=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Applying Conceptual Analysis to Space Data
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-753/paper04_cubistws11.pdf
|volume=Vol-753
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/cubist/MikhailianKMFMU11
}}
==Applying Conceptual Analysis to Space Data==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-753/paper04_cubistws11.pdf
Applying conceptual analysis to space data
Alexander Mikhailian1 , Saliha Klaı̈1 , Christian Muller2 , Bernard Fontaine1 ,
Didier Moreau2 , and Martin Ursı́k1
1
Space Applications Services
325 Leuvensesteenweg
1930 Zaventem, Belgium
cubist@spaceapplications.com,
http://www.spaceapplications.com
2
Belgian User Support and Operation Centre (B.USOC)
3 Avenue Circulaire
1180 Brussels, Belgium
{christian.muller,didier.moreau}@busoc.be,
http://www.busoc.be
Abstract. This paper describes the Space Control Centres use case of
the CUBIST FP7 project3 . It introduces the concept of telemetry and
describes the format and the contents of the housekeeping telemetry of
SOLAR, one of the payloads flying on board of the International Space
Station (ISS). Further on, it discusses several approaches to conceptual
analysis of space telemetry. It also gives an overview of conversion op-
tions into a form suitable for FCA and concludes with an outlook of the
expected outcomes of the conceptual analysis of telemetry.
Keywords: conceptual analysis, formal concept analysis, telemetry, telecom-
mand, mission control centre
1 Introduction
This paper describes the Space Control Centres use case of the CUBIST project.
The readers are not expected to understand the terminology used in the space
industry. However, the following three terms are essential:
Telemetry is a common name for technologies that allow remote reporting of
information. Telemetry is usually characterized by the rate and the set of
parameters.
Payload is the useful cargo of a spacecraft, such as a set of scientific instruments
and sensors packed in a single assembly.
Operator is the person who is constantly monitoring the payload operations.
Operators usually work in shifts and are located in space mission control
centres.
3
http://cubist-project.eu
The use case covers the processing of the telemetry produced by the SOLAR
payload. SOLAR is a set of devices used for Sun observation and mounted on the
Columbus module, which is a part of the International Space Stations. SOLAR
is operated from the Belgian User Support and Operations Centre (B.USOC)
by the operators working for Space Applications Services.
Next to the scientific data, SOLAR generates tens of gigabytes per year of
so called ”housekeeping telemetry”, which contains an overview of the ”health”
of the SOLAR devices.
1.1 Belgian User Support and Operation Centre (B.USOC)
In 1998, ESA’s Manned Space Program board decided to adopt a decentralized
infrastructure for the support of European payloads on-board the International
Space Station (ISS). This concept was based on operating multiple User Sup-
port and Operation Centres (USOCs), distributed throughout Europe. Each of
the USOCs controls one or several payloads. For example, the Biolab payload is
operated from the Microgravity User Support Centre (MUSC) in Cologne, Ger-
many. EuTEF and EDR (European Drawer Rack) payloads are operated from
the Erasmus USOC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. SOLAR payload is operated
by the Belgian USOC (B.USOC) located in Brussels.
While USOCs are responsible for the payload operations, the Columbus Con-
trol Centre (Col-CC) at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, has the responsibility of
the European Columbus module on board of ISS. Together with the USOCs, the
Col-CC coordinates all the European Columbus operations.
1.2 Space Applications Services
Space Applications Services is an independent Belgian space technology com-
pany, founded in 1987, whose aim is to develop innovative systems, solutions
and products for the aerospace markets as well as related industries. In addi-
tion to developing mission control systems, the company also installs, sets up,
operates and manages these systems.
Space Applications Services has operations teams at B.USOC and Erasmus
USOC. Operations have been ongoing continuously (mainly 24/7) since the
launch of the Columbus payload in February 2008. Missions and experiments
include Frank De Winne’s OdISSea mission, BOP, PromISS-4, SOLAR, PCDF,
LES-2, EPO-3, EuTEF, EDR, etc.
1.3 SOLAR payload
SOLAR (see Fig. 1) is an integrated platform accommodating three instruments
complementing each other to allow measurements of the solar irradiance through-
out virtually the whole electromagnetic spectrum. SOLAR is also one of the first
external payloads of the ISS.
Fig. 1. SOLAR mounted outside ISS (Source by ESA)
SOLAR was launched together with the European Columbus laboratory in
February 2008 and has been operating since that moment. Since the beginning,
B.USOC supports the SOLAR operations on a 24/7 basis.
The SOLAR instruments are mounted on a Coarse Pointing Device (CPD)
and make use of the CPD Common Control and Power Distribution Unit (CU) to
get power, to collect, packet and dispatch to ground the instruments generated
telemetry data and to receive the ground issued telecommands, ISS data and
timing synchronization. The CPD accommodates the instruments and provides
tracking capability thanks to a two-axis rotating platform and a Sun sensor. The
first axis is used to compensate the ISS orbital motion (de-rotation function),
while the second axis is used to correct the orbital plane drift and seasonal
Sun apparent motion (indexation function). The selected reference position for
SOLAR allows the following useful pointing ranges for CPD:
– around Y axis: ±40◦ for de-rotation from sunrise to sunset
– around X axis: ±24◦ for elevation toward outboard and inboard
Three instruments are deployed on the payload:
SOVIM (Solar Variable and Irradiance Monitor) measures irradiance in the
near-ultraviolet, visible and thermal regions of the spectrum (200 nanometers
- 100 micrometers).
SOLSPEC (SOLar SPECtral Irradiance Measurements) covers the 180 nanome-
ter - 3000 nanometer range with high spectral resolution.
SOLACES (SOLar Auto-Calibrating Extreme UV/UV Spectrometers) mea-
sures the EUV/UV spectral regime (17 nanometers - 220 nanometers) with
moderate spectral resolution.
The primary objective of the SOLAR mission on Columbus[1] is the quasi-
continuous measurement of the solar irradiance variability with highest possible
accuracy. For this reason the total spectral range is recorded simultaneously
by the three sets of instruments: SOVIM , SOLSPEC and SOLACES. SOLAR
operates on Columbus since February 2008. As of today, the SOLACES and SOL-
SPEC instruments are still achieving their scientific objective. SOVIM stopped
operating in October 2008 following an electrical malfunction. The 2008-2010
period was marked by an exceptional minimum of the solar spectrum [2] making
the SOLAR data the best available reference for solar intensity at the low solar
activity.
These data have both scientific and societal importance as the mechanisms
of the solar variations are far from being completely understood and as the Sun
is the main energy input to the climate system. A historical cold climate period
in the late seventeenth century has been simultaneous with a low solar activity
known as the Maunder minimum. This importance justifies thus any mean used
to study the health of the monitoring instruments and the quality of their data.
2 CUBIST Space data pack
The data used in CUBIST is derived from the housekeeping telemetry stream of
SOLAR. Next to the science data, housekeeping telemetry is the biggest in size,
amounting to many tens of gigabytes per year [3].
2.1 Overview of the Space data pack
SOLAR has been operational for more than three years, already, sending one
telemetry packet every second or so. Over a year, this represents approximately
3 · 107 packets. Each telemetry packet contains 343 parameters. 44 parameters
do not change at all or very rarely. Among the others, 135 have binary readings,
such as ON and OFF. Others have readings that span between 3 and 2 · 106
distinct values.
The data released to CUBIST consortium partners covers 30 days between
September 26, 2008 and October 25, 2008.4 This period has been selected because
a major event occurred on the 25th of October, at 04.28 AM. The DC/DC
converter powering SOVIM, one of the three instruments used by SOLAR, broke
down.
As CUBIST unrolls, additional data sets may be considered for conceptual
analysis in the project.
4
All times are given in GMT.
2.2 Overview of parameters
In order to properly monitor the health of SOLAR payload, the B.USOC op-
erators have access to a part of the SOLAR telemetry, the housekeeping data.
This telemetry is organized into packets that are sent by the payload to the
control centre. It contains readings and variables, such as temperatures, voltage
and current readings, operational states and reports from all different aspects
of the payload. We provide below an overview of the different parameters sent
downstream in the housekeeping telemetry.
Temperatures Although the SOLAR thermal control keeps the platform and
the instruments within their operational boundaries, many temperature sensors
allow the operators to closely monitor the temperatures. These temperature
readings are of the type float and are available for the Control Unit, the Power
Boards (PB1 and the slave boards PB2 and PB3), the motors, the three instru-
ments and the Sun Sensor. The temperature limits are defined in the mission
database and, although thermal control should insure these will not be crossed,
they will be flagged when the limit is near to be reached. Besides these hard
limits which could damage the hardware, soft operational limits are also defined
for the scientific measurements. For example, the SOLACES instrument can
only perform science measurements within the temperature range of 17 − 20◦ C.
These limits are currently not set within the mission database, but are common
knowledge of the operator.
Power supply Housekeeping of the different power boards of SOLAR is also
available. The main power board (PB1) powers the CU and the slave boards
(PB2) and (PB3). The later power the motors and thus allow the tracking of the
platform and the instruments. For each of the boards, the status of the board
and its outlets, temperatures, DC/DC converters, voltages and current are avail-
able. This housekeeping data is closely checked during power-on activities and
continuously monitored during operations. The status parameters are defined as
strings (ON/OFF) and readings are of the float type. For some, an operating
range is defined.
Instrument housekeeping For each of the instruments, a set of housekeeping
data and their range with respect to the operations, has been defined by the
scientists. Besides those, the SOLAR CU also provides the status (ON/OFF) of
the instruments, temperature readings and communication status (OK,NOK) in
the telemetry. Additionally, for the Sun Sensor, the sun presence reading is also
included in the downstream data.
Pointing Device telemetry To support the actual SOLAR operations, and to
execute science measurements, an additional set of parameters is made available
to the operator. These parameters are related to the status of the platform, the
movements and the sun observation.
Based on ancillary data of the ISS, containing the station’s attitude, SOLAR
software calculates the start time of the sun observation, the duration, the in-
dexation and de-rotation angles for both axes, next midnight and noon, and the
observation counter. These integer parameters will then trigger the actual Sun
tracking of the platform when they are within the platform mechanical and struc-
tural range. Supporting the actual movement, the status of the platform such
as the Zero_Proc_Flag and the On_Target_flag indicate whether the pointing
device is calibrated and motor controlled, allowing proper Sun tracking.
Another important parameter is the SOLARMode. This string parameter indi-
cates whether the operator can define software settings (SCM mode) or update
the Software (SMM Mode), whether SOLAR can perform Sun Tracking (PM
Mode and submodes) or in case of an anomalous situation (SBM).
System variables SOLAR allows the operators to change some system vari-
ables and to declare them to the housekeeping in the so-called User Selected
Data area (USD). A total of 12 USD are available and each have a specified type
(integer, float, string). For the on-going operations, around 6 are used.
2.3 Differences from the original telemetry
Several steps [4] have been taken to reduce the size of the data set, in order to
make it easier to run FCA analysis on it:
– The period from the start of September 26, 2008 to midnight of October 25,
2008 has been extracted.
– A list of 208 parameters that are relevant for the operations has been estab-
lished. Other parameters have been filtered out.
– Nominal limits for parameters of type float have been adjusted by an opera-
tor to reflect realistic operational limits. All the float parameters have been
replaced by the textual labels NOMINAL, WARNING and DANGER, signifying that
the value is within operational limits, in the warning zone or is dangerously
abnormal.
– In order to reduce the cardinality of the data, readings of the moving axes
of the SOLAR payload have been averaged to 1◦ .
3 Further work
Today, in space control centre operations, much time is spent on transferring,
discussing, reviewing, and copying information between the operations partners.
Also the search and replay of operational data in order to be able to correctly
analyse the on-board situation is time consuming. This problem is especially
emphasised by the fact that many of the data stores are distributed and have
different user interfaces. The current operations show an increasing need for a
system providing the operator with adequate and fast information and analytics,
especially during anomalous situations. A system federating and managing the
broad amount and variety of available operations data, from Console logs to
House Keeping Path Telemetry where the operator would benefit the accessibility
to other related data in a transparent way. In case of an anomalous situation the
operator would have the possibility to immediately identify the possible failure
and to propose a way forward or work around, mitigating the science loss.
This section lists use case scenarios that are studies by CUBIST. Each
anomaly discussed below has its roots in the real operations. Depending on
the anomaly, a particular research strategy for CUBIST has been identified.
3.1 Telecommand analysis
SOLAR Science measurements are often performed through so-called command
schedules. A command schedule is a dedicated pre-programmed time-ordered
sequence of time tagged commands to be sent to the SOLAR instruments or the
CPD system On various occasions the B.USOC operator encountered a unex-
pected event during a run of a command schedule, from a sudden stop of the
script to the anomalous behaviour of the instruments. The analysis of the fail-
ure that follows is often restricted to that particular command schedule. The
CUBIST project could allow the operator to trace back the command itself in-
side the script that was sent and presumably generated the error and even back
track in the archive whether this particular command has been sent before, in-
dependent of the command schedule. With a user-friendly form, the operator
can check previous events and the reaction of the payload on it. This will benefit
the failure analysis in finding the actual cause of the anomaly, rather than the
environmental circumstances.
3.2 Telemetry mining
It may happen that the payload manifests an unforeseen thermal situation. That
is, a situation when the temperature of one or several sensors changes in an un-
usual way, albeit within the nominal limits. The operator is then charged with
finding similar occurrences inside the telemetry archive and with the determina-
tion of typical thermal and power profiles. Currently, the search in the telemetry
archive is usually done as a real-time replay of the telemetry archive. A more
intelligent solution that employs the results of the concept analysis may be im-
plemented, so that an automated agent finds occurrences of similar situations
by taking into account the telemetry parameters.
3.3 Parameter correlation
Since the start of the SOLAR operations SOLAR experienced on a regular basis
a reset of the internal Analogue Interface Board, causing the platform to go in
the anomalous Stand-by Mode and halting all on-going science measurements.
Resuming science can only be done by power cycling the payload. The occur-
rence of the anomaly seems rather random, but due to the amount of SOLAR
parameters this has not been confirmed. The CUBIST project will correlate the
occurrences of these failures with other parameters and might reveal a pattern
with SOLAR parameters or even with factors outside the payload. This would
allow the operator to act proactively and avoid a hard stop of the on-going sci-
ence measurements. In the case of operational instruments, frequently a recovery
procedure may not be practiced after the commissioning period and presents a
risk if it is improvised. So an orderly power cycle, fully documented, will always
present less risk than a general shutdown proceeding from an undetermined
state.
3.4 Forensics analysis
A few months after the launch of the SOLAR payload, SOVIM, one of its three
scientific instruments died because of an electric failure in a DC/DC converter. It
is still unknown whether this failure could have been predicted given the previous
telemetry stream. The objective of the CUBIST system would be to find patterns
of failure in the flow of telemetry parameters with the aim to transpose these to
the prediction of future failures.
4 Legal notice and disclaimer
Parts of this work have been carried out in CUBIST (Combining and Uniting
Business Intelligence with Semantic Technologies) project. CUBIST is funded by
the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme of ICT, topic
4.3: Intelligent Information Management.
The information in this document is provided “as is”, and no guarantee or
warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The above
referenced consortium members shall have no liability for damages of any kind
including without limitation direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages
that may result from the use of these materials subject to any liability which is
mandatory due to applicable law.
References
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B.: The Absolute Solar Irradiance Spectrum at Solar Minimum Activity Measured
by the SOLSPEC and SOL-ACES Spectrometers from 17 to 3000 nm Placed on
Board the International Space Station, Bremen COSPAR presentation, 2010, to be
published in Advances in Space Research
3. Mikhailian, A., Wislez, J.-M., Fontaine, B., Klai, S.: CUBIST Requirements Docu-
ment (Space Control Centres) Issue 2.9.1, 8 April 2011
4. Ganter, B., Meschke, C.: A Formal Concept Analysis Approach to Rough Data
Tables, In Proceedings of 12th International Conference, RSFDGrC 2009 Delhi,
India, December 2009, 117–126