Cooperative earth observation through complex space information networks

Space-based information networking (SBIN) was proposed to broaden the observation area and realize continuous information acquisition for Earth observation. It is corroborated to be able to enhance the detection and transmission capabilities of the current single Earth observation satellite. To achieve this goal, there are many new challenges for the SBIN to implement a cooperative observation and transmission scheme. First, to establish this comprehensive and heterogeneous space network, the design of the network architecture plays a key role. Meanwhile, how to transmit the Earth observation data back to the satellite ground station in due time can cause routing problems for the SBIN. Moreover, modeling and solving the planning and scheduling problems for the SBIN are complex issues because of the differences among the satellite and inter-satellite link state performance, the users’ demands, and the uncertain space environment. In this article, we introduce and survey the aforementioned three issues from the perspectives of cooperative observation of the SBIN. In particular, we first discuss the current space-based networking technology and inter-satellite routings. Then we address the cooperative Earth observation model and show our research results.