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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS2004

Pilot In Command: A Feasibility Assessment of Autonomous Flight Management Operations

Several years of NASA research have produced the air traffic management operational concept of Autonomous Flight Management with high potential for operational feasibility, significant system and user benefits, and safety. Among the chief potential benefits are demand-adaptive or scalable capacity, user flexibility and autonomy that may finally enable truly successful business strategies, and compatibility with current-day operations such that the implementation rate can be driven from within the user community. A concept summary of Autonomous Flight Management is provided, including a description of how these operations would integrate in shared airspace with existing ground-controlled flight operations. The mechanisms enabling the primary benefits are discussed, and key findings of a feasibility assessment of airborne autonomous operations are summarized. Concept characteristics that impact safety are presented, and the potential for initially implementing Autonomous Flight Management is discussed.

Wing, David J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Toward a Dynamically Reconfigurable Computing and Communication System for Small Spacecraft

Future science missions will require the use of multiple spacecraft with multiple sensor nodes autonomously responding and adapting to a dynamically changing space environment. The acquisition of random scientific events will require rapidly changing network topologies, distributed processing power, and a dynamic resource management strategy. Optimum utilization and configuration of spacecraft communications and navigation resources will be critical in meeting the demand of these stringent mission requirements. There are two important trends to follow with respect to NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) future scientific missions: the use of multiple satellite systems and the development of an integrated space communications network. Reconfigurable computing and communication systems may enable versatile adaptation of a spacecraft system's resources by dynamic allocation of the processor hardware to perform new operations or to maintain functionality due to malfunctions or hardware faults. Advancements in FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) technology make it possible to incorporate major communication and network functionalities in FPGA chips and provide the basis for a dynamically reconfigurable communication system. Advantages of higher computation speeds and accuracy are envisioned with tremendous hardware flexibility to ensure maximum survivability of future science mission spacecraft. This paper discusses the requirements, enabling technologies, and challenges associated with dynamically reconfigurable space communications systems.

Kifle, Muli↗
NASA NTRS1991

Information logistics: A production-line approach to information services

Logistics can be defined as the process of strategically managing the acquisition, movement, and storage of materials, parts, and finished inventory (and the related information flow) through the organization and its marketing channels in a cost effective manner. It is concerned with delivering the right product to the right customer in the right place at the right time. The logistics function is composed of inventory management, facilities management, communications unitization, transportation, materials management, and production scheduling. The relationship between logistics and information systems is clear. Systems such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Point of Sale (POS) systems, and Just in Time (JIT) inventory management systems are important elements in the management of product development and delivery. With improved access to market demand figures, logisticians can decrease inventory sizes and better service customer demand. However, without accurate, timely information, little, if any, of this would be feasible in today's global markets. Information systems specialists can learn from logisticians. In a manner similar to logistics management, information logistics is concerned with the delivery of the right data, to the ring customer, at the right time. As such, information systems are integral components of the information logistics system charged with providing customers with accurate, timely, cost-effective, and useful information. Information logistics is a management style and is composed of elements similar to those associated with the traditional logistics activity: inventory management (data resource management), facilities management (distributed, centralized and decentralized information systems), communications (participative design and joint application development methodologies), unitization (input/output system design, i.e., packaging or formatting of the information), transportations (voice, data, image, and video communication systems), materials management (data acquisition, e.g., EDI, POS, external data bases, data entry) and production scheduling (job, staff, and project scheduling).

Adams, Dennis↗
NASA NTRS2024

Architecture of High-Altitude Operations (HAO) Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS)

The aviation industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, necessitating the development of efficient, secure, and interoperable systems to manage increasingly complex air traffic. Moreover, the demand for High-Altitude Operations (HAO) is increasing. Furthermore, air traffic control services are limited in HAO environments. HAO industry participants will need airspace access and flexibility to perform their missions in this airspace that provides provisions for scalability. The Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS) will be a cornerstone of the HAO ecosystem, enabling the effective sharing of critical airspace data, including operational intent, aircraft trajectories, and airspace usage among various stakeholders and operators. The DSS architecture addresses these challenges with a distributed, decentralized, and interoperable system that facilitates seamless integration across diverse airspaces. It prioritizes secure data exchange while safeguarding data ownership. This white paper presents the vision, architecture, and benefits of the DSS for HAO, underscoring its potential to streamline operations, reduce redundancies, and establish a foundation for safe and efficient airspace management.

HAO↗
NASA NTRS1994

The design and implementation of EPL: An event pattern language for active databases

The growing demand for intelligent information systems requires closer coupling of rule-based reasoning engines, such as CLIPS, with advanced data base management systems (DBMS). For instance, several commercial DBMS now support the notion of triggers that monitor events and transactions occurring in the database and fire induced actions, which perform a variety of critical functions, including safeguarding the integrity of data, monitoring access, and recording volatile information needed by administrators, analysts, and expert systems to perform assorted tasks; examples of these tasks include security enforcement, market studies, knowledge discovery, and link analysis. At UCLA, we designed and implemented the event pattern language (EPL) which is capable of detecting and acting upon complex patterns of events which are temporally related to each other. For instance, a plant manager should be notified when a certain pattern of overheating repeats itself over time in a chemical process; likewise, proper notification is required when a suspicious sequence of bank transactions is executed within a certain time limit. The EPL prototype is built in CLIPS to operate on top of Sybase, a commercial relational DBMS, where actions can be triggered by events such as simple database updates, insertions, and deletions. The rule-based syntax of EPL allows the sequences of goals in rules to be interpreted as sequences of temporal events; each goal can correspond to either (1) a simple event, or (2) a (possibly negated) event/condition predicate, or (3) a complex event defined as the disjunction and repetition of other events. Various extensions have been added to CLIPS in order to tailor the interface with Sybase and its open client/server architecture.

Giuffrida, G.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Application of the integrated utilities concept to community-size developments

It is shown that the modular integrated utility systems (MIUS) concept (combining the utility services of electrical power, heating and cooling, water supply and waste water treatment, and solid waste management into a single local plant) can be applied to community-size developments with major benefits of energy (fossil fuels) savings, reduction in solid waste haul-off quantity, and reduction in fresh water demand. Compared to a conventional utilities system, MIUS energy and water savings are found to reach 38 and 17%, respectively. Effluent and solid waste load reduction attain 17 and 80%, respectively. These benefits are obtainable through use of commercially available hardware and at costs competitive with conventional utilities.

Redding, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS): Development of a CubeSat-Compatible Instrument

The Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS) is a fast, high-uniformity, low-polarization sensitivity imaging spectrometer and telescope system designed for integration on a 6U CubeSat platform. Operating in the 350-1700 nm spectral region with 5.7 nm sampling, SWIS is capable of simultaneously addressing the demanding needs of coastal ocean science and snow and ice monitoring. New key technologies that facilitate the development of this instrument include a linear variable anti-reflection (LVAR) detector coating for stray light management, and a single drive on-board calibration mechanism utilizing a transmissive diffuser for solar calibration. We provide an overview of the SWIS instrument design, spacecraft configuration design, and potential science missions.

Dyson spectrometer↗
NASA NTRS2017

Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS): First alignment and characterization results

The Snow and Water Imaging Spectrometer (SWIS) is a fast, high-uniformity, low-polarization sensitivity imaging spectrometer and telescope system designed for integration on a 6U CubeSat platform. Operating in the 350-1700 nm spectral region with 5.7 nm sampling, SWIS is capable of simultaneously addressing the demanding needs of coastal ocean science and snow and ice monitoring. New key technologies that facilitate the development of this instrument include a linear variable anti-reflection (LVAR) detector coating for stray light management, and a single drive on-board calibration mechanism utilizing a transmissive diffuser for solar calibration. We provide an overview of the SWIS instrument design and potential science applications and describe the instrument assembly and alignment, supported by laboratory measurements.

Van Gorp, Byron E.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Evaluation of an Arrival Coordinator Position in a Terminal Metering Enviornment

NASA has developed an integrated arrival-management solution for terminal area precision scheduling (TAPSS). Ahuman-in-the-loop simulation investigated the performance of the components of the TAPSS system. The focus ofthis paper is set on the terminal radar approach control (TRACON) traffic management controller (TMC) and ArrivalRadar Coordinator (ARC) combined position, which played an integral part in coordinating, adjusting, and instantiatingthe arrival schedule computed by the TAPSS system. Analysis of the simulation data highlights the roleof the ARC within the described terminal metering environment, describes his planning strategies, the interactionswith his tools and coordination with controllers, and lends insights to the impact of the ARCs actions to the arrivalproblem. High levels of comfort and confidence were reported when working with the TAPSS system. Challengesposed the sequencing of unscheduled satellite arrival flights during periods of peak demand. To accommodate thoseflights into the arrival stream, the ARC had to identify sequence slots, while minimizing disruptions to the schedule.

terminal metering↗
NASA NTRS2016

Utilizing the ISS Mission as a Testbed to Develop Cognitive Communications Systems

The ISS provides an excellent opportunity for pioneering artificial intelligence software to meet the challenges of real-time communications (comm) link management. This opportunity empowers the ISS Program to forge a testbed for developing cognitive communications systems for the benefit of the ISS mission, manned Low Earth Orbit (LEO) science programs and future planetary exploration programs. In November, 1998, the Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) started the ISS Antenna Manager (IAM) project to develop a single processor supporting multiple comm satellite tracking for two different antenna systems. Further, the processor was developed to be highly adaptable as it supported the ISS mission through all assembly stages. The ISS mission mandated communications specialists with complete knowledge of when the ISS was about to lose or gain comm link service. The current specialty mandated cognizance of large sun-tracking solar arrays and thermal management panels in addition to the highly-dynamic satellite service schedules and rise/set tables. This mission requirement makes the ISS the ideal communications management analogue for future LEO space station and long-duration planetary exploration missions. Future missions, with their precision-pointed, dynamic, laser-based comm links, require complete autonomy for managing high-data rate communications systems. Development of cognitive communications management systems that permit any crew member or payload science specialist, regardless of experience level, to control communications is one of the greater benefits the ISS can offer new space exploration programs. The IAM project met a new mission requirement never previously levied against US space-born communications systems management: process and display the orientation of large solar arrays and thermal control panels based on real-time joint angle telemetry. However, IAM leaves the actual communications availability assessment to human judgment, which introduces unwanted variability because each specialist has a different core of experience with comm link performance. Because the ISS utilizes two different frequency bands, dynamic structure can be occasionally translucent at one frequency while it can completely interdict service at the other frequency. The impact of articulating structure on the comm link can depend on its orientation at the time it impinges on the link. It can become easy for a human specialist to cross-associate experience at one frequency with experience at the other frequency. Additionally, the specialist's experience is incremental, occurring one nine-hour shift at a time. Only the IAM processor experiences the complete 24x7x365 communications link performance for both communications links but, it has no "learning capability." If the IAM processor could be endowed with a cognitive ability to remember past structure-induced comm link outages, based on its knowledge of the ISS position, attitude, communications gear, array joint angles and tracking accuracy, it could convey such experience to the human operator. It could also use its learned communications link behaviors to accurately convey the availability of future communications sessions. Further, the tool could remember how accurately or inaccurately it predicted availability and correct future predictions based on past performance. The IAM tool could learn frequency-specific impacts due to spacecraft structures and pass that information along as "experience." Such development would provide a single artificial intelligence processor that could provide two different experience bases. If it also "knew" the satellite service schedule, it could distinguish structure blockage from schedule or planet blockage and then quickly switch to another satellite. Alternatively, just as a human operator could judge, a cognizant comm system based on the IAM model could "know" that the blockage is not going to last very long and continue tracking a comm satellite, waiting for it to track away from structure. Ultimately, once this capability was fully developed and tested in the Mission Control Center, it could be transferred on-orbit to support development of operations concepts that include more advanced cognitive communications systems. Future applications of this capability are easily foreseen because even more dynamic satellite constellations with more nodes and greater capability are coming. Currently, the ISS fully employs a 300 million bit-per-second (Mbps) return link for harvesting payload science. In the coming eighteen months, it will step up to 600 Mbps. Already there is talk of a 1.2 billion bit-per-second (Gbps) upgrade for the ISS and laser comm links have already been tested from the ISS. Every data rate upgrade mandates more complicated and sensitive communications equipment which implies greater expertise invested in the human operator. Future on-orbit cognizant comm systems will be needed to meet greater performance demands aboard larger, far more complicated spacecraft. In the LEO environment, the old-style one-satellite-per-spacecraft operations concept will give way to a new concept of a single customer spacecraft simultaneously using multiple comm satellites. Much more highly-dynamic manned LEO missions with decades of crew members potentially increase the demand for communications link performance. A cognizant on-board communications system will meet advanced communications demands from future LEO missions and future planetary missions. The ISS has fledgling components of future exploration programs, both LEO and planetary. Further, the Flight Operations Directorate, through the IAM project, has already begun to develop a communications management system that attempts to solve advanced problems ideally represented by dynamic structure impacting scheduled satellite service. With an earnest project to integrate artificial intelligence into the IAM processor, the ISS Program could develop a cognizant communications system that could be adapted and transferred to future on-orbit avionics designs.

Jackson, Dan↗
NASA NTRS2016

Utilizing the ISS Mission as a Testbed to Develop Cognitive Communications Systems

The ISS provides an excellent opportunity for pioneering artificial intelligence software to meet the challenges of real-time communications (comm) link management. This opportunity empowers the ISS Program to forge a testbed for developing cognitive communications systems for the benefit of the ISS mission, manned Low Earth Orbit (LEO) science programs and future planetary exploration programs. In November, 1998, the Flight Operations Directorate (FOD) started the ISS Antenna Manager (IAM) project to develop a single processor supporting multiple comm satellite tracking for two different antenna systems. Further, the processor was developed to be highly adaptable as it supported the ISS mission through all assembly stages. The ISS mission mandated communications specialists with complete knowledge of when the ISS was about to lose or gain comm link service. The current specialty mandated cognizance of large sun-tracking solar arrays and thermal management panels in addition to the highly-dynamic satellite service schedules and rise/set tables. This mission requirement makes the ISS the ideal communications management analogue for future LEO space station and long-duration planetary exploration missions. Future missions, with their precision-pointed, dynamic, laser-based comm links, require complete autonomy for managing high-data rate communications systems. Development of cognitive communications management systems that permit any crew member or payload science specialist, regardless of experience level, to control communications is one of the greater benefits the ISS can offer new space exploration programs. The IAM project met a new mission requirement never previously levied against US space-born communications systems management: process and display the orientation of large solar arrays and thermal control panels based on real-time joint angle telemetry. However, IAM leaves the actual communications availability assessment to human judgement, which introduces unwanted variability because each specialist has a different core of experience with comm link performance. Because the ISS utilizes two different frequency bands, dynamic structure can be occasionally translucent at one frequency while it can completely interdict service at the other frequency. The impact of articulating structure on the comm link can depend on its orientation at the time it impinges on the link. It can become easy for a human specialist to cross-associate experience at one frequency with experience at the other frequency. Additionally, the specialist's experience is incremental, occurring one nine-hour shift at a time. Only the IAM processor experiences the complete 24x7x365 communications link performance for both communications links but, it has no "learning capability." If the IAM processor could be endowed with a cognitive ability to remember past structure-induced comm link outages, based on its knowledge of the ISS position, attitude, communications gear, array joint angles and tracking accuracy, it could convey such experience to the human operator. It could also use its learned communications link behaviors to accurately convey the availability of future communications sessions. Further, the tool could remember how accurately or inaccurately it predicted availability and correct future predictions based on past performance. The IAM tool could learn frequency-specific impacts due to spacecraft structures and pass that information along as "experience." Such development would provide a single artificial intelligence processor that could provide two different experience bases. If it also "knew" the satellite service schedule, it could distinguish structure blockage from schedule or planet blockage and then quickly switch to another satellite. Alternatively, just as a human operator could judge, a cognizant comm system based on the IAM model could "know" that the blockage is not going to last very long and continue tracking a comm satellite, waiting for it to track away from structure. Ultimately, once this capability was fully developed and tested in the Mission Control Center, it could be transferred on-orbit to support development of operations concepts that include more advanced cognitive communications systems. Future applications of this capability are easily foreseen because even more dynamic satellite constellations with more nodes and greater capability are coming. Currently, the ISS fully employs its high-data-rate return link for harvesting payload science. In the coming months, it will double that data rate and is forecast to fully utilize that capability. Already there is talk of an upgrade that quadruples the current data rate allocated to ISS payload science before the end of its mission and laser comm links have already been tested from the ISS. Every data rate upgrade mandates more complicated and sensitive communications equipment which implies greater expertise invested in the human operator. Future on-orbit cognizant comm systems will be needed to meet greater performance demands aboard larger, far more complicated spacecraft. In the LEO environment, the old-style one-satellite-per-spacecraft operations concept will give way to a new concept of a single customer spacecraft simultaneously using multiple comm satellites. Much more highly-dynamic manned LEO missions with decades of crew members potentially increase the demand for communications link performance. A cognizant on-board communications system will meet advanced communications demands from future LEO missions and future planetary missions. The ISS has fledgling components of future exploration programs, both LEO and planetary. Further, the Flight Operations Directorate, through the IAM project, has already begun to develop a communications management system that attempts to solve advanced problems ideally represented by dynamic structure impacting scheduled satellite service. With an earnest project to integrate artificial intelligence into the IAM processor, the ISS Program could develop a cognizant communications system that could be adapted and transferred to future on-orbit avionics designs.

Jackson, Dan↗
NASA NTRS2016

Biospecimen Culling: Temporal RNA Integrity Analysis Across Spaceflight Missions Dating from 1985 to 2011

The Ames Life Science Data Archive (ALSDA) at NASA Ames Research Center is managed by the Space Biosciences Division and has been operational since 1993. The ALSDA is responsible for archiving information and biospecimens collected from life science spaceflight experiments and matching ground control experiments. They are stored in the Ames biobank, which is located in the Biospecimen Storage Facility (BSF). The ALSDA also manages a Biospecimen Sharing Program, performs curation and long-term storage operations, and makes biospecimens available to the scientific community for research purposes via the Life Science Data Archive public website (https:lsda.jsc.nasa.gov). The BSF maintains both fixed and frozen spaceflight and ground tissues, collected from recent and past spaceflight missions. Due to the ever increasing demand for space to preserve current and future flight biospecimens, the ALSDA has initiated the development of a culling plan for biospecimens currently stored in the BSF. Culling enables the ALSDA to assess the quality of archived samples, and supports the development of standardized culling procedures that improve the operational efficiency of the BSF. The culling plan focuses on generating disposition recommendations for samples in the BSF, and currently is based on measuring ribonucleic acid (RNA) integrity number (RIN). The culling process includes (1) sorting and identification of candidate samples for RIN analysis, (2) completion of RIN analysis on select samples, and (3) development of disposition recommendations for specimens based on the RIN values. Furthermore, our approach allows for unique scientific opportunities, including development of a RIN-based methodology for culling, and temporal assessment of the quality of the tissues that have been stored in BSF since the 1980s. Results of this work will also support NASA open science initiatives.

biospecimen↗
NASA NTRS2013

Evaluation of Flight Deck-Based Interval Management Crew Procedure Feasibility

Air traffic demand is predicted to increase over the next 20 years, creating a need for new technologies and procedures to support this growth in a safe and efficient manner. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration - 1 (ATD-1) will operationally demonstrate the feasibility of efficient arrival operations combining ground-based and airborne NASA technologies. The integration of these technologies will increase throughput, reduce delay, conserve fuel, and minimize environmental impacts. The ground-based tools include Traffic Management Advisor with Terminal Metering for precise time-based scheduling and Controller Managed Spacing decision support tools for better managing aircraft delay with speed control. The core airborne technology in ATD-1 is Flight deck-based Interval Management (FIM). FIM tools provide pilots with speed commands calculated using information from Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast. The precise merging and spacing enabled by FIM avionics and flight crew procedures will reduce excess spacing buffers and result in higher terminal throughput. This paper describes a human-in-the-loop experiment designed to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the ATD-1 procedures used in a voice communications environment. This experiment utilized the ATD-1 integrated system of ground-based and airborne technologies. Pilot participants flew a high-fidelity fixed base simulator equipped with an airborne spacing algorithm and a FIM crew interface. Experiment scenarios involved multiple air traffic flows into the Dallas-Fort Worth Terminal Radar Control airspace. Results indicate that the proposed procedures were feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment. The delivery accuracy at the achieve-by point was within +/- five seconds and the delivery precision was less than five seconds. Furthermore, FIM speed commands occurred at a rate of less than one per minute, and pilots found the frequency of the speed commands to be acceptable at all times throughout the experiment scenarios.

Wilson, Sara R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Smart built-in test

The work which built-in test (BIT) is asked to perform in today's electronic systems increases with every insertion of new technology or introduction of tighter performance criteria. Yet the basic purpose remains unchanged -- to determine with high confidence the operational capability of that equipment. Achievement of this level of BIT performance requires the management and assimilation of a large amount of data, both realtime and historical. Smart BIT has taken advantage of advanced techniques from the field of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to meet these demands. The Smart BIT approach enhances traditional functional BIT by utilizing AI techniques to incorporate environmental stress data, temporal BIT information and maintenance data, and realtime BIT reports into an integrated test methodology for increased BIT effectiveness and confidence levels. Future research in this area will incorporate onboard fault-logging of BIT output, stress data and Smart BIT decision criteria in support of a singular, integrated and complete test and maintenance capability. The state of this research is described along with a discussion of directions for future development.

Richards, Dale W.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Man-Machine Interaction Design and Analysis System (MIDAS): Memory Representation and Procedural Implications for Airborne Communication Modalities

The Man-Machine Interaction Design and Analysis System (MIDAS) has been under development for the past ten years through a joint US Army and NASA cooperative agreement. MIDAS represents multiple human operators and selected perceptual, cognitive, and physical functions of those operators as they interact with simulated systems. MIDAS has been used as an integrated predictive framework for the investigation of human/machine systems, particularly in situations with high demands on the operators. Specific examples include: nuclear power plant crew simulation, military helicopter flight crew response, and police force emergency dispatch. In recent applications to airborne systems development, MIDAS has demonstrated an ability to predict flight crew decision-making and procedural behavior when interacting with automated flight management systems and Air Traffic Control. In this paper we describe two enhancements to MIDAS. The first involves the addition of working memory in the form of an articulatory buffer for verbal communication protocols and a visuo-spatial buffer for communications via digital datalink. The second enhancement is a representation of multiple operators working as a team. This enhanced model was used to predict the performance of human flight crews and their level of compliance with commercial aviation communication procedures. We show how the data produced by MIDAS compares with flight crew performance data from full mission simulations. Finally, we discuss the use of these features to study communications issues connected with aircraft-based separation assurance.

Corker, Kevin M.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Urban Air Mobility System Testbed Using CAVE Virtual Reality Environment

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) refers to a system of air passenger and small cargo transportation within an urban area. The UAM framework also includes other urban Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) services that will be supported by a mix of onboard, ground, piloted, and autonomous operations. Over the past few years UAM research has gained wide interest from companies and federal agencies as an on-demand innovative transportation option that can help reduce traffic congestion and pollution as well as increase mobility in metropolitan areas. The concepts of UAM/UAS operation in the National Airspace System (NAS) remains an active area of research to ensure safe and efficient operations. With new developments in smart vehicle design and infrastructure for air traffic management, there is a need for methods to integrate and test various components of the UAM framework. In this work, we report on the development of a virtual reality (VR) testbed using the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) technology for human-automation teaming and airspace operation research of UAM. Using a four-wall projection system with motion capture, the CAVE provides an immersive virtual environment with real-time full body tracking capability. We created a virtual environment consisting of San Francisco city and a vertical take-off-and-landing passenger aircraft that can fly between a downtown location and the San Francisco International Airport. The aircraft can be operated autonomously or manually by a single pilot who maneuvers the aircraft using a flight control joystick. The interior of the aircraft includes a virtual cockpit display with vehicle heading, location, and speed information. The system can record simulation events and flight data for post-processing. The system parameters are customizable for different flight scenarios; hence, the CAVE VR testbed provides a flexible method for development and evaluation of UAM framework.

Marayong, Panadda↗
NASA NTRS1992

Information Management for a Large Multidisciplinary Project

In 1989, NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) initiated the High-Speed Airframe Integration Research (HiSAIR) Program to develop and demonstrate an integrated environment for high-speed aircraft design using advanced multidisciplinary analysis and optimization procedures. The major goals of this program were to evolve the interactions among disciplines and promote sharing of information, to provide a timely exchange of information among aeronautical disciplines, and to increase the awareness of the effects each discipline has upon other disciplines. LaRC historically has emphasized the advancement of analysis techniques. HiSAIR was founded to synthesize these advanced methods into a multidisciplinary design process emphasizing information feedback among disciplines and optimization. Crucial to the development of such an environment are the definition of the required data exchanges and the methodology for both recording the information and providing the exchanges in a timely manner. These requirements demand extensive use of data management techniques, graphic visualization, and interactive computing. HiSAIR represents the first attempt at LaRC to promote interdisciplinary information exchange on a large scale using advanced data management methodologies combined with state-of-the-art, scientific visualization techniques on graphics workstations in a distributed computing environment. The subject of this paper is the development of the data management system for HiSAIR.

Kennie H Jones↗
NASA NTRS1992

Integration and use of Microgravity Research Facility: Lessons learned by the crystals by vapor transport experiment and Space Experiments Facility programs

The Crystals by Vapor Transport Experiment (CVTE) and Space Experiments Facility (SEF) are materials processing facilities designed and built for use on the Space Shuttle mid deck. The CVTE was built as a commercial facility owned by the Boeing Company. The SEF was built under contract to the UAH Center for Commercial Development of Space (CCDS). Both facilities include up to three furnaces capable of reaching 850 C minimum, stand-alone electronics and software, and independent cooling control. In addition, the CVTE includes a dedicated stowage locker for cameras, a laptop computer, and other ancillary equipment. Both systems are designed to fly in a Middeck Accommodations Rack (MAR), though the SEF is currently being integrated into a Spacehab rack. The CVTE hardware includes two transparent furnaces capable of achieving temperatures in the 850 to 870 C range. The transparent feature allows scientists/astronauts to directly observe and affect crystal growth both on the ground and in space. Cameras mounted to the rack provide photodocumentation of the crystal growth. The basic design of the furnace allows for modification to accommodate techniques other than vapor crystal growth. Early in the CVTE program, the decision was made to assign a principal scientist to develop the experiment plan, affect the hardware/software design, run the ground and flight research effort, and interface with the scientific community. The principal scientist is responsible to the program manager and is a critical member of the engineering development team. As a result of this decision, the hardware/experiment requirements were established in such a way as to balance the engineering and science demands on the equipment. Program schedules for hardware development, experiment definition and material selection, flight operations development and crew training, both ground support and astronauts, were all planned and carried out with the understanding that the success of the program science was as important as the hardware functionality. How the CVTE payload was designed and what it is capable of, the philosophy of including the scientists in design and operations decisions, and the lessons learned during the integration process are descussed.

Heizer, Barbara L.↗