Tethers Unlimited delivers software-defined radios to Millennium Space for satellite constellation


The SWIFT-SLX radio is a compact, affordable software-defined radio designed to provide S-band and L-band communications for small satellites. (Tethers Unlimited Photo) Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited says it has completed an on-time delivery of 15 S-band software-defined radios in support of a small-satellite constellation mission being developed by Millennium Space Systems , a Boeing subsidiary.

In a news release, Tethers Unlimited said the deliveries also included the first small-satellite mesh networking solution to support data transfer between satellites. “Hitting this delivery rate has taken substantial investments in automating our radio testing infrastructure,” said Rob Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited’s president.
The SWIFT-SLX radio is designed to provide S-band and L-band communications — not only for commercial customers like Millennium, but for NASA missions such as the Lunar Node 1 navigation beacon that’s destined to be sent to the moon. Earlier this month, Tethers Unlimited said a different type of software-defined radio, the SWIFT-XTS, will be used for NASA’s PUNCH sun-watching mission .
Tethers Unlimited, which was recently acquired by Amergint Technology Holdings , is involved in a variety of commercial and government-funded projects relating to communications, propulsion, robotics and in-space manufacturing. Efforts to obtain more information about the constellation that Millennium Space is developing were not immediately successful.


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