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arXiv AI

ORBITALIF: An Efficient Spiking Federated Learning Framework for Onboard Cloud Removal

The paper introduces OrbitALIF, a federated learning framework that performs cloud removal on low‑earth‑orbit satellites. It uses a compact 2.30 M‑parameter spiking neural network with adaptive gated fusion and spectral‑spatial hybrid attention modules, enabling both training and inference onboard. The approach achieves competitive cloud‑removal quality while consuming only 0.287 mJ per inference on neuromorphic hardware, a 72.3‑fold energy reduction compared to an equivalent ANN.

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arXiv Machine Learning
Oct 12

Neuromorphic Satellite Intelligence: A Formal Framework for Event-Driven Architectures, Spike-Based Algorithms, and Quantitative Energy-Accuracy Trade-offs

The paper presents a formal framework for applying spiking neural networks to satellite onboard computing, deriving closed‑form energy models based on network sparsity, firing rate, and fan‑out. It introduces three novel spike‑based algorithms—SKCF for attitude estimation, TCAD for health monitoring, and SAMC for adaptive communication—alongside analytical complexity bounds. A quantitative Energy‑Accuracy‑Latency surface, populated with silicon data from Loihi and SpiNNaker, demonstrates that neuromorphic solutions can reduce energy consumption by 8 to 47 times compared to GPU baselines while keeping inference accuracy within 2.1% for typical satellite workloads.

By Suresh Kumar TP, Vikas Agnihotri
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arXiv AI
Sep 2

FractalNet-Based Heterogeneous Federated Learning for Orbital Edge Intelligence in Satellite Mega-Constellations: A Wildfire Case Study

The paper introduces a heterogeneous federated learning approach using the FractalNet architecture tailored for satellite mega‑constellations. It formalizes contact‑window‑constrained, depth‑heterogeneous optimization and proposes a distributed path scheduler that assigns model depth based on satellite SWAP‑C constraints, predicted contacts, and training statistics. The framework includes periodic update pooling and a three‑tier agentic control plane, and is validated through a wildfire detection case study across LEO, MEO, and GEO/HEO shells, demonstrating improvements in convergence, communication efficiency, energy adaptation, and robustness.

By Sai Puppala, Koushik Sinha
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arXiv Machine Learning
Aug 26

Low-Latency Activation-Regularized Sparse Neural Operators with Distillation Assistance Towards Real-Time Edge-Deployable Virtual Sensing

The paper introduces the Sparse-Activation-ReLU (SAR) layer, a single‑step neural operator that promotes activation sparsity without surrogate‑gradient training and is compatible with event‑based computing. In a trunk‑based NOMAD architecture, SAR improves the combined Latency‑Error‑Energy (LEE) metric by over fivefold compared to Variable Spiking Neuron (VSN) and Leaky Integrate‑and‑Fire (LIF) models. Additional techniques such as synthetic knowledge distillation, a ReLU‑based spiking loss, and graph‑neighbor thresholding further reduce LEE and L2 error on the Heat Exchanger dataset, advancing energy‑efficient virtual sensing for edge deployment.

By William Howes, Farid Ahmed, Syed Bahauddin Alam
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