Commissioning a Fully-Reconfigurable Communication Chain in a CCSDS-Compliant Way on OPS-SAT Satellite

Abstract

Communication is a core functionality of any satellite. Satellites always need to exchange data. This data is passed through a chain of components representing the communication chain. On ESA's OPS-SAT mission software experiments are running on the processing platform. They have to be uploaded and their results downloaded. Therefore, the communication chain needs to support high bandwidths to enable these operations. Moreover, OPS-SAT's communication chain is reconfigurable and can be switched between a nominal and a bypass mode. This bypass mode enables direct access for a software experiment to the radios. There are no more intermediate processing steps and thereby a raw interface to the data-link layer is provided. After OPS-SAT's launch all peripherals were commissioned as it is done for every satellite. However, since the ground segment requires standards compliance, this bypass mode needed a dedicated commissioning strategy to prove its correct operation. Here, we report the chosen commissioning approach on the ground and in space together with the results. Further, this shows a unique way of commissioning a satellite's communication chain. Moreover it provides a motivation for employing more advanced test scenarios, especially in constrained conditions, to extend the possible test coverage.