"Designing Dope Distributed Systems for Outer Space with High-Fidelity Simulation" by Toby Bell

Video Description

This talk will recount the use of deterministic, high-fidelity simulation to develop the guidance, navigation, and control software for VISORS, a state of the art solar science mission, launching 2024, that will demand tight coordination between multiple spacecraft to image the sun with unprecedented resolution. VISORS will push the boundaries of what software can do in space, and to create it, our team at the Stanford University Space Rendezvous Laboratory had to push the boundaries of how we simulate software on the ground. Sharing lessons learned from VISORS, this talk will detail techniques for event-driven high-fidelity simulation and interface design to find defects quickly, simplify debugging, and move faster when developing any distributed software system. Beyond simulating real-world systems like spacecraft, aircraft, robots, and autonomous vehicles, these techniques can also be used to simulate databases, service-oriented architectures, and other concurrent applications. Toby Bell Stanford University, Space Rendezvous Laboratory @tobyyybell Toby Bell is a PhD student in Aeronautics & Astronautics advised by Simone D’Amico in the Space Rendezvous Laboratory at Stanford University. His research focuses on distributed space systems, software simulation, and spacecraft flight software optimization. He received his MS in Computer Science from Stanford University and previously worked as a flight software and simulation engineer at Astranis Space Technologies and a Starlink process engineer at SpaceX. His passions include choral singing, social dancing, and building compilers. ---- Recorded Sept 21, 2023 at Strange Loop 2023 in St. Louis, MO. https://thestrangeloop.com