Simulation Software that Adapts to the Expanding Mission

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Simulation Software that Adapts to the Expanding
Mission

• Presented by Michael MaddenNASA Langley
  Research Center

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Summary Slide

• Introduction
• Motivation
• Expanding Mission
• Case Studies
• Mission Today
• Summary

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Introduction
(1/2)
Simulation Development and Analysis Branch
manages the high fidelity simulators at NASA
Langley.
Research Flight Deck (RFD)
Cockpit Motion Facility (CMF)
Integration Flight Deck (IFD)
Generic Flight Deck (GFD)
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Introduction
(2/2)
and supplies software for the research aircraft
at Langley.
Cirrus SR-22
Cessna 206H
OV-10
Lancair Columbia 300
Boeing 757
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History Motivation
(1/3)
From the 1970s through early 1990s, Langleys
simulation software was composed of procedural
FORTRAN repositories one project library for
each type of research mission tied to a specific
simulator.
Simulator
Project Library

• Each repository evolved independently
• Cross-training required to move developers
  between simulators
• Re-code and re-verify features and models for
  use in another simulator (reinvention of
  the wheel)

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History Motivation
(2/3)
Improve both aspects of NASA projects
Mission flexibility Rapid prototyping Levels of
Abstraction
Inject modern software engineering
practices. Shift to a design-oriented culture
focused on mission flexibility, reuse, and
long-term maintenance.
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History Motivation LaSRS
(3/3)

• The Langley Standard Real-Time Simulation in C
  (LaSRS) is a reusable, object-oriented
  framework for creating simulations
• Simulation end-products are code packages that
  are built from LaSRS components and run on top
  of LaSRS
• Product-line approach to simulation development

LaSRS in the simulator
Simulation-To-Flight
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Expanding Mission
2004 Flight in AllAtmospheres Planetary Science
2005 Balanced PortfolioHuman Exploration of
Space
Mars Airplane (ARES)
Spacecraft Handling Qualities (SHaQ)
I have found the additional flexibility achieved
with LaSRS by allowing us to take various
simulation configurations to different simulation
cabs and, in particular, to the new aft flight
deck on board the NASA ARIES B-757 airplane to
have had a significant favorable impact in our
technical capabilities, cost of doing business,
and scheduling. LaSRS has helped make the
entire simulation-to-flight process
possible. - Charles Knox, Principal
Investigator for Simulation-To-Flight
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Case Study Falling Leaf Study
(1/2)

• Mission Era Aircraft Simulation (Core Mission)
• Investigation of problems reported by the Navy
  in recovering from falling leaf departure mode
  in fleet F-18 aircraft
• Research Goal
• Verify ability to replicate mode in simulator
• Develop generic prediction criteria (apply to
  F-18 and other fighters)
• Make recommendations to Navy
• Timeline
• Project request made in April 95
• Running research by end of June 95
• Tested through the summer 95

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Case Study Falling Leaf Study
(2/2)

• Results
• Simulation met all objectives
• Generic prediction criteria was delivered to the
  Navy
• Research also used by McDonnell Douglas
• (now Boeing) to develop a control law change
• that suppressed the falling leaf in the
  F/A-18E/F
• Identified wrong recovery maneuver in F18
  pilots manual in response, Navy
• changed their F18 pilots manual for correct
  recovery procedure

To meet project schedules, an existing fighter
simulation model was quickly converted to LaSRS
and it operated exceptionally well "right out of
the box". The rapid results obtained from this
research helped to develop flight test maneuvers
and analysis methods that were used as part of
the High Alpha Research Vehicle flight test
program. John Foster, Principal Investigator
for Falling Leaf Study
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Case Study Synthetic Vision
(1/3)

• Mission Era Simulation-to-Flight
• SVS Goal to eliminate controlled flight into
  terrain (poor visibility)
• Application targets to
• Transports
• Business Jets
• General Aviation
• LaSRS provides simulation-to-flight products
  for all three aircraft types, under a common
  architecture
• Enables SVS to reuse software components across
  aircraft types

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Case Study Synthetic Vision
(2/3)

• GA element of SVS used LaSRS to adapt a General
  Aviationmodel to run in the transport simulator
  cockpit
• Used the generic GA model available as sample
  model in LaSRS
• Tailored for Cessna 206, created an interface for
  the simulator control loader based on 206 aero
  force data

• SVS Transport element - originally flight-only
  project with Langley 757, using LaSRS component
  design
• 2002 757 Airplane stood down due to safety
  issue with floor loading (just before SVS test)
• LaSRS enabled SVS developer team to transfer
  from a Boeing 757 to the Gulfstream V
• SDAB team recreated software environment on a
  Gulfstream V
• Additionally, integrated the SVS product for a
  simulation study using IFD simulator cab the
  following spring
• 2 additional follow-on studies

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Case Study SVS
(3/3)
The SVS-ES simulation was completed in a very
short time and provided excellent data for the
Aviation Safety and Security Program. The LaSRS
framework allowed many facets of the simulation
to be rapidly tailored to meet our very unique
research requirements that transformed a
Boeing-757 cockpit into a Cessna-206. We
achieved a simulation fidelity that we previously
thought only possible with a custom built General
Aviation (GA) simulator, which was unanimously
confirmed by the evaluation pilots. The GA test
technique developed for this simulation effort
could reduce the need for a high-fidelity GA
cockpit simulator at NASA LaRC, boosting the
productivity of the existing simulators and
potentially saving the program millions of
dollars. Louis GlaabSynthetic Visions Systems
Equivalent Safety Experiment (SVS-ES)Principal
Investigator
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Case Study Mars Airplane

• LaSRS Fidelity Model
• One Model, Two Worlds
• Exploits Inertial EOM
• Earth validation against flight test
• Mars design and mission analysis

• Mission Era Flight in all Atmospheres
• Researchers at NASA Langley were developing a
  proposal for Mars Airplane
• Requested simulation support from SDAB for design
  and mission analysis
• LaSRS Flexibility/Usability
• Rapid Prototyping
• Reused components until Mars Airplane models
  available
• Generic turbofan ? LaSRS
• Aerodynamics ? GeneralAviation
• Control law ? GeneralAviation
• Autopilot ? GenericTransport
• Sensor models ? LaSRS
• Monte-Carlo simulation style
• Apply Aero updates in 30 min.

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Case Study Mars Airplane
Designing an airplane to perform a science
mission over the surface of Mars requires the
synthesis and analyses of many elements, and many
of those are unique to this non-terrestrial
application of flight science. Being a
high-fidelity simulation tool, LaSRS brings
these elements together and accelerates the
design iteration process by ensuring the
credibility of flight predictions. Having the
highly flexible and modular formulation structure
of LaSRS ensures fidelity is maintained while
significant changes to the overall mission are
evaluated. In this way, the impact of various
vehicle design features stemming from new
aerodynamics, mass properties, GNC and science
sensors, alternate control laws, and even major
changes to the simulation environment including
the atmosphere and topography to explore
alternate science mission goals can be quickly
evaluated. Mark Croom ARES Airplane Chief
Engineer

• Project success
• Two Phases
• 3 months duration per phase
• 290,000 total cases run
• Less than 1 FTE total effort

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Case Study SHaQ
(1/2)

• Mission Era Balanced Portfolio
• Third in a series of pilot-in-the-loop tests to
  generate data for use in the development of
  spacecraft handling qualities guidelines and
  standards
• Investigate/Evaluate
• Control power requirements for Altair-type
  vehicle on lunar landing HQ
• Influence of guidance on HQ
• Head-worn display information.
• Required rapid development of new Lunar Flight
  Deck (LFD) simulator
• Rapid prototyping of Altair Lunar Lander model
  using existing components
• Generic Rocket ? LaSRS
• AltairVehicle ? GeneralSpacecraft
• LFD Cockpit ? LaSRS

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Case Study SHaQ

• Completed Installation of new LFD cab.
• Includes a 3D Perceptions parabolic projection
  screen FOV135 H x 67.5 (22.5/-45.0)
• Out the window graphics for Apollo 15 Landing
  Site
• Altair vehicle model tested
• Based on design analysis cycle 2 (DAC2)
• Manually control trajectory and achieve
  acceptable vertical landing with rotational hand
  control (RHC) to desired landing zone (LZ)
• Project kick-off January 16, 2009
• Started production October 5, 2009

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Our Mission Today
Designs for safe, quiet, efficient, and
environmentally-friendly aircraft.
Research that prevents aviation accidents and
criminal use of aircraft that cause damage, harm,
and loss of life.
Technologies that increase capacity of the
National Airspace System, reducing delays.
Research that maintains Americas air superiority
and increases survivability of pilots.
Planetary exploration projects like Mars Scout to
aid in the search for and understanding of life
on other planets.
Human space exploration projects like Ares I to
develop the next generation of human space
transportation.
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Summary

• In 1994, the Simulation Development and Analysis
  Branch at NASA Langley made a strategic decision
  to invest in the development of a reusable and
  flexible software framework for human-in-the-loop
  simulation
• This framework has enabled the branch to succeed
  with an expanding mission that began with
  aircraft simulation and now includes planetary
  vehicles and space transportation systems

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Questions?
Michael.M.Madden_at_nasa.gov
Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) NASA helicopter
bird's-eye view of Max Launch Abort System
flight.Credit NASA/Jim Mason Foley
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BACKUP SLIDES
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Innovation Technology
(1/7)

• Multiple, Heterogeneous Models
• Typical simulator software hard codesthe number
  and type of models
• Any number and variety ofmodels selectable at
  run-time
• Models are not restricted to aerospace vehicles
• Multi-Thread, Multi-CPU
• Segregate non-deterministic code from real-time
  code
• Workload distribution of real-time code across
  CPUs
• Variable Environment Fidelity at Run-Time
• World shape, gravity, atmosphere, winds,
  turbulence
• Researchers can configure the minimum fidelity
  for the experiment, eliminating noise that
  greater fidelity introduces to the results

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Innovation Technology
(2/7)

• Inertial Equations of Motion (EOM)
• Most simulator software uses an Earth-centered
  EOM
• Model is bound to Earth
• The LaSRS EOM can run any model can run on any
  world
• Earth characteristics are not embedded in EOM
• EOM queries the world object for characteristics
• Worlds translate and rotatealong with the models
• Potential to support multiple worlds
• Earth-Moon-Mars scenario
• World is selectable at run-time
• Earth and Mars currently available

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Innovation Technology
(3/7)

• Rapid Prototyping and Model of Models
• A system model is an aggregationof independent
  math models
• Math models are easily unit testedoutside the
  system model
• Math models can quickly beattached or
  replaced/updated
• Projects can reuse math modelsfrom other systems
  to fill gapsduring the development of a
  newsystem model

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Innovation Technology
(4/7)

• Tree-based Mass Modeling for Models
• Leaves can
• Dynamically change properties
• Fuel burn and slosh
• Disconnect from the tree
• Ordinance or spent rocket stage
• Connect to the tree
• Manual or autonomous docking
• Be a mass associated with an attached model
• An air-to-air missile is an example
• Allows simulation of self assembling spacecraft
  like Prometheus
• Allows simulation of modular Crew Exploration
  Vehicle concepts
• System mass properties updates with changes

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Innovation Operations
(5/7)

• Scalable (Simulation-to-Flight)
• Research products migrate from desktop to flight
  test withoutre-writing code

Simulation-To-Flight
A particular aircraft is programmed once into
LaSRS and subsequently used in all workstation
control law design and real-time piloted
simulation. It is estimated that the savings in
time to prepare for test has been reduced from
6-9 months to a few weeks. James Batterson,
Branch Head, Dynamics and Control Branch
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Innovation Operations
(6/7)
A simulator is composed of many components
Cockpit
Out-the-Window Video
Projectors
Image Generator
Heads-Down Video
Airplane State
Moves Cockpit
Motion Base
Pilot Inputs
Typically, components are bound into a dedicated
simulator configuration. One component failure
can take the configuration out of service.
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Innovation Operations
(7/7)

• Flexible Simulator Use
• LaSRS configures a simulator from pools of
  available components at runtime
• A failed component does not take others out of
  service.

• Any model can operate in any simulator
  configuration
• Developers can select an alternate simulator when
  their desired simulator is unavailable

LaSRS increases simulator utilization
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Acronyms
(1/2)

• ACTS Advanced Concepts Research System
• ACTSPL Advanced Concepts Research System Project
  Library
• AILS Airborne Information for Lateral Spacing
• APAAS Automatic Prohibited Area Avoidance System
• ARES Aerial Regional-Scale Environmental Survey
  of Mars
• ATAAS Advanced Terminal Area Approach Spacing
• ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
• B757 Boeing 757
• CMF Cockpit Motion Facility
• CPU Central Processing Unit
• DMS Differential Maneuvering Simulator
• EOM Equations of Motion
• FSSS Flight Simulation and Software Branch
• FTE Full Time Equivalent
• GA General Aviation
• GFD Generic Flight Deck
• GUI Graphical User Interface

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Acronyms
(2/2)

• HTML Hypertext Markup Language
• IFD Integration Flight Deck
• LaSRS Langley Standard Real-Time Simulation in
  C
• NASA National Aeronautics and Space
  Administration
• SIF Standard Interchange Format
• SVS Synthetic Vision System
• GTK The GIMP Toolkit
• RFD Research Flight Deck
• TGIR Turning Goals into Reality
• TSRV Transport Systems Research Vehicle
• TSRVPL Transport Systems Research Vehicle Project
  Library
• UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
• UPSET Upset Prevention by Simulation Enhancements
  and Training
• VMS Visual Motion Simulator
• VMSPL Visual Motion Simulator Project Library
• WxAP Weather Accident Prevention