The document discusses integrating commercial technologies into NASA programs while addressing technical and programmatic challenges. It proposes a "System of Services" framework to identify business services aligned with NASA's strategic objectives. This would abstract functionality from underlying technologies, allowing for selection of commercial technologies. It presents examples of commercial voice recognition, human learning, and question answering technologies. It also addresses how to standardize on architecture, tools, and methodologies to successfully integrate technologies while meeting NASA's requirements.

1. System Integration: Infusion of Commercial Technology David C Atwell (atwelld@us.ibm.com) Randy Simpson (randy.simpson@us.ibm.com) February 22-23, 2012

2. Agenda Introduction Problem Statement Business Objectives Approach Commercial Technology Examples Summary SI: Infusion of Commercial Technology Abstract These times of reduced budgets are an opportunity to infuse the best of the best commercial technologies into the NASA business objectives. Infusing that technology has significant technical and programmatic challenges. How do we harden the technology for NASA’s rigorous environment? How is project planning impacted by the renewed need to deliver on promises in a budget constrained and highly visible performance environment and what lessons learned from the commercial world will improve the probability of success? What is the right programmatic and contractual balance between control and commercial flexibility? This paper will present a roadmap to how to manage a program that infuses commercial technology into the NASA business space. The presentation presents the framework for managing technical infusion and uses an applicable commercial example to illustrate the framework. The current example is the infusion of IBM Watson into NASA exploration. The presentation also addresses the technical and programmatic challenges that must be considered for the commercial technology to be successfully integrated into the federal (NASA) environment. Integrating the best-of-the-best technology in our lean economic times is necessary to cost-effectively advance NASA’s mission. This approach can be used to improve public perception and private company participation in NASA’s mission in the next era. As a Systems Engineer / Project Manager you will be exposed to a technique for identifying the technologies that are important to you and understand the specific technical and programmatic elements of a plan that need to be incorporated in order to infuse commercial technology.

3. Problem Statement – NASA’s Strategic direction is evolving This Strategic Plan outlines our long-term goals as an agency and describes how we will accomplish these goals over the next decade or more. Our goals cover more than flagship missions and cutting-edge technology development. We are committed to working smarter, doing business differently , and being transparent in our operations. Continuous improvement in our program management , in particular, is essential to our future success, and we will keep the public’s trust through transparency and accountability for our actions . We will continue to adhere to our core values of safety, integrity, teamwork, and excellence while we foster the pioneering, innovative, and partnering spirit that drives us and continues to advance our Nation. We will continue to reach out to our international partners, educators, industry, the public, and other stakeholders. NASA will be a leader in research and development and in innovative business and communications practices. Overall, NASA is a multi-mission agency that addresses complex national challenges, enables new markets, performs cutting-edge research, inspires and educates, and opens new frontiers. Message from the Administrator February 14, 2011 Source: NASA 2011 Strategic Plan

4. Business Objectives Maintain Core Value Governance* “…success requires uncompromising commitment to Safety, Integrity, Teamwork and Excellence” Comply to NASA’s overarching strategies* Strategies are standard practices that govern the management and conduct of all programs Investing in next-generation technologies Inspiring Students Expanding Partnerships Committing to environmental stewardship Securing the public trust Support Annual Performance Plan objectives* *Source: NASA 2011 Strategic Plan How do we achieve these objectives?

5. Approach – Implement a NASA “System of Services” Framework and Governance Identify Open Business Services which satisfy the Strategic Objectives Identify existing candidate technologies that will satisfy the identified Services Requirements Implement Program and Technical Management Governance Similar Case in Point* Open Systems Joint Task Force (OSJTF) applicability to the US Army Warfighter Similar Challenges: “… challenge is to institute a “change paradigm”—a new perspective that will allow the incorporation of new technology (unmanned systems, intelligent agents, cyber assets, space systems), within the boundaries of current fiscal and technological constraints—into existing systems …” Similar Approach: Implement Open Systems : “it is a set of protocols, standards, and a hierarchical structure from which software and hardware are built to ensure that they incorporate and pass information in an integrated and interoperable manner.” *Source: Defense Acquisition University - OPEN SYSTEMS: DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING OUR OPERATIONAL INTEROPERABILITY

6. What is a “Service”? Or.. What is a “Business Service” Service: Definition: Merriam-Webster Dictionary: the occupation or function of serving As applied to technology: An abstraction of a function for the purposes of breaking down a problem into smaller, sharable and reusable pieces. Business Service: Service that is Business oriented and technology independent. Example: Account Login As an Application Function: You provide identity credentials to your favorite retailer’s website and they provide you access to their site. As a Business Service : You provide credentials to an Identity Service , which in turn provides access. Today, Google and Facebook are leading providers of identity services that enable third party login. There are Consumers and Providers of Business Services

7. Service Orientation Transition to Support NASA Strategic Objectives Services, by definition* are: Reusable Share a formal contract Loosely Coupled Abstract Underlying Logic Composable Autonomous Stateless Discoverable … and will support these Strategic Objectives**: Strategic Goal 1: Extend and sustain human activities across the solar system. Strategic Goal 2: Expand scientific understanding of the Earth and the universe in which we live. Strategic Goal 3: Create the innovative new space technologies for our exploration, science, and economic future. Strategic Goal 4: Advance aeronautics research for societal benefit. Strategic Goal 5: Enable program and institutional capabilities to conduct NASA’s aeronautics and space activities. Strategic Goal 6: Share NASA with the public, educators, and students to provide opportunities to participate in our Mission, foster innovation, and contribute to a strong national economy. **Source: NASA 2011 Strategic Plan *Source: Service Oriented Architecture (Thomas Erl) ISBN 0-13-185858-0 Benefits to NASA using a Business Service Orientation: Improves Quality of Service and Technology Selection decisions (e.g. use of commercial technology) through Business Functionality abstraction Improved collaboration with public and private industry through a formal, open services contract / definition.

8. Program and Technical Management Framework Infusion of Commercial Technology Happens HERE NASA Missions Business Services Service Provider Service Consumer Continuous Evolution Technology Realization Reuseable Share a formal contract Loosely Coupled Abstract Underlying Logic Composable Autonomous Stateless Discoverable Existing NASA capability Existing Commercial capability Evolving Commercial capability New NASA capability Standards and Governance (Architecture, Technology and Tools)

9. Program and Technical Management Framework How does this process work? Identify Potential Business Services from existing systems Identify Potential Business Services from Strategic Plan Performance Plan Objectives Validate Architecture and Technology Standards in light of Services orientation Standardize Development Methodology / Collaborative Development Tools Set Identify source candidates for identified business services Missions Business Services Service Provider Service Consumer Continuous Evolution Technology Realization Reuseable Share a formal contract Loosely Coupled Abstract Underlying Logic Composable Autonomous Stateless Discoverable Existing NASA capability Existing Commercial capability Evolving Commercial capability New NASA capability Standards and Governance (Architecture, Technology and Tools)

10. Standardized Collaborative Design Management Integrating Systems Engineering and Embedded Software Design into Jazz REST API Verification Management REST API Requirements Management Team Management REST API Arch and Design REST API Designs linked to the requirements they model Designs linked to related test artifacts Design defects and change requests Designs linked to implementation For Example: Share designs developed with Rational Rhapsody Create links to trace design to requirements, project and test plans View impact and dependencies with relationship diagram Create custom link types Web Client Design Manager Rhapsody Desktop Client System Engineers Software Developers Project Manager Stakeholders

11. Commercial Technology Infusion Examples Voice Recognition Technology History: Slow but steady advancement in Voice Recognition in the last 20 years until 2007. Explosive growth since then. Technology Paradigm Shift: GOOG-411 . Google used the free service to capture a large number of diverse voices to rapidly refine the recognition algorithm. Available Technology: Highly accurate Voice Recognition system that is available on your phone Human Learning and Prediction Technology History: Very slow advancement in Artificial Intelligence (making a generic computer work like a human brain) Technology Paradigm Shift: HTM (Hierarchical Temporal Memory). Numenta , Inc has developed a technology modeled on how the brain’s Neocortex performs learning and prediction functions. Available Technology: Reusable algorithms that learn and predict. For example, Vitamind Inc. uses the algorithm to detect people and moving objects in video streams for security and monitoring applications. Vitamind Video requires no calibration, and works with off-the-shelf webcams and network cameras.

12. Commercial Technology Infusion Examples Rapid Information Access / Decision Making Technology Perspective: Growing interest in workload optimized systems that deeply analyze the content of natural language questions to answer questions with precision. Advances in question answering (QA) technology will increasingly help support professionals in critical and timely decision making in areas such as health care, business intelligence, knowledge discovery, enterprise knowledge management, and customer support. Technology Paradigm shift: Watson Watson runs IBM’s DeepQA technology, a new kind of analytics capability that can perform thousands of simultaneous tasks in seconds to provide precise answers to questions. Available Technology: A computer system like Watson that can understand the language of a clue, register the intent of a question, scour millions of lines of human language, and return a single, precise answer - in less than three seconds.

13. Abstracting well-defined, technology independent business services ensures the Quality of Business Service is maintained but allows for technology selection flexibility within that service definition. What is the right programmatic and contractual balance between control and commercial flexibility? Services abstract the desired functionality from the technology implementation, opening up the opportunity to infuse technology advancements. This also provides the ability to programmatically control a smaller piece of functionality and improve the probability of success. How is project planning impacted by the renewed need to deliver on promises in a budget constrained and highly visible performance environment and what lessons learned from the commercial world will improve the probability of success? Environmental (and all other Non-Functional requirements) can be added to the functional service definition to provide clear documentation for a crisp procurement of that hardened service. How do we harden the technology for NASA’s rigorous environment? Utilizing Business Services can improve transparency and public participation in the achievement of the NASA Strategic Plan Implementing Architecture and Technology Standards in light of a Services orientation can assure technology consistency between Service Realizations Standardizing on Development Methodology / Collaborative Development Tools Set will improve team collaboration within and outside of NASA These times of reduced budgets are an opportunity to infuse the best of the best commercial technologies into the NASA business objectives. Infusing that technology has significant technical and programmatic challenges. Summary SI: Infusion of Commercial Technology Abstract