Using Internet nodes and routers onboard satellites

Abstract

An Internet router was integrated into the UK-DMC remote-sensing satellite as a secondary experimental payload. This commercial product has been orbiting in space for over three years. We describe the integration of the router and satellite and the successful on-orbit testing of the router, which took place using the Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) application as part of a larger systems internetworking exercise. Placing this Cisco router in Low Earth Orbit (CLEO) onboard a small satellite is one step towards extending the terrestrial networking model to the near-Earth space environment as part of a merged space-ground architecture.

Taking Saratoga from space-based ground sensors to ground-based space sensors

“…Integration with the terrestrial Internet, with use of cheap commerciallyavailable routing equipment and personal computers in ground station local area networks (LANs), is a benefit of this approach. A number of demonstrations of integration with the terrestrial Internet and remote operations have been undertaken [2]. SSTL initially downloaded imagery over IP and these downlinks by using the first in-space deployment of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems File Delivery Protocol (CCSDS CFDP), onboard AlSAT-1 [5].…”

Virtual Mission Operations of Remote Sensors with Rapid Access To/From Space

“…From 2004 through 2008, CLEO was used for the advanced IP network testing and demonstrations. 4 The UK-DMC-1 satellite was the first satellite to source IPv6 traffic and the first to demonstrate IP security protocols 5,6,7 Because of these successful tests, SSTL allowed the UK-DMC-1 to be used for large-file transfer demonstrations over multiple ground stations. For large-file transfer tests, the Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) Bundle Protocol 8 was used with DTN-conformant bundles constructed directly in the SSDR 9 .…”

Internet Routing in Space: Prospects and Challenges of the IRIS JCTD

“…The foundation of IRIS has its roots in many years of teamwork and experimentation between the DoD and the private sector. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command's (SMDC) Future Warfare Center along with the Air Force Space Command's Space Battle Lab and NASA's Glenn Research Center collaborated with an industry consortium on the Cisco Router in Low Earth Orbit (CLEO) initiative [4]. The CLEO initiative resulted in placing a router on board a small remote sensing satellite for test, evaluation and demonstration in 2003, which is still in use for experimentation today.…”