Harris Corporation has announced that it will offer an
all-digital navigation payload for GPS III Space Vehicles
(SV) 11 and beyond.
Harris’ fully digital navigation
payload will add value to the U.S. Air Force’s GPS mission by
offering enhanced performance and enabling on-orbit reprogramming.
The all-digital payload expands on the advanced features of the
current 70-percent digital solution Harris provides for Lockheed
Martin’s GPS III SV 1-8 satellites. The features provide greater
flexibility, affordability and accuracy versus existing satellites
and include an advanced modular design, atomic clock timing systems,
radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters.
The new payload combines innovative digital capabilities
developed by Harris and Exelis, now a part of Harris. In 2013,
Exelis successfully demonstrated digital navigation signal
capability in a formal preliminary design review conducted by the
Air Force. The payload also leverages the mature Technology
Readiness Level 9 legacy Harris reconfigurable payload that is
flying on the International Space Station and is incorporated on
hosted payloads for the Iridium NEXT satellite.
“We are dedicated to the U.S. Air Force’s GPS mission and
continue to invest our research and development funds to ensure
performance that exceeds expectations and that is low risk to
implement on future platforms,” said Bill Gattle, president, Harris
Space & Intelligence Systems.
Harris has more than 500 digital processors on-orbit and another
150 awaiting launch. Harris navigation payloads have been on all of
the 80-plus U.S. GPS satellites launched since the 1970s — with more
than 750 years of on-orbit life without a payload-related failure.
Harris has delivered more than 100 digital payloads, which have
performed flawlessly on-orbit.
