The SpaceWire Router-USB is an eight-port SpaceWire router which has a ninth port connected to a USB 2.0 interface so that it can be used to connect a host PC to the router and hence into the SpaceWire network.

Drivers for linux (versions with full USB2.0 support) and Windows (XP, 2000) are currently available. The driver can receive and send SpaceWire packets to/from user memory in the PC at high speed over the USB 2.0. Very large packets can be sent/received e.g. complete images in one packet if required.

The router inside this unit is compatible with the radiation tolerant router being developed for ESA which will be manufactured by Atmel. The SpaceWire interfaces operate at up to 200 Mbits/s. The Router-USB is powered by a 5V power brick which is supplied.

The SpaceWire-USB Brick is a small USB 2.0 box which provides an interface between a host PC and SpaceWire. It is powered from the host PC via the USB cable. The SpaceWire-USB Brick provides two SpaceWire interfaces each operating at up to 200 Mbits/s.

Drivers for Linux and Windows are available. The linux driver supports TCP/IP over SpaceWire. These units have been designed for simple interfacing of host PCs to a SpaceWire network and to support high, continuous data rates into PC user memory.

The SpaceWire Link Analyser is used to record and analyse data flowing along a SpaceWire link. It has two SpaceWire interfaces, a USB 2.0 interface and is powered from the USB. A SpaceWire link is replaced by two cables connected to the Link Analyser. The link analyser can then monitor, record and analyse traffic flowing across the SpaceWire link.

The results are displayed on a host PC connected via the USB interface. This unit is aimed at hardware or software engineers using the SpaceWire network who want to see what traffic is going across the network, what the content of various packets are, and what conditions gave rise to errors.

The SpaceWire Conformance Tester provides a wide range of tests to probe the compliance of SpaceWire devices against the SpaceWire ECSS standard. It is supplied in a single instrument specifically designed to support hardware and software engineers who are developing and using SpaceWire systems. The Conformance Tester comprises a SpaceWire interface pod and software running on a host PC. The interface pod is connected to the host PC using a USB 2.0 cable which provides communications and power to the interface pod.

See datasheet for further details.

The SpaceWire Monitor is a break-out box for decoded SpaceWire signals. A SpaceWire link is replaced by two cables connected to the Monitor. LEDs on the Monitor show the traffic across the link in both directions. In addition there are two sets of logic analyser connectors that allow either an Agilent or Tektronix logic analyser to be plugged into the Monitor. They can then record the decoded SpaceWire traffic for more detailed analysis.

This unit is extremely useful for system debugging. It is powered by a 5V power brick which is supplied.

The SpaceWire PCI-2 board provides three SpaceWire interfaces. It uses the SMCS-SpW-FPGA device from Astrium. This FPGA is functionally representative of a new SMCS device currently being developed by Astrium/Atmel which will be fully SpaceWire compliant. In particular it will not need master/slave synchronisation and will support time codes. Linux, Windows and VxWorks drivers will be available for this board.

A version with the radiation tolerant updated SMCS chip will be available as soon as that chip is available.

The SpaceWire cPCI board is a compact PCI board which provides three SpaceWire interfaces. It is functionally the same as the SpaceWire PCI-2 board. The SpaceWire cPCI can be provided with a 3U or 6U front panel.

The SpaceWire IP-Tunnel provides a means by which “Virtual Satellite Integration” can be performed. This virtual integration provides the ability to test components of a satellite together, despite those components potentially being a great distance apart. The SpaceWire Internet Tunnel software can achieve this through use of the Internet (or some other network). Traffic which would normally be exchanged between components over a SpaceWire link is instead tunnelled through the Internet. The SpaceWire Protocol Analyser extends the functionality of the SpaceWire Internet Tunnel, allowing traffic to be monitored and recorded.

STAR-Dundee’s SpaceWire Lab Cables have been designed to be easy to use in the laboratory while giving similar performance to standard SpaceWire cables. The innovative connector assembly uses captive jack screws, allowing the connector to be fully mated before the jack screws are screwed home. This makes mating and de-mating the connectors much easier, and ideal for lab use.

The SpaceWire Validation Software provides a number of useful capabilities that are accessed through a graphical user interface. These include sending and receiving packets, configuring devices and monitoring time-codes. See datasheet for details.

The SpaceWire CUBA Software is a command line program supplied with STAR-Dundee SpaceWire Router-USB and SpaceWire-USB Brick units. It allows SpaceWire packets and RMAP (Remote Memory Access Protocol) commands to be entered at the command line, or supplied in a file. These commands are then executed and any responses displayed.

The SpaceWire VxWorks Driver provides a library of functions to program SpaceWire CompactPCI or SpaceWire PCI-2 devices in the VxWorks real-time operating system from WindRiver. The driver interface is provided as a custom interface VxWorks driver in the form of a compiled C library. Board initialisation support which must be built into the VxWorks image is provided as customisable source code with full working examples for Intel x86, Kontron cp620 and Maxwell SCS750 targets. The fully interrupt-driven driver provides support for transmitting and receiving data simultaneously out of all three SpaceWire links. Data transfer to and from user buffers is performed by the onboard DMA controller and so is light on target processor load. Full double buffering is used to achieve efficient data transfer.

The SpaceWire USB Driver is provided for both Windows and Linux with the SpaceWire-USB Brick and the SpaceWire Router-USB. It has been designed to support the development of SpaceWire applications to communicate with these devices. APIs are provided to allow software to communicate with the SpaceWire USB devices, as are test programs with source code.

In addition to the range of SpaceWire development equipment available from STAR-Dundee certain IP is available under licence from the University of Dundee.

The SpaceWire CODEC (link interface) VHDL code developed by University of Dundee is available from ESA for space applications within ESA member states. For other countries and other applications the VHDL code is available from University of Dundee.

Router IP with generics to control the number of SpaceWire links and external ports is available from University of Dundee. This router IP is being used in the radiation tolerant ESA SpaceWire Router Chip and in the development of an image processing chip for vision-guided planetary landers, also for ESA.