Spatial Grasp as a Model for Space-based Control and Management Systems

Peter Simon Sapaty

• Éditeur: CRC Press
• Année: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000600643
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Sous-sujet: Ingeniería aeronáutica y astronáutica

Governmental agencies and private companies of different countries are actively moving into space around Earth with the aim to provide smart communication and industry, security, and defense solutions. This often involves massive launches of small, cheap satellites in low earth orbits, which is also contributing to the growth of space debris. The book offers a high-level holistic system philosophy, model, and technology that can effectively organize distributed space-based systems, starting with their planning, creation, and growth. The Spatial Grasp Technology described in the book, based on parallel navigation and pattern-matching of distributed environments with high-level recursive mobile code, can effectively provide any networking protocols and important system applications, by integrating and tasking available terrestrial and celestial equipment. This book contains practical examples of technology-based solutions for tracing hypersonic gliders, continuing observation of certain objects and infrastructures on Earth from space, space-based command and control of large distributed systems, as well as collective removal of increasing amounts of space junk. Earlier versions of this technology were prototyped and used in different countries, with the current version capable of being quickly implemented in traditional industrial or even university environments. This book is oriented toward system scientists, application programmers, industry managers, and university students interested in advanced MSc and PhD projects related to space conquest and distributed system management.

Dr Peter Simon Sapaty, Chief Research Scientist, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, has worked with networked systems for five decades. Outside of Ukraine, he has worked in the former Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia), Germany, the UK, Canada, and Japan as a group leader, Alexander von Humboldt researcher, and invited and visiting professor. He launched and chaired the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Mobile Cooperative Technologies in Distributed Interactive Simulation project in the United States, and invented a distributed control technology that resulted in a European patent and books with Wiley, Springer, and Emerald. He has published more than 250 papers on distributed systems and has been included in the Marquis Who's Who in the World and Cambridge Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century. Peter also works with several international scientific journals.

Chapter 1 Introduction

DOI: 10.1201/9781003230090-1

1.1 The rush into space, existing problems, and solutions needed

Humanity’s interest in the heavens has been universal and enduring. Human space exploration helps us address fundamental questions about our place in the universe and the history of our solar system. Through addressing the challenges related to human space exploration, we expand technology, create new industries, and foster peaceful connection between nations. Curiosity and exploration are vital to the human spirit, and the challenge of going deeper into space will invite the citizens of the world today and the generations of tomorrow to unite on this exciting journey. We can expect space solar power plants, industrial exploration of the Moon, eco-industry, recovery of natural resources, global weather management, large-scale artificial structures in space, the use of raw materials of other planets, colonization of Venus and Mars, etc., including the already evolving space industry and robotics [1–18].

Different countries are often chaotically rushing into space in hope to provide quick and smart communication and industrial, security, and defense solutions. And this massive, often competitive, penetration into space in an attempt to gain something quickly and cheaply is not based on any global culture and planning, say UN supported. It often involves massive launches of cheap and unsafe small satellites in low Earth orbits (LEOs), which are also contributing to the growth of space debris endangering any future space research and conquest. In total, 11,139 satellites have been launched, out of which 7,389 were in space by the end of April 2021, while the rest have either been burnt up in the atmosphere or have returned to Earth in the form of debris. According to NASA [2], there are millions of pieces of junk flying in LEO, which comprises of spacecraft, tiny flecks of paint from spacecraft, parts of rockets and satellites that are either dead or lost, including objects that are results of explosions in the space. Efficient management of numerous space projects and problems, including those related to global defense like the New Space Architecture of Space Development Agency (SDA) [14–18] and the rapidly growing space debris [19–34], needs serious investigation and development in scientific and technological areas.

1.2 Some history of dealing with large distributed systems

The current author witnessed a similar situation more than half a century ago, but on Earth, being actively engaged in the creation of first heterogeneous computer networks combining very different and even incompatible machines, well before the internet. Having offered at that time how to unite such distributed equipment into capable complexes using a sort of parallel wavelike (even virus-like) model, the author is eager now to use a conceptually similar model—spatial grasp model. This model is much more advanced and tested in different countries and the resulting networking technology brings certain order into this enormously growing and often uncontrollable multiple satellite and junk mess around the Earth.

This book actually inherits practical works on creation of citywide computer networks in Kiev, Ukraine, from the end of 1960s, which were integrating different institutes of the National Academy of Sciences and other organizations [35–37]. By spreading a fully interpreted scenario code in a wavelike mode between different computers, we were able to solve complex analytic-numerical problems on heterogeneous computer networks that were difficult to solve using individual computers. These works resulted in a new management concept and distributed control methodology and technology which were further developed in different countries (including former Czechoslovakia, Germany, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Japan), with applications in such areas as intelligent network management, industry, social systems, psychology, collective robotics, security, and defense. The technology-based international projects were supported by Siemens and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, Ericsson and Defense Research Agency in the United Kingdom, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Distributed Interactive Simulation project in the United States which hosted Special Interest Group on Mobile Cooperative Technologies chaired by the author. The developed concept was demonstrated at the Universities of Braunschweig and Karlsruhe in Germany, Oxford and Surrey in the United Kingdom, British Columbia in Canada, Oita and Aizu in Japan, and California at Irvine in the United States. A number of successful implementations have been made of this approach in such programming languages as Analytic, Fortran, Lisp, and C.

1.3 New philosophy, model, and technology for THE management of space

A special high-level recursive Spatial Grasp Language (SGL) has been developed in which distributed, parallel, and holistic algorithms could be expressed with resultant spatial scenarios in a much more compact and simpler way than in other languages. All this activity resulted in a European patent and more than 200 international publications, including six books of Wiley, Springer, and Emerald [38–108]. The aim of the current book is to generalize all these works and obtained experience in the form of a new computational, control, and management model as a natural extension of traditional concept of algorithm, with orientation on applications in very large distributed systems operating in combined terrestrial and celestial environments. This model allows us to express complex solutions in distributed spaces with feeling of direct staying and moving in and through them, also to obtain their overall vision and understanding in a holistic manner and organize distributed space-based systems on different stages of their development and growth. The resultant Spatial Grasp Technology (SGT), based on parallel conquest and pattern-matching of distributed environments with high-level recursive mobile code, can effectively provide any networking protocols and important applications of large satellite constellations, especially those in LEOs.

The book contains examples of technology-based solutions for establishing basic communications between satellites, starting from their initial, often chaotic, launches and distributing and collecting data in the growing constellations with even unstable and rapidly changing connections between satellites. It describes how to organize and register networking topologies in case of predictable distances between satellites, and how the fixed networking structures can help in solving complex problems. The latter including those related to the SDA multiple-satellite architecture and allowing for effective integration of its continuous Earth observation and missile tracking layers based on self-spreading mobile intelligence, and also fighting enormously growing space debris by collectively behaving constellations of cleaning satellites.

What is shown in Figure 1.1 may be considered as a symbolic expression, or formula, of the main idea of the book, which combines areas of investigation (on both sides) with the spatial grasp model for their management and control (centered).

Figure 1.1 A symbolic formula of the book.

1.4 Summary of book chapters

1.4.1 Chapter 2: Satellite constellations, projects, and debris

It provides a summary of existing publications on satellite constellations and mega-constellations with their features and problems. These include proper management, using onboard intelligence, providing replacement, issues of effective communications which may be optical, complexity of ground antennas and gateways to monitor low orbit satellites, and also the increase of space debris by constellation units if not de-orbited at the end of service or after failure. The chapter briefs some defense projects with multiple satellites in space such as Strategic Defense Initiative of the eighties, and the most recent SDA’s Next-Generation Space Architecture. Commercial activity and projects are reviewed too. A summary on the debris problems and existing solutions is provided with a mention on legal questions of junk removal, debris surveillance and tracking, already existing removal contracts and techniques, as well as first removal missions. It also stresses the need for a unified system approach for dealing with different types of satellites constellations, especially in LEO orbits.

1.4.2 Chapter 3: Spatial Grasp Model (SGM) and Spatial Grasp Technology (SGT)

It briefs the traditional concept of algorithm as a finite sequence of well-defined, computer-implementable instructions, and widely used flowchart as a diagram representing workflow or process. The chapter describes basics of Spatial Grasp (SG) model and how it differs from conventional algorithm; it also introduces a new type of a chart, called spatiochart, for describing scenarios operating directly in distributed spaces. It shows how different collections of actions can be described in SG and exhibited by spatiocharts, including those using control rules, which are supervising repetition, sequencing and branching in spatial scenarios, also expressing spatial dataflow and exchange, with such organizations being potentially hierarchical and recursive. It describes main elements of Spatial Grasp Technology (SGT) and its high-level recursive Spatial Grasp Language (SGL) based on the SG philosophy. This includes different types of worlds SGT operates with, various constants which may represent information or physical matter, repertoire of spatial variables of SGL which may be stationary or mobile, main types of SGL rules that can be arbitrarily nested, different control states provided by SGL scenarios propagation, as well as general organization of the distributed and networked SGL interpreter.

1.4.3 Chapter 4: Spatial Grasp Language (SGL)

The chapter briefs main concepts of SGT established in the previous chapter and then provides full SGL syntax description with peculiarities of its recursive organization. It describes SGL constants which include information, physical matter, special and custom constants, as well as arbitrary complex or compound ones. It also gives the repertoire of SGL spatial variables, which include global, heritable, frontal, nodal, and environmental variables which can be stationary or mobile. It describes and explains main SGL rules which express and guarantee such functionalities and operations as: usage, movement, creation, echoing, verification, assignment, advancement, branching, transference, exchange, timing, qualification, and grasping. After the detailed SGL description, the chapter presents and explains some examples of spatial scenarios in SGL which include: distributed network management, organization of integral human-robotic collectives, and simulation of spreading of malicious viruses and fighting with them by worldwide distribution of antivirus vaccines.

1.4.4 Chapter 5: Elementary constellation operations under SGT

After a brief summary of SGT described in detail in Chapters 3 and 4, the current chapter describes how to integrate satellite constellations into a capable system under SGT, and explains how to provide broadcasting of executive orders to all satellites from a ground station. It then shows how supplying satellites with SGL interpreters which can communicate directly with each other as an integral system and also with the ground stations may convert the constellation into a self-organized and entirely space-located system, with significant simplification of ground antennas and reduction of their numbers. The chapter demonstrates some basic operations over satellite constellations in SGL in a virus-like self-spreading parallel mode, which includes broadcasting executive orders to all satellites via direct and changeable communications between them, collecting and returning accumulated data by all satellites, and constellation repositioning and res...