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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1990

Real time data acquisition for expert systems in Unix workstations at Space Shuttle Mission Control

A distributed system of proprietary engineering-class workstations is incorporated into NASA's Space Shuttle Mission-Control Center to increase the automation of mission control. The Real-Time Data System (RTDS) allows the operator to utilize expert knowledge in the display program for system modeling and evaluation. RTDS applications are reviewed including: (1) telemetry-animated communications schematics; (2) workstation displays of systems such as the Space Shuttle remote manipulator; and (3) a workstation emulation of shuttle flight instrumentation. The hard and soft real-time constraints are described including computer data acquisition, and the support techniques for the real-time expert systems include major frame buffers for logging and distribution as well as noise filtering. The incorporation of the workstations allows smaller programming teams to implement real-time telemetry systems that can improve operations and flight testing.

Muratore, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Telerobotic work system: Concept development and evolution

The basic concept of a telerobotic work system (TWS) consists of two dexterous manipulator arms controlled from a remote station. The term telerobotic describes a system that is a combination of teleoperator control and robotic operation. Work represents the function of producing physical changes. System describes the integration of components and subsystems to effectively accomplish the needed mission. Telerobotics reduces exposure to hazards for flight crewmembers and increases their productivity. The requirements for the TWS are derived from both the mission needs and the functional capabilities of existing hardware and software to meet those needs. The development of the TWS is discussed.

Jenkins, Lyle M.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Active Compliance And Damping In Telemanipulator Control

Experimental telemanipulator system of force-reflecting-hand-controller type provides for active compliance and damping in remote, robotic manipulator hand. Distributed-computing and -control system for research in various combinations of force-reflecting and active-compliance control regimes. Shared compliance control implemented by low-pass-filtered force/torque feedback. Variable simulated springs and shock absorbers soften collisions and increase dexterity.

Kim, Won S.↗
NASA NTRS1973

The applications of the remote control of the manipulation in manned space exploration

The teleoperator system incorporates many of the advantages of manned systems on the one hand, and mechanical systems on the other. Since man is always in the control loop of a teleoperator system, the system is provided the decision making and adaptive intelligence capabilities which are uniquely human. Conversely, since the actual work is performed by the remotely controlled device, the system incorporates the durability, strength, and the expendable nature of a machine. Use of a teleoperator system is generally safer than placing the man at the worksite, and is generally more flexible and adaptable than an automated mechanical system. Potential earth orbital space missions for teleoperator systems, candidate aerospace teleoperator systems to perform these missions, and the current status of teleoperator technology development within NASA are discussed.

Deutsche, S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Payload operation television system

The Payload Operation Television System is a high performance closed-circuit TV system designed to determine the feasibility of using TV to augment purely visual monitoring of operations, and to establish optimum system design of an operating unit which can ultimately be used to assist the operator of a remotely manipulated space-borne cargo loading device. The TV system assembled on this program is intended for laboratory experimentation which would develop operational techniques and lead to the design of space-borne TV equipment whose purpose would be to assist the astronaut-operator aboard a space station to load payload components. The equipment consists principally of a good quality TV camera capable of high resolving power; a TV monitor; a sync generator for driving camera and monitor; and two pan/tilt units which are remotely controlled by the operator.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1989

Tele-autonomous systems: New methods for projecting and coordinating intelligent action at a distance

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.

Conway, Lynn↗
NASA NTRS1994

Master-slave system with force feedback based on dynamics of virtual model

A master-slave system can extend manipulating and sensing capabilities of a human operator to a remote environment. But the master-slave system has two serious problems: one is the mechanically large impedance of the system; the other is the mechanical complexity of the slave for complex remote tasks. These two problems reduce the efficiency of the system. If the slave has local intelligence, it can help the human operator by using its good points like fast calculation and large memory. The authors suggest that the slave is a dextrous hand with many degrees of freedom able to manipulate an object of known shape. It is further suggested that the dimensions of the remote work space be shared by the human operator and the slave. The effect of the large impedance of the system can be reduced in a virtual model, a physical model constructed in a computer with physical parameters as if it were in the real world. A method to determine the damping parameter dynamically for the virtual model is proposed. Experimental results show that this virtual model is better than the virtual model with fixed damping.

Nojima, Shuji↗
NASA NTRS1992

A simulated annealing approach to schedule optimization for the SES facility

The Shuttle Engineering Simulator (SES) is a facility which houses the software and hardware for a variety of simulation systems. The simulators include the Autonomous Remote Manipulator, the Manned Maneuvering Unit, Orbiter/Space Station docking, and shuttle entry and landing. The SES simulators are used by various groups throughout NASA. For example, astronauts use the SES to practice maneuvers with the shuttle equipment; programmers use the SES to test flight software; and engineers use the SES for design and analysis studies. Due to its high demand, the SES is busy twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Scheduling the facility is a problem that is constantly growing and changing with the addition of new equipment. Currently a number of small independent programs have been developed to help solve the problem, but the long-term answer lies in finding a flexible, integrated system that provides the user with the ability to create, optimize, and edit the schedule. COMPASS is an interactive and highly flexible scheduling system. However, until recently COMPASS did not provide any optimization features. This paper describes the simulated annealing extension to COMPASS. It now allows the user to interweave schedule creation, revision, and optimization. This practical approach was necessary in order to satisfy the operational requirements of the SES.

Mcmahon, Mary Beth↗
NASA NTRS1973

Remote control of planetary surface vehicles.

A remotely manned system consisting of an earth-based control center and a remote rover system on the planetary surface is assumed to extend to the remote site the sensory, manipulative and certain intellectual capabilities of humans here on earth. Required system functions, including scientific payload functions, vehicle functions and ground-based human control functions are discussed and the effects of communication delay and increased remote automaticity on system performance are investigated. To accomplish the required operations for scientific exploration, the control of the remote system requires the development of techniques to deal with problems of long communication time delays so that the performance in terms of operation speed can be increased to acceptable levels. Increased operational performance can be achieved primarily by increasing the rate of useful information flow in the man-machine sensor-control loop, or by increasing the autonomous capabilities of the remote system or by both.

Heer, E.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Remote manipulator dynamic simulation

A simulator to generate the real time visual scenes required to perform man in the loop investigations of remote manipulator application and design concepts for the space shuttle is described. The simulated remote manipulator consists of a computed display system that uses a digital computer, the electronic scene generator, an operator's station, and associated interface hardware. A description of the capabilities of the implemented simulation is presented. The mathematical models and programs developed for the simulation are included.

Wild, E. C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The Effect of Part-simulation of Weightlessness on Human Control of Bilateral Teleoperation: Neuromotor Considerations

The effect of weightlessness on the human operator's performance in force reflecting position control of remote manipulators was investigated. A gravity compensation system was developed to simulate the effect of weightlessness on the operator's arm. A universal force reflecting hand controller (FRHC) and task simulation software were employed. Two experiments were performed because of anticipated disturbances in neuromotor control specification on the human operator in an orbital control environment to investigate: (1) the effect of controller stiffness on the attainment of a learned terminal position in the three dimensional controller space, and (2) the effect of controller stiffness and damping on force tracking of the contour of a simulated three dimensional cube using the part simulation of weightless conditions. The results support the extension of neuromotor control models, which postulate a stiffness balance encoding of terminal position, to three dimensional motion of a multilink system, confirm the existence of a disturbance in human manual control performance under gravity compensated conditions, and suggest techniques for compensation of weightlessness induced performance decrement through appropriate specification of hand controller response characteristics. These techniques are based on the human control model.

Corker, K.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Proceedings of the NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics, volume 1

The theme of the Conference was man-machine collaboration in space. Topics addressed include: redundant manipulators; man-machine systems; telerobot architecture; remote sensing and planning; navigation; neural networks; fundamental AI research; and reasoning under uncertainty.

Rodriguez, Guillermo↗
NASA NTRS1976

Implementation of a stereofluoroscopic system

Clinical applications of a 3-D video imaging technique developed by NASA for observation and control of remote manipulators are discussed. Incorporation of this technique in a stereo fluoroscopic system provides reduced radiation dosage and greater vision and mobility of the user.

Rivers, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Effect of hand-based sensors on manipulator control performance

Manipulator task categories and motion phases require various hand-based information systems to meet the control performance requirements. The effect of proximity, tactile and force/torque sensors on the performance of remote manipulator control is discussed. An overview is presented on various experimental hand-based information systems which provide the manipulator controller some non-visual 'awareness' of the task environment. The rest of the paper describes and evaluates various control experiments performed at JPL using hand-mounted proximity sensors to guide and control hand motion near solid objects.

Bejczy, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Telepresence work system concepts

Telepresence has been used in the context of the ultimate in remote manipulation where the operator is provided with the sensory feedback and control to perform highly dexterous tasks. The concept of a Telepresence Work Station (TWS) for operation in space is described. System requirements, concepts, and a development approach are discussed. The TWS has the potential for application on the Space Shuttle, on the Orbit Maneuver Vehicle, on an Orbit Transfer Vehicle, and on the Space Station. The TWS function is to perform satellite servicing tasks and construction and assembly operations in the buildup of large spacecraft. The basic concept is a pair of dexterous arms controlled from a remote station by an operation with feedback. It may be evolved through levels of supervisory control to a smart adaptive robotic system.

Jenkins, L. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Experiments With a Manipulator Sensor System

Force and torque data aid operator. Report describes experiments with system that displays data on forces and torques acting on end effector of remote manipulator. Demonstrated usefulness of display in manipulation tasks with narrow geometric and dynamic tolerances. Such tasks encountered in manufacturing and in operations requiring use of tools.

Bejczy, A. K.↗