A cost effective critical space systems design approach

Author

Abbott, L.W. ; Cox, Gary ; Nguyen, Hai

Author_Institution

NASA, Houston, TX, USA

Volume

16

Issue

4

fYear

2001

fDate

4/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

7

Lastpage

21

Abstract

NASA-ISC requires avionics platforms capable of serving a wide range of applications in a cost-effective manner. In part, making the avionics platform cost effective means adhering to open standards and supporting the integration of COTS products with custom products. Inherently, operation in space requires low power, mass, and volume while retaining high performance, reconfigurability, scalability, and upgradability. The Universal Mini-Controller (UMC) project is based on a modified PC/104-Plus architecture while maintaining full compatibility with standard COTS PC/104 products. The architecture consists of a library of stackable building block modules, which can be mixed and matched to meet a specific application. A set of NASA developed core building blocks, (e.g. processor card, analog input/output card, high level analog card, and a Mil-Std-1553 card) were constructed to meet critical functions and unique interfaces

Keywords

aircraft computers; economics; microcontrollers; modules; reconfigurable architectures; COTS PC/104 products; COTS products; Mil-Std-1553 card; NASA-ISC; Universal Mini-Controller; analog input/output card; avionics platforms; cost effective critical space; high level analog card; modified PC/104-Plus architecture; open standards; processor card; reconfigurability; scalability; stackable building block modules; upgradability; Aerospace electronics; Board of Directors; Buildings; Costs; NASA;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8985

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/62.918017

Filename

918017