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At least 487 records · Page 27

R2U2: Tool Overview

R2U2 (Realizable, Responsive, Unobtrusive Unit) is an extensible framework for runtime System HealthManagement (SHM) of cyber-physical systems. R2U2 can be run in hardware (e.g., FPGAs), or software; can monitorhardware, software, or a combination of the two; and can analyze a range of different types of system requirementsduring runtime. An R2U2 requirement is specified utilizing a hierarchical combination of building blocks: temporal formula runtime observers (in LTL or MTL), Bayesian networks, sensor filters, and Boolean testers. Importantly, the framework is extensible; it is designed to enable definitions of new building blocks in combination with the core structure. Originally deployed on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), R2U2 is designed to run on a wide range of embedded platforms, from autonomous systems like rovers, satellites, and robots, to human-assistive ground systems and cockpits. R2U2 is named after the requirements it satisfies; while the exact requirements vary by platform and mission, the ability to formally reason about realizability, responsiveness, and unobtrusiveness is necessary for flight certifiability, safety-critical system assurance, and achievement of technology readiness levels for target systems. Realizability ensures that R2U2 is suficiently expressive to encapsulate meaningful runtime requirements while maintaining adaptability to run on different platforms, transition between different mission stages, and update quickly between missions. Responsiveness entails continuously monitoring the system under test, real-time reasoning, reporting intermediate status, and as-early-as-possible requirements evaluations. Unobtrusiveness ensures compliance with the crucial properties of the target architecture: functionality, certifiability, timing, tolerances, cost, or other constraints.

Rozier, Kristin Y.↗

An Automated Method for Identifying Inconsistencies within Diagrammatic Software Requirements Specifications

The development of large-scale, composite software in a geographically distributed environment is an evolutionary process. Often, in such evolving systems, striving for consistency is complicated by many factors, because development participants have various locations, skills, responsibilities, roles, opinions, languages, terminology and different degrees of abstraction they employ. This naturally leads to many partial specifications or viewpoints. These multiple views on the system being developed usually overlap. From another aspect, these multiple views give rise to the potential for inconsistency. Existing CASE tools do not efficiently manage inconsistencies in distributed development environment for a large-scale project. Based on the ViewPoints framework the WHERE (Web-Based Hypertext Environment for requirements Evolution) toolkit aims to tackle inconsistency management issues within geographically distributed software development projects. Consequently, WHERE project helps make more robust software and support software assurance process. The long term goal of WHERE tools aims to the inconsistency analysis and management in requirements specifications. A framework based on Graph Grammar theory and TCMJAVA toolkit is proposed to detect inconsistencies among viewpoints. This systematic approach uses three basic operations (UNION, DIFFERENCE, INTERSECTION) to study the static behaviors of graphic and tabular notations. From these operations, subgraphs Query, Selection, Merge, Replacement operations can be derived. This approach uses graph PRODUCTIONS (rewriting rules) to study the dynamic transformations of graphs. We discuss the feasibility of implementation these operations. Also, We present the process of porting original TCM (Toolkit for Conceptual Modeling) project from C++ to Java programming language in this thesis. A scenario based on NASA International Space Station Specification is discussed to show the applicability of our approach. Finally, conclusion and future work about inconsistency management issues in WHERE project will be summarized.

Zhang, Zhong↗

VIPER: Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover

We will review the technical components of the NASA lunar rover mission, VIPER, with a focus on software components that rely on ROS 2 and Gazebo. We’ll start with an overview of the hardware and software components. Next, we’ll explore some of the custom Gazebo plugins for simulating the rover and the lunar surface. We’ll describe a fault injection framework that was built on ROS 2 parameters and how it is used to simulate hardware faults. Finally, we’ll see how ROS 2 is used as part of the rover ground software.

Jacob Michael Perron↗

Low SWaP Onboard Satellite Navigation, Guidance, and Control Technology

Onboard autonomy is a necessity for responsive space operations. Autonomous navigation, guidance, and control (NGC) enables space missions to reduce their dependence on high demand ground assets and costly ground personnel. It also allows for in-situ decision making and higher return on mission data. A flight software and hardware system providing this capability, called “autoNGC,” is currently being developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for infusion into multiple future missions. The first build of autoNGC, providing autonomous navigation for lunar orbiting spacecraft, is targeted for completion by Fall 2024. It provides sensor fusion of multiple measurement types including pseudo-range from a weak signal Global Navigation Satellite Service (GNSS) receiver, 1-way and 2-way direct to Earth (DTE) range and Doppler, bearing and range from optical camera sensed images, and an accelerometer. AutoNGC is also being targeted for future missions that involve small body proximity operations, Sun Earth Libration point orbits, and distributed systems missions (DSMs) including those at outer planets. AutoNGC flight software is being built upon the plug-and-play architecture of the core Flight System (cFS) [Ref. 1]. Figure (Slide 7) shows the message-based software bus layout of various software applications (“apps”) consisting of the standard cFS apps and autoNGC interface apps and libraries. Accurate onboard navigation and timing is obtained through the Goddard Enhanced Onboard Navigation System (GEONS) software library [Ref. 2], which fuses different measurement types through an extended Kalman filter (EKF) framework. Optical measurements that are ingested in GEONS are provided by the cFS Goddard Image Analysis and Navigation Tool (cGIANT) app [Ref. 3]. This app processes optical images to extract the bearing angles of the centroid of the imaged body (near or far), the range to the imaged body, and/or of the features on the surface of a body to perform terrain relative navigation (TRN). Measurement of range to the body’s center of mass can also be derived from the detection of the limb. The first build of autoNGC for a lunar orbiting spacecraft is a minimal size, weight, and power (SWaP) hardware design allowing for inclusion into CubeSats and SmallSat-size class buses. Advancements in miniaturized space processors, such as the SpaceCube 3.0 Mini and the SpaceCube Mini-Z [Ref. 4] are utilized for low SWaP while maintaining a high level of performance. Figure (Slide 11) shows the composition of the first autoNGC build. The current enclosure design has dimensions 12 cm x 17 cm x 13.5 cm. The box mass is expected to be less than 2 kg, and the nominal power is 21 W. The hardware interfaces are designed for flexibility with a variety of sensor inputs. The achievable navigation performance depends on the sensors utilized, including the onboard clock for 1-way pseudo-range measurements. Analysis using a configuration that consists of weak signal GPS, TRN, and 1-way DTE has shown position and velocity accuracies of 10 meters and 2 cm/s (3-σ ) RSS, respectively, with onboard time knowledge estimated to better than 13 ns (3-σ ), for a spacecraft in a representative 12-hour eccentric lunar orbit. Other measurement types such as x-rays from known pulsars (called XNAV) and cross-links can also be processed in GEONS. With the plug-and-play architecture of autoNGC, cFS apps can easily be added and replaced, even after launch. Goddard is actively seeking partners to collaborate in the development of additional capabilities for autoNGC, including industry, academia, and others across the US Government. Plans are being formulated to make the autoNGC software platform available for use by any US government organization to leverage the non-recurring engineering associated with the development of onboard autonomous NGC 3 capabilities. As advancements in space qualified sensors, microprocessors, and algorithms are made, the autoNGC platform provides a ready starting point for inclusion of these technologies.

C. J. Gramling↗

Engineering Overview of a Multidisciplinary HSCT Design Framework Using Medium-Fidelity Analysis Codes

An objective of the HPCC Program at NASA Langley has been to promote the use of advanced computing techniques to more rapidly solve the problem of multidisciplinary optimization of a supersonic transport configuration. As a result, a software system has been designed and is being implemented to integrate a set of existing discipline analysis codes, some of them CPU-intensive, into a distributed computational framework for the design of a High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) configuration. The proposed paper will describe the engineering aspects of integrating these analysis codes and additional interface codes into an automated design system. The objective of the design problem is to optimize the aircraft weight for given mission conditions, range, and payload requirements, subject to aerodynamic, structural, and performance constraints. The design variables include both thicknesses of structural elements and geometric parameters that define the external aircraft shape. An optimization model has been adopted that uses the multidisciplinary analysis results and the derivatives of the solution with respect to the design variables to formulate a linearized model that provides input to the CONMIN optimization code, which outputs new values for the design variables. The analysis process begins by deriving the updated geometries and grids from the baseline geometries and grids using the new values for the design variables. This free-form deformation approach provides internal FEM (finite element method) grids that are consistent with aerodynamic surface grids. The next step involves using the derived FEM and section properties in a weights process to calculate detailed weights and the center of gravity location for specified flight conditions. The weights process computes the as-built weight, weight distribution, and weight sensitivities for given aircraft configurations at various mass cases. Currently, two mass cases are considered: cruise and gross take-off weight (GTOW). Weights information is obtained from correlations of data from three sources: 1) as-built initial structural and non-structural weights from an existing database, 2) theoretical FEM structural weights and sensitivities from Genesis, and 3) empirical as-built weight increments, non-structural weights, and weight sensitivities from FLOPS. For the aeroelastic analysis, a variable-fidelity aerodynamic analysis has been adopted. This approach uses infrequent CPU-intensive non-linear CFD to calculate a non-linear correction relative to a linear aero calculation for the same aerodynamic surface at an angle of attack that results in the same configuration lift. For efficiency, this nonlinear correction is applied after each subsequent linear aero solution during the iterations between the aerodynamic and structural analyses. Convergence is achieved when the vehicle shape being used for the aerodynamic calculations is consistent with the structural deformations caused by the aerodynamic loads. To make the structural analyses more efficient, a linearized structural deformation model has been adopted, in which a single stiffness matrix can be used to solve for the deformations under all the load conditions. Using the converged aerodynamic loads, a final set of structural analyses are performed to determine the stress distributions and the buckling conditions for constraint calculation. Performance constraints are obtained by running FLOPS using drag polars that are computed using results from non-linear corrections to the linear aero code plus several codes to provide drag increments due to skin friction, wave drag, and other miscellaneous drag contributions. The status of the integration effort will be presented in the proposed paper, and results will be provided that illustrate the degree of accuracy in the linearizations that have been employed.

Weston, R. P.↗

Data Analysis with Graphical Models: Software Tools

Probabilistic graphical models (directed and undirected Markov fields, and combined in chain graphs) are used widely in expert systems, image processing and other areas as a framework for representing and reasoning with probabilities. They come with corresponding algorithms for performing probabilistic inference. This paper discusses an extension to these models by Spiegelhalter and Gilks, plates, used to graphically model the notion of a sample. This offers a graphical specification language for representing data analysis problems. When combined with general methods for statistical inference, this also offers a unifying framework for prototyping and/or generating data analysis algorithms from graphical specifications. This paper outlines the framework and then presents some basic tools for the task: a graphical version of the Pitman-Koopman Theorem for the exponential family, problem decomposition, and the calculation of exact Bayes factors. Other tools already developed, such as automatic differentiation, Gibbs sampling, and use of the EM algorithm, make this a broad basis for the generation of data analysis software.

Buntine, Wray L.↗

Internship in Augmented and Virtual Reality - Rapid Model Import Tool

The integration of virtual and augmented reality, sometimes called mixed reality, is an emerging technology which will likely skyrocket overnight much in the way smartphones did a decade ago. Kennedy Space Center's Augmented and Virtual Reality (AVR) Lab is developing a Rapid Model Import Tool (RMIT) to create a quick and efficient way to bring NASA's complex engineering 3D models into virtual and augmented environments. The long-term objective is to create a tool that will ultimately benefit KSC engineers. Its various uses within NASA can potentially span from astronaut training, to marketing, to public outreach, to name a few. Unity is a prolific cross-platform game engine that allows users to build high quality 2D and 3D games for desktop, mobile, web, and game console platforms. It is perhaps also the most widely used software for virtual reality game development. At the AVR lab, we are looking at alternative uses of Unity to build tools for NASA engineers to perform design, development, testing, and training on spacecraft, rocket delivery systems, ground support equipment, and facilities at KSC. As an intern for the RMIT project, I am charged with the task of performing research on Unity-compatible file types to develop an efficient, affordable, preservative process to bring models from CATIA 3D engineering software into the Unity environment. With a tool called the NASA Enterprise Visualization Application (NEVA), developed by the Boeing Design Visualization group at KSC, we are able to easily convert CATIA's design models to. DAE (also known as COLLADA) and .OBJ file formats. I first reduce the polygon count of the model within CATIA itself, make any necessary tweaks to reduce the model further, and then export using NEVA. The .OBJ or. DAE files that I am left with are then converted by another intern to a Unity-compatible file format using a custom Python script. I have generated extensive documentation of this process in a NEVA User Guide. By the end of this semester, we will have built a solid framework for RMIT based on a thorough understanding of virtual reality specifications and file requirements, allowing future software development teams to go forward with development on the custom tool.

Leap Motion↗

Utilizing a Common Model Architecture for the Simulation of On-Orbit Human Spaceflight Operations

Advances in computing and simulation technology during the 1980 s promoted the development of multiple simulations for on-orbit human spaceflight operations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC). By the late 1980 s, it became increasingly clear that redundancy risked leading to inefficiencies in dissemination and incorporation of models across simulations, institutional organizations, and spaceflight programs. Software development tools, such as the Trick Simulation Environment, began to emerge providing a generalized framework for the development, integration, and operation of simulations. Throughout the 1990s, engineering, operations, and training simulations began to migrate to Trick in order to take advantage of a common simulation environment. Due to forecasted reductions in funding to the Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) programs in the early 2000s, the common framework that arose from this simulation migration was formalized as the Common Model Architecture (CMA). The CMA was established in order to further reduce redundancy, while promoting model sharing and enhancing model integrity. A minimal set of standards for data flows, functional interactions, and model organization based on Trick were defined for those features found to be most important in facilitating model interaction. Model-providing organizations within NASA JSC took ownership of models for their specific areas of expertise, and agreements were reached on common model sharing and usage. This paper describes the evolution of commonality enabled by the Trick Simulation Environment at JSC leading to the CMA, the standards defined by the CMA, a recent CMA simulation example, and potential application of the CMA to NASA s new Exploration program.

Leslie J Quiocho↗

A Prototyping Effort for the Integrated Spacecraft Analysis System

Computer modeling and simulation has recently become an essential technique for predicting and validating spacecraft performance. However, most computer models only examine spacecraft subsystems, and the independent nature of the models creates integration problems, which lowers the possibilities of simulating a spacecraft as an integrated unit despite a desire for this type of analysis. A new project called Integrated Spacecraft Analysis was proposed to serve as a framework for an integrated simulation environment. The project is still in its infancy, but a software prototype would help future developers assess design issues. The prototype explores a service oriented design paradigm that theoretically allows programs written in different languages to communicate with one another. It includes creating a uniform interface to the SPICE libraries such that different in-house tools like APGEN or SEQGEN can exchange information with it without much change. Service orientation may result in a slower system as compared to a single application, and more research needs to be done on the different available technologies, but a service oriented approach could increase long term maintainability and extensibility.

mission planning↗

Validation of a Mid-Fidelity Approach for Aircraft Stability and Control Characterization

This paper describes an efficient computational approach for aircraft aerodynamic model development intended for use in flight dynamics simulations. A commercial surface-vorticity flow solver called FlightStream is employed to predict performance, stability, and control characteristics for a NASA subscale electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft in its isolated-airframe configuration. A framework is described to rapidly convert OpenVSP geometry into a form compatible with the FlightStream software. FlightStream predictions for the variation of aerodynamic force and moment coefficients with airflow angles and control surface deflection angles are compared to static wind-tunnel data to illustrate the process and assess the accuracy of FlightStream solutions. The results and approach presented in this paper are encouraging for use in rapid aerodynamic modeling and flight dynamics simulation development early in the aircraft design process.

aerodynamic modeling↗

Evaluating a Cognitive Extension for the Licklider Transmission Protocol in a Spacecraft Emulation Testbed

In space communications, particularly when involving regions beyond cislunar space, the development of advanced networking solutions is essential to address the challenges posed by limited connectivity, substantial propagation delays, and radio signal variations. This study explores a data-driven approach to the Licklider Transmission Protocol (LTP), specifically focusing on dynamically adjusting the maximum payload size of segments. Prior research has emphasized the potential benefits of dynamically adjusting this parameter, introducing the concept of Cognitive LTP. This paper presents a software implementation of Cognitive LTP (CLTP) within an open-source Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) framework, specifically the High-rate Delay Tolerant Networking (HDTN), and experimentally evaluates its performance under realistic space conditions. Leveraging the Cognitive Ground Testbed (CGT), developed by NASA GRC for spacecraft communication emulation, this study effectively bridges the gap between theoretical advancements and practical applications. By thoroughly analyzing CLTP’s functionality within the CGT, this research offers insights into the practical implications of adaptive networking strategies, emphasizing the importance of conducting tests in relevant environments for the maturation of space communication technologies.

Delay Tolerant Networking↗

A Software Tool for Integrated Optical Design Analysis

Design of large precision optical systems requires multi-disciplinary analysis, modeling, and design. Thermal, structural and optical characteristics of the hardware must be accurately understood in order to design a system capable of accomplishing the performance requirements. The interactions between each of the disciplines become stronger as systems are designed lighter weight for space applications. This coupling dictates a concurrent engineering design approach. In the past, integrated modeling tools have been developed that attempt to integrate all of the complex analysis within the framework of a single model. This often results in modeling simplifications and it requires engineering specialist to learn new applications. The software described in this presentation addresses the concurrent engineering task using a different approach. The software tool, Integrated Optical Design Analysis (IODA), uses data fusion technology to enable a cross discipline team of engineering experts to concurrently design an optical system using their standard validated engineering design tools.

Moore, Jim↗

HEAVENS system for software artifacts

The HEAVENS system is a workstation-based collection of software for analyzing, organizing, and viewing software artifacts. As a prototype, the system was used for visualizing source code structure, analyzing dependencies, and reconstructing to simplify maintenance. The system was also used in the early stages of software design to organize and relate design objects, maintain design documentation, and provide ready-made framework for later coding.

Matthews, Paul↗

National Cycle Program (NCP) Common Analysis Tool for Aeropropulsion

Through the NASA/Industry Cooperative Effort (NICE) agreement, NASA Lewis and industry partners are developing a new engine simulation, called the National Cycle Program (NCP), which is the initial framework of NPSS. NCP is the first phase toward achieving the goal of NPSS. This new software supports the aerothermodynamic system simulation process for the full life cycle of an engine. The National Cycle Program (NCP) was written following the Object Oriented Paradigm (C++, CORBA). The software development process used was also based on the Object Oriented paradigm. Software reviews, configuration management, test plans, requirements, design were all apart of the process used in developing NCP. Due to the many contributors to NCP, the stated software process was mandatory for building a common tool intended for use by so many organizations. The U.S. aircraft and airframe companies recognize NCP as the future industry standard for propulsion system modeling.

Follen, G.↗

Hypersonic Navier Stokes Comparisons to Orbiter Flight Data

Hypersonic chemical nonequilibrium simulations of low earth orbit entry flow fields are becoming increasingly commonplace as software and computational capabilities become more capable. However, development of robust and accurate software to model these environments will always encounter a significant barrier in developing a suite of high quality calibration cases. The US3D hypersonic nonequilibrium Navier Stokes analysis capability has been favorably compared to a number of wind tunnel test cases. Extension of the calibration basis for this software to Orbiter flight conditions will provide an incremental increase in confidence. As part of the Orbiter Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment and the Hypersonic Thermodynamic Infrared Measurements project, NASA is performing entry flight testing on the Orbiter to provide valuable aerothermodynamic heating data. An increase in interest related to orbiter entry environments is resulting from this activity. With the advent of this new data, comparisons of the US3D software to the new flight testing data is warranted. This paper will provide information regarding the framework of analyses that will be applied with the US3D analysis tool. In addition, comparisons will be made to entry flight testing data provided by the Orbiter BLT Flight Experiment and HYTHIRM projects. If data from digital scans of the Orbiter windward surface become available, simulations will also be performed to characterize the difference in surface heating between the CAD reference OML and the digitized surface provided by the surface scans.

Campbell, Charles H.↗

Visual PEF Reader - VIPER

This software graphically displays all pertinent information from a Predicted Events File (PEF) using the Java Swing framework, which allows for multi-platform support. The PEF is hard to weed through when looking for specific information and it is a desire for the MRO (Mars Reconn aissance Orbiter) Mission Planning & Sequencing Team (MPST) to have a different way to visualize the data. This tool will provide the team with a visual way of reviewing and error-checking the sequence product. The front end of the tool contains much of the aesthetically appealing material for viewing. The time stamp is displayed in the top left corner, and highlighted details are displayed in the bottom left corner. The time bar stretches along the top of the window, and the rest of the space is allotted for blocks and step functions. A preferences window is used to control the layout of the sections along with the ability to choose color and size of the blocks. Double-clicking on a block will show information contained within the block. Zooming into a certain level will graphically display that information as an overlay on the block itself. Other functions include using hotkeys to navigate, an option to jump to a specific time, enabling a vertical line, and double-clicking to zoom in/out. The back end involves a configuration file that allows a more experienced user to pre-define the structure of a block, a single event, or a step function. The individual will have to determine what information is important within each block and what actually defines the beginning and end of a block. This gives the user much more flexibility in terms of what the tool is searching for. In addition to the configurability, all the settings in the preferences window are saved in the configuration file as well

Luo, Victor↗

Jason-1 and Jason-2 POD Using GPS

The Jason-2 satellite, launched in June 2008, is the latest follow-on to the successful Jason-1 altimetry satellite mission launched in December 7, 2001. Both, Jason-2 and Jason-1 are equipped with a GPS dual-frequency receiver, a laser retroreflector array, and a DORIS receiver for precise orbit determination (POD). A series of dynamic and reduced-dynamic Jason-2 orbits computed at NASA GSFC, based on GPS-only data and the std0905 standards, have been completed till cy74through cycle 74 using the IGS05 framework. These orbits, now publicly available, have been shown to agree radially at 1 cm RMS with the GSFC std0905 SLR/DORIS orbits and in comparison with orbits produced by JPL, ESA and CNES. In this paper, we describe the implementation of the IGS08 and repro1 framework for the Jason-2 and Jason-1 GPS POD processing with the NASA GSFC GEODYN software. . In our updated GPS POD, ambiguity fixing and updated time variable and static gravity fields. We also evaluate the implementation of non-tidal and degree-1 loading displacement as forward modeling to the tracking stations. Reduced-dynamic versus dynamic orbit differences are used to characterize the remaining force model errors and TRF instability. In particular, we assess their consistency radially and the stability of the altimeter satellite reference frame in the North/South direction as a proxy to assess the consistency of the reference frame.

Melachroinos, Stavros↗

UAV Research at NASA Langley: Towards Safe, Reliable, and Autonomous Operations

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) are fundamental components in several aspects of research at NASA Langley, such as flight dynamics, mission-driven airframe design, airspace integration demonstrations, atmospheric science projects, and more. In particular, NASA Langley Research Center (Langley) is using UAVs to develop and demonstrate innovative capabilities that meet the autonomy and robotics challenges that are anticipated in science, space exploration, and aeronautics. These capabilities will enable new NASA missions such as asteroid rendezvous and retrieval (ARRM), Mars exploration, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), pollution measurements in historically inaccessible areas, and the integration of UAVs into our everyday lives all missions of increasing complexity, distance, pace, and/or accessibility. Building on decades of NASA experience and success in the design, fabrication, and integration of robust and reliable automated systems for space and aeronautics, Langley Autonomy Incubator seeks to bridge the gap between automation and autonomy by enabling safe autonomous operations via onboard sensing and perception systems in both data-rich and data-deprived environments. The Autonomy Incubator is focused on the challenge of mobility and manipulation in dynamic and unstructured environments by integrating technologies such as computer vision, visual odometry, real-time mapping, path planning, object detection and avoidance, object classification, adaptive control, sensor fusion, machine learning, and natural human-machine teaming. These technologies are implemented in an architectural framework developed in-house for easy integration and interoperability of cutting-edge hardware and software.

Davila, Carlos G.↗