Jacques van Oene
August 6th 05, 01:42 PM
NASA Public Affairs Office
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3341
Aug 3, 2005
RELEASE: STS-05-137
NASA SCIENTIST USING ROCKET ENGINE TEST STANDS TO BUILD SELF-SUFFICIENT
SENSORS AND SYSTEMS
A scientist at NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) in South Mississippi,
Fernando Figueroa, is helping lay groundwork for NASA's future exploration
to the outer reaches of our solar system.
Through a project called the Integrated System Health Management (ISHM)
Testbeds and Prototypes (ITP), he leads a team that is developing a
prototype system including networked "intelligent" sensors (sensors that
provide data, measure of the quality of the data, and a measure of their own
health) that will support human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Figueroa works for the Technology Development and Transfer Office, part of
the Program Development Directorate at SSC. As principal investigator for
the ITP project, he proposed using SSC's rocket engine test facilities as
the proving ground to develop and validate ISHM technologies. SSC is where
all the Space Shuttle Main Engines have been tested and proven flight-worthy
since 1975.
"The engine test stands are perfect test beds to develop and validate ISHM
technologies," Figueroa said, "because they are very well-known and
well-understood systems that have been in place a long time. They have an
established baseline of safe operations. When you introduce new ISHM
capability elements into the systems, you can see immediately what is
different."
Automated and computerized systems rely on sensors to provide data feedback
and keep the system functioning within safe boundaries. Most sensors are
expected to operate with a certain amount of anomaly or error. As a system
grows in complexity, so does the need for more - and more reliable -
sensors. Industries and technology developers embrace the idea of sensor
networks to simplify complex systems (like rocket engine testing facilities)
and increase the accuracy and reliability of their data delivery.
The principle of ISHM is relatively simple. A collection of intelligent
sensors exchanges data, information and knowledge with processes "served" by
the sensors. Each sensor operates within the system hierarchy, where all
elements are "aware" of each other. The processes are part of a collection
of systems (defining a vehicle or platform), controlled with a bird's-eye
view of the entire system.
"ISHM is about embedding knowledge and information so that the system can
apply human-inspired strategies to monitor, capture anomalies, diagnose
sources of anomalies and predict future status. It is also about providing
the user with an integrated situational awareness of the system, and of
every element in the context of its function," Figueroa wrote in an article
for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Putting an ISHM in place at SSC's rocket engine test stands would mean test
controllers could do their jobs in a fully immersed environment. They could
monitor the condition of every system component and receive advice on
anomalies and proper courses of action. It would mean data collected during
a facility fuel tank pressurization process could be monitored alongside the
performance of a fuel pump inside an engine, taking advantage of physical
and operational interactions in real time.
If successful in developing/validating ISHM technologies, SSC would be
poised to test future generations of spacecraft. "New exploration systems
will have to be ISHM-compatible," Figueroa said.
"The idea is that ISHM will help us move toward having a smaller, more
efficient mission support group on the ground," he said. "We can plan
better, find issues quicker, run systems better, reduce overall costs
dramatically, increase safety significantly - all so our systems become more
self-sufficient."
"We need to detect anomalies, detect issues, speed up our reaction time,"
Figueroa said. "ISHM will do that. It is one of the sets of technical
capabilities that are needed to carry out the nation's plan to travel to the
Moon and on to Mars."
Figueroa said the project is a team effort involving highly motivated and
qualified NASA and contractor engineers at SSC and six other NASA Centers;
as well as Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.), and Southern Illinois
University-Carbondale (Carbondale, Ill.).
News releases provided by NASA's Stennis Space Center are available at
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/index.html For more information,
call the NASA Public Affairs Office at Stennis at 1-800-237-1821 or (228)
688-3341.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
(228) 688-3341
Aug 3, 2005
RELEASE: STS-05-137
NASA SCIENTIST USING ROCKET ENGINE TEST STANDS TO BUILD SELF-SUFFICIENT
SENSORS AND SYSTEMS
A scientist at NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) in South Mississippi,
Fernando Figueroa, is helping lay groundwork for NASA's future exploration
to the outer reaches of our solar system.
Through a project called the Integrated System Health Management (ISHM)
Testbeds and Prototypes (ITP), he leads a team that is developing a
prototype system including networked "intelligent" sensors (sensors that
provide data, measure of the quality of the data, and a measure of their own
health) that will support human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Figueroa works for the Technology Development and Transfer Office, part of
the Program Development Directorate at SSC. As principal investigator for
the ITP project, he proposed using SSC's rocket engine test facilities as
the proving ground to develop and validate ISHM technologies. SSC is where
all the Space Shuttle Main Engines have been tested and proven flight-worthy
since 1975.
"The engine test stands are perfect test beds to develop and validate ISHM
technologies," Figueroa said, "because they are very well-known and
well-understood systems that have been in place a long time. They have an
established baseline of safe operations. When you introduce new ISHM
capability elements into the systems, you can see immediately what is
different."
Automated and computerized systems rely on sensors to provide data feedback
and keep the system functioning within safe boundaries. Most sensors are
expected to operate with a certain amount of anomaly or error. As a system
grows in complexity, so does the need for more - and more reliable -
sensors. Industries and technology developers embrace the idea of sensor
networks to simplify complex systems (like rocket engine testing facilities)
and increase the accuracy and reliability of their data delivery.
The principle of ISHM is relatively simple. A collection of intelligent
sensors exchanges data, information and knowledge with processes "served" by
the sensors. Each sensor operates within the system hierarchy, where all
elements are "aware" of each other. The processes are part of a collection
of systems (defining a vehicle or platform), controlled with a bird's-eye
view of the entire system.
"ISHM is about embedding knowledge and information so that the system can
apply human-inspired strategies to monitor, capture anomalies, diagnose
sources of anomalies and predict future status. It is also about providing
the user with an integrated situational awareness of the system, and of
every element in the context of its function," Figueroa wrote in an article
for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Putting an ISHM in place at SSC's rocket engine test stands would mean test
controllers could do their jobs in a fully immersed environment. They could
monitor the condition of every system component and receive advice on
anomalies and proper courses of action. It would mean data collected during
a facility fuel tank pressurization process could be monitored alongside the
performance of a fuel pump inside an engine, taking advantage of physical
and operational interactions in real time.
If successful in developing/validating ISHM technologies, SSC would be
poised to test future generations of spacecraft. "New exploration systems
will have to be ISHM-compatible," Figueroa said.
"The idea is that ISHM will help us move toward having a smaller, more
efficient mission support group on the ground," he said. "We can plan
better, find issues quicker, run systems better, reduce overall costs
dramatically, increase safety significantly - all so our systems become more
self-sufficient."
"We need to detect anomalies, detect issues, speed up our reaction time,"
Figueroa said. "ISHM will do that. It is one of the sets of technical
capabilities that are needed to carry out the nation's plan to travel to the
Moon and on to Mars."
Figueroa said the project is a team effort involving highly motivated and
qualified NASA and contractor engineers at SSC and six other NASA Centers;
as well as Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.), and Southern Illinois
University-Carbondale (Carbondale, Ill.).
News releases provided by NASA's Stennis Space Center are available at
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/index.html For more information,
call the NASA Public Affairs Office at Stennis at 1-800-237-1821 or (228)
688-3341.
--
--------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info