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52 records · Page 3

Utilization of common pressurized modules on the Space Station Freedom

During the preliminary design review of Space Station Freedom elements and subsystems, it was shown that reductions of cost, weight, and on-orbit integration and verification would be necessary in order to meet program constraints, particularly nominal Orbiter payload launch capability. At that time, the Baseline station consisted of four resource nodes and two 44 ft modules. In this study, the viability of a common module which maintains crew and payload accommodation is assessed. The size, transportation, and orientation of modules and the accommodation of system racks and user experiments are considered and compared to baseline. Based on available weight estimates, a module pattern consisting of six 28 ft. common elements with three radial and two end ports is shown to be nearly optimal. Advantageous characteristics include a reduction in assembly flights, dual egress from all elements, logical functional allocation, no adverse impacts to international partners, favorable airlock, cupola, ACRV (Assured Crew Return Vehicle), and logistics module accommodation, and desirable flight attitude and control characteristics.

Gould, Marston J.↗

Utilization of common pressurized modules on the Space Station Freedom

During the preliminary design review of Space Station Freedom elements and subsystems, it was shown that reductions of cost, weight, and on-orbit integration and verification would be necessary in order to meet program constraints, particularly nominal Orbiter payload launch capability. At that time, the Baseline station consisted of four resource nodes and two 44 ft modules. In this study, the viability of a common module which maintains crew and payload accommodation is assessed. The size, transportation, and orientation of modules and the accommodation of system racks and user experiments are considered and compared to baseline. Based on available weight estimates, a module pattern consisting of six 28 ft common elements with three radial and two end ports is shown to be nearly optimal. Advantageous characteristics include a reduction in assembly flights, dual egress from all elements, logical functional allocation, no adverse impacts to international partners, favorable airlock, cupola, ACRV (Assured Crew Return Vehicle), and logistics module accommodation, and desirable flight attitude and control characteristics.

Mazanek, Daniel D.↗

ISyCL technical report

The Air Force Integrated Information Systems Evolution Environment (IISEE) is a program focused on the development of technology for enabling the planning definition development and maintenance of evolutionary integrated information systems. This program has studied the representational needs of this knowledge base from the point of view of the needs of engineering, manufacturing, and logistics Evolutionary Information Systems (EIS). The definition of the concepts for a suite of automated tools and environments to support the pursuit of such engineering, manufacturing, and logistics EIS's has also required examination of languages and representation schemes for the knowledge base of these integrated systems. To accomplish this purpose, the language must be very rich, and must support object orientation, relational orientation, persistent storage, process transaction specification, and first order logic. The task of designing a unified language which supports these paradigms is a challenge. The Information Systems Constraint Language (ISyCL) is described. It was designed to meet the definitional and knowledge representation needs of three perspectives. It supports users from the area expert to the data base designer.

Decker, Louis P.↗

Path-Adaptive Guidance Algorithm Trades for a Two-Stage Lunar Descent Vehicle

For the next generation of NASA’s missions, the necessity for path-adaptive guidance algorithms has become clear in order to provide the stability and customizability required for a safe and efficient descent to the lunar surface, while meeting specified program and vehicle constraints. Several descent algorithms have been tested and flown for single-stage landers through the Apollo and Altair programs, but thus far little analysis has been conducted involving the application of these algorithms for a two-stage descent vehicle. Due to the limited payload mass constraints of the existing fleet of launch vehicles, multi-stage descent architectures have become a viable course of action. This paper seeks to compare the performance of guidance configurations for a lunar lander system consisting of two stages, one of which separates partway through descent. Through development of this paper, an optimization suite has been written that is specifically designed for optimizing planetary non-atmospheric two-stage descent trajectories, and is used as a comparison baseline for the guidance algorithms tested. Time-to -go computational methods and ignition logic routines that may be employed in a lunar environment are also discussed. Further work is to be completed on trajectory design trades as well as the effects of modifying guidance targets in simulation based on trajectories that are optimized for different performance indices.

Jason M Everett↗

A Vision and Roadmap for Increasing User Autonomy in Flight Operations in the National Airspace

The purpose of Air Transportation is to move people and cargo safely, efficiently and swiftly to their destinations. The companies and individuals who use aircraft for this purpose, the airspace users, desire to operate their aircraft according to a dynamically optimized business trajectory for their specific mission and operational business model. In current operations, the dynamic optimization of business trajectories is limited by constraints built into operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) for reasons of safety and operational needs of the air navigation service providers. NASA has been developing and testing means to overcome many of these constraints and permit operations to be conducted closer to the airspace user's changing business trajectory as conditions unfold before and during the flight. A roadmap of logical steps progressing toward increased user autonomy is proposed, beginning with NASA's Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) concept that enables flight crews to make informed, deconflicted flight-optimization requests to air traffic control. These steps include the use of data communications for route change requests and approvals, integration with time-based arrival flow management processes under development by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), increased user authority for defining and modifying downstream, strategic portions of the trajectory, and ultimately application of self-separation. This progression takes advantage of existing FAA NextGen programs and RTCA standards development, and it is designed to minimize the number of hardware upgrades required of airspace users to take advantage of these advanced capabilities to achieve dynamically optimized business trajectories in NAS operations. The roadmap is designed to provide operational benefits to first adopters so that investment decisions do not depend upon a large segment of the user community becoming equipped before benefits can be realized. The issues of equipment certification and operational approval of new procedures are addressed in a way that minimizes their impact on the transition by deferring a change in the assignment of separation responsibility until a large body of operational data is available to support the safety case for this change in the last roadmap step.This paper will relate the roadmap steps to ongoing activities to clarify the economics-based transition to these technologies for operational use.

Cotton, William B.↗

Path-Adaptive Guidance Algorithm Trades for a Two-Stage Lunar Descent Vehicle

For the next generation of NASA’s missions, explicit, path-adaptive descent guidance algorithms must provide the stability and customizability required for a safe and efficient descent to the lunar surface, while also meeting program and vehicle constraints. Several descent algorithms have been flown and tested for single-stage landers through the Apollo and Altair programs, but thus far little analysis has been conducted involving the application of these algorithms to a two-stage descent vehicle. Due to payload mass and fairing constraints of the existing fleet of launch vehicles, multi-stage descent architectures are a unique option for achieving the greatest possible mass to lunar surface. This paper seeks to compare the performance of guidance configurations of a lunar lander system consisting of two stages, one of which separates partway through descent. Through development of this paper, an optimization suite has been written that is specifically designed for optimizing planetary non-atmospheric two-stage descent trajectories, and is used as a baseline to compare the guidance algorithms tested. Time-to-go computational methods and ignition logic routines that may be employed in a lunar environment are also discussed. Preliminary results are presented that show relative performance metrics for a range of different guidance algorithm configurations.

Jason M Everett↗

AST Critical Propulsion and Noise Reduction Technologies for Future Commercial Subsonic Engines Area of Interest 1.0: Reliable and Affordable Control Systems

The General Electric Reliable and Affordable Controls effort under the NASA Advanced Subsonic Technology (AST) Program has designed, fabricated, and tested advanced controls hardware and software to reduce emissions and improve engine safety and reliability. The original effort consisted of four elements: 1) a Hydraulic Multiplexer; 2) Active Combustor Control; 3) a Variable Displacement Vane Pump (VDVP); and 4) Intelligent Engine Control. The VDVP and Intelligent Engine Control elements were cancelled due to funding constraints and are reported here only to the state they progressed. The Hydraulic Multiplexing element developed and tested a prototype which improves reliability by combining the functionality of up to 16 solenoids and servo-valves into one component with a single electrically powered force motor. The Active Combustor Control element developed intelligent staging and control strategies for low emission combustors. This included development and tests of a Controlled Pressure Fuel Nozzle for fuel sequencing, a Fuel Multiplexer for individual fuel cup metering, and model-based control logic. Both the Hydraulic Multiplexer and Controlled Pressure Fuel Nozzle system were cleared for engine test. The Fuel Multiplexer was cleared for combustor rig test which must be followed by an engine test to achieve full maturation.

Myers, William↗

Propulsion Health Management System Development for Affordable and Reliable Operation of Space Exploration Systems

The constraints of future Exploration Missions will require unique integrated system health management capabilities throughout the mission. An ambitious launch schedule, human-rating requirements, long quiescent periods, limited human access for repair or replacement, and long communication delays, all require an integrated approach to health management that can span distinct, yet interdependent vehicle subsystems, anticipate failure states, provide autonomous remediation and support the Exploration Mission from beginning to end. Propulsion is a critical part of any space exploration mission, and monitoring the health of the propulsion system is an integral part of assuring mission safety and success. Health management is a somewhat ubiquitous technology that encompasses a large spectrum of physical components and logical processes. For this reason, it is essential to develop a systematic plan for propulsion health management system development. This paper provides a high-level perspective of propulsion health management systems, and describes a logical approach for the future planning and early development that are crucial to planned space exploration programs. It also presents an overall approach, or roadmap, for propulsion health management system development and a discussion of the associated roadblocks and challenges.

Melcher, Kevin J.↗

Aspect-Oriented Programming

Computer science has experienced an evolution in programming languages and systems from the crude assembly and machine codes of the earliest computers through concepts such as formula translation, procedural programming, structured programming, functional programming, logic programming, and programming with abstract data types. Each of these steps in programming technology has advanced our ability to achieve clear separation of concerns at the source code level. Currently, the dominant programming paradigm is object-oriented programming - the idea that one builds a software system by decomposing a problem into objects and then writing the code of those objects. Such objects abstract together behavior and data into a single conceptual and physical entity. Object-orientation is reflected in the entire spectrum of current software development methodologies and tools - we have OO methodologies, analysis and design tools, and OO programming languages. Writing complex applications such as graphical user interfaces, operating systems, and distributed applications while maintaining comprehensible source code has been made possible with OOP. Success at developing simpler systems leads to aspirations for greater complexity. Object orientation is a clever idea, but has certain limitations. We are now seeing that many requirements do not decompose neatly into behavior centered on a single locus. Object technology has difficulty localizing concerns invoking global constraints and pandemic behaviors, appropriately segregating concerns, and applying domain-specific knowledge. Post-object programming (POP) mechanisms that look to increase the expressiveness of the OO paradigm are a fertile arena for current research. Examples of POP technologies include domain-specific languages, generative programming, generic programming, constraint languages, reflection and metaprogramming, feature-oriented development, views/viewpoints, and asynchronous message brokering. (Czarneclu and Eisenecker s book includes a good survey of many of these technologies).

Elrad, Tzilla↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-17243-DND

This presentation captures ERA Project's effort in using integrated cost-schedule-risk analysis tool, identifying and capturing explicit relationships between program funds, schedule, and discrete risks. The project team merged a myriad of cost and schedule data for timely, objective, uncertainty analysis of the ITD's budget and schedule. The project team conducted detailed schedule uncertainty analysis showing schedule activities and how their interrelationships were impacted, representing an impressive advance beyond routine Gantt charts. Furthermore, the ERA Project collected discrete risk events including their impacts to costs and/or schedule and interwove these risks into cost and schedule logic networks, providing the foundation to conduct cost and schedule analyses. The team integrated this data into the analysis model, providing probabilistic results that were then used by the ERA Project's senior management for decision-making purposes. The ERA Project management team, through technical and pathfinder expertise in integrating cost, schedule, risk, and technical content, consistently provided risk-informed recommendations to Implementing Centers and ISRP senior management which ultimately ensured the successful ARMD Key Decision Point (KDP) review of the ERA Phase 2 ITD Portfolio and increased the likelihood of achieving technical objectives within cost and schedule constraints.

Gaudy M Bezos-O'Connor↗

Space Technology 5: Pathfinder for Future Micro-Sat Constellations

The Space Technology 5 (ST-5) Project, currently in the implementation phase, is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) s New Millennium Program (NMP). ST-5 will consist of a constellation of three miniature satellites, each with mass less than 25 kg and size approximately 60 cm by 30 cm. ST-5 addresses technology challenges, as well as fabrication, assembly, test and operations strategies for future micro-satellite missions. ST-5 will be deployed into a highly eccentric, geo-transfer orbit (GTO). This will expose the spacecraft to a high radiation environment as well as provide a low level magnetic background. A three-month flight demonstration phase is planned to validate the technologies and demonstrate concepts for future missions. Each ST-5 spacecraft incorporates NMP competitively-selected breakthrough technologies. These include Cold Gas Micro-Thrusters for propulsion and attitude control, miniature X-band transponder for space-ground communications, Variable Emittance Coatings for dynamic thermal control, and CULPRiT ultra low power logic chip used for Reed-Solomon encoding. The ST-5 spacecraft itself is a technology that can be infused into future missions. It is a fully functional micro-spacecraft built within tight volume and mass constraints. It is built to withstand a high radiation environment, large thermal variations, and high launch loads. The spacecraft power system is low-power and low-voltage, and is designed to turn on after separation &om the launch vehicle. Some of the innovations that are included in the ST-5 design are a custom spacecraft deployment structure, magnetometer deployment boom, nutation damper, X-band antenna, miniature spinning sun sensor, solar array with triple junction solar cells, integral card cage assembly containing single card Command and Data Handling and Power System Electronics, miniature magnetometer, and lithium ion battery. ST-5 will demonstrate the ability of a micro satellite to perform research-quality science. Each ST-5 spacecraft will deploy a precision magnetometer to be used both for attitude determination and as a representative science instrument. The spacecraft has been developed with a low magnetic signature to avoid interference with the magnetometer. The spacecraft will be able to detect and respond autonomously to science events, i.e. significant changes in the magnetic field measurements. The three spacecraft will be a pathfinder for future constellation missions. They will be deployed to demonstrate an appropriate geometry for scientific measurements as a constellation. They will be operationally managed as a constellation, demonstrating automation and communication strategies that will be useful for future missions. The technologies and future mission concepts will be validated both on the ground and in space. Technologies will be validated on the ground by a combination of component level and system level testing of the flight hardware in a thermal vacuum environment. In flight, specific validation runs are planned for each of the technologies. Each validation run consists of one or more orbits with a specific validation objective. This paper will describe the ST-5 mission, and the applicability of the NMP technologies, spacecraft, and mission concepts to future missions. It will also discuss the validation approach for the ST-5 technologies and mission concepts.

Carlisle, Candace↗

SQUARE: Strategic Quantum Ancilla Reuse for Modular Quantum Programs via Cost-Effective Uncomputation

Compiling high-level quantum programs to machines that are size constrained (i.e. limited number of quantum bits) and time constrained (i.e. limited number of quantum operations) is challenging. In this paper, we present SQUARE (Strategic QUantum Ancilla REuse), a compilation infrastructure that tackles allocation and reclamation of scratch qubits (called ancilla) in modular quantum programs. At its core, SQUARE strategically performs uncomputation to create opportunities for qubit reuse. Current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers and forward-looking Fault-Tolerant (FT) quantum computers have fundamentally different constraints such as data locality, instruction parallelism, and communication overhead. Our heuristic-based ancilla-reuse algorithm balances these considerations and fits computations into resource-constrained NISQ or FT quantum machines, throttling parallelism when necessary. To precisely capture the workload of a program, we propose an improved metric, the "active quantum volume," and use this metric to evaluate the effectiveness of our algorithm. Furthermore, our results show that SQUARE improves the average success rate of NISQ applications by 1.47X. Surprisingly, the additional gates for uncomputation create ancilla with better locality, and result in substantially fewer swap gates and less gate noise overall. SQUARE also achieves an average reduction of 1.5X (and up to 9.6X) in active quantum volume for FT machines.

compiler optimization↗

Optimal Allocation of Water Resources Using a Two-Stage Stochastic Programming Method with Interval and Fuzzy Parameters

Efficient water allocation is one of the most prominent issues in water resources management. In this research, a two-stage interval-parameter stochastic fuzzy programming with type 2 membership functions was used to allocate water resources optimally to different users under uncertainty. This method can handle uncertainties expressed as probability distributions, discrete intervals, and fuzzy sets. The model considers treated wastewater as an allocable water resource in a scenario, in addition to water that is extracted from wellheads, springs, and qanats. Moreover, the loss rate of water during distribution, surplus water in the reservoir in the previous and the next period, and treated wastewater parameters have been incorporated into the model. This model was applied to a case study of water resources allocation within a multi-user and multi-reservoir context in the Zarand region of Kerman, Iran. The results indicate that reasonable solutions have been generated, in the form of interval and fuzzy information under different scenarios that could help managers provide optimal water resources allocation plans. The results also demonstrate that establishing a wastewater treatment station increases the system net benefits, surplus water in wellheads for the next period, and system reliability (level of satisfying the fuzzy goal and constraints), and decreases encountering water shortages.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

The Space Technology 5 Avionics System

The Space Technology 5 (ST5) mission is a NASA New Millennium Program project that will validate new technologies for future space science missions and demonstrate the feasibility of building launching and operating multiple, miniature spacecraft that can collect research-quality in-situ science measurements. The three satellites in the ST5 constellation will be launched into a sun-synchronous Earth orbit in early 2006. ST5 fits into the 25-kilogram and 24-watt class of very small but fully capable spacecraft. The new technologies and design concepts for a compact power and command and data handling (C&DH) avionics system are presented. The 2-card ST5 avionics design incorporates new technology components while being tightly constrained in mass, power and volume. In order to hold down the mass and volume, and quali& new technologies for fUture use in space, high efficiency triple-junction solar cells and a lithium-ion battery were baselined into the power system design. The flight computer is co-located with the power system electronics in an integral spacecraft structural enclosure called the card cage assembly. The flight computer has a full set of uplink, downlink and solid-state recording capabilities, and it implements a new CMOS Ultra-Low Power Radiation Tolerant logic technology. There were a number of challenges imposed by the ST5 mission. Specifically, designing a micro-sat class spacecraft demanded that minimizing mass, volume and power dissipation would drive the overall design. The result is a very streamlined approach, while striving to maintain a high level of capability, The mission's radiation requirements, along with the low voltage DC power distribution, limited the selection of analog parts that can operate within these constraints. The challenge of qualifying new technology components for the space environment within a short development schedule was another hurdle. The mission requirements also demanded magnetic cleanliness in order to reduce the effect of stray (spacecraft-generated) magnetic fields on the science-grade magnetometer.

Speer, Dave↗

Project Management Using Modern Guidance, Navigation and Control Theory

Implementing guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) theory principles and applying them to the human element of project management and control is not a new concept. As both the literature on the subject and the real-world applications are neither readily available nor comprehensive with regard to how such principles might be applied, this paper has been written to educate the project manager on the "laws of physics" of his or her project (not to teach a GN&C engineer how to become a project manager) and to provide an intuitive, mathematical explanation as to the control and behavior of projects. This paper will also address how the fundamental principles of modern GN&C were applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Constellation Program (CxP) space suit project, ensuring the project was managed within cost, schedule, and budget. A project that is akin to a physical system can be modeled and managed using the same over arching principles of GN&C that would be used if that project were a complex vehicle, a complex system(s), or complex software with time-varying processes (at times nonlinear) containing multiple data inputs of varying accuracy and a range of operating points. The classic GN&C theory approach could thus be applied to small, well-defined projects; yet when working with larger, multiyear projects necessitating multiple organizational structures, numerous external influences, and a multitude of diverse resources, modern GN&C principles are required to model and manage the project. The fundamental principles of a GN&C system incorporate these basic concepts: State, Behavior, Feedback Control, Navigation, Guidance and Planning Logic systems. The State of a system defines the aspects of the system that can change over time; e.g., position, velocity, acceleration, coordinate-based attitude, and temperature, etc. The Behavior of the system focuses more on what changes are possible within the system; this is denoted in the state of the system. The behavior of a system, as captured in the system modeling, when properly done will aid in accurately predicting future system performance. The Feedback Control system understands the state and behavior of the system and uses feedback to adjust control inputs into the system. The feedback, which is the right arm of the Control system, allows change to be affected in the overall system; it therefore is important to not only correctly identify the system feedback inputs, but also the system response to the feedback inputs. The Navigation system takes multiple data inputs and based on a priori knowledge of the inputs, develops a statistically based weighting of the inputs and measurements to determine the system's state. Guidance and Planning Logic of the system, complete with an understanding of where the system is (provided by the Navigation system), will in turn determine where the system needs to be and how to get it there. With any system/project, it is critical that the objective of the system/project be clearly defined -- not only to plan but to measure performance and to aid in guiding the system or the project. The system principles discussed above, which can be and have been applied to the current CxP space suit development project, can also be mapped to real-world constituents, thus allowing project managers to apply systems theories that are well defined in engineering and mathematics to a discipline (i.e., Project Management) that historically has been based in personal experience and intuition. This mapping of GN&C theory to Project Management will, in turn, permit a direct, methodical approach to Project Management, planning and control providing a tool to help predict (and guide) performance and an understanding of the project constraints, how the project can be controlled, and the impacts to external influences and inputs. This approach, to a project manager, flows down to the three bottom-line variables of cost, schedule, and scope ando the needed control of these three variables to successfully perform and complete a project.

Hill, Terry R.↗

Goal-Function Tree Modeling for Systems Engineering and Fault Management

The draft NASA Fault Management (FM) Handbook (2012) states that Fault Management (FM) is a "part of systems engineering", and that it "demands a system-level perspective" (NASAHDBK- 1002, 7). What, exactly, is the relationship between systems engineering and FM? To NASA, systems engineering (SE) is "the art and science of developing an operable system capable of meeting requirements within often opposed constraints" (NASA/SP-2007-6105, 3). Systems engineering starts with the elucidation and development of requirements, which set the goals that the system is to achieve. To achieve these goals, the systems engineer typically defines functions, and the functions in turn are the basis for design trades to determine the best means to perform the functions. System Health Management (SHM), by contrast, defines "the capabilities of a system that preserve the system's ability to function as intended" (Johnson et al., 2011, 3). Fault Management, in turn, is the operational subset of SHM, which detects current or future failures, and takes operational measures to prevent or respond to these failures. Failure, in turn, is the "unacceptable performance of intended function." (Johnson 2011, 605) Thus the relationship of SE to FM is that SE defines the functions and the design to perform those functions to meet system goals and requirements, while FM detects the inability to perform those functions and takes action. SHM and FM are in essence "the dark side" of SE. For every function to be performed (SE), there is the possibility that it is not successfully performed (SHM); FM defines the means to operationally detect and respond to this lack of success. We can also describe this in terms of goals: for every goal to be achieved, there is the possibility that it is not achieved; FM defines the means to operationally detect and respond to this inability to achieve the goal. This brief description of relationships between SE, SHM, and FM provide hints to a modeling approach to provide formal connectivity between the nominal (SE), and off-nominal (SHM and FM) aspects of functions and designs. This paper describes a formal modeling approach to the initial phases of the development process that integrates the nominal and off-nominal perspectives in a model that unites SE goals and functions of with the failure to achieve goals and functions (SHM/FM). This methodology and corresponding model, known as a Goal-Function Tree (GFT), provides a means to represent, decompose, and elaborate system goals and functions in a rigorous manner that connects directly to design through use of state variables that translate natural language requirements and goals into logical-physical state language. The state variable-based approach also provides the means to directly connect FM to the design, by specifying the range in which state variables must be controlled to achieve goals, and conversely, the failures that exist if system behavior go out-of-range. This in turn allows for the systems engineers and SHM/FM engineers to determine which state variables to monitor, and what action(s) to take should the system fail to achieve that goal. In sum, the GFT representation provides a unified approach to early-phase SE and FM development. This representation and methodology has been successfully developed and implemented using Systems Modeling Language (SysML) on the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Program. It enabled early design trade studies of failure detection coverage to ensure complete detection coverage of all crew-threatening failures. The representation maps directly both to FM algorithm designs, and to failure scenario definitions needed for design analysis and testing. The GFT representation provided the basis for mapping of abort triggers into scenarios, both needed for initial, and successful quantitative analyses of abort effectiveness (detection and response to crew-threatening events).

Patterson, Jonathan D.↗