Use of Open-Source Cots/Mots Hardware and Software Platforms for the Build Up of the Cubesat Nanosatellites

Abstract

Abstract. CubeSats as a sub-class of nanosatellites have become a game-changer in the industry of scientific research and exploration of the new space technologies. Their cost effectiveness, relative ease of manufacturing, and the predicted lifecycle are the main factors of success. Having such popularity in mind – many vendors, student teams and enthusiast started to build their platforms to offer reuse and faster buildup of such satellites, introducing so-called COTS/MOTS approach of the satellite’s construction. However, looking into statistics – only 2.5% of the launched satellites were able to full perform their mission, and almost 25% just failed. Partially, the key problems are in the area of using non-radiation hardened electronics as the CubeSat idea is to use commercial (or at utmost automotive) components. Authors of the article provide a holistic view on the existing hardware and software platforms that are currently available as COTS/MOTS solutions, as well as their capabilities. Part of the research was done in the area of the available software frameworks, as the modern software has rather high cyclomatic complexity and often it is exactly software components that make CubeSat mission at risk. Software related frameworks are compared via the use of newly introduced by the authors multi-factor ranking model (FMCSA). At the same time the article raises the cross-country problem of the creation and use of the Ukrainian platform for the CubeSats. Authors propose a solution for the creation of the part of the CubeSat platform as the starting point and it is an On-Board Computer (OBC). The idea is to design an OBC that can solve the big portion of the known issues of the CubeSat hardware and software with the major stress on the hardware issues related to the Single-Event Upset (SEU) and Single-Event Latch Up (SEL), without moving to the radiation tolerant semiconductors. Proposed in the article solution combines the selection of the modern central processor, that is industry recognized, availability of the software solutions for it, as well as the power-domains control principle that allows to minimize the potential harm of the SEU and SEL radiation-driven events.