On-Board Software for PULP on a Satellite

Trikarenos SoC and SAGE CubeSat test article.

Overview

After developing a fault-tolerant SoC Trikarenos, we would like to send this ASIC to the hazardous environment of Space! With ARIS launching a SAGE CubeSat mission and Trikarenos aims to be onboard, but still requires software both to run its tests in space and interface with the main On-Board Computer.

Status: In Progress

• Type: Semester Thesis
• Professor: Prof. Dr. L. Benini
• Supervisors:
  • Philip Wiese: wiesep@iis.ee.ethz.ch
  • Michael Rogenmoser: michaero@iis.ee.ethz.ch
  • Julian Moosmann: julian.moosmann@pbl.ee.ethz.ch

Introduction

At IIS, we recently taped out two ASICs with features for fault tolerance, increasing redundancy to radiation-induced errors, e.g. for space applications. These chips have returned from manufacturing and an initial PCB design is underway. To test one of the chips in space, we would like to integrate it into the ARIS SAGE CubeSat mission.

Project

The first part of the project will concern the design of the tested application. It is critical to define what types of software tests are to be performed on the Trikarenos SoC.These tests will be designed using C and the PULP runtime environment.

The second, main portion of the thesis will concern definition and design of the interface between the On-Board Computer (OBC), the main controller of the CubeSat, and the Trikarenos SoC. The OBC runs f-prime on top of Zephyr RTOS, and this will be used to interface with Trikarenos. Interfacing will include:

• Boot flow for Trikarenos (allowing for rewriting of the software binary for Trikarenos)
• Health monitoring of Trikarenos
• Communication between Trikarenos and OBC
• Data collection and transmission within the CubeSat, integrating to the CubeSat's software

Character

• 10% System design
• 70% Software design (C, PULP, Zephyr RTOS)
• 20% Documentation & Report

Prerequisites

• Experience with C, PULP, and/or Zephyr RTOS is beneficial