ISR-3: Space Data and Software Systems

Space Data and Software Systems

Contributing expertise in embedded and flight software, end user systems and operations, data processing and management, computing infrastructure, and cybersecurity 

The Space Data and Software Systems Group (ISR-3) contributes key skills and experience in software, computing, operations, and data systems that are essential to meeting ISR’s (Intelligence and Space Research) scientific and national security missions. 

ISR-3 group members represent a variety of backgrounds including computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, software development, system administration, and cyber security.  ISR-3 provides critical contributions to all phases of ISR’s scientific and national security missions including conception, development, testing, operations, and maintenance.

Focus Areas

Embedded & Flight Software Engineering

• Embedded systems and flight software for ground, airborne, and space missions
• Modular space payload hardware and software architectures
• Advanced embedded communication technologies for space applications
• Low-level driver implementation to support custom remote sensing hardware
• Onboard command and control, data acquisition, and data processing

Command & Acquisition Systems

• Integrated multi-sensor operator interfaces for ground, airborne, and space missions
• Software tools and algorithms for real-time data interpretation
• Ground support equipment for system development, validation and verification
• Operational ground systems for command and control, data acquisition, and data distribution
• Management and maintenance of deployed systems

Computing Infrastructure, Integration, and Security

• Design, sustain, and continually enhance the general computing environment and infrastructure of ISR and it's collaborators to support their many missions across multiple levels of classification
• Collaborate with stakeholders to architect, integrate, and maintain mission-focused computing solutions within the larger environment when specific mission needs arise
• Implement and oversee cybersecurity compliance, system accreditation, continuous monitoring, risk management, and security control adherence across multiple network levels and classifications

Data Processing & Management

Data-centric standardization, automated processing pipelines, and secure archiving of data products
Cross-domain file transfer and integration of data exploitation methods into existing processing pipelines
Maintenance and operation of end-to-end modeling and simulation software framework

ML / Data Engineering

• Machine learning infrastructure and MLOps for developing, deploying, and maintaining ML models supporting space mission analysis and anomaly detection
• Scalable data engineering pipelines for ingesting, processing, and transforming petabyte-scale mission data from space-based sensors
• Advanced time series analytics with sophisticated query engines, multi-fidelity caching, and automated down sampling for efficient analysis of temporal space data
• Database architecture and optimization including NoSQL and SQL systems designed for high-throughput mission data storage and real-time retrieval
• Event driven workflow orchestration to enable continuous data integration, quality assurance, and distribution to mission stakeholders
• High-performance computing solutions leveraging distributed frameworks and cloud-native deployment on OpenShift/Kubernetes
• Mission-specific model adaptation, including supervised fine-tuning and benchmarking of language and analytical models against domain-relevant datasets and evaluation metrics.

Ground & Operational Software Engineering

• Software for the ground and operational elements of ISR’s space missions
• Interfacing with external mission stakeholders to ensure successful software integration
• Design and implementation of software algorithms in both high- and low-level languages
• High software quality standards and formal documentation and requirements tracking
• Maintenance and sustainment of deployed software