Mission Assets Research Articles

Introducing the CYSAS-S3 Dataset for Operationalizing a Mission-Oriented Cyber Situational Awareness.

The digital transformation of the defence sector is not exempt from innovative requirements and challenges, with the lack of availability of reliable, unbiased and consistent data for training automatisms (machine learning algorithms, decision-making, what-if recreation of operational conditions, support the human understanding of the hybrid operational picture, personnel training/education, etc.) being one of the most relevant gaps. In the context of cyber defence, the state-of-the-art provides a plethora of data network collections that tend to lack presenting the information of all communication layers (physical to application). They are synthetically generated in scenarios far from the singularities of cyber defence operations. None of these data network collections took into consideration usage profiles and specific environments directly related to acquiring a cyber situational awareness, typically missing the relationship between incidents registered at the hardware/software level and their impact on the military mission assets and objectives, which consequently bypasses the entire chain of dependencies between strategic, operational, tactical and technical domains. In order to contribute to the mitigation of these gaps, this paper introduces CYSAS-S3, a novel dataset designed and created as a result of a joint research action that explores the principal needs for datasets by cyber defence centres, resulting in the generation of a collection of samples that correlate the impact of selected Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) with each phase of their cyber kill chain, regarding mission-level operations and goals.

Planetary Analog Field Operations as a Learning Tool

Mars and Moon analog field missions are established tools to investigate the potential of instruments, workflows, materials and human factors for characterizing the astrobiological potential and geoscientific context of planetary surfaces. Historically, there is a broad spectrum on both the scientific focus and the performance parameters for analog missions. This applies specifically where mission performance parameters of a coordinated deployment of mission assets (e.g. rovers, human crewmembers or scientific instruments) is studied. We argue that scientific priorities and workflows shall be consolidated at an early planning stage of deep space missions while they can still impact the mission architecture design process. It is to be expected that a human-robotic mission to Mars or the Moon will include multiple field assets such as human explorers, robotic vehicles including aerial reconnaissance, mobility assets, habitat modules, stationary instruments and engineering elements for power, communication and in-situ resource utilization. These require more complex asset coordination compared to single-rover planetary rover missions. Therefore, we advocate an “Exploration Cascade” which helps to manage these multiple assets to optimize the scientific return of planetary surface missions, to search for extinct and-/or for extant traces of life and to characterize the geoscientific context of the sites of interest.

Human Assisted Robotic Vehicle Studies - A conceptual end-to-end mission architecture

With current space exploration roadmaps indicating the Moon as a proving ground on the way to human exploration of Mars, it is clear that human-robotic partnerships will play a key role for successful future human space missions. This paper details a conceptual end-to-end architecture for an exploration mission in cis-lunar space with a focus on human-robot interactions, called Human Assisted Robotic Vehicle Studies (HARVeSt). HARVeSt will build on knowledge of plant growth in space gained from experiments on-board the ISS and test the first growth of plants on the Moon. A planned deep space habitat will be utilised as the base of operations for human-robotic elements of the mission. The mission will serve as a technology demonstrator not only for autonomous tele-operations in cis-lunar space but also for key enabling technologies for future human surface missions. The successful approach of the ISS will be built on in this mission with international cooperation. Mission assets such as a modular rover will allow for an extendable mission and to scout and prepare the area for the start of an international Moon Village.

The Twilight of the Mission Frontier: Shifting Interethnic Alliances and Social Organization in Sonora, 1768–1855. By José Refugio de la Torre Curiel. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012. xxx + 323 pp. $65.00 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)The Twilight of the Mission Frontier: Shifting Interethnic Alliances and Social Organization in Sonora, 1768-1855 . By Jose Refugio de la Torre Curiel . Stanford : Stanford University Press , 2012. xxx + 323 pp. $65.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesThis latest book on late colonial and early national Sonora is masterful. Piece by piece, de la Torre provides narrative, analysis, and perspective that lends one to classify his effort as synthesis, and yet, given his mastery of the archival sources, it is not a synthesis of secondary literature but rather of archived documents, geographical evidence, demography, and deep knowledge of greater New Spain and its development, all coupled with an eye to integrative thinking regarding the changes undergone in the region within a critical period. In short, it is the new book on later missions in the Opateria and Baja and Alta Pimeria during the end of Spanish hegemony and the beginning of developments in the early Mexican northwest.One must prepare to withstand a methodical approach if one is to digest de la Torre's way of proceeding. Short but thorough chapters begin the book, the first treating the physical and human geographies of what became Sonora, and the second analyzing demographics of Native peoples, Hispanic peoples, and those in between in towns, missions, and refuges in the hinterlands. While this is the dry stuff of social history, investment at this point begets a payoff in the following chapters. De la Torre next engages the myriad influences and changes to local life ways in the Pimerias and the Opateria, and as he does so he raises questions as to meaning of being religious versus living among the religious, indigenous or Hispanic, in greater Sonora. Life ways also include the material culture, or cultures, of localities; merchants, their clienteles, and prices receive attention, as do mobile populations. Within and outside the missions, the author claims to see increased contact between peoples in late colonial Sonora--thus the multiethnic argument he offers. On reaching the fourth chapter, method becomes even clearer as de la Torre immerses the reader in evidence of the changing nature of the Sonoran frontier economy to a developed, captive trade network (145) that precedes the economics of independence in the region. That economy was largely cashless and merchant-led, and enabled leading merchants and governmental allies to use commerce as coercion over the local peoples.The deeper analyses of the preceding elements of life in Sonora all point to the two ending chapters. At the heart of this study is that which occurred following the Jesuits' expulsion from the region in their former missions as those came under the leadership of the Franciscan friars. Here is the crux of the book, in a step-wise look at the crises these missions underwent, for what reasons, and how change happened in each sub region. Following the Jesuit expulsion, interim local administrators attempted to manage the mission assets, with mixed results. When the Franciscans arrived, many missions were in disrepair or had been stripped to support Spanish colonial troops in regional conflicts. This much of the story is familiar. …

Autonomous and autonomic systems: a paradigm for future space exploration missions

More and more, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will rely on concepts from autonomous systems not only in mission control centers on the ground, but also on spacecraft and on rovers and other space assets on extraterrestrial bodies. Autonomy facilitates not only reduced operations costs, but also adaptable goal-driven functionality of mission systems. Space missions lacking autonomy will be unable to achieve the full range of advanced mission objectives, given that human control under dynamic environmental conditions will not be feasible due, in part, to the unavoidably high signal propagation latency and constrained data rates of mission communications links. While autonomy supports cost-effective accomplishment of mission goals, autonomicity supports survivability of remote mission assets, especially when tending by humans is not feasible. In principle, the properties of autonomic systems may enable space missions of a higher order than any previously flown. Analysis of two NASA agent-based systems previously prototyped, and of a proposed future mission involving numerous cooperating spacecraft, illustrates how autonomous and autonomic system concepts may be brought to bear on future space missions

Preparing for Financial Restructuring in the Electric Utility Industry

Th e der egu latio n of th e electric utility indus try ha s been wellpublicized and mu ch discussed b oth insi de and outsi de the ind ustry.This d er egulation pr oduces the pr ospect of un cert ai nty in a n indus -try th at has known some level of ce rtai nty t h ro ugh t he "r a t e ofr eturn " st a nda rds imp osed by regulators to set ra tes, a nd there bysupport rev enues . Accordingly, the historical concept of "used an duseful" will no longer be th e det ermini ng facto r in calculating return.Thi s change may produce economic dislocation given the capitalint en sit y within th e elect ric utility in dustry. The Federal EnergyRegu lat ory Commi ssi on ("FERC") has clea rly indicate d that it in-ten ds to cr eat e a comp etitive market place for electric power. It willaccomplish this by a llowing any generatio n source "open access" totr an smi ssion lin es th at have been previously controlled by vertically-int egr at ed utilities .As a result, certain as sets , such as dist ribu ti on assets a nd someportion of t rans mission assets, will cont i nu e to be r ate of re turn regu -lat ed ; however, the re maining electric ut ility assets will most likelybe s ubj ect to compet itive ma r ket r eturn s.

DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FROM A SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE

AbstractModern systems, regardless of their design or purpose, rely on a wide variety of mission assets and resources. One of those assets, information (specifically for this paper, data information) may require protection due to its sensitive nature. If security is necessary, then the system developer may need to identify security services (such as confidentiality) and may require protection mechanisms (such as encryption) to be included as part of the overall system design and development. Information System Security (INFOSEC) requirements should be an integral part of the systems engineering process. In the systems engineering process, the initial activity is the identification of requirements. That is also the topic for security requirements, i.e., determining what data needs to be protected. Further development of related topics follows and includes threat assessment, policy and doctrinal (procedural) guidance, and risk analysis. These security‐related concepts contribute to the identification of system security objectives, e.g., the mission data that requires protection in accordance with the postulated threat and applicable policy guidance. Finally, doctrinal and technology concepts are presented such that architectural decisions can be made to implement security mechanisms for the system security requirements.