NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

"Evolution" is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.

Image Right: A model created using Technosoft's Adaptive Modelling Language (AML) software.

Imagine a software product that is continuously evolving, and with each evolution, there are new features and enhancements that help you do your job better. Would you be interested in such a product? Of course you would!

Researchers at Langley Research Center are already using it.

In the early 1990s, a small company in Cincinnati, Ohio called Technosoft, Inc. developed a software product called "Adaptive Modeling Language," or "AML," for the Air Force. The software was created to save time and money during the design and engineering process of building a vehicle. Simply put, AML is a framework, an underlying architecture, on which you can build applications.

Technoft's President, Adel Chemaly believes the AML product is unique for two reasons. "One aspect is doing modeling--capturing model requirements for different disciplines, like multi-physics, multi-analysis design environments, production analysis--under analysis--aero-structure, weights, etc. The other aspect is computing. And, computing means for us--collaboration, distributed computing, object computing, web-enabled capabilities."

Because the Air Force had such success with the AML framework Technosoft knew that it would also be useful to others who had similar research initiatives, such as NASA. And, the Air Force actually helped pave the way for the firm to meet with NASA researchers at Langley.

Image Left: Another model created with Technosoft's AML software.

A researcher from the Air Force Research Lab was working collaboratively with the "group" on different projects to learn best practices in vehicle design. The researcher recommended using Technosoft's AML.

According to John Martin of the Vehicle Analysis Branch (VAB), "We were skeptical at first. We'd invested quite a bit of time into developing our own code for collaborative applications, but it didn’t perform that well."

"The AML software also came with extensive corporate knowledge, and that was a real plus for us," says Shelly Ferlemann, another VAB branch researcher.

Their skepticism aside, Technosoft eventually received a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from Langley to further develop the software for many applications.

Working with the Langley team, Technosoft built a "Collaborative Hypersonic Air-breathing Vehicle Design Environment," also known as "CoHAVE," on their AML framework. CoHAVE was being used to look at scramjet/ramjet engine based vehicles for 2-stage to earth orbit and hypersonic cruise missions.

NASA aerospace partners like Boeing and Lockheed Martin became interested in the capabilities of the enhanced software. Because it provided a mechanism for different disciplines like structural analysis and optimization to collaboratively work together, CoHAVE improved the product and process design, and saved time and money.

Image Right: Another model created with Technosoft's AML software.

Technosoft was ahead of schedule on the software's development, and by the time they were into an SBIR Phase 2 contract, the product was already being used in design processes. The success of CoHAVE led to a Phase 3 contract from Langley for the firm.

Ferlemann is sold on using Technosoft for their applications.

"It's great for knowledge-capture. You don't have to start from scratch. The tools make it easy for new users to run it. They're then more productive quickly. Before it would take days to generate the same data. With Technosoft's visualization features, mistakes are evident right away and can be corrected before a project gets too far along."

Martin and Ferlemann also like the fact that the software can run on any computer, and they're able to take models from elsewhere and do quick system analysis studies.

Chemaly believes that partnering with Langley on CoHAVE has helped Technosoft to further evolve the AML product. "A lot of the technology developed within the SBIR has transitioned to general purpose technology within our environment."

Building on CoHAVE's capabilities, the firm has developed a subsequent product called "Adaptive Modeling, Rapid Air Vehicle Engineering Environment" (AMRaven). NASA, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin are currently using it.

Today, Technosoft is continuing to expand on CoHAVE and bring partners together for other vehicle design projects. At Langley, CoHAVE has morphed into "ADVISE" (Advanced Vehicle Integration and Synthesis Environment), because the branch's research scope has been broadened to meet the Agency's space exploration needs.

By leveraging the work they've done so far, the company won a large contract from the Air Force and has subcontracted Langley as their partner on the work. Hilmi Alkamhawi, a Technosoft software engineer, is currently working on site with Martin and Ferlemann.

The firm also demonstrated AML and CoHAVE for the Navy and are now partnering on submarine design.

Based on the AML framework, the firm has created design environments for other applications, such as an Interactive Missile Design for the military. They've been able to transition it to commercial industries as well, like automotive and trucking, and structures for oil and gas.

Today, the original work with NASA has been widely deployed to the Agency's partners. Chemaly notes that, "presently, there are more than 14 programs at Lockheed that have directly or indirectly used some of the results from our NASA SBIR."

When it comes to developing software, Technosoft likes the challenge of trying solve what seem to be impossible design problems, and so users of its software like John Martin and Shelly Ferlemann will continue to benefit from future evolutions of Technosoft products.

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Submitted by Sheri Beam
The Researcher News
Langley Research Center
Managing Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Patrick Lorentz