NanoSat MO framework: Achieving on-board software portability

Abstract

The recent miniaturization of space components and electronics has allowed the design of smaller satellites which are considerably cheaper to build and launch than conventional satellites. This decrease in the total cost of a space mission has boosted a new growing market for small satellites and, as the number of small satellites keeps increasing, there is a raising demand for reusable software across nanosatellites. The NanoSat MO Framework provides a standard on-board software framework for nanosatellites based on the CCSDS MO framework, that facilitates not only the monitoring and control of the nanosatellite software applications, but also the interaction with the platform peripherals. This is achieved by using the CCSDS Mission Operations Monitor and Control services included in the MO service suite and by defining a set of new Platform services which shall also follow the MO services framework architecture. The paper describes the NanoSat MO Framework, the associated set of high-level components and possible end-to-end deployment scenarios including the reference implementation in ESA’s OPS-SAT mission. Moreover, defines an app in the context of the NanoSat MO Framework, as well as, how they can become portable software entities and be distributed among different platforms. The framework opens up many possibilities for future work and extensions due to its modular and flexible design approach which is not limited to the space segment but extends down to ground by providing all the building blocks for a complete and free end-to-end solution.