Small Satellite Operations Model to Assess Data and Energy Flows

This paper introduces a mathematical model describing the energy and information systems for small satellite mission architectures. We introduce an analytic satellite model, represented by realistic constraints on the available energy, link characteristics, and data and energy storage capacity on-board a small spacecraft. This paper aims to identify the interaction of energy and information flows through the data collection, data processing, and data downlinking modes of operation across the satellite subsystems. Our work augments existing models and tools which quantify network capacity, defined as the information exchange between collections of ground stations and satellites. These models and analyses lay the groundwork for our future goal, to develop optimal scheduling algorithms to maximize the data transfer capacity, where data is transferred from satellites to ground stations within a network. This work develops a toolkit based on analytic modeling to enable network communication analysis using engineering software and a simulation environment. Simulations analyze these exchanges using a representative CubeSat mission with a dedicated science objective. In this initial assessment we aim to quantify the sensitivity of the model to the parameter inputs, and how the satellite design and operation decisions influence the ability to transfer data for small satellites.