IGF::OT::IGF HIGH-CHANNEL-COUNT, HIGH-PRECISION, AND HIGH-THROUGHPUT TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (TDC) ARE N…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF HIGH-CHANNEL-COUNT, HIGH-PRECISION, AND HIGH-THROUGHPUT TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS (TDC) ARE NEEDED TO SUPPORT DETECTOR ARRAYS USED IN DEEP-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS (DSOC) LINK RECEIVERS BEING DEVELOPED BETWEEN EARTH AND DEEP-SPACE SOLAR-SYSTEM EXPLORATION PLATFORMS FOR HUMAN AND ROBOTIC ACTIVITIES IN 2020 AND BEYOND. COMPARED TO CURRENT RADIO-FREQUENCY (RF) SPACE COMMUNICATIONS, DSOC WILL PROVIDE 10- TO 100-TIMES MORE DATA RETURNS FOR FUTURE ADVANCED INSTRUMENTS, LIVE HIGH-DEFINITION VIDEO, TELEPRESENCE, AND HUMAN EXPLORATION BEYOND CISLUNAR SPACE. TO BE ACCEPTED OPERATIONALLY, THE OPTICAL LINK MUST PROVIDE SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER DATA RATES/DATA-RETURN VOLUMES THAN EQUIVALENT MASS AND POWER RF SYSTEMS?AND AT LOWER COST PER BIT. THEREFORE, TO PREPARE FOR THESE DEEP-SPACE MISSIONS, SUBSTANTIAL ENHANCEMENT OF THE CURRENT NASA TELECOM-LINK CAPACITY IS NEEDED. TO SATISFY NASA?S DSOC NEEDS, A SCALABLE HIGH-PRECISION (≤ 100 PS), HIGH-THROUGHPUT (>100 GBPS) HIGH-CHANNEL-COUNT (≥ 256) TIME-TO-DIGITAL ADVANCED PROCESSOR (HITAP) ARCHITECTURE WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR USE IN SINGLE-PHOTON-COUNTING FREE-SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS AND TEST BEDS. IN PHASE II, TWO FULLY FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS INTEGRATING CUSTOM HARDWARE, FIRMWARE, AND SOFTWARE WILL BE DESIGNED, FABRICATED, TESTED, AND DELIVERED TO NASA.