Cognitive Agent Framework for Self-Aware Satellites

Enhancing satellite Situation Awareness (SA) requires increased on-board automation for data processing,, intelligent decision making and capability for re-configuration and re-tasking. Our innovative solution to meet these goals is integrated agent-based framework coupled with innovative application of recent developments in ontology representation. Our solution has been based on the premise that any solution enabling situation awareness requires three core components: 1) a common model for the representation of the shared notion of the `Situation' between the satellite and ground station, 2) a mechanism for the semantic exposure of on-board sensory capabilities and the data generated by them, and 3) an integrated, composable and adaptable framework for processing raw `data' into critical `information', intelligent decision making and resource management. We propose ontological mechanisms for the representation of the situation model and the sensor metadata. The basis of the SA framework is a set of cognitive agents and a library of formally defined protocols and roles that describe the interactions between these cognitive decision components. This framework is built upon IAI's Cybele Agent Platform, which has been proven in large-scale decision making frameworks for air traffic control, logistics decision support systems, and distributed battle management (BMC2) systems.