Speaker
Description
Technolution Advance and the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) have started the development of a new payload Control & Data Processing Unit (CDPU) targeted towards smallsats. The CDPU will act as a hub for optical instruments that forms a logical bridge between the instruments and the satellite platform. It will offer standardized hardware interfaces for integrating optical instruments, as well as sophisticated facilities for processing the science data before it is sent down to earth. We defined a modular architecture to allow flexibility in interfaces and functions, with advanced and reliable in-orbit FPGA reprogrammability.
The control and data processing unit (CDPU) will be a space avionics unit to control compact optical instruments and to process the instrument science data . Under control, we currently assume functions like the provision of switched and conditioned power, the provisions of fine thermal management functions, driving calibration provisions and operational tasks as the management and execution of measurement schedules. Minimum data processing currently required is the packetization of raw data to a proper format for the downlink of the satellite. But the CDPU will be able to offer more. As instruments are becoming more sophisticated and since there is an increasing demand for in-orbit data processing functions such as compression, data filtering and encryption, the CDPU will contain powerful data processing capabilities like AI methods.
The processing module of the modular CDPU architecture is based on the Microchip PolarFire FPGA. For interfacing towards the instrument and to the platform, customizable instrument-specific and platform-specific modules have been designed. We have implemented our AXI4-based FreNox RISC-V system-on-chip into the PolarFire FPGA device, including SpW interfaces for interfacing with the instruments and the platform. The FreNox RISC-V SoC also accommodates function accelerators, such as compression and security functions.
The target market of the CDPU will be the MicroSat and MiniSat market (order 20 - 1000 kg); responding to the trend of CubeSats size increasing towards the MicroSat segment and a demand for smallsat avionics with increased reliability. At the same time state-of-art compact optical instruments often need MicroSat size platforms to be accommodated. Another use-case of the CDPU is to accommodate compact instruments on bigger missions where the CDPU can function as an interfacing unit with the host satellite, taking into account ADHA (Advanced Data Handling Architecture) compatibility.
As a founding member of the RISC-V Foundation, Technolution has designed and implemented the FreNox RISC-V processor family. The FreNox RISC-V technology has been integrated in a wide variety of qualified security products for line encryption and network domain separation at multiple confidentiality levels. We have also ported the full AXI-4-based FreNox RISC-V system-on-chip into the NanoXplore NG-Medium device, and have created a full interactive demonstration; through the SpW-interface we upload software in the RISC-V SoC, allowing the user to play and non-invasively debug the "Space Invaders" game on the NG-Medium board.
