The Air Force Research Laboratory gave Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] a contract to develop lightweight wireless systems inside spacecraft, in place of heavy copper wire systems.
Northrop will develop a robust, radiation-hardened, wireless spacecraft bus under the 21-month first-phase contract.
A spacecraft data bus serves as the electrical interface between the spacecraft’s equipment and payloads, and the more it weighs, the tougher it is to build in capabilities.
“The innovative program will redefine spacecraft of the future,” said John Brock, director of Mission Technology Futures for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “Wireless technology will allow us to build faster, lower cost and lighter weight spacecraft by reducing the extensive touch labor, risks and complexities associated with integrating heavy, copper wire harnesses.”
Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will develop a wireless data bus interface that enhances AFRL’s innovative electronics architecture for spacecraft called Space Plug-n-Play Avionics or SPA. These electronics have modern features of automatic device recognition and fault detection, much like commercial computer interfaces, to enable addition and removal of equipment without any software or database changes.
The development challenge is to create hardware elements for managing messages and directing communication traffic in an RF-rich micro-environment with hundreds of wireless devices. The initial phase will conclude with a wireless standard, such as Bluetooth, and will establish protocols, design implementation guidelines, and address spacecraft unique features such as security, reliability, and electromagnetic emissions management.