Design of a New Data Bus Structure for Small Satellites
- Paper number
IAC-08.B4.7.10
- Author
Ms. Noushin Khosrodad, York University, Canada
- Coauthor
Dr. Yunlong Lin, York University, Canada
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Traditionally a bus has been a central collection of wires which allowed the flow of data and power between the main computer and the peripheral devices. In applications concerning small spacecraft the requirements for the data bus are more resolute. Over the short life of the space age, there have been a few buses developed, improved, and currently widely used in the space industry. The MIL-STD-1553, CAN (Controller Area Network) bus and the OpenCAN are such examples. These have been extended to include such necessities as power consumption, radiation hardening, fault toleration, redundancy and reduced wire harnessing (due to mass constraints). The past two decades have witnessed a rapid development of the high-speed processors and an increasing demand for miniaturization. This has provided the possibility to reduce wire harnessing of the bus (both in size and volume) without reducing the reliability. However, the progress of the above mentioned standards in terms of speed and data load has been impeded by their physical and mechanical constraints. It is hoped here to design a new bus architecture that will satisfy the evolving demands of the small satellite industry. This study will include analysis of a number of currently available buses to select the ideal architecture for the new generation of buses. Some of the potential bus architectures investigated are MIL-STD-1553, CAN, I2C, USB, Ethernet, SpaceWire, FireWire (IEEE1394) and a few wireless options such as WiFi (IEEE 802.11b), Bluetooth and Zigbee (802.15.4). Emphasis is placed on the following aspects: - Reducing mass and volume of the bus wiring harness (this is very important as currently 10- High data rate transmissions (bit rate) - Standardization (Conformation to current commercial standards): preference is given to mature technology with COTS parts and software availability. This will reduce cost, increase reliability, and decrease development time - Reliability: fault toleration and support for harsh environment of space, (extreme low and high temperatures), launch vibration tolerance - Plug and play feature, easy removal and addition of nodes, low maintenance, hot swapping
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-08.B4.7.10.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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