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The knowledge bank of ESA’s R&D programmes

A Comparative Study Of High-Level And Low-Level Implementations Of Deep Learning Models For Spacecraft

Programme
Discovery
Programme Reference
21-D-S-OPS-02-e
Prime Contractor
Mission Control Space Services
Start Date
End Date
Status
Closed
Country
Canada
A Comparative Study Of High-Level And Low-Level Implementations Of Deep Learning Models For Spacecraft
Description

In this activity, Mission Control Space Services deployed a low-level implementation of the OPS-SAT SmartCam model using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), comparing against a high-level CPU model using Tensorflow Lite. Experiments showed that the FPGA implementation reproduced the precision and accuracy of the high-level model, while running at a slower speed. Further optimisations of the FPGA are expected to close the gap in timing and unlock new methods for deploying deep learning on spacecraft.

Application Domain
Generic Technologies
Technology Domain
01 - On-board Data Subsystems
09 - Mission Operation and Ground Data Systems
Competence Domain
03 - Avionic Architecture / DHS / OnBoard S/W / FDIR / GNC / AOCS / TT&C (E2E)
08 - Ground Data Systems / Mission Operations
Keywords
OPS-SAT
FPGA
SmartCam model
Initial TRL
TRL N/A
Target TRL
TRL N/A
Achieved TRL
TRL N/A
Public Document
Executive Summary
Final Presentation