Distributed computing technologies for X-Sat mission control groundstation software system design

• Main Authors: Tan, Soon Hie, Nagarajan, Narayanaswamy, Chua, Tai Wei
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Research Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Computer hardware, software and systems; DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/14166
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The main objective of this academic research project is the design and development of a novel software architecture based on distributed computing technologies for aerospace flight control and test systems which typically demand a secure, robust, flexible and scalable network environment for their mission critical operations. The need for distributed operations and flexible inter-operability between a heterogeneous mixture of hardware/software systems via object-oriented connectivity leads to this Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) design concept for the software architecture in NTU’s satellite groundstation. A typical application of this satellite ground control system would be the support for mission control and operation of the X-Sat micro-satellite project, such as telemetry, tracking and commanding applications. The SOA design concept and implementation framework for satellite ground control system have been successfully completed and examples of prototype implementations covering many aspects of satellite tracking, mission planning, telemetry/telecommand data distributions and web services are available for demonstrating all aspects of the SOA design concept which has been specialized to meet the technical requirements of the modern satellite ground control systems. These examples should prove useful as starting design patterns and learning/guiding tools for the actual implementation of the groundstation software. With the installation of the mission control groundstation antenna system and equipment, the infrastructure is ready for satellite ground segment and future space internet research and development activities in the Satellite Engineering Centre.