Flexibility and Extensibilty in the Design of Spacecraft Communications Systems

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) has developed a wireless transceiver that incorporates a flexible and extensible design and implementation strategy, enabling deployment of the radio to numerous roles for space missions. The transceiver was architected such that the software and the hardware could be quickly repurposed based on mission need. The software is written in ANSI standard and object oriented C++, facilitating modularity and functional reuse. The control and processing hardware is reprogrammable, allowing for the same hardware to be used in numerous applications. Although the radio frequency hardware is inherently narrow band in its conversion architecture, careful consideration to the implementation allows for quick, low cost rework to migrate between frequency bands and bandwidths. While the transceiver was originally intended for CubeSat telemetry, tracking, and command, it has now been extended in design for micro-satellite space-ground communication at S-band, micro-satellite inter-satellite crosslink communication at S-band, and small-satellite inter-satellite crosslink at Ka-band. An example of rapid repurposing of the transceiver from a Ka-band crosslink to an S-band crosslink shows the benefits of modularity and hardware/software that is architected for extensibility.