RECONFIGURABLE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR ON-BOARD SATELLITE

A PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING AREA FOR THE APPLICATION OF MILITARY COMPUTER SYSTEMS IS THOSE CASES IN WHICH THE SYSTEM MUST OPERATE AUTONOMOUSLY IN A HOSTILE OR REMOTE ENVIRONMENT FOR MANY YEARS. ONBOARD SATELLITE COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARE A GOOD EXAMPLE OF SUCH AN APPLICATION. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WILL RESULT IN A NEW GENERATION OF RECONFIGURABLE, DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEMS WHOSE ARCHITECTURE CAN BE ADAPTED TO BEST FIT THE CURRENT COMPUTING NEEDS. THESE SYSTEMS WILL COMBINE NEW CONCEPTS IN ADAPTIVELY MODIFIED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE, TOGETHER WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR DYNAMIC ALLOCATION OF THE SYSTEM RESOURCES TO OPTIMIZE SOME MEASURE OF SYSTEM EFFECTIVENES. THE ADVANTAGES OF THIS NEW TYPE OF SYSTEM INCLUDE: INCREASED ON-BOARD INTELLIGENCE (OBTAINED BY MAKING MOST EFFICIENT USE OF THE GIVEN SYSTEM RESOURCES); INCREASED SYSTEM AVAILABILITY (OBTAINED BY ISOLATING FAILURES AND REALLOCATING SYSTEM RESOURCES TO REPLACE FAILED UNITS); ADAPTIVE RESPONSE TO REAL-TIME LOAD (A FEATURE OF THE DYNAMIC ALLOCATION PROCEDURE); AND EXTENDED LIFE CYCLE (OBTAINED BY REALLOCATION OF THE SYSTEM RESOOURCES IN RESPONSE TO GROUND-ORDERED MODIFICATIONS TO ALGORITHMS AND SOFTWARE.