SBIR Phase I: Multi-Sensor 12U Spacecraft with On-Board Data Fusion and Processing

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to enable a new generation of small satellites to aid many essential functions ranging from environmental management and law enforcement to natural disaster evaluation and urban studies, improving forestry and agricultural yields, oil and gas pipeline inspection, emissions and marine pollution monitoring, land-use surveys and planning, and a host of other commercial, industrial, environmental and humanitarian use-cases. The technology will enable access to a $10B addressable market of new space applications. The proposed project will develop a new approach to small satellite constellation operations through integrated on-board data fusion and processing. The technology is a first-of-its-kind, high payload volume bus closely coupled with image processing and object detection techniques based on neural net technologies. This is a deeply layered approach that create “edge-intelligence” on the satellite itself. This project will: 1) use building detection as a notional example to demonstrate a proof-of-concept deep learning system fusing data from multiple sources (in this case, visible RGB and short wave infra-red imagery); 2) assess the performance and compatibility of the data fusion and processing algorithms on a low size, weight and power (SWaP) processor customized for space-based applications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.