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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Automated Generation of Tracking Plans for a Network of Communication Antennas

This paper describes the Deep Space Network Antenna Operations Planner (DPLAN), a system for automatically generating antenna tracking plans for an automated set of highly sensitive radio science and telecommunications antennas. DPLAN accepts current equipment configuration information and a set of requested track services and uses a knowledge base of antenna operations procedures to produce a plan of activities to provide the services using the allocated equipment.

Deep↗
NASA NTRS1991

Fully Automatic Guidance and Control for Rotorcraft Nap-of-the-earth Flight Following Planned Profiles. Volume 2: Mathematical Model

Developing a single-pilot, all-weather nap-of-the-earth (NOE) capability requires fully automatic NOE (ANOE) navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are investigated in a four-fold research effort that: (1) organizes the on-board computer-based storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles in course-oriented coordinates indexed to the mission flight plan; (2) defines a class of automatic anticipative pursuit guidance algorithms and necessary data preview requirements to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands dictated by the updated flight profiles; (3) automates a decision-making process for unexpected obstacle avoidance; and (4) provides several rapid response maneuvers. Acquired knowledge from the sensed environment is correlated with the forehand knowledge of the recorded environment (terrain, cultural features, threats, and targets), which is then used to determine an appropriate evasive maneuver if a nonconformity of the sensed and recorded environments is observed. This four-fold research effort was evaluated in both fixed-base and moving-base real-time piloted simulations; thereby, providing a practical demonstration for evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts, supervisory override, manual operation, and re-engagement of the automatic system. Volume one describes the major components of the guidance and control laws as well as the results of the piloted simulations. Volume two describes the complete mathematical model of the fully automatic guidance system for rotorcraft NOE flight following planned flight profiles.

Clement, Warren F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Planning applications in image analysis

We describe two interim results from an ongoing effort to automate the acquisition, analysis, archiving, and distribution of satellite earth science data. Both results are applications of Artificial Intelligence planning research to the automatic generation of processing steps for image analysis tasks. First, we have constructed a linear conditional planner (CPed), used to generate conditional processing plans. Second, we have extended an existing hierarchical planning system to make use of durations, resources, and deadlines, thus supporting the automatic generation of processing steps in time and resource-constrained environments.

Boddy, Mark↗
NASA NTRS1991

Fully automatic guidance and control for rotorcraft nap-of-the-Earth flight following planned profiles. Volume 1: Real-time piloted simulation

Developing a single-pilot, all-weather nap-of-the-earth (NOE) capability requires fully automatic NOE (ANOE) navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are investigated in a four-fold research effort that: (1) organizes the on-board computer-based storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles in course-oriented coordinates indexed to the mission flight plan; (2) defines a class of automatic anticipative pursuit guidance algorithms and necessary data preview requirements to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands dictated by the updated flight profiles; (3) automates a decision-making process for unexpected obstacle avoidance; and (4) provides several rapid response maneuvers. Acquired knowledge from the sensed environment is correlated with the forehand knowledge of the recorded environment (terrain, cultural features, threats, and targets), which is then used to determine an appropriate evasive maneuver if a nonconformity of the sensed and recorded environments is observed. This four-fold research effort was evaluated in both fixed-based and moving-based real-time piloted simulations, thereby, providing a practical demonstration for evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts, supervisory override, manual operation, and re-engagement of the automatic system. Volume one describes the major components of the guidance and control laws as well as the results of the piloted simulations. Volume two describes the complete mathematical model of the fully automatic guidance system for rotorcraft NOE flight following planned flight profiles.

Clement, Warren F.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Distributed computing for autonomous on board planning and sequence validations

We propose a new conceptual approach to system-level autonomy that exploits in a synergistic way recent breakthroughs in three specific areas: automatic generation of embeddable planning and validation software, integration of telecommunications forecaster and planning tools, and fault-tolerant assignment of computing tasks to multiple processors.

autonomy synergy software telecommunications compu↗
NASA NTRS2003

Autonomous Mission Manager for Rendezvous, Inspection and Mating

To meet cost and safety objectives, space missions that involve proximity operations between two vehicles require a high level of autonomy to successfully complete their missions. The need for autonomy is primarily driven by the need to conduct complex operations outside of communication windows, and the communication time delays inherent in space missions. Autonomy also supports the goals of both NASA and the DOD to make space operations more routine, and lower operational costs by reducing the requirement for ground personnel. NASA and the DoD have several programs underway that require a much higher level of autonomy for space vehicles. NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program has ambitious goals of reducing costs by a factor or 10 and improving safety by a factor of 100. DARPA has recently begun its Orbital Express to demonstrate key technologies to make satellite servicing routine. The Air Force's XSS-ll program is developing a protoflight demonstration of an autonomous satellite inspector. A common element in space operations for many NASA and DOD missions is the ability to rendezvous, inspect anclJor dock with another spacecraft. For DARPA, this is required to service or refuel military satellites. For the Air Force, this is required to inspect un-cooperative resident space objects. For NASA, this is needed to meet the primary SLI design reference mission of International Space Station re-supply. A common aspect for each of these programs is an Autonomous Mission Manager that provides highly autonomous planning, execution and monitoring of the rendezvous, inspection and docking operations. This paper provides an overview of the Autonomous Mission Manager (AMM) design being incorporated into many of these technology programs. This AMM provides a highly scalable level of autonomous operations, ranging from automatic execution of ground-derived plans to highly autonomous onboard planning to meet ground developed mission goals. The AMM provides the capability to automatically execute the plans and monitor the system performance. In the event of system dispersions or failures the AMM can modify plans or abort to assure overall system safety. This paper describes the design and functionality of Draper's AMM framework, presents concept of operations associated with the use of the AMM, and outlines the relevant features of the flight demonstrations.

Zimpfer, Douglas J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Fully automatic guidance for rotorcraft nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight following planned profiles

Developing a single-pilot, all-weather nap-of-the-earth (NOE) capability requires fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are being investigated in a fourfold research effort that will culminate in the real-time piloted simulation of promising alternatives for automatic guidance and control of rotorcraft in NOE operations, thereby providing a practical demonstration for evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts.

Gorder, Peter J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Real-time piloted simulation of fully automatic guidance and control for rotorcraft nap-of-the-earth (NOE) flight following planned profiles

Developing a single-pilot all-weather NOE capability requires fully automatic NOE navigation and flight control. Innovative guidance and control concepts are being investigated to (1) organize the onboard computer-based storage and real-time updating of NOE terrain profiles and obstacles; (2) define a class of automatic anticipative pursuit guidance algorithms to follow the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal guidance commands; (3) automate a decision-making process for unexpected obstacle avoidance; and (4) provide several rapid response maneuvers. Acquired knowledge from the sensed environment is correlated with the recorded environment which is then used to determine an appropriate evasive maneuver if a nonconformity is observed. This research effort has been evaluated in both fixed-base and moving-base real-time piloted simulations thereby evaluating pilot acceptance of the automated concepts, supervisory override, manual operation, and reengagement of the automatic system.

Clement, Warren F.↗
NASA NTRS1970

Design and Manufacture of Wheels for A Dual-Mode (Manned - Automatic) Lunar Surface Roving Vehicle. Volume 2: Proposed Test Plan

A developmental test plan for the wheel and wheel drive assembly of the dual-mode (manned/automated) lunar surface roving vehicle is presented. The tests cover performance, as well as critical environmental characteristics. Insofar as practical, the environmental conditions imposed will be in the sequence expected during the hardware's life from storage through the lunar mission. Test procedures are described for static load deflection and endurance tests. Soft soil tests to determine mobility characteristics including drawbar-pull and thrust vs slip, and motion resistance for various wheel loads are also discussed. Test designs for both ambient and thermal vacuum conditions are described. Facility, transducer, and instrumentation requirements are outlined.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

Optimal guidance with obstacle avoidance for nap-of-the-earth flight

The development of automatic guidance is discussed for helicopter Nap-of-the-Earth (NOE) and near-NOE flight. It deals with algorithm refinements relating to automated real-time flight path planning and to mission planning. With regard to path planning, it relates rotorcraft trajectory characteristics to the NOE computation scheme and addresses real-time computing issues and both ride quality issues and pilot-vehicle interfaces. The automated mission planning algorithm refinements include route optimization, automatic waypoint generation, interactive applications, and provisions for integrating the results into the real-time path planning software. A microcomputer based mission planning workstation was developed and is described. Further, the application of Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) digital terrain to both the mission planning workstation and to automatic guidance is both discussed and illustrated.

Pekelsma, Nicholas J.↗
NASA NTRS2021

Scheduling and Operations of the ECOSTRESS Mission

This paper describes the development and use of an automated scheduling system for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) mission. Key to the success of the ECOSTRESS mission has been the use of automated scheduling in mission analysis pre-launch, and in successful operations where automated scheduling was deployed to address several operational challenges. ECOSTRESS uses an adaptation of the Compressed Large-scale Activity Scheduling and Planning (CLASP) system to automatically select science observations respecting area and point target priorities as well as visibility, illumination, onboard storage, and radiation constraints to satisfy high-level prioritized science campaigns. The ECOSTRESS scheduler was used pre-launch to predict the effectiveness of alternative formulations of science campaign definitions accounting for the impact of data volume, keepout, and orbit/illumination/visibility constraints to derive the initial operational science campaign definitions and priorities. The scheduler was then used after instrument checkout for operations. ECOSTRESS has faced multiple operational challenges relating to instrument firmware and hardware, and the scheduler has been updated several times to address these challenges. The instrument Mass Storage Units (MSUs) had operational issues, requiring the scheduler to plan for and schedule commands to handle intricacies of data management. After many months of operations, both MSUs on the instrument became non-functioning and the firmware of the instrument was updated to bypass the MSUs. A further update to the ECOSTRESS scheduler enabled the scheduler to operate in this new operations mode. The ECOSTRESS scheduler has also been updated to improve handling of along-track uncertainty inherent in International Space Station operations. The flexibility and ease of updating of the automated scheduler has been a significant contributor to successful operations of the ECOSTRESS mission.

Padams, Jordan↗
NASA NTRS1987

NASA JSC neural network survey results

A survey of Artificial Neural Systems in support of NASA's (Johnson Space Center) Automatic Perception for Mission Planning and Flight Control Research Program was conducted. Several of the world's leading researchers contributed papers containing their most recent results on artificial neural systems. These papers were broken into categories and descriptive accounts of the results make up a large part of this report. Also included is material on sources of information on artificial neural systems such as books, technical reports, software tools, etc.

Greenwood, Dan↗
NASA NTRS1988

Applying artificial intelligence to astronomical databases - A survey of applicable technology

AI technologies which are relevant to astronomical data bases are reviewed, including intelligent interfaces, internal representations, and data analysis. The natural language query system developed for the Hubble Space Telescope and the technique of goal directed queries are considered. Two technologies which might lead to the development of pictorial interfaces are presented: one based on Bayesian probabilities, the other on associative memories. The development of a data analysis system which can discover classes of data within a data base without any information other than the data itself is examined. A prototype data analysis assistant to automatically develop and implement plans for data reduction is described.

Rosenthal, Donald A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Path planning algorithms for assembly sequence planning

Planning for manipulation in complex environments often requires reasoning about the geometric and mechanical constraints which are posed by the task. In planning assembly operations, the automatic generation of operations sequences depends on the geometric feasibility of paths which permit parts to be joined into subassemblies. Feasible locations and collision-free paths must be present for part motions, robot and grasping motions, and fixtures. This paper describes an approach to reasoning about the feasibility of straight-line paths among three-dimensional polyhedral parts using an algebra of polyhedral cones. A second method recasts the feasibility conditions as constraints in a nonlinear optimization framework. Both algorithms have been implemented and results are presented.

Krishnan, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Automated fault-management in a simulated spaceflight micro-world

BACKGROUND: As human spaceflight missions extend in duration and distance from Earth, a self-sufficient crew will bear far greater onboard responsibility and authority for mission success. This will increase the need for automated fault management (FM). Human factors issues in the use of such systems include maintenance of cognitive skill, situational awareness (SA), trust in automation, and workload. This study examine the human performance consequences of operator use of intelligent FM support in interaction with an autonomous, space-related, atmospheric control system. METHODS: An expert system representing a model-base reasoning agent supported operators at a low level of automation (LOA) by a computerized fault finding guide, at a medium LOA by an automated diagnosis and recovery advisory, and at a high LOA by automate diagnosis and recovery implementation, subject to operator approval or veto. Ten percent of the experimental trials involved complete failure of FM support. RESULTS: Benefits of automation were reflected in more accurate diagnoses, shorter fault identification time, and reduced subjective operator workload. Unexpectedly, fault identification times deteriorated more at the medium than at the high LOA during automation failure. Analyses of information sampling behavior showed that offloading operators from recovery implementation during reliable automation enabled operators at high LOA to engage in fault assessment activities CONCLUSIONS: The potential threat to SA imposed by high-level automation, in which decision advisories are automatically generated, need not inevitably be counteracted by choosing a lower LOA. Instead, freeing operator cognitive resources by automatic implementation of recover plans at a higher LOA can promote better fault comprehension, so long as the automation interface is designed to support efficient information sampling.

NASA Discipline Space Human Factors↗
NASA NTRS2010

Centralized Alert-Processing and Asset Planning for Sensorwebs

A software program provides a Sensorweb architecture for alert-processing, event detection, asset allocation and planning, and visualization. It automatically tasks and re-tasks various types of assets such as satellites and robotic vehicles in response to alerts (fire, weather) extracted from various data sources, including low-level Webcam data. JPL has adapted cons iderable Sensorweb infrastructure that had been previously applied to NASA Earth Science applications. This NASA Earth Science Sensorweb has been in operational use since 2003, and has proven reliability of the Sensorweb technologies for robust event detection and autonomous response using space and ground assets. Unique features of the software include flexibility to a range of detection and tasking methods including those that require aggregation of data over spatial and temporal ranges, generality of the response structure to represent and implement a range of response campaigns, and the ability to respond rapidly.

Castano, Rebecca↗
NASA NTRS2012

Onboard Science and Applications Algorithm for Hyperspectral Data Reduction

An onboard processing mission concept is under development for a possible Direct Broadcast capability for the HyspIRI mission, a Hyperspectral remote sensing mission under consideration for launch in the next decade. The concept would intelligently spectrally and spatially subsample the data as well as generate science products onboard to enable return of key rapid response science and applications information despite limited downlink bandwidth. This rapid data delivery concept focuses on wildfires and volcanoes as primary applications, but also has applications to vegetation, coastal flooding, dust, and snow/ice applications. Operationally, the HyspIRI team would define a set of spatial regions of interest where specific algorithms would be executed. For example, known coastal areas would have certain products or bands downlinked, ocean areas might have other bands downlinked, and during fire seasons other areas would be processed for active fire detections. Ground operations would automatically generate the mission plans specifying the highest priority tasks executable within onboard computation, setup, and data downlink constraints. The spectral bands of the TIR (thermal infrared) instrument can accurately detect the thermal signature of fires and send down alerts, as well as the thermal and VSWIR (visible to short-wave infrared) data corresponding to the active fires. Active volcanism also produces a distinctive thermal signature that can be detected onboard to enable spatial subsampling. Onboard algorithms and ground-based algorithms suitable for onboard deployment are mature. On HyspIRI, the algorithm would perform a table-driven temperature inversion from several spectral TIR bands, and then trigger downlink of the entire spectrum for each of the hot pixels identified. Ocean and coastal applications include sea surface temperature (using a small spectral subset of TIR data, but requiring considerable ancillary data), and ocean color applications to track biological activity such as harmful algal blooms. Measuring surface water extent to track flooding is another rapid response product leveraging VSWIR spectral information.

Chien, Steve A.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Space Shuttle stability and control test plan

The development of a completely automatic flight test program to test different aspects of the Shuttle flight capability during reentries is described. Data from each flight to date has been employed to devise a sequence of maneuvers which will be keyboard-punched into the Orbiter control system by the astronauts during entry phases of flight. Details of the interaction and cooperation of the Orbiter elevons and bodyflap to provide the vehicle with latitudinal and longitudinal directional control and trim are outlined. Uncertainties predicted for the control of the Orbiter during wind tunnel testing prior to actual flights have been adjusted to actual flight data, leading to the identification of actual flight regimes which need further investigation. Maneuvers scheduled for flights 5-9 are reviewed.

Cooke, D. R.↗