COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N201-080

Description

CPI is proposing to develop the Remote Instrument Control System (RICS) to support USNO’s mission of operating and delivering data products from a network of remote heterogenous telescopes using a secure Telescope Control System (TCS) interface. The system will also be designed and implemented to comply with all Navy and DoD cybersecurity accreditation requirements as presented in DODI 8500.01 and other DOD and Navy directives and instructions. The RICS is proposed as a client-server system with a central management portal that can be accessed from both Washington, DC and Flagstaff, AZ. The system architecture will support both an on-site deployment of system control elements as well as a Cloud based deployment supporting full or partial system feature sets. The core innovations of the system are its: centralized remote telescope operations management console, its system health and predictive failure features, its Cloud based telescope status and control features, and the integration of the DoD RMF into the system development process. The primary architectural elements of the RICS system are the remote client and its interface to the USNO provided TCS, the client-server messaging support, the server-side control interfaces (on-site and Cloud based), and the cybersecurity controls that are integrated into the system. Although the exact model for the TCS interface is to be determined as part of the Phase I SBIR effort, the RICS system will support tasking (e.g., planning, tasking status, etc.), site and system monitoring (e.g., CCTV, logging, etc.), health and safety, and data management interfaces. CPI intends on providing the client software in the form of a containerized service that will reside on the TCS hardware system. The use of containerization provides a unique capability to run the client in a secure accredited environment that can be more easily maintained and updated. Use of modern messaging infrastructure and secure transport infrastructure (i.e., VPN) and protocols (e.g., HTTPS, SFTP, AMQP over TLS) is integral to the client-server messaging. Server-side control definitions will need to be coordinated with USNO to understand what services they intend on providing and what will be the responsibility of RICS. The server interface will support analysis of the instrument monitoring and predictive failure metrics; coordinated scheduling of multiple telescopes; data management; site monitoring; and, if necessary, system administration of remote hardware systems (e.g., Out-of-Band management, switch management, virtualization management, etc.). Of particular interest by CPI is the promotion of remote system management using Cloud based infrastructure. The ability to securely manage remote systems from any location provides a unique and powerful model for USNO operations. The ability to expose a subset of operations functionality to mobile devices also presents a possible feature that adds tremendous benefit to telescope operations.