AiRANACULUS, a private, Massachusetts-based technology company providing Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) based wireless network solutions, has been awarded a NASA contract to develop an advanced communications platform to support exploration of the lunar surface.
Under the new contract, the company will design and prototype a dynamic network architecture to significantly increase the range and reliability of lunar communications. The AiRANACULUS platform will constitute a critical component for NASA‘s manned Artemis missions to the Moon and Mars. AiRANACULUS will be assisted by Dr. Nishith Tripathi and Dr. Jeff Reed of Virginia Tech and Dr. Ricardo Lent of University of Houston.
Exploring the Moon presents several significant network design challenges. The lunar surface encompasses a large-scale service area with a highly variable and complex geography. Connecting network components with underground fiber infrastructure is not feasible, and the landscape poses significant issues for reliable propagation of radio signals. Mission resources will be widely distributed across this diverse environment, making robust, efficient communications connecting astronauts as well as robotic devices especially critical.
The AiRANACULUS solution will integrate spectrum-aware cognitive radio technology, 3GPP Integrated Access and Backhaul, as well as support for legacy NASA radio devices to expand network coverage area and enable delay-tolerant communications. AiRANACULUS will also incorporate its INSPIRE dynamic Quality of Service management platform to provide protocol-agnostic, multi-vendor network optimisation.
