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GP-B Post-Flight Analysis—Final Report - Gravity Probe B - Stanford ...

GP-B Post-Flight Analysis—Final Report - Gravity Probe B - Stanford ...

GP-B Post-Flight Analysis—Final Report - Gravity Probe B - Stanford ...

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Figure 14-6. ITF readout showing a discrepancy between the actual value (left) of memory location in thespacecraft's computer vs the correct value (right) stored in the ITF simulator.Once the engineer determined the correct value of a bad memory location in the spacecraft's computer, hecreated a set of commands that were manually sent to the spacecraft during a telemetry pass to patch the badlocation with the correct value.Figure 14-6 shows a screen capture from the ITF comparing the correct andincorrect values for a memory location from the spacecraft's computer.Figure 14-7. Two members of the <strong>GP</strong>-B Mission Operations team discuss an MBE that triggered a B-Side (CCCBcomputer) reboot on March 18, 2005On the other hand, if the engineer determined that the MBE was located in an active part of the computer'smemory—a location containing a command that the CPU would be executing—he would ask the missionoperations team to manually issue a command to the flight computer, stopping the timeline of instructions thatwas being executed, until the bad memory location could be patched. However, it turns out that there was onescenario in which an MBE in a critical part of memory could be missed by the EDAC system.14.1.2.4 Computer Reboots Triggered by a Watchdog Timer FailureThe 2.5 seconds that it takes the EDAC to scrub the entire memory may seem like a very short time in humanterms, but an RS6000 CPU can execute a great many instructions in that time frame. Because the CPU isexecuting instructions while EDAC memory scrubbing is in process, it is possible for the CPU to access amemory location that was, say, struck by a stray proton from the sun near the SAA region of the Earth, beforethe EDAC system detected the error. And, if that memory location contains a corrupted instruction that theCPU tries to execute, it can cause the CPU to hang or crash. Communications hardware in the interface boxconnected to the computer includes a so-called “watchdog timer.” This is basically a failsafe mechanism that,like the deadman switch on a bullet train, awaits a signal from the CPU at regular intervals. If the watchdogtimer expires without receiving a signal, it automatically triggers a reboot of the computer.<strong>Gravity</strong> <strong>Probe</strong> B — <strong>Post</strong> <strong>Flight</strong> Analysis • Final <strong>Report</strong> March 2007 405

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