Wireless Integrated Communication and Navigation System based on IEEE 802.16 standards

This paper presents an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal with integrated navigation and communication capabilities. The work has been carried out by DEIMOS Space with the support of Thales Alenia Space under ESA contract for the Feasibility Study of a Wireless Integrated Communications and Navigation System for Formation Flying Missions (FLYCON). The wireless communication/navigation system will exchange data between different spacecraft (distributed architectures and sensors) and give the possibility to exploit the inherent redundancy inside a formation and the optimization of the resources (centralized Vs decentralized data processing). This is only possible with inter-satellite links with transmission rates in the order of Mbps (Megabits per second). Ensuring a reliable inter-satellite navigation/communication link at high rate allows the formation to operate together as one "virtual satellite" and strengthens the ability of multiple small satellites flying in formation to perform missions traditionally carried out by single, larger satellites.