Patent ID: 6735501
Filing Date: 2004-05-11
Classification: B64G,H04B

Abstract:
A satellite command system that provides satellite commanding using remotely-controlled modulation of satellite on-board telemetry parameters, comprising:a ground station comprising a command translator for translating a command that is to be implemented on the satellite into a form ready for modulation, and apparatus for uplinking the command to the satellite by modulating a quantity or quantities that are measured on board the satellite through its telemetry collection process; a satellite comprising: a plurality of processor units; a distributed data collection unit coupled to the plurality of processor units by way of a data bus that collects modulated telemetry data; satellite command input equipment respectively coupled to the plurality of processor units; and software disposed on the plurality of processor units that uses a DMA command pathway from the satellite command input equipment to the processing units that is independent from a command input bus, that detects the modulated telemetry data collected by the distributed data collection unit, reconstructs the command, and passes the reconstructed command to command processing software for execution.