Sandy Grosvenor

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 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.

Expert assistant system to support the general observer program for NGST

One of the manually intensive efforts of HST observing is the specification and validation of the detailed proposals for scientists observing with the telescope. In order to meet the operational cost objectives for the next generation telescope, this process needs to be dramatically less time consuming and less costly. We are prototyping a new proposal development system, the Scientists Expert Assistant (SEA), using a combination of artificial intelligence and user interface techniques to reduce the time and effort involved for both scientists and the telescope operations staff. The advanced architectures and automation branch or Goddards Information Systems Center is working with the Space Telescope Science Institute to explore SEA alternatives, using an iterative prototype-review-revise cycle. We are testing the usefulness of rule-based expert systems to painlessly guide a scientist to his or her desired observation specification. We are also examining several potential user interface paradigms and explore data visualization schemes to see which techniques are more intuitive. Our prototypes will be validated using HSTs Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument as a live test instrument. Having an operational test-bed will ensure the most realistic feedback possible for the prototyping cycle. In addition, when the instruments for NGST are better defined, the SEA will already be a proven platform that simply needs adapting to NGST specific instruments.