sci_Zone is seeking to develop LinkStar, an integrated flight computer and radio system/hosted payload for cubesats. The goal of this payload is to become the heart of future cubesats to provide a secure, high performance flight computer with integrated communications framework that uses no more than 3W average power and fits within 0.5U. The heart of the LinkStar system is the Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC which combines a quad core ARM-53 processor and Zynq-7000 FPGA. LinkStar supports I2C, SPI, CAN plus other interfaces. LinkStar includes our power management software, software rad-hardening tools, and the QuickSAT/Xen hypervisor to enable multiple, secure operating systems on the processor. LinkStar includes a software defined S-/X-band radio on the FPGA providing data rates up to 100Mbps. A hyperspectral camera system will be integrated with the LinkStar hosted payload for the research project. For Phase I we shall develop the LinkStar design, predicting payload performance including estimating the payload mass, power, processing and volume requirements using QuickSat/Designer, and detail payload CONOPS, including how operators would task, process, interpret, and disseminate data and control the system. By the end of Phase I we will present the feasibility of the technology, and a plan for implementation and commercialization.
