An approach for designing reusable, embedded software components for spacecraft flight instruments

Current flight software (FSW) systems embed customized pieces of software to control spacecraft instrumentation. Because spacecraft contain unique hardware components, reusing software device drivers or higher-level FSW subsystems dependent on the drivers across different missions is difficult; and changing instrumentation for an FSW is complicated and time-consuming. This paper outlines an innovative approach to design software components that interact reliably with aerospace instruments and applications while promoting reuse and ease of change. As building blocks for a flight instruments reuse & standardization library (FIRSL), the reusable software drivers are in the form of low-level devices or high-level composite devices for space-based missions. The paper also describes the proof of concept used to verify the results of applying the FIRSL design approach.