Deeper Dive into Interoperability and Its Implications for LunaNet Communications and Navigation Services

Abstract

In planning for cislunar exploration and science missions, space agencies have been collaborating to enable communications, networking, and Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems to exchange information and provide services to cislunar spacecraft and space systems, thus helping each other to achieve their common goals. To achieve commonality and lower cost for mutual benefit, the strategy of interoperability is being adopted to help fit all the pieces together and function smoothly. Interoperability provides cislunar users the ability to operate in a collaborative environment similar to the terrestrial Internet, allowing them to share information, navigate safely despite increasing radio frequency congestion, and follow common processes and procedures for effective joint operations. Unlike prior government-dominated efforts, this ecosystem is expected to include for-profit (commercial) businesses, non-profit organizations, and academic institutions as active stakeholders. Ultimately, the goal is to enable a cislunar ecosystem of service providers and users to contribute to and/or utilize infrastructure and capabilities to achieve mission objectives that span the full range of human endeavors while supporting a variety of business models. This approach enables a Systems-of-Systems (SoS) such as a Network-of-Networks to be sustainable in the context of the LunaNet ecosystem as systems evolve over time in technologies, standards, component and subsystem upgrades, and user applications. This paper reports on the results of an effort to help frame the development of the international LunaNet architecture by providing a canonical definition of interoperability broad enough to meet these needs, examining architectural and operational implications of the definition, and exploring interoperability strategies and tactics to deploy and evolve the services proposed for cislunar exploration and science missions.