Next-gen swarm CubeSats’ synchronization and re-programmability
2022-26-1161
05/26/2022
- Event
- Content
- The increasing need for interstellar data has increased the deployment of satellites in space, thereby increasing the space debris, also resulting in unnecessary costs. CubeSats have been gaining scads of attention worldwide for their affordability and ease of construction by the educational community. To further enhance this it is imperative for a simple and reliable communication technique and its ability to work on robust missions by enabling CubeSats in intelligent ways. The paper proposes a technology that can reduce the costs by deploying CubeSats and improving their lifetime and number of missions using TinyML and reprogrammability capabilities. Swarms of CubeSat deployed for extraterrestrial missions can be synchronized, without having any ground support with the help of onboard ML algorithms. CubeSats, being cost-effective and resource-efficient, its life-expendability can come as an added advantage. Hence, the paper also proposes the use of TinyML for power optimization and efficient solar irradiance orientation. Both of the aforementioned features not only escalate the life of CubeSats but also can become capable of performing other missions during its lifetime. Hence, orbital re-programmability for CubeSats is also being contemplated in the paper. The use of TinyML and orbital reprogrammability can reduce the space debris by bringing in the factor of satellites’ reusability. Cost-effective missions done with CubeSats can become cheaper and more accessible, all the while making the space environment less cluttered.
- Citation
- Giridharan, N., and PRANAV, P., "Next-gen swarm CubeSats’ synchronization and re-programmability," SAE Technical Paper 2022-26-1161, 2022, .