IDC (single-award IDV) NNJ14TA10CAEROSPACE APPLICATIONS NORTH AMERICA INC.

Description of requirement

IGF::OT::IGF CREW EXPLORATION VEHICLE COCKPIT PROTOTYPING PAHSE FOUR NASA IS DEVELOPING A NEW SPACECRAFT, THE ORION MPCV. AANA WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR INTEGRATING ORION MPCV DISPLAY AND CONTROL CONCEPT IDEAS INTO A SET OF ORION MPCV COCKPIT SIMULATORS. AANA HAS BEEN WORKING WITH THE FLIGHT TEST BRANCH AND THE ASTRONAUT OFFICE FOR 14 YEARS. THEY BEGAN WITH THE CREATION OF PROTOTYPE DISPLAYS AND CONTROLS FOR THE CRV COCKPIT. THIS WORK ALSO INCLUDED THE CREATION OF A REMOTE COCKPIT FOR THE X-38. THE COCKPIT WAS BUILT INTO A 15 PASSENGER VAN AND POSITIONED ON THE GROUND AT EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE WHERE REAL-TIME DATA AND VIDEO WERE FED INTO THE COCKPIT TO CREATE THE ENVIRONMENT OF BEING ON BOARD THE X-38 DURING A FLIGHT TEST. AANA PARTICIPATED IN THE DISPLAY AND CONTROL SOFTWARE DESIGN, BUILD-UP, AND FLIGHT TESTING OF THIS COCKPIT. UNDER THE CCPP1C, AANA PROVIDED TECHNICAL SUPPORT BY DESIGNING A CEV COCKPIT LAYOUT SIMULATOR AND A CEV DISPLAY SIMULATOR. DURING THE CCPP2C, AANA COMPLETED DEVELOPMENT OF A C++/GRAPHICS LIBRARY (GL) STUDIO ORION COCKPIT PROTOTYPING ENVIRONMENT INCLUDING DISPLAY LOGIC AND GRAPHICS CODE SEPARATION, AS WELL AS A REUSABLE OBJECT ORIENTED LIBRARY OF GRAPHICAL COMPONENTS. THIS SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT WAS COMPLETELY DESIGNED AND IMPLEMENTED OVER A 3-YEAR TIMEFRAME BY AANA. AANA S ABILITY TO USE THE ENVIRONMENT THEY DESIGNED TO QUICKLY CREATE ANIMATED PROTOTYPE DISPLAYS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED PROCEDURES IS CRITICAL TO NASA, AS OVER 86 DISPLAYS HAVE TO BE DESIGNED, UPDATED, AND VALIDATED OVER A 2-YEAR TIMEFRAME. DISPLAY DESIGN AND VALIDATION INCLUDES THE INITIAL DISPLAY CONCEPT IMPLEMENTATION, BUT ALSO INCLUDES CHANGES TO BE MADE TO THE DISPLAY BASED ON EVALUATION RESULTS. AANA IS ABLE TO GENERATE A TYPICAL SYSTEM DISPLAY PROTOTYPE IN LESS THAN 3 DAYS, WHILE MARKET RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THE AVIONICS INDUSTRY STANDARD IS OVER 3 WEEKS. AANA COCKPIT PROTOTYPING ENGINEERS ALSO DESIGNED A VERY FLEXIBLE SYSTEM AND ELECTRONIC PROCEDURE SIMULATOR, WHICH ALLOWS THEM TO IMPLEMENT EACH PROCEDURE AND ITS ASSOCIATED SCENARIO IN LESS THAN A DAY. SINCE MODIFICATIONS CAN BE MADE QUICKLY BY AANA, THE IMPACT OF ANY INTERFACE REDESIGN IS MINIMIZED ENABLING MORE FLEXIBILITY TO DESIGN THE OPTIMAL INTERFACE FOR ORION.