An intelligent, onboard signal processing payload concept

Our approach to onboard processing will enable a quicker return and improved quality of processed data from small, remote-sensing satellites. We describe an intelligent payload concept which processes RF lightning signal data onboard the spacecraft in a power-aware manner. Presently, onboard processing is severely curtailed due to the conventional management of limited resources and power-unaware payload designs. Delays of days to weeks are commonly experienced before raw data is received, processed into a human-usable format, and finally transmitted to the end-user. We enable this resource-critical technology of onboard processing through the concept of Algorithm Power Modulation (APM). APM is a decision process used to execute a specific software algorithm, from a suite of possible algorithms, to make the best use of the available power. The suite of software algorithms chosen for our application is intended to reduce the probability of false alarms through postprocessing. Each algorithm however also has a cost in energy usage. A heuristic decision tree procedure is used which selects an algorithm based on the available power, time allocated, algorithm priority, and algorithm performance. We demonstrate our approach to power-aware onboard processing through a preliminary software simulation