Heterogeneous control and data split network for precision formation flying of distributed spacecraft

Abstract

In order to support Precision Formation Flying (PFF) mission, distributed spacecraft requires inter-satellites communication links with reliable and efficient performance. An optimized Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is used to provide high-quality broadband service with high reliability and system capacity. It separates the whole network into two sub-networks, including a control sub-network in mesh architecture for time-critical control messages, and a data sub-network in Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) architecture for high speed data messages. In this paper, an event-driven Medium Access Control (E-MAC) protocol for control sub-network to deal with PFF high priority messages is proposed. E-MAC protocol is based on the event-driven mechanism: spacecraft adjust the contention parameters to the arrival of primary events and secondary events. Analysis and simulation results indicate that the proposed E-MAC protocol can achieve real-time ability as well as spectrum and energy efficiency.