Современные подходы к определению уровня автономности космических аппаратов

Abstract

Purpose: Our goal is to analyze and systematize the modern approaches to classifying sophisticated unmanned systems by their operation autonomy level, to introduce a constructive index of the autonomy level and to build a uniform classification of spacecrafts by their autonomy level. Results: We have analyzed the approaches to assessing sophisticated unmanned system autonomy level, and adapted the considered classification schemes to spacecrafts. On the base of statistical data analysis, we have obtained an expression which approximates the dependence of the autonomy level of Earth remote sensing spacecrafts on the throughput of the control paths and information transmission channels, on the control session duration and on the independent operation interval. We have demonstrated how the possibilities of onboard and terrestrial devices for the diagnostics of the onboard equipment of spacecrafts affect the level of their self-sufficiency. Practical relevance: The obtained results can be used to evaluate the system indices of various spacecrafts, and to substantiate the ways of providing the required operational reliability for spacecrafts with a high level of autonomy by choosing the periodicity of control sessions and diagnosing the technical state of the onboard equipment.