Virtual Ground Station for Automated Spacecraft Operations

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Historically, managing and controlling spacecraft from the ground has been a very manual activity. Highly-trained and qualified engineers initiate communication with the spacecraft, downlink data and send specific commands. Engineers study data carefully, looking for signs of abnormal behaviour that could indicate a failure or that a failure is likely to occur in the next few days or weeks. While this type of human / spacecraft interaction is feasible for single spacecraft, monitoring and controlling an entire constellation of spacecraft quickly becomes untenable for moderately-sized constellations. Further, subtle changes in spacecraft telemetry, indicating impending equipment failures (such as solar arrays, batteries, thrusters or attitude control equipment) may be difficult or impossible to detect by engineers or even seasoned experts. As with most fault detection and recovery scenarios, the sooner an issue is detected, the sooner it can be corrected.This research project aims to automate human / spacecraft interactions by creating a virtual ground station. The virtual ground station would manage space / ground communications and use industrial Statistical Process Control (SPC) to monitor spacecraft telemetry and flag situations that could indicate impending failures. A local spacecraft mathematical model will predict expected behaviour for the SPC algorithms to compare against. By empowering spacecraft ground controllers with SPC and automated spacecraft monitoring capabilities, the virtual ground station would reduce the need for highly-trained engineers to attend and analyze every ground station pass from every spacecraft in a constellation to ensure safe and efficient spacecraft operation. This technology would strengthen Canada's position as a world-leader in spacecraft operations.