Mini Workshop Guidelines Mini-Workshops are organized and run by one or more chairs within the body of the overall conference, and typically run one track for one full day.  They may be comprised of any combination of tutorials, invited papers, panels, demonstrations, and solicited papers.  It is the chair(s) responsibility to formulate the program and agenda, contact potential speakers and conduct full or limited call for presenters (if desired). Generally, Mini-Workshops do not have their papers published in the conference proceedings (no full manuscripts are required).  However, we recommend that the mini-workshop chair publish (1) a set of short abstracts for the speakers that can be handed out during the meeting and also put these on-line at the conference web site prior to the meeting, and (2) collect all Powerpoint presentation material at the conference for publication in a CD-ROM to be printed after the conference. One advantage of a mini-Workshop is that the presenters can be working on their material up until shortly before the conference.  If possible, all presentations should be uploaded to the conference web site no later than July 3, 2006, so that they can be moved over to the auditorium computers for the meeting. A preliminary agenda, with speakers, titles, short paragraph abstracts, and time slots, is due by April 3, 2006.  This can be updated periodically up until the week of the conference.  Mini Workshop Tracks The following Mini Workshops have been approved for 2006. For further information please contact the chairs listed below. NEXT GENERATION COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE FOR DEEP-SPACE COMMUNICATIONS Chairs: Leigh Torgerson Communications Networks NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MS 238-412 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, California 91109-8099 (818) 354-6825 ltorgerson@jpl.nasa.gov Manikantan Ramadas Ohio University 605 Carriage Hill Drive Athens, OH 45701 (740) 707-3450 mramadas@irg.cs.ohiou.edu CALL FOR PAPERS We seek your participation in the workshop on "Next Generation Communication Infrastructure for Deep-Space Communications" we are organizing at the Space Mission Challenges for IT conference. The official CFP follows: Call for Papers Two day workshop on the Next Generation Communication Infrastructure for Deep-Space Communications to be held in conjunction with the Second International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology (SMC-IT), July 17-21, 2006, Pasadena, California. Description In the coming decades, NASA is targeting an extensive study of the lunar environment along with continued robotic missions to Mars and other corners of the solar system. The European Space Agency is developing plans for a similar venture with its Aurora project and countries such as China and India are considering lunar missions on their own. With the many fold increase in spacecraft beyond Earth orbit, the standard method of preplanned communication links for deep space elements has the potential to become complex and unmanageable. The goal of this workshop is to bring together mission operators, and managers, and researchers from the network and information technology community to discuss both near-term and long-term communication challenges. By doing so, those on the front lines of the solar system exploration effort can provide first hand accounts of how missions currently operate while at the same time providing a "reality check" on future research directions. At the same time, researchers from academia can provide insight into the substantial body of knowledge into the design of communication protocols, architecture, network-modeling and other areas that may have direct relevance to the deep space communication environment or have interesting applied value in unique ways. For this workshop we seek short abstracts of novel ideas including those at their nascent stages of study from the following areas (not exclusively): Current relay communication architectures Deep space mission scenarios Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking Novel network architecture, protocols, and paradigms Security infrastructure, models Scheduling, optimization, and management of communication infrastructure Abstracts need to be submitted by email to the Program Co-Chairs. Selected abstracts will be made available to all conference attendees. Important Dates: Abstracts (1-2 pages in size) due by April 3, 2006. Notification of Acceptance June 5th 2006 Final Presentations due by July 3rd 2006. Program Co-Chairs: Leigh Torgerson, NASA/JPL, ltorgerson@jpl.nasa.gov Manikantan Ramadas, Ohio University, mramadas@irg.cs.ohiou.edu Program Committee: Christopher Krupiarz, JHU/APL, Christopher.Krupiarz@jhuapl.edu Shawn Ostermann, Ohio University, ostermann@eecs.ohiou.edu Hans Kruse, Ohio University, kruse@ohiou.edu Stephen Farrell, Trinity College Dublin, stephen.farrell@cs.tcd.ie MINI WORKSHOP ON STUDENT SPACE IT RESEARCH AND PROJECTS Chair: Professor Keith Schubert Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science California State University Office: JB 348 5500 University Parkway San Bernardino, California 92407 (909) 537-5328 schubert@csci.csusb.edu Faculty, Students, and Colleagues in the University Space IT Community: The Second International Conference on Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology (SMC-IT 2006) will be held in Pasadena, CA, this coming summer, July 17-21, 2006 (see general Call for Participation below). For the first time, a special student mini-workshop track will be convened within the conference devoted specifically to student space IT projects and research at either the university undergraduate or graduate level, ranging from theoretical to the very applied, and encompassing either software, hardware, or systems. Interested students are asked to submit a 2-page abstract for consideration, and if accepted, will be invited to present a 20 minute talk at the conference. Top papers will receive special recognition. And finally, we are looking into providing some travel assistance for the accepted paper presenters (nominally the primary author). Further details about the student CFP as well as the abstract template can be found in this email attachments and also on the conference web site (http://smc-it.jpl.nasa.gov). Abstracts are due April 1, 2006. Professor Keith Schubert (California State University, San Bernardino; schubert@csci.csusb.edu; 909-537-5328) has graciously agreed to chair this mini-workshop. We would encourage other faculty interested in helping out to contact him directly (e.g., soliciting student paper abstracts, advertising, serving on the abstract review committee, co-chairing a specific theme area, etc). We know that he would appreciate the help! Finally, we would be most grateful if you could spread the word and redistribute this CFP to interested students and faculty in the Space IT fields. If you should have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Prof. Schubert or either of us at any time. Thanks again, and we look forward to seeing many of you in Pasadena this summer! Larry Bergman (818-393-5314) Sven Grenander (818-354-0156) SMC-IT 2006 General Chairs CallForPapers-Student-060223.pdf Student_Abstract_template.doc AUTONOMOUS AND AUTONOMIC SYSTEMS IN SPACE EXPLORATION Chairs: Mike Hinchey NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Director of the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) MD, USA (301) 286-9057 Michael.G.Hinchey@nasa.gov Roy Sterritt University of Ulster School of Computing and Mathematics Faculty of Engineering Jordanstown Campus Newtownabbey, County Antrim. Northern Ireland. BT37 0QB (028) 9036 8198 r.sterritt@ulster.ac.uk Space missions require the use of complex hardware, software and embedded systems, often with hard real-time requirements. Most missions involve significant degrees of autonomous behavior, often over significant periods of time. While missions typically have human monitors, many missions involve very little human intervention, and then often only in extreme circumstances. Autonomic, Autonomous and Self-Managing Systems are emerging as a relatively new research and industrial strategic direction to deal with the ever-increasing complexity in computer systems. Their goal is the production of systems that are self-managing through key aspects such as; self-configuring, self-healing, self-protecting and self-optimizing, in effect bringing pre-emptive and proactive self-management approaches to all areas of a computer system. This clearly has application in future exploration missions. However, the creation of autonomic systems, or methods of enabling missions to respond to problems, recover from outages and repair faults, all on their own without human intervention, is by no means a small undertaking. It has been argued that Space Exploration Systems should be autonomic (self-managing) as well as autonomous (self-governing), and that all autonomous systems should be autonomic by necessity. Indeed, the trend is in that direction in forthcoming Space missions. This workshop will present papers on research into Autonomicity and Autonomy for Space exploration missions. With Autonomicity becoming mainstream within computing through such initiatives as Autonomic Computing, this workshop should be of interest to a wide audience. PAPER SUBMISSION PROCESS: Selection through program committee review of submitted papers as well as ivited speakers. REVOLUTIONS IN ADVANCED MODELING, SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS FOR FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS Chairs: Dr. Charles D. Norton Model-Based Systems Engineering and Architecture Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology MS 169-315 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109-8099 (818) 393-3405 Charles.D.Norton@jpl.nasa.gov Dr. Rupak Biswas NASA Ames Research Center MS 258-5 (650) 604-4411 Rupak.Biswas@nasa.gov This workshop will focus on identifying the challenges and revolutions needed in advanced modeling, simulation, and analysis (AMSA) to meet the needs of future space missions. The goals are to assess the current state-of-the-art of AMSA, to identify gaps, and to propose solutions for future mission needs. The product will be a report identifying a set of “revolutionary” themes that, if pursued, would demonstrate the roles AMSA and IT will have in resolving the most challenging mission objectives. The workshop will not focus on “evolutionary” advancements. It will be understood that in some cases fundamental technical innovations may be needed before such improvements can ever be realized. A roadmap, with identification of mechanisms to gain advocacy from NASA and other agencies to pursue an aggressive program to solve the challenges, will also be produced as part of a post-meeting report. Most future mission concepts will rely on science and engineering advancements that cannot be fully tested a-priori. Furthermore, integration of models to perform complete analysis, design trades, and feasibility/concept studies for missions will rely on AMSA and IT to validate approaches that are one-of-a-kind and/or not based on any prior experience. Topics could include Mission Concepts and Technologies for Extreme Environments, Earth, Planetary, and Space Science Phenomena Modeling, Space-Based Instrument Modeling for Sophisticated/Sensitive Science Measurements, Modeling and Validation of Engineering Systems, Spacecraft Systems Engineering, Small Body GNC and Landers, Search for Extra-Solar Planets and Life Detection, Computational Requirements for Meeting Application Needs, etc… PAPER SUBMISSION PROCESS: Keynote speaker and panelists will be by invitation-only. The organizers also welcome abstracts for 20-minute presentations on this topic that can be sent in PDF form to Charles.D.Norton@jpl.nasa.gov and rbiswas@mail.arc.nasa.gov. Others are welcome and encouraged to attend and participate in workshop discussions. NANOTECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS Chair: Paul von Allmen High Capability Computing and Modeling Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology MS 169-315 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, California 91109 (818) 393-7520 Paul.A.Vonallmen@jpl.nasa.gov Co-Chairs: Louis Lome Institute for Defense Analysis 4850 Mark Center Drive Alexandria, VA 22311-1882 (703) 845-6674 llome@ida.org Seungwon Lee High Capability Computing and Modeling MS 169-315 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, California 91109 (818) 393-3405 Seungwon.Lee@jpl.nasa.gov Fabiano Oyafuso High Capability Computing and Modeling Jet Propulsion Laboratory MS 169-315 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, California 91109 (818) 393-2537 Fabiano.A.Oyafuso@jpl.nasa.gov As the trend towards further miniaturization proceeds, nanotechnology is destined to become the dominant paradigm of future device technology. Radically new physical phenomena such as quantum mechanical tunneling and conductance quantization will rise in importance, requiring new simulation tools for the design of electronic and mechanical devices. Information technology will provide the tools needed for the resulting large-scale computations. The new generation of nano-scale devices will in turn contribute to the further advancement of information technology. The purpose of the proposed workshop is to examine the network of interconnections between nanotechnology and information technology to the benefit of novel space applications. Specific space IT applications such as radiation-hard computing and low-power logic will be given special attention. The format of the proposed one-day workshop will reflect the synergistic relationship between nanotechnology and IT. Two keynote addresses will introduce the two aspects of the workshop and abstracts will be requested of which a total of 10 speakers will be selected for the topic presentations. PAPER SUBMISSION PROCESS: Call for Papers: The organizers of the mini-workshop on “Nanotechnology and Information Technology for Space Applications” are soliciting abstracts for a 30 minute presentation and an accompanying paper (max. 10 pages) that will be published in a peer-reviewed venue to be determined. The focus of the workshop is to examine the synergistic relationship between information technology and nanotechnology for novel space mission applications. Expected discussion topics include advanced algorithms and computational methods for the modeling of nanostructure devices and application of nanotechnology to novel space information technology applications such as radiation-hard computing and low-power logic. Abstracts should be sent to the workshop chair Paul von Allmen at Paul.vonAllmen@jpl.nasa.gov.