ARM-based embedded system for SpaceFibre Link Analyzer

Modern and forthcoming space missions are demanding multi-payload satellites working at very high speed. The current standardized technology, SpaceWire, is no more able to fulfil the requirement of such data-rates often beyond 1Gb/s. SpaceFibre is the upcoming standard supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) for on-board satellite high-speed communications, allowing for data rates one or two orders of magnitude higher than SpaceWire. SpaceFibre also supports integrated Quality of Service (QoS) and Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR) mechanisms, allowing for a highly reliable communication. However, the abovementioned features make the development of new SpaceFibre-based devices undoubtedly complex and the there is a strong necessity for a test equipment to validate such devices. In this paper, an ARM-based SpaceFibre Link Analyzer is presented. It can be used to support the development of new SpaceFibre and SpaceWire related devices as well as to test complex network systems based on them.