Automation and Integration of Hardware/Software Co-Verification Tool with Embedded Multi Processors System-On-Chip (MPSoC) Instrument Avionics for Next Generation Imagining Spectrometer (NGIS): On-Chip LiveCheckHSI

Abstract

The emergent technology of System-on-Chip (SoC) and Multi processors System-on-Chip (MPSoC) devices promises lighter, smaller, cheaper, and more capable and reliable space electronic systems that could help to unveil some of the most treasured secrets in our universe. This technology is an improvement over the technology that is currently used in space applications, which lags behind state-of-the-art commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment by several generations. MPSoC technology integrates all computational power required by next-generation space exploration science instruments onto a single chip. This paper describes the automation and the integration of hardware/software co-verification tools (LiveCheckHSI) for the Xilinx Zynq-based SoC control and data handling avionics system that have been developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for next generation imaging spectrometers (NGIS). The NGIS acquires and compresses images in real-time, in addition to programming the spectrometer (frame rate, exposure time), focus step motor, and heaters and reporting telemetry. The SoC and MPSoC technologies combining heterogeneous supercomputing capability with high performance FPGAs allow for the integration of verification tools such as LiveCheckHSI into the deployment device itself. This approach allows to by-pass the traditional independent Ground Support Equipment (GSE) systems for acquisition, processing, and visualization of hyperspectral images which can be prohibitive in terms of hardware and software. This capability also permits on-chip verification for flight systems and extends embedded testing and verification tools beyond the pre-implementation formal verification and post-implementation such as VIVADO HardwareDebug / Chipscope with hardware in the loop. The first part of the paper describes the automation tools integrated into the remote LiveCheckHSI such as AutoSweep, Recording and Scripting capability. The second part of the paper describes the deployment of LiveCheckHSI into the MPSoC device itself using Yocto and Qt C++ framework.