On-Board Computer and Testing Platform for CubeSat Development

Abstract

The design and development of a CubeSat testing platform built from scratch is the focus of this work. The investigation was conducted as part of the Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP), initiative conducted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to support the development of 15 CubeSats across Canada. In this paper, a particular emphasis is placed on three key subsystems: an On-Board Computer (OBC), a GNSS based payload, and a communication board, all connected together through a FlatSat board. The Mission software running on an STM32-microcontroller-based OBC is responsible for managing all CubeSat activities. The OBC was designed to meet a range of requirements, including mechanical, electrical, and thermal requirements. Indeed, due to the intense heat and radiation that the CubeSat will be exposed to in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the CubeSat may experience many difficulties, potentially leading to mission failure. The risk-reduction techniques used in the design of the OBC will be discussed in detail. The tests performed on the developed OBC were successful, including an initial power test and a vacuum test, where the microcontroller entered low-power mode for a total of 10 seconds, consuming only 0.0528 W of power.