SURFACE: Simulation Utilizing Remote Facilities to Aggregate Control Environments

The proposed effort will utilize a software API to link disparate N-DOF test bed facilities into a unified simulation. This API, called SURFACE (Simulation Utilizing Remote Facilities to Aggregate Control Environments), will allow for disparate test beds from remote facilities of different scale and function to run interlinked simulations in real time, where reaction forces are passed amongst the test beds via internet protocols. SURFACE will then display a combined-DoF simulation that shows the entire simulation working in a single simulated environment. Using the SPHERES--currently being flown on the International Space Station--test beds at MIT, the SURFACE API will be used to test and develop control algorithms for future Aurora projects including DARPAs Phoenix, to test distributed systems and cluster flight dynamics. This proposed effort is a way to enable affordable testing of advanced spacecraft architecture, and fulfills in a critical need in the space flight community for small and large companies alike.