Processor-In-the-Loop Validation of AI-aided Algorithms for On-Board Autonomous Operations

The engineering work is definitely not finalized if the algorithms are not tested in relevant hardware. Relevant hardware means some kind of piece of actual technology that could in principle be implemented in satellite missions, according to the size, the mass and the computational power. In order to increase the Technology Readiness Level of neural-based algorithms for distributed GNC developed at Politecnico di Milano - ASTRA research group, the work presents the Processor-In-the-Loop testing campaign executed with relevant hardware: a micro-controller unit and a single-board computer with similar computational power with respect to flight-hardware. An end-to-end autocoding procedure has been developed to transition from Model-In-the-Loop simulations to Processor-In-the-Loop validation. The tests were deemed successful by evaluating the execution times, resource utilization and achieved accuracy. Copyright