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At least 145 records · Page 8

Duplex Direct Data Distribution System

The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is developing and demonstrating communications and network technologies that are helping to enable the near-Earth space Internet. GRC envisions several service categories. The first of these categories is direct data distribution or D3 (pronounced "D-cubed"). Commercially provided D3 will make it possible to download a data set from a spacecraft, like the International Space Station. as easily as one can extract a file from a remote server today, using a file transfer protocol. In a second category, NASA spacecraft will make use of commercial satellite communication (SATCOM) systems. Some of those services will come from purchasing time on unused transponders that cover landmasses. While it is likely there will be gaps in service coverage, Internet services should be available using these systems. This report addresses alternative methods of implementing a full duplex enhancement of the GRC developed experimental Ka-Band Direct Data Distribution (D3) space-to-ground communication link. The resulting duplex version is called the Duplex Direct Data Distribution (D4) system. The D4 system is intended to provide high-data-rate commercial direct or internet-based communications service between the NASA spacecraft in low earth orbit (LEO) and the respective principal investigators associated with these spacecraft. Candidate commercial services were assessed regarding their near-term potential to meet NASA requirements. Candidates included Ka-band and V-band geostationary orbit and non-geostationary orbit satellite relay services and direct downlink ("LEO teleport") services. End-to-end systems concepts were examined and characterized in terms of alternative link layer architectures. Alternatives included a Direct Link, a Relay Link, a Hybrid Link, and a Dual Mode Link. The direct link assessment examined sample ground terminal placements and antenna angle issues. The SATCOM-based alternatives examined existing or proposed commercial SATCOM services that could be available in the 2005 time frame. The alternatives were evaluated and compared in terms of average daily system throughput and cost per bit. Throughput was estimated based on hypothetical scenarios supporting the International Space Station and polar orbiting missions. The feasibility of using standard TCP and a modified TCP was evaluated and risks were identified. An estimate of the TCP acknowledgment data rate required to support a return channel rate of 622 Mbps was developed using OPNET.

Greenfield, Israel↗

Data Access Tools And Services At The Goddard Distributed Active Archive Center (GDAAC)

As one of the largest providers of Earth Science data from the Earth Observing System, GDAAC provides the latest data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) data products via GDAAC's data pool (50TB of disk cache). In order to make this huge volume of data more accessible to the public and science communities, the GDAAC offers multiple data access tools and services: Open Source Project for Network Data Access Protocol (OPeNDAP), Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS/DODS) (GDS), Live Access Server (LAS), OpenGlS Web Map Server (WMS) and Near Archive Data Mining (NADM). The objective is to assist users in retrieving electronically a smaller, usable portion of data for further analysis. The OPeNDAP server, formerly known as the Distributed Oceanographic Data System (DODS), allows the user to retrieve data without worrying about the data format. OPeNDAP is capable of server-side subsetting of HDF, HDF-EOS, netCDF, JGOFS, ASCII, DSP, FITS and binary data formats. The GrADS/DODS server is capable of serving the same data formats as OPeNDAP. GDS has an additional feature of server-side analysis. Users can analyze the data on the server there by decreasing the computational load on their client's system. The LAS is a flexible server that allows user to graphically visualize data on the fly, to request different file formats and to compare variables from distributed locations. Users of LAS have options to use other available graphics viewers such as IDL, Matlab or GrADS. WMS is based on the OPeNDAP for serving geospatial information. WMS supports OpenGlS protocol to provide data in GIs-friendly formats for analysis and visualization. NADM is another access to the GDAAC's data pool. NADM gives users the capability to use a browser to upload their C, FORTRAN or IDL algorithms, test the algorithms, and mine data in the data pool. With NADM, the GDAAC provides an environment physically close to the data source. NADM will benefit users with mining or offer data reduction algorithms by reducing large volumes of data before transmission over the network to the user.

Pham, Long↗

Simulating a Direction-Finder Search for an ELT

A computer program simulates the operation of direction-finding equipment engaged in a search for an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) aboard an aircraft that has crashed. The simulated equipment is patterned after the equipment used by the Civil Air Patrol to search for missing aircraft. The program is designed to be used for training in radio direction-finding and/or searching for missing aircraft without incurring the expense and risk of using real aircraft and ground search resources. The program places a hidden ELT on a map and enables the user to search for the location of the ELT by moving a 14 NASA Tech Briefs, March 2005 small aircraft image around the map while observing signal-strength and direction readings on a simulated direction- finding locator instrument. As the simulated aircraft is turned and moved on the map, the program updates the readings on the direction-finding instrument to reflect the current position and heading of the aircraft relative to the location of the ELT. The software is distributed in a zip file that contains an installation program. The software runs on the Microsoft Windows 9x, NT, and XP operating systems.

Bream, Bruce↗

Creating a Team Archive During Fast-Paced Anomaly Response Activities in Space Missions

This paper describes a Web-based system to support the temporary Anomaly Response Team formed from distributed subteams in Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions. The system was designed for easy and flexible creation of small collections of files and links associated with work on a particular anomaly. The system supports privacy and levels of formality for the subteams. First we describe the supported groups and an anomaly response scenario. Then we describe the support system prototype, the Anomaly Response Tracking and Integration System (ARTIS). Finally, we describe our evaluation approach and the results of the evaluation.

Malin, Jane T.↗

Application of ML/AI for Identifying Earth Science Datasets in Research Publications

NASA Data Active Archive Centers, or DAACs, ingest, store and distribute data acquired from satellites, ground systems as well as modelling data. These data are organized by the datasets, each presenting collection of files usually associated with the certain mission, instrument, processing level, parameter(s), algorithm and/or model. The number of datasets offered by a single DAAC to the public varies. GES DISC, for example, currently offers for public use approximately ~1,300 datasets. While each publicly offered dataset comes with supporting documentation, it is challenging for novice and even experienced scientists to navigate among the datasets that offer similar parameters to find the datasets for their particular research application. Supplying dataset documentation with the scientific paper citations that refer to that dataset provides means for the dataset users to educate themselves with the application research that dataset is being used in. Collecting citations of the papers that use the datasets for their research yield valuable insights into application areas of those datasets, information about usage of the dataset groups for specific applications and those application topics. It also gives insights into the “deep metrics” of the dataset usage, as opposed to the common metrics of the dataset usage such as number of users who downloaded the dataset files and volumes of downloaded data. Association of a certain scientific paper with the dataset(s) presents a challenge because most of the paper authors do not properly cite the datasets, datasets usually have cryptic names and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) that are used for dataset identification were assigned to the datasets only few years ago. Simple Google or online library search do not provide even meaningful fraction of the results when performed by the dataset name or DOI, however they provide too many results when the search is done by more broader terms such as mission and instrument names. Attempts to create an AI system capable to identify dataset in the scientific papers have already been made using neural networks classifiers on the basis of the dataset mission, instrument and variable name. This method was applied to NASA SEDAC, which has 41 datasets in total. In GES DISC there can be as many as ~100 datasets per mission/instrument with some of the datasets consisting of multiple variables so there is a need for more differentiating parameters for dataset identification in the paper. The approach we are currently investigating is creating AI classifiers that are based on multiple dataset features, or keywords, extracted from the NASA Earthdata Common Dataset Repository (CMR). The features are weighted based on how precisely they can identify a dataset. The classifier uses preprocessed paper text as input and searches for the CMR datasets whose feature sets are the closest to the feature sets contained in the paper. The challenges of dataset identification include variety of ways the paper authors describe the datasets in their papers and incomplete tagging of the CMR dataset description (DIFs).

Irina Gerasimov↗

BOREAS Landsat MSS Imagery: Digital Counts

The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmospheric Study (BOREAS) Staff Science Satellite Data Acquisition Program focused on providing the research teams with the remotely sensed satellite data products they needed to compare and spatially extend point results. The Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) Program launched the first of a series of satellites (ERTS-1) in 1972. Part of the NASA Earth Resources Survey Program, the ERTS Program and the ERTS satellites were later renamed Landsat to better represent the civil satellite program's prime emphasis on remote sensing of land resources. Landsat satellites 1 through 5 carry the Multispectral Scanner (MSS) sensor. Canada for Remote Sensing (CCRS) and BOREAS personnel gathered a set of MSS images of the BOREAS region from Landsat satellites 1, 2, 4, and 5 covering the dates of 21 Aug 1972 to 05 Sep 1988. The data are provided in binary image format files of various formats. The Landsat MSS imagery is available from the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

Hall, Forrest G.↗

Enabling Reanalysis Research Using the Collaborative Reanalysis Technical Environment (CREATE)

Modern atmospheric and oceanic reanalysis are valuable assets for atmospheric research and climate monitoring (Kalnay et al. 1996). Now that most reanalysis records are more than 36 years long, the data have become more useful for climate modeling research (Dole et al. 2008). For investigators who need to use multiple reanalysis, a common challenge is that the data are distributed at various sites and often in different formats. The NASA CREATE system provides access to the data in one location in a standard format (one variable per file and standardized metadata in the CMIP5 style; see Table 1 for a list of the key acronyms used in this paper). The collection includes monthly and 6-hourly data from the seven major atmospheric reanalysis: CFSR (Saha et al. 2010), ERA-Interim (Dee et al. 2011), MERRA (Rienecker et al. 2011), MERRA-2 (Gelaro et al. 2017), JRA-25 (Onogi et al. 2007), JRA-55 (Kobayashi et al. 2014), and 20CRv2c (Compo et al. 2011). An ancillary portion of CREATE includes eight ocean reanalysis: NCEP CFSR, CMCC C-GLORSv5 (Storto et al. 2016), ECMWF ORAS4 (Balmaseda et al.2013), ECMWF ORAP5.0 (Zuo et al. 2015), University of Hamburg GECCO2 (Köhl 2015), GFDL ECDA (Zhang et al. 2007), NOAA GODAS (Saha et al. 2010), and MOVE/MRI.COM-G2i (Toyoda et al. 2016). The ocean state variables were similarly reformatted but were then also regridded onto a common horizontal and vertical grid. This approach facilitated the calculation of an ensemble average and spread that is also published alongside the native gridded data. A third reanalysis product is a global hourly 0.5° land surface air temperature dataset constructed by Wang and Zeng (2013). All three datasets are distributed through the ESGF in a format consistent with the CMIP style described by Cinquini et al. (2014).

Potter, Gerald L.↗

Software Supports Distributed Operations via the Internet

Multi-mission Encrypted Communication System (MECS) is a computer program that enables authorized, geographically dispersed users to gain secure access to a common set of data files via the Internet. MECS is compatible with legacy application programs and a variety of operating systems. The MECS architecture is centered around maintaining consistent replicas of data files cached on remote computers. MECS monitors these files and, whenever one is changed, the changed file is committed to a master database as soon as network connectivity makes it possible to do so. MECS provides subscriptions for remote users to automatically receive new data as they are generated. Remote users can be producers as well as consumers of data. Whereas a prior program that provides some of the same services treats disconnection of a user from the network of users as an error from which recovery must be effected, MECS treats disconnection as a nominal state of the network: This leads to a different design that is more efficient for serving many users, each of whom typically connects and disconnects frequently and wants only a small fraction of the data at any given time.

Norris, Jeffrey↗

An operating system for future aerospace vehicle computer systems

The requirements for future aerospace vehicle computer operating systems are examined in this paper. The computer architecture is assumed to be distributed with a local area network connecting the nodes. Each node is assumed to provide a specific functionality. The network provides for communication so that the overall tasks of the vehicle are accomplished. The O/S structure is based upon the concept of objects. The mechanisms for integrating node unique objects with node common objects in order to implement both the autonomy and the cooperation between nodes is developed. The requirements for time critical performance and reliability and recovery are discussed. Time critical performance impacts all parts of the distributed operating system; e.g., its structure, the functional design of its objects, the language structure, etc. Throughout the paper the tradeoffs - concurrency, language structure, object recovery, binding, file structure, communication protocol, programmer freedom, etc. - are considered to arrive at a feasible, maximum performance design. Reliability of the network system is considered. A parallel multipath bus structure is proposed for the control of delivery time for time critical messages. The architecture also supports immediate recovery for the time critical message system after a communication failure.

Foudriat, E. C.↗

D-RATS 2011: RAFT Protocol Overview

A brief overview presentation on the protocol used during the D-RATS2011 field test for file transfer from the field-test robots at Black Point Lava Flow AZ to Johnson Space Center, Houston TX over a simulated time-delay. The file transfer actually uses a commercial implementation of an open communications standard. The focus of the work lies on how to make the state of the distributed system observable.

Utz, Hans↗

Alternative licensing arrangements and spectrum economics: The case of multipoint distribution service

At present, the Federal Communications Commission assigns radio licenses following a determination of the public interest. Whenever mutually conflicting license applications are filed, the Commission holds a comparative hearing. This assignment mechanism is criticized as cumbersome and unrealiable, and three alternatives are proposed: increasing the available spectrum, and either auctions or lotteries of radio licenses. An analysis is presented of the present system and these alternative arrangments for assigning rights to the frequency spectrum for the Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS). Although MDS is a relatively minor radio service, it serves as a prototype for message distribution services with a large potential for use in business communications. Moreover, the way in which the initial batch of MDS licenses was assigned provides a unique opportunity for empirical work on the economics of the licensing process.

Agnew, C. E.↗

Architectures Toward Reusable Science Data Systems

Science Data Systems (SDS) comprise an important class of data processing systems that support product generation from remote sensors and in-situ observations. These systems enable research into new science data products, replication of experiments and verification of results. NASA has been building systems for satellite data processing since the first Earth observing satellites launched and is continuing development of systems to support NASA science research and NOAAs Earth observing satellite operations. The basic data processing workflows and scenarios continue to be valid for remote sensor observations research as well as for the complex multi-instrument operational satellite data systems being built today. System functions such as ingest, product generation and distribution need to be configured and performed in a consistent and repeatable way with an emphasis on scalability. This paper will examine the key architectural elements of several NASA satellite data processing systems currently in operation and under development that make them suitable for scaling and reuse. Examples of architectural elements that have become attractive include virtual machine environments, standard data product formats, metadata content and file naming, workflow and job management frameworks, data acquisition, search, and distribution protocols. By highlighting key elements and implementation experience we expect to find architectures that will outlast their original application and be readily adaptable for new applications. Concepts and principles are explored that lead to sound guidance for SDS developers and strategists.

Data Processing↗

Eighth Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies in Cooperation with the Seventeenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems

This document contains copies of those technical papers received in time for publication prior to the Eighth Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies which is being held in cooperation with the Seventeenth IEEE Symposium on Mass Storage Systems at the University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center March 27-30, 2000. As one of an ongoing series, this Conference continues to provide a forum for discussion of issues relevant to the management of large volumes of data. The Conference encourages all interested organizations to discuss long term mass storage requirements and experiences in fielding solutions. Emphasis is on current and future practical solutions addressing issues in data management, storage systems and media, data acquisition, long term retention of data, and data distribution. This year's discussion topics include architecture, future of current technology, new technology with a special emphasis on holographic storage, performance, standards, site reports, vendor solutions. Tutorials will be available on stability of optical media, disk subsystem performance evaluation, I/O and storage tuning, functionality and performance evaluation of file systems for storage area networks.

Kobler, Benjamin↗

Dtest Testing Software

This software runs a suite of arbitrary software tests spanning various software languages and types of tests (unit level, system level, or file comparison tests). The dtest utility can be set to automate periodic testing of large suites of software, as well as running individual tests. It supports distributing multiple tests over multiple CPU cores, if available. The dtest tool is a utility program (written in Python) that scans through a directory (and its subdirectories) and finds all directories that match a certain pattern and then executes any tests in that directory as described in simple configuration files.

Jain, Abhinandan↗

User interface to administrative DRMS within a distributed environment

The implementation of a data base management system (DBMS) into a communications office to control and report on communication leased service contracts is discussed. The system user executes online programs to update five files residing on a UNIVAC 1100/82, through the forms mode features of the Tektronix 4025 terminal and IMSAI 8080 microcomputer. This user can select the appropriate form to the Tektronix 4025 screen, and enter new data, update existing data, or discontinue service. Selective online printing of 40 reports is accomplished by the system user to satisfy management, budget, and bill payment reporting requirements.

Martin, L. D.↗

3D Multistage Simulation of Each Component of the GE90 Turbofan Engine

A 3D multistage simulation of each component of the GE90 Turbofan engine has been made. This includes 49 blade rows. A coupled simulation of all blade rows will be made very soon. The simulation is running using two levels of parallelism. The first level is on a blade row basis with information shared using files. The second level is using a grid domain decomposition with information shared using MPI. Timings will be shown for running on the SP2, an SGI Origin and a distributed system of HP workstations. On the HP workstations, the CHIMP version of MPI is used, with queuing supplied by LSF (Load Sharing Facility). A script-based control system is used to ensure reliability. An MPEG movie illustrating the flow simulation of the engine has been created using PV3, a parallel visualization library created by Bob Haimes of MIT. PVM is used to create a virtual machine from 10 HP workstations and display on an SGI workstation. A representative component simulation will be compared to rig data to demonstrate its usefulness in turbomachinery design and analysis.

Turner, Mark↗

BOREAS TE-10 Leaf Gas Exchange Data

The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmospheric Study (BOREAS) TE-10 (Terrestrial Ecology) team collected several data sets in support of its efforts to characterize and interpret information on the reflectance, transmittance, gas exchange, chlorophyll content, carbon content, hydrogen content, and nitrogen content of boreal vegetation. This data set contains measurements of assimilation, stomatal conductance, transpiration, internal CO2 concentration, and water use efficiency conducted in the Southern Study Area (SSA) during the growing seasons of 1994 and 1996 using a portable gas exchange system. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

Hall, Forrest G.↗

BOREAS TE-12 Leaf Gas Exchange Data

The BOREAS TE-12 team collected several data sets in support of its efforts to characterize and interpret information on the reflectance, transmittance, and gas exchange of boreal vegetation. This data set contains measurements of leaf gas exchange conducted in the SSA during the growing seasons of 1994 and 1995 using a portable gas exchange system. The data are stored in tabular ASCII files. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Center (DAAC).

Hall, Forrest G.↗