Spacecraft operations automation: Automatic alarm notification and web telemetry display

• Published in: Acta astronautica 1999-01, Vol.45 (4), p.483-490
• Main Authors: Short, Owen G., Leonard, Robert E., Bucher, Allen W., Allen, Bryan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Display devices; Spacecraft instruments; Telemetering; World Wide Web
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/S0094-5765(99)00168-X

In these times of Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC) spacecraft, Spacecraft Operations Automation is an area that is targeted by many Operations Teams. To meet the challenges of the FBC environment, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Operations Team designed and quickly implemented two new low-cost technologies: one which monitors spacecraft telemetry, checks the status of the telemetry, and contacts technical experts by pager when any telemetry datapoints exceed alarm limits, and a second which allows quick and convenient remote access to data displays. The first new technology is Automatic Alarm Notification (AAN). AAN monitors spacecraft telemetry and will notify engineers automatically if any telemetry is received which creates an alarm condition. The second new technology is Web Telemetry Display (WTD). WTD captures telemetry displays generated by the flight telemetry system and makes them available to the project web server. This allows engineers to check the health and status of the spacecraft from any computer capable of connecting to the global internet, without needing normally-required specialized hardware and software. Both of these technologies have greatly reduced operations costs by alleviating the need to have operations engineers monitor spacecraft performance on a 24 hour per day, 7 day per week basis from a central Mission Support Area. This paper gives details on the design and implementation of AAN and WTD, discusses their limitations, and lists the ongoing benefits which have accrued to MGS Flight Operations since their implementation in late 1996.