Configuration Manager

The fundamental element of MAX Flight Software is the configurable component. A configurable component is an instance of a C++ object that is configured by and accessible to the configuration system, able to accept commands, and produce telemetry. Components exist inside of subsystems.

Subsystems contain components and provide the context for a component's creation and control their priority and rate of execution. Although it is not always necessary for a subsystem to iterate, the execution rate is displayed next to the ones that do.

Subsystems also provide logical separation between various functions of the flight software. For now, subsystems are fixed, but you can create and instantiate custom components, as well as instantiate the components that ship with SOLIS.

All of the subsystems and components exist within a given configuration. SOLIS automatically generates a "safe" base configuration called <SOLIS-Generated>. This particular configuration is accessible via the Configuration dropdown menu at the top-left of the Configuration Manager page. This configuration is directly tied to your setting in the rest of the SOLIS UI and cannot be changed or edited. To add or edit any subsystems or components, you must create a new configuration. You can do this by clicking Copy next to the Configuration dropdown menu.

A factory is a method for handling the creation of a particular component type. Factories can create multiple instances of a component type, as illustrated.

Each component can have multiple versions. The configuration determines what version of each component is selected (active). Within a version, different functions, interface connections, and parameters can be configured.

When SOLIS is first initialized for a satellite, it creates a default configuration. This configuration contains components that are automatically generated by SOLIS. Each of these components has only one version. SOLIS creates the components from the factories of the system.

A satellite in an STK scenario can have one or more configurations under SOLIS. Each configuration can contain any number of components of various types. Below is a simple example of a scenario with a single satellite with Configurations X and Y. The satellite has three factories that create one component each; there is only one instance of each component type. Component A has four versions: the default SOLIS-generated one, and three user-created versions. Components B and C also each have the default SOLIS-generated version, but Component B has two additional user-created versions.

• In Configuration X, Version i of Component A is active, Version i of Component B is active, and the SOLIS-generated version of Component C is active.
• In Configuration Y, Version iii of Component A is active, the SOLIS-generated version of Component B is active, and Component C is not included. So, Configuration Y only has two components.

You can create more components in either configuration from any of the three factories. However, these new component instances will not have a SOLIS-generated version.

The Configuration Overview window shows the whole configuration in a single view. This is useful when determining what to set for the MasterID and Priority of a new component.

For a comprehensive list of all available parameters for a specified Configuration Set with units and descriptions, click . You can specify whether you want to see Flight Software Parameters, ODySSy Parameters, or Both. You can then save these parameters externally as a report in a CSV file.

Create a component by clicking Add next to the version dropdown menu.

Setting up connections between components requires two things:

• The component being configured has a pointer that can point to another object's implemented interface.
• There is another component that has been instantiated that implements the specified interface.

For example, the component FSW_ActProc_RW_Reaction_Wheels_Set has a connection point Connection_HWR_ActMgr_RW, and the object HWR_ActMgr_RW implements that interface. The name of the accessor in that object that returns that pointer is HWR_ActMgr_RW. The UI has a complete index of all the pointers that each component has, as well as the objects and interfaces they can connect to, so the UI will present you with all the options that are available to you. If there is only one possibility, it will populate in automatically.

Configuration parameter

Configuration parameters are able to set all the basic types: Enum, Boolean, Double, Filter, Integer, Matrix, Vector, Quaternion, and String. The Configuration Manager page keeps knowledge of the configuration type of each parameter, so the value editor presented will display the correct type for configuration.

Configuration functions

Typically, parameters that you can set two or more times are implement with a configuration function. For example, add a reaction wheel via function to the mixing component, since the reaction wheel mixing is set up to work with any number of reaction wheels. Also, just like the Parameter Dialog, each argument that you click will present the correct editor to edit the value.

If you are configuring a component with a function that you created, then a function has been created in the *.cpp file associated with your component. That function will be invoked with the arguments you give it. Additionally, a configuration function will configure a container, but all of the data management is taken care of for you.