A new generation of SpaceFibre test and development equipment: SpaceFibre, short paper

• Published in: 2016 International SpaceWire Conference (SpaceWire) pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Gonzalez Villafranca, Alberto, Parkes, Steve, McClements, Chris, Yu, Bruce, Scott, Pete, Florit, Albert Ferrer
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: University of Dundee 01.10.2016
• Subjects: Connectors; cPCI; EGSE; Field programmable gate arrays; Fires; FMC; Generators; Ports (Computers); PXI; PXIe; RTG4; SpaceFibre; SpaceVPX; Universal Serial Bus; USB
• DOI: 10.1109/SpaceWire.2016.7771619

SpaceFibre is a new technology for use onboard spacecraft that provides point-to-point and networked interconnections at Gigabit rates with in-built Quality of Service and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery. The SpaceFibre standard is virtually finished, with the ECSS standardisation activity to be ended this year. There is a need for equipment to support the development and testing of applications of the entire protocol stack. This paper describes the new generation of SpaceFibre equipment designed for this purpose. They provide users with several options for platforms and connectors, such as FMC, USB 3.0, cPCI, PXI, PXIe and SpaceVPX. The number of platforms supported and the flexibility of the equipment provides the end user with a broad range of options to include SpaceFibre in their current system design. This helps to promote the adoption of SpaceFibre technology. A number of designs using the equipment here described is currently available or under development. They include the SUNRISE SpaceFibre Router and the Multilane SpaceFibre interface, among others. When combined, these new boards and designs offer a powerful and rich set of tools to help with SpaceFibre designs.