Satellite simulator development tool

• US 6,256,602 B1
• Filed: 03/28/2000
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Peraton, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Harris-Exigent, Inc. (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ellis, John R., Weber, Christopher O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Teska, Kevin J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Frejd, Russell W.
• Application Number:
  US09/537,055
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• Field of Search: 703/8, 703/22, 701/13, 375/214, 375/224, 340/825, 340/825.06, 455/3.2, 455/13.2, 455/427, 455/430
• US Class Current: 703/8
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/00 Simulators for teaching or training purposes for the use of weapons F41; computing aspects G06; protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality H04L67/131
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18519 Operations control, administration or maintenance

Abstract

A satellite simulator to aid in the development and test of a spacecraft command and telemetry application for ground stations permits a satellite simulator to be implemented effectively and with less cost than has traditionally been possible with customized systems. From the spacecraft command and telemetry processing system, the present invention appears as a satellite that can provide a configurable telemetry stream and can accept configurable commands. The invention provides core satellite simulation capabilities required for ground station spacecraft command and telemetry processing systems such as OS/COMET or for large-scale simulation networks such as multi-service simulation systems. The present invention offers an inexpensive risk mitigation that relieves application developers of total dependency on the satellite simulation development schedule. Moreover, the present invention can be used to demonstrate the features of ground station application systems. Finally, the present invention training driver can be easier to manage and can be maintained by the training team who can rely upon the knowledge that the training exercises will function properly when presented to a training class.

Claims

1. A method for simulating different satellites and satellite constellations for exercising different ones of a plurality of satellite ground station data acquisition systems comprising the steps of:

distributing at least one satellite system state of health data generator among at least one host computer, said state of health data generator generating satellite system state of health data;

distributing at least one telemetry data formatter among at least one host computer, said telemetry data formatter assembling satellite system state of health data into a telemetry data stream;

disposing a distributed messaging interface between said at least one state of health data generator and said at least one telemetry data formatter, said distributed messaging system configurable for providing communications among said at least one state of health data generator and said at least one telemetry data formatter; and

,

communicating through said distributed messaging interface satellite system state of health data generated in said satellite system state of health data generator to said telemetry data formatter whereby said satellite simulation can simulate different satellites and satellite constellations for exercising different ones of said plurality of satellite ground station data acquisition systems.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

communicating through said distributed messaging interface at least one formatted telemetry data stream assembled in said telemetry data formatter from said telemetry data formatter to an application specific output module configurable for data transmission to any one of said satellite ground station data acquisition systems; and

,

transmitting said at least one formatted telemetry data stream from said application specific telemetry output module to any one of said plurality of satellite ground station data acquisition systems.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating step comprises the steps of:

writing said state of health data generated by said state of health data generator to a measurand database; and

,

reading said state of health data from said measurand database into said telemetry data formatter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating step comprises the step of transferring said state of health data generated by said state of health data generator to said telemetry data formatter using a CORBA interface.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating step comprises the step of transferring said state of health data generated by said state of health data generator to said telemetry data formatter using a DCOM interface.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

distributing at least one application specific command input module among at least one host computer, each said application specific command input module configurable for receiving commands and corresponding command parameters from a satellite ground station and;

further disposing said distributed messaging interface between said at least one application specific command input module and a command sequencer module, said command sequencer module configurable from receiving commands from said at least one application specific command input module, said distributed messaging system further configurable for providing communications among said at least one application specific command input module and said command sequencer module; and

,

communicating through said distributed messaging interface at least one command in said at least one application specific command input module to said command sequencer.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

providing a predefined response in said command sequencer for each command received from a satellite ground station through said at least one application specific command input module.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said providing step comprises the steps of:

accepting commands from satellite ground stations through said at least one application specific command input module;

ordering said accepted commands in said command sequencer; and

,

providing a predefined response in said command sequence for each ordered command in FIFO sequence.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating step further comprises the steps of:

generating a continuous stream of satellite system state of health data in said at least one satellite system state of health data generator; and

,

communicating said stream of satellite system state of health data to said at least one telemetry data formatter through said distributed messaging interface.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

assembling said satellite system state of health data in an output telemetry data stream in said telemetry data formatter; and

,

multiplexing high volume data with said satellite system state of health data to provide a multiplexed output telemetry stream.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said generating step comprises the step of:

asynchronously generating a continuous stream of satellite system state of health data in said at least one satellite system state of health data generator.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said assembling step comprises the steps of:

sampling said asynchronously generated satellite system state of health data, said sampling forming a sampled subset of said satellite system state of health data; and

,

assembling said sampled subset in said output telemetry data stream.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said assembling step comprises the steps of:

specifying in a commutation database telemetry data stream commutation patterns for assembling said satellite system state of health data in said output telemetry data stream; and

,

commutating said satellite system state of health data in said output telemetry data stream according to said specified commutation patterns.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said assembling step comprises the steps of:

specifying in a commutation database telemetry data stream commutation patterns for assembling said satellite system state of health data in said output telemetry data stream; and

,

commutating said satellite system state of health data in said output telemetry data stream according to said specified commutation patterns.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said sampling step comprises the steps of:

varying said commutation patterns in said commutation database; and

,

commutating said satellite system state of health data according to said varied commutation patterns,

whereby said sampled subset is controllable by varying said commutation patterns.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said satellite system state of health data comprises critical and non-critical data.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said satellite system state of health data comprises critical and non-critical data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

synchronizing asynchronous generation of said critical data with assembly of said critical data in said output telemetry data stream.