensing data. It is based on the data-driven framework of S4P and is used for data transfer, data preprocessing, metadata generation, data archive, and data distribution. New data are automatically detected by the system. S4P provides services such as data access control, data subscription, metadata publication, data replication, and data recovery. It comprises scripts that control the data flow. The system detects the availability of data on an FTP (file transfer protocol) server, initiates data transfer, preprocesses data if necessary, and archives it on readily available disk drives with FTP and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) access, allowing instantaneous data access. There are options for plug-ins for data preprocessing before storage. Publication of metadata to external applications such as the Earth Observing System Clearinghouse (ECHO) is also supported. S4PA includes a graphical user interface for monitoring the system operation and a tool for deploying the system. To ensure reliability, S4P continuously checks stored data for integrity, Further reliability is provided by tape backups of disks made once a disk partition is full and closed. The system is designed for low maintenance, requiring minimal operator oversight.

Lynnes, Christopher↗

Lessons Learned from Daily Uplink Operations during the Deep Impact Mission

The daily preparation of uplink products (commands and files) for Deep Impact was as problematic as the final encounter images were spectacular. The operations team was faced with many challenges during the six-month mission to comet Tempel One of the biggest difficulties was that the Deep Impact Flyby and Impactor vehicles necessitated a high volume of uplink products while also utilizing a new uplink file transfer capability. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Multi-Mission Ground Systems and Services (MGSS) Mission Planning and Sequence Team (MPST) had the responsibility of preparing the uplink products for use on the two spacecraft. These responsibilities included processing nearly 15,000 flight products, modeling the states of the spacecraft during all activities for subsystem review, and ensuring that the proper commands and files were uplinked to the spacecraft. To guarantee this transpired and the health and safety of the two spacecraft were not jeopardized several new ground scripts and procedures were developed while the Deep Impact Flyby and Impactor spacecraft were en route to their encounter with Tempel-1. These scripts underwent several adaptations throughout the entire mission up until three days before the separation of the Flyby and Impactor vehicles. The problems presented by Deep Impact's daily operations and the development of scripts and procedures to ease those challenges resulted in several valuable lessons learned. These lessons are now being integrated into the design of current and future MGSS missions at JPL.

uplink↗

Handling Input and Output for COAMPS

Two suites of software have been developed to handle the input and output of the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Prediction System (COAMPS), which is a regional atmospheric model developed by the Navy for simulating and predicting weather. Typically, the initial and boundary conditions for COAMPS are provided by a flat-file representation of the Navy s global model. Additional algorithms are needed for running the COAMPS software using global models. One of the present suites satisfies this need for running COAMPS using the Global Forecast System (GFS) model of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The first step in running COAMPS downloading of GFS data from an Internet file-transfer-protocol (FTP) server computer of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) is performed by one of the programs (SSC-00273) in this suite. The GFS data, which are in gridded binary (GRIB) format, are then changed to a COAMPS-compatible format by another program in the suite (SSC-00278). Once a forecast is complete, still another program in the suite (SSC-00274) sends the output data to a different server computer. The second suite of software (SSC- 00275) addresses the need to ingest up-to-date land-use-and-land-cover (LULC) data into COAMPS for use in specifying typical climatological values of such surface parameters as albedo, aerodynamic roughness, and ground wetness. This suite includes (1) a program to process LULC data derived from observations by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellites, (2) programs to derive new climatological parameters for the 17-land-use-category MODIS data; and (3) a modified version of a FORTRAN subroutine to be used by COAMPS. The MODIS data files are processed to reformat them into a compressed American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format used by COAMPS for efficient processing.

Fitzpatrick, Patrick↗

TMS communications software. Volume 1: Computer interfaces

A prototype bus communications system, which is being used to support the Trend Monitoring System (TMS) as well as for evaluation of the bus concept is considered. Hardware and software interfaces to the MODCOMP and NOVA minicomputers are included. The system software required to drive the interfaces in each TMS computer is described. Documentation of other software for bus statistics monitoring and for transferring files across the bus is also included.

Brown, J. S.↗

Optimum Cyclic Redundancy Codes for Noisier Channels

Binary cyclic redundancy codes for feedback communication over noisy digital links are considered. The standard 16 bit American Data and Computer Communication Protocol (ADCCP) polynomial is designed for digital links which already have a low input bit error probability. For file transfer between personal computers over telephone circuits, the quality of resulting digital circuit may be much lower. The 3 byte (24 bit) and 4 byte (32 bit) polynomials are considered. Generator polynomials of a certain class have minimum weight and yet achieve the bound on minimum distance for arbitrary codes. Particular choices for 24 bit and 32 bit redundancies are exhibited: of weight and distance 6 in the 24-bit case; and weight 10 and distance 8 in the 32-bit case.

Merkey, P.↗

Minimum-distance Problems in Protocol Design

Codes for use in personal computer file transfer as control characters, when only upper-case ASCII can be used to avoid dependence on unique machine features and promote portability. If ten control functions are needed, a number used in at least one protocol, a subset of ten upper-case ASCII characters with good distance properties is sought. The control functions form themselves naturally into three groups, one of two functions (ACK and NAK) and two of four. The aim is to make ACK and NAK as antipodal as possible (distance 6), make the distances within each of the other groups as large as possible (4), and otherwise have as few 2's in the distance table as possible, recognizing that only even distances can occur. The minimum and an assignment that attains the minimum are found. The code is essentially unique. The analogous problem for two groups of three control functions and one group of four is also solved.

Posner, E. C.↗