AIS Receiver (SDR)
The AIS Receiver is a compact Software Defined Radio (SDR) designed for CubeSat missions. It is compatible with the CubeSat standard and has a CubeSat Kit PC/104 form factor. The multichannel receiver operates in the maritime VHF band and can be used to receive AIS and LRAIS data. Spectrum can also be sampled as raw data.
South Africa does not possess a satellite-based AIS receiver, and this SDR will enable data to be provided at a more economical rate when compared to purchasing data from international service providers.
As its name suggests, the SDR is software-defined, allowing it to be reconfigured for future applications such as the VDES application, which is likely to replace AIS in the future. The current hardware already supports VDES reception implementation, and the receiver is forward-compatible with the VHF Data Exchange System (VDES).
Benefits:
- 156–163 MHz receive frequency range covering the maritime VHF Band.
- Software Defined Radio allows change in modulation and coding schemes.
- Over-the-air reprogrammable.
- Extra processing capacity for 3rd party applications.
- The nature of the VDES SDR makes it highly flexible, allowing software updates to mitigate any VDES specification changes, potentially without the need for hardware changes.
Offering:
CPUT is seeking a licensing partner who would like to license and commercialise the product.