Авіаційно-космічна техніка та технологія (Aug 2024)

Experimental evaluation of the efficiency of containerization technology in the onboard software of a nanosatellite CubeSat

  • Oleksandr Liubimov,
  • Ihor Turkin,
  • Oleksandr Leshchenko,
  • Viacheslav Valkovyi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.32620/aktt.2024.4.10
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 0, no. 4
pp. 87 – 103

Abstract

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The objective of this research is to investigate the computational efficiency of various system architectures of onboard software for the onboard computers of CubeSat nanosatellites. The subject of this study is the computing overhead associated with using the containerization method in the construction of the onboard software for CubeSat nanosatellites. Purpose: To experimentally investigate the possibility and feasibility of using the containerization method in the onboard software of CubeSat nanosatellites. Objectives: to define the need to find new architectural solutions in the onboard software of the CubeSat nanosatellite; to perform a comparative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using monolithic (classical) and microservice architecture in the onboard software of the CubeSat nanosatellite; to justify the choice of the system software environment for executing containers; to determine the typical structure of CubeSat software and the strategy for adapting the WASM3 container environment to the FreeRTOS operating system; to develop a plan; and to conduct an expert evaluation based on the results of the evaluation to formulate conclusions about the possibility and feasibility of using container architecture in the onboard software of the CubeSat nanosatellite. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the relevance of developing software for satellites based on microservices and containers. The experimental results allow us to compare the performance of the onboard computer when executing various algorithms implemented using the C programming language (“Bare-Metal” approach) and the architecture based on the microservices approach, branched between containers of the WASM3 environment running under the FreeRTOS, and developed in C and C++ programming languages. The main conclusion of this work is the potential of using the Falco SBC/CDHM hardware platform as an affordable and powerful computing platform for CubeSat nanosatellites.

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