The development of remote sensing techniques and methods, such as GNSS Reflectometry (GNSS-R), has become a prominent technology in various applications and topics of interest today. GNSS-R is a bistatic radar application that implements remote sensing for Earth observation. This technique is pivotal in determining environmental and geophysical properties of the Earth’s water and ground surfaces, including ocean wind speeds, surface material permittivity, and water content. Several significant satellite missions, such as TechDemoSat-1 (TDS-1) by SSTL, NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS), and the European Space Agency’s FSSCat, have been launched to pioneer and explore this technology from space. The GNSS Reflectometry & Occultation eXperiment Field Test Campaign (GNSS-ROX FTC) constitutes a series of ground- and air-based field test campaigns conducted in the context of developing a GNSS-R payload for the Seamless Radio Access networks for Internet of Space (SeRANIS) satellite mission. The inaugural field test (GNSS-ROX FTC 1) was carried out using an airborne hexa-copter drone to confirm hardware setup and demonstrate proof of concept. The subsequent field test (GNSS-ROX FTC 2) involved a ground-based GNSS-R measurement from a high-altitude vantage point overlooking two water bodies—Lake Walchen and Lake Kochel. Notable GPS signal reflections for both Left Hand Circularly Polarized (LHCP) and Right Hand Circularly Polarized (RHCP) were observed at the recording antenna at certain points. The objective of these measurements was to receive, geolocalize reflection points, and conduct a thorough analysis. The paper discusses the development of the second field test and analyzes the findings and methods of precise reflection point geopositioning, considering the realistic and challenging settings of the Earth’s surfaces.
Recent developments in the military domain introduce the need to detect and track hypersonic glide vehicles in Earth’s atmosphere. The Multispectral Object Sensing by Artificial Intelligence-processed Cameras (MOSAIC) experiment is part of the small-satellite ATHENE-1 of the Universit¨at der Bundeswehr M¨unchen. The primary scientific objective of MOSAIC is to demonstrate reliable detection, identification and tracking of hypersonic glide vehicles using primarily a cooled infrared camera and complementary a visual camera. To cope with a large amount of data from both high-resolution cameras in real-time, state-of-the-art computer vision on-board processing methods are used for detection and tracking. The secondary scientific objective is to investigate the efficiency and reliability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based image processing algorithms and data compression for space applications. This is of particular importance given the high volumes and rates of data. The application of such algorithms requires a reliable and resource-efficient On-Board Computer (OBC) that can withstand the harsh space environment. The approach outlined in this paper envisions a dedicated OBC to manage the AI-based experiments of the satellite, called the Artificial Intelligence capable On-Board Computer (AI-OBC). The AI-OBC includes multiple hardware-based AI accelerators to meet the computational requirements and ensure real-time processing for object detection and tracking. This paper describes the structure of the data processing pipeline and includes the AI-OBC architecture with its connections to both the cameras and the platform’s OBC. Further, the study discusses the training and validation steps of the intended use-cases.
The far-infrared (FIR) regime is one of the few wavelength ranges where no astronomical data with sub-arcsecond spatial resolution exist yet. Also medium-term satellite projects like SPICA, Millimetron or OST will not resolve this malady. For many research areas, however, information at high spatial and spectral resolution in the FIR, taken from atomic fine-structure lines, from highly excited CO and especially from water lines would open the door for transformative science. These demands call for interferometric concepts. We present here first results of our feasibility study IRASSI (Infrared Astronomy Satellite Swarm Interferometry) for an FIR space interferometer. Extending on the principal concept of the previous study ESPRIT, it features heterodyne interferometry within a swarm of 5 satellite elements. The satellites can drift in and out within a range of several hundred meters, thereby achieving spatial resolutions of <0.1 arcsec over the whole wavelength range of 1–6 THz. Precise knowledge on the baselines will be ensured by metrology employing laser frequency combs, for which first ground-based tests have been designed by members of our study team. In this contribution, we first give a motivation how the science requirements translated into operational and design parameters for IRASSI. Our consortium has put much emphasis on the navigational aspects of such a free-flying swarm of satellites operating in relatively close vicinity. We hence present work on the formation geometry, the relative dynamics of the swarm, and aspects of our investigation towards attitude estimation. Furthermore, we discuss issues regarding the real-time capability of the autonomous relative positioning system, which is an important aspect for IRASSI where, due to the large raw data rates expected, the interferometric correlation has to be done onboard, quasi in real-time. We also address questions regarding the spacecraft architecture and how a first thermomechanical model is used to study the effect of thermal perturbations on the spacecraft. This will have implications for the necessary internal calibration of the local tie between the laser metrology and the phase centres of the science signals.
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