Paper Category: Systems Engineering & Integration
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Air-Bearing-Based Evaluation of Reaction Wheel Micro-Vibrations and Their Impact on Small Satellite Pointing Stability
High-performance imaging satellite missions require exceptional pointing stability to ensure image quality and geometric fidelity. This stability is often degraded by micro-vibrations originating from reaction wheels, which propagate through the spacecraft structure and induce line-of-sight (LoS) jitter. Although force-torque measurements are commonly used to characterise these disturbances at component level, relating them to spacecraft-level pointing…
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Autonomous Space Domain Awareness for Small Satellites Using Integrated Optical Imaging and Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation
This work presents an integrated approach to autonomous Space Domain Awareness (SDA) for Smallsat missions by combining advanced Resident Space Object detection and SSA/SDA software with space-qualified optical imaging hardware and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation. The research focuses on the integration of LMO’s software stack for detection and tracking with Redwire’s SpectraTRAC and SpectraCam sensors, with…
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An FPGA-SoC Camera Payload Processing Unit with Soft-GPU Acceleration for Onboard Vision
This paper presents an FPGA-SoC-based camera payload processing unit for onboard vision on resource-constrained spacecraft platforms. The system combines Engineering Minds Munich’s Smart Power and Processing Module (SPPM), a remote camera interface based on MIPI-CSI-2, and a GPU-accelerated embedded processing chain using a soft-GPU concept. The architecture is intended for image-based monitoring and recognition tasks…
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Systems Engineering approach for a next generation modular satellite platform ‘Astrocore’
The Astrocore project is a strategic initiative by ISISPACE to develop a next-generation satellite avionics suite. It aims to meet the evolving demands of the small satellite market, with a scalable form factor from 6U up to small satellites under 250kg. The development effort is requirement based: User needs from 4 reference missions were identified…
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Hybrid Post-Quantum + Classical Secure Boot for SmallSat Avionics: ML-DSA/ECC Firmware Authentication with Fail-Safe Updates
Satellites are often expected to operate unattended for years while still receiving security and safety updates. Long mission lifetimes also increase exposure to future cryptanalytic advances, including large-scale quantum attacks against today’s signature schemes. We present a hybrid secure-boot and firmware-authentication design aligned with IETF RFC 9019, where the bootloader acts as the firmware verifier.…
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Agile Earth Observation Under Operational Constraints: CMG vs Reaction-Wheel ACS
As small commercial Earth Observation constellations expand, operators strive to collect more data and increase value per spacecraft while maintaining low costs and deployment times. In this context, spacecraft agility is often overlooked in constellation design: how quickly a satellite can rotate and then meet pointing requirements largely sets how many targets it can image…
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Hardware Security Subsystem for On-board Cybersecurity
Fuelled by the New Space economy, there is a critical demand for enhanced cybersecurity in satellites, a necessity that is increasingly recognised yet remains challenging to meet due to resource constraints, system complexity, and maintenance costs. Robust security implementations across individual satellite subsystems traditionally require specialised cryptographic expertise, costly maintenance of the cryptographic software stack,…
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Payload Data Delivery Solutions and Optimisation for GSaaS Operations
As satellite constellations grow in scale and diversity, efficient payload data delivery has become a critical bottleneck in Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) architectures. This paper investigates various payload data delivery methods and presents optimisation strategies tailored to operational requirements and mission profiles. We systematically analyze multiple delivery paradigms including real-time streaming protocols (TCP/IP,…
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Space Debris Pulverization Systems for Low Earth Orbits
European policy on space debris mitigation is fast evolving to contain the increasing demand for launch of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), whose specifications fail to meet ESA latest and more stringent requirements. Referring to the decrease of the maximum permanence in operational orbit from 25 years to 5 years after End of…