Integrated control of satellite and network assets

1 . A method, the method comprising:

ingesting indications of hardware assets physically deployed on satellites, the hardware assets including satellite position or orientation control elements;

converting the indications of the hardware assets into a common format for entry into a satellite asset dataset;

ingesting indications of cellular network assets deployable onto the satellites;

converting the indications of the cellular network assets into the common format for entry into the satellite asset dataset;

providing a user interface indicating representations of the satellites with corresponding representations of the hardware assets and representations of the cellular network assets based on ingested contents of the satellite asset dataset; and

receiving, in the user interface, orchestration control inputs relating to control or deployment of selected ones among the hardware assets and the cellular network assets to initiate or alter a cellular network arrangement across the satellites.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

ingesting the indications of the cellular network assets comprises parsing asset descriptions and asset properties within the indications of the cellular network assets according to an equipment vendor source format; and

converting the indications of the cellular network assets comprises converting the asset descriptions and the asset properties into the common format associated with the satellite asset dataset.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the equipment vendor source format comprises a Yet Another Next Generation (YANG) XML format describing the asset descriptions and the asset properties of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio access network (RAN).

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the cellular network assets correspond to at least 5G-NR cellular network elements selected from among 5G network core elements, gNodeB elements, gNodeB Central Units (CUs), gNodeB Distributed Units (DUs), Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs), Session Management Function (SMFs), Unified Data Management (UDM) network functions (NFs), Random Access Network Intelligent Controllers (RICs), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) elements, and 5G Core Network (5GCN) elements.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein initiating or altering the cellular network arrangement across the satellites comprises configuring one or more software defined radios (SDRs) on the satellites to implement portions of the cellular network arrangement and commanding one or more physical hardware assets on the satellites to perform activities to support at least inter-satellite communications related to the cellular network arrangement.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the activities to support at least the inter-satellite communications comprise altering one or more among satellite propulsion state, satellite orbital state, satellite orientation state, antenna pointing states among the satellites, and solar array pointing states among the satellites.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing the user interface indicating representations comprising status for the hardware assets on the satellites; and

providing the user interface indicating representations comprising status for the cellular network assets deployed on the satellites.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

adjusting the orchestration control inputs based at least on the status for the hardware assets and the status for the cellular network assets to alter the cellular network arrangement across the satellites.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface comprises a hierarchical display of the satellite asset dataset with a first portion of the user interface indicating assets corresponding to satellites and a second portion of the user interface indicating properties of selected ones of the assets.

10 . A computing apparatus comprising:

one or more processors operatively coupled with one or more computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by the one or more processors, direct the computing apparatus to at least:

ingest indications of hardware assets physically deployed on satellites, the hardware assets including satellite position or orientation control elements;

convert the indications of the hardware assets into a common format for entry into a satellite asset dataset;

ingest indications of cellular network assets deployable onto the satellites;

convert the indications of the cellular network assets into the common format for entry into the satellite asset dataset;

provide a user interface indicating representations of the satellites with corresponding representations of the hardware assets and representations of the cellular network assets based on ingested contents of the satellite asset dataset; and

receive, in the user interface, orchestration control inputs relating to control or deployment of selected ones among the hardware assets and the cellular network assets to initiate or alter a cellular network arrangement across the satellites.

11 . The computing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein;

to ingest the indications of the cellular network assets, the program instructions direct the computing apparatus to parse asset descriptions and asset properties within the indications of the cellular network assets according to an equipment vendor source format; and

to convert the indications of the cellular network assets, the program instructions direct the computing apparatus to convert the asset descriptions and the asset properties into the common format associated with the satellite asset dataset.

12 . The computing apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the equipment vendor source format comprises a Yet Another Next Generation (YANG) XML format describing the asset descriptions and the asset properties of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio access network (RAN).

13 . The computing apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the cellular network assets correspond to at least 5G-NR cellular network elements selected from among 5G network core elements, gNodeB elements, gNodeB Central Units (CUs), gNodeB Distributed Units (DUs), Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs), Session Management Function (SMFs), Unified Data Management (UDM) network functions (NFs), Random Access Network Intelligent Controllers (RICs), Evolved Packet Core (EPC) elements, and 5G Core Network (5GCN) elements.

14 . The computing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein to initiate or alter the cellular network arrangement across the satellites, the program instructions direct the computing apparatus to:

configure one or more software defined radios (SDRs) on the satellites to implement portions of the cellular network arrangement; and

command one or more hardware assets on the satellites to perform activities to support at least inter-satellite communications related to the cellular network arrangement.

15 . The computing apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the activities to support at least the inter-satellite communications comprise altering one or more among satellite propulsion state, satellite orbital state, satellite orientation state, antenna pointing states among the satellites, and solar array pointing states among the satellites.

16 . The computing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions further direct the computing apparatus to:

provide the user interface indicating representations comprising status for the physical hardware assets on the satellites; and

provide the user interface indicating representations comprising status for the cellular network assets deployed on the satellites.

17 . The computing apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the program instructions further direct the computing apparatus to adjust the orchestration control inputs based at least on the status for the hardware assets and the status for the cellular network assets to alter the cellular network arrangement across the satellites.

18 . The computing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the user interface comprises a hierarchical display of the satellite asset dataset with a first portion of the user interface indicating assets corresponding to satellites and a second portion of the user interface indicating properties of selected ones of the assets.

19 . One or more computer readable storage media having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, direct a computing device to at least:

ingest indications of hardware assets physically deployed on satellites, the hardware assets including satellite position or orientation control elements;

convert the indications of the hardware assets into a common format for entry into a satellite asset dataset;

ingest indications of cellular network assets deployable onto the satellites;

convert the indications of the cellular network assets into the common format for entry into the satellite asset dataset;

provide a user interface indicating representations of the satellites with corresponding representations of the hardware assets and representations of the cellular network assets based on ingested contents of the satellite asset dataset; and

receive, in the user interface, orchestration control inputs relating to control or deployment of selected ones among the hardware assets and the cellular network assets to initiate or alter a cellular network arrangement across the satellites.

20 . The one or more computer readable storage media of claim 19 , wherein:

to ingest the indications of the cellular network assets, the program instructions direct the computing device to parse asset descriptions and asset properties within the indications of the cellular network assets according to an equipment vendor source format; and

to convert the indications of the cellular network assets, the program instructions direct the computing device to convert the asset descriptions and the asset properties into the common format associated with the satellite asset dataset.