About

Edward F. Crawley is the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics. His research has focused on the architecture, design, and decision support and optimization in complex technical systems subject to economic and stakeholder constraints. His work ranges from the development of underlying theory to the development of approaches and tools, including a fundamental paper on the algebra of systems, the framing of system architecture as a decision graph, and the development of complex stakeholder network models to identify value creation. A particular focus of his work is on the identification of architectures for different missions with common elements, with applications including Moon–Mars human spaceflight systems, launch to low earth orbit, NASA and NOAA’s earth observing systems, and NASA’s Space Communications System.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Aerospace engineering
• Telecommunications
• Engineering
• Operating system
• Physics
• Business
• Real-time computing
• Finance
• Geography
• Computer network
• Remote sensing

Selected publications

• Similarity Assessment of the Engineering Concepts: Decision‐Making Support and Metrics

  Systems Engineering · 2025-03-13 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT The new product development (NPD) process is a systematic approach to bring new products and innovations to market. Nowadays, this process is affected by a number of influencing factors associated with the fast‐paced technological changes. One of those factors is the distributed design nature of product development activities: team members are spread geographically having different cultures, languages, time zones, and level of digital engineering tools awareness and utilization. Another factor is the customization of the products to meet the requirements of different customers, or the different requirements of the same customer for product variants. This is linked to the need of being able to predict the next generation of products. All those factors influence the embodiment of the engineering concept into the final product. What is critically important in such an engineering environment is to properly encode and track the engineering concepts to enable smooth planning and management of the next generations of products. One of the critical needs in this process is the assessment of the engineering concepts’ similarities. This paper presents a method for the similarity assessment of product concepts through the integration of the decision‐making support and mathematical representation of similarity scores. To demonstrate its utility, the proposed approach is applied to seven alternative suborbital spaceflight concepts. Using the proposed method, the pairwise similarity score among them is calculated quantitatively. A practical utility of the paper is that it presents an approach to evaluate product concepts’ similarity in any industrial and business sector.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Revenue Management to Maximize Global Network Revenue for a Satellite Communication Operator

  International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking · 2025-03-21

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT The satellite communication (SatCom) industry is rapidly expanding, with supply growing much faster than demand, potentially straining market prices and company stability. Effective revenue management (RM) can help operators optimize the use of limited and expensive satellite resources. Current SatCom RM methods fail to account for both the temporal and spatial nature of satellite services. This paper presents a multizone displacement‐adjusted virtual nesting (DAVN) RM method to create booking limits that guide operators in determining which products to accept to maximize revenue. By incorporating spatial interzone effects, the multizone method improves revenue compared to the separate zones method by 2%–10%. The results demonstrate that under varying pricing structures, the multizone approach increases the acceptance of high‐revenue mobile products by approximately 10%, with a corresponding reduction in the sale of longer duration stationary products.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Unified Resource Allocation Framework and Impact Evaluation for NGSO Satellite Constellations

  International Journal of Satellite Communications and Networking · 2025-01-12 · 1 citations

  article

  ABSTRACT The new era of satellite communications will rely on thousands of highly flexible spacecraft capable of autonomously managing constellation resources, such as power or frequency. Previous work has focused on the automation of the individual tasks that compose the resource allocation problem (RAP). However, two aspects remain unaddressed: (1) A unified method that autonomously solves the RAP under nongeosynchronous conditions is still to be developed, and (2) the cost–benefit of using optimization methods remains to be studied. Note that these studies are critical for satellite operators to take appropriate decisions concerning the automation of communications constellations operations. To close this gap, this work proposes an adaptive framework to solve the RAP for high‐dimensional nongeosynchronous satellite constellations. The proposed framework uses a divide‐and‐conquer approach that solves each step of the RAP, leveraging different optimization algorithms at the subproblem level to produce a valid and efficient allocation of resources over long time horizons. When comparing the proposed method against scalable greedy solutions, the former achieves up to four times more constellation capacity and reduces the overall consumed power by up to a factor of 3. The cost–benefit analysis reveals which RAP subproblems should be prioritized depending on the operator's objectives. Studying diverse operational conditions, we find that optimization methods enhance capacity consistently yet might raise power consumption due to trade‐offs in the routing algorithms.

  PublisherDOI

• Application of revenue management to satellite communications

  Aerospace Science and Technology · 2025-08-06

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Mixed Integer Linear Programming for Ground Infrastructure and Inter-Satellite Link Design in Satellite Constellations

  IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology · 2025-07-28 · 2 citations

  article

  With the proliferation of megaconstellations, the design of supporting infrastructure to enable these systems broadband services presents a challenge for satellite operators aiming to optimize their performance. Critical decisions, such as the placement of ground stations, the quantity of gateway antennas, and the configuration of inter-satellite links (ISL), significantly impact both cost and data throughput. Nevertheless, current literature has largely overlooked the potential for optimization. The goal of this paper is to investigate the ground infrastructure and ISL configuration design through the usage of Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP). Specifically, our research encompasses two MILP formulations: 1) Determining the global distribution of ground stations, focusing on maximizing data throughput, and 2) Establishing a close-to-optimal mapping between satellites and gateways, by maximizing data throughput and minimizing latency and need for additional gateways. Using simulations and mathematical solvers, our study reveals that satellite operators can reduce by 17% the need for gateways while reducing by 46% the latency, compared to prevailing methods, while maintaining system capacity. Furthermore, our analyses underscore the advantages of constellations with extensive and distant ISL configurations, as they effectively alleviate congestion in densely populated areas.

  PublisherDOI

• Satellite Routing for mobile users under uncertainty in High Throughput constellations

  2024-03-02 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  In the past few years, the satellite communications landscape has undergone significant transformations, which increase the operational complexity of satellite systems. On one hand, the development of modern highly flexible payloads that provide the ability to adapt satellites’ resources to specific needs, together with reduced launch and manufacturing costs, provide satellite operators with increased capacity. On the other hand, new market segments such as in-flight connectivity have made the overall demand for satellite communications increase. Furthermore, demand has also changed its behavior, being more variable and unpredictable. Consequently, these new mobility segments entail new complexities due to their dynamic nature and uncertain behavior.The objective of this paper is to build upon current methods to address the satellite routing problem, which consists of mapping users to satellites, in the presence of mobile users with uncertain behavior. While previous literature addresses these type of users from the perspective of the frequency assignment (i.e., the assignment of frequency spectrum to users), previous routing literature does not fully address these type of users. First, we formulate the problem, including the characteristics of new mobility segments. Then, we propose strategies in two stages: pre-operations, involving an initial plan based on users’ trajectories and schedule estimates using probabilistic constraints, and real-time adjustments during operations based on updated information.Our approach, tested with Eurocontrol flight data, allows us to regulate the degree of conservativeness and control a trade-off between drop time and capacity, having a maximum reduction on the former of 11.68% but an increase on the latter by 11.85%. When combining satellite routing with frequency assignment strategies, we successfully serve 99.7% of the users, compared to just 84.4% users served in the baseline, with a minor increase in power consumption in the satellite constellation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Application of Revenue Management to Satellite Communications

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Robust Beam-to-Satellite Routing Strategies for Megaconstellations

  IEEE Wireless Communications Letters · 2024-08-06 · 2 citations

  article

  Robust routing strategies for satellite constellations are crucial for mitigating outage probability amidst satellite failures. While existing literature primarily addresses robust routing within the satellite network, this letter introduces innovative strategies to enhance robustness in ground-satellite links. Leveraging established heuristic and optimization methods, these strategies are tailored to incorporate redundancy. Using the Starlink constellation with 200,000 users as an example, our findings illustrate a significant reduction in outage probability for end-users, albeit with a trade-off of reduced capacity. Specific approaches demonstrate the capability to sustain a substantial portion of throughput, maintaining 96% while reducing the outage probability up to 66% and 10% for internal and external failures, respectively.

  PublisherDOI

• Dynamic Frequency Assignment for Mobile Users in Multibeam Satellite Constellations

  arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-03-09 · 4 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Mobile users such as airplanes or ships will constitute an important segment of the future satellite communications market. Operators are now able to leverage digital payloads that allow flexible resource allocation policies that are robust against dynamic user bases. One of the key problems is managing the frequency spectrum efficiently, which has not been sufficiently explored for mobile users. To address this gap, we propose a dynamic frequency management algorithm based on linear programming that assigns resources in scenarios with both fixed and mobile users by combining long-term planning with real-time operation. We propose different strategies divided into proactive strategies, which stem from robust optimization practices, and reactive strategies, which exploit a high degree of real-time control. This represents a tradeoff between how conservative long-time planning should be and how much real-time reconfiguration is needed. To assess the performance of our method and to determine which proactive and reactive strategies work better under which context, we simulate operational use cases of non-geostationary constellations with different levels of dimensionality and uncertainty, showing that our method is able to serve over 99.97\% of the fixed and mobile users in scenarios with more than 900 beams. Finally, we discuss the trade-offs between the studied strategies in terms of the number of served users, power consumption, and number of changes that need to happen during operations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Heliocentric Satellite Constellation for Continuous Solar Coverage and Space Weather Monitoring

  2024-03-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  While the Sun provides the Earth with the energy needed to sustain life, the volatility associated with this intense energy source generates solar weather, which can have devastating implications on Earth. Solar weather can result in data compromise, radio interference, premature satellite deorbit, and even failure of the power grid. To mitigate the negative effects of solar weather, constant observation of the entirety of the Sun’s surface is essential. This complete picture of the Sun’s ever-changing state will help scientists anticipate solar events that may negatively impact life on Earth. A heliocentric satellite constellation called the Solar Unobstructed Network-based First Long-term Outer-space Weather Effects Research (SUNFLOWER) Observatory is proposed to continuously monitor coronal mass ejections, sunspots, and coronal holes with a suite of science instruments capable of collecting data in various electromagnetic wavelengths. This report offers a holistic view of the mission and spacecraft architectures. The paper begins with a discussion of motivation, mission objectives, and influential past missions. Next, a high-level overview of the mission design flow, mission-level requirements, and cost and schedule estimation assumptions is explored. This is followed by an analysis of the stakeholders and associated value flows and identification of system boundaries. Next, high-level design decisions for critical components of the system architecture and project risks and risk mitigation strategies are discussed. Results for instrument selection, constellation design, and spacecraft design are presented along with the reasoning behind the recommended architectures and design decisions. The final result is an estimate of the overall mission cost and schedule—roughly $4B in FY2025 USD over an 18-year lifecycle beginning in FY2025. The conclusion summarizes the proposed constellation, composed of nine identical spacecraft—each containing a magnetograph, an extreme ultraviolet imager, and a coronagraph—in a Walker-Delta 54.7° configuration at one AU, with three spacecraft in each of three planes. This solution offers continuous 4π-steradian remote sensing coverage of the solar surface—including the poles—with daily communication of science and state-of-health data over Ka-band frequencies to Earth using 34-m ground stations within the Deep Space Network (DSN). To circumvent the significant burden that would be placed on DSN, a compelling and mutually beneficial case for investing in additional 34-m antennas is presented. The paper concludes with recommendations for future work on the SUNFLOWER Observatory.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Bruce Cameron

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  150 shared

• Doris R. Brodeur

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  44 shared

• Iñigo del Portillo

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  37 shared

• Nils Pachler

  32 shared

• Yaniv Mordecai

  Amazon (United States)

  30 shared

• Olivier de Weck

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  30 shared

• Sören Östlund

  KTH Royal Institute of Technology

  29 shared

• Johan Malmqvist

  Chalmers University of Technology

  26 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1986

• M.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1981

• B.S., Aeronautics and Astronautics

  California Institute of Technology

  1979

Awards & honors

• Regional Soaring Champion (1991, 1995, and 2005)
• NASA Astronaut Finalist (1980)