Martian dust storm detection with THz opportunistic integrated sensing and communication in the Internet of Space (IoS)

Abstract

This paper presents the Mars Dust Storm Detector (MDSD). The system leverages Terahertz (THz) signals between Mars surface assets for environmental sensing, particularly dust storm detection. MDSD exploits THz signal attenuation characteristics with Martian-specific models to monitor storm intensity and particle properties. We develop a link budget analysis for reliable communication under dust conditions and design an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based waveform for joint sensing and communication. System performance is evaluated through numerical calculations at various Node Density Factors (NDFs). Results show linear interpolation achieves correlation coefficients exceeding 0.90 at high NDFs. Nearest-neighbor and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) algorithms maintain complete coverage in sparse networks. Error analysis identifies particle size uncertainty as the primary contributor to estimation errors, though the system remains resilient to atmospheric variations. We analyze computational complexity and document system limitations with mitigation strategies. This work extends Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) technology to planetary exploration, enhancing Mars atmospheric monitoring capabilities in the Internet of Space (IoS).