"On-board training tools for long term missions" Experiment Overview. 1. Abstract:

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1 "On-board training tools for long term missions" Experiment Overview 1. Abstract 2. Keywords 3. Introduction 4. Technical Equipment 5. Experimental Procedure 6. References Principal Investigators: BTE: Uwe Mittag.DLR-CTC, Cologne, Germany. BTF: Loredana Bessone.ESA-EAC, Cologne, Germany. BIN: Alastair Pidgeon.VEGA Space Systems Engineering GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany. Co-Investigators: BTE: R. Nahle, H.P. Schmidt, G. Schmitz.DLR-MUSC, Cologne, Germany. BTF: Josep Auferil.ESA-EAC, Cologne, Germany. BIN: Jimmy Anderson.VEGA Space Systems Engineering GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany. 1. Abstract: As manned space missions become longer in duration, a new approach in terms of training is required. The experience acquired in previous missions such as EuroMIR '95 and the new scenario of the planned International Space Station Alpha (ISSA) suggests that crew members will have to adapt to a changing environment and deal with new situations like off-nominal operations, on-board refresher training or the need to be supplied with new or updated training material.the main aim of the experiment presented in this document is to prove that a Computer Based Training (CBT) platform which uses a convergence of technologies such as Multimedia, equipment simulation, communications and Web Technologies is well suited to cope with these challenges. CBT is a especially appropiate tool to be applied to troubleshooting skills and refresher training which will be a key factor in the success of future long-term missions. In the context of the MIR'96 mission, three originally self-standing experiments will be integrated providing a nominal training course, an off-nominal training course, a simulator and a dedicated communication link with the ground. The subject of the training courses is the TITUS furnace, facility currently available on the MIR space station and which is intended to be used in future missions. 2. Keywords Long-term missions; Computer Based Training; Multimedia; Web technologies; Simulators; Emulators; Off-nominal operations; TITUS facility; MOTE architecture; ASTRO project; BTE,BIN,BTF experiments. 3. Introduction and scientific objectives 3.1 General concepts: In recent years the uses of computers for training purposes have multiplied exponentially.computer Based Training (individialized instruction delivered to trainees via computer application) has proven to be a good training method since it reduces the reliance on instructional staff and provides a good framework for distributed training. CBT is often best used to complement other forms of instruction. However, can be the ideal method in some learning situations (i.e on-board environment) In long-term manned space missions, crew members can take advantage of the benefits of CBT. During their mission they should be able to update and/or review the knowledge/skills acquired during pre-flight training, to cope with offnominal (contingency) operations due to hardware failures, to adapt to changing procedures or experiment configuration and finally to be trained about new subjects. Such a dynamic environment can only be provided efficiently by CBT. Being aware that only the training requirements must dictate the development of a good CBT system, there are some features which can improve its efficiency: Page 1 of 8

2 Multimedia: incorporating several kinds of media (graphics, text, animations, audio,video) to the courseware in order to help to meet instructional objectives. Web technologies: giving to the CBT system the ability to be a distributed environment in which the different users (trainees, instructors and courseware developers) can access the training material across a heterogeneous network. Other benefits can be the ability to update or add new lessons 'up to the minute' or the possibility of remote communication between trainee and instructor. Simulation: The level of interaction available is one of the major differences between poor and high quality CBT. A built-in simulator increases notably this level of interaction and consequently the training efficiency of the system. The combination of these relatively new technologies, together with adequate pedagogical guidelines, can make a very powerful CBT environment. The experiment proposed in this document will prove that such environment can be successfully applied to long-term manned space missions in space. 3.2 The facility. The TITUS Furnace is an on-board MIR facility designed for materials science experiments. TITUS is controlled by the TITAN software which runs on an on-board laptop computer connected to the furnace with three serial lines; one to the Furnace Controller, one to the temperature probe and the third to the gravitational measurement system. TITUS was first used during EuroMIR '95 mission and is planned to be re-used in the next MIR'96 mission, for that reason TITUS is the subject chosen in the courses and emulator developed for this experiment. It is important to note that in the experiment itself the facility (real furnace) is not directly involved. 3.3 The experiment. The proposed experiment is the result of the combination of three originally stand-alone experiments (BTE,BTF,BIN), described as follows: BTE: Nominal operations courseware. This will train the astronaut to perform nominal operations of the TITUS furnace e.g. Starting and shutting down the furnace, loading and removing samples, loading an experiment run, starting the run and monitoring its progress. Much of the courseware will be orientated towards the TITAN software. During the course of the experiment some of the training material will be uploaded from the ground using Web techniques. BTF: Off-Nominal operations courseware. This courseware will be used by astronauts to identify the cause of a failure in the TITUS furnace, to get training on how to repair it and to perform a hands-on repair operation on the furnace emulator. Also, the courseware will provide instructions for some untrained maintenance activity on the furnace. BIN: TITUS Furnace emulator. This experiment will be a high fidelity simulation of the TITUS furnace which, as far as the operator of the TITAN software is concerned, will be indistinguishable from the real furnace, and will allow the astronauts to visualize, navigate around and interact with the furnace's exterior and interior. These three experiments will be integrated to allow the courseware (nominal and off-nominal) to incorporate the emulator and demonstrate the benefits of an integrated training environment. This integrated tool is called MOTE (Modular Onboard Training Environment). Page 2 of 8

3 [Figure 1: MOTE Software Configuration.] Using MOTE the astronaut will be able to operate the TITAN software to monitor and control the simulated TITUS furnace in a highly realistic manner. At the same time the emulator will provide a graphical environment to allow the astronaut to visualize the furnace and its components, movement of the sample through the furnace, rotation of the magazine, temperature of the different furnace sections and so on. The courseware employed here has been developed using the ASTRO Course System. ASTRO is a distributed, multimedia learning/training system which provides the framework required to organize the course contents into lessons and to supervise the navigation of the trainee/es through the course. On-line trainee evaluation is also supported. 3.4 Scientific objectives. 1. To provide evidence that CBTs can succesfully support training in the context of long term manned space missions, and especially in the ISSA scenario. 2. To demonstrate the benefits of integration of CBT and HTML techniques to deliver courses and reference documentation. 3. To demonstrate that the use of emulators to provide a graphical environment to the trainee increases significantly the level of interaction and consequently improves training and makes tasks associated with maintenance and repair procedures easier. 4. To demonstrate the benefits of the use of equivalent on-board and ground environments for the realtime solution of contingencies. 5. To demonstrate that it is feasible to integrate different components (nominal course, off-nominal course, emulator) to obtain a CBT system working in a real environment (on-board with an operational facility). 6. To validate the ASTRO tool as an efficient means for the development and execution of a distributed, multimedia learning/training system. 4. Technical equipment Page 3 of 8

4 4.1 Hardware:Two laptops are required for the complete execution of this experiment: A training machine, where the course is delivered A TITUS furnace emulator for the simulation of a failure and repair operations Both will share the same constraints at the H/W and OS level: 4.2 Software: IBM Thinkpad, 75 MHz MB RAM (the training configuration will have 32 MB) 640x400, ( 256 colour graphics required by courseware, 16 colours by emulator) PCMCIA Ethernet card- PCMCIA Hard disk (340 MB)- Internal hard disk (540 MB) OS: Windows NT 3.51 workstation TITAN Control Software: Provides a GUI for the complete control and monitoring of the TITUS furnace. Experimenter scan set-up automated procedures to operate the furnace. Normally the steps in the procedures are defined on the ground and the astronaut only has to load these from disk into the TITAN for them to be executed. During the course of the experiment TITAN will control the TITUS furnace emulator instead of the real furnace TITUS Emulator: Provides a graphical simulation which models the equipment (TITUS furnace) in a highly realistic way. This emulator will be controlled by the TITAN software in the same way as the real furnace, and/or it will be controlled by the ASTRO-based courseware. The courseware will also control the emulation so that it can be used as part of the training course ASTRO tool and courseware: The ASTRO tool consists of four main components: i) Netscape Browser: This standard commercial browser provides the user interface for the courseware and the means to navigate through the course. ii) ASTRO client extension: Application which add capabilities to the HTML browser in order to manage information sent by the HTTP server. iii) HTTP Server: This tool has the responsibility for sending HTML pages (course contents) in response to user (trainee) requests. iiii) Course engine: This guides the student through the course according to the progress they are making, the parts of the course they have already done and so on. This includes trainee evaluation capabilities The courseware comprises two training courses: i) Nominal Training Course: Course lessons consisting of a series of HTML pages with hypermedia data (graphics, hypertext, text, animations, audio, video) as well as interactive sessions with the TITAN software and the TITUS emulator. The topic of this course is the TITUS furnace and its purpose is to describe its components and functionalities. ii) Off nominal training course: Course lessons with the same features than Nominal Training Course (lesson format, interactive sessions) but oriented to offnominal operations such as failure repair or maintenance. Page 4 of 8

5 4.2.4 MOTE interfaces. This software, which is transparent to final users, makes possible the communication between the software components above described and therefore the integration of the whole system. All these applications will be installed in the laptops following 2 different configurations: i) Training configuration: Includes TITAN, TITUS emulator, ASTRO courseware with both nominal and off-nominal courses, and the respectives interfaces to integrate all modules. This configuration also include an interface to the ground in order to make possible uploading of training material. This laptop provides a platform to be used during Nominal training, Uploading of new training material, and in the troubleshooting session once the off-nominal situation has occurred. ii) Simulation configuration: Includes only TITAN and TITUS emulator. Using this laptop the trainee will simulate its interaction with TITUS furnace and, at a certain moment during operations, will experience an off-nominal operation which will require access to the courseware located in the training configuration. 5. Experimental procedure As mentioned above, the experiment consists of the integration of three formerly separate experiments; BIN,BTE,BTF. The following procedures describe how the experiments will be executed and show the interaction between them. 5.1 BTE (nominal courseware) One lap-top is required (training configuration) which will use of its connection with ground to access additional training material in an interactive session Step 1 : Local refresher training session. The Astronaut trains on locally residing courseware in refresher mode. This will also use TITUS emulator Step 2 : Remote refresher training session. The Astronaut has access to a server on ground and some training material is transferred interactively using Web techniques Step 3 : Evaluation. Astronaut fills-in a questionnaire about the session. 5.2 BIN (TITUS emulator execution)one lap-top is required (SIMULATION CONFIGURATION). This experiment will consist in the execution of TITUS emulator in Free-Play mode. Using the emulator the astronaut will interact with a graphical visualization of the furnace components and their operation. This will reinforce the refresher training performed for BTE. Page 5 of 8

6 [Figure 2: MOTE Hardware Configuration.] 5.3 BTF (off-nominal courseware) Two laptops are required for the execution of this experiment (simulation and training configuration) Step 1 : Standard operation performed on the emulator (SIMULATION CONFIGURATION). The trainee enters the BTF application, which requires the execution of a TITUS operation, using the TITUS emulator instead of the TITUS furnace. During the operation, a malfunction is injected into the emulator, without informing the trainee, who continues his operations, until he discovers an off-nominal condition Step 2 : Search for information (TRAINING CONFIGURATION). The trainee must conduct an investigation on the failure, consulting the ASTRO course, Page 6 of 8

7 which will contain a non-explicit reference to the failure Step 3 : Troubleshooting (TRAINING CONFIGURATION). Once the troubleshooting section has been identified, the trainee will be able to select his path through it, and go into as much in-depth as he feels it is necessary. The course shall guide the trainee through the discovery of error indications that he shall encounter in either TITAN or the emulator Step 4 : Correction of the failure (SIMULATION CONFIGURATION). The trainee operates the simulator which currently has no link with the course, and reestablishes nominal conditions Step 5 : Completion of the initial operation (SIMULATION CONFIGURATION). The trainee completes the operation initiated before the failure Step 6 : Report generation. The trainee generates a short report on the performed activity, or answers a questionnaire Post -Flight : Correction of the failure on a GROUND ENGINEERING MODEL of the furnace After the flight the astronaut will operate an engineering model of the TITUS furnace, on which the on-board malfunction will be reproduced. The astronaut will be able to compare operations on the furnace against operations on the emulator, and test the skills aquired by training on a simulated environment. 6. References 1. C.Dean and Q.Whitlock, A handbook of Computer based Training (1992) 2. A.Pidgeon, MIR '96 Modular On-board Training Environment (MOTE) System Architecture (Mar 1996) 3. L.Bessone, U.Mittag, G.Schmitz,MIR '96 MOTE: Training Scenarios. (1996) 4. R.Nahle, R.Rostel, H.P.Schmidt, K. Wittmann, TITUS: A new facility for materials sciences experiments in space (Oct 95) 5. G.Nichols, Computer Based Training: A tutorial. (1996) 6. R.Bowen, R.T. Savely, Advanced Training systems for the next decade and beyond (1991) List of abreviations ASTRO: Advanced Simulation tools for TRaining of Operators BIN: Betriebstechnische Erprogungen - Instandhaltung BTE: Betriebstechnische Erprogungen - Training im Einsatz Page 7 of 8

8 BTF: Betriebstechnische Erprogungen - Training on Failure CBT: Computer Based TrainingCTC: Crew Training Centre DLR: Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Luft- und Raumfahrt e.v. GUI: Graphical User Interface EAC: European Astronaut CentreESA: European Space Agency HTML: HyperText Mark-up Language HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol ISSA: International Space Station Alpha MOTE: Modular On-board Training Environment MUSC: Microgravity User Support Centre OS: Operating System TITU Tubular furnace with Integrated Thermal analysis Under Space conditions Page 8 of 8