RT Logic, a wholly owned subsidiary of Integral Systems, has announced the delivery of multiple satellite ground products to Raytheon for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite System (NPOESS)
Command, Control and Communications Segment.

Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems in Aurora, Colorado is
providing the NPOESS ground system, including the Command, Control and
Communications Segment (C(3)S).

The C(3) Segment manages the overall mission, including active operation and accounting of mission data, delivery of sensor data for further processing, and satellite command and control. RT Logic is delivering six Payload Pre-Processor Systems and five Telemetry and Command Modems.

The NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) Payload Pre-Processor (PPP) Systems
use RT Logic’s Telemetrix 500GT (T500GT) Gateway product to process the NPP
payload downlink at rates up to 350 Mbps.

RT Logic’s Telemetrix software and High Rate Digital Front-end Processor are combined on the T500GT’s realtime Linux server platform to perform digital data acquisition, frame synchronization, derandomization, Reed Solomon decoding, CCSDS processing (including VCID and APID sorting), and data archival to an integrated RAID-5 storage system.

During an NPP contact, the T500GT acquires, processes, sorts and archives
data, while simultaneously rate buffering the same data over a reduced rate
TCP/IP WAN for ingest by data processing applications.

Between contacts, archived data files are made available to external post-processing applications for on demand data access.

The Telemetry and Command Modems are RT Logic’s Telemetrix 70/70XL
(T70/70XL) product. Software-defined signal processing functions are
performed within the T70/70XL via FPGA-based firmware personalities, allowing
the unit to support NPP, NPOESS, and future missions.

The T70/70XL is configurable to support the full spectrum of IF/ baseband processing, signal modulation/demodulation, and digital front-end functions for satellite telemetry, command and ranging links.

The T70/70XL modems are being installed at NASA’s Satellite Ground Station
(SGS) in Svalbard, Norway to process the low rate command, control and mission data for NPOESS related missions, such as the NPP satellite. NPOESS and NPP communicate either through NASA’s TDRSS satellite or directly to the ground.

Both links employ the TDRSS satellite’s unique spread spectrum modulation and
demodulation techniques, and the T70/70XL processes the spread spectrum
signals.

“We are pleased to support Raytheon on the NPOESS and NPP programs,” said
Jerry Meleski, Director of RT Logic’s Control Center Systems group. The
inherent programmability of the Telemetrix systems enables Raytheon’s solution to fully meet current and future mission requirements.”