This project investigates the applicability of an open framework for subsystem information sharing on the Earth Sciences Advanced Aircraft (ESAA) family of flight vehicles. The innovation is the development of an architecture for sharing information between the subsystems in the ESAA. This architecture will facilitate the integration of processes into this communicating, cooperating, distributed processing environment. The architecture represents a state-of-the-art application of artificial intelligence (expert systems, telesciences) and "open system" computer networking to a well-suited problem. The architecture will provide the necessary flexibility and adaptability for integrating different systems in a variety of aircraft to support the diverse exploratory and data gathering ESAA missions.This work could support a variety of both manned and unmanned autonomous vehicles, including planet surface and atmospheric explorers (such as the Mars Rover), military reconnaissance vehicles, and others. The software systems include both real-time systems executing in on-board computers and ground-based systems.cooperating, communicating, distributed, telesciences, bus, expert system, telemetry, networkSTATUS: Phase I Only-
