OGS | ESA CSC

Status

Ongoing
Status date

2025-09-12
Activity Code

6B.126

Objectives

The objective of the OGS project is to design and implement a software-based abstraction layer for Optical Ground Stations (OGS), facilitating the integration and control of heterogeneous optical hardware components. These include devices such as telescopes, cameras, domes, lasers, detectors, and environmental sensors. The abstraction layer will decouple hardware-specific logic from higher-level station control systems, enabling the use of different devices through standardised software interfaces.

The software adapter layer will be designed to interact with client applications and services, ensuring compatibility with ESA-developed tools and existing standards such as ASCOM, INDI, and GSSC. Ultimately, the project contributes to building a scalable and future-proof infrastructure for optical communication and space surveillance.

Challenges

The project will focus on delivering independent implementation for an OGS Software Client and an OGS Hardware Adapter. There are three main challenges in the project scope:

First is to define an extensible yet responsive abstraction layer for OGS hardware components;
Second is to provide an orchestration over Hardware Abstraction Layer in a form of OGS SW Adapter which is required to accept operational tasks via local or remote interface;
Third is to implement communication interface in a form of OGS Software Client that will allow user-friendly operation flow for scheduling communication tasks and monitoring for the station.

Benefits

The product developed in this project will fill the gap in the current software used to build OGS. By integrating already available solutions to manage various hardware components, the product will enable integrators to use off-the-shelf hardware components, vastly extending options for hardware selection and making the final products more flexible and tailored for particular scenarios.

A wide spectrum of supported platforms will extend possible computational platforms even further. A well-defined interface between the OGS Software Adapter and the Client will make it possible for a customised user experience, allowing development of client applications for different platforms like mobile devices and machine-to-machine agents. By creating a modular, extensible architecture, the solution will simplify station configuration and upgrades, reduce development time for future systems, and improve maintainability, while also supporting the implementation of a generic optical ground station model that enables simulation, testing, and operational flexibility. The open-source character of the product will make it possible for future improvements and continuous audits by the community.

Features

Product will be implemented with the following feature roster:

Wide operating system support (Windows, Linux, MacOS);
Open source license;
Extensible interface for hardware integration;
Open interface for OGS Software Adapter – Client communication;
Build-in encryption and authentication;
Internet and local network access;
Object oriented to design.

System Architecture

The project will deliver a software solution with an architecture that focus on scalability, extensibility and modularity.

The OGS Software Client as a terminal application will be completely separated from OGS Software Adapter. The only common part for the application will be an interface of the communication between them. Similarly, the OGS Software Adapter will be built in a layered architecture, where the access layer will communicate with the orchestration layer for scheduling and maintenance tasks. Further, the orchestration layer will communicate with the hardware abstraction layer for device commands and sensor readings. All the layers will be hidden behind well-defined interfaces to allow servicing and extensibility.

The entire software stack will be developed in an object oriented manner to reduce complexity and provide better correspondence between modeled OGS tasks and the software.

Plan

The project is divided into two main phases: the design phase (MS1) and the implementation phase (MS2):

MS1: the Critical Design Review (CDR), focused on finalising requirements, architecture, and detailed design.
MS2: covering the delivery of verified source code, documentation, and demonstration of the implemented solution.

Current status

The activity kicked off in May 2025. Work currently in progress.