Engineering topics

Lewicki, Scott

Publications and source records attributed to Lewicki, Scott.

3 records

NASA NTRS2011

Bootstrapping Process Improvement Metrics: CMMI Level 4 Process Improvement Metrics in a Level 3 World

The measurement techniques for organizations which have achieved the Software Engineering Institutes CMMI Maturity Levels 4 and 5 are well documented. On the other hand, how to effectively measure when an organization is Maturity Level 3 is less well understood, especially when there is no consistency in tool use and there is extensive tailoring of the organizational software processes. Most organizations fail in their attempts to generate, collect, and analyze standard process improvement metrics under these conditions. But at JPL, NASA's prime center for deep space robotic exploration, we have a long history of proving there is always a solution: It just may not be what you expected. In this paper we describe the wide variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques we have been implementing over the last few years, including the various approaches used to communicate the results to both software technical managers and senior managers.

Hihn, Jairus↗

NASA NTRS2009

How Spreadsheets Get Us to Mars and Beyond

Spreadsheets, spreadsheets everywhere and nary a page of documentation. JPL is NASA's prime center for deep space missions. In all of our missions, spreadsheets have played a major role in managing parts lists, managing requirements, monitoring progress, planning budgets, developing the initial concept designs, and providing the backbone of our infrastructure. In this paper we will share our lessons learned in building various spreadsheet intensive systems and applications. Based on our experience in developing and using these various systems we will propose a number of exploratory ideas as to the dimensions of spreadsheet system complexity. In addition, we will share our approaches to documentation, review, and verification of these types of systems.

testing↗

NASA NTRS1992

Image processing and products for the Magellan mission to Venus

The Magellan mission to Venus is providing planetary scientists with massive amounts of new data about the surface geology of Venus. Digital image processing is an integral part of the ground data system that provides data products to the investigators. The mosaicking of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image data from the spacecraft is being performed at JPL's Multimission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL). MIPL hosts and supports the Image Data Processing Subsystem (IDPS), which was developed in a VAXcluster environment of hardware and software that includes optical disk jukeboxes and the TAE-VICAR (Transportable Applications Executive-Video Image Communication and Retrieval) system. The IDPS is being used by processing analysts of the Image Data Processing Team to produce the Magellan image data products. Various aspects of the image processing procedure are discussed.

Clark, Jerry↗