Low-orbit satellite on-board software upgrading method based on Walker constellation configuration

Abstract

The invention discloses a low earth orbit satellite on-board software upgrading method based on Walker constellation configuration, which comprises the following steps: S1, when each satellite receives an upgrading package and upgrading information of satellite on-board software, reserving the upgrading package, and executing the step S2; s2, each satellite communicates with a satellite linked with the satellite, whether the satellite linked with the satellite has upgrade information of satellite-borne software or not is judged, if yes, the step S4 is executed, and if not, the step S3 is executed; s3, sending an upgrade package and upgrade information of the satellite-borne software to a satellite without software upgrade information, and then entering step S4; s4, judging whether the received satellite-borne software is upgraded or not according to the software upgrading information and self software information, if yes, entering the step S5 after upgrading according to the upgrading information, and if not, directly entering the step S5; and S5, reserving the upgrade package for preset time, completing the responsibility in the current satellite-borne software upgrade task, and ending the upgrade process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a satellite software updating method, and in particular to a low-orbit satellite onboard software upgrading method based on a Walker constellation configuration. Background Art

[0002] At present, the number of satellites in orbit has shown explosive growth. In 2022, a total of 2,497 spacecraft were launched worldwide, and in 2023, a total of 2,932 spacecraft were launched worldwide. Giant communication satellite constellations such as Starlink are already under construction. The huge number of satellites in orbit requires the operation of satellites to reduce dependence on ground control as much as possible, and puts forward requirements for the autonomous operation and management capabilities of satellites. From a computer perspective, the many satellites that make up the Starlink network are like a huge server cluster running in space, and the Starlink network is a large data center. Most low-orbit constellations now use the Walker-Delta inclined circular orbit configuration, such as Starlink. In order to ensure communication capabilities, these satellites need to upgrade their onboard software after a period of use.

[0003] Prior art CN113407221A discloses a method for autonomously upgrading onboard software of a networking satellite. When establishing a link, the invention exchanges status information frames with the nodes with which it establishes a link, and then parses the received status information frames and compares them with its own status information: if the received hardware version is consistent with the satellite itself, but the software version is higher than its own status information frame, a software upgrade application frame is sent to the node corresponding to the status information frame; finally, the on-orbit software upgrade is completed according to the returned reconstructed data packet.

[0004] When the above technology is used for software upgrade, it must be transmitted among satellites with the same hardware version. If there is no link with the same hardware version between the satellites to be upgraded, the software upgrade cannot be completed on orbit. When a satellite in this invention is upgraded, its adjacent satellite must be upgraded first, which makes the overall upgrade efficiency low. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned deficiencies in the prior art, the onboard software upgrade method for low-orbit satellites based on the Walker constellation configuration provided by the present invention solves the problem in the prior art that online upgrades are limited by links with consistent hardware versions and the overall upgrade efficiency is low.

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object of the invention, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0007] A method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite based on a Walker constellation configuration is provided, comprising the steps of:

[0008] S1. When each satellite receives the upgrade package and upgrade information of the onboard software, it retains the upgrade package and executes step S2;

[0009] S2, each satellite communicates with the satellite linked to it, and determines whether the satellite linked to it has the upgrade information of the onboard software. If so, it goes to step S4, otherwise it goes to step S3;

[0010] S3, sending the upgrade package and upgrade information of the satellite-borne software to the satellite without software upgrade information, and then entering step S4;

[0011] S4, judging whether to upgrade the received satellite-borne software according to the software upgrade information and its own software information, if so, proceeding to step S5 after upgrading according to the upgrade information, otherwise directly proceeding to step S5;

[0012] S5. Keep the preset time of the upgrade package, complete the responsibilities in the current onboard software upgrade task, and end the upgrade process.

[0013] Furthermore, the method for each satellite to determine whether it has been upgraded includes:

[0014] Calculate the upgrade parameters based on the software upgrade information and the software information itself:

[0015]

[0016] Among them, U is the upgrade importance score; σ t is the time coefficient; t new The time when the new version of the software is updated; t old Update time for old version; T const is the time constant; σ v is the version coefficient; v new is the version number of the new version software; v old V is the version number of the old version of the software; const is the version constant; σ p is the priority coefficient; U threshold is the upgrade score threshold; f d To upgrade the parameters; To round down;

[0017] Determine whether the upgrade parameter is greater than or equal to 1. If so, upgrade is required, otherwise not.

[0018] Furthermore, step S2 and step S3 further include:

[0019] S21, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the intersatellite link, and determines whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information. If so, it proceeds to step S23, otherwise it proceeds to step S22;

[0020] S22, if the adjacent satellite in the different orbit connected to it has no software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S23;

[0021] S23, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the same-orbit intersatellite link to determine whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information, if so, proceed to step S25, otherwise proceed to step S24;

[0022] S24, if the adjacent satellite in the same orbit connected to it does not have the software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S25;

[0023] S25, end the dissemination of the software upgrade information, and then proceed to step S4.

[0024] Furthermore, the upgrade information includes at least the hardware information of the target onboard device, the old version number of the software that needs to be updated for the target onboard device, the version number of the onboard software after the upgrade, the file sequence that needs to be replaced for the onboard software upgrade, the size of the upgrade package, the verification type of the upgrade package and the verification code of the upgrade package.

[0025] Furthermore, the preset time is 3 days.

[0026] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0027] 1. When performing software upgrades in this solution, each satellite will receive software upgrade information and software upgrade packages once, and will only receive them once, avoiding the situation where a satellite cannot be upgraded because the hardware version information of its adjacent satellites is completely inconsistent or its adjacent satellites do not need to be upgraded.

[0028] 2. When each satellite in this solution receives the software upgrade information, it does not need to wait for its adjacent satellite to complete the upgrade before starting the upgrade request process, so the overall upgrade efficiency is higher. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 It is a static topology diagram of the satellite network based on the Walker constellation configuration.

[0030] Figure 2 The figure is a flow chart of the onboard software upgrade method for low-orbit satellites based on the Walker constellation configuration.

[0031] Figure 3 This is a detailed implementation flowchart of the onboard software upgrade method for low-orbit satellites based on the Walker constellation configuration. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The specific implementation modes of the present invention are described below so that those skilled in the art can understand the present invention. However, it should be clear that the present invention is not limited to the scope of the specific implementation modes. For those of ordinary skill in the art, as long as various changes are within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined and determined by the attached claims, these changes are obvious, and all inventions and creations utilizing the concept of the present invention are protected.

[0033] To facilitate understanding of the Walker constellation configuration, Figure 1 FIG. 4 shows a static topology diagram of a satellite network based on the Walker constellation configuration; FIG. Figure 1 As shown in the figure, in order to achieve a balance between satellite connectivity and communication performance in the Walker constellation configuration, it is generally stipulated that each satellite only establishes four inter-satellite links, including two co-orbital inter-satellite links and two off-orbital inter-satellite links. Among them, the co-orbital link is a permanent link with a fixed length, which can provide hop-by-hop data transmission in the same or opposite direction along the orbit, and is relatively stable; the off-orbital link is a permanent link whose length changes with time period, which can transmit data hop-by-hop along the inter-orbit direction, but is easy to change.

[0034] When it is necessary to upgrade the onboard software of a low-orbit satellite, first, the ground tracking and control station organizes the upgrade package and related upgrade information of the onboard software, and first uploads it to a satellite in a certain orbit that needs to be upgraded within its visible range. The upgrade information of this plan includes but is not limited to the hardware information of the target onboard device, the old version number of the software that needs to be updated for the target onboard device (specifically the device that needs to be upgraded), the version number of the onboard software after the upgrade, the file sequence that needs to be replaced for the onboard software upgrade, the size of the upgrade package, the verification type of the upgrade package, the verification code of the upgrade package and other parameters.

[0035] refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 FIG. 1 shows a flow chart of a method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite based on a Walker constellation configuration; Figure 2 As shown, the method S includes steps S1 to S5.

[0036] exist Figure 3 The detailed implementation flow chart of the onboard software upgrade method of a low-orbit satellite based on the Walker constellation configuration is shown in FIG. Figure 2 For more details, all the implementation technologies of this solution are recorded in detail. Figure 1 and Figure 2 Describe this scheme.

[0037] In step S1, when each satellite receives the upgrade package and upgrade information of the onboard software, it retains the upgrade package and executes step S2;

[0038] In step S2, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it, and determines whether the satellite connected to it has the upgrade information of the onboard software. If so, it goes to step S4, otherwise it goes to step S3;

[0039] In step S3, the upgrade package and upgrade information of the onboard software are sent to the satellite without software upgrade information, and then step S4 is entered;

[0040] In one embodiment of the present invention, the detailed implementation process of step S2 and step S3 of this solution includes:

[0041] S21, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the intersatellite link, and determines whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information. If so, it proceeds to step S23, otherwise it proceeds to step S22;

[0042] S22, if the adjacent satellite in the different orbit connected to it has no software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S23;

[0043] S23, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the same-orbit intersatellite link to determine whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information, if so, proceed to step S25, otherwise proceed to step S24;

[0044] S24, if the adjacent satellite in the same orbit connected to it does not have the software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S25;

[0045] S25, end the dissemination of the software upgrade information, and then proceed to step S4.

[0046] In step S4, according to the software upgrade information and the own software information, it is determined whether the received onboard software is upgraded. If so, it proceeds to step S5 after upgrading according to the upgrade information. Otherwise, it directly proceeds to step S5.

[0047] In step S5, the preset time of the upgrade package is reserved, the responsibilities in the current onboard software upgrade task are completed, and the upgrade process ends; the preferred preset time of this solution is 3 days.

[0048] The purpose of retaining the upgrade package in step S5 is to temporarily retain it for 3 days in order to cope with the situation where the transmission of data packets to surrounding adjacent satellites may fail due to orbit changes, in order to cope with the situation where the transmission to other satellites needs to be resumed.

[0049] During implementation, the method for each satellite to determine whether it has been upgraded includes:

[0050] Calculate the upgrade parameters based on the software upgrade information and the software information itself:

[0051]

[0052] Among them, U is the upgrade importance score; σ t is the time coefficient; t new The time when the new version of the software is updated; t old Update time for old version; T const is the time constant; σ v is the version coefficient; v new is the version number of the new version software; v old V is the version number of the old version of the software; const is the version constant; σ p is the priority coefficient; U threshold is the upgrade score threshold; f d To upgrade the parameters; To round down;

[0053] Determine whether the upgrade parameter is greater than or equal to 1. If so, upgrade is required, otherwise not.

[0054] When each satellite determines whether it needs to be upgraded, the preferred time coefficient is 0.5; the time constant is 365; the version coefficient is 0.5; the new version software version number and the old version software version number are expressed in the form of x and y, the version constant is 1.0, the priority coefficient is 0 to 20, and the upgrade score threshold is 2.5.

[0055] To sum up, when the onboard software of the low-orbit satellite of this scheme is upgraded, each satellite will receive software upgrade information and software upgrade package once, avoiding the situation where a satellite is affected by the upgrade due to inconsistent hardware version information with its adjacent satellites; each satellite can perform the upgrade operation after receiving the upgrade package, thereby improving the overall upgrade efficiency.

Claims

1. A method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite based on a Walker constellation configuration, characterized in that: Includes steps: S1. When each satellite receives the upgrade package and upgrade information of the onboard software, it retains the upgrade package and executes step S2; S2, each satellite communicates with the satellite linked to it, and determines whether the satellite linked to it has the upgrade information of the onboard software. If so, it goes to step S4, otherwise it goes to step S3; S3, sending the upgrade package and upgrade information of the satellite-borne software to the satellite without software upgrade information, and then entering step S4; S4, judging whether to upgrade the received satellite-borne software according to the software upgrade information and its own software information, if so, proceeding to step S5 after upgrading according to the upgrade information, otherwise directly proceeding to step S5; S5. Keep the preset time of the upgrade package, complete the responsibilities in the current onboard software upgrade task, and end the upgrade process.

2. The method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method for each satellite to determine whether it has been upgraded includes: Calculate the upgrade parameters based on the software upgrade information and the software information itself: Among them, U is the upgrade importance score; σ t is the time coefficient; t new The time when the new version of the software is updated; t old Update time for old version; T const is the time constant; σ v is the version coefficient; v new is the version number of the new version software; v old V is the version number of the old version of the software; const is the version constant; σ p is the priority coefficient; U threshold is the upgrade score threshold; f d To upgrade the parameters; To round down; Determine whether the upgrade parameter is greater than or equal to 1. If so, upgrade is required, otherwise not.

3. The method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite according to claim 1, characterized in that: Step S2 and step S3 further include: S21, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the intersatellite link, and determines whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information. If so, it proceeds to step S23, otherwise it proceeds to step S22; S22, if the adjacent satellite in the different orbit connected to it has no software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S23; S23, each satellite communicates with the satellite connected to it through the same-orbit intersatellite link to determine whether the satellite connected to it has software upgrade information, if so, proceed to step S25, otherwise proceed to step S24; S24, if the adjacent satellite in the same orbit connected to it does not have the software upgrade information, then send the software upgrade information and software upgrade package to it, and then enter step S25; S25, end the dissemination of the software upgrade information, and then proceed to step S4.

4. The method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upgrade information includes at least the hardware information of the target onboard device, the old version number of the software that needs to be updated for the target onboard device, the version number of the onboard software after the upgrade, the file sequence that needs to be replaced for the onboard software upgrade, the size of the upgrade package, the verification type of the upgrade package and the verification code of the upgrade package.

5. The method for upgrading onboard software of a low-orbit satellite according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The preset time is 3 days.

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