Course Data

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 Course Data

Marks
Oral Oral 7.5
Year Works Mid-Term Exam / Sheets 37.5
Practical Project 15
Final Exam Final Exam 90
Total 150
 Spacecraft Computer System

 Computer System specification

 Computer Resource Estimation

 Fire Sat Example

Spacecraft Computer System
• Introduction:
• Spacecraft computer systems require
space qualified microcomputers,
memories and interface devices.
• Functionally these are not unlike the
devices that are used in business
computers and personal computers.
• Although space applications remain
more accurate and completely
different from our uses.
• Space flight systems must exhibit
excellent reliability and should be able
to tolerate many kinds of faults.
 Spacecraft Computer System

• Computer system Specification

• 1.1 Define Requirements

• 1.2 Processing Architecture
• 1.3 Computer system requirements
• 1.4 Baseline definition expansion
 Spacecraft Computer System

• 1.1 Define Requirements

• What must the system do?

• How can we achieve it and what are the alternatives?

• What functions can we allocate to parts of the system?

• Are all functions technically feasible. ls the system testable?

 Spacecraft Computer System
These are factors that evaluate throughout the design process:
 Mission Requirements:
Customer Needs
Number of satellites
Number and location ground stations
Security requirements
Programmatic issues(cost – schedule – risk)
 System level processing requirements:
Functional capabilities
Physical characteristics(size – weight – power)
Command protection
 Computer level requirements( throughput – memory – development tools – engineering
model availability)
 Additional requirements(testability – usability – flexibility)
 Spacecraft Computer System

• Processing Architecture:

• Is a framework for developing a computer system to meet mission requirements and operational needs
• Centralized Architecture:
Has point- to – point interfaces between processing units and a single management computer or central node
• Ring Architecture(Distributed)
Establishes a way to arbitrate information flow control as the data are passed in a circular pattern
 Spacecraft Computer System

evaluate the impact of mission requirements on the baseline computer

system :-
• Any high-performance requirements will affect the fidelity of the
hardware and software developed for the specific mission.
• As we increase the expected mission life , we should specify the use of
more robust hardware, specifically space-qualified components, and
systems.
• High-data rate payloads such as imaging devices or communication
subsystems impose the need for higher bandwidth data busses.
 Spacecraft Computer System

-when
we require tight attitude knowledge and control, we increase the
computational complexity of the software, which in turn affects the
CPU performance requirements
-And finally we can perform trade studies between the costs associated
with our mission requirements and the costs associated with the
hardware and software we selected to meet the mission requirements.
 Spacecraft Computer System

• If the initial analyses call for onboard processing, we should further

partition functions between hardware, software, and firmware.
• Firmware:
is the software that resides permanently in nonvolatile memory. we cannot modify
it after launch.

• Software typically executes out of random access memory (RAM).

• However, because RAM is sensitive , and firmware is usually the answer for
critical processes . so Firmware often executes out of (ROM) or programmable
ROM (pRoM) where we can write once or some small number of times.
 Computer Resource Estimation
• Central processing unit (CPU)
Spacecraft it's data processing unit is usually microprocessors and these
are integrated circuits having up to 64 million sort of transistors .
Help us to communicate to our spacecraft
Work done of processing unit
- excute the program stored in memory
- excute the received information from spacecraft command system
- maintain system status and health data and format subsystem telemetry
for transmission to the spacecraft telemetry system or the solid-state data
recorder
 Spacecraft Computer System
CPU
PROCESS ELEMENT (Master) on the all coordinate of others
-If we have more than processing unit we call this Multi processor system and any processor can
assume the role of Master
Another system called distributed
Distributed system :

-Role of master is shared by all

-very difficult to design and test
- attractive to use in space borne design
-designed to tolerate faults when the workload is over on others processors .
 Spacecraft Computer System

Spacecraft computer systems use a wide variety of memory devices and

architectures. These include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory
(RAM), and special-purpose memories such as multiport memory (where more
than one user has unambiguous access to the memory), first-in-first-out (FIFO)
memory, cache memory, content-addressable memory (CAM), associative memory,
and high-speed table-lookup memory. Memory types and architectures are tailored
to the specific processor application

1- Read-Only Memory.
2- Random-Access Memory.
3- Special-Purpose Memory.
Spacecraft Computer System

• As is the case with personal desktop computers, spacecraft data

processors frequently need to store large amounts of data. The system
RAM capacity is not large (at most a few hundred megabytes), so some
form of mass data storage must be provided. The main kinds of mass
storage for spacecraft are disks and integrated circuits (ICs).

1- Disk
2- Solid-state memory
 Spacecraft Computer System

For a data processing system to be useful, it is necessary to transfer data into and out
of the system .A wide variety of methods is used to accomplish this input/output (I/O)
activity. Specific I/o devices and techniques are tailored to the processor application
1- Ports :
An I/o port is a hardware device that transfers data to and from the processing system
data bus, as defined by software. Data is usually transferred in parallel to and from the
bus, with the number of bits per transfer equal to the bus distance. The input/output
(I/O) port serves as a node between the processing system and an external computer.
In general there are two kinds of data transfer to and from the external device: serial
and parallel.
 Spacecraft Computer System

1.1 Serial I/O Ports .

Serial ports transfer data to and from the system one bit at a time. They are frequently
used when data transfer rates are low; for example, to transfer commands and
(sometimes) housekeeping telemetry. In a spacecraft, data transfer rates for serial I/O
ports seldom exceed fifty million bits per second.

1.2 Parallel I/O Ports .

Parallel ports transfer data to and from the system one word at a time. A word is almost always a multiple
of eight bits, and usually has as many bits as the processor data bus. For example, a 32-bit processor
would normally use parallel I/O ports that are 32 bits wide. Parallel ports are used to transfer data
between two bus-oriented systems.
 Spacecraft Computer System

2- Direct Memory Access (DMA).

When large blocks of data must be transferred, or when data transfer rates are high, data may be moved
directly into or out of the processor memory. This method of input and output is called direct memory
access (DMA). A DMA controller synchronizes the data transfers with the ongoing microprocessor
activity .

3- Multiport Memory .
When high data transfer rates are needed and wait states cannot be tolerated, multiport
memory can be used for do. A multiport memory is one in which two or more users
may access the memory simultaneously.
 Spacecraft Computer System

4- Timers .
A timer is a piece of hardware that generates periodic interrupts or makes a real-time
clock available to a processor. Timers are used to measure elapsed time between events,
synchronize processors, and measure periods (and therefore rates).
5- Interrupts
One form of input/output operation is the processor interrupt. An interrupt may be
generated by a timer or an event. When the interrupt occurs, the processor stops whatever
it is doing (as soon as that is convenient) and begins to execute an interrupt service routine
 Fault Tolerance
• There are many ways in which space borne data
processing hardware and software may fail.

Hard failure Soft failure

meaning that once the failure has meaning that the failure causes its effect only
occurred it continues to have effect once; after that the system reverts to normal
for the remainder of the mission operation
 Spacecraft Computer System

• Spacecraft custom designed peripherals are used as result of the wide variety of
data processing functions, The processors that can perform important functions
in parallel with the main processors . These functions include preprocessing of
sensor and command data, compression of telemetry data, signal processing, and
arithmetic co processing.
 Spacecraft Computer System
Data Acquisition
Data acquisition is a term that refers to collecting data from many sources and making those data available to the
processor in a standard format, the data may come from many different sources and create in many different forms.
Data acquisition peripheral must contain variable gain blocks and at least one analog to digital converter (A/D or
ADC).
Logarithmic and Data Compression
The data is compressed so that the number of bits used to represent each file is not very large. Logarithmic
compression is very similar to the conversion of a fixed point number, instead of representing the number as an
integer, the compressor represents it as a mantissa and an exponent. For example ,In binary, the fixed point number
11 110100001001000000 could be compressed to 1111010000E10100 for a saving of five bits. If the source of these
data needed to be sampled ten thousand times each second, the data transfer rate would need to be 200000 bits per
second without data compression and only 150000 bits per second with data compression. This can give way a very
large saving in transmission bandwidth and a decrease in the bit error rate.
 Frequency Domain Transformation
Sometimes data are more important if they are observed and analyzed in the frequency
domain. Frequency spectra can be analyzed quickly to determine the data type or source.
For example, the radar modifies the transmitted frequency during transmission, and in the
return signal this can be identified easily in the frequency domain. Very useful Digital Fast
Fourier transform (DFT) terminal device. This instrument takes sample data and then
computes the discrete Fourier transform from that data. The frequency field data can then
be analyzed by the spacecraft processor and all uninteresting data ignored.

 Spectrum Accumulation
Energy spectra are useful. An energy spectrum can be used to determine the active particle
environment in the magnetosphere of a planet. For example, peripherals can be designed to
collect energy spectra automatically and then make those data available to the central
processor with ultra large scale included circuits a 1024 bin energy spectrum accumulator
with 32 bit bins can be implemented in a single integrated circuit.
 Image Processing
Spacecraft may have to process image data. Sometimes a moving target must be recognized and at
other times the object must be known. Perhaps the edges of objects in the image must be detected. All
of these functions can be performed by special-purpose image-processing. One such peripheral is a
cellular logic transformation integrated circuit that can do any of these transformations on a 256 x 256
pixel image in less than 1/30 s.
 Spacecraft Computer System

-Ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI) of transistors is a revolutionary

technological development
that makes possible all kinds of intelligent processors and peripherals for
spacecraft.
Today, 64,000,000 transistors or more may be integrated on a single silicon chip
-This gives potential processing power per cubic centimeter
that is unprecedented.
 Spacecraft Computer System
-Application
-include redundancy (for fault tolerance) on the chip with the CPU, peripheral controller,
memory management
unit, and so on
-implement sophisticated parallel processing
architectures that exhibit graceful degradation as failures occur during a mission
-The increasing density of transistor integration has permitted IC memory to replace magnetic
tape recorders for flight processor mass storage

designing of ULSI IN THREE methods

1-One is to use off-the-shelf devices manufactured by commercial integrated circuit suppliers.

2-Another method is to design circuit
using a gate array or field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
3-A third method is to design a full-custom ULSI integrated circuit in which every transistor
and interconnection is optimized for the application at hand. Modern computer-aided design
(CAD) tools have been developed to facilitate the full-custom design process, so that a full-
custom design can be implemented and simulated on a personal computer
FireSat's mission is to generate and communicate to end user information about forest
fires. How will FireSat determine where the fire is and how big it is? How will the
system communicate that information to the fire fighter in a truck or plane?
-Customer requirements
Need to detect and locate forest fires (>4 hectares=40,000m2)
throughout the US and provide information to the forest service within 24
hours.
Launch opportunities for satellite (up to 260 kg with dimension of 3.0 x 3.0
x 3.0 meter) into 500km altitude, LEO circular orbits.
Total budget of 200M .
The mission must be operational for 7 years.
Mission Objective:
detect and locate forests fires in the US and provide timely notification to users
Communication Architecture
 Number and distribution of ground stations
 Downlink and uplink path design
 Relay satellites, if used
 Space-to-ground data rates
Ground System
 Use of existing or dedicated facilities
 Required transmit and receive characteristics
 Required data handling
Launch Operations
 Level of Automation
 Software lines of code to be created
 Full-time or part-time staffing/number of personnel
 Amount of commanding required
 Timeliness of data distribution
FireSat OV-1
The primary sensor differences for this example are in the scan width and the data
sample sizes.
 The scan width options can be different size satellite constellations to cover the
same area per unit time,
 or sensors per satellite, e.g: one satellite with a single A or B sensor can cover
the same area as either one satellite with four C sensors, or four satellites with a
single C sensor.
Throughput can be 50 MIPS and can get 100 MIPS.
We generate the needed software information through some functions.
As every function can estimate a specific element.
Some elements are:
 Orbit altitude (h)
 Period (p)
 Resolution (d)
 Max scan time

Some samples of algorisms:

 Full FOV
 Fewer Bits
 Quarter FOV