Abstract: One of the most important directions of modern small satellite technology development is to enable a small satellite to respond rapidly to emergencies with relatively low launching cost and design cost. Using integrated electronic systems which are shared by both the rocket and the satellite can reduce the cost and time. The traditional electronic system of a space vehicle cannot meet the needs of the mission of both the rocket and the satellite. Hence a method is advanced which integrates multi-processor technology, reconfiguration technology and the electronic system design of space vehicles. The method is aimed at designing an electronic system which can fulfill the needs of both the rocket and the satellite, whilst it should be no heavier, no bigger, no more expensive and even cheaper than the traditional system. According to the mission needs of the rocket and satellite, two types of three-core processors are designed in a reconfigurable field programmable gate array (FPGA) whose reconfiguration is based on the mission period. This FPGA can make the electronic system work efficiently in both the rocket period and the satellite period. Ground real-time simulation system is established to verify the performance and reliability of the reconfigurable multi-processor on-board computer.

Key words: reconfigurable, multiprocessing, reliability, performance, field programmable gate array