Publisher's note: the following is one of the three related articles on the NASA data acquisition system and related efforts. Please visit Stennis News – Nasa To access the articles that accompany it.
The NASA Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has published its very first open-source software, a peer exam tool to facilitate the more efficient and collaborative creation of systems applications, such as those used in its front-line government and its commercial propulsion propulsion test work.
“Everyone knows NASA Stennis as the first rocket propulsion site for rockets in the country,” said David Carver, acting chief of the test of testing and information management. “We are also engaged in a range of key technological efforts. This last open-source tool is an exciting example of this work, and we plan a positive and generalized impact. ”
The new peer examination tool of the NASA data acquisition system has been developed over several years, built on lessons learned as site developers and engineers have created software tools to be used in the center of the center. It is designed to simplify and amplify the collaborative revision process, allowing developers to create better and more efficient software applications.
The new peer examination tool of NASA Stennis has been developed using the same software processes that built the NDA. While engineers and central developers have created software to monitor and analyze data from rocket propulsion tests, they collaborated with peers to optimize system efficiency. What started as an internal examination process has finally evolved into the open source code now available for the public.
“We have refined it (the peer review tool) over a period of time, and it has improved our process considerably,” said Brandon Carver (no relationship), a software engineer from NASA Stennis. “In the first efforts, we made criticisms manually, now our tool manages some of these stages for us. This allowed us to focus more on examining the key elements of our software. ”
Developers can improve time, efficiency and solve problems earlier when making software code journals. The result is a better and more productive product.
The NASA Stennis tool is part of the largest NASA data acquisition system created at the center to help monitor and collect propulsion test data. It is designed to operate with National Instruments LabVIEW, which is widely used by systems engineers and scientists to design applications. LabView is unique in the use of graphics (visible icon objects) instead of a textual programming language to create applications. The graphic approach makes codes more difficult to compare codes in an examination process.
“You cannot compare your code in the same way as you do with a language based on the text,” said Brandon Carver. “Our tool offers a process that allows developers to examine these programs developed by LabView and to focus more time on revising real code updates.”
LabView has a comparison tool, but NASA Stennis engineers identified the means to improve the process, including by automating certain steps. The NASA Stennis tool facilitates the publication of comments, images and other elements of an online peer review to make discussions more effective.
The result is that the developers of NASA Stennis hope are a more rationalized and effective process. “It really optimizes your time and provides everything you need to focus right in front of you,” said Brandon Carver. “This is why we wanted open source because when we were building the tool, we saw nothing like it, or that we had not seen anything who had features that we have.”
“By providing it with the open source community, they can take our tool, find better ways to manage things and refine them,” said Brandon Carver. “We want to allow these groups to modify it and become a community around the tool, so it is continuously improved. In the end, an examination by peers is to create stronger software or a stronger product and this is also true for this peer examination tool.
“It's a good feeling of being part of the process and seeing something created at the center now in the agency's larger world,” said Brandon Carver. “It's quite exciting to be able to say that you can get this software that we have written and used,” he admitted. “NASA engineers did this. I hope we will continue to do so. ”
To access the peer review tool developed at NASA Stennis, visit Nasa Ghithub.
