Battery-Aware Scheduling in Low Orbit: The GomX–3 Case

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Authors

BISGAARD Morten GERHARDT David HERMANNS Holger KRČÁL Jan NIES Gilles STENGER Marvin

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Proceedings
Conference FM 2016: Formal Methods: 21st International Symposium
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Informatics

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48989-6_34
Field Informatics
Keywords KiBam; nano-satellite; stochastic model
Description When working with space systems the keyword is resources. For a satellite in orbit all resources are sparse and the most critical resource of all is power. It is therefore crucial to have detailed knowledge on how much power is available for an energy harvesting satellite in orbit at every time – especially when in eclipse, where it draws its power from onboard batteries. This paper addresses this problem by a two-step procedure to perform task scheduling for low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellites exploiting formal methods. It combines cost-optimal reachability analyses of priced timed automata networks with a realistic kinetic battery model capable of capturing capacity limits as well as stochastic fluctuations. The procedure is in use for the automatic and resource-optimal day-ahead scheduling of GomX–3, a power-hungry nanosatellite currently orbiting the earth. We explain how this approach has overcome existing problems, has led to improved designs, and has provided new insights.
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