Constraint-Checking Editor for Procedure Tracking (ConCEPT)

Constructing, maintaining, and adapting operational procedures for manned space operations is a complex task, requiring the procedure author to satisfy constraints resulting from the system configuration, current state, and applicable flight rules. This Phase 1 SBIR project will establish the feasibility of the Constraint-Checking Editor for Procedure Tracking (ConCEPT), a constraint-checking system for procedures represented in the Procedure Representation Language (PRL) and authored in PrIDE. Using automated translation and Constraint Satisfaction Problem generation technologies developed on previous projects, ConCEPT will assist users in identifying conflicts and inconsistencies in procedures as they are developed. The user edits a procedure in PrIDE, using procedure steps that have been annotated with information about resources and state changes. Configuration information, current state, and flight rules are stored in and obtained from the System Description, an existing component of PrIDE. As the procedure is being developed, ConCEPT automatically and continuously gathers appropriate constraints from the domain model and flight rules, translates them into a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) which is then submitted to a CSP solver, which alerts the user to any violated constraints. Phase I will define relevant scenarios of use, establish the applicability and feasibility of ConCEPT, and provide a proof-of-concept demonstration.

This effort will support users of the Procedure Representation Language (PRL) and the PRL authoring tool PrIDE. The mission scenarios to be evaluated in Phase 1 have been provided by the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at Johnson Space Center (JSC). PRL and PrIDE are being actively used or evaluated for use for a wide variety of mission operations. MOD has used PrIDE to write over 100 International Space Station (ISS) procedures over the past several years and is currently evaluating PrIDE for use to author all procedures, ground and on-board, for Orion and future space vehicles. The JSC Rapid Prototyping Laboration (RPL) uses PrIDE to author experimental Orion procedures. The JSC Morpheus project currently uses PrIDE, as does the JSC Deep Space Habitat (DSH) project. The addition of ConCEPT to PrIDE will provide automated constraint checking for authoring procedures for a large and increasing range of mission applications.

Other near-term potential applications for ConCEPT include domains where complex, partially-manual operations are implemented in terms of, and decomposed into, simpler, local actions, checks, and sensor readings. Specific examples include industrial process control and operations, unmanned autonomous vehicle operations, and possibly logistics and transportation applications. Military domains have complex operational constraints derived from both relevant doctrine and operation-specific "rules of engagement," much like NASA's flight rules. Longer-term potential applications would extend that set to fully-automated applications.

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