Software Assists in Responding to Anomalous Conditions

Fault Induced Document Retrieval Officer (FIDO) is a computer program that reduces the need for a large and costly team of engineers and/or technicians to monitor the state of a spacecraft and associated ground systems and respond to anomalies. FIDO includes artificial-intelligence components that imitate the reasoning of human experts with reference to a knowledge base of rules that represent failure modes and to a database of engineering documentation. These components act together to give an unskilled operator instantaneous expert assistance and access to information that can enable resolution of most anomalies, without the need for highly paid experts. FIDO provides a system state summary (a configurable engineering summary) and documentation for diagnosis of a potentially failing component that might have caused a given error message or anomaly. FIDO also enables high-level browsing of documentation by use of an interface indexed to the particular error message. The collection of available documents includes information on operations and associated procedures, engineering problem reports, documentation of components, and engineering drawings. FIDO also affords a capability for combining information on the state of ground systems with detailed, hierarchically-organized, hypertext- enabled documentation

EUVE Telemetry Processing and Filtering for Autonomous Satellite Instrument Monitoring

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, CaliforniaA strategy for addressing the complexity of problem identification and notification by autonomous telemetry monitoring software is discussed. The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite's science operations center (ESOC) is completing a transition to autonomous operations. Originally staffed by two people, twenty-four hours every day, the ESOC is nearing the end of a phased transition to unstaffed monitoring of the science payload health. To develop criteria for the implementation of autonomous operations we first identified and analyzed potential risk areas. These risk areas were then considered in light of a fully staffed operations model, and in several reduced staffing models. By understanding the accepted risk in the nominal, fully staffed model, we could define what criteria to use in comparing the effectiveness of reduced staff models. The state of the scientific instrument package for EUVE is evaluated by a rule-based telemetry processing software package. In the fully automated implementation, anomalous states are characterized in three tiers: critical to immediate instrument health and safety, non-critical to immediate instrument health and safety, and affecting science data only. Each state requires specific action on the part of the engineering staff, and the response time is determined by the tier. The strategy for implementing this prioritized, autonomous instrument monitoring and paging system is presented. We have experienced a variety of problems in our implementation of this strategy, many of which we have overcome. Problems addressed include: dealing with data dropouts, determining if instrument knowledge is current, reducing the number of times personnel are paged for a single problem, prohibiting redundant notification of known problems, delaying notification of problems for instrument states that do not jeopardize the immediate health of the instrument, assuring a response to problems in a timely manner by engineering staff, and communicating problems and response status among responsible personnel.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection

Document Retrieval Triggered by Spacecraft Anomaly: Using the Kolodner Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) Paradigm to Design a Fault-Induced Response System

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, CaliforniaWe report on the initial design and development of a prototype computer-mediated response system, the Fault Induced Document Officer (FIDO), at the UC Berkeley Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA) Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer project (EUVE). Typical 24x7 staffed spacecraft operations use highly skilled expert teams to monitor current ground systems and spacecraft state for responding to anomalous ground system and spacecraft conditions. Response to ground system error messages and spacecraft anomalies is based on knowledge of nominal component behavior and the evaluation of relevant telemetry by the team. This type of human-mediated operation is being replaced by an intelligent software system to reduce costs and to increase performance and reliability. FIDO is a prototype software application that will provide automated retrieval and display of documentation for operations staff. Initially, FIDO will be applied for ground systems. Later implementations of FIDO will target spacecraft systems. FIDO is intended to provide system state summary, links to relevant documentation, and suggestions for operator responses to error messages. FIDO will provide the operator with near realtime expert assistance and access to necessary information. This configuration should allow the resolution of many anomalies without the need for on-site intervention by a skilled controller or expert.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection

The NASA EUVE Satellite in Transition: From Staffed to Autonomous Science Payload Operations

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, CaliforniaThe science payload for NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite is controlled from the EUVE Science Operations Center (ESOC) at the Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA), University of California, Berkeley (UCB). The ESOC is in the process of a transition from a single staffed shift to an autonomous, zero-shift, "lights out" science payload operations scenario (a.k.a., 1:0). The purpose of the 1:0 transition is to automate all of the remaining routine, daily, controller telemetry monitoring and associated "shift" work. Building on the ESOC's recent success moving from three-shift to one-shift operations (completed in Feb 1995), the 1:0 transition will further reduce payload operations costs and will be a "proof of concept" for future missions; it is also in line with NASA's goals of "cheaper, faster, better" operations and with its desire to out-source missions like EUVE to academe and industry. This paper describes the 1:0 transition for the EUVE science payload: the purpose, goals, and benefits; the relevant science payload instrument health and safety considerations; the requirements for, and implementation of, the multi-phased approach; a cost/benefit analysis; and the various lessons learned along the way.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection

The NASA EUVE Satellite in Transition: From Staffed to Autonomous Science Payload Operations

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, CaliforniaThe science payload for NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite is controlled from the EUVE Science Operations Center (ESOC) at the Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA), University of California, Berkeley (UCB). The ESOC is in the process of a transition from a single staffed shift to an autonomous, zero-shift, "lights out" science payload operations scenario (a.k.a., 1:0). The purpose of the 1:0 transition is to automate all of the remaining routine, daily, controller telemetry monitoring and associated "shift" work. Building on the ESOC's recent success moving from three-shift to one-shift operations (completed in Feb 1995), the 1:0 transition will further reduce payload operations costs and will be a "proof of concept" for future missions; it is also in line with NASA's goals of "cheaper, faster, better" operations and with its desire to out-source missions like EUVE to academe and industry. This paper describes the 1:0 transition for the EUVE science payload: the purpose, goals, and benefits; the relevant science payload instrument health and safety considerations; the requirements for, and implementation of, the multi-phased approach; a cost/benefit analysis; and the various lessons learned along the way.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection

The Gravity Probe B test of general relativity

The Gravity Probe B mission provided two new quantitative tests of Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity (GR), by cryogenic gyroscopes in Earth's orbit. Data from four gyroscopes gave a geodetic drift-rate of −6601.8 ± 18.3 marc-s yr−1 and a frame-dragging of −37.2 ± 7.2 marc-s yr−1, to be compared with GR predictions of −6606.1 and −39.2 marc-s yr−1 (1 marc-s = 4.848 × 10−9 radians). The present paper introduces the science, engineering, data analysis, and heritage of Gravity Probe B, detailed in the accompanying 20 CQG papers.Physic