Unmanned systems real-time data acquisition and analysis framework

Data retrieval from sensors aboard unmanned Research and Development (R&D) assets is important for scientific and research efforts. As the number of assets grow, it becomes complicated to retrieve and process the data in a timely manner. We present a framework which can rapidly ingest, process, and visualize large volumes of data obtained from R&D assets in real time. Using the Iridium satellite network, short burst data (SBD) packets are sent to a local email server for data ingestion. Data ingestion and processing is done by leveraging python’s multiprocessing module to concurrently process incoming SBD data packets. The data is then written into the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format for interoperability. The processed data can then be viewed through a web-based graphical information system (GIS), which would allow the user to get rapid feedback on a mobile device or in the field.