Satellite Payload Design for Optimized Thermal Management Using a Distributed Processor System

• Published in: 2023 Forum on Specification & Design Languages (FDL) pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Plattner, Markus, Fassi, Chedi, Kreiner, Florian, Frank, Jintin, Radecker, Philipp, Zimmermann, Markus
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 13.09.2023
• Subjects: design space exploration; Digital twins; FPGA; Layout; OBC; payload; processor system; satellite; Satellites; SoC; solution space engineering; Space exploration; Temperature distribution; thermal design; Thermal engineering; Thermal management
• DOI: 10.1109/FDL59689.2023.10272111

Processor Layout Utilization for Thermal Optimization (PLUTO) is a research project that started in 2022 and is co-funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development, and Energy. In a consortium of space industry and university, the PLUTO project investigates new methodologies for designing thermally sensitive satellite payloads accommodating distributed processor modules. A top-down design approach, based on so-called solution spaces, is applied to arrange modules within a given payload envelope and find a payload layout with low thermal gradients for various operational modes. A digital twin of the thermal behavior of the system shall then be derived from the design and implemented as a software routine in the processor modules. The temperature gradients within the payload shall be minimized by adjusting the distribution of power consumption within the payload. Therefore, the system control and processing tasks are locally distributed among the modules on the fly based on the prediction of the digital twin. A demonstrator payload with three interconnected processor modules is currently under development and is expected to be thermally tested in 2024.