Low Power Reconfigurable FPGA Transponder

This task will develop a prototype flight transponder based on low power FPGAs capable of implementing existing Electra, CoNNECT, UST, and Iris waveforms.

Under this initiative, a prototype Ka-Band exciter and receiver are under development; suitable FPGAs that are lower power than the Virtex 5 but still compatible with a deep space environment are being surveyed with a goal of a lower power Iris V2 implementation; and a trade study is being conducted to determine under what conditions a CPU is needed and what software would run on it.