A FLEXIBLE, TRANSCEIVER-BASED RF COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM FOR SMALL SATELLITES

This paper describes the development and performance of a highly integrated RF transceiver system. The system is card-based, allowing for ready incorporation into an integrated spacecraft electronics module, and scalable, enabling easy adaptation to meet varying mission requirements. A description of the transceiver architecture is presented, highlighting particular advantages in cost and size savings. The use of commercial off-the-shelf parts and a recently developed, non-coherent, two-way doppler tracking technique is also reported, as are performance results on transceivers built for two NASA missions that will use these cards. 2