| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/C546318/1 |
| Title: |
ESPACENET: Evolvable Networks of Intell't & Secure Integrated & Dist'd Reconfigurable System-On-Chip Sensor Nodes for A'space Based Monitoring & Diag' |
| Principal Investigator: |
Arslan, Professor T |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Sch of Engineering |
| Organisation: |
University of Edinburgh |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 December 2005 |
Ends: |
31 May 2009 |
Value (£): |
503,208
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Electronic Devices & Subsys. |
Networks & Distributed Systems |
| System on Chip |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
Communications |
| Electronics |
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| Related Grants: |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Technology advances have made it possible to deploy ad-hoc and flexible networks with some small, lightweight, low-cost network elements, called PicoNodes, also referred to sometimes as networks of integrated and distributed sensor platform nodes. These nodes are associated with very restrictive constraints such as: smaller than one cubic centimetre, weigh less than 100 grams, have ultra-low power consumption and low cost. Typically a network with hundreds of these devices will be used in each application. Potential uses of such devices are unlimited; example applications of these networks in terrestrial systems are microclimate control in buildings, environmental monitoring, home automation, distributed monitoring of factory plants or chemical processes, interactive museums, personalization and more.This proposal targets the development of flexible and intelligent embedded networked systems for aerospace applications. Future spacecrafts are envisioned as highly miniaturized, autonomous, and intelligent space micro-systems. There is a pressing need for networked miniaturised picosatellite nodes based on wireless sensors, which could be used in forming constellations as well as for on-board monitoring and diagnostics. Picosatellites offer new space architectures that are based on large (hundreds-to-thousands) numbers of individual spacecrafts. One of the most interesting applications of pico-satellite constellations are virtual satellite missions, which could give rise to a new approach to building large spacecraft that is much more cost-effective and flexible. Pico-satellite constellations could provide continuous Earth coverage for communications or Earth imaging at low cost. They can also provide widely-dispersed monitoring of the space environment, e.g. magnetic field measurements. Finally, multiple spacecrafts can operate together to simulate large (greater than a kilometer) apertures through coherent beam combining to create highly-directional antenna gain patterns for radio astronomy, high bandwidth communications, or multi-static radar. Pico-satellite constellations can also play a role in interplanetary applications. Global constellations can be placed around the Moon, Mars and other planets or asteroids to provide continuous communications for multiple low-powered surface vehicles, timing signals for a planetary positioning system, or medium-resolution planetary imaging with short revisit times located at various altitudes from earth for tasks such as monitoring environmental conditions around planet earth or other planets.The project aims to carry out a comprehensive, holistic and concurrent research into the design of intelligent sensor network architectures for high performance systems targeting applications where low power and high data rates are of prime importance. In our investigation we will consider targeting these networks for aerospace applications (as above) where various populations of nodes/agents exist in cells of varying density. These cells will consist of complete System on Chip (SoC) devices with various sensing elements together with various DSP/micro-processors, and driver capability in order to deal with the information processed by a given node. In addition the research also targets to study how to design algorithms and low power reconfigurable hardware architectures which can concurrently drive both network and hardware resources in order to solve diagnostic and monitoring problems effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, the project will involve the fabrication of real sensors used in aerospace applications and use data from real sensors in order to refine the accuracy and the efficiency of the algorithms used at higher levels.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.ed.ac.uk |