Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASA

Avionics and Communication Break Out Session“Discussion Starters”

Jason A. Soloff

Laura Hood

NASA/JSC

April 13, 2023 2

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASA

Near-Term Objectives forCommunications and Avionics

• Finish construction of ISS using Space Shuttle

• Develop Orion & Ares I vehicles to provide crew / cargo to ISS

April 13, 2023 3

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASANext Steps in Human Exploration

• Develop Constellation lunar vehicles (Orion, LSAM, EVA, surface systems) to enable sustained human lunar exploration

• Return to the moon through robotics and human presence

April 13, 2023 4

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASAEngineering Key Technology Interests

• Communication / Avionics systems– Signal processing / DSP techniques– Adaptive / reconfigurable hardware (software defined radio)– Error correction coding / bandwidth efficient modulation– Environment adaptive / disruption tolerant networking– Reconfigurable / adaptive processing

• Antenna / RF Technologies– Miniaturized antenna structures– E-textile technologies– Wireless sensors and RFID antennas– UWB– Smart Antennas (active phased arrays / beam formers)– Advanced GPS Antenna systems– Stabilized photonics for large antenna arrays

• Analytical– Computational electromagnetics– Automated design of RF structures (genetic algorithms, particle swarm algorithms)

April 13, 2023 5

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASASignal Processing / DSP

• Software Defined Radio– DSP / GPP– Direct sampled / Direct synthesized RF– Waveform interoperability / advanced

modulation techniques– Antenna beamforming– Adaptive network protocols & FEC

• Reconfigurable Avionics platforms– FPGA / Reconfigurable processing– Modular avionics

• Test / Validation testbeds– Rapid prototyping

– Reconfigurable waveforms, protocols

April 13, 2023 6

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASAMiniaturized Antennas

2-layer mini-PIFA w/ modified feed

(fab. by PCB vendor)

Manually soldered Tchebyscheff filter

Wireless Ethernet (802.11b/g)

2.40-2.48 GHzDrivers:

• HF & UHF likely for surface exploration– Traditionally these are large antenna structures

• Low mass & volume highly desired for robotics and mobile systems (eg. AERCam)

• Printed electronics, organic transistors– Emerging technologies may offer new approaches to

miniaturized active antenna structures

April 13, 2023 7

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASA

Antenna Design/Development

April 13, 2023 8

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASAAntenna Design/Development

April 13, 2023 9

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASAComputational Electromagnetics

• RF propagation and field strengths– EMI, RF exposure, spectrum

management

• Antenna pattern and performance modeling and analysis

• RF / high frequency structure modeling and simulation– uWave & MEMS

April 13, 2023 10

Avionic Systems DivisionJohnson Space Center

NASAPossible Topics for Discussion

• What areas of research are happening at your University that could be fruitful for collaboration?

• How can NASA and Universities work to engage students and young researchers in technologies with application to space exploration?

• What collaborations have worked well before? Why?