Replacement strategy for aging avionics computers

With decreasing defense dollars available to purchase new military aircraft, the inventory of existing aircraft will have to last many more years than originally anticipated. As the avionics computers on these aging aircraft get older, they become more expensive to maintain due to parts obsolescence. In addition, expanding missions and changing requirements lead to growth in the embedded software which, in turn, requires additional processing and memory capacity. Both factors, parts obsolescence and new processing capacity, result in the need to replace the old computer hardware with newer, more capable microprocessor technology. New microprocessors, however, are not compatible with the older computer instruction set architectures. This generally requires the embedded software in these computers to be rewritten. A significant savings-estimated in the billions of dollars-could be achieved in these upgrades if the new computers could execute the old embedded code along with any new code to be added. This paper describes a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-based form, fit, function, and interface (F³I) replacement strategy for legacy avionics computers that can reuse existing avionics code “as is” while providing a flexible framework for incremental upgrades and managed change. It is based on a real-time embedded software technology that executes legacy binary code on the latest generation COTS microprocessors. This technology promises performance improvements of 5-10 times that of the legacy avionics computer that it replaces. It also promises a 4× decrease in cost and schedule over rewriting the code and provides a “known good” starting point for incremental upgrades of the embedded flight software. Code revalidation cost and risk are minimized since the structure of the embedded code is not changed, allowing the replacement computer to be retested at the “blackbox” level using existing qualification tests     

Weapons System Open Architecture - a bridge between "embedded" and "off-board"

A demonstration program is described: Weapons System Open Architecture (WSOA) - funded jointly by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), DARPA, and the Open Systems Joint Task Force (OSJTF). WSOA provides an open systems "bridge" between legacy embedded mission systems and off-board C3I sources and systems. This "bridge" is used to support Internet-like connectivity between command and attack nodes. The foundation of this bridge is the creation of a Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) layer over Link 16. In addition, application of quality of service techniques and resource management technologies will ensure the timely exchange and processing of mission critical information by both attack and command nodes in even the most time-sensitive situations.     

Autonomous flight and navigation of VTOL UAVs: from autonomy demonstrations to out-of-sight flights

Future applications of UAV systems will depend on the aircraft autonomous behavior and decision capabilities. Search and Rescue is one complex possible mission and is here taken as a case study. The ReSSAC project is a multidisciplinary project at ONERA. Its main challenges are related to the architectures and algorithms for autonomous decision and information processing onboard UAVs that perform their mission in cooperation with operators. The feasibility demonstrations and results of the project are intended to be reused and extended in further studies, projects and collaborations. A first step of the project was to develop an autonomous control architecture for our two rotorcraft. In this paper, we present the current status and preliminary achievements of the ReSSAC project, especially some records of past experimental flights with our autonomous aircraft. We further discuss ongoing studies and research perspectives.     

Performance characteristics of lithium-ion cells for NASA's Mars2001 Lander application

NASA requires lightweight rechargeable batteries for future missions to Mars and the outer planets that are capable of operating over a wide range of temperatures, with high specific energy and energy densities. Due to the attractive performance characteristics, lithium-ion batteries have been identified as the battery chemistry of choice for a number of future applications, including Mars rovers and landers. The Mars 2001 Lander (Mars Surveyor Program MSP 01) will be one of the first missions which will utilize lithium-ion technology. This application will require two lithium-ion batteries, each being 28 V (eight cells), 25 Ah and 8 kg. In addition to the requirement of being able to supply at least 200 cycles and 90 days of operation on the surface of Mars, the battery must be capable of operation (both charge and discharge) at temperatures as low as -20°C. To assess the viability of lithium-ion cells for these applications, a number of performance characterization tests have been performed, including: assessing the room temperature cycle life, low temperature cycle life (-20°C), rate capability as a function of temperature, pulse capability, self-discharge and storage characteristics, as well as mission profile capability. This paper describes the Mars 2001 Lander mission battery requirements and contains results of the cell testing conducted to-date in support of the mission,     

Risk-based technology portfolio optimization for early space mission design

The successful design, development, and operation of space missions requires informed decisions to be made across a vast array of investment, scientific, technological, and operational issues. In the work reported in this paper, we address the problem of determining optimal technology investment portfolios that minimize mission risk and maximize the expected science return of the mission. We model several relationships that explicitly link investment in technologies to mission risk and expected science return. To represent and compute these causal and computational dependencies, we introduce a generalization of influence diagrams that we call inference nets. To illustrate the approach, we present results from its application to a technology portfolio investment trade study done for a specific scenario for the projected 2009 Mars MSL mission. This case study examines the impact of investments in precision landing and long-range roving technologies on the mission capability, and the associated risk, of visiting a set of preselected science sites. We show how an optimal investment strategy can be found that minimizes the mission risk given a fixed total technology investment budget, or alternatively how to determine the minimum budget required to achieve a given acceptable mission risk.     

Software architecture requirements for DoD automatic test systems

The DoD has achieved success with recent automatic test equipment (ATE) families, as evidenced by the navy's consolidated automated support system (CASS) and the army's integrated family of test equipment (IFTE) programs. However, as these systems age, the increased requirements for technology insertion due to instrument obsolescence and the demands of advanced electronics are becoming evident. Recent advances in test technology promise to yield reduced total ownership costs (TOC) for ATE which can incorporate the new technology. The DoD automatic test system (ATS) executive agent office (EAO) objective is to significantly reduce total ownership cost. Several objectives have been identified including use of synthetic instruments, support for legacy test product sets (TPSs), and more efficient ways of developing TPSs. The NxTest software architecture will meet the objectives by providing an open systems approach to the system software. This will allow for the incorporation of commercial applications in the TPS development and execution environments and support current advances in test technology     

基于CORBA实现专业领域软件在网络环境下的集成

如何有效地将已有系统集成或移植到新系统中 ,是集成系统开发中提出的一个重要问题。本文基于CORBA技术探讨如何实现遗留系统集成的方法 ,并通过实例重点阐述如何将已有的系统封装成CORBA对象的步骤。     

E-CATS: First time demonstration of embedded training in a combat aircraft

Air Forces are facing difficulties in training pilots effectively for their missions. Due to a reduction of defense budgets, fewer resources can be made available for training. In addition, airspace available for training is limited, especially in Europe, and this is aggravated by the increase in the range of advanced weapon systems. Moreover, only few Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) sites are available for suitable training.Embedded Training (ET) is considered to be a potential solution for these problems. ET for fighter aircraft is a capability installed in an operational fighter to train the pilot while operating the aircraft in a situation it was designed for, but which is not available in everyday life. Thereto, the ET capability generates simulated threats and feeds them into the various avionics systems of the aircraft. This allows pilots to train against a virtual force, or a virtually augmented real force. Benefits of employing ET include cost reduction (fewer real aircraft are needed to act as enemy), use of smaller training airspace (simulated threats may move outside this space), and the potential to train anywhere, at any time.NLR, Dutch Space, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) have jointly developed an ET system to demonstrate the feasibility of current technology for implementing an ET capability in fighter aircraft. The system, installed in an RNLAF F-16B, supports training for ground-to-air and (one-versus-two) air-to-air engagements. It consists of two units; one unit executes the ET simulations and provides most of the required interfaces with aircraft systems, while the other unit is dedicated to interfacing with the radar processing chain.The system was evaluated by demonstrating it to a group of pilots and engineers and collecting their expert opinions. It was concluded that embedded training has considerable value for a variety of training objectives related to Beyond Visual Range tactics, and it is expected that embedded training will play an important role in the future mission training of fighter-aircraft pilots.     

Launch and Early Operation of the MESSENGER Mission

On August 3, 2004, at 2:15 a.m. EST, the MESSENGER mission to Mercury began with liftoff of the Delta II 7925H launch vehicle and 1,107-kg spacecraft including seven instruments. MESSENGER is the seventh in the series of NASA Discovery missions, the third to be built and operated by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) following the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker and Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) missions. The MESSENGER team at JHU/APL is using efficient operations approaches developed in support of the low-cost NEAR and CONTOUR operations while incorporating improved approaches for reducing total mission risk. This paper provides an overview of the designs and operational practices implemented to conduct the MESSENGER mission safely and effectively. These practices include proven approaches used on past JHU/APL operations and new improvements implemented to reduce risk, including adherence to time-proven standards of conduct in the planning and implementation of the mission. This paper also discusses the unique challenges of operating in orbit around Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, and what specific measures are being taken to address those challenges.     

交会对接任务两目标协同控制技术研究简

在载人航天工程交会对接任务阶段,北京航天飞行控制中心首次实现了真正意义上的两目标协同控制,完成了协同体系构建、协同模式研究、协同技术攻关、协同方案设计、协同系统研制的完整技术演进过程.本文主要目标是对交会对接任务北京中心的两目标协同控制技术研究成果进行总结,主要涉及在交会对接任务协同控制技术体系构建、两目标关联计划工作模式、两目标注入安排协同设计与实施的经验与不足,通过对协同系统在交会对接任务中的实战应用情况,分析交会对接任务在协同自动化手段方面的成果和后续改进完善方向,为后续空间站任务设计和实现更复杂的多目标协同控制体系积累经验和教训.     

Spacecraft Application of Expert Systems

Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a major role in future spacecraft operation. Because the technology has not matured, knowledge-based systems will be incorporated in an evolutionary manner, with increasing responsibility as their performance is proven. Internal research at Boeing Aerospace Company has demonstrated that AI software development techniques, knowledge-based systems in particular, can be used to provide limited spacecraft subsystem automation. This capability represents a first step toward an evolutionary path to spacecraft automation. A likely progression will proceed to integrated subsystem control, automated planning and scheduling, plan execution, anomoly handling, and eventually to autonomous spacecraft operation. Although this paper is written in the context of Space Station the ideas and techniques identified should be easily transferable to spacecraft automation in general.     

驾驶舱机组人员自动化系统项目综述

随着自动化技术的广泛发展和应用,驾驶舱实现无人化将成为未来发展的趋势。但现阶段自主技术 的发展和安全性水平使得军用直升机的驾驶飞行仍需飞行员的参与控制。而且,受飞行员生理极限等因素的限 制,有人直升机在作战时间、出动架次等方面存在很多局限。为此,美国国防部及工业界积极开发自主技术。 “驾驶舱机组人员自动化系统（ALIAS）”项目就是其中之一。该项目将自主技术用于现役的有人驾驶飞机, 降低机组人员的工作负荷和提高安全性,同时减少执行任务的机组人员的数量。该项目经飞行演示验证在一定 程度上缓解了飞行员的工作强度。     

Mission Overview for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes Mission

Provided here is an overview of Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission design. The driving mission and science requirements are presented, and the unique engineering challenges of operating in Earth’s radiation belts are discussed in detail. The implementation of both the space and ground segments are presented, including a discussion of the challenges inherent with operating multiple observatories concurrently and working with a distributed network of science operation centers. An overview of the launch vehicle and the overall mission design will be presented, and the plan for space weather data broadcast will be introduced.     

X-33 redundancy management system

The X-33 is an unmanned advanced technology demonstrator with a mission to validate new technologies for the next generation of Reusable Launch Vehicles. Various system redundancies are designed in the X-33 to enhance the probability of successfully completing its mission in the event of faults and failures during flight. One such redundant system is the Vehicle and Mission Computer that controls the X-33 ea, and manages the avionics subsystems. Historically, redundancy management and applications such as flight control and vehicle management tended to be highly coupled. One of the technologies that the X-33 will demonstrate is the Redundancy Management System (RMS) that uncouples the applications from the redundancy management details, in the same way that real-time operating systems have uncoupled applications from task scheduling, communication and synchronization details     

Component-Based Performance-Sensitive Real-Time Embedded Software

The software complexity is continuously increasing and the competition in the software market is becoming more intensive than ever. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the software quality, and meanwhile, minimize software development cost, and reduce software delivery time in order to gain competitive advantages. Recently, Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) was proposed and has now been applied in various industry and business applications as a possible way to achieve this goal. As verified by numerous practical applications in different fields, CBSD is able to increase software development productivity as well as improve software quality. Modern embedded real-time systems have both strict functional and non-functional requirements and they are essentially safety-critical, real-time, and embedded software-intensive systems. In particular, the crucial end-to-end quality-of-service (QoS) properties should be assured in embedded systems such as timeliness and fault tolerance. Herein, I first introduce the modern component technologies and commonly used component models. Then, the middleware in distributed real-time embedded systems is discussed. Further, adaptive system resource management is elaborated upon. Finally, the prospects of a component-based approach in implementing modern embedded real-time software is discussed and future research directions are suggested.     

Physical protection systems cost and performance analysis: a casestudy

Design and analysis of physical protection systems requires: (1) identification of mission critical assets; (2) identification of potential threats that might undermine mission capability; (3) identification of the consequences of loss of mission-critical assets (e.g., time and cost to recover required capability and impact on operational readiness); and (4) analysis of the effectiveness of physical protection elements. CPA-Cost and Performance Analysis-addresses the fourth of these four issues. CPA is a methodology that joins activity based cost estimation with performance-based analysis of physical protection systems. CPA offers system managers an approach that supports both tactical decision making and strategic planning. Current exploratory applications of the CPA methodology address analysis of alternative conceptual designs. Hypothetical data is used to illustrate this process     

Advanced Aircraft Electric System

The topics, advanced aircraft electric system and all-electric airplane, inspire a broad range of concepts from the evolutionary to the revolutionary. The revolutionary developments are exciting to the research and development community but find little encouragement or acceptance from airframe developers whose objective is to build an advanced technology airplane using only-off-the-shelf, proven equipment. Their anthem rings "We know how bad the ___________ is, but we have learned to live with it. We have only your vision of how good an advanced system will be and fear to chance it. "However, the cost of living with these known systems combined with the escalating cost of fuel and the military need to address advanced mission capability demands more than a patch called improved reliability and maintainability. The time is at hand to demonstrate an evolutionary approach to achieve a revolutionary improvement. This paper describes an advanced electric system, the life cycle cost improvement anticipated, and the evolutionary means to implementation.     

Shared technologies: a new roadmap

The long-term goal of the USAF Shared Technologies Program is to facilitate the development of a roadmap for technology insertion on the wide variety of legacy Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) accumulated by the USAF over the past 30 years. A successful roadmap will provide for Operation & Support (O&S) cost reduction, preserve Test Program Set (TPS) development investments, and evolve in concert with the DoD Executive Agent for Automatic Test Systems (ATS) initiatives and commercial industry, and (e.g., NxTest) changes. The near-term objective of this phase of the USAF Shared Technologies Program is to demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating available commercial technology into the Radio Frequency (RF) Mobile Electronic Test Set (RFMETS). The RFMETS was originally delivered to the USAF during the early 1990s and is used to support a variety of C-130 avionics including the APQ-170 and APQ-180 Radar Systems.     

ARTEMIS Mission Design

The ARTEMIS mission takes two of the five THEMIS spacecraft beyond their prime mission objectives and reuses them to study the Moon and the lunar space environment. Although the spacecraft and fuel resources were tailored to space observations from Earth orbit, sufficient fuel margins, spacecraft capability, and operational flexibility were present that with a circuitous, ballistic, constrained-thrust trajectory, new scientific information could be gleaned from the instruments near the Moon and in lunar orbit. We discuss the challenges of ARTEMIS trajectory design and describe its current implementation to address both heliophysics and planetary science objectives. In particular, we explain the challenges imposed by the constraints of the orbiting hardware and describe the trajectory solutions found in prolonged ballistic flight paths that include multiple lunar approaches, lunar flybys, low-energy trajectory segments, lunar Lissajous orbits, and low-lunar-periapse orbits. We conclude with a discussion of the risks that we took to enable the development and implementation of ARTEMIS.