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At least 307 records · Page 17

File concepts for parallel I/O

The subject of input/output (I/O) was often been neglected in the design of parallel computer systems, although for many problems I/O rates will limit the speedup attainable. The I/O problem is addressed by considering the role of files in parallel systems. The notion of parallel files is introduced. Parallel files provide for concurrent access by multiple processes, and utilize parallelism in the I/O system to improve performance. Parallel files can also be used conventionally by sequential programs. A set of standard parallel file organizations is proposed, based on common data partitioning techniques. Implementation strategies for the proposed organizations are suggested, using multiple storage devices. Problem areas are also identified and discussed.

Crockett, Thomas W.↗

General specifications for the development of a PC-based simulator of the NASA RECON system

The general specifications for the design and implementation of an IBM PC/XT-based simulator of the NASA RECON system, including record designs, file structure designs, command language analysis, program design issues, error recovery considerations, and usage monitoring facilities are discussed. Once implemented, such a simulator will be utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of simulated information system access in addition to actual system usage as part of the total educational programs being developed within the NASA contract.

Dominick, Wayne D.↗

Generic, Extensible, Configurable Push-Pull Framework for Large-Scale Science Missions

The push-pull framework was developed in hopes that an infrastructure would be created that could literally connect to any given remote site, and (given a set of restrictions) download files from that remote site based on those restrictions. The Cataloging and Archiving Service (CAS) has recently been re-architected and re-factored in its canonical services, including file management, workflow management, and resource management. Additionally, a generic CAS Crawling Framework was built based on motivation from Apache s open-source search engine project called Nutch. Nutch is an Apache effort to provide search engine services (akin to Google), including crawling, parsing, content analysis, and indexing. It has produced several stable software releases, and is currently used in production services at companies such as Yahoo, and at NASA's Planetary Data System. The CAS Crawling Framework supports many of the Nutch Crawler's generic services, including metadata extraction, crawling, and ingestion. However, one service that was not ported over from Nutch is a generic protocol layer service that allows the Nutch crawler to obtain content using protocol plug-ins that download content using implementations of remote protocols, such as HTTP, FTP, WinNT file system, HTTPS, etc. Such a generic protocol layer would greatly aid in the CAS Crawling Framework, as the layer would allow the framework to generically obtain content (i.e., data products) from remote sites using protocols such as FTP and others. Augmented with this capability, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and NPP (NPOESS Preparatory Project) Sounder PEATE (Product Evaluation and Analysis Tools Elements) would be provided with an infrastructure to support generic FTP-based pull access to remote data products, obviating the need for any specialized software outside of the context of their existing process control systems. This extensible configurable framework was created in Java, and allows the use of different underlying communication middleware (at present, both XMLRPC, and RMI). In addition, the framework is entirely suitable in a multi-mission environment and is supporting both NPP Sounder PEATE and the OCO Mission. Both systems involve tasks such as high-throughput job processing, terabyte-scale data management, and science computing facilities. NPP Sounder PEATE is already using the push-pull framework to accept hundreds of gigabytes of IASI (infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer) data, and is in preparation to accept CRIMS (Cross-track Infrared Microwave Sounding Suite) data. OCO will leverage the framework to download MODIS, CloudSat, and other ancillary data products for use in the high-performance Level 2 Science Algorithm. The National Cancer Institute is also evaluating the framework for use in sharing and disseminating cancer research data through its Early Detection Research Network (EDRN).

Foster, Brian M.↗

Planetary Image Geometry Library

The Planetary Image Geometry (PIG) library is a multi-mission library used for projecting images (EDRs, or Experiment Data Records) and managing their geometry for in-situ missions. A collection of models describes cameras and their articulation, allowing application programs such as mosaickers, terrain generators, and pointing correction tools to be written in a multi-mission manner, without any knowledge of parameters specific to the supported missions. Camera model objects allow transformation of image coordinates to and from view vectors in XYZ space. Pointing models, specific to each mission, describe how to orient the camera models based on telemetry or other information. Surface models describe the surface in general terms. Coordinate system objects manage the various coordinate systems involved in most missions. File objects manage access to metadata (labels, including telemetry information) in the input EDRs and RDRs (Reduced Data Records). Label models manage metadata information in output files. Site objects keep track of different locations where the spacecraft might be at a given time. Radiometry models allow correction of radiometry for an image. Mission objects contain basic mission parameters. Pointing adjustment ("nav") files allow pointing to be corrected. The object-oriented structure (C++) makes it easy to subclass just the pieces of the library that are truly mission-specific. Typically, this involves just the pointing model and coordinate systems, and parts of the file model. Once the library was developed (initially for Mars Polar Lander, MPL), adding new missions ranged from two days to a few months, resulting in significant cost savings as compared to rewriting all the application programs for each mission. Currently supported missions include Mars Pathfinder (MPF), MPL, Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Phoenix, and Mars Science Lab (MSL). Applications based on this library create the majority of operational image RDRs for those missions. A Java wrapper around the library allows parts of it to be used from Java code (via a native JNI interface). Future conversions of all or part of the library to Java are contemplated.

Deen, Robert C.↗

NASA-IGES Translator and Viewer

NASA-IGES Translator (NIGEStranslator) is a batch program that translates a general IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification) file to a NASA-IGES-Nurbs-Only (NINO) file. IGES is the most popular geometry exchange standard among Computer Aided Geometric Design (CAD) systems. NINO format is a subset of IGES, implementing the simple and yet the most popular NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) representation. NIGEStranslator converts a complex IGES file to the simpler NINO file to simplify the tasks of CFD grid generation for models in CAD format. The NASA-IGES Viewer (NIGESview) is an Open-Inventor-based, highly interactive viewer/ editor for NINO files. Geometry in the IGES files can be viewed, copied, transformed, deleted, and inquired. Users can use NIGEStranslator to translate IGES files from CAD systems to NINO files. The geometry then can be examined with NIGESview. Extraneous geometries can be interactively removed, and the cleaned model can be written to an IGES file, ready to be used in grid generation.

Chou, Jin J.↗

Next Generation Space Telescope Integrated Science Module Data System

The Data system for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) Integrated Science Module (ISIM) is the primary data interface between the spacecraft, telescope, and science instrument systems. This poster includes block diagrams of the ISIM data system and its components derived during the pre-phase A Yardstick feasibility study. The poster details the hardware and software components used to acquire and process science data for the Yardstick instrument compliment, and depicts the baseline external interfaces to science instruments and other systems. This baseline data system is a fully redundant, high performance computing system. Each redundant computer contains three 150 MHz power PC processors. All processors execute a commercially available real time multi-tasking operating system supporting, preemptive multi-tasking, file management and network interfaces. These six processors in the system are networked together. The spacecraft interface baseline is an extension of the network, which links the six processors. The final selection for Processor busses, processor chips, network interfaces, and high-speed data interfaces will be made during mid 2002.

Schnurr, Richard G.↗

BEAM Technology Flight Demonstration

As technologies advance, their growing complexity makes them harder to maintain. Detection methods for isolating and identifying impending problems are needed to balance this complexity. Through comparison of signal pairs from onboard sensors, the Beacon-based Exception Analysis For Multimissions (BEAM) algorithm can identify and help classify deviations in system operation from a data-trained statistical model. The goal of this task is to mature BEAM and validate its performance on a flying test bed. A series of F-18 flight demonstrations with BEAM monitoring engine parameters in real time was used to demonstrate in-the-field readiness. Captured F-18 and simulated F-18 engine data were used in model creation and training. The algorithm was then ported to the embedded system with a data buffering, file writing, and data-time-stamp monitoring shell to reduce the impact of embedded system faults on BEAM'S ability to correctly identify engine faults. Embedded system testing identified hardware related restrictions and contributed to iterative improvements in the code's runtime performance. The system was flown with forced engine flameouts and other pilot induced faults to simulate operation out of the norm. Successful detection of these faults, confirmed through post-flight data analysis, helped BEAM achieve TRL6.

Wang, David↗

Solving Equations of Multibody Dynamics

Darts++ is a computer program for solving the equations of motion of a multibody system or of a multibody model of a dynamic system. It is intended especially for use in dynamical simulations performed in designing and analyzing, and developing software for the control of, complex mechanical systems. Darts++ is based on the Spatial-Operator- Algebra formulation for multibody dynamics. This software reads a description of a multibody system from a model data file, then constructs and implements an efficient algorithm that solves the dynamical equations of the system. The efficiency and, hence, the computational speed is sufficient to make Darts++ suitable for use in realtime closed-loop simulations. Darts++ features an object-oriented software architecture that enables reconfiguration of system topology at run time; in contrast, in related prior software, system topology is fixed during initialization. Darts++ provides an interface to scripting languages, including Tcl and Python, that enable the user to configure and interact with simulation objects at run time.

Jain, Abhinandan↗

An automated data management/analysis system for space shuttle orbiter tiles

An engineering data management system was combined with a nonlinear stress analysis program to provide a capability for analyzing a large number of tiles on the space shuttle orbiter. Tile geometry data and all data necessary of define the tile loads environment accessed automatically as needed for the analysis of a particular tile or a set of tiles. User documentation provided includes: (1) description of computer programs and data files contained in the system; (2) definitions of all engineering data stored in the data base; (3) characteristics of the tile anaytical model; (4) instructions for preparation of user input; and (5) a sample problem to illustrate use of the system. Description of data, computer programs, and analytical models of the tile are sufficiently detailed to guide extension of the system to include additional zones of tiles and/or additional types of analyses

Giles, G. L.↗

High Performance Access to Archival Data Stored in HDF4 and HDF5 on Cloud Object Stores Without Reformatting the Files

Cloud computing offers numerous advantages for users of extensive Earth science data collections. These benefits encompass direct online access to data files and granules from any location, scalable access supporting parallel computing workflows, and flexible computing tools enabling innovative experimentation with processing techniques. However, older archival file formats designed for distinct computing systems hinder efficient access to decade-long time-series data when compared to data stored in modern cloud-optimized formats like Web Object Stores (WOS), exemplified by Amazon Web Services’ Simple Storage Service (S3). We describe DMR++ (Dataset Metadata Response plus plus), a technology facilitating efficient access to HDF5 (Hierarchical Data Format, version 5) and HDF4 files stored on WOS systems without requiring data reformatting. DMR++ achieves performance comparable to technologies like Zarr while preserving the original file structure, a substantial benefit considering the vast quantity of archival files held by organizations such as NASA. Moreover, DMR++ typically outperforms cloud-optimized versions of HDF5. Essentially an XML (Extensible Markup Language) document usually stored alongside the described data, DMR++ can also be generated on-the-fly but is generally created during data staging to the WOS. Archival files that use HDF4/5 often store large arrays of numerical data. The data in these files is often compressed, typically reducing their size by a factor of four or more. To achieve efficient access to portions of those arrays, they are 'chunked' into smaller sub-arrays, each individually compressed. The chunk size is a compromise, where spinning disks can efficiently access data in smaller chunks while S3 favors larger chunks. A simple optimization of aggregating smaller chunks that are stored adjacently, transferring them in a single access and then individually decompressing them will improve performance. NASA data pose an additional challenge: special Application Programmer Interface (API) libraries are often needed to compute some variables. These libraries are incompatible with WOS environments. Our solution involves storing computed values in the DMR++ document or a companion file, making them accessible like other variables and eliminating the need for specialized APIs. We outline specific optimizations for both satellite grid and swath data stored in HDF4-EOS2 (Earth Observing System).

James Gallagher↗

Development of Secondary Archive System at Goddard Space Flight Center Version 0 Distributed Active Archive Center

The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) version 0 Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) has been developed to support existing and pre Earth Observing System (EOS) Earth science datasets, facilitate the scientific research, and test EOS data and information system (EOSDIS) concepts. To ensure that no data is ever lost, each product received at GSFC DAAC is archived on two different media, VHS and digital linear tape (DLT). The first copy is made on VHS tape and is under the control of UniTree. The second and third copies are made to DLT and VHS media under a custom built software package named 'Archer'. While Archer provides only a subset of the functions available with commercial software like UniTree, it supports migration between near-line and off-line media and offers much greater performance and flexibility to satisfy the specific needs of a data center. Archer is specifically designed to maximize total system throughput, rather than focusing on the turn-around time for individual files. The commercial off the shelf software (COTS) hierarchical storage management (HSM) products evaluated were mainly concerned with transparent, interactive, file access to the end-user, rather than a batch-orientated, optimizable (based on known data file characteristics) data archive and retrieval system. This is critical to the distribution requirements of the GSFC DAAC where orders for 5000 or more files at a time are received. Archer has the ability to queue many thousands of file requests and to sort these requests into internal processing schedules that optimize overall throughput. Specifically, mount and dismount, tape load and unload cycles, and tape motion are minimized. This feature did not seem to be available in many COTS pacages. Archer also uses a generic tar tape format that allows tapes to be read by many different systems rather than the proprietary format found in most COTS packages. This paper discusses some of the specific requirements at GSFC DAAC, the motivations for implementing the Archer system, and presents a discussion of the Archer design that resulted.

Sherman, Mark↗

ISS Operations Cost Reductions Through Automation of Real-Time Planning Tasks

In 2008 the Johnson Space Center s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) management team challenged their organization to find ways to reduce the costs of International Space station (ISS) console operations in the Mission Control Center (MCC). Each MOD organization was asked to identify projects that would help them attain a goal of a 30% reduction in operating costs by 2012. The MOD Operations and Planning organization responded to this challenge by launching several software automation projects that would allow them to greatly improve ISS console operations and reduce staffing and operating costs. These projects to date have allowed the MOD Operations organization to remove one full time (7 x 24 x 365) ISS console position in 2010; with the plan of eliminating two full time ISS console support positions by 2012. This will account for an overall 10 EP reduction in staffing for the Operations and Planning organization. These automation projects focused on utilizing software to automate many administrative and often repetitive tasks involved with processing ISS planning and daily operations information. This information was exchanged between the ground flight control teams in Houston and around the globe, as well as with the ISS astronaut crew. These tasks ranged from managing mission plan changes from around the globe, to uploading and downloading information to and from the ISS crew, to even more complex tasks that required multiple decision points to process the data, track approvals and deliver it to the correct recipient across network and security boundaries. The software solutions leveraged several different technologies including customized web applications and implementation of industry standard web services architecture between several planning tools; as well as a engaging a previously research level technology (TRL 2-3) developed by Ames Research Center (ARC) that utilized an intelligent agent based system to manage and automate file traffic flow, archiving f data, and generating console logs. This technology called OCAMS (OCA (Orbital Communication System) Management System), is now considered TRL level 9 and is in daily use in the Mission Control Center in support of ISS operations. These solutions have not only allowed for improved efficiency on console; but since many of the previously manual data transfers are now automated, many of the human error prone steps have been removed, and the quality of the planning products has improved tremendously. This has also allowed our Planning Flight Controllers more time to focus on the abstract areas of the job, (like the complexities of planning a mission for 6 international crew members with a global planning team), instead of being burdened with the administrative tasks that took significant time each console shift to process. The resulting automation solutions have allowed the Operations and Planning organization to realize significant cost savings for the ISS program through 2020 and many of these solutions could be a viable

Hall, Timothy A.↗

Interactive display of molecular models using a microcomputer system

A simple, microcomputer-based, interactive graphics display system has been developed for the presentation of perspective views of wire frame molecular models. The display system is based on a TERAK 8510a graphics computer system with a display unit consisting of microprocessor, television display and keyboard subsystems. The operating system includes a screen editor, file manager, PASCAL and BASIC compilers and command options for linking and executing programs. The graphics program, written in USCD PASCAL, involves the centering of the coordinate system, the transformation of centered model coordinates into homogeneous coordinates, the construction of a viewing transformation matrix to operate on the coordinates, clipping invisible points, perspective transformation and scaling to screen coordinates; commands available include ZOOM, ROTATE, RESET, and CHANGEVIEW. Data file structure was chosen to minimize the amount of disk storage space. Despite the inherent slowness of the system, its low cost and flexibility suggests general applicability.

Egan, J. T.↗

Non Radiation Hardened Microprocessors in Spaced Based Remote Sensing Systems

The CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) mission is a comprehensive suite of active and passive sensors including a 20Hz 230mj Nd:YAG lidar, a visible wavelength Earth-looking camera and an imaging infrared radiometer. CALIPSO flies in formation with the Earth Observing System Post-Meridian (EOS PM) train, provides continuous, near-simultaneous measurements and is a planned 3 year mission. CALIPSO was launched into a 98 degree sun synchronous Earth orbit in April of 2006 to study clouds and aerosols and acquires over 5 gigabytes of data every 24 hours. The ground track of one CALIPSO orbit as well as high and low intensity South Atlantic Anomaly outlines is shown. CALIPSO passes through the SAA several times each day. Spaced based remote sensing systems that include multiple instruments and/or instruments such as lidar generate large volumes of data and require robust real-time hardware and software mechanisms and high throughput processors. Due to onboard storage restrictions and telemetry downlink limitations these systems must pre-process and reduce the data before sending it to the ground. This onboard processing and realtime requirement load may mean that newer more powerful processors are needed even though acceptable radiation-hardened versions have not yet been released. CALIPSO's single board computer payload controller processor is actually a set of four (4) voting non-radiation hardened COTS Power PC 603r's built on a single width VME card by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems (GDAIS). Significant radiation concerns for CALIPSO and other Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites include the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), the north and south poles and strong solar events. Over much of South America and extending into the South Atlantic Ocean the Van Allen radiation belts dip to just 200-800km and spacecraft entering this area are subjected to high energy protons and experience higher than normal Single Event Upset (SEU) and Single Event Latch-up (SEL) rates. Although less significant, spacecraft flying in the area around the poles experience similar upsets. Finally, powerful solar proton events in the range of 10MeV/10pfu to 100MeV/1pfu as are forecasted and tracked by NOAA's Space Environment Center in Colorado can result in Single Event Upset (SEU), Single Event Latch-up (SEL) and permanent failures such as Single Event Gate Rupture (SEGR) in some technologies. (Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) are another source, especially for gate rupture) CALIPSO mitigates common radiation concerns in its data handling through the use of redundant processors, radiation-hardened Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), hardware-based Error Detection and Correction (EDAC), processor and memory scrubbing, redundant boot code and mirrored files. After presenting a system overview this paper will expand on each of these strategies. Where applicable, related on-orbit data collected since the CALIPSO initial boot on May 4, 2006 will be noted.

Decoursey, Robert J.↗

DOCU-TEXT: A tool before the data dictionary

DOCU-TEXT, a proprietary software package that aids in the production of documentation for a data processing organization and can be installed and operated only on IBM computers is discussed. In organizing information that ultimately will reside in a data dictionary, DOCU-TEXT proved to be a useful documentation tool in extracting information from existing production jobs, procedure libraries, system catalogs, control data sets and related files. DOCU-TEXT reads these files to derive data that is useful at the system level. The output of DOCU-TEXT is a series of user selectable reports. These reports can reflect the interactions within a single job stream, a complete system, or all the systems in an installation. Any single report, or group of reports, can be generated in an independent documentation pass.

Carter, B.↗

The 28-entity IGES test file results using ComputerVision CADDS 4X

The investigation was based on the following steps: (1) Read the 28 Entity IGES (Initial Graphics Exchange Specification) Test File into the CAD data base with the IGES post-processor; (2) Make the modifications to the displayed geometries, which should produce the normalized front view and the drawing entity defined display; (3) Produce the drawing entity defined display of the file as it appears in the CAD system after modification to the geometry; (4) Translate the file back to IGES format using IGES pre-processor; (5) Read the IGES file produced by the pre-processor back into the CAD data base; (6) Produce another drawing entity defined display of the CAD display; and (7) Compare the plots resulting from steps 3 and 6 - they should be identical to each other.

Kuan, Anchyi↗

A report of work activities on the NASA Spacelink public electronic library

NASA Spacelink is a comprehensive electronic data base of NASA and other source educational and informational materials. This service originates at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. This is an education service of NASA Headquarters, through the MSFC Education Office, that first began in February of 1988. The new NASA Spacelink Public Electronic Library was the result of a study conducted to investigate an upgrade or redesign of the original NASA Spacelink. The UNIX Operating System was chosen to be the host operating system for the new NASA Spacelink Public Electronic Library. The UNIX system was selected for this project because of the strengths built into the embedded communication system and for its simple and direct file handling capabilities. The host hardware of the new system is a Sun Microsystems SPARCserver 1000 computer system. The configuration has four 50-MHz SuperSPARC processors with 128 megabytes of shared memory; three SB800 serial ports allowing 24 cable links for phone communications; 4.1 gigabytes of on-line disk storage; and ten (10) CD-ROM drives. Communications devices on the system are sufficient to support the expected number of users through the Internet, the local dial services, long distance dial services; the MSFC PABX, and the NPSS (NASA Packet Switching System) and 1-800 access service for the registered teachers.

Smith, Willard A.↗

Modeling Tools for Propulsion Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics on the Internet

The existing RocketWeb(TradeMark) Internet Analysis System (httr)://www.iohnsonrockets.com/rocketweb) provides an integrated set of advanced analysis tools that can be securely accessed over the Internet. Since these tools consist of both batch and interactive analysis codes, the system includes convenient methods for creating input files and evaluating the resulting data. The RocketWeb(TradeMark) system also contains many features that permit data sharing which, when further developed, will facilitate real-time, geographically diverse, collaborative engineering within a designated work group. Adding work group management functionality while simultaneously extending and integrating the system's set of design and analysis tools will create a system providing rigorous, controlled design development, reducing design cycle time and cost.

Muss, J. A.↗