Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) is developing a robust, radiation-hardened, wireless spacecraft bus under a $4.1 million, 21-month, first phase contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman will develop a wireless data bus interface that enhances AFRL's innovative electronics architecture for spacecraft called Space Plug-n-Play Avionics or SPA. These electronics have modern features of automatic device recognition and fault detection, much like commercial computer interfaces, to enable addition and removal of equipment without any software or database changes. The development challenge is to create hardware elements for managing messages and directing communication traffic in an RF-rich micro-environment with hundreds of wireless devices. The initial phase will conclude with a wireless standard, such as Bluetooth, and will establish protocols, design implementation guidelines, and address spacecraft unique features such as security, reliability, and electromagnetic emissions management.