Autonomy in use for space situation awareness

Abstract

Advancements in artificial intelligence, information communication, and systems design are potential for autonomous systems emerging for space situation awareness (SSA) architectures. Examples of architecture designs are autonomy in motion (AIM) for dynamic data assessment systems (e.g., robotics) and autonomy at rest (AAR) for static data collection systems (e.g., surveillance). However, there is a need for data architectures which are tailored to the SSA missions, which necessitates autonomy in use (AIU). AIU requires pragmatic use of message passing and data flow architectures, contextual and theoretic modeling, and user and information fusion. Information fusion provides methods for data aggregation, correlation, and temporal assessment and awareness. Together, AIU accesses the dynamic data for autonomy in change (AIC), information fusion from AAR in order to make AIM real-time decisions. The paper discusses issues for space situation awareness directions focusing on autonomy in use.