Samuel L. Venneri

Future aeronautical and space systems

Perspectives on Future Systems Short-Haul Aircraft - Rotorcraft, Commuters and General Aviation Aircraft Large Subsonic Transports and Military Aircraft Supersonic Aircraft - High-Speed Civil Transports and High-Performance Aircraft Stratospheric Aircraft, Blimps, Balloons and Long Endurance Aircraft Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Airbreathing Hypersonic Aircraft and Transatmospheric Vehicles Future Space Transportation Systems and Launch Vehicles Spacecraft for Solar System Exploration Lunar and Mars Outposts and Habitats.

Beyond incremental change

In the next 25 years NASA has ambitious goals: it wants to accurately predict climate and resources over decades, not just days. It wants to detect Earth-sized planets 600 trillion miles away with a telescope powerful enough to determine signs of life. It wants to use the International Space Station as a platform for an astronaut to visit Mars. This is the big vision, and to many it may sound more like science fiction. To help achieve these goals, in 1997 NASA and the University of Virginias Center for Advanced Computational Technology began planning and developing the Intelligent Synthesis Environment. The ISE aims to link scientists, design teams, manufacturers, suppliers, and consultants in the creation and operation of an aerospace system and in synthesizing its missions. The ultimate goal is to significantly increase creativity and knowledge and eventually dissolve rigid cultural boundaries among diverse engineering and science teams.

New frontiers in design synthesis

The Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE), which is one of the major strategic technologies under development at NASA centers and the University of Virginia, is described. One of the major objectives of ISE is to significantly enhance the rapid creation of innovative affordable products and missions. ISE uses a synergistic combination of leading-edge technologies, including high performance computing, high capacity communications and networking, human-centered computing, knowledge-based engineering, computational intelligence, virtual product development, and product information management. The environment will link scientists, design teams, manufacturers, suppliers, and consultants who participate in the mission synthesis as well as in the creation and operation of the aerospace system. It will radically advance the process by which complex science missions are synthesized, and high-tech engineering Systems are designed, manufactured and operated. The five major components critical to ISE are human-centered computing, infrastructure for distributed collaboration, rapid synthesis and simulation tools, life cycle integration and validation, and cultural change in both the engineering and science creative process. The five components and their subelements are described. Related U.S. government programs are outlined and the future impact of ISE on engineering research and education is discussed.

ISE: intelligent synthesis environment for future aerospace systems

The Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) being developed by NASA, UVA, and JPL for significantly enhancing the rapid creation of innovative affordable products and missions is described. ISE uses a synergistic combination of leading-edge technologies, including high-performance computing, high-capacity communications and networking, virtual product development, knowledge-based engineering, computational intelligence, human-computer interaction, and product information management. The environment will link scientists, design teams, manufacturers, suppliers, and consultants who participate in the mission synthesis, as well as in the creation and operation of the aerospace system. It will radically advance the process by which complex science missions are synthesized, and high-tech engineering systems are designed, manufactured, and operated. The evolution of engineering design is described along with the shortcomings of current product development techniques. The need for ISE to create high-science payoff missions and aerospace systems at affordable costs is discussed. The five major components critical to ISE and some of their sub-elements are described: namely, human-ISE interaction; infrastructure for distributed collaboration; rapid synthesis and simulation tools; intelligent life-cycle system integration; and cultural change in the creative process. Related government and industry programs are outlined and future impact of ISE on complex missions and aerospace systems is discussed.

ISE provides a new frontier for synthesis of complex engineering products and missions

The intelligent synthesis environment (ISE) being developed by NASA, UVA and JPL for significantly enhancing the rapid creation of innovative affordable products and missions is described. ISE uses a synergistic combination of leading-edge technologies, including high performance computing, high-capacity communications and networking, virtual product development, knowledge-based engineering, computational intelligence, human-centered computing, and product information management. The environment will link scientists, design teams, manufacturers, suppliers and consultants who participate in the mission synthesis, as well as in the creation and operation of the aerospace system. It will radically advance the process by which complex science missions are synthesized, and high-tech engineering systems are designed, manufactured and operated. The human-centered computing, infrastructure for distributed collaboration, rapid synthesis and simulation tools, and life cycle integration and validation are described.