Introduction to Innovations in System and Software Engineering

2010

The Flight Production Process (FPP) Re-engineering project has established a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodology and the technological infrastructure for the design and development of a reference, product-line architecture as well as an integrated workflow model for the Mission Operations System (MOS) for human space exploration missions at NASA Johnson Space Center. The design and architectural artifacts have been developed based on the expertise and knowledge of numerous Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The technological infrastructure developed by the FPP Re-engineering project has enabled the structured collection and integration of this knowledge and further provides simulation and analysis capabilities for optimization purposes. A key strength of this strategy has been the judicious combination of COTS products with custom coding. The lean management approach that has led to the success of this project is based on having a strong vision for the whole lifecycle of ...

11th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, 2006

Space 2004 Conference and Exhibit, 2004

The Vision for Space Exploration will guide NASA's future human and robotic space activities. The broad range of human and robotic missions now being planned will require the development of new system-level capabilities enabled by emerging new technologies. Goddard Space Flight Center is actively supporting the Vision for Space Exploration in a number of program management, engineering and technology areas. This paper provides a brief background on the Vision for Space Exploration and a general overview of potential key Goddard contributions. In particular, this paper focuses on describing relevant GSFC information systems capabilities in architecture development; interoperable command, control and communications; and other applied information systems technology/research activities that are applicable to support the Vision for Space Exploration goals. Current GSFC development efforts and task activities are presented together with future plans.

NASA's Aeronautics Blueprint lays out a research agenda for the Agency's aeronautics program. The word software appears only four times in this Blueprint, but the critical importance of safe and correct software to the fulfillment of the proposed research is evident on almost every page. Most of the technology solutions proposed to address challenges in aviation are software- dependent technologies. Of the fifty-two specific technology solutions described in the Blueprint, forty-one depend, at least in part, on software for success. For thirty-five of these forty-one, software is not only critical to success, but also to human safety. That is, implementing the technology solutions will require using software in such a way that it may, if not specified, designed, and implemented properly, lead to fatal accidents. These results have at least two implications for the research based on the Blueprint: (1) knowledge about the current state-of-the- art and state-of-the-practice in ...

Computer, 2006

M any NASA flight systems have been devel-oped according to an approach that defines hardware first, then effectively retrofits soft-ware and human procedures to the hard-ware systems. Throughout this process, a careful allocation of functionality handles time-sensitive operations ...

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 1996

Technology transfer is of crucial concern to both government and industry today. In this paper, several software engineering technologies used within NASA are studied, and the mechanisms, schedules and efforts at transferring these technologies are investigated. The goals of this study are: (1) to understand the difference between technology transfer (the adoption of a new method by large segments of an industry) as an industry-wide phenomenon and the adoption of a new technology by an individual organization (called technology infusion), and (2) to see if software engineering technology transfer differs from other engineering disciplines. While there is great interest today in developing technology transfer models for industry, it is the technology infusion process that actually causes changes in the current state of the practice.

SAE International Journal of Passenger Cars - Electronic and Electrical Systems, 2010

This paper discusses the fundamentals of architecting a major human spaceflight program and some of the lessons that can be learned from NASA's Constellation Program. This paper describes the Constellation program, whose primary objective focuses on development of a new generation of vehicles and systems to enable human exploration beyond Earth orbit. Constellation is made up of seven projects that are highly interdependent and is referred to in the NASA management system as a "tightly coupled" program. This paper will discuss the driving architectural priorities and characteristics for human exploration missions beyond earth orbit and how its building blocks are developed through initial capability missions to the International Space Station. The systems engineering challenges of simultaneously defining and developing systems that are interdependent will be discussed.

2004

1995

The following table shows a breakdown of these topic areas, subtopics, and outreach research projects that are exploring aspects of each subtopic. Many of the related project overlap into several topis and subtopics, but this is to be expected since it is difficult to separate the complex dimensions of software projects. Applied research into each of these areas is needed to support findings and recommendations that will form the Task Reports in each of these areas. Our pro-active approach hashelped advocate thebenefits of IV&V anddemonstrate its effectiveness to NASAthroughouroutreach efforts. Topic Area Subtopic Related Project(s) Process IV&V and Rapid Software Development Methods Rapid Development Lab at Johnson Space Center (JSC) tively in many domains. Research activities will emphasize the establishment of robust management processes in order to provide for repeatability with respect to the application and evaluation or research products.

Bulletin of the AAS, 2021

INCOSE International Symposium, 2012

Based on 45 years of experience conducting research and development into spacecraft instrumentation and 13 years' experience teaching Systems Engineering in a range of industries, the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London (UCL) has identified a set of guiding principles that have been invaluable in delivering successful projects in the most demanding of environments. The five principles are: 'principles govern process', 'seek alternative systems perspectives', 'understand the enterprise context', 'integrate systems engineering and project management', and 'invest in the early stages of projects'. A common thread behind the principles is a desire to foster the ability to anticipate and respond to a changing environment with a constant focus on achieving long-term value for the enterprise. These principles are applied in space projects and have been spun-out to non-space projects (primarily through UCL's Centre for Systems Engineering). They are also embedded in UCL's extensive teaching and professional training programme.

Complex Systems Design & Management, 2012

System of Systems (SoS) engineering introduces a higher level of complexity compared to conventional systems engineering, for the number and geographical distribution of resources, and for interoperability and agreements issues, for example. In domains such as defence or Information Technology, architecting methodologies have been introduced to address engineering needs deriving from this increased level of complexity. From ongoing and future European space programmes, ESA has identified new engineering needs that cannot be addressed with existing methodologies. These needs concern the use of the methodology to support decision making, the representation of European regulation and policies, and the representation of space-specific domain concepts. In this paper, we introduce the European Space Agency Architectural Framework (ESA-AF), an architecting methodology that aims to address these new engineering needs by improving on existing architecting methodologies. In addition, ESA-AF introduces exploitation tools for userfriendly interactive visualisation of SoS architectural models and for textual reporting of model data, enabling non technical users to exploit these models. We also briefly present example applications of ESA-AF in support of SoS engineering activities for the Galileo navigation, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), and the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programmes.

One of NASA's goals within human exploration is to determine how to get humans to Mars safely and to live and work on the Martian surface. To accomplish this goal, several smaller missions act as stepping-stones to the larger end goal. NASA uses these smaller missions to develop new technologies and learn about how to survive outside of Low Earth Orbit for long periods. Additionally, keeping a cadence of these missions allows the team to maintain proficiency in the complex art of bringing spacecraft to fruition. Many of these smaller missions are robotic in nature and have shorter timescales, whereas there are others that involve crew and have longer mission timelines. Given the timelines associated with these various missions, different levels of risk management and rigor need to be implemented to efficiently accomplish the mission and the overall program objectives. Thus, NASA has four different classifications that range from Class A to Class D based on the mission details. One of these projects is the Resource Prospector (RP) Mission, which is a multi-Center and multiinstitution collaborative project to search for volatiles in the polar regions of the Moon. The RP mission is designated as a Class D mission and, as such, has the opportunity to more tightly manage, and therefore accept, greater levels of risk. The risks must still be understood but the mitigation for Class D missions versus Class A missions may be substantially different. The requirements for Class D missions were at the forefront of the design and thus presented unique challenges in vehicle development and systems engineering processes. This paper will discuss the systems engineering process at NASA and how that process is implemented for Class D missions, specifically the RP mission.

11th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference, 2006