Space

Due to the special adversities of the working environment, the application field of space travel has particularly high needs and requirements for telematics technologies. Here, the Zentrum fuer Telematik e.V. is concerned with the remote control of exploration robots and the application of small satellites in swarms. In cooperation with the University of Wuerzburg, the Center operates its own small satellites. Swarms of small satellites open up the potential for a paradigm shift from large, expensive satellites to swarms of distributed, low-cost standard satellites, so that a much faster and more flexible realization of satellite missions becomes possible. Many of the methods and techniques developed for space travel can also be transferred to industry.

Similar to the paradigm shift in data processing in the last 30 years from traditional mainframe computers to distributed, small computers connected via the Internet or even smartphones in the cloud, a similar upheaval is expected in satellite technology. Consequently, the ZfT focuses its work on miniaturization as well as on cooperating satellite formations. The power of highly integrated electronics enables the construction of much smaller satellites without compromising performance. Thus, professional mini-satellites today offer several years of operational operation and a very high alignment accuracy of the attitude control system, so that they can be optimally adapted to the requirements of the payload in order to achieve the lowest possible overall costs.

The faster integration and in-orbit placement of micro-satellites allows much faster innovation cycles. Combined with suitable approaches to the use of commercial components, this results in an enormous increase in efficiency. This opens up new fields of application, especially in the field of earth observation and communication. Images of the earth’s surface every 10 minutes or a global, secure communication link in real time are currently being implemented. The ZfT spin-off “S4 -Smart Small Satellite Systems GmbH” has been established in order to contribute the technologies developed in this booming market.

Since its foundation, the Centre for Telematics has been one of the European pioneers in the field of microsatellite formations. Today, the Center for Telematics is regarded as a nationally leading research institute in this field due to many research projects and the many years of experience of its staff. This is demonstrated by several lighthouse projects coordinated by ZfT in the international field. The advanced technologies developed for use in space offer excellent spin-off potentials for applications on earth:

• high-security systems: guarantee reliable operation despite faults
• highly miniaturized systems: are relevant for mobile applications
• telematic systems: Remote maintenance and remote diagnosis enable efficient repair of malfunctions and defects in industrial applications