Title :
NASA´s space communications and navigation test bed aboard the international space station
Author :
Reinhart, R.C. ; Kacpura, Thomas J. ; Johnson, S.K. ; Lux, J.P.
Author_Institution :
NASA John H. Glenn Res. Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
Abstract :
The NASA SCaN Test Bed flight experiment payload aboard ISS will enable experimenters the unique opportunity to investigate SDRs, navigation, and networking in the space environment. Comprised of three SDRs from industry partners, CoNNeCT allows experimenters to develop and verify new waveforms compliant with the STRS SDR architecture standard, using verified ground systems and then have those waveforms uploaded to the flight SDRs to assess in situ performance and to better understand operational concepts for SDRs in space. In addition to the SDRs, the reprogrammable avionics software allows application software for on-board networking and routing experiments. The flight system communicates with TDRSS at both S-band and Ka-band and can receive within the GPS L-band for navigation waveform development and experiments.
Keywords :
Global Positioning System; aerospace computing; aerospace industry; aerospace testing; avionics; ground support equipment; space communication links; CoNNeCT experiment; GPS L-band; ISS; Ka-band; NASA SCaN test bed flight experiment payload; NASA space communication; S-band; STRS SDR architecture standard; TDRSS; flight communication system; international space station; navigation test bed; navigation waveform development; on-board networking; reprogrammable avionic software; routing experiment; verified ground system; Aerospace control; Field programmable gate arrays; NASA; Payloads; Radio frequency; Software radio; Space vehicles; Telemetry; Transceivers;
Journal_Title :
Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MAES.2013.6506824
