Acquisition, Processing and Image Generation System for Camera Data Onboard Spacecraft

The primary goal of any communication spacecraft is to provide communication in variety of frequency bands based on mission requirements within the Indian mainland. Some of the spacecrafts operating in S-band utilizes a 6m or larger aperture Unfurlable Antenna (UFA for S-band links and provides coverage through five or more S-band spot beams over Indian mainland area. The Unfurlable antenna is larger than the satellite and so the antenna is stowed during launch. Upon reaching the orbit, the antenna is deployed using motors. The deployment status of any deployment mechanism will be monitored and verified by the telemetered values of micro-switch position before the start of deployment, during the deployment and after the completion of the total mechanism. In addition to these micro switches, a camera onboard will be used for capturing still images during primary and secondary deployments of UFA. The proposed checkout system is realized for validating the performance of the onboard camera as part of Integrated Spacecraft Testing (IST) conducted during payload checkout operations. It is designed for acquiring the payload data of onboard camera in real-time, followed by archiving, processing and generation of images in near real-time. This paper presents the architecture, design and implementation features of the acquisition, processing and Image generation system for Camera onboard spacecraft. Subsequently this system can be deployed in missions wherever similar requirement is envisaged.