Emergent Trends for CubeSat Ground Systems - A University View

For the past decade, academia has depended on the amateur radio frequencies and the concept of “one ground station, one satellite” mode of operations. With the changes in the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), this model is no longer acceptable. Satellites must share ground systems and radio frequencies. Government systems often were plagued by the same design paradigm. To address this, the federal government has focused on the multimission satellite operations center (MMSOC). With the affordable price point of small satellites, more and more of these spacecraft will be entering the operational space and will need to be able to communicate with the ground. With more satellites, there must be a way to download the data, simplify integration and turn data in to knowledge