Chinese suitcase-sized device delivers faster data updates and improved stability using simpler technology, tests show
“The Lianli satellite mission showed that using the OpenHarmony real-time operating system significantly improved the satellite’s response speed and reliability,” Yu Xiaozhou, the paper’s lead author and a professor at Dalian University of Technology, told Chinese media in May.
As the first microsatellite to carry the OpenHarmony RTOS, Lianli also ran on a domestically produced chip, “achieving a fully home-grown hardware-software solution in the field, and offering a new option for spacecraft operating systems worldwide”, according to Chinese media reports.
Following the Lianli mission, Yu and colleagues proposed national technical standards to guide how OpenHarmony is used in small satellites – a step intended to encourage broader adoption, which is already taking place across both commercial and research satellite missions in China.
