System Program Office Research Articles

So You're Posted into CASG - An Aviation Engineers and Logistics Perspective

Warrant Officer (WOFF) David Turnbull provided his insight and point of view (Turnbull, 2023) on the struggle of getting the best people into Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG). Whilst it is a great read and the scene is set for further nail-biting episodes, the one standout observable from my point of view is that his theme is focussed on the ability or struggle of encouraging Enlisted Aviators to seek employment within CASG. This is different from the point of view of commissioned aviator ranks. Aviators within the aviation Engineers and Logistics (ENGLOG) categories, posting into various CASG System Program Offices (SPO) is inevitable. Unlike the Enlisted Aviators, aviation ENGLOG can expect a posting into a SPO at each rank band in between the ‘fun’ postings; Junior Officer (JO), Squadron Leader (SQNLDR), Wing Commander (WGCDR) and Group Captain. But the SPO ‘fun’ doesn’t stop there because then there are CASG Branch level postings for Air Commodore and Air Vice Marshal.

November 2014 Proof-of-Concept ACAS-Xu Flight Test

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Program Office is developing an advanced Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS X) to meet the needs of both manned aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). ACAS Xu, the UAS variant, provides vertical Resolution Advisory guidance in most situations and horizontal RA guidance for cases where either surveillance quality or vehicle performance does not support vertical maneuvers. ACAS Xu is fully interoperable with TCAS II and also features new passive (ADS-B based) collision avoidance maneuver coordination techniques. To evaluate the effectiveness of ACAS Xu for collision avoidance as well as to inform interoperability requirements for integration with self-separation systems, the FAA, in conjunction with NASA, General Atomics Aeronautics Systems, Inc, and Honeywell Aerospace, conducted a proof-of-concept flight test in November 2014 with both manned and unmanned intruder aircraft. This paper describes the ACAS Xu system as well as the flight test and provides a summary of observed system performance.

Choosing software & replacing ATE: lessons learned

When tasked to ensure the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile system remains fully operational and supportable through 2020, the Air Force realized that the support capability of its legacy automated test system for the operational ground support electronics subsystem would need to be completely replaced. The legacy test system, while fully operational, was rapidly becoming non-supportable. Unless replaced with new hardware and upgraded test program sets, the needed long-term support could not be provided to the weapon system. To address this issue within the scope of available program funding constraints, the Air Force selected an approach of combining the technical and programmatic expertise of the weapon system prime contractor, the program control responsibilities of the weapon system Program Office, and the technical capability of an Air Force technical organization. The program was divided into two phases: a prototype phase and a production/rehost phase. This paper gives an overview of the program and presents valuable lessons learned during the prototype phase.

An Interview with Barbara B. Tillett

ABSTRACT Barbara B. Tillett discusses her career, including her roles as Director, Integrated Library System Program Office, and Chief, Cataloging Policy and Support Office, at the Library of Congress, and her work as a researcher in the area of bibliographic relationships. Topics include the following: current ILS functionality, benefits, and losses; LC's activities in digital futures planning; development of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records; her role in the Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, her part in writing proposals and responses to proposals sent to JSC, and JSC initiatives of the past few years; her work in IFLA and other international organizations and projects; the possible development of a connection between existing international authority files; and other aspects of the emerging internationalization in library catalogs.

Integrating pollution prevention into air force weapon system acquisition

Environmental, safety, and health (ESH) expertise was provided in the development of handbooks to embed pollution prevention (P2) into the Air Force weapon system acquisition process. Interviews were conducted with aerospace contractors, system program offices, ESH and engineering staff, air staff, commands and base personnel, to identify issues and “best practices.” Over 300 government and industry reviewers provided extensive comments. The most significant comment was that the National Aerospace Standard 411, Hazardous Material Management Program, be the handbook's cornerstone. The latest version of the handbook has 67 templates, which provide P2 guidance and recommendations for specific acquisition processes and documentation.

U-2 ASARS-2 improvement program

The U-2 is the premier high altitude Armed Services platform for all reconnaissance and intelligence data collection. The U-2's primary imaging sensor is the ASARS-2 (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar System-2) which is an all weather day/night radar capable of providing near real-time imagery through various collection modes. The Air Force Reconnaissance System Program Office through the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) and Secretary of the Air Force, (Acquisition) Directorate of Information Dominance (SAF/AQIJ) is currently upgrading the airborne radar, data-links, and ground processing and exploitation components to provide increased coverage, improved image quality, and provide a near real-time targeting capability for precision guided munitions. The ASARS-2 Improvement Program (AIP) will be discussed to include the hardware changes to the sensor, software changes to the ground station and new exploitation tools. AIP will increase the area coverage of the current ASARS-2 system through the use of new airborne components. The system will employ full on-board processing allowing detected, complex. or Video Phase History products and maintain the requirements for the collected sensor data to fit within the current 274 Mb/sec bandwidth of the air-ground Data Link. Through the use of complex imagery data, the AIP program will augment the ground processing and exploitation segment with specialized imagery enhancing tools. Some of the tools under evaluation include; Spatially Variant Apodization, Interferometric SAR, Multi-view, Coherent Change Detection, Super-Resolution, and Moving Target Indication products. AIP will also significantly improve the geolocation targeting accuracy of SAR imagery for use with GPS aided munitions. AIP will become the standard for all future high attitude imaging radar systems and is being developed to be compatible with the Global Hawk (Tier II+) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

3.1.3 NEW CONCEPTS OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AT THE AEROSPACE CORPORATION AND THE SPACE AND MISSILE SYSTEMS CENTER (SMC)

AbstractThe Aerospace Corporation sponsors in‐house research to enhance and extend the corporation's core competencies. The objective of one Aerospace Sponsored Research (ASR) was to develop new concepts for systems engineering, consistent with Integrated Weapon System Management (IWSM)/ Integrated Product Development (IPD) environments, by addressing methodology, guidance and training, and computer‐aided tools. The ASR had five primary objectives including defining an Systems engineering/ Configuration Management (SE/CM) methodology, developing guidance and training, investigating computer‐aided SE/CM tools, maintaining Aerospace role introducing SE/CM concepts to the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), and ensuring cross‐information flow of lessons learned between SMC System Program Offices (SPOs) and external customers. Significant accomplishments were made toward satisfying each of the stated objectives, especially achieving the opening of an operational SMC IPD Center.

NASA's Pathfinder data set programme: land surface parameters

Abstract The Pathfinder data set concept was initiated by the Earth Observing System (EOS) Program Office at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters to address how existing satellite-derived data sets could be used for global change research prior to the availability of EOS data. They are denned as long time-series satellite data sets capable of stable calibration which can be reprocessed using a community-consensus set of algorithms In October 1990 NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initiated a joint Pathfinder program. Data from three NOAA and one Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) instruments have been designated as Pathfinders under this activity. In addition to this joint effort, NASA has also initiated a Pathfinder development effort for data from both Landsat and the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) flown on NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite The AVHRR Pathfinder was the first set of projects to be initiated. Becaus...

Automated interactive simulation modeling system: AISIM

A new general purpose simulation modeling tool, AISIM (Automated Interactive Simulation Modeling System), has been developed by Air Force System Command's Electronic Systems Division under the direction of Air Force Program Element 64740F, Computer Resource Management Technology. The 64740F Program Element develops and transfers into active use the technology, tools, and techniques needed to cope with the explosive growth of computer resources used in mission critical Air Force systems. The program was initiated to: 1. 1) provide for the transition of computer system developments in laboratories, industry, and academia to system program offices. 2. 2) develop and apply software acquisition management techniques to reduce life cycle costs. 3. 3) provide improved software design tools. AISIM is one of these tools. Among the users of AISIM are Air Force Systems Command Product Divisions, the Defense Mapping Agency, Naval Underwater Systems Command, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Technical Center. AISIM is designed to provide quick answers to system performance questions during the conceptual phase of a system's acquisition. AISIM has undergone many tests and is currently in the initial operating capability phase of software development. Initial test results indicate potential for wide application to the study of communication nets, computer system architectures, and data processing functions during the conceptual stages of system development. This paper introduces the reader to AISIM—its model building capabilities and its five user interfaces.

Computer support for clinical and ancillary support areas.

Military medicine is aggressively meeting the need for enhanced information flow and improved efficiency in the delivery of health care by implementing automated systems. A Department of Defense (DOD) Agency, the Tri-Service Medical Information Systems (TRIMIS) Program office, is centrally procuring automated data processing to support clinical and patient appointment activities within the DOD health care system of 165 hospitals and 287 clinics. The procured systems are then implemented with the assistance of the military departments. Systems are now supporting cardiology, pharmacy, radiology, clinical laboratory, and patient appointment and scheduling. Capabilities of all these systems are detailed in the paper. To date, the TRIMIS efforts have contributed significantly to more efficient information processing, thus ensuring continued quality health care through the DOD.

Systems Approach to Training (SAT) for the B-1 Aircrew

In support of the B-1 System Program Office, this analytic study is to develop recommended and alternative crew training systems for the future B-1 air vehicle. The training system provides for transition, recurring, and upgrade training for the four positions of the aircrew: pilot, co-pilot, offensive systems operator, and defensive systems operator. The instructional system development (ISD) is enhanced by the concurrent development of two computer aids. These are: 1) Sorting Model, which allows efficient storage, retrieval, collating, and updating of mission/function/task analysis and supporting data; and 2) Training Resources Analytic Model (TRAM), which provides time-phased costs and resource requirements for the training system over the B-1 life cycle. A major goal of the systems approach is to account for the major factors that can affect the cost and/or allocation of human and material resources. The approach to developing comprehensive instructional system designs is to be based on factors including: 1) statements of behavioral objectives; 2) current and projected simulation state-of-the-art; 3) modern educational technology techniques (methods and media); 4) external constraints; and 5) trade-off and sensitivity analyses (using the TRAM). The outputs for this program are descriptions of the recommended and alternative training systems, complete with a syllabus for each course, descriptions of required media and facilities, costs, and schedules.

Numerical Correlation and Evaluation in the Comparison of Evidentiary Materials

Abstract One of the neglected areas in criminalistic laboratory techniques is the ability of the criminalist to compare and evaluate, quantitatively, sets of numerical data. At the present time, there does not exist in practice any uniformly accepted approach to determining a “figure-of-merit” (or rather a quantitative, reliable expression of the degree of match) for sets of data. The need for such a technique arose in a task designed to apply the phenomena of thermoluminescence to criminalistics [1]. This task, funded and supported by NASA, was conducted through the Civil Systems Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this specific application, each piece of physical evidence provided, after processing, a continuous curve. In comparing the curve of an unknown with that of an exemplar, a need was established for a quantitative expression of the extent to which the two curves matched. A well established statistical procedure was applied and was found to be fully satisfactory in resolving the problem. The same technique, without modifications was also found to be applicable to the analysis of emission spectrography data, neutron activation analysis (NAA), gradient density measurements, and any other criminalistic technique where sets of numerical data are determined. The main attribute of this developed technique is that it allows the criminalist to make judgements on the quality of the evidentiary determinations.

How PERT was used in managing the X-20 (Dyna-Soar) program

This paper describes how the Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) was developed in the X-20 program and how it was used in managing that program. The X-20 System Program Office (SPO), Aeronautical Systems Division (ASD), organized and directed the overall X-20 PERT effort of both Government and industry participants and employed a system of discrete detailed networks which collectively covered the entire program. The data from these “reporting” networks was computer integrated into a total program PERT output.