Jeremy E. Jones

An autonomous earth-observing sensorWeb

We describe a network of sensors linked by software and the Internet to an autonomous satellite observation response capability. This system of systems is designed with a flexible, modular, architecture to facilitate expansion in sensors, customization of trigger conditions, and customization of responses. This system has been used to implement a global surveillance program of science phenomena including: volcanoes, flooding, cryosphere events, and atmospheric phenomena. In this paper we describe the importance of the earth observing sensorweb application as well as overall architecture for the system of systems.

An autonomous Earth observing sensorweb

We describe a network of sensors linked by software and the Internet to an autonomous satellite observation response capability. This sensor network is designed with a flexible, modular, architecture to facilitate expansion in sensors, customization of trigger conditions, and customization of responses. This system has been used to implement a global surveillance program of multiple science phenomena including: volcanoes, flooding, cryosphere events, and atmospheric phenomena. In this paper we describe the importance of the Earth observing sensorWeb application as well as overall architecture for the network

Visualization tools to support proposal submission

Many scientific observational programs require the field of view (FOV) or aperture to have a specific orientation on the sky. Since orientation requirements have a very strong impact on other aspects of the execution of the observation, an observer must have the ability to visualize the orientation of the science aperture and determine the effect of the orientation on the possible scheduling of the observation. We are prototyping an interactive, visual tool for fine-tuning the target location and orientation. To make efficient use of any instrument the user needs to understand the various modes of the instrument and then calculate exposure times or signal-to-noise ratios for many different kinds of observations. Thus, the exposure time calculator (ETC) is an essential tool that is used by various users for many different purposes. We are prototyping a more dynamic graphical ETC in which the user can simulate to some extent and determine the effect of various input parameters. This interactive exposure time calculator will not only be intuitive but will provide various users the different level of detailed information they desire. The VTT and ETC are Web-based tools that can be used by themselves or as part of the Scientists Expert Assistant, for the next generation space telescope proposal management system. Currently, the tools are being developed with the requirements of HST in mid, but will also be easily adaptable to other observatories. The underlying software for the tools is an object-oriented Java-based applet. The object-oriented nature of the design is intended to allow the tools to easily expand their features or to be customized. By making the system Java-based, we gain the ability to easily distribute the applet across a wide set of operating system and users. In addition to executing the tools as a Java applet, it can be loaded onto a users workstation and run as an application independent of a Web browser.

An autonomous earth observing sensorWeb

We describe a network of sensors linked by software and the Internet to an autonomous satellite observation response capability. This sensor network is designed with a flexible, modular, architecture to facilitate expansion in sensors, customization of trigger conditions, and customization of responses. This system has been used to implement a global surveillance program of multiple science phenomena including: volcanoes, flooding, cryosphere events, and atmospheric phenomena. In this paper we describe the importance of the Earth observing sensorWeb application as well as overall architecture for the network.

Science Goal Driven Observing: A Step Towards Maximizing Science Returns and Spacecraft Autonomy

In the coming decade, the drive to increase the scientific returns on capital investment and to reduce costs will force automation to be implemented in many of the scientific tasks that have traditionally been manually overseen. Thus, spacecraft autonomy will become an even greater part of mission operations. While recent missions have made great strides in the ability to autonomously monitor and react to changing health and physical status of spacecraft, little progress has been made in responding quickly to science driven events. The new generation of space-based telescopes/observatories will see deeper, with greater clarity, and they will generate data at an unprecedented rate. Yet, while onboard data processing and storage capability will increase rapidly, bandwidth for downloading data will not increase as fast and can become a significant bottleneck and cost of a science program. For observations of inherently variable targets and targets of opportunity, the ability to recognize early if an observation will not meet the science goals of variability or minimum brightness, and react accordingly, can have a major positive impact on the overall scientific returns of an observatory and on its operational costs. If the observatory can reprioritize the schedule to focus on alternate targets, discard uninteresting observations prior to downloading, or download them at a reduced resolution its overall efficiency will be dramatically increased. We are investigating and developing tools for a science goal monitoring (SGM) system. The SGM will have an interface to help capture higher-level science goals from scientists and translate them into a flexible observing strategy that SGM can execute and monitor. SGM will then monitor the incoming data stream and interface with data processing systems to recognize significant events. When an event occurs, the system will use the science goals given it to reprioritize observations, and react appropriately and/or communicate with ground systems - both human and machine - for confirmation and/or further high priority analyses.

Linking science analysis with observation planning: a full circle data lifecycle

A clear goal of the Virtual Observatory (VO) is to enable new science through analysis of integrated astronomical archives. An additional and powerful possibility of the VO is to link and integrate these new analyses with planning of new observations. By providing tools that can be used for observation planning in the VO, the VO will allow the data lifecycle to come full circle: from theory to observations to data and back around to new theories and new observations. The Scientists Expert Assistant (SEA) Simulation Facility (SSF) is working to combine the ability to access existing archives with the ability to model and visualize new observations. Integrating the two will allow astronomers to better use the integrated archives of the VO to plan and predict the success of potential new observations more efficiently. The full circle lifecycle enabled by SEA can allow astronomers to make substantial leaps in the quality of data and science returns on new observations. Our talk examines the exciting potential of integrating archival analysis with new observation planning, such as performing data calibration analysis on archival images and using that analysis to predict the success of new observations, or performing dynamic signal-to-noise analysis combining historical results with modeling of new instruments or targets. We will also describe how the development of the SSF is progressing and what have been its successes and challenges.

NGST's Scientist's Expert Assistant: evaluation results

This paper describes the approach and evaluation results of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) Scientists Expert Assistant (SEA) project. The plan describes the goals, and methodology for the evaluation. The objective of this evaluation is to provide a means for the targeted user community to provide feedback to the developers, and to determine if the advanced technologies investigated as part of SEA have achieved the goals that were to be its success criteria. We can with confidence say that visual, interactive tools in SEA were found to be highly useful by the users. On a scale of 1 - 5, where 1 was excellent and 5 was poor, the SEA as a whole ranked as 1.7, i.e., between excellent and above average.

Designing the next generation of user support tools: methodology

In this paper we present a strategy for developing the next generation of proposal preparation tools so that we can continue to optimize scientific returns from the Hubble Space Telescope in an era of constrained budgets. The new proposal preparation tools must be built with two goals: (1) to facilitate scientific investigation for observers, and (2) to decrease the effort spent on routine matters by observatory staff. We have based our conclusions on lessons learned from the Next Generation Space Telescopes Scientists Expert Assistant experiment. We conclude that: (1) Compared to existing Hubble Space Telescopes Phase II RPS2 software, a modern set of proposal tools and an environment that integrates them will be appreciated by the user community. From the users perspective the proposed software must be more intuitive, visual, and responsive. From the observatorys perspective the tools must be interoperable and extensible to other observatories. (2) To ensure state-of-the-art tools for proposal preparation for the user community, there needs to be a management structure that supports innovation. Further, the development activities need to be divided into innovating and fielding efforts to prevent operational pressures from inhibiting innovation. This will allow use of up-to-date technology so that the system can remain fluid and responsive to changes.

Science Goal Driven Observing and Spacecraft Autonomy

Spacecraft autonomy will be an integral part of mission operations in the coming decade. While recent missions have made great strides in the ability to autonomously monitor and react to changing health and physical status of spacecraft, little progress has been made in responding quickly to science driven events. For observations of inherently variable targets and targets of opportunity, the ability to recognize early if an observation will meet the science goals of a program, and react accordingly, can have a major positive impact on the overall scientific returns of an observatory and on its operational costs. If the onboard software can reprioritize the schedule to focus on alternate targets, discard uninteresting observations prior to downloading, or download a subset of observations at a reduced resolution, the spacecrafts overall efficiency will be dramatically increased. The science goal monitoring (SGM) system is a proof- of-concept effort to address the above challenge. The SGM will have an interface to help capture higher-level science goals from the scientists and translate them into a flexible observing strategy that SGM can execute and monitor. We are developing an interactive distributed system that will use on-board processing and storage combined with event-driven interfaces with ground-based processing and operations, to enable fast re-prioritization of observing schedules, and to minimize time spent on non-optimized observations. This paper will focus on our strategy for developing SGM and the technical challenges that we have encountered. We will discuss the SGM architecture as it applies to the proposed MIDEX-class mission Kronos. However, the architecture and interfaces will also be designed for easy adaptability to other observing platforms, including ground-based systems and to work with different scheduling and pipeline processing systems.

Code sharing and collaboration: experiences from the Scientist's Expert Assistant project and their relevance to the virtual observatory

In the Virtual Observatory (VO), software tools will perform the functions that have traditionally been performed by physical observatories and their instruments. These tools will not be adjuncts to VO functionality but will make up the very core of the VO. Consequently, the tradition of observatory and system independent tools serving a small user base is not valid for the VO. For the VO to succeed, we must improve software collaboration and code sharing between projects and groups. A significant goal of the Scientists Expert Assistant (SEA) project has been promoting effective collaboration and code sharing among groups. During the past three years, the SEA project has been developing prototypes for new observation planning software tools and strategies. Initially funded by the Next Generation Space Telescope, parts of the SEA code have since been adopted by the Space Telescope Science Institute. SEA has also supplied code for the SIRTF planning tools, and the JSky Open Source Java library. The potential benefits of sharing code are clear. The recipient gains functionality for considerably less cost. The provider gains additional developers working with their code. If enough users groups adopt a set of common code and tools, de facto standards can emerge (as demonstrated by the success of the FITS standard). Code sharing also raises a number of challenges related to the management of the code. In this talk, we will review our experiences with SEA - both successes and failures, and offer some lessons learned that might promote further successes in collaboration and re-use.