Extended Capabilities

The flexibility provided by FPGAs allows nodes built upon the RP profile to accommodate custom connectivity to other components, devices, or even other nodes. Customization and extension of RP node capabilities can be realized through instantiations of the Expansion Profile.

In instances where custom electronics are needed (for example, analog electronics connected to a sensor), mezzanines or custom backplane routing to other boards connect electronics to the FPGA for control and data processing.

Other examples of extended capabilities include customized network interfaces that may not be needed on every standard RP node. For example, a Rear Transition Module (RTM) connected to the RP node through a backplane may implement high-speed fiber transceivers to enable box-to-box communications. In other cases, a mezzanine on a node may include specialized interfaces to connect to the host spacecraft bus (for example, MIL-STD-1553).

In all cases, the implementations for extended capability shall utilize industry standards whenever possible. Also, when extending the network capabilities of the RP node, any implemented communications protocols shall follow requirements described in the Communication Specification.