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Siddiqi, Afreen

Publications and source records attributed to Siddiqi, Afreen.

Evaluating Expected Performance and Graceful Degradation in Distributed Spacecraft Missions

Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSMs) have largely garnered interest due to lower cost and new technical capabilities. However, another important attribute in DSMs is the potential of graceful degradation where a failure of one or more spacecraft (or instruments) in the DSM can reduce total performance, but the remaining functional spacecraft can maintain a limited science return. The potential for retaining some mission value in the event of partial failures leads to enhanced lifetime value. Here, an approach is developed to analyze graceful degradation and performance of DSM used for Earth observation. The system performance is defined through metrics of coverage and average revisit time of points of interest. Graceful degradation is quantified through total change and rate of change in performance metrics with increasing sub-system failures over the lifetime of a mission. An Expected Performance measure is formulated for conducting comparison of DSM architectures for early stage conceptual mission design and trade studies.

Distributed Spacecraft Missions

Evaluating Expected Performance and Graceful Degradation in Distributed Spacecraft Missions

Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSMs) have largely garnered interest due to lower cost and new technical capabilities. However, another important attribute in DSMs is the potential of graceful degradation where a failure of one or more spacecraft (or instruments) in the DSM can reduce total performance, but the remaining functional spacecraft can maintain a limited science return. The potential for retaining some mission value in the event of partial failures leads to enhanced lifetime value. Here, an approach is developed to analyze graceful degradation and performance of DSM used for Earth observation. The system performance is defined through metrics of coverage and average revisit time of points of interest. Graceful degradation is quantified through total change and rate of change in performance metrics with increasing sub-system failures over the lifetime of a mission. An Expected Performance measure is formulated for conducting comparison of DSM architectures for early stage conceptual mission design and trade studies.

Distributed Spacecraft Missions; constellations; p

End-to-End Trade-Space Analysis for Designing Constellation

Multipoint measurement missions can provide a significant advancement in science return and this science interest coupled with as many recent technological advances are driving a growing trend in exploring distributed architectures for future NASA missions. Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSMs) leverage multiple spacecraft to achieve one or more common goals. In particular, a constellation is the most general form of DSM with two or more spacecraft placed into specific orbit(s) for the purpose of serving a common objective (e.g., CYGNSS). Because a DSM architectural trade-space includes both monolithic and distributed design variables, DSM optimization is a large and complex problem with multiple conflicting objectives. Over the last two years, our team has been developing a Trade-space Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT-C), implemented in common programming languages for pre-Phase A constellation mission analysis. By evaluating alternative mission architectures, TAT-C seeks to minimize cost and maximize performance for pre-defined science goals. This presentation will describe the overall architecture of TAT-C including: a User Interface (UI) at several levels of details and user expertise; Trade-space Search Requests that are created from the Science requirements gathered by the UI and validated by a Knowledge Base; a Knowledge Base to compare the current requests to prior mission concepts to potentially prune the trade-space; a Trade-space Search Iterator which, with inputs from the Knowledge Base, and, in collaboration with the Orbit & Coverage, Reduction & Metrics, and Cost& Risk modules, generates multiple potential architectures and their associated characteristics. TAT-C leverages the use of the Goddard Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) to compute coverage and ancillary data, modeling orbits to balance accuracy and performance. The current version includes uniform and non-uniform Walker constellations as well as Ad-Hoc and precessing constellations, and its cost model represents an aggregate model consisting of Cost Estimating Relationships (CERs) from widely accepted models. The current GUI automatically generates graphics representing metrics such as average revisit time or coverage as a function of cost. The end-to-end system will be demonstrated as part of the presentation.

Mission Desig

Knowledge Base for Distributed Spacecraft Mission Design Using the Trade-Space Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT-C)

Opportunities for multi-point measurements, greater revisit frequency, failure robustness, and improved cost effectiveness motivate consideration of Distributed Spacecraft Missions (DSMs) for future Earth science missions. However, careful analysis is required to assess the distributed sensing capabilities of a constellation compared to more mature monolithic spacecraft while also considering other important dimensions such as cost and risk. The large combinatorial DSM design space limits existing mission analysis tools and exploration methods which emphasize monolithic design variables. The Trade-space Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT-C) under development at Goddard seeks to enumerate and evaluate alternative mission architectures to minimize cost and maximize scientific return for pre-defined goals during pre-phase A analysis.Similar to other model-centric engineering efforts, efficient data management is a significant challenge for DSM mission analysis. In TAT-C, a Knowledge Base (KB) is envisioned as a cumulative central repository of information and meta-information about DSMs. Initial KB concepts store related data for reuse within or across mission analyses; however, over time, the KB is envisioned to be an important layer to coordinate actions of both human analysts and automated design agents to search a large design space for desirable mission alternatives. Preliminary KB research builds on a modern web technology stack to provide the following functionality: 1) storage of trade-space search requests which set requirements and constraints for DSM concepts, 2) storage of analysis results which quantify performance metrics for evaluated DSM concepts, 3) a RESTful application programming interface (API) for scripted access to data from TAT-C modules, 4) web-based graphical user interface (GUI) for manual access to underlying data, and 5) access control and management restrictions relevant to data protection and security. These efforts have culminated in a prototype KB used by the research team during TAT-C development to assess opportunities for future work.

Pattern Recognition

SpaceNet: Modeling and Simulating Space Logistics

This paper summarizes the current state of the art in interplanetary supply chain modeling and discusses SpaceNet as one particular method and tool to address space logistics modeling and simulation challenges. Fundamental upgrades to the interplanetary supply chain framework such as process groups, nested elements, and cargo sharing, enabled SpaceNet to model an integrated set of missions as a campaign. The capabilities and uses of SpaceNet are demonstrated by a step-by-step modeling and simulation of a lunar campaign.

Lee, Gene