16.851
Satellite Engineering
Fall 2003
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
Spacecraft Autonomy
Seung H. Chung
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Why Autonomy?
? Failures
? Anomalies
? Communication
? Coordination
courtesy of NASA JPL
Europa ProbeNew Horizons
Courtesy of the Johns Hopkins University
courtesy of NASA
Apollo 13
Quintuple fault
(three shorts, tank-
line and pressure
jacket burst, panel
flies off). Mars Polar Lander
courtesy of NASA JPL
Mars Outpost
courtesy of NASA JPL
Applied Physics Laboratory.
Used with permission.
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Autonomy Technologies
? Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery
? Planning & Scheduling
? Intelligent Data Understanding
? Path Planning
– Gradient method
– Mixed integer linear programming (Prof John How)
– Graph search (Prof Brian Williams)
? Localization & Mapping
– Concurrent mapping and localization (Prof John Leonard)
4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Why Fault Detection Isolation & Recovery
(FDIR)?
? Improve the likelihood of mission success by
minimizing the downtime.
– Increase productivity
– Prevent loss of opportunities
– Reduce safety risk
? For manned missions, longer system downtime
implies higher risk to the astronauts.
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
FDIR Techniques
? If-then-else
– Hard coded set of FDIR statements
? Rule-based
– Set of rules written by the engineers
– Fires a rule (i.e. executes a rule) when the rule is satisfied
–Example
? #24 (ID > 1A) And (Ishunt_D > 6A) for 10 sec, then
Try_Sec_Bus_Reg_Off.
? #27 (Red Battery Charger is ON) for 5 sec, then rule (28,29) stop.
– The core software is reusable.
– Engineers must enumerate all possible faults and combinations
thereof along with the corresponding recovery methods.
– Verifying the validity of the rules is difficult.
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Model-based FDIR Technique
? Engineers model the behavior of the system (i.e.
components).
? Computer detects/isolates/recovers faults by
reasoning on the model of the system.
? Both the model and the model-based
FDIR system can be reused.
? Problem too difficult for a computer?
Model-based
FDIR
System
Observation Command
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planning & Scheduling
? Planning
–Given:
? Set of actions a system can perform and the associated
requirements and effects of the actions
? Current state
? Desired goal state
– Objective: Compute a sequence of actions that achieves
the desired goal state.
? Scheduling
– Given: Set of tasks to execute and the associated
constraints (i.e. time, resource, …)
– Objective: Compute the proper order of the tasks that
satisfies the constraints.
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Planning Example
? Goal: Take an image of Alpha Centauri
? Plan:
1. Compute current position and attitude
2. Compute the necessary position and attitude for Alpha
Centauri to be in view
3. Initialize and warm-up the imaging system
4. Change the position and point toward Alpha Centauri
5. Open the shutter
6. Take image
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Why Planning & Scheduling?
? Simplify spacecraft commanding.
? Simplify mission operations work.
? Enable timely replanning when necessary without
communication time-delay issues.
10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Intelligent Data Understanding
? What is it?
– Knowledge Discovery: Is this something new, something
interesting?
– Pattern Recognition: What are the identifiable
characteristics?
– Classification and Clustering: Does this belong to some
category of information?
?Why?
– The communication bandwidth does not allow
transmission of all available data.
– Serendipitous events…
11 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Remote Agent Experiment
16.851
Satellite Engineering
Fall 2003
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
Model-based Embedded and Robotic
Systems Group
13 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Model-based Programs
Reason in Terms of State
Embedded programs interact with
the system’s sensors/actuators:
? Read sensors
? Set actuators
Model-based programs interact
with the system’s state:
? Read state
? Set state
Embedded Program
S
Plant
Obs
Cntrl
Model-based
Embedded Program
S
Plant
S’
Model-based Executive
Obs Cntrl
Programmer must map between
state and sensors/actuators.
M-B Executive maps between
states and sensors/actuators.
14 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Model-based Programming Example
EngineA EngineB
Science Camera
EngineA EngineB
Science Camera
? goal: fire one of the two engines
? set both engines to ‘standby’
? prior to firing the engine, turn the camera
off to avoid plume contamination
? in case of engine failure, fire the backup
Standby
Engine Model
Off
off-
cmd
standby-
cmd
0.01
(thrust = full) AND
(power_in = nominal)
Firing
0.01
standby-
cmd
fire-
cmd
(thrust = zero) AND
(power_in = zero)
(thrust = zero) AND
(power_in = nominal)
0.01
Failed
On
Camera Model
Off
turnoff-
cmd
turnon-
cmd
(power_in = zero) AND
(shutter = closed)
(power_in = nominal) AND
(shutter = open)
Systems engineers think in terms
of state trajectories:
Engineers reason how to achieve state
trajectories using component models
0.01
0.01
ResettableResettabl
reset-
cmd
15 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Model-based Executive
“Executable Specification”
Mode
Estimation
Command
Configuration Goals
Observation
Mode
Reconfiguration
State Estimate
System
Sequencer
EngineA EngineB
Science Camera
? goal: fire one of the two
engines
? set both engines to
‘standby’
?prior tofiring the engine,
turn the camera off to
avoid plume
contamination
? in case of engine failure,
fire the backup
16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mode Estimation
S
3
S
2
S
1
Configuration Goal:
Engine A = Firing
Observation:
Thrust = 0
Engine A
Engine A
Engine A
Engine A
Possible Diagnoses
17 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mode Reconfiguration
Goal
Interpreter
Reactive
Planner
Configuration
goals
Goal
State
Command
Current
State
INPUT
? Configuration Goal
–Trust = on
? Current State
– Tank = full
– Pressure = nominal
– Driver = off
– Valve = closed
– Thruster = off
OUPUT
? Command
– Turn driver on
N
2
H
4
GHe
P
SDriver
18 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hybrid Mode Estimation
? Failures can manifest themselves through coupling between a system’s
continuous dynamics and its evolution through different behavior modes
? must track over continuous state changes and discrete mode changes
? Symptoms initially on the same scale as sensor/actuator noise
? need to extract mode estimates from subtle symptoms
m
1
τ
21
τ
12
τ
23
τ
13
m
3
m
2
τ
22
τ
11
τ
33
Hidden Markov Models
Continuous Dynamics
1
1
1
(1) ((),(),()
:
() ( (), ())
( 1) ( (), (), ())
:
() ( (), ())
ccccc
cccc
cciccc
i
ccicc
x k f xkukvk
m
yk g xkvk
x k f xkukvk
m
yk g xkvk
+=? ?
? ?
=
??
+=? ?
? ?
=
??
M
Hybrid Model
19 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Difficulty with Autonomy
? Most problems require exponential time…
– Unacceptable for real-time systems that have hard-time
requirement
? Possible Approach
– Use divide-and-conquer approach
– Provide additional knowledge that guides the search for
solution
– Use suboptimal solution
– Perform the difficult computations offline and execute the
results online