IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - March 2021 - 23

Kimura et al.
image sensors, processing unit, video decoding unit, and
memory units. In addition, we can confirm the reliability
of the COTS oscillators, because the image encoding and
decoding processes are frequency-dependent.

REFERENCES
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DISCUSSION

S. Nakazawa, " System design of the Hayabusa2-Asteroid

From our mission results, we can confirm that the visual
images taken by COTS devices can be used for the effective situation monitoring of complicated and critical missions. Situation monitoring using visual images has some
disadvantages, because it requires large amounts of memory and large transmission bandwidths. However, visual
images are quite informative, and can provide researchers
with both expected and unexpected information, such as
flat shape of debris. In addition to providing scientific and
technological information, visual images can be used for
public outreach, because they are appealing and easy to
understand for people with varying backgrounds. Lowcost and low-system-impact visual image acquisition systems can expand mission possibilities. COTS utilization is
one of the most important components of realizing lowcost visual image acquisition systems. The fact that COTS
base image acquisition systems can be used in deep space
mission expands the possibilities for researchers designing
deep space missions.
When we think about obtaining visual images, we tend
to expect higher resolution images. While such images are
highly informative, they use a large amount of memory
and consume significant processing resources. However,
while image resolutions were somewhat low in this mission, we found that frame rates were quite important for
situation monitoring. Generally speaking, because system
resources are quite limited in space missions, missions
must consider tradeoffs between resolution and frame
rate. It is quite important to design systems based on
requirements and resources.
Power consumption is another important consideration
for deep space applications. Unfortunately, the power consumption of the VMSUC is approximately 0.8 W, which is
quite high. If we use current technologies such as IoT
devices, it may be possible to develop systems that consume less energy. We intend to investigate methods for
using these types of COTS technologies in the near future.

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CONCLUSION

[11] S. Kimura, Y. Kasuya, and M. Terakura, " Breakdown phe-

This article outlines the development of a small, low-cost
VMSUC and describes the in situ image capturing results.
To ensure the safety and reliability of complex missions,
it is essential to perform effective situation monitoring. As
described in this article, a visual monitoring system utilizing COTS is a possible solution for meeting such

MARCH 2021

requirements. We will continue to investigate the possibility of using COTS in deep space missions.

nomena in SD cards exposed to proton irradiation, " Trans.
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IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

Effects on Integrated Circuits and Systems for Space
Applications. Berlin, Germany: Springer.

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