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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Hi-FLY (High-Speed Integrated Satellite Data Systems For Leading EU IndustrY)

Teaser

Summary

The European and world-wide trend is to mature application-oriented technologies in the domains of Earth observation (EO), satellite navigation and satellite communications, which are facing a steady increase of performance, e.g. better ground resolution and lower revisit periods through wider swaths and multiple satellites. These permanently growing mission requirements need an answer at system and equipment level by further miniaturisation, integration and break-through of data handling technologies.
The technologies being developed in Hi-FLY are crucial for future satellite systems dedicated to environmental and biodiversity monitoring, agriculture, climate research, providing safe and secure communication infrastructures including in remote areas, and to the management of emergency scenarios. Multispectral and hyperspectral imaging is recognised as a key enabling technology for several space borne and airborne remote sensing applications such as precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, surveillance, security and more. The resulting data rates from these instruments is very high. A key element for both natural and man-made disasters is the monitoring of events and their impacts by high resolution EO satellite missions which requires gathering this data with the lowest latency.
The objectives of Hi-FLY are:
Design on-board payload data-processing technology capable of a processing power of well over a Tera Operation Per Second and 100s of Giga Floating Point Operations Per Second using a network of programmable digital signal processing processors and field programmable gate arrays;
Advance on-board high-speed data storage with a capacity of up to 64 Tbit and a maximum data-rate of up to 50 Gbit/s.
Design adaptive, reconfigurable, multi-Gbit/s inter-spacecraft data transfer and downlink capabilities using optical and RF techniques which can achieve data-rates of 10 Gbit/s.
Advance on-board data compression and other adaptive data reduction techniques to reduce the burden on the downlink and data storage systems, boosting the amount of useful information transferred to ground and increasing the effective information storage capacity of the data storage system.
Provide a standard interface, SpaceFibre, to the instruments and elements of the payload data chain, which is scalable to sustain data-rates from 1 Gbit/s to 40 Gbit/s per link and which is able to support both high-speed data transfer and equipment control, configuration and monitoring through the same interface.
Design a high-performance on-board network technology, building on the innovative SpaceFibre standard, which provides quality of service (QoS), autonomous fault detection, isolation and recovery, and low latency time-distribution (FDIR), synchronisation, event signalling, error reporting and network control services.
Integrate and demonstrate the end to end data chain supporting an input data-rate from instruments of 50 Gbps and an output data-rate to the downlink of 10 Gbit/s.

Work performed

For WP1, the target groups operational needs and business interests, in high speed data connections, were assessed. The analysis looked into the three broad categories for satellites: military, institutional and commercial. An overview of potential target groups was given along with the rationale for performance improvement across the data chain. The assessment concluded that the earth observation sector is a good candidate to develop an application for the Hi-FLY demonstration. Based on the analysis, a full set of requirements for each Hi-FLY High Speed Data Chain (HSDC) element (on-board network, data compressor, SpaceVPX and HPDP data processors, mass-memory unit, data protector, RF and optical downlink) was defined. Two SpaceFibre training courses were held and the network interconnect requirements were consolidated. For WP2, the architectural design of each HSDC element and the overall HSDC design were defined. Detailed specifications were written for each HSDC element covering functional, performance and interface specifications. All the interface specifications were collected, and the initial verification plans for each HSDC element were defined. The overall validation plan for the complete data chain includes, the design of the HSDC demonstration system, the procedures for testing and also outlines how to integrate and test each element operating in the overall HSDC demonstration system. WP3, WP4 and WP5 have only recently begun with the designing of the HSDC elements (WP3) ongoing, two flash Memory Modules produced (WP4) and some long-lead test equipment and devices being procured (WP5). For WP7, the main dissemination channels have been created and launched and exploitation planning for the project started. The IP notification system was set up and communicated to all partners. For WP8, communication channels within the consortium and the Project Management process required for execution of the project were established. A membersâ€™ area has been set up which can be accessed by all partners and three Consortium meetings have been held.
The main results achieved in Hi-FLY are the identification of target groups and specific use cases. They formed the baseline for the requirements, specifications and architectural designs of the HSDC elements. Finally, the HSDC validation plan of the complete data chain has been defined.

Final results

Hi-FLY is researching all components of the HSDC, developing each element in line with end-user requirements and demonstrating all as a fully integrated and networked chain to achieve beyond state of the art performance: 20x faster data processing (compared to performance obtained on LEON4), 4x increase in storage capacity (64Tbit), 4x faster data compression (compared to compression board of CORECI-2 unit), 8x faster data transfer (compared to current Ka-Band downlink systems), 6x faster link capacity to ground (compared to current RF downlink systems) and 50x faster network with embedded QoS and FDIR (compared to current SpaceWire network technology). It combines and integrates technologies from data processing, compression, storage and transmission from leading EU industries and research centres, to maximise the impact potential of the R&D efforts and optimise possibilities for commercial exploitation. The development of advanced HSDC elements for data intensive next generation Telecommunications and Earth observation systems in a European consortium with partners from industry, universities, and research organisations will strengthen the research productivity, improve the European know-how, underpin its competitiveness and generate IP to build components and satellite systems with high speed data handling, processing, and transfer capabilities. It will also contribute to the protection and growth of demand in High-Tech jobs within the space industry in Europe. As such, the consortium in Hi-FLY should deliver the expected impacts:
Provide elements for the high-speed data chain management (including processing and compression, storage and transmission) and support technologies for data intensive next generation Telecommunications and Earth observation systems.
Greater industrial relevance of research actions and output as demonstrated by deeper involvement of industry, including SMEs and stronger take-up of research results including support to standardisation.
Fostering links between academia and industry, accelerating and broadening technology transfer.