Personal computer aided design tool for developing TTC communication equipments with cheap components from the electronic consumers market

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Choi, Kevin Kyeong‐il | Llorens, Jean‐Claude | Maral, Gérard

Affiliations: Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Site of Toulouse, France E‐mail: kevin.choi@cnes.fr | Centre National des Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, France E‐mail: llorens@tortue.cst.cnes.fr | Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Site of Toulouse, France E‐mail: maral@tlse.enst.fr

Abstract: As a means to embark scientific or experimental payloads in space, small satellites are of interest because of their low cost and short development time. In particular, the Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) communication equipment can be designed so as to reuse cheap components from the electronic consumers market. However the selected components should prove reliable enough to offer the proper grade of service for space operation although they are not space qualified. This paper discusses a methodology for selecting the appropriate candidate components, presents a personal computer (PC) tool, developed for that purpose, and illustrates the methodology through examples.

Journal: Space Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 21-31, 1998