Research on Wireless MIL-STD-1553B Bus Based on Infrared Technology

Abstract

Infrared technology has the benefits of low mass, size, power and cost, minimum electromagnetic interference (EMI), efficient and reliable data transfer, which is suitable for the communications in small spacecrafts. A wireless data bus system based on infrared technology for intra-spacecraft communication is proposed in this paper. The bus protocol is following the traditional MIL-STD-1553B, while the 1553B bus transceivers, transformers and cables in the physical layer are replaced by infrared transceivers. Infrared transceivers shouldn’t affect the 1553B higher layers and the layout of the onboard equipment. So a wireless bus is designed via diffuse optical wireless links. This paper focuses on the implementation of an IR wireless 1553B bus system, including hardware design of the wireless bus nodes, logic design of the 1553B bus protocol on FPGA, and the signal formatting between 1553B signals and IR signals. A radiation-hard application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip is designed for the application of the wireless 1553B bus in future space missions. Experimental results prove the reliability and feasibility of the wireless data bus system. Finally, some challenges and problems in space applications are put forward.