SpaceWire Archives - Page 3 of 3

STAR-Dundee at DASIA and UK Space Conference 2017

29 May 2017

This week STAR-Dundee will be attending Data Systems in Aerospace (DASIA), Gothenburg and the UK Space Conference, Manchester.

STAR-Dundee at DASIA

STAR-Dundee are attending DASIA from the 30^th May to the 1^st June, where we will be demonstrating the SpaceFibre Multi-Lane interface implemented in the radiation-tolerant Microsemi RTG4 FPGA as well as the SpaceFibre Router PXI card. We’ll also be demonstrating the new STAR Fire Mk3 hardware and SpaceFibre link analysis software.

Our CEO Steve Parkes will present on SpaceFibre: Capabilities, Components and Kit on Wednesday the 31^stof May at 10:30 (CEST) in room B.

For the full programme please visit: http://eurospace.org/dasia-2017.aspx

STAR-Dundee at the UK Space Conference

STAR-Dundee are attending the UK Space Conference 2017 from the 30^th May to the 1^st June, where we will be available at booth B15 in the exhibition area. From here we will be demonstrating our SpaceWire and SpaceFibre equipment including our new STAR Fire Mk3 unit.

The STAR Fire Mk3 can transmit and receive SpaceWire and SpaceFibre traffic and is also a SpaceFibre Link Analyser. SpaceFibre traffic can be transmitted and received either from a host PC or using built-in advanced data generators and checkers. Powerful software allows SpaceFibre traffic captured by the STAR Fire Mk3 to be displayed in multiple views with varying levels of detail. As SpaceFibre is compatible with SpaceWire at the network level, the STAR Fire Mk3 can also be used to transmit and receive SpaceWire traffic over a SpaceFibre link.

More information on the UK Space Conference 2017 is available here: www.ukspace.org/event/uk-space-conference-2017

PANGU at GNC 2017

The University of Dundee will be exhibiting PANGU – Planet and Asteroid Natural Scene Generation Utility at the 10th International ESA Conference on Guidance, Navigation & Control Systems between 29th May to the 2nd June 2017 in Salzburg, Austria.

Find out more about PANGU here: https://www.star-dundee.com/products/pangu-planet-and-asteroid-natural-scene-generation-utility

STAR-Dundee demonstration at SEE/MAPLD

22 May 2017

This week STAR-Dundee are attending the 26th annual Single Event Effects (SEE) coupled with Military and Aerospace Programmable Logic Devices (MAPLD) workshop in San Diego.

We are demonstrating the latest designs using SpaceFibre and SpaceWire technology, including the capabilities of the SpaceFibre Multi-Lane interface, the STAR Fire Mk3 and the SpaceFibre 9-port router.

You can also hear from our CEO Steve Parkes at two sessions:

A Versatile SpaceWire and SpaceFibre Development Board for the Microsemi RTG4 FPGA
Wednesday 24th of May at 14:30 (all times in PST)

A SpaceVPX-Lite Demonstration System Using SpaceFibre as the Data and Control Plane
Thursday the 25th of May at 14:30 (all times in PST)

For the event agenda please visit: www.seemapld.org/agenda.php

Space Forum 2017: SpaceWire and SpaceFibre for the Microsemi RTG4

15 May 2017

Filming STAR-Dundee, behind the scenes

STAR-Dundee has partnered with Microsemi for this year’s Microsemi Space Forum. Space Forum 2017 starts this Thursday (18^th of May) with a North American online event. As a partner of the Space Forum, STAR-Dundee have created a video demonstrating SpaceWire and SpaceFibre for the Microsemi RTG4. This will be premiered on Thursday as part of the online event.

Microsemi Space Forum partner videos including STAR-Dundee’s will be aired between 9:30-10:00, 11:15-12:15, and 14:00-14:30. All times are PST.
For more information and the agenda of the event please see Microsemi’s website: https://www.microsemi.com/spaceforum/space-forum#agenda

STAR-Dundee will also be exhibiting at Microsemi Space Forum, Europe in Noordwijk, Netherlands, on the 20^th of June and Microsemi Space Forum, India at The Leela Palace, Bangalore on the 25^th of July and Courtyard Marriott Ahmedabad, India on the 27^th of July.

Check out all the 2017 events we will be attending on our home page.

2016 International SpaceWire Conference in Yokohama, Japan

21 October 2016

2016 International SpaceWire Conference

STAR-Dundee enjoyed exhibiting at the 2016 International SpaceWire Conference held from 25th to 27th of October 2016 in Yokohama, Japan. On our exhibition stand we demonstrated our latest SpaceWire and SpaceFibre products, including a demonstration of SpaceFibre multi-laning. We also presented papers on various topics including SpaceFibre networks and multi-laning, SpaceFibre link analysis and test and development equipment, SpaceFibre flight equipment, SpaceWire-D and the new SpaceWire PXI devices. Prior to the conference, some of the STAR-Dundee team presented tutorials on SpaceFibre and SpaceWire-D.

Sentinel-3A

02 March 2016

Iberian Peninsula

ESA’s Sentinel-3A was successfully launched on the 16th of February. On board it has four instruments: Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI), Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR), Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter (SRAL) and Microwave Radiometer (MWR). Amongst other marine and Earth observation applications, these instruments will allow Sentinel-3A to map sea-level change and surface temperature, perform water quality management and monitor vegetation health.

Three point-to-point SpaceWire links are used between the higher data rate OLCI, SLSTR and SRAL instruments and the Sentinel-3A payload data handling unit (PDHU).

The image shown features Spain, Portugal and North Africa and is one of the first images taken by the OLCI instrument.

For more information please see the ESA Sentinel-3 website.

Image © Copernicus data (2016)

ExoMars Mission 2016

01 March 2016

ExoMars 2016 fairing release image

The start of a new era of Mars exploration for Europe is planned to begin on the 14th of March 2016 with the launch of the ExoMars 2016 mission. The ExoMars 2016 mission consists of the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli, and is a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. TGO will study the atmosphere of Mars. Schiaparelli will demonstrate a range of technologies for entry, decent and landing on Mars.

ESA has long used SpaceWire for payload data handling and the Trace Gas Orbitor is another example of this. The second ExoMars mission is planned for launch in 2018, and comprises a rover and a surface science platform. The rover will use SpaceWire extensively to interconnect various instruments, mass memory and processors.

For more information please see the ESA Robotic Exploration of Mars website.

Image © ESA/ATG medialab

Astro-H Launch

01 March 2016

Astro-H Media Presentation Image

Astro-H was successfully launched on 17th February 2016. Astro-H (now known as Hitomi) is an X-ray astronomy satelite commissioned by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that extensively uses SpaceWire and the Remote Memory Access Protocol (RMAP). It was created to study the hot and energentic Universe, and will probe the sky in the X-ray and gamma-ray portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. For more information please see the JAXA Astro-H mission website.

Image © JAXA.

STAR-Dundee Participates in Microsemi Space Forum

10 July 2015

STAR-Dundee is delighted to be participating in each of the Microsemi Space Forum events taking place in the United States, Europe and India over the summer of 2015. At each event we are showcasing a demonstrator we’ve developed which includes both our SpaceWire IP Core and SpaceFibre IP Core running in the new Microsemi RTG4 radiation hardened FPGA family.

The demonstrator interconnects two RTG4 development boards each featuring a STAR-Dundee FMC daughterboard specifically designed for the RTG4 boards. Each FMC board features four SpaceWire ports and two SpaceFibre ports and an aggregate bandwidth in excess of 5 Gbps. Other STAR-Dundee products are also used in the demo, such as the STAR Fire unit and the new SpaceWire Brick Mk3. One STAR Fire unit is used in interface mode as a high speed SpaceFibre data generator (2.5 Gbps) sending and receiving data through the RTG4 boards to saturate the SpaceFibre link. Another STAR Fire unit is used in analyser mode to capture data travelling over SpaceFibre between the RTG4 boards. In parallel, one computer is used as a lower speed SpaceWire source, sending data in one direction to a remote computer. At the same time, this remote computer is sending a webcam video feed through SpaceWire back to the SpaceWire source PC. A SpaceWire Brick Mk3 is used by each computer to send and receive the SpaceWire packets to/from the RTG4 boards.

All the SpaceWire data packets (SpaceWire low data rate and webcam stream) are routed over SpaceFibre virtual channels. The rate at which these packets are transmitted is not affected by the STAR Fire high data rate packets as the bandwidth provided to a virtual channel can be configured in SpaceFibre. Thanks to its high speed together with its inbuilt Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection and Isolation (FDIR) capabilities, SpaceFibre allows the reduction of system complexity, substantially reducing cable harness mass and simplifying redundancy strategies.

The embedded high-speed SerDes and the dedicated SpaceWire clock recovery circuits located inside the RTG4 FPGAs are used in the demonstration, proving that STAR-Dundee IP cores are fully compatible with Microsemi’s new RTG4 technology.

STAR-Dundee are Exhibiting at 28th National Space Symposium, Colorado Springs

10 April 2012

STAR-Dundee are excited to be attending the 28th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, USA, over the 16^th-19^th April.

We will be running live demos of our newest development equipment including our most recently released Interface board the SpaceWire PCIe and two soon-to-be-released products: SpaceWire EGSE, a highly capable test device designed to rapidly emulate or stimulate instruments and other SpaceWire enabled units, and SpaceWire RTC Development Kit; our SpaceWire Software Development Environment supporting our new SpaceWire RTC Unit based on ATMEL’s AT7913E, a flight ready LEON based IC for interfacing on-board instruments. Watch our website for announcements on these products.

Come and visit us on our stand and you will receive a copy of the first printing of our SpaceWire User’s Guide; our guide to the SpaceWire Standard that gives practical information on designing and implementing SpaceWire systems, and also describes the origins of the Standard and some early Missions SpaceWire flew on. The SpaceWire User’s Manual can be read on-line in our SpaceWire Knowledge Base.

We will be exhibiting on booth 1515 in the Pavilion so we hope you can join us for what promises to be an interesting 4 days of seminars and exhibitions, networking and events.

STAR-System is launched!

30 March 2012

STAR-Dundee is proud to unveil their new software stack: STAR-System.

The new system architecture has been designed as a minimal layer with a single programming interface, STAR-API, that is consistent across all supported operating systems. Written from scratch with the extensive knowledge gained from previous stacks, with all dependencies on third party code removed, has allowed the entire stack to be specifically optimised for speed and efficiency targeting SpaceWire applications.

STAR-API itself has been developed specifically for test and development, not just transmitting and receiving packets, but providing the functionality to, for example, transmit time-codes in sequence with data characters, and terminate packets with EEPs.

STAR-System is the software provided for accessing all new and future router and interface devices. The first STAR-Dundee products using STAR-System are the Mk2 interface device family including PCI Mk2, cPCI Mk2 and PMC Mk2.

STAR-System advances include support for:

64-bit versions of Windows and Linux.
Running 32-bit applications on 64-bit operating systems.
Newer Linux kernels.
Multiple applications accessing the same device at one time.
Support for additional operating systems such as QNX
… and improved API documentation, examples, and application notes.

STAR-System includes GUI applications for both Windows and Linux, provided to make it easier for users to get started using STAR-Dundee devices. The new GUI applications provide a simple interface to the most common functions for users getting started with SpaceWire devices and systems: Device and Link configuration, Transmit and Receive packets, and Transmit and Receive statistics. Additional GUI features to be released very soon include: Packet Generator and Packet Checker, and Error Injection.

STAR-Dundee at 2011 International SpaceWire Conference

22 November 2011

STAR-Dundee was delighted to attend the 4th International SpaceWire Conference, 8 – 10 Nov 2011, San Antonio, TX, USA.

A great number of the STAR-Dundee team attended the conference, with the company also having a stand in the conference’s industrial exhibition. We would like to thank everyone who made this year’s conference such a success, and we’d particularly like to thank those who came to visit us at our exhibition stand. It is always a pleasure to talk with and support the members of the SpaceWire community.

For anyone who didn’t get a chance to speak with us, you can find more information about our products on the Products page or contact a member of the team using the Contact page.