Delay-Tolerant Radio for Cooperative Groups of Small Spacecraft

Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) is a communication routing protocol designed specifically for high-latency applications wherein relay nodes on a multi-hop network may appear and reappear at irregular intervals. Unlike more ubiquitous TCP/IP network communications protocols that depend on known and “always on” routing paths, DTN is well suited to space-to-space applications where individual nodes in the network may be blocked or damaged. DARPA and NASA have invested significant research and even flight test demonstrations to further develop this technology.As described in this proposal, Blink Astro, LLC proposes to develop a small, affordable two-way radio transceiver that has built-in (native) hardware and software support for DTN communications protocols. Once developed and demonstrated, this new CubeSat-scale transceiver will be compatible with small satellites applications ranging from deep space swarms to commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations.