The BRASH Integration Toolkit for ROS2 and Flight Software Interoperability

Deployment of robots will revolutionize space exploration in the coming years, both for manned and unmanned missions; however, the success of these robots is linked as much to advances in sensors, manipulators, and AI algorithms as it is to the robustness of the underlying computational architectures that support the software amp; hardware. Most space missions require the use of specialized--computationally limited--radiation tolerant hardware, which in turn depends upon specialized flight software (FSW). This is as true for robots as it is for the ISS or Gateway. Because of this specialization, FSW has traditionally been developed via ldquo;clone-and-ownrdquo; processes, where software from a previousnbsp;mission is copied and adapted. This requiresnbsp;time- and money-intensive design changes that are prone to errors. Similarly, it is difficult to parallelize development, or to share components between organizations, despite the fact that many common elements exist across space missions,An alternative approach, increasingly accepted by the space-flight community, suggests that developing and sharing component-based, reusable software will facilitate the number, scope, and innovation of space missions. This will requirenbsp;that complex robot and flight softwarenbsp;is developed through the use of a common framework of sharednbsp;libraries and tools. In the Phase I of this work, TRACLabs and the JHU/APLnbsp;investigated the role of ROS2 in flight systems and how it might be integrated with NASArsquo;s cFS to leverage the advantages of each. In Phase II, we propose to develop a toolkit ofnbsp;utilities that can help FSW developers to integrate ROS2 into their missions. We call this the BRASH (Bridge for ROS2 Application to Space Hardware) toolkit. Specifically, we aim to develop a series of ROS-to-FSW bridge utilities for message translation amp; conversion, networked communication, time synchronization, parameter and event management, and integration into TRACLabs#39; PRIDE electronic procedure application software.nbsp;