Design Challenges in a SDR Platform for Space Applications

Software-defined radios (SDRs) are already widely used and often implemented in wireless and terrestrial radio frequency applications. Since these reconfigurable systems have proven beneficial, even the highly conservative and slowly evolving space sector has adopted SDRs for use on satellites and spacecraft. The increasing use of limited bandwidth and distributed satellite missions necessitates a flexible communication platform where SDR is advantageous by providing flexibility and re-configurability. Moreover, mass and cost reductions can be achieved with SDR. This paper presents a wideband SDR architecture, its advantages and disadvantages, as well as filtering solutions to further improve the performance of these systems.