Advances in Sensor Webs for NASA Earth Science Missions
Abstract
The world is slowly evolving into a web of interconnected sensors. Innovations such as camera phones that upload directly to the internet, networked devices with built-in GPS chips, traffic sensors, and the wireless networks that connect these devices are transforming our society. Similar advances are occurring in science sensors at NASA. NASA developed autonomy software has demonstrated the potential for space missions to use onboard decision-making to detect, analyze, and respond to science events. This software has also enabled NASA satellites to coordinate with other satellites and ground sensors to form an autonomous sensor web. A vision for NASA sensor webs for Earth science is to enable "on-demand sensing of a broad array of environmental and ecological phenomena across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, from a heterogeneous suite of sensors both in-situ and in orbit." Several technologies for improved autonomous science and sensor webs are being developed at NASA. Each of these technologies advances the state of the art in sensorwebs in different areas including enabling model interactions with sensorwebs, smart autonomous sensors, and sensorweb communications. Enabling model interactions in sensor webs is focused on the creation and management of new sensor web enabled information products. Specifically, the format of these data products and the sensor webs that use them must be standardized so that sensor web components can more easily communicate with each other. This standardization will allow new components such as models and simulations to be included within sensor webs. Smart sensing implies sophistication in the sensors themselves. The goal of smart sensing is to enable autonomous event detection and reconfiguration. This may include onboard processing, self-healing sensors, and self-identifying sensors. The goal of communication enhancements, especially session layer management, is to support dialog control for autonomous operations involving sensors and data processing and/or modeling entities. These technologies may include antenna for tracking dynamic sensors, autonomous networks and protocols that can distribute data communication tasks among the sensors and control the flow of data, transmission schemes that optimize bandwidth use, and distributed data storage devices. Demonstration of these sensorweb capabilities will enable fast responding science campaigns of both spaceborne and ground assets. These sensor webs will be operated directly by scientists using science goals to control their instruments.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFMIN11A0096S
- Keywords:
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- 9805 Instruments useful in three or more fields;
- 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields