Automated end-to-end spacecraft connectivity across diverse links
Adam M. Gannon, David Brooks, Shadi Zogheib, Ethan Schweinsberg, Lucas Shalkhauser, Brian Frantz, Mick V. Koch, Rachel M. Dudukovich, Joseph A. Downey, Janette C. Briones · IET conference proceedings. · 2025
An increasing variety of communications services are available to space missions. Yet varying standards between providers hinder adoption due to the complexity of managing configurations for each communication pathway. We present a software framework which alleviates this issue by automatically establishing end-to-end communications during contacts with a provider. The proposed development configures spacecraft protocols at the physical, link, and network layers. The spacecraft remains reachable at the same IP address regardless of the active provider. Underlying protocols and routes are abstracted, allowing the user to simply send data to a destination with the framework ensuring its delivery. We evaluate a full implementation of the framework in laboratory experiments conducted on an emulated communications testbed. These tests demonstrate data delivery across three different services with rapid (<20s) reconfiguration as the spacecraft transitions between providers.