Development of a modular central electronic unit (CEU) for data handling and management in Martian atmosphere investigations

Abstract

Abstract. This article describes the development of a highly modular Central Electronic Unit (CEU) for data handling and management in Martian atmosphere investigations as part of the DREAMS experiment in ExoMARS 2016 Mission. The CEU was developed by TEMIS and Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi e Attività Spaziali G. Colombo (CISAS) to handle, acquire and transmit medium and low-rate data from sensors dedicated to investigating the Martian atmosphere. The CEU subsystem was designed to communicate with an external host to receive commands and transfer telemetry, transform power from different sources, perform sensors' switch on and off, acquire scientific sensors and their housekeeping monitors, and provide CEU health status. The high modularity of the CEU architecture makes it easy to customize and interface with different types of equipment and instrumentation for various missions. The CEU subsystem is housed on Entry and Descent Module (EDM) and serves as the data handling platform of the DREAMS payload for the EXOMARS 2016 Mission. The CEU has proven to be an effective and flexible solution for data handling and management in Martian atmosphere investigations.