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Analysis of data flow through the design and manufacturing processes has established specific information management requirements and identified unique problems. The application of data management technology to the engineering/manufacturing environment addresses these problems. An overview of the IPAD prototype data base management system, representing a partial solution to these problems, is presented here.
There is a growing need for humans to perform complex remote operations and to extend the intelligence and experience of experts to distant applications. It is asserted that a blending of human intelligence, modern information technology, remote control, and intelligent autonomous systems is required, and have coined the term tele-autonomous technology, or tele-automation, for methods producing intelligent action at a distance. Tele-automation goes beyond autonomous control by blending in human intelligence. It goes beyond tele-operation by incorporating as much autonomy as possible and/or reasonable. A new approach is discussed for solving one of the fundamental problems facing tele-autonomous systems: The need to overcome time delays due to telemetry and signal propagation. New concepts are introduced called time and position clutches, that allow the time and position frames between the local user control and the remote device being controlled, to be desynchronized respectively. The design and implementation of these mechanisms are described in detail. It is demonstrated that these mechanisms lead to substantial telemanipulation performance improvements, including the result of improvements even in the absence of time delays. The new controls also yield a simple protocol for control handoffs of manipulation tasks between local operators and remote systems.
The results of the research performed by the university principal investigators are herein compiled. OhioView's general goals were: 1) To increase remote sensing education for Ohio s undergraduate and graduate students, and also enhancing curriculum in the mathematics and science for K-12 students using the capabilities of remote sensing; 2) To conduct advanced research to develop novel remote sensing applications, i.e. to turn data into information for more applications; 3) To maximize the use of remote sensing technology by the general public through outreach and the development of tools for more user-friendly access to remote sensing data.
The current X-ray systems used by airport security personnel for the detection of contraband, and objects such as knives and guns that can impact the security of a flight, have limited effect because of the limited display quality of the X-ray images. Since the displayed images do not possess optimal contrast and sharpness, it is possible for the security personnel to miss potentially hazardous objects. This problem is also common to other disciplines such as medical Xrays, and can be mitigated, to a large extent, by the use of state-of-the-art image processing techniques to enhance the contrast and sharpness of the displayed image. The NASA Langley Research Center's Visual Information Processing Group has developed an image enhancement technology that has direct applications to this problem of inadequate display quality. Airport security X-ray imaging systems would benefit considerably by using this novel technology, making the task of the personnel who have to interpret the X-ray images considerably easier, faster, and more reliable. This improvement would translate into more accurate screening as well as minimizing the screening time delays to airline passengers. This technology, Retinex, has been optimized for consumer applications but has been applied to medical X-rays on a very preliminary basis. The resultant technology could be incorporated into a new breed of commercial x-ray imaging systems which would be transparent to the screener yet allow them to see subtle detail much more easily, reducing the amount of time needed for screening while greatly increasing the effectiveness of contraband detection and thus public safety.
The current X-ray systems used by airport security personnel for the detection of contraband, and objects such as knives and guns that can impact the security of a flight, have limited effect because of the limited display quality of the X-ray images. Since the displayed images do not possess optimal contrast and sharpness, it is possible for the security personnel to miss potentially hazardous objects. This problem is also common to other disciplines such as medical X-rays, and can be mitigated, to a large extent, by the use of state-of-the-art image processing techniques to enhance the contrast and sharpness of the displayed image. The NASA Langley Research Centers Visual Information Processing Group has developed an image enhancement technology that has direct applications to this problem of inadequate display quality. Airport security X-ray imaging systems would benefit considerably by using this novel technology, making the task of the personnel who have to interpret the X-ray images considerably easier, faster, and more reliable. This improvement would translate into more accurate screening as well as minimizing the screening time delays to airline passengers. This technology, Retinex, has been optimized for consumer applications but has been applied to medical X-rays on a very preliminary basis. The resultant technology could be incorporated into a new breed of commercial x-ray imaging systems which would be transparent to the screener yet allow them to see subtle detail much more easily, reducing the amount of time needed for screening while greatly increasing the effectiveness of contraband detection and thus public safety.
Topics covered include: Implementation and Validation of Sensor-Based Site-Specific Crop Management; Enhanced Management of Agricultural Perennial Systems (EMAPS) Using GIS and Remote Sensing; Validation and Application of Geospatial Information for Early Identification of Stress in Wheat; Adapting and Validating Precision Technologies for Cotton Production in the Mid-Southern United States - 2004 Progress Report; Development of a System to Automatically Geo-Rectify Images; Economics of Precision Agriculture Technologies in Cotton Production-AG 2020 Prescription Farming Automation Algorithms; Field Testing a Sensor-Based Applicator for Nitrogen and Phosphorus Application; Early Detection of Citrus Diseases Using Machine Vision and DGPS; Remote Sensing of Citrus Tree Stress Levels and Factors; Spectral-based Nitrogen Sensing for Citrus; Characterization of Tree Canopies; In-field Sensing of Shallow Water Tables and Hydromorphic Soils with an Electromagnetic Induction Profiler; Maintaining the Competitiveness of Tree Fruit Production Through Precision Agriculture; Modeling and Visualizing Terrain and Remote Sensing Data for Research and Education in Precision Agriculture; Thematic Soil Mapping and Crop-Based Strategies for Site-Specific Management; and Crop-Based Strategies for Site-Specific Management.
Photonics is an emerging technology which combines electronics and optics to develop improved communication, information or signal processing systems.
Here, this paper introduces the topics that need consideration to allow an effective feasibility analysis of electron beams and/or X-rays technologies prior to potential investment and implementation of these technologies for industrial applications. It also highlights considerations for planning, developing and construction of an electron beam or X-ray facility The focus of this paper is on business topics and it provides details of where additional technical information can be found. The paper also describes current applications for electron beam and X-ray technologies to demonstrate their potential.
The Proceedings contain the papers presented at the Seventh Annual Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) Applications and Planning Meeting and the edited record of the discussion period following each paper. This meeting provided a forum to promote more effective, efficient, economical and skillful applications of PTTI technology to the many problem areas to which PTTI offers solutions. Specifically the purpose of the meeting is to: disseminate, coordinate, and exchange practical information associated with precise time and frequency; acquaint systems engineers, technicians and managers with precise time and frequency technology and its applications; and review present and future requirements for PTTI.
Multilevel remote-sensing techniques were combined to provide land resource and land-use information for rural development planning in Arusha Region, Tanzania. Enhanced Landsat imagery, supplemented by low-level aerial survey data, slope angle data from topographic sheets, and existing reports on vegetation and soil conditions, was used jointly by image analysts and district-level land-management officials to divide the region's six districts into land-planning units. District-planning officials selected a number of these land-planning units for priority planning and development activities. For the priority areas, natural color aerial photographs provided detailed information for land-use planning discussions between district officials and villagers. Consideration of the efficiency of this remote sensing approach leads to general recommendations for similar applications. The technology and timing of data collection and interpretation activities should allow maximum participation by intended users of the information.
Findings from NASA's space electronics division's (SED's) advanced systems studies related to future communications satellite services that will require onboard switching and processing technology are reviewed. SED's digital signal switching and processing technology program is reviewed. This program responds to specific systems technology development needs for enabling commercial development of future satellite services. The technologies include: modulators, demodulators, and forward error-correction hardware for space- and ground-based applications; onboard information switching and processing, onboard network control, and health monitoring; and cost-efficient ground terminals. The in-house systems integration, test, and evaluation (SITE) project, which includes a laboratory testbed for evaluating technology in a simulated systems environment, is reviewed.
With the launch of several Earth observing satellites over the last decade, we are now in a data rich environment. From NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites alone, we are accumulating more than 3 TB per day of raw data and derived geophysical parameters. The data products are being distributed to a large user community comprising scientific researchers, educators and operational government agencies. Notable progress has been made in the last decade in facilitating access to data. However, to realize the full potential of the growing archives of valuable scientific data, further progress is necessary in the transformation of data into information, and information into knowledge that can be used in particular applications. Sponsored by NASA s Intelligent Systems Project within the Computing, Information and Communication Technology (CICT) Program, a conceptual architecture study has been conducted to examine ideas to improve data utilization through the addition of intelligence into the archives in the context of an overall knowledge building system. Potential Intelligent Archive concepts include: 1) Mining archived data holdings using Intelligent Data Understanding algorithms to improve metadata to facilitate data access and usability; 2) Building intelligence about transformations on data, information, knowledge, and accompanying services involved in a scientific enterprise; 3) Recognizing the value of results, indexing and formatting them for easy access, and delivering them to concerned individuals; 4) Interacting as a cooperative node in a web of distributed systems to perform knowledge building (i.e., the transformations from data to information to knowledge) instead of just data pipelining; and 5) Being aware of other nodes in the knowledge building system, participating in open systems interfaces and protocols for virtualization, and collaborative interoperability. This paper presents some of these concepts and identifies issues to be addressed by research in future intelligent systems technology.
NASA's Eastern Regional Remote Sensing Applications Center (ERRSAC) has recognized the need to accommodate spatial analysis techniques in its remote sensing technology transfer program. A computerized Geographic Information System to incorporate remotely sensed data, specifically Landsat, with other relevant data was considered a realistic approach to address a given resource problem. Questions arose concerning the selection of a suitable available software system to demonstrate, train, and undertake demonstration projects with ERRSAC's user community. The very specific requirements for such a system are discussed. The solution found involved the addition of geographic information processing functions to the Interactive Digital Image Manipulation System (IDIMS). Details regarding the functions of the new integrated system are examined along with the characteristics of the software.
This report is prepared on an annual basis for the purposes of highlighting the fiscal year research and technology (R&T) activities. Its intent is to better inform the R&T Program Managers of significant accomplishments that promise practical and beneficial program application. The report is not inclusive of all R&T activities. The document is organized into two distinct sections: (1) a general summary of the major R&T activities in each program area, and (2) a description of significant individual completed activities and their results. This document will be updated November 1 of each year.
Traditional mission and vehicle management involves teams of highly trained specialists monitoring vehicle status and crew activities, responding rapidly to any anomalies encountered during operations. These teams work from the Mission Control Center and have access to engineering support teams with specialized expertise in International Space Station (ISS) subsystems. Integrated System Health Management (ISHM) applications can significantly augment these capabilities by providing enhanced monitoring, prognostic and diagnostic tools for critical decision support and mission management. The Intelligent Systems Division of NASA Ames Research Center is developing many prototype applications using model-based reasoning, data mining and simulation, working with Mission Control through the ISHM Testbed and Prototypes Project. This paper will briefly describe information technology that supports current mission management practice, and will extend this to a vision for future mission control workflow incorporating new ISHM applications. It will describe ISHM applications currently under development at NASA and will define technical approaches for implementing our vision of future human exploration mission management incorporating artificial intelligence and distributed web service architectures using specific examples. Several prototypes are under development, each highlighting a different computational approach. The ISStrider application allows in-depth analysis of Caution and Warning (C&W) events by correlating real-time telemetry with the logical fault trees used to define off-nominal events. The application uses live telemetry data and the Livingstone diagnostic inference engine to display the specific parameters and fault trees that generated the C&W event, allowing a flight controller to identify the root cause of the event from thousands of possibilities by simply navigating animated fault tree models on their workstation. SimStation models the functional power flow for the ISS Electrical Power System and can predict power balance for nominal and off-nominal conditions. SimStation uses realtime telemetry data to keep detailed computational physics models synchronized with actual ISS power system state. In the event of failure, the application can then rapidly diagnose root cause, predict future resource levels and even correlate technical documents relevant to the specific failure. These advanced computational models will allow better insight and more precise control of ISS subsystems, increasing safety margins by speeding up anomaly resolution and reducing,engineering team effort and cost. This technology will make operating ISS more efficient and is directly applicable to next-generation exploration missions and Crew Exploration Vehicles.
This essay will first consider whether technological breakthroughs in space technology and the rational motives of ordinary institutions have the capacity to break out of this relatively static situation. Then we will survey the roles that social movements of various kinds might play and conclude with an examination of one particular nascent movement that might possibly build the foundation for a spacefaring civilization. A third of a century ago, practical nuclear fission rockets were under development, but this approach now seems environmentally unacceptable. It is hard to devise a more environmentally benign propellant than the hydrogen and oxygen used by the main engines of the Space Shuttle. There is some hope that nanotechnology will save the day with materials based on carbon nanotubes that are vastly stronger yet lighter than metals.6 However, the X-33 failure shows that it is not easy to work with radically new structural materials in demanding aerospace applications, and we may be many decades away from being able to manufacture propellant tanks, wings, and other large structures from carbon nanotubes. Satellites in low-Earth and synchronous orbit are of great importance in the collection and distribution of information, thus essential to the information economy. The wide range of civilian applications includes telephone, data transmission, television, navigation, weather observation, agriculture monitoring, and prospecting for natural resources.8 The technology is largely perfected, and incremental progress can be achieved by improvement in information systems and simply by investing in more relatively small satellites of the kinds we already have.
Aerial photography and information system technology were used to generate information required for the effective operation of three water-related programs in Michigan. Potential mosquito breeding sites were identified from specially acquired low altitude 70 mm color photography for the city of Lansing; the inventory identified 35% more surface water areas than indicated on existing field maps. A comprehensive inventory of surface water sources and potential access sites was prepared to assist fire departments in Antrim County with fire truck water-recharge operations. Remotely-sensed land cover/use data for Windsor Township, Eaton County, were integrated with other resource data into a computer-based information system for regional water quality studies. Eleven thematic maps focusing on landscape features affecting non-point water pollution and waste disposal were generated from analyses of a four-hectare grid-based data file containing land cover/use, soils, topographic and geologic (well-log) data.
The state of knowledge of solid lubricants is reviewed. The results of research on solid lubricants from the 1940's to the present are presented from a historical perspective. Emphasis is placed largely, but not exclusively, on work performed at NASA Lewis Research Center with a natural focus on aerospace applications. However, because of the generic nature of the research, the information presented in this review is applicable to most areas where solid lubricant technology is useful.