Inter-Satellite Communication Blockchain Study Funded by NASA
NASA has funded a study to explore the use of blockchain technology to make inter-satellite communication more secure and efficient.
The agency has awarded a $124,817 contract to Orbit Logic and the Fraunhofer USA Center for Experimental Software Engineering to develop a solution called SCRAMBL (Space Communication Reconstruction and Mapping with Blockchain Ledgering). The system will "leverage blockchain technology to store and distribute a ledger containing satellite constellation-relevant shared data to enable satellite onboard autonomy cooperative attendance of individual assets to system-level needs and objectives," according to the contract announcement.
The ledger contains an inventory of established communication paths based on spacecraft-published connection state changes, but more importantly hosts events, states, objectives and plans that constitute a Common Relevant Operating Picture (CROP) – key to enabling a space network’s coordination and overall awareness.
When paired with Orbit Logic’s Autonomous Planning System (APS) solution (already developed and proven on high-fidelity testbeds), SCRAMBL will allow the constellation as a whole to achieve greater overall system utility using agent-supported asset teaming strategies.
The underlying blockchain algorithm to be developed in this research will routinely evaluate and recompose the system networking graph so that any one spacecraft node may determine the most effective method of routing a message to any other node. The dynamic network adaptiveness of SCRAMBL will naturally route around spacecraft communication disruptions and disconnections.
The space-specific algorithms to be developed under this research topic will be lightweight and tailored toward efficient execution on the resource constrained computing elements used on satellites. The network path routing optimizations performed will scale well as the constellation is grown, dynamically adapting to the future addition of assets (late joiners).
The technology has several potential uses, according to NASA. They include:
Earth-observing science
astronomy
interplanetary missions
planetary exploration.
This blockchain communication solution also has uses for aerial vehicles (quadcopter swarms) where common operational awareness is needed throughout and communication is minimal due to environmental factors.
(Source: NASA. Image from file)