SMART: The Future of Spaceflight Avionics

A novel avionics approach is necessary to meet the future needs of low cost space and lunar missions that require low mass and low power electronics. The current state of the art for avionics systems are centralized electronic units that perform the required spacecraft functions. These electronic units are usually custom-designed for each application and the approach compels avionics designers to have in-depth system knowledge before design can commence. The overall design, development, test and evaluation (DDT&E) cycle for this conventional approach requires long delivery times for space flight electronics and is very expensive. The Small Multi-purpose Advanced Reconfigurable Technology (SMART) concept is currently being developed to overcome the limitations of traditional avionics design. The SMART concept is based upon two multi-functional modules that can be reconfigured to drive and sense a variety of mechanical and electrical components. The SMART units are key to a distributed avionics architecture whereby the modules are located close to or right at the desired application point. The drive module, SMART-D, receives commands from the main computer and controls the spacecraft mechanisms and devices with localized feedback. The sensor module, SMART-S, is used to sense the environmental sensors and offload local limit checking from the main computer. There are numerous benefits that are realized by implementing the SMART system. Localized sensor signal conditioning electronics reduces signal loss and overall wiring mass. Localized drive electronics increase control bandwidth and minimize time lags for critical functions. These benefits in-turn reduce the main processor overhead functions. Since SMART units are standard flight qualified units, DDT&E is reduced and system design can commence much earlier in the design cycle. Increased production scale lowers individual piece part cost and using standard modules also reduces non-recurring costs. The benefit list continues, but the overall message is already evident: the SMART concept is an evolution in spacecraft avionics. SMART devices have the potential to change the design paradigm for future satellites, spacecraft and even commercial applications.