Space mixed-signal radiation tolerant front-end performance for sensor and control for instrumentation and AOCS are limited by the supply of disparate analogue and mixed-signal components.

A new activity with GSTP Element 1 and Romania has developed a GNSS receiver based on COTS components that can achieve positioning accuracy to less than 10 cm without trading a loss in robustness.

Called OrbFIX, this GNSS receiver for space can produce high positioning precision in the vital low volume, mass and power consumption required for small satellites. At the same time, it is being produced for low cost, making it affordable despite its advanced technology.

The preparation tasks for the IOD activities can be grouped as follows: 1. Procurement of a set of standard cubesat-grade HW board hosting Myriad-2 accelerator chips (building up on test breadboard developed in GSTP de-risk activity). Boards will be equipped with a rad-tolerant voltage regulator, with a latching current limiter for restartable latch up protection, and with ethernet interface.A mass production (several 10s of boards) can be initiated, to support also destructive reliability/robustness test activities. 2.

The definition of the On-board Software Reference Architecture (OSRA) has led to the definition of a main model (the architecture itself, defined in OSRA), supported by other models focusing on specific aspects such as real-time, transaction, bus exchange, etc. or making the link with system such as the Spacecraft Data Base. The space system primes and space software providers have been starting to use various modelling languages (UML or DSLs) and various tools to support their in-house tailored software engineering processes.

Many types of science missions focus on Solar System targets with harsh thermal environments, such as Mars, the Moon, asteroids, comets, and other bodies at the fringes of the Solar System. Traditional spacecraft avionics rely on the storage of electrical energy in electrochemical systems (typically secondary batteries) for covering peak energy demands and periods where no electrical energy is generated (Lunar/Martian/cometary night, etc.).

ESA’s Technical Dossier on Data Systems and On-board Computers roadmap identifies trend going towards increasing the modularity level implemented at the individual equipment supplier. Modularity on suppliers’ RTU product portfolio is something that we often already see these days. Main issue with this approach is that each manufacturer wants to bound usage of its RTUs equipment by incorporating it into avionics stack, like OBC/CMDU, TM/TC, etc.