Distributed Data Handling Node for Spacecraft Telemetry Latency Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data communication systems, such as those following CCSDS protocols, often experience significant latency and inefficiencies in data handling, particularly in systems like NASA's Earth Observing System, where data from spacecraft is processed by a single ground station, leading to delays of up to three hours and challenges in managing multiple data streams.
Innovation Solution
A distributed communication network system with a data-handling node at a mission management center that extracts and processes telemetry data in near real-time, multiplexes multiple high-rate data streams, removes redundancies, and automatically recovers missing data, ensuring proper ordering and high data availability without reducing communication rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single ground station receives and processes data from spacecraft, then data processing simplicity is maintained, but data latency increases to up to three hours
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the data processing function by introducing intermediate data handling nodes (DHNs) between the ground station and the spacecraft. These DHNs perform preliminary processing and routing decisions, distributing the processing load across multiple nodes rather than concentrating it at a single ground station, thereby reducing overall latency while maintaining processing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediate data handling nodes that act as mediators between the ground station and the spacecraft. These intermediaries receive data, extract telemetry information, and route it to appropriate subsystems, enabling near real-time processing and significantly reducing the three-hour latency associated with single-ground-station architectures.
2Speed
If multiple high-rate data streams are multiplexed in near real time, then data delivery speed improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts telemetry data from multiple high-rate data streams at intermediate handling nodes. By separating the telemetry extraction function from the main data processing pipeline, the system can multiplex multiple streams efficiently while keeping the overall architecture manageable through modular extraction and routing functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The data handling nodes are designed with multi-functional capabilities, handling multiple data streams, extracting telemetry, routing data to appropriate subsystems, and managing redundancy. This universality allows the system to multiplex multiple high-rate streams without proportionally increasing complexity, as each node performs multiple functions.
3Reliability
If data from multiple collection sites is processed, then data availability and redundancy improve, but data ordering and redundancy removal become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary sorting and ordering of data at intermediate handling nodes before final processing. By establishing proper data sequences and removing redundancies at these intermediate stages, the system ensures data availability from multiple collection sites while preventing ordering complexity from propagating through the entire system.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a system for data handling in a distributed communication network includes a data-handling node (DHN) residing at a mission management center (MMC). The MMC manages operations of one or more remote units. The DHN receives a stream of data units from a routing system. The stream of data units includes both stored mission data (SMD) and telemetry data having originated at the remote units. The DHN, in near real time, extracts the telemetry data from the stream of data units, identifies one or more subsystems of the MMC for receiving the extracted telemetry data, and communicates the extracted telemetry data to the identified subsystems of the MMC for processing.