1. cFS Workshop Product Management
core Flight System Workshop
Caltech
December 12, 2016
David McComas – NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

2. Agenda Historical context
Current state of product management & governance
Challenges and risks with current state
Potential transition options
Call to serve

3. Historical Context
Who controls which artifacts?
What is scope of who can submit trouble tickets?
What is scope of who can make contributions?
How is technology infusion managed?
How do we control quality?
Community ?
NASA Configuration Control Board (CCB), established in December 2014, has successfully managed multiple releases of cFS components January 2015 cFS released as open source to allow anyone developing FSW with some fortitude to use the cFS
NASA
cFS originally created by GSFC FSW Branch to reduce GSFC FSW costs
Successfully met this goal by using a product line approach with reusable and configurable lifecycle artifacts
GSFC

4. Current Product Management State
NASA
NASA
CCB
Change
Requests
Releases
OSAL & PSPs
cFE & Tools
Apps
Contributions
User
Tools
Apps
Executive
Platform

5. Current Product Management Challenges
Adoption
Users must assemble their own distribution (cFS is not productized)
Difficulty evaluating, performing trades, and configuring for different platforms
4:1 ratio of cFE-to-Apps downloads
Engagement & Participation
Non-NASA users can’t submit trouble tickets
No non-NASA contributions
Communication limited to lists
Participation in community, internal & external to NASA, not clearly defined
Resources
CCB takes on more responsibility without additional resources
We capitalize on some NASA resources, but not leveraging the community’s extensive resources

6. Current Risks Duplication and fragmentation Sustainability
Simulink Interface Layer (SIL), Software Bus Network (SBN)
This isn’t always a bad thing for innovation
Sustainability
NASA resources too limited to address growing challenges
Isolated knowledge in individuals
What if they leave?
Community member retention & growth
We need to build trust & loyalty
Manage expectations
Funding

7. State of the Community Business Model
Funding Model
No institutional funding, Advanced Exploration Systems (JSC) provides a lifeline
Members use ‘local’ funding to support community activities
New release content driven by upcoming member mission needs
No formal community charter, by-laws, or operating procedures in place
Original 2012 draft charter never signed
Some original concepts still valid, but top-down funding approach needs rework
Product Management is evolving and a management plan needs to be defined to cover
Scope of products controlled by the CCB
Product release strategies and versioning
Product delivery and community feedback

8. The Power of Community 1993 -
2001 -
2009 -
Microsoft releases digital encyclopedia called Encarta
Wikipedia launched
Microsoft terminates Encarta
Microsoft’s market capitalization is 25 years of NASA budgets

9. Community Governance Transition Approach
Why
What
How
Review
Understand our goals
Understand the context
Create a product management model
Define governance needs
Design systems & processes that implement the product management model
Draft governance plan
Review the plans and create a path for concurrence
Topics for workshop

10. Transition Challenges
We may not share the same vision or sense of purpose
Therefore we may not agree on what needs to change
NASA is a government organization so inherent obstacles
First about think why & what without getting bogged down with how
Second ask questions of how this could be realized. What type of governance model would take us to our goals?
Once we align to a common mission then we can create the right infrastructure that enables us to achieve the mission
Remainder of session
Propose a cFS mission statement
Present a couple of ideas for discussion
Not trying to solve today, trying create a starting point for a working group

11. cFS Community Purpose
Advance the creation, evolution, promotion, and support of a NASA Class B flight software system
Important we stay focused on our domain
Cultivate both an open source community and an ecosystem of complementary products, capabilities, and services.
All inclusive in terms of organizations
No constraints on complementary products

12. Idea #1 – NASA Centric Transition from To
A NASA board that collects and maintains NASA assets To
A NASA managed organization that provides
Products, processes, and tools that allow distributors to integrate and distribute complete solutions

13. Idea #1 - NASA Centric cFS Community Assets NASA CCB Custom NASA
Change Requests
Assets
Change Requests
Contributions
NASA
CCB
Distributor
Change Requests
Contributions
Custom
Distributions
NASA
Release
Tools
Apps
Executive
Platform
Tools
Apps
Executive
Platform
Tools
Apps
Executive
Platform
Mission

14. Idea #1 – NASA Centric
Clearly identify what NASA CCB controls and releases
NASA Release would be a small set of platforms abstractions, cFE, and a set of architectural significant applications such as SCH, CI, TO, HS, CF, FM, & SBN.
Create clear architectural model, processes, and tools for community component contributions
Platform abstractions: OSAL/PSP
Device drivers
Apps
cFS Developer Kits
Distributors assemble components into releases
Any organization, including NASA, can be a distributor
Releases could be targeted to specific user community

15. Idea #2 - Governance Model
Board of Directors
Technical Steering Committee
User Committee
cFS
cFE
PSP/OSAL
Apps
cFS NASA
cFS CubeSat
Committee
CF Core Groups
cFS Distribution Groups

16. Top-Level Governance Board of Directors
The Board of Directors provides strategic and financial oversight of Foundation resources and staff.
Technical Steering Committee (TSC)
Technical Committee members define and steward the technical direction of cFS software, including cross-program issues. The committee is made up of PTLs and members by the project’s Active Technical Contributors
User Committee (UC)
Represents a broad set of users with the Technical Committee and Board of Directors

17. Participation Categories
Active Technical Contributors
An ATC is an Individual Member who has had a contribution approved for inclusion in any of the official cFS projects during one of the two prior release cycles of the cFS Group (“Approved Contribution”). Such Individual Member shall remain an ATC for three hundred and sixty five days after the date of acceptance of such Approved Contribution.
Individual Members
Individual membership within the cFS Community is free and open to anyone. Individual Members are expected to participate in the community through technical contributions or community building efforts.
Contributor
Non-members who contribute in technical or non-technical ways to the project but who is not able to make decisions about the product or hold elected offices.

18. What Is A “Group” Independent & Self-Governing
Utilize cF organizational framework, processes, policies and infrastructure
Led by participant-elected Group Team Lead (PTL)
PTLs are elected for each project team. They manage day-to-day operations, drive the project team goals and resolve technical disputes within their project team.

19. cF Group Types cFS Distributions New Technology Incubation
Core Groups
cFS
cFE
OSAL/PSP
Apps
Associated Groups
cFS Distributions
New Technology Incubation
EDS
Distributed Systems
SatKit?
Etc.
Candidate Groups
Early stage projects which have not been accepted as an official cF Associated Group

20. Sponsors In-Kind Sponsors Paid Sponsorships Sponsorship benefits TBD
Organizations or individuals who contribute in-kind support (infrastructure, software, services, etc.)
Paid Sponsorships
Organizations or individuals who contribute money
Three Levels
Bart
Lisa
Maggie
Sponsorship benefits TBD

21. Potential Board Committees
Educational Outreach
Evangelism / Marketing
Operations
Legal
Community Management

22. Conclusion Create a working group to
Define a product management and governance model
Lead a transition to the new model
Mike Aguilar, NASA Engineering Safety Committee (NESC) will discuss some activities

23. Backup Slides

24. A Few Questions... To Foundation or Not To Foundation?
Governance model
Board officer positions
New software license?
Member categories/types
Contribution process definition
Membership agreement
Initial board and project members
Etc.

25. Development Tools & APIs
cFS Community
Members
ITOS
COSMOS
Ground Systems
ASIST
Government
NASA
Product
Management
Development Tools & APIs
Unit Test
Performance
EDS
Table
International
cFE Apps
Core Lab Apps
Applications
Academia
App Library
Apps
Industry
App Libraries
cFE API
Executive
cFE
cFE
OS Abstraction
API
Platform Support
Package API
Platform
Abstraction
PSPs OS
Abstract OS
Abstract
PSPs
HW Platforms – SpaceCube, PowerPC, Coldfire, Talarian
Take Away: CFS consists of many layers and components which can be interchanged based on mission needs. GSFC and NASA benefit through commonality, sharing and collaboration on these layers and components.
Without management and standardization of selected parts the full benefits will be lost and a great opportunity missed.
Many layers allow for flexibility for many types of missions.
AES is spending 8 FTE and $1.5 million to move CFS to toward Class A this year. If good progress is made an additional 2 years will be added.
If we can make the API layers standard, we can then take advantage of the Class A software for AR&D and robotic servicing (RESTOR)
Contributors: Bug Fixes, Verification
Users: Feedback, Feature Requests, Bug Reports
User Support
NASA Controlled Assets
External to cFS
Member Sponsored Assets

26. A Few Realities…
ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and the EAR (Export Administration Regulations)
Export control regulations
Recent ITAR changes have moved some space related items from the U.S. Munitions List (USMAL) to the Commerce Control List (CCL)
NASA Software Engineering Requirements, NPR B (11/19/14 – 11/19/19)
Establishes the engineering requirements for software acquisition, development, maintenance, retirement, operations, and management consistent with the governance model contained in NASA Policy Directive (NPD) , NASA Governance and Strategic Management Handbook. This NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) supports the implementation of the NASA Policy Directive (NPD)
Release of NASA Software, NPR C (expired 8/11/15)
Establishes procedures and responsibilities for the reporting, review, assessment, and release of software created by or for NASA
Inventions Made By Government Employees, NPD B (4/21/08 – 4/21/18)
Civil servant or contractors receiving research and development funding are required to report their findings to the Technology Transfer Office

27. Virtual Teams Groups of people aligned with a common interest
E.g. Multicore processors, Xenomai, Electronic Data Sheets
Two types
Integrated Team: Organized as a project
Cooperative: Parallel teams that maintain communication
Challenges
Funding source(s) may not agree with producing cFS assets in addition to their own goals. “Think global, act local” doesn’t work in every situation.
Restrictions on sharing information
Aligning teams with NASA Controlled Asset deliverables

28. Virtual Team Topic Area - Architecture
Multicore, Partitioned Systems, Memory Protection
Software Bus Network
Driver Plugins
Libraries
Non-volatile configurations, EEPROM File System (EEFS)
Security

29. Virtual Teams Topic Area - Tools
Deployment, Configuration Parameter profiles
Automated unit testing
Platform-independent build testing
Application Certification
Electronic Data Sheets
Code Generation: Simulink Interface Layer
Benchmarks
Integrated Development Environment
Ground systems

30. Virtual Team Topic Area - Communication
Website
Training courses
Promotional material
Business case material
Outreach & Education
Learning platforms: Quadcopter, PiSat, …

31. User Scenarios
Identify and prioritize user scenarios that need to be supported by the community.
Helpful for ‘testing’ the product management and governance model
Obtain and build the cFS
Locate product and follow instructions
Ask questions
Configure and target the cFS to a platform
Learn whether desired target has been done before
Get training
Submit a trouble ticket
Make a contribution back to a product: NASA or user sponsored
Obtain a list of outstanding tickets
Get information on future release plans
Submit a Member Sponsored Artifact
Form a virtual team
Create a collaboration project

32. Use Cases
What product does the CCB control? How does it release and distribute them?
Obtain and build the cFS
Locate product and follow instructions
Ask questions
Configure and target the cFS to a platform
Learn whether desired target has been done before
Get training
Submit a trouble ticket: Internal to NASA (i.e. NDC account) or external to NASA
Make a contribution back to a product: NASA product or user sponsored
Obtain a list of outstanding tickets
Get information on future release plans
Submit a Member Sponsored Artifact
Platforms
Make a platform available to community
Certify a platform
Hardware device
Make a hardware driver available to the community
Certify a hardware plugin
Applications
Make an application available to community
Certify an application
Form a virtual team
Create a collaboration project
9/20/16