Smartphone technology provides satellites with increased computing power
June 13, 2022 | Testing software for a new computer system
Smartphone technology provides satellites with increased computing power
OPS-SAT research platform
ESA's OPS-SAT CubeSat has been in low-Earth orbit since the end of 2019. It can be used as a research platform for hardware and software development. The functionality of ScOSA was successfully tested using this satellite.
Image: 1/3, Credit:
ESA
ScOSA computer
Preliminary integration of a ScOSA computer for the upcoming DLR CubeSat mission. The satellite measures 30 by 10 by 10 centimetres.
The software only rated the first image (left) as high quality, the other two were discarded and would not have been sent to the ground station. This experiment was successful.
Image: 3/3, Credit:
ESA/OPS-SAT
DLR is developing distributed and heterogeneous on-board computers for future space missions.
These combine radiation-hardened and commercially available processors that monitor one another and redistribute tasks in the event of an error.
A successful experiment has been conducted on board an ESA research satellite, processing Earth observation data.
Focus: Space, Earth observation, technology
Reliable and powerful computers play a central role in spaceflight – for example, computer systems in satellites enable sophisticated Earth observation missions. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is developing a new computer architecture that will provide On-Board Computers (OBCs) with more power as well as enabling them to repair themselves. Distributed heterogeneous OBCs are being created in the Scalable On-Board Computing for Space Avionics (ScOSA) flight experiment project. They feature different computing nodes that are connected to form a network.
A general challenge for computer systems in satellites is that cosmic radiation can interfere with their operation. "If a radiation particle impacts a digital memory element, it might turn a zero into a one," explains Project Manager Daniel Lüdtke from the DLR Institute for Software Technology in Braunschweig. Ultimately, the system can even fail or deliver incorrect results. For this reason, radiation-hardened processors are available for use in space. However, these are very expensive and have only limited computing power. On the other hand, processors such as those used for smartphones are very powerful and also much cheaper. They are, however, much more vulnerable to space radiation. ScOSA integrates both types of processors in one system.
Testing on the OPS-SAT satellite in low-Earth orbit
Special software detects errors and failures, and manages the computers. "In this process, programs running on a faulty processor are automatically transferred to other processors via the network," explains Lüdtke. Meanwhile, the satellite continues to function normally. The software then restarts the processor and re-integrates it into the system.
An experiment on the European Space Agency (ESA) OPS-SAT satellite has now shown that this works. "The satellite, which is 30 by 10 by 10 centimetres in size and contains an experimental computer, has been in low-Earth orbit since the end of 2019. OPS-SAT is available to researchers as a fully equipped and open platform," explains David Evans, ESA Project Lead for the mission.
The DLR researchers installed and successfully tested the ScOSA software on OPS-SAT together with ESA. To do this, the satellite acquired Earth observation images, then processed and evaluated them using artificial intelligence. The satellite then only transmitted the viable images to a ground station. "Sensors with increasingly high resolutions and complex algorithms require more and more computing power," says Daniel Lüdtke, summarising the requirements for software and hardware. A larger ScOSA system consisting of radiation-hardened and commercially available processors will soon be tested on a dedicated DLR CubeSat. This small satellite is expected to be launched at the end of 2023.
Development of software for space missions
The Onboard Software Systems Group of the DLR Institute for Software Technology is involved in several national and international space missions. A central research topic in this context is the development of fault-tolerant and resilient software that can react to errors and failures. In addition to the Institute for Software Technology, the DLR institutes of Space Systems and Optical Sensor Systems, and DLR Space Operations and Astronaut Training are also involved in the ScOSA flight experiment project.
Contact
Katja Lenz
Editor
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Corporate Communications
Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne
Tel: +49 2203 601-5401
Daniel Lüdtke
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute for Software Technology
Software for Space Systems and Interactive Visualization
