Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
Integrating Standard Operating Procedures with Spacecraft Automation
Project Description
Spacecraft automation has the potential to assist crew members and spacecraft operators in managing spacecraft systems during extended space missions. Automation can monitor critical resources, perform routine tasks, respond to unexpected events, and manage the overall operation of on-board systems. Current NASA missions to the International Space Station (ISS) are heavily dependent upon ground controllers to assist crew members in performing these activities. Crew members and ground controllers rely on pre-defined standard operating procedures, which are at the heart of spacecraft operations. In current operations, automation and procedures are completely divorced from each other. This can make it difficult to utilize fully spacecraft automation, especially in long-duration crewed missions when ground control support is limited. On-board spacecraft automation typically focuses on fault monitoring and response and often uses specialized programming or scripting environments that are not accessible to crew members or system experts. On the other hand, procedures focus on non-continuous, human-in-the-loop execution of high-level instructions to change spacecraft operating states or respond to operational failures. This means that spacecraft automation systems are ignorant of the higher-level procedures being performed around them and spacecraft automation systems cannot exchange data with these procedures. On the other hand, procedures do not have access to or authority over spacecraft automation software and little knowledge of resource status or demands. TRACLabs has developed a procedure integrated development environment called PRIDE that is currently being used by NASA for ISS and Orion procedures. TRACLabs proposes to develop a generic PRIDE interface to real-time spacecraft automation systems. We propose to prototype this interface using the Integrated Test and Operations System (ITOS) and its Spacecraft Test and Operations Language (STOL) interpreter.
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Anticipated Benefits
PRIDE is being evaluated for use in ground control operations for the Resource Prospector (RP) robot being developed by NASA JSC and ARC for lunar surface operations. Ground control operations personnel for RP and have seen several demonstrations of PRIDE and are evaluating it. The results of this research are expected to have immediate applicability to RP and we anticipate RP using PRIDE for their ground operations. We also see application to ISS when we complete integration with Timeliner in Phase II. This would allow PRIDE procedures to call Timeliner scripts. We will work with NASA JSC personnel to ensure we understand NASA's requirements in this area. Potential integration of STOL or Timeliner into MCC21 would provide additional commercial opportunities. TRACLabs has a long history of working on autonomous control of advanced life support systems. A combination of PRIDE and a life support executive such as PLEXIL would be applicable to many spacecraft life support systems.
TRACLabs is already selling PRIDE as a commercial product to an oil field services company. PRIDE is proving automation assistance to drilling operations. Many oil field services companies have legacy automation systems that they would like to integrate with electronic procedure systems such as PRIDE. They have also expressed interest in PRIDE learning resource and duration constraints during operations to adjust schedules and predict when work will be finished. We will work with them to make sure that this project meets their requirements. TRACLabs also sees application of this technology in the automotive manufacturing area. TRACLabs performed a small pilot project for automotive supplier on flexible robotic assembly. This was successful, and after a tour of several manufacturing facilities in North America, TRACLabs personnel are negotiating a follow-on contract for research and development. Factory floor electronic procedures will also need to connect to legacy automation systems and provide timeline and resource allocation services. Commercial space companies are interested in using PRIDE for their operations and integrating with their legacy spacecraft automation systems. Finally, our subcontract sells spacecraft automation software and can add PRIDE into their commercial tool suite when integration is complete. More »
TRACLabs is already selling PRIDE as a commercial product to an oil field services company. PRIDE is proving automation assistance to drilling operations. Many oil field services companies have legacy automation systems that they would like to integrate with electronic procedure systems such as PRIDE. They have also expressed interest in PRIDE learning resource and duration constraints during operations to adjust schedules and predict when work will be finished. We will work with them to make sure that this project meets their requirements. TRACLabs also sees application of this technology in the automotive manufacturing area. TRACLabs performed a small pilot project for automotive supplier on flexible robotic assembly. This was successful, and after a tour of several manufacturing facilities in North America, TRACLabs personnel are negotiating a follow-on contract for research and development. Factory floor electronic procedures will also need to connect to legacy automation systems and provide timeline and resource allocation services. Commercial space companies are interested in using PRIDE for their operations and integrating with their legacy spacecraft automation systems. Finally, our subcontract sells spacecraft automation software and can add PRIDE into their commercial tool suite when integration is complete. More »
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Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRACLabs, Inc. | Lead Organization | Industry | Webster, Texas |
Ames Research Center
(ARC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Moffett Field, California |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
California
-
Texas
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