SUCHAI Flight and Ground Software

This repository contains the source code of the SUCHAI-2, SUCHAI-3 and PlantSat satellites onboard software (aka flight software), and the ground segment software. Both software are based on the SUCHAI Flight Software framework, so please refer to its documentation for further details.

Repository initialization

This repository has the following dependencies:

SUCHAI Flight Software: https://gitlab.com/spel-uchile/suchai-flight-software

So please run the following to clone/download these dependencies (we decided not using git submodules):

sh init.sh

Repository structure

The repository simplified structure is as follows:

suchai-2-software
├── apps
│   ├── groundstation       # Ground station application
│   ├── plantsat            # SUCHAI-2, SUCHAI-3, and PlantSat flight software application
│   └── simple              # Example application (not relevant)
└── suchai-flight-software  # SUCHAI Flight Software repository (external repository)

Build and run

Dependencies

Please check and install the SUCHAI Flight Software list of dependencies depending on your development environment. The following is the (non-comprehensive) dependencies list:

Library name	Ubuntu and family	Archlinux and family
3.16 <= cmake < 3.25	cmake	cmake
gcc >= 7.5	gcc	gcc
make >= 4.1	make	make
ninja >= 1.10.0	ninja-build	ninja
python3 >= 3.8	python3	python
python2 >= 2.7	python	python2
zmq >= 4.2.5	libzmq3-dev	zeromq
pyzmq >= 18.1.1	python3-zmq	python-pyzmq
pkg-config >= 0.29.1	pkg-config	pkgconf

NOTE ⚠️

CMake >= 3.25 sets the LINUX variable by default and therefore always activates the variable in LINUX in suchai-flight-software/include/suchai/config.h affecting the build for other platforms. Please use a previous version of CMake, e.g., installed via pip.

REF: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/variable/LINUX.html

NOTE ⚠️

Python 2 is required to build the SUCHAI 2, 3 and Plantsat software using the Nanomind A3200 SDK (based on waf). pyenv can help switching python versions.

Please contact us if you need access to the SDK repositories.

Build

For convenience refer to the build scripts that set up the required CMAKE variables and build.

To run an example we have to build two apps: the simple (linux example) and the groundstation (ground segment) apps. For this, we provide convenient scripts that set up the required CMAKE variable and build:

sh build_simple.sh
sh build_groundstation.sh

The results are two executables located at:

├── build-gnd
│   ├── apps
│   │   └── groundstation
│   │       └── ground-app
└── build-simple
    └── apps
        └── simple
            └── suchai-app

Run

The space and ground segment use the CSP communication protocol. In this test the libcsp uses the ZMQ interface to communicate both ends. So we require a third component, the ZMQHUB, as explained in the diagram below:

flowchart LR
    A[Ground App] <== CSP/ZMQ ==> B(ZMQHUB)
    B <== CSP/ZMQ ==> C[Simple App]

So the steps to execute our test are the following:

In a separate terminal run the provided ZMQHUB component (keep it running in background):
```
cd suchai-flight-software/sandbox/csp_zmq
python3 zmqhub.py
```

Now open two terminals side by side. On the first terminal execute the ground station app:

./build-gnd/apps/groundstation/ground-app

Example output:

--------- FLIGHT SOFTWARE START ---------
         Version: 3.0.0.rc-2-11-g6199
         Device : 10 (GROUNDSTATION)
-----------------------------------------

______________________________________________________________________________
                  ___ _   _  ___ _  _   _   ___ 
                 / __| | | |/ __| || | /_\ |_ _|
                 \__ \ |_| | (__| __ |/ _ \ | | 
                 |___/\___/ \___|_||_/_/ \_\___|
______________________________________________________________________________
SUCHAI>

On the other terminal execute the satellite app:

./build-simple/apps/simple/suchai-app

Example output:

--------- FLIGHT SOFTWARE START ---------
     Version: 3.0.0.rc-2-11-g6199
     Device : 2 (PLANTSAT)
-----------------------------------------

______________________________________________________________________________
                  ___ _   _  ___ _  _   _   ___ 
                 / __| | | |/ __| || | /_\ |_ _|
                 \__ \ |_| | (__| __ |/ _ \ | | 
                 |___/\___/ \___|_||_/_/ \_\___|
______________________________________________________________________________
SUCHAI>

If you see an output similar to the listed above, then success.

Now, you can try testing the communication between the ground and space segment. We can use the com_ping command to send a CSP ping from Node 10 (ground station app) to the Node 1 (satellite app):

flowchart LR
    A[GROUND App : 10] <==> B(ZMQHUB)
    A -. com_ping 1 .-> C
    C -. echo .-> A
    B <==> C[SAT App : 11]

So in the ground-app terminal execute the following:

SUCHAI> com_ping 11

You should see the following output, indicating that a CSP message was sent and a response (echo) was received and therefore, the ping command was executed successfully:

SUCHAI> com_ping 11
[INFO ][1709132218][Executer] Running the command: com_ping...
OUT: S 10, D 11, Dp 1, Sp 52, Pr 2, Fl 0x00, Sz 10 VIA: ZMQHUB
INP: S 11, D 10, Dp 52, Sp 1, Pr 2, Fl 0x00, Sz 10 VIA: ZMQHUB
[RES  ][1709132218][cmdCOM] Ping to 11 took 1
[INFO ][1709132218][Executer] Command result: 1
SUCHAI>

While the simple-app terminal should display the following, indicating that a ping message was received and a response was sent:

INP: S 10, D 11, Dp 1, Sp 52, Pr 2, Fl 0x00, Sz 10 VIA: ZMQHUB
SERVICE: Ping received
OUT: S 11, D 10, Dp 52, Sp 1, Pr 2, Fl 0x00, Sz 10 VIA: ZMQHUB

The opposite test can be executed from the simple-app using the com_ping 10 command.

License

This work in licensed under the GNU GPLv3

See LICENSE for further details.

More information

How to cite

Plain text

Garrido, Cristobal, et al. "The First Chilean Satellite Swarm: Approach and Lessons Learned." 
Proceedings of the AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites (2023), Year in Review, SSC23-WVII-07.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/2023/all2023/56/

spel-uchile / suchai-2-software