A Digital Twin Approach for Spacecraft On-Board Software Development and Testing

The increasing complexity of spacecraft On-Board Software (OBSW) necessitates advanced development and testing methodologies to ensure reliability and robustness. This paper presents a digital twin approach for the development and testing of embedded spacecraft software. The proposed electronic digital twin enables high-fidelity hardware and software simulations of spacecraft subsystems, facilitating a comprehensive validation framework. Through real-time execution, the digital twin supports dynamical simulations with possibility of failure injections, enabling the observation of software behavior under various nominal or fault conditions. This capability allows for thorough debugging and verification of critical software components, including Finite State Machines (FSM), Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) algorithms, and platform and mode management logic. By providing an interactive and iterative environment for software validation in nominal and contingency scenarios, the digital twin reduces the need for extensive Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, accelerating the software development life-cycle while improving reliability. The paper discusses the architecture and implementation of the digital twin, along with case studies based on a modular OBSW architecture, demonstrating its effectiveness in identifying and resolving software anomalies. This approach offers a cost-effective and scalable solution for spacecraft software development, enhancing mission safety and performance.