Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly Software Product Improvements

The Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) on board the International Space Station (ISS) has experienced periodic check valve and selector valve failures as a result of a gradual build-up of contamination from particles that have breeched the adsorbent bed seals. The current software that controls CDRA has limitations that make troubleshooting the unit difficult in these situations, in large part due to the fact that valve position telemetry is only available during certain times. There are also situations where it is required to perform operations manually that would benefit from added code logic and commands to facilitate these operations.

The software has been reviewed for possible upgrades and changes that will allow engineers to better troubleshoot the unit in the event of various failures and also allow for better operability in degraded states. This paper will first give an overview of the current CDRA software architecture and logic and then outline the changes that have been proposed to the ISS program office to accomplish these goals.