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NASA NTRS1997

Visualization of IACG data

The common data format (CDF), adopted by the international solar terrestrial physics (ISTP) program and the Interagency Consultative Group (IACG), is considered. Extensive data sharing and data analysis are needed to ensure the success of the ISTP/IACG program. The CDF user guidelines and tools for creation, visualization and manipulation are underlined. Computer software applications based on CDF data sets and designed using ISTP/IACG guidelines are shown.

Kessel, Ramona L.↗

NASA NTRS2006

The Synergistic Engineering Environment

The Synergistic Engineering Environment (SEE) is a system of software dedicated to aiding the understanding of space mission operations. The SEE can integrate disparate sets of data with analytical capabilities, geometric models of spacecraft, and a visualization environment, all contributing to the creation of an interactive simulation of spacecraft. Initially designed to satisfy needs pertaining to the International Space Station, the SEE has been broadened in scope to include spacecraft ranging from those in low orbit around the Earth to those on deep-space missions. The SEE includes analytical capabilities in rigid-body dynamics, kinematics, orbital mechanics, and payload operations. These capabilities enable a user to perform real-time interactive engineering analyses focusing on diverse aspects of operations, including flight attitudes and maneuvers, docking of visiting spacecraft, robotic operations, impingement of spacecraft-engine exhaust plumes, obscuration of instrumentation fields of view, communications, and alternative assembly configurations. .

Cruz, Jonathan↗

NASA NTRS2020

Evaluation of Low Cost, User-Centered Alerting Devices for the Mitigation of Flight Crew Spatial Disorientation

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting research into technologies which have the potential to reduce flight crew Spatial Disorientation (SD). While flight deck technology has advanced rapidly over the past fifty (50) years, the reported occurrences of flight crew SD have not decreased. The Cost-Effective Devices for Alerting Research (CEDAR) effort has focused on the identification and development of low cost, user-centered alerting solutions for the purpose of mitigating the occurrence of flight crew SD. This effort seeks to evaluate both existing technologies as well as new and emerging technologies which have a viable path to implementation in commercial aviation within the next five (5) years. This research is intended to develop a proof-of-concept for real-time SD mitigation which could eventually be utilized to improve safety in future air transport operations. NASA has partnered with the United States Naval Aeromedical Research Unit in Dayton, OH (NAMRU-D) to conduct flight crew SD research utilizing their Disorientation Research Device (DRD), dubbed “The Kraken”. This high-tech simulator features never-before-seen capabilities for side-by-side commercial aviation flight crew SD research, and is capable of re-creating the forces necessary to induce SD illusions in a safe and repeatable manner. Prototype SD mitigation solutions were incorporated into this simulator for scenario-based testing and evaluation using airline pilots within a contextually representative operational environment. SD mitigation technology prototypes designed to provide haptic feedback for both alerting and guidance, as well as innovative visual and aural alerting displays were evaluated. In December 2014, as a result of analyzing eighteen (18) loss-of-control events, the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) recommended research into flight deck technologies that have potential to mitigate the problems and contributing factors that lead to flight crew loss of airplane state awareness (ASA) and conditions likely to produce SD. The aviation community (government, industry and academia) have been charged with conducting research into cost-effective, user-centered flight deck alerting systems to alert flight crews; especially for the two conditions that produced SD (sub-threshold rolls and the somatogravic illusion). Somatogravic illusions are defined as illusions in which “there is a false perception of attitude on exposure to a force vector that differs in direction and/or magnitude from the normal gravitational force”. The sub-threshold roll illusion (aka the “leans” illusion) is a false sensation of roll attitude. A prolonged roll of less than two degrees becomes physiologically imperceptible to the pilot, and can lead to an incorrect perception of aircraft orientation. The sub-threshold roll illusion forms the entry point for the “graveyard spiral”, a maneuver in which the pilot’s corrective action (based on their false perception of aircraft orientation) causes the aircraft to spiral down into the ground. In both of these SD illusions, it is when the pilot attempts to correct the aircraft’s attitude (based on a false perception of its state) that problems arise, sometimes with lethal consequences.

Ronald J Daiker↗

NASA NTRS1993

Graphical Operator Interface for Space Telerobotics

This paper addresses potential applications of advanced graphical operator interfaces using graphics and graphical user interfaces in space telerobotic operations. Possible applications are illustrated with examples of graphics visualization displays developed for advanced teleoperation and with an example of an operator interface design developed for remote surface inspection at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Telerobotics↗

NASA NTRS2022

Rise and Shine: The Use of Polychromatic Short-Wavelength-Enriched Light to Mitigate Sleep Inertia at Night Following Awaking From Slow-Wave Sleep

Sleep inertia is the brief period of performance impairment and reduced alertness experienced after waking, especially from slow-wave sleep. We assessed the efficacy of polychromatic short-wavelength-enriched light to improve vigilant attention, alertness and mood immediately after waking from slow-wave sleep at night. Twelve participants (six female, 23.3 ± 4.2 years) maintained an actigraphy-confirmed sleep schedule of 8.5 hr for 5 nights, and 5 hr for 1 night prior to an overnight laboratory visit. In the laboratory, participants were awakened from slow-wave sleep, and immediately exposed to either dim, red ambient light (control) or polychromatic short-wavelength-enriched light (light) for 1 hr in a randomized crossover design. They completed a 5-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, and Visual Analogue Scales of mood at 2, 17, 32 and 47 min after waking. Following this testing period, lights were turned off and participants returned to sleep. They were awakened from their subsequent slow-wave sleep period and received the opposite condition. Compared with the control condition, participants exposed to light had fewer Psychomotor Vigilance Task lapses (χ 2 [1] = 5.285, p = 0.022), reported feeling more alert (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale: F 1,77 = 4.955, p = 0.029; Visual Analogue Scale alert : F 1,77 = 8.226, p = 0.005), and reported improved mood (Visual Analogue Scale cheerful : F 1,77 = 8.615, p = 0.004). There was no significant difference in sleep-onset latency between conditions following the testing period (t 10 = 1.024, p = 0.330). Our results suggest that exposure to polychromatic short-wavelength-enriched light immediately after waking from slow-wave sleep at night may help improve vigilant attention, subjective alertness, and mood. Future studies should explore the potential mechanisms of this countermeasure and its efficacy in real-world environments.

alertness↗

NASA NTRS1972

Star sensor/mapper for the Small Astronomy Satellites.

As a requirement for the Small Astronomy Satellite-B (SAS-B), a star sensor was designed to provide satellite positional data to an accuracy of 3 arc minutes for satellite spin rates of 1/12 rpm and 1 rpm. The star sensor is required to detect stars having a +4 visual magnitude during the sunlit portion of the orbit. The spacecraft orientation can be anything achievable in its near equatorial 500-km orbit. The design of the star sensor resulted in an instrument which weighs 6.5 lbs., consumes 0.4 W and operates at spin rates ranging from 1/12 rpm to 3 rpm. The instrument design incorporates optical features providing excellent uniformity of response across the 5 by 10 deg field of view.

Schenkel, F. W.↗

NASA NTRS1998

A Human Factors Framework for Payload Display Design

During missions to space, one charge of the astronaut crew is to conduct research experiments. These experiments, referred to as payloads, typically are controlled by computers. Crewmembers interact with payload computers by using visual interfaces or displays. To enhance the safety, productivity, and efficiency of crewmember interaction with payload displays, particular attention must be paid to the usability of these displays. Enhancing display usability requires adoption of a design process that incorporates human factors engineering principles at each stage. This paper presents a proposed framework for incorporating human factors engineering principles into the payload display design process.

Dunn, Mariea C.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lunar Instrument Data Integration Into the Virtual Reality Mission Simulation System for Decision Communication and Situational Awareness

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies are a key advancement required to make human habitation on the Moon and Mars viable. The upcoming Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission will provide crucial correlations between volatiles and lunar geology to understand the water content available for ISRU on the moon. The mission will require the coordination of multi-disciplinary teams across the country making real time decisions based on rover instrument data. The virtual reality Mission Simulation System (vMSS) is a virtual reality platform designed at MIT by the Resource Exploration and Science of our Cosmic Environment (RESOURCE) team to provide teams with a collaboration interface for planetary missions like VIPER. Herein we determine the integration pathway for analog based datasets that are examples of VIPER's two main instruments, the near-infrared volatile spectrometer subsystem (NIRVSS) and the neutron spectrometer subsystem (NSS), into vMSS to provide the most valuable visualization tools. Focusing on improving situational awareness, decision making, reducing task load and incorporating comments from scientists working previous analogs and on the current VIPER mission, we recommend critical elements to implement into vMSS and the best approaches for data visualization. We present a review of relevant analogs and state of the art mission software. We have developed a design concept and path to flight of analysed instrument data integrated with data maps that allow for virtual manipulation and annotation between non-co-located team members. We focus on pre-mission mapping of a priori data for improved situational awareness, layering of analysed instrument data, correlative mapping and interactive capabilities for in-mission decision making, as well as archiving and annotation tools for post-mission analysis. Finally, we lay out the roadmap for the future development of immersive sample site visualization capabilities and the use of integrated instrument data in vMSS with automated temporal and geospatial planning.

Cody Alison Paige↗

NASA NTRS2011

NASA Planning for Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Ground Operations

The NASA Orion Ground Processing Team was originally formed by the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Constellation (Cx) Project Office's Orion Division to define, refine and mature pre-launch and post-landing ground operations for the Orion human spacecraft. The multidisciplined KSC Orion team consisted of KSC civil servant, SAIC, Productivity Apex, Inc. and Boeing-CAPPS engineers, project managers and safety engineers, as well as engineers from Constellation's Orion Project and Lockheed Martin Orion Prime contractor. The team evaluated the Orion design configurations as the spacecraft concept matured between Systems Design Review (SDR), Systems Requirement Review (SRR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The team functionally decomposed prelaunch and post-landing steps at three levels' of detail, or tiers, beginning with functional flow block diagrams (FFBDs). The third tier FFBDs were used to build logic networks and nominal timelines. Orion ground support equipment (GSE) was identified and mapped to each step. This information was subsequently used in developing lower level operations steps in a Ground Operations Planning Document PDR product. Subject matter experts for each spacecraft and GSE subsystem were used to define 5th - 95th percentile processing times for each FFBD step, using the Delphi Method. Discrete event simulations used this information and the logic network to provide processing timeline confidence intervals for launch rate assessments. The team also used the capabilities of the KSC Visualization Lab, the FFBDs and knowledge of the spacecraft, GSE and facilities to build visualizations of Orion pre-launch and postlanding processing at KSC. Visualizations were a powerful tool for communicating planned operations within the KSC community (i.e., Ground Systems design team), and externally to the Orion Project, Lockheed Martin spacecraft designers and other Constellation Program stakeholders during the SRR to PDR timeframe. Other operations planning tools included Kaizen/Lean events, mockups and human factors analysis. The majority of products developed by this team are applicable as KSC prepares 21st Century Ground Systems for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System.

Letchworth, Gary↗

NASA NTRS2002

Beyond spot diagrams: end-user oriented optical design

In this talk, two examples are given of the process of translating user requirements into optimization and assessment tools. In the first place, recent work on the effects of aberrations on the perceived image quality of visual instruments is reviewed. The second example concerns the extraction of accurate spectroscopic information from pushbroom imaging spectrometers.

optical↗

NASA NTRS1990

Hot gas ingestion test results of a two-poster vectored thrust concept with flow visualization in the NASA Lewis 9- x 15-foot low speed wind tunnel

A 9.2 percent scale Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (STOVL) hot gas ingestion model was designed and built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation (MCAIR) and tested in the Lewis Research Center 9 x 15 foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel (LSWT). Hot gas ingestion, the entrainment of heated engine exhaust into the inlet flow field, is a key development issure for advanced short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft. Flow visualization from the Phase 1 test program, which evaluated the hot ingestion phenomena and control techniques, is covered. The Phase 2 test program evaluated the hot gas ingestion phenomena at higher temperatures and used a laser sheet to investigate the flow field. Hot gas ingestion levels were measured for the several forward nozzle splay configurations and with flow control/life improvement devices (LIDs) which reduced the hot gas ingestion. The model support system had four degrees of freedom - pitch, roll, yaw, and vertical height variation. The model support system also provided heated high-pressure air for nozzle flow and a suction system exhaust for inlet flow. The test was conducted at full scale nozzle pressure ratios and inlet Mach numbers. Test and data analysis results from Phase 2 and flow visualization from both Phase 1 and 2 are documented. A description of the model and facility modifications is also provided. Headwind velocity was varied from 10 to 23 kn. Results are presented over a range of nozzle pressure ratios at a 10 kn headwind velocity. The Phase 2 program was conducted at exhaust nozzle temperatures up to 1460 R and utilized a sheet laser system for flow visualization of the model flow field in and out of ground effects. The results reported are for nozzle exhaust temperatures up to 1160 R. These results will contain the compressor face pressure and temperature distortions, the total pressure recovery, the inlet temperature rise, and the environmental effects of the hot gas. The environmental effects include the ground plane contours, the model airframe heating, and the location of the ground flow separation.

Johns, Albert L.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Group 1: Scenario design and development issues

All LOFT scenarios and flight segments should be designed on the basis of a detailed statement of specific objectives. These objectives must state what kind of situation is to be addressed and why. The origin, routing, and destination of a particular scenario should be dictated by the specific objectives for that scenario or leg. Other factors to be considered are the desired weather, climate, etc. Simulator visual system, as well as other capabilities and limitations must be considered at a very early stage of scenario design. The simulator navigation area must be apropriate and must coincide with current Jeppeson charts. Much of the realism of LOFT is destroyed if the crew is unable to use current manuals and other materials.

Sherwin, P.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Rapid Airplane Parametric Input Design (RAPID)

RAPID is a methodology and software system to define a class of airplane configurations and directly evaluate surface grids, volume grids, and grid sensitivity on and about the configurations. A distinguishing characteristic which separates RAPID from other airplane surface modellers is that the output grids and grid sensitivity are directly applicable in CFD analysis. A small set of design parameters and grid control parameters govern the process which is incorporated into interactive software for 'real time' visual analysis and into batch software for the application of optimization technology. The computed surface grids and volume grids are suitable for a wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The general airplane configuration has wing, fuselage, horizontal tail, and vertical tail components. The double-delta wing and tail components are manifested by solving a fourth order partial differential equation (PDE) subject to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions. The design parameters are incorporated into the boundary conditions and therefore govern the shapes of the surfaces. The PDE solution yields a smooth transition between boundaries. Surface grids suitable for CFD calculation are created by establishing an H-type topology about the configuration and incorporating grid spacing functions in the PDE equation for the lifting components and the fuselage definition equations. User specified grid parameters govern the location and degree of grid concentration. A two-block volume grid about a configuration is calculated using the Control Point Form (CPF) technique. The interactive software, which runs on Silicon Graphics IRIS workstations, allows design parameters to be continuously varied and the resulting surface grid to be observed in real time. The batch software computes both the surface and volume grids and also computes the sensitivity of the output grid with respect to the input design parameters by applying the precompiler tool ADIFOR to the grid generation program. The output of ADIFOR is a new source code containing the old code plus expressions for derivatives of specified dependent variables (grid coordinates) with respect to specified independent variables (design parameters). The RAPID methodology and software provide a means of rapidly defining numerical prototypes, grids, and grid sensitivity of a class of airplane configurations. This technology and software is highly useful for CFD research for preliminary design and optimization processes.

Smith, Robert E.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Improving the Automatic Inversion of Digital Alouette/ISIS Ionogram Reflection Traces into Topside Electron Density Profiles

The topside sounders of the International Satellites for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS) program were designed as analog systems. The resulting ionograms were displayed on 35 mm film for analysis by visual inspection. Each of these satellites, launched between 1962 and 1971, produced data for 10 to 20 years. A number of the original telemetry tapes from this large data set have been converted directly into digital records. Software, known as the Topside Ionogram Scalar With True-Height (TOPIST) algorithm, has been produced and used for the automatic inversion of the ionogram reflection traces on more than 100,000 ISIS-2 digital topside ionograms into topside vertical electron density profiles Ne(h). Here we present some topside ionospheric solar cycle variations deduced from the TOPIST database to illustrate the scientific benefit of improving and expanding the topside ionospheric Ne(h) database. The profile improvements will be based on improvements in the TOPIST software motivated by direct comparisons between TOPIST profiles and profiles produced by manual scaling in the early days of the ISIS program. The database expansion will be based on new software designed to overcome limitations in the original digital topside ionogram database caused by difficulties encountered during the analog-to-digital conversion process in the detection of the ionogram frame sync pulse and/or the frequency markers. This improved and expanded TOPIST topside Ne(h) database will greatly enhance investigations into both short- and long-term ionospheric changes, e.g., the observed topside ionospheric responses to magnetic storms, induced by interplanetary magnetic clouds, and solar cycle variations, respectively.

Benson, Robert F.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Beyond spot diagrams: end-user oriented optical design

optical↗

NASA NTRS2015

NASA Data Acquisition System Software Development for Rocket Propulsion Test Facilities

Current NASA propulsion test facilities include Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Plum Brook Station in Ohio, and White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Within and across these centers, a diverse set of data acquisition systems exist with different hardware and software platforms. The NASA Data Acquisition System (NDAS) is a software suite designed to operate and control many critical aspects of rocket engine testing. The software suite combines real-time data visualization, data recording to a variety formats, short-term and long-term acquisition system calibration capabilities, test stand configuration control, and a variety of data post-processing capabilities. Additionally, data stream conversion functions exist to translate test facility data streams to and from downstream systems, including engine customer systems. The primary design goals for NDAS are flexibility, extensibility, and modularity. Providing a common user interface for a variety of hardware platforms helps drive consistency and error reduction during testing. In addition, with an understanding that test facilities have different requirements and setups, the software is designed to be modular. One engine program may require real-time displays and data recording; others may require more complex data stream conversion, measurement filtering, or test stand configuration management. The NDAS suite allows test facilities to choose which components to use based on their specific needs. The NDAS code is primarily written in LabVIEW, a graphical, data-flow driven language. Although LabVIEW is a general-purpose programming language; large-scale software development in the language is relatively rare compared to more commonly used languages. The NDAS software suite also makes extensive use of a new, advanced development framework called the Actor Framework. The Actor Framework provides a level of code reuse and extensibility that has previously been difficult to achieve using LabVIEW. The

Herbert, Phillip W., Sr.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Stroboscopic Vision as a Treatment for Retinal Slip Induced Motion Sickness

Motion sickness in the general population is a significant problem driven by the increasingly more sophisticated modes of transportation, visual displays, and virtual reality environments. It is important to investigate non-pharmacological alternatives for the prevention of motion sickness for individuals who cannot tolerate the available anti-motion sickness drugs, or who are precluded from medication because of different operational environments. Based on the initial work of Melvill Jones, in which post hoc results indicated that motion sickness symptoms were prevented during visual reversal testing when stroboscopic vision was used to prevent retinal slip, we have evaluated stroboscopic vision as a method of preventing motion sickness in a number of different environments. Specifically, we have undertaken a five part study that was designed to investigate the effect of stroboscopic vision (either with a strobe light or LCD shutter glasses) on motion sickness while: (1) using visual field reversal, (2) reading while riding in a car (with or without external vision present), (3) making large pitch head movements during parabolic flight, (4) during exposure to rough seas in a small boat, and (5) seated and reading in the cabin area of a UH60 Black Hawk Helicopter during 20 min of provocative flight patterns.

Reschke, M. F.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Balloon Design Software

PlanetaryBalloon Version 5.0 is a software package for the design of meridionally lobed planetary balloons. It operates in a Windows environment, and programming was done in Visual Basic 6. By including the effects of circular lobes with load tapes, skin mass, hoop and meridional stress, and elasticity in the structural elements, a more accurate balloon shape of practical construction can be determined as well as the room-temperature cut pattern for the gore shapes. The computer algorithm is formulated for sizing meridionally lobed balloons for any generalized atmosphere or planet. This also covers zero-pressure, over-pressure, and super-pressure balloons. Low circumferential loads with meridionally reinforced load tapes will produce shapes close to what are known as the "natural shape." The software allows for the design of constant angle, constant radius, or constant hoop stress balloons. It uses the desired payload capacity for given atmospheric conditions and determines the required volume, allowing users to design exactly to their requirements. The formulations are generalized to use any lift gas (or mixture of gases), any atmosphere, or any planet as described by the local acceleration of gravity. PlanetaryBalloon software has a comprehensive user manual that covers features ranging from, but not limited to, buoyancy and super-pressure, convenient design equations, shape formulation, and orthotropic stress/strain.

Farley, Rodger↗