Low-power ARM Cortex-M7 OBC (TRL-9) for nanosatellites. 280 mW typical power, integrated IMU (mag + gyro + accel), GNSS, and FreeRTOS with PC/104 form factor.
DARA OBC — On-Board Computer
Low-power ARM Cortex-M7 OBC (TRL-9) for nanosatellites. 280 mW typical power, integrated IMU (mag + gyro + accel), GNSS, and FreeRTOS with PC/104 form factor.
Description
The DARA OBC is Alén Space's dedicated On-Board Computer for nanosatellites and microsatellites. Built around an ARM Cortex-M7 microcontroller running at up to 280 MHz, it provides low-power satellite management with a typical power consumption of just 280 mW.
Developed and tested to TRL-9 with flight heritage from Alén Space missions, DARA is a trusted satellite brain for cubesat-class spacecraft. It runs FreeRTOS with CSP (CubeSat Space Protocol) compatibility, ensuring interoperability with the wider small satellite ecosystem.
DARА includes an integrated IMU suite: 3-axis magnetometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and 3-axis accelerometer — providing attitude sensing directly on the OBC card. GNSS functionality is available either via an internal receiver (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou) or an external GNSS with PPS input.
A hardware watchdog circuit monitors the system and can autonomously restart it if anomalies are detected — critical for autonomous on-orbit operations. The PC/104 form factor ensures compatibility with Alén Space's other subsystems (TREVO, TOTEM) and standard cubesat platforms. ISO 9001 certified manufacturing at the Alén Space facility in Nigrán, Spain.
Specifications
| TRL | TRL-9 (Flight Heritage) |
|---|---|
| Processor | ARM Cortex-M7, up to 280 MHz |
| RTOS | FreeRTOS (CSP compatible) |
| Typical Power | 280 mW |
| IMU — Magnetometer | 3-axis digital |
| IMU — Gyroscope | 3-axis |
| IMU — Accelerometer | 3-axis |
| GNSS | Internal (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou) or External PPS |
| Watchdog | Hardware monitoring with autonomous restart |
| Form Factor | PC/104 |
| Certification | ISO 9001 |
