A NewSpacecraft Software Development Paradigm Enabled byHigh-Performance Commercial Processors
Keith E. Nicewamer · 2008
Typical space-qualified processors arerelatively low-performance compared toterrestrial systems and therefore tightly constrain thesoftware development for them. Asaresult, theindustry hasdeveloped guidelines and restrictions forspacecraft software that preclude thefull use ofmodemprogramming languages, software techniques, software tools, and software development methods. Developing software fora severely resource-constrained processor ismoreexpensive andtimeconsuming than developing software fora lessconstrained system. Therefore, using ahigher-performance system withmore resources allows theuseofmodemsoftware languages and methods, reducing thespacecraft software development timeandcost. We havedeveloped aspacecraft system that usesahighly capable commercial single-board computer. Thecomputing margins offered bythisplatform have allowed ustouseamoremodemsoftware development process aswellasmodemsoftware tools suchasthefull rangeofC++ features, a complete multi-user Linux distribution, andopen-source middleware. Thishasgreatly reduced thetimeandcosttodevelop andtestspacecraft functionality. 12