SpaceDrone: Bringing Spacecraft Flight Software Closer to Earth
2014-12-18
Nathaniel Parsons
David Edell
Bill Van Besien
Skye Basir
Mark Reid
Christopher Krupiarz
2
SpaceDrone: Project Goals
Demonstrate the versatility of APL’s CORE space flight software architecture via deployment on a commercial off-the-shelf UAV platform
Enable a low-cost, extensible platform for maturing breakthrough space technologies and algorithms
Capture the process for rapid development, software demonstration, projects
Design and execute within 10 weeks
3
SpaceDrone: Benefits and Impacts
Provide low-cost, flight-like environment for the development and evaluation of space flight technologies or algorithms
Serve as a platform to raise TRL of novel technologies Build awareness of APL CORE flight software as mature and
versatile framework suitable for a wide range of applications in and out of space
Enhance technology demonstrations to sponsors
4
SpaceDrone: Quadcopter Overview
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 HD Camera, 720p 3 axis gyroscope 3 axis accelerometer 3 axis magnetometer 4 brushless inrunner motors (Optional) GPS USB recorder Pressure sensor/Ultrasound sensors for altitude measurement 60 FPS vertical QVGA camera for ground speed measurement WiFi bgn access point Android/iOS control app UDP Commanding/Telemetry API
– Commands: take off, land, move forward, rotate, etc
5
SpaceDrone: Comparison to Spacecraft
Spacecraft (Leon3 UT699) SpaceDrone (RaspberryPi)
66 MHz SPARC Processor 700 MHz ARM Processor
32MB RAM 512MB RAM
RTEMS or VxWorks Real-Time OS Linux (Real-time extensions available)RTEMS available
L-3 InControl Ground System µMoc/Web-MOPS Ultra-lightweight ground system
cFE, PSP, OSAL, and CORE APL FSW Applications
cFE, PSP, OSAL, and CORE APL FSW Applications
6
SpaceDrone: Design & Assembly
Challenge: Integrate Raspberry Pi and battery onto airframe while maintaining stable flight
Allow secure attachment of Pi, power source Save weight Allow stable flight
7
SpaceDrone: CORE FSW Overview
APL CORE Flight Software - collection of reusable applications and libraries Used for satellite data systems and instruments, can be useful on
any embedded system Core Flight Executive (cFE) - portable, platform independent
embedded system framework developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
APL-Core application software is flying on Van Allen Probes, will fly on Solar Probe Plus, and leverages software flown on MESSENGER, New Horizons, and STEREO
Supported platforms RAD-750 Leon3 ARM x86 x86_64
8
SpaceDrone: Software Diagram
9
SpaceDrone: New Flight Software App
Drone Interface, “DI” Integrates seamlessly into CORE Provides high-level interface to quadcopter avionics Dramatically reduces network load of commanding data (enable
drone ops on resource constrained links)
Easy integration with existing CORE suite Autonomy and Fault Management Software Guidance, Navigation, and Control Commanding infrastructure Telemetry output, recording, playback
10
SpaceDrone: µMOC and Web-MOPS
µMOC (“micro-MOC”) Generic, raw telemetry and
command utility Reused from previous
projects, with improvements
Web-MOPS Graphical front-end yielding
animated telemetry charts and a commanding interface
Intended to mimic APL’s mission operations environment
Enables operations of the drone in a way that is consistent with APL’s approach toward space mission operations
11
SpaceDrone: Results
Current system functionality Real-time commanding and control of commercial quadcopter Real-time and historical telemetry from all systems and sensors
Available functionality with entire CORE suite and configuration Autonomous, rule-macro commanding Relative and absolute time tag commanding File-based telemetry recording and CFDP-based playback System configuration via memory objects CPU and memory monitoring
SpaceDrone is ready to be used as a platform for future developments in flight software