Space mission resilience with inter-satellite networking

Christopher J. Lowe and Malcolm Macdonald

Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 2020, vol. 193, issue C

Abstract: Satellites typically operate in isolation from their orbiting counterparts, but communicating only with ground-based infrastructure leaves them susceptible to the consequences of on-board anomalies. Loss of payload, communication system, or other sub-system function could render the entire satellite inoperable. This susceptibility can be partially mitigated through the addition of an inter-satellite networking capability, which offers value in terms of increased general performance and an increased resilience to on-board anomalies. While a typical platform can be modelled to exhibit only two fundamental states: operational and failed, a networking-capable platform (specifically one with an inter-satellite communication capability) exhibits six states, each reached through a unique combination of sub-system malfunctions. The result of this added resilience is a reduction in the likelihood of the satellite reaching a fully-failed state. Simulations for independent and networking-capable systems are presented that illustrate the benefits and limitations of inter-satellite networking in terms of failure resilience. It is shown that whilst a networked system can be expected to reach greater levels of performance utility, sub-system anomalies are found to result in greater percentage levels of performance degradation compared to a non-networking-capable system with similar characteristics.

Keywords: Satellite; Space; Networking; Markov; Monte-Carlo; Value; Failure; Anomaly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:reensy:v:193:y:2020:i:c:s0951832019303850

DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2019.106608

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