Innovative use of DSP technology in space: FORTE event classifier

摘要

The Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events (FORTE) small satellite will field a digital signal processor (DSP) experiment for the purpose of classifying radio-frequency (rf) transient signals propagating through the earth's ionosphere. Designated the Event Classifier experiment, this DSP experiment uses a single Texas Instruments' SMJ320C30 DSP to execute preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification algorithms on down-converted, digitized, and buffered rf transient signals in the frequency range of 30 to 300 MHz. A radiation-hardened microcontroller monitors DSP- abnormalities and supervises spacecraft command communications. On- orbit evaluation of multiple algorithms is supported by the Event Classifier architecture. Ground-based commands determine the subset and sequence of algorithms executed to classify a captured time series. Conventional neural network classification algorithms will be some of the classification techniques implemented on-board FORTE while in a low-earth orbit. Results of all experiments, after being stored in DSP flash memory, will be transmitted through the spacecraft to ground stations. The Event Classifier is a versatile and fault-tolerant experiment that is an important new space-based application of DSP technology.