Wireless Telecommand and Telemetry Systems for Satellite Communication Using ZigBee Network

The paper presents design and development of Wireless Telecommand (TC) and Telemetry (TM) subsystems for satellite. The Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (LR-WPAN) IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee standard is used for wireless command distribution and acquisition of health parameters from different subsystems in a spacecraft. The wireless TC system is designed to operate 100 Bps, and wireless TM system is designed to operate in 1 Kbps and tested in real time. The contribution of our proposal is more practical than theoretical. In this design, un-slotted CSMA/CA with non-beacon enabled network is used for wireless data transmission. The feasibility of this proposal is clearly demonstrated through an experimental test bed, based on IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee protocol. The working model consists of one PAN coordinator and eight Full Function devices (FFD´s). The paper also presents wireless satellite architecture and highlights the usage of wireless technology in space application. It also highlights the advantage and difficulties in implementing the wireless system in satellite.