Applying Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) to CubeSats

A variety of different command and data protocols over UARTs, SPI and IC exist within subsystems designed for CubeSats. We present our implementation of the Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI, sometimes pronounced "skippy") as applied to Pumpkin's evolving line of Supervisor MCU-based modules for nanosatellites. SCPI includes human-readability and standardized error reporting, which can be beneficial in a variety of circumstances, including preproduction testing and runtime monitoring. We present an overview of the software and hardware required to support SCPI, and its runtime performance in a production CubeSat.