Computer Control System for Kennedy Space Center's New Biological Sciences Research Facility: Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory (SERPL)

A computer control system, which provides control and monitoring as well as data storage and configuration tracking capabilities for research hardware, is being developed under the name SERPL Autonomous Ground Equipment Regulation System (SAGERS). The SAGERS system architecture is presented along with operational lessons learned and system reliability quantified. This paper will also serve as an introduction to the control system for all users of SAGERS. Initially, SAGERS will be implemented for fifteen controlled environment chambers, eight bioreactors or experimental apparatus, and two orbiter environmental simulators. The control system is designed to be platform independent using open source components where possible. The general approach in developing the control system was to utilize commercial off-the-shelf hardware and control software. Distributed control is necessary for system reliability and centralized control of set-points, time sequencing, and data logging is desirable for ease of use. The main innovation of SAGERS is configuration tracking with emphasis on ease of re-configuration.