TrackInk: An IoT-Enabled Real-Time Object Tracking System in Space

Abstract

Nowadays, there is tremendous growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) applications in our everyday lives. The proliferation of smart devices, sensors technology, and the Internet makes it possible to communicate between the digital and physical world seamlessly for distributed data collection, communication, and processing of several applications dynamically. However, it is a challenging task to monitor and track objects in real-time due to the distinct characteristics of the IoT system, e.g., scalability, mobility, and resource-limited nature of the devices. In this paper, we address the significant issue of IoT object tracking in real time. We propose a system called ‘TrackInk’ to demonstrate our idea. TrackInk will be capable of pointing toward and taking pictures of visible satellites in the night sky, including but not limited to the International Space Station (ISS) or the moon. Data will be collected from sensors to determine the system’s geographical location along with its 3D orientation, allowing for the system to be moved. Additionally, TrackInk will communicate with and send data to ThingSpeak for further cloud-based systems and data analysis. Our proposed system is lightweight, highly scalable, and performs efficiently in a resource-limited environment. We discuss a detailed system’s architecture and show the performance results using a real-world hardware-based experimental setup.

Applications of Internet of Things (IoT) in the Aerospace Industry

“…Another study expands the use of IoT for real-time object tracking in space [88] . Apart from these, there are many other various applications that have been explored.…”

Revisiting the Spaceborne Illuminators of Opportunity for Airborne Object Tracking

“…requirements of multistatic systems for real-time multiple-object tracking needs more consideration. 5,6…”

“…This is exacerbated by the need for real-time multiple object tracking, too. 5,6 T he rapidly increasing deployment of spaceborne transmitters, particularly in LEO, presents a realistic opportunity for cooperative PCL due to dense coverage across the globe. In addition, the benefits of radar detection via forward scattering for either small or RF-absorptive targets warrant renewed consideration, given this denser coverage.…”

SST Anywhere—A Portable Solution for Wide Field Low Earth Orbit Surveillance

“…For localization, the system uses an IMU (magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope), as well as a GPS receiver. Results show that the system can identify and track an object above the horizon, which has the highest priority, including the sun, the moon, and Mars [16]. Several improvements can be made by using more advanced cameras and adapting the implementation to detect only satellites and more than one object at a time in a given field of view.…”