Automated software testing for the common operating environment
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technical keywords automated testing↗
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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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Mapping the mechanical properties of rocks using automated microindentation tests
A microindentation scanner is constructed that measures the spatial fluctuation in the elastic properties of natural rocks. This novel instrument performs automated indentation tests on the surface of a rock slab and outputs 2-D maps of the indentation modulus at submillimeter resolution. Maps obtained for clean, well-consolidated, sandstone are presented and demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument. We postulate that the elastic structure of sandstones correlates well with their visual appearance. Moreover, we observe that the probability distribution of the indentation modulus fluctuations across the slab surfaces can be modeled using a lognormal probability density function. To illustrate possible use of the data obtained with the microindentation scanner, we use roughly 10 cm × 10 cm scans with millimeter resolution over four sandstone planar slabs to numerically compute the overall drained elastic moduli for each sandstone sample. We demonstrate that such numerically computed moduli are well modeled using the multicomponent form of the Hashin-Shtrikman lower bound that employs the observed lognormal probability distribution for the mesoscopic-scale moduli (the geometric mean works almost the same). We also compute the seismic attenuation versus frequency associated with wave-induced fluid flow between the heterogeneities in the scanned sandstones and report relatively small values for the inverse quality factor (Q -1 <10 -2 ) in the seismic frequency band 10 2 Hz 4 Hz. The numerically computed frequency dependence in the attenuation varies from one type of sandstone to another, and we determine vital anisotropy in the attenuation associated with waves propagating in different directions.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Automated Software Test Tool
The objective of the Graduate project described below is to indtroduce the development of a software tool which will be use to automate the testing process of a JPL-specific set of software programs.
Software Test Tool↗
Generating Test Templates via Automated Theorem Proving
Testing can be used during the software development process to maintain fidelity between evolving specifications, program designs, and code implementations. We use a form of specification-based testing that employs the use of an automated theorem prover to generate test templates. A similar approach was developed using a model checker on state-intensive systems. This method applies to systems with functional rather than state-based behaviors. This approach allows for the use of incomplete specifications to aid in generation of tests for potential failure cases. We illustrate the technique on the cannonical triangle testing problem and discuss its use on analysis of a spacecraft scheduling system.
Kancherla, Mani Prasad↗
kynema-fmb [SWR-23-07]
Kynema-FMB (FKA: Kynema) is an open-source performance portable flexible multibody (FMB) dynamics solver designed for time-domain simulations. While originally tailored for wind turbine structural dynamics, the formulation and implementation are those of a general flexible-multidbody dynamics solver that can readily be applied to a wide range of systems. Kynema was designed with a narrow focus, namely to provide a lightweight, fast, accurate FMD solver for coupling to computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) codes, especially the CFD codes in the Kynema suite, for fluid-structure-interaction (FSI) simulations. Kynema-FMB is equipped to model systems that can be represented as a collection of beams and rigid bodies that are connected through constraints. Degrees of freedom are defined in the inertial/global frame of reference and include displacements and rotations (formally as rotation matrices, but stored as quaternions). The underlying formulation is built on a Lie-group time integrator designed for index-3 differential-algebraic equations, which is second-order accurate in time (Bruls et al., 2012). Beam models are based on geometrically exact beam theory and are discretized as high-order spectral finite elements similar to those in BeamDyn (Wang et al., 2017). The governing equations for a FMD system like a wind turbine constitute a highly nonlinear system of constrained partial-differential equations. Kynema-FMB uses analytical Jacobians in the nonlinear-system solves in each time step. Linear systems use sparse storage and several third-party sparse-linear-system solvers are enabled. Ill conditioning of linear systems is mitigated with preconditioning described in Bottasso et al, 2008. Kynema-FMB is integrated with a simple open-source controller (ROSCO). There is an application programming interface (API) for coupling to geometry-resolved CFD (like that in Sharma et al., 2023) and actuator-force CFD (like that in Kuhn et al., 2025). In the latter, for actuator-line models, Kynema-FMB includes an internal blade-element solver that depends on user-provided lookup tables for coefficients of lift and drag, i.e., aerodynamic polars. Kynema-FMB is written in C++ and leverages Kokkos and Kokkos-Kernels (KokkosEcosystem) as its performance portability layer enabling simulations on both CPU and GPU systems. The repository is equipped with extensive automated testing at the unit and regression/system levels. The following describes the high-level development objectives conceived for Kynema: *Kynema will follow modern software development best practices, including test-driven development (TDD), version control, hierarchical automated testing, and continuous integration (CI) for a robust development environment. *The core data structures are memory efficient and enable vectorization and parallelization at multiple levels. *Data structures are data-oriented to exploit methods for accelerated computing including high utilization of chip resources (e.g., single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instruction sets) and parallelization using GP-GPUs. *The computational algorithms incorporate robust open-source libraries for mathematical operations, resource allocation, and data management. *The API design considers multiple stakeholder needs and ensure integration with existing and future ecosystems for data science, machine learning, and AI. *Kynema-FMB is written in modern C++ and leverages Kokkos as its performance-portability library with inspiration from the kynema stack.
Sprague, MichaelA.↗
Multi-sensor Testing for Automated Rendezvous and Docking
During the past two years, many sensors have been tested in an open-loop fashion in the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Flight Robotics Laboratory (FRL) to both determine their suitability for use in Automated Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) systems and to ensure the test facility is prepared for future multi-sensor testing. The primary focus of this work was in support of the CEV AR&D system, because the AR&D sensor technology area was identified as one of the top risks in the program. In 2006, four different sensors were tested individually or in a pair in the MSFC FRL. In 2007, four sensors, two each of two different types, were tested simultaneously. In each set of tests, the target was moved through a series of pre-planned trajectories while the sensor tracked it. In addition, a laser tracker "truth" sensor also measured the target motion. The tests demonstrated the functionality of testing four sensors simultaneously as well as the capabilities (both good and bad) of all of the different sensors tested. This paper outlines the test setup and conditions, briefly describes the facility, summarizes the earlier results of the individual sensor tests, and describes in some detail the results of the four-sensor testing. Post-test analysis includes data fusion by minimum variance estimation and sequential Kalman filtering. This Sensor Technology Project work was funded by NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program.
Howard, Richard T.↗
Satellite battery testing status
Because of the large numbers of satellite cells currently being tested and anticipated at the Naval Weapons Support Center (NAVWPNSUPPCEN) Crane, Indiana, satellite cell testing is being integrated into the Battery Test Automation Project (BTAP). The BTAP, designed to meet the growing needs for battery testing at the NAVWPNSUPPCEN Crane, will consist of several Automated Test Stations (ATSs) which monitor batteries under test. Each ATS will interface with an Automation Network Controller (ANC) which will collect test data for reduction.
Haag, R.↗
Fault Detection of Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems Using Integrated Electromagnetic Compatibility and Automated Functional Testing
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46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
Integration of Automated Systems Test Campaign NC-IAS
NASA’s 2022 strategic plan included the goal to catalyze economic growth and drive innovation in the aviation industry, and to address challenges in air transportation and airspace management within the National Airspace System (NAS). The Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) specifically was tasked with leading aviation innovation to enable safe and sustainable air transportation through revolutionary vehicle advances and efficient flight operations. As a part of meeting these objectives and advancing air mobility concepts, NASA initiated the National Campaign (NC) in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Project within the Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP). The NC was designed to support operational demonstrations with industry as well as the research and development needed to support NASA-led research flight demonstrations. Within NC, the Integration of Automated Systems (IAS), an NC activity, tested and evaluated flight deck automation and airspace operations management functions needed to enable Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations. This was accomplished through a partnership with Sikorsky Aircraft (specifically Sikorsky Innovations), a Lockheed Martin company, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), by leveraging two automation-enabled helicopters equipped with unique capabilities that enabled NASA to develop and test two-ship conflict encounters to demonstrate flight path management and hazard avoidance technologies. The enabler in this testing was NASA-developed “Middleware” (MW) software (also known as Expandable Variable Autonomy Architecture, or EVAA), which among other things allowed multiple algorithms to be incorporated into one software build that was hosted on the dissimilar-type Sikorsky helicopters. The IAS test campaign period of performance was from March 2022 through October 2023 and was structured as a phased, or spiral, approach that ultimately led to the first-ever demonstration of two-ship UAM/AAM operations designed to safely choreograph specific conflict encounters and mission scenarios to test the research algorithms for strategic and tactical aircraft deconfliction. Lessons learned are included in the body of the report. Data collected will be used to inform FAA and industry standards groups on the increasingly automated systems needed for future AAM operations. The test encounters developed for these flight tests were proven to be highly predictable, repeatable, and safely exercised flight path planning and Detect and Avoid (DAA) algorithms. These same test encounters should be leveraged by future flight test campaigns to verify that operational safety is not compromised as the AAM architecture matures. Next steps include repeating similar encounters using unmanned aircraft carrying DAA sensors in the National Airspace.
AAM↗
Mars Science Laboratory Flight Software Boot Robustness Testing Project Report
On the surface of Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory will boot up its flight computers every morning, having charged the batteries through the night. This boot process is complicated, critical, and affected by numerous hardware states that can be difficult to test. The hardware test beds do not facilitate testing a long duration of back-to-back unmanned automated tests, and although the software simulation has provided the necessary functionality and fidelity for this boot testing, there has not been support for the full flexibility necessary for this task. Therefore to perform this testing a framework has been build around the software simulation that supports running automated tests loading a variety of starting configurations for software and hardware states. This implementation has been tested against the nominal cases to validate the methodology, and support for configuring off-nominal cases is ongoing. The implication of this testing is that the introduction of input configurations that have yet proved difficult to test may reveal boot scenarios worth higher fidelity investigation, and in other cases increase confidence in the robustness of the flight software boot process.
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)↗
Contact dynamics testing of automated three point docking mechanism
TRW has conducted an extensive Contact Dynamics Test Program (CDTP) of the Three Point Docking Mechanism (TPDM). The CDTP tested the ability of the TPDM latches to capture and automatically dock to target spacecraft. The target selected was the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Mock ups of the TPDM with its three latches and the docking interface of the HST were constructed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama for use in the tests. The tests were performed at the Flat Floor and Six Degree of Freedom (6-DOF) facilities at MSFC.
Spitzer, Christopher J.↗
High throughput embryonic zebrafish test with automated dechorionation to evaluate nanomaterial toxicity
Engineered nanomaterials pose occupational health and environmental concerns as they possess unique physical and chemical properties that can contribute to toxicity. High throughput toxicity screening methods are needed to address the increasing number of nanomaterials in production. Here we used a zebrafish photomotor response (PMR) test to evaluate a set of fifteen nanomaterials with military relevance. Automated dechorionation of zebrafish embryos was used to enhance nanomaterials bioavailability. Optimal PMR activity in zebrafish embryos was found at 30–31 hours post-fertilization (hpf). Behavioral and toxicological responses were measured at 30 and 120 hpf; behavioral responses were found for thirteen of the fifteen nanomaterials and acute toxicity (LC50) levels for nine of the fifteen nanomaterials below the maximum test concentration of 500 μg/ml. Physico-chemical characterization of the nanomaterials detected endotoxin and bacterial contamination in two of the tested samples, which may have contributed to observed toxicity and reinforces the need for physical and chemical characterization of nanomaterials use in toxicity testing. The zebrafish PMR test, together with automated dechorionation, provides an initial rapid assessment of the behavioral effects and toxicity of engineered nanomaterials that can be followed up by physico-chemical characterization if toxicity is detected, reducing the amount of time and monetary constraints of physico-chemical testing.
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
Proceedings of the 25th International Instrumentation Symposium, May 7-10, 1979, Anaheim, California
The papers deal essentially with the instrumentation needs of the transportation industry, machinery diagnostics, and energy research. The sessions covered include: acoustic emission, reentry vehicle ground and flight testing, performance of nose tip materials, instrumentation for solar heating and cooling systems, vibration measurement, data acquisition and analysis, system for aerospace pressure measurements, wind tunnel instrumentation and control, energy source instrumentation, nondestructive testing, pressure and flow measurements, automated test facilities, strain measurements, electrooptical instrumentation, thermal measurements, microcomputer applications in instrumentation and automation, flight testing, blast pressure measurement, two-phase liquid/gas mass flow measurement, and machinery monitoring and instrumentation.
Conferences↗
Development and verification testing of automation and robotics for assembly of space structures
A program was initiated within the past several years to develop operational procedures for automated assembly of truss structures suitable for large-aperture antennas. The assembly operations require the use of a robotic manipulator and are based on the principle of supervised autonomy to minimize crew resources. A hardware testbed was established to support development and evaluation testing. A brute-force automation approach was used to develop the baseline assembly hardware and software techniques. As the system matured and an operation was proven, upgrades were incorprated and assessed against the baseline test results. This paper summarizes the developmental phases of the program, the results of several assembly tests, the current status, and a series of proposed developments for additional hardware and software control capability. No problems that would preclude automated in-space assembly of truss structures have been encountered. The current system was developed at a breadboard level and continued development at an enhanced level is warranted.
Rhodes, Marvin D.↗
Physiological and Subjective Responses of Pilots during Advanced Air Mobility Flight Testing with Automated Systems
Aviation is constantly evolving, mostly due to the integration of automated systems into the National Airspace System. This presents a host of challenges and opportunities. NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project has taken a significant leap forward with a research flight test led by the Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) sub-project. This effort focused on assessing automated flight deck algorithms essential for supporting high-density Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations. Carrying out a two-ship flight test in UAM Maturity Level 4 scenarios, the team evaluated state-of-the-art algorithms, including Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) and flight path management (FPM) systems. This paper investigates into pilots’ physiological and subjective responses during the flight scenarios conducted. In collaboration with Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL), we collected and analyzed live-flight biometric data using eye tracking, mobile brain imaging, and heart rate sensors. The study provides insights into pilots’ workload and cognitive engagement while navigating automated tools, leveraging both biometric data and post-encounter subjective assessments. The research highlights the interaction between human operators and automated systems, contributing valuable lessons learned about gathering human data in live-flight environments. The knowledge acquired from this study enhances our understanding of human factors in automated flight and informs future studies attempting to undertake similar feats.
Kevin J. Monk↗
Physiological and Subjective Responses of Pilots During Advanced Air Mobility Flight Testing With Automated Systems
Aviation is constantly evolving, mostly due to the integration of automated systems into the National Airspace System. This presents a host of challenges and opportunities. NASA's Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) project has taken a significant leap forward with a research flight test led by the Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) sub-project. This effort focused on assessing automated flight deck algorithms essential for supporting high-density Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations. Carrying out a two-ship flight test in UAM Maturity Level 4 scenarios, the team evaluated state-of-the-art algorithms, including Hazard Perception and Avoidance (HPA) and flight path management (FPM) systems. This presentation focuses on results of pilots' physiological and subjective responses during the flight scenarios conducted. In collaboration with Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL), we collected and analyzed live-flight biometric data using eye tracking, mobile brain imaging, and heart rate sensors. The data provides insights into pilots' workload and cognitive engagement while navigating automated tools, leveraging both biometric data and post-encounter subjective assessments. The research highlights the interaction between human operators and automated systems, contributing valuable lessons learned about gathering human data in live-flight environments. The knowledge acquired from this endeavor enhances our understanding of human factors in automated flight and informs future studies attempting to undertake similar feats.
air mobility↗
Excess Density as a Descriptor for Electrolyte Solvent Design
Electrolytes mediate interactions between the cathode and anode and determine performance characteristics of batteries. Mixtures of multiple solvents are often used in electrolytes to achieve desired properties, such as viscosity, dielectric constant, boiling point, and melting point. Conventionally, multi-component electrolyte properties are approximated with linear mixing, but in practice, significant deviations are observed. Excess quantities can provide insights into the molecular behavior of the mixture and could form the basis for designing high-performance electrolytes. Here we investigate the excess density of commonly used Li-ion battery solvents such as cyclic carbonates, linear carbonates, ethers, and nitriles with molecular dynamics simulations. We additionally investigate electrolytes consisting of these solvents and a salt. The results smoothly vary with mole percent and are fit to permutation-invariant Redlich-Kister polynomials. Mixtures of similar solvents, such as cyclic-cyclic carbonate mixtures, tend to have excess properties that are lower in magnitude compared to mixtures of dissimilar substances, such as carbonate-nitrile mixtures. We perform experimental testing using our automated test stand, Clio, to provide validation to the observed simulation trends. We quantify the structure similarity using SOAP fingerprints to create a descriptor for excess density, enabling the design of electrolyte properties. To a first approximation, this will allow us to estimate the deviation of a mixture from ideal behavior based solely upon the structural dissimilarity of the components.
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
Digital Image Correlation for Performance Monitoring.
Evaluating the health of a mechanism requires more than just a binary evaluation of whether an operation was completed. It requires analyzing more comprehensive, full-field data. Health monitoring is a process of nondestructively identifying characteristics that indicate the fitness of an engineered component. In order to monitor unit health in a production setting, an automated test system must be created to capture the motion of mechanism parts in a real-time and non-intrusive manner. One way to accomplish this is by using high-speed video (HSV) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC). In this approach, individual frames of the video are analyzed to track the motion of mechanism components. The derived performance metrics allow for state-of-health monitoring and improved fidelity of mechanism modeling. The results are in-situ state-of-health identification and performance prediction. This paper introduces basic concepts of this test method, and discusses two main themes: the use of laser marking to add fiducial patterns to mechanism components, and new software developed to track objects with complex shapes, even as they move behind obstructions. Finally, the implementation of these tests into an automated tester is discussed.
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗