Trade Study of Commercial Software Defined Radio Technologies for Small Satellite Ground Station Network Command and control Applications

The Mobile CubeSat Command and Control (MC3) ground station network headquartered at the Naval Postgraduate School monitors and controls small satellites in support of various U.S. government, Department of Defense, public university, and commercial partner missions. In order to conduct the necessary Command and Control functions with the on-orbit satellites, MC3-networked ground stations utilize the baseline NI USRP-2292 software-defined radio (SDR) to transmit and receive command messages through ultra-high frequency and S-band RF signals. Two alternative high-end commercial systems have been advertised to provide superior performance and functionality to that of the baseline USRP devices. This thesis documents the trade study performed between the baseline NI USRP-2922, the Ettus Research USRP B205mini-i, the Kratos RT Logic quantum Radio, and the AMERGINT satTRAC system. The study investigated and evaluated the performance, functionality, and suitability of these SDR technologies for implementation in the MC3 ground station network. The results were analyzed and compared for applicability to other comparable university stations, commercial networks, and government applications. The research culminated in a characterization of these four SDR devices, a description of their suitability in the MC3 network, and a comparative analysis of their operational functionality and any limitations.