An ambitious project is underway in Denmark to forecast the future of the space economy as it is switching from single satellite infrastructures to constellations of affordable small satellites, as network elements inevitably increase in complexity.
2Operate and GomSpace, with Aarhus University, are working together within the MegaMan project, funded by Innovation Fund Denmark, to evaluate how existing telecom standards and existing artificial intelligence (AI) solutions developed for the terrestrial telecom sector can be leveraged to manage future satellite constellations robustly and efficiently.
As part of the collaboration, the partners have successfully evaluated 2Operate’s existing AI-based 2Solve product using the GOMX-4 satellite mission by GomSpace and the Delfini-1 mission by Aarhus University.
The use of 2Solve and AI for satellite constellation management helps reduce the amount of operator hours required to manage satellite constellations by reducing work-load for network monitoring and for root-cause-analysis tasks, as the AI is trained using expert knowledge to automate these tasks. Further, the automation of these functions means that network incidents can be resolved much faster leading to higher availability of the satellite services.
Based on the successful trials, 2Operate and GomSpace have signed an MoU to strengthen the companies’ collaboration and to prepare introduction of the 2Solve AI-capabilities through GomSpace’s Mega-Constellations Operations Platform (MCOP) being introduced by GomSpace’s subsidiary in Luxembourg. 2Operate and GomSpace last week jointly exhibited at the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, showcasing how the application of the 2Solve product applied to satellite mission management
Christian Ingerslev Sørensen, CEO of 2Operate said that it is very exciting for them to see how the lessons learned from the terrestrial telecom sector can boost the uptake of advanced network management solutions for space — and how well their product adapts to the new requirements.
Niels Buus, CEO of GomSpace added that being able to operate satellite constellations 24/7 with the highest availability is a key capability for GomSpace, and being able to integrate proven solutions reduces both risk and required investments.