Modular, Scalable Propulsion Module for ESPA-Based Satellite Dispensing Systems

Current GPS technologies for satellite navigation are costly, heavy, and utilize high amount of power. This makes such systems difficult for microsatellites to support. Under this Phase I SBIR, we propose to develop a low-cost, low-weight, low-power GPS navigation system to support micro/nanosatellites. A key component of our solution involves our patented TIDGET based receiver design, which takes a brief snapshot of GPS data and powers off until the next position fix is desired. Also, we plan to implement our software defined radio (SDR) GPS waveform technology to process the recorded snapshots onboard using the existing avionics processor, or as an option, downlink the data, when convenient, for ground-based processing. An important aspect of the TIDGET is it’s modular size, which allow multiple TIDGETs to be placed on the satellite shell for full GPS visibility and robustness to satellite spin. Under this Phase I SBIR, we propose to construct a prototype TIDGET receiver to collect representative simulated GPS RF data. The data will be processed via MATLAB for analysis. Furthermore, we propose to develop a Phase II design for possible follow-on development of a ruggidized, space-qualified TIDGET with embedded avionics processing for the ESPA module.