AERO9610 – The Space Segment

Week 8-2 Command & Data Handling

 Summary
In this lecture, we will learn
• CDH Functions and Requirements
• TTC Functions
• Telemetry Data Handling
• OBDH Units

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 The ‘Heart’ of the Satellite

John D. Jensen, Command and Data Handling Subsystem Design for the Ionospheric Observation Nanosatellite Formation (ION-F) 3
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 CDH Subsystem
CDH Functions:
• Receives, validates, decodes, and distributes commands from the ground segment to the spacecraft
subsystems (uplink)
• Gathers, processes, and formats spacecraft telemetry and mission data, for downlink transmission
or on-board processing
• Manages three digital data streams, each critical to the spacecraft and each with distinctive
characteristics.
- Science or payload data: the information the spacecraft was sent to get
- Engineering data (Housekeeping data): the measurements that portray spacecraft system health and
performance
- Commands

CDH requirements derive directly from the data rates of the science instruments, the
engineering data rates, and the command rates.
• The availability of the satellite communication link (link budget)
• The instantaneous data rate available in this link (data budget)

Brown, Elements of Spacecraft Design

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 Telemetry, Tracking, and
Command (TTC)
CDH is often associated with the TTC subsystem
• Telemetry: Transmitting results of measurements, information
concerning satellite operation, the operation of equipment, and
verification of the execution of commands to the ground
• Tracking: Enabling measurement of the ground–satellite distance,
and possibly the radial velocity, in order to permit location of the
satellite and determination of orbit parameters
• Command: Receiving control signals from the ground to initiate
manoeuvres and to change the state or mode of operation of
equipment

Chapter 10.5, Gerard Maral, et. al., Satellite Communications Systems

5 6th Edition
 Telemetry and Telecommand
• Telemetry and telecommand links are low-bit rate links, a few kbps
- This differs for scientific satellite telemetry, e.g., Earth observation, a few tens of mbps.
• Ensuring availability of the TTC links is fundamental for diagnostics in case of
breakdown and for performing corrective actions.
- Install multiple antennas that have a radiation patterns (constant gain) on satellite.
• The TTC links should nominally be operated within the space operation service
(SOS) frequency bands., i.e., the S band.
- The uplink in the band: 2025–2120 MHz
- The downlink in the band: 2200–2300 MHz
- The bandwidth (on the order of 100 MHz) is insufficient to accommodate all the modulated carriers
from the various satellites in orbit
• TTC in an emergency mode (a problem in operation):
- The orientation is arbitrary, so an omnidirectional antenna is indispensable.

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 Telemetry Sources
• Temperature of components
- Most components only function as they are intended if they are within a certain temperature range
• Pressure in fuel tanks
- to gauge the correct function and capacity of the Propulsion subsystem.
• Voltages and currents (battery supplies)
- necessary voltage and current to ensure their correct operation
• Operational status of subsystems
- in order that they can be coordinated to full the mission objectives.
• System health (integrity checks)
• Attitude data (gyroscopes, accelerometers, sensors)
• Redundancy level of various subsystems
- the redundancy level of systems is very important for operational planning and mission life-time planning

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 Telemetry Data Handling/Processing
• Collect health data on spacecraft systems
• Transducers/sensors take readings → convert signals into electrical voltages
and currents
• Telemetry sources produce data at different rates
- Large satellite may have > 1000 sources!
• Converted in digital data (A/D conversion)
- Temperature, voltage are analogue (continuous)
- Digitalisation: how do we convert these to digital?
• Combined (multiplexed) and sent to the ground segment
- There are many satellite systems generating data
- Multiplexing: how do we combine them into a single, coherent stream?

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 Analogue to Digital Conversion
Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) is the most common technique used to change an analogue signal to
digital data (digitisation). A PCM encoder has three processes:
• The analogue signal is sampled (pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)).
• The sampled signal is quantised.
• The quantised values are encoded as streams of bits.

http://www.myreadingroom.co.in/notes-and-studymaterial/68-dcn/732-analog-to-digital-conversion-techniques.html
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 Multiplexing
Impractical to provide a separate RF carrier or baseband subcarrier for each of the
hundreds of measurements on a typical spacecraft.
• Combine data from multiple sources into a single stream
• Time-division multiplexing (TDM) most common for digital systems

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 Telemetry Data Processing
Data
Data Source Data
Source 3 Source
2 n

Analogue to Encrypt
Data
Digital (Classified Multiplex
Source
Conversion Missions) Transmit
Encode (Communicat
ion System)
Data Storage

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 Data Integrity
• Satellite communications occurs over great distances
- Highly prone to noise and interference
- Likelihood of data corruption is high
• Consequences of errors is extreme (incorrect command)
- An unintended action can result causing catastrophic failure of the mission
• Error is unpredictable change of data or bits from 0 to 1 or from 1 to
0
- Error detection techniques and error correction algorithms are important in
CDH

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 TC/TM Space Data Link Protocol
• There is a need for message format standards
- Ensure compatibility of the satellite telecommand decoding and telemetry
encoding systems in terms of data handling and processing.
- Enables interoperability and standardisation for equipment vendors
• CCSDS(Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems)
- Error correction by RS(Reed-Solomon) Code
- Most popular for commercial space mission (Reference:
Space Packet Protocol (CCSDS 133.0-B-2)

KiboCUBE Academy Lecture 09, Dr. Yoshihiro Tsuruda, Introduction to CubeSat Communication System
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 Adapting Internet Protocol for
Space Communications

Figure 10.38, Gerard Maral, et. al., Satellite

Communications Systems 6th Edition

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 Onboard Computing Form Factors

• Form factors refer to standardised physical dimensions, configurations, and

interfaces for electronic components and systems.
• Industry standards of CubeSat CDH bus systems
- The CompactPCI form factor
- PC/104 form factor
The NewSpace Systems (NSS) ACS board is a single PC104
board (15mm height) that physically integrates three high
accuracy sun sensors, a magnetometer, MEMS gyros, a stellar
gyro and two magnetorquer rods.

The Aitech S990 is a 3U

CompactPCI Non-Volatile Memory
Board designed for LEO, GEO, as
16 16 well as Mars missions.
 Space Environment Effects
CubeSats are often either composed of only COTS components or a hybrid
combination of COTS and rad-hard and radiation-tolerant components.
The C&DH system shall withstand following space environmental effects ：
• Launch and Release Environment
- Ensure secure harness system amidst mechanical stresses like vibration, shock, and acoustic
forces during launch.
- Temperature, humidity, etc.
- Small satellites, and hence CDH subsystem, are usually powered off during the launch.
• Vacuum
- Cooling is relying on radiation only.
- Integrated circuit chips can reach elevated temperatures and active heat dissipation measures
are required/recommended.
• Radiation
- Electric circuits are susceptible to radiation effects.
- Mitigation measures are vital to maintain onboard CDH component functionality.
17 - Enhance system reliability by implementing redundancy measures.
 Radiation Hardened Board

• VORAGO Technologies RH-OBC-1

Radiation Hardened (Rad-Hard) Board is a
Pumpkin CubeSat kit bus compatible On
Board Computer (OBC) / Command and Data
Handling (C&DH) board.
• This board is designed with radiation-
hardened components to mitigate the radiation
effects, and the PCB's dimensions fit the
CubeSat form factor design.

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 Take-aways
In this lecture, we have to
• Understand different data streams managed by CDH
• Understand the frequency band TTC is operated within.
• Understand digitalisation and multiplexing in telemetry data handling.
• Understand the reasons for TC/TM message format standard.
• Understand onboard computing form factors.

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