Collaborative Research: Research Infrastructure: CCRI: New: Distributed Space and Terrestrial Networking Infrastructure for Multi-Constellation Coexistence

该合作项目汇集了来自弗吉尼亚理工大学、乔治梅森大学和萨里大学的研究人员，旨在开发一个硬件在环（HIL）平台，以促进多星座空间网络共存自适应通信的研究、开发和实验。主要贡献是SpaceNet，这是同类第一个完全开源的HIL空间网络测试平台，能够模拟快速变化的网络拓扑结构，不断变化的连接和延迟，具有挑战性的路由，传输协议和重新架构应用。该测试平台将独特地支持多个领域的分布式异构平台的多个网络，解决多星座共存的自适应通信挑战，模拟所谓的“太空物联网”。直接连接允许探索卫星和星座如何在不泄露每个星座的专有信息的情况下互连，从而创建相当于空间网络的域间路由。额外的功能检查在面对大的太阳风暴等破坏时的行为。实现这些新功能需要将基于实验室的航天器硬件与大规模最先进的无线电测试平台合并，以创建更灵活、更高保真的卫星链路渲染，从而实现网络化HIL开发和准确建模网络和动态的测试环境;用于测试床节点的类似卫星的实验室硬件;以及用于政府、工业和学术研究人员的虚拟节点和远程访问。预期成果是一个可远程访问的多域网络和网络安全研究基础设施，以及一个经过验证的首个自适应和有保证的空间网络通信模拟器。此外，学生将参与课堂项目，涵盖空间通信，TN/NTN共存的技术概念，以及与SpaceNet的实践经验。项目成果将通过研讨会、教程、软件库、同行评审会议和学术档案期刊广泛传播。更广泛的无线通信社区将参与拟议的CISE基础设施的设计、开发、使用和维护。该项目库将至少在整个项目期间从https://space-net.org的提案和里程碑页面链接，并将用于共享研究更新，研讨会直播，数据集，代码和预印本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This collaborative project brings together investigators from Virginia Tech, George Mason University, and the University of Surrey to develop a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) platform that facilitates the research, development, and experimentation with adaptive communications for multi-constellation space network coexistence. The main contribution is SpaceNet, the first-of-its-kind, fully open-source HIL space network testbed that is able to emulate a fast-changing network topology with changing connectivity and latencies, challenging routing, transport protocols, and re-architecting applications. The testbed will uniquely support multiple networks of distributed heterogeneous platforms in multiple domains, addressing challenges in adaptive communications for multi-constellation coexistence, emulating what has been called the “internet of space things”. Direct connectivity allows for the exploration of how satellites and constellations might interconnect without revealing proprietary information of each constellation, creating the equivalent of interdomain routing for space networks. Additional capabilities examine behavior in the face of disruptions such as large solar storms. Achieving these new capabilities requires merging lab-based spacecraft hardware with a large-scale state-of-the-art wireless radio testbed to create more flexible and higher fidelity rendering of the satellite links, resulting in a networked HIL development and a testing environment that accurately models the network and dynamics; routing and re-routing data link tables on the fly, scaled to multiply-redundant algorithms and architectures; satellite-like lab hardware for testbed nodes; and virtual nodes and remote access for government, industry, and academic researchers. The expected outcome is a remotely-accessible, multi-domain network and cybersecurity research infrastructure, and a validated first-of-its-kind adaptive and assured space network communications emulator. In addition, students will be involved in class projects covering technical concepts on space communications, TN/NTN co-existence, and hands-on experiences with SpaceNet. Project outcomes will be widely disseminated via workshops, tutorials, software repositories, peer-reviewed conferences, and scholarly archival journals. The broader wireless communications communities will be engaged in the design, development, use, and maintenance of the proposed CISE infrastructure. The project repository will be linked from the proposal and milestones page at https://space-net.org at least through the duration of the project, and will be used for sharing research updates, workshop livestreams, dataset, code, and preprints.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.