Superior Flexibility for the Control Room Workplace

Abstract

The workplaces typically found in control rooms for spacecraft operations are rather plain and old-fashioned. This results in many limitations. Workplaces nowadays consist of one or more PC-type computers with one or multiple monitors attached to it. These usually have a locally installed operating system. The system is configured for one type of task in one dedicated project. Flexibility, cross-operability and redundancy are limited. They are usually provided by restricting the users into identical setups - a lowest common denominator. Free computing resource allocation is additionally restrained by separation of networks due to network security aspects. From the user-side it is however desirable to allow a user to choose from a variety of setups, regarding the allocation and arrangement of computing resources to monitors, the easy access to redundant resources and the parallel use of resources. The ultimate desire is the elimination of the physical assignment of resources like keyboard and mouse to specific computers and monitors. The goal is to have flexible workplaces that allow rapid reconfiguration of control rooms for temporary use, training and simulation areas as well as multi-mission operations with heterogeneous systems resulting in vastly higher efficiency in control room usage with reduced administrational efforts. Based on virtualization techniques a framework has been developed that allows secure access to server-hosted desktops. It ensures existing security policies while giving access to all control center resources. This paper demonstrates first results of the approach taken by GSOC for implementation in an evaluation environment and the plans for implementation in control rooms in the near future.