Supporting Innovation in the Space Business: one year of experience with the Innovation Triangle Initiative of ESA
- Paper number
IAC-05-D1.2.01
- Author
Mr. Marco Freire, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Coauthor
Dr. Marco Guglielmi, European Space Agency (ESA)/ESTEC, The Netherlands
- Year
2005
- Abstract
When the first AT&T satellite was launched in 1962 no one would have guessed that satellites would once become part of our everyday lives. Since services (inter-network communication, cellular, television signals) and devices (such as GPSs) have become widely available, the importance of satellites greatly increased and the need for efficient communication also arouse. Quantum computing has an even shorter history than satellites. From the engineering point of view, a quantum computing system may represent the highest level of information processing–a system where the physical layer is based on quantum mechanics. Although quantum computers are not to exist in the near future, the results of quantum computing are unquestionable: teleportation, search in an unsorted database, practically unbreakable key distribution and many more.
Previous studies show that it is worthwhile to mix satellite communication (a profitable business) and quantum computing (a new technologies). We developed a quantum channel model for satellite communication which can be useful both for satellite-satellite and earth-satellite communication. Nowadays different research projects demonstrate that quantum computing based satellite-communication could be a useful application in a couple of years. Quantum based systems can be important part of future telecommunications because their safety and effectiveness.
Although there are recent studies about the physical solutions of the quantum-based communication, it is worth to examine the efficiency of this type of communication. Our primary goal is to create a quantum computing based redundancy free error correction method that can be used over long distance aerial communication (such as earth-satellite). The initial problem to solve is the following: how to send certain amount of quantum bits over a noisy quantum channel, to provide error correction. This method could be very useful in the long-distance aerial communication, because there would be no need to use redundant error correction codes as nowadays. This way the effective capacity of the satellite link would also be increased.
In this paper we present a theoretical study, where the above described communication method is detailed. We introduce some quantum computing based error correction methods in satellite communication. We present channel models, where the error correction can be applied. An accuracy analysis for these models is also presented.
By applying this model to aerial communication it is possible to create a system where the channel usage is more efficient than in classical cases. This is a crucial requirement of modern telecommunication systems, as efficiency affects the profitability of a certain service and so the entire system’s success may depend on it.
One of the roles of the European Space Agency (ESA) is to support the introduction of breakthrough innovations and technologies in the space environment. This is the aim of the ITI, whose specific goal is to explore technologies or services for space applications that are not currently being used or exploited in the context of space and have therefore the potential of being the seed for significant innovation.
ITI is based on the concept that a close collaboration between three different types of entities: the inventor, the developer and the customer, is an important factor for the rapid and successful introduction of breakthrough technology innovations in industry.
Following a successful pilot phase, the operational phase of ITI, based on a WEB application - http://iti.esa.int/, was officially launched on 16th March 2004 with a funding of 1.5 MEURO for 2004.
At the end of 2004, the ITI database contained 321 submitters (voluntary registered users from organizations willing to submit proposals). During 2004 there were 138 ITI proposals submitted. The first 82 proposals were evaluated within 2004 and resulted in 18 approved activities, which corresponds to an acceptance rate of 22%.
The objectives of this presentation are to outline the ITI concept and its operation procedure, to analyse the results achieved during the first year of operation of ITI, including observable trends in the distribution of the proposals per Technical Domain and problems related to the evaluation of the proposals received. The paper will conclude with the lessons learned and their implementation for the future of ITI.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-05-D1.2.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.