Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has awarded Space Micro Inc. a contract to deliver ten, Ka-band, Nanocom™ Software Defined Radios (SDR) in support of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 0 satellite constellation — Nanocom recently passed Critical Design Review (CDR) and Space Micro will deliver flight models to Lockheed Martin by the close of this year.
Nanocom is a small form factor, quick-to-field, cost-effective, modular SDR designed to perform in hostile and extreme environmental conditions. Nanocom is programmable on-orbit and suitable for a variety of applications that include Telemetry, Tracking & Command (TT&C) transceiver, mission data transmitter, and Radio Frequency (RF) receiver with onboard signal processing. The flexible SDR uses Xilinx’s Zynq 7045 System on a Chip (SoC — data sheet available via this direct link…), which combines dual ARM Cortex A9 cores with 350,000 programmable logic cells, capable of supporting a variety of complex wave forms and algorithms. Nanocom transmits and receives at 20 and 30 MHz, respectively, with a transmit data rate of up to 300 Mbps. Nanocom’s modular design allows Space Micro to easily modify frequencies, data rates, interfaces and overall functionality to meet mission specific requirements.
Space Micro’s product line of Software Defined Radios comprises several models: The µSDR-C™ targets UHF, S-, L- and low C-band applications, while the more powerful Nanocom targets higher frequency, higher data rate and more processor intensive RF applications.
“Software-defined radios are key to offering the reprogrammability and mission flexibility our customers demand,” said Erik Daehler, senior director of protected communications, Lockheed Martin Space. “Space Micro’s Nanocom SDR is an exciting addition to our diverse team of suppliers.”
“We are very pleased to be selected for the 10 vehicles Lockheed Martin is building for SDA’s satellite constellation for their Ka-Band transceiver” said David Czajkowski, Space Micro CEO. “Our decade of development of high data rate transceivers has led to the Nanocom product which supports the challenging SDA technical requirements with exceptional reliability, giving them a competitive advantage.”