A Robot on the Operator's Chair - The Fine Line Between Automated Routine Operations and Situational Awareness

Abstract

The European Data Relay System (EDRS) will provide a high speed data link between ground stations and satellites in low earth orbit. Up to 400 links per day are foreseen to be commanded by the groundsystems established at DLR's German Space Operations Center. The high command load is beyond the capabilities of a classical operational concept with manual operations. Therefore an automated system is established at the Devolved Payload Control Center with human interaction only necessary after a contingency, either in the ground processing or the space segment. One of the biggest challenges in this operational concept will be to become aware of the complex situation after any not-nominal situation. A reporting system will inform the on-call personnel of the current state of all components. This paper presents the operational concept established at the DPCC.