Article Posted on : - Jul 13, 2011

Concept: DARPA.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (BNS): The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $2.4 million contract to Raytheon BBN Technologies to design and integrate an information architecture for wireless small module satellites.

The award is part of the DARPA’s System F6 programme, which aims to support secure real-time communications among satellite modules and replace current large satellites with clusters of cheaper small modules that carry and share resources over a wireless network, according to a statement issued by Raytheon Company.

"With this contract award, our goal is nothing short of assuring that DARPA gets a superior networking capability that enables F6's many advantages over a single large satellite," Craig Partridge, principal investigator at Raytheon BBN Technologies, was quoted as saying in the news release.

The programme, when completed, will result in wireless modules clustered in outer space that work as a seamless whole, the company said. In this flexible system, it will be easy to replace or add modules without interrupting communications or taking the satellite off-line.