Engineers from TSI TelSys Inc. of Columbia, Md., are applying their reconfigurable system technology to enable National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) experts to seamlessly interconnect local- and wide-area terrestrial networks to space communications networks at speeds as fast as 300 Mbit/s.
Traditionally, system hardware functions are hard wired into system board. To change a board, whether adding a new function or correcting an error, a new board must be designed and manufactured.
Instead, the reconfigurable system technology provides a system-level environment and a virtual information processor card "that allows us to make changes to a card at the core logic level after it has been manufactured and installed and without modifying the physical hardware," says TSI TelSys president Jim Chesney.
TSI TelSys is a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin Corp. (formerly Unisys Federal Systems Division) in McLean, Va., in NASA`s Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement II program. TSI officials have delivered an initial system to NASA`s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Reconfigurable systems technology enables continued development of system features and functionality as requirements vary; provides for rapid implementation of new standards and protocols on an "as needed" basis; and protects investments in telemetry, remote sensing, and high-rate data satellite communications equipment. - J.R.
For more information, phone TSI TelSys at 301-459-2727.
