Simplifying On-Board Control Procedure Development: A Generic Tool Based on ESOC Experience

Abstract

Spacecraft on-board autonomy is becoming more and more prevalent, in particular for deep space missions with long propagation delays and low telemetry bandwidths. One method by which the Spacecraft is able to maintain this autonomy is through the use of On-Board Control Procedures (OBCPs) which are similar to Flight Control Procedures (sending of telecommands, reception of telemetry and the processing of information) without the need to have the ground based Flight control system in the loop. OBCPs, which are executed by spacecraft on-board software and capable of interacting with on-board subsystems and payload instruments through sending telecommands and receiving telemetry, have signicant advantages over the traditional way of spacecraft operations. However, only few Flight Control Team engineers are currently specialised in managing OBCP as writing OBCP code requires expert knowledge of various OBCP languages. The MOIS-Toolset, providing the framework for ground based ight control operational procedure preparation at ESOC and throughout the European Space Industry, was selected for developing a common and integrated framework that allows an easier and more intuitive OBCP development, taking advantage of the large engineering community which is already familiar with the tool in developing Flight Control Procedures. The goal was rstly to develop a prototype taking into account the lessons learnt by the engineers experienced in developing hand-coded OBCPs. This paper briey describes the OBCP concept and the usual practice used for developing OBCPs with the Rosetta mission as study-case. It introduces a new way for simplifying the development of OBCPs with the integrated development tool at ESOC and presents a solution for a common OBCP language across dierent spacecraft. Finally, an analysis of advantages, disadvantages and reusability of the proposed solution is provided.