ACM Adaptive Coding and Modulation
ADAC Attitude Determination And Control
ADC Analog – Digital Converter
AGC Automatic Gain Control
AO-xx AMSAT Oscar (satellite number) xx
APIC Auxiliary Payload Integration Contractor
ASCENT Advanced Satellite Communications and Exploration of New
Technology ("skunk works")
Az Azimuth
BPF Band Pass Filter
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying
C&DH Control and Data Handling
CAD Computer Aided Design
CAN Controller Area Network
CDR Critical Design Review
CIU Control Interface Unit
CMD Command
CONOPS Concept of Operations
COTS Commercial Off The Shelf
CSLI CubeSat Launch Initiative
CSS Coarse Sun Sensor
CW Continuous Wave
DCT Digital Communications Transceiver
DSP Digital Signal Processing
EAR Export Administration Regulation
El Elevation
ELaNa Educational Launch of Nanosatellites
EM Engineering Model
EOL End Of Life
EPS Electric Power Subsystem
FC Flight Computer (an OBC)
FDM Frequency Division Multiplex
FDX Full Duplex
FEA Finite Element Analysis; also Failure Effects Analysis
FEC Forward Error Correction
FEM Finite Element Model
FM Flight Model; also Frequency Modulation
FoV Field of View
FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array
FPS Functional Performance Specification
GBT GOLF Battery Tender
GEO Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
GEVS General Environmental Vibration Specification (NASA)
GNC Guidance, Navigation, & Control
GND Ground
GOLF Greater Orbit Larger Footprint
GPS Global Positioning System
HEO High Earth Orbit
I2C Inter-Integrated Circuit
ICR Improved Command Receiver (part of the LTM)
ID Identification
IF Intermediate Frequency
IHU Internal Housekeeping Unit (an OBC!)
IMU Inertial Measurement Unit
ISDE Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (Vanderbilt
University)
ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations
LDPC Low Density Parity Check (FEC code)
LEO Low Earth Orbit
LEPF Low Energy Proton FinFET
LIHU Legacy Internal Housekeeping Unit (an OBC)
LNA Low Noise Amplifier
L.O. Local Oscillator
LT Linear Transponder
LTM Linear Transponder Module
LV Launch Vehicle
MEO Medium Earth Orbit
MRR Mission Readiness Review
MT Magnetorquer
MTTF Mean Time To Fail
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
OAP Orbit Average Power
OBC On Board Computer
OPS Operations
PCB Printed Circuit Board
PCU Power Conditioning Unit
PDR Preliminary Design Review
PDU Power Distribution Unit
PMAD Power Management And Distribution
PPT Power Point Tracker
RAD Radiation
RBF Remove Before Flight
RF Radio Frequency
RFNOC RF Network On Chip (ETTUS)
RT/IHU Radiation Tolerant/Internal Housekeeping Unit
RW Reaction Wheel
RX/TX Receiver/Transmitter (part of the LTM)
S/N Signal to Noise (ratio)
SAA South Atlantic Anomaly
SAW Solar Array Wing
SDR Software Defined Radio
SEE Single Event Effects
SEU Single Event Upset
SoC System on Chip
SP Solar Panel
SPI Serial Peripheral Interface
SRAM Static Random Access Memory
SRS System Requirements Specification
SSB Single Side Band
SSPA Solid State Power Amplifier
ST Star Tracker
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
TDM Time Division Multiplex
TLE Two Line Element
TLM Telemetry
TRL Technology Readiness Level (scale of 1 to 9)
TT&C Telemetry, Tracking and Command
UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter
UHF Ultra High Frequency
USB Universal Serial Bus
UTC Universal Time
uW MicroWave
VHF Very High Frequency
VR Voltage Regulator
VUC Vanderbilt University Controller
WB Wide Band
XCVR Transceiver