ARC Command and Data Handling

Overview

The Command and Data Handling System (CDH) serves as the central hub of the ARC satellite. CDH keeps track of all other systems health, resets them in the case of a failure, retrieves pertinent data for downlink from other ARC systems, and saves a history of ARC data and received commands. CDH also serves as point of contact for the ARC stack up in "day in the life" testing.

Design and Operation

Hardware

CDH is housed with the ARC Imager system (IMG), because both systems are small and simple in terms of hardware. CDH uses the ARC standard MSP430F6779a Texas Instruments microprocessor, chosen for its peripheral selections and low power capabilities.

Software

The CDH system is a primarily software driven system thats primary purpose is as a system health check for ARC. CDH will also query all ARC systems to obtain system status, bundle this information into a health beacon, and pass it to the communications system to be transmitted to the ground. Lastly, CDH will reset other ARC systems if they fail the health check.