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At least 1,333 records · Page 74

Risk-Informed Safety Assurance and Probabilistic Assessment of Mission-Critical Software-Intensive Systems

This report validates and documents the detailed features and practical application of the framework for software intensive digital systems risk assessment and risk-informed safety assurance presented in the NASA PRA Procedures Guide for Managers and Practitioner. This framework, called herein the "Context-based Software Risk Model" (CSRM), enables the assessment of the contribution of software and software-intensive digital systems to overall system risk, in a manner which is entirely compatible and integrated with the format of a "standard" Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA), as currently documented and applied for NASA missions and applications. The CSRM also provides a risk-informed path and criteria for conducting organized and systematic digital system and software testing so that, within this risk-informed paradigm, the achievement of a quantitatively defined level of safety and mission success assurance may be targeted and demonstrated. The framework is based on the concept of context-dependent software risk scenarios and on the modeling of such scenarios via the use of traditional PRA techniques - i.e., event trees and fault trees - in combination with more advanced modeling devices such as the Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology (DFM) or other dynamic logic-modeling representations. The scenarios can be synthesized and quantified in a conditional logic and probabilistic formulation. The application of the CSRM method documented in this report refers to the MiniAERCam system designed and developed by the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Guarro, Sergio B.↗

The Emphasis of Design Patterns in Expressing Expert Knowledge From A Technical Solution – A Framework for Continued Research

Digital Engineering is a transformative strategy that leverages an integrated model-based approach to improve communication, decision making, design understanding, and acquisition efficiency of system development. As modern systems are derived from pre-existing systems, harvesting expert knowledge from proven systems in a useful, model-based way will reduce the experiential learning and cognition required for new system development, contributing to a Digital Engineering transformation. Motivated by performance gains observed during a multi-year, sequential development activity, this survey reviews knowledge, architecture, and pattern literature to establish a framework for research of architectural methods for expert knowledge identification and description using Model Based System Engineering. The multi-year sequential development activity is offered as the experimental system of interest for this research. This work aims to enable a digital engineering strategy that improves concept phase decision making, accelerates knowledge acquisition from lessons learned repositories, and eases the burden of generational knowledge loss.

Lithium Ion↗

Overview of NASA Gateway Lunar Dust Mitigation and Contamination Modeling and Analysis

The planned NASA Artemis campaign has several lunar surface missions in which the NASA Gateway is the waypoint between lunar orbit and the lunar surface for Human Lander System (HLS). Each of these missions is an opportunity for lunar dust to be introduced into the Gateway environment, post surface mission, potentially causing end of life (EOL) performance degradation due to lunar dust contamination of sensitive hardware and systems on the exterior of Gateway and Visiting Vehicles. The Gateway Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I) and Induced Environments teams are addressing the challenge of lunar dust with a two-pronged approach. Characterization of the lunar dust induced environment around Gateway and contamination risk is accomplished with a comprehensive physics-based framework, the Gateway On-orbit Lunar Dust Modeling and Analysis Program (GOLDMAP), which is currently in development. Analysis results from GOLDMAP define Gateway-level induced environments requirements and are flowed to elements and subsystems. In parallel, a dust mitigation strategy is being developed with a focus on lunar dust protection, dust mitigation technologies, mitigation and testing guidance, and cross-program coordination and is informed by outputs from GOLDMAP analyses. Activities supporting both components include hardware susceptibility assessments and testing, and scientific experiments on lunar regolith.

Gateway↗

3-D orbital evolution model of outer asteroid belt

The evolution of minor planets in the outer part of the asteroid belt is considered. In the framework of the semi-averaged elliptic restricted three-dimensional three-body model, the boundary of regions of the Hill's stability is found. As was shown in our work, the Jacobian integral exists.

Solovaya, Nina A.↗

Workflow Agents vs. Expert Systems: Problem Solving Methods in Work Systems Design

During the 1980s, a community of artificial intelligence researchers became interested in formalizing problem solving methods as part of an effort called "second generation expert systems" (2nd GES). How do the motivations and results of this research relate to building tools for the workplace today? We provide an historical review of how the theory of expertise has developed, a progress report on a tool for designing and implementing model-based automation (Brahms), and a concrete example how we apply 2nd GES concepts today in an agent-based system for space flight operations (OCAMS). Brahms incorporates an ontology for modeling work practices, what people are doing in the course of a day, characterized as "activities." OCAMS was developed using a simulation-to-implementation methodology, in which a prototype tool was embedded in a simulation of future work practices. OCAMS uses model-based methods to interactively plan its actions and keep track of the work to be done. The problem solving methods of practice are interactive, employing reasoning for and through action in the real world. Analogously, it is as if a medical expert system were charged not just with interpreting culture results, but actually interacting with a patient. Our perspective shifts from building a "problem solving" (expert) system to building an actor in the world. The reusable components in work system designs include entire "problem solvers" (e.g., a planning subsystem), interoperability frameworks, and workflow agents that use and revise models dynamically in a network of people and tools. Consequently, the research focus shifts so "problem solving methods" include ways of knowing that models do not fit the world, and ways of interacting with other agents and people to gain or verify information and (ultimately) adapt rules and procedures to resolve problematic situations.

Clancey, William J.↗

Wall-Modeled Large Eddy Simulations of Transonic Buffet Over a Supercritical Airfoil

A series of scale-resolving simulations of flow over the ONERA OAT15A airfoil have been performed at an angle of attack of 3.5◦, just past the onset of buffet. The focus of this study is to document the sensitivity of the wall-modeled large eddy simulation (WMLES) methodology for curvilinear structured overset grids within the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework to mesh spacing, mesh distribution, and domain size. A secondary purpose of the study is to compare the results from WMLES to unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) simulations and hybrid RANS-LES (HRLES) within the same LAVA solver framework. The study provides a unique perspective regarding comparisons between different turbulence modeling approaches, time-integration methods, and computational performance since many of the same numerical routines are used for all three types of simulations. The results are compared with experiments and previous numerical studies of the same geometry and flow conditions.

TTT↗

A Novel Framework for Multi-Path Data Fusion in Earth Observation and New Observing Strategies: Applications to Predicting Forest Canopy Height

Exponential growth of data from Earth Observation (EO) assets has necessitated the development of sophisticated methods for data interpretation and management. NASA’s New Observing Strategy (NOS) approach aims to coordinate operations among complex heterogenous systems of constellations, requiring advanced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) techniques. Despite significant advancements in AI/ML across various domains, the EO and machine learning for satellite (SatML) fields remain fragmented, often relying on adapted techniques rather than domain-specific solutions. We present a novel end-to-end data fusion framework tailored specifically for EO and SatML, addressing this gap by facilitating rapid development of AI/ML applications. This framework, called, Multimodal Earth Observation Workflow for Machine Learning (MEOW-ML), sup- ports the entire AI/ML lifecycle, from dataset manipulation, to model training, evaluation, and logging, and is designed to expedite the development of next-generation NOS deployments and SOTA in EO. We apply our framework to predict canopy height model (CHM) derived from lidar data. We integrate multiple data modalities through a hierarchical, multi-path model architecture, effectively identifying and leveraging the unique strengths of each data source to enhance predictive accuracy. Our experiments demonstrate that the multi-path architecture outperforms traditional single-path models and provides significant advantages in both accuracy and computational efficiency.

Mark Moussa↗

Probabilistic Independence Networks for Hidden Markov Probability Models

In this paper we explore hidden Markov models(HMMs) and related structures within the general framework of probabilistic independence networks (PINs). The paper contains a self-contained review of the basic principles of PINs. It is shown that the well-known forward-backward (F-B) and Viterbi algorithms for HMMs are special cases of more general enference algorithms for arbitrary PINs.

random variables pattern recognition signal proces↗

A Mixed Integer Linear Program for Solving a Multiple Route Taxi Scheduling Problem

Aircraft movements on taxiways at busy airports often create bottlenecks. This paper introduces a mixed integer linear program to solve a Multiple Route Aircraft Taxi Scheduling Problem. The outputs of the model are in the form of optimal taxi schedules, which include routing decisions for taxiing aircraft. The model extends an existing single route formulation to include routing decisions. An efficient comparison framework compares the multi-route formulation and the single route formulation. The multi-route model is exercised for east side airport surface traffic at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to determine if any arrival taxi time savings can be achieved by allowing arrivals to have two taxi routes: a route that crosses an active departure runway and a perimeter route that avoids the crossing. Results indicate that the multi-route formulation yields reduced arrival taxi times over the single route formulation only when a perimeter taxiway is used. In conditions where the departure aircraft are given an optimal and fixed takeoff sequence, accumulative arrival taxi time savings in the multi-route formulation can be as high as 3.6 hours more than the single route formulation. If the departure sequence is not optimal, the multi-route formulation results in less taxi time savings made over the single route formulation, but the average arrival taxi time is significantly decreased.

Montoya, Justin Vincent↗

Radiation Quality Effects on Transcriptome Profiles in 3-D Cultures After Charged Particle Irradiation

In this work, we evaluated the differential effects of low- and high-LET radiation on 3-D organotypic cultures in order to investigate radiation quality impacts on gene expression and cellular responses. Current risk models for assessment of space radiation-induced cancer have large uncertainties because the models for adverse health effects following radiation exposure are founded on epidemiological analyses of human populations exposed to low-LET radiation. Reducing these uncertainties requires new knowledge on the fundamental differences in biological responses (the so-called radiation quality effects) triggered by heavy ion particle radiation versus low-LET radiation associated with Earth-based exposures. In order to better quantify these radiation quality effects in biological systems, we are utilizing novel 3-D organotypic human tissue models for space radiation research. These models hold promise for risk assessment as they provide a format for study of human cells within a realistic tissue framework, thereby bridging the gap between 2-D monolayer culture and animal models for risk extrapolation to humans. To identify biological pathway signatures unique to heavy ion particle exposure, functional gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used with whole transcriptome profiling. GSEA has been used extensively as a method to garner biological information in a variety of model systems but has not been commonly used to analyze radiation effects. It is a powerful approach for assessing the functional significance of radiation quality-dependent changes from datasets where the changes are subtle but broad, and where single gene based analysis using rankings of fold-change may not reveal important biological information.

Patel, Zarana S.↗

NU-WRF Development and Support at NASA GSFC

The NASA Unified WRF modeling system (NU-WRF) is an observation driven framework that combines WRF-ARW with Goddard developed radiation, microphysics, aerosols and land information system (LIS) packages. NU-WRF can be used for simulating aerosols and land use effects on a variety of weather events. This poster will present a description of the modeling system including updates and future plans.

Cruz, Carlos A.↗

Auralization of Unsteady Rotor Noise Using a Solution to the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings Equation

Auralization of unsteady helicopter flight operations is needed to better understand the impact of maneuvers on community noise. Previous source sound synthesis methods were based on interpolated data, which may lead to artifacts in generating sound for helicopter maneuvers where sound pressure directivity may change rapidly. In this paper, the source sound is synthesized at every time sample using a solution to the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings Equation along the path of the emission angle between the source and a ground observer. The synthesized sound is then propagated to the ground observer for auralization. Since no interpolation is performed, maneuvers with rapidly changing sound pressure directivities may be more accurately synthesized and auralized. The framework for accomplishing this synthesis and auralization is described, which couples the Fundamental Rotorcraft Acoustic Modeling from Experiments, the second-generation Aircraft NOise Prediction Program, and the NASA Auralization Framework. Synthesis of a hovering rotor is presented to compare with previous synthesis methods. Two examples with a periodic signals are then presented to demonstrate synthesis and auralization of unsteady rotor noise.

Krishnamurthy, Siddhartha↗

Applying AI tools to operational space environmental analysis

The U.S. Air Force and National Oceanic Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) space environmental operations centers are facing increasingly complex challenges meeting the needs of their growing user community. These centers provide current space environmental information and short term forecasts of geomagnetic activity. Recent advances in modeling and data access have provided sophisticated tools for making accurate and timely forecasts, but have introduced new problems associated with handling and analyzing large quantities of complex data. AI (Artificial Intelligence) techniques have been considered as potential solutions to some of these problems. Fielding AI systems has proven more difficult than expected, in part because of operational constraints. Using systems which have been demonstrated successfully in the operational environment will provide a basis for a useful data fusion and analysis capability. Our approach uses a general purpose AI system already in operational use within the military intelligence community, called the Temporal Analysis System (TAS). TAS is an operational suite of tools supporting data processing, data visualization, historical analysis, situation assessment and predictive analysis. TAS includes expert system tools to analyze incoming events for indications of particular situations and predicts future activity. The expert system operates on a knowledge base of temporal patterns encoded using a knowledge representation called Temporal Transition Models (TTM's) and an event database maintained by the other TAS tools. The system also includes a robust knowledge acquisition and maintenance tool for creating TTM's using a graphical specification language. The ability to manipulate TTM's in a graphical format gives non-computer specialists an intuitive way of accessing and editing the knowledge base. To support space environmental analyses, we used TAS's ability to define domain specific event analysis abstractions. The prototype system defines events covering reports of natural phenomena such as solar flares, bursts, geomagnetic storms, and five others pertinent to space environmental analysis. With our preliminary event definitions we experimented with TAS's support for temporal pattern analysis using X-ray flare and geomagnetic storm forecasts as case studies. We are currently working on a framework for integrating advanced graphics and space environmental models into this analytical environment.

Krajnak, Mike↗

On Using SysML, DoDAF 2.0 and UPDM to Model the Architecture for the NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Ground System (GS)

The JPSS Ground System is a lIexible system of systems responsible for telemetry, tracking & command (TT &C), data acquisition, routing and data processing services for a varied lIeet of satellites to support weather prediction, modeling and climate modeling. To assist in this engineering effort, architecture modeling tools are being employed to translate the former NPOESS baseline to the new JPSS baseline, The paper will focus on the methodology for the system engineering process and the use of these architecture modeling tools within that process, The Department of Defense Architecture Framework version 2,0 (DoDAF 2.0) viewpoints and views that are being used to describe the JPSS GS architecture are discussed. The Unified Profile for DoOAF and MODAF (UPDM) and Systems Modeling Language (SysML), as ' provided by extensions to the MagicDraw UML modeling tool, are used to develop the diagrams and tables that make up the architecture model. The model development process and structure are discussed, examples are shown, and details of handling the complexities of a large System of Systems (SoS), such as the JPSS GS, with an equally complex modeling tool, are described

Hayden, Jeffrey L.↗

A Quantitative Study of Oxygen as a Metabolic Regulator

An acute reduction in oxygen (O2) delivery to a tissue is generally associated with a decrease in phosphocreatine, increases in ADP, NADH/NAD, and inorganic phosphate, increased rates of glycolysis and lactate production, and reduced rates of pyruvate and fatty acid oxidation. However, given the complexity of the human bioenergetic system and its components, it is difficult to determine quantitatively how cellular metabolic processes interact to maintain ATP homeostasis during stress (e.g., hypoxia, ischemia, and exercise). Of special interest is the determination of mechanisms relating tissue oxygenation to observed metabolic responses at the tissue, organ, and whole body levels and the quantification of how changes in tissue O2 availability affect the pathways of ATP synthesis and the metabolites that control these pathways. In this study, we extend a previously developed mathematical model of human bioenergetics to provide a physicochemical framework that permits quantitative understanding of O2 as a metabolic regulator. Specifically, the enhancement permits studying the effects of variations in tissue oxygenation and in parameters controlling the rate of cellular respiration on glycolysis, lactate production, and pyruvate oxidation. The whole body is described as a bioenergetic system consisting of metabolically distinct tissue/organ subsystems that exchange materials with the blood. In order to study the dynamic response of each subsystem to stimuli, we solve the ordinary differential equations describing the temporal evolution of metabolite levels, given the initial concentrations. The solver used in the present study is the packaged code LSODE, as implemented in the NASA Lewis kinetics and sensitivity analysis code, LSENS. A major advantage of LSENS is the efficient procedures supporting systematic sensitivity analysis, which provides the basic methods for studying parameter sensitivities (i.e., changes in model behavior due to parameter variation). Sensitivity analysis establishes relationships between model predictions and problem parameters (i.e., initial concentrations, rate coefficients, etc). It helps determine the effects of uncertainties or changes in these input parameters on the predictions, which ultimately are compared with experimental observations in order to validate the model. Sensitivity analysis can identify parameters that must be determined accurately because of their large effect on the model predictions and parameters that need not be known with great precision because they have little or no effect on the solution. This capability may prove to be important in optimizing the design of experiments, thereby reducing the use of animals. This approach can be applied to study the metabolic effects of reduced oxygen delivery to cardiac muscle due to local myocardial ischemia and the effects of acute hypoxia on brain metabolism. Other important applications of sensitivity analysis include identification of quantitatively relevant pathways and biochemical species within an overall mechanism, when examining the effects of a genetic anomaly or pathological state on energetic system components and whole system behavior.

Radhakrishnan, Krishnan↗

SpaceCubeX: A Framework for Evaluating Hybrid Multi-Core CPU FPGA DSP Architectures

The SpaceCubeX project is motivated by the need for high performance, modular, and scalable on-board processing to help scientists answer critical 21st century questions about global climate change, air quality, ocean health, and ecosystem dynamics, while adding new capabilities such as low-latency data products for extreme event warnings. These goals translate into on-board processing throughput requirements that are on the order of 100-1,000 more than those of previous Earth Science missions for standard processing, compression, storage, and downlink operations. To study possible future architectures to achieve these performance requirements, the SpaceCubeX project provides an evolvable testbed and framework that enables a focused design space exploration of candidate hybrid CPU/FPGA/DSP processing architectures. The framework includes ArchGen, an architecture generator tool populated with candidate architecture components, performance models, and IP cores, that allows an end user to specify the type, number, and connectivity of a hybrid architecture. The framework requires minimal extensions to integrate new processors, such as the anticipated High Performance Spaceflight Computer (HPSC), reducing time to initiate benchmarking by months. To evaluate the framework, we leverage a wide suite of high performance embedded computing benchmarks and Earth science scenarios to ensure robust architecture characterization. We report on our projects Year 1 efforts and demonstrate the capabilities across four simulation testbed models, a baseline SpaceCube 2.0 system, a dual ARM A9 processor system, a hybrid quad ARM A53 and FPGA system, and a hybrid quad ARM A53 and DSP system.

Hybrid Flight Architectures↗

Ellicott City Disasters II: Enhancing a Statistical Flood Risk Model to Continue Improving Early Warning Systems and Public Safety in Ellicott City, Maryland

As flooding events in the United States grow in frequency and intensity, the use of technological advancements and applied science are increasingly necessary for effective flood monitoring and warning systems. The NASA DEVELOP Ellicott City Disasters II project investigated the use of machine learning for applications in flood risk detection to support the improvement of early warning systems. To strengthen the efforts of the Howard County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in building a more robust flood monitoring system, the project improved the original statistical flood risk model, FLuME (Flood Learning Model Environment), programmed by the first DEVELOP term. The enhancements incorporated an additional six years of precipitation and soil moisture data from the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS), modeled using Aqua Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager. These Earth observations were supplemented by stream gauge data from the OEM and the US Geological Survey. The resultant flood risk model FLASH (Flood Learning Environment and Severity Assessment Hub) was trained to evaluate input variables and predict stage height in Ellicott City in real time. The addition of an advanced deep learning framework known as long short-term memory improved the model’s ability to capture relationships between variables. To assess the effectiveness of the new model, FLASH produced a model efficiency metric of 0.99, a significant improvement over the 0.85 value produced by the previous model. The project assisted the OEM in pursuing the integration of open data and NASA Earth observations into a threat matrix capable of informing near real-time decision making.

Disasters↗