Design of a simulation environment for space-based information management and distribution

Many studies have previously been conducted on the subject of service oriented architectures in traditional terrestrial networks. Researchers have only recently begun to apply these studies to space-based networks. This project focuses on the design of a simulation environment for running distributed software services in a space-based network. Specifically, a constellation of linked satellites in a LEO (low earth orbit) configuration is used as the space-based architecture to model. The environment was created by integrating a combination of commercial, open source, and custom written software. The major components of the environment include an orbital propagation and simulation tool, graphical user interfaces for service request initiation and results, a network emulator, a routing module, and service oriented architecture based processing applications. Validation using a simple test scenario showed that the final design of the environment functions in an accurate manner.