The Universal Space Transponder: A next generation software defined radio
The Universal Space Transponder (UST) is a next generation transponder developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to meet a large variety of telecom, navigation, and radio science needs for future deep-space and near-Earth missions. This paper details the UST software defined radio design and describes how the combination of a modular hardware architecture and in-flight reprogrammability enables a new level of flexibility and expandability for a space transponder. The UST uses common power and digital processing assemblies that can be integrated with a variety of RF modules and is capable of simultaneous, multiband operations with data rates up to 37.5 Mbps RX and 300 Mbps TX. This allows a single radio to support all the direct-to-Earth and relay communication requirements for even complex mission scenarios, reducing the total cost, mass, and power. The discussion includes a description of the current UST engineering models that have been built and tested, as well as details about the next generation capabilities supported by UST, including advanced link coding and modulation, radiometric techniques, and in-radio protocol handling. Details are also presented on RF modules and digital processing in development for radio science and astronomy purposes, including a bistatic radar receiver and broadband planetary emissions receiver. These will demonstrate the ability to integrate low-cost science instruments into the UST architecture, further expanding the versatility of the UST.
The Electra proximity link payload for Mars relay telecommunications and navigation
We present here the functional requirements, design characteristics, and implementational status of the Electra Payload and its role as a telecommunications mode in an evolving Mars orbital infrastructure.
Problems of a centralised department in a decentralised mental hospital.
Abstract This paper deals with some of the issues and problems which arose in a state mental hospital, when in the course of becoming a more community-oriented facility, the hospital decentralized its clinical structure into geographically-based treatment units while retaining a centralized nursing department administration. The effects of unitization and a subsequent attempt to reoganize the nursing department on both the character of professional roles and the integration of parts of the hospital are discussed within the context of an open-systems conceptual model of hospital organization.