Soil Moisture Monitoring Using Autonomous and Distributed Spacecraft (D-Shield)
Sreeja Nag, Mahta Moghaddam, Daniel Selva, Jeremy E. Frank, Vinay Ravindra, Richard Levinson, Amir Azemati, Ben Gorr, Alan Li, Ruzbeh Akbar · 2021
We describe a suite of scalable software methods and frameworks to helps schedule payload operations of a large constellation, with multiple payloads per and across spacecraft, such that the collection of observational data and their downlink, constrained by the constellation constraints (orbital mechanics), resources (e.g., power) and subsystems (e.g., attitude control), results in maximum science value for a selected use case. Constellation topology, spacecraft and ground network characteristics can be imported from design tools or existing constellations and can serve as elements of an operations design tool. Our framework includes a science simulator to inform the scheduler of the predictive value of observations or operational decisions. Autonomous, realtime re-scheduling based on past observations needs improved data assimilation methods within the simulator.