Astrosite: taking a neuromorphic space sensor from lab to live operations
- Client:
- Western Sydney University, International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (Associate Prof Gregory Cohen)
- Collaborators:
- ICNS, Western Sydney University; Neurabuild
The problem
ICNS built Astrosite, a neuromorphic (event-based) sensor for Space Domain Awareness. Research-grade systems are built to prove a concept, not to run under live operational pressure. To matter beyond the lab, Astrosite had to be operable end-to-end and provable in front of the people who do this work for a living.
Our approach
Neurabuild embedded with the ICNS team, learned to operate Astrosite end-to-end, and built the operational tooling around it: scheduling, observation review, and the dashboards operators actually use. We completed a production integration with the Space Systems Command Unified Data Library, then operated the system live at the April 2023 Sprint Advanced Concept Training event. Architecture led by Dawid Loubser, development led by Graham Withey, with Ben Blaine on operations and operator comms.
Outcome
Neurabuild operated Astrosite live at SAC-T 23-2, representing Western Sydney University, in front of more than 100 Space Domain Awareness professionals. The work proved that a neuromorphic sensor can deliver usable Space Domain Awareness data through standard channels.