Session
Technical Session III: Advanced Technologies I
Abstract
As a mission design envisions travel further from Earth, transmission power and onboard or ground-based antenna sizes must be increased to maintain a given transmission throughput. However, onboard capabilities are constrained by volume and mass limitations, thus constraining a mission’s science-value. Model-based transmission reduction (MBTR), is a ‘game changing’ technology that allows greater science to be performed (and the results transmitted to Earth). Instead of conventional link requirement reduction approaches, which make marginal reductions by compression techniques, this approach intelligently reduces data transmission requirements by transmitting only the differences between a shared (between the spacecraft and ground analysis site) model and the data required to support these change assertions. This paper discusses model development, a model definition language, and a communications framework for MBTR transmission. It discusses the onboard autonomy requirements for a MBTR mission and reviews how the link budget requirements, under this model, become a function of the accuracy of the initial model and the magnitude of validation data required by mission scientists. The benefits of MBTR for small satellite missions within the solar system and its requirement for interstellar missions are discussed.
Presentation Slides
Reducing Link Budget Requirements with Model-Based Transmission Reduction Techniques
As a mission design envisions travel further from Earth, transmission power and onboard or ground-based antenna sizes must be increased to maintain a given transmission throughput. However, onboard capabilities are constrained by volume and mass limitations, thus constraining a mission’s science-value. Model-based transmission reduction (MBTR), is a ‘game changing’ technology that allows greater science to be performed (and the results transmitted to Earth). Instead of conventional link requirement reduction approaches, which make marginal reductions by compression techniques, this approach intelligently reduces data transmission requirements by transmitting only the differences between a shared (between the spacecraft and ground analysis site) model and the data required to support these change assertions. This paper discusses model development, a model definition language, and a communications framework for MBTR transmission. It discusses the onboard autonomy requirements for a MBTR mission and reviews how the link budget requirements, under this model, become a function of the accuracy of the initial model and the magnitude of validation data required by mission scientists. The benefits of MBTR for small satellite missions within the solar system and its requirement for interstellar missions are discussed.
