• Herschel and Planck
• ESO - Wavefront Computer
• RUAG Space
• FMI & KNMI - The OMI Project
• Tampere University of Technology
• ESA - The GOCE Project
• COMPTEL – Agile Testing
• STUK – Safety Audits

Herschel and Planck – Deep Space Science

The Herschel and Planck satellites will help in understanding the origins and evolution of the universe. SSF has developed the Application Software for the Central Data Management Unit of both Satellites.

The Application Software is a mission critical, real-time software that is highly optimised in terms of real-time performances and resources usage. It implements functionalities like On-board Data Handling (including the main services of the ECSS Packet Utilisation Standard ECSS-E-70-41A), Device Management and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR).

Considering that once in flight it is very difficult and risky to perform software updates, the software has been designed and built to be extremely reliable. In order to prove its reliability, it has been subjected to a very thorough test campaign, much deeper than what is normally the case for ordinary software.

Validation Testing has been conducted as black-box testing in the real-time test environment represented by an engineering model of the on-board computer. Automated, continuous testing has been performed thanks to SSF’s NightRun test system that allowed us to achieve optimal usage of the special test facilities (24hours/day, 7days/week) and early detection of defects. Test results were automatically stored in a database which allowed us to easily obtain automated test reports, as well as perform deeper analyses on test results.

Unit Testing has been conducted to achieve 100% statement and condition coverage.

The customers for the project were the European Space Agency and Thales-Alenia Space. We had as subcontractor IDA of the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, who developed the interpreter and the compiler for the On-Board Control Procedures.