SBIR-STTR Award

Operating just one instance of a large satellite sensor platform requires a sizable team of AF operators, analysts and strategists. This labor-intensive approach to managing a single satellite system is not scalable or practical for operating sensor platforms that are implemented across swarms of satellites. Future AF/SMC missions must minimize overhead associated with any tasks that are not the primary function of a sensor platform. To augment mission resiliency, reduce costs, shorten design cycles and streamline mission deployment, strategists are exploring Low Earth Orbit proliferated satellite constellations with smaller satellite-swarm-based-sensor implementations. Operating a swarm-based-sensor platform requires onboard capabilities to monitor and autonomously adapt to evolving operating conditions, component, subsystem and system degradation and failures, all without ground intervention. To support this goal Lucid Circuit proposes to develop Self-Healing & Autonomous Reconstitution for the Combat Cloud (SHARC), an AI based hardware module that will enable AF/SMC proliferated space sensor systems to self-monitor, anticipate failures, autonomously self-heal and, in the advent of a local subsystem or system loss, reconstitute capabilities in a satellite swarm setting. The SHARC hardware module will combine Lucid Circuit's resilient high performance cognitive-edge processor (developed under a AF/SMC Phase II SBIR) with interface electronics and ML swarm self-healing software.