Flight software development for the isothermal dendritic growth experimentThe Isothermal Dendritic Growth Experiment (IDGE) is a microgravity materials science experiment scheduled to fly in the cargo bay of the shuttle on the United States Microgravity Payload (USMP) carrier. The experiment will be operated by real-time control software which will not only monitor and control onboard experiment hardware, but will also communicate, via downlink data and unlink commands, with the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) at NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The software development approach being used to implement this system began with software functional requirements specification. This was accomplished using the Yourdon/DeMarco methodology as supplemented by the Ward/Mellor real-time extensions. The requirements specification in combination with software prototyping was then used to generate a detailed design consisting of structure charts, module prologues, and Program Design Language (PDL) specifications. This detailed design will next be used to code the software, followed finally by testing against the functional requirements. The result will be a modular real-time control software system with traceability through every phase of the development process.
Document ID
19900035202
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Levinson, Laurie H. (NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Winsa, Edward A. (NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Glicksman, M. E. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, United States)