ESA Intended Invitation To Tender

18.1TT.85


Title: THIRD PARTY USE OF SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO BASED SATELLITE SYSTEMS (ARTES AT 5C.384) (ON DELEGATION REQUEST)
Program ref.: CC for Advanced Tech
Tender Type: C
Quarter: 184
Tender Status: INTENDED
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Budget Ref.: E/0505-01C - CC for Advanced Tech
Proc. Prop.: DIPC
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+CA
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate Telecom & Integrated Applica
Department: Telecom Technologies,Product&Systems Dep
Division: Technologies and Products Division
Responsible: Schmitt, Dietmar
Products: Satellites & Probes / On-board SW / Other
Techology Domains: Space System Software / Advanced Software Technologies / Advanced software functions
Space System Software / Space Segment Software / Software Architectures
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A - Not apply
Publication Date: 07-JAN-19

Objective: The objective of the activity is to develop middle ware (software providing services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system) to enable the secure and independent execution of third party applications for software defined radio (SDR) based payloads for New Space. Multiple user applications ("Apps") and automatic resource partitioning shall be supported. An "Apps" development environment shall be part of the development. Targeted Improvements: - Enable third party use of software defined radio based satellite systems; - Fostering new space applications; Description: Today's equipment and resources available on telecom spacecraft are made available to customers by the satellite operator in the form of capacity and connectivity. The operating software and middle ware is strictly controlled by the operator and users are not allowed to execute their own software on-boardthe spacecraft. With the development of software defined radio (SDR) based payloads by New-Space industries, interesting applications, such as switching between low bandwidth services, would be possible if the users could access the on-board resources. Additionally, software updates on-board the spacecraft are simplified and memory patching, a delicate and risky process used today, would not be needed anymore. In this activity, the middle-ware to enable the secure and independent execution of third party applications for SDR based payloads will be developed. The middle-ware shall enable Apps to be uploaded and executed, similar to mobile phone Apps. International frameworks are available, such as Mission Operations by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems Mission Operations (CCSDS MO) and the Space Avionics Open Interface Architecture (SAVOIR) initiative. Other technologies that could be used are containers (e.g. Docker) and virtualisation approaches. The following will be produced in the frame of this activity: - a standard execution platform (ground and space) with well-defined application interfaces to the satellite peripherals; - a service oriented architecture for the on-board software; - an Apps development, validation and deployment environment; - a demonstration of the capabilityto control the Apps from the ground segment in a standard way. A test-bed shall be developed and the middle-ware tested with at least three "Apps" actively running. footnote: On Delegation Request (formerly called Priority 2) activities will only be initiated onthe explicit request of at least one National Delegation.