An Architecture for Advanced Networking Technology for Integrating Communications in Space

In the current model of space missions, the communications system can account for a significant percentage of the overall cost. Many times, an entire communications system is developed for each new mission. The Advanced Networking Technology for Integrating Communications in Space project (ANTICS) is focused on the development of a commodity communications capability that will allow new space missions to significantly reduce costs and provide a more robust ground infrastructure to support those missions. This paper describes a new architecture for ground-to-space communications based on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) protocol suite that forms the primary basis for terrestrial cellular communications. By leap-frogging the state-of-the-art for space communications, this approach puts a more robust evolution path for space communications in place and provides space missions with a flexible, IP-based infrastructure capable of supporting a wide variety of applications. This paper provides the requirements and concepts of operation for space communications with LTE, an overarching architecture to utilize LTE in space mission communication systems, and the potential novel applications that are enabled by moving space communications towards the commercially successful LTE protocol suite.