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Remote AgentHow does a remote agent work? |
Many of you have heard of Apollo 13 and are aware of the complex, serious problem that the ground controllers were trying to solve in a short amount of time in order to return the astronauts to Earth in one piece. The future goal is for the Mode Identification and Recovery System (MIR) to be able to do that on its own, with no help from ground control. The technology is not that advanced yet, but MIR can still monitor the state of the spacecraft and detect and correct many types of failures.
Here's how it works. Sensors are located throughout the spacecraft that constantly feed MIR information about the behavior of many of the spacecraft's components. For example, a sensor might show that a switch is on or off, or that the level of current flowing out of a component is low or high.
MIR is programmed with models of the spacecraft's systems that describe what the sensor values should look like if everything is working correctly. The model also describes what sensor values would look like if certain failures were occuring. MIR uses the information from the actual sensors and the description from its model to determine if the spacecraft is working properly or if there is a failure. In the case of a failure, MIR will figure out how to fix the failure without disrupting other activities taking place on the spacecraft. In addition to detecting failures, MIR confirms that things are working properly if the sensor values are what it expects. This information gives EXEC the go-ahead to continue executing the current plan.
What exactly can Remote Agent do?
What makes DS1 send distress signals?
What components are where on DS1?
