Impact
Projects Pathway towards Impact
Enabling technological and economic developments in Earth Observation through miniaturisation, power reduction, precision and efficiency.
The fast development of the space sector, the growing competition from other countries and the necessity to democratize access to data produced by spacecraft imply that Europe and European countries should take immediate measures in order to maintain and eventually advance its position among the leaders in the space research and industry. Preparing the next generation of the remote sensing space component is a part of the European effort to respond to the current challenges it is facing. SOPHOS will thus implement a power-efficient high-performance processing chain, considering CCSDS standards, designed for low-Earth orbit (LEO) missions with a focus on SAR EO systems. The SW and HW elements that will be investigated by SOPHOS address the full data processing chain from processing and compression to storage up to the ground user interaction. The standardisation effort will ensure interoperability with various processing HW. SOPHOS will constitute a huge step forward towards miniaturization, power reduction/efficiency and scalability of high-performance space-borne payload processing. Within SOPHOS, the relative technical and economic benefits will be analysed, optimised, implemented and validated in an effort to achieve a close to market product. The different technologies of the data processing chain will be matured from TRL3 or higher to TRL6 with the aim to respond to the next generation data intensive missions on-board institutional satellites (e.g. Copernicus Sentinel-1) as well as commercial small-satellite platforms. A gradual validation process is foreseen along the timeline of the project, starting very early into the project, in order to ensure a full consistency with the requirements. SOPHOS will contribute to the common European effort to prepare for the increasing role of space in the future and cultivate technologies with a strong potential to produce tangible impact in very near future. SOPHOS will improve onboard processing characteristics for the next generation of already existing EO missions (e.g. Sentinel-1) dealing with higher precision or wider swaths by providing elements/technology for a high-speed data chain within data intensive missions.
Substantial improvement in state-of-the-art technologies in key areas such as radar systems
SOPHOS will deliver the elements required for a coherent data chain, ensuring a versatile processing chain that can be used for different processing purposes (optical imaging, SAR and communication/transmission) with a focus on SAR. For all foreseen activities partners will rely on expertise already developed in other national and EU projects.
PROCESSING
SOPHOS will substantially impact processing capabilities by investing major efforts on management SW and self- optimising SW libraries, for which requirements will be set in line with CCSDS, ECSS and other relevant standards and taken into account through the specification, implementation and validation phases resulting in a standardised SW architecture. This step towards generalisation will contribute to:
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- Interoperability with variety of processing HW, leading to independence from single HW vendors, therefore increasing the competitiveness of developed results/products from SOPHOS, contributing to European competitiveness.
- Enabling real-time communication within networks to ground stations and also aerial vehicles through promotion of DDS (Data Distribution Service).
Further improvements in terms of data processing will be achieved by combining state-of-the-art industry grade System on Chip (SoC) processors and FPGAs together with space grade processor platforms for mixed criticality applications. Furthermore, SOPHOS will deliver HW designs based on previously described components that will dramatically improve on-board data communication speed by means of development of a many-port mass memory module (multiple tens of Gbit/s throughput) as well as computational throughput by means of utilising high- performance industrial grade and radiation-tolerant processors.
SOPHOS will be able to deliver a highly performant processing software in order to support application demands of future data and compute intensive space missions. The self-optimising scientific and signal processing software libraries will support the optimisation and acceleration of mission specific applications with view to significantly improve the data throughput enabling efficient software-programmable computing in space. In addition, SOPHOS will improve the efficiency of application-specific SW routines by up to 110% compared to already optimised SW solutions on the same HW, reducing performance constraints on the HW itself.
COMPRESSION
Smart algorithms, such as for on-board data compression for SAR data will positively impact performance of image product generation through reduction of compute complexity, on-board data transfers and downlink requirements. The compression level will be enhanced by an optimized selection of the quantization rate depending on the given performance requirements and characteristics of the imaged area, in combination with state-of-the-art lossy SAR raw data compression technique (BAQ). In the context of real mission scenarios, this will lead to a reduced amount of data of up to 2x compared to constant-BAQ rate compression. Given the severe constraints imposed by the downlink capacity for present space-borne SAR missions, enhanced data compression allows for an optimization of the SAR products quality for a given downlink budget and, in turn, for a significant increase of the system acquisition capacity. This represents a leap ahead in an era where spacecraft are relying up on rapid downlink of information critical for disaster or security management.
The foreseen processing system will provide SW and on-board HW that can accelerate optimised algorithms indispensable for the improvement of on-board compression and therefore enable novel compression paradigms unthinkable of with current technology. The on-board compression directly results in a reduced amount of data to be intermediately stored before downlink to a specific platform or ground station and thus makes it possible to transfer a larger amount of quickly exploitable information on ground.
STORAGE
Current storage capabilities in terms of data access rates and storage capacity not only on nano- and small satellites but also on institutional satellites that otherwise would be insufficient for future high-demanding data-intensive missions (multiple Gbit/s access rates and Tbit capacity required) will be impacted by SOPHOS storage related developments. The capacity to store raw or processed/compressed data is essential and is being taken towards miniaturization. Due to the SOPHOS targeted modular serial link backed architecture, the scaling of size, capacity, access rates and operational storage profiles is achieved beyond current space mass memory implementations. SOPHOS will thus implement a payload processing system, comprising of high-performance processors and even more importantly of high-capacity fast-access mass storage, enabling institutional as well as nano- and small satellites to store raw data or compressed data products while awaiting a transfer window to perform the downlink.
Greater industrial relevance of research actions and output as demonstrated by deeper involvement of industry, including SMEs, and stronger take-up of research results
SOPHOS will ensure greater industrial relevance of research actions and output as demonstrated by deeper involvement of industry, including SMEs, and stronger take-up of research results.
The strong competition within the space industry sets a rapid pace in research, development but also commercialisation of new technologies and products. In this context concrete, relevant and precisely targeted actions are mandatory for European space sector actors willing to maintain their position, and even more important for those targeting new or larger markets.
SOPHOS will combine the complementary competences of SMEs (DSI, TELETEL, Unibap), a Research organisation (DLR) and a university (UZL) in order to provide mature and industrially relevant solutions for a power-efficient high-performance space processing chain fit for cube-, nano- and small satellites as well as institutional satellites.
The project is set up to further strengthen the commercial partnerships among involved parties by developing their portfolios and feeding into the specific business strategies established by each partner in order to penetrate the small satellites market.
SOPHOS is the answer to a specific need of each partner to mature existing technologies that have proven their potential (TRL3/4), demonstrate them in relevant environment, hence bringing them closer to the market. In addition, by bringing improvements to industrial solutions SOPHOS will be able to unfold the entire potential of the addressed technologies outside the space industry. Appropriate means will be chosen in order to reach potential clients.
Strengthening Europe’s position in industrial competitiveness in technologies for Earth observation payloads and missions
STRENGTHEN EUROPEAN COMPETITIVENESS
The competitiveness of the European space industry is based on its ability to provide spacecraft that meet the needs of the customer and other stakeholders at the lowest cost and at a reduced production lead time. Tomorrow’s spacecraft need to be a cube-, nano- or small satellite with highly performant processors, capable to treat and compress data on-board and efficiently transmit it to ground at high data rates. SOPHOS will develop modules and systems with view to create alternatives to non-European ones, including SW and HW, with view to penetrate international market with performance and monetary-wise competitive products.To transfer research results to industry and break the “not-invented-here” barrier, SOPHOS will focus on existing technologies with proven industrial relevance. These have been preselected by each partner based on an analysis of their stakeholder’s needs and the company R&D roadmap, but also in collaboration with all consortium partners in order to ensure that all the links fit into a coherent data chain.
In summary, SOPHOS will contribute to bring closer to market the major links of the tomorrow’s high-speed processing chain, directly improving European current and future competitive advantage on the cube-, nano- and small satellites market.
INDEPENDENCE FROM SINGLE HW VENDORS
In order for the European space industry to establish itself as a leader on the nano-, cube- and small satellites market particular attention must be paid to the price and the performance of the product.
The standardization effort engaged by SOPHOS partners, will also result in the independence from single HW vendors. The project will focus on interchangeability of single processing elements and will integrate a variety of well-selected processing elements into the data chain, while taking into consideration the processing purpose. This practice will prevent dependence from single HW vendors, who could act monopolist alike and hence could take a large share of the economical surplus for the final product. SOPHOS will ensure a better position for negotiation with vendors and lower overall system costs immediately increasing the product competitiveness.
FOSTER LINKS WITH OTHER INDUSTRIES
Through the demonstration of the possibilities of high-performance payload-processing systems through the system design and implementation of heterogeneous space-qualifiable processors SOPHOS will not only radically innovate the on-board processing units, but create a synergy between commercial and space SW developers.
As a results sectors using embedded systems, performing tasks with mixed criticality (e.g. drones for image processing, automotive sector for pedestrian or obstacle detection, etc.) will fully and directly benefit from SOPHOS SW developments.
Furthermore, the use of commercial technologies goes hand in hand with the adoption of related standards, e.g. a processor agnostic programming model for the self-optimising SW libraries. These links can also contribute to the harmonisation of some of SW used on-board and on the ground segment, thus facilitating the treatment of satellite generated information.