David Iverson, Computer Scientist, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Iverson: Right. That stands for Attitude Determination and Control Officer. They’re the folks who are in charge of keeping the Space Station pointed in the right direction.

NTB: This software has been used in F-18 fighter jets; it’s been used by the space shuttle’s leading edge impact detection system; and it’s been used for electric power plant and water quality monitoring. What other commercial applications do you envision?

Iverson: Well, the nice thing about the software is it doesn’t care what it’s monitoring, so any type of application where you have a number of data parameters that you need to keep track of is a potential target for the software. There have been discussions about power grid monitoring, production lines, petroleum refineries, things like that. Any type of situation where you have a control room with people or computers to watch over the system and make sure that everything that is going on is what you expect to be going on.

NTB: Has anyone expressed an interest in licensing it yet, or is that still off in the future?

Iverson: We actually already have two licenses issued. One to a company from Half Moon Bay, California, iSagacity is their name. They specialize in remote data analysis and monitoring products. Another company, in Chicago, called InStep Software, has licensed it to integrate it with their data analysis and management products.

NTB: Now that the software is approaching certification and the project is just about at an end, what new projects are you and your team working on?

Iverson: Well, we’re thinking this isn’t the end; this is really sort of the beginning of the curve. Our first mission control deployment was a proof of concept task to see how well it worked in a mission control environment, and how helpful it was. That’s turned out pretty well. We’re looking next year to deploy the IMS system in other mission control positions. There is quite a bit of interest from other areas there.

We’re also looking at some aircraft data analysis, watching for unusual occurrences in behavior or performance of commercial aircraft flights. This could help aircraft operators and controllers refine their procedures to help things run more smoothly and efficiently. And we’re looking for potential applications in pre-launch ground checkout and processing of new launch vehicles supporting NASA’s Constellation program that will take us to the Moon in the next decade.

For more information, contact David Iverson at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .