Session
Weekend Session 2: Missions at Scale - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
With the growing proliferation of Earth Observing small satellite platforms, access to remote sensing data has never been greater. Although the collection of remote sensing data has improved significantly, there still exists a significant bottle neck in converting the collected remote sensing data into valuable insights for the end users that need them. In particular a few factors significantly choke the flow of satellite data into insights: limited down-link bandwidth and ground station availability, difficulties associated with responsive tasking, and a general need for human-in-the-loop analysis of the data collected. The proposed CADENCE (Cubesat Autonomous Detection and Enhanced Networked Computing Experiment) mission seeks to develop and demonstrate key technologies to address these three challenges that are currently faced by satellite remote sensing platforms.
By using inter-satellite links and distributed computing resources, the CADENCE mission shall demonstrate the ability to autonomously detect ground-based phenomena, responsively track them, and perform preliminary analysis using Artificial Intelligence algorithms. This notional architecture could support an ad hoc network of combined sensing and compute assets or a hub and spoke model where there the individual satellites are dedicated to sensing or computing but not both. Sensor data can be collected at various nodes and then processed in real time or cross linked to a central hub for responsive analysis. While this preliminary analysis is limited compared to what is possible from ground-based compute resources or human analysts, timeliness is significantly greater. The primary benefit of the on-orbit analysis is the ability to do responsive and ad hoc tasking of a satellite swarm of constellation to observe transient phenomena. In example, an observing satellite could detect the start of a wildfire and autonomously re-task other assets in the constellation to quickly track and gather more data on the fire without the need to complete the loop with human operators, a delay time which makes a significant difference in being able to understand the early stages of transient threats.
The core technologies behind the CADENCE mission are currently being developed by Bronco Space and ICON (the Institute for Collaborative Orbital Networks) at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).
CADENCE: Cubesat Autonomous Detection and Enhanced Networked Computing Experiment
Utah State University, Logan, UT
With the growing proliferation of Earth Observing small satellite platforms, access to remote sensing data has never been greater. Although the collection of remote sensing data has improved significantly, there still exists a significant bottle neck in converting the collected remote sensing data into valuable insights for the end users that need them. In particular a few factors significantly choke the flow of satellite data into insights: limited down-link bandwidth and ground station availability, difficulties associated with responsive tasking, and a general need for human-in-the-loop analysis of the data collected. The proposed CADENCE (Cubesat Autonomous Detection and Enhanced Networked Computing Experiment) mission seeks to develop and demonstrate key technologies to address these three challenges that are currently faced by satellite remote sensing platforms.
By using inter-satellite links and distributed computing resources, the CADENCE mission shall demonstrate the ability to autonomously detect ground-based phenomena, responsively track them, and perform preliminary analysis using Artificial Intelligence algorithms. This notional architecture could support an ad hoc network of combined sensing and compute assets or a hub and spoke model where there the individual satellites are dedicated to sensing or computing but not both. Sensor data can be collected at various nodes and then processed in real time or cross linked to a central hub for responsive analysis. While this preliminary analysis is limited compared to what is possible from ground-based compute resources or human analysts, timeliness is significantly greater. The primary benefit of the on-orbit analysis is the ability to do responsive and ad hoc tasking of a satellite swarm of constellation to observe transient phenomena. In example, an observing satellite could detect the start of a wildfire and autonomously re-task other assets in the constellation to quickly track and gather more data on the fire without the need to complete the loop with human operators, a delay time which makes a significant difference in being able to understand the early stages of transient threats.
The core technologies behind the CADENCE mission are currently being developed by Bronco Space and ICON (the Institute for Collaborative Orbital Networks) at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona).
