SpaceWire communications in power over Ethernet environment

Martin, Jack; Zaidi, Yaseen

Abstract

This is a high-level study into the validation of a unified electric power and communications architecture for modern spacecraft systems. We leverage from blending the European Cooperation for Space Standardisation (ECSS) SpaceWire and the IEEE 802.3 Power over Ethernet (PoE) standards for a common onboard power and communications interface. The focus of the work has been communication performance. The requirements from the protocols of both standards were analysed and combined to create a full protocol stack for SpaceWire PoE. The stack is implemented on an embedded platform represented as a proof-of-concept SpaceWire PoE system. The results of functional testing demonstrate SpaceWire PoE as a valid solution that meets the requirements of both protocols. For the 100Mb/s links, the SpaceWire PoE throughput is on a par (97.39%) with Ethernet (97.52%) and SpaceWire (99.2%). Shared communication and power architecture is intended for decentralised operation achieving greater autonomy of the integrated subsystems. This potentially may lead to standardisation of electrical, mechanical and communication interfaces across spacecraft subsystem manufacturers, easing harness complexity and routing during the assembly, integration and test (AIT) phase of the spacecraft as well as saving mass and launch cost.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 12, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 21, 2022
• Publication Date: May 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: May 26, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 22, 2022
• Journal: CEAS Space Journal
• Print ISSN: 1868-2502
• Electronic ISSN: 1868-2510
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Pages: 451–465
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12567-022-00454-z
• Keywords: Communications; Ethernet; On-board communication; Power over Ethernet; Protocol; Spacecraft; SpaceWire
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9573813