The Performance Issues and a New Architecture Design for the GISTDA Satellite Simulator

In general, a satellite simulator is used to verify the satellite operations among the development tools. Hence, for space organizations, a satellite simulator is usually recommended and internally developed. Currently, Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) designs and develops the flight software by using a satellite simulation called Simulation Third Generation (SimTG). SimTG is a product developed by AIRBUS to support their several projects. SimTG requires a heavyweight middleware well-known as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) for handling data distribution among numerous objects in the spacecraft simulation. The CORBA requires high-performance computing resources to support its workload in a simulator that causes a real-time issue. Even though GISTDA satellite simulation has fewer requirements, real-time problems still occur from CORBA's complicated structure. Thus, to meet the GISTDA satellite simulator requirements, a new middleware is a considered solution. This paper presents the current satellite simulator architecture and its workload. A comparison of potential lightweight middleware considered to replace CORBA, including MQTT, CoAP and DSS is discussed. A new architecture design for the GISTDA satellite simulator to reduce the computer workloads is also proposed.