SOSHA – Sensor Optimization for Space Habitat Awareness

Deep space habitats must provide a functional, hospitable, and safe environment with and without crew onboard. This will require Earth independent operation during periods of intermittent crew occupancy and reduced mission control support due to communication delays and data bandwidth limits. NASA needs advanced systems engineering tools to develop and operate integrated autonomous fault management (FM) capabilities. Sensor network (SN) design and tools for FM systems verification and validation (V&V) are critical gaps. The optimal combination, density, and placement of sensors for fault detection and diagnosis and communicating spacecraft state in complex, dynamic, integrated subsystems may be difficult to ascertain from a large SN design space. Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools can help to reduce design space complexity, facilitate sensor suite optimization (SSO), and evaluate FM system performance, thus improving the safety, effectiveness, and cost of autonomous FM system development. Space Lab, in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder, proposes the Sensor Optimization for Space Habitat Awareness (SOSHA™), an MBSE tool to support the design, verification, and validation of sensor networks and algorithms employed by smart habitat FM systems. SOSHA will be a major step towards autonomous systems development for Earth-independent spacecraft operation. The design is also readily transferable to terrestrial applications, including the management of industrial internets of things (IIoT) for industrial process monitoring. The Phase I project goal is to demonstrate SOSHA proof of concept. Objectives are to 1) Demonstrate critical functions in an autonomous SSO process; 2) Investigate feasibility of non-critical, low TRL SOSHA functions; and 3) Plan for V&V of high-fidelity SOSHA prototype. Through conceptual design, breadboard prototype demonstration, and high-fidelity V&V planning, the proposed project will raise SOSHA TRL from 2 to 4.

The Sensor Optimization for Space Habitat Awareness (SOSHA™) is a System’s Engineering tool to support the design, verification, and validation of sensor networks (or ‘suites’) and algorithms employed by FM systems in smart habitats. SOSHA provides designers of human-autonomous systems a means of rapidly evaluating a large number of sensor combinations to define an optimal FM sensor network, with respect to multiple design objectives (e.g., performance, power use, and cost). FM system designers can optimize sensor networks for any number of integrated space habitat subsystems, with little additional effort. These benefits save space habitat engineering teams time and money for FM tool development while gaining potential improvement in FM tool performance. SOSHA has the potential for infusion into the Moon to Mas Program under the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) including the habitations systems and foundational systems domains (e.g., Autonomous Systems and Operations project). For space habitat autonomy, other potential SOSHA customers include commercial developers of human space habitats and autonomous habitat operations systems, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed, NanoRacks, or Northrop Grumman. In addition, SOSHA sensor network optimization may be valuable for a variety of complex autonomous facilities on Earth. In particular, SOSHA is readily transferable to design and management of industrial internets of things (IIoT). IoT is increasingly becoming “indispensable to the manufacturing industry” and 87% of IoT decision-makers in the industry have adopted IoT (www.mordorintelligence.com). Designers of IIoT (and IIoT fault management systems) will gain the same benefits from SOSHA as space habitat FM system developers: a reduction in the time and cost for developing more efficient, higher performance sensor networks for process monitoring and fault management. Market leaders include General Electric, Oracle, SAP SE, Honeywell, and IBM.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 2) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.