JPL, Dorothy Quinlan, Mail Stop 190-220, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099

A -- DEVELOPMENT OF A SELF-CONFIGURING INTERFACE STANDARD FOR SPACECRAFT GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION, AND CONTROL AVIONICS SOL 95/9 DUE 011596. Contact Point: Dorothy Quinlan, (818) 354-7063; FAX (818) 354-4152. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology (JPL/CIT), operating under a prime contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is surveying industry for potential sources capable of supporting JPL in the Development of a Self-Configuring Interface Standard for Spacecraft Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GN&C) Avionics. The Laboratory, with support from NASA's Office of the Chief Engineer, is developing information interface standard for spacecraft GN&C Avionics. The standard will be responsive to a mandate from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) GN&C Committee on Standards (CoS) for a self-configuring, plug-and-lay interface layered on top of AS-1773 fiber optic serial bus physical and data link layers, and will become part of a national standard to be published by the AIAA. A self-configuring network, for the purpose of this effort, is a system consisting of a computer plus several input/output peripheral devices in which the computer learns how to communicate with the peripherals based on information provided to it over the communication medium by the peripherals themselves. The design and implementation goals are provided in Attachment 1 - Self-Configuring Interface Standard Design and Implementation Goals. Attachment 1: (1) Self-Configuring Interface Standard Design and Implementation Goals. Attachment 1: (1) Allow partial compliance through manual communication of the Information Management Key (IMK); (2) Minimize constraints that must be imposed on peripheral devices in order to implement the structure of the self-configuring network; (3) Minimize the quantity and complexity of new hardware that must be added to peripheral devices to make them compliant with the standard. It is not required that the peripheral include a general-purpose computer or processor; (4) Minimize the changes that must be made to existing peripheral device hardware designs to make them compliant with the standard. The structure of the IMK must be flexible for each type or class of peripheral device; (5) In addition to the GN&C Avionics, the interface standard should be easily extendible to all spacecraft avionics; (6) The input/output driver software or software set that makes use of the information contained in the IMKs should be general-purpose and reusable, and should conveniently fit within an eventual global architecture of reusable software modules; (7) Defense the standard so that it is compliant with the International Standards Organization (ISO) Open System Interconnect (OSI) model. In particular, define the GN&C interface standards so that its layers can evolve independently as various technologies evolve, such as new physical layers, higher data rates, new data link protocols, etc. In a complete implementation, the bus controller would query the peripheral devices for an IMK message, which would contain all the information the input/output driver software hosted in the GN&C computer requires to be able to communication with that peripheral. To allow partial compliance upon initial introduction of the standard, peripheral device vendors should be able to communicate the IMKs for their device manually through either electronic means or a written table. Institutional and personnel skills desired include: (1) Self-configuring networks or interfaces (e.g., computer peripheral, FAX machines): (2) Computer network protocol design; (3) Computer communication; (4) Information system design; (5) Spacecraft avionics; (6) Spacecraft information or data systems; and (7) Spacecraft guidance, navigation, and control systems. The Laboratory anticipates that a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued to interested organizations in February 1996 to provide support in the design of the GN&C self-configuring function, and to document the design in the form of a Draft Interface Standard Specification. If your organization wishes to be considered as a potential source for the procurement, you are requested to: (1) Submit a written request for placement on the source list; and (2) Supportive information regarding your organization's ability to provide support for the effort described in Attachment 1 no later than January 15, 1996. This is a request for information only and is used for planning purposes. It does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that JPL will take procurement action in this particular matter. Neither JPL nor the Government will be responsible for any costs incurred in furnishing this information. This is not a solicitation or Request for Proposal (RFP). (363)

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