Bus Related Info — helpful for budgets, requirements, and other Bus design parameters

Data Sheet/Specifications of the Payload

Payload Details

THz Radio — 209-240 GHz

• RX /TX front end → developed at NASA JPL (4-3U)
  • 28V ideal (at least 25V)
• Zynch RFSoC digital end → https://www.hitechglobal.com/Boards/Zynq_RFSoc.htm
  • Development Board: HTG-ZRF8
    • FPGA: ZU28DR or ZU48DR ← This is a Zynq UltraScale+ XQ RFSoC
• Rabbit hole about AMD and EECE 2323 (Digital Design) class
• RF Synthesizer → Valon Model 5030 32 GHz Frequency Synthesizer Module

The core component of TeraLink is a sub-THz Software Defined Radio (SDR) designed to operate at 209-240GHz. As depicted in the figure below, the payload is composed of three main blocks: a pair of custom-made sub-THz planar antenna arrays, a multiplier-based sub-THz analog front-end transceiver, and a high-speed digital signal processing engine for modulation and demodulation of the transmitted signals. The radio uses a variable Local Oscillator (LO) to operate at 217-226GHz for Uplink, and 232-240GHz for Downlink. The selected frequency bands are conveniently allocated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for space communication, avoiding any potential environmental impact regarding interference from and to any other in-orbit system at the moment.

Block diagram of the payload connected to the OBC