Plug-in Modem Support
The CubeSat Kit accepts a variety of off-the-shelf modems / transceivers. The MHX 900/910/920/2400 series of 2.4GHz spread-spectrum transceivers from Microhard Corp are supported, as well as the 9XStream series of 900MHz transceivers from MaxStream. In order to minimize power consumption, +5V power to the modem is under software control from the FM430's Flight CPU.
USB 2.0
The CubeSat Kit includes a USB-2.0-compliant USB port. This port can be used to communicate between the CubeSat Kit and any PC or Mac running Windows, Mac OS X or Linux. CustomCubeSat Kit drivers for Windows and Mac OS X are provided.
Additionally, the CubeSat Kit can be powered through the USB port up to a maximum of 500mA. This is useful in situations like pre-launch checkouts, software diagnostics and updates, etc.
Two USARTs, SPI and I2C
The FM430 utlizes one of the MSP430's built-in USARTs (USART1) for either modem communications, USB communications or user-defined communications over the CubeSat Kit Bus. The second USART (USART0) is typically used in SPI mode to communicate with the FM430's on-board SD/MMC card mass storage device, and in I2C mode to drive I2C devices connected via the CubeSat Kit Bus.
The Development Board provides an RS-232 driver for USART0 to aid in printf()-style debugging, etc.
