Heterogeneous Federated CubeSat System: Problems, Constraints and Capabilities

Abstract

Different arguments were being presented in the last decade about CubeSats and their applications. Some of them address wireless communication (5G and 6G technologies) trying to achieve better characteristics as coverage and connectivity. Some arrived with terms as IoST (Internet of Space Things), Internet of Satellites (IoSat), DSS (Distributed Space Systems), and FSS (Federated Satellite Systems). All of them aim to use Small/NanoSatellites as constellations/swarms is to provide specific services, share unused resources, and evolve the concept of satellites-as-a-service (SaS). This paper aims to emophasize performance attributes of such cyber-physical systems, model their inherent operational constraints and at the very end, evaluate the quality of service in terms of figures of merit for the entering/leaving of new heterogeneous constituent systems, a.k.a satellites, to the constellation. This "whitepaper"-styled work focuses on presenting the definitions of this heterogeneous constellation problem, aims at its main capabilities and constraints, and proposes modeling approaches for this system representation and evaluation.