Mars UHF relay telecom: Engineering tools and analysis

A compact set of tools have evolved for engineering analysis of Mars UHF relay telecommunications performance at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The tools model all telecom variables from the RF layer up through the protocol link layer. The tools can solve for point solutions, analyze dynamic performance based on link geometry and can generate a variety of multi-day performance statistics. The telecom parameters and models in the tool set have been derived from or vetted against laboratory and Mars in-situ telecom performance measurements. The tool set and underlying models feed forward into mission specific flight operations software tools, proving to be invaluable for UHF telecom systems engineering analysis at all phases of mission life cycles.