Building blocks for an intra-spacecraft wireless communication

Abstract

The implementation of an intra-spacecraft wireless communication is only feasible if some systems constraints are taking into account very early in the design phase. The presence of metallic enclosures creates multipath with different time delay and amplitudes which modification the transmission channels and so has an impact on the performance of the RF systems in particular a reduction of the data rate. The co-existence with the rest of the spacecraft, in particular the presence of RF transmitters, need to be ensured and shall not disturb the good functioning of the different systems. The benefit of such wireless system is the ability to be completely autonomous and so the lift time of such system will impact directly the size and the mass. Energy harvesting techniques are investigated.