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Kepler: A Search for Terrestrial Planets - SOC 9.3 DR25 Pipeline Parameter Configuration Reports

This document describes the manner in which the pipeline and algorithm parameters for the Kepler Science Operations Center (SOC) science data processing pipeline were managed. This document is intended for scientists and software developers who wish to better understand the software design for the final Kepler codebase (SOC 9.3) and the effect of the software parameters on the Data Release (DR) 25 archival products.

exoplanet↗

Towards the Development of a Multi-Agent Cognitive Networking System for the Lunar Environment

This paper details the development of a multi-agent cognitive system intended to optimize networking performance in the lunar environment. NASA’s current concept of the future of lunar communication, LunaNet [1], outlines a complex network of networks. Challenges such as scalability, interoperability and reliability must first be addressed to successfully fulfill this vision. Machine intelligence can greatly reduce the reliance on human operators and enable efficient operations for tasks such as scheduling and network management. The application of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other automated decision-making techniques can be used to allow network nodes to intelligently sense and adapt to changes in the environment such as link disruptions, new nodes joining the network, and support for a diverse range of protocols. Cognitive networking seeks to evolve these technologies into an autonomous system with improved science data return, reliability, and scalability. In this paper, we study three main areas a means to further develop cognitive networking capabilities: networking and flight software development, analysis of wireless data for modeling and simulation, and development of algorithms for a multi-agent system.

Cognitive Networking↗

Towards the Development of a Multi-Agent Cognitive Networking System for the Lunar Environment

This paper details the development of a multi-agent cognitive system intended to optimize networking performance in the lunar environment. NASA’s current concept of the future of lunar communication, LunaNet, outlines a complex network of networks. Challenges such as scalability, interoperability and reliability must first be addressed to successfully fulfill this vision. Machine intelligence can greatly reduce the reliance on human operators and enable efficient operations for tasks such as scheduling and network management. The application of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other automated decision-making techniques can be used to allow network nodes to intelligently sense and adapt to changes in the environment such as link disruptions, new nodes joining the network, and support for a diverse range of protocols. Cognitive networking seeks to evolve these technologies into an autonomous system with improved science data return, reliability, and scalability. In this paper, we study three main areas a means to further develop cognitive networking capabilities: networking and flight software development, analysis of wireless data for modeling and simulation, and development of algorithms for a multi-agent system.

Rachel Dudukovich↗

From the Knowledge-based Digital Platform (KbDP) Concept for Advanced Air Mobility Research to a Preliminary Prototype

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) encompasses a range of innovative operational and technological changes to aviation (electric aircraft, increasingly automated aircraft, increasingly automated airspace operations, etc.) that are transforming aviation’s role in everyday movement of people and goods. There are multiple associated concepts and use cases for AAM, all interrelated, including small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), Upper-Class E Traffic Management (ETM), Extensible Traffic Management (xTM), Regional Air Mobility (RAM), and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). These AAM operations must integrate with traditional Air Traffic Management (ATM) operations, as well as non-aviation modes of transportation and logistics. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is spearheading an innovative digital engineering approach to integrate, communicate, and facilitate the research of multi-modal transportation systems. The Knowledge-based Digital Platform (KbDP) is a concept being developed that ties the workflows of Project Managers (PM), Principal Investigators (PI), and System Engineers together across organizational boundaries. It does so through the management of an information database defined by mathematical, data science, and system engineering principles. Machine Learning (ML) algorithms play a key role in this concept by extracting meaningful knowledge from the information database, which the human user leverages to greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their research. Expected benefits of this concept include improved technology transfers from research to production, improved research portfolio investments, and research outcomes that are more integrated with all aspects of the multi-modal transportation problem. The preliminary KbDP prototype has been realized using UAM as a pathfinder use case and developed by a team of system engineer, software developer, data scientist, and interns.

Systems Engineering↗

Telemetry Monitoring and Display Using LabVIEW

The Measurement Technology Center of the Instrumentation Section configures automated data acquisition systems to meet the diverse needs of JPL's experimental research community. These systems are based on personal computers or workstations (Apple, IBM/Compatible, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems) and often include integrated data analysis, visualization and experiment control functions in addition to data acquisition capabilities. These integrated systems may include sensors, signal conditioning, data acquisition interface cards, software, and a user interface. Graphical programming is used to simplify configuration of such systems. Employment of a graphical programming language is the most important factor in enabling the implementation of data acquisition, analysis, display and visualization systems at low cost. Other important factors are the use of commercial software packages and off-the-shelf data acquisition hardware where possible. Understanding the experimenter's needs is also critical. An interactive approach to user interface construction and training of operators is also important. One application was created as a result of a competative effort between a graphical programming language team and a text-based C language programming team to verify the advantages of using a graphical programming language approach. With approximately eight weeks of funding over a period of three months, the text-based programming team accomplished about 10% of the basic requirements, while the Macintosh/LabVIEW team accomplished about 150%, having gone beyond the original requirements to simulate a telemetry stream and provide utility programs. This application verified that using graphical programming can significantly reduce software development time. As a result of this initial effort, additional follow-on work was awarded to the graphical programming team.

graphical user interface LabVIEW graphical program↗

Application of reusable software components at the SEI

Robert Holibaugh of the Software Engineering Institute described a project which is studying the application of reusable software components. The primary goals are to gain practical experience with state-of-the-art reusable components, methods, and tools and to capture the lessons learned in the application of reuse technology. In addition the project will assess the impact of reuse on the software development process and products and will identify and validate the information that facilities software reuse during system development. The project includes two tasks - a reuse experiment and a redevelopment effort. The reuse experiment will define a life cycle and a methodology for reuse-based development, and define and implement a data collection mechanism for measuring the development. The redevelopment effort will construct a reuse test bed and will redevelop and realistically test subsystems from an embedded mission-critical real-time application. The reuse experiment will produce several products including a tested real-time application, reuse-based components and tools evaluation, a reuse-based development method, a framework for data collection, a framework for measuring productivity, and lessons learned data. Successful development with reusable components will require a rich set of components and an integrating methodology. The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile system is the application for the redevelopment effort.

Holibaugh, Robert↗

Knowledge Acquisition for the Onboard Planner of an Autonomous Spacecraft

This paper discusses the knowledge acquisition issues involved in transitioning their novel technology in to space flight software, developing the planer in the context of a large software projet and completing the work under a compressed development schedule.

Knowledge Aquisition Deep Space↗

Multiscale Failure Analysis of Laminated Composite Panels Subjected to Blast Loading Using FEAMAC/Explicit

This preliminary report demonstrates the capabilities of the recently developed software implementation that links the Generalized Method of Cells to explicit finite element analysis by extending a previous development which tied the generalized method of cells to implicit finite elements. The multiscale framework, which uses explicit finite elements at the global-scale and the generalized method of cells at the microscale is detailed. This implementation is suitable for both dynamic mechanics problems and static problems exhibiting drastic and sudden changes in material properties, which often encounter convergence issues with commercial implicit solvers. Progressive failure analysis of stiffened and un-stiffened fiber-reinforced laminates subjected to normal blast pressure loads was performed and is used to demonstrate the capabilities of this framework. The focus of this report is to document the development of the software implementation; thus, no comparison between the results of the models and experimental data is drawn. However, the validity of the results are assessed qualitatively through the observation of failure paths, stress contours, and the distribution of system energies.

Pineda, Evan J.↗

A New Approach to Monitoring Coastal Marshes for Persistent Flooding

Many areas in coastal Louisiana are below sea level and protected from flooding by a system of natural and man-made levees. Flooding is common when the levees are overtopped by storm surge or rising rivers. Many levees in this region are further stressed by erosion and subsidence. The floodwaters can become constricted by levees and trapped, causing prolonged inundation. Vegetative communities in coastal regions, from fresh swamp forest to saline marsh, can be negatively affected by inundation and changes in salinity. As saltwater persists, it can have a toxic effect upon marsh vegetation causing die off and conversion to open water types, destroying valuable species habitats. The length of time the water persists and the average annual salinity are important variables in modeling habitat switching (cover type change). Marsh type habitat switching affects fish, shellfish, and wildlife inhabitants, and can affect the regional ecosystem and economy. There are numerous restoration and revitalization projects underway in the coastal region, and their effects on the entire ecosystem need to be understood. For these reasons, monitoring persistent saltwater intrusion and inundation is important. For this study, persistent flooding in Louisiana coastal marshes was mapped using MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) time series of a Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). The time series data were derived for 2000 through 2009, including flooding due to Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008. Using the NDWI, duration and extent of flooding can be inferred. The Time Series Product Tool (TSPT), developed at NASA SSC, is a suite of software developed in MATLAB(R) that enables improved-quality time series images to be computed using advanced temporal processing techniques. This software has been used to compute time series for monitoring temporal changes in environmental phenomena, (e.g. NDVI times series from MODIS), and was modified and used to compute the NDWI indices and also the Normalized Difference Soil Index (NDSI). Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) water levels from various hydrologic monitoring stations and aerial photography were used to optimize thresholds for MODIS-derived time series of NDWI and to validate resulting flood maps. In most of the profiles produced for post-hurricane assessment, the increase in the NDWI index (from storm surge) is accompanied by a decrease in the vegetation index (NDVI) and then a period of declining water. The NDSI index represents non-green or dead vegetation and increases after the hurricane s destruction of the marsh vegetation. Behavior of these indices over time is indicative of which areas remain flooded, which areas recover to their former levels of vegetative vigor, and which areas are stressed or in transition. Tracking these indices over time shows the recovery rate of vegetation and the relative behavior to inundation persistence. The results from this study demonstrated that identification of persistent marsh flooding, utilizing the tools developed in this study, provided an approximate 70-80 percent accuracy rate when compared to the actual days flooded at the CRMS stations.

Kalcic, M. T.↗

Army technology development. IBIS query. Software to support the Image Based Information System (IBIS) expansion for mapping, charting and geodesy

The Image Based Information System (IBIS) has been under development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) since 1975. It is a collection of more than 90 programs that enable processing of image, graphical, tabular data for spatial analysis. IBIS can be utilized to create comprehensive geographic data bases. From these data, an analyst can study various attributes describing characteristics of a given study area. Even complex combinations of disparate data types can be synthesized to obtain a new perspective on spatial phenomena. In 1984, new query software was developed enabling direct Boolean queries of IBIS data bases through the submission of easily understood expressions. An improved syntax methodology, a data dictionary, and display software simplified the analysts' tasks associated with building, executing, and subsequently displaying the results of a query. The primary purpose of this report is to describe the features and capabilities of the new query software. A secondary purpose of this report is to compare this new query software to the query software developed previously (Friedman, 1982). With respect to this topic, the relative merits and drawbacks of both approaches are covered.

Friedman, S. Z.↗

Maneuver analysis

The maneuver analysis for the Mariner 9 mission, both prelaunch and in-flight, was different from that of previous Mariners because of the requirement to insert the spacecraft into orbit about Mars and to trim the orbit to an unprecedented accuracy. The most apparent differences were in the spacecraft design, the software development, and the maneuver strategy required for each phase of the mission. The analysis that was performed and the software that was developed, with emphasis on the maneuver strategy and actual in-flight results are described.

Mitchell, R. T.↗

Goddard Space Flight Center's Structural Dynamics Data Acquisition System

Turnkey Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) data acquisition systems typically perform well and meet most of the objectives of the manufacturer. The problem is that they seldom meet most of the objectives of the end user. The analysis software, if any, is unlikely to be tailored to the end users specific application; and there is seldom the chance of incorporating preferred algorithms to solve unique problems. Purchasing a customized system allows the end user to get a system tailored to the actual application, but the cost can be prohibitive. Once the system has been accepted, future changes come with a cost and response time that's often not workable. When it came time to replace the primary digital data acquisition system used in the Goddard Space Flight Center's Structural Dynamics Test Section, the decision was made to use a combination of COTS hardware and in-house developed software. The COTS hardware used is the DataMAX II Instrumentation Recorder built by R.C. Electronics Inc. and a desktop Pentium 4 computer system. The in-house software was developed using MATLAF3 from The Mathworks. This paper will describe the design and development of the new data acquisition and analysis system.

McLeod, Christopher↗

Goddard Space Flight Center's Structural Dynamics Data Acquisition System

Turnkey Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) data acquisition systems typically perform well and meet most of the objectives of the manufacturer. The problem is that they seldom meet most of the objectives of the end user. The analysis software, if any, is unlikely to be tailored to the end users specific application; and there is seldom the chance of incorporating preferred algorithms to solve unique problems. Purchasing a customized system allows the end user to get a system tailored to the actual application, but the cost can be prohibitive. Once the system has been accepted, future changes come with a cost and response time that's often not workable. When it came time to replace the primary digital data acquisition system used in the Goddard Space Flight Center's Structural Dynamics Test Section, the decision was made to use a combination of COTS hardware and in-house developed software. The COTS hardware used is the DataMAX II Instrumentation Recorder built by R.C. Electronics Inc. and a desktop Pentium 4 computer system. The in-house software was developed using MATLAB from The MathWorks. This paper will describe the design and development of the new data acquisition and analysis system.

McLeod, Christopher↗

Object-oriented development

Object Oriented Development (OOD) is one of the extremely few software development methods actually designed for modern Ada language, real-time, embedded applications. OOD is a significant improvement over more traditional functional decomposition and modeling methods in that ODD: Better manages the size, complexity, and concurrancy of today's systems; Better addresses important software engineering principles such as abstract data types, levels of abstraction, and information hiding; Produces a better design that more closely matches reality; Produces more maintainable software by better localizing data and thus limiting the impact of requirements changes; and Specifically exploits the power of Ada. OOD is further explored in detail.

Firesmith, Donald G.↗

Acoustic Emission Analysis Applet (AEAA) Software

NASA Glenn Research and NASA White Sands Test Facility have developed software supporting an automated pressure vessel structural health monitoring (SHM) system based on acoustic emissions (AE). The software, referred to as the Acoustic Emission Analysis Applet (AEAA), provides analysts with a tool that can interrogate data collected on Digital Wave Corp. and Physical Acoustics Corp. software using a wide spectrum of powerful filters and charts. This software can be made to work with any data once the data format is known. The applet will compute basic AE statistics, and statistics as a function of time and pressure (see figure). AEAA provides value added beyond the analysis provided by the respective vendors' analysis software. The software can handle data sets of unlimited size. A wide variety of government and commercial applications could benefit from this technology, notably requalification and usage tests for compressed gas and hydrogen-fueled vehicles. Future enhancements will add features similar to a "check engine" light on a vehicle. Once installed, the system will ultimately be used to alert International Space Station crewmembers to critical structural instabilities, but will have little impact to missions otherwise. Diagnostic information could then be transmitted to experienced technicians on the ground in a timely manner to determine whether pressure vessels have been impacted, are structurally unsound, or can be safely used to complete the mission.

Nichols, Charles T.↗

Expert system verification and validation study. Delivery 3A and 3B: Trip summaries

Key results are documented from attending the 4th workshop on verification, validation, and testing. The most interesting part of the workshop was when representatives from the U.S., Japan, and Europe presented surveys of VV&T within their respective regions. Another interesting part focused on current efforts to define industry standards for artificial intelligence and how that might affect approaches to VV&T of expert systems. The next part of the workshop focused on VV&T methods of applying mathematical techniques to verification of rule bases and techniques for capturing information relating to the process of developing software. The final part focused on software tools. A summary is also presented of the EPRI conference on 'Methodologies, Tools, and Standards for Cost Effective Reliable Software Verification and Validation. The conference was divided into discussion sessions on the following issues: development process, automated tools, software reliability, methods, standards, and cost/benefit considerations.

French, Scott↗

A Description of the Software Element of the NASA EME Flight Tests

In support of NASA's Fly-By-Light/Power-By-Wire (FBL/PBW) program, a series of flight tests were conducted by NASA Langley Research Center in February, 1995. The NASA Boeing 757 was flown past known RF transmitters to measure both external and internal radiated fields. The aircraft was instrumented with strategically located sensors for acquiring data on shielding effectiveness and internal coupling. The data are intended to support computational and statistical modeling codes used to predict internal field levels of an electromagnetic environment (EME) on aircraft. The software was an integral part of the flight tests, as well as the data reduction process. The software, which provided flight test instrument control, data acquisition, and a user interface, executes on a Hewlett Packard (HP) 300 series workstation and uses BP VEEtest development software and the C programming language. Software tools were developed for data processing and analysis, and to provide a database organized by frequency bands, test runs, and sensors. This paper describes the data acquisition system on board the aircraft and concentrates on the software portion. Hardware and software interfaces are illustrated and discussed. Particular attention is given to data acquisition and data format. The data reduction process is discussed in detail to provide insight into the characteristics, quality, and limitations of the data. An analysis of obstacles encountered during the data reduction process is presented.

Koppen, Sandra V.↗

Taking advantage of ground data systems attributes to achieve quality results in testing software

During the software development life cycle process, basic testing starts with the development team. At the end of the development process, an acceptance test is performed for the user to ensure that the deliverable is acceptable. Ideally, the delivery is an operational product with zero defects. However, the goal of zero defects is normally not achieved but is successful to various degrees. With the emphasis on building low cost ground support systems while maintaining a quality product, a key element in the test process is simulator capability. This paper reviews the Transportable Payload Operations Control Center (TPOCC) Advanced Spacecraft Simulator (TASS) test tool that is used in the acceptance test process for unmanned satellite operations control centers. The TASS is designed to support the development, test and operational environments of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) operations control centers. The TASS uses the same basic architecture as the operations control center. This architecture is characterized by its use of distributed processing, industry standards, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software components, and reusable software. The TASS uses much of the same TPOCC architecture and reusable software that the operations control center developer uses. The TASS also makes use of reusable simulator software in the mission specific versions of the TASS. Very little new software needs to be developed, mainly mission specific telemetry communication and command processing software. By taking advantage of the ground data system attributes, successful software reuse for operational systems provides the opportunity to extend the reuse concept into the test area. Consistency in test approach is a major step in achieving quality results.

Sigman, Clayton B.↗