SpaceCube 3.0 Mini Processor Card
aerospace
SpaceCube 3.0 Mini Processor Card (GSC-TOPS-293)
A high-performance, spaceflight processor card designed to fit easily in a 1U CubeSat form factor system
Overview
SpaceCube 3.0 is a family of high-performance reconfigurable systems designed for spaceflight applications requiring on-board processing. Many proposed missions require next-generation, on-board processing capabilities to meet specified mission goals. Advanced laser altimeter, radar, lidar, and hyperspectral instruments are proposed for many upcoming missions, and all of these instrument systems will require advanced onboard processing capabilities to facilitate the timely conversion of science data into science information and data products. Both an order of magnitude increase in processing power and the ability to reconfigure on-the-fly are required to implement algorithms that detect and react to events, produce data products on-board for applications, enable sensor web multi-platform collaboration, and perform on-board lossless data reduction. The SpaceCube 3.0 Mini Processor Card is designed for the processing needs of emerging science missions.
The Technology
The SpaceCube 3.0 Mini Processor Card represents orders of magnitude increase in performance and capability over typical radiation-hardened processor-based systems and significant advances over the previous generation of SpaceCube technology. The primary processing engine of the card is a radiation-tolerant FPGA. This processor card is very low weight, can fit within the 1U CubeSat form-factor (10cm x 10cm x 10cm), and will be low power. Much of the SpaceCube 2.0 Micro design is incorporated into the SpaceCube 3.0 Mini design. In addition, lessons learned from the SpaceCube 2.0 Mini card are applied. Instead of using a rigid-flex design, the SC3.0 Mini uses a backplane architecture. The processor card plugs into a backplane that routes signals to other card slots. In order to meet the numerous high-speed I/O interfaces required by the latest generation science instruments and applications, a high-density backplane connector is needed. The SpaceCube 3.0 Mini uses a high-density connector to plug into the backplane. The FPGA has flash memory attached that is used for storing algorithm and application code for any hosted soft processors. The processor card also has a nanominiature front-panel connector that adds even more I/O to support instrument interfaces such as Camera Link or SpaceWire.
The SpaceCube 3.0 Mini Processor Card features a rad-tolerant FPGA, but the radiation mitigation can be tailored for harsher environments by adding an external rad-hard device that configures and monitors the FPGA over the backplane. The processor card pushes transceiver quantity, routing, and performance for spaceflight. The card is designed to fit in the compact 1U CubeSat form factor. The SpaceCube 3.0 Mini supports scalability by networking multiple processor cards together.
Benefits
- Smaller form factor
- Radiation hardened
- Greater bandwidth
- Enables networking with other SpaceCubes processor cards
Applications
- Satellite servicing
- Remote sensing
- Small satellite manufacturing
- Unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing
Similar Results
SpaceCube 3.0 Flight Processor Card
SpaceCube 3.0 features the rad-tolerant multi-core T2080 processor and the rad-tolerant Kintex UltraScale FPGA. The SpaceCube 3.0 Flight Processor Card meets the industry standards in lightweight systems specifications. In addition, the flight processor card can be installed with an expansion card option to allow a tightly-coupled, mission unique card to be installed. The mission unique expansion card can support a variety of capabilities to make SpaceCube 3.0 a powerful instrument processor, including A/D converters, D/A converters, gigabit ethernet, and additional co-processors. Furthermore, the flight processor card is extremely flexible. Algorithms can be implemented in both the Kintex UltraScale FPGA and the T2080 processor. More sequential portions of the algorithm can be implemented quickly and efficiently on the processor, while other algorithms that are more parallel in nature and computation heavy can be accelerated in the FPGA. Using a hybrid system, each can be optimally implemented to take advantage of the features of both.
The SpaceCube 3.0 Flight Processor Card design consists mostly of NASA-qualified flight parts and has many features to mitigate radiation effects on the processor system. The processor card can configure the FPGA to scrub configuration memory. In addition, it can monitor the health of the processors, the FPGA, and any coprocessors on the expansion card using watchdog timers. The FPGA uses error detection and multiple redundant copies to mitigate against radiation upsets to the configuration files, which are stored in external non-volatile memories.
SpaceCube
Next generation instruments are capable of producing data at rates of 108 to 1011 bits per second, and both their instrument designs and mission operations concepts are severely constrained by data rate/volume. SpaceCube is an enabling technology for these next generation missions.
SpaceCube has demonstrated enabling capabilities in Earth Science, Planetary, Satellite Servicing, Astrophysics and Heliophysics prototype applications such as on-board product generation, intelligent data volume reduction, autonomous docking/landing, direct broadcast products, and data driven processing with the ability to autonomously detect and react to events. SpaceCube systems are currently being developed and proposed for platforms from small CubeSats to larger scale experiments on the ISS and standalone free-flyer missions, and are an ideal fit for cost constrained next generation applications due to the tremendous flexibility (both functional and interface compatibility) provided by the SpaceCube system.
Unique Datapath Architecture Yields Real-Time Computing
The DLC platform is composed of three key components: a NASA-designed field programmable gate array (FPGA) board, a NASA-designed multiprocessor on-a-chip (MPSoC) board, and a proprietary datapath that links the boards to available inputs and outputs to enable high-bandwidth data collection and processing.
The inertial measurement unit (IMU), camera, Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL), and Hazard Detection Lidar (HDL) navigation sensors (depicted in the diagram below) are connected to the DLC’s FPGA board. The datapath on this board consists of high-speed serial interfaces for each sensor, which accept the sensor data as input and converts the output to an AXI stream format. The sensor streams are multiplexed into an AXI stream which is then formatted for input to a XAUI high speed serial interface. This interface sends the data to the MPSoC Board, where it is converted back from the XAUI format to a combined AXI stream, and demultiplexed back into individual sensor AXI streams. These AXI streams are then inputted into respective DMA interfaces that provide an interface to the DDRAM on the MPSoC board. This architecture enables real-time high-bandwidth data collection and processing by preserving the MPSoC’s full ability.
This sensor datapath architecture may have other potential applications in aerospace and defense, transportation (e.g., autonomous driving), medical, research, and automation/control markets where it could serve as a key component in a high-performance computing platform and/or critical embedded system for integrating, processing, and analyzing large volumes of data in real-time.
Space Optical Communications Using Laser Beams
This invention provides a new method for optical data transmissions from satellites using laser arrays for laser beam pointing. The system is simple, static, compact, and provides accurate pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT). It combines a lens system and a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser VCSEL)/Photodetector Array, both mature technologies, in a novel way for PAT. It can improve the PAT system's size, weight, and power (SWaP) in comparison to current systems. Preliminary analysis indicates that this system is applicable to transmissions between satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and ground terminals. Computer simulations using this design have been made for the application of this innovation to a CubeSat in LEO. The computer simulations included modeling the laser source and diffraction effects due to wave optics. The pointing used a diffraction limited lens system and a VCSEL array. These capabilities make it possible to model laser beam propagation over long space communication distances. Laser beam pointing is very challenging for LEO, including science missions. Current architectures use dynamical systems, (i.e., moving parts, e.g., fast-steering mirrors (FSM), and/or gimbals) to turn the laser to point to the ground terminal, and some use vibration isolation platforms as well. This static system has the potential to replace the current dynamic systems and vibration isolation platforms, dependent on studies for the particular application. For these electro-optical systems, reaction times to pointing changes and vibrations are on the nanosecond time scale, much faster than those for mechanical systems. For LEO terminals, slew rates are not a concern with this new system.
3D Lidar for Autonomous Landing Site Selection
Aerial planetary exploration spacecraft require lightweight, compact, and low power sensing systems to enable successful landing operations. The Ocellus 3D lidar meets those criteria as well as being able to withstand harsh planetary environments. Further, the new tool is based on space-qualified components and lidar technology previously developed at NASA Goddard (i.e., the Kodiak 3D lidar) as shown in the figure below.
The Ocellus 3D lidar quickly scans a near infrared laser across a planetary surface, receives that signal, and translates it into a 3D point cloud. Using a laser source, fast scanning MEMS (micro-electromechanical system)-based mirrors, and NASA-developed processing electronics, the 3D point clouds are created and converted into elevations and images onboard the craft. At ~2 km altitudes, Ocellus acts as an altimeter and at altitudes below 200 m the tool produces images and terrain maps. The produced high resolution (centimeter-scale) elevations are used by the spacecraft to assess safe landing sites.
The Ocellus 3D lidar is applicable to planetary and lunar exploration by unmanned or crewed aerial vehicles and may be adapted for assisting in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing operations. Beyond exploratory space missions, the new compact 3D lidar may be used for aerial navigation in the defense or commercial space sectors. The Ocellus 3D lidar is available for patent licensing.
