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Summary: An Autonomous Evolvable Architecture in a Reconfigurable Protocol Chip for Satellite Networks
C. Okino, C. Lee, A. Gray, P. Arabshahi
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Introduction
NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Strategic Plan [1] and Research Strategy for 2000-2010 [2] identify satellite
constellations, distributed spacecraft, and formation flying technologies as an important technology thrust and investment
areas, applicable to a range of NASA missions. Such missions will have wireless network protocols derived or extended
from commercial efforts in this area. Commercial protocols or modified versions may find their way into many future
distributed spacecraft missions. It is challenging to find one "universal" protocol to meet the requirements of all of these
future missions. This being the case, missions in the next 5-10 years are extremely likely to be operating with multiple
protocols and substantial protocol variations depending on the requirements of the distributed spacecraft mission.
Figure 1.a is a notional illustration of network nodes that will operate in distributed spacecraft missions with
heterogeneous networks, and Figure 1.b illustrates the network nodes operating in a heterogeneous network.
Thousands of kilometers
(Long-haul protocol)
Kilometers
(Short-haul protocol)
Thousands of kilometers
(Long-haul protocol)
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