Distributed Simulation of Heterogeneous Mission Subsystems Through the Black Lion Framework

Abstract

This paper describes the design and implementation of Black Lion, a purely software-based, distributed environment for integrated testing of independent spacecraft mission models. The Black Lion simulation environment is architected to be reconfigurable, allowing for any number of heterogenous software models, across one or multiple computing platforms, to be integrated into a single spacecraft simulation. This architecture enables seamless integration of legacy software models that were never designed to work together into mission-wide simulations. A flat-sat scenario is used to showcase the capabilities of Black Lion. In this flat-sat scenario, Black Lion synchronizes and ties together the following components: a ground system model, a spacecraft physical simulation, and a flight processor emulator in which the flight software application executes. The numerical simulation presented in this paper showcases the closed-loop behavior of the entire spacecraft system.