PI	Suri, Dipa	Org	Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company
Award #	AIST-05-0088	Managing Center	ARC	Status	Open
Title	The Multi-agent Architecture for Coordinated, Resposive Observations

Remote sensing missions for earth science provide a wealth of information to help us understand the dynamics of our planet. However, the current stovepipe operational model of remote sensing missions, i.e., a single spacecraft transmitting data to dedicated ground operations centers (Fig. 1), introduces untenable latencies in developing data prod-ucts that hinder model building and refine-ment as well as timely responses for hazard mitigation. Future missions will operate as part of a sensor web (Fig. 2) comprised of "interlinked platforms with onboard information processing systems capable of orchestrat-ing real-time collaborative operations" [1]. The Multi-agent Architecture for Coordi-nated, Responsive Observations (MACRO), an extension of our current work on the Adap-tive Network Architecture (ANA) is a natural technology for enabling the deployment and operation of a sensor web. The ANA software framework of multiple distributed agents provides localized autonomy on distributed sci-ence missions. The MACRO extensions will help overcome current mission limitations by facilitating real-time, reactive data acquisition, analysis, fusion and distribution which will greatly benefit society and scientific discovery/understanding. Our objective over a 3 year period is to ma-ture MACRO from TRL 2/4 to TRL 5 (Sec 2.4), by focusing on two main topics that provide significant value to NASA's earth science missions: - Incorporation of self-describing sensor, processing and measurement models (Sec. 2.2.1.1) - Collaborative observations between agents via on-board planning, scheduling, and re-source management (Sec. 2.2.1.2) - Validation on a representative hardware testbed with multiple demonstrations of a realistic earth science mission (Sec. 2.2.1.3)