Papers by Keyword: Small Satellites

Abstract: ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) technology is mature and widely used in many fields. It is a trend to integrate some common spacecraft engineering requirements into one chip to take the place of FPGA and some digital chips, which can miniaturize spacecraft avionics and reduce the repeated work for spacecraft engineers. Based on the analysis on small satellites application requirements, the system design of an ASIC chip for spacecraft data system is proposed. Firstly, the chip system architecture is described. Secondly, four key technologies of the ASIC chip design are presented in detail. They are the design of the chip's operating modes, the design of IP cores, the design of reliability, and the design of low power consumption. Generality, adaptability and independent intellectual property make this ASIC different and special from other space chips. Four operating modes are optional: 1553B bus control mode, PCI control mode, ISA control mode, internal CPU control mode. Besides, there are 1553B bus protocol IP cores, CAN bus interface, and abundant peripherals, which can satisfy most of the routine engineering requirements in small satellites. Finally, the chips status and some promising applications are described.