Robert R. Downs

Reuse Readiness Levels as a Measure of Software Reusability

The reuse of software and related artifacts offers the potential for cost savings in various industries and has contributed to the development of the cyberinfrastructure that is used by the Earth science community. Developing measures that enable the assessment of software in terms of its potential reusability can contribute to efforts of both developers and reusers of software. Draft Reuse Readiness Levels (RRLs) have been developed as an instrument for assessing the maturity of software products for potential reuse. The process employed to develop the draft RRLs is described, and the initial summary of topic areas defined for each level is presented. Based on recommendations from the community of Earth science data systems software developers, areas for improving the precision of the draft RRLs have been identified and an approach for identifying enhancements is described.

The Software Reuse Working Group: A Case Study in Fostering Reuse

Packaging software assets for reuse can improve the potential for others to adopt the software. Packaging the software with appropriate documentation and other resources can facilitate decision-making by those considering adoption and can enable them to implement the software more efficiently. Software that can be easily integrated is more likely to be shared with others and reused by the recipients. The NASA Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Software Reuse Working Group has been chartered to oversee the process that will maximize the reuse of potential software components. As part of this work, a portal Web site was created to support reuse practices within the Earth science community. This portal also serves as an example of reuse practices, both as a recipient and as a contributor to reuse. This paper describes the assets that were reused to develop the software reuse portal. For each asset reused, we identify the type, format, and licensing restrictions. This case study exemplifies reuse at various scopes such as the application, component, and function level. Aside from consuming reusable assets, the software produced was also made available for reuse. We address proper packaging methodologies to foster easy integration and reuse. We obtain various reuse metrics based on an analysis of the final system and the impact in our community. We identify caveats in current metrics such as consideration for emerging technologies and intangible benefits.

Reuse of software assets for the NASA Earth science decadal survey missions

Software assets from existing Earth science missions can be reused for the new decadal survey missions that are being planned by NASA in response to the 2007 Earth Science National Research Council (NRC) Study. The new missions will require the development of software to curate, process, and disseminate the data to science users of interest and to the broader NASA mission community. In this paper, we discuss new tools and a blossoming community that are being developed by the Earth Science Data System (ESDS) Software Reuse Working Group (SRWG) to improve capabilities for reusing NASA software assets.

Cooperative design, development, and management of interdisciplinary data to support the global environmental change research community.

Abstract This article describes the organizational, collaborative, and project management processes of a scientific data center that serves the interdisciplinary global environmental change research community. Collaborating with representatives of the user community, the data center identifies, acquires, ingests, manages, and disseminates research-related information (RRI), such as scientific data and documents. Users and software developers cooperatively design online applications that integrate these resources into a wide variety of information products and services to be disseminated through a digital library to the globally dispersed community. Results from these participatory design and cooperative development activities include Web-based resource catalogs, training, peer education, help desk, and reference services to support scientific communication and decision-making among members of the interdisciplinary community.

Developing an open source strategy for NASA earth science data systems

We have found open source to be an effective platform for software reuse. Within the NASA Earth science data systems community, there are a number of distinct applications, ranging from interactions amongst science investigator led processing systems (SIPS), which focus on active data processing, algorithm experimentation and evaluation, and the reuse of instrument processing approaches; to NASAs Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) that are responsible for outward facing data dissemination to the public, and where long term preservation of data and reuse are distinctly important; all the way to downstream proposal led systems, where investigators are funded by NASA to reuse data and software to produce fused data products, and to aggregate and reuse NASA data systems in a systems-of-systems manner. Recognizing the need for a coordinated effort to inform the reuse of components within the NASA ecosystem, we are developing a strategic approach for the development and reuse of open source software. The NASA open source strategy builds on a set of dimensions involving legal, architectural, community, and redistribution areas that are of prime importance to the agency as a whole.

Understanding Open Source Software at NASA

To provide a framework for comparing and understanding open source software at NASA, the authors describe a set of relevant dimensions and decision points that NASA and other government agencies can use in formulating an open source strategy.

Software reuse methods to improve technological infrastructure for e-Science

Social computing has the potential to contribute to scientific research. Ongoing developments in information and communications technology improve capabilities for enabling scientific research, including research fostered by social computing capabilities. The recent emergence of e-Science practices has demonstrated the benefits from improvements in the technological infrastructure, or cyberinfrastructure, that has been developed to support science. Cloud computing is one example of this e-Science trend. Our own work in the area of software reuse offers methods that can be used to improve new technological development, including cloud computing capabilities, to support scientific research practices. In this paper, we focus on software reuse and its potential to contribute to the development and evaluation of information systems and related services designed to support new capabilities for conducting scientific research.

Building the Next Generation of Aerospace Data Processing Systems by Reusing Existing Software Components

Software is a key ingredient when developing any aerospace system. It is used in embedded electronics, in flight dynamics, in ground and space data processing, and in the current generation of data products. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s Innovative Partnerships Program Office offers licensing opportunities for software and technologies from a variety of areas relevant to the hardware and software requirements of Earth and space science missions and projects: aerospace/aeronautics, computer software, data processing/analysis, electromechanical devices, electronics, manufacturing equipment, mechanical technologies, nanotechnology, optics and photonics, sensor and detector technologies, subassemblies and components, telecommunications and internet, and test and measurement (IPP Office, 2009). Reuse of existing experience and artifacts eliminates having to “reinvent the wheel” and is a key element to achieving progress in many areas of complex aerospace system development. Originally, in the absence of vendor-provided solutions and commercial off-the-shelf software components, many data and information systems were designed and built as custom applications. However, as the practice of systems and applications development has matured, facilitating reuse of software and reusing previously developed software have been recognized as beneficial for meeting the challenges of developing and maintaining complex systems. Some of the challenges commonly faced by system developers can include dealing with very large quantities of data (e.g., terabytes per day), working with a distributed knowledge base, the expense and complexity of required technology infrastructure, and the need for domain-specific knowledge in software development (Samadi et al., 2007). In software development, reuse can assist today’s development teams in various aspects of the system development life cycle, especially when they share common goals (Samadi et al., 2007). The development of new systems can benefit from the efforts that contributed to the development of current and previous generations of systems. Considering the costs of building new systems, and the learning curve that contributes to such costs, leveraging the results of previous system development activities has the potential to reduce system

Progress towards a NASA earth science Reuse Enablement System (RES)

A Reuse Enablement System (RES) allows developers of Earth science software to contribute software for reuse by others and for users to find, select, and obtain software for reuse in their own systems. This paper describes work that the NASA Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Software Reuse Working Group has completed to date in the development of an RES for NASA.

Policy Recommendations for Institutions to Serve as Trustworthy Stewards of Research Data

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS ) Reference Model, published as ISO 14721, has been adopted as the “de facto” standard for systems that preserve data. ISO 16363, the standard for Audit And Certification Of Trustworthy Digital Repositories , is based on ISO 14721 and contains the criteria for auditing various kinds of repositories in terms of their potential to provide trustworthy services for data management and preservation . Institutions that manage repositories for research data need to attain compliance with ISO 16363 if they plan to serve as trustworthy digital repositories . As an initial step, institutions that operate repositories for managing and preserving research data should create and follow policies to address the ISO 16363 requirements.Recommendations are offered for establishing and implementing policies within institutions that plan to serve as trustworthy repositories of research data holdings .