Spacecraft network management system and method

A method of managing a distributed network management system comprising a control circuit communicatively connected to a component circuit via an in-band (IB) communication path and an out-of-band (OB) communication path, wherein each of the control circuit and the component circuit are implemented as hardware and are configured to perform respective functions associated with a spacecraft, the method comprising:

• structuring network management data to be communicated over the distributed network management system so as to distinguish the network management data from user data being communicated over the IB communication path;
• communicating the network management data via the IB and the OB communication paths, wherein the network management data comprises information used for network management tasks on the spacecraft;
• and
• communicating the user data via the IB communication path only, wherein the user data is a superset of the network management data and is used for purposes other than the network management tasks on the spacecraft;
• and
• encapsulating the network management data to have a predetermined format in one of packets and escape sequences so as to distinguish the network management data being communicated via the IB communication paths from the user data.

A multi-tiered distributed network management system for a spacecraft, wherein the multi-tiered distributed network management system has an in-band (IB) communication path and out-of-band (OB) communication path, the multi-tiered distributed network management system comprising:

• a component circuit implemented as hardware and configured to execute one or more management functions associated with the spacecraft;
• and
• a control circuit implemented as hardware and operatively connected to the component circuit via the IB and OB communication paths, wherein the control circuit is configured to execute:
• an attendant function to communicate network management data over the IB and the OB communication paths according to a predetermined format that distinguishes the network management data from user data being communicated over the IB communication path only, and
• an accessor function communicatively connecting the attendant function to each of the other management functions executing on the component circuit via the IB and OB communication paths;
• and
• wherein the predetermined format encapsulates the network management data in one of packets and escape sequences to distinguish the network management data from the user data being communicated via the IB communication path.