Concept of operations

About: Concept of operations is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 964 publications have been published within this topic receiving 6845 citations. The topic is also known as: CONOPS.

Medical System Concept of Operations for Mars Exploration Missions

Abstract: Future exploration missions will be the first time humanity travels beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) since the Apollo program, taking us to cis-lunar space, interplanetary space, and Mars. These long-duration missions will cover vast distances, severely constraining opportunities for emergency evacuation to Earth and cargo resupply opportunities. Communication delays and blackouts between the crew and Mission Control will eliminate reliable, real-time telemedicine consultations. As a result, compared to current LEO operations onboard the International Space Station, exploration mission medical care requires an integrated medical system that provides additional in-situ capabilities and a significant increase in crew autonomy. The Medical System Concept of Operations for Mars Exploration Missions illustrates how a future NASA Mars program could ensure appropriate medical care for the crew of this highly autonomous mission. This Concept of Operations document, when complete, will document all mission phases through a series of mission use case scenarios that illustrate required medical capabilities, enabling the NASA Human Research Program (HRP) Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Element to plan, design, and prototype an integrated medical system to support human exploration to Mars.

Visualization: Teaching the Art

Abstract: : Effectively applying operational art and battle command is a challenging task. Several factors associated with the operational level of war create an environment that is uncertain and complex. The expanding size, scope and depth of joint areas of operations place great demands on command and control systems. Future threats will use a wide variety of tactics and technologies to negate American military superiority. Political considerations directly influence operational level planning and execution. Joint operations involve a wide range of land, air, sea, informational, and space capabilities. Integrating these capabilities into a synchronized concept of operation is a complex undertaking. A large number of actors influence operational actions. These actors include nongovernmental organizations, coalition partners, international organizations, and the media. Planning and conducting operations in this environment requires commanders and staffs that are skilled in operational art. According to Joint Publication 1-02, operational art is the employment of military forces to attain strategic and/or operational objectives through the design, organization, integration, and conduct of strategies, campaigns, major operations, and battles. Operational art, as all forms of art, is an act of creation. The operational commander's vision is the source of creation that leads to the campaign plan. According to Field Manual 3-0, this process of creating a vision for a future operation is called battlefield visualization. Exceptional commanders can visualize the necessary steps to achieve the mission, anticipate opportunities, and estimate how their major operations will develop before they ever make contact with the enemy. Effective visualization places high demands on conceptual competencies.

Evaluation of an Automated Taxi Concept in a Distributed Simulation Environment

Abstract: Taking into account the actual predictions for the growth of air traffic in Europe in the next 20 years, major hub airports will become more and more the bottlenecks in the overall air transport network. Amongst other factors, current taxi procedures and the dependency on airfield view for both, controllers and flight crews, have a large impact on an airport’s efficiency and capacity. The ROLF project (Rollfuhrung, Taxi Guidance), a sub-project of the research project iPort (Innovative Airport) within the scope of the German Aeronautical Research Program (LuFo IV), aimed at operational changes at airports to meet future requirements regarding the arising European airspace demand by introducing an increased level of automation. Following the project’s objectives, a concept of operations was developed by the ROLF partners that describes in detail the systems and procedures necessary for automated taxi operations. This paper focuses on a human-in-the-loop evaluation of the operational concept in order to investigate its feasibility and the general acceptance by its users from flight deck perspective. At first, the operational concept is introduced in the context of an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS). A simulation environment spatially distributed over multiple locations in Germany is described, which was the base for the evaluation study. Finally, the conducted simulation study and evaluation results are presented. Several positive effects with regard to automated taxi procedures were observed.

On-Orbit Operations Support from the Canadian Space Agency Flight Control Room

Abstract: *The Canadian Mobile Servicing System (MSS) is a complex robotics system used extensively in the assembly, inspection and maintenance of the International Space Station (ISS). During MSS operations, robotics flight controllers on the ground continuously assist the ISS astronauts by conducting numerous real-time activities: They plan and monitor robotics operations, but also command several MSS functions from the ground. The Canadian contribution to the ISS program includes real-time mission control and engineering support from the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Space Operations Support Center (SOSC). The SOSC's Remote Multi-Purpose Support Room (RMPSR) began actively supporting MSS operations in June 2004. This paper describes how on-orbit experience and anomalies have shaped both the roles and responsibilities of ISS robotics flight controllers, and how this has impacted RMPSR requirements. The paper introduces the concept of operation behind the RMPSR and presents an overview of the commissioning activities leading to its direct involvement with on-orbit robotics operations. Robotics flight control activities carried out from the RMPSR, which have included support to eight ISS assembly missions, are summarized. The challenges associated with a flight control team separated by large distances are explored, together with the technical and operational measures taken to ensure that the robotics flight control team continued to carry its training, mission planning, and real-time execution functions as an integrated team. Operational experience from the past four years has shown that a gradual phasing-in of RMPSR operations, combined with regular participation in integrated simulations and tests, was critical to its successful realtime support of on-orbit activities.