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NASA NTRS1992

Fault tolerance of artificial neural networks with applications in critical systems

This paper investigates the fault tolerance characteristics of time continuous recurrent artificial neural networks (ANN) that can be used to solve optimization problems. The principle of operations and performance of these networks are first illustrated by using well-known model problems like the traveling salesman problem and the assignment problem. The ANNs are then subjected to 13 simultaneous 'stuck at 1' or 'stuck at 0' faults for network sizes of up to 900 'neurons'. The effects of these faults is demonstrated and the cause for the observed fault tolerance is discussed. An application is presented in which a network performs a critical task for a real-time distributed processing system by generating new task allocations during the reconfiguration of the system. The performance degradation of the ANN under the presence of faults is investigated by large-scale simulations, and the potential benefits of delegating a critical task to a fault tolerant network are discussed.

Protzel, Peter W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Distributed Visualization for Computational Fluid Dynamics

Distributed concurrent visualization and computation in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is not a new concept. Specialized applications such as Realtime Interactive Particle-tracer (RIP) and vendor specific tools like Distributed Graphics Language (DGL) have been in use for some time. This paper describes a current project underway at NASA Lewis Research Center to provide the CFD researcher with an easy method for incorporating distributed processing concepts into program development. Details on the FORTRAN capable interface to a set of network and visualization functions are presented along with some results from initial CFD case studies that employ these techniques.

Don J Sosoka↗

NASA NTRS1992

Tropical rainfall measuring mission - US/Japan science operations

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint-venture between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. This cooperative program provides the resources required to place in a low-earth orbit a 3500 kilogram (kg) satellite. The satellite carries a complement of instruments designed to measure the tropical and subtropical rainfall as required to provide data products which will lead to climate modeling. This paper describes the mission, the spacecraft and instrument complement, and the data processing, distribution, and archiving system. Included in the paper is the possible, but not approved, an experimental data relay link using a NASDA data relay satellite.

Keating, Thomas↗

NASA NTRS1993

Hyperswitch Communication Network Computer

Hyperswitch Communications Network (HCN) computer is prototype multiple-processor computer being developed. Incorporates improved version of hyperswitch communication network described in "Hyperswitch Network For Hypercube Computer" (NPO-16905). Designed to support high-level software and expansion of itself. HCN computer is message-passing, multiple-instruction/multiple-data computer offering significant advantages over older single-processor and bus-based multiple-processor computers, with respect to price/performance ratio, reliability, availability, and manufacturing. Design of HCN operating-system software provides flexible computing environment accommodating both parallel and distributed processing. Also achieves balance among following competing factors; performance in processing and communications, ease of use, and tolerance of (and recovery from) faults.

Peterson, John C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Walking robot: A design project for undergraduate students

The objective of the University of Maryland walking robot project was to design, analyze, assemble, and test an intelligent, mobile, and terrain-adaptive system. The robot incorporates existing technologies in novel ways. The legs emulate the walking path of a human by an innovative modification of a crank-and-rocker mechanism. The body consists of two tripod frames connected by a turning mechanism. The two sets of three legs are mounted so as to allow the robot to walk with stability in its own footsteps. The computer uses a modular hardware design and distributed processing. Dual-port RAM is used to allow communication between a supervisory personal computer and seven microcontrollers. The microcontrollers provide low-level control for the motors and relieve the processing burden on the PC.

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NASA NTRS1990

Operations management system advanced automation: Fault detection isolation and recovery prototyping

The purpose of this project is to address the global fault detection, isolation and recovery (FDIR) requirements for Operation's Management System (OMS) automation within the Space Station Freedom program. This shall be accomplished by developing a selected FDIR prototype for the Space Station Freedom distributed processing systems. The prototype shall be based on advanced automation methodologies in addition to traditional software methods to meet the requirements for automation. A secondary objective is to expand the scope of the prototyping to encompass multiple aspects of station-wide fault management (SWFM) as discussed in OMS requirements documentation.

Hanson, Matt↗

NASA NTRS1990

OMS event evaluator and scheduler

An Operations Management System (OMS) is being designed for Space Station Freedom to improve productivity, reliability, and safety while reducing operations and maintenance costs. Central to the concept is a short term plan containing mixes of man-readable and machine-executable procedures used in an environment of distributed processing and execution. An OMS event evaluator to check upcoming short-term plan events for validity of execution is under development. The first version checks time and resource constraints against operational conditions for current or expected stations. In work are the handling of environmental and other operational constraints, as well as detailed modeling of resources and station operational states. The Ada Program also has the ability to reschedule all or part of the events.

Eckelkamp, Richard E.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Distributed intelligent control and status networking

Over the past two years, the Network Control Systems Branch (Code 532) has been investigating control and status networking technologies. These emerging technologies use distributed processing over a network to accomplish a particular custom task. These networks consist of small intelligent 'nodes' that perform simple tasks. Containing simple, inexpensive hardware and software, these nodes can be easily developed and maintained. Once networked, the nodes can perform a complex operation without a central host. This type of system provides an alternative to more complex control and status systems which require a central computer. This paper will provide some background and discuss some applications of this technology. It will also demonstrate the suitability of one particular technology for the Space Network (SN) and discuss the prototyping activities of Code 532 utilizing this technology.

Fortin, Andre↗

NASA NTRS1992

CCD data acquisition systems at Lick and Keck Observatories

This paper will describe and compare two distinct but related CCD data acquisition systems (DAS) currently under development at Lick and Keck Observatories. Although these two systems have a number of major architectural differences, they share a considerable amount of common hardware and software. Both of these new systems build on a large body of proven software that is the foundation of the existing CCD DAS currently in use at Lick Observatory. Both will provide support for reading up to four on-chip amplifiers per CCD and/or reading out mosaics of CCD chips. In addition, they will provide the capability for interactive, real-time adjustment of CCD waveforms for engineering purposes. Each of these two systems is composed of three major subsystems: (1) an instrument computer and its software; (2) a data capture computer and its software; and (3) a CCD/dewar controller and its software. The instrument computer is a Unix workstation, and the functions it provides include user interfaces, the interactive real-time display of CCD images, and the recording of image and FITS header data to disk and/or tape. The data capture computer is responsible for the packaging and high-speed transfer of the CCD pixel data stream into a bulk RAM, and the subsequent transfer of this data to the instrument computer. The CCD/dewar controller generates the waveforms for clocking the CCD, digitizes the pixel data, and transmits it via high-speed link to the data capture computer. It is also responsible for monitoring and controlling the dewar temperature and cryogen levels. Given the number of different types of processors and high-speed data links employed in both systems, a major emphasis of this paper will be on the various forms of interprocessor communications utilized for data transfer and distributed process synchronization.

Kibrick, R. I.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Customizing graphical user interface technology for spacecraft control centers

The Transportable Payload Operations Control Center (TPOCC) project is applying the latest in graphical user interface technology to the spacecraft control center environment. This project of the Mission Operations Division's (MOD) Control Center Systems Branch (CCSB) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has developed an architecture for control centers which makes use of a distributed processing approach and the latest in Unix workstation technology. The TPOCC project is committed to following industry standards and using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software components wherever possible to reduce development costs and to improve operational support. TPOCC's most successful use of commercial software products and standards has been in the development of its graphical user interface. This paper describes TPOCC's successful use and customization of four separate layers of commercial software products to create a flexible and powerful user interface that is uniquely suited to spacecraft monitoring and control.

Beach, Edward↗

NASA NTRS1994

A high-speed linear algebra library with automatic parallelism

Parallel or distributed processing is key to getting highest performance workstations. However, designing and implementing efficient parallel algorithms is difficult and error-prone. It is even more difficult to write code that is both portable to and efficient on many different computers. Finally, it is harder still to satisfy the above requirements and include the reliability and ease of use required of commercial software intended for use in a production environment. As a result, the application of parallel processing technology to commercial software has been extremely small even though there are numerous computationally demanding programs that would significantly benefit from application of parallel processing. This paper describes DSSLIB, which is a library of subroutines that perform many of the time-consuming computations in engineering and scientific software. DSSLIB combines the high efficiency and speed of parallel computation with a serial programming model that eliminates many undesirable side-effects of typical parallel code. The result is a simple way to incorporate the power of parallel processing into commercial software without compromising maintainability, reliability, or ease of use. This gives significant advantages over less powerful non-parallel entries in the market.

Boucher, Michael L.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The R-Shell approach - Using scheduling agents in complex distributed real-time systems

Large, complex real-time systems such as space and avionics systems are extremely demanding in their scheduling requirements. The current OS design approaches are quite limited in the capabilities they provide for task scheduling. Typically, they simply implement a particular uniprocessor scheduling strategy and do not provide any special support for network scheduling, overload handling, fault tolerance, distributed processing, etc. Our design of the R-Shell real-time environment fcilitates the implementation of a variety of sophisticated but efficient scheduling strategies, including incorporation of all these capabilities. This is accomplished by the use of scheduling agents which reside in the application run-time environment and are responsible for coordinating the scheduling of the application.

Natarajan, Swaminathan↗

NASA NTRS1995

Infrared-Proximity-Sensor Modules For Robot

Collision-avoidance system for articulated robot manipulators uses infrared proximity sensors grouped together in array of sensor modules. Sensor modules, called "sensorCells," distributed processing board-level products for acquiring data from proximity-sensors strategically mounted on robot manipulators. Each sensorCell self-contained and consists of multiple sensing elements, discrete electronics, microcontroller and communications components. Modules connected to central control computer by redundant serial digital communication subsystem including both serial and a multi-drop bus. Detects objects made of various materials at distance of up to 50 cm. For some materials, such as thermal protection system tiles, detection range reduced to approximately 20 cm.

Parton, William↗

NASA NTRS1990

First CLIPS Conference Proceedings, volume 2

The topics of volume 2 of First CLIPS Conference are associated with following applications: quality control; intelligent data bases and networks; Space Station Freedom; Space Shuttle and satellite; user interface; artificial neural systems and fuzzy logic; parallel and distributed processing; enchancements to CLIPS; aerospace; simulation and defense; advisory systems and tutors; and intelligent control.

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NASA NTRS1990

SigmaCLIPSE = presentation management + NASA CLI PS + SQL

SigmaCLIPSE provides an expert systems and 'intelligent' data base development program for diverse systems integration environments that require support for automated reasoning and expert systems technology, presentation management, and access to 'intelligent' SQL data bases. The SigmaCLIPSE technology and and its integrated ability to access 4th generation application development and decision support tools through a portable SQL interface, comprises a sophisticated software development environment for solving knowledge engineering and expert systems development problems in information intensive commercial environments -- financial services, health care, and distributed process control -- where the expert system must be extendable -- a major architectural advantage of NASA CLIPS. SigmaCLIPSE is a research effort intended to test the viability of merging SQL data bases with expert systems technology.

Weiss, Bernard P., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Envision: An interactive system for the management and visualization of large geophysical data sets

Envision is a software project at the University of Illinois and Texas A&M, funded by NASA's Applied Information Systems Research Project. It provides researchers in the geophysical sciences convenient ways to manage, browse, and visualize large observed or model data sets. Envision integrates data management, analysis, and visualization of geophysical data in an interactive environment. It employs commonly used standards in data formats, operating systems, networking, and graphics. It also attempts, wherever possible, to integrate with existing scientific visualization and analysis software. Envision has an easy-to-use graphical interface, distributed process components, and an extensible design. It is a public domain package, freely available to the scientific community.

Searight, K. R.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Parallelization of Rocket Engine System Software (Press)

The main goal is to assess parallelization requirements for the Rocket Engine Numeric Simulator (RENS) project which, aside from gathering information on liquid-propelled rocket engines and setting forth requirements, involve a large FORTRAN based package at NASA Lewis Research Center and TDK software developed by SUBR/UWF. The ultimate aim is to develop, test, integrate, and suitably deploy a family of software packages on various aspects and facets of rocket engines using liquid-propellants. At present, all project efforts by the funding agency, NASA Lewis Research Center, and the HBCU participants are disseminated over the internet using world wide web home pages. Considering obviously expensive methods of actual field trails, the benefits of software simulators are potentially enormous. When realized, these benefits will be analogous to those provided by numerous CAD/CAM packages and flight-training simulators. According to the overall task assignments, Hampton University's role is to collect all available software, place them in a common format, assess and evaluate, define interfaces, and provide integration. Most importantly, the HU's mission is to see to it that the real-time performance is assured. This involves source code translations, porting, and distribution. The porting will be done in two phases: First, place all software on Cray XMP platform using FORTRAN. After testing and evaluation on the Cray X-MP, the code will be translated to C + + and ported to the parallel nCUBE platform. At present, we are evaluating another option of distributed processing over local area networks using Sun NFS, Ethernet, TCP/IP. Considering the heterogeneous nature of the present software (e.g., first started as an expert system using LISP machines) which now involve FORTRAN code, the effort is expected to be quite challenging.

Cezzar, Ruknet↗

NASA NTRS1993

Garbage Collection in a Distributed Object-Oriented System

An algorithm is described in this paper for garbage collection in distributed systems with object sharing across processor boundaries. The algorithm allows local garbage collection at each node in the system to proceed independently of local collection at the other nodes. It requires no global synchronization or knowledge of the global state of the system and exhibits the capability of graceful degradation. The concept of a specialized dump node is proposed to facilitate the collection of inaccessible circular structures. An experimental evaluation of the algorithm is also described. The algorithm is compared with a corresponding scheme that requires global synchronization. The results show that the algorithm works well in distributed processing environments even when the locality of object references is low.

Gupta, Aloke↗