Reconfigurable, Digital EVA Radio

The nature of human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars demands a frequency-agile, reconfigurable, durable digital radio delivering telemetry, ranging, voice, video, and data, with low Size, Weight, and Power (SWAP), and easy operation in the demanding space environment of Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). AeroAstro and Virginia Tech propose to continue development of the EVA radio, building upon work accomplished in Phase I, combining AeroAstro's history of creating efficient space technology solutions and Virginia Tech's experience and expertise in Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology. AeroAstro will design and fabricate a prototype demonstrating the key requirements of the EVA radio—reconfigurability and frequency agility. The prototype will incorporate an adaptable modular RF front end for frequency agility, and a transmultiplexer-based digital back end, capable of a full range of sophisticated wireless waveforms, through software-defined reconfiguration of the same physical hardware. The prototype will also exhibit innovative solutions to extending SDR architecture standards to the demands of space applications. The proposed innovations fill critical technological gaps and mesh with other promising technological developments, such as micromachined passive RF components and fault-tolerant reconfigurable electronics, not only assuring the safety and success of human space exploration missions, applicable to space applications in general.