Development of Space Systems
ved general manager Carsten Jørgensen, Terma Space
Onsdag den 3. november 2004 kl. 15.00 – 16.00

From the early days of European space exploration Terma has been providing systems, software and services to the space sector.
Today, Terma has activities in all phases of a space mission life cycle - from the early feasibility studies to missions through their realisations and operation, and finally to the exploitation of the results of the mission.
The presentation will revisit some general issues like “why is space interesting for man kind, what is the main technical challenges found in the hostile environment of space and essentially what is and how does a space system come about”.
Further the presentation will go into more details on some special projects carried out by Terma in the area of safety critical software.
For instance, Terma has developed the most safety critical software system ever made by the European Space Agency (ESA). The software is characterised as being in safety class A where its malfunction can endanger and even contribute to the death of human life. The software will control the European Robotic Arm (ERA) that is to be used to assemble the Russian part of the International Space Station.
ERA itself is an 11.3 Meter long robotic arm of a mass of 625 Kg able to operate at a velocity of 20 cm/s. The system has to work after one error and go into safe mode after 2.
The development started in 1995 and ended in 2001 with a bridging phase into 2004. The system has been delivered and is expected to be launched in 2007.
At the time of project start some of the technologies required to be used had not been exploited by ESA. Consequently, these had to be turned into practicable engineering approaches suitable for the demanding requirements of the software.
The presentation will focus on the technologies as well as the programmatic that made this development a challenge and in the end a success. Also these technologies are used today for the development of safety and mission critical software for space systems.
Other examples like the mandatory requirement for an Independent Software Verification and Validation process will be presented. A process where a contractor gets the job to break the software developed by other parties. The aim is to provide feedback of shortcomings in the software itself and/or in the system as a whole. The process is to be conducted for all critical software sent into space by the European Space Agency. A process enforced after the explosion of the ESA's launcher Ariane 5 in 1994.

Kontekstafhængig mobil kommunikation
ved lektor Lars Birkedal, IT-Universitetet i København
Mandag den 6. december 2004 kl. 15.00 – 16.00

Kontekstafhængig mobil kommunikation er et strategisk forskningstema på IT-Universitetet i København (ITU). Temaet omfatter en kæde af forskningsaktiviteter spændende fra sociale og kulturelle implikationer af mobil kommunikationsteknologi til den teknologiske infrastruktur, der skal til for at gøre kontekstafhængig mobil kommunikation til en realitet. Forskningen laves i samarbejde med en række private virksomheder samt universitetsforskere fra en lang række af felter. Kendetegnende for temaet er fokus på “kontekst”, dvs. information som karakteriserer en situation relateret til interaktionen mellem brugere, applikationer og omgivelserne. Et konkret eksempel på kontekst er fysisk lokation, og flere af forskningsprojekterne udforsker hvorledes man bedst kan tilvejebringe og udnytte lokationsinformation.
For at forbinde de forskellige delforskningsprojekter samt for at skabe en stærk forbindelse til undervisningen af kandidatstuderende har vi lavet et mobilitetslaboratorium, som stiller diverse teknologier til rådighed for studerende og forskere. For eksempel har vi installeret et WLAN-positioneringssystem, som gør det muligt at eksperimentere med lokationsbaserede services indenfor. Over 100 studerende har lavet projekter i tilknytning hertil.
I foredraget vil Lars Birkedal, som leder temaet for kontekstafhængig mobil kommunikation, give et overblik over de forskellige aktiviteter og specielt fortælle om et par af delforskningsprojekterne.
Links: http://lacomoco.itu.dk og http://mobilitylab.itu.dk