On-board processing of video image sequences

The ldquoatmosphere-space interactions monitorrdquo (ASIM) is a payload to be mounted on one of the external platforms of the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS). The instruments include six video cameras, six photometers and one X-ray detector. The main scientific objective of the mission is to study transient luminous events (TLE) above severe thunderstorms: the sprites, jets and elves. Other atmospheric phenomena are also studied including aurora, gravity waves and meteors. As part of the ASIM Phase B study, on-board processing of data from the cameras is being developed and evaluated. On-board there are six video cameras each capturing images of 1024times1024 pixels of 12 bpp at a frame rate of 15 fps, thus totalling 1080 Mbits/s. In comparison the average downlink data rate for these images is projected to be 50 kbit/s. This calls for efficient on-board processing to select and compress the data. Algorithms for on-board processing of the image data are presented as well as evaluation of the performance. The main processing steps are event detection, image cropping and image compression. The on-board processing requirements are also evaluated.