pmod - DARA On Board Software
In collaboration with the pmod institute (Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos), a novel type of radiometer for space application has been developed which will be a part of the ESA technology satellite Proba-3.The method to measure the suns irradiation bases on the cavity power substitution which is digitally controlled. The instrument features three independently controllable cavities, which allows having a backup measurement in case of a defect cavity; furthermore cavity aging effects can be measured.
The instrument software runs on the well known 68k microprocessor where a multi-tasking operating system solves the real time issues and manages the flash memory access. On top of that, the radiometer can be accessed by a serial interface which is extended by a robust communication protocol.
