Discussion on spacecraft local area networks

Abstract

High speed communication buses are necessary for satellites and spacecrafts. In this paper, traditional buses such as FDDI, ISO 8802-4, and some new techniques, such as SFODB, RPR and AFDX.are briefly introduced. The comparisons between these buses are discussed. The topology, cable and characters of these protocols are analyzed. And from the comparison, it can be seen that SFODB, AFDX and RPR may be good candidates for the new generation of spacecraft buses in the future.