Blue Line Engineering SBIRs

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• Blue Line Engineering SBIRs
• NAS8-99081
• Fully Active Subscale Telescope (FAST)
• NAS8- 01034
• AI Based, Self-Correcting, Self-Reporting Edge
  Sensors
• MSFC CDDF
• Marshall Optical Control Cluster Computer (MOC3)

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Blue Line Engineering NAS8-99081 Fully Active
Subscale Telescope (FAST)

• Phase II completion date March 26, 2002
• Objectives
• 1/8 Scale model of NGST yardstick
• Highly versatile testbed for NASA researchers
• Demonstration events in lab and exhibit hall
• Testbed Components
• Hinges, latches, actuators, and deployment
  mechanisms
• Seven, 33 cm diameter primary mirror segments
• Electronics for static figure correction
  maintenance
• Motorized Stow/Deploy
• Diffraction-limited performance (lgt2 microns)

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Optical Design
Xinetics . NAS8-98243 Large, Cryogenic
Ultralightweight Mirror Technology
Aperture equivalent to 92.5 cm dia. filled
circular (0.672 m2) Obscuration
lt10 Stowed cyclinder 50 cm diam X 100 cm
tall Prescription parabolic, f/1.25, 2.5m focal
length FOV gt4 arc minutes Segments hexagonal
FTF diameter 33.3 cm Thickness 1.8
cm Mass lt 1 kg/segment (35 kg total
including electronics) Performance Diffraction
limit at 2 µm (l/14 143nm 1/4 wave
visible)
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NAS8- 01034 AI Based, Self-Correcting,
Self-Reporting Edge Sensors

• Phase I completion date August 17, 2001
• Objective feasibility of enhanced edge sensors to
  deploy, align, and phase match the primary mirror
  segments of space based telescopes
• Design Features
• operational env. 30 K gtTgt 370 K
• fuzzy logic
• health status monitoring
• self-reporting
• neural networks
• self-correcting
• self-tuning.

• new error compensation methods
• super accuracy
• multi-mode measurements
• phasing
• gap

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Phase I experimental testing computer simulation
and modeling. In Phase II two standard model
edge sensors developed, fully
characterized documented.
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MSFC CDDFMarshall Optical Control Cluster
Computer (MOC3)

• Project Schedule FY01 FY02
• Investigators
• PIJohn Weir/ED19
• Co-I Donald Larson/SD71
• Objectives
• 103 fold increase in computing capability for
  managing active primary mirror segments
• improved techniques for minimizing wave front
  error.
• experience
• parallel computing technologies and software
• ground-based computer clusters
• embedded clusters in future spacecraft

Beowulf Cluster Computer after Ridge et al, 1997
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MSFC CDDFMarshall Optical Control Cluster
Computer (MOC3)

• Plan
• Purchase a Beowulf computer cluster and
  associated Linux software.
• Utilize the Beowulf in conjunction with optical
  test beds to develop
• the use of cluster computing for segmented
  mirror control.
• software for astronomy and wave front control,
  and
• application program - distributed computing
  (e.g. Fortran 99).
• Beowulf Background
• technology of clustering Linux computers to form
  a parallel, virtual supercomputer.
• one server node with client nodes connected
  together via Ethernet or some other network.
• no custom components mass-market commodity
  hardware
• PC capable of running Linux,
• Ethernet adapters
• switches.
• Intiated in 1994
• NASA High Performance Computing and
  Communications program
• Earth and space sciences project at the Goddard
  Space Flight Center.
• In October of 1996
• Gigaflops sustained performance on a space
  science application for cost under 50K.

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MSFC CDDFMarshall Optical Control Cluster
Computer (MOC3)
7 Slave Node(s) 4U Rackmount ATX Case with 250
Watt UL Power Supply Dual Processor, 1 Ghz Intel
Pentium III, 512 MB RAM, 20 GB HD Dolphin
Interconnects Wulfkit Head Node 4U Rackmount
ATX Case with 250 Watt UL Power Supply Dual
Processor, 1 Ghz Intel Pentium III Dual
Processor, 1 Ghz Intel Pentium III, 512 MB RAM,
20 GB HD 32x CD-R/W, SVGA with 32 MB, Tape
back-up Dolphin Interconnects Wulfkit Accessories
UPS Network Switch KVM Switch Rackmount Cabinet
Huinaluat MHPCC 260 dual PIII 933 MHz nodes,
each
Software Enhanced Red Hat Distribution Linux v
7.0 Portland Group Workstation 3.1 Compilers for
C PVM, MPICH, LAM-MPI Communication Libraries
ScaLAPACK with ATLAS Libraries Portable Batch
System (PBS) Parallel Virtual File System PVFS
Doglsed Administration and Monitoring Tool
Lesstiff, Mesa (OpenGL), IBM Data Explorer SCA
Linda (4 CPUs) MI/NASTRAN for the PC from Macro
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