Functional/thermal verification and validation of an S-band radio for the nanosatellites

Zaidi, Yaseen; Fitz-Coy, Norman G.; van Zyl, Robert

Abstract

© 2018 COSPAR An S-band radio designed with commercial-grade components for the nanosatellites is functionally and thermally characterized for quiet transmission. The QPSK modulation impairments are minor over −20 °C to +50 °C at 24, 26, 28 and 30 dBm RF levels. The channel response is linear in error vector magnitude, frequency, phase, amplitude and IQ errors. On the average, the stability of amplifier bias and nonlinearity gives −22 dBc maximum upper/lower adjacent channel power and 1.27 MHz occupied channel bandwidth. The acceptable level test results provide good confidence toward robust space-to-earth transmission in variable solar weather at low earth orbital altitudes.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 16, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Apr 26, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 15, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 4, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 26, 2019
• Journal: Advances in Space Research
• Print ISSN: 0273-1177
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 3405-3422
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2018.04.015
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/855946
• Publisher URL: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2018.04.015
• Related Public URLs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117718303302?via%3Dihub
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available here: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2018.04.015.
• Contract Date: Mar 4, 2019