A Software Defined Radio Transceiver for the ESA PRETTY Nanosatellite Mission

After successful launch of the ESA OPS-SAT Nanosatellite in December 2019, the Institute of Com-munication Networks at Graz University of Technology has started its work on a next generation SoftwareDefined Radio platform for the ESA PRETTY mission. The mission goal is the demonstration of thepassive reflectometry concept with a Software Defined Radio (SDR) on a 3U Nanosatellite. The paperdescribes the SDR architecture, the RF frontend and the baseband processing platform. The requirementsand restrictions for SDRs on Nanosatellites and technical solutions for thermal control, radiation hardnessand mechanical sustainability are discussed. Finally, the SDR hardware design is presented and specialconcepts are discussed.