Spacewire [1] is an interface standard for high rate
peer-to-peer intercommunication between several
nodes and routers for example between payloads and a
spacecraft on-board computer. The functionalities of
Spacewire continue to increase, mainly due to the
increase of on-board software complexity. New
facilities have to be provided to support the
development and testing of Spacewire and on-board
software applications.
This paper provides an overview of a generic
“request - action list” concept for real-time interface
simulation physically implemented as a Spacewire
Interface Simulator (SWIS).
The SWIS concept provides a means of generic
peer-to-peer interface simulations of the packet,
protocol and application layer with free user- defined
functionality for several simultaneous Spacewire links.
A payload simulation can be established by “drag and
drop” in a much shorter time than usually needed for
project specific software development.
Using the SWIS test and system engineers as well as
managers can prepare simulations without any need
for real-time software development. The effort (i.e. cost
and time) for development of the test facility is reduced
and the quality may increase significantly