Personal computer aided design tool for developing TTC communication equipments with cheap components from the electronic consumers market

As a means to embark scientific or experimental payloads in space, small satellites are of interest because of their low cost and short development time. In particular, the Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TTC) communication equipment can be designed so as to reuse cheap components from the electronic consumers market. However the selected components should prove reliable enough to offer the proper grade of service for space operation although they are not space qualified. This paper discusses a methodology for selecting the appropriate candidate components, presents a personal computer (PC) tool, developed for that purpose, and illustrates the methodology through examples.