ARQUIMEA implemented the required logic into FPGAs, assembled in the GEO-SCAU system and the EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT: Airbus & ESA

EUTELSAT’s QUANTUM satellite is a revolutionary step forward for commercial communications satellites, offering very high customization and flexibility. It will supply services with unprecedented in-orbit reconfigurability in coverage, frequency and power, allowing complete mission rehaul, including orbital position. The satellite developed by Airbus together with ESA includes a new groundbreaking multibeam active antenna payload which is a first for commercial satellite communications in Europe.

The Geolocation Signal Conditioner Unit (GEO-SCAU) relies on two complex FPGAs to run the functionality of the Capture & Interface Board (CIB) and the Digital Acquisition Board (DAB).

ARQUIMEA was tasked to carry out the design and coding of two Microsemi RTAX-S radiation tolerant FPGAs and further verification according to the ECSS-Q-ST-60-02C space standard.

COPYRIGHT: ANDRA (Agence Nationale pour la gestion des déchet radioactifs)

The FPGAs functionality can be summarized as follows:

• CIB FPGA allows the MIL-STD-1553 interface to the satellite control, configuration and supervising the Geolocation electronics. In addition, it provides the SSB (Space Serial Bus) interface to the DAB FPGAs (eight of them). There are two CIBs in the GEO-SCAU system, nominal and redundant.
• DAB FPGA will be used for the reception of the commands sent by the CIB FPGA through the SSB interface. It controls two ADCs, two IFSAMs (Intermediate Frequency Signal Accommodation Module) as well as SRAM blocks. There are in total eight DABs in the GEO-SCAU system.

CIB FPGA

 

DAB FPGA

 

 

CHALLENGE

Development of complex digital FPGA design considering different interfaces in conjunction with different communication protocols, and management of telecommands & telemetries.

 

SOLUTION

ARQUIMEA implemented the required logic into the two flight FPGAs, following a development flow based on the ECSS-Q-ST-60-02C space standard, including design, programming and verification.

 

RESULTS

The design was successfully completed for the two FPGA devices. A prototype was implemented and validated by programming a ProASIC3 device, while the flight models were produced and validated in the space-qualified RTAX-S devices from Microchip. The FPGA programming and hardware validation was done by ARQUIMEA at Airbus facilities.

The FPGAs were assembled in the GEO-SCAU system and the EUTELSAT QUANTUM satellite completed the qualification phase. The launch of the spacecraft is scheduled for 2020.