Federated Autonomous Operation: A New Paradigm for Large-Scale Observation Systems

Coordinated observation systems can provide new insights and measurements of phenomena on Earth and in space. The number of spacecraft available for observation has grown rapidly in the last few years, opening the door for larger and larger observation systems. However, the vast suite of observing assets available for observation are not operated by a single omnipotent entity. Instead, fleets of assets have different operators. We envision a federated observation system composed of many operating entities. A federated observation system can leverage all observing assets across operators for timely and coordinated measurement. A federated system requires novel federated autonomous operations to address the distributed control of the system. This work discusses federated scheduling, an approach to coordinating the observing assets across a federated observing system. Federated scheduling enables (1) the use of all available assets for observation, (2) distributed tasking of the system, and (3) resolving contention among competing campaign objectives. We discuss large federated autonomous systems including how they would be operated, the underlying artificial intelligence that autonomously coordinates entities and assets, and the novel capabilities that are enabled by such an observing system.