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Preliminary plans for facility modifications and environmental/power systems for the JESS (Joint Exercise Support System) computer laboratory and Freedom Hall are presented. Blueprints are provided for each of the facilities and an estimate of the air conditioning requirements is given.
The design plan for the personal computer multiple information system interface (PC/MISI) project is discussed. The document is intended to be used as a blueprint for the implementation of the system. Each component is described in the detail necessary to allow programmers to implement the system. A description of the system data flow and system file structures is given.
An initial evaluation plan for the personal computer multiple information system interface (PC/MISI) project is discussed. The document is intend to be used as a blueprint for the evaluation of this system. Each objective of the design project is discussed along with the evaluation parameters and methodology to be used in the evaluation of the implementation's achievement of those objectives. The potential of the system for research activities related to more general aspects of information retrieval is also discussed.
The computation of airflow over complex configurations requires a complete description of the geometry. This can be obtained from CAD data, from blueprints, or from actual models. In any case, the time required is currently estimated at 4 to 6 months. It is proposed to shorten this time by a factor of 10 to 100 through the use of automated software, a fast, highly parallel computer and a three-dimensional laser digitizer. This device can provide (x,y,z) coordinates of surface points at rates exceeding 14,500/sec. Thus, it is possible to digitize an entire model in a few minutes. The accuracy of measurement on a flat white surface is better than 0.005 inches. Higher accuracy is available at higher cost. This work discusses the challenges which remain to be addressed. In particular, the surface point data need to be converted into a surface description, the surface description needs to be made into a surface grid, and the surface grid used to make a volume grid for the flow solver. Algorithms are kept in place or in mind for all of these problems. Integration of the more mature flow solution and visualization algorithms then allows generation of solution graphics directly from a wind tunnel model.
Nonlinear finite element analysis techniques are evaluated by applying them to a realistic aircraft structural component. A wing panel from the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft is chosen because it is a typical modern aircraft structural component for which there is experimental data for comparison of results. From blueprints and drawings supplied by the Bell Helicopter Textron Corporation, a very detailed finite element model containing 2284 9-node Assumed Natural-Coordinate Strain (ANS) elements was generated. A novel solution strategy which accounts for geometric nonlinearity through the use of corotating element reference frames and nonlinear strain displacements relations is used to analyze this detailed model. Results from linear analyses using the same finite element model are presented in order to illustrate the advantages and costs of the nonlinear analysis as compared with the more traditional linear analysis. Strain predictions from both the linear and nonlinear stress analyses are shown to compare well with experimental data up through the Design Ultimate Load (DUL) of the panel. However, due to the extreme nonlinear response of the panel, the linear analysis was not accurate at loads above the DUL. The nonlinear analysis more accurately predicted the strain at high values of applied load, and even predicted complicated nonlinear response characteristics, such as load reversals, at the observed failure load of the test panel. In order to understand the failure mechanism of the panel, buckling and first ply failure analyses were performed. The buckling load was 17 percent above the observed failure load while first ply failure analyses indicated significant material damage at and below the observed failure load.
Exploration of the solar system is considered in the light of existing economic factors and scientific priorities, and a general blueprint for an exploration strategy is set forth. Attention is given to mission costs, typical schedules, and the scientific findings of typical projects which create the need for collaboration and diversification in mission development. The combined technologies and cooperative efforts of several small organizations can lead to missions with short schedules and low costs.
A novel technique for processing thermal data is presented and applied to simulation as well as experimental data. Using a neural network of thermal data classification, good classification accuracies are obtained, and the resulting images exhibit very good contrast between bonded and disbonded locations. In order to minimize the preprocessing required before using the network of classification, the temperature values were directly employed to train a network using data from an on-site testing run of a commercial aircraft. Training was extremely fast, and the resulting classification also agreed reasonably well with an ultrasonic characterization of the panel. The results obtained using one sample show the partially disbonded vertical doubler. The vertical lines along the doubler correspond to the original extent of the doubler obtained using blueprints of the aircraft.
State-of-the-art nonlinear finite element analysis techniques are evaluated by applying them to a realistic aircraft structural component. A wing panel from the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft is chosen because it is a typical modern aircraft structural component for which there is experimental data for comparison of results. From blueprints and drawings, a very detailed finite element model containing 2284 9-node Assumed Natural-Coordinate Strain elements was generated. A novel solution strategy which accounts for geometric nonlinearity through the use of corotating element reference frames and nonlinear strain-displacement relations is used to analyze this detailed model. Results from linear analyses using the same finite element model are presented in order to illustrate the advantages and costs of the nonlinear analysis as compared with the more traditional linear analysis.
The field of oceanography has existed as a major scientific discipline in the United States since World War 2, largely funded by the federal government. In this report, the Ocean Studies Board documents the state of the field of oceanography and assesses the health of the partnership between the federal government and the academic oceanography community. The objectives are to document and discuss important trends in the human, physical, and fiscal resources available to oceanographers, especially academic oceanographers, over the last decade; to present the Ocean Studies Board's best assessment of scientific opportunities in physical oceanography, marine geochemistry, marine geology and geophysics, biological oceanography, and coastal oceanography during the upcoming decade; and to provide a blueprint for more productive partnerships between academic oceanographers and federal agencies.
A key component of JPL's strategy to make space missions faster, better and cheaper is the Advanced Multi-Mission Operations System (AMMOS), a ground software intensive system currently in use and in further development. AMMOS intends to eliminate the cost of re-engineering a ground system for each new JPL mission. This paper discusses SEQ-REVIEW, a component of AMMOS that was designed to facilitate and automate the task of reviewing and checking spacecraft sequences. SEQ-REVIEW is a smart browser for inspecting files created by other sequence generation tools in the AMMOS system. It can parse sequence-related files according to a computer-readable version of a 'Software Interface Specification' (SIS), which is a standard document for defining file formats. It lets users display one or several linked files and check simple constraints using a Basic-like 'Little Language'. SEQ-REVIEW represents the first application of the Quality Function Development (QFD) method to sequence software development at JPL. The paper will show how the requirements for SEQ-REVIEW were defined and converted into a design based on object-oriented principles. The process starts with interviews of potential users, a small but diverse group that spans multiple disciplines and 'cultures'. It continues with the development of QFD matrices that related product functions and characteristics to user-demanded qualities. These matrices are then turned into a formal Software Requirements Document (SRD). The process concludes with the design phase, in which the CRC (Class, Responsibility, Collaboration) approach was used to convert requirements into a blueprint for the final product.
The theory behind re-engineering a business process is to remove the non-value added activities thereby lowering the process cost. In order to achieve this, one must be able to identify where the non-value added elements are located which is not a trivial task. This is because the non-value added elements are often hidden in the form of overhead and/or pooled resources. In order to be able to isolate these non-value added processes from among the other processes, one must first decompose the overall top level process into lower layers of sub-processes. In addition, costing data must be assigned to each sub-process along with the value the sub-process adds towards the final product. IDEF0 is a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) process-modeling tool that allows for this functional decomposition through structured analysis. In addition, it illustrates the relationship of the process and the value added to the product or service. The value added portion is further defined in IDEF1X which is an entity relationship diagramming tool. The entity relationship model is the blueprint of the product as it moves along the 'assembly line' and therefore relates all of the parts to each other and the final product. It also relates the parts to the tools that produce the product and all of the paper work that is used in their acquisition. The use of IDEF therefore facilitates the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC). ABC is an essential method in a high variety, product-customizing environment, to facilitate rapid response to externally caused change. This paper describes the work being done in the Mission Operations Division to re-engineer the development and operation life cycle of Mission Operations Centers using these tools.
PCC successfully cast and performed nondestructive testing, FPI and x-ray, on seventeen AMCC castings. Destructive testing, lab analysis and chemical milling, was performed on eleven of the castings and the remaining six castings were shipped to NASA or Aerojet. Two of the six castings shipped, lots 015 and 016, were fully processed per blueprint requirements. PCC has fully developed the gating and processing parameters of this part and feels the part could be implemented into production, after four more castings have been completed to ensure the repeatability of the process. The AMCC casting has been a technically challenging part due to its size, configuration, and alloy type. The height and weight of the wax pattern assembly necessitated the development of a hollow gating system to ensure structural integrity of the shell throughout the investment process. The complexity in the jacket area of the casting required the development of an innovative casting technology that PCC has termed 'TGC' or thermal gradient control. This method of setting up thermal gradients in the casting during solidification represents a significant process improvement for PCC and has been successfully implemented on other programs. The alloy, JBK75, is a relatively new alloy in the investment casting arena and required our engineering staff to learn the gating, processing, and dimensional characteristics of the material.
A blueprint for a protocell was presented in 1960 (Fox) as a consequence of the newly discovered self-ordering of amino acids and the self-organization of the resultant thermal proteins into cellular structures. The biofunctions of the laboratory protocells (proteinoid microspheres) have since been cataloged; they display roots of many phenomena of modern cells, e.g. synthesis of internucleotide and peptide bonds in aqueous media. These results are inconsistent with a popular assumption that DNA/RNA preceded protein in earliest molecular evolution. The necessity for synthetic research on molecules and cells to 'begin at the beginning' is being realized. Ivanov and Fortsch (1986) have described by analysis how the self-ordering mechanism of amino acids into informed thermal proteins was conserved in evolution from the earliest stage as modern (reverse) mechanisms assumed control. Tyagi and Ponnamperuma (1990) have negated assumptions corollary to DNA/RNA. Ponnamperuma has demonstrated the powerful effect of self-ordering of amino acids in polymerization of aminoacyl nucleotides and the irrelevance of mononucleotide residues. Excitable thermal proteins (Vaughan et al, 1987) are neurotrophic and antiaging when added to cultures of real neurons (Hefti et al, 1991) and are memory enhancers in mice (Fox and Flood, 1992). Proteinoid microspheres of dominant hydrophobic constitution form 'gap junctions', sprout axon-like outgrowths, and form dendritic networks spontaneously. In the latest studies, phenylalanine-rich equimolar proteinoid or the leucine analog (Ishima et al 1981), is found to produce electrical signals for several days when lecithin is included in the assembly with the thermal polymer.
Bolt Circle Calculation (BOLT-CALC) computer program used to reduce significant time consumed in manually computing trigonometry of rectangular Cartesian coordinates of holes in bolt circle as shown on blueprint or drawing. Eliminates risk of computational errors, particularly in cases involving many holes or in cases in which coordinates expressed to many significant digits. Program assists in many practical situations arising in machine shops. Written in BASIC. Also successfully compiled and implemented by use of Microsoft's QuickBasic v4.0.
We have outlined our work in the last half of the funding period. We have shown how a demo package for RESSAP using MPI can be done. However, we also mentioned the difficulties with the UNIX platform. We have reiterated some of the suggestions made during the presentation of the progress of the at Fourth Annual HBCU Conference. Although we have discussed, in some detail, how TURBDES/PUMPDES software can be run in parallel using MPI, at present, we are unable to experiment any further with either MPI or PVM. Due to X windows not being implemented, we are also not able to experiment further with XPVM, which it will be recalled, has a nice GUI interface. There are also some concerns, on our part, about MPI being an appropriate tool. The best thing about MPr is that it is public domain. Although and plenty of documentation exists for the intricacies of using MPI, little information is available on its actual implementations. Other than very typical, somewhat contrived examples, such as Jacobi algorithm for solving Laplace's equation, there are few examples which can readily be applied to real situations, such as in our case. In effect, the review of literature on both MPI and PVM, and there is a lot, indicate something similar to the enormous effort which was spent on LISP and LISP-like languages as tools for artificial intelligence research. During the development of a book on programming languages [12], when we searched the literature for very simple examples like taking averages, reading and writing records, multiplying matrices, etc., we could hardly find a any! Yet, so much was said and done on that topic in academic circles. It appears that we faced the same problem with MPI, where despite significant documentation, we could not find even a simple example which supports course-grain parallelism involving only a few processes. From the foregoing, it appears that a new direction may be required for more productive research during the extension period (10/19/98 - 10/18/99). At the least, the research would need to be done on Windows 95/Windows NT based platforms. Moreover, with the acquisition of Lahey Fortran package for PC platform, and the existing Borland C + + 5. 0, we can do work on C + + wrapper issues. We have carefully studied the blueprint for Space Transportation Propulsion Integrated Design Environment for the next 25 years [13] and found the inclusion of HBCUs in that effort encouraging. Especially in the long period for which a map is provided, there is no doubt that HBCUs will grow and become better equipped to do meaningful research. In the shorter period, as was suggested in our presentation at the HBCU conference, some key decisions regarding the aging Fortran based software for rocket propellants will need to be made. One important issue is whether or not object oriented languages such as C + + or Java should be used for distributed computing. Whether or not "distributed computing" is necessary for the existing software is yet another, larger, question to be tackled with.
This document defines an Information Technology Architecture for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where Information Technology (IT) refers to the hardware, software, standards, protocols and processes that enable the creation, manipulation, storage, organization and sharing of information. An architecture provides an itemization and definition of these IT structures, a view of the relationship of the structures to each other and, most importantly, an accessible view of the whole. It is a fundamental assumption of this document that a useful, interoperable and affordable IT environment is key to the execution of the core NASA scientific and project competencies and business practices. This Architecture represents the highest level system design and guideline for NASA IT related activities and has been created on the authority of the NASA Chief Information Officer (CIO) and will be maintained under the auspices of that office. It addresses all aspects of general purpose, research, administrative and scientific computing and networking throughout the NASA Agency and is applicable to all NASA administrative offices, projects, field centers and remote sites. Through the establishment of five Objectives and six Principles this Architecture provides a blueprint for all NASA IT service providers: civil service, contractor and outsourcer. The most significant of the Objectives and Principles are the commitment to customer-driven IT implementations and the commitment to a simpler, cost-efficient, standards-based, modular IT infrastructure. In order to ensure that the Architecture is presented and defined in the context of the mission, project and business goals of NASA, this Architecture consists of four layers in which each subsequent layer builds on the previous layer. They are: 1) the Business Architecture: the operational functions of the business, or Enterprise, 2) the Systems Architecture: the specific Enterprise activities within the context of IT systems, 3) the Technical Architecture: a common, vendor-independent framework for design, integration and implementation of IT systems and 4) the Product Architecture: vendor=specific IT solutions. The Systems Architecture is effectively a description of the end-user "requirements". Generalized end-user requirements are discussed and subsequently organized into specific mission and project functions. The Technical Architecture depicts the framework, and relationship, of the specific IT components that enable the end-user functionality as described in the Systems Architecture. The primary components as described in the Technical Architecture are: 1) Applications: Basic Client Component, Object Creation Applications, Collaborative Applications, Object Analysis Applications, 2) Services: Messaging, Information Broker, Collaboration, Distributed Processing, and 3) Infrastructure: Network, Security, Directory, Certificate Management, Enterprise Management and File System. This Architecture also provides specific Implementation Recommendations, the most significant of which is the recognition of IT as core to NASA activities and defines a plan, which is aligned with the NASA strategic planning processes, for keeping the Architecture alive and useful.
On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body. Six hours after landing at 4:17 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (with less than thirty seconds of fuel remaining), Neil A. Armstrong took the "small step" into our greater future when he stepped off the Lunar Module, named Eagle, onto the surface of the Moon, from which he could look up and see Earth in the heavens as no one had done before him. He was shortly joined by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and the two astronauts spent twenty-one hours on the lunar surface and returned forty-six pounds of lunar rocks. After their historic walks on the Moon, they successfully docked with Michael Collins, patiently orbiting the cold but no longer lifeless Moon alone in the Command module Columbia. This CR-ROM is intended as a collection of hard to find technical data and other interesting information about the Apollo 11 mission, as well as the apollo program in general. It includes basic overviews, such as a retrospective analysis, an annotated bibliography, and history of the lunar-orbit rendezvous concept. It also contains technical data, such as mission operations reports, press kits, and news references for all of the Apollo missions, the Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn V launch vehicle. Rounding out this CD-ROM are extensive histories of the lunar Orbiter program (the robotic predecessor to Apollo, biographies of the Apollo astronauts and other key individuals, and interesting audio-visual materials, such as video and audio clips, photo galleries, and blueprint-like diagrams of the Apollo spacecraft.
A prototype cooperative multi-robot control architecture suitable for the eventual construction of large space structures has been developed. In nature, there are numerous examples of complex architectures constructed by relatively simple insects, such as termites and wasps, which cooperatively assemble their nests. The prototype control architecture emulates this biological model. Actions of each of the autonomous robotic construction agents are only indirectly coordinated, thus mimicking the distributed construction processes of various social insects. The robotic construction agents perform their primary duties stigmergically i.e., without direct inter-agent communication and without a preprogrammed global blueprint of the final design. Communication and coordination between individual agents occurs indirectly through the sensed modifications that each agent makes to the structure. The global stigmergic building algorithm prototyped during the initial research assumes that the robotic builders only perceive the current state of the structure under construction. Simulation studies have established that an idealized form of the proposed architecture was indeed capable of producing representative large space structures with autonomous robots. This paper will explore the construction simulations in order to illustrate the multi-robot control architecture.