7.3 - Wireless-Sensor Networks in Space Technology Demonstration on ISS

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) consist of distributed sensors enabling monitoring of physical or environmental conditions like temperature, pressure, humidity, accelerations etc. When a sensor node includes a micro-controller, the acquired data can also be pre-processed e.g. to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted. The network can be organized in various topology types. Short-range networks based on wireless networking architectures enable power efficient network architectures and have enabled new wireless machine-to-machine applications. For safety critical space applications e.g. launchers, satellites or human space flight additionally criteria like mass, power demand and robustness against harsh environment ought to be considered. Wireless systems evolved in the last years exactly in this direction and thus they are recognised even by the space agencies as key for future applications. Focus of this article is the engineering approaches currently discussed. It presumes the availability of adequate sensing systems or at least with minor need for adaptations. Some more insight is given with regards to an In-orbit Demonstration (IoD) of a Wireless-Sensor Network, which was tested on the ISS.