RU2799959C1 - System for testing onboard radio systems of spacecraft - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: information processing systems and test equipment.

SUBSTANCE: system can be used to set up, calibrate and test digital information processing and control systems within onboard radio systems (ORS) of spacecraft (SC) for remote sensing of the Earth. The SC ORS test system comprises three operator workstations, phase shifters, quasi-collimators, a module for simulating the onboard spacecraft control system, modules for analysing telemetry, service information and operation of controlled equipment connected to the console of automated control and testing equipment, a generator rack with a path switching system. The high-frequency signal divider is made in the form of a high-frequency distribution transformer. The third operator's workplace is designed to control the phase shifters.

EFFECT: expansion of the functionality of the receiving onboard equipment of the spacecraft at the stages of adjustment, debugging and testing.

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Description

Technical field

The system belongs to the field of information processing systems and test equipment and can be used to set up, calibrate and test digital information processing and control systems from the onboard radio systems (BRTS) of spacecraft (SC) for remote sensing of the Earth.

State of the art

Known test equipment (CPA) SC (patent RU 2717293, IPC B64G 5/00, publ. 03/19/2020), including a personal computer, a digital stream switch, a vector analyzer, a receiver, attenuators, a digital signal processor, a vector generator, a transmitter, a CPA communication unit with a spacecraft telemetry system, a CPA communication unit with a command matrix of the onboard equipment control system SC, resistance meter and block for monitoring the insulation resistance of the onboard power buses of the SC, receiving and transmitting antennas and a rubidium frequency standard.

Known automated test system for testing, electrical checks and preparation for the launch of the spacecraft (patent RU 2245825, IPC B64G 5/00, publ. 02/10/2005), containing a unit for bringing the automated test system into readiness for testing the spacecraft, a control unit, a unit for input and analysis of the correctness of the directives of the automatic test program, a unit for interpreting directives, a unit for transmitting tolerance values of parameters, a unit for selecting communication paths with a spacecraft, a unit for carrying out control unit, unit for issuing technological control commands, unit for communication with the onboard telemetry system, unit for communication with the onboard computer system (OBS), unit for measuring analog parameters, unit for input and storing the state of discrete parameters, unit for tolerance control of analog parameters, unit for tolerance control of discrete parameters, unit for generating general-purpose commands, unit for generating a test report, display unit, unit for recording the main test report, unit for monitoring the housing, unit for generating a signal for the presence of a housing, unit for monitoring the health of the equipment, unit for translating directives, unit for tolerance control of monitored discrete parameters, a block of tolerance control of the analog parameters put on tracking, a block of tolerance control of the UAV parameters put on tracking.

The disadvantage of the known technical solutions is that they allow phase calibration only with equal phase values in the tested channels (i.e., only in the phase plane perpendicular to the plane of the antennas), which does not allow tuning and testing of the BRTS with arbitrary phase values in the receiving channels, i.e. does not allow for full-scale simulation of the operation of on-board systems with radio emission sources located at an angle to the trajectory of the spacecraft.

The solution closest to the claimed system is the SC CPA, which implements the method of SC electrical checks (patent RU 2563925, IPC B64G 5/00, publ. 09/27/2015), which contains a workplace equipped with a PC, blocks for monitoring the insulation resistance of the SC onboard power buses and measuring the electrical resistance between the SC power buses, communication units for the SC KPA with the SC onboard telemetry system and for communication of the KPA with the command matrix of the control system for the onboard equipment of the spacecraft, communication unit of the CPA with the UAV of the spacecraft, meters of the parameters of the received radio signal, the spectrum analyzer of the received radio signal, the receiver and receiving antenna of the CPA of the spacecraft, the address switch of digital streams, the controlled attenuator and the attenuator-divider.

The main technical disadvantage of the known system is the inability to fine-tune and adjust the phase in the receiving devices - determining the exact values of the phase difference, the introduction of corrective phase corrections, dynamic phase measurement; only a limited number of checks can be carried out. As a result, when setting up and testing, it is impossible to simulate the operation of the detector in viewing modes at angles other than the normal to the plane of the antenna array. In addition, this does not allow the formation of a dynamic radiation pattern for a more detailed (long-term) observation of radio emission sources during the motion of the spacecraft in orbit.

The essence of the invention

The technical problem solved by the claimed invention is to expand the functionality of the receiving onboard equipment of the spacecraft at the stages of configuration, debugging and testing.

The technical result consists in the implementation of the possibility of automated setting of arbitrary phase values in the receiving paths of the onboard equipment of the spacecraft, ensuring the verification of the onboard equipment by providing performance monitoring and measuring the characteristics of the receiving path of the command radio link and the transmitting path of the telemetric radio line of the spacecraft in terms of determining the parameters of radio signals and the possibility of directing them to sources of radio emission for all possible conditions corresponding to the parameters of the movement of the spacecraft during operation.

The technical result is achieved due to the fact that the system for checking the onboard radio systems of spacecraft, containing two workplaces of operators with personal electronic computers (PCs), a module for simulating the onboard control complex of a spacecraft, a module for analyzing telemetry, service information and the results of the operation of controlled equipment connected to an automated control and testing equipment panel, which is connected via a crate to blocks of an onboard radio system connected through a switch of input signals to receiving antennas, a cabinet of subsystems s power supply connected to the blocks of the on-board radio system and to the console of the automated control and testing equipment, a generator rack with a path switching system, including a vector generator and a high-frequency signal divider,according to the proposed solution,additionally contains a third operator's workplace and phase shifters, quasi-collimators controlled by a personal electronic computer, and a high-frequency signal divider is made in the form of a high-frequency distribution transformer, configured to set, adjust and adjust the signal phase in the receiving devices, while the vector generator is connected to the controlled phase shifters connected to the quasi-collimators through the distributor transformer.

Brief description of the drawings

In FIG. 1 and 2 are functional diagrams of the system, explaining the essence of the claimed invention, which contain the workplace of the operator 1 with PC1; including a BRTS simulation module, an operator’s workplace 2 with a PC2, including a module for analyzing telemetry, service information and the results of the BRTS operation, an automated test equipment panel (ACPA) 3, a crate 4, a BRTS 5, including digital processing and control units 6 and 7, respectively, test signal generation equipment 8, an input circuit switch 9, receiving antennas 10, a power supply subsystem cabinet 11, a vector generator (VG) 12, distribution transformer (TR) 13, controlled phase shifters 14, quasi-collimators 15, operator's workplace 16 with PC3, control panel for phase shifters 17.

Implementation of the invention

Operator's workplace 1 with PC1, including the BRTS simulation module, is designed to form a session (parameters) of work
BRTS 5 - test, calibration, working; frequency ranges of observation, setting and receiving (reading) objective control information (IOC).

Operator's workplace 2 with PC2, including a module for analyzing telemetric, service information and results of BRTS operation, is intended for reading, processing and storing surveillance data, telemetric control data.

Remote AKPA 3 contains an industrial computer designed to process commands from PC1 and issue them to blocks 6 and 7 of digital processing and control, respectively, BRTS 5; storage, formation and issuance of template files with the parameters of work sessions, the formation of a 1 Hz clock signal, as well as the manual mode for issuing one-time and program control commands to the BRTS 5.

The crate 4 receives control commands from the PC 1 through the AKPA 3 remote control and transmits them to the actuators (relays) of the BRTS 5 units.

For the possibility of carrying out a calibration session, equipment for generating a test signal 8 and an input circuit switch 9, which receives a signal from the receiving antennas 10, are provided.

The power subsystem cabinet 11 contains controlled power supplies BRTS 5 (main and backup) and is designed to control the parameters of the 28V BRTS on-board network (power consumption, current, protection of the BRTS circuits from overvoltage and current), and by commands from the AKPA - supply voltage 28V to the BRTS.

The generator rack includes a master VG 12 with a frequency range up to 40 GHz and a controlled RF signal switch. The generator 12 and the switch receive commands from the AKPA via the Ethernet interface, which contain directives for the parameters of tuning the frequency and power of the output signal. The RF signal switcher, on commands from the AKPA, sends a signal from the VG 12 to one of the 5 outputs, corresponding to the frequency value of the BRTS 5 subband.

The RF signal divider is a phase-stable TR 13 for sixteen outputs. Controlled phase shifters 14 are made in an integrated design on ADL5390 microcircuits (Analog Devices) and allow you to change the phase of the input signal by applying a digital code. The control panel for 17 phase shifters receives data from the PC3 and converts them into the format necessary for the operation of the phase shifters.

The operator's workplace 16 is designed to control the phase shifters 14 in order to determine the mode of operation of the phase shifters: static, dynamic range of phase values in each channel and the duration of the phase change.

Quasi-collimators 15 are designed to supply a signal to the receiving antennas 10 BRTS 5 during ground testing (setting, adjustment and testing). High-frequency TR 13 sends a signal from the VG 12 to each collimator 15, respectively, the number of antennas 10 frequency range.

The proposed system works as follows.

When the mains voltage is applied to the AKPA 3 control panel and the cabinet of the power subsystem 11, the self-test procedure begins, according to the results of which the indicator lights up on the control panel (healthiness - OK or faulty).

At the same time, the operating systems PC1 - PC3 are loaded at the workplaces of operators 1, 2, 16.

Toggle switches on the front panel of the AKPA 3 remote control include:

- VG 12;

- ventilation unit BRTS;

- power subsystem cabinet BRTS 11;

Next, voltage is supplied from the cabinet of the power subsystem 11 to the components of the BRTS 5 according to the cyclogram of work specified on the PC1.

After passing all the self-test procedures, at the workplace 1 of the operator of the PC1, the process of forming an observation session (FSN) is started, the parameters and modes of operation of the BRTS 5, the duration of the equipment are set.

The session number is set in the FSN, the parameters of a specific session are loaded: navigation parameters (set the position of the device in orbit), orientation parameters (position of the device along three axes and relative to the observation point on the Earth's surface), BRTS operation parameters (operation mode - calibration or target; frequency range, speed and number of passes over the range, initial operating conditions, absolute time), session duration, commands to control the onboard power supply to the BRTS 5 units involved in a particular session, perform general configuration ie input and intermediate circuits of the receiving and processing path.

Next, the initial switching of the BRTS 5 blocks occurs: the data from the template file is sent to the crate 4, converted into control commands, and then fed to the actuators.

After the onboard voltage is applied to all BRTS 5 blocks involved in the current session, the data arrays are loaded into digital processing and control blocks 6 and 7, respectively, BRTS.

From the workplace 16 of the operator of the PC3, the control data for the frequency and phase parameters of the test signal is loaded into the VG 12 and the controlled phase shifters 14.

Further, blocks 6 and 7 of digital processing and control, respectively, from the composition of the tested BRTS, the cyclogram is loaded and unfolded, while the PC2 from the composition of the CPA issues a 1 Hz clock signal and control commands, thereby simulating the onboard control complex of the spacecraft.

After downloading and deploying the monitoring cyclogram of the tested BRTS 5, an observation session begins, which is completely similar to the regular operation of the BRTS during operation.

At the same time, according to the readiness of the BRTS 5 to receive test signals in the frequency range specified in the initial data, automatic tuning of the VG 12 and phase shifters 14 is carried out.

During the observation session, the processed telemetric, service and target information, generated by blocks and nodes from the composition of the controlled BRTS 5 blocks, is fed to the input of the PC2, which simulates the functions of the onboard information transmission equipment in terms of receiving data, controlling the receiving modes and saving the received data to the onboard memory device.

During the session, it is possible to simulate emergency situations to test the BRTS for stability and reliability in terms of power supply to the on-board network, abnormal shutdown of the BRTS and BRTS elements as a whole, breaks in information lines from the onboard control complex of the vehicle and transfer of information to the onboard equipment in the autonomous operation mode of controlled BRTS.

During the normal completion of the observation session, a phased power off of the units and nodes controlled by the BRTS 5 is carried out, service information about the end of the session and objective control information from the BRTS is received, information sessions of the BRTS with the onboard control complex (PC1) and onboard information transmission equipment (PC2) are completed.

After the end of the session, the PC2 monitors the integrity of all data received during and upon completion of the BRTS operation, analyzes the service and telemetric information, checks the objective control information about the state of the equipment during the entire observation session.

The completeness and quality of the target information received as a result of processing the input signal in terms of frequency, phase and time parameters is independently checked by comparison with the parameters of the test signal specified for the VG and phase shifters before the start of the session.

The calculation of the coefficient of efficiency of the performance of the BRTS task at the session is carried out.

Thus, the claimed system makes it possible to ensure the cyclic nature of the task, execution and analysis of the results of observation sessions according to the embedded program in automatic mode.

Claims (1)

A system for checking on-board radio systems of spacecraft, containing two workplaces of operators with personal electronic computers, a module for simulating the onboard control complex of a spacecraft, a module for analyzing telemetric, service information and the results of the operation of controlled equipment connected to an automated test equipment panel that is connected via a crate to blocks of an onboard radio engineering system connected through a switch of input signals to receiving antennas, a power supply subsystem cabinet connected to blocks of onboard radio engineering and to the panel of automated control and testing equipment, a generator rack with a path switching system, including a vector generator and a high-frequency signal divider, characterized in that it additionally contains a third operator’s workplace, phase shifters, quasi-collimators, and the high-frequency signal divider is made in the form of a high-frequency distribution transformer, configured to set, adjust and adjust the signal phase in the receiving devices, while the vector generator is connected to the controlled phaser through the distribution transformer shifters connected to quasi-collimators, while the third operator's workplace is designed to control the phase shifters.