An Energy Aware Mass Memory Unit for Small Satellites Using Hybrid Architecture

Spaceborne detection can obtain more direct, comprehensive and accurate astronomical data. Providing massive storage for spaceborne applications is the urgent requirement of applying Big Data technologies to advance astronomy research. Spacecraft storage must have the good balance between high performances, redundancy and low power consumption. Deepening inside the Existing research, it is difficult to meet above multi-constraints conditions. This paper discusses the existing techniques to improve the Mass Memory Unit (MMU) of small satellites by minimizing its power consumption while meeting high performance requirements. A Hybrid technique is selected, it uses low power NAND flash drives in RAID, along with the faster static Random Access memory (SRAM) for a better performance of the on-board Computer of the spacecraft. Using the very accurate 'diskSim' disk systems simulator, we will show that converting the traditional RAID 5 mechanism will result in a huge saving in the systems power consumption, while still satisfying the I/O requirements of the space applications. Under the strong constraints of performance, power consumption and availability, the paper aims to contribute to the design of a next generation Mass Memory Unit for small satellites.