{"project":{"acronym":"","projectId":16579,"title":"Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control with an Integrated Scheduler-Planner and Reactive Executive","primaryTaxonomyNodes":[{"taxonomyNodeId":10791,"taxonomyRootId":8816,"parentNodeId":10787,"level":3,"code":"TX10.2.4","title":"Execution and Control","definition":"Execution and control technologies change the system state to meet mission goals and objectives, according to a plan or schedule, subject to control authority and permission, and based on mission phase, environment or system state.","exampleTechnologies":"Reactive control (e.g. aircraft see-and-avoid, rover hazard avoidance, fault response), discrete control / scripting / mode control, contingent control (e.g. integration of fault management and planning/scheduling), subsystem procedure and automation control and situational awareness for human operator","hasChildren":false,"hasInteriorContent":true}],"startTrl":1,"currentTrl":3,"endTrl":3,"benefits":"Similarly, tele-robotics on distant planets, underwater, or on different continents require autonomous real-time integration with the planning software that is driving the vehicle. During Phase I research, the Red Canyon Team will approach NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), JPL's Mars Rover and MSL Teams, and JPL's AI Group to determine future target missions for our proposed system.
1) Unmanned/Remotely Piloted Vehicles (UAV/RPV's). Obtained a letter of support from ADSYS Controls for this potential application. 2) Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROUV) 3) Remotely Operated Ground Vehicles (ROGV) (a.k.a. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV)) 4) Commercial spacecraft avionics. In particular, the potential application of our system as the abort manager for SNC's Dream Chaser. Obtained a letter of support for this potential application.","description":"Spacecraft operations demand a high level of responsiveness in dynamic environments. During operations, it is possible for unexpected events and anomalies to disrupt the mission schedule, and in the case of critical faults, even threaten the health and safety of the spacecraft. Historically, it has been the responsibility of the mission operations team on the ground to issue command sequences and monitor spacecraft health and status to ensure that long-term science, engineering, and safety goals are achieved. Red Canyon Software is building upon previous designs for on-board, layered autonomous software flight systems employing continuous planning and command sequencing. The proposed innovation increases the robustness of on-board autonomy for space vehicle operation, while at the same time offers reductions in mission development costs by leveraging off of newer flight proven software technologies. Also, developing, verifying, and validating spacecraft activity and constraint models for use with model-based autonomous planners and reactive sequencers are difficult and complex activities. For robust, on-board autonomous systems with multiple layers of software performing varying levels of constraint checking prior to activity planning and command sequencing, more than one layer will need to be configured with the same model constraints. To reduce the cost and risk of model development and use, a single, shared spacecraft domain model representation is proposed, along with development of a graphical editor that allows system engineers to easily encode domain information and that uses verification rules to detect inconsistencies or errors.","startYear":2013,"startMonth":5,"endYear":2013,"endMonth":11,"statusDescription":"Completed","principalInvestigators":[{"contactId":506996,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Robert","lastName":"Radicevich","fullName":"Robert Radicevich","fullNameInverted":"Radicevich, Robert","primaryEmail":"bradicevich@gmail.com","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programDirectors":[{"contactId":206378,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Jason","lastName":"Kessler","fullName":"Jason L Kessler","fullNameInverted":"Kessler, Jason L","middleInitial":"L","primaryEmail":"jason.l.kessler@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programExecutives":[{"contactId":215154,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Jennifer","lastName":"Gustetic","fullName":"Jennifer L Gustetic","fullNameInverted":"Gustetic, Jennifer L","middleInitial":"L","primaryEmail":"jennifer.l.gustetic@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"programManagers":[{"contactId":62051,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Carlos","lastName":"Torrez","fullName":"Carlos Torrez","fullNameInverted":"Torrez, Carlos","primaryEmail":"carlos.torrez@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"projectManagers":[{"contactId":3163995,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Robert","lastName":"Jones","fullName":"Robert Jones","fullNameInverted":"Jones, Robert","primaryEmail":"Robert.A.Jones@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false},{"contactId":461333,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Theresa","lastName":"Stanley","fullName":"Theresa M Stanley","fullNameInverted":"Stanley, Theresa M","middleInitial":"M","primaryEmail":"theresa.m.stanley@nasa.gov","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"website":"","libraryItems":[{"caption":"Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control With An Integrated Scheduler-Planner And Reactive Executive","file":{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":293920,"fileName":"SBIR_2012_1_BC_H6.01-8798","fileSize":185524,"objectId":290440,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"181.2 KB"},"files":[{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":293920,"fileName":"SBIR_2012_1_BC_H6.01-8798","fileSize":185524,"objectId":290440,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"181.2 KB"}],"id":290440,"title":"Project Image","description":"Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control With An Integrated Scheduler-Planner And Reactive Executive","libraryItemTypeId":1095,"projectId":16579,"primary":true,"publishedDateString":"","contentType":{"lkuCodeId":1095,"code":"IMAGE","description":"Image","lkuCodeTypeId":341,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"LIBRARY_ITEM_TYPE","description":"Library Item Type"}}}],"transitions":[{"transitionId":68910,"projectId":16579,"transitionDate":"2013-11-01","path":"Closed Out","closeoutDocuments":[{"title":"Final Summary Chart","file":{"fileExtension":"pdf","fileId":307735,"fileName":"SBIR_2012_1_FSC_H6.01-8798","fileSize":114838,"objectId":68910,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":1841,"code":"TRANSITION_FILES","description":"Transition Files","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"fileSizeString":"112.1 KB"},"transitionId":68910,"fileId":307735}],"infoText":"Closed out","infoTextExtra":"","dateText":"November 2013"},{"transitionId":68911,"projectId":16579,"partner":"Other","transitionDate":"2014-07-01","path":"Advanced To","relatedProjectId":18053,"relatedProject":{"acronym":"","projectId":18053,"title":"Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control with an Integrated Scheduler-Planner and Reactive Executive","startTrl":3,"currentTrl":6,"endTrl":6,"benefits":"I-SPAREX architecture is directly applicable to all NASA onboard spaceflight operations. This includes LEO, Near-Earth, and especially Deep Space Missions. Any mission that requires remote autonomous operations can utilize this technology. Examples of these types would be rovers, planetary science, and asteroid science.
After this architecture and implementation is demonstrated on a functional spacecraft simulator, it will find a number of military, commercial, and commercial applications. These include: a) Surveillance and intelligence missions, b) UAV operations, c) Autonomous Underwater vehicles, Autonomous land vehicles, and e) remote commercial operations such as oil fields. The Red Canyon Team predicts that our proposed work of integrating the planning environment with the real-time execution software will have far-reaching commercial and R&D applications. For instance, the entire range of remotely operated vehicles, to include: - Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs) (a.k.a. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)) - Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROUV) - Remotely Operated Ground Vehicles (ROGV) (a.k.a. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV)) - Tele-Robotics, in general would benefit greatly from this integrated environment. RPVs in the National Airspace (NAS), as one example, could capitalize on the fault-tolerance, model validation, and the dynamic/evolving shared model concepts that are developed here. Red Canyon Software has already been involved in discussions with ADSYS Controls, a company experienced with the development of RPV flight control systems, to determine the commercial application of our proposed system.","description":"Spacecraft and remote vehicle operations demand a high level of responsiveness in dynamic environments. During operations it is possible for unexpected events and anomalies to disrupt the mission schedule, and in the case of critical faults, even threaten the health and safety of the spacecraft. The planner's relatively slow response time to unexpected events (changes in resource levels, failed activity indications, flight software fault indications) during dynamic and critical operations means that it does not suffice as a sole solution to the vehicle autonomy when the primary purpose is to keep it safe and ensure mission success. Mission success can also be enhanced through the use of a sequence engine that provides reactive capabilities. Traditional sequence engines execute commands without regard to the overall safety of the vehicle. Through the use of a reactive sequence engine that utilizes State Machine technology vehicle further enhances safety and the probability of mission success. The Integrated Scheduler-Planner And Reactive Executive (I-SPAREX) architecture utilizes a layered software architecture (an approach proven successful on previously flown autonomous demonstration missions such as EO-1) and incorporates an existing goal-based, planning solution as well as an advanced, real-time, decision-making sequence engine. Specifically, we plan to study and demonstrate the feasibility of integrating NASA JPL's CASPER (Continuous Activity Scheduling Planning Execution and Re-planning) as the Continuous Planning Layer (CPL), and VML 3.0 (Virtual Machine Language) as the Reactive Sequencing Layer (RSL) providing programmable heuristic control. We choose to focus on CASPER and VML in this proposal, given the demonstrated flight heritage of both components.","startYear":2014,"startMonth":7,"endYear":2017,"endMonth":7,"statusDescription":"Completed","website":"","program":{"acronym":"SBIR/STTR","active":true,"description":"
The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
","programId":73,"responsibleMd":{"acronym":"STMD","canUserEdit":false,"city":"","external":false,"linkCount":0,"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","naorganization":false,"organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"responsibleMdId":4875,"stockImageFileId":36648,"title":"Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer"},"lastUpdated":"2024-1-10","releaseStatusString":"Released","viewCount":547,"endDateString":"Jul 2017","startDateString":"Jul 2014"},"infoText":"Advanced within the program","infoTextExtra":"Another project within the program (Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control with an Integrated Scheduler-Planner and Reactive Executive)","dateText":"July 2014"}],"primaryImage":{"file":{"fileExtension":"png","fileId":293920,"fileSizeString":"0 Byte"},"id":290440,"description":"Balancing Autonomous Spacecraft Activity Control With An Integrated Scheduler-Planner And Reactive Executive","projectId":16579,"publishedDateString":""},"responsibleMd":{"acronym":"STMD","canUserEdit":false,"city":"","external":false,"linkCount":0,"organizationId":4875,"organizationName":"Space Technology Mission Directorate","organizationType":"NASA_Mission_Directorate","naorganization":false,"organizationTypePretty":"NASA Mission Directorate"},"program":{"acronym":"SBIR/STTR","active":true,"description":"The NASA SBIR and STTR programs fund the research, development, and demonstration of innovative technologies that fulfill NASA needs as described in the annual Solicitations and have significant potential for successful commercialization. If you are a small business concern (SBC) with 500 or fewer employees or a non-profit RI such as a university or a research laboratory with ties to an SBC, then NASA encourages you to learn more about the SBIR and STTR programs as a potential source of seed funding for the development of your innovations.
The SBIR and STTR programs have 3 phases:
The SBIR and STTR Phase I contracts last for 6 months with a maximum funding of $125,000, and Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000 - $1.5 million.
Opportunity for Continued Technology Development Post-Phase II:
The NASA SBIR/STTR Program currently has in place two initiatives for supporting its small business partners past the basic Phase I and Phase II elements of the program that emphasize opportunities for commercialization. Specifically, the NASA SBIR/STTR Program has the Phase II Enhancement (Phase II-E) and Phase II eXpanded (Phase II-X) contract options.
Please review the links below to obtain more information on the SBIR/STTR programs.
Provides an overview of the SBIR and STTR programs as implemented by NASA
Provides access to the annual SBIR/STTR Solicitations containing detailed information on the program eligibility requirements, proposal instructions and research topics and subtopics
Schedule and links for the SBIR/STTR solicitations and selection announcements
Federal and non-Federal sources of assistance for small business
Search our complete archive of awarded project abstracts to learn about what NASA has funded
Still have questions? Visit the program FAQs
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