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NASA NTRS2010

Proceedings of the Second NASA Formal Methods Symposium

This publication contains the proceedings of the Second NASA Formal Methods Symposium sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and held in Washington D.C. April 13-15, 2010. Topics covered include: Decision Engines for Software Analysis using Satisfiability Modulo Theories Solvers; Verification and Validation of Flight-Critical Systems; Formal Methods at Intel -- An Overview; Automatic Review of Abstract State Machines by Meta Property Verification; Hardware-independent Proofs of Numerical Programs; Slice-based Formal Specification Measures -- Mapping Coupling and Cohesion Measures to Formal Z; How Formal Methods Impels Discovery: A Short History of an Air Traffic Management Project; A Machine-Checked Proof of A State-Space Construction Algorithm; Automated Assume-Guarantee Reasoning for Omega-Regular Systems and Specifications; Modeling Regular Replacement for String Constraint Solving; Using Integer Clocks to Verify the Timing-Sync Sensor Network Protocol; Can Regulatory Bodies Expect Efficient Help from Formal Methods?; Synthesis of Greedy Algorithms Using Dominance Relations; A New Method for Incremental Testing of Finite State Machines; Verification of Faulty Message Passing Systems with Continuous State Space in PVS; Phase Two Feasibility Study for Software Safety Requirements Analysis Using Model Checking; A Prototype Embedding of Bluespec System Verilog in the PVS Theorem Prover; SimCheck: An Expressive Type System for Simulink; Coverage Metrics for Requirements-Based Testing: Evaluation of Effectiveness; Software Model Checking of ARINC-653 Flight Code with MCP; Evaluation of a Guideline by Formal Modelling of Cruise Control System in Event-B; Formal Verification of Large Software Systems; Symbolic Computation of Strongly Connected Components Using Saturation; Towards the Formal Verification of a Distributed Real-Time Automotive System; Slicing AADL Specifications for Model Checking; Model Checking with Edge-valued Decision Diagrams; and Data-flow based Model Analysis.

Munoz, Cesar↗

NASA NTRS2006

Automation for "Direct-to" Clearances in Air-Traffic Control

A method of automation, and a system of computer hardware and software to implement the method, have been invented to assist en-route air-traffic controllers in the issuance of clearances to fly directly to specified waypoints or navigation fixes along straight paths that deviate from previously filed flight plans. Such clearances, called "direct-to" clearances, have been in use since before the invention of this method and system.

Erzberger, Heinz↗

NASA NTRS2010

Implementing the Second-Order Fermi Process in a Kinetic Monte-Carlo Simulation

Radio JOVE is an education and outreach project intended to give students and other interested individuals hands-on experience in learning radio astronomy. They can do this through building a radio telescope from a relatively inexpensive kit that includes the parts for a receiver and an antenna as well as software for a computer chart recorder emulator (Radio Skypipe) and other reference materials

Summerlin, Errol J.↗

NASA NTRS2010

The Radio JOVE Project - Shoestring Radio Astronomy

Thieman, J.↗

NASA NTRS2006

NASA's Aviation Safety and Modeling Project

The Aviation Safety Monitoring and Modeling (ASMM) Project of NASA's Aviation Safety program is cultivating sources of data and developing automated computer hardware and software to facilitate efficient, comprehensive, and accurate analyses of the data collected from large, heterogeneous databases throughout the national aviation system. The ASMM addresses the need to provide means for increasing safety by enabling the identification and correcting of predisposing conditions that could lead to accidents or to incidents that pose aviation risks. A major component of the ASMM Project is the Aviation Performance Measuring System (APMS), which is developing the next generation of software tools for analyzing and interpreting flight data.

Chidester, Thomas R.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Statistical Detection of Atypical Aircraft Flights

A computational method and software to implement the method have been developed to sift through vast quantities of digital flight data to alert human analysts to aircraft flights that are statistically atypical in ways that signify that safety may be adversely affected. On a typical day, there are tens of thousands of flights in the United States and several times that number throughout the world. Depending on the specific aircraft design, the volume of data collected by sensors and flight recorders can range from a few dozen to several thousand parameters per second during a flight. Whereas these data have long been utilized in investigating crashes, the present method is oriented toward helping to prevent crashes by enabling routine monitoring of flight operations to identify portions of flights that may be of interest with respect to safety issues.

Statler, Irving↗

NASA NTRS2005

Internet-Based System for Voice Communication With the ISS

The Internet Voice Distribution System (IVoDS) is a voice-communication system that comprises mainly computer hardware and software. The IVoDS was developed to supplement and eventually replace the Enhanced Voice Distribution System (EVoDS), which, heretofore, has constituted the terrestrial subsystem of a system for voice communications among crewmembers of the International Space Station (ISS), workers at the Payloads Operations Center at Marshall Space Flight Center, principal investigators at diverse locations who are responsible for specific payloads, and others. The IVoDS utilizes a communication infrastructure of NASA and NASArelated intranets in addition to, as its name suggests, the Internet. Whereas the EVoDS utilizes traditional circuitswitched telephony, the IVoDS is a packet-data system that utilizes a voice over Internet protocol (VOIP). Relative to the EVoDS, the IVoDS offers advantages of greater flexibility and lower cost for expansion and reconfiguration. The IVoDS is an extended version of a commercial Internet-based voice conferencing system that enables each user to participate in only one conference at a time. In the IVoDS, a user can receive audio from as many as eight conferences simultaneously while sending audio to one of them. The IVoDS also incorporates administrative controls, beyond those of the commercial system, that provide greater security and control of the capabilities and authorizations for talking and listening afforded to each user.

Chamberlain, James↗

NASA NTRS2005

Video Mosaicking for Inspection of Gas Pipelines

A vision system that includes a specially designed video camera and an image-data-processing computer is under development as a prototype of robotic systems for visual inspection of the interior surfaces of pipes and especially of gas pipelines. The system is capable of providing both forward views and mosaicked radial views that can be displayed in real time or after inspection. To avoid the complexities associated with moving parts and to provide simultaneous forward and radial views, the video camera is equipped with a wide-angle (>165 ) fish-eye lens aimed along the axis of a pipe to be inspected. Nine white-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) placed just outside the field of view of the lens (see Figure 1) provide ample diffuse illumination for a high-contrast image of the interior pipe wall. The video camera contains a 2/3-in. (1.7-cm) charge-coupled-device (CCD) photodetector array and functions according to the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) standard. The video output of the camera is sent to an off-the-shelf video capture board (frame grabber) by use of a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface in the computer, which is of the 400-MHz, Pentium II (or equivalent) class. Prior video-mosaicking techniques are applicable to narrow-field-of-view (low-distortion) images of evenly illuminated, relatively flat surfaces viewed along approximately perpendicular lines by cameras that do not rotate and that move approximately parallel to the viewed surfaces. One such technique for real-time creation of mosaic images of the ocean floor involves the use of visual correspondences based on area correlation, during both the acquisition of separate images of adjacent areas and the consolidation (equivalently, integration) of the separate images into a mosaic image, in order to insure that there are no gaps in the mosaic image. The data-processing technique used for mosaicking in the present system also involves area correlation, but with several notable differences: Because the wide-angle lens introduces considerable distortion, the image data must be processed to effectively unwarp the images (see Figure 2). The computer executes special software that includes an unwarping algorithm that takes explicit account of the cylindrical pipe geometry. To reduce the processing time needed for unwarping, parameters of the geometric mapping between the circular view of a fisheye lens and pipe wall are determined in advance from calibration images and compiled into an electronic lookup table. The software incorporates the assumption that the optical axis of the camera is parallel (rather than perpendicular) to the direction of motion of the camera. The software also compensates for the decrease in illumination with distance from the ring of LEDs.

Magruder, Darby↗

NASA NTRS2004

Preparing and Analyzing Iced Airfoils

SmaggIce version 1.2 is a computer program for preparing and analyzing iced airfoils. It includes interactive tools for (1) measuring ice-shape characteristics, (2) controlled smoothing of ice shapes, (3) curve discretization, (4) generation of artificial ice shapes, and (5) detection and correction of input errors. Measurements of ice shapes are essential for establishing relationships between characteristics of ice and effects of ice on airfoil performance. The shape-smoothing tool helps prepare ice shapes for use with already available grid-generation and computational-fluid-dynamics software for studying the aerodynamic effects of smoothed ice on airfoils. The artificial ice-shape generation tool supports parametric studies since ice-shape parameters can easily be controlled with the artificial ice. In such studies, artificial shapes generated by this program can supplement simulated ice obtained from icing research tunnels and real ice obtained from flight test under icing weather condition. SmaggIce also automatically detects geometry errors such as tangles or duplicate points in the boundary which may be introduced by digitization and provides tools to correct these. By use of interactive tools included in SmaggIce version 1.2, one can easily characterize ice shapes and prepare iced airfoils for grid generation and flow simulations.

Vickerman, Mary B.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Remote Sensing and Information Technology for Large Farms

A method of applying remote sensing (RS) and information-management technology to help large farms produce at maximum efficiency is undergoing development. The novelty of the method does not lie in the concept of precision agriculture, which involves variation of seeding, of application of chemicals, and of irrigation according to the spatially and temporally local variations in the growth stages and health of crops and in the chemical and physical conditions of soils. The novelty also does not lie in the use of RS data registered with other data in a geographic information system (GIS) to guide the use of precise agricultural techniques. Instead, the novelty lies in a systematic approach to overcoming obstacles that, heretofore, have impeded the timely distribution of reliable, relevant, and sufficient GIS data to support day-to-day, acre-to-acre decisions concerning the application of precise agricultural techniques to increase production and decrease cost. The development and promotion of the method are inspired in part by a vision of equipping farm machinery to accept GIS (including RS) data and using the data for automated or semi-automated implementation of precise agricultural techniques. Primary examples of relevant GIS data include information on plant stress, soil moisture, and effects of applied chemicals, all derived by automated computational analysis of measurements taken by one or more airborne spectroradiometers. Proper management and timeliness of the large amount of GIS information are of paramount concern in agriculture. Information on stresses and changes in crops is especially perishable and important to farmers. The need for timeliness and management of information is satisfied by use of computing hardware and software capable of (1) rapid geo-rectification and other processing of RS data, (2) packaging the output data in the form of GIS plots, and (3) making the data available to farmers and other subscribers by Internet password access. It is a goal of this development program to make RS data available no later than the data after an aerial survey. In addition, data from prior surveys are kept in the data base. Farmers can, for example, use current and prior data to analyze changes.

Williams, John E.↗

NASA NTRS2003

NASA Tech Briefs, August 2003

Topics covered include: Stable, Thermally Conductive Fillers for Bolted Joints; Connecting to Thermocouples with Fewer Lead Wires; Zipper Connectors for Flexible Electronic Circuits; Safety Interlock for Angularly Misdirected Power Tool; Modular, Parallel Pulse-Shaping Filter Architectures; High-Fidelity Piezoelectric Audio Device; Photovoltaic Power Station with Ultracapacitors for Storage; Time Analyzer for Time Synchronization and Monitor of the Deep Space Network; Program for Computing Albedo; Integrated Software for Analyzing Designs of Launch Vehicles; Abstract-Reasoning Software for Coordinating Multiple Agents; Software Searches for Better Spacecraft-Navigation Models; Software for Partly Automated Recognition of Targets; Antistatic Polycarbonate/Copper Oxide Composite; Better VPS Fabrication of Crucibles and Furnace Cartridges; Burn-Resistant, Strong Metal-Matrix Composites; Self-Deployable Spring-Strip Booms; Explosion Welding for Hermetic Containerization; Improved Process for Fabricating Carbon Nanotube Probes; Automated Serial Sectioning for 3D Reconstruction; and Parallel Subconvolution Filtering Architectures.

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NASA NTRS2003

Software for Collaborative Engineering of Launch Rockets

The Rocket Evaluation and Cost Integration for Propulsion and Engineering software enables collaborative computing with automated exchange of information in the design and analysis of launch rockets and other complex systems. RECIPE can interact with and incorporate a variety of programs, including legacy codes, that model aspects of a system from the perspectives of different technological disciplines (e.g., aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, trajectory, aeroheating, controls, and operations) and that are used by different engineers on different computers running different operating systems. RECIPE consists mainly of (1) ISCRM a file-transfer subprogram that makes it possible for legacy codes executed in their original operating systems on their original computers to exchange data and (2) CONES an easy-to-use filewrapper subprogram that enables the integration of legacy codes. RECIPE provides a tightly integrated conceptual framework that emphasizes connectivity among the programs used by the collaborators, linking these programs in a manner that provides some configuration control while facilitating collaborative engineering tradeoff studies, including design to cost studies. In comparison with prior collaborative-engineering schemes, one based on the use of RECIPE enables fewer engineers to do more in less time.

Stanley, Thomas Troy↗

NASA NTRS2011

Simulation of Acoustics for Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Tests

The Ares I Scale Model Acoustics Test (ASMAT) is a series of live-fire tests of scaled rocket motors meant to simulate the conditions of the Ares I launch configuration. These tests have provided a well documented set of high fidelity acoustic measurements useful for validation including data taken over a range of test conditions and containing phenomena like Ignition Over-Pressure and water suppression of acoustics. To take advantage of this data, a digital representation of the ASMAT test setup has been constructed and test firings of the motor have been simulated using the Loci/CHEM computational fluid dynamics software. Results from ASMAT simulations with the rocket in both held down and elevated configurations, as well as with and without water suppression have been compared to acoustic data collected from similar live-fire tests. Results of acoustic comparisons have shown good correlation with the amplitude and temporal shape of pressure features and reasonable spectral accuracy up to approximately 1000 Hz. Major plume and acoustic features have been well captured including the plume shock structure, the igniter pulse transient, and the ignition overpressure.

Putnam, Gabriel↗

NASA NTRS2012

Controller Chips Preserve Microprocessor Function

Above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Brazil, there is a dip in the Earth s surrounding magnetic field called the South Atlantic Anomaly. Here, space radiation can reach into Earth s upper atmosphere to interfere with the functioning of satellites, aircraft, and even the International Space Station. "The South Atlantic Anomaly is a hot spot of radiation that the space station goes through at a certain point in orbit," Miria Finckenor, a physicist at Marshall Space Flight Center, describes, "If there s going to be a problem with the electronics, 90 percent of that time, it is going to be in that spot." Space radiation can cause physical damage to microchips and can actually change the software commands in computers. When high-energy particles penetrate a satellite or other spacecraft, the electrical components can absorb the energy and temporarily switch off. If the energy is high enough, it can cause the device to enter a hung state, which can only be addressed by restarting the system. When space radiation affects the operational status of microprocessors, the occurrence is called single event functional interrupt (SEFI). SEFI happens not only to the computers onboard spacecraft in Earth orbit, but to the computers on spacecraft throughout the solar system. "One of the Mars rovers had this problem in the radiation environment and was rebooting itself several times a day. On one occasion, it rebooted 40 times in one day," Finckenor says. "It s hard to obtain any data when you have to constantly reboot and start over."

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NASA NTRS2011

Validation and Simulation of Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Test - 2 - Simulations at 5 Foot Elevation for Evaluation of Launch Mount Effects

The Ares I Scale Model Acoustics Test (ASMAT) is a series of live-fire tests of scaled rocket motors meant to simulate the conditions of the Ares I launch configuration. These tests have provided a well documented set of high fidelity measurements useful for validation including data taken over a range of test conditions and containing phenomena like Ignition Over-Pressure and water suppression of acoustics. Expanding from initial simulations of the ASMAT setup in a held down configuration, simulations have been performed using the Loci/CHEM computational fluid dynamics software for ASMAT tests of the vehicle at 5 ft. elevation (100 ft. real vehicle elevation) with worst case drift in the direction of the launch tower. These tests have been performed without water suppression and have compared the acoustic emissions for launch structures with and without launch mounts. In addition, simulation results have also been compared to acoustic and imagery data collected from similar live-fire tests to assess the accuracy of the simulations. Simulations have shown a marked change in the pattern of emissions after removal of the launch mount with a reduction in the overall acoustic environment experienced by the vehicle and the formation of highly directed acoustic waves moving across the platform deck. Comparisons of simulation results to live-fire test data showed good amplitude and temporal correlation and imagery comparisons over the visible and infrared wavelengths showed qualitative capture of all plume and pressure wave evolution features.

Strutzenberg, Louise L.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Validation and Simulation of Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Test - 3 - Modeling and Evaluating the Effect of Rainbird Water Deluge Inclusion

The Ares I Scale Model Acoustics Test (ASMAT) is a series of live-fire tests of scaled rocket motors meant to simulate the conditions of the Ares I launch configuration. These tests have provided a well documented set of high fidelity measurements useful for validation including data taken over a range of test conditions and containing phenomena like Ignition Over-Pressure and water suppression of acoustics. Building on dry simulations of the ASMAT tests with the vehicle at 5 ft. elevation (100 ft. real vehicle elevation), wet simulations of the ASMAT test setup have been performed using the Loci/CHEM computational fluid dynamics software to explore the effect of rainbird water suppression inclusion on the launch platform deck. Two-phase water simulation has been performed using an energy and mass coupled lagrangian particle system module where liquid phase emissions are segregated into clouds of virtual particles and gas phase mass transfer is accomplished through simple Weber number controlled breakup and boiling models. Comparisons have been performed to the dry 5 ft. elevation cases, using configurations with and without launch mounts. These cases have been used to explore the interaction between rainbird spray patterns and launch mount geometry and evaluate the acoustic sound pressure level knockdown achieved through above-deck rainbird deluge inclusion. This comparison has been anchored with validation from live-fire test data which showed a reduction in rainbird effectiveness with the presence of a launch mount.

Strutzenberg, Louise L.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Validation and Simulation of ARES I Scale Model Acoustic Test -1- Pathfinder Development

The Ares I Scale Model Acoustics Test (ASMAT) is a series of live-fire tests of scaled rocket motors meant to simulate the conditions of the Ares I launch configuration. These tests have provided a well documented set of high fidelity measurements useful for validation including data taken over a range of test conditions and containing phenomena like Ignition Over-Pressure and water suppression of acoustics. To take advantage of this data, a digital representation of the ASMAT test setup has been constructed and test firings of the motor have been simulated using the Loci/CHEM computational fluid dynamics software. Within this first of a series of papers, results from ASMAT simulations with the rocket in a held down configuration and without water suppression have then been compared to acoustic data collected from similar live-fire tests to assess the accuracy of the simulations. Detailed evaluations of the mesh features, mesh length scales relative to acoustic signals, Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy numbers, and spatial residual sources have been performed to support this assessment. Results of acoustic comparisons have shown good correlation with the amplitude and temporal shape of pressure features and reasonable spectral accuracy up to approximately 1000 Hz. Major plume and acoustic features have been well captured including the plume shock structure, the igniter pulse transient, and the ignition overpressure. Finally, acoustic propagation patterns illustrated a previously unconsidered issue of tower placement inline with the high intensity overpressure propagation path.

Putnam, G. C.↗

NASA NTRS2012

NASA Tech Briefs, June 2012

Topics covered include: iGlobe Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Spatial Data; Broad-Bandwidth FPGA-Based Digital Polyphase Spectrometer; Small Aircraft Data Distribution System; Earth Science Datacasting v2.0; Algorithm for Compressing Time-Series Data; Onboard Science and Applications Algorithm for Hyperspectral Data Reduction; Sampling Technique for Robust Odorant Detection Based on MIT RealNose Data; Security Data Warehouse Application; Integrated Laser Characterization, Data Acquisition, and Command and Control Test System; Radiation-Hard SpaceWire/Gigabit Ethernet-Compatible Transponder; Hardware Implementation of Lossless Adaptive Compression of Data From a Hyperspectral Imager; High-Voltage, Low-Power BNC Feedthrough Terminator; SpaceCube Mini; Dichroic Filter for Separating W-Band and Ka-Band; Active Mirror Predictive and Requirement Verification Software (AMP-ReVS); Navigation/Prop Software Suite; Personal Computer Transport Analysis Program; Pressure Ratio to Thermal Environments; Probabilistic Fatigue Damage Program (FATIG); ASCENT Program; JPL Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) Portal; Data::Downloader; Fault Tolerance Middleware for a Multi-Core System; DspaceOgreTerrain 3D Terrain Visualization Tool; Trick Simulation Environment 07; Geometric Reasoning for Automated Planning; Water Detection Based on Color Variation; Single-Layer, All-Metal Patch Antenna Element with Wide Bandwidth; Scanning Laser Infrared Molecular Spectrometer (SLIMS); Next-Generation Microshutter Arrays for Large-Format Imaging and Spectroscopy; Detection of Carbon Monoxide Using Polymer-Composite Films with a Porphyrin-Functionalized Polypyrrole; Enhanced-Adhesion Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes on Titanium Substrates for Stray Light Control; Three-Dimensional Porous Particles Composed of Curved, Two-Dimensional, Nano-Sized Layers for Li-Ion Batteries 23 Ultra-Lightweight; and Ultra-Lightweight Nanocomposite Foams and Sandwich Structures for Space Structure Applications.

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