22-10-2012, 05:57 PM
SCA Waveform Development for Space Telemetry
ABSTRACT
The NASA Glenn Research Center is investigating and developing suitable reconfigurable radio architectures for future
NASA missions. This effort is examining software-based open-architectures for space based transceivers, as well as common
hardware platform architectures. The Joint Tactical Radio System’s (JTRS) Software Communications Architecture (SCA) is
a candidate for the software approach, but may need modifications or adaptations for use in space. An in-house SCA compliant
waveform development focuses on increasing understanding of software defined radio architectures and more specifically the
JTRS SCA. Space requirements put a premium on size, mass, and power. This waveform development effort is key to
evaluating tradeoffs with the SCA for space applications. Existing NASA telemetry links, as well as Space Exploration
Initiative scenarios, are the basis for defining the waveform requirements. Modeling and simulations are being developed to
determine signal processing requirements associated with a waveform and a mission-specific computational burden.
Implementation of the waveform on a laboratory software defined radio platform is proceeding in an iterative fashion. Parallel
top-down and bottom-up design approaches are employed.