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192 records · Page 11

Reusing JPSS Ground System Components to Process Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument Science Products

New Earth observation instruments are planned to enable advancements in Earth science research over the next decade. Diversity of Earth observing instruments and their observing platforms will continue to increase as new instrument technologies emerge and are deployed as part of National programs such as Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system (GOES), Landsat as well as the potential for many CubeSat and aircraft missions. The practical use and value of these observational data often extends well beyond their original purpose. The practicing community needs intuitive and standardized tools to enable quick unfettered development of tailored products for specific applications and decision support systems. However, the associated data processing system can take years to develop and requires inherent knowledge and the ability to integrate increasingly diverse data types from multiple sources. This paper describes the adaptation of a large-scale data processing system built for supporting JPSS algorithm calibration and validation (CalVal) node to a simplified science data system for rapid application. The new configurable data system reuses scalable JAVA technologies built for the JPSS Government Resource for Algorithm Verification, Independent Test, and Evaluation (GRAVITE) system to run within a laptop environment and support product generation and data processing of AURA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) science products. Of particular interest are the root requirements necessary for integrating experimental algorithms and Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) data access libraries into a science data production system. This study demonstrates the ability to reuse existing Ground System technologies to support future missions with minimal changes.

Science Data Systems↗

Social Tagging of Mission Data

Mars missions will generate a large amount of data in various forms, such as daily plans, images, and scientific information. Often, there is a semantic linkage between images that cannot be captured automatically. Software is needed that will provide a method for creating arbitrary tags for this mission data so that items with a similar tag can be related to each other. The tags should be visible and searchable for all users. A new routine was written to offer a new and more flexible search option over previous applications. This software allows users of the MSLICE program to apply any number of arbitrary tags to a piece of mission data through a MSLICE search interface. The application of tags creates relationships between data that did not previously exist. These tags can be easily removed and changed, and contain enough flexibility to be specifically configured for any mission. This gives users the ability to quickly recall or draw attention to particular pieces of mission data, for example: Give a semantic and meaningful description to mission data; for example, tag all images with a rock in them with the tag "rock." Rapidly recall specific and useful pieces of data; for example, tag a plan as"driving template." Call specific data to a user s attention; for example, tag a plan as "for:User." This software is part of the MSLICE release, which was written in Java. It will run on any current Windows, Macintosh, or Linux system.

Norris, Jeffrey S.↗

Interactive Display of Scenes with Annotations

ThreeDView is a computer program that enables high-performance interactive display of real-world scenes with annotations. ThreeDView was developed primarily as a component of the Science Activity Planner (SAP) software, wherein it is to be used to display annotated images of terrain acquired by exploratory robots on Mars and possibly other remote planets. The images can be generated from sets of multiple-texture image data in the Visible Scalable Terrain (ViSTa) format, which was described in "Format for Interchange and Display of 3D Terrain Data" (NPO-30600) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 12 (December 2004), page 25. In ThreeDView, terrain data can be loaded rapidly, the geometric level of detail and texture resolution can be selected, false colors can be used to represent scientific data mapped onto terrain, and the user can select among navigation modes. ThreeDView consists largely of modular Java software components that can easily be reused and extended to produce new high-performance, application-specific software systems for displaying images of three-dimensional real-world scenes.

Vona, Marsette↗

Using XML and Java Technologies for Astronomical Instrument Control

Traditionally, instrument command and control systems have been highly specialized, consisting mostly of custom code that is difficult to develop, maintain, and extend. Such solutions are initially very costly and are inflexible to subsequent engineering change requests, increasing software maintenance costs. Instrument description is too tightly coupled with details of implementation. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, under the Instrument Remote Control (IRC) project, is developing a general and highly extensible framework that applies to any kind of instrument that can be controlled by a computer. The software architecture combines the platform independent processing capabilities of Java with the power of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), a human readable and machine understandable way to describe structured data. A key aspect of the object-oriented architecture is that the software is driven by an instrument description, written using the Instrument Markup Language (IML), a dialect of XML. IML is used to describe the command sets and command formats of the instrument, communication mechanisms, format of the data coming from the instrument, and characteristics of the graphical user interface to control and monitor the instrument. The IRC framework allows the users to define a data analysis pipeline which converts data coming out of the instrument. The data can be used in visualizations in order for the user to assess the data in real-time, if necessary. The data analysis pipeline algorithms can be supplied by the user in a variety of forms or programming languages. Although the current integration effort is targeted for the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC) and the Submillimeter and Far Infrared Experiment (SAFIRE), first-light instruments of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the framework is designed to be generic and extensible so that it can be applied to any instrument. Plans are underway to test the framework with other types of instruments, such as remote sensing earth science instruments.

Ames, Troy↗

New Interfaces to Web Documents and Services

This paper reports on investigations into how to extend capabilities of the Virtual Research Center (VRC) for NASA's Advanced Concepts Office. The work was performed as part of NASA's 1996 Summer Faculty Fellowship program, and involved research into and prototype development of software components that provide documents and services for the World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW has become a de-facto standard for sharing resources over the internet, primarily because web browsers are freely available for the most common hardware platforms and their operating systems. As a consequence of the popularity of the internet, tools, and techniques associated with web browsers are changing rapidly. New capabilities are offered by companies that support web browsers in order to achieve or remain a dominant participant in internet services. Because a goal of the VRC is to build an environment for NASA centers, universities, and industrial partners to share information associated with Advanced Concepts Office activities, the VRC tracks new techniques and services associated with the web in order to determine the their usefulness for distributed and collaborative engineering research activities. Most recently, Java has emerged as a new tool for providing internet services. Because the major web browser providers have decided to include Java in their software, investigations into Java were conducted this summer.

Carlisle, W. H.↗

Software for Training in Pre-College Mathematics

The Intelligent Math Tutor (IMT) is a computer program for training students in pre-college and college-level mathematics courses, including fundamentals, intermediate algebra, college algebra, and trigonometry. The IMT can be executed on a server computer for access by students via the Internet; alternatively, it can be executed on students computers equipped with compact- disk/read-only-memory (CD-ROM) drives. The IMT provides interactive exercises, assessment, tracking, and an on-line graphing calculator with algebraic-manipulation capabilities. The IMT provides an innovative combination of content, delivery mechanism, and artificial intelligence. Careful organization and presentation of the content make it possible to provide intelligent feedback to the student based on performance on exercises and tests. The tracking and feedback mechanisms are implemented within the capabilities of a commercial off-the-shelf development software tool and are written in the Unified Modeling Language to maximize reuse and minimize development cost. The graphical calculator is a standard feature of most college and pre-college algebra and trigonometry courses. Placing this functionality in a Java applet decreases the cost, provides greater capabilities, and provides an opportunity to integrate the calculator with the lessons.

Shelton, Robert O.↗

Real-Time Multimission Event Notification System for Mars Relay

As the Mars Relay Network is in constant flux (missions and teams going through their daily workflow), it is imperative that users are aware of such state changes. For example, a change by an orbiter team can affect operations on a lander team. This software provides an ambient view of the real-time status of the Mars network. The Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) comprises a number of tools to coordinate, plan, and visualize various aspects of the Mars Relay Network. As part of MaROS, a feature set was developed that operates on several levels of the software architecture. These levels include a Web-based user interface, a back-end "ReSTlet" built in Java, and databases that store the data as it is received from the network. The result is a real-time event notification and management system, so mission teams can track and act upon events on a moment-by-moment basis. This software retrieves events from MaROS and displays them to the end user. Updates happen in real time, i.e., messages are pushed to the user while logged into the system, and queued when the user is not online for later viewing. The software does not do away with the email notifications, but augments them with in-line notifications. Further, this software expands the events that can generate a notification, and allows user-generated notifications. Existing software sends a smaller subset of mission-generated notifications via email. A common complaint of users was that the system-generated e-mails often "get lost" with other e-mail that comes in. This software allows for an expanded set (including user-generated) of notifications displayed in-line of the program. By separating notifications, this can improve a user's workflow.

Wallick, Michael N.↗

World Wide Web Metaphors for Search Mission Data

A software program that searches and browses mission data emulates a Web browser, containing standard meta - phors for Web browsing. By taking advantage of back-end URLs, users may save and share search states. Also, since a Web interface is familiar to users, training time is reduced. Familiar back and forward buttons move through a local search history. A refresh/reload button regenerates a query, and loads in any new data. URLs can be constructed to save search results. Adding context to the current search is also handled through a familiar Web metaphor. The query is constructed by clicking on hyperlinks that represent new components to the search query. The selection of a link appears to the user as a page change; the choice of links changes to represent the updated search and the results are filtered by the new criteria. Selecting a navigation link changes the current query and also the URL that is associated with it. The back button can be used to return to the previous search state. This software is part of the MSLICE release, which was written in Java. It will run on any current Windows, Macintosh, or Linux system.

Norris, Jeffrey S.↗

Computational Models of the Cardiovascular System and Its Response to Microgravity

Computational models of the cardiovascular system are powerful adjuncts to ground-based and in-flight experiments. We will provide NSBRI with a model capable of simulating the short-term effects of gravity on cardiovascular function. The model from this project will: (1) provide a rational framework which quantitatively defines interactions among complex cardiovascular parameters and which supports the critical interpretation of experimental results and testing of hypotheses. (2) permit predictions of the impact of specific countermeasures in the context of various hypothetical cardiovascular abnormalities induced by microgravity. Major progress has been made during the first 18 months of the program: (1) We have developed an operational first-order computer model capable of simulating the cardiovascular response to orthostatic stress. The model consists of a lumped parameter hemodynamic model and a complete reflex control system. The latter includes cardiopulmonary and carotid sinus reflex limbs and interactions between the two. (2) We have modeled the physiologic stress of tilt table experiments and lower body negative pressure procedures (LBNP). We have verified our model's predictions by comparing them with experimental findings from the literature. (3) We have established collaborative efforts with leading investigators interested in experimental studies of orthostatic intolerance, cardiovascular control, and physiologic responses to space flight. (4) We have established a standardized method of transferring data to our laboratory from the ongoing NSBRI bedrest studies. We use this data to estimate input parameters to our model and compare our model predictions to actual data to further verify our model. (5) We are in the process of systematically simulating current hypotheses concerning the mechanism underlying orthostatic intolerance by matching our simulations to stand test data from astronauts pre- and post-flight. (6) We are in the process of developing a JAVA version of the simulator which will be distributed amongst the cardiovascular team members. Future work on this project involves modifications of the model to represent a rodent (rat) model, further evaluation of the bedrest astronaut and animal data, and systematic investigation of specific countermeasures.

Kamm, Roger D.↗

RAPID: Collaborative Commanding and Monitoring of Lunar Assets

RAPID (Robot Application Programming Interface Delegate) software utilizes highly robust technology to facilitate commanding and monitoring of lunar assets. RAPID provides the ability for intercenter communication, since these assets are developed in multiple NASA centers. RAPID is targeted at the task of lunar operations; specifically, operations that deal with robotic assets, cranes, and astronaut spacesuits, often developed at different NASA centers. RAPID allows for a uniform way to command and monitor these assets. Commands can be issued to take images, and monitoring is done via telemetry data from the asset. There are two unique features to RAPID: First, it allows any operator from any NASA center to control any NASA lunar asset, regardless of location. Second, by abstracting the native language for specific assets to a common set of messages, an operator may control and monitor any NASA lunar asset by being trained only on the use of RAPID, rather than the specific asset. RAPID is easier to use and more powerful than its predecessor, the Astronaut Interface Device (AID). Utilizing the new robust middleware, DDS (Data Distribution System), developing in RAPID has increased significantly over the old middleware. The API is built upon the Java Eclipse Platform, which combined with DDS, provides platform-independent software architecture, simplifying development of RAPID components. As RAPID continues to evolve and new messages are being designed and implemented, operators for future lunar missions will have a rich environment for commanding and monitoring assets.

Torres, Recaredo J.↗

Parallelization of Rocket Engine Simulator Software (PRESS)

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.

Cezzar, Ruknet↗

Science Planning for Multi-Spacecraft Coordinated Observations

Fulfilling the promise of an era of great observatories, NASA now has more than three space-based astronomical telescopes operating in different wavebands. This situation provides astronomers with a unique opportunity to simultaneously observe with multiple observatories. Yet scheduling multiple observatories simultaneously is highly inefficient when compared to single observatory observations. Thus, programs using multiple observatories are limited not due to scientific restrictions, but due to operational inefficiencies. Each year, a number of proposals are accepted by a space-based observatory for conduction of astronomical observations and gathering of science data for the study of galactic events. Since each space-based observatory uses a set of instruments designed to operate in specific energy regions, most such studies are conducted by submitting observation proposals to multiple observatories, with requests to coordinate among themselves. To assure that the proposed observations can be scheduled, each observatory's staff has to check that the observations are valid and meet all the constraints for their own observatory; in addition, they have to verify that the observations satisfy the constraints of the other observatories. Thus, coordinated observations require painstaking manual collaboration among the observatory staff at each observatory. In order to exploit new paradigms for observatory operation, the Goddard Space Flight Center's Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch has developed a prototype tool called the Visual Observation Layout Tool (VOLT). The main objective of VOLT is to provide a visual tool to automate the science planning of coordinated observations for multiple spacecraft, as well as to increase the scheduling probability of observations. However, VOLT is also useful for single observatory planning to optimize observatory control. Three space-based missions are interested in using VOLT (the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer). The VOLT team members have collaborated with these missions to gather requirements and obtain feedback on their mission planning processes. VOLT has been developed as a cross-platform Java client application for use by scientists and observatory science planning staff to visualize scheduling options and constraints. It also supports a lightweight graphical user interface for remote viewing via a Web front end. Additionally, it uniquely supports the ability to interact with multiple, diverse scheduling packages in order to determine windows of opportunity for observations and visually portray the constraints of each observation request. VOLT enables science data capture scenarios which are currently either impossible, or which require extensive time and manpower to coordinate amongst multiple observatories. it supports early detection of planning conflicts by generating coordinated solutions based on observatory schedulability and constraints. The project development approach has included frequent prototype demonstrations to our interested missions to obtain feedback after each release of the software. We will present an overview of our lessons learned in infusing the VOLT tool into the operations of the missions we have collaborated with and a brief demonstration of the software.

Maks, Lori↗