Max Pastena - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Max Pastena
This presentation aims to provide an overview of the required preparatory steps for an effective ... more This presentation aims to provide an overview of the required preparatory steps for an effective deployment of AI at the edge for Earth Observation mission. It is based primarily on the lessons learnt from Phisat-1, an enhancement of the Federated Satellite Systems (FSSCat) mission. Launched in September 2020, it was the first experiment to demonstrate how AI can be used for Earth observation. More specifically, an AI inference engine for cloud detection has been demonstrated thanks to an Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU). In this presentation, we will also introduce the capabilities of the planned Phisat-2 mission (with Multispectral EO sensor with 7-bands in VNIR range).<br> <br> More specifically, we will also address the following topics in this presentation:<br> - An analysis of the need for AI@edge is provided starting from end–user requirements. The AI methodologies (for instance mainly Deep Neural Network) being mostly supervised techn...
Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE), 2017, 2017
Acta Astronautica, 2000
SMART (Scientific Microsatellite for Advanced Research and Technology) is a project of the two Un... more SMART (Scientific Microsatellite for Advanced Research and Technology) is a project of the two Universities of Naples, financed by Regione Campania, aimed at designing and developing a multi-mission microsatellite for remote sensing applications. Since remote sensing ...
Acta Astronautica, 2000
ABSTRACT
Acta Astronautica, 2003
ABSTRACT
2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium IGARSS, 2021
FSSCat, the “Federated Satellite Systems/3Cat-5” mission was the winner of the 2017 ESA S^3 (Sent... more FSSCat, the “Federated Satellite Systems/3Cat-5” mission was the winner of the 2017 ESA S^3 (Sentinel Small Satellite) Challenge and overall winner of the Copernicus Masters competition. FSSCat consists of two 6 unit cubesats carrying on board UPC's Flexible Microwave Payload - 2 (FMPL-2), an L-band microwave radiometer and GNSS-Reflectometer implemented in a software defined radio, and Cosine's HyperScout-2 visible and near infrared + thermal infrared hyperspectral imager, enhanced with PhiSat-1, a on board Artificial intelligence experiment for cloud detection. Both spacecrafts include optical and UHF inter-satellite links technology demonstrators, provided by Golbriak Space and UPC, respectively. This paper describes the mission, and the main scientific results of the FMPL-2 obtained during the first three months of the mission, notably the sea ice concentration and thickness, and the downscaled soil moisture products over the Northern hemisphere.
Following the success of the first -Sat mission, in 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) announ... more Following the success of the first -Sat mission, in 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the opportunity to present CubeSat-based ideas for the -Sat-2 mission as part of its initiative to promote the development of radically innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities onboard Earth Observation (EO) missions. Open Cosmos and CGI submitted a joint proposal for the -Sat-2 mission idea, which takes advantage of the latest research and developments in the European ecosystem. The proposed mission idea is a game-changing EO CubeSat capable of running AI Apps that can be developed, easily deployed on the spacecraft and updated during flight operations. The AI Apps can be operated from ground using a simple user interface. This approach allows continuous improvement of the AI model parameters using the very same images acquired by the satellite. The mission takes advantage of the latest research for mission operations of CubeSats and use the NanoSat MO Framework, a framework for small satellites that allows software to be deployed in space as simple Apps, in a similar fashion to Android apps. This framework was previously demonstrated in ESA's OPS-SAT mission, and supports the orchestration of on-board Apps. It fully decouples the App features from the underlying on-board hardware via an abstraction layer API in the form of services. Additionally, it includes a Software Development Kit with demo Apps, development tools, and tutorials to facilitate the development of Apps. By decoupling the data platform from the Apps, it is possible to distribute the development of specialized AI Apps to different partners within the -Sat-2 mission consortium. The mission will include a set of default AI Apps that will be able to do vessel detection, high compression of images, and roadmap transformation from satellite imagery. The framework allows more than just the set of default Apps and so, third-party Apps can be included on later stages of the mission lifecycle. This paper will present the NanoSat MO Framework, introduce the AI Apps that are part of the -Sat-2 mission, and how the free and opensource framework enables the creation of software-defined satellite missions via on-board Apps.
The microsatellite project of the Universities of Naples (SMART) is aimed for the design and deve... more The microsatellite project of the Universities of Naples (SMART) is aimed for the design and development of a small size and mass satellite, but with all functionality foreseen for larger ones. This led to the design of a 28V, fully-regulated bus. Voltage control logic is based on a shunt regulator, which requires a minimum power consumption of 2W. In order to attain 28V for the whole orbit a DC/DC converter is used as battery discharge regulator. On the other hand, battery charge is carried out at constant current. 1.
This paper presents the background, capabilities and opportunities of a smallsat miniSAR, a novel... more This paper presents the background, capabilities and opportunities of a smallsat miniSAR, a novel and low-cost solution for Synthetic Aperture Radar from space. The paper focuses on a solution based on low power SAR principles (FMCW/iFMCW), already proven in airborne SAR applications, that can be embarked on a commercially affordable small satellite. The system architecture is presented, showing how features such as modularity, reliability, low power and low mass are achieved to provide a low-cost end-to-end solution. Also the “new space” approach adopted in the development of the smallsat miniSAR is addressed. INTRODUCTION The SSBV Aerospace and Technology Group is a Dutch-owned group of SME’s with 28 years of experience in the space industry. SSBV adopts a product-based engineering and development approach to design and provide component, subsystem and system solutions. The SSBV portfolio covers a full scope of EGSE, TTC and High-Rate Ground Station Solutions, smallsat sensors and...
ESA Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESA-EOP) have seized the opportunity to support ... more ESA Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESA-EOP) have seized the opportunity to support the development of small and nano-satellites to complement the EOP scientific and application-driven flagship missions. These developments include new science driven missions and constellations which enable a significant increase in temporal resolution leading to new applications. This paper presents an overview of the NewSpace paradigm, describes the overall ESA-EOP small mission strategy and provides a brief insight into some of the small satellites being developed at ESA across three programmatic lines: Scout Missions, Φ-sat Missions and the Investing in Industrial Innovation (InCubed) Programme. The paper focuses on optical missions.
The “New Space” paradigm, has enabled the creation of many new opportunities in the space sector ... more The “New Space” paradigm, has enabled the creation of many new opportunities in the space sector like the development of a large number of missions based on small and nano-satellites. The European Space Agency (ESA) is supporting these new development approaches and technology advancements, including use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components to enable missions based on small and nano satellites. ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes Directorate (ESA-EOP) is already involved not only in the implementation of technologies exploiting the capabilities offered by small and nano-satellites as a complement to the EOP scientific and application-driven flagship satellites, but also in the quick validation of new approaches like A.I, super resolution or more in general in orbit data processing. ESA-EOP developments in the area of small and nano satellites are spread in three different programmatic lines, each with its own objectives: Scout and F-sat Missions and the InCubed Programme. Th...
A stellar gyroscope is a star based attitude propagator that is capable of propagating a spacecra... more A stellar gyroscope is a star based attitude propagator that is capable of propagating a spacecraft’s attitude in three degrees of freedom by tracking the motion of the stars in an imager's field of view. The modeling and algorithm development has been done by the Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. This paper discusses a realization of the stellar gyroscope concept on a CubeSat attitude determination and control system (ADCS) designed by SSBV Space & Ground Systems UK. The stellar gyroscope can be used to measure attitude changes from a known initial condition without drift while sufficient stars are common across frames, because absolute attitude changes are measured and not angular rates. Algorithms to perform the star detection, correspondence, and attitude propagation are presented in this paper. The Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) approach is applied to the correspondence problem which is challenging due to spurious false-star detections, missed stars,...
This presentation aims to provide an overview of the required preparatory steps for an effective ... more This presentation aims to provide an overview of the required preparatory steps for an effective deployment of AI at the edge for Earth Observation mission. It is based primarily on the lessons learnt from Phisat-1, an enhancement of the Federated Satellite Systems (FSSCat) mission. Launched in September 2020, it was the first experiment to demonstrate how AI can be used for Earth observation. More specifically, an AI inference engine for cloud detection has been demonstrated thanks to an Intel® Movidius™ Myriad™ 2 Vision Processing Unit (VPU). In this presentation, we will also introduce the capabilities of the planned Phisat-2 mission (with Multispectral EO sensor with 7-bands in VNIR range).<br> <br> More specifically, we will also address the following topics in this presentation:<br> - An analysis of the need for AI@edge is provided starting from end–user requirements. The AI methodologies (for instance mainly Deep Neural Network) being mostly supervised techn...
Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE), 2017, 2017
Acta Astronautica, 2000
SMART (Scientific Microsatellite for Advanced Research and Technology) is a project of the two Un... more SMART (Scientific Microsatellite for Advanced Research and Technology) is a project of the two Universities of Naples, financed by Regione Campania, aimed at designing and developing a multi-mission microsatellite for remote sensing applications. Since remote sensing ...
Acta Astronautica, 2000
ABSTRACT
Acta Astronautica, 2003
ABSTRACT
2021 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium IGARSS, 2021
FSSCat, the “Federated Satellite Systems/3Cat-5” mission was the winner of the 2017 ESA S^3 (Sent... more FSSCat, the “Federated Satellite Systems/3Cat-5” mission was the winner of the 2017 ESA S^3 (Sentinel Small Satellite) Challenge and overall winner of the Copernicus Masters competition. FSSCat consists of two 6 unit cubesats carrying on board UPC's Flexible Microwave Payload - 2 (FMPL-2), an L-band microwave radiometer and GNSS-Reflectometer implemented in a software defined radio, and Cosine's HyperScout-2 visible and near infrared + thermal infrared hyperspectral imager, enhanced with PhiSat-1, a on board Artificial intelligence experiment for cloud detection. Both spacecrafts include optical and UHF inter-satellite links technology demonstrators, provided by Golbriak Space and UPC, respectively. This paper describes the mission, and the main scientific results of the FMPL-2 obtained during the first three months of the mission, notably the sea ice concentration and thickness, and the downscaled soil moisture products over the Northern hemisphere.
Following the success of the first -Sat mission, in 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) announ... more Following the success of the first -Sat mission, in 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the opportunity to present CubeSat-based ideas for the -Sat-2 mission as part of its initiative to promote the development of radically innovative technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities onboard Earth Observation (EO) missions. Open Cosmos and CGI submitted a joint proposal for the -Sat-2 mission idea, which takes advantage of the latest research and developments in the European ecosystem. The proposed mission idea is a game-changing EO CubeSat capable of running AI Apps that can be developed, easily deployed on the spacecraft and updated during flight operations. The AI Apps can be operated from ground using a simple user interface. This approach allows continuous improvement of the AI model parameters using the very same images acquired by the satellite. The mission takes advantage of the latest research for mission operations of CubeSats and use the NanoSat MO Framework, a framework for small satellites that allows software to be deployed in space as simple Apps, in a similar fashion to Android apps. This framework was previously demonstrated in ESA's OPS-SAT mission, and supports the orchestration of on-board Apps. It fully decouples the App features from the underlying on-board hardware via an abstraction layer API in the form of services. Additionally, it includes a Software Development Kit with demo Apps, development tools, and tutorials to facilitate the development of Apps. By decoupling the data platform from the Apps, it is possible to distribute the development of specialized AI Apps to different partners within the -Sat-2 mission consortium. The mission will include a set of default AI Apps that will be able to do vessel detection, high compression of images, and roadmap transformation from satellite imagery. The framework allows more than just the set of default Apps and so, third-party Apps can be included on later stages of the mission lifecycle. This paper will present the NanoSat MO Framework, introduce the AI Apps that are part of the -Sat-2 mission, and how the free and opensource framework enables the creation of software-defined satellite missions via on-board Apps.
The microsatellite project of the Universities of Naples (SMART) is aimed for the design and deve... more The microsatellite project of the Universities of Naples (SMART) is aimed for the design and development of a small size and mass satellite, but with all functionality foreseen for larger ones. This led to the design of a 28V, fully-regulated bus. Voltage control logic is based on a shunt regulator, which requires a minimum power consumption of 2W. In order to attain 28V for the whole orbit a DC/DC converter is used as battery discharge regulator. On the other hand, battery charge is carried out at constant current. 1.
This paper presents the background, capabilities and opportunities of a smallsat miniSAR, a novel... more This paper presents the background, capabilities and opportunities of a smallsat miniSAR, a novel and low-cost solution for Synthetic Aperture Radar from space. The paper focuses on a solution based on low power SAR principles (FMCW/iFMCW), already proven in airborne SAR applications, that can be embarked on a commercially affordable small satellite. The system architecture is presented, showing how features such as modularity, reliability, low power and low mass are achieved to provide a low-cost end-to-end solution. Also the “new space” approach adopted in the development of the smallsat miniSAR is addressed. INTRODUCTION The SSBV Aerospace and Technology Group is a Dutch-owned group of SME’s with 28 years of experience in the space industry. SSBV adopts a product-based engineering and development approach to design and provide component, subsystem and system solutions. The SSBV portfolio covers a full scope of EGSE, TTC and High-Rate Ground Station Solutions, smallsat sensors and...
ESA Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESA-EOP) have seized the opportunity to support ... more ESA Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes (ESA-EOP) have seized the opportunity to support the development of small and nano-satellites to complement the EOP scientific and application-driven flagship missions. These developments include new science driven missions and constellations which enable a significant increase in temporal resolution leading to new applications. This paper presents an overview of the NewSpace paradigm, describes the overall ESA-EOP small mission strategy and provides a brief insight into some of the small satellites being developed at ESA across three programmatic lines: Scout Missions, Φ-sat Missions and the Investing in Industrial Innovation (InCubed) Programme. The paper focuses on optical missions.
The “New Space” paradigm, has enabled the creation of many new opportunities in the space sector ... more The “New Space” paradigm, has enabled the creation of many new opportunities in the space sector like the development of a large number of missions based on small and nano-satellites. The European Space Agency (ESA) is supporting these new development approaches and technology advancements, including use of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components to enable missions based on small and nano satellites. ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes Directorate (ESA-EOP) is already involved not only in the implementation of technologies exploiting the capabilities offered by small and nano-satellites as a complement to the EOP scientific and application-driven flagship satellites, but also in the quick validation of new approaches like A.I, super resolution or more in general in orbit data processing. ESA-EOP developments in the area of small and nano satellites are spread in three different programmatic lines, each with its own objectives: Scout and F-sat Missions and the InCubed Programme. Th...
A stellar gyroscope is a star based attitude propagator that is capable of propagating a spacecra... more A stellar gyroscope is a star based attitude propagator that is capable of propagating a spacecraft’s attitude in three degrees of freedom by tracking the motion of the stars in an imager's field of view. The modeling and algorithm development has been done by the Space Systems Laboratory at the University of Kentucky. This paper discusses a realization of the stellar gyroscope concept on a CubeSat attitude determination and control system (ADCS) designed by SSBV Space & Ground Systems UK. The stellar gyroscope can be used to measure attitude changes from a known initial condition without drift while sufficient stars are common across frames, because absolute attitude changes are measured and not angular rates. Algorithms to perform the star detection, correspondence, and attitude propagation are presented in this paper. The Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) approach is applied to the correspondence problem which is challenging due to spurious false-star detections, missed stars,...