Developing Responsive and Agile Space Systems - Space-Library

Program 1 Program 2
Group A
P3
P4
Group B
P5
P6
P7
P8
Group C
P9
P10
Mission-specific
frameworks
Common services
Common tools
Standard communications infrastructure
(standard command and control interfaces, messaging, and data formats)
Enterprise command
and control framework
A framework is the common hardware and software system architecture that an
enterprise is built upon. A framework selectively constrains system design for
specific missions, and can be created as a service-oriented architecture, netcentric,
bus-based, object-oriented, or any combination of these or any other architecture.
Here, mission-specific frameworks and enterprise command and control frameworks
are grouped with various programs, common services, and common tools.
The Aerospace Corporation’s Ground
Systems Laboratory in Chantilly, Virginia,
has been working closely with SMC’s Satellite
Control and Network Systems Group
and the ORS Office on these projects.
Aerospace has concluded from initial studies
that the concept of a compatible command
and control framework is technically
viable for Air Force satellite tracking, telemetry,
and commanding operations.
History of Air Force Satellite
Command and Control
The Air Force Satellite Control Network
(AFSCN) is a network of ground remote
tracking stations and control nodes that
support the launch, command, and control
of various national security space assets.
The two operational control nodes, located
at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado
Springs and Onizuka Air Force Station in
Sunnyvale, California, provide the communication
relays and resource management
that enable the satellite operations centers
to interact with remote tracking stations
around the globe. The operational control
nodes at Schriever and Onizuka started as
dedicated ground systems for processing
mission data and state-of-health data; they
were based on IBM mainframe technologies
developed in the 1970s. In the 1980s,
AFSCN started using a common system
architecture for satellite telemetry, tracking,
and command. This architecture, originally
known as the Data Systems Modernization,
eventually became known as the
Command and Control Segment. The Air
Force achieved early successes with this
architecture, which eventually spread to
multiple satellite programs. However, each
program still had to employ mission-unique
functions on the common architecture, and
these became difficult and expensive to
maintain or upgrade as more advanced satellites
came online.
In the 1990s, the Air Force attempted
to replace the Command and Control
Segment with the Standardized Satellite
Air Force Satellite
Control Network
Planning and
scheduling
Schedule
requests/
allocation
Contact
schedules
Disk
Mission
scheduling
functions
Resource allocation
Contact planning
Crew scheduling
Remote
tracking
station
visibility
A typical satellite operations information
cycle. One portion of the information
cycle for satellite operations includes the
continuous stream of tracking data from
daily satellite contacts that is needed by
orbit management personnel to determine
future satellite position information.
In turn, this position information is used to
determine AFSCN tracking station service
opportunities in the future that mission
planning personnel use to schedule satellite
contacts that accomplish specific satellite
mission and maintenance functions.
The cycle repeats as each planned satellite
contact is executed by satellite operators
performing telemetry analysis and commanding
functions that, in turn, generate
new tracking information.
Air Force Satellite
Control Network
Communications
Telemetry and
commanding
functions
Crew procedures
Telemetry and
command processing
Front-end processors
Orbit
management
functions
Orbit determination
Tracking station
visibility predictions
Maneuver planning
Tracking data
Crosslink Summer 2009 • 25