CPX : Design of a Standard Cubesat Software Bus

Abstract

The Cubesat standard brings the possibility of building a satellite within reach of under- graduate students. Cubesats can be built with cheap, commercial off the shelf products, and allow for a rapid development time. With the P-Pod launcher and the services of the Cubesat group at Cal Poly, Cubesat launches are within the budget of most University projects. A standard communication and command and data handling system allows for faster development of more complicated satellites, as all of the effort can be focused on creating complex payloads. Rather than focusing their energy on ensuring that the basic satellite functionality is operational, developers can build payloads to test and demonstrate experiments that could not otherwise be performed on Earth. This paper describes a stan- dard software system for the CPX bus system that provides communication with an Earth station, sensor data collection, command and control of the satellite, and an adaptable payload interface.