Network platform delivers real-time communication for NASA
TTTech Aerospace together with RUAG Space, a strong design and manufacturing partner, will provide the TTEthernet network platform for the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for NASA’s Gateway being designed and built by Maxar Technologies. PPE will be the main power source of Gateway, the orbiting cislunar outpost built by NASA and its many partners and will provide power, maneuvering, attitude control and communications.
Gateway the foundation of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 and eventually enable future crewed missions to Mars. TTTech Aerospace and RUAG Space will deliver the first equipment to Maxar in mid-2021.
“Maxar completed the Systems Requirements Review for PPE, and we are now beginning to contract our sub-suppliers. We chose TTTech Aerospace because they can provide us with a complete, fault-tolerant, mature network solution allowing Maxar to implement our mission-critical applications. TTEthernet technology forms the backbone for inter-element data and network communications across the combined PPE-HALO spacecraft,” says Vince Bilardo, Senior Executive Director for NASA Programs at Maxar Technologies.
“TTTech Aerospace and RUAG Space, its partner for space products design and manufacturing, have proven experience in designing and delivering mission-critical systems and TTEthernet networks for space. TTTech Aerospace has a dedicated team of software and systems engineering experts at TTTech North America, in our Houston, Texas office. They are working closely with Maxar to find the best solution based on commercial off-the-shelf TTEthernet products for the exacting requirements of this demanding space project,” explains Bob Richards, Vice President Space, TTTech North America.
The PPE will be integrated on the ground with Northrop Grumman’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) element of Gateway, and the combined PPE-HALO spacecraft will launch aboard a commercial heavy-lift rocket.
“In this project, RUAG Space brings together its strong expertise in space electronics engineering and manufacturing with TTTech’s expertise in software, fault-tolerant systems and customized electronic chips. RUAG Space will provide space qualified hardware (electronic units) that enable the use of the highly reliable TTEthernet technology in space applications,” says Luis De León Chardel, Executive Vice President ad interim at RUAG Space. The space hardware will be designed and produced in Vienna, Austria. For its entire electronics portfolio, RUAG Space offers a direct technical interface to U.S. clients in its office in Denver, Colorado.
Together with its partner for space products design and manufacturing RUAG Space, TTTech Aerospace has developed a complete TTEthernet network system for the PPE, consisting of switches, end systems (network interface cards), the related software elements as well as network configuration tools. The cards are integrated in a hosting unit to allow for easy installation in the spacecraft. Alongside the software elements and configuration tools, TTTech implements space products into the platform which are based on a proven chip. The system supports the three configurable Ethernet traffic classes in a modular, compact and standardized design for maximum compatibility with Maxar’s avionics system.
TTEthernet has been established as the International Avionics System Interoperability Standards (IASIS) by NASA and its partners for communication between all Gateway modules and visiting exploration vehicles, such as cargo vehicles and lunar landers. TTEthernet is a scalable, standards-based technology that uses time scheduling to deliver deterministic real-time communication. It guarantees the transmission of messages, even if one channel becomes faulty, thanks to safety features and redundancy management inherent in the network. TTEthernet allows scalability and lowers complexity by seamlessly accommodating the integration of additional modules into the PPE and Gateway networks. It enables safe and secure data transmission for spaceflight, allowing both critical applications such as control commands as well as other communication data (e.g. video telephony) to make use of one joint network.
www.tttech.com
www.ruag.com/space
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