Abstract
Software modularity and partial qualification capabilities are key enablers to produce cost efficient software in highly regulated domains. The modular concept (called spaceAPPS) described in this paper has been developed in the frame of the OPS-SAT project aiming at missions where flexibility is one of the success factors. spaceAPPS implements a novel software architecture for satellites inspired by the Apps concept of modern smartphones. In the European space domain the operation of a satellite is based on a set of 18 services. Accordingly, in spaceApps these services are mapped to individual Apps. This is not a one-to-one mapping which means that one App implements one or more services. During OPS-SAT ground testing it was demonstrated that functionality could be easily added through a new App or updated through replacing an existing App. Also during OPS-SAT ground testing it could be shown that a failing UserApp did not impact the basic apps to operate the satellite. Thus, it is possible to run applications of different criticality on the same platform. With operating systems supporting time and space separation the risk of failure propagation can be further reduced. The implementation of a partial validation approach, i. e. testing of third-party Apps in a representative environment and not running the validation on the target platform is feasible but was not demonstrated.
About the authors
Juergen Herpel received a PhD degree from Darmstadt University in Electrical Engineering in 1995. He has now more than 30 years of experience in the field of embedded systems. This includes the implementation and design of hardware (boards, FPGAs, ASICs) and software for embedded system as well as the definition and implementation of a design methodology for these systems. The field of application ranges from automotive/train, airborne and spaceborne systems. In the past 15 years he was also involved in various projects as system engineer and project team manager. In 2014 Mr. Herpel was nominated as Expert for Advanced Avionics Software with the focus on modular hardware and software architectures. He is member of the PCIMG standardization group and initiated the Compact PCI® Serial Space standard. In his current position he is coordinating the R&T related projects within the department.
Friedrich Schön was born in 1958. He graduated with a diploma in Computer Sciences from the Technical University of Berlin in 1983. Since 2002, he has been the director of the department for software quality at Fraunhofer FIRST and later at Fraunhofer FOKUS. His main interests range from parallel and distributed system architectures to model based system engineering.
Harald Selegrad received a bachelor degree in Computer Science from the University of Applied Sciences in Konstanz. During the last 30 years Harald Selegrad hold several positions in engineering and management at Nortel Networks, Infoterra and Airbus. In 2013 he was nominated as Head of Data Processing and On-Board Software at Airbus in Friedrichshafen. 30 software engineers develop on-board software in transnational teams for Earth Observation satellites under his supervision.
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