GPS World

Tag: Space Flight Laboratory

  • HawkEye 360 adds satellites to geolocation constellation

    HawkEye 360 adds satellites to geolocation constellation

    Three HawkEye 360 radio-frequency geolocation microsatellites were launched May 25. The satellites, launched aboard SpaceX Transporter-5 mission, were built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) of Toronto. Three SFL-built satellites for greenhouse gas monitoring were also launched.

    The HawkEye 360 constellation detects and geolocates RF signals for maritime situational awareness, emergency response, national security and spectrum analysis applications.

    Once Cluster 5’s on-orbit checkout is complete, the HawkEye 360 constellation will be expanded to 15 satellites, doubling capacity and revisit rates. This significantly boosts the constellation’s ability to serve global customer demand and to monitor activity across places such as Ukraine.

    “Every enhanced satellite cluster we launch helps us deliver a higher density of valuable data to our government, commercial and humanitarian customers and partners – advancing our efforts to monitor global activities for a safer and more secure world,” said HawkEye 360 John Serafini. “Launch by launch, these space-based innovations are analyzing the knowns and uncovering the unknowns of the RF spectrum across the globe.”

    Cluster 5 includes enhanced antenna functions introduced with Cluster 4, which allow greater flexibility in geolocating signals across a wide range of frequencies important to customers.

    Cluster 4, launched April 1, has been completing checkout and moving into final formation to begin collecting data in late June. Cluster 5 is slated to achieve initial operating capability in August.

    Cluster 4 on orbit. (Image: HawkEye 360)
    Cluster 4 on orbit. (Image: HawkEye 360)

    HawkEye 360 plans to continue to grow the constellation to achieve revisit rates of about 15 minutes to support timely defense, national security and commercial applications.

    SFL has now developed 15 microsatellites for HawkEye 360 of Herndon, Virginia. SFL was selected for these missions due to the importance of formation flying by multiple satellites for successful RF geolocation.

    Other missions developed by SFL in the past two years include 16 communications CubeSats and three microsatellites designed for Earth observation, maritime tracking and atmospheric monitoring.

    In its 24-year history, SFL has developed cubesats, nanosatellites and microsatellites that have achieved more than 191 cumulative years of operation in orbit.

    HawkEye 360 Cluster 5. (Photo: HawkEye 360)
    HawkEye 360 Cluster 5. (Photo: HawkEye 360)

  • Canada awards Arctic surveillance contract to Space Flight Laboratory

    The Canadian Department of National Defence has awarded a $11.44 million contract to Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) for the development of multipurpose microsatellites to support Arctic surveillance.

    Upon successful completion and testing of the prototype, two additional microsatellites will be built to create a small formation.

    The UTIAS SFL microsatellites, which are now being developed, will include multiple sensors on a constellation of microsatellites operating in close formation in low Earth orbit to allow for quick and timely detection and identification of surface or airborne targets.

    The concurrently obtained sensor observations are expected to improve the reliability of the detection and identification performance, which is not feasible when individual sensors are located on non-collaborating satellites.

    On behalf of Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan, member of Parliament for York Centre, Michael Levitt announced the contract on Feb 1 during a ceremony at U

    TIAS in Toronto. The contract was awarded through Public Services and Procurement Canada under the All Domain Situational Awareness (ADSA) Science & Technology (S&T) Program.

    “Space Flight Laboratory is honored to assist the Department of National Defence in developing next-generation satellite technology that could be used to monitor Canada’s vital Arctic region,” said SFL Director and Founder Robert E. Zee. “We are pleased that this investment acknowledges SFL as one of the world’s preeminent developers of advanced attitude control and formation-flying technologies for microsatellites.”

    Established in 1998 as a self-sustaining specialty lab at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), SFL has built more than 25 nano- and microsatellites with over 95 cumulative years of successful operation in orbit. SFL’s attitude-control technologies have also been applied successfully in several other microspace programs as well, including the 2016 GHGSat-D greenhouse gas emissions monitoring satellite and the 2013-2014 BRITE space astronomy constellation.

    As outlined in its defence policy Strong, Secure, Engaged, the Department of National Defence is investing in defence research and development to produce innovative solutions to surveillance challenges in Canada’s North, particularly in the priority areas of Arctic joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

    Surveillance solutions support the Canadian government’s ability to exercise sovereignty in the North and provide a greater awareness of safety and security issues, as well as transportation and commercial activity in Canada’s Arctic. In addition, solutions achieved under the ADSA program will contribute to joint efforts between Canada and the United States to modernize elements of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

    The ADSA S&T Program leverages innovative science & technology expertise from other government departments, academia, industry and allies, to identify, assess and validate technologies in support of air and maritime surveillance, particularly in the North. Through a five-year investment of $133M through to 2020, the ADSA S&T Program is supporting the development of options for enhanced domain awareness of air, maritime surface and sub-surface approaches to Canada, in particular those in the Arctic.

  • Microsatellite constellation geolocates RF signals

    Microsatellite constellation geolocates RF signals

    Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has launched three formation-flying HawkEye 360 Pathfinder 15-kilogram, 20 x 27 x 44-centimeter microsatellites designed to detect and geolocate radio frequency (RF) signals.

    Hawkeye 360 Pathfinder satellite trio flies in formation, seeking RF signals from Earth.(Image: UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory)
    Hawkeye 360 Pathfinder satellite trio flies in formation, seeking RF signals from Earth. (Image: UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory)

    The target signals emanate from VHF radios, maritime radar systems, automatic identification system (AIS) beacons, very small aperture terminal (VSAT) communication systems and emergency beacons. HawkEye 360 applies advanced RF analytics to the data to assess suspicious vessel activity, survey communication frequency interference and direct search-and-rescue.

    Precise formation flying is critical, as the relative position of each satellite must be known to accurately geolocate transmission sources. The satellites carry space-qualified GPS receivers and high-performance attitude control systems to keep them stable in orbit.

    Flying in formation, two or all three satellites may receive the same transmission when it originates from their common footprint. The signal’s different times of arrival at each satellite and their different apparent center frequencies (Doppler) will enable onboard comparison of time-of-arrival and frequency-of-arrival measurements to then calculate the transmitter’s position.

    The onboard GPS receivers provide precise estimates for the position and velocity of the receivers, information required for multilateration. The satellites further synchronize their clocks using GPS receivers, which also stabilize the phase-locked loops governing the tuning frequency in the RF tuners.

    The satellites were built by Deep Space Industries of San Jose, California, and University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospace Studies/Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS/SFL). They were launched in December 2018 into low-Earth orbit.