2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2008 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
network linking the payload instruments to<br />
a common server, and a user-transparent<br />
satellite communications system that extends<br />
the network to a ground operations center.<br />
It will also utilize standard communications<br />
protocols and data formats, including the<br />
IWG-1 format developed by the IWGADTS.<br />
Data visualization tools, customized to the<br />
individual instrument types, are also essential<br />
to present the information to the science<br />
teams in a useable form for decision-making.<br />
NSERC and the Real Time Mission Monitor<br />
team at Marshall Space Flight Center are<br />
jointly developing the software to achieve this.<br />
Elements of the <strong>NASA</strong> Collaborative Decision<br />
Environment (CDE) will also be incorporated<br />
to foster communication and data sharing with<br />
extended science teams across the Internet.<br />
Derived from software used at <strong>NASA</strong> Ames<br />
to manage the Mars planetary rovers, and<br />
adapted to airborne platforms for the Western<br />
States Fire Missions, the CDE promises to<br />
greatly expand data accessibility, enabling<br />
investigators around the world to actively<br />
participate in airborne science missions.<br />
Along with the complex software required<br />
to support the real-time data environment,<br />
specialized flight hardware is also required.<br />
One essential element is an enhanced<br />
version of the navigation data recorders<br />
currently in use on the ER-2 and WB-57<br />
aircraft. These units capture platform and<br />
other state data from the aircraft avionics<br />
systems and re-broadcast them to the payload<br />
instruments. Incorporating the Ethernet<br />
network functionality developed at <strong>NASA</strong><br />
Dryden on the REVEAL project, the nextgeneration<br />
of these systems will be called the<br />
NASDAT (<strong>NASA</strong> <strong>Airborne</strong> <strong>Science</strong> Data and<br />
Telemetry) system and is scheduled to deploy<br />
in late 2009. Accompanying this will be a new<br />
standard Experimenter Interface Panel (EIP),<br />
which will provide electrical power, network<br />
communications, and the state data feeds to<br />
the various aircraft payload areas.<br />
The new EIPs will be first installed on the<br />
Global Hawk, initially hosted by a modified<br />
REVEAL box, pending the availability of the<br />
new NASDAT units. The EIP/NASDAT<br />
combination will eventually be installed on<br />
all the core <strong>NASA</strong> science platforms. In<br />
addition, the Global Hawk UAS has unique<br />
hardware requirements to transform it into a<br />
science platform. A Master Payload Control<br />
System/Power Distribution Unit (MPCS/<br />
PDU) system will allow the mission pilot to<br />
monitor and control the power and basic<br />
functionality of each instrument individually. A<br />
separate telemetry link module is also being<br />
developed to interface with the high-speed<br />
Ku-band sat-com system slated for the Global<br />
Hawk. The link module will also include<br />
mass storage for buffering science data, and<br />
a dedicated payload computer for onboard<br />
processing with mission-specific software.<br />
This flight hardware is being developed at the<br />
<strong>Airborne</strong> <strong>Science</strong> and Technology Lab (ASTL)<br />
at <strong>NASA</strong> Ames.<br />
This overall communications and datasharing<br />
concept will be initially demonstrated<br />
on the Global Hawk UAS during its first<br />
science missions in 2009, with the associated<br />
visualization and web-based tools being<br />
hosted in the Global Hawk Operations<br />
Center at <strong>NASA</strong> Dryden. It will then be<br />
gradually implemented across the <strong>NASA</strong><br />
airborne science fleet as platforms are<br />
upgraded and satellite communications<br />
systems become more widely available.<br />
95