Flexible cubesat-based system for data broadcasting

Abstract

Effective answers to the major problems in society can be achieved by resorting to the integration of telecommunication platforms, heterogeneous systems of localization, and sensing capabilities and intelligent objects [1]. Particularly, the pursuit of long term technological solutions has to be made with the support of a revolutionary multidisciplinary approach, especially in the areas of transport, smart environments, quality of life, security, etc.As a result, new and more intelligent services will become available, allowing the realization of smart contexts for what concerns home, building, cities, work-places, and implementing new concepts as ambient intelligence, ambient assistant living, ubiquitous computing, context awareness, and many more. This pervasive communication ecosystem will solve many, if not most, problems in our life, by increasing security and safety perception and improving interaction and conditions of activities; information and communications technologies will be a pillar of this society evolution by providing a complex net of information exchanges and exploiting the big data that are involved in the procedures [2].Moreover, the satellite segment will contribute significantly to the evolution of the services by means of the synergistic use of communication, positioning, and monitoring techniques: this objective will be realized by means of meshed heterogeneous architectures [2] that can afford remarkable systems and networks performance. At the same time, some of the envisaged future services such as the global tracking, monitoring, and maintaining of some specific assets or contexts don't mandatorily request the implementation of classic wireless or satellite communication systems which are subject to coverage and cost limitations; conversely, the uprising Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things paradigms seem to be more appropriate in such scenarios where a global packet connectivity has to be afforded in order to permit the exchange of information between the network and the ultimate users but the requirements in terms of data-rate and latency are not stringent [3], [4].On the other hand, this strategy can be successful if some operating conditions and key factors can be granted; particularly, the following conditions are compelling:C this strategy has to be general, i.e., a very large set of future services has to rely on it, even if their requirements are rather diversified and even divergent;C the communications, both within the system and between the system and the external world, will have to be highly efficient and to deliver all the necessary information in due time, where needed, with required quality of service (QoS) and energy consumption.Among the systems which allow the achievement of both of these goals, the new class of "SmallSats" also affords the reduction of the implementation costs and the increase of system availability because of their recent exponential growth [5], [6], [7]. As a result, the exploitation of SmallSats solutions, such as the CubeSat, as a b...

From Connectivity to Advanced Internet Services: A Comprehensive Review of Small Satellites Communications and Networks

“…Together with the California Polytechnic State University, Stanford University developed CubeSat specifications with the goal to obtain a customizable satellite, but with standard shape and weight, in order to simplify launch and deployment operations. As it is known, a CubeSat is made by one (1U) or more (nU) 10 cm X 10 cm X 10 cm units, with a mass of up to 1.33 kg per unit [11]. The nature of CubeSats has enabled the standardised production of subsystems that can even be purchased as a COTS product from online shops, so keeping the mission cost very low [9].…”

“…(4) Communications Services. Small micro-and nanosatellites organized in constellations can be used for providing data distribution (broadcasting applications) and data exchange (Internet of things and Machine-to-Machine paradigm) and also for extending the Internet access to the entire Earth [11]. According to Space Works Market outlook, in the next years, communication constellations of micro-and nanosatellites, which are now in the technology demonstration phase, will be used to serve and support the rapidly growing Internet of things (IOT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) market.…”

Data Naming Mechanism of LEO Satellite Mega-Constellations for the Internet of Things

“…Recent improvements in small satellite technologies are making the use of smallsatellite-based solutions appealing in different use cases, including the internet of thing (IoT). One practical example among others is the departural satellite (D-SAT) project, where a flexible cubesat-based system has been designed and tested to broadcast data generated by sensors spread over a certain coverage area [1,2]. Concurrently, because 5G cannot achieve seamless global coverage, an important development trend of B5G and 6G is the space-air-ground-sea integrated communication network [3,4].…”