Flight Software Dictionary
We’re frequently finding new terms, acronyms, initialisms and more that confuse people trying to figure out the flight software world. Hopefully, this is a resource that will help in some small way. Please let us know if we’ve missed something.
Flight Software Dictionary
F
FC
Short for “Function Code”. Function Codes are shorthand “nicknames” for commands your system can run. You might ask why you wouldn’t just use the command and the answer is, “bandwidth”. Some commands can have very long names. For instance, “ReactionWheel_SetSpeed” is descriptive (which is great!) but that’s a lot of characters. When it’s tough to send/receive data you’d rather tell the computer to run function “11” than “ReactionWheel_SetSpeed”. The Core Flight System lets you specify what Function Codes link to what Commands.