The acquisition, operation, and planning stages of installing a VICAR/IBIS system are described. The system operates in an IBM mainframe environment, and provides image processing of raster data. System support problems with software and documentation are discussed

Wherry, D. B.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

C VIDEO INFORMATION COMMUNICATION &RETRIEVAL/IMAGE
BASED INFORMATION SYSTEM (VICAR/IBIS)
David B. Wherry (Image Processing Manager - Washington State Uni-
versity - Pullman, WA)
Introduction
Washington State University Computing Service Center (WSUCSC), serves a
network of public agency users throughout the State of Washington, the
Pacific Northwest region, and other parts of the nation. At the Center,
we offer a wide variety of software services to our user community. In
1978, the Computing Service Center became interested in image processing
technology and with partial funding from the Pacific Northwest Regional
Commission (PNRC), and support from the National Aeronautics & Space
Administration (NASA), the VICAR/IBIS digital image processing system
was acquired and installed. This paper reports on WSUCSC's experience
with acquisition, operation and planning stages of VICAR/IBIS implemen-
tation. While we recognize that a service center computing environment
is in some respect distinct when compared to the non'user oriented facil-
ity, we believe that many of our experiences are appoicable in other
computing situations where VICAR/IBIS is being considered.
System Overview
The VICAR image processing system has been under development at Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), since the late 1960s. Initially designed
as an enhancement tool for data from unmanned interplanetary space mis-
sions, the system has since been applied to many diverse aspects of
digital imageanalysis including earth resource and biomedical research.
In addition to highly flexible image processing capabilities, VICAR
supports a set of geographic information system functions called the
Image Based Information System (IBIS). Based on enhanced information
retrieval capabilities, the resulting VICAR/IBIS software package is
uniquely powerful among other raster processing systems. Although
functionally quite strong, serious weaknesses have been identified at
the operational levels of system support and maintenance. These short-
comings will be described throughout the paper with references to
WSUCSC's responses to problematic experiences and future plans and re-
commendations.
In overview, the VICAR/IBIS software configuration (Figure I), supports
4 major components which include --
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• VICAR System Functions
• TTMMacro Language Library
• 300 Application Program Modules
• Primitive Image Processing Subroutines
VICAR system functions serve as an interface between the user and the
operating system relieving the applications person of necessary exper-
tise in Job Control Language. In operation, these programs translate
VICAR Control Language, a set of user commands, into appropriate JCL
parameters specifying the origin, processing to be performed, and des-
tination of image data sets. Application programs are modular, general
purpose functions which are selected, ordered and executed by the user
in VICAR Control statements to perform specific processing strategies.
The VICAR primitive modules, the subroutines, are called by application
programs to perform repetitive image processing operations. The TTM
macro language strengthens VICAR/IBIS with a recursive and iterative
programming capability.
VICAR/IBIS has been installed as a mainframe, batch oriented image pro-
cessing system at about 20 installations to date. Current system design
characteristics have restricted installation to machines supporting IBM
OS operating systems including virtual memory systems (Seidman & Smith,
1978). Although transfer to other computers or operating systems is
possible (Lawden & Pearce, 1980), investments required in software
modification and reprogramming may prove system transport unfeasible.
Acquisition & Installation
Being developed with public funds by NASA, VICAR/IBIS is normally pur-
chased from COSMIC, the federal government clearinghouse, for about
$ 1,600. System software is transferred on magnetic tape and includes --
• VICAR System Software Modules
• TTM Library
• Source Code for Application/Subroutine Program Modules
• Application/Subroutine Load Modules
Accompanying the tapes are --
• VICAR Image Processing System Guide To System Use
• Individual VICAR/IBIS Application Program/Subroutine
Documentation
• Installation Guide (3 Pages)
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Like many other image analysis systems, proper installation and use of
VICAR/IBIS presupposes knowledge about computing, some basic image
analysis concepts, and the system itself. During initial phases of
system transfer and installation at WSUCSC, both JPL and NASA/Ames per-
sonnel were available to support the project. JPL made two offerings
of a week long workshop, the second offering being video taped and made
available through NASA/Ames. JPL personnel visited WSUCSC and the Idaho
Department of Water Resources in Boise, a second Pacific Northwest
VICAR/IBIS installation site, for system and applications debugging and
training. In mid 1979, VICAR support personnel involvement shifted from
JPL to NASA/Ames where it has continued since that time. Ames personnel
presented a 4 day Introductory VICAR Workshop in October, 1980. Each of
these training sessions presented topics including --
• The VICAR System Configuration
• Use of VICAR Control Language
• Basic Image Processing Concepts
• Specific Aspects of Earth Resource (Landsat)
Applications
Attendees have reported that training handouts have been invaluable ref-
erence materials tin subsequent use of VICAR/IBIS. None of the workshops
addressed specific problems involved in VICAR system installation.
VICAR/IBIS was acquired at WSUCSC in September, 1978. Center personnel
had completed the first JPL workshop offering but otherwise were com-
pletely inexperienced with image processing technology. Following in-
stallation guide directions, one full time programmer versed in IBM
utility programs, IBM JCL and FORTRAN successfully installed the system
in 14 days. This process was not trouble free. Track size on WSUCSC's
IBM 3350 and Braegen Calcomp 4350 disks were too large for VICAR system
blocking conventions. Software modification was supplied by NASA/Ames
and has now been permanently implemented in VICAR. VICAR tape handling
routines require NL or BLP tape label processing parameters which may
be regarded in many computer installations as a compromise to tape se-
curity. A tape management system utilized at WSUCSC compounded this
problem. Tape security policy modifications were necessitated before
addressing VICAR/Tape management system incompatibilities. While VICAR
was operational without tape system modifications, it was exceedingly
cumbersome to use and a resolution of the problem dragged out for nearly
a year and required a commitment of about 1 programmer month. Finally,
plotting software was not included in the transfer due to its proprie-
tary nature. Although this problem is now nearly solved at WSU, it is
foreseen that plotting software implementation will cause unique problems
at future VICAR/IBIS installation sites.
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Operational Considerations
In the 9 months following installation, wsucsc personnel used VICAR/IBIS
in a Spokane County Landsat project for demonstration and verification
of system utility. Throughout the course of this project, Center pro-
grammers found time and time again, that when VICAR/IBIS ran, it ran
beautifully, but when a program failed, identification of the problem
and debugging were nearly impossible. Closer inspection showed that by
even the most lax WSUCSC program support standards, VICAR/IBIS was far
from being an easily maintainable system. Although support and main-
tenance guidelines are demanding due to the Center's responsiveness to
user satisfaction, WSU programmers believe that the production problems
encountered with VICAR/IBIS would cause potential maintenance difficul-
ties at nearly all installations.
Most critical among VICAR/IBIS support problems has been the occurrence
of a missing source and/or documentation component from otherwise com-
plete program or subroutine modules. It should be clear that when source
code is missing, program debugging, modification and enhancement is im-
possible. When documentation is absent, the program function must be
interpreted from source code (if available), or the program is never
used. A more subtle, but nevertheless critical, problem has been that
occasionally an application program is found to have functionally un-
correlated load, source and documentation components. In other words,
each of the components, when transferred, represented the developing,
but operational, algorithm at a different stage of evolution. Several
of these uncorrelated occurrences have put serious doubts about the in-
tegrity of other VICAR/IBIS programs in the minds of WSUCSC image pro-
cessing personnel. Lack of available JPL VICAR maintenance documentat-
ion and the absence of internal date flags in program modules has made
solutions to these problems complex.
Further practical problems with VICAR/IBIS have been identified at WSU.
Some of these are as follows --
• Partial Nth generation xerox program documentation -
unintelligible
• TTMmacro language documentation not transferred
• VICAR abend code documentation is brief and nebulous in
places
• Relationship of system abend codes to VICAR jobs is not
clearly documented
• Much of the VICAR/IBIS documentation contains outdated
information
• Insufficient documentation on program restrictions and
timings
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• No functional program menu - applications persons must search
through all program documents to find appropriate processing
function
• Internal software documentation often poor
• Internal software generation and modification dating generally
non-existent
• No complete VICAR programmers guide available
While genuine concerns regarding software maintenance and documentation
have been generated at the Center, overall impressions and acceptance
of the system by WSU staff and Center users has been favorable. Currently
running on the Amdahl 470/V 8 under the MVS/VS2 operating system at WSUCSC,
staff members and users have become very comfortable with VICAR/IBIS batch
job submission via the WYLBUR text editing, remote job entry system.
WYLBUR software has been written to reduce VICAR/IBIS job submission and
control to a series of user responses to terminal prompts. Several users
have made a transition from interactive image processing to the VICAR/IBIS
batch environment with differing degrees of comfort. All, however, recog-
nize the advantages of mainframe image processing systems, especially when
applied to large amounts of image data and/or complex raster algorithms.
WSUCSC VICAR/IBIS Support Plans
WSUCSC has made a commitment to support VICAR/IBIS as its main digital
image analysis capability. To bring the system up to Center support stan-
dards, work has begun and is being planned in the area of --
I System software cleanup & enhancement
2 Identification/compilation of an easily maintained set
of application software
3 Redocumentation, reprinting of existing documentation &
development of additional documentation
4 Organization of VICAR/IBIS users group for interchange
of technical information between users & installations
5 Development of VICAR/IBIS image processing training
for WSUCSC and others
Scheduling and personnel time investments associated with the VICAR/IBIS
support effort are presented in Table I. Each of the support areas will
be addressed more specifically in subsequent paragraphs.
System software is one aspect of the VICAR/IBIS package which reflects
the long evolutionary development of the system as a whole. Certain
commands and options in the VICAR Control Language have not been used
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Table 1 Personnel Time Estimates for VICAR/IBIS Installation
& Support
Getting VICAR/IBIS Operational
WSUCSC Personnel Training
System Acquistion
System Installation
System problems debugging
Total personnel weeks ............... 18
Accessing VICAR/IBIS Via WYLBUR .......... 2
Program Debugging Due To
Application Program Bugs
Inadequate Documentation
Total personnel weeks . . . ............ 16
Current And Future Efforts To Bring
VICAR/IBIS To WSUCSC Support Standards
Software Modification
Documentation
Training
Total Personnel Weeks ............. 120-160
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for years due to functional duplication with more recent application
programs. Other commands have different names but identical functions.
Center staff have identified and removed functionally synonymous com-
mand names and functionally Outmoded command options leaving a more
concise VICAR Control Language set.
In the course of VICAR/IBIS applications and testing at WSU, applica-
tion programs have failed on occasion. In many cases, program repair
was apparent with a little searching by Center staff, in other cases
missing or out of date source code prohibited debugging. During this
period, NASA/Ames was timely and expert in supplying program fixes
when required. Nevertheless, wherever the origin of software modifica-
tions, the net effect was like fighting spot fires. •As soon as one was
extinguished, another was discovered. This type of software mainten-
ance results in an endless effort and does not constitute a supportable
system by WSUCSC standards. A decision was therefore made to rebuild
the applications software portion of the system from the base up. Center
programmers have now begun an effort to recompile all VICAR primitive
routines from the latest source code transferred, obtain or rewrite any
missing primitives called by a group of application programs designated
for support. Recompile that group of application programs from the most
recent source code transferred. The completion of this effort will leave
WSUCSC with internally maintainable application software from the stand-
point of in-house debugging, modification and development of programs.
System support is certainly lacking by any standards without adequate
documentation. While solutions to all VICAR/IBIS documentation problems
are complex and time consuming, the WSU Computing Center staff have been
working on several critical deficiencies and have plans to address others
soon. With funding from NASA/Ames, a new version of the VICAR/IBIS Ref-
erence Manual is near completion, incorporating the WSU version of VICAR
Control Language. Application program documentation is also being re-
printed and in some cases redocumented. It is anticipated that through
a process of WSUCSC user feedback, VICAR/IBIS documentation can be fine-
tuned and expanded for application programs supported by the Center. A
VICAR Installation Guide and a VICAR Programmers Guide are planned for
in the future.
Throughout the process of VICAR/IBIS transfer, installation and applica-
tion at WSUCSC, close Contacts were established with other installations
where the system had been or was being installed. Sharing of technical
information and software enhancedthe systems and VICAR/IBIS understand-
ing for those involved. As a result, it has become clear that there is
not one but many different versions of VICAR/IBIS, and no two are prob-
ably the same. To some extent, individual computer system requirements
necessitate certain unique system modifications. However, major
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distinctions between systems lie in different sets of software and docu-
mentation. WSUCSC feels the deficiency of a users group by which infor-
mation and software could be disseminated. The Center plans to establish
such a group in the future and invites all interested parties to contact
US.
Finally, essential to successful VICAR/IBIS image processing is good
training. With matching funds from PNRC, WSUCSC developed one day over-
view seminars and 5 day hands-on workshop sessions to aid in the under-
standing of basic image processing concepts and VICAR/IBIS application.
To date, this training has met with much success. The future holds con-
tinued offerings of training and course diversification into specific
application fields and image processing techniques.
Summary
VICAR/IBIS is functionally a sound system. Operating in an IBM main-
frame environment, VICAR/IBIS provides for efficient image processing
especially when dealing with large raster data sets. Processing strate-
gies are limited in scope only by applications programmerimagination.
Although easily installed and operational within weeks, VICAR has pre-
sented WSUCSC with a variety of system support problems. Software and
documentation situations at the basis of these problems occur at all
sites of VICAR/IBIS installation. To what extent maintenance difficul-
ties will affect computing operation at potential installation sites,
depends on highly variable facility characteristics. VICAR/IBIS is in
no sense a turn-key system. Those considering VICAR/IBIS installation
should be prepared to invest significant personnel time and funds to-
ward system upkeep as a dedicated system maintenance service is not
offered at this time.
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Video Information Communication and Retrieval/Image Based Information System (VICAR/IBIS)

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