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At least 1,153 records · Page 64

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NASA NTRS1991

Mathematical morphology for automated analysis of remotely sensed objects in radar images

A symbiosis of pyramidal segmentation and morphological transmission is described. The pyramidal segmentation portion of the symbiosis has resulted in low (2.6 percent) misclassification error rate for a one-look simulation. Other simulations indicate lower error rates (1.8 percent for a four-look image). The morphological transformation portion has resulted in meaningful partitions with a minimal loss of fractal boundary information. An unpublished version of Thicken, suitable for watersheds transformations of fractal objects, is also presented. It is demonstrated that the proposed symbiosis works with SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images: in this case, a four-look Seasat image of sea ice. It is concluded that the symbiotic forms of both segmentation and morphological transformation seem well suited for unsupervised geophysical analysis.

Daida, Jason M.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Operational considerations for the application of remotely sensed forest data from LANDSAT or other airborne platforms

Research in the application of remotely sensed data from LANDSAT or other airborne platforms to the efficient management of a large timber based forest industry was divided into three phases: (1) establishment of a photo/ground sample correlation, (2) investigation of techniques for multi-spectral digital analysis, and (3) development of a semi-automated multi-level sampling system. To properly verify results, three distinct test areas were selected: (1) Jacksonville Mill Region, Lower Coastal Plain, Flatwoods, (2) Pensacola Mill Region, Middle Coastal Plain, and (3) Mississippi Mill Region, Middle Coastal Plain. The following conclusions were reached: (1) the probability of establishing an information base suitable for management requirements through a photo/ground double sampling procedure, alleviating the ground sampling effort, is encouraging, (2) known classification techniques must be investigated to ascertain the level of precision possible in separating the many densities involved, and (3) the multi-level approach must be related to an information system that is executable and feasible.

Baker, G. R.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Automated software development workstation

A workstation is being developed that provides a computational environment for all NASA engineers across application boundaries, which automates reuse of existing NASA software and designs, and efficiently and effectively allows new programs and/or designs to be developed, catalogued, and reused. The generic workstation is made domain specific by specialization of the user interface, capturing engineering design expertise for the domain, and by constructing/using a library of pertinent information. The incorporation of software reusability principles and expert system technology into this workstation provide the obvious benefits of increased productivity, improved software use and design reliability, and enhanced engineering quality by bringing engineering to higher levels of abstraction based on a well tested and classified library.

Prouty, Dale A.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Space station proximity operations windows: Human factors design guidelines

Proximity operations refers to all activities outside the Space Station which take place within a 1-km radius. Since there will be a large number of different operations involving manned and unmanned vehicles, single- and multiperson crews, automated and manually controlled flight, a wide variety of cargo, and construction/repair activities, accurate and continuous human monitoring of these operations from a specially designed control station on Space Station will be required. Total situational awareness will be required. This paper presents numerous human factors design guidelines and related background information for control windows which will support proximity operations. Separate sections deal with natural and artificial illumination geometry; all basic rendezvous vector approaches; window field-of-view requirements; window size; shape and placement criteria; window optical characteristics as they relate to human perception; maintenance and protection issues; and a comprehensive review of windows installed on U.S. and U.S.S.R. manned vehicles.

Haines, Richard F.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Expert system verification and validation study. Delivery 3A and 3B: Trip summaries

Key results are documented from attending the 4th workshop on verification, validation, and testing. The most interesting part of the workshop was when representatives from the U.S., Japan, and Europe presented surveys of VV&T within their respective regions. Another interesting part focused on current efforts to define industry standards for artificial intelligence and how that might affect approaches to VV&T of expert systems. The next part of the workshop focused on VV&T methods of applying mathematical techniques to verification of rule bases and techniques for capturing information relating to the process of developing software. The final part focused on software tools. A summary is also presented of the EPRI conference on 'Methodologies, Tools, and Standards for Cost Effective Reliable Software Verification and Validation. The conference was divided into discussion sessions on the following issues: development process, automated tools, software reliability, methods, standards, and cost/benefit considerations.

French, Scott↗

NASA NTRS1993

Integrating end-to-end threads of control into object-oriented analysis and design

Current object-oriented analysis and design methodologies fall short in their use of mechanisms for identifying threads of control for the system being developed. The scenarios which typically describe a system are more global than looking at the individual objects and representing their behavior. Unlike conventional methodologies that use data flow and process-dependency diagrams, object-oriented methodologies do not provide a model for representing these global threads end-to-end. Tracing through threads of control is key to ensuring that a system is complete and timing constraints are addressed. The existence of multiple threads of control in a system necessitates a partitioning of the system into processes. This paper describes the application and representation of end-to-end threads of control to the object-oriented analysis and design process using object-oriented constructs. The issue of representation is viewed as a grouping problem, that is, how to group classes/objects at a higher level of abstraction so that the system may be viewed as a whole with both classes/objects and their associated dynamic behavior. Existing object-oriented development methodology techniques are extended by adding design-level constructs termed logical composite classes and process composite classes. Logical composite classes are design-level classes which group classes/objects both logically and by thread of control information. Process composite classes further refine the logical composite class groupings by using process partitioning criteria to produce optimum concurrent execution results. The goal of these design-level constructs is to ultimately provide the basis for a mechanism that can support the creation of process composite classes in an automated way. Using an automated mechanism makes it easier to partition a system into concurrently executing elements that can be run in parallel on multiple processors.

Mccandlish, Janet E.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Attention focusing and anomaly detection in systems monitoring

Any attempt to introduce automation into the monitoring of complex physical systems must start from a robust anomaly detection capability. This task is far from straightforward, for a single definition of what constitutes an anomaly is difficult to come by. In addition, to make the monitoring process efficient, and to avoid the potential for information overload on human operators, attention focusing must also be addressed. When an anomaly occurs, more often than not several sensors are affected, and the partially redundant information they provide can be confusing, particularly in a crisis situation where a response is needed quickly. The focus of this paper is a new technique for attention focusing. The technique involves reasoning about the distance between two frequency distributions, and is used to detect both anomalous system parameters and 'broken' causal dependencies. These two forms of information together isolate the locus of anomalous behavior in the system being monitored.

Doyle, Richard J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

A Distance Measure for Attention Focusing and Anomaly Detection in Systems Monitoring

Any attempt to introduce automation into the monitoring of complex physical systems must start from a robust anomaly detection capability. This task is far from straightforward, for a single definition of what constitutes an anomaly is difficult to come by. In addition, to make the monitoring process efficient, and to avoid the potential for information overload on human operators, attention focusing must also be addressed. When an anomaly occurs, more often than not several sensors are affected, and the partially redundant information they provide can be confusing, particularly in a crisis situation where a response is needed quickly. Previous results on extending traditional anomaly detection techniques are summarized. The focus of this paper is a new technique for attention focusing.

attention focusing systems monitoring anomaly dete↗

NASA NTRS1994

Attention Focusing and Anomaly Detection in Systems Monitoring

systems↗

NASA NTRS1980

An automated procedure for developing hybrid computer simulations of turbofan engines

A systematic, computer-aided, self-documenting methodology for developing hybrid computer simulations of turbofan engines is presented. The methodology makes use of a host program that can run on a large digital computer and a machine-dependent target (hybrid) program. The host program performs all of the calculations and date manipulations needed to transform user-supplied engine design information to a form suitable for the hybrid computer. The host program also trims the self contained engine model to match specified design point information. A test case is described and comparisons between hybrid simulation and specified engine performance data are presented.

Szuch, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1998

RIACS

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) was established by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) on June 6, 1983. RIACS is privately operated by USRA, a consortium of universities that serves as a bridge between NASA and the academic community. Under a five-year co-operative agreement with NASA, research at RIACS is focused on areas that are strategically enabling to the Ames Research Center's role as NASA's Center of Excellence for Information Technology. The primary mission of RIACS is charted to carry out research and development in computer science. This work is devoted in the main to tasks that are strategically enabling with respect to NASA's bold mission in space exploration and aeronautics. There are three foci for this work: (1) Automated Reasoning. (2) Human-Centered Computing. and (3) High Performance Computing and Networking. RIACS has the additional goal of broadening the base of researcher in these areas of importance to the nation's space and aeronautics enterprises. Through its visiting scientist program, RIACS facilitates the participation of university-based researchers, including both faculty and students, in the research activities of NASA and RIACS. RIACS researchers work in close collaboration with NASA computer scientists on projects such as the Remote Agent Experiment on Deep Space One mission, and Super-Resolution Surface Modeling.

Moore, Robert C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A Boon for the Architect Engineer

Langley Research Center's need for an improved construction specification system led to an automated system called SPECSINTACT. A catalog of specifications, the system enables designers to retrieve relevant sections from computer storage and modify them as needed. SPECSINTACT has also been adopted by government agencies. The system is an integral part of the Construction Criteria Base (CCB), a single disc containing design and construction information for 10 government agencies including the American Institute of Architects' MASTERSPEC. CCB employs CD- ROM technologies and is available from the National Institute of Building Sciences. Users report substantial savings in time and productivity.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2002

MAC/GMC 4.0 User's Manual: Keywords Manual

This document is the second volume in the three volume set of User's Manuals for the Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells Version 4.0 (MAC/GMC 4.0). Volume 1 is the Theory Manual, this document is the Keywords Manual, and Volume 3 is the Example Problem Manual. MAC/GMC 4.0 is a composite material and laminate analysis software program developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. It is based on the generalized method of cells (GMC) micromechanics theory, which provides access to the local stress and strain fields in the composite material. This access grants GMC the ability to accommodate arbitrary local models for inelastic material behavior and various types of damage and failure analysis. MAC/GMC 4.0 has been built around GMC to provide the theory with a user-friendly framework, along with a library of local inelastic, damage, and failure models. Further, applications of simulated thermo-mechanical loading, generation of output results, and selection of architectures to represent the composite material have been automated in MAC/GMC 4.0. Finally, classical lamination theory has been implemented within MAC/GMC 4.0 wherein GMC is used to model the composite material response of each ply. Consequently, the full range of GMC composite material capabilities is available for analysis of arbitrary laminate configurations as well. This volume describes the basic information required to use the MAC/GMC 4.0 software, including a 'Getting Started' section, and an in-depth description of each of the 22 keywords used in the input file to control the execution of the code.

Bednarcyk, Brett A.↗

NASA NTRS2005

You Can't Get There From Here! Problems and Potential Solutions in Developing New Classes of Complex Systems

The explosion of capabilities and new products within the sphere of Information Technology (IT) has fostered widespread, overly optimistic opinions regarding the industry, based on common but unjustified assumptions of quality and correctness of software. These assumptions are encouraged by software producers and vendors, who at this late date have not succeeded in finding a way to overcome the lack of an automated, mathematically sound way to develop correct systems from requirements. NASA faces this dilemma as it envisages advanced mission concepts that involve large swarms of small spacecraft that will engage cooperatively to acheve science goals. Such missions entail levels of complexity that beg for new methods for system development far beyond today's methods, which are inadequate for ensuring correct behavior of large numbers of interacting intelligent mission elements. New system development techniques recently devised through NASA-led research will offer some innovative approaches to achieving correctness in complex system development, including autonomous swarm missions that exhibit emergent behavior, as well as general software products created by the computing industry.

Hinchey, Michael G.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Terminal Area Procedures for Paired Runways

Parallel runway operations have been found to increase capacity within the National Airspace but poor visibility conditions reduce the use of these operations. The NextGen and SESAR Programs have identified the capacity benefits from increased use of closely-space parallel runway. Previous research examined the concepts and procedures related to parallel runways however, there has been no investigation of the procedures associated with the strategic and tactical pairing of aircraft for these operations. This simulation study developed and examined the pilot and controller procedures and information requirements for creating aircraft pairs for parallel runway operations. The goal was to achieve aircraft pairing with a temporal separation of 15s (+/- 10s error) at a coupling point that was about 12 nmi from the runway threshold. Two variables were explored for the pilot participants: two levels of flight deck automation (current-day flight deck automation and auto speed control future automation) as well as two flight deck displays that assisted in pilot conformance monitoring. The controllers were also provided with automation to help create and maintain aircraft pairs. Results show the operations in this study were acceptable and safe. Subjective workload, when using the pairing procedures and tools, was generally low for both controllers and pilots, and situation awareness was typically moderate to high. Pilot workload was influenced by display type and automation condition. Further research on pairing and off-nominal conditions is required however, this investigation identified promising findings about the feasibility of closely-spaced parallel runway operations.

Lozito, Sandra↗

NASA NTRS2008

Advanced Air Transportation Technologies Project, Final Document Collection

This CD ROM contains a compilation of the final documents of the Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AAIT) project, which was an eight-year (1996 to 2004), $400M project managed by the Airspace Systems Program office, which was part of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. AAIT focused on developing advanced automation tools and air traffic management concepts that would help improve the efficiency of the National Airspace System, while maintaining or enhancing safety. The documents contained in the CD are final reports on AAIT tasks that serve to document the project's accomplishments over its eight-year term. Documents include information on: Advanced Air Transportation Technologies, Autonomous Operations Planner, Collaborative Arrival Planner, Distributed Air/Ground Traffic Management Concept Elements 5, 6, & 11, Direct-To, Direct-To Technology Transfer, Expedite Departure Path, En Route Data Exchange, Final Approach Spacing Tool - (Active and Passive), Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor, Multi Center Traffic Management Advisor Technology Transfer, Surface Movement Advisor, Surface Management System, Surface Management System Technology Transfer and Traffic Flow Management Research & Development.

Mogford, Richard H.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Terminal Area Procedures for Paired Runways

Parallel Runway operations have been found to increase capacity within the National Airspace (NAS) however, poor visibility conditions reduce this capacity [1]. Much research has been conducted to examine the concepts and procedures related to parallel runways however, there has been no investigation of the procedures associated with the strategic and tactical pairing of aircraft for these operations. This study developed and examined the pilot and controller procedures and information requirements for creating aircraft pairs for parallel runway operations. The goal was to achieve aircraft pairing with a temporal separation of 15s(+/- 10s error) at a coupling point that is about 12 nmi from the runway threshold. Two variables were explored for the pilot participants: Two levels of flight deck automation (current-day flight deck automation, and a prototype future automation) as well as two flight deck displays that assisted in pilot conformance monitoring. The controllers were also provided with automation to help create and maintain aircraft pairs. Data showed that the operations in this study were found to be acceptable and safe. Workload when using the pairing procedures and tools was generally low for both controllers and pilots, and situation awareness (SA) was typically moderate to high. There were some differences based upon the display and automation conditions for the pilots. Future research should consider the refinement of the concepts and tools for pilot and controller displays and automation for parallel runway concepts.

Lozito, Sandy↗

NASA NTRS2013

Predicting Pilot Behavior in Medium Scale Scenarios Using Game Theory and Reinforcement Learning

Effective automation is critical in achieving the capacity and safety goals of the Next Generation Air Traffic System. Unfortunately creating integration and validation tools for such automation is difficult as the interactions between automation and their human counterparts is complex and unpredictable. This validation becomes even more difficult as we integrate wide-reaching technologies that affect the behavior of different decision makers in the system such as pilots, controllers and airlines. While overt short-term behavior changes can be explicitly modeled with traditional agent modeling systems, subtle behavior changes caused by the integration of new technologies may snowball into larger problems and be very hard to detect. To overcome these obstacles, we show how integration of new technologies can be validated by learning behavior models based on goals. In this framework, human participants are not modeled explicitly. Instead, their goals are modeled and through reinforcement learning their actions are predicted. The main advantage to this approach is that modeling is done within the context of the entire system allowing for accurate modeling of all participants as they interact as a whole. In addition such an approach allows for efficient trade studies and feasibility testing on a wide range of automation scenarios. The goal of this paper is to test that such an approach is feasible. To do this we implement this approach using a simple discrete-state learning system on a scenario where 50 aircraft need to self-navigate using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) information. In this scenario, we show how the approach can be used to predict the ability of pilots to adequately balance aircraft separation and fly efficient paths. We present results with several levels of complexity and airspace congestion.

Game Theory↗