Generic Satellite Monitoring Expert System

Air Force Satellite Operations is undergoing major changes. Operators no longer receive detailed satellite training, instead they are taught basic fundamentals of satellite operations and expected to control multiple multimillion dollar satellites. The need is clear. An efficient and economical automated system is necessary to assist the satellite operator in his daily tasks of maintaining these DOD priority resources. Satellite intelligent controllers been under R&D since the early 1980s to this need. These systems, however, have focused on the control of one constellation of satellites. In a military striving for efficiency and lower costs, developing a unique intelligent controller for each satellite constellation is unaffordable. This research provided support for the concept of a generic satellite intelligent controller, through the development of a prototype expert system. This capability would allow a generic rule-base to operate and maintain multiple satellite systems. The initial prototype detected anomalies on one subsystem of two different satellites. After the third satellite prototype was created, a third satellite was analyzed to show support for the viability of the satellite prototype. More research is necessary, but this thesis has created support for the concept of generic satellite controller and has laid the foundation for future extensions