In-flight verification of CCSDS based on-board real-time video compression

This paper presents an optimised hardware implementation of an on-board real-time video compression system for space missions based on the CCSDS 122.0-B-1 standard. High-resolution spectral and imaging missions are permanently requiring increasing data transfer rates in order to handle this huge amount of data. Highly efficient data compression techniques belong to the key features of video and imaging applications in space missions. In order to meet real-time compression performance for video streams, a hardware implementation on an FPGA was developed. This hardware implementation has also significant advantages in the power consumption compared to a purely software-based solution. The CCSDS 122.0-B-1 standard is an adapted JPEG2000 compression algorithm, which is optimized for a more hardware resource efficient implementation. This standard uses a Discrete Wavelet Transformation and a Bit Plane Encoder to compress the image information. The standardization by the CCSDS committee further enabled the use in space data systems. An in-flight demonstration of this compression system was recently performed on the REXUS 7/8 mission by using a low-power Spartan-3 FPGA. At first, this paper explains the realised hardware implementation in detail and further compares the implementation and test results with other state-of-the-art compression standards.