Vista: An Intelligent Data Display System for JPL Spacecraft Names

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VistaAn Intelligent Data Display System for JPL
SpacecraftNames?
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Overview

• Vista is a network-based telemetry display
  program for Jet Propulsion Laboratory spacecraft
  developed in Java. Vista connects through the
  internet to a database of telemetry information
  and displays spacecraft engineering status in a
  number of different system-level views. Vista
  can display data in real-time as it is downlinked
  through the Deep Space Network or can download
  and display historical data in playback mode.
  Although the program can and may be extended to
  other missions, Vista will be developed primarily
  for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility
  (SIRTF), an infrared telescope that launched on
  August 25, 2003, to complete the NASA Great
  Observatories Program made up of the Hubble Space
  Telescope (HST), the Compton Gamma-Ray
  Observatory (CGRO), the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
  (CXO), and SIRTF.

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SIRTF Background

• The Space Infrared Telescope Facility is an
  orbiting telescope sent to study infrared
  radiation from galaxies, stars, planets, and
  other objects in our universe.
• SIRTF is NASAs final mission in the Great
  Observatories Program, a family of four orbiting
  telescopes designed to study the galaxy in
  different wavelengths of EM Radiation.
• Other telescopes in the Great Observatories
  Program
• Hubble Space Telescope Visible Light
• Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
• Chandra X-Ray Observatory

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Spacecraft Telemetry

• SIRTF downlinks telemetry data through NASAs
  Deep Space Network, an international system of
  large antennas designed to communicate with
  orbital spacecraft.
• Data can be viewed online through telemetry
  display pages.
• However, existing views of spacecraft telemetry
  data were text-based and not easily viewable.

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Vista the Solution

• The solution Create a lightweight front end for
  viewing the engineering data in a visual,
  user-friendly format.
• Goal Make it easy for the user to view
  engineering data. Hide the complexity in the
  program.
• Vista was developed summer at a summer
  internship for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and
  continued through an independent study at Duke
  University.

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Vista Overview

• A lightweight, extensible telemetry display
  program for JPL spacecraft developed in Java.
• Connects over the internet to a database of
  telemetry information and displays data in a
  visual, user-friendly manner.
• Can give system-level status of spacecraft at a
  glance, or can give subsystem information in
  detail.

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Vista Details

• Intelligent GUI design for simple presentation
  of pertinent engineering data and fluid
  navigation of spacecraft systems and subsystems.
• Two display modes
• Real-time Displays data as it is received from
  the spacecraft.
• Playback Downloads and displays historical
  data.
• Multithreaded update mechanism for downloading
  engineering data in the background.

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Vista Features

• Lightweight data views can be easily generated
  and customized through simple text configuration
  files.
• Customizable Vista is separate from the online
  data delivery mechanism, so it is easily modified
  to fit the need of the user.
• Extensible currently supports SIRTF, but can
  easily be extended to other JPL spacecraft.

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Future Work

• Automatic data view generator
• Online repository of data views
• Automatic program updater
• Intelligent data export mechanism
• Extension to future missions