STRS Modular and Portable QPSK Transceiver Waveform for Software-Defined Radios

About this technology

Overview

A QPSK transceiver waveform has been developed and implemented on a commercially-available ground-based software defined radio platform. The waveform utilizes legacy NASA forward error correction codes and Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) data framing standards. It's controlled via web interface, and allows the user to multiplex between test (pseudo-random) and network-sourced data.From a specification standpoint, the waveform supports the following functionalities in both transmit/receive directions: QPSK modulation, continuously tunable data-rates up-to 6.144Mbps for RX and 24.576Mbps for TX, convolutional coding/decoding (rate 1/2, constraint length of 7), CCSDS-compliant randomization (131.0-B-2) and Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) data framing (732.0-B-2).The product consists of two main components: (1) the digital logic (VHDL) implementation for the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that does the required signal processing functionalities and (2) the command-and-control software portion that leverages the open-source Core Flight Executive (cFE) software suite and provides a graphical user interface to the waveform.