When
Thursday, September 26, 2024 - 2:00 p.m.
Paul Grogan
Associate Professor
School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence
Arizona State University
"Earth Observing System Simulation with the Tradespace Analysis Tool for Constellations"
Engineering, Room 301
Abstract: The Tradespace Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT-C) is an open-source Python modeling and simulation tool for early-stage Earth observing satellite constellation design. Building on underlying astrodynamics and planar geometry libraries, TAT-C provides analysis functions to evaluate observability, sampling distributions and data latency. Object models specified using JSON Schema allow for easy adoption of external HTTP interfaces and distributed computational workflows that process large tasks using multiple computers. TAT-C generalizes Earth observations as planar geometries including polygons (2D images) and lines (1D profiles) that are extensible to a variety of remote sensing techniques including imaging, sounding and radio occultation. Integration with gridded geophysical datasets such as the GEOS 5 Nature Run (G5NR) provide insights about observing system performance under diurnal and seasonal variation. TAT-C applications study convective storm activity in the North Atlantic Hurricane Season and North American Monsoon and snow water equivalent in the Missouri River basin. Active areas of research seek to improve autonomous satellite targeting and constellation operations to leverage advances in onboard computing capabilities and dense information connectivity.
Bio: Paul Grogan is an associate professor with the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University. He holds a PhD in engineering systems and SM degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT and a BS degree in engineering mechanics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His research interests include strategic engineering of Earth and space infrastructure systems, design and development of engineering information systems, distributed and interactive simulation and game theory. Grogan received a NASA New Investigator in Earth Science award in 2021, an NSF CAREER award in 2020 and a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship in 2010.