- pacsat-dev - mailman.amsat.org

FYI Software state:
by Burns Fisher (AMSAT) 12 Nov '22

12 Nov '22

Right now, the software in the PacSatx dev will build and load into a LaunchPad. The OS is running, as is the N2HET-based serial port. I get a lot of error messages out because of things that are NOT there (like MRAM). Over the next few days (weeks?) I'll try to get things cleared up so that it is actually usable for PacSat experiments. 73, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ *AMSAT(R) Engineering -- Flight Software*

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KiCAD design files for GOLF-T
by Bob Stricklin 11 Nov '22

11 Nov '22

Hello Jonathan, You have been suggested as a possible conduit to obtain some KiCAD files on the GOLF-T. I would like to obtain copies of the version 1.0 an 1.1 designs for my reference. Would you look at this and let me know the best path. You could email them to me, move the to some GitHub, or I could come meet you for lunch and get a thumb drive. I would not be posting any of these files to any public locations. I plan to use these files to get board size layouts and pull parts of the layout out of the original to start a layout/straw-man of a pacsat board. From Zach: These files are done in the same version of KiCAD as the Booster Pack, and are located in the GOLF-T Git repository. We currently have version 1.0, which is of historic interest only, and the current version 1.1 in that repo. There is an internal Git repository, which is not public. This holds all versions of the RT-IHU design. Jonathan should be able to get you access to this and handle the issues related to ITAR/EAR coverage of that design. Bob

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Finally---the software repo is now non-private
by Burns Fisher (AMSAT) 10 Nov '22

10 Nov '22

I have managed (thanks to some help from a friend) to remove all the old history from the repository I was working on (which included all the Golf code if you looked correctly), so I have now created a repository on gitHub AMSAT-NA/PacSatx which is open to viewing by all. As requested, I included a Documentation directory and put Chris' doc in it. A couple things: 1) I wanted to have everyone get a chance to look and approve what I did with the repo structure, but the next step will be to delete the AMSAT-NA/pacsat repo (which has the identical documenation) and rename PacSatx to PacSat (or whatever we decide). I did not want to delete it for now. 2) I'd have preferred to have two directory trees, code and documentation instead of having docs branching off the code tree. However, I could not get TI CCS (Code Composer Studio) to be happy with that. I'm sure it is possible but it would have taken a lot of work. 3) Feel free to clone this repository to take a look. I think the syntax on your local machine would be git clone https://github.com/AMSAT-NA/PacSatx.git 4) This code does not build successfully. It mostly compiles but there are lots of undefined references, which I will fix. I just wanted to make it available ASAP. 73, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ *AMSAT(R) Engineering -- Flight Software*

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Filesystem for pacsat
by Corey Minyard 10 Nov '22

10 Nov '22

I've started a google doc with questions about requirements and some info. These are things to thing about. You should be able to comment on the file. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zwUKF2Fvk-0GLdPCOtbPxN6IyA6w_4HPR1ILC6w… I'll also paste it in here, maybe that's easier to work with. Filesystem for Pacsat Does it need to be hierarchical? Robust in the event of failures and errors * Does it need data integrity (as an option?) or just metadata integrity? * File system checking? * Journaling? * Any sort of atomicity requirement? * Checksums on data/metadata? * Memory scrubbing? Performance requirements? Any security/authentication requirements? Block oriented? Are there any non-block oriented filesystems? Perhaps a database would be a better choice? Some existing filesystems: https://github.com/littlefs-project/littlefs https://github.com/joembedded/JesFs https://github.com/NVSL/linux-nova

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Another AX5043 board available
by Burns Fisher (AMSAT) 09 Nov '22

09 Nov '22

I just retrieved an AX5043 board (for the Pi) from a local guy who was going to volunteer but never had time. So now I have two. If anyone wants one without have to assemble it, let me know and I'll ship it. BTW, I had forgotten this, but Alan Johnson, VPEduation, had his students at Villanova assemble some of these. If we want more of these oards, we might check with him to see if he has more or has students to assemble them. I am in contact with him regularly, so I'll ask him about the situation. 73, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ *AMSAT(R) Engineering -- Flight Software*

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Pacsat-dev mailing list info
by Bill Reed 08 Nov '22

08 Nov '22

Here are my thoughts about the pacsat-dev mailing list: This is a private list for members of the pacsat-dev team. I have worked on past Amsat projects where email and meeting resources were consumed by interested, sometimes helpful, but significantly time wasting discussions of various opinions. ( Remember, opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. ) These discussions were interesting but not helpful in completing our project. I encourage those discussions on the pacsat(a)amsat.org list. The pacsat(a)amsat.org mailing list is open to everyone. I encourage dev team members in participating on the pacsat list. Please do not send a single email to both lists. A reply by someone could create problems for the pacsat-dev list. Thoughts about the dev-team: Current members are "Bill Reed" <bill(a)brconnect.com> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> bstrick(a)n5brg.com <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> "Burns Fisher" <wb1fj(a)fisher.cc> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> chrisethompson(a)gmail.com <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> glasbrenner(a)mindspring.com <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> "Mark Hammond" <marklhammond(a)gmail.com> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> "Jim" <wa4cwi(a)bellsouth.net> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> "Corey Minyard" <minyard(a)acm.org> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> "Rich Gopstein (KD2CQ)" <rich(a)ourowndomain.com> <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> jbrandenburg(a)amsat.org <https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/pacsat-dev.amsat.org/members/opti…> Members of the pacsat dev team should attend most dev team meetings and be working on some aspect of the pacsat project. The exceptions to this rule are Glasbrenner and Hammond from Amsat operations. We need "operations feedback". They represent our "customer" We need their feedback whenever possible. Anyone can join the dev team, they just need to be doing something to help. Does this structure make sense to everyone? Comments? Bill

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AX5043 build
by Bill Reed 08 Nov '22

08 Nov '22

Jim, What filter frequencies do you plan to implement? Do you need the parts for those frequencies? bill

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Dev meeting #4
by Bill Reed 08 Nov '22

08 Nov '22

My next surgery has been scheduled for Thur, Nov 10. I will not schedule a meeting for that day. Next meeting will be on Nov 17. In the meantime, I encourage discussion on the pacsat-dev(a)amsat.org mail list. Bill

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My thoughts about power, host satellite etc for PacSat
by Burns Fisher (AMSAT) 04 Nov '22

04 Nov '22

Last night at the pacsat developers meeting, we had a good conversation about what we were aiming for. This started out with the question "what is our power budget", and the answer seems to be pretty tightly bound to the satellite that is hosting us, and what else that satellite is carrying. It seems to me that thinking about it this way gives us a round and round series of thoughts: What is our power budget?->What satellite will we fly on->Unknown but we can guess how much power is available on a 3U or a 1U->But that depends on what else is in the satellite, is it only us?->What is our power budget :-) My (current) thought is that pacsat is in the ASCENT program, which is specifically designed for "trying things out" without necessarily having a flight in mind for them. So I would suggest that our first job is to just get SOMETHING that works with a TMS570 and 4 AX5043s. Then we will have a very good idea how much power we use under different circumstances (fewer TMS570s, slower processor, etc) and for that matter whether we would be better off with an STM32L lower power processor. In all cases, we should design for flexibility. As an example, don't do anything that absolutely REQUIRES 4 AX5043 chips and don't do anything that REQUIRES unique capabilities in a TMS570. Then we should of course be prepared to make the required modifications for a specific flight. (Example: We are Jonathan's 5043 Pi boards; the RT-IHU is the specific implementation of those and the TMS570 for Golf.) This is quite different from a typical approach where initially software is given many requirements and a date, and then (usually) the requirements turn out to be unachievable within the given time and cutbacks have to be hacked out. But I think it is appropriate for the organization and the program we are in. 73, Burns Fisher, WB1FJ *AMSAT(R) Engineering -- Flight Software*

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New PacSatSW Repo
by Jonathan Brandenburg 04 Nov '22

04 Nov '22

Howdy, Burns! I think I see a new PacSatSW repo. Does that need to be made "public" for the EAR publicly available carveout? Thanks! Jonathan -- Jonathan Brandenburg, KF5IDY

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