ADVANCED PROCESSING AND COMMUNICATIONS PAYLOADS FOR NANOSATELLITE MISSIONS

Paper number

IAC-15,B2,4,4,x30423

Author

Prof. Otto Koudelka, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Austria

Coauthor

Dr. Manfred Wittig, European Space Agency (ESA), retired, The Netherlands

Coauthor

Mr. David Evans, European Space Agency (ESA), Germany

Year

2015

Abstract

Small satellite missions are currently booming. They offer interesting possibilities to test, demonstrate and validate novel technology in Space at low cost and within much shorter timeframes than traditional Space missions. 
TU Graz has been selected as Prime Contractor for OPS-SAT, an ESA nanosatellite mission to test novel operational concepts and to provide a laboratory in Space for conducting hardware and software experiments covering among others the areas communications protocols, autonomy, attitude control, RF and optical communications as well as remote sensing.
While the common perception of Space missions is that most novel technology is utilised, the fact is that in particular the utilised processors are quite old. The reason is risk aversion which is good for reliability, but not for driving innovations. For OPS-SAT a state of-the-art processing platform based on an Altera Cyclone-V system-on-chip (SoM) module has been chosen. This SoM provides two ARM-9 processor cores and a large field-programmable array which provides reconfigurability for hardware-related experiments. It is a COTS industrial-grade component. To provide the required reliabilty four such modules are planned to be implemented in cold redundancy. Radiation tests are currently scheduled at ESTEC. 
This SoM module will be used for software experiments as well as the processor for the software defined radio front-end and an optical receiver which are payloads on board of OPS-SAT. The FPGA is utilised for the time-critical algorithms, whereas the ARM-9 processors are active for computational-intensive tasks.
The paper describes the OPS-SAT concept and focuses on the re-configurable processor core as well as the interfacing to the various payloads of opportunity.

Abstract document

IAC-15,B2,4,4,x30423.brief.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-15,B2,4,4,x30423.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.