NASA LOOKS TO QUALTECH SYSTEMS’ INTELLIGENT FIELD SERVICE TECHNOLOGY TO MITIGATE SYSTEM FAILURES THAT COMPROMISE SPACE MISSIONS

 

WETHERSFIELD, Conn. (September 1, 2006) A Qualtech Systems’ intelligent field service maintenance support solution will be tested by NASA as a method for reducing or eliminating on-board space systems’ susceptibility to unexpected failure events that have forced the space agency to significantly alter previous missions.

NASA has contracted Qualtech to develop an automated process that will identify faults within specific software-based systems onboard NASA spacecraft, determine how serious the problems are, and provide immediate instructions on how to recover from system failures.  By automating much of the process and employing the use of “run-time” diagnostics, Qualtech’s Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) solution will enable the spacecraft to recover from a system failure quickly and on its own thereby reducing dependence on manual intervention from NASA ground personnel.

 “It is possible that a fleet of space vehicles may be operated with the efficiency and predictability of a commercial airline but only if the space vehicles are empowered with the ability to monitor their own health,” said Qualtech President Chuck Vallurupalli.  “The goal is to develop a solution that evaluates the impact of a failure(s) on a current mission and provide appropriate and timely information that facilitates mission reconfiguration. NASA spacecraft should have the capability to detect, mitigate and recover from unexpected failures and therefore extend critical missions and achieve desired objectives.”

Presently, a failure in a NASA spacecraft’s propulsion or electronics system could significantly alter the mission.  The craft must send detailed fault data to ground controllers, who have to process and study the data and then send commands back to the spacecraft.  The effort and consequently the time needed to analyze and take corrective action can compromise the mission objectives and even endanger the crew and the spacecraft.

In contrast, the TEAMS models could be embedded in the spacecraft and execute in real time and provide all the relevant system health and trend information for a mission reconfiguration and planner module either onboard or on the ground for a quicker decision-support for the appropriate mitigating action.

Qualtech will demonstrate its ISHM at the Advanced Diagnostics and Prognostics (ADAPT) testbed at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California.  Qualtech Systems’ TEAMS® solutions for health monitoring, diagnostic inference and optimized troubleshooting will exhibit its ability to detect a series of intentionally embedded system faults. TEAMS® will also detail maintenance instructions for mitigating and recovering from failures.  This is a function that TEAMS has performed for other NASA, military and commercial applications.

 

For more information visit http://www.teamqsi.com

 

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Jas Singh

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