Introduction to SICM.   

The purpose of the Service Instance Configuration Management tool (SICM) is to provide central management of SLE Service Instances, which are scheduled for SLE service user and provider systems.

SICM is a database application that creates service instance packages for spacecraft passes defined in a so-called Seven Days Schedule (SDS) file obtained from a service provider organization (e.g. NASA/JPL). The SICM user can modify the contents of the service instance packages and perform consistency checks for the contained service instance parameter values.

The SLE service user and provider systems use service instance configuration files for creation and initialization of service instances at run-time. SICM generates Service Instance Configuration Files (SICF) for the target SLE user and provider systems based on the Service Instance Packages residing in the database.

The generated SICFs need to be distributed to the target systems. SICM enables the user to initiate the transfer of the generated files to one or more NCTRS systems.

Operator actions on SICM are logged in an event log window and are additionally written to an event log file for later off-line inspection, if needed.

SICM is configurable. It enables an authorized user to define service instance package templates that are used as copy source for the creation of new service instance packages. In addition the authorized user is able to define mission specific parameters, which are needed during the whole life cycle of a service instance package.

SICM enables the user to generate Service Instance Configuration Files (SICF) for individual SIPs. Generation of SICFs is performed for all target systems specified in the mission profile in the database. These can be e.g. the NCTRS, the Simulator or the NASA DSN provider system.

If SICF generation is performed for the ESA systems NCTRS or Simulator, one separate SICF is generated per SIS contained in the SIP. If the SICF generation is performed for the NASA DSN provider system, a single SICF is generated for one SIP.

The generated SICFs are stored on the local file system to a location dedicated to the target system.

The transfer of the generated SICFs can be started on request of the user to selected target systems. A specific machine (NCTRS) is used to transfer the SICF destined for NASA/JPL to the provider machine. Figure 1 shows all file transfers to/from the related systems on the example of SLE service instance configuration between ESA/ESOC and NASA/JPL. Note that the Simulator is not included in order not to overload the figure.

Figure 1: SICF Distribution

The NCTRS can be used as well in third-party missions support. In such a case, the external MCS is connected to the IP network via a firewall.