ALBERT

Description: Viewgraphs on a neurocomputing approach to model determination of large space structures are presented. Topics covered include: background on neural networks; math modeling with neural networks; computer architectures for real-time modeling; and hardware and software implementation considerations, OPTIMA/1 data acquisition, modeling, and control workstation.

Description: A suggestion has been made that enhanced rates of hydrothermal activity during the Eocene could have caused a global warming by adding calcium to the ocean and pumping CO2 into the atmosphere (Owen and Rea, 1984). This phenomenon was purported to be consistent with the predictions of the CO2 geochemical cycle model of Berner, Lasaga and Garrels (1983) (henceforth BLAG). In fact, however, the BLAG model predicts only a weak connection between hydrothermal activity and atmospheric CO2 levels. By contrast, it predicts a strong correlation between seafloor spreading rates and pCO2, since the release rate of CO2 from carbonate metamorphism is assumed to be proportional to the mean spreading rate. The Ecocene warming can be conveniently explained if the BLAG model is extended by assuming that the rate of carbonate metamorphism is also proportional to the total length of the midocean ridges from which the spreading originates.

Description: The purpose of this panel is to explore the emerging field of software engineering from a variety of perspectives: university programs; industry training and definition; government development; and technology transfer. In doing this, the panel will address the issues of distinctions among software engineering, computer science, and computer hardware engineering as they relate to the challenges of large, complex systems.

Description: The following topics are discussed in the context of software engineering: early use of the term; the 1968 NATO conference; Barry Boehm's definition; four requirements fo software engineering; and additional criteria for software engineering. Additionally, the four major requirements for software engineering--computer science, mathematics, engineering disciplines, and excellent communication skills--are discussed. The presentation is given in vugraph form.

Description: A summary of Quality Improvement techniques, implementation, and results in the maintenance, management, and modification of large software systems for the Space Shuttle Program's ground-based systems is provided.

Description: Rapidly emerging technology and methodologies have out-paced the systems development processes' ability to use them effectively, if at all. At the same time, the tools used to build systems are becoming obsolescent themselves as a consequence of the same technology lag that plagues systems development. The net result is that systems development activities have not been able to take advantage of available technology and have become equally dependent on aging and ineffective computer-aided engineering tools. New methods and tools approaches are essential if the demands of non-stop and Mission and Safety Critical (MASC) components are to be met.

Description: The goals of the Software Engineering Institute's Education Program are as follows: to increase the number of highly qualified software engineers--new software engineers and existing practitioners; and to be the leading center of expertise for software engineering education and training. A discussion of these goals is presented in vugraph form.

Description: This paper presents a review of the concept and implementation of tool interoperability in the Space Station Software Support Environment (SSE) OI 2.0. By first providing a description of SSE, the paper describes the problem at hand, that is; the nature of the SSE that gives rise to the requirement for interoperability--between SSE workstations and hence, between the tools which reside on the workstations. Specifically, word processor and graphic tool interoperability are discussed. The concept for interoperability that is implemented in OI 2.0 is described, as is an overview of the implementation strategy. Some of the significant challenges that the development team had to overcome to bring about interoperability are described, perhaps as a checklist, or warning, to others who would bring about tool interoperability. Lastly, plans to extend tool interoperability to a third class of tools in OI 3.0 are described.

Description: Large, complex, distributed systems should be evolved to maximize life cycle support for non-stop operation of mission and safety critical components. This paper outlines the key issues and a recommended approach for tailoring a conceptual model of Ada run time support environments to meet the specific needs of such an application. Prerequisite concepts for this model have been described previously by this author and are summarized. This model proposes upward-compatible extensions to a previously published model of Ada run time environments from the ARTEWG (Ada Run Time Environment Working Group). The first model was used to identify Ada run time requirements, dependencies, issues, features, and options for single processor applications; however, the particular needs for distributed processing were not explicitly described. The purpose of this extended model is to address the needed systems software support for Ada application programs in distributed computing environments.

Description: The empirical studies team of MCC's Design Process Group conducted three studies in 1986-87 in order to gather data on professionals designing software systems in a range of situations. The first study (the Lift Experiment) used thinking aloud protocols in a controlled laboratory setting to study the cognitive processes of individual designers. The second study (the Object Server Project) involved the observation, videotaping, and data collection of a design team of a medium-sized development project over several months in order to study team dynamics. The third study (the Field Study) involved interviews with the personnel from 19 large development projects in the MCC shareholders in order to study how the process of design is affected by organizationl and project behavior. The focus of this report will be on key observations of design process (at several levels) and their implications for the design of environments.

Description: The customers satisfaction depends not only on functional performance, it also depends on the quality characteristics of the software products. An examination of this quality aspect of software products will provide a clear, well defined framework for quality assurance functions, which improve the life-cycle activities of software development. Software developers must be aware of the following aspects which have been expressed by many quality experts: quality cannot be added on; the level of quality built into a program is a function of the quality attributes employed during the development process; and finally, quality must be managed. These concepts have guided our development of the following definition for a Software Quality Assurance function: Software Quality Assurance is a formal, planned approach of actions designed to evaluate the degree of an identifiable set of quality attributes present in all software systems and their products. This paper is an explanation of how this definition was developed and how it is used.

Description: Two improvements to current requirements analysis practices are suggested: domain modeling, and the systematic application of analysis heuristics. Domain modeling is the representation of relevant application knowledge prior to requirements specification. Artificial intelligence techniques may eventually be applicable for domain modeling. In the short term, however, restricted domain modeling techniques, such as that in JSD, will still be of practical benefit. Analysis heuristics are standard patterns of reasoning about the requirements. They usually generate questions of clarification or issues relating to completeness. Analysis heuristics can be represented and therefore systematically applied in an issue-based framework. This is illustrated by an issue-based analysis of JSD's domain modeling and functional specification heuristics. They are discussed in the context of the preliminary design of simple embedded systems.

Description: Redundant search often makes Prolog programs inefficient. Prolog execution corresponds to a depth-first traversal of an AND/OR graph; often a large subgraph will be searched successfully, with failure resulting from a subsequent small one. It is shown how reordering of Prolog clauses and especially goals can prevent unnecessary search. The restrictions on reordering are characterized and how they may be detected is shown. A new system of calling modes for Prolog, geared to reordering, and a system for inferring them automatically are designed. An improved method for determining a good goal order for Prolog clauses is presented, and it is used as the basis for a reordering system, showing how it can be guided by information about modes and restrictions to generate reordered Prolog that behaves correctly.

Description: Alpha is a new kind of operating system that is unique in two highly significant ways. First, it is decentralized transparently providing reliable resource management across physically dispersed nodes, so that distributed applications programming can be done largely as though it were centralized. And second, it provides comprehensive, high technology support for real-time system integration and operation, an application area which consists predominately of aperiodic activities having critical time constraints such as deadlines. Alpha is extremely adaptable so that it can be easily optimized for a wide range of problem-specific functionality, performance, and cost. Alpha is the first systems effort of the Archons Project, and the prototype was created at Carnegie-Mellon University directly on modified Sun multiprocessor workstation hardware. It has been demonstrated with a real-time C(sup 2) application. Continuing research is leading to a series of enhanced follow-ons to Alpha; these are portable but initially hosted on Concurrent's MASSCOMP line of multiprocessor products.

Description: Recognizing the importance of building software with the robustness to accommodate rapid advances in technology, developers have focused on methods which preserve both past and future investment in software and in providing an advanced software engineering environment that frees the engineer, to the greatest extent possible, from the more routine aspects of software design and development. The software engineer is permitted to concentrate on the creative aspects of problem resolution. Standard languages such as Ada maximize portability across hardware and operating systems. Standard interfaces which enhance portability and permit the incorporation of new technology as it becomes available have been developed. Software design and development techniques which maximize portability receive increasing emphasis. Experience gained in porting an Ada application between two widely varying environments is evaluated in light of current practices to maximize software portability.

Description: The High Technologies Laboratory (HTL) was established in the fall of 1982 at the University of Houston Clear Lake. Research conducted at the High Tech Lab is focused upon computer systems and software engineering. There is a strong emphasis on the interrelationship of these areas of technology and the United States' space program. In Jan. of 1987, NASA Headquarters announced the formation of its first research center dedicated to software engineering. Operated by the High Tech Lab, the Software Engineering Research Center (SERC) was formed at the University of Houston Clear Lake. The High Tech Lab/Software Engineering Research Center promotes cooperative research among government, industry, and academia to advance the edge-of-knowledge and the state-of-the-practice in key topics of computer systems and software engineering which are critical to NASA. The center also recommends appropriate actions, guidelines, standards, and policies to NASA in matters pertinent to the center's research. Results of the research conducted at the High Tech Lab/Software Engineering Research Center have given direction to many decisions made by NASA concerning the Space Station Program.

Description: This viewgraph presentation covers the following topics. Construction activities envisioned for the assembly of large platforms in space (as well as interplanetary spacecraft and bases on extraterrestrial surfaces) require computational tools that exceed the capability of conventional construction management programs. The Center for Space Construction is investigating the requirements for new computational tools and, at the same time, suggesting the expansion of graduate and undergraduate curricula to include proficiency in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) though design courses and individual or team projects in advanced space systems design. In the center's research, special emphasis is placed on problems of constructability and of the interruptability of planned activity sequences to be carried out by crews operating under hostile environmental conditions. The departure point for the planned work is the acquisition of the MCAE I-DEAS software, developed by the Structural Dynamics Research Corporation (SDRC), and its expansion to the level of capability denoted by the acronym IDEAS**2 currently used for configuration maintenance on Space Station Freedom. In addition to improving proficiency in the use of I-DEAS and IDEAS**2, it is contemplated that new software modules will be developed to expand the architecture of IDEAS**2. Such modules will deal with those analyses that require the integration of a space platform's configuration with a breakdown of planned construction activities and with a failure modes analysis to support computer aided system engineering (CASE) applied to space construction.

Description: The need for a User Interface Language (UIL) has been recognized by the Space Station Program Office as a necessary tool to aid in minimizing the cost of software generation by multiple users. Previous history in the Space Shuttle Program has shown that many different areas of software generation, such as operations, integration, testing, etc., have each used a different user command language although the types of operations being performed were similar in many respects. Since the Space Station represents a much more complex software task, a common user command language--a user interface language--is required to support the large spectrum of space station software developers and users. To assist in the selection of an appropriate set of definitions for a UIL, a series of demonstration programs was generated with which to test UIL concepts against specific Space Station scenarios using operators for the astronaut and scientific community. Because of the importance of expert system in the space station, it was decided that an expert system should be embedded in the UIL. This would not only provide insight into the UIL components required but would indicate the effectiveness with which an expert system could function in such an environment.

Description: The review/approval of MCAUTO/UNIGRAPHICS CAD/CAM generated drawings and documents is done through routing of hard copies of drawings and memos via mail, a process both time consuming and expensive. It is proposed that a set of procedures and the required software tools be designed for transmission, revision, and signing-off of such documents via electronic data transfer, while maintaining a sufficient degree of data integrity and individual security. A main resistance to such a technique will be the limited size of the display screen (19 inch class) and infrequent layer switching with the attendant time delay during the process of reviewing the drawing. Such opposition should diminish as the users become familiar with the hardwares and its operation. It is suggested that user profiles be set so that the protection class list of the originator of the drawing include at least one common class with each of the individuals who will be involved in the Revision/Approval cycle. In this way the originator will be able to tranfer a file for their review and also be able to copy back the file to make the necessary permanent changes. Individual security is maintained by restricted access to signature files and by restricting the list of individuals who will be authorized to sign off. This is accomplished through two software tools:LAYCOPY and SIGN. It is felt that these proposed procedures and techniques will adequately maintain both the file integrity and individual security during Review/Approval Cycle of MCAUTO generated drawings without the need for hardcopy routing.

Description: The space station data management system involves networks of computing resources that must work cooperatively and reliably over an indefinite life span. This program requires a long schedule of modular growth and an even longer period of maintenance and operation. The development and operation of space station computing resources will involve a spectrum of systems and software life cycle activities distributed across a variety of hosts, an integration, verification, and validation host with test bed, and distributed targets. The requirement for the early establishment and use of an apporopriate Computer Systems and Software Engineering Support Environment is identified. This environment will support the Research and Development Productivity challenges presented by the space station computing system.

Description: It has been estimated that NASA expends anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of its annual budget on the acquisition, implementation and maintenance of computer software. Although researchers have produced numerous software engineering approaches over the past 5-10 years; each claiming to be more effective than the other, there is very limited quantitative information verifying the measurable impact htat any of these technologies may have in a production environment. At NASA/GSFC, an extended research effort aimed at identifying and measuring software techniques that favorably impact productivity of software development, has been active over the past 8 years. Specific, measurable, software development technologies have been applied and measured in a production environment. Resulting software development approaches have been shown to be effective in both improving quality as well as productivity in this one environment.

Description: Current design tools for digital circuits and systems are not well-integrated among the behavioral, gate, and transistor levels of design. Ulysses is a prototype software system that consists of a description language, a description compiler, and a simulator that make no distinction among these levels. The language is uniform over the entire range of logical descriptions, the description is hierarchical with no fundamental restrictions on depth or mixing of levels, and the simulator is fully integrated with the description. The structure of the language, compiler, and simulator are described in terms of their relationships to the abstractions of physical systems that are made in order to create logical descriptions and models of behavior.

Description: The effect of a noisy reference carrier on the performance of International Comet Explorer (ICE) Sequential decoder is analyzed. Ideal reference models for frame deletion probability are given for the Telemetry Processing Assembly (TPA) and the Linkabit (LS4815) sequential decoders. Based on these ideal reference models the deletion probability in the presence of noisy reference carrier is computed for both the high and the low data rate cases. A medium data rate performance model is then derived using an interpolation method. The derived medium rate performance model depends on the phase locked loop bandwidth-integration time product. Results are obtained for frame length 1024 bits, data bit rates of 1024 bps and 512 bps, modulation index of 60 deg, and threshold loop bandwidths of 10 Hz and 3 Hz. The medium rate model agrees with experimental data to within measurement uncertainty. For the 10 Hz loop bandwidth and modulation index of 60 deg at frame deletion rate of 0.0001, the required total received power to noise ratio is 36 dB. The analysis given is general and applicable to any sequential decoder, provided that the ideal reference model of the decoder is available.

Description: Knowledge based expert systems are applicable to a wide range of engineering problems ranging from formation to derivation. At the formation end of the spectrum, design, planning and prediction have been identified as generic tasks with similar issues that are dealt with by experts, and need to be formalized for successful expert system implementation. At the derivation end, diagnosis, interpretation and monitoring have been identified as generic tasks with similar subproblems with which experts must cope. At theimplementation level, four levels of programming have been identified: logic programming, production system programming, object oriented programming and hybrid programming.

Description: Significant improvements in the productivity of the McAuto Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Engineering (CAD/CAE) system were achieved by applications programming using the system's own Graphics Interactive Programming language (GRIP) and the interface capabilities with the main computer on which the system resides. The GRIP programs for creating springs, bar charts, finite element model representations and aiding management planning are presented as examples.

Description: Markov models can be used to compute the reliability of virtually any fault tolerant system. However, the process of delineating all of the states and transitions in a model of complex system can be devastatingly tedious and error-prone. An approach to this problem is presented utilizing an abstract model definition language. This high level language is described in a nonformal manner and illustrated by example.

Description: An evaluation is made of the effects of the 'funneling' phenomenon, in an analysis of hierarchical menu structures' optimal search times which builds on the work of Lee and MacGregor (1985). Funneling is a reduction in the total number of options processed through the design of a system of greater choice 'depth' and correspondingly restricted choice 'breadth'. Both random and ordered menus are treated. The available evidence is found to support the general conclusion that randomly ordered menu panels should have only a few (4-8) options, while organized menus should contain as many options as 64.

Description: A working prototype of a flexible 'natural language' interface for command and control situations is presented. This prototype is analyzed from two standpoints. First is the role of natural language for command and control, its realistic requirements, and how well the role can be filled with current practical technology. Second, technical concepts for implementation are discussed and illustrated by their application in the prototype system. It is also shown how adaptive or 'learning' features can greatly ease the task of encoding language knowledge in the language processor.

Description: This paper is an introduction to the PCOS operating system for the MC68000 family processors. Topics covered are: development history; development support; rational for development of PCOS and salient characteristics; architecture; and a brief comparison of PCOS to UNIX.

Description: Constructing Artificial Intelligence application systems which rely on both symbolic and non-symbolic processing places heavy demands on the communication of data between dissimilar languages. This paper describes STAR (Simple Tool for Automated Reasoning), a computer language for the development of AI application systems which supports the transfer of data structures between a symbolic level and a non-symbolic level defined in languages such as FORTRAN, C and PASCAL. The organization of STAR is presented, followed by the description of an application involving STAR in the interpretation of airborne imaging spectrometer data.

Description: The tools, techniques, and aids needed to engineer, manage, and administer a large software-intensive task are themselves parts of a large software base, and are incurred only at great expense. The needs of the software life cycle in terms of such supporting tools and methodologies are highlighted. The concept of a distributed network for engineering, management, and administrative functions is outlined, and the key characteristics of localized subnets in high-communications-traffic areas of software actively are discussed. A formal, deliberate, structured, systems-engineering approach for the construction of a uniform, coordinated tool set is proposed as a means to reduce development and maintenance costs, foster adaptability, enhance reliability, and promote standardization.

Description: An APL program which numerically evaluates the probability density function (PDF) for the energy deposited in a thin absorber by a charged particle is proposed, with application to the construction, pointing, and control of spacecraft. With this program, the PDF of the restricted energy loss distribution of Watts (1973) is derived, and Vavilov's (1957) distribution is obtained by proper parameter selection. The method is demonstrated with the example of the effect of charged particle induced radiation on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) pointing accuracy. A Monte Carlo study simulates the photon noise caused by charged particles passing through the photomultiplier tube window, and the stochastic variation of energy loss is introduced into the simulation by generating random energy losses from a power law distribution. The program eliminates annoying loop procedures, and model parameter sensitivity can be studied using the graphical output.

Description: A software package has been developed to transfer three-dimensional transient thermal information accurately, efficiently, and automatically from a heat transfer analysis code to a structural analysis code. The code is called three-dimensional TRansfer ANalysis Code to Interface Thermal and Structural codes, or 3D TRANCITS. TRANCITS has the capability to couple finite difference and finite element heat transfer analysis codes to linear and nonlinear finite element structural analysis codes. TRANCITS currently supports the output of SINDA and MARC heat transfer codes directly. It will also format the thermal data output directly so that it is compatible with the input requirements of the NASTRAN and MARC structural analysis codes. Other thermal and structural codes can be interfaced using the transfer module with the neutral heat transfer input file and the neutral temperature output file. The transfer module can handle different elemental mesh densities for the heat transfer analysis and the structural analysis.

Description: An expert system to aid users of the Automated Design Synthesis (ADS) general-purpose optimization program has been developed. ADS has approximately 100 combinations of strategy, optimizer, and search options from which to choose. This expert system aids the user in choosing the best combination of options for solving a particular problem. The system is written in LISP, contains about 200 rules, and executes on DEC-VAX and IBM PC/XT computers.

Description: An essential ingredient in scientific work is data. In disciplines such as Oceanography, data sources are many and volumes are formidable. The full value of large stores of data cannot be realized unless careful thought is given to data access. JPL has developed the Pilot Ocean Data System to investigate techniques for archiving and accessing ocean data obtained from space. These include efficient storage and rapid retrieval of satellite data, an easy-to-use user interface, and a variety of output products which, taken together, permit researchers to extract and use data rapidly and conveniently.

Description: Some parallel processing environments provide for asynchronous execution and completion of general purpose parallel computations from a single computational phase. When all the computations from such a phase are complete, a new parallel computational phase is begun. Depending upon the granularity of the parallel computations to be performed, there may be a shortage of available work as a particular computational phase draws to a close (computational rundown). This can result in the waste of computing resources and the delay of the overall problem. In many practical instances, strict sequential ordering of phases of parallel computation is not totally required. In such cases, the beginning of one phase can be correctly computed before the end of a previous phase is completed. This allows additional work to be generated somewhat earlier to keep computing resources busy during each computational rundown. The conditions under which this can occur are identified and the frequency of occurrence of such overlapping in an actual parallel Navier-Stokes code is reported. A language construct is suggested and possible control strategies for the management of such computational phase overlapping are discsused.

Description: This paper deals with the development of multiprocessor simulations from a serial set of ordinary differential equations describing a physical system. The identification of computational parallelism within the model equations is discussed. A technique is presented for identifying this parallelism and for partitioning the equations for parallel solution on a multiprocessor. Next, an algorithm which packs the equations into a minimum number of processors is described. The results of applying the packing algorithm to a turboshaft engine model are presented.

Description: The method of simultaneous iteration with shift is extended to extraction of m-eigenpairs of a general eigenvalue problem of large order n in a parallel processing environment. The algorithm combines the power method and the Jacobi technique, and reduces to performing four basic operations. Parallel implementation of the algorithm is discussed in detail. The analysis accounts for computation and communication costs, and utilizes a parallel processing architecture of the ensemble type. Expressions for the computational efficiency and speedup are defined as a function of the problem and hardware parameters. Selected representative problems exhibit efficiencies ranging from 60 to 98 percent.

Description: Difficulties encountered in the modeling of fault-tolerant systems are discussed. The Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) approach to modeling fault-tolerant systems is described. The HARP is written in FORTRAN, consists of nearly 30,000 lines of codes and comments, and is based on behavioral decomposition. Using the behavioral decomposition, the dependability model is divided into fault-occurrence/repair and fault/error-handling models; the characteristics and combining of these two models are examined. Examples in which the HARP is applied to the modeling of some typical fault-tolerant systems, including a local-area network, two fault-tolerant computer systems, and a flight control system, are presented.

Description: A prototype expert system has been developed in the OPS5 language to perform error checking on data which spacecraft builders/users supply to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for processing on the Communications Link Analysis and Simulation System (CLASS) computer. This prototype expert system, called Trajectory Preprocessing System (TRAPS), contains 49 rules. In its operational phase, TRAPS will run in the Oak Ridge Production Language (ORPL) on the CLASS computer. ORPL, an implementation of OPS5 in MULTIFORTH on a desktop computer, is now being ported to SS-FORTH on the CLASS computer. This paper discusses the expert system problem domain, development approch, tools, results, and future plans stemming from the TRAPS project.

Description: Fundamental to the development of redundant software techniques (known as fault-tolerant software) is an understanding of the impact of multiple joint occurrences of errors, referred to here as coincident errors. A theoretical basis for the study of redundant software is developed which: (1) provides a probabilistic framework for empirically evaluating the effectiveness of a general multiversion strategy when component versions are subject to coincident errors, and (2) permits an analytical study of the effects of these errors. An intensity function, called the intensity of coincident errors, has a central role in this analysis. This function describes the propensity of programmers to introduce design faults in such a way that software components fail together when executing in the application environment. A condition under which a multiversion system is a better strategy than relying on a single version is given.

Description: Different software reliability models can produce very different answers when called upon to predict future reliability in a reliability growth context. Users need to know which, if any, of the competing predictions are trustworthy. Some techniques are presented which form the basis of a partial solution to this problem. Rather than attempting to decide which model is generally best, the approach adopted here allows a user to decide upon the most appropriate model for each application.

Description: The ignition of metals and alloys have been investigated by rotating the end of a hollow cylinder against an identical stationary cylinder on a common axis (frictional heating) in gaseous oxygen. A ranking criterion that measures the resistance of metals and alloys to ignition is discussed. It consists of the power per unit area required for ignition conveniently expressed as the product of contact pressure P and average linear velocity ALV. Data are presented that demonstrate that materials that are high in nickel and copper require greater P-ALV products for ignition (more resistant to ignition) than materials that are high in iron. Aluminum and titanium alloys are shown to require the lowest P-ALV products for ignition. The effects of varying surface velocity, contact pressure, coefficient of friction, and oxygen pressure on P-ALV products required for ignition are discussed. The results indicate that P-ALV product required for ignition increases as surface velocity increases, as contact pressure decreases, and as the coefficient of friction decreases. Increasing oxygen pressure will cause the P-ALV product required for ignition to decrease at low pressures and increase at high pressures. In some cases, the relative ranking of materials based on P-ALV products will also change as conditions are varied. The data presented in this paper are from a development program to determine the merits of using such a dynamic test method for ranking materials for oxygen service. The results to date have indicated that more testing is required before this method can be made into a standard test. The data presented do show some of the major parameters affecting the ignition of materials when exposed to frictional heating. The repeatability of the data at any set of conditions have not been thoroughly investigated.

Description: Various KSC knowledge-based systems projects are discussed. The objectives of the knowledge-based automatic test equipment and Shuttle connector analysis network projects are described. It is observed that knowledge-based programs must handle factual and expert knowledge; the characteristics of these two types of knowledge are examined. Applications for the knowledge-based programming technique are considered.

Description: This note considers codes for computer file transfer protocols when only upper-case ASCII characters are used as control characters. Such a restriction may be necessary to avoid dependence on unique machine features and to promote portability. If ten control functions are needed, a number used in a typical sufficiently rich protocol, we seek a subset of ten upper-case ASCII characters with good distance properties. The control functions form themselves naturally into three groups. Recognizing that only even distances can occur, the need to make the intragroup minimum distances as large as possible, and the number of control characters have distance 2 as small as possible is emphasized. The optimum solution to the above problem is found as well as an assignment that attains the optimum. The codes are essentially unique.

Description: A finite element based programming system for minimum weight design of a truss-type structure subjected to displacement, stress, and lower and upper bounds on design variables is presented. The programming system consists of a number of independent processors, each performing a specific task. These processors, however, are interfaced through a well-organized data base, thus making the tasks of modifying, updating, or expanding the programming system much easier in a friendly environment provided by many inexpensive personal computers. The proposed software can be viewed as an important step in achieving a 'dummy' finite element for optimization. The programming system has been implemented on both large and small computers (such as VAX, CYBER, IBM-PC, and APPLE) although the focus is on the latter. Examples are presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the code. The present programming system can be used stand-alone or as part of the multilevel decomposition procedure to obtain optimum design for very large scale structural systems. Furthermore, other related research areas such as developing optimization algorithms (or in the larger level: a structural synthesis program) for future trends in using parallel computers may also benefit from this study.

Description: Symmetric tridiagonal eigenvalue problems may arise indirectly in structural dynamic analysis. An algorithm for eigenvalue computation of large symmetric tridiagonal matrices on concurrent processors to meet the challenge of the new emerging computer hardware technology is presented. A standard bisection method in conjunction with Sylvester's Theorem is chosen to be converted into a parallel N-section algorithm. This parallel algorithm takes advantage of the multi-processor environment by carrying out N (number of processors) triangular factorizations of chosen shifted matrices in all processors concurrently and by minimizing communication between processors. The algorithm is designed for local-memory concurrent processors, i.e. message passing type processors. The efficiency and speed-up are given in terms of problem and machine parameters. The algorithm is very efficient when both the number of processors and the number of eigenvalues to be extracted are much smaller than the order of the tridiagonal matrix.

Description: The Common Data Format (CDF), a structure which provides true data independence for applications software and has been developed at the National Space Science Data Center, is discussed. The background to the CDF is reviewed, and the CDF is described. The conceptual organization of the CDF is discussed, and a sample CDF structure is shown and described. The implementation of CDF, its status, and its applications are examined.

Description: This paper establishes a number of mathematical results relevant to the problem of constructing a triangulation, i.e., a simplical tessellation of the convex hull of an arbitrary finite set of points in n-space. The principal results of the present paper are: (1) a set of n + 2 points in n-space may be triangulated in at most 2 different ways; (2) the 'sphere test' defined in this paper selects a preferred one of these two triangulations; (3) a set of parameters is defined that permits the characterization and enumeration of all sets on n + 2 points in n-space that are significantly different from the point of view of their possible triangulations; and (4) the local sphere test induces a global sphere test property for a triangulation.

Description: The integration of CAD/CAM/mapping with image processing using geographic information systems (GISs) as the interface is examined. Particular emphasis is given to the development of software interfaces between JPL's Video Image Communication and Retrieval (VICAR)/Imaged Based Information System (IBIS) raster-based GIS and the CAD/CAM/mapping system. The design and functions of the VICAR and IBIS are described. Vector data capture and editing are studied. Various software programs for interfacing between the VICAR/IBIS and CAD/CAM/mapping are presented and analyzed.

Description: The authors describe an intelligent tool designed to aid managers of software development projects in planning, managing, and controlling the development process of medium- to large-scale software projects. Its purpose is to reduce uncertainties in the budget, personnel, and schedule planning of software development projects. It is based on dynamic model for the software development and maintenance life-cycle process. This dynamic process is composed of a number of time-varying, interacting developmental phases, each characterized by its intended functions and requirements. System dynamics is used as a modeling methodology. The resulting Software LIfe-Cycle Simulator (SLICS) and the hybrid expert simulation system of which it is a subsystem are described.

Description: The inherent strong seriality of closely coupled systems is circumvented by defining a family of permutations for reordering equation sets whose matrix of coefficients is Hermitian block tridiagonal. The authors show how these permutations can be used to achieve relatively high concurrency in the Cholesky factorization of banded systems at the expense of introducing limited extra computations due to fill-in terms in the factors. Directed graphs are developed for the concurrent factorization of the transformed matrix of coefficients by the Cholesky algorithm. Expressions for speedup and efficiency are derived in terms of parameters of the permutation, set of equations, and machine architecture.

Description: Program adjustments to increase the accuracy of the diffraction-based encircled energy analysis algorithms of the optical design computer programs ACCOS-V and SYNOPSYS are proposed. It is noted that the erroneous algorithms are based on the incorrect assumption that all the energy in a diffraction point spread function is contained within a circle of finite radius. Using these adjustments, more accurate encircled energy results are obtained for circles of radii less than or equal to the 100 percent boundary.

Description: The Advice Taker/Inquirer (AT/I) is a domain-independent program that is used to construct, monitor, and improve an expert system. In the learning phase, an expert teaches a strategy to the AT/I by providing it with declarative and procedural knowledge, expressed in the expert's domain-specific vocabulary. The expert can modify any advice given to the system earlier, and any advice dependent on the altered advice is reviewed automatically for syntactic and sematic soundness. Knowledge acquisition and methods for ensuring the integrity of the knowledge base in an expert system is discussed.

Description: The development history and characteristics of the interactive trajectory-optimization programs MOSES (D'Amario et al., 1981) and PLATO (D'Amario et al., 1982) are briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on their application to the Galileo mission. The requirements imposed by a mission involving flybys of several planetary satellites or planets are discussed; the formulation of the parameter-optimization problem is outlined; and particular attention is given to the use of multiconic methods to model the gravitational attraction of Jupiter in MOSES. Diagrams and tables of numerical data are included.

Description: NASA-Lewis has developed a public-domain computer program, designated 'Ceramic Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures' (CARES) for calculating the fast-fracture reliability of macroscopically isotropic ceramic components subjected to the complex thermomechanical loadings typical of heat engines. The design methodology employed by CARES encompasses linear elastic fracture mechanics theory, extreme value statistics, and material microstructures; component integrity is conceived as a function of the entire field solution of the stresses, rather than being based solely on the most highly stressed point.

Description: Algorithms for geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis are presented which exploit the vector processing capability of the VPS-32, which is closely related to the CYBER 205. By manipulating vectors (which are long lists of numbers) rather than individual numbers, very high processing speeds are obtained. Long vector lengths are obtained without extensive replication or reordering by storage of intermediate results in strategic patterns at all stages of the computations. Comparisons of execution times with those from programs using either scalar or other vector programming techniques indicate that the algorithms presented are quite efficient.

Description: The FDDI Token Ring Protocol controls communication over fiber optic rings with transmission rates in the range of 100 megabits per second. It is intended to give guaranteed response to time-critical messages by using a 'timed token' protocol, in which noncritical messages may be transmitted only if recent movement of the token among stations has been sufficiently fast relative to a 'target' token rotation line (TTRT). In this paper, two important properties of the protocol are proved. The first is that the average token cycle time is bounded above by the TTRT, and the second is that the maximum token cycle time is at most twice the TTRT. Each property is treated first under the assumption that all overheads are negligible, and second with certain sources of overhead taken into account explicitly. It is found that the proposed standard protocol can be improved for situations of practical interest by a slight modification.

Description: A preliminary version of a new computer program has been developed for calculating crack propagation in cyclically loaded structures. The new program, titled NASA/FLAGRO, has numerous enhanced features over previous programs used for safe life analysis on space systems. The essential features of the new program consist of modular design, promptive input using a cathode ray tube terminal, improved crack growth rate analytical methods, many new crack case solutions, and incorporation of user-defined files for material properties and fatigue spectrums. Also, five options made available in the program are to compute: (1) safe life of a part with a preexisting crack; (2) critical crack size for a specified stress level; (3) stress-intensity factor numerical values for making comparisons or checks of solutions; (4) least-squares fit of growth rate equations to crack growth rate data; and (5) the conversion of a versus N data to Delta K versus da/dN.

Description: The critical data management issues involved in the development of the integral analysis capability (IAC), Level 2, to support the design analysis and performance evaluation of large space structures, are examined. In particular, attention is given to the advantages and disadvantages of the formalized data base; merging of the matrix and relational data concepts; data types, query operators, and data handling; sequential versus direct-access files; local versus global data access; programming languages and host machines; and data flow techniques. The discussion also covers system architecture, recent system level enhancements, executive/user interface capabilities, and technology applications.

Description: An overview is given of the current capabilities of thirty-three computer programs that are used to solve heat transfer problems. The programs considered range from large general-purpose codes with broad spectrum of capabilities, large user community, and comprehensive user support (e.g., ABAQUS, ANSYS, EAL, MARC, MITAS II, MSC/NASTRAN, and SAMCEF) to the small, special-purpose codes with limited user community such as ANDES, NTEMP, TAC2D, TAC3D, TEPSA and TRUMP. The majority of the programs use either finite elements or finite differences for the spatial discretization. The capabilities of the programs are listed in tabular form followed by a summary of the major features of each program. The information presented herein is based on a questionnaire sent to the developers of each program. This information is preceded by a brief background material needed for effective evaluation and use of computer programs for heat transfer analysis. The present survey is useful in the initial selection of the programs which are most suitable for a particular application. The final selection of the program to be used should, however, be based on a detailed examination of the documentation and the literature about the program.

Description: The general capabilities and the hardware environment of an interactive color graphical postprocessor for three-dimensional numerical analysis are described as well as the synergistic influence of this aspect of interactive graphics on the research environment. Areas of practical concern include finite element analysis, fracture propagation, surface and framed structures. The interactive color graphical postprocessor, POSTPRO3D, is capable of displaying the scalar, vector, and tensor results of finite difference, finite element, and boundary element analysis. In the case of fatigue cracking in steel crane-rail girders, it was shown that POSTPRO3D offers a high level of flexibility, interactivity and features which minimize response time.

Description: The present paper is concerned with the approaches to be employed to overcome the set of limitations in software technology which impedes currently an effective use of parallel hardware technology. The process required to solve the arising problems is found to involve four different stages. At the present time, Stage One is nearly finished, while Stage Two is under way. Tentative explorations are beginning on Stage Three, and Stage Four is more distant. In Stage One, parallelism is introduced into the hardware of a single computer, which consists of one or more processors, a main storage system, a secondary storage system, and various peripheral devices. In Stage Two, parallel execution of cooperating programs on different machines becomes explicit, while in Stage Three, new languages will make parallelism implicit. In Stage Four, there will be very high level user interfaces capable of interacting with scientists at the same level of abstraction as scientists do with each other.

Description: The ADAMS computer program for automated analysis of mechanisms and machines is described. The program automatically formulates mathematical models for prototype or existing mechanisms with the minimum necessary physical and geometric data. The model can then be analyzed in various modes of analysis. The outputs (displacements, velocities, acceleration and forces) can be produced in tabular and graphical (plots, wire frame graphics) form. The application of this computer program to simulating satellite docking maneuvers is illustrated.

Description: The prototype demonstrates the feasibility of using Ada for expert systems and the implementation of an expert-friendly interface which supports knowledge entry. In the Ford LISP-Ada Connection (FLAC) system LISP and Ada are used in ways which complement their respective capabilities. Future investigation will concentrate on the enhancement of the expert knowledge entry/debugging interface and on the issues associated with multitasking and real-time expert systems implementation in Ada.

Description: Two expert systems were written in OPS5 by the expert, a Ph.D. astronomer with no prior experience in artificial intelligence or expert systems, without the use of a knowledge engineer. The first system was built from scratch and uses 146 rules to check for duplication of scientific information within a pool of prospective observations. The second system was grafted onto another expert system and uses 149 additional rules to estimate the spacecraft and ground resources consumed by a set of prospective observations. The small vocabulary, the IF this occurs THEN do that logical structure of OPS5, and the ability to follow program execution allowed the expert to design and implement these systems with only the data structures and rules of another OPS5 system as an example. The modularity of the rules in OPS5 allowed the second system to modify the rulebase of the system onto which it was grafted without changing the code or the operation of that system. These experiences show that experts are able to develop their own expert systems due to the ease of programming and code reusability in OPS5.

Description: The proposal selection process for the Hubble Space Telescope is assisted by a robust and easy to use query program (TACOS). The system parses an English subset language sentence regardless of the order of the keyword phases, allowing the user a greater flexibility than a standard command query language. Capabilities for macro and procedure definition are also integrated. The system was designed for flexibility in both use and maintenance. In addition, TACOS can be applied to any knowledge domain that can be expressed in terms of a single reaction. The system was implemented mostly in Common LISP. The TACOS design is described in detail, with particular attention given to the implementation methods of sentence processing.

Description: The Data Management System network is a complex and important part of manned space platforms. Its efficient operation is vital to crew, subsystems and experiments. AI is being considered to aid in the initial design of the network and to augment the management of its operation. The Intelligent Resource Management for Local Area Networks (IRMA-LAN) project is concerned with the application of AI techniques to network configuration and management. A network simulation was constructed employing real time process scheduling for realistic loads, and utilizing the IEEE 802.4 token passing scheme. This simulation is an integral part of the construction of the IRMA-LAN system. From it, a causal model is being constructed for use in prediction and deep reasoning about the system configuration. An AI network design advisor is being added to help in the design of an efficient network. The AI portion of the system is planned to evolve into a dynamic network management aid. The approach, the integrated simulation, project evolution, and some initial results are described.

Description: Object-oriented programming can be combined with fault free techniques to give a significantly improved environment for evaluating the safety and reliability of large complex systems for space missions. Deep knowledge about system components and interactions, available from reliability studies and other sources, can be described using objects that make up a knowledge base. This knowledge base can be interrogated throughout the design process, during system testing, and during operation, and can be easily modified to reflect design changes in order to maintain a consistent information source. An object-oriented environment for reliability assessment has been developed on a Texas Instrument (TI) Explorer LISP workstation. The program, which directly evaluates system fault trees, utilizes the object-oriented extension to LISP called Flavors that is available on the Explorer. The object representation of a fault tree facilitates the storage and retrieval of information associated with each event in the tree, including tree structural information and intermediate results obtained during the tree reduction process. Reliability data associated with each basic event are stored in the fault tree objects. The object-oriented environment on the Explorer also includes a graphical tree editor which was modified to display and edit the fault trees.

Description: A prototype simulation is being developed under contract to the Royal Aerospace Establishment (RAE), Farnborough, England, to assist in the discrimination of artificial space objects/debris. The methodology undertaken has been to link Object Oriented programming, intelligent knowledge based system (IKBS) techniques and advanced computer technology with numeric analysis to provide a graphical, symbolic simulation. The objective is to provide an additional layer of understanding on top of conventional classification methods. Use is being made of object and rule based knowledge representation, multiple reasoning, truth maintenance and uncertainty. Software tools being used include Knowledge Engineering Environment (KEE) and SymTactics for knowledge representation. Hooks are being developed within the SymTactics framework to incorporate mathematical models describing orbital motion and fragmentation. Penetration and structural analysis can also be incorporated. SymTactics is an Object Oriented discrete event simulation tool built as a domain specific extension to the KEE environment. The tool provides facilities for building, debugging and monitoring dynamic (military) simulations.

Description: Very High Level design methods emphasize automatic transfer of requirements to formal design specifications, and/or may concentrate on automatic transformation of formal design specifications that include some semantic information of the system into machine executable form. Very high level design methods range from general domain independent methods to approaches implementable for specific applications or domains. Applying AI techniques, abstract programming methods, domain heuristics, software engineering tools, library-based programming and other methods different approaches for higher level software design are being developed. Though one finds that a given approach does not always fall exactly in any specific class, this paper provides a classification for very high level design methods including examples for each class. These methods are analyzed and compared based on their basic approaches, strengths and feasibility for future expansion toward automatic development of software systems.

Description: This work is one facet of an integrated approach to diagnostic problem solving for aircraft and space systems currently under development. The authors are applying a method of modeling and reasoning about deep knowledge based on a functional viewpoint. The approach recognizes a level of device understanding which is intermediate between a compiled level of typical Expert Systems, and a deep level at which large-scale device behavior is derived from known properties of device structure and component behavior. At this intermediate functional level, a device is modeled in three steps. First, a component decomposition of the device is defined. Second, the functionality of each device/subdevice is abstractly identified. Third, the state sequences which implement each function are specified. Given a functional representation and a set of initial conditions, the functional reasoner acts as a consequence finder. The output of the consequence finder can be utilized in diagnostic problem solving. The paper also discussed ways in which this functional approach may find application in the aerospace field.

Description: Over the years demand on space systems have been increased tremendously and this trend will continue for the near future. The enhanced capabilities of space systems, however, can only be met with increased complexity and sophistication of onboard and ground systems, and artificial intelligence and expert system concepts have a significant role in space applications. Expert systems could facilitate decision making, improved fault diagnosis and repair, enhanced performance and less reliance on ground support. However, some requirements have to be fulfilled before practical use of flight-worthy expert systems for onboard (and ground) operations. This paper discusses some of the characteristics and important considerations in design, development, implementation and use of expert systems for real-life space applications. Further, it describes a typical life cycle of expert system development and its usage.

Description: Currently software engineers are the essential integrating factors tying several components together. The components consist of process, methods, computers, tools, support environments, and software engineers. The engineers today empower the tools versus the tools empowering the engineers. Some of the issues in software engineering are quality, managing the software engineering process, and productivity. A strategy to accomplish this is to promote the evolution of software engineering from an ad hoc, labor intensive activity to a managed, technology supported discipline. This strategy may be implemented by putting the process under management control, adopting appropriate methods, inserting the technology that provides automated support for the process and methods, collecting automated tools into an integrated environment and educating the personnel.

Description: The use of Ada as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language is gaining interest in the NASA Community, i.e., by parties who have a need to deploy Knowledge Based-Systems (KBS) compatible with the use of Ada as the software standard for the Space Station. A fair number of KBS and pseudo-KBS implementations in Ada exist today. Currently, no widely used guidelines exist to compare and evaluate these with one another. The lack of guidelines illustrates a fundamental problem inherent in trying to compare and evaluate implementations of any sort in languages that are procedural or imperative in style, such as Ada, with those in languages that are functional in style, such as Lisp. Discussed are the strengths and weakness of using Ada as an AI language and a preliminary analysis provided of factors needed for the development of criteria for the integration of these two families of languages and the environments in which they are implemented. The intent for developing such criteria is to have a logical rationale that may be used to guide the development of Ada tools and methodology to support KBS requirements, and to identify those AI technology components that may most readily and effectively be deployed in Ada.

Description: Graphical simulation is a cost-effective solution for developing and testing robots and their control systems. The availability of various high-performance workstations makes these systems feasible. Simulation offers preliminary testing of systems before their actual realizations, and it provides a framework for developing new control and planning algorithms. On the other hand, these simulation systems have to have the capability of incorporating various knowledge-based system components, e.g., task planners, representation formalisms, etc. They also should have an appropriate user interface, which makes possible the creation and control of simulation models. ROBOSIM was developed jointly by MSFC and Vanderbilt University, first in a VAX environment. Recently, the system has been ported to an HP-9000 workstation equipped with an SRX graphics accelerator. The user interface of the system now contains a menu- and icon-based facility, as well as the original ROBOSIM language. The system is also coupled to a symbolic computing system based on Common Lisp, where knowledge-based functionalities are implemented. The knowledge-based layer uses various representation and reasoning facilities for programming and testing the control systems of robots.

Description: This study had as an objective the performance evaluation of the existing CAD/CAE graphics network at NASA/KSC. This evaluation will also aid in projecting planned expansions, such as the Space Station project on the existing CAD/CAE network. The objectives were achieved by collecting packet traffic on the various integrated sub-networks. This included items, such as total number of packets on the various subnetworks, source/destination of packets, percent utilization of network capacity, peak traffic rates, and packet size distribution. The NASA/KSC LAN was stressed to determine the useable bandwidth of the Ethernet network and an average design station workload was used to project the increased traffic on the existing network and the planned T1 link. This performance evaluation of the network will aid the NASA/KSC network managers in planning for the integration of future workload requirements into the existing network.

Description: This paper will present the basic constituents of a design knowledge capture effort. This will include a discussion of the types of knowledge to be captured in such an effort and the difference between design knowledge capture and more traditional knowledge base construction. These differences include both knowledge base structure and knowledge acquisition approach. The motivation for establishing a design knowledge capture effort as an integral part of major NASA programs will be outlined, along with the current NASA position on that subject. Finally the approach taken in design knowledge capture for Space Station will be contrasted with that used in the HSTDEK project.

Description: Real-time expert systems for monitoring and control are driven by input data which changes with time. One of the subtle problems of this field is the propagation of time variant problems from rule to rule. This propagation problem is even complicated under a multiprogramming environment where the expert system may issue test commands to the system to get data and to access time consuming devices to retrieve data for concurrent reasoning. Two approaches are used to handle the flood of input data. Snapshots can be taken to freeze the system from time to time. The expert system treats the system as a stationary one and traces changes by comparing consecutive snapshots. In the other approach, when an input is available, the rules associated with it are evaluated. For both approaches, if the premise condition of a fired rule is changed to being false, the downstream rules should be deactivated. If the status change is due to disappearance of a transient problem, actions taken by the fired downstream rules which are no longer true may need to be undone. If a downstream rule is being evaluated, it should not be fired. Three mechanisms for solving this problem are discussed: tracing, backward checking, and censor setting. In the forward tracing mechanism, when the premise conditions of a fired rule become false, the premise conditions of downstream rules which have been fired or are being evaluated due to the firing of that rule are reevaluated. A tree with its root at the rule being deactivated is traversed. In the backward checking mechanism, when a rule is being fired, the expert system checks back on the premise conditions of the upstream rules that result in evaluation of the rule to see whether it should be fired. The root of the tree being traversed is the rule being fired. In the censor setting mechanism, when a rule is to be evaluated, a censor is constructed based on the premise conditions of the upstream rules and the censor is evaluated just before the rule is fired. Unlike the backward checking mechanism, this one does not search the upstream rules. This paper explores the details of implementation of the three mechanisms.

Description: The acceptance test errors of a computer software project to determine if the errors could be detected or avoided in earlier phases of development. GROAGSS (Gamma Ray Observatory Attitude Ground Support System) was selected as the software project to be examined. The development of the software followed the standard Flight Dynamics Software Development methods. GROAGSS was developed between August 1985 and April 1989. The project is approximately 250,000 lines of code of which approximately 43,000 lines are reused from previous projects. GROAGSS had a total of 1715 Change Report Forms (CRFs) submitted during the entire development and testing. These changes contained 936 errors. Of these 936 errors, 374 were found during the acceptance testing. These acceptance test errors were first categorized into methods of avoidance including: more clearly written requirements; detail review; code reading; structural unit testing; and functional system integration testing. The errors were later broken down in terms of effort to detect and correct, class of error, and probability that the prescribed detection method would be successful. These determinations were based on Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) documents and interviews with the project programmers. A summary of the results of the categorizations is presented. The number of programming errors at the beginning of acceptance testing can be significantly reduced. The results of the existing development methodology are examined for ways of improvements. A basis is provided for the definition is a new development/testing paradigm. Monitoring of the new scheme will objectively determine its effectiveness on avoiding and detecting errors.

Description: Many aspects of software development with Ada have evolved as our Ada development environment has matured and personnel have become more experienced in the use of Ada. The Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has seen differences in the areas of cost, reliability, reuse, size, and use of Ada features. A first Ada project can be expected to cost about 30 percent more than an equivalent FORTRAN project. However, the SEL has observed significant improvements over time as a development environment progresses to second and third uses of Ada. The reliability of Ada projects is initially similar to what is expected in a mature FORTRAN environment. However, with time, one can expect to gain improvements as experience with the language increases. Reuse is one of the most promising aspects of Ada. The proportion of reusable Ada software on our Ada projects exceeds the proportion of reusable FORTRAN software on our FORTRAN projects. This result was noted fairly early in our Ada projects, and experience shows an increasing trend over time.

Description: In space teleoperation additional problems arise, including signal transmission time delays. These can greatly reduce operator performance. Recent advances in graphics open new possibilities for addressing these and other problems. Currently a multi-camera system with normal 3-D TV and video graphics capabilities is being developed. Trained and untrained operators will be tested for high precision performance using two force reflecting hand controllers and a voice recognition system to control two robot arms and up to 5 movable stereo or non-stereo TV cameras. A number of new techniques of integrating TV and video graphics displays to improve operator training and performance in teleoperation and supervised automation are evaluated.

Description: Geometric uncertainty may cause various failures during the execution of a robot control program. Avoiding such failures makes it necessary to reason about the effects of uncertainty in order to implement robust strategies. Researchers first point out that a manipulation program has to be faced with two types of uncertainty: those that might be locally processed using appropriate sensor based motions, and those that require a more global processing leading to insert new sensing operations. Then, they briefly describe how they solved the two related problems in the SHARP system: how to automatically synthesize a fine motion strategy allowing the robot to progressively achieve a given assembly relation despite position uncertainty, and how to represent uncertainty and to determine the points where a given manipulation program might fail.

Description: Many lobbyists in Washington have argued that artificial intelligence (AI) is an alternative to manned space activity. In actuality, this is the opposite of the truth, especially as regards artificial neural networks (ANNs), that form of AI which has the greatest hope of mimicking human abilities in learning, ability to interface with sensors and actuators, flexibility and balanced judgement. ANNs and their relation to expert systems (the more traditional form of AI), and the limitations of both technologies are briefly reviewed. A Few highlights of recent work on ANNs, including an NSF-sponsored workshop on ANNs for control applications are given. Current thinking on ANNs for use in certain key areas (the National Aerospace Plane, teleoperation, the control of large structures, fault diagnostics, and docking) which may be crucial to the long term future of man in space is discussed.

Description: An approach is presented to the integrated design problem for actively controlled large, flexible mechanical systems for which Control Structure Interaction (CSI) problems are of concern. The two coupled design problems were identified as the optimal Structural Design problem the optimal Controller Design problem. These two problems can be addressed within a decision making loop that would consider each separately, and then sequentially analyze the effects of one on the other. Embedded in such a loop would be the simulation and coordination tasks as part of the decision tools required in a total (software) package. All of the above are compute-intensive tasks. In any such task, possible decompositions and gains due to the inherent parallelism have to be exploited. The problems under consideration, as applied to large flexible mechanical structures, are particularly suited to be mapped onto multicomputer systems in a hypercube topology.

Description: A parallel processing scheme for a single chain robot arm is presented for high speed computation on a shared memory multiprocessor. A recursive formulation that is derived from a virtual work form of the d'Alembert equations of motion is utilized for robot arm dynamics. A joint drive system that consists of a motor rotor and gears is included in the arm dynamics model, in order to take into account gyroscopic effects due to the spinning of the rotor. The fine grain parallelism of mechanical and control subsystem models is exploited, based on independent computation associated with bodies, joint drive systems, and controllers. Efficiency and effectiveness of the parallel scheme are demonstrated through simulations of a telerobotic manipulator arm. Two different mechanical subsystem models, i.e., with and without gyroscopic effects, are compared, to show the trade-off between efficiency and accuracy.

Description: Finding the weight distributions of block codes is a problem of theoretical and practical interest. Yet the weight distributions of most block codes are still unknown except for a few classes of block codes. Here, by using the inclusion and exclusion principle, an explicit formula is derived which enumerates the complete weight distribution of an (n,k,d) linear code using a partially known weight distribution. This expression is analogous to the Pless power-moment identities - a system of equations relating the weight distribution of a linear code to the weight distribution of its dual code. Also, an approximate formula for the weight distribution of most linear (n,k,d) codes is derived. It is shown that for a given linear (n,k,d) code over GF(q), the ratio of the number of codewords of weight u to the number of words of weight u approaches the constant Q = q(-)(n-k) as u becomes large. A relationship between the randomness of a linear block code and the minimum distance of its dual code is given, and it is shown that most linear block codes with rigid algebraic and combinatorial structure also display certain random properties which make them similar to random codes with no structure at all.

Description: A decoding method for a (23,12) Golay code is extended to the important 1/2-rate (24,12) Golay code so that three errors can be corrected and four errors can be detected. It is shown that the method can be extended to any decoding method which can correct three errors in the (23,12) Golay code.

Description: A software package enabling engineers to conduct experiments to determine the actual performance of long constraint-length convolutional codes over the Voyager 1 communication link directly from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been developed. Using this software, engineers are able to enter test data from the Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The software encodes the data and then sends the encoded data to a personal computer (PC) at the Goldstone Deep Space Complex (GDSC) over telephone lines. The encoded data are sent to the transmitter by the PC at GDSC. The received data, after being echoed back by Voyager 1, are first sent to the PC at GDSC, and then are sent back to the PC at the Laboratory over telephone lines for decoding and further analysis. All of these operations are fully integrated and are completely automatic. Engineers can control the entire software system from the Laboratory. The software encoder and the hardware decoder interface were developed for other applications, and have been modified appropriately for integration into the system so that their existence is transparent to the users. This software provides: (1) data entry facilities, (2) communication protocol for telephone links, (3) data displaying facilities, (4) integration with the software encoder and the hardware decoder, and (5) control functions.

Description: AUTOCON is an automated computer-aided design tool for the synthesis and optimization of linear multivariable control systems based upon user-defined control parameter optimization. Violations in stability and performance requirements are computed from constraints on Single Input/Single Output (SISO) open- and closed-loop transfer function frequency responses, and from constraints on the singular-value frequency responses of Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) transfer functions, for all critical plant variations. Optimum nonlinear programming algorithms are used in the search for local constrained solutions in which violations in stability and performance are caused either to vanish or be minimized for a proper selection of the control parameters. Classical control system stability and performance design can, in this way, be combined with modern multivariable robustness methods to offer general frequency response loop-shaping via a computer-aided design tool. Complete Nichols, Nyquist, Bode, singular-value Bode magnitude and transient response plots are produced, including user-defined boundary responses. AUTOCON is used to synthesize and optimize the lateral/directional flight control system for a typical high-performance aircraft.

Description: Estimation of the sensitivity of problem functions with respect to problem variables forms the basis for many of our modern day algorithms for engineering optimization. The most common application of problem sensitivities has been in the calculation of objective function and constraint partial derivatives for determining search directions and optimality conditions. A second form of sensitivity analysis, parameter sensitivity, has also become an important topic in recent years. By parameter sensitivity, researchers refer to the estimation of changes in the modeling functions and current design point due to small changes in the fixed parameters of the formulation. Methods for calculating these derivatives have been proposed by several authors (Armacost and Fiacco 1974, Sobieski et al 1981, Schmit and Chang 1984, and Vanderplaats and Yoshida 1985). Two drawbacks to estimating parameter sensitivities by current methods have been: (1) the need for second order information about the Lagrangian at the current point, and (2) the estimates assume no change in the active set of constraints. The first of these two problems is addressed here and a new algorithm is proposed that does not require explicit calculation of second order information.

Description: The nonlinear mathematical programming method (formal optimization) has had many applications in engineering design. A figure illustrates the use of optimization techniques in the design process. The design process begins with the design problem, such as the classic example of the two-bar truss designed for minimum weight as seen in the leftmost part of the figure. If formal optimization is to be applied, the design problem must be recast in the form of an optimization problem consisting of an objective function, design variables, and constraint function relations. The middle part of the figure shows the two-bar truss design posed as an optimization problem. The total truss weight is the objective function, the tube diameter and truss height are design variables, with stress and Euler buckling considered as constraint function relations. Lastly, the designer develops or obtains analysis software containing a mathematical model of the object being optimized, and then interfaces the analysis routine with existing optimization software such as CONMIN, ADS, or NPSOL. This final state of software development can be both tedious and error-prone. The Sizing and Optimization Language (SOL), a special-purpose computer language whose goal is to make the software implementation phase of optimum design easier and less error-prone, is presented.

Description: The Computerized Design Synthesis (CDS) system under development at McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company (MDHC) is targeted to make revolutionary improvements in both response time and resource efficiency in the conceptual and preliminary design of rotorcraft systems. It makes the accumulated design database and supporting technology analysis results readily available to designers and analysts of technology, systems, and production, and makes powerful design synthesis software available in a user friendly format.

Description: An in-depth kinematic analysis of a three degree of freedom fully-parallel robotic shoulder module is presented. The major goal of the analysis is to determine appropriate link dimensions which will provide a maximized workspace along with desirable input to output velocity and torque amplification. First order kinematic influence coefficients which describe the output velocity properties in terms of actuator motions provide a means to determine suitable geometric dimensions for the device. Through the use of computer simulation, optimal or near optimal link dimensions based on predetermined design criteria are provided for two different structural designs of the mechanism. The first uses three rotational inputs to control the output motion. The second design involves the use of four inputs, actuating any three inputs for a given position of the output link. Alternative actuator placements are examined to determine the most effective approach to control the output motion.

Description: A teleoperated robot was used to assemble the Experimental Assembly of Structures in Extra-vehicular activity (EASE) space structure under neutral buoyancy conditions, simulating a telerobot performing structural assembly in the zero gravity of space. This previous work used a manually controlled teleoperator as a test bed for system performance evaluations. From these results several Artificial Intelligence options were proposed. One of these was further developed into a real time assembly planner. The interface for this system is effective in assembling EASE structures using windowed graphics and a set of networked menus. As the problem space becomes more complex and hence the set of control options increases, a natural language interface may prove to be beneficial to supplement the menu based control strategy. This strategy can be beneficial in situations such as: describing the local environment, maintaining a data base of task event histories, modifying a plan or a heuristic dynamically, summarizing a task in English, or operating in a novel situation.

Description: The applicability of conjugate gradient algorithms for computation of the manipulator forward dynamics is investigated. The redundancies in the previously proposed conjugate gradient algorithm are analyzed. A new version is developed which, by avoiding these redundancies, achieves a significantly greater efficiency. A preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm is also presented. A diagonal matrix whose elements are the diagonal elements of the inertia matrix is proposed as the preconditioner. In order to increase the computational efficiency, an algorithm is developed which exploits the synergism between the computation of the diagonal elements of the inertia matrix and that required by the conjugate gradient algorithm.