Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “case studies”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,711 records · Page 95
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

Goal-driven Automation of a Deep Space Communications Station: A Case Study in Knowledge Engineering for Plan Generation and Execution

This paper describes the application of Artificial Intelligence techniques for plan generation, plan execution, and plan monitoring to automate a Deep Space Communication Station. This automation allows a Communication station to respond to a set of tracking goals by appropriately reconfiguring the communications hardware and software to provide the requested communications services.

Artificial Intelligence↗
NASA NTRS1995

High Precision and Real Time Tracking of Low Earth Orbiters With GPS: Case Studies With TOPEX/POSEIDON and EUVE

TOPEX/POSEIDON carries a dual-frequency 6 channel GPS receiver while EUVE has a 12 channel single frequency receiver. Flying at an altitude of 1334 km, TOPEX/POSEIDON performs precise ocean altimetry, which demands the highest possible accuracy in determining the radial orbit component in post-processing. Radial RMS accuracies of about 2 cm were realized using reduced dynamic tracking techniques. In this approach, orbit errors due to force are substantially reduced by exploiting the geometric strength of GPS to solve for a set of stochastic forces. On EUVE, the emphasis was on evaluating real time positioning techniques with a single frequency receiver. The capability for real time 3D accuracies of 15 m in the presence of Selective Availability was shown. This was validated by comparing to a post-processed differential GPS truth orbit believed accurate to about 1 m.!.

Tracking low-Earth orbiters↗
NASA NTRS1993

Case Study: Formal Inspections at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology is a federally funded research and development center operating under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPL's charter emphasizes the exploration of the solar system including observations of Earth as well as other stellar systems and extra-solar-system bodies. Within JPL, the Software Product Assurance (SPA) Section helps to ensure the operational integrity of the software within the system. SPA evaluates the operational requirements, the acceptability and readiness of all software, hardware/software interfaces, and the integrity of the completed software before its final release into the operational environment.

Kelly, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Defect measurement and analysis of JPL ground software: a case study

Ground software systems at JPL must meet high assurance standards while remaining on schedule due to relatively immovable launch dates for spacecraft that will be controlled by such systems. Toward this end, the Software Quality Improvement (SQI) project's Measurement and Benchmarking (M&B) team is collecting and analyzing defect data of JPL ground system software projects to build software defect prediction models. The aim of these models is to improve predictability with regard to software quality activities. Predictive models will quantitatively define typical trends for JPL ground systems as well as Critical Discriminators (CDs) to provide explanations for atypical deviations from the norm at JPL. CDs are software characteristics that can be estimated or foreseen early in a software project's planning. Thus, these CDs will assist in planning for the predicted degree to which software quality activities for a project are likely to deviation from the normal JPL ground system based on pasted experience across the lab.

defects↗
NASA NTRS2006

Case Study: Test Results of a Tool and Method for In-Flight, Adaptive Control System Verification on a NASA F-15 Flight Research Aircraft

Adaptive control technologies that incorporate learning algorithms have been proposed to enable autonomous flight control and to maintain vehicle performance in the face of unknown, changing, or poorly defined operating environments [1-2]. At the present time, however, it is unknown how adaptive algorithms can be routinely verified, validated, and certified for use in safety-critical applications. Rigorous methods for adaptive software verification end validation must be developed to ensure that. the control software functions as required and is highly safe and reliable. A large gap appears to exist between the point at which control system designers feel the verification process is complete, and when FAA certification officials agree it is complete. Certification of adaptive flight control software verification is complicated by the use of learning algorithms (e.g., neural networks) and degrees of system non-determinism. Of course, analytical efforts must be made in the verification process to place guarantees on learning algorithm stability, rate of convergence, and convergence accuracy. However, to satisfy FAA certification requirements, it must be demonstrated that the adaptive flight control system is also able to fail and still allow the aircraft to be flown safely or to land, while at the same time providing a means of crew notification of the (impending) failure. It was for this purpose that the NASA Ames Confidence Tool was developed [3]. This paper presents the Confidence Tool as a means of providing in-flight software assurance monitoring of an adaptive flight control system. The paper will present the data obtained from flight testing the tool on a specially modified F-15 aircraft designed to simulate loss of flight control faces.

Jacklin, Stephen A.↗
NASA NTRS2006

NASA Engineering Excellence: A Case Study on Strengthening an Engineering Organization

NASA implemented a system of technical authority following the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAE) report calling for independent technical authority to be exercised on the Space Shuttle Program activities via a virtual organization of personnel exercising specific technical authority responsibilities. After the current NASA Administrator reported for duty, and following the first of two planned "Shuttle Return to Flight" missions, the NASA Chief Engineer and the Administrator redirected the Independent Technical Authority to a program of Technical Excellence and Technical Authority exercised within the existing engineering organizations. This paper discusses the original implementation of technical authority and the transition to the new implementation of technical excellence, including specific measures aimed at improving safety of future Shuttle and space exploration flights.

Shivers, C. Herbert↗