Customized System Software Development To Support SDARS Satellite Operations
- Paper number
IAC-08.B2.1.5
- Author
Mr. Christopher Croom, Sirius Satellite Radio, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Between early 2000 and the present, Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services (SDARS) have grown from a small, startup venture to a mainstream media. During that time two rival companies, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, competed for customers, partners, and media content in the fledgling endeavor. Since inception, the two companies have been operating with an extremely high service availability providing music and entertainment channels, and most recently video service to more than 17 million combined subscribers. In the background, a small group of engineers were charged with forming satellite operations for companies that had essentially no experience in maintaining satellite assets. Since the XM orbital platform was based on heritage, geostationary satellites, XM chose to select an established satellite operator to maintain the health and operations of their satellites. However, with the unique orbital and constellation configuration implemented by SIRUIS, satellite operations were a more difficult premise. In time, SIRIUS decided that an in-house staff would define the procedures and operations concepts for the constellation of Highly inclined Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellites and be responsible for all aspects of satellite operations. As the operations concept fell into place, management repeatedly faced the decision of procuring versus developing systems that would maintain the SIRIUS satellites and the supporting ground segment infrastructure. In the end, SIRIUS converged upon a hybrid of systems that were either developed completely in-house, custom developed by independent contractors, or bought as Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) applications. This paper will document the considerations that went into choosing each of the most operationally significant satellite, ground, and network software systems. The suite of systems required to operate the SIRIUS enterprise includes first and foremost, a real-time satellite telemetry and commanding suite. It also includes Monitor and Control (M&C) function of the Tracking, Commanding, Ranging (TCR) sites, which happen to be in different remote locations. Due to the distinctive orbits of the SIRIUS satellites, the orbital operations team also called for a unique set of tools for station keeping and event scheduling. And finally, SIRIUS required innovative methods to automate the overall operations and thus tie together all of the above functions. Cost, schedule, reliability, ease of maintenance, and best use of available human resources were some of the key metrics used to evaluate each system decision. In the end, the current operational system configuration is stable, yet adaptive, mature, yet scalable, and most importantly highly automated and dependable.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.B2.1.5.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.