Implementation of a Reliable Satellite Commanding and Telemetry System

Abstract

A spacecraft command and control system has unique requirements in the areas of telemetry and other data processing. Not only must the system support the processing of high data rate telemetry, but it must also simultaneously support outgoing command streams, usually coupled to the incoming telemetry. In addition, the system must reliably support several satellites (with up to twenty contacts each day per satellite) and be capable of week-long continuous contact with recently launched satellites. Integrating vehicle commanding with a telemetry system utilizing distributed software and hardware processing in such a fashion that no mission data is lost, and presenting the operator with a clean user interface, are just some of the technical challenges that were met in the design of the Operational Mission Unique Equipment (OMUE) project, which was installed earlier this year at the Consolidated Space Test Center (CSTC) at Onizuka AFB, California. This paper describes several of the technical trade-offs that were made in developing the OMUE system and its implementation.