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NASA NTRS1990

CCSDS Advanced Orbiting Systems - International data communications standards for the Space Station Freedom

Established in 1982, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) is an international organization that is staffed by data-handling experts from nearly all of the world's major space agencies. Its goal is to develop standard data-communications techniques so that several agencies may cross-support each other's data flow and thus allow complex, international missions to be flown. Under the general umbrella of Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS), an international CCSDS task force was formed in 1985 to develop standard data-communications concepts for manned missions, such as the Space Station Freedom and the Hermes space plane, and large unmanned vehicles, such as polar orbiting platforms. The history of the CCSDS and the development of the AOS recommendation are reviewed, and the user services and protocols embodied in its systems architecture are introduced.

Hooke, Adrian J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Update on the CCSDS Optical Communications Working Group Interoperability Standards

International space agencies around the world are working together in the Interagency Operation Advisory Group (IOAG) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) to develop interoperability standards for optical communications. The standards support optical communication systems for both Near Earth and Deep Space robotic and human-rated spacecraft. The standards generally address both free space links between spacecraft and free space links between spacecraft and ground. This paper will overview the history and structure of the CCSDS Optical Communications Working Group and provide an update on the set of optical communications standards being developed. The paper will address the ongoing work on High Photon Efficiency communications, High Data Rate communications, and Optical On/Off Keying communications. It will also cover the working being done within CCSDS on documenting atmospheric measurement techniques and link operations concepts.

Edwards, Bernard L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Delay Tolerant Networks: Operational, Evolving, an Ready for Expansion

The future of humanity’s presence beyond Earth depends on the successful commercialization of space. For commercialization to succeed, companies need cost-efficient architectures to support their business models and minimize risks for human capital, design, development, and operations. An ongoing challenge to any space enterprise is the reality that terrestrial network technologies are insufficient to provide reliable communications between assets in space. Whether you need to ensure your valuable data is safely transmitted to the ground or reliably delivered between platforms in orbit, ensuring data integrity over intermittent communication links is a necessity. Current solutions to space communications rely heavily on manual recording, storing, and retrieval of data from spacecraft. The current standard in space communication protocols, Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Space Packet standard, is reliant on inflexible network architectures based around mission-critical infrastructure to ensure data delivery. However, by automating the recording, storing, retrieval, and verification of data with Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN), the operator is freed from the dependence on manual data management and expensive mission critical infrastructure. NASA has been developing delay tolerant systems since the late 1990’s. Multiple DTN implementations have been established during that time, each suited to different use cases. Most notably, the DTN deployment for the International Space Station (ISS) includes demonstration of two DTN technologies: Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION) and Delay Tolerant Network Marshall Enterprise (DTNME). Beyond ISS, there are even more NASA DTN deployments being considered. Now that DTN implementations are maturing, it is appropriate to reflect upon these decades of work, review the integration and performance of the existing ISS deployment, and explore the future possibilities for DTN deployment industry-wide. The ISS DTN deployment is a complex architecture consisting of different DTN implementations for the onboard and ground network environments. The ION DTN implementation is being used in the on-board network. The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) DTN implementation, DTNME, is used by the ground network supporting ISS and will soon be a second onboard gateway too. The two implementations work cooperatively to provide high fidelity data services to flight operations users and payload developers across the globe. Though the two implementations yield a quality service, limitations are evident. Data rate, data storage, and device management are constrained by the services themselves and the complex nature of the deployment. Evolution of operations concepts will improve system capabilities and stability, but significant improvement will require additional development to the implementations themselves and to the overall deployment architecture. Taking advantage of the ongoing development and operation of the ISS DTN service will be central to the success of the future evolutions of NASA DTN deployments while demonstrating the benefits of DTN’s low-cost reliable data communication protocols for the growing commercial space industry. A broad effort on DTN integration and support is necessary to promote expansion beyond existing applications. NASA is developing several useful DTN implementations across a number of different systems: ION, DTNME, High-Rate DTN (HDTN), Bundle Protocol Library (BPLib), and others. To prevent fragmentation, DTN implementation teams need to communicate, collaborate, and integrate with one another to build a solid operational foundation for new DTN deployments. The establishment of a group that can assist new DTN users with understanding the purpose of each DTN implementation, provide best practices, and serve as a general knowledge base is paramount. Potential use of DTN on Gateway and other future NASA missions further drives the need for streamlined communication between DTN implementation teams. A well-integrated and highly engaged NASA DTN working group should help provide system architects the best DTN solutions for future commercial space efforts. This paper will first review the history of DTN implementations, explore the shortcoming of current space networking solutions given available limits in technology, and therefore establish the need for Delay Tolerant Networking in space communications. Secondly, the authors will explore NASA’s array of DTN implementations and highlight their usefulness to space applications. Thirdly, this paper will establish general DTN implementation distinguishing factors. Fourthly, the authors will discuss attempts to create a generic DTN comparison matrix, and the authors will review potential future topics in DTN innovation and collaboration, highlighting several key future efforts. Finally, this paper will describe how the institution of a NASA DTN Working Group will benefit DTN adoption across the governmental and commercial space sector. The goal of this paper is to encourage enthusiasm for DTN, share strategies for improving DTN on both current and future applications, promote the collaboration of DTN implementation groups within the international space operations community, and open the conversations about DTN, priorities, complexities, and innovation to the wider spaceflight industry.

DTN↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA Delay Tolerant Networks: Operational, Evolving, an Ready for Expansion

The future of humanity’s presence beyond Earth depends on the successful commercialization of space. For commercialization to succeed, companies need cost-efficient architectures to support their business models and minimize risks for human capital, design, development, and operations. An ongoing challenge to any space enterprise is the reality that terrestrial network technologies are insufficient to provide reliable communications between assets in space. Whether you need to ensure your valuable data is safely transmitted to the ground or reliably delivered between platforms in orbit, ensuring data integrity over intermittent communication links is a necessity. Current solutions to space communications rely heavily on manual recording, storing, and retrieval of data from spacecraft. The current standard in space communication protocols, Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Space Packet standard, is reliant on inflexible network architectures based around mission-critical infrastructure to ensure data delivery. However, by automating the recording, storing, retrieval, and verification of data with Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN), the operator is freed from the dependence on manual data management and expensive mission critical infrastructure. NASA has been developing delay tolerant systems since the late 1990’s. Multiple DTN implementations have been established during that time, each suited to different use cases. Most notably, the DTN deployment for the International Space Station (ISS) includes demonstration of two DTN technologies: Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION) and Delay Tolerant Network Marshall Enterprise (DTNME). Beyond ISS, there are even more NASA DTN deployments being considered. Now that DTN implementations are maturing, it is appropriate to reflect upon these decades of work, review the integration and performance of the existing ISS deployment, and explore the future possibilities for DTN deployment industry-wide. The ISS DTN deployment is a complex architecture consisting of different DTN implementations for the onboard and ground network environments. The ION DTN implementation is being used in the on-board network. The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) DTN implementation, DTNME, is used by the ground network supporting ISS and will soon be a second onboard gateway too. The two implementations work cooperatively to provide high fidelity data services to flight operations users and payload developers across the globe. Though the two implementations yield a quality service, limitations are evident. Data rate, data storage, and device management are constrained by the services themselves and the complex nature of the deployment. Evolution of operations concepts will improve system capabilities and stability, but significant improvement will require additional development to the implementations themselves and to the overall deployment architecture. Taking advantage of the ongoing development and operation of the ISS DTN service will be central to the success of the future evolutions of NASA DTN deployments while demonstrating the benefits of DTN’s low-cost reliable data communication protocols for the growing commercial space industry. A broad effort on DTN integration and support is necessary to promote expansion beyond existing applications. NASA is developing several useful DTN implementations across a number of different systems: ION, DTNME, High-Rate DTN (HDTN), Bundle Protocol Library (BPLib), and others. To prevent fragmentation, DTN implementation teams need to communicate, collaborate, and integrate with one another to build a solid operational foundation for new DTN deployments. The establishment of a group that can assist new DTN users with understanding the purpose of each DTN implementation, provide best practices, and serve as a general knowledge base is paramount. Potential use of DTN on Gateway and other future NASA missions further drives the need for streamlined communication between DTN implementation teams. A well-integrated and highly engaged NASA DTN working group should help provide system architects the best DTN solutions for future commercial space efforts. This paper will first review the history of DTN implementations, explore the shortcoming of current space networking solutions given available limits in technology, and therefore establish the need for Delay Tolerant Networking in space communications. Secondly, the authors will explore NASA’s array of DTN implementations and highlight their usefulness to space applications. Thirdly, this paper will establish general DTN implementation distinguishing factors. Fourthly, the authors will discuss attempts to create a generic DTN comparison matrix, and the authors will review potential future topics in DTN innovation and collaboration, highlighting several key future efforts. Finally, this paper will describe how the institution of a NASA DTN Working Group will benefit DTN adoption across the governmental and commercial space sector. The goal of this paper is to encourage enthusiasm for DTN, share strategies for improving DTN on both current and future applications, promote the collaboration of DTN implementation groups within the international space operations community, and open the conversations about DTN, priorities, complexities, and innovation to the wider spaceflight industry.

DTN↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Real-Time Optical Ground Receiver for Photon Starved Environments

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a photon-counting optical ground receiver for pulse-position modulated signals. The real-time receiver system includes a fiber interconnect, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a real-time field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receiver. The fiber interconnect and SNSPDs are implemented with two different configurations. In the first, a 7-channel few-mode fiber photonic lantern couples the light from the telescope to 7 single-pixel few-mode fiber coupled SNSPDs. In the second configuration, a few-mode fiber couples light to a 16-pixel monolithic SNSPD array. The real-time FPGA-based receiver performs combining of up to 16 SNSPD channels, symbol timing recovery, demodulation, and decoding. The system is scalable with data rates ranging from 20 Mbps to 267 Mbps. It is compliant with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Standard. This standard will be used in NASA deep space and other low photon flux missions, such as in the Orion Artemis-2 Optical Communications System (O2O) demonstration, planned for the first crewed flight of Orion. This paper describes the scalable real-time optical receiver system and presents characterization test results.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Real-Time Optical Ground Receiver for Photon Starved Environments

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a photon-counting optical ground receiver for pulse-position modulated signals. The real-time receiver system includes a fiber interconnect, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), and a real-time field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receiver. The fiber interconnect and SNSPDs are implemented with two different configurations. In the first, a 7-channel few-mode fiber photonic lantern couples the light from the telescope to 7 single-pixel few-mode fiber coupled SNSPDs. In the second configuration, a few-mode fiber couples light to a 16-pixel monolithic SNSPD array. The real-time FPGA-based receiver performs combining of up to 16 SNSPD channels, symbol timing recovery, demodulation, and decoding. The system is scalable with data rates ranging from 20 Mbps to 267 Mbps. It is compliant with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Standard. This standard will be used in NASA deep space and other low photon flux missions, such as in the Orion Artemis-2 Optical Communications System (O2O) demonstration, planned for the first crewed flight of Orion. This paper describes the scalable real-time optical receiver system and presents characterization test results.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Multi-Center Space Data System Prototype Based on CCSDS Standards

Deep space missions beyond earth orbit will require new methods of data communications in order to compensate for increasing Radio Frequency (RF) propagation delay. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standard protocols Spacecraft Monitor & Control (SM&C), Asynchronous Message Service (AMS), and Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) provide such a method. However, the maturity level of this protocol stack is insufficient for mission inclusion at this time. This Space Data System prototype is intended to provide experience which will raise the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of this protocol set. In order to reduce costs, future missions can take advantage of these standard protocols, which will result in increased interoperability between control centers. This prototype demonstrates these capabilities by implementing a realistic space data system in which telemetry is published to control center applications at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and the Johnson Space Center (JSC). Reverse publishing paths for commanding from each control center are also implemented. The target vehicle consists of realistic flight computer hardware running Core Flight Software (CFS) in the integrated Power, Avionics, and Power (iPAS) Pathfinder Lab at JSC. This prototype demonstrates a potential upgrade path for future Deep Space Network (DSN) modification, in which the automatic error recovery and communication gap compensation capabilities of DTN would be exploited. In addition, SM&C provides architectural flexibility by allowing new service providers and consumers to be added efficiently anywhere in the network using the common interface provided by SM&C's Message Abstraction Layer (MAL). In FY 2015, this space data system was enhanced by adding telerobotic operations capability provided by the Robot API Delegate (RAPID) family of protocols developed at NASA. RAPID is one of several candidates for consideration and inclusion in a new international standard being developed by the CCSDS Telerobotic Operations Working Group. Software gateways for the purpose of interfacing RAPID messages with the existing SM&C based infrastructure were developed. Telerobotic monitor, control, and bridge applications were written in the RAPID framework, which were then tailored to the NAO telerobotic test article hardware, a product of Aldebaran Robotics.

Rich, Thomas M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

A Multi-Center Space Data System Prototype Based on CCSDS Standards

Deep space missions beyond earth orbit will require new methods of data communications in order to compensate for increasing RF propagation delay. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) standard protocols Spacecraft Monitor & Control (SM&C), Asynchronous Message Service (AMS), and Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) provide such a method. The maturity level of this protocol set is, however, insufficient for mission inclusion at this time. This prototype is intended to provide experience which will raise the Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of these protocols..

Rich, Thomas M.↗
NASA NTRS2017

An Update on the CCSDS Optical Communications Working Group

International space agencies around the world are currently developing optical communication systems for Near Earth and Deep Space applications for both robotic and human rated spacecraft. These applications include both links between spacecraft and links between spacecraft and ground. The Interagency Operation Advisory Group (IOAG) has stated that there is a strong business case for international cross support of spacecraft optical links. It further concluded that in order to enable cross support the links must be standardized. This paper will overview the history and structure of the space communications international standards body, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), that will develop the standards and provide an update on the proceedings of the Optical Communications Working Group within CCSDS. This paper will also describe the set of optical communications standards being developed and outline some of the issues that must be addressed in the next few years. The paper will address in particular the ongoing work on application scenarios for deep space to ground called High Photon Efficiency, for LEO to ground called Low Complexity, for inter-satellite and near Earth to ground called High Data Rate, as well as associated atmospheric measurement techniques and link operations concepts.

Laser and Optical Communications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Photon Counting Ground Receiver for Free-Space Optical Communications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is developing a photon counting ground receiver for free-space optical communications. The receiver consists of a fiber interconnect, superconducting nanowire single photon counting detectors (SNSPDs), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based receive modem. This receiver is compliant with the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency standard, which is used in the low photon flux communications regime, including on the upcoming Optical Artemis-2 Orion communications demonstration. The receiver architecture is modular, can be scaled for data rate, and is designed with primarily commercial-off-the-shelf technology. Two fiber interconnect and detector architectures are being prototyped. The first uses a few-mode-fiber coupled to a 16-channel SNSPD array and the second architecture uses a photonic lantern coupled to 7 single-pixel SNSPDs. Photon counting, symbol timing recovery, demodulation and decoding is done using several FPGA cards. This presentation describes the unique features of the ground receiver, performance test results, and challenges with using commercial SNSPDs in free-space optical communications.

Jennifer N Downey↗
NASA NTRS2010

CCSDS - Advancing Spaceflight Technology for International Collaboration

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) has been developing data and communications standards since 1982, with the objective of providing interoperability for enabling international collaboration for spaceflight missions. As data and communications technology has advanced, CCSDS has progressed to capitalize on existing products when available and suitable for spaceflight, and to develop innovative new approaches when available products fail. The current scope of the CCSDS architecture spans the end-to-end data architecture of a spaceflight mission, with ongoing efforts to develop and standardize cutting-edge technology. This manuscript describes the overall architecture, the position of CCSDS in the standards and international mission community, and some CCSDS processes. It then highlights in detail several of the most interesting and critical technical areas in work right now, and how they support collaborative missions. Special topics include: Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), Asynchronous Message Service (AMS), Multispectral/Hyperspectral Data Compression (MHDC), Coding and Synchronization, Onboard Wireless, Spacecraft Monitor and Control, Navigation, Security, and Time Synchronization/Correlation. Broad international participation in development of CCSDS standards is encouraged.

Kearney, Mike↗
NASA NTRS2019

Characterization of a Photon Counting Test Bed for Space to Ground Optical Pulse Position Modulation Communications Links

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a laboratory transmitter and receiver prototype of a space to ground optical communications link. The system is meant to emulate future deep space optical communication links, such as the first crewed flight of Orion, in which the transmitted laser is modulated using pulse position modulation and the receiver is capable of detecting single photons. The transmitter prototype consists of a software defined radio, a high extinction ratio electro-optic modulator system, and 1550 nm laser. The receiver is a scalable concept and utilizes a single-pixel array of fiber coupled superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. The transmit and receive waveforms follow the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency Standard. This paper describes the transmitter and receiver prototypes as well as the system test configuration. System level tests results are presented and compared to predictions from software simulations.

Nappier, Jennifer M.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Characterization of a Photon Counting Test Bed for Space to Ground Optical Pulse Position Modulation Communications Links

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) has developed a laboratory transmitter and receiver prototype of a space-to-ground optical communications link. The system is meant to emulate future deep space optical communication links, such as the first crewed flight of Orion, in which the transmitted laser is modulated using pulse position modulation and the receiver is capable of detecting single photons. The transmitter prototype consists of a software defined radio, a high extinction ratio electro-optic modulator system, and a 1550 nm laser. The receiver is a scalable concept and utilizes a single-pixel array of fiber coupled superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. The transmit and receive waveforms follow the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications Coding and Synchronization Standard. A software model of the optical transmitter and receiver has also been implemented to predict performance of the optical test bed. This paper describes the transmitter and receiver prototypes as well as the system test configuration. System level tests results are presented and shown to align with predictions from software simulations. The validated software model can be used to in the future to reduce the design cycle of optical communications systems.

software defined radio↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Latest Status of the CCSDS Optical Communications Working Group

International civil space agencies around the world are working together in the Interagency Operation Advisory Group (IOAG) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) to develop interoperability architectures and standards for space communications. Within CCSDS, there is a working group dedicated on developing recommendations and standards for optical communications. These standards include recommendations for the physical layer, coding and synchronization layer, and best practices for measuring and monitoring atmospheric conditions and operating optical links. The working group has developed standards for both Near Earth and deep space robotic and hum exploration missions. The standards generally address both free space links between spacecraft and free space links between spacecraft and ground. This paper will provide an overview and update on the set of standards the CCSDS Optical Communications Working Group has developed

Bernard L Edwards↗
NASA NTRS2021

RealTOR TechPort Info

NASA is continuously working to advance optical communications technologies to meet the demand for higher communications data rates by developing and testing low cost ground-based optical receivers for space-to-ground communications required for future space explorations systems such as Artemis and Lunar Gateway Programs. The Real Time Optical Receiver (RealTOR) Project’s goal is to provide a commercial-off-the-shell (COTS) portable, scalable, modular, low cost solution for optical communications ground photon counting receivers. The RealTOR system implements the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency (HPE) standard, which will be used in future photon counting missions such as the Optical Artemis-2 Orion Communications (O2O) mission.

optical communications↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Parallelized Convolutional Interleaver Implementation for Efficient DDR Memory Access

Convolutional interleavers are used in many different communications systems to correct for burst errors due to atmospheric fades and scintillation. The interleaver size is related to the channel coherence time and the data rate. Small convolutional interleavers can be implemented in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) block random access memory (BRAM). However, large interleavers exceeding the size of the BRAM on the FPGA are necessary for channels with longer fades and higher data rates. Therefore, an implementation utilizing double data rate (DDR) memory external to the FPGA is necessary. Wide DDR memory data buses can make the use of DDR memory for convolutional interleavers inefficient when individual symbols are written to and read from the memory. DDR memory operational speeds can also limit the data rate of the interleaver. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Optical Communications High Photon Efficiency (HPE) standard utilizes a convolutional channel symbol interleaver. A previous implementation of the HPE standard utilized BRAM for the convolutional interleaver, but mission requirements for the upcoming Optical Artemis-2 Orion (O2O) communications demonstration dictate the use of an interleaver exceeding the size of the BRAM. An algorithm and method for implementing the convolutional interleaver in the FPGA with DDR memory is described in this paper.

optical communications↗