Wireless Intra-vehicle Communication System (WICS)

Invocon's Wireless Intra-vehicle Communication System (WICS) is being designed as an enabling technology for low-cost launch vehicles. It will reduce the cost of these vehicles in primarily three ways: 1. Minimizing vehicle weight by decreasing bulky cables and connectors - this increases the useful payload and decreases the propulsion requirements. 2. Minimizing physical interconnects - this simplifies integration, testing, and launch control and thereby decreases the labor involved in these tasks. 3. Enabling testing at the vehicle or module level - this reduces the total amount of testing at the component level resulting in a smaller required test budget. It also reduces the mass of enclosures required in the vehicle. WICS will operate wireless networks as part of the closed-loop Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system and the vehicle's data acquisition system. The two networks share many characteristics while diverging in a few areas based on their specific constraints. The TVC network must minimize latency and maximize both throughput and reliability. The data acquisition network must include paths from many locations througout the vehicle. In order to maximize the return from Phase I, Invocon will concentrate its effort on developing proof-of-concept hardware and emphasize initial software development for the critical control application. More »