NASA'S FM COMMUNITY HAS IDENTIFIED ONE OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH FM ON THE SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SM…

Public award description

NASA'S FM COMMUNITY HAS IDENTIFIED ONE OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH FM ON THE SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD) MISSIONS BEING THAT THE COMPLEXITY OF FM HAS OFTEN BEEN DISCOVERED LATE IN THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT DURING TESTING, OR IN OTHER CASES IN FLIGHT ITSELF REQUIRING UNPLANNED, MAJOR SPIKES IN RESOURCES TO ENSURE THAT IT WILL WORK PROPERLY AND NOT CREATE FAILURES IN THE SYSTEM THAT IT IS TRYING TO PROTECT. SOME FM ISSUES SHOW UP DURING THE MISSION, WHICH HAVE LED TO A RANGE OF OUTCOMES FROM NEAR TO ACTUAL LOSSES OF SCIENCE DATA AND NEAR-LOSSES AND ACTUAL LOSSES OF SPACECRAFT. ADDRESSING THESE ISSUES REQUIRES MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF A SYSTEM S FM DESIGN AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE DESIGN TO THE RESULTING SYSTEM BEHAVIORS. A FIRST STEP IN ACHIEVING THAT IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING AT REASONABLE COST IS THE MODELING AND VISUALIZATION OF THE FM ARCHITECTURE FOR SYSTEM DESIGNERS AND OPERATORS. THE WORK PROPOSED HERE AIMS TO ENABLE FM ARCHITECTURAL MODELING AND VISUALIZATION. ARCHITECTURAL MODELS ARE A CRITICAL STEP FOR FUTURE WORK TO IMPLEMENT FM METRICS ACROSS THE ENTIRE FM ARCHITECTURE, FROM STATE ESTIMATION THROUGH CONTROL OF SYSTEM STATES AND BEHAVIORS. THIS MODELING AND VISUALIZATION SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCES THE ABILITY TO QUALITATIVELY AND QUANTITATIVELY UNDERSTAND A SYSTEM S FM DESIGN, WHICH IN TURN ENABLES MORE EFFECTIVE TRADE STUDIES OF DIFFERENT DESIGN AND OPERATIONAL OPTIONS THAT BETTER GRASP FM COMPLETENESS AND COMPLEXITY. QUALTECH SYSTEMS, INC. (QSI), IN COLLABORATION WITH DR. STEPHEN B. JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF DEPENDABLE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES, LLC (DST), PLAN TO DEVELOP TECHNIQUES AND THE CONCOMITANT SOFTWARE MODULES FOR ENABLING FM VISUALIZATION AND DESIGN ASSESSMENT IN QSI S TEAMS (TESTABILITY ENGINEERING AND MAINTENANCE SYSTEM) TOOLSET TO ADDRESS FM METRICS FOR FAILURE RESPONSE/RECOVERY, AND WILL BE LINKED TO ONGOING EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT FM METRICS AND TO OVERALL SYSTEM AUTONOMY, BUT TARGETING SMD SCIENCE MISSIONS AND THEIR UNIQUE GOALS.