{"project":{"acronym":"","projectId":33861,"title":"Virtual Redundancy for Safety Assurance in the Presence of Sensor Failures","primaryTaxonomyNodes":[{"taxonomyNodeId":10793,"taxonomyRootId":8816,"parentNodeId":10787,"level":3,"code":"TX10.2.6","title":"Fault Response","definition":"Fault response technologies restore nominal or best possible system configuration and operations after a fault.","exampleTechnologies":"Spacecraft fault impacts reasoning, power system reconfiguration, life support system reconfiguration, robot arm reconfiguration, aircraft emergency landing planner","hasChildren":false,"hasInteriorContent":true}],"startTrl":4,"currentTrl":6,"endTrl":6,"benefits":"The proposed research is closely aligned with the goals of the Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP). The loss of accurate sensor data presents significant hazards to both air vehicles being manually piloted and those using high levels of automation. The virtual sensor redundancy technology effectively mitigates failures of physical sensors, including common-mode failures that may affect multiple redundant physical sensors, and provides a continuous stream of accurate sensor data. The reliable input data provided by the virtual sensor system will enhance the robustness of vehicle automation systems, directly supporting the goals of the Safe Autonomous Systems Operations (SASO) project within AOSP. Onboard system failures including sensor failures are an important class of precursor events to vehicle upsets. By mitigating these failures, virtual sensor systems reduce the likelihood of automation failures and provide accurate information for manual piloting, thereby reducing the likelihood of an upset event. This capability directly supports work in the area of Technologies for Assuring Safe Aircraft Energy and Attitude State (TASEAS) within the Airspace Technology Demonstrations (ATD) project of AOSP.
The proposed technology is applicable to a wide range of air vehicles, both manned and unmanned. Ultimately, Barron Associates seeks to apply the technology to commercial transport aircraft, and the Air France 447 crash, for which a common-mode failure of multiple pitot tubes has been identified as a key initiating event, demonstrates the need for the technology. In the near term, small unmanned air systems represent a large potential market. Size weight and power constraints severely limit hardware redundancy on these platforms, and small low cost sensors are often less reliable than those used on larger more expensive platforms, creating a significant need for the proposed technology. Small general aviation vehicles also typically have very limited hardware redundancy, and with glass cockpit technology becoming increasingly common in even the small vehicles, Barron Associates sees significant market potential here as well. Beyond air vehicles, autonomous ground and marine vehicles represent significant potential markets. Many automobiles already offer limited automation capabilities to enhance safety, and fully autonomous vehicles may become commonplace in the foreseeable future. Automation systems on these vehicles have the same need for reliable input data as those on air vehicles and, especially on roadways, safety will be paramount. The virtual sensor technology is thus expected to have significant market appeal in this sector.","description":"Both vehicle automation systems and human pilots rely heavily on sensor feedback to safely control aircraft. The loss of reliable information for even a single state feedback signal can initiate a chain of events that leads to an accident. On small aircraft, hardware redundancy is often impractical and the failure of a single physical sensor could be the triggering event that leads to an accident. On commercial transport aircraft sensor hardware redundancy is common, but the potential for common-mode failures means sensor failures are still an important consideration. In many cases, there is adequate information available to accurately estimate the true value of a parameter even if the sensor or sensors that directly measure the parameter have failed. In the best case, a human pilot can exploit the available information to successfully fly the vehicle after a sensor failure, but it is a high workload task. In many cases, lack of situational awareness and poor manual piloting skills create a situation in which the human pilot cannot safely handle the failure. Similarly, many automation systems are unable to safely cope with failures. The proposed research will build on the successful phase one proof-of-concept demonstration to develop a virtual sensor redundancy system that identifies and isolates faulted sensors, and fuses information from healthy sensors and vehicle dynamics models (including arbitrary nonlinear models) to estimate correct outputs for faulted sensors. The research will also develop the Virtual Sensor Toolkit, a software tool that supports the entire lifecycle of virtual sensor development and deployment from requirements development to testing and design updates. Barron Associates has partnered with commercial unmanned air system producers to advance the TRL of the technology through an aggressive Phase II development and testing effort that prepares the team for flight tests immediately following Phase II.","startYear":2015,"startMonth":5,"endYear":2017,"endMonth":5,"statusDescription":"Completed","principalInvestigators":[{"contactId":389907,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Richard","lastName":"Adams","fullName":"Richard Adams","fullNameInverted":"Adams, Richard","primaryEmail":"barron@barronassociates.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":76328,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Christine","lastName":"Belcastro","fullName":"Christine M Belcastro","fullNameInverted":"Belcastro, Christine M","middleInitial":"M","primaryEmail":"christine.m.belcastro@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}],"coInvestigators":[{"contactId":8107,"canUserEdit":false,"firstName":"Alec","lastName":"Bateman","fullName":"Alec Bateman","fullNameInverted":"Bateman, Alec","publicEmail":true,"nacontact":false}],"website":"","libraryItems":[{"caption":"Virtual Redundancy for Safety Assurance in the Presence of Sensor Failures Briefing Chart","file":{"fileExtension":"bmp","fileId":300637,"fileName":"SBIR_2014_2_BC_A1.03-9133","fileSize":3892054,"objectId":297175,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"3.7 MB"},"files":[{"fileExtension":"bmp","fileId":300637,"fileName":"SBIR_2014_2_BC_A1.03-9133","fileSize":3892054,"objectId":297175,"objectType":{"lkuCodeId":889,"code":"LIBRARY_ITEMS","description":"Library Items","lkuCodeTypeId":182,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"OBJECT_TYPE","description":"Object Type"}},"objectTypeId":889,"fileSizeString":"3.7 MB"}],"id":297175,"title":"Briefing Chart Image","description":"Virtual Redundancy for Safety Assurance in the Presence of Sensor Failures Briefing Chart","libraryItemTypeId":1095,"projectId":33861,"primary":false,"publishedDateString":"","contentType":{"lkuCodeId":1095,"code":"IMAGE","description":"Image","lkuCodeTypeId":341,"lkuCodeType":{"codeType":"LIBRARY_ITEM_TYPE","description":"Library Item Type"}}}],"transitions":[{"transitionId":64695,"projectId":33861,"partner":"Other","transitionDate":"2015-05-01","path":"Advanced From","relatedProjectId":18261,"relatedProject":{"acronym":"","projectId":18261,"title":"Virtual Redundancy for Safety Assurance in the Presence of Sensor Failures","startTrl":3,"currentTrl":4,"endTrl":4,"benefits":"The proposed innovation directly addresses several key needs identified under the Aviation Safety Topic, particularly with regards to safety assurance under unanticipated conditions. The proposed technology is designed to assure the integrity of information required for safe aircraft operation in the presence of multiple sensor failures. It utilizes information from all available sensors and high-fidelity models of the aircraft system to detect, isolate, and mitigate sensor failures in real time. In addition, it incorporates real-time flight safety management components to evaluate flight safety risks associated with the particular failure scenario, determine an optimal response to ensure a margin of flight safety, and provide pilot cueing to enforce those safety margins.
For potential non-NASA commercialization, Barron Associates will pursue additional development funding from other agencies and DoD to help further advance the technology. Then, once high TRLs are achieved, we will team with industry partners, makers of unmanned air systems, large airframers, and sensor manufacturers to develop integrated software/hardware sensor suites that include the developed virtual sensor tools. This will lay the foundation to pursue marketing avenues of the technology in the aerospace industry, including manufacturers of unmanned aircraft, military aircraft, and both commuter and large commercial transport aircraft. At the same time, we will pursue other industries where application of fault detection, isolation and recovery are critical for ensured safety of operations, such as the nuclear power industry, mass transit control, and medical devices and systems.","description":"Both autopilot systems and human pilots, particularly human pilots operating in instrument meteorological conditions, rely heavily on sensor feedback to safely control aircraft. The loss of reliable information for even a single state feedback signal can easily initiate a chain of events that leads to an accident. Even when hardware redundancy is employed, common-mode failures are a significant hazard that can make hardware redundancy ineffective for achieving the desired system reliability. For example, multiple pitot tubes can experience a common-mode failure during an icing event, depriving the pilot of vital airspeed information. The proposed virtual redundancy approach can significantly improve flight safety by identifying failed sensors and estimating the correct output values as replacements for those failed sensors. Estimates are based on a rigorous statistical formulation that makes optimal use of all available information including feedback from all remaining physical sensors, nonlinear models of vehicle dynamics, and models of actuator and sensor responses. The proposed research will also develop strategies for enabling pilots to make effective use of the virtual sensor outputs, including guidance algorithms that identify a trajectory that maximizes the likelihood of maintaining safety of flight and cueing techniques that allow the pilot to follow the resulting trajectory while minimizing the increase in workload.","startYear":2014,"startMonth":6,"endYear":2014,"endMonth":12,"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":481,"endDateString":"Dec 2014","startDateString":"Jun 2014"},"infoText":"Advanced from another project within the program","infoTextExtra":"Another project within the program (Virtual Redundancy for Safety Assurance in the Presence of Sensor Failures)","dateText":"May 2015"}],"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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