Nebula Public Library

The knowledge bank of ESA’s R&D programmes

A Distributed Ledger Approach to MBSE

Programme
Discovery
Programme Reference
20-D-S-TEC-04-b
Contractor
UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE
Start Date
End Date
Status
Closed
Country
UK
A Distributed Ledger Approach to MBSE
Description

Main achievement: Development of the first blockchain ecosystem for space system engineering, as a global configuration tool that can model the business logic of concurrent design. Addressing the MBSE challenges of  controlling data exchange and traceability across system development and operations lifecycle.

Results: Two use cases have been successfully implemented

  • A decentralized identification system that enables LSIs and contractors to generate sub-identifications for their personnel. Keeping a great granularity of information on the audit trail and enabling to reach feedback from the right person at the right time

  • Implementation of a Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocol within the blockchain system to demonstrate the use of ZKPs in concurrent engineering for mass budget verification (where the mass value of a component cannot be disclosed)

Next steps: further development and adaptations of the decentralised Exochain system is undergoing with a recent awarded ESA research contract under the OSIP campaign “Cognitive Cloud Computing” by the title “Blockchain ecosystem for an autonomous consensus mechanism of federated satellite networks”

Technology Domain
8 - System Design & Verification
Competence Domain
9-Digital Engineering
Keywords
MBSE
Executive summary