Nanosatellite to Standard Army Handheld Radio Communications System

TUI proposes to complete the development of two novel technologies that will enable pico-satellites in LEO to efficiently close the link with standard issue handheld radios on the ground. The first technology is a dual-band software-defined radio (SDR) that will provide UHF SATCOM to soldiers on the ground and a unified S-band link for backhaul and spacecraft command and control. SDR-based processing will support multiple modes of operations to provide robust and reliable links, multi-user access, cognitive radio operations, and other advanced operating capabilities. The second technology is a deployable multi-band antenna with a range-compensating radiation pattern designed to provide a uniform power density to the entire view of the Earth from a Nadir pointing LEO spacecraft. Together, these two component technologies will provide a high performance communications capability to the US Army"s dismounted soldiers.