DeSyRe: on-Demand System Reliability

The DeSyRe project builds on-demand adaptive and reliable Systems-on-Chips (SoCs). As fabrication technology scales down, chips are becoming less reliable, thereby incurring increased power and performance costs for fault tolerance. To make matters worse, power density is becoming a significant limiting factor in SoC design, in general. In the face of such changes in the technological landscape, current solutions for fault tolerance are expected to introduce excessive overheads in future systems. Moreover, attempting to design and manufacture a totally defect and fault-free system, would impact heavily, even prohibitively, the design, manufacturing, and testing costs, as well as the system performance and power consumption. In this context, DeSyRe delivers a new generation of systems that are reliable by design at well-balanced power, performance, and design costs. In our attempt to reduce the overheads of fault-tolerance, only a small fraction of the chip is built to be fault-free. This fault-free part is then employed to manage the remaining fault-prone resources of the SoC. The DeSyRe framework is applied to two medical systems with high safety requirements (measured using the IEC 61508 functional safety standard) and tight power and performance constraints

Apollo experience report: Acceptance checkout equipment for the Apollo spacecraft

The acceptance checkout equipment for the Apollo spacecraft is described, and the history of the major equipment modifications that were required to meet the Apollo Program checkout requirements is traced. Some major problem areas are outlined, and a discussion of future checkout methods is included. The concept of the future checkout methods presented provides for an increase in test equipment standardization among NASA programs and among all testing phases within a program. The capability for increased automation and reduction in the test equipment inventory is provided in the proposed concept

Flexible structure control laboratory development and technology demonstration

An experimental structure is described which was constructed to demonstrate and validate recent emerging technologies in the active control and identification of large flexible space structures. The configuration consists of a large, 20 foot diameter antenna-like flexible structure in the horizontal plane with a gimballed central hub, a flexible feed-boom assembly hanging from the hub, and 12 flexible ribs radiating outward. Fourteen electrodynamic force actuators mounted to the hub and to the individual ribs provide the means to excite the structure and exert control forces. Thirty permanently mounted sensors, including optical encoders and analog induction devices provide measurements of structural response at widely distributed points. An experimental remote optical sensor provides sixteen additional sensing channels. A computer samples the sensors, computes the control updates and sends commands to the actuators in real time, while simultaneously displaying selected outputs on a graphics terminal and saving them in memory. Several control experiments were conducted thus far and are documented. These include implementation of distributed parameter system control, model reference adaptive control, and static shape control. These experiments have demonstrated the successful implementation of state-of-the-art control approaches using actual hardware

Southwest Research Institute assistance to NASA in biomedical areas of the technology

Significant applications of aerospace technology were achieved. These applications include: a miniaturized, noninvasive system to telemeter electrocardiographic signals of heart transplant patients during their recuperative period as graded situations are introduced; and economical vital signs monitor for use in nursing homes and rehabilitation hospitals to indicate the onset of respiratory arrest; an implantable telemetry system to indicate the onset of the rejection phenomenon in animals undergoing cardiac transplants; an exceptionally accurate current proportional temperature controller for pollution studies; an automatic, atraumatic blood pressure measurement device; materials for protecting burned areas in contact with joint bender splints; a detector to signal the passage of animals by a given point during ecology studies; and special cushioning for use with below-knee amputees to protect the integrity of the skin at the stump/prosthesis interface

TESTING OF MICROPROCESSORS

With the growing use of the microprocessors the problematics of testing become more and more important for the reliability of the instrumentation. The paper gives a survey of the usual strategies and methods for CPU testing in microprocessor controlled equipment. The effects of the state-of-the-art field service methods on the self-test technology are discussed. Description of a new algorithm based on information compression is given together with some related realization experiences

Aerospace Medicine and Biology. A continuing bibliography with indexes

This bibliography lists 244 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in February 1981. Aerospace medicine and aerobiology topics are included. Listings for physiological factors, astronaut performance, control theory, artificial intelligence, and cybernetics are included

In-Suit Doppler Technology Assessment

The objective of this program was to perform a technology assessment survey of non-invasive air embolism detection utilizing Doppler ultrasound methodologies. The primary application of this technology will be a continuous monitor for astronauts while performing extravehicular activities (EVA's). The technology assessment was to include: (1) development of a full understanding of all relevant background research; and (2) a survey of the medical ultrasound marketplace for expertise, information, and technical capability relevant to this development. Upon completion of the assessment, LSR was to provide an overview of technological approaches and R&D/manufacturing organizations

A critical and experimental study of the serial painting method in child therapy

It is generally assumed by psychologists that childrens drawings and paintings can be an aid to the study of personality. I+,Iore recently these are being used as an adjunct to various therapeutic techniques. But the rationale for their employment as a diagnostic and therapeutic aid is,at the present time,largely based on a worker's orientation and inclinations and,as a part of psychotherapy they often become a tool which may be manipulated by the therapist to serve interpretations.In comparison with their large scale application in practice the number of fundamental and empirical investigations in this field has been small and no systematic studies about the total significance of graphic methods in children with emotional disorders exist. This fact led me to think that an empirical investigation on experimental lines in conjunction with therapeutic work could help in providing more than intuitive clues to the manner in which serial graphic productions fulfil a function in therapeutic methodology.'The research, on the lines put forward by me,was approved by the Board of Electors of Guy's Hospital as being suitable for the work of the Sir Alfred Fripp Memorial Fellowship in Child Psychology, which I held from June 1947 until December 1949.Basic Aspects. The research contained in this thesis is presented in three sections.These sections represent the actual stages through which it has evolved during the period of three years.1.A study of the foundations upon which further progress in this field is to be built,and the definitions of aims. 2.The application of serial graphic methods to individual case study. 3.The comparative examination of certain painting trends in a therapeutic group of children.Accordingly section I.gives a critical survey of some of the more important work in the field of development and in those aspects of personality study which have a direct bearing on the method developed for this investigation. Section II.contains a detailed account of the practical application of this method from the clinical standpoint in a boy aged 6 who suffered from asthma.Iere the main emphasis has been placed on trends in form-expression.Spontaneous verbal associations,given at various intervals in response to serial productions,formed an integral part in the method of eliciting the child's attitudes to these expressive trends. A series of 28 consecutive microfilms in colour is presented with this case report.Section III. gives an account of the group as a whole and postulates criteria for assessment of "primary graphic trends ". These are concerned with kinesthetic elements in painting and attitudes to space,colour and form.These criteria were initially developed from empirical study of a large number of paintings. Variants to graphic trends were studied by means of an analysis in each child of 25 consecutive productions painted during the interval of one year.The products were assessed with the help of a four point scale.By means of this a much more accurate impression of the total material as well as of the individual(r contained therein could be gained than through empirical examination alone.Finally the relationship between certain extreme tendencies shown and the type of disturbance from which the child suffered was examined.The various subsections contain illustrative case material.The therapeutic group on which these observations are based consists of 40 children who suffered from a variety of emotional disorders and somatic dysfunctions.In some of these cases treatment and follow -up extended over a period of 4 years. Selection was determined by age limitation,preference for painting,a preliminary period of observation,exclusion of children with defective or "dull "intelligence,and absence of prolonged spontaneous remissions of somatic symptoms. Graphic material sent with the "appendix" to this thesis contains a further selection of colour micro -photographs from many different children and a variety of original productions.Table III.on page 154 contains reference numbers for trait descriptions and illustrations in the appendix. All this material is the property of the Department of Psychological Medicine,Guy's Hospital,London S.E.l.Conclusions. Very generally speaking these may be divided into two parts, 1.General conclusions about the clinical validity of graphic methods in child therapy.2.Specific findings about the differentiating value of graphic _fora and spontaneous verbal associations. 1.) Serial methods in child therapy offer distinct possibilities for diagnosis,treatrnent and prognosis with children who show a preference for colour- media.(See p.23.)The meaning behind the surface aspects of childrens' art work is more difficult and complex than many recent studies lead us to believe.T'his applies in particular tt interpretive approaches.The evaluation of childrens' art work requires experience from the therapist or investigator.2.)The question of specificity of formal traits and associated verbal responses in the non -psychotic child is an interesting one.Consistent traits are frequently seen in the serial patterning over periods of time.Their value as indicators would depend on our ability to isolate three main groups of components from any individual series, a.those that are relatively consistent with maturation, b.those that are based on innate factors of the individual constitution, c.those that are an expression of temporary emotional conflicts