The new space race is heating up as private companies such as SpaceX and Amazon are building large satellite constellations in low-earth orbit (LEO) to provide global broadband internet access. As the number of subscribers connected to this access network grows, it becomes necessary to investigate if and how edge com-puting concepts can be applied to LEO satellite networks.
Edge computing is an emerging paradigm aiding responsiveness, reliability, and scalability of terrestrial computing and sensing networks like cellular and IoT. However, edge computing is largely unexplored in high-datarate nanosatellite constellations. Cubesats are small, energy-limited sensors separated from the cloud by hundreds of kilometers of atmosphere and space. As they proliferate, centralized architectures impede advanced applications. In this work, we define and characterize Orbital Edge Computing. We describe power and software optimizations for the orbital edge, and we use formation flying to parallelize computation in space.
Recent scientific and technological advancements driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), distributed computing and data communication technologies have opened up a vast range of opportunities in many scientific fields – spanning from fast, reli-able and efficient data communication to large-scale cloud/edge computing and intelligent big data analytics. Technological inno-vations and developments in these areas have also enabled many opportunities in the space industry. The successful Mars landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover on February 18, 2021 represents another giant leap for mankind in space exploration. Emerging research and developments of connectivity and computing tech-nologies in IoT for space/non-terrestrial environments is expected to yield significant benefits in the near future. This survey paper presents a broad overview of the area and provides a look-ahead of the opportunities made possible by IoT and space-based technologies. We first survey the current developments of IoT and space industry, and identify key challenges and opportunities in these areas. We then review the state-of-the-art and discuss future opportunities for IoT developments, deployment and integration to support future endeavours in space exploration.
工业4.0创新平台 版权所有 All Rights Reserved, Copyright© 2013- 京ICP备14017844号-3
