scope:

This NASA Technical Standard describes the Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) architecture for software-defined radios (SDRs), an open architecture for NASA space and ground radios. STRS provides a common, consistent framework to abstract the application software from the STRS platform hardware to reduce the cost and risk of using complex reconfigurable and reprogrammable radio systems across NASA missions. It achieves this objective by defining an architecture to enable the reuse of applications (waveforms and services implemented on the SDR) across heterogeneous SDR platforms and reduce dependence on a single vendor. The NASA Technical Standard provides a detailed description and set of requirements to implement the architecture. The NASA Technical Standard focuses on the key architecture components and subsystems by describing their functionality and interfaces for both the hardware and the software, including the applications. The intended audience for this NASA Technical Standard is composed of software and hardware developers who need architecture specification details to develop an STRS platform or application.

A corresponding NASA Technical Handbook, NASA-HDBK-4009A, Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) Architecture Standard Rationale, provides the rationale for the decisions made to develop the architecture, provides additional information to clarify the requirements, gives further examples, and answers questions from users. This NASA Technical Standard is only one of a set of documents to be provided by the mission and used by the STRS platform providers or STRS application developers in the development of an STRS-compliant radio and/or applications.

This NASA Technical Standard defines a standard part of the architecture for software-defined radios. The complete architecture is determined by the project. Typical radio acquisition specifications, which include size, weight, power, radiation and safety requirements, connector details, performance and behavior requirements, documentation, and data rights agreements are to accompany this NASA Technical Standard in a radio procurement.

Purpose

The purpose of this NASA Technical Standard is to establish an open architecture specification for NASA space and ground SDRs. Currently, most missions either use hardware radios, which cannot be modified once deployed, or software-defined radios with an architecture that depends on the radio provider and involves significant effort to add new applications. The development of this NASA Technical Standard is part of the larger STRS program currently underway to define NASA's application of software-defined, reconfigurable technology to meet future space communications and navigation system needs. Software-based SDRs enable advanced operations that potentially reduce mission life-cycle costs for space or ground platforms.

SDR technology allows radios to be reconfigured to perform different functions without the necessity of using multiple radios to accomplish each communication function, enabling radio count reduction to decrease mass and power resources.

The STRS project provides the infrastructure and guidance for a repository of applications developed for SDRs using this NASA Technical Standard. Adherence to this NASA Technical Standard for the development of SDR platforms and applications and submittal of the applications to the repository will enable the missions to leverage earlier efforts by reusing various software components compliant with the architecture developed in other NASA programs. This will reduce the cost and risk of deploying SDRs for future NASA missions.

The hardware, configurable hardware design, software architecture, and the supporting documentation defined by this STRS Standard provide the ability to port applications among heterogeneous platforms reducing the knowledge of a second platform, reduce the reliance on the initial STRS platform providers, and enable the implementation of waveforms and services that a project envisions for its SDRs.