IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2020 - 46

News and Information:

DOI. No. 10.1109/MAES.2019.2959104

Glue Technologies for Space Systems: An
Introduction to a New AESS Technical Panel
Claudio Sacchi, Fabrizio Granelli, Nicola Conci, University of Trento,
Trento, Italy
Marina Ruggieri, Tommaso Rossi, University of Roma Tor Vergata,
Rome, Italy
Kar-Ming Cheung, Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA, USA
Mario Marchese, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
Vlad Popescu, University of Transilvania, Brasov, Romania
Michael Rice, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
Maurizio Murroni, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy
Christian Schlegel, HCDC llc, Park City, UT, USA and Acoubit
Communications, Halifax, NS, Canada
Michael Noble, L3 Technologies, New York, NY, USA

INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATIONS
The recent change of perspective of aerospace communications, also known as "Space 2.0" [1], straightforwardly
introduced the concept of "space intelligence," meaning the
capability of building a networked cognitive space
Authors' current addresses: C. Sacchi, F. Granelli, and
N. Conci, Department of Information Engineering and
Computer Science (DISI), University of Trento, Trento
38123, Italy, E-mail: (claudio.sacchi@unitn.it). M. Ruggieri
and T. Rossi, Department of Electronic Engineering/CTIF
of University of Roma Tor Vergata, Rome 00185, Italy.
K.-M. Cheung, Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA 91109
USA. M. Marchese, Department of Electrical, Electronic,
and Telecommunications Engineering and Naval Architecture (DITEN), University of Genoa, Genoa 16145, Italy.
V. Popescu, University of Transilvania, Brasov, 500019,
Romania. M. Rice, Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering of the Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
84602 USA. C. Schlegel, HCDC llc, Park City, UT 84060,
USA, and Acoubit Communications, Halifax, NS B2Y4T5,
Canada. M. Murroni, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (DIEE) of University of Cagliari,
Cagliari 09123, Italy. M. Noble, L3 Technologies,
New York, NY 10016 USA
Manuscript received November 25, 2019, revised
November 29, 2019; accepted December 4, 2019, and
ready for publication December 9, 2019.
Review handled by Peter Willett.
0885-8985/19/$26.00 ß 2019 IEEE
46

environment, able to support the endeavors of researchers
and developers working in the field of space technology. As
shown in Figure 1, the space environment becomes a kind
of ecosystem where surface networks (in the figure, terrestrial networks are indicated, but the same scenario could be
conceived, e.g., for Martian networks) and space networks
will form together a unique integrated infrastructure targeting the global, ubiquitous, resilient, and broadband coverage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
services. Space network intelligence is actually the capability of the space segment of dynamically configuring itself
on the basis of the connectivity requirements coming from
the surface network infrastructures.
It is evident that such a renewed vision involves the
necessity of a superior level of integration among heterogeneous networked processing entities. "Glue technologies"
will offer the necessary support to fulfill such a fundamental
requirement. Glue technology, as with global enterprises,
integrates the subsidiaries and other producing units, saving
their own need of autonomy [2]. In the specific space framework, "Glue technologies" constitutes the necessary common platform for the innovative systems based on space
components (satellites, UAV, rover, landers, orbiters, etc.)
that will be deployed in the near future in various application fields (satellite and aerospace communications, interplanetary communications, planet exploration, Internet of
Space Things (IoST), etc.). This is the reason why AESS
decided in April 2019 to constitute a new panel called
"Glue Technologies for Space Systems." Rather than more

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