Advanced Reconfigurable Communications Components

Exponential growth in cost, schedule, and risk of satellite communications programs is largely attributable to reliance on space-qualified digital ASICs. This trend is driving an industry need for space-qualified reconfigurable hardware solutions and the efficient signal processing"gateware"that can fully exploit them. One of the key signal processing functions needed for a Software Reconfigurable Payload is a flexible and efficient Sampled IF Filter. Escape Communications specializes in configurable and flexible communication architectures and products. Escape has experience developing and implementing efficient flexible signal processing algorithms and developing path-to-flight hardware for Software Reconfigurable Payloads with proven on-orbit success. The goal of Escape"s Phase 1 proposal is to derive the key SIF filter requirements, define candidate signal processing algorithms to meet these requirements, and analyze the algorithm implementation architectures against known SIRF-based payload resources. The Phase 1 Option will define the work plan necessary to implement and demonstrate a flexible Sampled IF Filter on flight or path-to-flight hardware in Phase 2.