Swarm Array Coherent Combining(SACC)

Over the last several years, the satellite landscape has seen the vast immergence of smaller and smaller satellites.nbsp;These new satellite designs offer many benefits not only for science but also for reduced mission costs and increased mission robustnessnbsp;fornbsp;exploration of our planet and beyond.nbsp;Further, the notion of a lsquo;swarmrsquo; of smallsats is being considered as a novel and useful way to do science and/or support the attendant communications.nbsp; Swarm conceptsmdash;multiple satellites flying in formation near one another in similar orbitsmdash;are of growing interest, as a solution to the challenge of simultaneous measurement.nbsp;However, communications for smallsats, and even more significantly swarms of smallsats, are challengednbsp;as a result ofnbsp;both the size limitations restricting available power for communications links, and the complexities ofnbsp;coordinating and collecting data from multiple spacecraft.nbsp;JPL has explored the concept ofnbsp;annbsp;Earth receiver coherently combiningnbsp;the receivednbsp;deep spacenbsp;smallsat signals which each individually are too small to process.nbsp;For the concept to succeed,nbsp;each member of the swarm must phase its signal very accurately relative to all other swarm signals. This proposal not only seeks to address the deep space application but also expands to include swarm scenarios with higher dynamics ndash; thereby involving signals that are much harder to coherently combine.nbsp; Ournbsp;Swarm Array Coherent Combining (SACC)nbsp;scenarios span the complete space of possible orbiting swarms and their links to include lunar and other planetary orbiting swarm.nbsp;nbsp;Anticipated resultsnbsp;of the effortnbsp;includenbsp;a recommendednbsp;SACCnbsp;architecture, modeling and simulation of the architecture that demonstrates viability of thenbsp;concept, andnbsp;prototype design for Phase II demonstration.nbsp;