Objectives of the Product

How can product companies find a golden middle between satisfying the customer by delivering rapidly the product, based on customer expectations, and securing a high rate of product purchases?

One of the main problems in the space industry is late access to hardware that leads to incomplete testing and validation of the software. Facing this issue, KP Labs has come up with a solution on how to fulfil the needs of the customer and secure income, by allowing the client to have a rapid remote access to its hardware products and creating SME as a Service solution. Solving this problem will satisfy both customer and the manufacturer by giving the following:

For the Customer:

• Ability to get acquainted with the product by remotely accessing it, right after the payment for the subscription and test several configurations to select the relevant one before the purchase of a physical hardware.
• Shortening the lead time of the test solution from several months to a few minutes.
• Making the smart investment in the right solution.
• Develop software or algorithms for their mission in parallel with procurement of the hardware.

For KP Labs:

• Securing that customer will stay and test the solution.
• Saving time and resources for the contractual part, as a customer is specifying the wanted product through the system.
• Raising the probability of the purchase after the initial product testing.
• Delivering an added value for the customer, which is not available within the competition, thus building a strong brand in the market.

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Customers and their Needs

Targeted customers include companies and institutions from space industry who use algorithms (traditional and AI/ML) on satellites and want to test their solution before utilisation in space. Quick access to hardware and possibility of verification of code is one of their main needs, and KP Labs’ SMEaaS will meet it.

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Targeted customer/users countries

Worldwide.

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Product description

KP Labs would like to propose a new way of selling upstream DPUs, by giving the customer rapid remote access and introducing hardware as a virtual service.

KP Labs has a portfolio of products called Smart Mission Ecosystem:.

It consists of several products:

• Modular on-board software (Oryx);
• Three different Data Processing Units (Antelope, Leopard and Lion);
• A set of AI algorithms (The Herd) and EGSE (Oasis).

These products define the company product offer and are dedicated for missions up to 500 kg, and up to Class 4. The major idea of SME as a Service is to allow customer to use them remotely, whenever they want and wherever they are. The Customer will get access to the major KP Labs hardware products to be able to test and verify their algorithms. This solution will allow the customer to receive remote access to the product through Virtual Private Network as presented below, and use it as they pay, being able to configure the solution as they need. To use the SME as a Service, a customer will need a computer station with open-source tools to design their AI solutions (such as TensorFlow), list of requirements for the mission and Internet access.

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Added Value

Currently, the most popular way of testing algorithms on the real hardware requires purchase of the hardware and waiting for it to be produced and delivered. It is hard to test and experiment with the data processing units, and choosing the one that really meets the actual mission’s needs. Utilisation of SMEaSS allows testing and verifying code on different units of hardware, which in turn allows to choose between them, according to the specific solution’s needs.

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Current Status

MTR Milestone has been achieved and all due deliverables accepted by ESA. While the project is halfway to completion, it is a big milestone since the Customer Dashboard is now completed and managed by KP Labs. Next steps would include Client Zero engagement for the testing of the service. Hardware production is in progress – aiming for 3 units of Antelope and 4-5 units of Leopard by no earlier than June 2024.