The generic spacecraft analyst assistant (GenSAA): A tool for automating spacecraft monitoring with expert systems

Abstract Flight Operations Analysts (FOAs) in the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) are responsible for monitoring a satellite's health and safety. These analysts closely monitor real-time data looking for combinations of telemetry parameter values, trends, and other indications that may signify a problem or failure. As satellites become more complex and data rates increase, FOAs are quickly approaching a level of information saturation. The FOAs in the spacecraft control center for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite are currently using a fault-isolation expert system named the Communications Link Expert Assistance Resource (CLEAR), to assist in isolating and correcting communications link faults. Due to the success of CLEAR and several other systems in the control center domain, many other monitoring and fault-isolation expert systems will likely be developed to support control center operations during the early 1990s. To facilitate the development of these systems, a project has been initiated to develop a domain-specific tool named the Generic Spacecraft Analyst Assistant (GenSAA). GenSAA will enable spacecraft analysts to easily build simple real-time expert systems that perform spacecraft monitoring and fault isolation functions. Expert systems built using GenSAA will assist spacecraft analysts during real-time operations in spacecraft control centers. This paper describes lessons learned during the development of several expert systems at Goddard, thereby establishing the foundation of GenSAA's objectives and offering insights on how problems may be avoided in future projects. This will be followed by a description of the capabilities, architecture, and usage of GenSAA, along with a discussion of its application to future NASA missions.