Java for flight software
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This paper describes the new process used by the Project Design Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the identification, assessment and communication of risk elements throughout the lifecycle of a mission design. This process includes a software tool, 'RAP' that collects and communicates risk information between the various designers and a 'risk expert' who mediates this process. The establishment of this process is an attempt towards the systematic consideration of risk in the design decision making process. Using this process, we are able to better keep track of the risks associated with the design decisions. Furthermore, it helps us develop better risk profiles for the studies under consideration. We aim to refine and expand the current process to enable more thorough risk analysis capabilities in the future.
For sustainable Exploration Missions the need exists to assemble systems-of-systems in space, on the Moon or on other planetary surfaces. To fulfill this need new and innovative system architectures must be developed to be modularized and launched with the present lift capability of existing rocket technology. To enable long duration missions with minimal redundancy and mass, system software and hardware must be reconfigurable. This will enable increased functionality and multiple use of launched assets while providing the capability to quickly overcome components failures. Additional required capability includes the ability to dynamically demate and reassemble individual system elements during a mission in order to recover from failed hardware or to adapt to changes in mission requirements. To meet the Space Exploration goals of Interoperability and Reconfigurability, many challenges must be addressed to transform the traditional static avionics architectures into architectures with dynamic capabilities. The objective of this paper is to introduce concepts associated with reconfigurable computer systems; to review the various needs and challenges associated with reconfigurable avionics space systems; to provide an operational example that illustrates the application to both the Crew Exploration Vehicle and a collection of 'Habot-like' mobile surface elements; to summarize the approaches that address key challenges to the acceptance of a Flexible, Intelligent, Modular, Affordable and Reconfigurable avionics space system.
We describe a framework for model-based analysis and test case generation in the context of a heterogeneous model-based development paradigm that uses and combines Math- Works and UML 2.0 models and the associated code generation tools. This paradigm poses novel challenges to analysis and test case generation that, to the best of our knowledge, have not been addressed before. The framework is based on a common intermediate representation for different modeling formalisms and leverages and extends model checking and symbolic execution tools for model analysis and test case generation, respectively. We discuss the application of our framework to software models for a NASA flight mission.
The Exploration Medical Capability project is creating a catalog of risk assessments using the Integrated Medical Model (IMM). The IMM is a software-based system intended to assist mission planners in preparing for spaceflight missions by helping them to make informed decisions about medical preparations and supplies needed for combating and treating various medical events using Probabilistic Risk Assessment. The objective is to use statistical analyses to inform the IMM decision tool with estimated probabilities of medical events occurring during an exploration mission. Because data regarding astronaut health are limited, Bayesian statistical analysis is used. Bayesian inference combines prior knowledge, such as data from the general U.S. population, the U.S. Submarine Force, or the analog astronaut population located at the NASA Johnson Space Center, with observed data for the medical condition of interest. The posterior results reflect the best evidence for specific medical events occurring in flight. Bayes theorem provides a formal mechanism for combining available observed data with data from similar studies to support the quantification process. The IMM team performed Bayesian updates on the following medical events: angina, appendicitis, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, dental abscess, dental caries, dental periodontal disease, gallstone disease, herpes zoster, renal stones, seizure, and stroke.
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The Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) is currently developing and testing Goddard s Natural Feature Image Recognition (GNFIR) software for autonomous rendezvous and docking missions. GNFIR has flight heritage and is still being developed and tailored for future missions with non-cooperative targets: (1) DEXTRE Pointing Package System on the International Space Station, (2) Relative Navigation System (RNS) on the Space Shuttle for the fourth Hubble Servicing Mission.
Phxtelemproc is a C/C++ based telemetry processing program that processes SFDU telemetry packets from the Telemetry Data System (TDS). It generates Experiment Data Records (EDRs) for several instruments including surface stereo imager (SSI); robotic arm camera (RAC); robotic arm (RA); microscopy, electrochemistry, and conductivity analyzer (MECA); and the optical microscope (OM). It processes both uncompressed and compressed telemetry, and incorporates unique subroutines for the following compression algorithms: JPEG Arithmetic, JPEG Huffman, Rice, LUT3, RA, and SX4. This program was in the critical path for the daily command cycle of the Phoenix mission. The products generated by this program were part of the RA commanding process, as well as the SSI, RAC, OM, and MECA image and science analysis process. Its output products were used to advance science of the near polar regions of Mars, and were used to prove that water is found in abundance there. Phxtelemproc is part of the MIPL (Multi-mission Image Processing Laboratory) system. This software produced Level 1 products used to analyze images returned by in situ spacecraft. It ultimately assisted in operations, planning, commanding, science, and outreach.
The field of Avionics is advancing far more rapidly in terrestrial applications than in spaceflight applications. Spaceflight Avionics are not keeping pace with expectations set by terrestrial experience, nor are they keeping pace with the need for increasingly complex automation and crew interfaces as we move beyond Low Earth Orbit. NASA must take advantage of the strides being made by both space-related and terrestrial industries to drive our development and sustaining costs down. This paper describes ongoing efforts by the Avionics Architectures for Exploration (AAE) project chartered by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program to evaluate new avionic architectures and technologies, provide objective comparisons of them, and mature selected technologies for flight and for use by other AES projects. The AAE project team includes members from most NASA centers, and from industry. It is our intent to develop a common core avionic system that has standard capabilities and interfaces, and contains the basic elements and functionality needed for any spacecraft. This common core will be scalable and tailored to specific missions. It will incorporate hardware and software from multiple vendors, and be upgradeable in order to infuse incremental capabilities and new technologies. It will maximize the use of reconfigurable open source software (e.g., Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC's) Core Flight Software (CFS)). Our long-term focus is on improving functionality, reliability, and autonomy, while reducing size, weight, and power. Where possible, we will leverage terrestrial commercial capabilities to drive down development and sustaining costs. We will select promising technologies for evaluation, compare them in an objective manner, and mature them to be available for future programs. The remainder of this paper describes our approach, technical areas of emphasis, integrated test experience and results as of mid-2014, and future plans. As a part of the AES Program, we are encouraged to set aggressive goals and fall short if necessary, rather than to set our sights too low. We are also asked to emphasize providing our personnel with hands-on experience in development, integration, and testing. That we have embraced both of these philosophies will be evident in the descriptions below.
The Avionics Technology Roadmap takes an 80% approach to technology investment in spacecraft avionics. It delineates a suite of technologies covering foundational, component, and subsystem-levels, which directly support 80% of future NASA space mission needs. The roadmap eschews high cost, limited utility technologies in favor of lower cost, and broadly applicable technologies with high return on investment. The roadmap is also phased to support future NASA mission needs and desires, with a view towards creating an optimized investment portfolio that matures specific, high impact technologies on a schedule that matches optimum insertion points of these technologies into NASA missions. The roadmap looks out over 15+ years and covers some 114 technologies, 58 of which are targeted for TRL6 within 5 years, with 23 additional technologies to be at TRL6 by 2020. Of that number, only a few are recommended for near term investment: 1. Rad Hard High Performance Computing 2. Extreme temperature capable electronics and packaging 3. RFID/SAW-based spacecraft sensors and instruments 4. Lightweight, low power 2D displays suitable for crewed missions 5. Radiation tolerant Graphics Processing Unit to drive crew displays 6. Distributed/reconfigurable, extreme temperature and radiation tolerant, spacecraft sensor controller and sensor modules 7. Spacecraft to spacecraft, long link data communication protocols 8. High performance and extreme temperature capable C&DH subsystem In addition, the roadmap team recommends several other activities that it believes are necessary to advance avionics technology across NASA: center dot Engage the OCT roadmap teams to coordinate avionics technology advances and infusion into these roadmaps and their mission set center dot Charter a team to develop a set of use cases for future avionics capabilities in order to decouple this roadmap from specific missions center dot Partner with the Software Steering Committee to coordinate computing hardware and software technology roadmaps and investment recommendations center dot Continue monitoring foundational technologies upon which future avionics technologies will be dependent, e.g., RHBD and COTS semiconductor technologies
New online prototypes have been developed to extend and enhance the previous effort by facilitating investigation of product characteristics and intercomparison of precipitation products in different algorithms as well as in different versions at different spatial scales ranging from local to global without downloading data and software. Several popular Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) products and the TRMM Composite Climatology are included. In addition, users can download customized data in several popular formats for further analysis. Examples show product quality problems and differences in several monthly precipitation products. It is seen that differences in daily and monthly precipitation products are distributed unevenly in space and it is necessary to have tools such as those presented here for customized and detailed investigations. A simple time series and two area maps allow the discovery of abnormal values of 3A25 in one of the months. An example shows a V-shaped valley issue in the Version 6 3B43 time series and another example shows a sudden drop in 3A25 monthly rain rate, all of which provide important information when the products are used for long-term trend studies. Future plans include adding more products and statistical functionality in the prototypes.
The Advanced Multi-Mission Operations Systems (AMMOS) is NASA's premier space mission operations product line offering for use in deep-space robotic and astrophysics missions. The general approach to AMMOS modernization over the course of its 29-year history exemplifies a continual, evolutionary approach with periods of sponsor investment peaks and valleys in between. Today, the Multimission Ground Systems and Services (MGSS) office-the program office that manages the AMMOS for NASA-actively pursues modernization initiatives and continues to evolve the AMMOS by incorporating enhanced capabilities and newer technologies into its end-user tool and service offerings. Despite the myriad of modernization investments that have been made over the evolutionary course of the AMMOS, pain points remain. These pain points, based on interviews with numerous flight project mission operations personnel, can be classified principally into two major categories: 1) information-related issues, and 2) process-related issues. By information-related issues, we mean pain points associated with the management and flow of MOS data across the various system interfaces. By process-related issues, we mean pain points associated with the MOS activities performed by mission operators (i.e., humans) and supporting software infrastructure used in support of those activities. In this paper, three foundational concepts-Timeline, Closed Loop Control, and Separation of Concerns-collectively form the basis for expressing a set of core architectural tenets that provides a multifaceted approach to AMMOS system architecture modernization intended to address the information- and process-related issues. Each of these architectural tenets will be further explored in this paper. Ultimately, we envision the application of these core tenets resulting in a unified vision of a future-state architecture for the AMMOS-one that is intended to result in a highly adaptable, highly efficient, and highly cost-effective set of multimission MOS products and services.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Dictionary Management System is a web-based tool to develop and store a mission dictionary. A mission dictionary defines the interface between a ground system and a spacecraft. In recent years, mission dictionaries have grown in size and scope, making it difficult for engineers across multiple disciplines to coordinate the dictionary development effort. The Dictionary Management Systemaddresses these issues by placing all dictionary information in one place, taking advantage of the efficiencies inherent in co-locating what were once disparate dictionary development efforts.
Two widely accepted techniques for lowering the cost and risk of developing systems are (1) the use of a defined systems engineering (SE) process or methodology and (2) the reuse of existing (previously built) system components. The first technique is represented, for example, in materials published by NASA (e.g., NASA Systems Engineering Handbook) or by professional societies such as INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering). Well-formed SE techniques provide value by establishing the proper scope of the system (e.g., requirements), and by identifying and resolving problems relatively early in project lifecycles, when fixes are less expensive. The second technique (reuse) is applied most commonly to hardware and software; it seeks to avoid replicating design and implementation costs while also reducing risk by placing proven capabilities into operational use. In this paper, we outline a methodology combining these two techniques and extending reuse beyond hardware and software to foundational aspects of a Mission Operation System’s (MOS) design. We describe the system design artifacts that result (e.g., requirements, design documentation), as well as the reusable patterns and elements of the design, and their interrelationships. This approach is enabled by model-based systems engineering (MBSE) techniques and tools and is currently available in SysML form as a plug-in to MagicDraw. Additionally, usage of a rigorous MBSE approach allows for training materials and tutorials to be packaged within the overall model itself. The results of such an approach include decreased cost and risk during the design phase, improved ability of the MOS development team to investigate trade spaces and identify impacts to important flight-ground trade studies. Such results extend into decreased costs and risk in later phases due to improved design, decreased need for late fixes or development of "glue-ware" or scripts to fill unanticipated gaps in functionality, and improved ability to identify and plan testing and other validation activities. Finally, lower operational costs can be expected, both due to improved quality of the MOS, increased ease of maintaining updated knowledge of system configuration, and the fact that training and procedural materials are also updated at the same time as accepted system changes.
A simulation and analysis approach is introduced for verification of attitude control flight software performance in a deep space mission.
This paper summarizes work in progress in three different areas: 1) a framework for the design of higly reliable and higly available space avionics systems; 2) distributed reliable computing architecture; and 3) Guarded Software Upgrading (GSU) techniques for software upgrading during long-term missions such as the Pluto/Kuiper missions.
The Operations Engineering Lab (OEL) at JPL has developed a software architecture based on an integrated toolkit approach for simplifying and automating mission operations tasks. The toolkit approach is based on building adaptable, reusable graphical tools that are integrated through a combination of libraries, scripts, and system-level user interface shells. The graphical interface shells are designed to integrate and visually guide a user through the complex steps in an operations process. They provide a user with an integrated system-level picture of an overall process, defining the required inputs and possible outputs through interactive on-screen graphics.