Design for security: Guidelines for efficient, secure small satellite computation

Abstract

Historically, satellites have been built with large budgets and expensive, bespoke, “rad-hard” technology. For typical low Earth orbit missions, however, designers can now leverage commercial components to reduce cost and development time. Commercial processors provide these satellites with computational horsepower comparable to terrestrial desktop systems … which leads to the temptation of terrestrial desktop software and all of the cybersecurity headaches and mistakes made in that realm over the years. We highlight key differences in processing environments, identify common tools for security design and application, and provide design guidelines that can lead to more secure on-orbit processing while remaining mindful of the overarching drumbeat of “smaller, faster, cheaper.”