Instrument SCOE

An Instrument SCOE is a turn-key system providing all external electrical and protocol interfaces to a satellite Instrument (camera, synthetic aperture radar, etc.) during development and AIT of the Instrument. The Instrument SCOE is sometimes called Payload SCOE and allows for stand-alone operation of the Instrument through the electrical and protocol interfaces later provided by the spacecraft/platform.
These type of SCOE’s provide power (LCL, SLP, HTR, etc.) , control/monitor signals (discretes, TM/TC, serial, bus) as well as science interfaces (SpW, WzL, SpF, etc.) to the instrument. In addition to physical interfaces, the SCOE also uses the spacecraft communication protocols, timing, sequences, etc. and can include automated sequences.
The SCOE can be operated stand-alone through the local GUI or connected to an overall test system such as a Central Check-out System (CCS) via dedicated network interfaces.

Instrument SCOE Satellite testing Celestia-STS C-STS

Instrument SCOE’s can be used for conventional instruments but also for high-speed applications such as optical and radar instruments, Solid State Mass Memory Units and other high-speed payloads.

Instrument SCOE’s are typically custom built by Celestia-STS to meet the specific needs of a satellite instrument using the Celestia-STS standard onboard interface product portfolio, integrated into a 19″ rack cabinet or tabletop enclosure. The standard products are integrated both at software and hardware levels including internal rack harnesses such that a typical SCOE will have a connector panel designed on the rear to minimize the complexity of harnesses to/from the instrument.

Key Features

Tailor-made integrated 19″ rack or table-top enclosure of equipment
Provides all physical (electrical) and logical (protocol/timing) interfaces towards the instrument/payload
Galvanic Isolation and FMEA compliant interfaces
System grounding scheme adapted to meet customer needs
Equipped with Mains Isolation Unit (if required) and/or Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) for power critical instruments
Integrated COTS or any customer defined equipment. Number and type of interfaces tailored to fit instrument needs
Internal rack harnesses, connector panels designed to simplify integration
Self-Test interfaces for harness and interface verification
Supplied with external harnesses (Cleanroom, TVAC and/or EMC compatible)
Integrated workstation with rack mountable monitor and keyboard or KVM Extender
Local operation through local GUI or Remote operation via network-based interface

Equipment Details

The system consists of one or more 19″ racks, fully integrated and tested to provide the electrical and functional interfaces to an instrument during the instruments development, integration and test. The combination of a custom connector panel fitted on the rear of the instrument SCOE rack, and the associated external harnesses, provides a turn-key solution for our customers.

The remote interface of the system is configurable by Celestia-STS to meet the needs of the customer Central Checkout System. Many interfaces are available off-the-shelf such as EDEN, C&C and RPC. The remote interface is provided with a detailed Software ICD as well as a MIB database.

The system includes hardware time stamping support through optional interfaces such as PPS, IRIG-B and IRIG-G. Optionally a GPR/NTP timeserver can be fitted in the SCOE that can either be the master in a larger EGSE setup or operate as slave to higher stratum servers.

The systems are highly customizable to fulfill specific spacecraft needs, built for purpose and in accordance with the customer requirement specifications.

Heritage

C-STS have delivered many Instrument SCOE’s for various ESA missions including Copernicus Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3, Sentinel-6, CRISTAL, ROSE-L, Harmony, etc.