Innovative Data/Electrical Interfaces for Modular Spacecraft

This proposal is to develop a limited Publish-Subscribe networking infrastructure suitable for use in the development of modular, reusable spacecraft components. The proposed infrastructure, or middleware, is based upon the OMG standard Data Distribution Service (DDS). The limited offering, NDDS-Lite, derives from RTI's NDDS middleware, which is compliant with the DDS standard. NDDS-Lite will support smaller, less capable processors likely used in spacecraft components. The work proposed herein will culminate in a set of concrete requirements for the NDDS-Lite middleware, as well as a functioning prototype that will implement some of the features proposed as part of the Phase I requirements specification tasks. Features to be examined include:  OS independence: Identical source code modules will be used on nodes running different operating systems  Platform Independence: Support a variety of hardware platforms, including small, resource poor boards.  Fault tolerance: System robustness to various single point failures will be shown  Plug & Play: Demonstrate automatic discovery of added and removed nodes.  No OS version: Run on a processor with no OS Interoperability between NDDS-Lite and DDS-compliant NDDS will be demonstrated in a realistic experimental testbed containing both fully-capable computers and "thin-client" nodes.