This project involves testing and evaluating ground communications for the lunar environment to ensure accurate network site planning. To overcome the time and costs for onsite testing and measurement, which is not feasible on the moon, NASA radio frequency (RF) engineers needed a virtual modeling, simulation, and digital twin solution. They needed to generate a reality mesh of the moon’s terrain and topography, create representative models of transmitter, receiver, and possibly radar systems, and analyze and explore data coupling between antennae in a modeled scenario over a specified analysis period.

NASA selected a third-party application to model and analyze dynamic RF systems under simulated real- world conditions for upcoming lunar missions. Then, leveraging Cesium for 3D tiling, geospatial context, and front-end visualization, the team developed an accurate network digital twin in less than a day, compared to months using traditional modeling processes. The digital twin network simulation solution saved USD 159,000 in labor costs.