Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Software. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2014

NRAO: Milky Way Explorer Software Tours the Solar System

NRAO's Milky Way Explorer Tours the Solar System

Imagine seeing the Sun, planets, and a myriad other objects in our Solar System as you have never seen them before, in invisible radio light!

That is the experience you will get through the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) newly released Solar System installment of its popular Milky Way Explorer, an online tour of our interstellar neighbourhood guided by the actual astronomers who explore it using radio waves.

Through an entertaining and informative series of videos, NRAO's Science Visualization Team presents multimedia-rich tours of the radio Sun as well as many of the planets, moons, and asteroids that orbit it.

At each stop along the way, planetary radio astronomers reveal the new science and exciting details we have learned about our Solar System neighbours through the use of radio telescopes.

Unlike familiar optical telescopes, which can only study objects illuminated by our Sun and other stars, radio telescopes can see the otherwise invisible cold, dark features in space.

This includes the faint radio light that is naturally emitted by the molecules and chemicals that make up the atmospheres of planets and certain moons in our Solar System.

Radio dishes, when paired with powerful radar transmitters on Earth, can also reveal hidden landscapes, such as the Moon's dust-layered surface and Venus's alien features shrouded behind its thick clouds.

The Milky Way Explorer, which was launched in 2013, also includes dozens more videos showcasing the diverse radio astronomy studies of our spiral island of stars, stellar nurseries, and dark matter.

A third set of interviews and animations is scheduled for 2015 to share more radio astronomy discoveries made inside our Galaxy and among the nearest neighboring galaxies of our Universe.

Monday, December 23, 2013

NASA Mars Curiosity Rover: New Software upgrade completed - Wheel checks


Click on the picture to see the full panorama image 


NASA's Mars rover Curiosity captured this 360-degree view using its Navigation Camera (Navcam) after a 17-foot (5.3 meter) drive on 477th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Dec. 8, 2013). 

This drive brought the mission's total driving distance to 3.86 miles (4.61 kilometers). The rock-studded terrain Curiosity has traversed since October 2013 appears to have accelerated the pace of wear and tear on the rover's wheels. 

Future drives may be charted to cross smoother ground where available. 

This seam-corrected mosaic is presented in a cylindrical projection. The center of the scene faces south. North is as both ends. 

Credit: JPL/NASA

The team operating NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed a software upgrade on the vehicle and is next planning a check of wear and tear on the rover's wheels.

"Curiosity is now operating on version 11 of its flight software," said Jim Erickson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project manager for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Project, which operates Curiosity.

This is the third upgrade version since Curiosity's landing on Mars16 months ago. Completing the switch from version 10 took about a week.

An earlier switch to version 11 prompted an unintended reboot on Nov. 7 and a return to version 10, but the latest transition went smoothly.

These upgrades allow continued advances in the rover's capabilities.

For example, version 11 brings expanded capability for using the Curiosity's robotic arm while the vehicle is on slopes.

It also improves flexibility for storing information overnight to use in resuming autonomous driving on a second day.

An upcoming activity will be driving to a relatively smooth patch of ground to take a set of images of Curiosity's aluminum wheels, using the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at the end of the rover's arm.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity in Safe Mode After Computer Glitch

This self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines dozens of images taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager on Feb. 3, 2013. 

The portrait was taken at the rock target "John Klein," where the rover collected the first ever bedrock sample of Mars using its drill on Feb. 8. 

CREDIT: ASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

A computer glitch on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has forced the robot to switch to a backup computer while engineers try to resolve the problem.

In the meantime, Curiosity's science work is on hold, and the spacecraft is in a minimal-activity state known as "safe mode" while its backup computer is updated with the command codes and parameters it needs to take over the rover's full operations.

"We're still early on in the process," said Richard Cook, Curiosity project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We have probably several days, maybe a week of activities to get everything back and reconfigured."

The issue cropped up Wednesday (Feb. 27), when the spacecraft failed to send its recorded data back to Earth and did not switch into its daily sleep mode as planned. After looking into the issue, engineers decided to switch the Curiosity rover from its primary "A-side" computer to its "B-side" backup on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. EST (22:30 GMT).

"Don't flip out: I just flipped over to my B-side computer while the team looks into an A-side memory issue," NASA officials wrote on behalf of the rover via Curiosity's Twitter feed.

The computer problem is related to a glitch in flash memory on the A-side computer caused by corrupted memory files, Cook said. Scientists are still looking into the root cause the corrupted memory, but it's possible the memory files were damaged by high-energy space particles called cosmic rays, which are always a danger beyond the protective atmosphere of Earth.

"The hardware that we fly is radiation tolerant," Cook told SPACE.com, "but there's a limit to how hardened it can be. You can still get high-energy particles that can cause the memory to be corrupted. It certainly is a possibility and that's what we're looking into."

Once Curiosity is up and running again, the rover should have no problem using its B-side computer as its primary computer for a while, officials said. As standard protocol, Curiosity, like many spacecraft, has redundant main computer systems as a safety precaution for just this type of anomaly.

"While we are resuming operations on the B-side, we are also working to determine the best way to restore the A-side as a viable backup," said JPL engineer Magdy Bareh, leader of the mission's anomaly resolution team, said in a statement.

Eventually, the team will want to turn the A-side computer back on and make sure both computers on the rover are healthy.

"We also want to look to see if we can make changes to software to immunize against this kind of problem in the future," Cook said.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

NASA: iPad Visualisation Explorer (US only)


NASA has some of the coolest data around, of course. 

While you can dig around their numerous websites looking for gems, they have made life a lot easier for you and pulled together many of their best work into a free iPad App.

The quality of the visualisations is incredible, and most of them are well annotated/narrated. They add 8-10 new visualizations each month.

NB: Unfortunately, for now, the App is only available in the US but will be available in other areas later in the year.

NASA iPad Visualization Explorer

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Soyuz TMA-M Simulator in Star City

Life-size simulator of the Soyuz TMA-M descend and orbital modules at GCTC.

It runs on the same computers and the same navigation and guidance software as the real vehicle and is just as cramped and uncomfortable.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Bizarre real time face-substitution system demonstrated

Faces from arturo castro on Vimeo.

Some day in the not-too-distant future, you may be on a service like Chatroulette, and suddenly find yourself matched up with a person who looks exactly like Angelina Jolie.

Well, chances are it won't really be her. Instead, it will likely be someone using the descendant of a system put together by Arturo Castro. Using a combination of existing software, the Barcelona digital artist has demonstrated how a variety of famous faces can be mapped onto his own, moving with it in real time.

While Castro's system isn't likely to fool anyone - in its present version - it's an unsettling indication of what could be possible with just a little more finessing.

Castro's application was created using openFrameworks, an open source framework for creative coding. This was combined with FaceTracker, which produces a virtual mesh that matches a human subject's facial features.

The colours of the famous faces were blended with those of Arturo's own using an image clone code developed by artist Kevin Atkinson. Finally, the FaceTracker meshes were wrapped around his face using the ofxFaceTracker add-on for openFrameworks.

The resulting video, which can be seen below, alternates between being funny and just plain creepy, with Castro taking on the identities of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton.


Face Substitution from Kyle McDonald on Vimeo.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Paragon Software Selected For ISS Disaster Recovery Solutions

Paragon Software Group reached a milestone in the company's brief history as it soared into the heavens on the final flight of America's Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Selected by NASA's Prime Bioastronautics contractor, Wyle, Paragon's backup and disaster recovery software, Hard Disk Manager (HDM) 11 Professional now orbits the Earth on the International Space Station. HDM 11 serves as the primary backup and recovery software for the latest generation Ultrasound system also launched on Atlantis.

The International Space Station's primary goal is to provide a platform for scientific research. Human subject research is managed by Wyle as part of the Bioastronautics Contract.

Certification of the next generation ultrasound required being able to successfully restore the new ultrasound system to its launch configuration.

Lockheed Martin, one of the subcontractors operating with Wyle, the prime contractor on the Bioastronautics Contract, needed a recovery solution that could meet its stringent specifications. As is often the case with space-related operations, a customized software solution was needed.

"At Paragon, we provide our clients with superior customer service regardless of where they are, now that extends to outer space," said Tom Fedro, president of Paragon Software Group.

"It was important to Wyle and Lockheed Martin to ensure that the astronauts operating on the Space Station could quickly and easily restore their systems back to an operable state - with the customized version of Hard Disk Manager, they can recover in a matter of minutes without any additional tools."

Paragon developed a custom-restore script that automated the system restore process via a USB-bootable flash drive with the click of a button.

Bioastronautics personnel evaluated several back-up and recovery tools. Of the tools available Paragon's HDM 11 came closest to meeting the project's needs. The Paragon team stepped in to close the gap, providing a customized solution which minimized user interaction.

HDM 11 Server provides a complete data backup and disaster recovery solution. A virtual add-on component is available for virtual environments.

Both versions offer the ability to perform bare-metal restores, file-level recovery, includes advanced data wiping algorithms, and automatic partition alignment. Additionally, HDM 11 Server enables data back up or migration of an active server with locked volumes, files or folders.

Paragon Software is also used by European Aerospace Contractors such as EADS, Thales, Astrium, etc.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

WALL-E toy gets gift of robotic life

Disney went into robotic toys market with a remote-controlled WALL-E robot back in 2008 but Canadian-based robotics enthusiast DJ Sures was apparently not satisfied with the level of realism of the toy so he came with his own, customised version of WALL-E.

Utilising The U-Command Wall-E plastic toy, he modified it with EZ-B Robot controller hardware, voice recognition and a movement-tracking camera - but no trash compactor.The custom-built robot is voice-activated, sometimes even answering with his own robotic speech.

Apart from the EZ-B Bluetooth Robot controller, he used five servos (modified for the tracks and standard for the arms and neck), AA battery pack, as well as a joystick, just in case WALL-E "needs help getting out of trouble."

DJ Sures embedded a 2.4GHz wireless camera to the WALL-E's eye, which thanks to a horizontal neck servo and vertical head servo allows WALL-E to track motion, colors or human faces horizontally and vertically.

For example, the robot can track the movement of his "favorite" red ball when asked and sighs when it's taken away from him - he'll also bust a move when asked to dance but doesn't seem to have mastered the robot yet.

To program Wall-E's actions, DJ Sures utilized EZ-Builder software which comes bundled with the EZ-B Bluetooth Robot Controller hardware. The software has a visual interface and is tailored for non-programmers allowing them to design a custom set of sounds, or any actions for a DIY robot utilizing the EZ-B controller.

It's not the first robot in DJ Sures' portfolio, having already built several, including some early versions of modded WALL-Es, a Dalek and Doctor Who's robotic K9. Maybe he'll start working on an EVE robot to keep WALL-E company next, although the hovering might be difficult to accomplish.

You can check out what the modded WALL-E is capable of in the video below:



WALL-E toy gets gift of robotic life

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

NASA Kepler Mission: Data Collection Restored

After a safe mode event that lasted 144 hours, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft returned to science data collection at 2:45 a.m. EDT Sunday, March 20.

A safe mode is a self-protective measure that the spacecraft takes when something unexpected occurs.

During safe mode, the spacecraft points the solar panels directly at the sun and begins to slowly rotate along a sun-aligned axis.

This safe mode orientation provides the vehicle with the maximum power and limits the buildup of momentum from solar wind.

The spacecraft also swapped to its backup subsystem interface box (SIB), an electronics component that provides thermal and power distribution control to all spacecraft subsystems, and powered off the photometer, the instrument used to measure light intensity to detect planets.

This is a normal procedure when the spacecraft enters safe mode.

The anomaly occurred on March 14, immediately after the spacecraft issued a network interface card (NIC) reset command to implement a computer program update. The NIC is a key component of the SIB and supports its functions.

The NIC also interfaces between the spacecraft's flight software, attitude determination, and its control subsystems and sensors. During the reset, the NIC sent invalid reaction wheel data to the flight software, which caused the spacecraft to enter safe mode.

During the spacecraft’s recovery from the safe mode event, the project team performed the spring quarterly roll and downloaded science data collected since Feb. 4 from the spacecraft's solid-state recorder.

That data will be sent to the Kepler Science Operations Center at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., where the science team will evaluate it.

An anomaly response team will continue to evaluate the spacecraft data to determine the cause of the safe mode event.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

NASA Mars Explorer Rover Opportunity - Image of Concepcion crater

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image in preparation for the first autonomous selection of an observation target by a spacecraft on Mars.

Opportunity used its navigation camera to take this image after a drive during the 2,172nd Martian day, or sol, of its mission on Mars (March 4, 2010).

Using newly developed and uploaded software named Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, the rover analysed the image to identify the feature that best matched criteria given for selecting a target.

The top target that Opportunity selected with AEGIS is shown by the yellow marker. AEGIS was directed to look for rocks that were larger and darker in colour. The rover then used the software to take more detailed observations of the selected target using its panoramic camera.

The more-than-50 rocks in this image are near a young crater called 'Concepcion' and might have been thrown outward by the impact that excavated the crater.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Friday, February 12, 2010

Automatic Speech Recognition Software; Effectiveness

MOST of us talk to our computers, if only to curse them when a glitch destroys hours of work. Sadly the computer doesn't usually listen, but new kinds of software are being developed that make conversing with a computer rather more productive.

The longest established of these is automatic speech recognition (ASR), the technology that converts the spoken word to text. More recently it has been joined by subtler techniques that go beyond what you say, and analyse how you say it. Between them they could help us communicate more effectively in situations where face-to-face conversation is not possible.

ASR has come a long way since 1964, when visitors to the World's Fair in New York were wowed by a device called the IBM Shoebox, which performed simple arithmetic calculations in response to voice commands. Yet people's perceptions of the usefulness of ASR have, if anything, diminished.

"State-of-the-art ASR has an error rate of 30 to 35 per cent," says Simon Tucker at the University of Sheffield, UK, "and that's just very annoying." Its shortcomings are highlighted by the plethora of web pages poking fun at some of the mistakes made by Google Voice, which turns voicemail messages into text.

What's more, even when ASR gets it right the results can be unsatisfactory, as simply transcribing what someone says often makes for awkward reading. People's speech can be peppered with repetition, or sentences that just tail off.

"Even if you had perfect transcription of the words, it's often the case that you still couldn't tell what was going on," says Alex Pentland, who directs the Human Dynamics Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "People's language use is very indirect and idiomatic," he points out.

Despite these limitations, ASR has its uses, says Tucker. With colleagues at Sheffield and Steve Whittaker at IBM Research in Almaden, California, he has developed a system called Catchup, designed to summarise in almost real time what has been said at a business meeting so the latecomers can... well, catch up with what they missed. Catchup is able to identify the important words and phrases in an ASR transcript and edit out the unimportant ones.

It does so by using the frequency with which a word appears as an indicator of its importance, having first ruled out a "stop list" of very common words. It leaves the text surrounding the important words in place to put them in context, and removes the rest.

A key feature of Catchup is that it then presents the result in audio form, so the latecomer hears a spoken summary rather than having to plough through a transcript. "It provides a much better user experience," says Tucker.

Read the full article here .....

Friday, October 9, 2009

Software Algorithm can detect Gout on CT Scan

Having gout, a painful inflammation of your joints, usually in the feet or knees is bad enough, but diagnosing it is no bargain either (the test involves a needle stick into the offending joint).
But a new software algorithm used to detect gout via a scanner is promising a much less invasive test. On the scan CT values of uric acid deposits show up in red, while other bone formations and calcium are displayed in blue, according to Siemens which developed the system.