NASA 1996 STTR Phase I
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Proposal Number:
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960086
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Project Title:
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SYNTHETIC SIMULTANEITY: A TELEOPERATIONS METHOD FOR REMOTE CONTROL OF EXTREMELY DISTANT VEHICLES
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Small Business Concern:
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SEMA Inc.
2000 North Beauregard St.
Alexandria, VA 22311
(703) 845-1200 Fax (703) 845-9053
Internet e-mail semainc@ix.netcom.com
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Research Institution:
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Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University
Normal, AL 37562
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Principal Investigator/Project Manager:
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Ben Consilvio SEMA
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Technical Abstract:
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Because of the time lag, relying on direct feedback to remotely
control vehicles/devices located an extreme distance away
wastes time and energy and reduces remote vehicle
effectiveness. SEMA and AAMU propose the method of synthetic
simultaneity to deal with this problem. This concept will be
implemented in a computer, communications and control system, a
computer modeling system, and an advanced display technology.
The 3-D display system will depict two views of the remote
situation, one simulated and one based on the most recent
actual transmissions. The Phase I objective is to plan
integration of these components into a control system that,
despite transmission delays approaching one hour, creates an
image perceived to be reality for practical remote control.
Phase I will involve planning for and specifying the
communications, control, modeling and display systems required
for an operational remote vehicle control system. Work will
also include development of software for a computer-based
feasibility demonstration. Phase II work will involve design,
construction and demonstration of an operational system with an
artificially induced time delay to confirm its effectiveness.
Successful Phase II work on synthetic simultaneity may be
completed in time for testing with the control system for the
Mars Pathfinder MFEX rover.
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Potential Commercial Applications:
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The proposed project will result in the design of an
Osteoporosis Diagnostic Workstation (ODW). The inputs to the
workstation are X-Ray/MRI images and DEXA scans. The output is
a characterization of bone condition providing a diagnostic
index of Osteoporosis. ODW characterizes bone structure in
addition to bone mass as an index for Osteoporosis. The
existing technology uses just bone mass. Osteoporosis affects
more than 1.2 million people annually. We expect that the ODW
will in addition to capturing a percentage of the current
market share of the existing technology, will also create a
niche market. The potential customers for the ODW are
Hospitals, Osteoporosis Clinics and Group Practices. Promising scientific applications for synthetic simultaneity in
control systems where throughput is limited include
underwater, downhole drilling/ production or lava probes.
Numerous commercial applications exist in production or
exploration processes where time delays exist between response
to operator control and visual feedback. Many military
applications also exist for a system that visually presents
computer predicted locations of objects and vectors from
available and incoming telemetric data. The anticipatory
control feature enabled by using the computer model to predict
future states shows promise for warning systems for oil
tankers, railroad and transit systems, utility demand matching
and other applications where projection of the future permits
safer or more efficient operation as well as for use with
remotely operated equipment dealing with hostile environments
such as that in the vicinity of the Chernobyl reactor.