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Capabilities Description

of a Rapid Prototyping Capability

for Earth-Sun System Sciences RPC Project Team

Mississippi State University

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GoalFormulate architectures and develop baseline capacities that integrate applied sciences systems tools into configurations to support efficient evaluation of the prospects of integrating research results from NASA’s Earth observation systems (with emphasis on spacecraft instruments on missions recently launched or planned for near-term launch) and associated Earth system models

•systems engineering tools•enterprise architecture tools•information visualization and analysis tools•uncertainty characterization tools•performance assessment tools

(“System Engineering Tools: Rapid Prototyping Capability,” presented August 2005 at SSC Workshop)

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Fall 2005 Situation

• Ad hoc transition from research to operations • Wide variety of R2O projects

– Varied scope– Various parts of systems engineering process – Customized immediate goals– Time-consuming (not rapid)– No common infrastructure

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Mission Timeline

Operations

5-year Mission

OSSE

Budget Support

R&O demo

4-yr NRA Cycle

“Extending NASA Earth-Sun System Research Results through a Systems Engineering Capacity”, Working document v. SEC_V_5

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NASA Systems Engineering Process

The Verification and Validation (V&V)phase includes measuring theperformance characteristics of data,information, technologies, and/ormethods, and assessing the ability ofthese tools to meet the requirements ofthe DSS.In the Benchmarking phase, theadoption of NASA inputs within a DSSand the resulting impacts and outcomesare documented in a Benchmark Report.

Use of Systems Engineering principles leads toscalable, systemic, and sustainable solutions andprocesses, which in turn contribute to thesuccess of the mission, goals, and objectives ofeach National Application.The Evaluation phase involves understanding therequirements for and technical feasibility of Earthscience and remote sensing tools and methodsfor addressing DSS needs.

ResearchCapability

Selection

EvaluateNASA SystemComponents

as DSS Inputs

Design &ImplementIntegratedSystem

Solutions

BenchmarkDSS with

NASA Inputs

Improved

Operational

System

Refine Refine Refine Refine

Evaluation V&V Benchmarking

Verify &Validate NASA

Outputs asDSS Inputs

Refine

IdentifyRequirements

&Specifications

of DSS Inputs &Outputs

“Extending NASA Earth-Sun System Research Results through a Systems Engineering Capacity”, Working document v. SEC_V_5

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Justification for RPC• Demonstrate the utility of innovative solutions

prior to budget support for operational use of missions.

• Significantly accelerate the evaluation of mission science results.

• Make budget support for a mission possible much earlier than under the current situation.

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Problem Space

SN RPC ISS

S. Marley, “Architectural Framework,” NASA Rapid Prototyping Workshop, Hampton, Virginia, April 2006

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January 2008 RPC Concepts

• People. Teams to perform due-diligence systems engineering of research-to-operations ideas.

• Place. Collaboration in-person• Infrastructure. Virtual collaboration• Tools.

• Rapid integration of new data sources• Manipulation of data sets • Integration of simulation models, local and remote• Configuring of model runs, local and remote• Evaluation of model results• Extensible architecture

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January 2008Operation of RPC

1. Solutions Network proposes RPC experiments. 2. RPC steering committee approves and prioritizes.3. A multidisciplinary RPC experiment team is formed.4. Necessary resources scheduled.5. RPC experiment team conducts the experiment.6. Results of RPC experiment used when formulating a

solicitation for the follow-on Integrated Systems Solutions effort.

7. RPC experiment results published in science literature8. Results submitted to ESAT

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January 2008Overview

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RPC Room at NASA/SSC

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CapabilitiesScience Data Manager

• Access data from observation sources– Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC)– Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE)– Application Research Toolkit (ART) and similar systems.

• Maintain metadata in compliance with the NASA Enterprise Architecture (EA)

• Submit to the Earth Observation section of the Earth-Sun System Architecture Tool (ESAT).

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CapabilitiesInteroperable Geoprocessing Environment

• Develop data products that measure geophysical parameter needed for models

• Extract data from NASA sources specifically needed for the experiment

• Document and catalog model data requirements in a database

• Submit to the Data Products section of ESAT.

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CapabilitiesModel Manager

• Manage the model runs – Catalog the configuration of the model run and other

parameters – Record and catalog the results of the model runs

• Submit to the Model Outputs section of ESAT

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CapabilitiesPerformance Metrics Workbench

Provide tools to determine if there is significant change in model performance.

• Visualization of model results• Statistical analysis tools

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Idealized Scenarios

Perform experiment using • Multiple data sources and a single model• Baseline data sources and multiple models

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Limitations• Substantial programming of software is outside

the scope of RPC experiments, e.g. major modification of existing models

• RPC experiments will perform due-diligence systems engineering of limited prototypes. – Not the same as ISS

• RPC infrastructure (January 2008) will consist of two computational nodes, one at NASA Stennis Space Center and one at Mississippi State University.

• RPC (January 2008) will have one physical meeting facility at NASA Stennis Space Center.

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Impacts• Shift from ad hoc to a systems engineering approach

for transitioning research to operations.• “Steering committee” — Organizational mechanism

for approving and prioritizing RPC experiments.• “Experiment team” — Temporary multidisciplinary

teams to facilitate and conduct the experiment.• “Technical working group” — Multidisciplinary team

to oversee the technical evolution of the infrastructure.

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RPC Summary

• Infrastructure will provide a suite of tools • Facility at NASA Stennis Space Center • Experiments conducted during development

(January 2006–December 2007) will illustrate the long-term potential for rapid effective RPC experiments.

• Design will allow replication of nodes at other locations.

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Backup

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Research to Operations

SocietalBenefits

CrosscuttingSolutions

National Applications

Applied Sciences Program

•Evaluation •Verification and

Validation

•Benchmarking

supply demand

Rapid PrototypingCapacity

Integrated System

Solutions

Uncertainty Analysis

Scientific Rigor

Government Agencies&

National Organizations

NASA Earth-Sun System Research Solutions

Network

Research and Analysis

Program

Operations

“Extending NASA Earth-Sun System Research Results through a Systems Engineering Capacity”, Working document v. SEC_V_5

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Context

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WorkflowStep 1. Selection of experiment

Step 2. Preparation by researchers/modelers

Step 3. Evaluation by end users/clients

Ongoing: RPC development

RPC Hardware/Software Environment