Wind River, VxWorks,

and Robots

Michael Deliman
Senior Engineering Specialist

1 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Wind River Systems

• Michael Deliman III

– Sr. Engineering Specialist
– Wind River Systems: 1 April 1991
– VxWorks user since 1989 (VxWorks 4.2)
– Involved with several robotic missions for NASA
• Primary O.S. Engineer, VxWorks for Rad6000
– Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rovers, SIRTF
– VxWorks 5.2 through 5.5.1
• Tech Support
– Nearly all other VxWorks enabled deep-space probes
– MPF through MER and beyond

2 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Wind River, VxWorks, and Robots

Robots built with Wind River Technology

• Land-based robots
– Research, Commercial: Dante, Asimo, and Zeus
• Space-based robots
– NASA: Interplanetary and Deep Space probes
• Sea-based robots
– Tiburon ROV
• Air-based robots (UAVs, UCAVs)
– Predator, Global Hawk unmanned aircraft
• Many more in all classes of robotic devices

3 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Dante II: Volcanologist

• Carnegie Mellon University

Robotics Institute, 1994
• CMU Field Robotics Center
• Autonomous walking robot
• Tethered (to climb out)
• Technology demonstrated:
ability to operate in extreme
environments
• Mt. Spurr, Aleutian Range, AK
• Source: www.rmi.cmu.edu

4 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Mars Pathfinder
• NASA JPL 1996 – 1997
• VxWorks RTOS in Lander
• Controlled all aspects of mission
• Mission extended 30 to 90 days
• New technologies
• “Drop-bounce-roll” landing
• First COTS HW/SW planetary
probe design
• VxWorks
• Ported to Rad6000 COTS
• Ported in one year
• 3-man team at Wind
• Quadrennial Presidential Award
Excellence in Engineering
5 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 New Millennium: Deep Space One
DS1 approaches C. Borrelly
6 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
• NASA JPL 1998 – 2001
• Mission extended Sept 1999
• Fly-bys
• Asteroid Braille
• Comet Borrelly
• Best images of comet's nucleus
• Until Deep Impact, Stardust
• Technologies demonstrated:
• Ion propulsion system
• Autonomous navigation
• Autonomous flight software
• Rad6000 architecture
 Mighty SAT II Experimental Platform

• USAF/Spectrum/Orbital
• 1998 – present
• Ion propulsion
• Earth orbit
• Autonomous navigation
• Flexible deployment
• Hyperspectral imaging
• Rad6000 architecture

7 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Mars Odyssey 2001 Orbiter
• NASA JPL / Lockheed
• Orbit insertion Oct 2001
• Mission extended 25 Aug 2004
• Mapping Mars’s minerals
• Data relay for Mars Exploration Rovers
• Detect near-surface water (ice)
• Quantify radiation exposure in
preparation for future human missions
• Recovered from strongest solar flares
ever recorded, Nov 2003
• Recovery: reboot VxWorks OS via
power-cycle
• Rad6000 architecture

8 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Genesis Solar Wind Sample Return

• NASA JPL
• Launched: Aug2001
• Returned: Oct 2004
• Sample solar wind
• Return high-purity samples
• Autonomous Flight Software
• Though mechanical systems
failed, sample return mission
was still successful
• Picture-perfect re-entry
• Sample findings solved a
lunar soil mystery
• Rad6000 architecture
9 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 SeaWinds QuickSCAT Scatterometer

• NASA JPL 1999 – present

• Replaced NSCAT
• SeaWinds on QuickSCAT provides
early-warning forecasting of global
environmental phenomena such as
El Nino
• Built in “record-breaking” 11 mos.
• Makes approximately 400,000
measurements, covering 90% of
Earth's surface, in one day
• Rad6000 architecture

10 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Mars Exploration Rovers (Mars 2004)

• NASA / JPL / Cornell

• Launched: Jul / Aug 2003
• Landed: Jan 2004
• Nominal 90-day mission
• Both rovers: 2 Martian years on Mars
• Spirit: day 1374, 14 Nov 2007
• Mission extended indefinitely
• “Sol 18” problem remotely debugged
(over 35 million miles away)
• Mission: to collect evidence of water
• Mission SUCCESSFUL!
• Both rovers survived 2007 Dust Storm
• Rad6000 architecture

11 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

Stardust: Comet and Interstellar Dust Return

• NASA / JPL / Lockheed

• Launched: 7 Dec 1999
• Fly-by completed: 2 Jan 2004
• Returned: Jan 2006
• Mission: return samples of
interstellar and comet dust to
Earth
• Mission SUCCESSFUL
• Autonomous navigation:
Stardust approaches C. Wild II Stellar and Inertial modes
Artist’s concept
• Return capsule was fastest
man-made object – ever!
• Rad6000 architecture
12 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 Stardust Re-Tasked: NExT

• Mission: New Exploration of

Comet Temple-1
• New Mission! Re-visit comet
Temple 1, 14 Feb 2011
• Recommissioned: 3 Jul 2007
• Completed primary mission:
Jan 2006
• Temple-1 was damaged by
Deep Impact
• This is our first look inside
since the impact
• Gravitational sling-shot
maneuver SUCCESSFUL (10
Oct 07)
13 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 Spitzer Space Telescope (SIRTF)

• NASA / JPL / Caltech /

Lockheed Martin
• IR imaging the universe
• Complementary to Hubble,
Chandra, Compton
Telescopes
• Launched: Dec 2003
• Just after Opportunity
• Performing “flawlessly”
• VxWorks controls attitude,
imaging control
• Rad6000 architecture

14 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 MBARI’s Tiburon ROV

• Monterey Bay Aquarium

Research Institute’s Remote
Operated Vehicle
• Can dive to 4000 meters
• First dive, 1997
• Variable buoyancy system,
electrical thrusters enable
silent motion and ability to
“hover” in place
• Has discovered dozens of
new species of squid,
Tiburon Remote Operated Vehicle
jellyfish, cyanobacter,
benthic worms
15 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 Humanoid Robot: ASIMO
• Honda Humanoid Robots Project
• 1997 Prototype P3 debut: 2000
ASIMO
• 90 kg reduction in weight
• 0.4 m height reduction
• “Advanced Step in Innovative
MObility”
• “i-WALK” intelligent, real-time,
flexible-walking
• RealTime sensor monitoring enables:
• Human-like walking
• Increased stability
• Ability to react to sudden
movements
• Ability to anticipate balance shift
necessary to navigate corners,
16 etc. © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 ZEUS: Telerobotic Surgeon

• Intuitive Surgical Device

• 1999: world's first robotic-
assisted beating-heart bypass
surgery
• March 2003 – world's first
telerobotics assisted surgery
from 400KM over VPN
• Voice control capabilities
• Ability to filter out hand tremor
enabling precise micro-surgical
tasks
• Distributed world-wide

17 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 NASA Robotic Astronaut: Robonaut

• NASA / DARPA EVA robot

• Telepresence control system
• Sensors include thermal,
position, tactile, force, and
torque instrumentation
• More than 150 sensors per arm
• Real-time CPU with
miniaturized data acquisition
and power management
• Uses existing tools to perform
tasks
• No specialized tooling req’ts

18 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Remote Operated Aircraft: UAVs

• Predator by General Atomics • Global Hawk by Northrop Grumman

• Contract awarded: Jan 1994 • First flight: Edwards AFB, 28 Feb
• First flight: July 1994 1998
• Intelligence, Surveillance, and • World records for altitude,
Reconnaissance (ISR) endurance, and distance for jet-
powered unmanned aircraft
19 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
FIDO: Field Integrated Design & Operations

• NASA / JPL – future rovers

prototype
• Advanced technology rover
• Supports both current and future
robotic missions
• Simulates mission operation
scenarios
• Validates rover technologies
• 2001 NASA Honor Award
Group Achievement Award
• 266 MHz Intel Pentium
architecture

20 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 MESSENGER: MErcury Surface, Space
ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

• Mission to Mercury
• Johns Hopkins Applied Physics
Laboratory
• Launched: 3 Aug 2004
• Earth fly-by: 2 Aug 2005
• Venus fly-by: 24 Oct 2006
• Orbit ETA: Mar 2011
– After traveling 4.9 billion
miles
• FIRST MERCURY FLY-BY:
14th JAN 2008!
• Rad6000 architecture
21 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 MRO: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

• JPL / NASA Mars Orbiter

• Launched: Aug 2005
• Arrival: Mar 2006
• Mission:
– Photograph Mars in detail
– Detect subterranean water
– Search for future mission landing
sites
– First interplanetary
“communications bridge”
– Guidance beacon
MRO over Martian poles • Aerobraking complete Nov 2006
Artist’s concept
• Survived solar flare 7 Sep 2005
(4th largest / 15 years)
• RAD750 architecture
22 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 MRO: MSL Landing Site Candidate

Artist’s concept:
MRO over Martian poles

23 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Deep Impact: First Look Inside a Comet

• NASA / JPL comet impact

• Launched: 13 Jan 2005
• Impacted comet Tempel 1: 4 Jul
2005 0600 UT
• Impact mission: SUCCESSFUL!
• Studied the pristine interior of a
comet by excavating a crater
more than 25m deep and 100m in
diameter
• Measure the composition of the
interior of the crater and its ejecta
• Rad750 architecture

24 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Deep Impact Re-Tasked: EPOXI
Two New Missions for DI-EPOXI
• DIXI – Deep Impact eXtended
Investigation, and
• EPOCh – Extrasolar Planet
Observation & Characterization
• DIXI will fly-by Comet Boethin (5
Dec 2008), replacing results of
CONTOUR
• EPOCh will use the DI craft to
monitor known giant planets
around nearby stars, to record
the crossings, and to record the
Earth in near-infrared
• EPOCh will be done on the way
to DIXI
25 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.
 Mars Polar Lander: Phoenix

• JPL / NASA Lander

• Launched: 4 Aug 2007
• Arrival: 25 May 2008
• First TCM: 10 Aug 2007 –
successful.
• Designed to study the history
of water and habitability
potential in the Martian
arctic's ice-rich soil
• Combines science goals and
instruments from two previous
intended Mars Polar Lander
missions
• Rad6000 architecture

26 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 MSL: Mars Science Laboratory

• JPL / NASA Mars Rover

• Planned launch: Dec 2009
• Arrival: Oct 2010
• Advanced analysis of rock
and soil samples, including
GCG, mass spectrometry
• First to use precision landing
techniques
– Reduces size of landing
zones to 1/3 or less of
previous
• Rad750 architecture

27 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.

 Our Next Rising Star?

28 © 2007 Wind River Systems, Inc.