International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Universal acceptance of the Windows NT operating system has made utilization of the personal computer (PC) platform for critical space operations a reality. The software attributes of the operating system allow PC products to attain the reliability necessary for secure control of on-orbit assets. Not only is the software more reliable, it supports better networking interfaces at higher speeds. The software upgrades that the Microsoft Corporation generates on a regular basis allow PCs to offer capabilities previously available only with UNIX-based solutions. As technology matures, PCs will operate faster, offer more graphical user interfaces, and give customers a lower cost versus performance choice. These reasons, and others to be discussed further, clearly demonstrate that PCs will soon take their place at the forefront of mission-critical ground station applications.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Lunar Prospector’s project engineering staff selected a Windows PC platform as the RF test console for the Lunar Prospector spacecraft. The spacecraft test team chose the PCbased RF test console because the PC provides a low-cost, common platform with a graphical user interface. The PC provides point-and-click, menu-driven windows that are common throughout the satellite factory. The PC RF test console is being used to exercise the Lunar Prospector spacecraft RF link for RF commanding, telemetry, and ranging signals during factory test, including thermal vacuum chamber testing. For spacecraft command and control at the factory, the PC-based RF test console is networked to a UNIX workstation over RS-422. The PC RF test console and spacecraft interface are controlled through a coax switch residing in a test rack next to the workstation. The PC RF test console is connected directly to the Lunar Prospector spacecraft using coax cable through the spacecraft Telemetry, Commanding, & Ranging (TC&R) RF antenna hat for both transmit and receive functions. The PC RF test console is also connected hard-line to the spacecraft transponder through the transponder RS-422 connection. This connection provides the ability for spacecraft telemetry to be received at the PC at RF or baseband. The same hard-line spacecraft telemetry data is provided to the UNIX workstation for comparison. NASA’s Lunar Prospector project is the first of the Discovery series of “faster, better, cheaper” missions to be competitively awarded. Lunar Prospector project funding was capped by NASA to ensure that no overruns would occur. The mission was funded to support the scientific community’s desire to verify the presence of ice on the moon and collect environmental data to understand the dynamics that may have led to polar ice deposits. The Lunar Prospector mission received funding in 1996 with a launch planned for September 1997

The thesis focuses on psychosocial dynamics of teams in isolation and its development over time. Literature review summarises various psychosocial and psychological aspects of human coexistence in extreme environments. It includes the risks and psychological countermeasures, description of stressors and other challenges, the intragroup issues and their development over time. It puts emphasis on defining the most challenging parts of missions and tries to identify patterns. Additionally, the relationship between the crew and MCC is addressed. The literature review is followed by a study focused on the development of intragroup relations and the crew-MCC relations in two analogue missions, Lunar Expedition-0 and Lunar Expedition-1. The research design consisted of a questionnaire, an interview with the whole crew, and the individual interviews with all respective astronauts. Additionally, a new visualization method, Dotty Overview of Team Interactions (DOTI), has been created as a part of this research. DOTI was described and used to visualize the data relating mutual interactions among the crewmembers. All of the results are presented, described and discussed. Keywords: team dynamics, crew, analogue space missions, interactions, relationship between crew and mission control

The satellite avionics platform has been developed in cooperation with Airbus and is called „Future Low-cost Platform“ (FLP). It is based on an Onboard Computer (OBC) with redundant processor boards based on SPARC V8 microchips of type Cobham Aeroflex UT699. At the University of Stuttgart a test bench with a real hardware OBC and a fully simulated satellite is available for testing real flight scenarios with the Onboard Software (OBSW) running on representative hardware. The test bench as later the real flying satellite "Flying Laptop" – is commanded from a real Ground Control Centre (GCC). The main challenges in the FLP project were - Onboard computer design, - Software design and - Interfaces between platform and payloads In the course of industrialization of this FLP platform technology for later use in satellite constellations, Airbus has started to set up an in-house test bench where all the technologies shall be developed. The initial plan is to get first core elements of the FLP OBSW ported to the new dual-core processor and the new Space Wire(SpW) routing network. The plan also has an inclusion of new Mission Control Software with which one can command the OBC. The new OBC has a dual core processor Cobham Gaisler GR712 and hence, all the payload and related functionality are to be implemented only in a second core which involves a lot of low-level task distribution. The consequent SpW router network application and dual-core platform/payload OBSW sharing are entirely new in the field of satellite engineering.

It is a well-recognized fact that unmanned aerial vehicles are an essential element in today’s network-centric integrated battlefield environment. Compared to solo UAV missions, multiple unmanned aerial vehicles deployed in co-operative mode, offer many advantages that has motivated UAV researchers all over the world to evolve concept of operations that aims in achieving a paradigm shift from traditional ”dull” missions to perform ”dirty” and ”dangerous” missions. In future success of a mission will depend on interaction among UAV groups with no interaction with any ground entity. To reach this capability level, it is necessary for researchers, to first understand the various levels of autonomy and the crucial role that information and communication plays in making these autonomy levels possible. The thesis is in four parts: (i) Development of an organized framework to realize the goal of achieving fully autonomous systems. (ii) Design of UAV grouping algorithm and coordination tactics for ground attack missions. (iii) Cooperative network management in GPS denied environments. (iv) UAV group tactical path and goal re-plan in GPS denied wide area urban environments. This research thesis represents many first steps taken in the study of autonomous UAV systems and in particular group autonomy. An organized framework for autonomous mission control level by defining various sublevels, classifying the existing solutions and highlighting the various research opportunities available at each level is discussed. Significant contribution to group autonomy research, by providing first of its kind solution for UAV grouping based on Dubins’ path, establishing GPS protected wireless network capable of operating in GPS denied environment and demonstration of group tactical path and goal re-plan in a layered persistent ISR mission is presented. Algorithms discussed in this thesis are generic in nature and can be applied to higher autonomous mission control levels, involving strategic decisions among UAVs, satellites and ground forces in a network centric environment.