ESTRACK Planning System

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ESTRACK Planning System

• M. Niézette, M. Götzelmann VEGA IT GmbH
• G.P. Calzolari ESOC
• 8th November 2005

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Overview

• ESTRACK
• ESA Tracking Network
• ESTRACK Evolution
• ESTRACK Management Scheduling System
• EMS Process Model
• EMS Components
• EMS Physical Interfaces
• ESTRACK Planning System
• Planning Approach Summary
• User Interaction with EPS
• Mission Agreement
• ESTRACK Management Plan
• Network Service Allocation
• EPS Implementation Approach to Re-Use
• Conclusions and Future Work

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ESTRACK ESA Tracking Network Overview
Kiruna, Sweden
Maspalomas, Canary Island, Spain
Cebreros Villafranca, Spain
Redu, Belgium
Kourou, French Guyana
New Norcia Perth, Australia
Malindi, Kenya
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ESTRACK Evolution

• Yesterday
• Ground stations were almost exclusively dedicated
  to a given ESA mission
• Ground stations were operated locally
• Today
• ESTRACK is constantly growing in size, capability
  and complexity
• Ground stations are remotely operated on a
  routine basis
• Ground stations are supporting multiple missions,
  within and outside ESA
• Users requests are evolving from direct request
  of specific facilities to more generic tracking
  service requirements
• Tomorrow
• The level of cross-support will increase
• The load of the network will continue to grow
• A new network management and scheduling
  operational concept is required

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ESTRACK Management Scheduling System

EMS
Non ESA Agency
EMS Users
Interaction with Users
Interaction with External Providers
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EMS Components

EMS
ESTRACK Coordination System
Monitoring of plan execution and coordination of
facilities
PLANNING PRODUCTS
EMS Planning System
Planning of ESTRACK utilisation
EMS Scheduling Systen
Generation of schedules for execution by
facilities
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EMS Physical Interfaces
Flight Dynamics
EMS User

Mission Planning
EMS
ESTRACK Planning System
Planning Products
Format Converter
File Server
Proxy
External Provider (scheduling office)
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Planning Approach Summary

• Static Mission Requirements specified by the
  Mission Agreement
• User Service Definition specifies the required
  operational services
• Standing Order specifies when and how services
  shall be provided in a generic manner
• Dynamic Input provided by Event Files
• Flight Dynamic Events
• Mission Events
• ESTRACK Management Plan (EMP)
• Identifies Service Sessions (ground station
  mission)
• Periodically updated
• Different views available via filters
• Interaction with the EMP
• Order Refinement
• Service Session Commitment
• Service Session Refinement

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User Interaction with EPS

EMS User
EPS
Preparation
Mission Agreement Establishment
Operations
Network Service Allocation
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Mission Agreement Establishment

ESTRACK Services are only provided in the
framework of a Mission Agreement.
EPS Configuration Database
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ESTRACK Service Allocation Requirements

• One pass from AOS to LOS of a minimum duration
  per orbit (e.g. Envisat)
• Maximum continuous contact per orbit, with
  mandatory contact in a time period between two
  events specified for each orbit, and minimum
  hand-over duration (e.g. XMM, INTG)
• Maximum/Minimum total contact duration and number
  of passes within a period, with minimum pass
  duration (e.g. SMART-1)
• Maximum coverage for a constellation in case of
  conflict between several S/C for the visibility
  of the same GS, the duration of the contact with
  the first S/C visible from the GS is maximized
  (e.g. CLUSTER)

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User Services Definitions and Standing Orders

User Service Mission ENVISAT
User Service Definition ServiceTM
Planning Directive Priority1
Standing Order Once every orbit
Constraint Not less than 10 minutes
User Service Definition ServiceTC
Constraint Station Visible
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HP Network Service Allocation Requirements

• Lunar occultation periods have to be avoided.
• The minimum pass duration is 3-hour for Herschel,
  selected from within the physical station
  visibility.
• The minimum pass duration is 3-hour for Planck,
  selected from within the physical station
  visibility.
• The separation of passes should be 24 hours /-
  30 minutes.
• The minimum pass elevation should be 10.
• Herschel and Planck passes should be scheduled
  within a period of 8 hours. It is expected a
  ground station reconfigure time between
  spacecrafts of less than 30 minutes, including
  the pre-pass test.
• The order Herschel-Planck or Planck-Herschel
  should be retained until a change is requested.
• During some periods, due to the load on the NNO
  station it may be required to support one of the
  HP spacecrafts from Cebreros. The selection of
  the SC supported by Cebreros should be maintained
  for the full duration of the contention period.

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Event Files

Flight Dynamics
EPS
Mission Planning
EPS
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Planning Policies

• At least one standing order must be implemented
  for each mission and each user service
• No global optimisation is required
• No alternative solutions are proposed to the user
• The planning process shall maximise the coverage
  by each station and minimise the number of
  station handover activities in the plan
• If no solution can be found the operator can
• enable degraded service definitions / standing
  order pairs
• modify constraints to find a solution

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ESTRACK Management Plan

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Network Service Allocation

EMS User
EMS
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EPS Implementation Approach to Re-use

Code Re-Use
Design Re-Use
EKLOPS
EGOSComponents
EMSPrototype
LMPStudy
EPS
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EKLOPS A Library for Mission Planning

• Libraries of configurable C components
• Supports the planning of operations and
  generation of executable schedules for various
  targets (spacecraft, stations, personnel)
• Available on UNIX (Solaris and LINUX)

Requests Implementation
Ref. Orb. TL Generation



Requests Selection

Links Selection Rule

Switches Selection Rule

Visibility

Requests

Links

Switches

Time

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Conclusions and Future Work

• The new ESTRACK management and scheduling
  concept introduces the ESTRACK Management and
  Scheduling System (EMS) as part of EGOS
• EMS will ultimately include three components, the
  ESTRACK Planning System, the ESTRACK Scheduling
  System, and the ESTRACK Coordination System
• The concept requires a formalization of the
  mission requirements for each mission in mission
  agreements
• The architectural design and development of the
  EPS started in September 2005, and will be
  completed within 13 months