Developing a new software/hardware system for the Launch Processing Systems (LPS)

Interviewer: Brandt Secosh

It has been a very busy and rewarding year for Isolda. Isolda works with the Checkout and Launch Control System Project (CLCS) at Kennedy Space Center. The goals of the CLCS project are to:

• Ensure Continued Safe and Dependable Shuttle Launch Support
• Reduce Shuttle Operational Costs
• Provide Building Blocks for Future Endeavors

The work Isolda and her team have been doing will make the Launch Control Center (LCC) a much more efficient and user friendly environment in the near future. Currently, during launch operations, numerical information is displayed on monitors throughout the LCC that is interpreted by console operators and the launch control team. Isolda and her team are developing software that will make the interpretation of this information much easier and much more efficient. An example of this would be a numeric readout of temperature. If you saw this number, representing temperature, you would also have to evaluate if it were above, below or within an acceptable range. The software that Isolda is developing will change that because instead of seeing a number you would see a more visual display of the information. You would probably see the temperature on a bar that is color coded. An example of what the bar code represents could be:

Green - could represent a normal operating range.
Yellow - could represent an a range where special attention should be observed.
Red - could represent that a limitation has been exceeded above or below the limit ( e.g., Temperature too high or pressure too low).

The Software languages that Isolda uses are known as C++ and UNIX. Other Software tools used are SL-GMS and ControlShell. The software allows programmers to assign parameters to the visual tools that the launch control team will see on their monitors, such as "on" or "off" for a button. If a button is on it could be highlighted, if it is off it could dim. A team of developers works with the users of the equipment to decide what the best layout should be. The new software will eventually be used in all four of the Firing Rooms. One of the Firing Rooms is already upgraded with new hardware; the software is still being worked on. The project has an expected completion date in the year 2003. Isolda and her team have been working many long hours, but she points out that the work is very rewarding. She loves the "hands-on" work and keeping up with the new trends in software. Isolda recommends to those of you considering a career in programming to focus on C ++ and UNIX systems. It is the trend and will be around for quite a long time!

On top of all this, Isolda is also going to school at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT). She is in a dual Masters / Doctorate program in Computer Engineering! This led me to ask her what she does to relax. In her limited spare time, Isolda enjoys growing orchids. She has enjoyed this hobby over the past year and a half. She presently has thirty-five orchids, and her favorite one is known as a Cattleya. It is a large, vibrantly colored orchid that is used as a corsage. Isolda has a greenhouse that she grows the orchids in because they do not tolerate the cold very well. Isolda points out that there are approximately 30,000 types of orchids!

With the holiday season fast approaching, Isolda plans on visiting her family in Miami and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She says that all of her family has been very busy, and she is looking forward to this vacation.

Isolda wanted me to wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving and holiday season. She will write again in the next millennium.