NOTE: End date change to 8/26/2018 per E. Connell/JSC HRP (Ed., 3/22/18)

NOTE: Element change to Human Factors & Behavioral Performance; previously Space Human Factors & Habitability (Ed., 1/18/17)

The overall goal of this project is to develop the concept of operations, high-level architecture, and requirements (crew/hardware/software) for ISS transition of a wearable kinematic system to be used for quantifying 3-D space utilization in the microgravity environment. This will be accomplished by demonstrating the vision-aided inertial navigation algorithms for net habitable volume (NHV) metrics on a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf)/existing device in a ground based analog environment.

The specific aims of this project are: (1) Definition of ISS Integration, Flight Definition, and NHV Model Requirements. This includes the specification of the technical, performance, functional, and operational requirements for the wearable kinematic system associated with ISS integration and analytics for NHV metrics calculation, as well as Flight Experiment Definition planning.

(2) Wearable Kinematic System Design, Development & Verification. A system architecture trade study and detailed design for the wearable module development, testing to verify the performance in ground-based analog scenarios, and the requirements for transitioning the equipment for ISS spaceflight operations will be completed.

(3) Quantification of ISS NHV Metrics. This aim develops the infrastructure and algorithms for calculating the relevant NHV metrics from the wearable module navigation state vector, including automating the process and providing intuitive visualizations of the data.

This research will address the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Program Requirements Document (PRD) Risk of Incompatible Vehicle/Habitat Design. The development and implementation of the proposed wearable kinematic system will provide a capability for the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) Gap SHFE-HAB-09 to collect data for the design and assessment of vehicles/habitats. Subsequently, this data will then address Gaps SHFE-HAB-03/05/07 for understanding how astronauts interact with the vehicle/habitat and informing guidelines for determining net habitable volume.

With the goal of providing ISS astronauts with navigation state vector information that can both be visualized by engineers and used in net habitable volume (NHV) modeling and analysis efforts, we have drafted a CONOPS for the use of the system. This CONOPS takes into account the required interactions by the astronauts as well as the required hardware and software functions to complete the required activities. This has resulted in the definition of key system and functional requirements that were used to guide the development of the prototype wearable kinematic system. Additionally, we worked with collaborators at Johnson Space Center (JSC) who support flight integration of technologies to understand the constraints of the ISS operational environment, as well as with our consultant (who is a former ISS crewmember) to ensure the design and operations will be accepted by the crew. Our team collaborated with the JSC Wearables Lab regarding integration with their wearable carbon dioxide (CO2) system to provide append a location estimate with each measurement.

The principal output of the wearable kinematic system is a time-stamped estimate of the astronaut’s navigation state vector (e.g., position and orientation) when the device is attached to their body. Through discussions with our NASA Space Human Factors and Habitability partners, we identified required performance metrics of the system (e.g., navigation accuracy) that will enable the definition and validation of ongoing net habitable volume modeling efforts. The specification of these performance metrics enabled the definition of a set of criteria to measure navigation performance against when testing the Draper-developed vision-inertial navigation system in the ground-based analog environments. Additionally, we used Draper’s optical motion tracking facility to validate the vision+inertial position and orientation estimate against a “ground truth” estimate. The vision+inertial estimate was extremely close to the “ground truth” estimate during the length of the testing.

Prior to the development of the prototype system, we used a self-contained set of trade study hardware that was previously developed for the U.S. Army, which simultaneously recorded time synchronized data from two cameras and three inertial measurement units (IMUs), was used during various waking routes within the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the International Space Station (ISS) mockup facility at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The data from a walking route within the ISS mockups and analyzed using Draper Laboratory’s Multi-State Constrained Kalman Filter (“Mischief”) for visual-inertial odometry can be seen on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8x4WeM6q8 . We subsequently re-analyzed that same data set using our next-generation algorithm, smoothing and mapping with inertial state estimation (SAMWISE) and were able to repeat the performance, and in many cases show that we had less final position error as a percentage of the estimated route distance. SAMWISE is the baseline algorithm going forward to enable online initialization and periodic accumulated drift correction using “loop closures.”

Under Draper Laboratory internal research and development funding, we extended the use of the wearable kinematic system to include the integration of a carbon dioxide sensor for time and location stamping of environmental monitoring data. This was demonstrated with success during NEEMO 23 where the Wearable Kinematic Systems (WKS) identified trends in increases in CO2 over time, as well as the identification of pockets of CO2 within the habitat where there is known to be reduced airflow. This is a key demonstration of the technology that has direct applicability to operations within the ISS. Lastly, we have been in discussions with the EVA (extravehicular activity) Management Office regarding the extension of the technology for tracking ISS EVA astronauts as well as during operations on the lunar surface.

NOTE: End date change to 8/26/2018 per E. Connell/JSC HRP (Ed., 3/22/18)

NOTE: Element change to Human Factors & Behavioral Performance; previously Space Human Factors & Habitability (Ed., 1/18/17)

The overall goal of this project is to develop the concept of operations, high-level architecture, and requirements (crew/hardware/software) for ISS transition of a wearable kinematic system to be used for quantifying 3-D space utilization in the microgravity environment. This will be accomplished by demonstrating the vision-aided inertial navigation algorithms for net habitable volume (NHV) metrics on a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf)/existing device in a ground based analog environment.

The specific aims of this project are:

(1) Definition of ISS Integration, Flight Definition, and NHV Model Requirements. This includes the specification of the technical, performance, functional, and operational requirements for the wearable kinematic system associated with ISS integration and analytics for NHV metrics calculation, as well as Flight Experiment Definition planning.

(2) Wearable Kinematic System Design, Development, & Verification. A system architecture trade study and detailed design for the wearable module development, testing to verify the performance in ground-based analog scenarios, and the requirements for transitioning the equipment for ISS spaceflight operations will be completed.

(3) Quantification of ISS NHV Metrics. This aim develops the infrastructure and algorithms for calculating the relevant NHV metrics from the wearable module navigation state vector, including automating the process and providing intuitive visualizations of the data.

This research will address the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Program Requirements Document (PRD) Risk of Incompatible Vehicle/Habitat Design. The development and implementation of the proposed wearable kinematic system will provide a capability for the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) Gap SHFE-HAB-09 to collect data for the design and assessment of vehicles/habitats. Subsequently, this data will then address Gaps SHFE-HAB-03/05/07 for understanding how astronauts interact with the vehicle/habitat and informing guidelines for determining net habitable volume.

With the goal of providing ISS astronaut navigation state vector information that can both be visualized by engineers and used in net habitable volume (NHV) modeling and analysis efforts, we have drafted a CONOPS for the use of the system. This CONOPS takes into account the required interactions by the astronauts as well as the required hardware and software functions to complete the required activities. This has subsequently resulted in the definition of key system and functional requirements that will be used to guide the development of an eventual wearable kinematic system. Additionally, we have worked with collaborators at Johnson Space Center (JSC) who support flight integration of technologies to understand the constraints of the ISS operational environment, as well as with our consultant (who is a former ISS crewmember) to ensure the design and operations will be accepted by the crew. Our team has been in collaboration with the JSC Wearables Lab to identify potential collaboration opportunities, such as integration with their wearable carbon dioxide (CO2) system to provide append a location estimate with each measurement.

The principal output of the wearable kinematic system is a time-stamped estimate of the astronaut’s navigation state vector (e.g., position and orientation) when the device is attached to their body. Through discussions with our NASA Space Human Factors and Habitability partners, we identified required performance metrics of the system (e.g., navigation accuracy) that will enable the definition and validation of ongoing net habitable volume modeling efforts. The specification of these performance metrics enabled the definition of a set of criteria to measure navigation performance against when testing a Draper-developed vision-inertial navigation system in the ground-based analog environments.

In our first year, we used a self-contained set of trade study hardware that was previously developed for the U.S. Army, which simultaneously recorded time synchronized data from two cameras and three inertial measurement units (IMUs), was used during various waking routes within the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the International Space Station (ISS) mockup facility at the NASA Johnson Space Center. The data from a walking route within the ISS mockups and analyzed using Draper Laboratory’s Multi-State Constrained Kalman Filter (“Mischief”) for visual-inertial odometry can be seen on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8x4WeM6q8 . In project year 2, we analyzed that same data set using our next-generation algorithm, smoothing and mapping with inertial state estimation (SAMWISE) and were able to repeat the performance, and in many cases show that we had less final position error as a percentage of the estimated route distance. SAMWISE will be the baseline algorithm going forward to enable online initialization and periodic accumulated drift correction using “loop closures.”

Project plans for the upcoming year of the program are to continue the development of the concept of operations and specification of the requirements of the system to enable both the science objectives of modeling and analysis of net habitable volume (NHV) as well as ensuring crew acceptance and use of the device during ISS expeditions. We are continuing our development of the SAMWISE vision-aided inertial navigation estimate algorithms to increase performance during extended duration routes by correcting for navigation estimate drift, as well as automatically initializing the position/orientation estimate to increase ease of use. We are also planning to work more closely with the JSC Wearables Laboratory to develop a roadmap for integration and technology demonstration activities.

The overall goal of this project is to develop the concept of operations, high-level architecture, and requirements (crew/hardware/software) for ISS transition of a wearable kinematic system to be used for quantifying 3-D space utilization in the microgravity environment. This will be accomplished by demonstrating the vision-aided inertial navigation algorithms for net habitable volume (NHV) metrics on a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf )/existing device in a ground based analog environment.

The specific aims of this project are:

(1) Definition of ISS Integration, Flight Definition, and NHV Model Requirements. This includes the specification of the technical, performance, functional, and operational requirements for the wearable kinematic system associated with ISS integration and analytics for NHV metrics calculation, as well as Flight Experiment Definition planning.

(2) Wearable Kinematic System Design, Development, & Verification. A system architecture trade study and detailed design for the wearable module development, testing to verify the performance in ground-based analog scenarios, and the requirements for transitioning the equipment for ISS spaceflight operations will be completed.

(3) Quantification of ISS NHV Metrics. This aim develops the infrastructure and algorithms for calculating the relevant NHV metrics from the wearable module navigation state vector, including automating the process and providing intuitive visualizations of the data.

This research will address the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Program Requirements Document (PRD) Risk of Incompatible Vehicle/Habitat Design. The development and implementation of the proposed wearable kinematic system will provide a capability for the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) Gap SHFE-HAB-09 to collect data for the design and assessment of vehicles/habitats. Subsequently, this data will then address Gaps SHFE-HAB-03/05/07 for understanding how astronauts interact with the vehicle/habitat and informing guidelines for determining net habitable volume.

With the goal of providing ISS astronaut navigation state vector information that can both be visualized by engineers and used in net habitable volume (NHV) modeling and analysis efforts, we have drafted a concept of operations (CONOPS) for the use of the system. This CONOPS takes into account the required interactions by the astronauts as well as the required hardware and software functions to complete the required activities. This has subsequently resulted in the definition of key system and functional requirements that will be used to guide the development of an eventual wearable kinematic system. Additionally, we have worked with collaborators at Johnson Space Center who support flight integration of technologies to understand the constraints of the ISS operational environment, as well as with our consultant (who is a former ISS crewmember) to ensure the design and operations will be accepted by the crew.

The principal output of the wearable kinematic system is a time-stamped estimate of the astronaut’s navigation state vector (e.g., position and orientation) when the device is attached to their body. Through discussions with our NASA Space Human Factors and Habitability partners, we identified required performance metrics of the system (e.g., navigation accuracy) that will enable the definition and validation of ongoing net habitable volume modeling efforts. The specification of these performance metrics enabled the definition of a set of criteria to measure navigation performance against when testing a Draper-developed vision-inertial navigation system in the ground-based analog environments.

A self-contained set of trade study hardware that was previously developed for the U.S. Army, which simultaneously recorded time synchronized data from two cameras and three inertial measurement units (IMUs), was used during various waking routes within the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) and the International Space Station (ISS) mockup facility at the NASA Johnson Space Center. Data was collected from 14 ISS mockup routes where the system traversed more than 1,943 m total (1.2 miles) over the course of more than 60 minutes. The average ISS mockup walking route was 139 m (455 ft) and took 4.3 minutes. Similarly, 19 HERA mockup routes were traversed totaling more than 769 m traversed (0.48 miles) over the course of more than 40 minutes. The average HERA walking route was 40 m (133 ft) and took 2.1 minutes. The analysis of the data using the six camera and IMU combinations enables a trade study of hardware configuration (e.g., camera and IMU fidelity pairs) and visual-inertial odometry algorithms. The data from a walking route within the ISS mockups using data from the uEye imager and ADIS 16448 IMU and analyzed using Draper Laboratory’s Multi-State Constrained Kalman Filter (“Mischief”) for visual-inertial odometry can be seen on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb8x4WeM6q8 . The initial position and orientation were manually specified, and the subsequent navigation state estimates during the 5 minute, 550 foot traverse were made via visual-inertial odometry. The total error was estimated at approximately 2.5 feet (0.4%). We typically found final position errors of less than 1% of the estimated route distance across all of the routes analyzed. Future work will include the analysis of alternate routes within the facilities, and collection of data from tasking that is representative of a “day-in-the-life” of an ISS astronaut.

Project plans for the subsequent year of the program are to continue the development of the concept of operations and specification of the requirements of the system to enable both the science objectives of modeling and analysis of net habitable volume (NHV) as well as ensuring crew acceptance and use of the device during ISS expeditions. We are continuing our development of the vision-aided inertial navigation estimate algorithms to increase performance during extended duration routes by correcting for navigation estimate drift, as well as automatically initializing the position/orientation estimate to increase ease of use. Lastly, we have identified several additional routes and motions that we would like to collect in the ISS mockup facility to test our system and algorithms to give us greater confidence in the performance during a representative ISS mission.

The overall goal of this project is to develop the concept of operations, high-level architecture, and requirements (crew/hardware/software) for International Space Station (ISS) transition of a wearable kinematic system to be used for quantifying 3-D space utilization in the microgravity environment. This shall be accomplished by demonstrating the vision+ inertial navigation algorithms for net habitable volume (NHV) metrics on a COTS (commercial off-the-shelf )/existing device in a ground based analog environment.

The specific aims of this study are:

(1) Definition of ISS Integration, Flight Definition, and NHV Model Requirements. This will include the specification of the technical, performance, functional, and operational requirements for the wearable kinematic system associated with ISS integration and analytics for NHV metrics calculation, as well as Flight Experiment Definition planning.

(2) Wearable Kinematic System Design, Development & Verification. A system architecture trade study and detailed design for the wearable module development, testing to verify the performance in ground-based analog scenarios, and the requirements for transitioning the equipment for ISS spaceflight operations will be completed.

(3) Quantification of ISS NHV Metrics. This aim develops the infrastructure and algorithms for calculating the relevant NHV metrics from the wearable module navigation state vector, including automating the process and providing intuitive visualizations of the data.

This research will address the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Program Requirements Document (PRD) Risk of Incompatible Vehicle/Habitat Design. The development and implementation of the proposed wearable kinematic system will provide a capability for the Integrated Research Plan (IRP) Gap SHFE-HAB-09 to collect data for the design and assessment of vehicles/habitats. Subsequently, this data will then address Gaps SHFE-HAB-03/05/07 for understanding how astronauts interact with the vehicle/habitat and informing guidelines for determining net habitable volume.