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At least 109 records · Page 6

Reliability of voting in fault-tolerant software systems for small output spaces

Under a voting strategy in a fault-tolerant software system there is a difference between correctness and agreement. An independent N-version programming reliability model is proposed for treating small output spaces which distinguishes between correctness and agreement. System reliability is investigated using analytical relationships and simulation. A consensus majority voting stratey is proposed and its performance is analyzed and compared with other voting strategies. A consensus voting strategy automatically adapts the voting to diffeerent component reliability and output space cardinality characteristics. It is shown that absolute majority voting strategy provides a lower bound on the reliability provided by the consensus majority, and the 2-of-n voting strategy an upper bound. If r is the cardinality of output space it is proved that 1/r is a lower bound on the average reliability of fault-tolerant system components below which the system reliability begins to deteriorate as more versions are added.

Mcallister, David F.

VICAR/IBIS Software System

Collection of programs provides extensive capabilities for manipulation of imagery and geographical data. VICAR/IBIS software system is combination of JPL VICAR (Video Image Communications and Retrieval System) image-processing system and JPL IBIS (Image Based Information System) geographic-information-management system. Provides user with extensive general-purpose image-processing capabilities, also information-management system for accepting, converting, and operating on vector (graphical) and tabular data. System used to perform various image processing functions on any sort of digitized image data, including such remotely sensed data as those from Landsat multispectral scanner.

Stanfill, Daniel F., IV

Space Shuttle Program Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) Success Legacy - Major Accomplishments and Lessons Learned Detail Historical Timeline Analysis

This presentation focuses on the Space Shuttle Primary Avionics Software System (PASS) and the people who developed and maintained this system. One theme is to provide quantitative data on software quality and reliability over a 30 year period. Consistent data relates to code break discrepancies. Requirements were supplied from external sources. Requirement inspections and measurements not implemented until later, beginning in 1985. Second theme is to focus on the people and organization of PASS. Many individuals have supported the PASS project over the entire period while transitioning from company to company and contract to contract. Major events and transitions have impacted morale (both positively and negatively) across the life of the project.

Orr, James K.

Unified Engineering Software System

Collection of computer programs performs diverse functions in prototype engineering. NEXUS, NASA Engineering Extendible Unified Software system, is research set of computer programs designed to support full sequence of activities encountered in NASA engineering projects. Sequence spans preliminary design, design analysis, detailed design, manufacturing, assembly, and testing. Primarily addresses process of prototype engineering, task of getting single or small number of copies of product to work. Written in FORTRAN 77 and PROLOG.

Purves, L. R.

Software System for the Mars 2020 Mission Sampling and Caching Testbeds

The development of the Sampling and Caching Subsystem (SCS) of the Mars 2020 Rover Mission is highly dependent on testing of prototype hardware and software operating in explicit conditions as part of integrated testbeds. To achieve relevant integration of hardware and software while maintaining rapid algorithm development capabilities and high testing throughput, the Controls and Autonomy for Sample Acquisition and Handling (CASAH) software system was developed. CASAH is an implementation of the Intelligent Robotics System Architecture (IRSA),which mimics JPL Flight Software (FSW) in that it is divided into hierarchical modules that run separate processes that communicate via message passing, each module is assigned an owner that is a single developer, and the operator initiates requests via a text-based interface that interprets sequences of commands.IRSA enables a modular breakdown of CASAH that follows that of 2020 Flight Software,so developers can take an algorithm from a module in CASAH and re-code it into the same module in FSW. As deployment of CASAH has grown to ten testbeds - each with different hardware and objectives - bottom-up design decisions have been intentionally made to keep the system lightweight and maintainable by a very small team. To date, CASAH has been used to run 1393 different tests. This work describes CASAH, the testbeds and functionality it supports, the tools used to manage the development and sharing of code, and the features of the software. Lessons learned over the past three years of development and deployment are provided.

Vieira, Peter

A computer software system for the generation of global ocean tides including self-gravitation and crustal loading effects

A computer software system is described which computes global numerical solutions of the integro-differential Laplace tidal equations, including dissipation terms and ocean loading and self-gravitation effects, for arbitrary diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituents. The integration algorithm features a successive approximation scheme for the integro-differential system, with time stepping forward differences in the time variable and central differences in spatial variables. Solutions for M2, S2, N2, K2, K1, O1, P1 tidal constituents neglecting the effects of ocean loading and self-gravitation and a converged M2, solution including ocean loading and self-gravitation effects are presented in the form of cotidal and corange maps.

Estes, R. H.

A computer software system for the generation of global ocean tides including self-gravitation and crustal loading effects

A computer software system is described which computes global numerical solutions of the integro-differential Laplace tidal equations, including dissipation terms and ocean loading and self-gravitation effects, for arbitrary diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituents. The integration algorithm features a successive approximation scheme for the integro-differential system, with time stepping forward differences in the time variable and central differences in spatial variables.

Estes, R. H.

User Manual for Beta Version of TURBO-GRD: A Software System for Interactive Two-Dimensional Boundary/ Field Grid Generation, Modification, and Refinement

TURBO-GRD is a software system for interactive two-dimensional boundary/field grid generation. modification, and refinement. Its features allow users to explicitly control grid quality locally and globally. The grid control can be achieved interactively by using control points that the user picks and moves on the workstation monitor or by direct stretching and refining. The techniques used in the code are the control point form of algebraic grid generation, a damped cubic spline for edge meshing and parametric mapping between physical and computational domains. It also performs elliptic grid smoothing and free-form boundary control for boundary geometry manipulation. Internal block boundaries are constructed and shaped by using Bezier curve. Because TURBO-GRD is a highly interactive code, users can read in an initial solution, display its solution contour in the background of the grid and control net, and exercise grid modification using the solution contour as a guide. This process can be called an interactive solution-adaptive grid generation.

Choo, Yung K.

Software System Safety and the NASA Aeronautics Blueprint

NASA's Aeronautics Blueprint lays out a research agenda for the Agency s aeronautics program. The word software appears only four times in this Blueprint, but the critical importance of safe and correct software to the fulfillment of the proposed research is evident on almost every page. Most of the technology solutions proposed to address challenges in aviation are software dependent technologies. Of the fifty-two specific technology solutions described in the Blueprint, forty-one depend, at least in part, on software for success. For thirty-five of these forty-one, software is not only critical to success, but also to human safety. That is, implementing the technology solutions will require using software in such a way that it may, if not specified, designed, and implemented properly, lead to fatal accidents. These results have at least two implications for the research based on the Blueprint: (1) knowledge about the current state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice in software engineering and software system safety is essential, and (2) research into current unsolved problems in these software disciplines is also essential.

Holloway, C. Michael

ARCH Technology Snapshot Autonomous Robot Control Hierarchy (ARCH): A universal software system that removes the need to rebuild robotic software for every new platform or task

Robots are increasingly used to perform repetitive, hazardous, and time-sensitive tasks, improving safety and operational efficiency. However, most robotic systems remain difficult to adapt because they are tightly tied to specific hardware and require extensive reprogramming for each new configuration.

42 ENGINEERING

Comparing direct and iterative equation solvers in a large structural analysis software system

Two direct Choleski equation solvers and two iterative preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) equation solvers used in a large structural analysis software system are described. The two direct solvers are implementations of the Choleski method for variable-band matrix storage and sparse matrix storage. The two iterative PCG solvers include the Jacobi conjugate gradient method and an incomplete Choleski conjugate gradient method. The performance of the direct and iterative solvers is compared by solving several representative structural analysis problems. Some key factors affecting the performance of the iterative solvers relative to the direct solvers are identified.

Poole, E. L.

The software system development for the TAMU real-time fan beam scatterometer data processors

A software package was designed and written to process in real-time any one quadrature channel pair of radar scatterometer signals form the NASA L- or C-Band radar scatterometer systems. The software was successfully tested in the C-Band processor breadboard hardware using recorded radar and NERDAS (NASA Earth Resources Data Annotation System) signals as the input data sources. The processor development program and the overall processor theory of operation and design are described. The real-time processor software system is documented and the results of the laboratory software tests, and recommendations for the efficient application of the data processing capabilities are presented.

Clark, B. V.

Sophisticated software systems for small self-contained space shuttle payload G285

The increasing development of small microprocessor systems has allowed the use of more advanced software in the area of control systems. This paper discusses the development of software for small Space Shuttle Getaway Special Project payloads using payload G285 as a case example. The development process behind a space related software package (as in any software package) is a major factor. The design process for G285 is discussed in some detail along with the general scheme behind data acquisition and thermal environmental control for a space related payload. Additionally, key concepts in a software system concern the implementation of redundant systems, error detection, and error response. All of these factors are discussed.

Burkhardt, Robert

A software system for emission spectrometry

A computer system was developed for an emission spectrometry facility consisting of a direct current (DC) argon arc spectrograph optically coupled to an inductively coupled plasma multichannel spectrometer. Custom hardware and software were designed to control analytical functions and perform data acquisition. The software system was designed to make operation of the facility simple for routine operation and flexible for research and development. Special software was written to collect data under controlled conditions to characterize and monitor system response. One sequence collects intensity versus time data on all channels and displays the data graphically. These profiles are useful in studying the effects of operating parameters on measurement precision. Another special sequence performs calibration using a spline curve fit procedure. Routines were also written to measure dark currents and signals from a standard tungsten halogen lamp mounted in place of the DC arc. For quality control purposes, histories of these values are kept and monitored for excess scatter or drift.

Auping, J. V.

Ulysses: A functional description and simulation software system

Current design tools for digital circuits and systems are not well-integrated among the behavioral, gate, and transistor levels of design. Ulysses is a prototype software system that consists of a description language, a description compiler, and a simulator that make no distinction among these levels. The language is uniform over the entire range of logical descriptions, the description is hierarchical with no fundamental restrictions on depth or mixing of levels, and the simulator is fully integrated with the description. The structure of the language, compiler, and simulator are described in terms of their relationships to the abstractions of physical systems that are made in order to create logical descriptions and models of behavior.

Griswold, T. W.

Epistemic Questions and Answers for Software System Safety

System safety is primarily concerned with epistemic questions, that is, questions concerning knowledge and the degree of confidence that can be placed in that knowledge. For systems with which human experience is long, such as roads, bridges, and mechanical devices, knowledge about what is required to make the systems safe is deep and detailed. High confidence can be placed in the validity of that knowledge. For other systems, however, with which human experience is comparatively short, such as those that rely in part or in whole on software, knowledge about what is required to ensure safety tends to be shallow and general. The confidence that can be placed in the validity of that knowledge is consequently low. In a previous paper, we enumerated a collection of foundational epistemic questions concerning software system safety. In this paper, we review and refine the questions, discuss some difficulties that attend to answering the questions today, and speculate on possible research to improve the situation.

Holloway, C. M.