Few things are more important than a reliable connection in space. The communication system between the International Space Station and Earth is one of the most robust ever created. And that's why Ford is tapping Russian researchers to learn how they maintain the flow of information to both the systems and their robot caretakers, and then apply it to create safer cars that talk to one another.
For the next three years, Ford is partnering with the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University in Russia to study how its communication models with robots in space could influence more terrestrial undertakings like vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications here at home.
Mesh networks – combining a series of communication protocols into one cohesive system – is going to be the key to creating an accident-free future. But ensuring those networks are always functioning is a challenge.
If a car's data connection is damaged in a crash or a network connected traffic light is struck by a vehicle, there need to be redundancies in the system. By analyzing how communications are sent to space in the wake of a system outage, Ford hopes to create an emergency messaging protocol that could keep drivers, their cars, and emergency teams informed by bouncing the information around the damaged vehicle or infrastructure.
"The research of fallback options and robust message networks is important," said Oleg Gusikhin, one of Ford's technical leaders in systems analytics. "If one network is down, alternatives need to be identified and strengthened to reliably propagate messages between networks."
Ford will be studying how it can use multiple communications protocols – everything from dedicated short-range systems to LTE – to keep the information flowing, as well as to prioritize one message over another. An emergency signal could be routed through a faster mesh network, while your Spotify stream would go through something less crucial.
But while it's certainly an impressive undertaking, it's disheartening Ford has to go all the way to Russia to make it happen.
