SpaceFibre
Steve Parkes, Chris McClements, Martin Suess*
Space Technology Centre University of Dundee *ESA, ESTEC
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Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Cable Mass
87 g/m approximately Bi-directional Data strobe signalling
No need for PLL
Differentially encoded
Good EMC performance
8 signal wires Individual screens on pairs Overall screen High cable mass
To reduce cable mass need fewer wires
Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Data Rate
Limited by
Cable attenuation Skew between data and strobe signals
Longer cables
Exacerbate these problems
SpaceWire practically limited to
200 Mbits/s Up to 10m length
Faster links require different signalling scheme
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Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Character Sizes
FCT, EOP, EEP 4-bits Null 8-bits Data character 10-bits Time-code 14-bits
Variable character size
Makes CODEC design more difficult
Keep characters all the same size
Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Parity coverage
Data Character
EOP
FCT
P 0 XXXXXXXX P 1 0 1 P 1 0 0 Parity Coverage Parity Coverage
Parity bit to cover just one character
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Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Transmitted DC Component
SpaceWire characters
All possible bit patters used Coding not DC balanced Degrades transmission characteristics Makes them broadband Prevents AC coupling
Use DC balanced signalling scheme
Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Galvanic Isolation
No method of galvanic isolation provided in SpaceWire Various techniques possible
Support galvanic isolation
Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Matched Impedance Connectors
9-pin MDM connector Not impedance matched Becomes a problem for high data rates Alternative impedance matched connectors Have been developed
Use impedance matched connector
Lessons Learnt from SpaceWire
Initialisation Protocol
SpaceWire does not use full handshake
Part timing Part handshake
Allowed backwards compatibility with IEEE1355 devices Can lead to false initialisation due to noise And erroneous flow of data External bias resistors can help with this
A full handshake protocol is preferable
Requirements
High data rate
2.5 G bits/s plus Over fibre and copper
Fibre optic communications
100 m plus
Copper
Short length (1m)
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Galvanically isolated Light weight cables Low power per Gbit/s Radiation tolerant Rugged Able to integrate with SpaceWire network
R&D Team
University of Dundee - CODEC VTT - Transceiver INO - Fibre Fibre Pulse - Connectors Gore Cable Patria New Systems Oy
ESA study managers
Martin Suess Iain MacKenzie
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Key Problems
Fibre
Blackening due to radiation Robustness
Transceiver
Radiation tolerance components 2.5 Gbits/s plus Rugged
Connectors
Rugged Materials
CODEC
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2.5 Gbits/s plus Transferable to radiation tolerant technologies
Current Status
Radiation tolerant fibre
Fibres evaluated by INO Fibre selected and tested Good radiation tolerance
Rugged cable
Gore developed sheathing for fibre Extremely rugged Lightweight Uses materials suitable for flight
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Current Status
Rugged connectors
Connectors evaluated by Fibre Pulse Small, lightweight connectors selected Easy to mate Materials suitable for space flight Designed by VTT Using commercial devices Specially designed housing Radiation testing performed recently
Prototype transceiver
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Current Status
Prototype CODEC
Extensive evaluation of existing protocols CODEC specified and designed by UoD Prototyped using Xilinx FPGAs
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Trade-offs
Gigabit Ethernet Fibre Channel Serial ATA PCI Express Infiniband HyperTransport
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SpaceFibre Approach
Use the lower level of Fibre Channel as the basis for SpaceFibre
Bit and word synchronisation, 8B/10B encoding Ordered Sets.
Scrambling of data should be included for EM emission reduction Link speed negotiation protocol should follow the highest-speed first approach of Serial ATA Frame concept used in Fibre Channel, PCI Express and Serial ATA should be adopted Fine grained power management of the link interfaces should be supported Virtual channel and traffic class concepts of PCI Express should be adopted.
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Port Interface
TXD<31:0> ORD_SET TX_EN SYS_CLK STATE RXD<31:0> ORD_SET RX_DV RX_ER SYS_CLK
Scrambler PHY Control 8B/10B Encoder
Coding & Link Control
TX_CLK tx_code<9:0> RX_CLK
De-Scrambler 8B/10B Decoder RX Elastic Buffer Rx Code Synchronisation
rx_code<9:0>
PHY State Machine
Serialiser
tx_bit
RX Serialisation/ Deserialisation CLK
Physical Medium Dependent
Deserialiser
rx_bit
Driver
Transmit
Receiver
Receive
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Medium Dependent Interface
SpaceFibre CODEC
Implemented in
Xilinx Virtex II Xilinx Virtex 4 Using Rocket IO
Also implemented in VHDL Tested one implementation against the other
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SpaceWire-SpaceFibre Router
Frame Buffer SpaceWire Links SpaceWire Router Frame Buffer Mux/ Demux Frame Buffer Frame Buffer SpaceFibre Port SpaceFibre Link
SpaceWire-SpaceFibre Router
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Photo of test unit
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SpaceWire-SpaceFibre Demo
SpaceWire Links SpaceWireSpaceFibre Router SpaceFibre Link SpaceWireSpaceFibre Router
PC with SpaceWire Interfaces
PC with SpaceWire Interfaces
SpaceWire Links
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Photo of demo system
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Conclusions
SpaceWire
Very successful for spacecraft onboard data handling Now being widely used.
Need for higher speed link (>>1Gbit/s) UoD developed appropriate SpaceFibre CODEC SpaceFibre demonstration system designed and tested Next step to provide draft SpaceFibre standard
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For review by SpaceWire working group
