Session
Technical Session XII: Software
Abstract
Flight software development must evolve as the operational characteristics of spacecraft evolve. Flight development typically makes use of a monolithic architecture comprised of custom-built, tightly coupled software. This dense coupling precludes the development agility desired by small spacecraft software efforts. Specifically, mission requirements are becoming aligned with re-use centered, highly decoupled, distributed architectures otherwise popular in desktop and web development. To meet the engineering challenge of matching the needs of these missions, the software environment must be modernized and the software architecture decoupled. The use of Linux in a flight environment promises to fill this need while significantly lowering the barrier of entry for new developers, especially in the university setting. To assess this promise, a team of flight software researchers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) have completed a study of the impact of real-time Linux in a real-world embedded environment. This study assessed the impacts of Linux on the spacecraft software development environment and explored the new types of software architectures enabled by that environment. At the end of the study, the team reached conclusions regarding the value of pursuing Linux in a flight environment.
Linux and the Spacecraft Flight Software Environment
Flight software development must evolve as the operational characteristics of spacecraft evolve. Flight development typically makes use of a monolithic architecture comprised of custom-built, tightly coupled software. This dense coupling precludes the development agility desired by small spacecraft software efforts. Specifically, mission requirements are becoming aligned with re-use centered, highly decoupled, distributed architectures otherwise popular in desktop and web development. To meet the engineering challenge of matching the needs of these missions, the software environment must be modernized and the software architecture decoupled. The use of Linux in a flight environment promises to fill this need while significantly lowering the barrier of entry for new developers, especially in the university setting. To assess this promise, a team of flight software researchers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) have completed a study of the impact of real-time Linux in a real-world embedded environment. This study assessed the impacts of Linux on the spacecraft software development environment and explored the new types of software architectures enabled by that environment. At the end of the study, the team reached conclusions regarding the value of pursuing Linux in a flight environment.
