Implementing SpaceWire on OPS-SAT In-Flight
- Paper number
IAC-22,B2,6,9,x71170
- Author
Mr. Maximilian Henkel, Austria, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz)
- Year
2022
- Abstract
Communication can be considered a core functionality of any satellite. This typically requires data to pass through an interlinked communication chain. On ESA's OPS-SAT satellite the comparably weakest link of the communication chain is the connection to the Satellite's main Experimental Processing Platform (SEPP): The primary link is due to protocol overhead and physical limitations not fast enough to utilize all data rates provided by the frontends. However, there is a faster physical connection available. This work shows the in-flight demonstration of implementing a SpaceWire link on the main processing platform on ESA's OPS-SAT mission. This complements OPS-SAT and its high demands for performant data exchange. The flexibility which made this feasible, is achieved by an in-flight reconfigurable Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). These results show the adaptiveness to new functionality for any phase of the mission, when hardware gets more flexible through reconfigurability. Moreover, we see in-flight FPGA reconfiguration as a potentially strong driver for further innovation in space.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)