Demonstrating TRL-6 on the JHU/APL Frontier Radio for the Radiation Belt Storm Probe mission

Abstract

The NASA Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission, launching in 2012, features two spacecraft that will measure the dynamics of the radiation belts as they proceed in nearly identical orbits around the Earth. The Radio Frequency (RF) telecommunications subsystem will utilize an S-Band version of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory's (JHU/APL) Frontier Radio. The Frontier Radio is a low-power, low-mass, modular Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform designed for communications, navigation, radio science, and sensor applications. The RBSP Frontier Radio is the first of this platform with a full software implementation to demonstrate a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6. The Engineering Model (EM), with mature packaging, hardware, firmware, and software implementations has successfully completed environmental and compatibility testing designed to simulate the space environment expected for the RBSP mission. The ground support equipment (GSE) utilized a ground station modem with turbo and convolutional decoding and internal bit and frame error rate (BER/FER) testing capabilities. The modem, JHU/APL-built equipment for emulating the spacecraft interfaces, and the use of EM hardware for other RF subsystem components enabled test-as-you-fly scenarios that were used throughout testing. Several novel packaging and process technologies were also qualified during the development of this radio. These include a high-reliability assembly process for installing Quad Flat Pack No-Lead (QFN) integrated circuits and a 152-pin stacking connector that serves as the main interconnect between the functional blocks of the radio. The RBSP radio is the first Frontier Radio to be qualified for a spaceflight mission. This demonstration of a high reliability, low power, and low mass radio further validates the platform for use in future space missions.