Pre- and post-flight radiation performance evaluation of the space GPS receiver (SGR)

Abstract

SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.), in collaboration with ESA/ESTEC, have recently developed a state-of-the-art, low cost GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver payload for use on small satellites. The Space GPS Receiver (SGR) is currently flying in low earth orbit (LEO) on the TMSAT micro-satellite and the UoSAT-12 mini-satellite and will also be flown on the TiungSAT-l microsatellite, and ESA's PROBA satellite. The SGR has demonstrated autonomous on-board positioning and has provided an experimental test-bed for evaluating spacecraft attitude determination algorithms. In order to reduce development time and costs, the SGR consists solely of industry standard COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) devices. This paper describes the ground-based radiation testing of several payload-critical COTS devices used in the SGR payload and describes its on-orbit performance.