Evolving high fidelity climate sensor simulators to preserve climate data record continuity

摘要

SixCERESscanningradiometershaveflowntodate.TheProto--‐FlightModelflewaboardtheTropicalRainfallMeasuringMissionspacecraftinNovember1997.TwoCERESinstruments,FlightModels(FM)1and2,areaboardtheTerraspacecraft,whichwaslaunchedinDecember1999.TwomoreCERESinstruments,FM--‐3andFM--‐4,areontheAquaspacecraft,whichwasplacedinorbitinMay2002.TheseinstrumentscontinuetooperateafterprovidingoveradecadeofEarthRadiationBudgetdata.FM--‐5isonboardtheNPPspacecraftandlaunchedinOctober2011.FM--‐6isbeingbuiltforuseontheJPPSspacecraft.AsuccessortotheseCERESinstrumentsispresentlyinthedefinitionstage.ThispaperdescribestheroleofinstrumentsimulatorsinthelifecycleoftheCERESinstrumentsandhowthesimulatorsmaybemodifiedtobetterrepresenttheinstrumentanditsoperations.NASALaRCoriginallybuilttheCERESinstrumentsimulators.TheywerecreatedtotestCERESflightloadsandviewtheresultinginstrumentresponse.Thesimulator’sinterfacetotheinstrumentprocessorandspacecraftbusenablestheverificationofallsoftwaremodifications,whichareuploadedtoorbitinginstruments.Thesimulatorswererecentlyredesignedtoprovideadditionalfunctionality,howevernotallinstrumentoperationsarecompletelyreplicated.Theexistingsimulatorsoftwareprovidesthenecessarystubstoincorporatemodificationsandimprovements.OnepossibleupgradeisasimulationtoimitatetheCERESdetectorassembly.Anotherusefulenhancementisfaultinjectionintoselectinstrumentsystems,tosimulateoperationalfailuresandresolveanomalysituations.Manyfeaturescouldbeaddedtothesimulator,allofwhichcanultimatelyimproveinstrumentperformance.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.