New directions: SWANS – Sensor wireless actuator network in space

Progress in low power miniaturized electronics and wireless technologies have enabled many innovative applications. Of particular interest is the Internet of Things (IoT) that has dominated the world of ICT in the last half a decade enabling many smart systems and applications. At the same time, we also see much enthusiasm with respect to space missions and applications including terrestrial applications, apart from exploring the universe. We believe that innovations in the domain of IoT will significantly influence the space related activities – both research and development. In this article, we chart out the innovations in space and the vision with respect to embedded and wireless systems for space applications. In particular, we bring in the notion of Sensor Wireless Actuator Networks in Space (SWANS) and Space Pixels to explain IoT in space. We explain with examples what we envision for the next decade and also the challenges therein. We briefly put forth our four major targets in the next five years.