Virtual Ground Station for Automated Spacecraft Operations

从历史上看，从地面管理和控制航天器一直是一项非常手动的活动。 训练有素的合格工程师启动与航天器的通信，下行数据并发送特定命令。 工程师仔细研究数据，寻找可能表明故障或可能在未来几天或几周内发生故障的异常行为迹象。 虽然这类人/航天器互动对单个航天器是可行的，但对中等规模的星座来说，监测和控制整个航天器星座很快就行不通了。 此外，航天器遥测的细微变化表明即将发生的设备故障（如太阳能电池阵列、电池、推进器或姿态控制设备）可能很难或不可能被工程师甚至经验丰富的专家发现。 与大多数故障检测和恢复方案一样，越早检测到问题，就能越早纠正。本研究项目旨在通过创建虚拟地面站来自动化人/航天器交互。 虚拟地面站将管理空间/地面通信，并使用工业统计过程控制来监测航天器遥测和可能表明即将发生故障的标志情况。 当地航天器数学模型将预测SPC算法的预期行为，以进行比较。 通过赋予航天器地面控制器SPC和自动化航天器监测能力，虚拟地面站将减少对训练有素的工程师的需求，他们需要参加和分析星座中每一个航天器的每一次地面站通过，以确保航天器的安全和有效运行。 这项技术将加强加拿大作为航天器操作世界领先者的地位。

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.