Sharp: A multi-mission AI system for spacecraft telemetry monitoring and diagnosis

The Spacecraft Health Automated Reasoning Prototype (SHARP) is a system designed to demonstrate automated health and status analysis for multi-mission spacecraft and ground data systems operations. Telecommunications link analysis of the Voyager II spacecraft is the initial focus for the SHARP system demonstration which will occur during Voyager's encounter with the planet Neptune in August, 1989, in parallel with real-time Voyager operations. The SHARP system combines conventional computer science methodologies with artificial intelligence techniques to produce an effective method for detecting and analyzing potential spacecraft and ground systems problems. The system performs real-time analysis of spacecraft and other related telemetry, and is also capable of examining data in historical context. This paper gives a brief introduction to the spacecraft and ground systems monitoring process at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It describes the current method of operation for monitoring the Voyager Telecommunications subsystem, and highlights the difficulties associated with the existing technology. The paper details the approach taken in the SHARP system to overcome the current limitations, and describes both the conventional and artificial intelligence solutions developed in SHARP.