XLerator, a command-line program integration add-in for Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA), was made available for download on NASA Glenn Research Center’s software repository in 2005. Many scientists and engineers find themselves working with legacy software tools, with more current tools that have unintuitive text file interfaces, or with a feature set that does not completely fill their needs. XLerator allows command-line programs to be used as simple functions from within a spreadsheet environment that is familiar to a large number of people in scientific and engineering fields.
With XLerator, Excel’s optimization and targeting capabilities can be wrapped around existing tools, spreadsheet-based graphical interfaces can be created, and tools can be integrated into Excel-based collaborative engineering environments such as Glenn’s Global Integrated Design Environment (GLIDE) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Team-X. Multiple command-line tools can be integrated to generate a system model. For instance, the results of a propulsion analysis tool can be fed into a trajectory optimization tool, and the results can be fed back into the propulsion tool automatically until sizing or performance criteria converge. The time and cost required to create an Excel-based version of an existing software routine can be avoided, and in cases where a mathematically intensive algorithm results in slow performance within Excel/Visual Basic, faster languages such as C or Fortran can be utilized, thereby reducing run time. The figure shows an example of the XLerator interface and how it is used to incorporate command-line programs into the Microsoft Excel environment.
XLerator Setup form.
Long description of figure.
XLerator, which was developed by Glenn’s Space Propulsion and Mission Analysis Office during the past 2 years, has been used for a wide range ofanalyses. Initially developed as a proof-of-concept for applying Excel’s optimization and goal-seeking capabilities to the SNAP trajectory propagation program, XLerator has since evolved into a utility capable of integrating almost any program that uses plain text files for input and output into a spreadsheet environment. For example, it was used in the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter program to integrate low-thrust trajectory optimization tools and Fortran database interpolators into the mission design portion of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter systems model. In addition, XLerator was used in conjunction with the SNAP trajectory propagation tool and Excel’s solver utility to optimize trajectories, providing an entirely new level of functionality.
XLerator is written in a combination of the Microsoft Visual Basic and Python (Python Software Foundation, Ipswich, MA) languages. Installation packages for Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP (Microsoft Office 2000 or later) and Macintosh OS X (Apple, Cupertino, CA; Microsoft Office X or later) are available. Support may be provided on a limited basis as time permits.
Find out more about the research of Glenn’s Space Propulsion and Mission Analysis Office: http://trajectory.grc.nasa.gov
Glenn contacts:
Robert D. Falck, 216–433–2295, Robert.D.Falck@nasa.gov; and Leon P. Gefert, 216–977–7117, Leon.P.Gefert@nasa.gov
Authors:
Robert D. Falck and Laura M. Burke
Headquarters program office:
Exploration Systems
Programs/Projects:
Exploration Systems, In-Space Systems
Last updated: October 16, 2006
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