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At least 109 records · Page 6

Status and projections of the NAS program

NASA's Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program has completed development of the initial operating configuration of the NAS Processing System Network (NPSN). This is the first milestone in the continuing and pathfinding effort to provide state-of-the-art supercomputing for aeronautics research and development. The NPSN, available to a nation-wide community of remote users, provides a uniform UNIX environment over a network of host computers ranging from the Cray-2 supercomputer to advanced scientific workstations. This system, coupled with a vendor-independent base of common user interface and network software, presents a new paradigm for supercomputing environments. Background leading to the NAS program, its programmatic goals and strategies, technical goals and objectives, and the development activities leading to the current NPSN configuration are presented. Program status, near-term plans, and plans for the next major milestone, the extended operating configuration, are also discussed.

Bailey, Frank R.

Solutions of some problems in applied mathematics using MACSYMA

Various Symbolic Manipulation Programs (SMP) were tested to check the functioning of their commands and suitability under various operating systems. Support systems for SMP were found to be relatively better than the one for MACSYMA. The graphics facilities for MACSYMA do not work as expected under the UNIX operating system. Not all commands for MACSYMA function as described in the manuals. Shape representation is a central issue in computer graphics and computer-aided design. Aside from appearance, there are other application dependent, desirable properties like continuity to certain order, symmetry, axis-independence, and variation-diminishing properties. Several shape representations are studied, which include the Osculatory Method, a Piecewise Cubic Polynomial Method using two different slope estimates, Piecewise Cubic Hermite Form, a method by Harry McLaughlin, and a Piecewise Bezier Method. They are applied to collected physical and chemical data. Relative merits and demerits of these methods are examined. Kinematics of a single link, non-dissipative robot arm is studied using MACSYMA. Lagranian is set-up and Lagrange's equations are derived. From there, Hamiltonian equations of motion are obtained. Equations suggest that bifurcation of solutions can occur, depending upon the value of a single parameter. Using the characteristic function W, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation is derived. It is shown that the H-J equation can be solved in closed form. Analytical solutions to the H-J equation are obtained.

Punjabi, Alkesh

PCOS - An operating system for modular applications

This paper is an introduction to the PCOS operating system for the MC68000 family processors. Topics covered are: development history; development support; rational for development of PCOS and salient characteristics; architecture; and a brief comparison of PCOS to UNIX.

Tharp, V. P.

Applications software supporting the Spartan Attitude Control System

The native software supporting a single mission for the Spartan Attitude Control System can require up to 40,000 lines of code. Most of this must be rewritten for each mission. Control system engineers use an array of Applications Software Packages residing in ground computers to write each mission's flight software. These Applications Packages are written in the 'C' programming language and run under the UNIX Operating System. This paper discusses each of the Attitude Control Applications Software Packages, and describes the purpose and design of each.

Stone, R. W.

A computer graphics pilot project - Spacecraft mission support with an interactive graphics workstation

The NASA Computer Graphics Pilot Project was undertaken to enhance the quality control, productivity and efficiency of mission support operations at the Goddard Operations Support Computing Facility. The Project evolved into a set of demonstration programs for graphics intensive simulated control room operations, particularly in connection with the complex space missions that began in the 1980s. Complex mission mean more data. Graphic displays are a means to reduce the probabilities of operator errors. Workstations were selected with 1024 x 768 pixel color displays controlled by a custom VLSI chip coupled to an MC68010 chip running UNIX within a shell that permits operations through the medium of mouse-accessed pulldown window menus. The distributed workstations run off a host NAS 8040 computer. Applications of the system for tracking spacecraft orbits and monitoring Shuttle payload handling illustrate the system capabilities, noting the built-in capabilities of shifting the point of view and rotating and zooming in on three-dimensional views of spacecraft.

Hagedorn, John

Status and projections of the NAS Program

NASA's Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Program has completed development of the initial operating configuration of the NAS Processing System Network (NPSN). This is the first milestone in the continuing and pathfinding effort to provide state-of-the-art supercomputing for aeronautics research and development. The NPSN, available to a nation-wide community of remote users, provides a uniform UNIX environment over a network of host computers ranging from the new Cray-2 supercomputer to advanced scientific workstations. This system, coupled with a vendor-independent base of common user interface and network software, presents a new paradigm for supercomputing environments. Presented here is the background leading to the NAS Program, its programmatic goals and strategies, technical goals and objectives, and the development activities leading to the current NPSN configuration. Program status, near-term plans and plans for the next major milestone, the extended operating configuration, are also discussed.

Bailey, F. R.

Lick Observatory charge-coupled-device data acquisition system

The Lick Observatory CCD data acquisition system is described, with some observational results to illustrate the system capability. The electronics for the CCD are subdivided into those attached to the dewar, a 'smart' controller near the dewar, and a computer connected by serial link to the smart controller. Software for the controller is in assembler code, while the software for data acquisition and on-line analysis is written in C and uses the UNIX operating system. The computers and controllers are programmed to recognize and operate several different types of CCD. Three separate instruments that use the CCDs are described briefly, together with examples of the data they produce.

Robinson, L. B.

Hybrid Applications Of Artificial Intelligence

STAR, Simple Tool for Automated Reasoning, is interactive, interpreted programming language for development and operation of artificial-intelligence application systems. Couples symbolic processing with compiled-language functions and data structures. Written in C language and currently available in UNIX version (NPO-16832), and VMS version (NPO-16965).

Borchardt, Gary C.

Network Queueing System

Program directs traffic in UNIX-based network. NQS provides facilities for remote queueing, request routing, remote status, queue-access controls, batch-request resource-quota limits, and remote output return. Written in C.

Kingsbury, Brent

The network queueing system

Described is the implementation of a networked, UNIX based queueing system developed on contract for NASA. The system discussed supports both batch and device requests, and provides the facilities of remote queueing, request routing, remote status, queue access controls, batch request resource quota limits, and remote output return.

Kingsbury, Brent K.

Space station operating system study

The current phase of the Space Station Operating System study is based on the analysis, evaluation, and comparison of the operating systems implemented on the computer systems and workstations in the software development laboratory. Primary emphasis has been placed on the DEC MicroVMS operating system as implemented on the MicroVax II computer, with comparative analysis of the SUN UNIX system on the SUN 3/260 workstation computer, and to a limited extent, the IBM PC/AT microcomputer running PC-DOS. Some benchmark development and testing was also done for the Motorola MC68010 (VM03 system) before the system was taken from the laboratory. These systems were studied with the objective of determining their capability to support Space Station software development requirements, specifically for multi-tasking and real-time applications. The methodology utilized consisted of development, execution, and analysis of benchmark programs and test software, and the experimentation and analysis of specific features of the system or compilers in the study.

Horn, Albert E.

A flexible search strategy for production systems

Most problems considered to be solvable by expert systems have very large search space. It is imperative to use efficient search strategy in expert system tools. Thus, OPS5 uses a kind of hill climbing which is very efficient. However, hill climbing is inadequate for many problems because it is one of the least dependable search strategies. In order to make the search efficient and adequate one can: (1) adopt best-first search instead of hill climbing, or (2) modify hill climbing with intelligent backtracking. The second alternative is adopted. It is implemented in a production system called PRO2 embedded in C running on UNIX. It is called hill tracking. It is a general purpose tool for developing expert systems. This is a rule based production system with an effective, intelligent and flexible backtracking control mechanism, which makes the system more dependable. The advantages and disadvantages of PRO2 are discussed.

Dey, Pradip

The Lick Observatory CCD data acquisition system

An evolving system for CCD data acquisition is described. The electronics are subdivided into those attached to the dewar, a 'smart' controller near the dewar, and a computer connected by serial link to the smart controller. Software for the smart controller is in assembler code, while the data acquisition and on-line analysis software is written in 'C' and uses the UNIX operating system.

Robinson, L. B.

An integrated modular environment for SAGA

A key component of the 'SAGA' metatool system for software development support is an integrated modular environment that furnishes a uniform view of software components and can be adapted for different programming languages and development methodologies. Attention is presently given to the model/representation of the entities thus used in software development; programs are structured on the basis of modules whose relationships form layers of abstraction. Different views of the program under development are provided for different development phases. The implementation of the modular environment based on the model of a UNIX system is presented.

Kirslis, Peter A.

DEDIX 87 - A supervisory system for design diversity experiments at UCLA

To establish a long-term research facility for further experimental investigations of design diversity as a means of achieving fault-tolerant systems, the DEDIX (Design Diversity Experiment) system, a distributed supervisor and testbed for multiversion software, was designed and implemented by researchers at the UCLA Dependable Computing and Fault-Tolerant Systems Laboratory. DEDIX is available on the Olympus local network, which utilizes the Locus distributed operating system to operate a set of several VAX 11/750 computers at the UCLA Center for Experimental Computer Science. DEDIX is portable to any machine which runs a Unix operating system. The DEDIX system is described and its applications are discussed in this paper. A review of current research is also presented.

Avizienis, Algirdas

Managing Data From Signal-Propagation Experiments

Computer programs generate characteristic plots from amplitudes and phases. Software system enables minicomputer to process data on amplitudes and phases of signals received during experiments in ground-mobile/satellite radio propagation. Takes advantage of file-handling capabilities of UNIX operating system and C programming language. Interacts with user, under whose guidance programs in FORTRAN language generate plots of spectra or other curves of types commonly used to characterize signals. FORTRAN programs used to process file-handling outputs into any of several useful forms.

Kantak, A. V.

NASA Structural Analysis System (NASTRAN)

NASTRAN used to design products ranging from aircraft to automobiles to printers. In addition to DEC VAX, IBM, CDC, and UNIVAC machine versions, NASTRAN available for MicroVAX under VMS and UNIX. COSMIC generates new release of NASTRAN each year.

Brugh, R. L.