Communication schemes for olfar's inter-satellite links

The Orbiting Low Frequency Array for Radio astronomy(OLFAR) project is aimed at developing a radio telescope in space sensitive for the 0.3–30 MHz range by using a swarm of more than 50 identical nano-satellites. The satellites will form a very large aperture, capable of capturing very weak electromagnetic astronomical signals. The radio telescope functionality and the swarm behavior result in stringent requirements for the inter-satellite links. An adequate communication layer that takes into account size and power constraints of nano-satellites is necessary to ensure data distribution within the network of satellites. Considering the limitations of the space hardware, we design a communication scheme that meets OLFAR’s requirements

Data distribution in the OLFAR satellite swarm

The Orbiting Low Frequency Antennas for Radio Astronomy (OLFAR) project aims to develop a radio telescope for very low frequencies (below 30 MHz) by using a swarm of 50 or more nano-satellites. Spread in a 100-km diameter cloud, the satellites will form a very large aperture capable of sensing the ultra-long electromagnetic waves of interest. They will sense and sample the cosmic background radiation, distribute the data among themselves, process it in a collective manner, and send the result to a base station on Eart