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At least 1,207 records · Page 67
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

James Webb Space Telescope XML Database: From the Beginning to Today

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project has been defining, developing, and exercising the use of a common eXtensible Markup Language (XML) for the command and telemetry (C&T) database structure. JWST is the first large NASA space mission to use XML for databases. The JWST project started developing the concepts for the C&T database in 2002. The database will need to last at least 20 years since it will be used beginning with flight software development, continuing through Observatory integration and test (I&T) and through operations. Also, a database tool kit has been provided to the 18 various flight software development laboratories located in the United States, Europe, and Canada that allows the local users to create their own databases. Recently the JWST Project has been working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Object Management Group (OMG) XML Telemetry and Command Exchange (XTCE) personnel to provide all the information needed by JWST and JPL for exchanging database information using a XML standard structure. The lack of standardization requires custom ingest scripts for each ground system segment, increasing the cost of the total system. Providing a non-proprietary standard of the telemetry and command database definition formation will allow dissimilar systems to communicate without the need for expensive mission specific database tools and testing of the systems after the database translation. The various ground system components that would benefit from a standardized database are the telemetry and command systems, archives, simulators, and trending tools. JWST has exchanged the XML database with the Eclipse, EPOCH, ASIST ground systems, Portable spacecraft simulator (PSS), a front-end system, and Integrated Trending and Plotting System (ITPS) successfully. This paper will discuss how JWST decided to use XML, the barriers to a new concept, experiences utilizing the XML structure, exchanging databases with other users, and issues that have been experienced in creating databases for the C&T system.

Gal-Edd, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Emulated Spacecraft Communication Testbed for Evaluating Cognitive Networking Technology

The ability to emulate the full space protocol stack is an essential aspect required to evaluate and mature cognitive communication capabilities. The interaction between the physical layer and network layers is key to developing network optimizations for a dynamic and complex environment. We present a laboratory testbed for the evaluation of cognitive radio and networking techniques applied to space communications. The testbed is a high fidelity, flight-like hardware testbed consisting of software-defined radios, channel emulators, modems, and orbital analysis and scheduling software. The testbed uses RF links with signal quality, propagation delay, and Doppler effects driven by orbital mechanics simulations of emulated spacecraft. Our framework enables control of link bidirectionality, data rates, and interference sources. In addition to hardware radio nodes, the testbed can incorporate virtualized emulated nodes for larger and more challenging network scenarios. Our approach to a cognitive communication system uses delay tolerant networking (DTN) to mitigate the challenges of the space environment. While many DTN networks use only preplanned schedules, our system uses User-Initiated Service (UIS) to dynamically schedule service providers. Software-defined radio allows the system to adapt to a variety of service providers. Integration of DTN, UIS, and software-defined radio technologies provides a framework for the implementation of a cognitive communication system. This paper describes the testbed capabilities, network emulation approach, component integration, and initial end-to-end testing results.

cognitive radio↗
NASA NTRS2020

GN&C Sequencing for Orion Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking

As part of the Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning to use the Orion Multi- Purpose Crew Vehicle to transport crew to a small orbital platform called Gate- way in cislunar space. To facilitate this activity, Orion is required to perform Rendezvous, Proximity Operations, and Docking (RPOD) with both the Gate- way and the launch vehicle upper stage. The Orion spacecraft uses sequencing in the form of Phases, Segments, Activities, and Modes (PSAM) to configure Guidance, Navigation, & Control (GN&C) software during each portion of the mission. Significant updates to Orion PSAM definitions are required for RPOD. This paper describes the process of defining these new sequencing elements, implementing them in prototype flight software, and testing them in an integrated simulation environment. First, requirements are specified to determine the nominal and off-nominal sequencing behavior necessary to complete the mission. These requirements also specify which software functions should be fully autonomous and which functions require manual interactions from crew or ground operators. Next, the RPOD concept of operations is defined with detailed events listed in a mission timeline. Third, a state machine diagram is developed to show all PSAM states, including all possible transitions between them. After this, the PSAM states and transitions are entered into a sequencing software emulator and parameter values and modes are defined for GN&C software elements. Finally, the PSAM architecture is tested within an integrated simulation environment by connecting it with prototypes of relevant GN&C flight software elements and with detailed vehicle models. After the sequencing design has been finalized and tested, it is implemented in flight software.

Schulte, Peter Z.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Computational System For Rapid CFD Analysis In Engineering

Computational system comprising modular hardware and software sub-systems developed to accelerate and facilitate use of techniques of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in engineering environment. Addresses integration of all aspects of CFD analysis process, including definition of hardware surfaces, generation of computational grids, CFD flow solution, and postprocessing. Incorporates interfaces for integration of all hardware and software tools needed to perform complete CFD analysis. Includes tools for efficient definition of flow geometry, generation of computational grids, computation of flows on grids, and postprocessing of flow data. System accepts geometric input from any of three basic sources: computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), or definition by user.

Barson, Steven L.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Arrowland v1.0

"Arrowland" is a web-based software application primarily for mapping, integrating and visualizing a variety of metabolism data of living organisms, including but not limited to metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and fluxomics. This software application makes multi-omics data analysis intuitive and interactive. It improves data sharing and communication by enabling users to visualize their omics data using a web browser (on a PC or mobile device). It increases user's productivity by simplifying multi-omics data analysis using well developed maps as a guide. Users using this tool can gain insights into their data sets that would be difficult or even impossible to tease out by looking at raw number, or using their currently existing toolchains to generate static single-use maps. Arrowland helps users save time by visualizing relative changes in different conditions or over time, and helps users to produce more significant insights faster. Preexisting maps decrease the learning curve for beginners in the omics field. Sets of multi-omics data are presented in the browser, as a two-dimensional flowchart resembling a map, with varying levels of detail information, based on the scaling of the map. Users can pan and zoom to explore different maps, compare maps, upload their own research data sets onto desired maps, alter map appearance in ways that facilitate interpretation, visualization and analysis of the given data, and export data, reports and actionable items to help the user initiative.

BIRKEL, GARRETT↗
DOE OSTI2021

R3IT, Rapid Rural Resilient Interconnection Toolkit, Final Technical Report

Utilities nationwide are beginning to experience multiple solar interconnection requests per day. This request volume will soon overwhelm utility engineers, especially at smaller utilities which serve the majority of the landmass of the United States. In this project, we developed open-source software tool that automates the interconnection approval process and removes 80% of the time required to approve an interconnection and hence allow more solar to be quickly and safely integrated with the grid. This software is accompanied by a guidebook detailing interconnection best practices and utility lessons learned. Competing solar interconnection software is extremely expensive at ten times the cost of typical distribution engineering tools, it’s closed source which makes it hard to integrate into utility workflows, and it doesn’t address the hardest power flow modeling challenges of interconnection screening. Our solution was built built with our utility partners who are already experiencing multiple interconnection requests per day and integrates best practices from our past work with DOE and the cooperative community on solar integration. The resulting free and open-source solution has been disseminated through our media channels and conferences that engage over 1,900 utilities nationwide.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2008

Automatic Testcase Generation for Flight Software

The TacSat3 project is applying Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) technologies to an Air Force spacecraft for operational evaluation in space. The experiment will demonstrate the effectiveness and cost of ISHM and vehicle systems management (VSM) technologies through onboard operation for extended periods. We present two approaches to automatic testcase generation for ISHM: 1) A blackbox approach that views the system as a blackbox, and uses a grammar-based specification of the system's inputs to automatically generate *all* inputs that satisfy the specifications (up to prespecified limits); these inputs are then used to exercise the system. 2) A whitebox approach that performs analysis and testcase generation directly on a representation of the internal behaviour of the system under test. The enabling technologies for both these approaches are model checking and symbolic execution, as implemented in the Ames' Java PathFinder (JPF) tool suite. Model checking is an automated technique for software verification. Unlike simulation and testing which check only some of the system executions and therefore may miss errors, model checking exhaustively explores all possible executions. Symbolic execution evaluates programs with symbolic rather than concrete values and represents variable values as symbolic expressions. We are applying the blackbox approach to generating input scripts for the Spacecraft Command Language (SCL) from Interface and Control Systems. SCL is an embedded interpreter for controlling spacecraft systems. TacSat3 will be using SCL as the controller for its ISHM systems. We translated the SCL grammar into a program that outputs scripts conforming to the grammars. Running JPF on this program generates all legal input scripts up to a prespecified size. Script generation can also be targeted to specific parts of the grammar of interest to the developers. These scripts are then fed to the SCL Executive. ICS's in-house coverage tools will be run to measure code coverage. Because the scripts exercise all parts of the grammar, we expect them to provide high code coverage. This blackbox approach is suitable for systems for which we do not have access to the source code. We are applying whitebox test generation to the Spacecraft Health INference Engine (SHINE) that is part of the ISHM system. In TacSat3, SHINE will execute an on-board knowledge base for fault detection and diagnosis. SHINE converts its knowledge base into optimized C code which runs onboard TacSat3. SHINE can translate its rules into an intermediate representation (Java) suitable for analysis with JPF. JPF will analyze SHINE's Java output using symbolic execution, producing testcases that can provide either complete or directed coverage of the code. Automatically generated test suites can provide full code coverage and be quickly regenerated when code changes. Because our tools analyze executable code, they fully cover the delivered code, not just models of the code. This approach also provides a way to generate tests that exercise specific sections of code under specific preconditions. This capability gives us more focused testing of specific sections of code.

Bushnell, David Henry↗
DOE OSTI2017

Agile Software Components and Libraries for Large-Scale Reservoir Simulations

The objective of this project was for Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and ExxonMobil Research Company (URC) to collaborate on the development and integration of numerical algorithms and software components for the solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) that address the high fidelity simulation of reservoir flows. SNL’s role was to consult and advise URC on the best practices and use of SNL opensource software components as part of URC's work to incorporate these components into their PDE-based URC reservoir simulation code. A desired outcome was for URC to leverage SNL’s open-source software components as within their own codes, rather than to have to develop from scratch those same capabilities themselves, and for SNL to harden and mature those software components based on usage and feedback from URC.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1986

Integration of an expert system into a user interface language demonstration

The need for a User Interface Language (UIL) has been recognized by the Space Station Program Office as a necessary tool to aid in minimizing the cost of software generation by multiple users. Previous history in the Space Shuttle Program has shown that many different areas of software generation, such as operations, integration, testing, etc., have each used a different user command language although the types of operations being performed were similar in many respects. Since the Space Station represents a much more complex software task, a common user command language--a user interface language--is required to support the large spectrum of space station software developers and users. To assist in the selection of an appropriate set of definitions for a UIL, a series of demonstration programs was generated with which to test UIL concepts against specific Space Station scenarios using operators for the astronaut and scientific community. Because of the importance of expert system in the space station, it was decided that an expert system should be embedded in the UIL. This would not only provide insight into the UIL components required but would indicate the effectiveness with which an expert system could function in such an environment.

Stclair, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS2005

SQL-RAMS

SQL-RAMS (where "SQL" signifies Structured Query Language and "RAMS" signifies Rocketdyne Automated Management System) is a successor to the legacy version of RAMS a computer program used to manage all work, nonconformance, corrective action, and configuration management on rocket engines and ground support equipment at Stennis Space Center. The legacy version resided in the FileMaker Pro software system and was constructed in modules that could act as stand-alone programs. There was little or no integration among modules. Because of limitations on file-management capabilities in FileMaker Pro, and because of difficulty of integration of FileMaker Pro with other software systems for exchange of data using such industry standards as SQL, the legacy version of RAMS proved to be limited, and working to circumvent its limitations too time-consuming. In contrast, SQL-RAMS is an integrated SQL-server-based program that supports all data-exchange software industry standards. Whereas in the legacy version, it was necessary to access individual modules to gain insight to a particular work-status documents, SQL-RAMS provides access through a single-screen presentation of core modules. In addition, SQL-RAMS enable rapid and efficient filtering of displayed statuses by predefined categories and test numbers. SQL-RAMS is rich in functionality and encompasses significant improvements over the legacy system. It provides users the ability to perform many tasks which in the past required administrator intervention. Additionally many of the design limitations have been corrected allowing for a robust application that is user centric.

Alfaro, Victor O.↗
DOE OSTI2012

Decision-Support Software for Grid Operators: Transmission Topology Control for Infrastructure Resilience to the Integration of Renewable Generation

GENI Project: The CRA team is developing control technology to help grid operators more actively manage power flows and integrate renewables by optimally turning on and off entire power lines in coordination with traditional control of generation and load resources. The control technology being developed would provide grid operators with tools to help manage transmission congestion by identifying the facilities whose on/off status must change to lower generation costs, increase utilization of renewable resources and improve system reliability. The technology is based on fast optimization algorithms for the near to real-time change in the on/off status of transmission facilities and their software implementation.

ARPA-E↗
NASA NTRS2008

Project Integration Architecture

The Project Integration Architecture (PIA) is a distributed, object-oriented, conceptual, software framework for the generation, organization, publication, integration, and consumption of all information involved in any complex technological process in a manner that is intelligible to both computers and humans. In the development of PIA, it was recognized that in order to provide a single computational environment in which all information associated with any given complex technological process could be viewed, reviewed, manipulated, and shared, it is necessary to formulate all the elements of such a process on the most fundamental level. In this formulation, any such element is regarded as being composed of any or all of three parts: input information, some transformation of that input information, and some useful output information. Another fundamental principle of PIA is the assumption that no consumer of information, whether human or computer, can be assumed to have any useful foreknowledge of an element presented to it. Consequently, a PIA-compliant computing system is required to be ready to respond to any questions, posed by the consumer, concerning the nature of the proffered element. In colloquial terms, a PIA-compliant system must be prepared to provide all the information needed to place the element in context. To satisfy this requirement, PIA extends the previously established object-oriented- programming concept of self-revelation and applies it on a grand scale. To enable pervasive use of self-revelation, PIA exploits another previously established object-oriented-programming concept - that of semantic infusion through class derivation. By means of self-revelation and semantic infusion through class derivation, a consumer of information can inquire about the contents of all information entities (e.g., databases and software) and can interact appropriately with those entities. Other key features of PIA are listed.

Jones, William Henry↗
DOE OSTI2018

Performance-Based Evaluation of Courtyard Design in China’s Cold-Winter Hot-Summer Climate Regions

A courtyard is a traditional and popular construction feature found in China’s urban buildings. This case study evaluates the performance of the traditional courtyard design of the Jiangnan Museum, located in Jiangsu Province. In the evaluation, the spatial layout of courtyards is adjusted, the aspect ratio is changed, and an ecological buffer space is created. To model and evaluate the performance of the courtyard design, this study applied the Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, Parabolic Hyperbolic Or Elliptic Numerical Integration Code Series (PHOENICS), for wind environment simulation, and the EnergyPlus-based software, DesignBuilder, for energy simulation. Results show that a good combination of courtyard layout and aspect ratio can improve the use of natural ventilation by increasing free cooling during hot summers and reducing cold wind in winters. The results also show that ecological buffer areas of a courtyard can reduce cooling loads in summer by approximately 19.6% and heating loads in winter by approximately 22.3%. The study provides insights into the optimal design of a courtyard to maximize its benefit in regulating the microclimate during both winter and summer.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated Design Results for the MSR DAC-0.0 Mars Ascent Vehicle

The NASA Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign endeavors to return Martian regolith, rock, and atmospheric samples to Earth for scientific study. One of many significant challenges to overcome in the return of these samples lies in transporting them from the Martian surface to space. In order to surmount this challenge, the Campaign has conceptualized the need for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) to perform this function and deliver Martian samples to orbit. There, the samples will be ejected and captured by a separate spacecraft for return to Earth. Many concepts for a MAV have existed in the past, but it has not been until now that an integrated, detailed design solution has been developed and analyzed. Preliminary assessments of the initial architecture examined multiple methods of propulsion. The team ultimately determined that a Two Stage to Orbit (TSTO) solid propulsion vehicle would provide the most effective performance and be the most technologically ready to support this mission. Following the decision to adopt a TSTO solid propelled vehicle, the first official Design Analysis Cycle, DAC-0.0, was performed in Spring 2020 to formally advance the fidelity of the vehicle to a maturity level acceptable for NASA Key Decision Point A (KDP-A). This paper describes the resultant MAV design concept developed as part of the DAC-0.0 study by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in association with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The TSTO vehicle features two solid rocket motors, one powering each stage. Their thrust vectors are controlled with Thrust Vector Control (TVC) systems consisting of independent electromechanical actuators acting on gimballed nozzles. The vehicle is designed to deliver up to 0.47kg of Martian samples to a Mars circular orbit of 343km at 27° inclination. Due to the unique environmental conditions that this vehicle is required to operate in, the subsystem design teams were compelled to develop creative and unorthodox designs to ensure a successful mission. The detailed design and analysis of these subsystems are discussed in this paper and include topics on the MAV Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC); structures and mechanisms; integrated vehicle thermal; avionics and flight software; a hydrazine-based Reaction Control System (RCS); aerosciences; and vehicle assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) considerations, among others. Following the conclusion of the MAV DAC-0.0, additional alternative architecture concepts were also studied to further reduce the mass of the overall system. The results of these studies will also be examined in this paper.

Darius Yaghoubi↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Integrated Design Results for the MSR DAC-0.0 Mars Ascent Vehicle

The NASA Mars Sample Return (MSR) Campaign endeavors to return Martian regolith, rock, and atmospheric samples to Earth for scientific study. One of many significant challenges to overcome in the return of thesesamples lies in transporting them from the Martian surface to space. In order to surmount this challenge, the Campaign has conceptualized the need for a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) to perform this function and deliver Martian samples to orbit. There, the samples will be ejected and captured by a separate spacecraft for return to Earth. Many concepts for a MAV have existed in the past, but it has not been until now that an integrated, detailed design solution has been developed and analyzed. Preliminary assessments of the initial architecture examined multiple methods of propulsion. The team ultimately determined that a Two Stage to Orbit (TSTO) solid propulsion vehicle would provide the most effective performance and be the most technologically ready to support this mission. Following the decision to adopt a TSTO solid propelled vehicle, the first official Design Analysis Cycle, DAC-0.0, was performed in Spring 2020 to formally advance the fidelity of the vehicle to a maturity level acceptable for NASA Key Decision Point A (KDP-A). This paper describes the resultant MAV design concept developed as part of the DAC-0.0 study by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in association with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The TSTO vehicle features two solid rocket motors, one powering each stage. Their thrust vectors are controlled with Thrust Vector Control (TVC) systems consisting of independent electromechanical actuators acting on gimballed nozzles. The vehicle is designed to deliver up to 0.47kg of Martian samples to a Mars circular orbit of 343km at 27° inclination. Due to the unique environmental conditions that this vehicle is required to operate in, the subsystem design teams were compelled to develop creative and unorthodox designs to ensure a successful mission. The detailed design and analysis of these subsystems are discussed in this paper and include topics on the MAV Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC); structures and mechanisms; integrated vehicle thermal; avionics and flight software; a hydrazine-based Reaction Control System (RCS); aerosciences; and vehicle assembly, integration, and test (AI&T) considerations, among others. Following the conclusion of the MAV DAC-0.0, additional alternative architecture concepts were also studied to further reduce the mass of the overall system.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS1994

A software architecture for automating operations processes

The Operations Engineering Lab (OEL) at JPL has developed a software architecture based on an integrated toolkit approach for simplifying and automating mission operations tasks. The toolkit approach is based on building adaptable, reusable graphical tools that are integrated through a combination of libraries, scripts, and system-level user interface shells. The graphical interface shells are designed to integrate and visually guide a user through the complex steps in an operations process. They provide a user with an integrated system-level picture of an overall process, defining the required inputs and possible output through interactive on-screen graphics. The OEL has developed the software for building these process-oriented graphical user interface (GUI) shells. The OEL Shell development system (OEL Shell) is an extension of JPL's Widget Creation Library (WCL). The OEL Shell system can be used to easily build user interfaces for running complex processes, applications with extensive command-line interfaces, and tool-integration tasks. The interface shells display a logical process flow using arrows and box graphics. They also allow a user to select which output products are desired and which input sources are needed, eliminating the need to know which program and its associated command-line parameters must be executed in each case. The shells have also proved valuable for use as operations training tools because of the OEL Shell hypertext help environment. The OEL toolkit approach is guided by several principles, including the use of ASCII text file interfaces with a multimission format, Perl scripts for mission-specific adaptation code, and programs that include a simple command-line interface for batch mode processing. Projects can adapt the interface shells by simple changes to the resources configuration file. This approach has allowed the development of sophisticated, automated software systems that are easy, cheap, and fast to build. This paper will discuss our toolkit approach and the OEL Shell interface builder in the context of a real operations process example. The paper will discuss the design and implementation of a Ulysses toolkit for generating the mission sequence of events. The Sequence of Events Generation (SEG) system provides an adaptable multimission toolkit for producing a time-ordered listing and timeline display of spacecraft commands, state changes, and required ground activities.

Miller, Kevin J.↗
DOE OSTI2018

HELICS-HLA (Hierarchical Engine for Large-scale Infrastructure Co-Simulation High Level Architecture) [SWR-18-46]

The Hierarchical Engine for Large-scale Infrastructure Co-Simulation (HELICS) is a co-simulation platform that is currently under development as part of a GMLC project. The High Level Architecture (HLA) is a co-simulation standard, various implementations of which have been widely used for co-simulations for several years, particularly in the defense community. The objective of developing the HELICS-HLA interface is to provide the ability of making software connected with HLA implementations to work with software connected with HELICS. Since each HLA federation is dependent on the RTI being used, the HELICS-HLA interface developed here uses an implementation of the HLA, the Universal CPS Environment for Federation (UCEF), to create this interface. Both HELICS and UCEF are open source software. UCEF-gateway that enables the integration of HELICS and UCEF is also an open source software.

Jain, Himanshu↗
DOE OSTI2013

Award ER25750: Coordinated Infrastructure for Fault Tolerance Systems Indiana University Final Report

The main purpose of the Coordinated Infrastructure for Fault Tolerance in Systems initiative has been to conduct research with a goal of providing end-to-end fault tolerance on a systemwide basis for applications and other system software. While fault tolerance has been an integral part of most high-performance computing (HPC) system software developed over the past decade, it has been treated mostly as a collection of isolated stovepipes. Visibility and response to faults has typically been limited to the particular hardware and software subsystems in which they are initially observed. Little fault information is shared across subsystems, allowing little flexibility or control on a system-wide basis, making it practically impossible to provide cohesive end-to-end fault tolerance in support of scientific applications. As an example, consider faults such as communication link failures that can be seen by a network library but are not directly visible to the job scheduler, or consider faults related to node failures that can be detected by system monitoring software but are not inherently visible to the resource manager. If information about such faults could be shared by the network libraries or monitoring software, then other system software, such as a resource manager or job scheduler, could ensure that failed nodes or failed network links were excluded from further job allocations and that further diagnosis could be performed. As a founding member and one of the lead developers of the Open MPI project, our efforts over the course of this project have been focused on making Open MPI more robust to failures by supporting various fault tolerance techniques, and using fault information exchange and coordination between MPI and the HPC system software stack from the application, numeric libraries, and programming language runtime to other common system components such as jobs schedulers, resource managers, and monitoring tools.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗