Scope & Topics

Space Avionics Open Interface Architecture (3.11.2009)

Objectives
Space industry has recognized for quite some time already the need to raise the level of standardisation in the avionics system in order to increase efficiency, reduce cost and schedule in the development and thereby increase competitiveness.
The Space Avionics Open Interface Architecture Initiative is the response to this need and encompasses many ongoing and planned efforts towards this vision, among others: Software Architectural Studies CORDET and DOMENG, CCSDS SOIS standardisation, AOCS System Studies, Avionics Building Blocks initiative and many others.
The objective of the round table is to review the status of this initiative, to report on the progress made since the ADCSS 08 workshop and to debate on the needed critical steps to achieve the vision.

Topics
Briefings and position papers, selected by appointment, will cover the following topics:
•    Avionics BB priorities
•    Software Architectures and Interfaces
•    AOCS Sensors and Actuators Interfaces
•    SOIS standardisation update
•    PUS standardisation status
•    Avionics Technology Validation benches
•    Technology Harmonisation
•    AOCS sensors & actuators
•    Avionics Embedded Systems
•    Agencies R&D Plans
•    Panel session on: Future trends in avionics

Organisation
The round table will include briefings and position papers by appointment and an open discussion with the audience.

Round Table Committee
Juan Miró                 (TEC-SW) (contact point)         Juan.Miro@esa.int
Philippe Armbruster   (TEC-ED)
Alain Benoit              (TEC-EC)
SAVOIR Advisory Group members
 
Micro-Processors for Space Applications (4.11.2009)

Objectives
Micro-processors, whether used as the central core of a space computer or embedded in other sub-systems, have to fulfil performances as defined by applications and have their characteristics driven by the technology used to manufacture them. They drive the design and the development of other electronics parts of a computer (memories, internal/external interfaces, etc), indeed influence the SW development process and hence have a significant impact on space missions development.
Science, Earth Observation and Telecom satellites are asking for micro-processors with increasing performances in order to gather, process and transmit sometimes huge amount of data. Needless to say that all these superior performances  have to be achieved while maintaining a high level of reliability in the harsh space environment.
In addition and as supported by the European Component Initiative, microprocessors have to be competitive and independent from the extra-European manufacturers at a space qualified microelectronics level.
The objective of the round table is to review the status of currently available microprocessors, to report on the development of new products (System on Chip solutions, Next Generation Microprocessor), to present investigated areas (Next Generation DSP, Microcontroller, COTS solutions …) and finally to debate on the current criticalities and future scenarios.

Topics
Briefings and position papers, selected by appointment, will cover the following topics:
•    Available Microprocessors (AT697F, AT7913E, …)
•    System on a Chip solutions for Space applications
•    Future Developments in Micro-processors, Micro-controller and DSPs
•    Use of COTS  processors in space
•    Modelling and Simulation of Micro-Processors

Organisation
The round table will include briefings and position papers by appointment and an open discussion with the audience.

Round Table Committee
Giorgio Magistrati     (TEC-EDD) (chair)        Giorgio.Magistrati@esa.int
Kjeld Hjortnaes       (TEC-SWS) (co-chair)
Martin Suess           (TEC-EDP)
Roland Weigand      (TEC-EDM)
Claudio Monteleone (TEC-EDD)
 
Formal Methods in Software Engineering (4.11.2009)

Objectives
The need for high level of confidence and operational integrity in critical space software systems is currently addressed in the Space Industry through rigorous Software Development Processes and stringent Verification and Validation regimes. Substantial effort required by these approaches is highly sensitive to the Requirements changes and late problem discoveries.

Formal Methods allow for mathematically precise modelling of Software Systems and automated analysis of the models. Applied to the domain of Software Engineering, these techniques can provide for explicit and rigorous specification of the software artefacts beginning from the early phases of the lifecycle. Formal techniques, applied in the context of Model-Based Software Engineering, should allow for automation of the Software Lifecycle through automated model-based reasoning, property-preserving model transformation, and automatic code generation. This technology enables the “Correct by Construction” approach, where a proper formalism allows expressing properties of the system or the software at model level. Provided that an appropriate implementation preserves the properties, their early verification is expected to decrease the Verification and Validation effort through significant decrease in the need for the corrective development iterations.

While use of Formal Methods allows the Software Development to benefit, their introduction in the industrial context is hampered, among others, by the often required expert-level knowledge of their use and scarcely available industrial-level tool-support.

The objective of the round table is to evaluate the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice in terms of formal modelling and verification of on-board software, including:
•    Recent industrial progress in use of Formal Methods;
•    Expression of system properties, their use in verification of software models and their preservation in the implementation;
•    Integration of the Formal Methods into the Software Development Lifecycle.

Topics
Papers will cover the following topics:
•    Functional correctness: modelling expressive power, abstraction;
•    Timing: local and end-to-end real-time properties, time-dependent behaviour;
•    Dependability: functional and fault modelling, FTA, FMECA, FDIR (discrete event based);
•    Schedulability: computational model, scheduling and timing properties.

Organisation
The round table will include briefings and position papers by appointment and an open discussion with the audience, addressing, among others, system and property specification, application guidelines, industrial strategy, R&D plans.


Round Table Committee
Jean-Loup Terraillon (TEC-SWE)    (chair)        Jean-Loup.Terraillon@esa.int
Eric Conquet           (TEC-SWE)
Yuri Yushtein          (TEC-SWE)
 
NEOMEX (5.11.2009)

Objectives
A concept for a nanospacecraft bus based on a modular multifunctional design underpins the NEOMEx (Near Earth Object Micro Explorer) theme within the current TRP. Here, a nanospacecraft is understood to mean a highly capable spacecraft with a bus mass of less than 10Kg, a total available power generation capability of less than 50W and an active operational lifetime of up to 5 years.
NEOMEx – a near earth object exploration mission - is presented as a straw man mission in order to guide the technology investigations and development hence providing a consistent structure to the relatively diverse and separate activities being let under the NEOMEx TRP programme.

A modular design for a high performance Nano-spacecraft was recently studied in an ESA CDF study. The results of this study, which will be presented at the Round Table, demonstrated a viable modular design of a highly capable 10 kg nanospacecraft bus, with 4-7 kg payload capacity.

Such a modular nano-spacecraft platform is considered to be a disruptive technology because of the very large potential for dramatic cost savings, rapid mission development time and the sudden affordability of launching large numbers of s/c for a single mission goal. This approach could dramatically change the way in which space missions are conceived and may open up many types of mission that are currently not viable for consideration.  These include distributed sensing, near real time earth observation, data relay swarms, ‘disposable’ NEO explorers and more.

A multitude of nano-satellites have already been developed and used. However, the ones flown exhibit comparably low performance and very poor reliability while providing only minimal resources (power, volume, mass, pointing and data downlink) to a potential payload.

The objective of the round table is to review the status of the initiatives so far taken towards a flexible, modular and highly capable nano-satellite platform, to discuss views on the potential worth of such a platform and to debate on the desirability of embarking on such a development within Europe.

Topics
Briefings and position papers, selected by appointment, will cover the following topics:
•    Background and ESA work on NEOMEx Nano-satellite concept (including the results of the ESA NanoSat CDF study)
•    Industrial work on the NEOMEx Nano-satellite concept
•    What use are Nano-Sats?
•    What role (if any) should ESA take in the development and use of nanosatellites?

Organisation (preliminary)
The round table will include briefings and position papers by appointment with an open discussion with the audience being strongly encouraged – especially for the position papers.  The morning will include technical briefings on the work performed by ESA or under contract to ESA on the subject, therefore an overview of the related ESA TRP activities and a summary of the results of the ESA Nano-satellite CDF study. The afternoon will be dedicated to position papers, e.g. on two key questions: “Can Nano-Sats be useful and if so – for what?” and “What role (if any) should ESA take in the development and use of nanosatellites?”

Round Table Organisers (preliminary)
Stephen Airey    (TEC-ECC)  (chair)     Stephen Airey@esa.int
Frederic Teston  (TEC-SY)    (co-chair) Frederic.Teston@esa.int
Gianluca Furano  (TEC-EDN)
Andreas Jung     (TEC-SWE)
Johan Kohler      (TEC-MMA)