Introducing PikoCamera – an innovative, cost-effective camera payload solution for picosatellites, designed to provide reliable image transmission in harsh space environment. With its low power consumption, small form factor, and onboard implementation of the SSDV protocol, PikoCamera makes imaging capibility for nanosatellites more accessible than ever. SSDV is a robust version of the JPEG image format for transmission over an unreliable medium. It has successfully been used in Lunar Satellite Missions and was authored by fsphil (GitHub name).

PikoCamera boasts a robust hardware design, utilizing CTOS components throughout, including an STM32F103 microcontroller, 2MP ArduCam image sensor, and flash memory. The module also features flexibility in its design, with additional pins for peripherals such as GPIO, SPI, and UART available on board. This allows for the integration of additional modules or the expansion of the module’s capabilities.

Specifications

• STM32F103: Cortex-M3 core, 1 Mbyte of Flash, 72 MHz CPU speed.
• 64 Mega Bytes flash memory with SPI interface for image storage.
• Arducam with 2MP sensor.
• JPEG image format with SSDV protocol.
• I2C interface with well-defined commands for the interface.
• Extendable with extra accessible hardware peripherals.

PikoCamera consists of an array with six pads consisting of power input, Serial Wire Debug (SWD), and UART. SWD is intended for firmware updates and UART to connect PikoCamera to computers for testing. It can be used to communicate with other peripherals or modules too.