'Anytime, anywhere information' is a powerful philosophy to improve the capabilities of integrated, international operators and the effectiveness of teams. As National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has moved into international programs, payload operations, manned and unmanned operations have all become much more complex, with real-time information being transmitted from various NASA operations centers to operators and scientists around the world. To realize the 'anywhere, anytime' philosophy new techniques and tools must be employed. The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of distributed architecture for operations using handheld devices that can be used for real-time operations and training of spacecraft. Previous research by TenXsys has developed the definition of an Adaptive Data Retrieval and Optimized, Intelligent Transfer (ADROIT) system that works in conjunction with one or more applications on a personal digital assistant (PDA) to deliver mission-essential information to distributed operators over a wireless communications infrastructure. The proposed research will extend this work to integrate voice, video, and more complex 3-D image displays and manipulation into the design. Additional advantages with this technology are the innovations on the central server side, which will enable more efficient and effective techniques for processing large volumes of data. POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS The commercial market for wireless PDA based applications is virtually untapped. Tools that allow information to be automatically transmitted to people to allow training and operations, 'anywhere, anytime' have applications in many fields. Mobile professionals, educators, students, and individuals all stand to benefit from useful applications. Finance, business, transport operations, construction, health care, law enforcement (including homeland defense), emergency response and natural disaster management are all examples of areas where these tools could be highly leveraged thereby enhancing the information flow and coordination of activities. Many of the problems solved by the proposed operations application in this solicitation lend themselves to adaptation and augmentation that will provide a powerful tool to effectively link virtual teams from across the globe. Once the problems of data delivery and presentation have been solved, they are adaptable to virtually any application that requires collaboration.
