Description: Smallsats offer significant potential in allowing for relatively inexpensive, rapid deployment and robust space operations, communications, science, etc. However, these smallsats are inherently power-limited and thus are correspondingly limited in their data rate capabilities. Accordingly, focus has been on constructing a swarm of these smallsats wherein each smallsat (or ‘node’) would transmit its individual signal that is then ‘arrayed’ together to form a combined signal that has more power. The traditional approach to this arraying concept is to pre-condition each node signal in phase and time prior to transmission such that all signals arrive at the receiver coherently. This phase adjustment is very burdensome and problematic for the space node. We refer to this arraying approach as spaced-based arraying’. Our innovation performs this signal ‘arraying’ operation in a way that effectively eliminates all the node synchronization and coordination complexities noted above by implementing ground-based Arraying. We denote our innovative arraying technology as “Swarm Array Coherent Combining” (SACC). SACC uses ground terminal signal processing to extract node phasing and timing for coherent combining allowing each node signal to be ‘uncoupled’ from each other and have significantly relaxed time and phase requirements. Also, noteworthy is that SACC technology provides the basis for a novel satellite relay concept that offers all the benefits of a large Phased Array in space by merely using a swarm of simple uncoupled smallsat transponder nodes that perform as elements of the array. Our SACC ground technology extracts all the phase information of these noise-dominated signals to achieve coherent node arraying. These space nodes do not need precise intra-swarm frequency and time coordination. Another key feature is that there is no need to calibrate any of the communication links even crosslinks. We refer to this novel relay system as the SACC SmallSat Relay System (SSRS).

Benefits: As NASA continues to explore our solar system, there is always a need for communications. With the vast emergence of smallsats both to do science and to support communications, the SACC SSRS represents a resilient, flexible and efficient way to leverage these smallsats to provide these NASA communications needs. In particular, because the SSRS imposes negligible requirements both on the swarm and its constituent transponder nodes, it can be easily designed and operationalized to support NASA communications over all space regimes.

There is an ever-growing number of commercial smallsat constellations being deployed to support connectivity to the INTERNET. There are always issues related to achievable data rates and visibility to ground stations. Our SSRS offers the robust flexibility to create swarms of any size to address data rates. The SSRS also accommodates crosslinks between swarms with no impact on our SACC processing.