Enabling Cluster Based Architecture for Virtual Platforms and Sensor Webs

Distributed spacecraft systems with enhanced formation flying (EFF) technology for onboard constellation and formation control will enable large numbers of spacecraft to be managed with a minimum of ground support. EFF facilitates a ?virtual platform? concept which lowers total mission risk, increases science data collection and adds considerable mission flexibility. The requirement to act as a unified information system places requirements on the system architecture that go above an beyond what is required for traditional systems. We propose a software based infrastructure that facilitates dependable formation and operation of distributed real-time control systems with several innovations that advance the state of the art in distributed systems technology and sensor webs. These innovations include: 1) cold start algorithms that allow for autonomous, dependable system organization and formation, 2) distributed on-line configuration control, monitoring and health assessment processes that operate in concert across the entire system allowing for coordinated system operation, 3) a multi-level scheduling approach that allows for distributed control elements to be responsive to local events and to participate in system wide coordinated operations and 4) a robust fault/error model that accounts for arbitrary fault/error cases and anomalies, thereby providing superior fault tolerance, particularly for Single event Upsets (SEUs).