Earlier quoted context omitted.
They did.
How? That was a very recent change to linux.
It was merged to mainline Linux last week. The patches have been usable for many years if you compile a custom kernel.
How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
131–140 of 160 posts
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#132Author here: I should clarify the satellite is not running Windows. Instead, it’s running its own custom OS written in C called Flight Software (FSW) specifically designed for the satellite onboard computer. Re-reading the post, I see how the title, my analogies, and poor attempts at humor would give the incorrect description of what’s happening with the satellite when it enters safemode. I’ll amend the post soon. Th…
Technical blog pro tip: Assume that many of your readers are VERY literal-minded, and many of your other readers like their humor obscure and as deadpan as possible. Sorry.
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#133Thee are a bunch of comments here asking why one would run Windows on a spacecraft. I am a spacecraft engineer. I don’t see anything in the linked article indicating that they are actually running Windows - the BSOD claim is tongue-in-cheek, or at least that’s how I read it. I also don’t know of anyone anywhere that runs Windows on a spacecraft, with the exception of laptops used by astronauts. Typically one runs vxW…
> Thee are a bunch of comments here asking why one would run Windows on a spacecraft.
Because TFA is highly misleading
> I don’t see anything in the linked article indicating that they are actually running Windows
TFA literally begins with a picture of a Windows BSOD with a Windows error message.
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I was the person who originally proposed to implement the crew control UI in a web browser, and I participated in a week-long retreat in beautiful Bend, Oregon where we implemented the first prototype. At the time, some very good flight software engineers had been working diligently on a new UI framework that was written in the same code style and process as the rest of our flight software. However, I noticed…
>I think I was the person who originally proposed to implement the crew control UI in a web browser, and I participated in a week-long retreat in beautiful Bend, Oregon where we implemented the first prototype. Please tell me you have a blog
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#135Thee are a bunch of comments here asking why one would run Windows on a spacecraft. I am a spacecraft engineer. I don’t see anything in the linked article indicating that they are actually running Windows - the BSOD claim is tongue-in-cheek, or at least that’s how I read it. I also don’t know of anyone anywhere that runs Windows on a spacecraft, with the exception of laptops used by astronauts. Typically one runs vxW…
Is there any open-source equivalent to QNX?
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? What benefit would that give them?
I can't tell if this a serious comment or not, but they need an OS with realtime guarantees. They have claimed to use linux in a rtos configuration, also probably have a redundancy and voting-based failover system.
I can't tell if this is a serious answer to the question or not, as you have answered it in terms of the question: "why the need for RTOS? -> because they need RTOS". Stop wasting time with replies like this that add no value.
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I was the person who originally proposed to implement the crew control UI in a web browser, and I participated in a week-long retreat in beautiful Bend, Oregon where we implemented the first prototype. At the time, some very good flight software engineers had been working diligently on a new UI framework that was written in the same code style and process as the rest of our flight software. However, I noticed…
Why doesn't anyone at Boeing make these observations? I don't think anyone needs to be persuaded that a browser is a good UI middleware.
I suspect that Boeing has a lot of momentum and the risk/reward for pushing an initiative like that doesn’t make sense in that org.
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#138Why is it using memory-mapped stuff in the first place rather than some sort of messaging system that would allow more defensive programming?
To the shock and horror of many programming-inclined people, it turns out that having "arbitrary memory read/write" commands on a remote computer that *must* keep the mission going is quite useful. I can tell you a little first-hand account of where this helped a satellite formation flight mission I worked on. The communication system was working fine in terms of signal strength, but many command packets were ignored…
Sounds like a very, very useful capability to put in for diagnostic capability, but it's not exactly what I would like for routine operations.
Things happen, and the electronics has to take radiation hits. I'd make the software as defensive as feasible so failures have less potential to cascade.
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could I ask you to clarify why avoiding safemode is so important? In a non satellite system safemode means everything is driven to a safe state which is fine during testing in the lab. Also do you not run these tests in an even more simulated environment where there is only the flight computer and no real hardware at all?
Having discussed this same question with the more experienced members of my team, the only conclusion I can draw is that the customer (US Government) is incredibly risk averse. Any unexpected entry into safemode would require a report, multiple meetings with the customer, and them being pretty angry. Their line of reasoning seems to be "Safemode->Something is wrong->Why is something wrong? We're not paying you to be…
> We normally have a Functional Test Assembly (real computer and some other hardware for testing) to run our tests against, but we only have one setup and it is consistently unreliable
Its interesting to see that someone with a 2B budget have the same problem as someome with 5 million budget... we have an engineering model for our cubesats but its flaky
Re: How to avoid a BSOD on your 2B dollar spacecraft
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think I was the person who originally proposed to implement the crew control UI in a web browser, and I participated in a week-long retreat in beautiful Bend, Oregon where we implemented the first prototype. At the time, some very good flight software engineers had been working diligently on a new UI framework that was written in the same code style and process as the rest of our flight software. However, I noticed…
At a minimum it should use typescript, no? Also web pages get out of sync sometimes, and need to be reloaded, which doesn’t sound great for mission critical reliability. Compiled, typed UI lib sounds like a better fit.
Unless something actually crashes, which any code could do, then why would you need to reload? Just send a websocket message that requests the current full state.
But if it's implemented correctly, it probably won't get out of sync.