Software-defined testbed for next generation navigation transponders

This paper presents a software-defined testbed to perform hardware-in-The-loop test of miniaturized coherent transponders. Such a setup has been designed to minimize the access threshold for future users, heavily relying on available open source applications and commercial hardware, targeting future coherent transponders for interplanetary CubeSats. The paper presents the overall architecture of the testbed, a tradeoff to select the most suited development framework and the detailed design of the different blocks. Upcoming interplanetary CubeSat missions that would require a coherent transponder are also presented to highlight the need sof such a system. Software qualification, given the use of third-party software with multiple developers, was also addressed to guarantee performances can be consistent and reliable.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Space Systems EgineeringElectronicsAstrodynamics & Space Mission