Argentinean team wins NASA’s open innovation challenge inspired by nature.
QEBELS Network: Quantum Enabled Blockchain Encrypted Laser Satellite Network, Inspired by nature.
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USSOCOM NASA CubeSat Challenge.
The solution proposed by BioInspired Argentina team, formed by Charly Karamanian and Alejandro Bollana, was the winner of one of the four awards granted in the 3U category by a qualified jury taking into account the following criteria: Advances in CubeSat technology, degree of help in the missions of the special forces, novelty, innovation and technical feasibility. In addition, the Argentineans were the winners of the People’s Choice Award.
Charly and Alejandro once again found inspiration in nature (hummingbird, eagle, swarm of bees, scorpion and dragonfly) and created a comprehensive solution applying the following technologies: Laser relay GEO satellite, Swarm of CubeSats, Blockchain Technology, LaserCom, Integrated Photonics, Water Propulsion, Drones, Compound Optics, Augmented Reality, Iris Scanner, Bone Conduction and Quantum Encryption.
QEBELS Network solution stands out in both civilian and military (humanitarian and rescue) missions. For example, a rescue team working in an area affected by an incident can receive all kinds of vital information in real time from the CubeSats or drones directly to their helmets and can see through augmented reality (within their visual field) a three-dimensional map of the area , including the silhouettes of people trapped under the rubble (taken by an infrared camera from a drone), the location of their companions and all kinds of information related to climatic, environmental and coordination variables of the rescue mission.
What’s a CubeSat?
CubeSats are gaining popularity among academia, industry, and government. CubeSats are miniature satellites that are commonly used in low Earth orbit, have been used for educational purposes, and recently for applications such as remote sensing, scientific experimentation, or communications. As engineers become more familiar with the technology, CubeSats are also being considered for flights outside of Earth orbit — to locations such as the Moon, Mars, or Jupiter.
These small satellites cost significantly less to build, launch, and operate than traditional satellites. The lower cost allows for more rapid integration of new technology and experimentation with new concepts. The small size and weight reduce launch cost and allow the CubeSat to share a rocket with a larger satellite. CubeSats adhere to a set of standards that are based on “Safety of Flight” concepts that will “Do no harm” to primary payloads, which is why they are allowed to fly with the more expensive payloads on a “space available” basis.
Whats´ the Challenge about?
The Joint Challenge between NASA and USSOCOM is seeking for concepts that advance the state of current CubeSat technologies and payloads and demonstrate applications that may benefit any of the USSOCOM missions. Concepts should be viable for a prototype demonstration within 12–24 months.
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is the Unified Combatant Command charged with manning, training, and equipping the various Special Operations Component Commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. Core Activities within the scope of Special Operations Forces (SOF) include: Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Unconventional Warfare, Foreign Internal Defense, Civil Affairs Operations, Counterterrorism, Military Information Support Operations, Counter-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security Force Assistance, Counterinsurgency, Hostage Rescue and Recovery, and Foreign Humanitarian Assistance.
Technologies proposed by the Argentinean team.
With the need for improved targeting accuracy and assured target prosecution, the demand for high-resolution imagery to and from the dismounted soldier is even more pressing now than ever before. Today, airborne and space assets carrying Lidar, high-resolution imaging systems, and multi-spectral imaging systems generate massive volumes of data that must be exfiltrated, processed, and redistributed to a myriad of users, all of whom are fully networked as an integrated fighting force. The Argentinean team proposed a comprehensive solution combining and applying the following technologies:
GEO Stationary satellite
+ GEO Stationary LaserCom relay satellite: Earth observing satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), about 700 km above the ground, can only transmit data when they pass above designated ground stations, but this ground stations are permanently visible to geostationary satellites, orbiting much higher at 36.000 km. The use of GEO Stationary LaserCom relay satellites allows the interconnection of LEO satellites and ground stations providing data relay in real-time. Bioinspiration: static hummingbird flight.
CubeSats
+ Swarm of CubeSats: An array of CubeSats can provide a wide coverage and support to ground locations and USSOCOM missions. The Argentinean team proposes to deploy a swarm of 1.5 unit (1.5U) CubeSats that will be launched as secondary payloads. Each CubeSat should be about 4 inches x 4 inches x 6.7 inches (10 centimeters x 10 centimeters x 17 centimeters) and weighs approximately 5 pounds (2.5 kilograms). Bioinspiration: communication capabilities of bees.
+ Water propulsion: Technology known as Electrospray Propulsion System under development by MIT; it uses the qualities of space itself to make the ice sublimate, or transform directly from solid water-to-water vapor. By directing these water molecules against a heated plate, the drive causes the water vapor to accelerate out of a nozzle, thus creating thrust. A propulsion system enhances Cube Sat’s capabilities to modify or maintain orbits so lasers can be hard mounted to CubeSats and beam steering is accomplished through precision pointing of the spacecraft as a whole. The capabilities to maneuver CubeSats relative to each other opens the door to servicing or connecting small spacecraft together to form larger systems or networks in space (swarm).
+ Laser Communications (LaserCom). Provides high data rates, high-definition video stream and simultaneous centimeter-class precision ranging, which can be used to enhance CubeSats navigation capabilities. Free-space optical communication (FSOC) using lasers offers the promise of breaking through that RF bottleneck. Laser transmitters, at wavelengths some 10,000 times shorter than RF waves, result in beams that are far narrower for the same unit aperture size — providing more concentrated communications power at the receiver with lower required transmitted power from smaller, lighter apertures. The upshot is a lower size, weight and power requirement for transmit and receive apertures of a laser communications terminal.
+ Integrated Photonics. Powered by recent developments in nanostructures, metamaterials and silicon waveguides, integrated photonics will have a significant impact in the evolution of space-based laser communications. The lithographic techniques to create a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) — analogous to CMOS technology, but with photonic components replacing electrical traces — can realize hundred-fold reductions in size, mass, power and especially cost, because the PICs can be printed en masse.
+ Blockchain Technology: Unauthorized access or modification of critical USSOCOM mission information could seriously compromise national security. Blockchains are tamper-proof, immutable, time-stamped reliable data ledgers. Blockchain is a key technology to protect military targets/assets and provide advanced secure communications; including full orbit Command & Control and data exfiltration. Blockchain technology can ensure security against attacks on satellite network and hardware equipment by ensuring consensus-based access for modification.
Reaper & S1000 drones, enhanced with LaserCom.
+ ARGUS-IS. The current Reaper Drones use technology known as Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance — Imaging System (ARGUS-IS) to provide military users a flexible and responsive capability to find, track and monitor events and activities of interest on a continuous basis in areas of interest. ARGUS — IS provides military users an “eyes-on” or “eagle view” persistent wide area surveillance capability to support tactical users in a dynamic battle space or urban environment. LaserCom enhancement will provide real-time access to the high volumes of data generated by Drones.
USSOCOM (military) & RAscue (civil) Helmet. Inspired by nature.
+ Compound optics laser receiver: The use of fixed compound optics (integrated photonics) over the helmet allows USSOCOM to establish a laser link on the move from any direction (CubeSats move fast). Each simple optic provides one small piece of the puzzle, much like the way a screen’s pixel delivers one detail of the larger picture. We get a receiving optical area greater than a 15 inch Cassegrain telescope with a fraction of its weight and with extreme portability. This concept was developed 100% by the Argentinean team and was inspired by the compound eye of the dragonfly.
+ Laser emitter with gimbal: The laser used to send data is mounted on a gimbal (motorized platform) that is controlled by algorithms and sensors (accelerometers) to point and follow CubeSats and Drones that fly over the area regardless of the movement made by the user of the helmet. This concept was developed by the Argentinean team and was inspired by the Scorpion´s stinger.
+ Augmented reality: Augmented Reality (AR) devices will become the newest piece of standard equipment of the tactical squads, giving them the ability to digitally track friendly and enemy locations, display tridimensional maps of battlefields, and watch live video from drones in real-time. Though the hardware and technology is already available, the challenge is figuring out how to transmit so much data to thousands of soldiers at once without interruption or too much distraction, and how to protect the devices from being hacked or interfered with. The Argentinean team proposed a solution for these issues by combining the following technologies: LaserCom, compound optics, laser emitter with gimbal, Blockchain technology, iris scanner, bone conduction and quantum key encrypted intercom.
+ Iris scanner: To provide/secure data only to Blockchain registered USSOCOM members. Iris recognition is an automated and well developed method of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on video images of one of the irises of an individual’s eyes, whose complex patterns are unique, stable, and can be seen from some distance. Digital templates encoded from these patterns by mathematical and statistical algorithms allow the identification of an individual or someone pretending to be that individual. A key advantage of iris recognition, besides its speed of matching and its extreme resistance to false matches, is the stability of the iris as an internal and protected, yet externally visible organ of the eye.
+ Bone sound conduction: Communications privacy. The Helmet employs bone conduction technology for the relay of information to the user through a transducer that sits beside the user’s ear. The use of bone conduction means that any vocal content that is received by the USSOCOM soldier is nearly inaudible to outsiders.
+ Quantum encrypted intercom: Secure communication channel. USSOCOM members can receive and share a quantum encrypted key via laser link from Cube Sat’s Blockchain network or Drone. Of all the proposed technologies, this is the most disruptive and is already at the experimental stage. Recently the University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai got the chance to test the idea sending intertwined quantum particles from Micius satellite (named after an ancient Chinese philosopher) to ground stations separated by 1.200 kilometers. To entangle photons, researchers beamed an ultraviolet laser through a special crystal, which created pairs of photons with opposite — yet unknown — states of polarization. (Polarization is the same property of light that polarized sunglasses and dragonfly compound eye can filter out to improve contrast.) In doing so, they created objects called qubits, or quantum-entangled bits. Mirrors then split up the laser beam and its pairs of quantum-entangled photons. The experiment kept one photon on the ground and sent the other to Micius. Quantum communication is extremely secure because any interference is detectable. Two parties can exchange secret messages by sharing an encryption key encoded in the properties of entangled particles; any eavesdropper would affect the entanglement and so be detected.
BioInspired Argentina.
Inspired by Nature, the best R&D lab in the world, with 3,8 billion years of experience. The solution proposed by Charly Karamanian and Alejandro Bollana was inspired by the hummingbird, the honeybees, the eagle, the scorpion and the dragonfly.
Hummingbird: In natural settings full of highly complex background motion, hummingbirds are able to precisely hover in place by rapid coordination of vision with body position. While hovering, the visual system of a hummingbird is able to separate apparent motion caused by the movement of the hummingbird itself from motions caused by external sources, such as an approaching predator. Bioinspiration: Geostationary relay satellite. Advance positioning, communication and reference between CubeSats.
Honeybees: Honeybee communicates by the “waggle dance”, by which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers from the beehive. Bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth’s magnetic field. The sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark beehive. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a “rich, map-like organization”. Bioinspiration: Communication & positioning of a swarm of CubeSats.
Eagle: The eagle's eye is among the strongest in the animal kingdom, with an eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human. An eagle is said to be able to spot a rabbit 3.2 km away. Their eyes are stated to be larger in size than their brain, by weight. Color vision with resolution and clarity are the most prominent features of eagle's eyes, hence sharp-sighted people are sometimes referred to as “eagle-eyed”. Bioinspiration: Reaper Drone “eagle view”.
Scorpion: They are easily recognized by the pair of grasping pedipalps and the narrow segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger. BioInspiration: Precision of laser communications, location and independent movement of laser emitter gimbal over helmet.
Dragonfly: An adult dragonfly’s compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each. Unlike humans, day-flying dragonfly species have four or five different opsins, allowing them to see colors that are beyond human visual capabilities, such as ultraviolet (UV) light. Dragonflies (and bees) have the largest compound eyes of any insect; and the eyes cover most of the insect’s head, resembling a motorcycle helmet. In contrast to a human eye, each facet within the compound eye points in a slightly different direction and perceives light emanating from only one particular direction in space, creating a mosaic of partially overlapping images. Dragonflies can also detect the plane of polarization of light, which humans cannot do without the aid of sunglasses. Insects are known to use polarized light as a sort of “sky compass” by which they navigate. BioInspiration: Hexagon layout of compound mirrors of the helmet. UV laser communications. Polarized light as additional source for navigation.
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