Dynamic Display of Electronic Crew Procedures for Space Station

Crew procedures for the Space Shuttle are carried on the Orbiter in loose-leaf books. For the Space Station, NASA intends to store similar procedures primarily in electronic media, to be viewed and executed from onboard display work stations. The formats of today's space operations procedures have evolved to suit the characteristics of the paper medium. The author claims that displaying electronic images of procedures laid out on paper would guarantee an awkward interface for the user, and would ignore the inherent power of the computer-driven display. An alternative "dynamic" user interface is proposed in which procedure displays are formatted automatically in real time, and are optimized "on-the-fly" according to the connectivity of the procedure steps and the changing needs of the user. This approach will also benefit procedure authors, who will no longer need to create layouts. Other features include 1) responsive browsing and search capabilities, 2) procedure logic and tracking aids, and 3) provision for static, dynamic, and interactive displays of procedure support information. It is claimed that this dynamic interface will make procedure execution faster, more accurate, and more acceptable to Space Station crew members than displays replicating paper images. Paper Procedures for Space Shuttle W HILE the Shuttle Orbiter is on the pad awaiting launch, a NASA official enters it and places critical paper documents in dedicated stowage areas. Collectively called the Flight Data File (FDF) for historic reasons, these loose-leaf books weigh about 95 Ib for most flights and have exceeded 150 Ib for the longer Spacelab flights. The FDF comprises a minimum of 25 titles, with some books duplicated in different onboard locations. Copies are also provided in Mission Control Center. The preponderance of information in the FDF books is operations procedures. These procedures govern the management of the vehicle and onboard systems, and the pursuit of all mission objectives. Standards for writing procedures and for management and control of the entire Flight Data File are well documented.1 FDF modifications are approved by the Crew Procedures Control Board, a governing body that includes an astronaut representative. The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) organization responsible for managing and producing the FDF books also will be responsible for control of its Space Station equivalent. They have sponsored MITRE in the development of Space Station FDF requirements,2 and are sponsors of the present work. Electronic Procedures for Space Station The Space Station analog to the FDF, including all crew procedures, is intended by NASA generally to be stored in, and used from, electronic media instead of paper. This change is consistent with both the thrust of changing technology and the mandate from the U.S. Congress for emphasis on automation and robotics in the Space Station program.3 Crew procedures are operations procedures whose execution is managed by a human user, whether or not computer assisted. Excluded are procedures embedded in onboard core systems and procedures to be generated by software in real time, e.g., for control of core systems. With some exceptions (including emergency safety-critical operations), NASA in