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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Transformational Challenge Reactor Autonomous Control System Framework and Key Enabling Technologies

Autonomous operation of nuclear plants has the potential for significantly improving the economics of existing plants while maintaining operation within the safety envelope of the reactor. Autonomous operation technology, if developed and deployed, may enable deployment of small reactors at remote sites while requiring minimal operator support. In addition to reducing costs, the technology can add additional layers of safety through rapid decision making and actuation in off-normal situations. Within the context of the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR), autonomous control along with the other unique characteristics of the reactor (advanced manufacturing) is expected to enable rapid deployment. On the other hand, technology for autonomy can add risk to the system if not properly developed. There is therefore a need for systematic development and demonstration of autonomy technology for TCR. This document describes a framework for autonomy for the TCR. It defines autonomous operation and examines whether autonomy is possible for nuclear systems. The report also describes enabling sensing technologies for autonomy and describes a framework to facilitate autonomy.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1999

Autonomous Rovers for Mars Exploration

Rovers will play a critical role in the exploration of Mars. Near-term mission plans call for long traverses over unknown terrain, robust navigation and instrument placement, and reliable operations for extended periods of time. Longer-term missions may visit multiple science sites in a single day and perform opportunistic science data collection, as well as complex scouting, construction, and maintenance tasks in preparation for an eventual human presence. The Pathfinder mission demonstrated the potential for robotic Mars exploration but at the same time indicated the need for more rover autonomy. The highly ground-intensive control with infrequent communication and high latency limited the effectiveness of the Sojourner rover. When failures occurred, Sojourner often sat idle for extended periods of time, awaiting further commands from earth. In future missions, the tasks will be more complex and extended; hence there will be even more situations where things do not go exactly as planned. Significant advances in rover autonomy are needed to cope with increasing task complexity and greater execution uncertainty. Towards this end, we have designed an on-board executive architecture that incorporates robust operation, resource utilization, and failure recovery. In addition, we have designed ground tools to produce and refine contingent schedules that take advantage of the on-board architecture's flexible execution characteristics. Together, the on-board executive and the ground tools constitute an integrated rover autonomy architecture. This work draws from our experience with the Deep Space One autonomy experiment, with enhancements to ensure robust operation in the face of the unpredictable, complex environment that the rover will encounter on Mars. The rover autonomy architecture is currently being developed and deployed on the Marsokhod rover platform at NASA Ames Research Center. The capabilities of the rover autonomy architecture to support autonomous operations will be demonstrated concretely in upcoming field tests.

Anderson, Corin↗
NASA NTRS2000

The Impact of Autonomous Systems Technology on JPL Mission Software

This paper discusses the following topics: (1) Autonomy for Future Missions- Mars Outposts, Titan Aerobot, and Europa Cryobot / Hydrobot; (2) Emergence of Autonomy- Remote Agent Architecture, Closing Loops Onboard, and New Millennium Flight Experiment; and (3) Software Engineering Challenges- Influence of Remote Agent, Scalable Autonomy, Autonomy Software Validation, Analytic Verification Technology, and Autonomy and Software Software Engineering.

Doyle, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Experimental Evaluation of Verification and Validation Tools on Martian Rover Software

To achieve its science objectives in deep space exploration, NASA has a need for science platform vehicles to autonomously make control decisions in a time frame that excludes intervention from Earth-based controllers. Round-trip light-time is one significant factor motivating autonomy capability, another factor is the need to reduce ground support operations cost. An unsolved problem potentially impeding the adoption of autonomy capability is the verification and validation of such software systems, which exhibit far more behaviors (and hence distinct execution paths in the software) than is typical in current deepspace platforms. Hence the need for a study to benchmark advanced Verification and Validation (V&V) tools on representative autonomy software. The objective of the study was to access the maturity of different technologies, to provide data indicative of potential synergies between them, and to identify gaps in the technologies with respect to the challenge of autonomy V&V. The study consisted of two parts: first, a set of relatively independent case studies of different tools on the same autonomy code, second a carefully controlled experiment with human participants on a subset of these technologies. This paper describes the second part of the study. Overall, nearly four hundred hours of data on human use of three different advanced V&V tools were accumulated, with a control group that used conventional testing methods. The experiment simulated four independent V&V teams debugging three successive versions of an executive controller for a Martian Rover. Defects were carefully seeded into the three versions based on a profile of defects from CVS logs that occurred in the actual development of the executive controller. The rest of the document is structured a s follows. In section 2 and 3, we respectively describe the tools used in the study and the rover software that was analyzed. In section 4 the methodology for the experiment is described; this includes the code preparation, seeding of defects, participant training and experimental setup. Next we give a qualitative overview of how the experiment went from the point of view of each technology; model checking (section 5), static analysis (section 6), runtime analysis (section 7) and testing (section 8). The find section gives some preliminary quantitative results on how the tools compared.

Brat, Guillaume↗
NASA NTRS2006

Autonomic Management of Space Missions

With NASA s renewed commitment to outer space exploration, greater emphasis is being placed on both human and robotic exploration. Even when humans are involved in the exploration, human tending of assets becomes cost-prohibitive or in many cases is simply not feasible. In addition, certain exploration missions will require spacecraft that will be capable of venturing where humans cannot be sent. Early space missions were operated manually from ground control centers with little or no automated operations. In the mid-l980s, the high costs of satellite operations prompted NASA, and others, to begin automating as many functions as possible. In our context, a system is autonomous if it can achieve its goals without human intervention. A number of more-or-less automated ground systems exist today, but work continues with the goal being to reduce operations costs to even lower levels. Cost reductions can be achieved in a number of areas. Ground control and spacecraft operations are two such areas where greater autonomy can reduce costs. As a consequence, autonomy is increasingly seen as a critical approach for robotic missions and for some aspects of manned missions. Although autonomy will be critical for the success of future missions (and indeed will enable certain kinds of science data gathering approaches), missions imbued with autonomy must also exhibit autonomic properties. Exploitation of autonomy alone, without emphasis on autonomic properties, will leave spacecraft vulnerable to the dangerous environments in which they must operate. Without autonomic properties, a spacecraft may be unable to recognize negative environmental effects on its components and subsystems, or may be unable to take any action to ameliorate the effects. The spacecraft, though operating autonomously, may then sustain a degradation of performance of components or subsystems, and consequently may have a reduced potential for achieving mission objectives. In extreme cases, lack of autonomic properties could leave the spacecraft unable to recover from faults. Ensuring that exploration spacecraft have autonomic properties will increase the survivability and therefore the likelihood of success of these missions. In fact, over time, as mission requirements increased demands on spacecraft capabilities and longevity, designers have gradually built more autonomicity into spacecraft. For example, a spacecraft in low-earth orbit may experience an out-of-bounds perturbation of its attitude (orientation) due to increased drag caused by increased atmospheric density at its altitude as a result of a sufficiently large solar flare. If the spacecraft was designed to recognize the excessive attitude perturbation, it could decide to protect itself by going into a safe-hold mode where its internal configuration and operation are altered to conserve power and its coarse attitude is adjusted to point its solar panels toward the Sun to maximize power generation. This is an example of a simple type of autonomic behavior that has actually occurred. Future mission concepts will be increasingly dependent on space system survivability enabled by more advanced types of autonomic behaviors

Hinchey, Michael G.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The Influence of Viability, Independence, and Self-Governance on Trust and Public Acceptance of Uncrewed Air Vehicle Operations

Trust is expected to be a critical construct that drives successful use of advanced air mobility (AAM) technologies. As yet, though, the role of trust in human-autonomy interaction is underexplored. Kaber (2018) argues that autonomy requires the highest level of three independent dimensions -- viability, independence, and self-governance. The present study examined whether trust varies across the three dimensions of autonomy under varying levels of risk. Participants in the high-risk group read a series of vignettes on a drone that delivers medical supplies over a city where the current study was conducted. Participants in the low-risk group read a series of vignettes on a drone that delivers fast food over a fictitious city. Each vignette described a drone that is either autonomous (i.e., possesses all dimensions) or automated (i.e., one of the dimensions is compromised). Results imply that the three dimensions of autonomy do not equally influence human-technology trust and behavior.

Advanced Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRS2026

Multi-Agent Swarm State of the Art Report

The Next-Generation Multi-Agent Swarm (NGS) Study conducted by NASA’s Ames Research Center for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) will develop a comprehensive understanding of emerging multi-agent swarm capabilities. The study aims to identify existing swarm capabilities and asses their potential for persistent lunar space situational awareness, surface monitoring, and distributed autonomy demonstrations. A key objective is to inform the design of a next-generation multi-agent swarm that can perform autonomous distributed remote sensing, position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services, automated deployment that leverages autonomy, edge computing, and interoperable networking to enable cooperative operations without the need for immediate human operation. This study will address specific shortfalls identified by STMD, including intelligent multi-agent constellations, autonomy, edge computation, position, navigation, and timing for small spacecraft, small spacecraft propulsion, and space situational awareness (1625, 1438, 1433, 1557, 1431, 1430, 1589). The NASA Ames Mission Design Center (MDC) will provide subject matter expertise to support systems engineering trades, while experts in autonomy and spacecraft swarms in NASA’s Intelligent Systems Division will lead the study and focus on identifying emerging next-generation swarm capabilities. The study objectives include: capturing the current state-of-the-art for multi-agent swarm capabilities, evaluating technologies and creating technology roadmaps, and developing at least one new technology demonstration mission concept. This initial NGS study report surveys the current state of the art in technology areas relevant for the next-generation multi-agent swarm design. Our primary focus is on surveying relevant deployed space systems1, supplemented with selective analysis of relevant proposed missions and technology developments that have yet to fly.

agent↗
DOE OSTI2020

Energy Consumption and Cost Reduction of Future Light-Duty Vehicles through Advanced Vehicle Technologies: A Modeling Simulation Study Through 2050

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) aim to develop sustainable, affordable and efficient technologies for transportation of goods and people. Translating investments in advanced transportation component technologies and powertrains to estimate vehicle-level fuel savings potential is critical for understanding DOE’s impact. In this work, we simulated technologies funded by VTO and HFTO for light duty vehicles. The simulations were performed across: Multiple powertrain configurations (i.e., conventional, power-split, extended-range electric vehicle, battery electric drive, and fuel-cell vehicles), Vehicle classes (i.e., compact car, midsize car, small sport utility vehicle [SUV], midsize SUV, and pickup trucks); and Fuels (i.e., gasoline, diesel, hydrogen, and battery electricity). These various technologies are assessed for six different timeframes: laboratory years 2015, 2020, 2025, 2030, and 2045. A delay of 5 years is assumed between laboratory year and model year (year technology is introduced into production). Finally, uncertainties are included for both technology performance and cost aspects by considering two cases: Low case, aligned with DOE technology manager estimates of expected original equipment manufacturer (OEM) improvements based on regulations, business as usual; and High case, aligned with aggressive technology advancements based on R&D targets developed through support by VTO & HFTO. These scenarios are not intended as predictions of future performances. The energy and cost impact of different technologies were estimated using Autonomie (www.autonomie.net), Argonne vehicle system simulation tool. Autonomie is a state-of-the-art vehicle system simulation tool used to assess the energy consumption, performance and cost of multiple advanced vehicle technologies across classes (from light to heavy duty), powertrains (from conventional to HEVs, FCEVs, PHEVs and BEVs), components and control strategies. Autonomie is packaged with a complete set of vehicle models for a wide range of vehicle classes, powertrain configurations and component technologies, including vehicle level and component level controls. These controls were developed and calibrated using dynamometer test data. Autonomie has been used to support a wide range of studies including analyzing various component technologies, sizing powertrains components for different vehicle requirements, comparing the benefits of powertrain configurations, optimizing both heuristic and route based vehicle energy control and predicting transportation energy use when paired with a traffic modeling tool such as POLARIS. This report documents the assumptions and estimates the vehicle-level energy consumption benefits and associated technology costs for the various types of light duty vehicles. All details of vehicle assumptions and simulation results are available in the spreadsheets accompanying this report.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1990

Diagnosing multiple faults in SSM/PMAD

Multiple fault diagnosis for SSM/PMAD (space station module/power management and distribution) using the knowledge management design system as applied to the SSM/PMAD domain (KNOMAD-SSM/PMAD) is discussed. KNOMAD-SSM/PMAD provides a powerful facility for knowledge representation and reasoning which has been used to build the second generation of FRAMES (fault recovery and management expert system). FRAMES now handles the diagnosis of multiple faults and provides support for a more powerful interface for user interaction during autonomous operation. There are two types of multiple fault diagnosis handled in FRAMES. The first diagnoses hard faults, soft faults, and incipient faults simultaneously. The second diagnoses multiple hard faults which occur in close proximity in time to one another. Multiple fault diagnosis in FRAMES is performed using a rule-based approach. This rule-based approach, enabled by the KNOMAD-SSM/PMAD system, has proven to be powerful. Levels of autonomy are discussed, focusing on the approach taken in FRAMES for providing at least three levels of autonomy: complete autonomy, partial autonomy, and complete manual mode.

Riedesel, Joel↗
NASA NTRS1991

The Jade File System

File systems have long been the most important and most widely used form of shared permanent storage. File systems in traditional time-sharing systems, such as Unix, support a coherent sharing model for multiple users. Distributed file systems implement this sharing model in local area networks. However, most distributed file systems fail to scale from local area networks to an internet. Four characteristics of scalability were recognized: size, wide area, autonomy, and heterogeneity. Owing to size and wide area, techniques such as broadcasting, central control, and central resources, which are widely adopted by local area network file systems, are not adequate for an internet file system. An internet file system must also support the notion of autonomy because an internet is made up by a collection of independent organizations. Finally, heterogeneity is the nature of an internet file system, not only because of its size, but also because of the autonomy of the organizations in an internet. The Jade File System, which provides a uniform way to name and access files in the internet environment, is presented. Jade is a logical system that integrates a heterogeneous collection of existing file systems, where heterogeneous means that the underlying file systems support different file access protocols. Because of autonomy, Jade is designed under the restriction that the underlying file systems may not be modified. In order to avoid the complexity of maintaining an internet-wide, global name space, Jade permits each user to define a private name space. In Jade's design, we pay careful attention to avoiding unnecessary network messages between clients and file servers in order to achieve acceptable performance. Jade's name space supports two novel features: (1) it allows multiple file systems to be mounted under one direction; and (2) it permits one logical name space to mount other logical name spaces. A prototype of Jade was implemented to examine and validate its design. The prototype consists of interfaces to the Unix File System, the Sun Network File System, and the File Transfer Protocol.

Rao, Herman Chung-Hwa↗
NASA NTRS1993

International testing of a Mars rover prototype

Tests on a prototype engineering model of the Russian Mars 96 Rover were conducted by an international team in and near Death Valley in the United States in late May, 1992. These tests were part of a comprehensive design and testing program initiated by the three Russian groups responsible for the rover development. The specific objectives of the May tests were: (1) evaluate rover performance over different Mars-like terrains; (2) evaluate state-of-the-art teleoperation and autonomy development for Mars rover command, control and navigation; and (3) organize an international team to contribute expertise and capability on the rover development for the flight project. The range and performance that can be planned for the Mars mission is dependent on the degree of autonomy that will be possible to implement on the mission. Current plans are for limited autonomy, with Earth-based teleoperation for the nominal navigation system. Several types of television systems are being investigated for inclusion in the navigation system including panoramic camera, stereo, and framing cameras. The tests used each of these in teleoperation experiments. Experiments were included to consider use of such TV data in autonomy algorithms. Image processing and some aspects of closed-loop control software were also tested. A micro-rover was tested to help consider the value of such a device as a payload supplement to the main rover. The concept is for the micro-rover to serve like a mobile hand, with its own sensors including a television camera.

Kemurjian, Alexsandr Leonovich↗
NASA NTRS2000

AI in Space: The Era of Autonomous Space Systems

The development of autonomy capabilities is the key to three vastly important strategic technical challenges facing NASA: the reduction of mission costs, the continuing return of quality science products through limited communications bandwidth, and the launching of a new era of solar system exploration characterized by sustained presence and in-depth scientific studies, including the search for life. Autonomy will benefit future NASA missions by migrating routine, traditionally ground-based functions to the spacecraft, by directly supporting the decoupling of spacecraft from the ground through new operations concepts, by enabling direct links between scientists and the space platforms carrying their instruments of investigation, and by the closing, of planning and control loops onboard, enabling space platforms to directly address uncertainty in the real-time mission context. The talk will survey ongoing, autonomy technology development projects at NASA, many of which have been or will soon be the subject of flight technology experiments, or are already targeted for mission use. The talk will also survey the exciting suite of future NASA space exploration missions, and make the case for the central role of autonomy in achieving the goals of these bold, unprecedented missions: cooperating rovers on the surface of Mars, the search for Earth-like planets around nearby stars, asteroid and comet landers, aerobots in planetary atmospheres, and a series of missions to intriguing Europa, perhaps culminating in a submersible to investigate its putative ocean. Finally, the talk will conclude with some farther-reaching speculations on how to create properties such as long-term survivability and evolvability in future space systems, such that they will be well equipped to extend humanity exploratory presence into the interstellar realm.

Doyle, Richard J.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Linking Satellites Via Earth "Hot Spots" and the Internet to Form Ad Hoc Constellations

As more assets are placed in orbit, opportunities emerge to combine various sets of satellites in temporary constellations to perform collaborative image collections. Often, new operations concepts for a satellite or set of satellites emerge after launch. To the degree with which new space assets can be inexpensively and rapidly integrated into temporary or "ad hoc" constellations, will determine whether these new ideas will be implemented or not. On the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite, a New Millennium Program mission, a number of experiments were conducted and are being conducted to demonstrate various aspects of an architecture that, when taken as a whole, will enable progressive mission autonomy. In particular, the target architecture will use adaptive ground antenna arrays to form, as close as possible, the equivalent of wireless access points for low earth orbiting satellites. Coupled with various ground and flight software and the Internet. the architecture enables progressive mission autonomy. Thus, new collaborative sensing techniques can be implemented post-launch. This paper will outline the overall operations concept and highlight details of both the research effort being conducted in <he area of adaptive antenna arrays and some of the related successful autonomy software that has been implemented using EO-1 and other operational satellites. Keywords: collaborative remote sensing smart antennas, adaptive antenna arrays, sensor webs. ad hoc constellations, mission autonomy and

Mandl, Dan↗
NASA NTRS2007

Mission Simulation Toolkit

The Mission Simulation Toolkit (MST) is a flexible software system for autonomy research. It was developed as part of the Mission Simulation Facility (MSF) project that was started in 2001 to facilitate the development of autonomous planetary robotic missions. Autonomy is a key enabling factor for robotic exploration. There has been a large gap between autonomy software (at the research level), and software that is ready for insertion into near-term space missions. The MST bridges this gap by providing a simulation framework and a suite of tools for supporting research and maturation of autonomy. MST uses a distributed framework based on the High Level Architecture (HLA) standard. A key feature of the MST framework is the ability to plug in new models to replace existing ones with the same services. This enables significant simulation flexibility, particularly the mixing and control of fidelity level. In addition, the MST provides automatic code generation from robot interfaces defined with the Unified Modeling Language (UML), methods for maintaining synchronization across distributed simulation systems, XML-based robot description, and an environment server. Finally, the MSF supports a number of third-party products including dynamic models and terrain databases. Although the communication objects and some of the simulation components that are provided with this toolkit are specifically designed for terrestrial surface rovers, the MST can be applied to any other domain, such as aerial, aquatic, or space.

Pisaich, Gregory↗
NASA NTRS2003

Autonomous Mission Manager for Rendezvous, Inspection and Mating

To meet cost and safety objectives, space missions that involve proximity operations between two vehicles require a high level of autonomy to successfully complete their missions. The need for autonomy is primarily driven by the need to conduct complex operations outside of communication windows, and the communication time delays inherent in space missions. Autonomy also supports the goals of both NASA and the DOD to make space operations more routine, and lower operational costs by reducing the requirement for ground personnel. NASA and the DoD have several programs underway that require a much higher level of autonomy for space vehicles. NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program has ambitious goals of reducing costs by a factor or 10 and improving safety by a factor of 100. DARPA has recently begun its Orbital Express to demonstrate key technologies to make satellite servicing routine. The Air Force's XSS-ll program is developing a protoflight demonstration of an autonomous satellite inspector. A common element in space operations for many NASA and DOD missions is the ability to rendezvous, inspect anclJor dock with another spacecraft. For DARPA, this is required to service or refuel military satellites. For the Air Force, this is required to inspect un-cooperative resident space objects. For NASA, this is needed to meet the primary SLI design reference mission of International Space Station re-supply. A common aspect for each of these programs is an Autonomous Mission Manager that provides highly autonomous planning, execution and monitoring of the rendezvous, inspection and docking operations. This paper provides an overview of the Autonomous Mission Manager (AMM) design being incorporated into many of these technology programs. This AMM provides a highly scalable level of autonomous operations, ranging from automatic execution of ground-derived plans to highly autonomous onboard planning to meet ground developed mission goals. The AMM provides the capability to automatically execute the plans and monitor the system performance. In the event of system dispersions or failures the AMM can modify plans or abort to assure overall system safety. This paper describes the design and functionality of Draper's AMM framework, presents concept of operations associated with the use of the AMM, and outlines the relevant features of the flight demonstrations.

Zimpfer, Douglas J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

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.↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Europa Lander Mission: A Space Exploration Challenge for Autonomous Operations

NASA has proposed a Europa Lander Mission, with a notional launch date in the 2024-2025 timeframe. Key features of the mission are: Take 5 samples from 10 cm under the Europa surface; Mission duration is expected to be 20 (Earth) days; Data will be telemetered data back to Earth via a dedicated Carrier Relay Orbiter (CRO) spacecraft. Some information about the Europa surface is available from Cassini, indicating the presence of mountains, ridges, and other complex features, and simulations of planet-wide lighting can be performed, but this information is available only at 6m per pixel resolution (Galileo imagery). While surface temperatures are exceedingly cold (average of 114 degrees Kelvin, or minus 160 degrees Centigrade at the equator), this need not translate to solid (and hard) ice. The possible presence of small grain features (snow-like), penitentes (inverse-icicles), plumes, and other complex terrain features, will complicate operations. The time delay for such a mission is 30-60 minutes. The CRO is in view of the Lander for roughly 8 hours, and is in view of Earth for roughly 10 hours, meaning significant autonomy will be needed. A compelling case can be made for the use of aggressive autonomous operations of the *entire* mission. In this talk we will describe the Europa mission and its objectives, as well as similar Icy Worlds missions of the future. We will then describe the autonomy challenges of such a mission, using examples of similar missions and specific autonomy technologies that have been used in the past to address these challenges. We will make the case that despite some technologies that may be suitable, Europa lander presents a unique, and unaddressed, challenge for autonomy.

Plan Execution↗
NASA NTRS2019

NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS)

NASA Platform for Autonomous Systems (NPAS) is a disruptive software platform and processes being developed by the NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC) Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL). Autonomous operations are critical for the success, safety and crew survival of NASA deep space missions beyond low Earth orbit, including the Gateway, and for the future of cost-effective ground mission operations. NPAS represents the embodiment of an innovative paradigm for “thinking” autonomy in contrast to brute-force autonomy. NPAS uniquely addresses the requirements and integrates the primary functionalities for autonomous operations, in one platform that includes: (1) Integrated System Health Management (ISHM); (2) autonomy strategies, guided by system health and concepts of operations; (3) domain objects (system elements) and infrastructure to create complete application domain knowledge models (4) infrastructure to create, schedule, and execute mission plans; (5) infrastructure to develop user interfaces for comprehensive awareness; and (6) infrastructure to integrate distributed autonomous applications across networks. NPAS is a single platform that can be used to make any system operate with any desirable degree of autonomy, as well as provide comprehensive system awareness to operators and users.

Figueroa, Fernando↗