Show HN: SatCat5, the open-source FPGA Ethernet switch

• satcat5

  25 387 3.8 VHDL

  SatCat5 is a mixed-media Ethernet switch that lets a variety of devices communicate on the same network.

  

Hi!

I'm one of the engineers working with cubesat hardware and software integration, and I've been following this project since 2023 because I agree that standardizing over Ethernet over (twisted pair, UART, single pair, etc...) will solve a lot of integration pain from all of the DIY protocols that the cubesat/smallsat community uses

Some thoughts:

- You actually have a publicly available ICD at https://github.com/the-aerospace-corporation/satcat5/tree/ma... , please publicize this more in the readme! You're a very rare exception in a world of contact us and sign an NDA first and commercial in confidence ICDs, which is great, and leads me to my next point:

- Compared to HTTP API documentation, space ICDs sucks. One of the ICDs that I have put its protocol documentation as screenshots instead of copy pasteable text. Of course ICDs sucks because you won't know its quality until you buy it... Anyway standardizing on ethernet for transport layer give you all the tooling at 99% of the world's computer use, and it might be a first step in making a OpenAPI / Swagger type tool but for space protocols

- Any plans for 10base-T1S single pair ethernet? Our 6U cubesats barely have enough power to run its payload computers, let alone a FPGA based switch. But in a way a switched star network can be more reliable than a multidrop bus, as you can isolate babbling idiot nodes, and filter out accidental/intentional MAC/IP address spoofing

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