AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Managing Automation and Autonomy Considerations for Space Ground Architectural Tradeoffs presented at Ground Systems Architecture Workshop GSAW 98 by Dave Welch AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Managing Automation and Autonomy Overview of Autonomy Technology Infusion l Functional Components of Operations l Monitor and Control Data Processing and Analysis Planning and Scheduling Implications of the Autonomous Operations Concept for System Development Processes l Conclusions l GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Overview of Autonomy Technology Infusion Automation of reflex activities l Moving towards full autonomy l Decisions more complex and judgmental Requires sophisticated reasoning l Distributed autonomy GSAW 98 Space versus ground autonomy Need for early determination of distribution of functionality Selection of proper autonomy Verification and validation of autonomous system February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Functional Components of Operations Monitor and Control l Activities during real time contact historically Command transmission and execution verification Health and safety monitoring Instantaneous status of system at any point in time Performance monitoring Measure of how well system executes over time Requires knowledge of scheduled operations l Commercial tools to assist operations Monitor and suggest solutions or automatically initiate response Ground based and on board options available Currently handles known errors only Still requires help of experts for unknown anomalies GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Functional Components of Operations Data Processing and Analysis l Will benefit from new Internet like protocols End to end file delivery assured Retransmission of missing or corrupted data handled by protocol no operators needed Eliminates need for Level Zero Processing l l New computer technology allows onboard data processing and sorting downlink only good observations GPS technology allows precision real time orbit knowledge onboard GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Functional Components of Operations Planning and Scheduling l l Determination and processing of payload inputs Handling of engineering special requests Maneuvers Anomaly isolation and resolution l l l Scheduling configuration of event driven activities Activities performed on periodic basis Smart agents could factor in need to re plan and reschedule mission observations GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 Implications of the Autonomous Operations Concept AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Anything not planned for and therefore not deemed routine could potentially GREATLY INCREASE the cost of keeping a mission flying Such as Orbit and attitude maneuvers Flight software maintenance GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 Implications of the Autonomous Operations Concept AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation l Population and maintenance of the databases which support the automation is the basic problem As system becomes more sophisticated more information and interactions must be monitored and controlled l Completely automated control center must interact with not only the spacecraft but also with other ground entities Troubleshooting these interfaces today remains a manual operation which depends on verbal coordination between humans at each site GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 Implications of the Autonomous Operations Concept AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation l l Need to consider how to manually override system when necessary i e anomalies Allocation of functions between space and ground elements of system Turnaround response time required As spacecraft become more automated they need more ability to direct the ground systems l Autonomy requires validation of space and ground elements together Will no longer be able to test them separately then put them together Needs to be incorporated into spacecraft I T philosophy Single team concept needed to integrate test and operate system GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Conclusions l l Moving towards era where integrating systems will be analogous to today s computing environment Once standard interfaces are established generic subsystem maintenance becomes a real possibility Generic subsystems enable generic command telemetry display and monitoring databases Eliminates need to re evaluate them for each new project Self identifying instrumentation could allow these databases to be built on the fly Enables small generic team of experts to handle multiple missions at a time GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998 AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation Conclusions l l Gaps in automation technology could drastically impact potential results Need for system level test philosophy Test environment must simulate the flight environment utilizing automation to perform tests Knowledge must be installed into the system to eliminate reliance on humans GSAW 98 February 25 27 1998