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At least 1,189 records · Page 66

SureTrak Probability of Impact Display

The SureTrak Probability of Impact Display software was developed for use during rocket launch operations. The software displays probability of impact information for each ship near the hazardous area during the time immediately preceding the launch of an unguided vehicle. Wallops range safety officers need to be sure that the risk to humans is below a certain threshold during each use of the Wallops Flight Facility Launch Range. Under the variable conditions that can exist at launch time, the decision to launch must be made in a timely manner to ensure a successful mission while not exceeding those risk criteria. Range safety officers need a tool that can give them the needed probability of impact information quickly, and in a format that is clearly understandable. This application is meant to fill that need. The software is a reuse of part of software developed for an earlier project: Ship Surveillance Software System (S4). The S4 project was written in C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio 6. The data structures and dialog templates from it were copied into a new application that calls the implementation of the algorithms from S4 and displays the results as needed. In the S4 software, the list of ships in the area was received from one local radar interface and from operators who entered the ship information manually. The SureTrak Probability of Impact Display application receives ship data from two local radars as well as the SureTrak system, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Elliott, John↗

Concurrent Image Processing Executive (CIPE). Volume 1: Design overview

The design and implementation of a Concurrent Image Processing Executive (CIPE), which is intended to become the support system software for a prototype high performance science analysis workstation are described. The target machine for this software is a JPL/Caltech Mark 3fp Hypercube hosted by either a MASSCOMP 5600 or a Sun-3, Sun-4 workstation; however, the design will accommodate other concurrent machines of similar architecture, i.e., local memory, multiple-instruction-multiple-data (MIMD) machines. The CIPE system provides both a multimode user interface and an applications programmer interface, and has been designed around four loosely coupled modules: user interface, host-resident executive, hypercube-resident executive, and application functions. The loose coupling between modules allows modification of a particular module without significantly affecting the other modules in the system. In order to enhance hypercube memory utilization and to allow expansion of image processing capabilities, a specialized program management method, incremental loading, was devised. To minimize data transfer between host and hypercube, a data management method which distributes, redistributes, and tracks data set information was implemented. The data management also allows data sharing among application programs. The CIPE software architecture provides a flexible environment for scientific analysis of complex remote sensing image data, such as planetary data and imaging spectrometry, utilizing state-of-the-art concurrent computation capabilities.

Lee, Meemong↗

Smarter Software For Enhanced Vehicle Health Monitoring and Inter-Planetary Exploration

The existing philosophy for space mission control was born in the early days of the space program when technology did not exist to put significant control responsibility onboard the spacecraft. NASA relied on a team of ground control experts to troubleshoot systems when problems occurred. As computing capability improved, more responsibility was handed over to the systems software. However, there is still a large contingent of both launch and flight controllers supporting each mission. New technology can update this philosophy to increase mission assurance and reduce the cost of inter-planetary exploration. The advent of model-based diagnosis and intelligent planning software enables spacecraft to handle most routine problems automatically and allocate resources in a flexible way to realize mission objectives. The manifests for recent missions include multiple subsystems and complex experiments. Spacecraft must operate at longer distances from earth where communications delays make earthbound command and control impractical. NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC) has demonstrated the utility of onboard diagnosis and planning with the Remote Agent experiment in 1999. KSC has pioneered model-based diagnosis and demonstrated its utility for ground support operations. KSC and ARC are cooperating in research to improve the state of the art of this technology. This paper highlights model-based reasoning applications for Moon and Mars missions including in-situ resource utilization and enhanced vehicle health monitoring.

Larson, William E.↗

EnCache: A Dynamic Profiling Based Reconfiguration Technique for Improving Cache Energy Efficiency

With each CMOS technology generation, leakage energy consumption has been dramatically increasing and hence, managing leakage power consumption of large last-level caches (LLCs) has become a critical issue in modern processor design. In this paper, we present EnCache, a novel software-based technique which uses dynamic profiling-based cache reconfiguration for saving cache leakage energy. EnCache uses a simple hardware component called profiling cache, which dynamically predicts energy efficiency of an application for 32 possible cache configurations. Using these estimates, system software reconfigures the cache to the most energy efficient configuration. EnCache uses dynamic cache reconfiguration and hence, it does not require offline profiling or tuning the parameter for each application. Furthermore, EnCache optimizes directly for the overall memory subsystem (LLC and main memory) energy efficiency instead of the LLC energy efficiency alone. The experiments performed with an x86-64 simulator and workloads from SPEC2006 suite confirm that EnCache provides larger energy saving than a conventional energy saving scheme. For single core and dual-core system configurations, the average savings in memory subsystem energy over a shared baseline configuration are 30.0% and 27.3%, respectively.

Cache Energy Saving↗

SCaLeM: A Framework for Characterizing and Analyzing Execution Models

As scalable parallel systems evolve towards more complex nodes with many-core architectures and larger trans-petascale & upcoming exascale deployments, there is a need to understand, characterize and quantify the underlying execution models being used on such systems. Execution models are a conceptual layer between applications & algorithms and the underlying parallel hardware and systems software on which those applications run. This paper presents the SCaLeM (Synchronization, Concurrency, Locality, Memory) framework for characterizing and execution models. SCaLeM consists of three basic elements: attributes, compositions and mapping of these compositions to abstract parallel systems. The fundamental Synchronization, Concurrency, Locality and Memory attributes are used to characterize each execution model, while the combinations of those attributes in the form of compositions are used to describe the primitive operations of the execution model. The mapping of the execution model’s primitive operations described by compositions, to an underlying abstract parallel system can be evaluated quantitatively to determine its effectiveness. Finally, SCaLeM also enables the representation and analysis of applications in terms of execution models, for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of such mapping.

Exascale↗

Paramedir: A Tool for Programmable Performance Analysis

Performance analysis of parallel scientific applications is time consuming and requires great expertise in areas such as programming paradigms, system software, and computer hardware architectures. In this paper we describe a tool that facilitates the programmability of performance metric calculations thereby allowing the automation of the analysis and reducing the application development time. We demonstrate how the system can be used to capture knowledge and intuition acquired by advanced parallel programmers in order to be transferred to novice users.

Jost, Gabriele↗

The changing nature of spacecraft operations: From the Vikings of the 1970's to the great observatories of the 1990's and beyond

Four trends in spacecraft flight operations are discussed which will reduce overall program costs. These trends are the use of high-speed, highly reliable data communications systems for distributing operations functions to more convenient and cost-effective sites; the improved capability for remote operation of sensors; a continued rapid increase in memory and processing speed of flight qualified computer chips; and increasingly capable ground-based hardware and software systems, notably those augmented by artificial intelligence functions. Changes reflected by these trends are reviewed starting from the NASA Viking missions of the early 70s, when mission control was conducted at one location using expensive and cumbersome mainframe computers and communications equipment. In the 1980s, powerful desktop computers and modems enabled the Magellan project team to operate the spacecraft remotely. In the 1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope project uses multiple color screens and automated sequencing software on small computers. Given a projection of current capabilities, future control centers will be even more cost-effective.

Ledbetter, Kenneth W.↗

A computer system for geosynchronous satellite navigation

A computer system specifically designed to estimate and predict Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-4) navigation parameters using Earth imagery is described. The estimates are needed for spacecraft maneuvers while prediction provide the capability for near real-time image registration. System software is composed of four functional subsystems: (1) data base management; (2) image processing; (3) navigation; and (4) output. Hardware consists of a host minicomputer, a cathode ray tube terminal, a graphics/video display unit, and associated input/output peripherals. System validity is established through the processing of actual imagery obtained by sensors on board the Synchronous Meteorological Satellite (SMS-2). Results indicate the system is capable of operationally providing both accurate GOES-4 navigation estimates and images with a potential registration accuracy of several picture elements (pixels).

Koch, D. W.↗

Problem-Solving Software

CBR Express software solves problems by adapting sorted solutions to new problems specified by a user. It is applicable to a wide range of situations. The technology was originally developed by Inference Corporation for Johnson Space Center's Advanced Software Development Workstation. The project focused on the reuse of software designs, and Inference used CBR as part of the ACCESS prototype software. The commercial CBR Express is used as a "help desk" for customer support, enabling reuse of existing information when necessary. It has been adopted by several companies, among them American Airlines, which uses it to solve reservation system software problems.

Source record↗

How to Extend the Capabilities of Space Systems for Long Duration Space Exploration Systems

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.

space assembly↗

Implementation and Simulation Results using Autonomous Aerobraking Development Software

An Autonomous Aerobraking software system is currently under development with support from the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) that would move typically ground-based operations functions to onboard an aerobraking spacecraft, reducing mission risk and mission cost. The suite of software that will enable autonomous aerobraking is the Autonomous Aerobraking Development Software (AADS) and consists of an ephemeris model, onboard atmosphere estimator, temperature and loads prediction, and a maneuver calculation. The software calculates the maneuver time, magnitude and direction commands to maintain the spacecraft periapsis parameters within design structural load and/or thermal constraints. The AADS is currently tested in simulations at Mars, with plans to also evaluate feasibility and performance at Venus and Titan.

Maddock, Robert W.↗

Alert Triage v 0.1 beta

In the cyber security operations of a typical organization, data from multiple sources are monitored, and when certain conditions in the data are met, an alert is generated in an alert management system. Analysts inspect these alerts to decide if any deserve promotion to an event requiring further scrutiny. This triage process is manual, time-consuming, and detracts from the in-depth investigation of events. We have created a software system that uses supervised machine learning to automatically prioritize these alerts. In particular we utilize active learning to make efficient use of the pool of unlabeled alerts, thereby improving the performance of our ranking models over passive learning. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our system on a large, real-world dataset of cyber security alerts.

Doak, JustinE.↗

Computer program documentation D1FLTD to drive SINDA boundary nodes: User's guide

The thermal model correlation process begins when measured thermocouple data is available from the orbital flight tests of the shuttle. For this effort, it is necessary to convert some of the system improved numerical differencing analyzer (SINDA) diffusion or arithmetic nodes to boundary nodes and then drive these boundary nodes to the temperature profile of a flight measurement. An efficient way to provide this capability within the SINDA and OFT software systems is to provide a new SINDA routine, D1FLTD, for use in VARIABLES 1 of SINDA, to access the processed (word-addressable) orbital data reduction center flight data and store the appropriate measurement temperature in the desired SINDA temperature location. The ODRC flight data that is to be used for driving the boundary nodes must be assigned a logical unit number and must reside on a word-addressable file. The user must also provide two SINDA constants for the word positions of the first and last words of the temperature record for each measurement identifier (MID), i.e. each call to D1FLTD, used in the model. D1FLTD is then called from the VARIABLES 1 block to obtain the SINDA boundary node temperature for any MID on the file at any time point.

Damico, S. J.↗

The NASA-IGES geometry data exchange standard

Described here are the data exchange efforts and plans supported by the NASA Steering Committee for Surface Modeling and Grid Generation. Current methods for geometry data exchange between computer aided design (CAD) systems and NASA computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis systems are tedious and induce errors. A Geometry Data Exchange Standard is proposed, utilizing a subset of an existing national standard titled Initial Graphic Exchange Standard (IGES). Future plans for data exchange standardization include all aspects of CFD data. Software systems to utilize this NASA-IGES Geometry Data Exchange Specification are under development.

Blake, Matthew W.↗

Alert Triage v 0.1 beta

In the cyber security operations of a typical organization, data from multiple sources are monitored, and when certain conditions in the data are met, an alert is generated in an alert management system. Analysts inspect these alerts to decide if any deserve promotion to an event requiring further scrutiny. This triage process is manual, time-consuming, and detracts from the in-depth investigation of events. We have created a software system that uses supervised machine learning to automatically prioritize these alerts. In particular we utilize active learning to make efficient use of the pool of unlabeled alerts, thereby improving the performance of our ranking models over passive learning. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our system on a large, real-world dataset of cyber security alerts.

Doak, Justin E.↗

UNITY: Unified Memory and Storage Space

UNITY is a 36-month project focused on providing design and evaluate a new distributed storage paradigm that unifies the traditionally distinct application views of memory- and file-based data storage into a single scalable and resilient environment. The project is a collaboration among Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Lead institution), Los Alamos National Labs (LANL), and Georgia Tech (GT). The main contributions of the GT team have been around development of low level systems software for best leveraging the capabilities of new types of persistent memory technologies, and for development of methods for intelligent data management across memory/storage substrates with heterogeneous components. GT contributed the Phoenix library for optimized checkpoint/restart for HPC I/O for systems with non-volatile memory (NVM), the NVStream library for NVM-specialized streaming I/O for HPC workflows, the CoMerge, Mnemo and Kleio solutions for intelligent data management on NVM-based systems. These contributions result in significant improvements in both application performance and system efficiency.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Processing of on-board recorded data for quick analysis of aircraft performance

A system of independent computer programs for the processing of digitized pulse code modulated (PCM) and frequency modulated (FM) data is described. Information is stored in a set of random files and accessed to produce both statistical and graphical output. The software system is designed primarily to present these reports within a twenty-four hour period for quick analysis of the helicopter's performance.

Michaud, N. H.↗