Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Tuesday, March 19, 2024

‘Wireless-in-Space’ Test Could Help Launch Sensor Nets 

Big thinkers with deep pockets like uber-entrepreneur Elon Musk want to bring wireless connectivity to the masses by launching satellite Internet constellations. Given technical issues like latency and the need to launch thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit to overcome those latency problems while still providing sufficient coverage, a space Internet remains a long shot.

Still, NASA is increasingly interested in using wireless sensor networks in space, initially as a way to monitor the performance of machines launched into space. In one upcoming test, it will use Zigbee wireless links to monitor the performance of a "de-orbiting," or re-entry technology called "Exo-Brake."

The tests could also have implications for machine-to-machine (M2M) networks back on Earth that provide the foundation of an emerging Internet of Things. While there is no shortage of "things" to connect, including sensors and mobile devices, actually linking all this stuff remains a major hurdle.

Networking remains the weak link for the IoT. Wireless technologies are one promising approach for linking devices.

The space agency will provide a test bed for gauging the effectiveness of Zigbee technology when it launches another Sub-Orbital Aerodynamic Re-Entry Experiments, or SOAREX, payload from NASA's Wallop Island Flight Facility. The eighth launch in the series is scheduled for July 7.

The re-entry payload equipped with Zigbee wireless modules supplied by Digi International (Minnetonka, Minn.) will be launched to an altitude of about 250 miles. As part of a five-node wireless network, the Zigbee modules will be used to monitor the Exo-Brake technology that works like a parachute at extremely high speed and low air pressures.

The wireless network will be used to monitor re-entry performance data, including three-axis acceleration parameters along with temperature and air pressure. Payload avionics will relay the performance data captured by the Zigbee modules to Earth via an Iridium satellite. (Iridium launched a satellite phone service in the late 1990s and has recently been promoting the space network for M2M applications.)

XBee said this week its modules would be used to create the wireless sensor data network for the Exo-Brake experiment. The network will be used to transfer the data to the Iridium uplink.

The Exo-Brake test is part of a larger NASA "wireless-in-space" effort designed to determine whether Zigbee and other wireless networking technologies could be used to augment traditional wiring. For spaceflight, wireless technologies could help reduce weight by limiting cabling. Weight savings translate into greater payload capacity.

For the nascent IoT, the NASA tests also could help determine the effectiveness of commercial products like Zigbee and other wireless network technologies in connecting sensors, devices and machines.

Whether incremental steps like space-based wireless connections are able to fill the gaps in projected space Internet networks remains to be seen. Still, it is telling that space-based communications network pioneers like Iridium are pitching their networks as M2M platforms that could be used to connect sensor or data networks.

About the author: George Leopold

George Leopold has written about science and technology for more than 30 years, focusing on electronics and aerospace technology. He previously served as executive editor of Electronic Engineering Times. Leopold is the author of "Calculated Risk: The Supersonic Life and Times of Gus Grissom" (Purdue University Press, 2016).

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