Seeking a Common Language for Spacecraft Command and Control
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From Scattergories to Categories: Toward a Common Language for JPL Information
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Mathieu, Camille↗
A Common Trajectory Language for New Airspace Domains
Revolutionary new aviation services are currently in development, including small package delivery and short-range urban passenger transportation. These new services need a language to represent and deconflict trajectories, and a common language will simplify coordination between the new airspace domains as well as traditional airspace. A Trajectory Specification Language (TSL) was previously proposed for traditional air traffic, and it can also serve as a common language for the new aviation domains and services. The TSL specifies a reference trajectory in 4D space along with spatial tolerances that determine a bounding volume at any given time in flight. The tolerances are defined in terms of the route-oriented cross-track, along-track, and vertical axes, and they are allowed to vary with distance along the route. This bounding model can guarantee safe separation between flights as long as they are in conformance with their assigned trajectories. The advantages of this model over the previously proposed Operational Intent Volumes (OIVs) in terms of airspace usage efficiency are explained.
air traffic control, aircraft trajectory, language↗
A common distributed language approach to software integration
An important objective in software integration is the development of techniques to allow programs written in different languages to function together. Several approaches are discussed toward achieving this objective and the Common Distributed Language Approach is presented as the approach of choice.
Antonelli, Charles J.↗
Medical Systems Engineering to Support Mars Mission Crew Autonomy
Human spaceflight missions to Mars face exceptionally challenging resource limitations that far exceed those faced before. Increasing transit times, decreasing opportunity for resupply, communications challenges, and extended time to evacuate a crew to definitive medical care dictate a level of crew autonomy in medical care that is beyond the current medical model. To approach this challenge, a medical systems engineering approach is proposed that relies on a clearly articulated Concept of Operations and risk analysis tools that are in development at NASA. This paper proposes an operational clinical model with key terminology and concepts translated to a controls theory paradigm to frame a common language between clinical and engineering teams. This common language will be used for design and validation of an exploration medical system that is fully integrated into a Mars transit vehicle. This approach merges medical simulation, human factors evaluation techniques, and human-in-the-loop testing in ground based analogs to tie medical hardware and software subsystem performance and overall medical system functionality to metrics of operational medical autonomy. Merging increases in operational clinical autonomy with a more restricted vehicle system resource scenario in interplanetary spaceflight will require an unprecedented level of medical and engineering integration. Full integration of medical capabilities into a Mars vehicle system may require a new approach to integrating medical system design and operations into the vehicle Program structure. Prior to the standing-up of a Mars Mission Program, proof of concept is proposed through the Human Research Program.
Antonsen, Erik↗
An evaluation of Turbo Prolog with an emphasis on its application to the development of expert systems
Turbo Prolog is a recently available, compiled version of the programming language Prolog. Turbo Prolog is designed to provide not only a Prolog compiler, but also a program development environment for the IBM Personal Computer family. An evaluation of Turbo Prolog was made, comparing its features to other versions of Prolog and to the community of languages commonly used in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development. Three programs were employed to determine the execution speed of Turbo Prolog applied to various problems. The results of this evaluation demonstrated that Turbo Prolog can perform much better than many commonly employed AI languages for numerically intensive problems and can equal the speed of development languages such as OPS5+ and CLIPS, running on the IBM PC. Applications for which Turbo Prolog is best suited include those which (1) lend themselves naturally to backward-chaining approaches, (2) require extensive use of mathematics, (3) contain few rules, (4) seek to make use of the window/color graphics capabilities of the IBM PC, and (5) require linkage to programs in other languages to form a complete executable image.
Loftin, Richard B.↗
RenderMan design principles
The two worlds of interactive graphics and realistic graphics have remained separate. Fast graphics hardware runs simple algorithms and generates simple looking images. Photorealistic image synthesis software runs slowly on large expensive computers. The time has come for these two branches of computer graphics to merge. The speed and expense of graphics hardware is no longer the barrier to the wide acceptance of photorealism. There is every reason to believe that high quality image synthesis will become a standard capability of every graphics machine, from superworkstation to personal computer. The significant barrier has been the lack of a common language, an agreed-upon set of terms and conditions, for 3-D modeling systems to talk to 3-D rendering systems for computing an accurate rendition of that scene. Pixar has introduced RenderMan to serve as that common language. RenderMan, specifically the extensibility it offers in shading calculations, is discussed.
Apodaca, Tony↗
Methodology for Examining the Operator and the System Concurrently: Pilot Interaction with Automation
Complex system description is problematic when considering operator task activities interacting with system dynamics. Engineering languages have matured sufficiently to allow machine system description at various levels of depth and breadth but without operator synergy. Concurrently, Task Analysis methods have evolved along diverse lines enabling a description of the operator in the system from various paradigms but not describing the system. A void exists when attempting to view the system and the operator in the same plane. We propose a methodology employing descriptive languages from different domains viewed in a single dimension. Finite Automata (FA) languages describe the machine system in the proposed approach. Operator task specifications, a form of task analysis output, examine the operator activities within the system. Operator task specifications were then selected for discrete task activities and overlaid on the system description to examine operator inputs and subsequently view system responses. Unexpected (surprise) and undesirable system behavior was expected to emerge from this analysis. In this paper we shall first describe the methodology and show how the two perspectives, machine model and operator task specifications are integrated. Following we describe the process of doing such analysis using an example from cockpit automation. The methodology was employed in the analysis of a new function that was added to an existing automatic flight control system. We begin by defining a flight scenario involving all aspects of pilot interaction with the new function. Then, we proceed to develop a basic model of the machine behavior, in the context of pilot actions. Finally we superimpose the operator task specification on the machine model and perform the analysis. The proposed methodology may have broad appeal to system designers and human factors specialists. A common language for engineers of diverse domains is a strong point of this approach. Systems engineers may not fully understand operational considerations and human limitations, and human factors specialists may not be exposed to the full extent of system behavior. We hope the proposed methodology is adopted by both disciplines and in the process each assimilates a common language to address potential shortcomings of either approach separately.
Austin, David↗
A common risk language
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risk management↗
Source Lines Counter (SLiC) Version 4.0
Source Lines Counter (SLiC) is a software utility designed to measure software source code size using logical source statements and other common measures for 22 of the programming languages commonly used at NASA and the aerospace industry. Such metrics can be used in a wide variety of applications, from parametric cost estimation to software defect analysis. SLiC has a variety of unique features such as automatic code search, automatic file detection, hierarchical directory totals, and spreadsheet-compatible output. SLiC was written for extensibility; new programming language support can be added with minimal effort in a short amount of time. SLiC runs on a variety of platforms including UNIX, Windows, and Mac OSX. Its straightforward command-line interface allows for customization and incorporation into the software build process for tracking development metrics. T
Monson, Erik W.↗
Reliability Models and Attributable Risk
The intention of this report is to bring a developing and extremely useful statistical methodology to greater attention within the Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance Office of the NASA Johnson Space Center. The statistical methods in this exposition are found under the heading of attributable risk. Recently the Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance Office at the Johnson Space Center has supported efforts to introduce methods of medical research statistics dealing with the survivability of people to bear on the problems of aerospace that deal with the reliability of component hardware used in the NASA space program. This report, which describes several study designs for which attributable risk is used, is in concert with the latter goals. The report identifies areas of active research in attributable risk while briefly describing much of what has been developed in the theory of attributable risk. The report, which largely is a report on a report, attempts to recast the medical setting and language commonly found in descriptions of attributable risk into the setting and language of the space program and its component hardware.
Jarvinen, Richard D.↗
Leadership and Cultural Challenges in Operating the International Space Station
Operating the International Space Station (ISS) involves an indefinite, continuous series of long-duration international missions, and this requires an unprecedented degree of cooperation across multiple sites, organizations, and nations. ISS flight controllers have had to find ways to maintain effective team performance in this challenging new context. The goal of this study was to systematically identify and evaluate the major leadership and cultural challenges faces by ISS flight controllers, and to highlight the approaches that they have found most effective to surmount these challenges. We conducted a qualitative survey using a semi-structured interview. Subjects included 14 senior NASA flight controllers who were chosen on the basis of having had substantial experience working with international partners. Data were content analyzed using an iterative process with multiple coders and consensus meetings to resolve discrepancies. To further explore the meaning of the interview findings, we also conducted some new analyses of data from a previous questionnaire study of Russian and American ISS mission control personnel. The interview data showed that respondents had substantial consensus on several leadership and cultural challenges and on key strategies for dealing with them, and they offered a wide range of specific tactics for implementing these strategies. Surprisingly few respondents offered strategies for addressing the challenge of working with team members whose native language is not American English. The questionnaire data showed that Americans think it is more important than Russians that mission control personnel speak the same dialect of one shared common language. Although specific to the ISS program, our results are consistent with recent management, cultural, and aerospace research. We aim to use our results to improve training for current and future ISS flight controllers.
Clement, J. L.↗
A Framework for Writing Science Measurement Requirements and its Application to the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission
Science-engineering communication is critical to the success of any science-driven mission. The process of building this understanding relies on a shared language for communicating science needs and engineering results, which can be particularly difficult on large space-science missions where many different institutions contribute to the science team. The Science Traceability Matrix can be used to formalize this communication pathway, but it has limited use in the development of the science requirements flow down, and vary in format, scope and content from mission to mission. There are many guidelines on developing well-constructed requirements in general, but very little is published on how to actually write these science-driven requirements in a systematic way. This paper discusses the measurement-domain science traceability and alignment framework, or M-STAF, which was developed to help frame the conversation between scientists and engineers in the development of science measurement requirements. The MSTAF provides a common language that can be used to ensure consistency across instruments, completeness in the coverage of the requirements, and traceability of the engineering work to the science objectives of the project. This work discusses the framework in the context of other communication tools, how it can be implemented on a flight project, and provides examples of how it might be used to improve the measurement requirements set for a project. The general framework is presented through the lens of its potential application on the planned Europa Mission.
Oaida, Bogdan V.↗
Fundamental Equations of the LIF Hydroxyl Measurements, Appendix a
The equation relating OH concentration to the observed detector count rate for a given laser flux is defined. That equation, which will be referred to henceforth as the central equation for absolute sensitivity, will be cast in terms of standard spectroscopic quantities such as oscillator strengths, Hoenl-London factors, rotational and vibrational quantum numbers, etc., such that it may be tested directly under laboratory conditions. The working expressions used by each of the OH laser induced fluorescence (LIF) groups will be related to this central equation, thereby establishing a common language for the comparison of experimental results and the definition of LIF system performance. The relevant structural details of the OH radical via a spectroscopic description of the energy levels and transitions employed in the LIF method are detailed. The central equation relating observed count rate to absolute concentration will be derived, and that equation will be related to the observed quantities cited by each of the experimental groups engaged in the measurement of OH in the Earth's atmosphere.
Source record↗
A color graphics environment in support of supercomputer systems
An initial step in the integration of an upgrade of a VPS-32 supercomputer to 16 million 64-bit words, to be closely followed by a further upgrade to 32 million words, was to develop a graphics language commonality with other computers at the Langley Center. The power of the upgraded supercomputer is to users at individual workstations, who will aid in defining the direction for future expansions in both graphics software and workstation requirements for the supercomputers. The LAN used is an ETHERNET configuration featuring both CYBER mainframe and PDP 11/34 image generator computers. The system includes a film recorder for image production in slide, CRT, 16 mm film, 35 mm film or polaroid film images. The workstations have screen resolutions of 1024 x 1024 with each pixel being one of 256 colors selected from a palette of 16 million colors. Each screen can have up to 8 windows open at a time, and is driven by a MC68000 microprocessor drawing on 4.5 Mb RAM, a 40 Mb hard disk and two floppy drives. Input is from a keyboard, digitizer pad, joystick or light pen. The system now allows researchers to view computed results in video time before printing out selected data.
Smith-Taylor, R.↗
On statistical searches for filaments
The presence or absence of an excess of filamentary structure in the galaxy distribution has important implications for the origin of such structure. In an attempt to answer this question, many statistics have been devised to quantify the visual impression of filaments seen in galaxy maps, but few of these are at all well understood. Two of these, a quadrupole elongation statistic and a nearest-neighbor alignment statistic, are analyzed in the common language of the irreducible N-point correlation functions of the galaxy distribution, and it is argued that there has as yet been no success in isolating filaments in particular from clustering in general.
Fry, J. N.↗
A generic fine-grained parallel C
With the present availability of parallel processors of vastly different architectures, there is a need for a common language interface to multiple types of machines. The parallel C compiler, currently under development, is intended to be such a language. This language is based on the belief that an algorithm designed around fine-grained parallelism can be mapped relatively easily to different parallel architectures, since a large percentage of the parallelism has been identified. The compiler generates a FORTH-like machine-independent intermediate code. A machine-dependent translator will reside on each machine to generate the appropriate executable code, taking advantage of the particular architectures. The goal of this project is to allow a user to run the same program on such machines as the Massively Parallel Processor, the CRAY, the Connection Machine, and the CYBER 205 as well as serial machines such as VAXes, Macintoshes and Sun workstations.
Hamet, L.↗
A planning and scheduling lexicon
A lexicon related to mission planning and scheduling for spacecraft is presented. Planning and scheduling work is known as sequencing. Sequencing is a multistage process of merging requests from both the science and engineering arenas to accomplish the objectives defined in the requests. The multistage process begins with the creation of science and engineering goals, continues through their integration into the sequence, and eventually concludes with command execution onboard the spacecraft. The objective of this publication is to introduce some formalism into the field of spacecraft sequencing-system technology. This formalism will make it possible for researchers and potential customers to communicate about system requirements and capabilities in a common language.
Cruz, Jennifer W.↗