Radios, payloads, & onboard processing made easy

The advent of reprogrammable software defined payloads has dramatically reduced the cost and complexity of developing space radios and remote sensing payloads. Over the last several years, Harris has been developing its AppSTAR
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product line of reprogrammable software defined radios, including the NASA CoNNeCT SDR flying as part of NASA's SCaN testbed on the International Space Station. Since the CoNNeCT mission was launched in 2012, Harris has delivered over 100 software defined payloads (SDP), including those functioning as secondary hosted payloads for a variety of commercial and government applications. Looking to the future, investments were made in the second generation of Harris AppSTAR™ through radiation testing the latest commercial processors and packaging them together with radiation tolerant mitigation circuitry. Our new micro-SDR (μSDR) is packaged into a smaller volume, but yields significantly higher processing horsepower. The μSDR is capable of high rate communications capability over 1 Gbps, and its first launch is planned for mid-2017. The flexibility of the Harris AppSTAR™ architecture enables SDPs to be quickly developed to support communication and remote sensing mission needs. A variety of missions can be supported through application of SDP/radio technology which reduces the cost, risk, and schedule of achieving mission success.